Elizabeth

18 Jul 2018

CrossFit Girl WOD “Elizabeth”

3 Rounds of
21-15-9 Squat Cleans 135 lbs
21-15-9 Ring Dips

Good time to beat for Elizabeth:
13 min 15 sec – Fitness Level 0 – Beginner athlete
11 min 48 sec – Fitness Level 25 – Beginner athlete
10 min 21 sec – Fitness Level 50 – Average athlete
08 min 09 sec – Fitness Level 75 – Average athlete
06 min 47 sec – Fitness Level 90 – Advanced athlete
05 min 55 sec – Fitness Level 95 – Advanced athlete
05 min 01 sec – Fitness Level 98 – Elite athlete
04 min 12 sec – Fitness Level 100 – Regional athlete

CrossFit Girl WOD “Elizabeth”

3 Rounds of
21-15-9 Power Cleans 135 lbs
21-15-9 Ring Dips

Good score to beat for Elizabeth:
10 min 38 sec – Fitness Level 0 – Beginner athlete
09 min 29 sec – Fitness Level 25 – Beginner athlete
08 min 18 sec – Fitness Level 50 – Average athlete
06 min 22 sec – Fitness Level 75 – Average athlete
05 min 15 sec – Fitness Level 90 – Advanced athlete
04 min 37 sec – Fitness Level 95 – Advanced athlete
03 min 56 sec – Fitness Level 98 – Elite athlete
03 min 18 sec – Fitness Level 100 – Regional athlete

What is Elizabeth?

Elizabeth is one of the most popular CrossFit Girls benchmarks that use classic 21-15-9 rep scheme and consists of semi-heavy cleans and ring dips.

Squat Clean or Power Clean in Elizabeth?

Whenever Elizabeth is posted at the crossfit.com, the WOD says only “cleans,” and there is always a question in comments. “Should I do squat cleans or power cleans?”

There is a reason for both variants.

Elizabeth is meant to be with squat cleans as in weightlifting. You always do squat clean if you see just “clean” written in your training plan.

On another hand, Elizabeth is meant to be done with power cleans because prescribed version says you should do cleans, any cleans. And we know that power cleans are always easier and faster than squat cleans (unless weight is near the max of your power clean).

It doesn’t matter which Elizabeth version you choose. I find squat clean Elizabeth to be more difficult as it takes a longer time while power clean Elizabeth can be done at a higher intensity and you can push little harder on unbroken sets.

Both versions will give you a great workout, and if you have never done Elizabeth before, you should try to do both during next week and find for yourself which one is harder.

What is a good time for Elizabeth?

According to our app, a good score for squat clean Elizabeth for a regional athlete is 4:12, for advanced athlete 6:47 and average athlete 10:21.

For power clean Elizabeth times are a little faster. With 3:18 for a regional athlete, 5:15 for advanced athlete and 8:18 for the average athlete.

How to get a good time in Elizabeth?

Both versions of Elizabeth (squat clean vs. power clean) requires a different approach as squat clean Elizabeth will be about 30% longer and you will spend more time on the barbell.

Squat Cleans

Go for singles only if you want to get through squat cleans as quickly as possible. Especially, if your 1RM squat clean is under 275 lbs (125 kg).

Why? Some of you may be able to do 21 squat cleans unbroken which will save you a lot of time but what happens next is that you will burn out on ring dips and significantly slow down on the set of 15 squat cleans.

If you manage to have fast cycle time on singles, you may find yourself just a few seconds behind someone going unbroken while your fatigue levels will be much lower.

It is not hard to do quick singles. You have to push yourself to lean to the bar before the bar stops bouncing.

The same strategy applies to round 15s and 9s.

Power Cleans

You can also try singles on power cleans, but if you have strong power clean, you may find larger sets to be faster while not getting fatigued so much. Power cleans are much quicker exercise than squat cleans, and each rep requires much less energy.

I would recommend going for singles if your 1RM power clean is under 225 lbs (~100 kg) or if you can cycle singles very quickly. Otherwise, try to do power cleans in larger sets of 9+7+5, 9+6, 9 or 4+5.

The strategy of larger/small set in each round will allow you to finish a larger chunk of reps first and leaving rest for the later. Mentally, you will be able to decrease the rest between those sets as you know that only smaller sets are ahead of you.

Ring Dips

There are just two kinds of CrossFit athletes. Those who can get through all 45 ring dips in about 60 seconds and those who suck at ring dips. I am in the second group.

If you are from the first group and you love ring dips. Just get through them as quickly as you can.

But you will need a strategy if you are from the second group.

Ring dips are just weird exercise. They will get much easier if you learn how to kip on them correctly. You also have to avoid pecs fatigue and be smart about your rest, as there is no way back from that local muscle fatigue after you get it.

I have tried doing ring dips several ways during the first round. For example, 1 large set of 15 and try to finish WOD as fast as I can after that, 3 sets of 7, 7 sets of 3, 21 sets of singles. The best (fastest) strategy was the 7 sets of 3 reps with a focus on proper kipping. Even 21 singles were faster than 3 sets of 7.

Make sure to have a very quick rest if you decide to try the strategy with multiple small sets and stick to that strategy through all three rounds.

Pacing

It all depends if you are good or bad on ring dips. If you are great on ring dips, you may want to slow down little on cleans and blaze through ring dips, otherwise, get through cleans quickly and try to minimize time loss on ring dips.

Good luck!