18.3 Tips! Muscle-ups Are Here. And Wait- That’s How Many DUBs?

18.3 Tips! Muscle-ups Are Here. And Wait- That’s How Many DUBs?

Mix your pre-workout and use those callused hands of yours to forcefully hold on to your toned glutes-

we’ve got a lot to cover.

It’s time to talk about 18.3.

The past 2 weeks were workouts that probably gave you a little confidence. They sucked, you might have felt like dying, you might have ripped your hands, but you did it and you could proudly enter your shiny score into games.crossfit.com.

Not this week.

This week is set-up to fuck you. To finish you have to complete 928 reps. Good news- 800 of those are double-unders.

Okay so maybe that isn’t “good” news. And I think it’s safe to say that you probably won’t finish. Lots of people won’t finish. But that’s still to goal. We’re going to help you get through this.

This week I have a special guest by the name of Chris Patterson advising with me. He is a 2 time South East Regionals Individual competitor, The Wynwood Throwdown and The Wodapalooza team competitor. He has been the Head Coach of multiple boxes and now calls CrossFit Tamiami home. When he isn’t competing he is running a successful box and coaching athletes to their own personally successes. And if you’ve ever seen him do the CrossFits then you know gymnastics are one of his specialities, and oh by the way, he’s human and not Matt Fraser, so he is the perfect person to be giving you suggestions today.

Without further ado, here are our insightful, and brutally honest, suggestions for 18.3.

(Oh and it’s 800 total doubleunders if you finish).

At First Glance


Yea. Something like that.

This is a shitton of stuff. All of it pertaining to your shoulders. And who TF is doing 2 rounds of it? Just Dave Castro differentiating athletes and crushing dreams on this one.

Tip #1. Don’t be hungover.

The Warm-up

You want to make sure you warm-up all the movements adequately. Shoulders, hips, core, calves, heart rate- we need it all going for this one.

Focus on your weaknesses and remember to give attention to the movements that you are most comfortable with too.

One all-encompassing warm-up to try from Patterson himself is:

500m Row
Then
*All performed with a light band
15 Reps On each
-Pass throughs
-Pull Aparts (Shoulder Level)
-Rows to Chest (Band on Rig)
-Face Pulls (Band on Rig)
-Chest Press (Band on Rig)
-Flies (Band on Rig)

And then

2 Rounds
10 Cal Bike
20 Singles / Dubs
Snatch Grip on the Following
With PVC or Barbell
10 Hang High Pulls
5 Power Snatches
10 OHS
5 Snatch Balances
10 Behind the Neck Press
5 Squat Snatches

The Set-up

As always, make sure you have a good flow set-up. Go in order. Your rope should be in a neutral place. Bar and dumbbell pretty close to the rig. And every time you set your rope down, don’t just throw it. Make sure you drop the handles in a U-shape so that you can pick it right back up for the next set.

Go Time

You’re strategized, you’re warm, you’ve thrown up some Hail Marys, said your prayers to whom/whatever you worship. Now the clock is about to start.

Let’s breakdown these moves.

For the RX Athletes

Doubleunders

This is what this workout is about. And this is also where you can get the most reps in the shortest time- which will give you an advantage over everyone else. Your main goal: get to the rope and just go.

Patterson suggests to:

  • Stay smooth
  • Keep your elbows in
  • Feet together
  • Jump low if possible
  • Slow and steady is going to win the race on this one

Muscle-ups – Rings

From Patterson himself:

Use. Your. Hips.

And remember to kip your way out of the dip.

Your forearms are going to be taxed form the DUBs so keep that in mind as you go in for those first few reps.

If you’re not efficient at muscle-ups yet then do them in small sets avoiding failures at all costs- except death. If you are proficient in muscle-ups then some suggestion options for breaking them up are:

  • 8/4
  • 6/6
  • 4/4
  • 3/3/3/3

If you are new to or attempting your first muscle up then make sure you use a box to position yourself on the rings in order to secure a good false grip.

Overhead Squats

“And for the love of God try to snatch the first rep into an OHS.”

From there go unbroken. It might not be fun but you don’t want to put that bar down. That’s more rest (which means time will be eaten away) and that’s more work (having to get the bar back overhead). Just don’t put it down.

Snatches

Unbroken and smooth. Make sure to remember the new standards (dumbbell has to be below the top of your head before you can switch hands AND both heads of the dumbbell must touch the floor between reps).

One option is to bring the dumbbell to your shoulder and switch it there.

USE YOUR HIPS. Save your shoulders as much as possible.

Focus on your breathing here as it is one of the only times you will be able to catch your breath while also knocking out reps.

Muscle-ups – Bar

Use an aggressive kip. Grip your palm on the bar instead of just your finger tips to held you get over. Use a box or some other piece of equipment to help you get on the bar.

From there same suggestions as with the rings. Do not go to exhaustion and break the reps up as needed.

For the Scaled Athletes

Men perform single-unders, 45-lb. OHS, chin-over-bar pull-ups (for both MU sets), 35-lb. DB snatches Women perform single-unders, 35-lb. OHS, chin-over-bar pull-ups (for both MU sets), 20-lb. DB snatches

Jump Rope, Overhead Squats, Snatches – all the same suggestions apply.

When it comes to the pull-ups kip baby, kip. Or butterfly. That’s cool too. Make sure you are using your hips and not just relying on your upper body.

If you can link them together by all means do. If you are still working towards that then fuck it- now isn’t the time to practice. Do that in your warm-up. If you can only like together 3 consistently- link together those 3 and don’t you dare think about going for #4.

For all the Masters- same thing on your chest to bars. Quick tip here- look at the ceiling. Find a focal point that is at an angle for your line of sight so perhaps the line where the ceiling meets the wall if you are on a rig that is against the wall. And remember you are pulling that bar to your chest- not trying to get your chin over it. Think of pulling it low- as in to your nipples and hopefully you will end up making contact below your collarbone.

Takeaways

Stay calm. Some days we are better at moves than others. You’ve got 14 minutes so every rep counts. If you trip on some dubs or fail a rep just shake it off and be confident in yourself that you will get the next one.

The majority of athletes should focus on getting through round 1 and not be too concerned with what’s beyond that. Speed and efficiency are key as well as technique. You won’t want to muscle your way through all of these reps so take that extra moment to perform it correctly by driving through your heels, using your hips and getting under the snatches, using your hips on the pulls and kipping when possible.

We will be wishing you alll the muscle-up successes and smooth doubleunder days until Monday night.

If you have any specific questions or concerns please let us know!

You can contact me here.

And you can get in touch with Chris over here.