Since the 2014 Open has come to an end, I figured I would put down some thoughts on my blog. First off, I think the 2014 Open is the best one yet; every single work out was a surprise. For my own sake, I am glad 14.1 did not have burpees! This is the first year that they have required video evidence from those aspiring to go to regionals. This year I saw a lot of names much further down the leaderboard than in the past. Coincidence? Keep in mind, these work outs were also much different than the previous years.
14.1: We saw double unders, which is not too inviting for "everyone," but it is fair. All double unders takes is practice, and if you choose to ignore a weakness, it eventually catches up with you.
14.2: We saw chest to bar pull ups. This is not even doable for many individuals. This was the first time we have ever seen chest to bar pull ups in week 2. I think this was good though, put a tougher work out in early on in order to send the "right" people to regionals.
14.3: Heavy deadlifts. This was a good work out, but in order to hit the heavy loads, you needed to be competent at the moderate loads and box jumps.
14.4: To no one's surprise, muscle ups were next. Rowing was the big surprise. I did not think rowing would show up, but it did and it worked out, I expect to see rowing come up again next year.
14.5: Everyone knew what was coming; it is a process of elimination, not rocket science-- Thrusters and burpees over the bar. They gave it to us in a new way- "for time!"- this was a good twist and something I think we will see more of too, in the years to come.
So, with a quick recap of all the work outs, I did expect to see some names a bit higher, and I will never know if the video evidence requirement this year caused some people to drop places or not, but I do have my suspicions. Take for example last year, I placed 51st in the Open and 11th at NorCal regionals. Girls who have claimed to have "beat" me in the Open performed so poorly at the regional level. For example, in 13.1, some girls claimed to have hit snatches snatches at the heavier/heaviest load(s), yet at regionals on the OHS event, they struggled with a 135# OHS, so some things just didn't add up.
I think there was more shuffling across the leaderboards this year than in any other years, but I also may have been paying more attention this year too. The NorCal guys still qualify for regionals with 500+ points, while the girls qualify with under 400 points. This goes to show that there are many more competitive guys. A lot of people who previously made regionals are missing out this year, whether it is the different work outs, different training programs leading up to the open, life changes and/or the video evidence, there will be a very different group going to regionals. Also, at least in NorCal, all females in the top 60 got at least 4 muscle ups in 14.4, so everyone in the NorCal regional should be capable of doing muscle ups, which is a change from the past; often times we see people qualifying for regionals who cannot even complete the movements asked at regionals. I think this issue alone called for the "tougher" open work outs. The work outs can't be 30 minutes of burpees and box jumps if you expect people to do heavy cleans and muscle ups at the next level. I think the things we expect to see at regionals (skill movements and heavier loads), need to be tested to some degree during the Open. So, at the very least, there will be a good event to watch from the spectator's point of view. It doesn't look very good when a regional-level qualified individual is staring at his or her barbell or olympic rings because they cannot complete the movement asked.
I had a really rough week 5. I dropped 15 places, but after 14.4 I was sitting in 31st in NorCal, the highest position I have ever been in. I do believe I have improved since last year, and all things considered this was a decently "good" Open for me, work out wise, and I was happy to see myself finally in the mix. People would ask me, "What happened after week 1, weren't you in 16th?"... Yes, but there are a lot of girls this year and the leaderboard will continue to snuffle. You can't forget my 51st finish in last year's open, so sliding down to 31st place in 2014 is still a great place for me to be in. "what happened, why are you 46th, I thought you were low 30's..." Well, light thrusters and burpees are not a great work out for me. "Well why didn't you just redo it (because duh, it's so easy to just redo a work out and do soo much better HAH)"... I did, I just didn't do better. All previous years in the open I am consistently playing catch up. In 14.1, I placed 16th place in the region, so I was off the best start I have ever had. I finished 46th in NorCal which is also my best finish yet. I can't wait to train for regionals and hit it hard. This is the show I have been waiting for; these work outs I consider myself better at, compared to the open work outs, and I have worked extremely hard to get here.
Thanks Michael for getting me here!
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