A recap of the CrossFit Games Open 2017.

The CrossFit Open a few weeks ago and I think everyone is officially recovered! While I didn’t do every workout RX, it was definitely a fun Open for me. I definitely liked it better than last year and the previous year. If you are unfamiliar with the CrossFit Open, I briefly talked about it here.

This year (along with last year) I didn’t officially sign up. I know it is only $20, but I knew I wasn’t going to be doing most of the workouts RX. And $20 is a lot to me! I would much rather spend it on something I can use or eat, than to see my name on the leaderboard. I just treated the workouts just like any other workout.

Here is how the workouts went over the 5 weeks

CrossFit Games Open 17.1

For Time (RX):
10 dumbbell snatches (50/35)
15 burpee box jump-overs (24/20)
20 DB snatches
15 burpee box jump-overs
30 DB snatches
15 burpee box jump-overs
40 DB snatches
15 burpee box jump-overs
50 DB snatches
15 burpee box jump-overs

This workout was better than I thought it was going to be. At first I thought I wasn’t going to finish when I saw the workout (I thought the snatches would get me), but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I went at a pace that was probably slower than I normally do, but I was able to keep that pace the whole time and finish under the time cap. I finished in 18:50RX. I will probably try this again in the future and see how I can improve.

CrossFit Games Open 17.2

12:00 AMRAP
50′ dumbbell walking lunges (50/35)
16 toes to bar
8 dumbbell power cleans (50/35)
50′ dumbbell walking lunges
16 toes to bar
8 dumbbell power cleans
50′ dumbbell walking lunges
16 bar muscle-ups
8 dumbbell power cleans
50′ dumbbell walking lunges
16 bar muscle-ups
8 dumbbell power cleans

This is where the Open got exciting! I got 2 bar muscle-ups!! You can see a video here. This workout was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Yes you have to have a bar muscle-up, but the rest was pretty deceiving as well. I finished with 80 reps RX and was happy with that!

CrossFit Games Open 17.3

Prior to 8:00, complete:
3 rounds of:
6 chest to bar pull-ups
6 squat snatches (95/65)
Then, 3 rounds of:
7 chest to bar pull-ups
5 squat snatches (135/95)
*Prior to 12:00, complete 3 rounds of:
8 chest to bar pull-ups
4 squat snatches (185/135)
*Prior to 16:00, complete 3 rounds of:
9 chest to bar pull-ups
3 squat snatches (225/155)
*Prior to 20:00, complete 3 rounds of:
10 chest to bar pull-ups
2 squat snatches (245/175)
Prior to 24:00, complete 3 rounds of:
11 chest to bar pull-ups
1 squat snatches (265lb / 185lb)
*If all reps are completed, time cap extends by 4 minutes

I did this workout modified. This is part of the Open that I don’t like sometimes. The weights in at least one workout are usually high, so it weeds out a lot of people. Then you end up doing the scaled workout (which might not be that hard), or you only get a short workout cause you need to stop at the weights you can’t do. I say just modify it. Do something that will be challenging for you. If it’s not what is written on the board, then who cares. It’s your workout and you can make what you want of it.

I can’t do a 95# snatch, but can do chest to bar pull-ups, I just decided to change the weights to something I could do. So I did 55/65/75/85. I finished with 169 reps (1 pull-up into the 16:00 round). I still had time on the clock to keep going, but I stopped because I got confused. That’s okay though, what I did was still challenging for me.

CrossFit Games Open 17.4

13:00 AMRAP
55 deadlifts (225/155)
55 wallballs (20 to 10’/14 to 9′)
55 calorie row
55 handstand push-ups

I finished with 174 reps RX (9 HSPUs). This workout was in the open last year and I got 186 using 135# last year so I was happy with my performance. Even if I had more time to do HSPU, I honestly don’t think I could have gotten that many more.

CrossFit Games Open 17.5

10 RFT:
9 thrusters (95/65)
35 double unders

I finished in 13:30RX. It was horrible. And my double unders sucked that day, so that didn’t help at all. I was also really tired and sore from the previous week, so that didn’t help. I might try this one down the road some.

Overall I thought it was a good Open. The workouts were fun but challenging at the same time. There are definitely things I need to work on (I say this every year), but I enjoyed it. Here’s to another year of functional fitness!

How did the Open go for you? Did you love or hate it? What was your favorite part?