WZA Qualifier - WOD 1

7 min AMRAP - Squat Clean & Jerk

Intermediate - 165 lb barbell

Score: 26 reps

Warm up is key. The weight will get heavy, but it’s also a long one. Be prepared for lots of pulls, squats, and jerks. You’ll want your heart rate to be up, full range of motion, and a primed central nervous system. 

Pay attention to your posterior chain. My glutes and hamstrings were lit up 3 minutes in and that’s not even the half way mark. My quads were really never a factor, and hindsight says I should have been more conscious of my clean pull. Get your butt down, use your legs, and don’t RDL the pull. Try to load up your quads more.

Secondly, have a strategy. Know your split time goals. Even write them down so you can look at them. Then be prepared for it to all go to sh!t because it will. (If it doesn’t, you weren’t aggressive enough.) 

My strategy - hold triples or doubles every 35 seconds. It was too much for me to maintain, but I stuck with a doubles. It was easier for me to step the bar and do two reps, than only one because I think I would have rested for longer between singles.

My recommendation - hit the first 10 pretty quick, since it’s the tie breaker. Then coast and try to recover between reps, so that you can ramp back up the last 90 seconds. 

Lastly, you’re not going to fail a rep. You’re also not going to want to pick up the bar. Do it anyway.

Reach out to me if you have any questions! There are many different ways of attacking this workout, so pick one that will work for YOU.

Coach Matt