The HERD FIT
Coach David Syvertsen discusses all things CrossFit, health, fitness.
The HERD FIT
S7E218: Crossfit Quarterfinal Workouts: Tips and Strategy
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We break down the 2026 CrossFit Quarterfinal workouts with Bobby Wallum and Dan Coda and focus on what wins: clear plans, clean execution, and a mindset that doesn’t leak energy into excuses. We talk strategy for athletes chasing semifinals and for athletes who simply want their best weekend, then finish with simple ways to stay calm when nerves hit.
• why we refuse to bash programming and focus on controllables
• how to think about workout order without over-stressing
• Workout 1 shuttle run turnarounds, overhead squat decisions, and why warm-up matters
• Workout 2 choose-your-own-adventure rep schemes, grip fatigue, and when to prioritize muscle-ups
• how the Workout 2 tiebreak can change your plan if you might not finish
• Workout 3 deadlift strategy, double-under mindset, and when to push for tiebreak
• practical logistics like multiple barbells and smart loading help
• Workout 4 row pacing, clean and jerk singles, and strict handstand push-up failure management
• closing advice on nerves, tunnel vision, and being proud of the effort
Hit us up if you need any help.
Welcome And Mindset Ground Rules
SPEAKER_01Hey everybody, welcome to the Herd Fit Podcast with Dr. Sam Reed and myself, Coach David Siverson. This podcast is aimed at helping anyone and everyone looking to enhance their healthy lifestyle through fitness, nutrition, and most importantly, mindset. All right, welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I am Coach David Siverson. I got two really special guests, coaches and athletes and quarterfinalists in Bob Wallum and Dan Coda, both from the Bison crew, one of 70, 77-0 CrossFit Bison athletes that have qualified for the quarterfinals this weekend. They start tomorrow, technically. Unless you're a cheater, you started yesterday or today. We'll talk about that a little bit. But we're here to break down the 2026 quarterfinal workouts. What we're not going to do is bash the workouts, complain about the workouts, because there is a time and place to talk about was the programming uh sufficient or not? Uh was it done correctly, blah, blah, blah. Everyone has an opinion on it. Uh, but we're not gonna do that. The best athletes I know and the best coaches I know and the best programmers I know, they just see a task and they plan on how they're gonna go about that workout. Um, to me, any sort of negative thoughts on the programming itself will take some wind out of your cell. So you're already building in excuses for yourself, which will make your performance uh decrease, but also can kind of have a negative impact on the room that you're in. And we're big here at Bison. I strongly believe in the fact that a lot of us can reach our ceiling because of who's around us and what's going on around us. So we're gonna try to keep this workout focused. That's it. And what we're gonna do, we're gonna break down all four workouts from two different perspectives. One of them is hey, my goal is to make semifinals. What do I need to do? Not necessarily what does your score need to be, but more macro level. What should your goal be for the workout in terms of executing a plan? What should your strategy be? What should are you gonna need to do? And don't shoot for minimums. That's not that will never be a winning plan. You always want to be on the more aggressive side. I do that every time I compete. I go for a goal that probably cannot obtain, but that is the goal for that particular workout. Um, because shooting, uh shooting for the minimum is is for losers. The second approach that we'll talk about with each workout is hey, this was my goal. I wanted to make quarters, I want to participate, I want to give my best effort. Um, what what do I need to do? What should I expect? What is coming my way? I might not even know what kind of pain is coming my way with each individual workout. So we'll touch on all those guys uh for you. But before I get into that, we have two athletes that have a ton of competing experience. Between the three of us, it's well over three decades of competing experience. Um, Bobby was top 10 at the games last year, so it's really cool to get his perspective on things uh because that's cream of the crop. That's what the top athletes shoot for, and that really does help, even though that I'm personally not on that level, it helps me understand what he's going through mentally. And if I can just kind of chase that somewhat, that means I'm on a great path. Dan, if there's at Bison, the most competitive gym in the in the world. If you ask everyone in our gym who is the most into this, who's the most passionate, who tries to find every nook and cranny to enhance his performance legally, right? Um the answer would be Dan. And and I think that his I can't tell you how many times I've had a discussion with Dan about it started off as strategy, as sport, and all of a sudden, 27 minutes later, I've missed my workout window, and we're talking about where to put your pinky on on dumbbell thrusters. So it's gonna be a fun, interesting conversation. We're gonna try to speed it up. But before we get into the workout individually, uh Bobby, we'll start with you. Where
Pre-Weekend Prep And Recovery Priorities
SPEAKER_01is your head at as a competitor 24 hours before a pretty difficult test of workouts that you need to do in a very especially you in a very short amount of time? Where does your head go right now? What can you help out some other people with?
SPEAKER_02Uh, my head really just one strategizing how I'm going to plan on doing the workouts, right? That does play a role, especially only having a few days to do it. Um, for me, I'm trying to get them done in two days. So I really need to make sure I know how I'm gonna plan those workouts out. I think I have a pretty good idea. Um, starting with the longer of the row one and finishing with the deadlift ones for me, that's gonna be the one that's gonna tax me the most. So just knowing kind of which one is gonna be the most taxing on your body, which one's kind of more in your wheelhouse, and go from there. I think is the best way to approach that. Cool. Damn, what about you? What's going on through your head right now?
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah. So right now I'm really focusing on my nutrition and and hydration by leading up to the competition, really making sure that I am getting in even a little extra calories in more than I would normally normally would, just so I'm like my body's ready to start recovery as soon as I get done with these workouts and making sure I have, you know, I'm chewing a little bit of extra electrolytes, but making sure I'm drinking enough water throughout the day, um, on top of you know, strategizing what order I'm gonna do these in and how that's gonna play a role.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, awesome. So speaking of strategizing, what we're gonna do is we're just gonna go workouts one through four. Maybe we'll touch on what order we think you guys can do these in. Um, some of that is more dictated by your personal schedule or your gym schedule. I want to say don't stress too much about it. I think people stress way too much. Like if you can come up with an ideal plan, absolutely go for it. And if you know your body best, what you recover from, what you don't. Uh, but don't stress too much, don't let that be an added stressor to an already stressful weekend for yourself, mentally, physically, some of you emotionally. Um, come up with a plan, talk to a couple people, but once you commit to it, just go for it. So we're gonna talk about them in order as released, uh, but not necessarily the order we think you should do them in because you're gonna get a lot of different opinions on that. So the first thing we'll do is talk about, let me show I do this correctly. Workout
Workout 1 Sprint Strategy And Warm-Up
SPEAKER_01one is probably the shortest one of the weekend, and I would say the most intense in terms of how fast, how many reps you're trying to do per minute. And it's 10 50 foot shuttle runs. You're going 25 down, 25 back, 20 overhead squat, 30 burpees over the bar. That's lateral. You rest a minute and then you do it reverse order: 30 burbies over bar, 20 overhead squat, 10, 50 foot shuttle runs. First impression on this workout is there really is no area to fully pace this out, including the shuttle runs. In most cases, when we've seen shuttle runs in CrossFit sport at this level, um, down from CrossFit HQ, it's usually a longer drawn out. You're really not going that fast. This is gonna replicate that high school basketball suicide sprints, like to the free throw line, half court, other free throw, like how fast can you get these done? And that's something I think people need to put some thought into. Bobby, we don't do a lot of sprinting at in crossfit in general. Um, how much are you looking at this part of the workout as something that you really need to hammer? Or do you think it's more in that 70% effort range?
SPEAKER_02Um, I think it depends on your goal for the workout for sure. Number one, depending on the overhead squats are for you. Uh, but if you're someone that's looking at this and you want to take it on unbroken overhead squats, try to get the fastest score possible, yeah, you're gonna need to push those harder than you want to. I would say that your goal should be for that after the rest minute, the second round, to try to make that faster, right? This the entire round, try to make that one a little faster than the first one. So not to say to go slow on the first round, but if you can like just dial back a little bit, um, I think that can set you up to really push hard and finish up strong.
SPEAKER_01Dan, do you think for a qualifying spot for the next stage, are you going into this saying this is one set of overhead squats both times?
SPEAKER_00Um, I'm I'm actually thinking the first set of overhead squats doing a 12-8. Okay. Just a really quick break. Okay. Uh, I think the second one is unbroken and I think it should be unbroken. Okay. Um, and like Bobby was saying, I think the second rant, like second after the minute rest, like that's all out, nothing left in the tank. You should be moving. It's gonna get, I think it gets easier with each movement. Um, you know, you get through the burpees if you can get into a good solid overhead position and just lock in and just you know, blank out and just push through. Like 115 is a weight that for a lot of people is not super heavy, and you should be able to keep that like thinking about good positioning. You should be able to stay through and and get through those 20 because knowing that those last 10 shuttle runs is gonna be an all-out. Whatever you got left, um, it's it's kind of fun in a lot of ways. It's like you don't get to sprint a lot in a as in the end of a workout ever. It's like having a row at the very end where it's like, all right, well, I know this is gonna hurt, but I'll also I know I can go harder than I ever could in a lot of other movements.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I can't remember the last time I've actually like run shuttle runs hard, hard. And I and um, you know, it's weird because you can't really accelerate to a top speed. So I do think if there's one thing to practice, right? I think there this is one that can be practiced a couple times, like short, get a good warm-up in. Is practice what does it mean to do a shuttle run faster? Like you're really not gonna hit a a higher uh mile per hour speed rate when you're when you're running, but it's about the turnaround.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's changed.
SPEAKER_01Bobby, how do I turn around quicker? Like what from an athlete perspective? Like, what do you what's the focus there? Is I've seen athletes in the past, they start like overdoing this like turnaround almost halfway through, and they kind of finish the run going back. Where did you think about when you have to just turn around quicker?
SPEAKER_02Um, I'm always thinking about planting. So this might get a little bit too confusing, but you want to plant your inside leg. It's all and I'm always gonna be facing the same way. So if I'm I'm facing one way, I'm planting my left leg going one direction. As I come back the other way, I'm planting my right leg, always touching the ground with the closer with that leg that's the inside leg. So that's the one I'm always touching the ground with. Just make it easier to shift your weight back and forth.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Is it likely? So from a qualifying perspective, and we'll get into hey, not trying to qualify, that's not my goal, but from a qualifying perspective, are you looking at this as essentially a minute on average per movement? Is that is that realistic, Bobby?
SPEAKER_02It's realistic for some. Um the third, I mean the 30 burpees over the bar, that's likely gonna take a little bit more than a minute. The shuttle runs, if you're moving fast, that's about you know 50 seconds to a minute. Yeah, um, so I mean, yeah, realistically, yeah, because there's overhead squats, you can finish them in 35, 40 seconds unbroken. So can you hold a minute average per movement? Yes. Will I? Not so sure about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I guess the burbies have will take over a minute for pretty much everyone, but the overhead squats, if you're unbroken, will probably be under a minute. So they could so I do so. I I don't want to give a I just don't like giving goal times for such a wide group of athletes. But I do think if you are trying to qualify for a semifinal, you you probably need to average about 115 per movement, and that gives you time, as Dan said, you could drop it. Dan, are you gonna do you think it's important to squat snatch the first rep? You are allowed to squat snatch that. Is it important or is it too risky in that you don't want to fail it or walk forward a little bit? Like sometimes it is quicker to power snatch quickly and then start going.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean that's a confidence thing for sure. If if you are very confident in your squat snatch, it's gonna be faster. And and that's that's the way I'm gonna attack it. I've done a lot of work on that. Um, but if I think if you were if you're not confident, you don't want to miss that snatch for sure. So a power snatch, right, you know, set up and then go right into this overhead splash. I don't think that's gonna be so so much of a time loss that it's that like, especially if you're only doing you know, two sets in the first one and one in the second one, or even if you're breaking it up two and two um for both, I don't I don't think it's a big problem. Okay, I think it's more of a problem if you miss.
SPEAKER_01Yes, exactly. Yeah, and that that anxiety right there, that fear of like if it's if you're like if you're not confident in it, like if it was a squat clean, I would be like done. Squat snatch, like I don't know. If if you're on the fence, like I'm kind of on the fence with it, I wouldn't bother, you know. But last thing, Bobby, on this, how important is a warm-up for this one? Because it is a high heart rate. I bet this is the highest our heart rate will get all weekend uh by the end. How important is a warm-up for you on a workout like this?
SPEAKER_02This is one that I'm definitely gonna get my heart rate up on. Um, I know a lot of people complain about my warmups at the gym. Um, but this is definitely one where you're gonna wanna wanna do that. Get your heart rate up, get on the assault bike, push a little bit, run your um, run your shuttle runs, practice your transitions, get back on the bike, hit a couple burpees over the bar, right? You're gonna definitely want to more warm all those up because you need to be moving fast in order to get this one done in your best time.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Great. So
Workout 2 Rep Schemes And Grip Fatigue
SPEAKER_01um workout two. So that's it for workout one. We're gonna work on to workout two. This is the one that I've gotten the most amount of questions about is what should I be doing on workout two? And this is 80. Bear with me if you're watching on YouTube. Um, but this is the one where you have to do 80 dumbbell double dumbbell squat cleans. All right, I'm gonna get this on the screen right now, all right. And 40 bar muscle ups. What I when I first saw this, I didn't even pick up on the fact that it's a choose your own adventure, meaning you break this up however you want. Okay. So this can be 10 rounds of eight and four. You can come up with a custom rep scheme, you can bang out your biggest set of bar muscle-ups while you're fresh. Do whatever you want. And as a coach, this is a really one hard one to give general advice on. And when we talk about all year, knowing yourself as an athlete, being mindful, understanding what you're good at, what you're bad at, and really kind of breaking yourself down throughout the year, you should probably have a decent plan for a workout like this if you do that. If you ignore it or you get too caught up into just being told what to do all the time and you're not reflecting, this one could cause a lot of anxiety, like no idea what to do. So, Dan, let's start off with you. What do you think? Before we talk about strategy, what is the limiter of this workout? If you're just a somewhat balanced athlete, like you're not a gymnast that struggles with lifting, you're not a lifter that struggles with gymnastics. What is the limiter in this workout that everyone should expect at some point?
SPEAKER_00I think grip is gonna be the main thing. Um, because just holding on to the dumbbells, holding on to the bar on the muscle up, it's just gonna really you don't get a break in there. So more the more you go in, the harder it's gonna be to hold on. Um, you know, hopefully you're hook, hook gripping. Um, but I think that'll be the main thing that people might not expect.
SPEAKER_01Bobby, what about what about you with this workout? When you say, I oh whoops, I think I just missed something. Okay, sorry. Um, when it comes to this workout with yes, grip is definitely gonna be a factor. Do you try to think about keeping sets smaller so that you can get more rest just on the break on the grip itself? Or do you like bigger sets on this, trusting your grip and understanding that that time of transitioning will help enough? And you have an opportunity to switch up your patterns as you go. Uh, meaning the grip demand on a dumbbell squat clean is slightly different than what it is on a bar muscle up. You just different muscle activation. So I'm actually thinking as you start getting really tired from grip on a squat clean, that doesn't necessarily mean you're not going to be able to hold on to the rig for a few reps. It just might mean like, wow, these squat cleans are getting a little too inefficient. I'm gonna put it down and go bang out of the set. Um, do you think that someone has to pick a rep scheme prior to the workout? Or do you think it's possible to go based on feel?
SPEAKER_02I went back and forth on this about 10,000 times how I want to do the workout. Um, I think that you definitely can base it on feel. Um, I don't think that I mean you could go with a plan, sure. Um, but that doesn't always mean that that plan is gonna work out. So you have to be able to maybe just go on the fly. So I do think that you can just go by feel. I think having an idea of what you want to do is probably best. And I think for most people, uh more sets with smaller chunks of work at a time is gonna help. Uh, just because your heart rate's gonna be up too, the leg fatigue is gonna be like 80 dumbbell squat. When I first looked at this, I was like, oh, 80, 40. All right, that's not so bad. And then I started thinking 80 is so many. What am I what am I talking about? That's a lot of reps. So that's gonna that's gonna hurt. Um, so I don't know. I was going back and forth. You could start with a bigger chunk of the bar muscle ups and end with a big chunk of the hang squat cleans. It's just do whatever you can in the middle, or going with a plan to see what happens. But yeah, I'm still struggling.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's okay. And I guys, I I think if you're struggling about this leading up to the moment you start, you're like everyone else. Right. And I I disagree with some people in the space that say there should never be choose your own adventure workouts, because I think one thing that gets overlooked, I know it's not one of the 10 general skills of CrossFit is brain power and the ability to think and process, but I think I don't think it needs to be included in the top 10. Like I think that about life. You should always be able to kind of break yourself down, be self-aware, and try to get a task done in any way possible. And I don't think we should be robots. That's why part of why I like CrossFit sport, that's why I like getting workouts that I may not feel are the best tests of fitness, but it doesn't matter what I think. It really matters how do you respond to something like this. So I think it's a really fun adventure, uh, if you will, for everyone to take this on and just be like, hey, you're gonna learn a lot about yourself in this workout. I bet even you guys who have we have three decades of experience of competing in this chat alone, we are gonna learn things about ourselves in this workout. And so, Dan, tell me this. This is a really common situation that a lot of people are in. They have muscle ups, but they're not always there. Like you, you and Bobby can pop up there anytime in a workout and say, hey, go do five. Okay, fine, I'll do five. Go do 10. Okay, I'll go do 10. Right? A lot of people are not like that. They have one or two, and sometimes they fail them, sometimes they're not there. Do you recommend starting the workout off no matter what, with bar muscle-ups, if that's your position?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think if if you only have a couple in you and and you're not sure, definitely start the workout with that because uh you'll have plenty of time to get through the 80. But if you get through the 80 and then you have three bar muscle-ups, that's gonna be a pretty decent separator for people who have zero muscle-ups, right? And then the further in the workout you go, the much harder those muscle-ups are gonna feel. So for sure, if you if you struggle with bar muscle-ups, I would say get as many as you can early, even if you can do like one, do a few uh you know, dumbbell squat um squat cleans, then get back to another one, or maybe stay at the bar for about a minute or two and just try to get as many as you can done, and then just start hammering away, chipping away on the squat cleans um for the rest of the workout.
SPEAKER_01Here's an interesting angle that I think the good gymnasts need to be very aware of. Um, if you're not sure if you're gonna finish this workout, okay, and the the cap is pretty long, by the way. Um, you will see people do this, I think, in about seven to eight minutes. Um those are the top times in the world. So don't stress if you're if you're not there, okay. But if you're a gymnast that struggles with lifting, you better make sure you finish the 80 squat cleans. That's all. Because this tie break is really weird. This tie break is tough for judges, by the way. Your tie break is if you don't finish, how fast do you get to 60 reps? So I'm gonna give an example, and I want everyone to be aware of this. If I don't do a single bar muscle up and I get 80 reps, but you did all 40 bar muscle ups and you got to 39 squat cleans, right? And that you use the 15 minutes, right? Um I'm gonna beat your score if I got to 60 before you. Does that make sense? Now, if you finish the workout, your score will be above any will be better than anyone that does not finish the workout, okay? Obviously. But the tie break for anyone that does not get all these reps done, okay, your muscle ups are not worth more than the squat cleans. So that that's something if if someone just does all 80 squat cleans and they got to 60 reps really quickly, meaning before you, because you spent a lot of time going back and forth between muscle up and squat clean, their time uh will be better if you have the same score at the end. So just be careful with all uh If you're not sure if you can finish this workout or not, make sure within the window you get all those squat cleans done. That'll maximize your score compared to people that are not getting muscle ups. Bobby, do you think people should overanalyze that? Like, I mean, how can one figure out if they can finish this or not? Is there a way as a coach you would say, like someone comes out to you and says, Do you think I can finish this? Where does your mind go?
SPEAKER_02Um I think it just comes down to the muscle up proficiency for most people. Um if you know, if you're someone that you can only do three to four, maybe five fresh at a time, realistically, like, do you have a shot at finishing this? You have a shot, but will you? It's gonna be it's gonna be tough.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um so I think I think it just comes down to how many muscle ups you can do.
SPEAKER_01And that that probably does give some credibility to the thought of maybe I should bang out a big set at the start, you know.
SPEAKER_02Like if your max set is eight, maybe you start off with with eight and then just then you chip away on the dumbbells and do a couple reps at a time on the um the muscle ups after, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I like that plan for a lot of people. I'm thinking about a lot of people in my head right now, and that might be the way. Are you guys gonna start? Like you guys are both have a goal of semifinals. Are you where are you guys gonna start?
SPEAKER_00So I'm gonna do um I'm doing four bar muscle up, eight uh squat cleans for 10 rounds is my goal. Okay, starting with the bar muscle up, and just um I I toyed with doing like a big set to start, like a set of 10. Um, but I think just staying in a good rhythm from the beginning and not like tiring myself out for no reason, I think I can manage that back and forth pretty quick. You know, I think you have to, if you're gonna do that kind of thing, I think you have to be disciplined in your in your transition. Like you just get down, walk, pick them up, you know, drop them, walk, get on the bar. Um, and my backup plan is if it starts to feel like those bar muscle subs are getting really hard and I'm struggling to get my third or fourth one, I'm just gonna start go down to four and two and just whatever I have left to do that. Um, so that's kind of like my my goal is to do 10 rounds, but if it breaks falls apart, then I'll break it down in however many rounds it needs to. But um, I want to keep those sets like manageable in my head. I can always get up and do it.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Yeah, I think there's there's truth to knowing what's coming, you know, like there's there's truth to be like, hey, 10 rounds, eight and four, or four and eight. And then again, plan B is like cut something down in half. But if you know, if you're starting to fail or starting to get to a point you can't hold on anymore, or God forbid you might fail a muscle up or two, um, you do have the flexibility to maybe spend a little bit extra time at somewhere else. Last thing on this workout, because the dumbbell squat clean is a movement we don't do often. Most gyms don't do these often. I know I haven't done these often. Bobby, do you have advice on this most common question we get from movement perspective? Dumbbells between the legs to a squat or dumbbells outside the legs to a squat.
SPEAKER_02Um, I cannot give you that information because it just depends. It depends on the person.
SPEAKER_01At a disadvantage, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. No, it depends on the person. I know multiple people that go between the legs, they have a little bit of a wider stance, they don't move their feet. Uh, if you're gonna go on the outside of the legs, your feet will be a little bit more narrow and you'll probably need to step your leg out. So it's really just what your comfort is on those. And I would definitely recommend practicing both and getting a good feel of both of them and seeing which which is the most efficient for you and which one you feel most comfortable with, and just stick with that. Don't try, don't overthink it too much, but just uh see what feels good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, whatever feels more natural, whatever gets the dumbbells to the optimal position, uh more efficiently. And like you don't want those things in front of you, you know, you want those things you ideally your hands are near your ears, you know, over the midline. Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_00I think also uh something that people should know is that the first rep you can clean from the floor. It doesn't you don't need to establish a hang before on the first rep each time.
SPEAKER_01Okay, good. I actually didn't read that, so thanks for that, Dan. Because um, that that does absolutely matter.
SPEAKER_02That changes things, so you can transition much more and just pull it from the ground.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, all right, cool.
Workout 3 Deadlifts And Double-Unders Plan
SPEAKER_01All right, um, so next up we will go to workout three, which is the one that a lot of people, including these two guys, would prefer to do last. And before we get into that, Bobby and Dan, tell me why you think this should be done last. Um, if you're getting into the order, you know, at Bison, it's the Friday workout. A lot of these people, this is gonna be the first one they do or second one. If they have to follow our class schedule, again, you have all the open gym times, you can vary it up as much as you want. Um, but Bobby, touch on why you think this for you um is last. What what advantage does this give you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so again, for me, like I'm doing all four in two days, so I just need to try to prioritize what makes the most sense and what's gonna for be the most taxing overall on my body. And this one with 60 deadlifts, pretty heavy weight at a high intensity, this one is definitely gonna fry my central nervous system, my uh hamstrings, my lats are gonna be real uh fatigued from this. So I just know that going in. If I tried to do something the day after this, that would uh it would probably take away from that, um, from my just fatigue level. So this this would definitely be the one for me to hit last.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Dan, what about you? Are you in the same same frame of mind there?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that um like the overall volume is not so high, but I think it's gonna be the intensity that you can push this at. Like those just doing sets of you know at 10 deadlifts, or if you're doing 6'4, or um, you can do those fast, um, especially the you know, the first three rounds is a moderate weight. You should you should be moving it pretty pretty decently. So I think that that overall fatigue on the posterior chain is gonna really affect anything else after this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is if you do this before the row workout, which is our next one that we're gonna talk about, I bet your row will be slower. So I I think just keep that, just keep that in mind. Um, some of you guys have like just I don't want to say sensitive, but just kind of like your low backs have a harder time recovering from a lot of workouts, and that could affect the dumbbell squat cleans. Like that's something to think about, especially if you're going in between the legs, you're gonna be hinging more in between every rep. Um, that'll become more taxing. It's gonna be more demand on your grip. So I think in a perfect world, doing this last is a good idea, or at least giving yourself a rest day after this one, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So if you take off Saturday and then come back Sunday, you have Monday as well until 3 p.m. Eastern. Um, maybe maybe just not make this one the first one you do, you know. They because it'll it'll you're gonna have to do one somewhat soon after. And so I agree that this one could do. The the misconception on this one is gonna be the the weights. A lot of people are complaining that these workouts are not heavy enough. And I can see why someone would say that. I I won't even disagree that it's on the light side for a quarterfinal stage, but I do think a lot of people are underestimating how heavy those last three sets of deadlifts will be, not because the weight, but because of the fact that you did 30 deadlifts at 225 slash 155 two, three minutes uh before you start that back hat, even more. Like you're gonna be doing this, can be done around per minute. It absolutely can be. You will see people doing this workout in six minutes. Um, someone said four minutes. I think Taylor Sell said that I would impossible, and that that will not be done four minutes. I do think you'll see people doing this emam style. If you're good on the jump rope, that's 25 to 30 seconds of work, factor in the transition, deadlifts one to one and a half seconds per 45 second rounds, transition time a little bit, but you are looking at sub six. That means the 275s and the 315 will not feel like 275 and 315. Bobby, for a qualifying spot, can I break these deadlifts up and still do a good job and get a good score for a qualifying caliber score?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, easy. No doubt. Okay, I think uh even starting on that first bar, you could break them up. I'm not when I say break them up, you're not resting for 10 to 15 seconds between every set, but I think you could do even if you did four, three, three, if you broke it pretty quickly. That being said, the jump rope needs to be needs to be on, right? If you're you're breaking up and then you're tripping on the jump rope, that's a different story. You would want to break these deadlifts so that you can push the go unbroken on the jump rope and not not be like dragging on the deadlifts themselves. So you have to be able to hit those jump ropes unbroken or you know, trip up, breathe, reset, and go.
SPEAKER_01Can I break up my trip, uh my jump rope 14 times in this workout?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, for sure. Singles and the double unders.
SPEAKER_01I mean, hey, there's the other side to this, right? Everyone's looking at the weight. Um, I'm still that guy. Like, if I have a bad jump rope day, I'll trip up every set. Like, I will, I and and I won't freak out. But if Dan, if someone's in that frame of mind where like their jump rope's a little inconsistent, right? You guys are both really consistent. I'm not. Would you ever recommend saying, dude, go broke on the deadlifts? Go for it. And then it makes the it gives you a little bit more margin on the jump rope, where like if you trip up, it's almost not a big deal. It's just like a little force break. Time-wise, it's really no different than breaking up the deadlifts on purpose. And someone like myself and people that maybe aren't trying to qualify, but they're trying to get their best score. It's almost like, hey, if I go really high effort on the deadlifts and I have the capacity to do so, um, it actually kind of makes the jump rope a little less stressful. What what are your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I think uh, you know, the mental game on that is helpful to know that you're you're getting through the deadlifts quicker so that you can, it's almost like you're building in the trips in your mind. Like, all right, that's fine. You just keep going. Because the the main thing always is staying calm through double unders. Like when you start tripping up, the more aggravated you get, the worse it's gonna it's gonna get for you. So it's not it's not a bad idea. If you have the capacity, I'd say go for it because you're gonna get the extra rest in the the double under time. Um, and you know, I think like you said, those later weights are gonna feel super heavy. So um it might not it might not go as planned at that point, but right, it's a good way to start.
SPEAKER_01Now, the the tiebreaker is after the deadlift set. So we do have people in quarterfinals that this is like you're approaching 90% of your one right max. So if I put 90% of your guys' one rep max on one of these barbells, the second, the last one, this is a different workout for you. You that you're not thinking touch and go, you're thinking one or two at a time, maybe. Um what's your general plan? I know you guys have been there before with workouts that have weights that you might not be able to touch or they're just really heavy for you. Do you like to try and get a better tie break time and go really fast with the weights you can manage, but it could fry you for the end? Or do you like keeping reps in reserve, meaning I'm not going that fast early on so to have more juice? There's no right or wrong, it's different for everyone. But again, I want to talk to some people that are looking at this third barbell. You know you're gonna get there, but man, that is gonna be a nasty wait for me. Would I rather slow myself down early to have more opportunity to get more reps, or do I would I rather um go as fast as I can for the sake of my tie break time? What's the general guidance there, Bobby?
SPEAKER_02I think if you have the ability to lift that final bar and you're planning on it, I think you should keep a little bit in reserve so you can get more reps. I think that should always be the plan. Okay, but if you I think like I there's there may be no shot of me lifting this bar, then you have no other option than to push on the other bars prior to that and get a better tie break time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, similar to 26.2. If you didn't have ring muscle, yeah, it was just get there as quickly as you can. Good. Um, important to note, everyone, you can set up multiple barbells
Setup Logistics And Barbell Changes
SPEAKER_01for this. So if you have people around that can help you with changing weights, that's an option as well. Uh, make sure those people know exactly what to do when it comes to adding weight to the barbell. Because someone that's really good on jump rope, that's 25 seconds of work. And if someone's really trying to move through this, um, that's not a lot, like that might not be enough time for one person to change both sides of the weight. Especially I've seen people that are not the strongest, like they just can't get the bar off the ground to slide weights on on a heavy deadlift bar. And that would be frustrating for an athlete to get to the barbell and they're not allowed to lift it yet, especially if they're shooting for like a really quick time. So I would say you have two options here. Um, get two people to help you out so they could just they're in charge of one side of your barbell, or set up multiple barbells. You could, it would look kind of funny, but you could set up three barbells for this and just kind of work your way down the ladder. Um, you don't have to worry about camera angles or anything like that. Or you could set up two barbells. So have your first two set up, and then someone can change that. They're gonna have two, three minutes to set up the uh change that first barbell to the third barbell weight. So again, these are things, competitors, like you got to think about this stuff now. This is what to do now. It's not go do assault bike sprints, it's not go practice every workout. You want to think about every little milk and cranny of the workout, and that's something to ponder. Um, is there anything else on this workout that you guys change, think about with logistics, spacing strategy that that we didn't touch on?
SPEAKER_02No, I don't think so. I think you just nailed the last one with the barbells.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, pretty, pretty uh simple workout, guys. And like that's another thing I like about these workouts. They're simple crossfit where you can pursue intensity. There's not a ton of strategy other than the muscle up one, but even that, it's gonna be it's still intensity based, which is why I do like these workouts. Um, last one, guys, and this is actually the one, Coda. Are you doing this one first as well?
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so all three of us are doing this one first.
Workout 4 Row Pace Grace Singles HSPU
SPEAKER_01Bobby and I are gonna try to do this one tomorrow afternoon. We both have young kids, kids, so you just never know uh what our schedule is gonna be. But our plan is to do this one first tomorrow, like right after the window starts, um at around 3 45 p.m. And I'm looking forward to uh looking forward to doing this one with Bobby because it's the only one I can really stay with him on, and um until we get to the straight handstand push-ups. But it'll be it'll be fun to do it with him, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's also the longest workout of the weekend for I would say, yeah, this will probably be the longest one for everyone, no matter what level you're pursuing. So keep this in mind that uh over half the time in this workout is going for most is going to be spent on the rower, and the intensity of the other two movements is not going to tax you that much for the rest of the weekend. I know Short Tan Sand push-ups can really beat you up, but if they beat you up, you're probably doing one or two at a time, and most of your time is spent looking at the wall, evolved in there. Um, I don't I really don't think this is gonna beat you up that much. So I like doing this one first, and it just it's out of your head. You don't need to think about it, and it probably won't affect you for the rest of the weekend. So it's a thousand-meter row, 30 cleaning jerks, it's grace, by the way. There, another thousand-meter row, and then 30 strict handstand push-ups. The number one question I've gotten so far: what should my row pace be? Dan, you are a solid rower, you're pretty good at pulling. Your strict handstands are one of your weaknesses, but you put a ton of work on them. You and Bobby have done a lot, and I was watching you yesterday. Like, they really have come a long way. Like, this is a different workout for you now than it was two years ago. For sure. What does a guy like you? Because I'm telling you, most people that are doing this workout are in the same boat. They're looking like cool, workouts fun until enhanced push-ups. Is that on your mind while you row? Like, what what row pace do you plan on being at?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. Um, I know that for me that those strict hand push-ups is the workout for me. So I want to get there feeling as good as I can. Um, I think the first row, my my row pace, which you know, if if if if those did not exist and it was just the other stuff, I'd probably be in in the mid 140s or upper 140s. But I'm looking at both of these rows in the like around 155, okay knowing that you know, maybe I lose 20 to 30 seconds over other people at my level um to get to the wall. But then when I get to the wall, I should feel fresh enough um that I can start taking on those sets that I need to to be able to finish this in a decent amount of time. Versus if I am totally gassed when I get there, I know for me that that just turns into singles, yep, you know, and then and failure because I I'm just so tired. Um, so yeah, I'm this is this is definitely uh not gonna hurt, I feel like as bad as it could if I'm a good hand good at hand single ships.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Bobby, um, good rower, good barbell. This is a really good workout for you. Um, just good crosshair in general. But my my question to you is do you think about the barbell is also a common question. I think a lot of people are like touch and go or singles. Um, what is your plan and why on that?
SPEAKER_02Barbell. Um, I'm gonna go singles from the beginning. I really don't think that there's a need to try to go touch and go and set a world record on my my grace time in the middle of this workout. I think uh I think singles on it, uh just stay over the barbell, have to be disciplined, follow the bar back to the ground, don't move your feet around, don't step away from it, stay right on top of it. And if you can just stay consistent, do one at a time, and get it done somewhere between two and a half to three-ish minutes, you know, that's still moving through it pretty well. And I think that would set you up better than trying to finish it in two minutes or less. It's a not that much time, right? And but the amount of effort you're putting into it and your heart rate getting jacked up can really affect everything else.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that's a good point. That I think you're capable of going touch and go, but it's gonna, it's it's almost pointless because you the time that you gain on it will be pretty much lost on both the row and handstand push-ups. After it's not that the movement's hard, it's that you don't lose tension, right? You're always tense, you're always holding on. Like grace can be done in a minute, 30 seconds when it's unbroken. Grace all singles is like three minutes or less. It's really not a huge ep, but the heart rate can actually come down a little bit. I do want to challenge everyone though, and I think I think all three of us are gonna feel this as well. When you get to rep 20, you got to suck it up. Like you cannot walk away from that bar. If you're trying to qualify again, the qualifying people, right? If you're trying to qualify for semis, you cannot walk away from that bar. You cannot put your hands on your knees, even if you're good at handstands and decent at rowing. Again, we're not shooting for minimums here. I think the challenge for you needs to be get to 20 and then suck it up. Do not walk away from the bar. How much slower, Dan and Bobby? I want Bob, you answer this first. Do you anticipate your second row being slower than your first? And is it okay if that's the case?
SPEAKER_02It's okay, depending on how much slower it is. I think you should be trying to push that one a little bit harder. I think the first one should be a little bit slower, the second one should be a little bit harder.
SPEAKER_01Okay. That cap, the cap is long, just so you know. Um plenty of time, yeah. So, and I bring that up because I don't know how relevant the tiebreaker will be. You know, that the tiebreaker is the second row, but a lot of people are gonna finish this workout a lot. And so if you I don't think you need to sprint the last row, but I do think I practiced a half a round of this yesterday, and I'm not Mr. Hamstand push-up. I think my max set is probably 22, 23 unbroken. I don't like, I think I could do that now, I'm not sure. And I got up there, I rested about 15-20 seconds before starting the last headstand, last set of handstands, and I didn't feel any deficiency in my handstand push-ups at all. So I I would go into saying you will feel close to 80 to 90 percent, other than breathing heavy on your strict handstand push-ups. So that actually was encouraging me to be like, I agree, put let push the row, not just for the tiebreaker, just for for your actual time. But if you don't finish, if you really do struggle with handstand push-up, that second row is the tiebreaker. So that's gonna be a big part of this. Dan, when you get to a point, this is gonna happen to almost everyone. When you get to a point of failure or near failure on handstand push-ups, what goes through your head? Because a lot of people don't have like a light in their head that says, Okay, go do it. Like you have to take a chance at some point. And the worst thing to happen is you either fail or your feet come off the wall and it doesn't count. And you and you go, do you stay on the conservative side there or do you try to be a little more aggressive?
SPEAKER_00Um, I definitely stay conservative because I know like once my shoulders go, it's just totally gone. So, like, even like if I let's say I'm trying to do sets of four, if my third set feels really tough, I just come off the wall right there. Um, I try to shake it out. And early on, I'm trying to do no more than 10 second breaks. So I'm trying to either count in my head or look at the clock and get right back on. Um, because the moment I struggle through and I fall back down to my head, that's like 30 seconds of rest coming up, right? So yeah, uh, I'm trying to be as conservative, conservative as As I can with the shoulders for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Try to keep your butts off the wall, top of those handstands, guys. Like it's a lot of you guys do it subconsciously, but when you put your ass on the wall, you're resting against the wall and it's not on your shoulders. That's why we naturally do it. It gives your shoulders relief. But if you have a real judge, um, it won't count. So just make sure at the top of that rep your butt is not touching the wall. And um because the worst thing you do is do a rep and you don't get credit for it. Bobby, you probably it's it probably within your scope to do 30 in a row at the end. And if you don't, I'm gonna I'm gonna yell at you during the road. No, but it in Dan has a number in his head, 10 to 15 second break. I'm on the Dan side. Like I I have failed hands, I've seen people fail and you're just watching them fail over and over again. It's like, man, just literally take a minute off. When you're a higher level athlete and you are trying to really push your score on this, do you have a set amount of time or does it start earlier? Do you have a feeling that you have on handstands of ooh, I know I could do another one or two, but I'm just gonna come down. Where's the line for you as an athlete? I know it's all internal, but can you kind of put it in words? What is the feeling for you of when should you come down and how long should you rest in between sets?
SPEAKER_02Um, well, first of all, I've failed plenty of handstand push-ups in my day, just like you guys. Um but yeah, so for something like this, the end of it, I'm gonna try to push it as as much as I can. That being said, like anybody else, if I get to the point where my shoulders give out and I fail a handstand push-up, that's that a strict handstand push-up, that's gonna be devastating because I too will take 30 way too long. But if I come in, I know I could do sets of 10. So if I come in, do 10 really quick ones, come down, shake it out, rest 10 seconds, get back up, do 10 more, come down, shake it out. That I could do, or it's just but it's gonna depend on feel. If I do 10, I feel like okay, I could still bang out a few more. I'm gonna do 15. See how those feel, then come down, or so it will come down to feel if if necessary, but that's what I'm thinking.
SPEAKER_01This, yeah, this is where experience comes in. Like I always feel like people that have experience have so much of an advantage over so many workouts. Like, you could just recall so many different moments where, like, you touch the iron, you got burned. I'm not doing that again, or hey, I put all this work in, like, I should be better than last time. Um, so those those pieces of advice really do help. So, to wrap this up, guys, I had a feeling this was gonna go past the time cap. Hopefully, I'm not screwing up your day.
Nerves Focus And Final Advice
SPEAKER_01Um, the the last thing I want to talk about is just like, what is your one bit of advice to people that are going to no matter what your goal is? Um, this brings up, I don't want to call it anxiety, I don't want to get too serious on here, but there's nerves, there's I gotta go to the bathroom, there's doubt, self-doubt. Um, what is something that you guys, you guys have both worked with Rafi? I've worked with Rafi, you have a lot of experience, you guys are coaches, you're also athletes. Um, what what are some things that you can pull together that might help someone that's just kind of like, hey, I can't lock in my thoughts right now. I can't focus. I'm lit, there's too many things going on. What's something that can really truly help someone just stay tunneled vision throughout these four tests of fitness? Yeah, I think you go first.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that um one big thing is just focus on the task at hand. Don't think, don't start once you've figured out like what order you're doing them or whatever, just don't think about the rest of the weekend. Think about your next workout, think about how you're gonna attack it, and know that you're gonna be more nervous than any other normal workout because it matters a little bit more to you. Probably care a little bit more. You don't wanna um you know, you want to do your best. Uh, but if you just focus on just what's in front of you, um, that'll help a lot over the the full weekend.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Bobby.
SPEAKER_02Um, for me, I mean, these these are just workouts like you do any other day, right? You do these all the time. Uh, are they a little harder? Maybe, or maybe you're just making them harder in your own mind. Um, so really at the end of the day, you just need to have fun with it. Uh, this is a great opportunity to display your fitness to yourself, to your peers, to everyone at the gym. So have fun and don't put too much stress on yourself because at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter that much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a good point. It doesn't. Um last thing I'll put in is this one thing I've always tried to tell myself, you know, because you a lot of people kind of waver with the confidence levels. I hey, I'm locked in. Hey, it's been a rough few months, blah, blah, blah. I think the results from this weekend, whether you're happy or upset about them, it's the sum of nearly decades worth of just life experiences and training and work. It's not just what you did the last three months in the gym. It's not just what your nutrition looks like right now. Um the only thing you can control right now is just being proud of how hard you go in these workouts and like how how how locked in you can stay. If you can be, if you can walk out of every single workout and say, I'm really proud of how hard I tried in that workout and how positive I remained, and like I didn't let those negative thoughts overcome. There's nothing, there's nothing better than being proud of that. You know, it's not about where you rank, it's not about who beat you or who you beat, or even qualifying for the next stage. At this point, the only thing you can truly do is really hurt yourself with bad thoughts, negative thoughts, anxiety, comparing yourself to someone else, or comparing what you did five years ago. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is the moment, what you're doing right now. And you get to control that. You get to make that decision prior to the workout. This is what I'm gonna be thinking about during these struggle points. You'll be proud of it, you'll be better for it. And I bet your performance will actually be better because of that. So trust your training, trust what you've done over your entire lifetime. You are in a very exclusive group of people, right? We don't want to make anyone feel better or worse, but you're top 25% in the world in the hardest fitness program on the planet earth. That's pretty freaking cool. And I hope you guys can keep that front and center as you take on these tests of fitness. So that's gonna wrap it up, guys. We wish you luck. Hit us up if you need any help. Bison athletes, you're gonna kick ass. We got your back from start to finish. And um, a lot of you started two days ago. So the next time we do it, it's gonna be uh it's gonna be a repeat already. Just kidding, everyone. We will see you guys at the gym. Thank you. Bye, guys. Thank you, everybody, for taking the time out of your day to listen to the Herd Fit podcast. Be on the lookout for next week's episode.