We are almost done with the CrossFit Games Open 2017 with only one workout to go. The feelings are quite two-folded. It is wistful that the highlight of the year for many crossfitter is inevitably moving to the past and the next 11 months is only going to include training day after day. On the other hand, some part of us is blessing some higher power for ending the five weeks of painful madness.

The Workout

The 17.5 is a fundamental CrossFit workout including two movements - thrusters and double unders.

Athletes will perform 10 rounds for time of:

• 9 thrusters
• 35 double-unders

Men use 95 lb.
Women use 65 lb.

Notes

Pacing

To do this workout completely unbroken, you need to have an engine of a competitive athlete and a skill base that enables you to perform double unders under heavy fatigue. Therefore, for most of us it is recommendable to set a goal time and calculate an average time for a round to achieve the goal. Follow that plan and you won’t burn yourself out during the first two rounds.

Thrusters

It is important that you remember to breathe during each rep. Be consistent and use breathing as a tool to create yourself a rhythm to follow. This is not a speed test, so don’t try to rush with the thrusters. It is much more efficient to do careful reps with tight core and good focus than trying to go fast with a sloppy technique.
Thrusters will be a mental test. The weights are quite modest so you might want to consider doing these unbroken and take few breaths before starting with the double-unders rather than breaking the thruster sets.

Double Unders

Double Unders are a skill that you either manage or not. Some of you might get those smoothly if your shoulders are fresh but under fatigue the skill just suddenly disappears. Some others might be able to do double unders fluently with a rhythm single-double-single-double. Whatever your level is, the key to survival is being honest to yourself about your skill and breaking sets to match it. Keep your feet together, control your arms, and get the work done as well as your skill allows. You’ll learn the double-unders only by doing them, there is no shortcut.

The warm-up

Shoulders will be under a lot of stress in this workout and, therefore, we want to make those extra prepared for the workout. Legs and core need to be ready as well for the thrusters.

Do general warm-up by rowing, cycling, or running for 5 minutes.

After the general warm-up perform:

• 20 air squats
• 15 KB swings overhead
• 6 sit-ups to pike
• 4 inch worms with a 1-3 push-ups
• 2 wall-climbs

Movement specific warm-up:

• 60 DUs / 2 min DU practice
• 10 wall-balls
• 2 x 10 barbell thrusters