2014 Crossfit Open 14.5 Predictions

A friggen row!?!?

Welcome back everyone and again, thank you for following along. Over the course of the 2014 Crossfit Games there have been over 8000 views of this little blog and I sincerely appreciate the interest and comments. Before I get to the usual breakdown and prediction, I would like to let you guys in on the next blog post I will have. If you read last week you will see that I have been asked to review a product as it pertains to athletes. As a mediocre Crossfitter who is trying to get better everyday, I really think this will be a great opportunity for you and I to follow along and find out what products really do make the average athlete better and what is fluff. Please take a look at the related post I wrote last week for more info. 

Alright, now we shall get on with the summary of 14.4 and the 14.5 prediction. First let’s start where we have every week, with my admittal of being wrong on the last prediction. The cool thing was, for the third week in a row I did predict a few movements that were included in the WOD. There were T2B, Wallballs and MU. What I did not expect were the cleans (because of how much work we have put in with the bar already) and the row. I personally loved the addition of the row as a way to make a relatively easy WOD a bit more challenging for the masses. The last WOD really exposed the importance of strategy while also forcing the Muscle Up into the arsenal of the everyday Crossfitter. With such a basic and achieveble Chipper with a realistic time cap, we now have to realize that the Muscle Up needs to be practiced and built into more of our programming. I would like to think Crossfit has taken the next step in its evolution as a sport. We continue to expect more from HQ in relation to new and challenging WODs, they are clearly expecting more of its athletes now. I saw so many people get their first Muscle Ups this week, were they during 14.4? No they were not, but they were performed after 14.4 was announced. Seeing people accomplish things they never though possible is very inspiring and it also pushes me to get better. Now there are few more people with the same toolbox that I have. Can they use those new tools as effieciently as I can? Not yet, but its that internal competition and comradery that is going to push all of us to be better.

Prediction:

Would it be a stretch to say that the whole Crossfit world expects a Thruster and Burpee couplet? As of this blog post those are the only two Open exercises we have yet to see. We have never seen the two put together (I think) so would this be considered new and innovative? Looking at the .com programming over the last couple of days we can see that neither of these movements have been programmed. If you want an insight into whether burpees or thrusters may not make it into 14.5 look no further than the .com site. In the seven days prior to an Open WOD announcement, the exercises programmed in the Open WOD have not shown up in the regular day to day Crossfit programming. OK this is all true except for recently with the Muscle Up which was programmed 6 days prior to the announcement and this blog said that due to the low rep scheme and 6 day break, these would show up and they did. 

So if you were going to make up the last Open WOD and you wanted to test the world with one last measure of fitness would you give them exactly what they expect? Apparently the Muscle Up is supposed to be in the wheelhouse of all regional athletes, it should be a basic movement. So I thought of one other movement that is seen in countless Regional, Games and local competitions that is supposed to separate the best from the rest…..the handstand pushup. Everyone and their dog is going to predict Thrusters and Burpees because its easy, expected and logical. Not this guy!

 

17 Minute AMRAP

40 Burpees-30 Thrusters @ 75# -5 HSPU

30 Burpees-30 Thrusters @ 135# – 10 HSPU

20 Burpees-30 Thrusters @ 165# – 15 HSPU

10 Burpees-30 Thrusters @ 205# – 20 HSPU

 

So if the WOD ends up being exactly like this but without HSPU I’m OK with that but I wanted to throw a different guess out there and see what happens. Best of luck to everyone! Maybe the suck factor of this one will see less people redo an Open WOD. I don’t even want to attempt this once, so twice would be out of character.

*All readers of this blog are entitled to 10% off Str/ke MVMNT footwear and apparel during the Crossfit Games by using the code GLA101 at checkout. Click banners to take you to some of the best clothes and shoes you’ve ever bought. Sweatpants and hoodies are especially wicked, shoes are perfect for the anti Nano crowd. Serious quality.