CROSSFIT GRACE: THE WHO, WHAT & WHY

If you look in Webster’s Dictionary, the word “grace” is defined as “simple elegance or refinement of movement.”

If you look up the word “Grace” in a name dictionary, you find out that it means “charm” and has Latin origins.

If you look up the word “GRACE” in a CrossFit dictionary, you’ll probably find a bit different of a definition.

Let’s break down what the name “GRACE” means in the CrossFit world.

Who Is GRACE?

We would like to remind all of the readers that, once again, we are a CrossFit company and not Reader's Digest, and therefore are probably not talking about a random person named Grace.

There’s no way you would all know this mystery Grace we were talking about, and any inside jokes or funny anecdotes we told would fall upon deaf ears.

So, in this case, Grace is not the name of a person, but rather the name of a CrossFit WOD.

Alright Then… What Is GRACE?

GRACE is a CrossFit workout. More importantly and intimidatingly, GRACE is a named CrossFit workout, putting it in the surprisingly rare category of CrossFit workouts that have their own name.

Usually, a name means the CrossFit WOD has withstood the test of time and traveled far and wide, spreading across the world’s CrossFit boxes line a certain unnamed sickness that shall remain unnamed for everyone’s sanity.

Because all CrossFitters are secretly (or not so secretly, we’re not here to judge) masochists, the fact that GRACE has a name and has stuck around probably also means it is unusually hard, even for a CrossFit WOD.

GRACE is a killer. If she was a movie character, she would be James Bond, deadly and efficient.

30 Clean and Jerks. 135 pounds for men, 95 pounds for women. For time.

That’s it.

Wait, but I thought you said it was hard?

Oh, it is.

How Do I Do GRACE?

GRACE is as simple as it is difficult. What an oxymoron that last sentence was.

All you need to do is rep out 30 clean and jerks as fast as possible.

You do not need to do a certain number of repetitions before taking a break. There are no sets. Simply get those 30 done, take a shower, and get on with your day.

So the GRACE is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. It will test you in both of those categories.

Why Do I Do GRACE?

Because you are a CrossFitter, and that is what CrossFitters do.

But, more specifically, there are a few MAJOR benefits you get from GRACE:

1. Explosive Power

Clean and jerks are highly explosive movements. They take your whole body moving in a concerted effort, going from holding the bar below your knees to above your head in 2 quick movements.

The trick to successful clean and jerks is doing them fast. The bar needs to be zipping around, because if you try to slowly muscle the bar onto your shoulders and overhead instead of using its own momentum, you are out of luck.

Doing 30 clean and jerks in a short amount of time is a massive test of your explosive power, and like any test, you will come out of the other end better than you were going into it.

2. Burns Fat

Everyone likes to look sleek in the mirror, and the GRACE certainly does not hurt in that department.

GRACE can be described as “high-intensity” - combining a cardiovascular component and a strength component - which makes it a great way to burn fat.

Those 30 reps of clean and jerks will quickly have your heart racing at a breakneck pace. Your lungs will be pumping like twin bellows and lactic acid will be coursing through your body and into your muscles at higher rates than you ever thought possible.

All of that forces your body to resort to no longer burning low-energy carbs, and rather to burning high-energy fats.

Which is exactly what you wanted in the first place.

Checkmate, triglycerides.

3. GRACE Increases Mental Strength

GRACE, like many CrossFit workouts, is mentally draining, there is no question about that.

At first, getting in and out of your WOD in 10 minutes while only doing 30 reps of an exercise might sound short and sweet when compared to 40-minute WODS, but there is nothing sweet about GRACE.

Clean and jerks are not exactly bicep curls. Your whole body needs to work at a high level in order to even do 1 rep, let alone 30. Clean and jerks take a large physical toll on your body, and that in turn takes a large physical toll on your mind.

Mental strength is a huge part of getting a great time in the GRACE. Pushing through the pain and tiredness can make or break your score, and the difference between a new PB and last in the class can often be a matter of seconds.

In general, CrossFit is perfect for training you to push through when you do not feel like pushing through. GRACE is no exception.

The Movements of GRACE

Just to give you a bit more of an in-depth feel for the GRACE, we will quickly go through a brief overview of the movement that makes up the WOD.

Clean And Jerks

Clean and jerks are actually 2 movements combined into 1, with a brief hiatus in the middle where you can once again ask yourself why am I doing this?

The clean and jerk can be broken down into 8 easy steps:

Stand in front of the barbell with feet hip-width apart. Shoulders should be over the bar. Keep the back curved and stick the chest out. Hips are lower than shoulders and higher than knees. Keep the barbell in contact with the shins during setup.
Pull the barbell up the shins (keeping it tight to the body) and over the knees. Maintain a neutral spine and keep the chest up. This pull should be quick, to gain momentum.
Pull bar from hips, driving the hips and bar upwards in an explosive movement. The bar should stay close to the body as it moves above the shoulders. Pull the bar above the shoulders, using its momentum and the traps.
Drop yourself under the barbell into a squat. Bring the elbows under the bar and push them up and forwards, catching the bar on the front of the shoulders. You should end this step in a front squat. Stand up out of the squat.
From the standing front squat position, dip down like you are going to jump, only a few inches. Explosively push through the legs, driving the barbell upwards in a push press-like motion. This part of the clean and jerk is very similar to a barbell thruster.
During the explosive movement, split the legs so that you end up in a nearly-standing split stance, catching the bar overhead with straight arms and locked shoulders.
Walk your back foot forward into a standing position with the bar still overhead. Your spine should maintain a neutral position.
Drop the bar to the ground, and reset for the next stance.

The clean and jerk is a complex movement, and we highly recommend both watching YouTube videos on it and learning the general motion with something lighter than a barbell.

The Top GRACE Times

To really compare yourself to the best of the best in the CrossFit world, let’s take a look at the time it takes some of the most dominant CrossFitters to complete the GRACE:

Mat Fraser

Mat Fraser is basically the Hercules of CrossFit - a demigod that most mere mortals cannot compare to in the CrossFit realm.

A multi-time winner of the CrossFit Games, Fraser’s best time in the GRACE is 1:18.

That’s right, no need to clean your glasses or rub your eyes to make sure you are seeing things clearly.

1:18, for 30 reps of clean and jerk.

That is a blistering 1 rep every 2.6 seconds for the entire WOD.

Tia-Clair Toomey

Not to be outdone by her male counterpart, the 4-time Fittest Woman on Earth has ripped through the GRACE with a PB of 1:20, only 2 seconds slower than Fraser.

To put that in perspective, Toomey was doing a rep of the clean and jerk in less time than it takes you to read this sentence, 30 times in a row.

What About Us Normal Humans?

For the average CrossFitter, GRACE is still a fairly quick WOD. It is only 30 clean and jerks, after all.

Hint: That number sounds a lot larger and more painful when you are on rep 17.

For beginners, the recommended time to aim for is 6-7 minutes to crush out those 30 reps. For someone who has been doing CrossFit for a while, 4-5 minutes.

For those of us who have been in the game for years and been around GRACE once or twice in our time, 3-4 minutes, and elite athletes aim for that sub 3-minute mark.

Wrapping It Up

While the GRACE is another short CrossFit WOD, there is a saying that works just about perfectly to describe its effect:

“The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long.”

And in this case, that flame is your body, quickly burning itself into an exhausted mess that wants nothing more than to slump on the couch and eat 16 slices of pizza while watching reruns of CSI: Miami.

And that’s alright with us.

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Disclaimer:
All hemp-derived products
contain 0.0% THC