RJ
A Hero WOD honoring Major Robert J. Marchanti II, killed in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. Performed with a 20lb vest, combining running, rope climbs, and push-ups.
- Format
- For Time
- Level
- elite
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RJ is a for-time workout by Fiz, built from 3 movements. It is set at elite level.
About RJ
RJ is five rounds of an 800 metre run, five rope climbs and fifty push-ups. It honours Sergeant Major Robert J. Cottle, a U.S. Marine Corps reservist and Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officer, killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan in March 2010.
Two hundred and fifty push-ups is not a typo
The rope climbs get the attention and the push-ups do the damage. Two hundred and fifty of them, in blocks of fifty, each block arriving immediately after five rope climbs have already taken your arms and shoulders. By round three most athletes are doing push-ups in sets of five with the chest touching a floor that feels further away each time, and the 800 metre runs stop being aerobic work and become the only rest available.
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Use your legs on the rope
Twenty-five rope climbs is a large amount of pulling, and the difference between athletes who finish comfortably and athletes who stall in round three is almost entirely foot technique. Lock the feet properly on every cycle so the legs stand you up and the arms only hold position. Climbing hand over hand feels faster for the first five and costs you the last twenty. On the push-ups, break into small sets from round one, something like tens, and never go to failure: a failed push-up set in round two is a round three you spend on the floor.
What's a good RJ time
Thirty minutes is a strong RJ, twenty-four is exceptional, and the bulk of the field sits between forty and fifty-five. Where you land is mostly a question of whether your push-ups survive to round four. When you scale, lower the rope target or use a seated pull, and leave the two hundred and fifty push-ups where they are. Pulling and pushing stacking on the same shoulders across five rounds is the specific thing this workout is built around, and cutting the push-ups removes it.