Tidal Open Competition ReCap

We had a pretty awesome time at The Tidal Open Comp! Josh and Jacob represented us very well! I’ll give you a little play by play of both their days.
Event 1 was Open workout 15.1 and 15.1a which was 9 min AMRAP of15 toes2bar, 10 Deadlifts 115/85, 5 power Snatches 115/85 RX or 15 Kipping Knee raises, 10 Deadlifts 95/65, 5 Power snatches 55/35 ScaledStraight Into6 mins to Hit a 1RM Clean and Jerk RX or 1RM Power Clean Scaled
I got Josh warmed up with a lot of posterior work and making sure he understood the game plan as well as his jumps for the Power Clean. I also gave Jacob his warm up plan as Josh’s heat was the heat before Jacob so Jacob had to warm up while Josh was competing.
I made a critical mistake that I feel lost Josh 15.1 and the only event he lost that day, I forgot to tell him to use a mixed grip on his deadlifts before transferring to power snatches, such a dumb mistake on my part but 15.1 started “10 seconds” and Josh and 2 of the guys in his heat were clearly out to win! They went rep for rep for the first 3 rounds of the 9mins and then Josh started looking at me funny during the knee raises and I could see he was distressed and started to fall off the bar, his grip was smoked! The way the floor was setup was I was closest to him during the snatches so as he got back to the deadlifts that round I noticed he was double overhanding the bar which would just smoke his grip way more than mixed grip.  I noticed earlier in the workout how much better he moved through the deadlifts and snatches then anyone else in his division, he deadlifted through his hips and not his low back like some of his other competitors as well as his power snatch technique was on point! Back to the workout. As Josh got back to the snatches on round 4 I was screaming at him to switch his grip and break up the knee raises, he was in 3rd at this point falling slightly behind, it was too little too late as the time went out Josh got 3rd in 15.1, no time to dwell on that we had 6 mins to max out his Power Clean. We started out with 135 to make sure the mechanics were on point, we stuck with same cues as the warm up about extending and receiving lower than he likes. He hit 135, 185, 205 and thats when I realized he had already won 15.1a his competitiors were struggling with 185, I told him to relax take a nice break and lets go for a PR to make it special, we loaded up 215 while the announcer got everyone hyped up for the lift and he smoked a 215 pound power clean like a joke for Event 15.1a win and PR, I was pumped! Lets Goooooo
Jacob was up right after that and in the lane over from Josh so I gave Jacob a lil talk about why he was here today, a big hand slap and I moved some people out of the way of my Coaching perch on lane 3 so I could sit right in front of him and make sure his head stayed in the game throughout the workout, it was also right in front of where he was going to max out his Clean and Jerk, exactly where I wanted to be. “10 seconds” Man my heart rate gets up when my athletes compete, I get nervous for them I like I do when I compete but even more so as I would rather see myself lose then watch them go through that. 15.1 starts and the 10 guys in Jacobs heat are at it, Jacobs game plan was 8 and 7 for toes2bar off the hop and 10 UB mixed grip deadlifts into 5 singles for the power snatch, the thing that sucked but was fair cause everybody had to do it is you had to follow your snatch back to the ground but grip is everything in this workout so i think the 1 second let go was ideal then touch n going. After the first 2 rounds Jacob and one of his competitors Alex separated from the field. Jacob moving better through the Barbell work and Alex smashing out round after round of 15 UB Toes2Bar. It was back n forth til the 8 minute mark where they both got back to the toes2bar and Jacob had to break and Alex was able to maintain that UB Toes2Bar, this kid clearly had a gymnastics background ( we found out later as we talked to him it was true). Alex edges Jacob out of workout 15.1 by a couple reps. 9 mins is up and Jacob had 6 mins to max out Clean and Jerk. Attempt was 205 power clean and jerk, easy work. I was right in his face calling the weights and cueing the lifts and making sure he talked to his judge, if you didn’t call out your attempt they didn’t count! From 205 we went up to 255 as I was watching 2 guys make there jumps who were going to give them a run for his money. Right to Jacobs left was Joey Scott, I know Joey because I had to pay him $100 after he beat Coach Tylers burpee challenge on the first Instagram challenge we had, he is built like a shit brick house and strong! and to Jacobs right was Alex who was making some big jumps. Jacob smokes 255 power clean and jerk! Joey hits 275, Alex hits 265. “Jacob, load 285 lets fucken go dude” Jacob hits 285 clean like butter, “elbows””Biiiiig drive buddy!!!” Bam smokes the jerk easy! Joey Loads 295 and Alex loads 285. Joey Cleans 295 and misses the jerk “whew, thank goodness, I want my money back from this dude” (he’s actually the nicest guy) Alex hits the 285 clean and jerk “damn we gotta go up” “Jacob 295 now, now, lets go, move” Jacob loads up 295 with 30 seconds left, gets ready and cleans it easy with 10 seconds to go but as he dips for the jerk the time goes out and Head Judge Jeff Larsh(my old crossfit coach) is there to no rep him as the whole lift has to be completed within the 6 mins. Jacob and Alex tie for first at 285 pounds for 15.1a. Too close, we should’ve had that, damn.
After the first workout some guy came up to me and said “man do you know how much of a difference it makes having a coach there to guide you through workouts in the madness of competition, your the only coach here coaching your athletes”. The thing is I do know, I’ve been there, I’ve done so many CrossFit comps without a Coach at a comp and I’ve made dumb mistakes in the heat of competition and Ive been robbed of things out of my control. I’m there to do everything within my power to help Josh and Jacob win, that’s where I love to be as a Coach! Game Day baby!
A little down time where I had the boys cycle out the lactic build up on the assault bike, get some quick glycogen and BCAA’s and foam roll to stay loose.
We were back in the warm up area for Event 2. Event 2 was 8 min AMRAP of an ascending ladder of Burpee facing Bar and Wallballs.4 Burpee Facing Bar8 Wallballs 20# RX and 14# for Scaled Men8 BFB16 WB12 BFB24 WB16 BFB32 WB20 BFB40 WB
Just a quick warm up for Josh as this workout warms itself up and I knew that Josh knows how to send I needed to keep him at a even pace, listen this guy was doing warm up reps in Event 1 while 10 seconds countdown was happening LOL I had to keep him under control! I was yelling at him to stop and calm down! “10 Seconds” Ok good he’s not doing anything but waiting to start. Event 2 starts and everyone is off fast, Josh’s burpee pace is perfect! 4 and 8, 8 and 16 done, same 3 guys are out in front, this time Josh is ahead, we had talked before the event that he was going to go unbroken on those wallballs. During the round of 24 wallballs his competitors start taking breaks and Josh keeps going, no breaks, “we breathe and we move Josh non stop buddy” That was it Josh started taking a commanding lead during the round of 16 and 32, I was on my Coaching perch and he looked up at me during the 16 Burpees and I told him to slow down, breathe, he had this in the bag, no need to waste extra energy. He listened and coasted to an easy victory in Event 2, Jeff Larsh was impressed with Josh. Lets Gooo, I was so pumped! Josh took the overall lead at this point!
Jacob came into his lane gave Josh some props for the win and we had our talk, this event was ours, nobody was taking this event, nobody. Jacob is a different athlete than Josh, with Jacob I need to bring his intensity up to an appropriate level, BIG Hand slap, we’ve done this exact Comp a couple years ago where we wasn’t one of the top guys, now all the hard work is paying off and we’re here to win. “10 seconds” And the boys are off, round 1 and Joey is right beside Jacob and his burpees are F’ing fast lol Jacob and Joey take off to the lead but this is a wallball workout and during the round of 24 Jacob start to take a commanding lead of the field, Jacob literally hasn’t stopped to breathe. Alex is in 5th at this point which Im surprised out how slow he’s moving and then this kid who looks like a 10 year old Frazer is in third and he’s fast. Right before the workout Jeff Larsh comes up to me and says nobody will make it to and finish the the 40 wallballs of round 5, I laughed and said watch Jacob he’ll do it. On the round of 32 wallballs Jacob is way out in the lead to the point where I just tell him keep moving you’ll finish the round of 40. Listen as a Coach I need to know what that kid who is in the overall lead is doing so I’m watching him now and he’s starting to pick up the pace on the rest of the field, he has no chance at Jacob but every spot he gets up is points, he ends up coming back from 5th to 3rd with the 10 year old looking kid taking 2nd, who the F is this kid? Well he went to the CrossFit Games last year as a Teen athlete, he could move, back to Jacob. Jacob was 30 reps in front of the entire field making them all look bad finishing with 39 out of the 40 wallballs in round 5, the next closest guy had 10 LOL. Event 2 win for Jacob and overall Lead. Jeff gave Jacob a big congrats and couldn’t believe the performance.
There was 3rd division that was invite only Elite division, meant for regionals athletes and above. They were the heat after Jacob. I was also keeping a close eye on what those guys were doing as I put Jacob on there level. In 15.1 and 1 A Jacob would’ve come 3rd in 15.1 and tied for 2nd in 15.1a. The Elite guys went at Event 2 and as it finished the closest guy Brett Dykstra who is Regional Team competitior and running away with the Elite division managed 34 of the Wallballs of the 5th round, meaning Jacob not only won the RX division but beat everyone in the Elite division having the best time of the day out of everyone! Let me say I was proud man, then I started praying there was a wallball and burpee workout in the Open this year LOL.
There was a big break after Heat 2 for lunch, the boys were made assault bike and roll and have there first food meal of the day as there was time to digest before the final event! This is what a coach is there for, go cooldown, go roll, go eat food, take your bcaa’s now, start your warm-up etc. These guys are athletes man they listened to everything I said. 
Rach and Malachi showed up for Event 3 and to say hi to all the crossfit friends we haven’t seen in a while. 
Alright Event 3 for Josh was30 Jumping Chest2Bars30 DB Power Cleans 35#30 DB Push Press 35#30 Box Jump Overs 2430 Cal Row
I had him warm up each movement but not overdo it, just make sure he understood the standards, no reps are useless and a waste of time. Then I told him he needed to finish this off with a bang, Lets Gooooooo! “10 seconds” Let me just say that those dudes didn’t stand a chance, Josh pumped out Power Cleans like a real G while everyone was breaking them up he looked like he was enjoying some bro curls at GoodLife, he took a huge lead after the DB Power Cleans, broke up the Push Presses into 10’s like we talked about, nice easy pace through the box jumps then pumped the shit outta that rower while no one else was even at the the rower when he finished his 30 cals averaging 1800 cals/hr! BAM DONE Josh with an Event 3 win and Scaled Mens Division Champ!He competed like a beast, found his rhythm, calmed himself and took names on his way to his First CrossFit Win. Awesome Job Buddy, you represented us and made me proud!
So Jacob was up for his last heat and event and he was up by 1 point on the leaderboard. The workout went like this10 HSPU20+20 DB Power Clean and Jerks at 50#, 1 side at a time, 20 reps on each30 C2B Pullups40 Box Jump Overs 24″50 Cal Row
We have our game plan set, a lil talk about why he wants this so bad! Today has been ideal in every way for both Josh and Jacob, we maybe had 2 no reps all day, they’re listening to me, they’re killing it! Makes me super nervous, like something has to go wrong right?
“10 Seconds”The whole field finishes the Handstand Pushups at the same timeThe DB Clean and Jerks are going and we start with left hand first (notice how I didn’t say “bad” hand? It’s imperative during comps that you don’t have negative talk with your athletes, mindset is everything)He does 10, 1 second break and 10 and switches to right hand 10 and 10.Joey, Alex and Jacob Hop unto the bar for 30 C2B’s at the same time.Jacob gets his first 8 done and takes a break like we talked about, Joey drops, Alex is still goingJacob does 3 and drops! WTF?! Im screaming, this is not our game plan, he does 2 and drops againNo, No This is not happening, Alex goes unbroken for 30! I fucken hate this kidJacob has switched to sets fo 3 kipping, Joey pulls ahead and 10 year old Frazer is going unbroken too!I realize whats happened…Jacobs ripped for sure, we did this workout as prep and he got through these with relative easeHe’s down to singles at the end, I have a moment of this is good, lets see what he’s made ofJoey, Alex, 10 year old Frazer are already on the box jump overs when Jacob gets on thereHe starts to work hard, passing Joey and The kid but Alex is already on the rower.I’m starting to get scared now.Jacob gets on the rower 2nd but he’s 23 cals behind AlexI run over to see what Alex is pulling and he’s only pulling 1100 cals”Jacob you have to go man, pull! Pull harder, harder dude, FUCKEN HARDER”Jacobs at 1600 cal/hr making ground… I’m losing my voiceAlex finishes 50 cals Jacob still has 7 to go. Jacob made up 15 cals, too little too lateAlex takes 1st in event 3 and Jacob takes 2ndThey tie for points, Alex wins cause he has 2 event wins 1 event tie for 1st and a 3rd place Jacob has 1 event win 1 event tie for first and 2 2nd places.
I’m disappointed because I felt he deserved this win, I’m also so proud cause that was one hell of a performance, I’m also proud because not once during the Chest2Bars did he look down at his hands and complain or look at me like he was giving up, he just kept fucking going man, 1 rep at a time. Thats big time, thats competing, thats being a Radix Athlete. Radix means – The force that gives rise to ALL movement” The force that drives you from inside to do epic things on the outside, thats Radix.
Both these guys deserve your hand shake on Monday if you see them ( shake Jacobs non ripped hand please, that things is gross) 
Josh and Jacob represented US, who we are, what we represent as a gym and community. I’m beyond proud of them both!
Next year lets have a bigger team go, Josh will be ready for RX, Jacob got invited to the Elite division and lets take home some prizes!