Open WOD 15.3 apparently sparked quite a bit of controversy in the CrossFit community. For the first time in the Open, a WOD began with Muscle Ups--a move which involves getting from hanging below a set of gymnastics rings to being above the rings with arms straight, and a move which, more than any other in CrossFit, serves to separate the Badasses from the Bad At It. (Of course, gymnasts simply refer to Muscle Ups as "getting on the rings so I can then proceed to do the real routine," but I digress). Because most of us average (OK, below average) CrossFitters can't do Muscle Ups, a great many people who did the first two Open WOD's Rx were now forced to do 15.3 at the Scaled level. Naturally, this made a lot of Non-Muscle-Uppers cranky.
It just made me bored.
At my level of CrossFit--which I would place at "Just Above Suck"--many if not most competition WODs I've done have had at least one move that I'm not sure I can complete. Toes to Bar, pistol squats, heavy overhead stuff, handstand pushups...the list goes on. So I've become accustomed, in competitions like the Granite Games Qualifier and Masters Sectionals, as well as the first two Open WOD's, to there being an element of suspense in my effort. Will I do it, or will I spend the entire WOD futilely attempting to clean something or jerk something or get some body part above the bar? Sure, there are letdowns, like my "spend nine minutes to get four T2B" Open WOD 15.1 debacle...but there have been many more times when I've surprised myself and done something I hadn't thought possible--and while I realize that for most people competitions are more about "how fast can I do this?" than "can I do this at all?" still, I've become accustomed to that thrill of surprising myself in competitions.
And up until the WOD was announced on Thursday night, I was pretty sure that 15.3 would not disappoint, and would contain one of those "can I do it?" moves. Rumor had it that 15.3 would consist of double unders and pistol squats--pistol squats being one-legged squats that I had managed to achieve on my left leg for the first time in one of the Granite Games Masters Sectionals WOD's. I hadn't tried one since I avulsed my hammy six months ago, and I was pretty sure I would be unable to do them--my right leg, which had previously been the one I had no trouble doing pistols on, is now, of course, my injured leg; and my left leg, the one that had barely been able to do pistols before, has been taking an extended break from speedskating and heavy squats and other quad-enhancing moves in the months since its mate became injured. To my surprise, though, when we practiced pistols in class Thursday morning, I was actually able to achieve three on my right leg, and was extremely close on my left leg. So, I had the perfect setup for one of my thrilling (to me) "will I be able to do it?" WOD's--if I could just get a tiny bit lower, I'd have that left leg pistol...
As it turned out, though, in my 15.3 there were no surprises and no thrills. For those of us who can't do Muscle Ups, the WOD was simply to complete as many rounds of 50 wallballs and 200 single rope jumps (as opposed to double unders) as possible in 14 minutes.
Yawn.
So I did my wallballs and single unders, breaking the wallballs into sets of 5 and the singles into sets of "until I trip on the rope, suddenly lose all coordination, or run out of breath." In the end, I did 541 unexciting reps.
What was exciting, though, was watching the athletes who did the WOD Rx. Their 15.3 consisted of as many rounds of 7 Muscle Ups, 50 wallballs, and 100 dubs as possible in 14 minutes. CrossFit SISU, as usual, was hosting a Friday Night Lights event to provide a time for athletes to complete 15.3 in a fun, community-building atmosphere. It was really cool to watch the Rx athletes tackle the Muscle Ups. Some were ecstatic to achieve their first Muscle Up ever during the WOD, while others nonchalantly knocked off three in a row before dropping to the ground. There's often a moment--or many moments--of mid-muscle-up-struggle in which the outcome is by no means certain, and these moments are perfect times for the crowd to go wild and show their support for the athlete's skill and Sisu. So even though I bored myself with my own effort in the WOD, it was still a really fun night.
But I'm still hoping to see something that I can barely do show up in 15.4
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