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Open reflections

#PresentOverPerfect2019

“The only time you should ever look back is to see how far you’ve come.”

Just a couple months ago, I took part in my latest CrossFit competition in Jakarta, Indonesia and when it was all over I thought it would be a good idea for me to tone my training down a bit in order to fully recover both physically and mentally.

With that said, I was still committed to participating in the worldwide (online) CrossFit Open competition which began a few weeks later. This would be my fourth time in the Open, but only the 2nd time that I was dedicated to completing all of the workouts RX (no scaling).

Despite facing some obstacles over the 5-week span, which led me to training a lot less than I would've liked to, I gave the 2020 Open my best shot and fortunately still managed to show some signs of improvement.

  • 20.1

10 rounds for time of:
8 ground-to-overheads, 65 lb.
10 bar-facing burpees
Time cap: 15 minutes

-I attempted 20.1 in the very early hours of the morning in Maui, Hawaii at Makena CorssFit. I did not complete this workout in its entirety unfortunately, but I was most of all really pleased with the consistency of my barbell cycling on my ground-to-overheads, all performed as clean & jerks.

  • 20.2

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
4 dumbbell thrusters, 35 lb.
6 toes-to-bars
24 double-unders

-I was back in Canada at CrossFit Battlefield to attempt 20.2. Sadly, I had been very sick for a whole week and still wasn’t feeling like myself when it was time to perform the workout. I did a run-through, more like a walkthrough, following the announcement of the workout and I struggled unbelievably. I returned a few days later to give it my best shot and although I knew that I could’ve done so much better if I had been completely healthy, I was content with my efforts, particularly on some heavy DB thrusters and some always challenging toes-to-bars.

  • 20.3

21-15-9
deadlifts, 155 lb.
handstand push-ups
Then, 21-15-9
deadlifts, 205 lb.
50-ft. handstand walk
Time cap: 9 min.

-I was still not in tip-top shape for 20.3, but having faced this workout back in 2018, I was looking forward to giving it another try. I clearly remembered not being able to do any handstand push-ups back then and I was fairly confident that I could at least do a few now. The results weren’t mind-blowing, but some progress was made evident by a very quick pace on an unbroken set of deadlifts and even more so by the few handstand push-ups that I managed to get this time around.

  • 20.4

30 box jumps, 20 in.
15 clean & jerks, 65 lb.
30 box jumps, 20 in.
15 clean & jerks, 85 lb.
30 box jumps, 20 in.
10 clean & jerks, 115 lb.
30 single-leg squats
10 clean & jerks, 145 lb.
30 single-leg squats
5 clean & jerks, 175 lb.
30 single-leg squats
5 clean & jerks, 205 lb.
Time cap: 20 minutes

-20.4 was one of my most favorite workouts. Of course, I was nowhere near the elite athletes, but I loved the feeling of successfully lifting some heavy (for me) barbells in addition to blowing through some box jumps (step-ups) and flawlessly finishing a full set of single-leg squats (pistols).

  • 20.5

For time, partitioned any way:
40 muscle-ups
80 cal. row
120 wall-ball shots, 14-lb. ball to 9 ft.
Time cap: 20 min.

-I knew it probably wasn’t my time yet to get my first ring muscle-up when I attempted 20.5, but I was pretty thrilled about rapidly working through lots of rowing and wall-ball shots.

It was certainly a challenging 5 weeks, but I know that these types of tests (The Open along with the obstacles) are essential to my growth as a human being and as an athlete.



“Dear past, thank you for the lessons. Dear future, I’m ready!”


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