Rest. If you rested yesterday, do that workout instead.
Thoughts on Pacing:
If you plan to do the workout twice, it's okay to pace it out the first time. Cam demonstrated that this is an effective method this week. Here are my three concerns with planned pacing on METCON:
1. How will you know that you're not stopping more than necessary? I've had conversations with many top athletes in the last 3 weeks, and they all say the same: your body thinks stopping is necessary about 20% before it really IS. That's a confusing number, so here's an example: if you believe you'll shut down at 100 squats, the REAL number is 120.
If you think, "I'll do 6 reps of overhead press and take a break," how do you know that you couldn't have done all 12 on the first 2 rounds, saving you 30 seconds for more reps at the end?
2. No one times the REST times. I see these getting longer and longer as the workout goes on. Where the intent is to spread rest out evenly, rather than take long breaks at the end, BOTH usually happen: athletes take 10 seconds between reps when they're fresh, and then 20 at the end when they're tired. They may have taken the 20 seconds anyway, even without the 10 at the beginning.
3. You take your prescribed rests....AND you rest when you're tired, too. If you push HARDER at the end to make it to your planned rest breaks without stopping, fine. That will balance out the rests you didn't need in the beginning, maybe. But if the rests DON'T force you to push harder when you're working, you're taking too many.
I think pacing can be done effectively, IF it forces you to do 1 or 2 more reps every time you move without stopping. As Pat Sherwood once told me, "the secret to Fran is to do 2 more reps than you really can." If you're trying to make the workout comfortable, though....it's not gonna happen. These aren't aerobic or 'cardio' events. They're a test to see who can still move when their heart is bursting AND you're in extreme pain. Let's get there. Let's find out.
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