The 2025 CrossFit Open concludes this week with 25.3, and we are headed to CrossFit Spur in Glenmont, NY, for the live announcement. For those keeping score, this isn’t far from the new home of the CrossFit Games at the MVP Arena in Albany.
The final live announcement will feature a head-to-head-to-head battle between three of the top four men from the 2024 CrossFit Games: James Sprague (first), Dallin Pepper (second), and Jayson Hopper (fourth).
We’ve assembled a dream team of elite coaches — Matt Torres, John Singleton, Kyle Rolfe, Justin Cotler, and Perrin Behr — to bring you tips and strategies for each workout.
Between them, they’ve coached multiple-time Games athletes like Sprague, Pepper, Kari Pearce, Bethany Flores, Alex Gazan, Ricky Garard, and others.
Check out the description of the 25.3 workout below, and keep reading for tips and strategies.
CrossFit Open Workout 25.3
For time:
- 5 wall walks
- 50-calorie rows
- 5 wall walks
- 25 deadlifts (weight 1)
- 5 wall walks
- 25 cleans (weight 2)
- 5 wall walks
- 25 snatches (weight 3)
- 5 wall walks
- 50-calorie rows
Time cap: 20 minutes
Women: 155, 85, 65 pounds
Men: 235, 135, 95 pounds
Scorecards and Descriptions
25.3 Tips and Strategies from Elite Coaches
For the third week in row, coaches Matt Torres, John Singleton, Justin Cotler, Kyle Rolfe and Perrin Behr took the time to provide their insights and top tips to tackling the workout.
Here’s what they had to say:
Kyle Rolfe
Rolfe, who coaches his wife and the reigning Third Fittest Woman Emily Rolfe, offered tips for various parts of the workout.
- The first 50-calorie row: Rolfe suggests rowing at a “sustainable pace,” similar to what you would hold for a 500-meter row, but so that you are able to go straight into the wall walks without having to rest.
- Deadlifts: While you might be able to go unbroken, Rolfe cautions against this because “the workout has just begun,” he said. Instead, come up with a plan that works for you in terms of how you’re going to split them up depending on your fitness level.
- Wall walks: Once wall walks begin to hurt, consider counting down in your head rather than up. “It’s psychological,” he said, but it can help keep you moving.
- Cleans: “Same as [the] deadlifts, but remember your arms are going to start really feeling the lactic [acid],” Rolfe said.
- The second 50-calorie row: You have nothing to save your energy for at this point, so this is the time you have to dig deep and “decide if you’re going to let it make you or break you,” Rolfe said. “Empty the tank.”
One final tip: Rolfe suggests rowing the final row at a stroke rate between 28 and 32 strokes per minute and setting the machine’s drag factor beforehand to 120 for women and between 130 and 135 for men.
Justin Cotler
Justin Cotler — Underdogs Athletics owner and Games veteran Alex Gazan’s coach — said that, like last week’s 25.2, this workout is also “very different for elites than for everydayers.”
- For the elites: “As we witnessed in the announcement, it’s a go workout. Controlled aggression on the first row. Wall walks can be fast, as there is little interference on the barbell [and] row, as they are pulling movements. Smart, short, fast sets on the barbell movements. And then die on the final row.”
- For the everydayers: “The first row is a trap. If you go too hot, you will pay the price. If you aren’t economical with your wall walks, this will be a very challenging workout for you. Break the deadlifts often. Do singles on cleans and singles on the snatches if you get there.”
Regardless of whether you’re an elite athlete or lifestyle CrossFit enthusiast, Cotler offered this: “Be tough and sell your soul on that last row.”
John Singleton
The Progrm founder John Singleton, who has worked with many of Europe’s top CrossFit athletes, said to “make sure your posterior chain is prepared for the workload.” That’s because of the long time cap and high volume pulling in 25.3.
Three more tips from Singleton:
- Row at a “comfortable pace” on the first 50-calorie row, one that “sets you up for the rest of the workout,” Singleton said.
- “The wall walks will be challenging and it can be easy to lose time here. Therefore, maintain discipline when performing them to get your best time. Sticking to a certain number of hand movements [per rep] can help this,” he said.
- “Fast singles can be a smart approach for the cleans and snatches. Small sets with minimal rest can be your way to go on the deadlifts,” he offered, finally.
Check out more tips from Singleton here.
Perrin Behr
Training Think Tank and Games veteran Bethany Shadburne’s coach, Perrin Behr, emphasized the importance of movement quality, especially in the barbell movements, as this will “play a huge role in managing posterior chain fatigue across the workout.”
She offered rowing and deadlift tips to mitigate lower back fatigue:
Row:
- Drive with the legs: During each 50-calorie row, focus on “pressing through your heels and full foot to maximize power output.”
- Stay tall and engaged: “Keep a strong, upright posture with your core engaged to maintain efficiency and avoid wasted movement,” she said.
- Control the recovery: “Let your core pull you forward on the return and stay braced to set up a strong next stroke,” she added.
Deadlift:
- Don’t overextend: Make sure you extend your hips to meet the standard but don’t go further than this. “Focus on pushing your hips to the bar at the top rather than leaning back at the top. This will reduce lumbar erector engagement and keep the tension in the glutes and hamstrings,” she explained.
- Breathe and brace: Behr recommends breathing at the top of each rep and brace your midline “to keep your spine stable.”
Matt Torres
Finally, Brute Strength owner Matt Torres, who currently coaches James Sprague, Dallin Pepper, Fee Saghafi, and Rebecka Vitesson, offered 10 quick tips to success on 25.3.
- If you’re aiming to qualify for Semifinals, make sure you have a “solid camera angle.”
- Row the first 50 calories five to ten seconds slower than your 2k race pace. (For example, if your 2k row is 8:00, then row at a pace that would have you finish in 8:05 to 8:10.)
- Be consistent on the wall walks and find a pace where you don’t have to stop and rest.
- Break the deadlifts into multiple sets.
- Be fast on transitions.
- Do quick singles on the cleans, “chase the bar down with your hands,” and “set up the feet so they don’t move.”
- Approach the snatches in a similar fashion as the deadlifts, breaking them into multiple sets.
- Focus on “clean reps” across the board. Avoid no-reps.
- Make sure you’re getting full hip extension with the barbell reps.
- Finally, “go” on the last row. “Burn down the last 20 calories. Go dark.”
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Credit: @crossfitgames / YouTube
