CrossFit Open 24.3
The 2024 CrossFit Open is wrapping up with an exciting finish in Week 3!
Date: Mar. 14, 2024
Live Show Begins: 11:30 PT / 19.30 CET
Open Workout 24.2 Announced: 12:00 PT / 20.00 CET
Location: PRVN HQ, Nashville
How to watch 24.3
24.3 was streamed live on the CrossFit Games website and the CrossFit Games YouTube channel.
Author, and retired Navy Officer who served in the Navy SEALS, Jocko Willink took to the mic to make the announcement for the final test in the 2024 Open. Following the withdrawal of Tia-Clair Toomey from the event, the athletes that participated in the live 24.3 Open announcement were Arielle Loewen, Sydney Wells, Roman Khrennikov and Jay Crouch.
Tia-Clair Toomey, who has won the title of Fittest Woman on Earth six times, was due to compete against Arielle Loewen, who was the third-Fittest Woman on Earth in 2023. Due to a wrist injury Toomey announced that she would be withdrawing from the live announcement throw down, meaning that Loewen and Toomey did NOT face each other in Open Workout 24.3.
Before Toomey's announcement
After Toomey's announcement
What is the CrossFit Open 24.3?
For time, using a running clock:
5 rounds of:
10 thrusters (weight 1)
10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Rest 1 minute, then:
5 rounds of:
7 thrusters (weight 2)
7 bar muscle-ups
Time cap: 15 min
👩65/95 lb (29/43 kg)
👨95/135 lb (43/61 kg)
First thoughts:
A Classic Castro workout to finish the Open. With thrusters and pulling gymnastics 24.3 pays homage to an original CrossFit Classic: Fran.
The first section has 50 thrusters and 50 chest-to-bar pull ups. This information alone is already enough to start understanding how we will have to approach this workout.
It is also important to note this has the potential to be 15 minutes long! So make sure you pace yourself at the start.
If you manage to finish the first section, the 1 minute rest is unfortunately not going to help too much … especially if you went out too hot too soon.
Warm up:
General Warm Up:
Make sure the squat is feeling smooth and pain free:
This video has some useful tips:
Then we begin on your machine of choice for 8-10 minutes. You can slightly increase the pace each minute with a quick burst every 2 minutes to get the quads ready.
Movement specific warm up:
Thrusters: (with an empty barbell)
3 x 5 FS, aim to keep a full grip to prepare for the thrusters.
3 x 5 Thrusters
Gymnastics:
2 x 6-10 Scap pull-ups
3 x 6-10 Basic kip swings
2 x 5-10 Butterfly circles, increase speed through reps
2 x 5 C2B’s
5 x 1 Jump to hollow
2 x 10 Straight arm lat pulldowns
3-5 x 1 BMU, singles
Pacing strategy:
This workout can be a trap, don’t look at it as 2 different parts, but as a big one with 1 minute rest between.
The important thing to understand here is that pacing will look very differently for PRO athletes compared to everyone else. Therefore, using the 24.3 announcement as a pacing blueprint might be a recipe for disaster.
Depending on your weakness, you want to break from the beginning, so that you can reach the 2nd half with the ability to continue at a consistent pace in both the thrusters and the bar muscle ups.
Specific movement strategies:
Thrusters:
C2B:
BMU:
For the high achievers:
Really there is nowhere to hide, the best athletes in the world will be going quick and unbroken.
As always it is important to manage your effort within the workout, even though you will be going unbroken, we need to save energy and focus for the last few rounds. Therefore the start is not a sprint, but testing your ability to ride below the red line, until the last 2-3 rounds you can look to push that pace.
For the rest:
If you struggle with pulling gymnastics and/or thrusters then break early and often, it is easy to get to failure on these movements, so to optimise the 15 minutes of the workout and remember you need to stay below the redline until the end.
If you have bar muscle ups but struggle with bigger sets under fatigue again go easy from the start. That one minute break will go by quickly and won't serve as recovery.
Ultimately we are looking to set ourselves up for success in the last minutes of this workout, so go out easy, start accumulating some reps, then towards the end is where you can start to step on the gas.
Equipment set up:
*Tape, cones, or any other object should be used to indicate the barbell is placed 5 feet away from the pull-up bar.
Rules to remember:
Start the timer at “Go.” The timer DOES NOT STOP during the 1-minute rest.
The barbell MUST be placed at least 1.5 metres / 5 feet away from the pull-up bar for safety. Athletes may have assistance changing the barbell load or two bars may be used.
If time-capped, your score will be the total number of reps completed.
A tiebreak time will be recorded after you complete 5 rounds of thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups. If you do not complete the workout before the time cap, this is your tiebreak time. The athlete who completed the first 5 rounds the fastest wins the tie.
If the workout is completed before the time cap, there is no tiebreaker.
Make sure that you have a clear lock-out on those thrusters with the barbell overhead and the hips and knees extended.
For the BMU make sure that you have a good lockout as well. You need to be on top of the bar in a full support position.
NO REP THRUSTERS
NO REP CHEST TO BAR PULL UPS
NO REPS BAR MUSCLE UPS
Hot tips:
- Break before YOU break: if you know unbroken sets throughout are not in the cards for you break early on, it will pay off on those bar muscle ups.
- Be prepared for a long ride: this workout may look short on paper but for many of us it may take up the whole 15 minutes.
- No rest for the wicked: that minute rest is going to benefit your mind more than your recovery. Have a positive self talk mantra ready to go.
- Smooth reps are fast reps. You are likely to gain more time by staying relaxed and keeping a good technique than rushing and needlessly spiking your heart rate.
Recovery protocol:
Community beers and cool down bike ride to get rid of the quad pump.
