Competitions

2024 CrossFit Open Workout 24.2 Released — Get Tips and Strategies From Top Coaches

March 7, 2024 by Emily Beers

We are in the middle of the 2024 CrossFit Open, and this week, we head to CrossFit Shred Shed, a.k.a. Justin Medeiros’ garage, for a throwdown between the two-time champ and Colten Mertens.

We’ve assembled a dream team of elite coaches — Caroline Lambray, Michele Letendre, John Singleton, Cole Sager, and Justin Cotler — to bring you tips and strategies for each workout. They’ve coached CrossFit Games podium athletes like Jeffrey Adler, Patrick Vellner, Kari Pearce, Ricky Garard, and other Games competitors.

Check out the description of the 24.2 workout below, and keep reading for tips and strategies.

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2024 CrossFit Open Workout 24.2

For the full workout description and scorecards, head here. Find the workout below:

20-Minute AMRAP

300-Meter Row
10 Deadlifts (185 Pounds for Men/125 Pounds for Women)
50 Double-Unders

Scorecards and Descriptions

24.2 Tips and Strategies From Elite Coaches

Moments after 24.2 was announced, we reached out to Letendre, Cotler, Lambray, Sager, and Singleton for some tips.

Caroline Lambray

“This is where preparation pays off. Know your pace for 300 meters [of rowing],” said Lambray, who coaches Jeff Adler, 2023’s Fittest Man on Earth.

In terms of a pacing strategy, she recommends taking your 300-meter row time and add your deadlift pace — “with or without a break, depending on how heavy the weight is for you and your strength endurance,” she said — as well as the time you think it will take you to complete 50 double-unders each round.
From there, add about three to five seconds per round to account for your transition time. This will establish how fast you should aim to hold each round.
Then test this pace before you attempt 24.2.
This pace “needs to feel doable for at least 15 minutes,” Lambray said. “You’ll only want to feel like you need to push [into] the pain cave in the last five minutes.”

Bottom line: Don’t go faster than the pace per round you commit to beforehand. If you do, “you’ll blow up and slow down,” Lambray said.

Michele Letendre

Letendre reiterated the importance of avoiding coming out too hard and knowing your rowing pace, which she suggested should be similar to your 5km race, “more or less a few seconds.”

“The workout is won in consistency. This means having the right rowing pace becomes crucial,” she added.
Further, Letendre, Pat Vellner’s long-time coach, expects this workout to be hard on the lower back, “so not overextending the spine on the rowing and deadlifts will be important,” she offered.

Final tip from Letendre: Use a double overhand grip with a hook grip on the deadlift.

John Singleton

The founder of The Progrm, Singleton, also stressed the importance of knowing your rowing pace.

If you’re elite CrossFit athlete, your rowing pace should likely be in the neighborhood of 1:55-2:00/500m for women and closer to 1:45/500m for men. Meanwhile, the deadlifts should be unbroken.

“There is really no escape in the workout,” he said, adding that he expects the workout to come down to “consistency and capacity on the double-unders.”

For everyday athletes, on the other hand, the keys will be finding a more “relaxed pace on the row,” as “going [too] hard here will not be rewarded relative to the other movements,” he said.

“For the deadlifts, a short set, short rest can help keep the heart rate a little lower for the double-unders,” he offered.

“Then, really, the workout will come down to your capacity to handle the double-unders,” he added.

Justin Cotler

For Cotler, one of the big keys to success is warming up the lower back, posterior chain, and calves.

“For high-level athletes, you will be looking at 100-plus deadlifts and 500-plus double-unders, so respect those numbers,” he said.

His movement-specific tips included:

Rower: “Find an uncomfortable, but sustainable pace you can hold for 20 minutes. Don’t get fooled into sprinting the rower the first few rounds. That will be a huge mistake,” he said.

“Set your straps up loose enough so they still help you but so you can get in and out without touching them,” he added.

Deadlift: “If this is a light load for you, there shouldn’t be any issue going unbroken. Fast eccentric as to create less time under tension,” he said.

“If this isn’t light for you, small sets with quick breaks are fine. A deadlift break is one of the shortest in the sport, so don’t feel like you have to hold on,” he added.

Double-unders: “For higher-level athletes, the double-unders are a great place to relax and breathe. Be sure to set your rope down after each set in a consistent manner so you can easily pick it up for repeatable sets. A lot of time can be lost if you are messy with your rope,” he offered.

Cole Sager

Ten-time CrossFit Games athlete and CompTrain head coach Sager offered tips both for those who are proficient at double-unders and those who are not:

If you’re not yet proficient, “build your workout around optimizing every double-under set. Approach the row at a moderate pace and break the deadlifts into three sets so you have fresh legs every time you come to the double-unders,” he said.
If you’re solid at double-unders, you will optimize the workout at large by knowing and controlling your pace, transitioning quickly and smoothly, and being precise with your rope, Sager offered.

He added: “This is a long effort. Find a sustainable pace and settle in. [Also], this workout has lots of transitions, and you can easily waste 10 to 15 seconds per round.”

More tips from Sager can be found here.

24.2 Tips From Justin Medeiros

After winning the live Open announcement against Colten Mertens, two-time CrossFit Games champion Justin Medeiros spoke on the CrossFit Games live stream and echoed what the coaches all said: Consistency is key, and the rowing pace is particularly important.

“There wasn’t much to it” in terms of an “overarching plan,” he said. “The pace is kind of dictated from the row…I kind of held my same pace through it, and it turned out pretty good.”

For the everyday athlete doing it at home, Medeiros offered this advice: “You don’t want your first round and your last round to vary a lot…find that pace on the row where it’s not too fast and right when you get off the row you can really attack the deadlifts and double-unders…You don’t want to be rowing really fast and taking your time to pick up your barbell because then you probably should have just rowed slower.”

2024 CrossFit Open Schedule

For those participating, here are the important dates for this year’s CrossFit Open:

Workout 24.1 — Announced: February 29 | Scores Due: March 4 at 5 p.m. PT

Workout 24.2 — Announced: March 7 | Scores Due: March 11 at 5 p.m. PT

Workout 24.3 — Announced: March 14 | Scores Due: March 18 at 5 p.m. PT