4 Morning Chalk Up Writers Took on the 2024 CrossFit Games Quarterfinals — Here Are Their Reactions
Four Morning Chalk writers — Teaganne Finn, Scotty Freymond, Nicky Freymond, and Julia Papworth — took on the 2024 Indy and Age Group Quarterfinals…these are their stories.
As we have in years past, we are using their experiences this season to highlight the workouts, strategies, and maybe even what happens if it all goes sideways.
On Friday, each writer/athlete shared a brief background on their current fitness and then described their initial thoughts and strategies for one of the CrossFit Games Quarterfinals workouts they would take on this weekend.
Workout 1, Scotty Freymond
4 Rounds for max reps of:
- 1 minute of snatches
- 1 minute of rowing for calories
- 1 minute of dumbbell box step-ups
- 1 minute of rest
About five minutes before I started, my friend put an idea in my head: “What if you didn’t do any snatches? Like, zero.”
“Now that’s interesting,” I thought.
Knowing that the row is where I’d get the most reps, maybe extra rest leading up to it wasn’t such a bad idea. I will consider that after the first round, I thought. But I didn’t want to start the workout with “3-2-1…Rest.” That’s no fun.
So, I hit my original plan of eight snatches in the first minute. That left almost 20 seconds to transition to the rower, where I got 23 calories. I got right to the step-ups and completed 18, for a total of 49 reps in the first round. My goal for the whole workout was 160, and this pace had me on target for 196.
[Related: A Look Back: The Epic, the Surprising, and the WTF Events From CrossFit Games Past]
My inner dialogue went back and forth like a pickleball while I sat on the box:
- “You are crushing it. Yeah, but you’re going to die. No, I think you can hang on. Actually, you better slow down.”
Slow down, I did.
I went to four on the snatches, then three, then three. I couldn’t bring myself to do zero. I think getting a few reps was the way to go. My row stayed pretty consistent, between 20-23 calories. The step-ups went from 18 to 15 to 13 to 16. I thought it was going to be grippy, and it was. The only round I didn’t put the dumbbells down was the first. But I exceeded my expectation of 12 step-ups each round.
Going from the rower to the box was tougher than I thought. Even Adrian Bozman said on a recent episode of Talking Elite Fitness, “That was a rude transition.”
My final score was 165, five more than my original goal. I’m happy with that.
- But, within 10 minutes post-workout, human/competitive nature kicked in, and I thought, “If I did it again…”
What I would do differently: After watching some other athletes’ videos, I would use the corner of the box to step up, which is much more efficient. I would strap my feet in tight and go harder on the row, then start the step-ups at the 45-second mark. I think this would allow me to hang on rather than take a break within the minute. I would keep the snatches exactly the same.
I would smile more and drool less.
Workout 2, Nicky Freymond
3 Rounds for time:
- 50 wall balls
- 50 lateral burpee box jump-overs
Time cap: 20 minutes
As I was drafting my initial thoughts on this workout, mapping out a rep scheme on the wallballs, and talking about moving through the burpees at a steady pace, I thought, “How in the world did I get assigned THIS workout? This is going to go terribly for me. There’s no way I’m going to pleasantly move through those wall balls pain-free and gleefully take on that many burpee box jumpovers, a movement that I typically enjoy.”
How it went: In the end, I surprised myself. I stuck with a very conservative rep scheme on the wall balls — sets of 10 to be kind to my shoulder — and kept the rest to a minimum.
For the burpees, let me just say that slowly slogging through 50 BBJOs is hell for me. I do better mentally with interval-type workouts, so that’s how I did it. I did 10 quick burpees, took a few seconds of a breather, did 10 more, and so on. I found myself less miserable than most, turning this would-be nightmare workout into something that worked for me.
[Related: Interview: Is It Finally Anikha Greer’s Time?]
I got through 14 wallballs in the third round, with a total score of 214.
- That included lots and lots of rest, cheering for my friends to go faster, and laughing with my judge.
Reflection: My ultimate goal for this workout (and all of the workouts) was to have fun with my friends.
I registered for Quarterfinals to have an official record of my participation and to have numbers to reflect on in the future. Of course, I want to push myself and try my best, but not to the point where I’m miserable, discouraged, or compromising some (finally) healing injuries. Mission accomplished.
Workout 3, Julia Papworth
3 rounds for time:
- 10 handstand push-ups
- 20 toes-to-bars
2 rounds for time:
- 10 strict handstand push-ups
- 5 rope climbs,15-feet
1 round for time:
- 10 chest-to-wall handstand push-ups
- 20 muscle-ups
Time cap: 15 minutes
I loved this workout. My goal was to have a minute or two available to hit the ring muscle-ups, and I fell short of that, but I am still happy with my score.
I finished was one rep away from completing the wall-facing handstand push-ups.
I know overhead pressing is one of my strengths, so I planned to do the HSPUs unbroken and break up the toes-to-bars into smaller sets. I did sets of seven, seven, six for all three rounds, which gave my grip plenty of time to recharge. More about this later.
[Related: Turn Your Training On Its Head With the Handstand Push-Up]
I finished the first couplet feeling great, and after a quick 10 strict HSPU, I walked over to the rope. In my affiliate, a usual rope climb rep is 14 feet with the way our ropes are hung, which I can do in two pulls, even with this short little body. However, with the 15-foot standard, we had to move the tape up, and believe me, I felt it. I needed three pulls every time, and that extra time under tension was felt everywhere.
I am a good but not great rope climber, so I planned to go steady on my ascents, careful not to fail. I was unprepared for how the extra foot on the rope, coupled with 60 TTB, made my grip feel like jelly. At the top of my fourth climb, I thought to myself, “I really should have placed some crash pads down there and told my husband my email password in case I couldn’t make it down.”
The first five climbs were okay. Then, I broke up the second set of strict HSPUs in two fast sets, and then I realized my timing would have to be impeccable on the second set of rope climbs to have enough time for the wall-facing HSPUs. I carefully timed my rests and got through them with enough time to try to complete the last round of HSPUs.
I couldn’t will my body up enough on that last rep, for as we all know, when that pushing power is gone, it’s gone.
Reflection: Well, I would have liked to get further in this workout, but I know I attacked it correctly for my abilities. I knew bigger and faster toes-to-bar sets would have pushed my limit on the rope climbs.
I will not be moving on to the next phase of the competition season, and I never assumed I would; I am not fit enough to do that. But I had a fantastic time testing myself and having a blast with my friends.
Workout 4, Teaganne Finn
With a continually running clock, complete as many reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
- 10 clean and jerks, weight 1
- Rest 1 minute
- 10 clean and jerks, weight 2
- Rest 1 minute
- 10 clean and jerks, weight 3
- Rest 1 minute
- Max-reps clean and jerks in time remaining, weight 4
Men: 135, 185, 225, 245 pounds (61, 83, 102, 111kg)
Women: 85, 125, 155, 165 pounds (38, 56, 70, 75kg)
How it went: My first reaction to this event was, “Thank god this isn’t a snatch ladder.” My favorite lift is the clean and jerk, so I was super amped to give this one a go. My coach programmed a very similar ladder (but heavier) just a few weeks earlier, so I went into this one feeling pretty confident.
I knew I could cycle 85 pounds quickly and decided to go unbroken the first round. I also knew I’d need to move to quick singles during the second bar at 125 pounds and then even slower singles at 155 pounds. Barbell cycling has always been a strong point for me and I really didn’t feel the fatigue until the 155-pound barbell.
[Related: Realize the Strength and Power-Building Benefits of the Clean & Jerk]
I hit my first lift at 165 and wasn’t very consistent with my rest, nor did I have a number in mind to try to hit.
I should know by now that having a plan is the best path to execution. But alas, we live and we learn. I ended up with 12 clean and jerks on the final barbell, and I was quite proud of the effort.
However, I knew I could do a little more.
On Monday, I retested the workout and got a better tie-break time of 4:40, along with two more reps! I came into Monday relatively recovered and feeling pretty good. I was really looking forward to retesting this one because I know my capabilities on the barbell. I cycled quicker on the first and second bar and then tried to keep pace on the third barbell to hopefully give me more time for some extra reps on the last one.
I ended up with 14 clean and jerks.
Reflection: My main takeaway from this workout was to trust myself. I know I could move those weights, and I just needed to trust that I could pick up the barbell and not fail one repetition. I was proud of my execution on both attempts and really happy with how both of them went.
The gym I coach at had many athletes qualify for Quarterfinals and while I knew I wasn’t going to move onto the next step (Semifinals). Still, I gave it my all and wanted to show the other athletes at my gym that any competition is worth doing and doing the best that you can.
Featured images: @scotty.free, @nicky.freymond, @juliapapworth, and @tfinn94 / Instagram