2022 CrossFit Quarterfinals

With the 2022 CrossFit Open already in the books, it’s time to look towards the next stage of competition, the Quarterfinals.

This is just the second of many checkpoints that will ensure that only the best of our sport earn a spot to the final competition, the NOBULL CrossFit Games. 

Scheduling the Tests

This year CrossFit HQ has released five workouts or tests to be completed over three days. Given that the tests are so varied, it’s important to complete them in an order that will result in a strong performance on each test with very little negative impact on the others.

Our recommendation for ordering the tests:

Friday – Test 1 & 2
Saturday – Test 3 & 4
Sunday – Test 5

If you have time to get after it today, an alternative scheduling plan could also be: 

Thursday – Test 4
Friday – Test 1 &2
Saturday – Test 3
Sunday – Test 5

This option gives you the opportunity to get some of the heavier work out of the way with more time to recover before hitting the other workouts over the weekend.

It’s absolutely crucial that your nutrition, hydration, and rest is on point during these next few days. 

Your intention should be to “one and done” each workout. Repeating tests will only contribute to your overall fatigue and may not pay-off in your overall results. 

Plan well and do it right the first time. Pay especially close attention to the standards so that you don’t have to repeat any workouts over a silly mistake.

Wods

Wod 1

For Time:

50 dumbbell walking lunges
30 handstand push-ups
40 front-rack walking lunges
20 deficit handstand push-ups
30 overhead walking lunges
10 strict handstand push-ups

Time cap: 15 min

35/50 lb 15/22,5 kg dumbbell
2 / 3,5 inch deficit

This is the first time in an official CrossFit workout that we see walking lunges being counted by steps rather than meters. Pay close attention to the standards on dumbbell exercises as they vary throughout the workout.

While this workout will favor athletes that dominate handstand push-ups, the weight of the dumbbell weights will play a factor in fatigue accumulation.

This workout won’t be won by going unbroken. Stick to short sets and short rest periods to maintain the speed of the reps. 

You’ll want to go into this one feeling as good as possible. Use a good warm up to prime each exercise, maximize your overhead mobility, and prepare your energy systems to support the first of many workouts.

As always, we recommend:

General Warm up:

5:00min rowing, increasing pace
Then
3 rounds:
1 Wall Walk
10 Wall facing handstand shrugs
15 BW Lunges 
(3rd round with hands held Overhead) 

Neck Prep:

20 Banded face pulls
20 Barbell OH Shrugs (Snatch Grip)
20 sec Headstand Hold

Shoulder Warm up: 

*GOWOD HSPU/Overhead mobility routine if needed

2 Rounds:
15 Scap push ups vs. Band tension 
8 DB chest activation presses 

Workout Prep:

2 Rounds increasing pace:
12 DB walking lunges 
8 HSPU
8 Front rack walking lunges
6 Deficit HSPU
6 OH walking lunges
4 sHSPU

Make sure that on every HSPU that you hit the standards and control the descent.

Wod 2

3 rounds for time:

30 alternating single-leg squats
30 GHD sit-ups
10 muscle-ups

Time cap: 15 min

This one gets spicy so you’ll need to manage the work well from the start. If you can’t go unbroken in the ring muscle ups and GHD sit ups for 3 rounds like some of the top male athletes will, break them from the first round. 

The real work lies within the GHD sit ups which threaten to tax your midline during the muscle ups. Pistols will allow you to catch your breath a bit. You’ll still be warm from the first test, but make sure your muscle ups and pistols feel smooth beforehand. Remember the mantra: Set your set up for success!

General Warm up:

3-4 Rounds of:
4 Ring Pull ups
8 Push ups
14 Air squats (shift weight on one leg each rep)

Pistol Prep:

3 Sets:
15 Weighted single leg hip thrusts 
20 Seated hamstring curls 
10 sec Top of pistol hold/leg
15 sec Bottom of pistol hold/leg
+
*Dorsiflexion primer: (if you can‘t push your knee forward much)
10 Tibialis raises
10 Calf raises 

Into:

6-10 Negative Pistols
6-10 Counterbalance Pistol Squats

GHDSU Prep: 

3 Rounds
8 Leg extensions on GHD
15 sec GHDSU ISO hold

RMU Prep:

3 Sets:
15 Scap Push ups vs band tension
10 Dip Depressions

Into:

2 Rounds:
4 Kip swings on Rings
4 Ring Hip touches
1-2 RMU without Dip

Workout Prep:

2 Rounds increasing Pace:
8 Pistols
10 GHDSU
1-2 RMU*
*If you don’t have your RMU yet do hip touches

Wod 3

For Time:

8-16-24-32-24-16-8 wall-ball shots
4-8-12-16-12-8-4 shuttle runs
1-2-3-4-3-2-1 rope climbs

Time cap: 25 min

14/20 lb medicine ball
10 ft target
50 ft shuttle run

Another first from HQ, test 3 introduces the shuttle run for the first time in an official CrossFit online competition. 

This workout is rather unassuming on paper, but don’t let it fool you. Wod 3 starts easy but just like Open Workout 22.2, descending the ladder is when you begin to notice the fatigue. 

Whether or not you go unbroken in the wall balls probably won’t make much of a difference, but you’ll want to be quick and agile during the sprints. Take care not to lose time in the shuttle runs as you go back and forth. Stay focused and disciplined to avoid resting too much in the rope climbs. 

Although repeating this workout may result in a better time, don’t be tempted! It’s the longest workout Quarterfinals and a lot of volume to boot. Know your capacity, and work to its limit.

General Warmup:

2 Rounds:
20 Air squats
200m Run 
2-4 Strict Ring Pull ups

Rope Climb Prep:

3 Rounds:
2-4 Rope Pull ups
4-6 Toes to rope
1-2 Rope anchors to stand

Workout Prep:

8-10-12 Wall balls
2-4-6 Shuttle Runs (stay low)
1-1-1 Rope Climb (jump high and pull you feet towards your chest)

Wod 4

1 clean
1 bench press
1 overhead squat
Time cap: 30 min

Probably the most straightforward of the tests, WOD 4 is a 30-minute show of strength.

Use seven to ten minutes to work up to your opening weights beforehand, so that you can optimize your attempts during the 30-minute window. The clean and bench press may take away from the overhead squat so keep that in mind from the start. Save some time at the end to go for some extra heavy attempts in the clean and bench press.

General Warm up:

2 Rounds increasing pace:
1:00min Row
1:00min Bike
Into:
3 Rounds: 
10 Push ups + Scap push up
15 Air squats (Last round with arms extended overhead)

Clean Warm up:

2 Sets:
15 Side Bends
15 Hip thrusts
30sec Adductor plank/side
*GoWOD Mobility front rack prep if necessary

With an empty bar:
5 Clean deadlifts
5 Hang muscle cleans
5 1 1/4 front squat (focus on the bounce out of the hole)
5 Hip cleans

Build up to 92-95% of your 1RM:

If you feel good: 
3-4 attempts: 95%-98%-PR-another PR

If you feel kinda nervous:
3-4 attempts: 92%-97%-100%-PR?

If you aren’t feeling too good:
3-4 Attempts: 89%-91%-95%

Bench Prep:

3 Sets:
15 Scap Push-ups vs band tension
15 Banded face Pulls
20 Banded curls

Bench Warmup:
2 x 6 with an empty bar with a short pause on your chest 
(Regular grip width and wide grip)

Points of Performance in the Bench Press:

• Bar path: You want to press as efficiently as possible and the best way to do so in a raw bench press is in a J-Curve
• Upper back: Pull your shoulder blades into your pockets and elongate your neck this will ensure a more stable positioning of your upper back on the bench.
• Bench: Make sure your bench is fixed and it cannot move!
• Arching: Since we are not used to arching that much, focus more on puffing your chest out instead of trying to form a crazy big arch.
• Core support: Squeeze your abs, while this will increase the ROM a little it will help you get more stability on the bench.
• Leg drive: Getting your heels closer towards your head ensures that you’re locked into the bench. Use this to your advantage to improve your bar path and efficiency even further as you push the bar away from your chest.
• Elbows OUT! We want to push as fast as we can into a closed kinetic chain, meaning a position where all our muscles will help us get the weight up. In other words, pushing your elbows out when the bar is halfway up will ensure we get the most power out of our muscles.
• Widen your grip: This will decrease the range of motion even if it‘s just a few centimeters.

OHS Warmup:

3 Rounds:
12 DB chest activation presses
6 Barbell sots presses
*GoWOD Mobility OHS prep if necessary

Empty Bar:
5 Behind the neck split jerk 
5 Snatch balance
3 OHS with 2ct pause in bottom 

Into: 
Behind the neck jerk + OHS
Build up to 92-95% of your 1RM:

If you feel good:
3-4 attempts: 95%-98%-PR-another PR

If you kinda nervous:
3-4 attempts: 92%-97%-100%-PR?

If you are feeling bad:
3-4 attempts: 89%-91%-95%

Wod 5

For Time:

30-calorie row
20 burpee box jump-overs
10 snatches

Time cap: 7 min

135/185 lb 61/83 kg
20/24 in box

The last test is the definition of grit. How deep can you get into the pain cave, and how long can you stay there?

After blowing through the row and burpees box jump overs, that barbell is going to feel especially heavy so consider doing heavy singles right from the start. Put your head down, get to work, and try not to redline before you finish.

General Warm up:

3 Rounds, increasing pace:
45 sec Row
6 Burpees over rower

Shoulder Warm up:

4 Sets:
10 Scap Push ups
20 Banded internal/external rotations
10 Cuban rotations

Snatch Warm up:

Empty bar:
5 Slow snatch pulls
5 Hang muscle snatches
5 Hip power snatches
5 Drop snatches
Then, work up to workout weight

Tip: Consider opting for quick singles instead of TNG reps if your 1RM Power snatch is below 100kg

Workout Prep:

4 Sets, increasing paces & weight:
12 cal row
6 BBJO
3 Snatches 
Rest 90sec between sets.

That’s everything you need to get after it! The last piece of advice is to be positive. If you’ve made it up to here, there’s a reason for it. Trust in your abilities, know your capacity, and set yourself up for success from the start. Don’t forget to take care of yourself leading up to the workouts and to be clear on the rules ahead of time. 

See you at Semis.

The Quarterfinal is the next phase of competition following the Open.

This online qualifier follows a format that is similar to the Open: the workouts are released by CrossFit HQ via their official website and eligible athletes must complete them under the supervision of a judge before submitting the scores and having them validated.

Athletes will have one weekend to complete the events and submit their scores. Athletes who are successful in the Quarterfinal will be able to advance to the live Semifinal competition.

There will be no scaling options for the events, and to be eligible for advancement to the Semifinals, athletes must submit a score for each event.

Click here for more details about the stages of competition leading to the CrossFit Games.

When are Quarterfinals?

In 2022, the dates for Quarterfinals are:

• Individuals: Mar 24-27
• Teams: Apr 7-10
• Age Groups: Apr 21-24

Each category will have its own individual programming.

Who can Participate?

Participation in the Quarterfinal is by invitation only and are determined by how athletes rank overall in the Open once the leaderboard is finalized.

The following categories will move on to Quarterfinals:

• Individual athletes:
  • Top 10% of men from each continent
  • Top 10% of women from each continent
• Age group athletes: Top 10% of each age division on the worldwide leaderboard.
• Teams: Top 25% of total number of teams per continent (minimum 50 teams from each continent)
• Adaptive athletes: The top 20 from each division will directly advance to an online semifinal competition which takes place June 2-5.

Registration and competition details 

Registration begins March 21

Eligible athletes wishing to participate must accept their invitation and register for the Quarterfinal before the close of the first score submission window

Registration fee: $50 USD Individuals; $100 USD Teams 

Athletes must provide their own judge who has completed the 2022 Judges’ course. Athletes must also provide a video of each workout.

What equipment is needed to participate?

The official equipment list published by CrossFit HQ is as follows:

• All recommended 2022 CrossFit Open equipment:
  • 2 Dumbbells (50/35 lbs.)
  • Barbell (45/35 lbs.)
  • Jump rope
  • Standard bumper plates and collars
  • Plyo-box (at least a 15×15-inch top surface) (24/20 in.)
  • Wall space
  • Gymnastic rings
  • Pull-up bar 

• 30 feet of flat space suitable for movements covering distance
• 15 foot climbing rope
• Medicine Ball (20/14 lbs.)
• GHD
• Squat rack
• Concept2 Rower

What’s next?

Individual and team athletes who are successful in the Quarterfinals then move on to the in-person Semifinals.

Age group divisions will move on to an online Semifinal. May 20 – June 12.

Following Semifinals athletes who have yet to qualify for the next and final phase will have one final opportunity. The Last Chance Qualifier is June 29 – July 1. 

The 2022 season ends with the CrossFit Games which will take place August 4-7.