18.5 – Warm-Up and Strategy to get to TOP 5% in CrossFit Open 2018

23 Mar 2018

CrossFit Open 18.5

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes of:
3-6-9-12-… Thrusters
3-6-9-12-… Chest to Bar Pull Ups

Men use 100 lbs
Women use 65 lbs

Good score to beat (fitness level)
73 reps finishing in the round #5 – Beginner (0)
79 reps finishing in the round #5 – Beginner (25)
87 reps finishing in the round #5 – Average (50)
98 reps finishing in the round #6 – Average (75)
105 reps finishing in the round #6 – Advanced (90)
125 reps finishing in the round #6 – Advanced (95)
140 reps finishing in the round #7 – Elite (98)
155 reps finishing in the round #7 – Regional (100)

CrossFit Games Open 18.5

The last workout of 2018 CrossFit Games Open is finally here, and it is a threepeat of 12.5 and 11.6.

Finishing a round of 18s should be enough for the top 5% in the Open 18.5. You should be able to get this score even with singles on chest to bars and splitting thrusters into multiple sets. The goal will be to avoid burning out in the first 3 minutes of the WOD.

Open 18.5 warm up

The Open 18.5 is a short 7-minute AMRAP that is highly intensive. You should focus on the warm-up a lot before starting 18.5.

Start with a simple couplet of barbell only thrusters and pull ups. Then continue with practicing thrusters and chest to bars with longer rest and do some hangs and shoulder mobility exercises between sets.

1) Warm up couplet of

3 Rounds of
10 Thrusters 45/35 lbs
10 Pull Ups

2) 20 minutes of

5-10 rounds of
5 Thrusters 100/65 lbs*
5 Chest to Bar Pull Ups*
At least 2 minute rest in between rounds
*Try singles or 3+2, so you can work on transitions for larget sets
– Do a few hangs
– Work on mobility “open your shoulders”

Open 18.5 strategy to get to top 5%

To get to the top 5% in the Open 18.5, you will need to finish round of 18 reps which is total of 63 reps of each exercise.

Make sure you don’t burn out too quickly, the only rounds you should do unbroken are rounds of 3 and 6 reps. Make sure to split the reps after that.

Splitting sets will decrease your peak heart rate and will delay the fatigue of your shoulders and forearms.

The only exception is the last minute of the workout where you should try to speed up and use all energy that you saved by doing small sets.

Hanging on the bar for last 18 chest to bars or going unbroken for last 21 thrusters will definitely hurt during last minute but it will be worth as it will move you up in the leaderboard.

Thrusters

It is a good idea to split the thrusters into sets of 4-5 reps as you want to keep moving for full 7 minutes instead of resting for a long time before picking up a barbell to do thrusters unbroken.

If you decide to go for singles on the chest to bars and you like thrusters, you may try to do a little larger sets of about 7-9 reps. Otherwise, do a max of 4-6 reps in the set with very quick rest in between sets.

For example, going for fast 6+5+4 with a quick rest is about the same fast as than doing 15 reps unbroken and slowly. But 6+5+4 will be less demanding on your shoulders and the heart rate which will help you get a better overall score.

Round of	Reccomended reps for thrusters
3	3
6	6
9	5+4
12	4+4+4
15	6+5+4
18	5+4+4+5
21	4+4+4+4+5

Just a little reminder 18.5 (11.6, 12.5) thrusters are heavier than usual (100 lbs vs. 95 lbs). Five pounds may not feel a lot, but you will feel that difference over seven minutes.

Chest to bar pull ups

You will do a lot of chest to bars today. Start slowly as first 30 chest to bar pull ups will be easy, but after that, the fatigue will kick in.

Do much smaller sets than you think even quick singles would give many of you a slightly better score than bigger sets of (+5 reps).

For example, I wasn’t able to get round of 14s in the 15.2 (14.2) by doing sets of 4-5 reps, but when I switched to singles, I was able to finish half of the 16s. My max unbroken set of chest to bar pull ups was about 20 reps and yet doing singles was just slightly faster.

If you don’t want to do singles, try smaller sets of about 3-4 reps.

As you will be doing a lot of sets of chest to bar pull ups in 18.5, make sure you don’t need to jump high for the bar if you need to place some plates or box under the bar.

Thanks!

The Open 2018 is now over. I would like to thanks, everyone who has been reading my guides and I hope I have helped at least some of you get a slightly better score with my strategy guides. If you want to get notified about new articles sign up for the newsletter or follow me on the Facebook. Also, make sure to check out the WOD Time Calculator app.