Solcana blog

Well, it was bound to happen eventually, a workout with a very difficult technical movement – the muscle-up. In this case, 18.3 was also paired with another difficult movement, the double under. I know a lot of people really struggled with this one, it presented a serious challenge. That being said, I saw some incredible things happen, like first-time muscle-ups, first time doing double-unders in a workout, and folks actually finishing that beast. I am thoroughly impressed by the magic that took place in the gym all weekend long.

This one was a tough workout to score because of the combination of time and reps and because the workout standards were so markedly different. Here is how Matt and Marijke explain the scoring: If you finished the workout, we gave you the total number of reps for the entire workout (928) and then added 1 rep for every second you finished before the 14 minute mark. For example, Erin Porter’s impressive time of 10:20, equates to 1,148 reps (928 reps + 220 seconds). After that, whether you finished the workout or not, we took total reps and applied a modifier based on how challenging the level you completed was – Rx (4.5:1), Scaled + (2.3:1), or Scaled (1:1).

Nate came out on top for this one! No surprise there, he is very good at muscle ups and double-unders, so getting through almost a full round was in his wheelhouse. I have to say, we were pretty psyched to be in the top 2 spots, like maybe these two gym owners still got it! Overall the top 20 is a healthy mix of Rx, S+ and S. If you got past the 12 muscle-ups that really shot you up in the ranking. Same goes for if you got through more than 1 round of S+, and if you finished Scaled. This top 20 did some really incredible stuff, and every single performance was fun to watch. Congrats to all of them!

In terms of the team rankings, Cirque du Sore Legs won this workout, which is no surprise considering that three of their athletes made it into the top 20. Way to go folks! Meanwhile, Fantastic Beasts is super steady, hanging out in that #4 spot. Big ups to Ladies in Weightlifting, who shot up from 13th place in 18.3 to 8th place in 18.3. What a meteoric rise! I have to point out Grumpy Cats, who despite their grumpiness went waaaaaay up in the rankings this week, from last place in 18.2 to 16th in 18.3, congrats cats. In the overall ranking we are still all watching 3 Pats and a Bahe-by just sit atop the leaderboard. In my opinion they are getting a little too cozy. Cirque du Sore Legs, when I look at the scores it seems you still have a chance to beat them in the overall if you crush them in 18.4 and 18.5. There is still a chance!

Stats from 18.3

• 84 out of 102 registered athletes completed the workout.

• We had 10 athletes complete the workout RX, 9 athletes do S+ and 65 athletes do Scaled.

• The average raw score for scaled was 757, Rx & Scaled + was 337, and time of finishers averaged was 12:49

Shout-outs from the Week:

• Coach Hannah: “A huge shoutout to Coach Marijke for hitting 3 strict muscle-ups, when she wasn’t sure if she could even hit one! Also, I have to say a big congratulations to Ikraan for making it on the top 20 this time, she works so hard in every workout and really earned this one. Lastly, I have to congratulate my own S.O. Josh K for getting 3 muscle-ups just for fun after the workout was over.”

• Coach Bobby:  “Kelley V had her first class on Friday and was such a gamer! She had a great attitude even though she wasn’t super familiar with all of the movements involved. Talk about trial by fire! Pat Staiger said “I don’t know how many MU’s I can get through. Probably one or two…” He did 11!

• Coach Ryan:  “Hannah got through all the MUs and that was incredible to watch. Marijke had doubts she would get any and then got 3 of them. Amelia powered through super fast! I couldn’t believe her time was possible! Mike S Did the workout twice in one night because he loaded his barbell incorrectly but then was able to get twice the MU practice in.” (THANKS RYAN!)

• Coach Marijke: “Victoria did it while traveling for work for the second time. Nate Aul killed it. Totally in his wheelhouse.”

• More from Ryan: “Nicole C was looking to switched it up and recruited her teammate Mike G and they cheered and judged for each other in successive heats. Nicole stuck around saw ever heat through to the end of the night afterward. Ikraan’s positivity was fantastic. She told me afterward how hard she was rooting for me to finish the MUs at the end and it meant a lot to hear. She’s awesome.”

• Coach Ariel: “Kira pushed herself hard and even said last week she had a lot left so she really wanted to push herself. Bobby got 2 muscle ups!”

• Coach Morgen: “Shout out to Allison W whose first-ever Crossfit workout was 18.1 and she has shown up every Friday since then to do the Open workout.”

• Tamra got 6 muscle-ups in the workout, and prior to this she had only done 1-2 reps ever!

• Delaney almost got her first muscle-up, she made a bunch of valiant attempts and will definitely get it soon.

• I watched Jade do the workout S+, when I know OH squats are a big challenge for her. AND she did all of the pull-ups, when only a year ago she couldn’t string together her reps and would not have considered doing a workout with pull-ups in it.

This week I will be doing 18.4 from a gym in California, so you will still get my Hot Tips e-mail but you will be on your own for the workout. Fill the gym with excitement and work extra hard please! My guess is that this week we will see a grueling couplet of Handstand Push-ups and Snatches. What do you think 18.4 will be?