By Chris Gemignani in CrossFit — Apr 17, 2024

Quarterfinal Preflections

I'm a Crossfit Games Quarterfinal Athlete again. They've lowered the bar and raised the boom this year.

Last year, you had to be in the top 10% to make it to Quarterfinals. I barely squeaked in. This year, the top 25% go. Last year, the workouts were a special kind of brutal. One of our coaches found herself nursing rhabdo. This year, she's prepping for nursing a baby and the workouts are borderline cuddly. And best of all, we get five days to complete these, up from three last year.

Here are the workouts and my pre-flections as we approach the bar.

Workout 1, "The Pace Yourself"

4 rounds for max reps of:

1 minute of snatches, 135# barbell
1 minute of rowing for calories
1 minute of double dumbbell box step-ups, 50# dumbbells, 20" box
1 minute of rest

I have short legs so it's a delight to see the box height is only 20".

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This is technical and pacing oriented. It's important to transition quickly and cleanly. This will probably get a re-do to work on the pacing.

Workout 2, "The Grind"

3 rounds for time of:

50 wall-ball shots
50 lateral burpee box jump-overs

Time cap: 20 minutes

♀ 14-lb (6-kg) medicine ball, 9-foot target, 20-inch box
♂ 20-lb (9-kg) medicine ball, 10-foot target, 24-inch box

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This is one and done. There's no possibility or appetite for repeating this.

Workout 3, "The One with the Gymnastics"

For time:

3 rounds:
10 handstand push-ups
20 toes-to-bars

2 rounds:
10 strict handstand push-ups
5 rope climbs,15 feet

1 round:
10 chest-to-wall handstand push-ups
20 muscle-ups

Time cap: 15 minutes

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A very accessible workout that fortunately or unfortunately is probably going to end with strict handstand pushups. I'm not great at these. Best case, I do more than 10, worst case, zero.