12.4 Muscle ups whatevs

CAN'T do muscle ups? Don't even worry most people will be lucky to even get that far in the 2012 Crossfit Games WOD 4. At least I know I will be...

Today we're going to go through the WOD breakdown, strategies and my goals.

The 12.4 Crossfit Games Open is...

12 minute as many reps as possible -

150 Wall balls (Men - 20lbs/9kg to 10foot/3m Women - 14lbs/6kg 9foot/2.74m)

90 double unders

30 muscle ups

I'm not sure what the Aussies are doing as far as weights are concerned it's generally 10kg for guys 5kg for girls. 9kg is good for our guys though! For us girls we usually go to 10ft anyway... mixed bag!

So first up we have to complete notorious benchmark WOD Karen. It starts with the ball to the ground you pick it up, squat to hips below knees then thrust it up and push it to the recommended height. Catch it and go again.

Now 150 is a lot of reps so the key is to stay focused and keep going. I like to break it down into manageable chunks. 50 (or 2x25) 40 (2x20) 30 (2x15) 20(2x10) 10. "Keep on with the force, don't stop... Don't stop till you get enough," as Michael Jackson said.

90 double unders, have the rope pass twice under your feet in each skip. To get consecutive double unders is a real crossfit achievement usually one of the first most people get but gosh they feel good. Breath, relax, keep your arms in close to your body and let your wrists do the rest.

If you've gotten to the muscle ups congratulations. Now I've never done one of these but if I had to give advice I'd say deep breaths and make each movement count. You don't wanna be swing under the rings for too long or failing attempts just go, go, go!

Now for my goals but I'll give you a bit of background... I started crossfit in Septemberish 2010

In dec 2010 I tried Karen, just me and two trainers at 9.30am in the middle of the Australian summer... I got 100 wall balls in 11.44mins then gave up. At this stage I was a one session a week crossfitter.

In July 2011 I finished Karen in 9.44mins almost RXD very close but not RXD enough.

Here's the thing though, I used a 5kg ball and went 10foot high. So I'm hoping to stay focused keep persisting, If I finish Karen in under 9 minutes this time round I'll be really really happy.

For the double unders my max consecutive is about 63 so in theory I'll just catch my breath and concentrate on relaxing my shoulders that's the spot that burns.

Muscle ups... If I did these it would literally be a miracle, I can do a kipping pullup and a pushup but thats about it. Miracle. lol.

Tune back in soon to see how I went and find out what my predictions for WOD 5 are.

Tuesday's prediction wasn't too bad double under I got. I knew they'd throw in muscle ups at the end of a long wod sort of similar to WOD 4 last year.

(video: the official breakdown)