S02E10 - Kayla Simpson and David Syvertsen - CrossFit Open 21.1 Tips & Strategy

March 11, 2021 - This is a special episode of Botox and Burpees which dropped TONIGHT after the CrossFit Open @crossfitgames live announcement of the first event, 21.1 - Coach David Syvertsen with special guest Coach Kayla Simpson recorded their tips and impressions after a first taste of a very unique WOD at CrossFit Bison (#1 in the USA!), in Midland Park, New Jersey.

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S02E10- Kayla Simpson and David Syvertsen - CrossFit Open 21.1 Tips and Strategy

Full transcript (click here for PDF)

S02E09 - Ashley and David Syvertsen - Pregnancy Childbirth and Fitness Recovery
Sam Rhee: [00:00:00]   Welcome to another episode of Botox and burpees. I'm Dr. Sam Rhee plastic surgeon and CrossFit coach host of this podcast where we talk about plastic surgery, CrossFit, and everything in between. You can find more information at our website, botoxandburpees.com. And make sure to like, and subscribe wherever you listen to our podcast. 
This episode comes right after the crossfit open 21.1 announcement Thursday night. We're a special guest coach kayla simpson and i did the workout And we provide our initial thoughts along with tips from david Syvertsen Owner and coach at our gym crossfit bison in midland park new jersey
This is the first of our CrossFit open podcast with Dave Seivertson as well as our special guest. Kayla Simpson absolutely crushed this workout tonight. Yup. Leader in the clubhouse, Kayla Simpson. That is correct. Going into fry.
Better, better. Hang on. Because like you said, I think there going to be a lot of people do well on this. So basically let's go through a 21.1 was. One wall walk 10 double under three wall walks, 30 Dunwell double under six wild walks, 60 double unders nine wall walks, 90 double unders 15 wall walks, 150 double unders and 21 wild walks, 210 double unders with a 15 minute time cap, new movement.
Dave, what do you think of this movement? 
David Syvertsen: [00:01:25] Like you always, like I said, in my prediction posts that what would it be? It's like Castro has been putting something new into the open. In the first open workout for four of the past five years or five of the past six years. And you always try to think of like a new dumbbell movement or new barbell movement, but yet while walks weren't even in the thought process easy.
Yeah. And they are, it's funny. They've been a part of CrossFit programming for a long time. You've programmed the program a few times, but like I could probably count on two hands. How many times we've done them in seven years. Yeah. For one more month. Yeah. For a while, we were using them to warm ourselves up for snatches, just because of the thoracic extension that you get from it, as opposed to doing normal hand handstand, but never in a workout like this, where it's like a couplet and you start doing some really high volume.
So when you saw the athletes working out, what were your first thoughts when you were watching them? It, no, mobility might be a little bit of an issue getting the hands to the wall. I got flipped. That was going to be the hardest part. And also. Controlling yourself on the way down. It's once you get to the end of the RET or what you perceive it to be your stomach touching the wall, or in this standard, your hands touching the line, that's closer to the wall.
You're like, Oh, I'm done, but you have to walk yourself back out there. And I was afraid that you guys are gonna start, like just banging your toes endlessly on the ground is you're so exhausted at that point. And that's that was my first thought was you guys are gonna start banging your toes.
Pretty hard was I've seen that with wall walks here in general. What did you think of it? Kayla, while you were going through it at the beginning and then middle end. 
Kayla Simpson: [00:02:55] I was surprised that I didn't bang my toes as hard as I thought I was going to do that as well, but it. It wasn't so much the toes.
It was just get my hands to the line at the end. That was the cause just don't fall over and get my hands to the line at the end. Once I hit that, the round of nine, that was where I was like, Oh wow. These wall walks are gonna, these are taking it toll. It's you cannot do them touch and go. It's not a touch and go workout.
It's like a one rep at a time. Space it out. 
David Syvertsen: [00:03:30] Do you think it both of you, do you think it's one of those work movements? The wall walk that like the fascia, you try to go the worst. It's going to end up being like, you really have to stay under control, right? 
Sam Rhee: [00:03:40] You have to feel like you can, I can do the rep. I tried to rush it for one. And you saw it fail because my shoulders or my stability wasn't good enough. 
David Syvertsen: [00:03:52] Was it the shoulders of the midline or both? 
Sam Rhee: [00:03:54] I think it's the breathing. So I realized I got a little bit better with my technique as I went along and I think some of it is that okay. I was breath holding for the whole rep at the beginning.
And then you flop back down and you're like, 
David Syvertsen: [00:04:05] Oh yeah, it doesn't look like a fast movement. And you guys were sucking wind. Like you were like, you had a pool of sweat under your mask. Like when you're laying on the ground and you weren't really breathing heavy 
Sam Rhee: [00:04:15] at its core. But I think what I was thinking was when you do it, breathe, as you start, move your arms up and then the last.
Like four to six inches to get as vertical as possible to touch that line. That's the hardest part for me. And that's when I has it. Okay. I got to hold my core. I got to stop breathing for a second. I got to get both hands, not just one, because you get one and then you got to get the other hand to touch and then you're like, and then you start coming back down.
And that, that last most vertical part was starting to get to be the most challenging. 
David Syvertsen: [00:04:48] That's where like, when I judged. You sound a judge, Jason, he had a couple, no reps where he just couldn't get that last hand, like two more inches and storms had an issue. Mobility wise. He said I got one of my hands to the line, but I, it was my weak arm that was on the line.
He couldn't put all of his weight on that weak arm to get the other hand off. So he got no rep a couple of times. Did you feel like the mobility? 
I 
You're. Your mobility is outstanding. So did you no issues there, 
Kayla Simpson: [00:05:14] no issues with mobility, it was shoulder fatigue. It was getting to failure. It's like similar to a handstand pushup workout where you don't want to get to failure.
Because if I was getting there and it was a fight, if I do one more rep right now, I'm going to fall over. And not because I. Ha don't have the mobility because my shoulders are still fatigued 
David Syvertsen: [00:05:35] where you just lay on the ground or did you like sit up and just shake the arms out, 
Kayla Simpson: [00:05:39] literally laid on the ground flat with my arms, 
David Syvertsen: [00:05:41] The resting pose. And this workout is funny. Like you're literally just laying on the ground and some people are putting, you put your arms out a couple of times, 
Sam Rhee: [00:05:48] I would recommend putting your arms straight out cause I was flexed and they were not feeling it. And I was like, no, this is better. 
Kayla Simpson: [00:05:53] I got up and walked around and I've because it's just a bad position to be in. Perched up in that like Cobra stretch almost right. But. If you have the mobility, like I would say, stay on the ground. Cause then you want to get back on the wall quicker. Yes.
David Syvertsen: [00:06:10] How long would you wait? Like when you got to that failure point where you're like, wow, I should probably not do another one.
How long did you wait until you did another one? Like 15. 
Sam Rhee: [00:06:18] I was counting 10, but it was really a slow time. Yeah. All right. So about 15 seconds. Hey, so is you, everyone's going to be a little different in terms of when they feel like their shoulders are coming back, like you said, it's just like a handstand pushup. You can't go too soon, but it's hard to know exactly where that fatigue level sets, because it's the first part of it.
When you first start, the movement is not the problem. It's what we're storms and where you have the most problem at the very end of it. And that's where it starts to. 
David Syvertsen: [00:06:46] So do you guys agree, like I haven't done this yet, so just look looking at the workout and watch people do it. I think this workout's more about wall walk than it is double on there.
Do you agree or disagree? 
Kayla Simpson: [00:06:55] I agree. 
Sam Rhee: [00:06:56] Oh, a thousand percent agree 
David Syvertsen: [00:06:57] because like, when I see 150 and 200, yeah, 10 double unders and a workout because I'm not going to jump rope. I'm like, Oh my God, this is a jump rope workout. But 21 wall walks in a row at the end. That takes all Rhee, even if you're good at them, that takes a really long time where the 210 double unders if you're really good is about two minutes of work.
Sam Rhee: [00:07:19] Yeah. Because, and maybe it depends, but I wa I, you saw how much I rested on the wall walks. So when you hit the double unders you don't feel so fatigued. 
David Syvertsen: [00:07:30] Did you feel your arms were impacted on the jump rope from Woolworths? Like obviously that's the way it's designed to be, but how much of an impact do you think it made.
Kayla Simpson: [00:07:39] Not like other workouts we've done here in the past. Yeah, it did impact like I w I tripped up a few times towards the end for someone who's really good at double unders like other people in the gym, meaning I'm really good at double there's. Other people in the gym who are really good at double unders.
It, yes, it did, but it's really, I felt like I didn't even think about the double riders and just get them done and yeah. And rest on the wall walks in between your reps. Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:08:06] Okay. I'm a very average to not grade double under person, and it only got bad at the one 50 Mark. And that was only because I was rushing to see how many I could get.
David Syvertsen: [00:08:15] And I think you got there. If I remember correctly, I think you started your set of one 50 at I think with a one 40 left about, and You got two 86 of them. Yeah. So it's not like you were falling apart. That's still a decent chunk of reps in about a minute and a half, 
Sam Rhee: [00:08:31] I think. The people who are good at double unders will have no problems whatsoever.
If you are one that uses a lot of shoulder it might get a little tough on those big sets, right? 
David Syvertsen: [00:08:41] From the one 50. 
Sam Rhee: [00:08:42] But up until the one 50, it's it, I don't think it will be an issue. And I saw Susan, she does a single double and she still got pretty far into it. So she's pretty good at the wall walks.
David Syvertsen: [00:08:52] I actually think she'd beat you off out the second or third set. I just remember her coming off the walls like, Whoa. Like Susan, who's the head of you right now? 
Sam Rhee: [00:09:01] I didn't want to look. I didn't know. And I didn't want to know. I think part of it is the psychological issue. Cause I remember looking up at the clock with four minutes passed and I was like, yeah, what am I going to do this part?
David Syvertsen: [00:09:16] I was going to ask you about that because. Both of you when you do a new movement in it's not that you guys have never done wall walks before, but you've never done them in this way. You've never done it in this format. A couple of high volume ascending reps. But it almost seemed like you, Sam, I didn't get to watch you as much.
Kay. But it seemed like you were a little bit better after your first couple sets. That is where a lot of like you being fit and just aware of your body. It's once you do a few you know what, I got this. So would you recommend someone coming in. And you know what, I'm going to bang out 10 in a row, in a warm up.
And yes, that might make you tired, but you had that skill development, everything you do and cross it as a skill, everything you do can be faster once you learn how to do you recommend that? Or you think to just warm up as you go? 
Sam Rhee: [00:10:00] I would, I don't know. I would definitely say this is one where a redo is going to yield a ton of improvement for lots of people. I felt my technique. I better on the wall walks or I just felt better as I was going with them. And I know even you, Kayla, you said, you're thinking about you don't redo wads, but this is one you want to redo because you think you could do a lot better on it, right?
Kayla Simpson: [00:10:21] Yes. 
David Syvertsen: [00:10:22] There's your margin for improvement? 
Kayla Simpson: [00:10:23] I agree with the wall block. Yeah. I feel like one of 10 reps and after the first round. Yeah. As he go, okay, I can flow through this a little bit easier. Yeah. Like you can like, just like free flow, back and forth instead of thinking. Yeah. And I might not get like a huge improvement, but I, maybe I tripped up a few times on double unders where I normally yeah. Maybe 
David Syvertsen: [00:10:46] what were your transitions? Would you get off the wall walk and they get like right to the rope? Or would you like smooth because that's where a lot of time when you redo workouts, that's usually where it's at. Is like you just, instead of you resting 15 seconds before your first wall walk, you just go right to it.
Do you think that's what were your transitions like where you chill there?
Kayla Simpson: [00:11:04] I tried to be I would say yes, chill to the rope breeze, take a deep breath and then get into it. Yeah. And really the same thing back to the ballroom. 
David Syvertsen: [00:11:15] It's don't waste too much time, but don't run to it.
Kayla Simpson: [00:11:17] Because my shoulders are so fatigued. Yeah. I think the pace of the wall walk is going to dictate your score. So I almost would like to have someone there say go yeah. 10 seconds. You want to draw a pacer yourself. Someone's sitting at home right now, drawing out the pace. Is it safe to say you can do a wall walk every 10 seconds because the actual rep itself takes about five.
David Syvertsen: [00:11:41] Could you do five rests on the ground five seconds. And that would get you six reps a minute. Now you could start building out your pace. 
Sam Rhee: [00:11:48] I'd like to try that. Yeah. That'd be a good pace to try to stick to until I fell off of it. But for sure, yes, I need, I couldn't tell what my pace was and I felt like I needed a pace to hold to. And that would help me a lot. 
Kayla Simpson: [00:12:01] Yeah. Maybe a little bit longer, 15 seconds 
David Syvertsen: [00:12:04] at the end. Maybe on average. That's that's my biggest thing. When I draw paces is like, On average, how long does this take? Not what's your fastest would your slow it's like, what's your average. So then that's how you create a pace yourself and work out.
You look at the clock, like, all so I want to get through, the rep scheme was one, 305 nine. Yeah. It was one, three, (491) 369-1316 21 seven. It's not really an issue of pacing until you get to the six into the nine, six, seven. Yeah. I think if you're looking at every 15 seconds, like you start writing this out, you're like, man, I can get my wall walk done.
Portion on the workout done in seven minutes, eight minutes. So now can I get my four or five, 600 double unders done in the rest of the six, seven minutes. And that really could avoid that like failure stage the red line stage, where you're like. I'm doing a wall walk every 30 seconds now. And and then you just mentally get defeated.
I think that's a big part of pacing. It's not just or conditioning is that you mentally stay in it. Like you can keep. Making these checkpoints on your board be like, all right, I need to be at this by this I'm 30 seconds ahead right now. I should slow down a notch, and I think it keeps you in it.
It keeps you focused. It doesn't make you look at the clock and be like, I can't do this. 
Sam Rhee: [00:13:14] You can't look at the clock. You just have to follow your pace. Cause if you look at the clock, you're going to be demoralized. Just stick to your pace. I think what you said about warmup. Maybe I wouldn't do 10, but I would maybe do. Five or six. Yeah. And try a pace and see what that feels like. What do you feel like, are you functional after that? And that, and then, then you got to give yourself some rest before you actually start the wild. I wouldn't do that right now. 
Kayla Simpson: [00:13:37] Come in, do the warmups that we do for a handstand instead of hold and then flip it around and do the walk.
Yeah. I was actually thinking all of the work we've done with Hinson walks has helped this because I've been doing wall walks and shoulder taps. I was surprised how much the shifting and knowing where my positioning of my hands are. I can't do handstand walk yet, but just practicing the shifting of not being too long. Yeah. First not being too narrow. Staying stacked right outside my shoulder blades. Instead of coming out too wide. And your forearms, 
David Syvertsen: [00:14:14] Taking out a straw, you said he went to wide early on in the workout and he couldn't get the hands to where they needed to be. So now he narrowed them a little bit, but not inside the shoulders.
Sam Rhee: [00:14:23] I think what Kayla said about stacking them right outside your shirt like that about optimal. I think to get. You should play with it a little bit. Yeah. But I, but going too wide, is that definitely a problem? I agree about the handstand walk, practice. It just. I don't hands-down walk either, but just being upside down and feeling comfortable because we keep practicing on the wall upside down and not in the normal handstand pushup mode with our faces facing the wall.
We, I practiced that for the past two months off and on, and that, that made it the muscles that you use to be upside down in that position. As opposed to your eyes facing out are completely different, very different. Like the demand of what keeps you up right. Is very different. And then you guys at least had that training for you and the balance is helpful.
David Syvertsen: [00:15:09] Yeah. Midline, big body awareness. Really. That's really what Hanson walking is. Coordination core strength. Yeah. 
Sam Rhee: [00:15:15] I think everyone who wants to really do well on this is going to have to do it twice because you can just got to do it under, you're making me think now a dry, like a dry run because Now, I feel like the hand, the wall walks, I have a pacing system.
I have a feel for what it feels like to come up and then come down again. My breath control system where I can breathe and then hold and then breathe. Like all of that feels like I could do that. 
Kayla Simpson: [00:15:40] And I don't feel terrible right now. Like I'm not a super girl, like I'm not S like I don't. I don't feel like terrible. I feel like I could do this on Sunday, depending upon how you take care of your calves after that. Yeah. 
David Syvertsen: [00:15:53] This could be a lot of doubles like you did. If you did a one 50, two 4,300 to be 30, 340 levels. All right. Then 60 doubles right around there. It's not that many. Usually our average here is about 300 per double on their workout, so it's not so if you're going to redo a two days later, three days later, it's, I think you're on the safe side there.
You just got to take care of your feet. I predict a number of people will finish this workout. Really? Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, I think so. There's, what's your number? How about this? I'll put the over on there at six. 
Sam Rhee: [00:16:26] I was going to say between five and 10. So I would say I would say more than six we'll finish, I'm saying on there.
David Syvertsen: [00:16:33] Really? Yeah. It's obvious. I don't believe in people, but I just think those 21 world walks at the end are going to take a lot longer than people think. I think when you're a fresh 21 wall walks would take three to four minutes. So someone's got to get there with seven minutes left, six minutes left.
Because they had the two dozen double on this after. Hey, I hope I'm wrong. I really do. Yeah. But we watched one of the games athletes in finish. Oh, she did not see Rama didn't finish. 
Sam Rhee: [00:16:58] She burnt out on a wall, walks early. It looked like there's a technique to it. 
David Syvertsen: [00:17:01] Yeah. Kerry Pierce finished, but she's a world-class gymnast and the second fittest person on the face of the earth.
Sam Rhee: [00:17:07] I hope people get within striking distance. I know there are going to be people in the two, 10 double unders who are going to try to fit. 
David Syvertsen: [00:17:11] Yeah. Like at my first thought was all right. If you're really good at doubles, you're going to finish this. So I was like, all right, I'm not finishing, but now it looks like it's more, you still have to be decent at them is doing 210 doubles.
When you're tired is you have to be elite to get through that without tripping up 30 times. But. The wall walks, I think are going to, it's just a, it's just a lot, even if you're decent at them, you've got to be pretty quick. And then I'm broke, like close I'm broke on the jump rope.
Sam Rhee: [00:17:37] It's such a diabolical workout because you really, the amount of it's a little frustrating, the amount of time you spend resting in between your wall walks and it's such a big time, suck to look at it and just be okay.
I gotta wait, I gotta wait. I gotta wait. I gotta go. Oh, this is really hard. Okay. NASA six one Oh one right there. Yeah. I'm interested to see how you do. I'm interested to see how a couple other people do at the gym. And I hope that people will continue to also give us some feedback about this too on Friday and then Saturday, because I'm.
David Syvertsen: [00:18:10] Yeah, you think you're going to redo Sunday? Probably. 
Sam Rhee: [00:18:12] I'm going to give it a shot. I feel like I could definitely do better. Yeah. And you're going to do it twice too, right? I w 
David Syvertsen: [00:18:18] my plan was to not do any of them twice, unless I really bombed it. But the thing is I was going to wait until Sunday to do it.
So if I do it Sunday, I don't wouldn't want to do it the next day. So if you don't do it twice, then you're going to practice wall walks for awhile. Yeah. Like maybe not a full wide. I might go through half of it. Like just cut the reps down. Yeah. Play around with that tomorrow.
Yeah. And then I might, I probably will commit to doing it Saturday afternoon. I understand. I really need to redo, I can do it Sunday night or
Sam Rhee: [00:18:42] if your casts aren't great, then yes. You don't want to do the one thing. I'm more, 
David Syvertsen: [00:18:46] I'm not worried about the world walks at all. I'm not the, I'm just worried about the volume of jump rope.
Sam Rhee: [00:18:50] So all you need to do is feel comfortable with the technique of wall walks. So you know exactly what your pace and your strategy is. Yeah. And then you just go for it. Yeah. 
Kayla Simpson: [00:18:59] Wise words, Kayla G she said this was her favorite open a first work out of the open every, 
David Syvertsen: [00:19:06] yeah, she did say that her favorite opening open workout.
Sam Rhee: [00:19:10] Yep. She's nuts. 
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