Taking on the CrossFit Open: Part 4

Continuing their quest for the top ranks in the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games Open, Jessica Pamanian and Tom Rowland are reunited in Cookeville, Tenn., as they hit Workout 11.4.

In Part 4, they’re at the Tennessee Tech Training Facility, home of CrossFit Cookeville and 2010 CrossFit Games second-place finisher Rich Froning Jr.

Workout 11.4 brought a different type of AMRAP to Open participants: a slog through bar-facing burpees, overhead squats and muscle-ups. When the workout was announced, few thought 2 complete rounds would be possible in only 10 minutes.

Despite the task, Rowland is confident.

“I feel a lot more comfortable with this workout than I did last week’s,” he says before the WOD. Rowland says he thrives in the mid-to-longer domains and is pleased with his performance thus far in the Open. By contrast, Pamanian feels some frustration.

“I wish I’d done better so far,” she says.

When the clock starts, Rowland, Pamanian and Froning go head-to-head on 11.4. Rowland finishes with 112 reps, Pamanian notches 97, and Froning achieves the top performance with 167 reps, earning him a top-five worldwide ranking on the workout. Afterward, the athletes share their post-workout impressions.

“This is basically to see where I am at in my training, see how I compare to everybody else, see if what I’m doing is working for me,” Froning explains.

Rich says he’ll make adjustments as needed, but he’s right near the top of the overall leaderboard, so it looks like his training is dialed right in.

23min 58sec
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Additional video: Update on the Open: Week 4.