How I Cut My Time on the CrossFit “DT” Workout By 6 Minutes in 7 Weeks

The CrossFit “DT” workout is a notoriously tough workout, and one of the most popular in the sport.

[Related Read: 3 Factors That Make the CrossFit “DT” Workout Deceptively Complex.]

I did it for the first time in September 2023, clocking in at 15:25.

Approximately 7 weeks later, I did it again, finishing in 9:39.

That’s an improvement of almost 6 minutes.

I was so shocked that I checked my video to ensure I did all five rounds. (I did.)

Distilling the Patterns of Success

When I have a major improvement or achievement, I like to review what I did to extract the patterns behind the success.

If I can pull out the differentiating factors that led to my success, I can extract the principles and apply them elsewhere.

A Case-Study Road Map

In this essay, I’m going to share how my approach to the workout differed in the two times I performed it, and the 3 main factors that I believe helped me improve my time by almost 6 minutes.

In Part 2 of this case study, I’ll distill the lessons learned from this experience.

And in Part 3, I’ll share how I apply those lessons in areas of my life outside the gym, such as in structuring my daily routine and enhancing my workflow.

We’re going to get into the weeds a little here.

How I Improved My Time on the CrossFit “DT” Workout By 6 Minutes

The CrossFit DT Workout

The CrossFit “DT” workout was created in honor of U.S. Marine Corp Sergeant, First Class Aaron “DT” Kenefick, who was killed in action on September 8, 2009 during combat operations in Afghanistan.

The workout involves three different barbell movements that are common in CrossFit: deadlifts, hang power cleans, and push jerks. All three are functional movements that are used in combat.

Here are the details of the workout:

5 rounds for time:

• 12 Deadlifts
• 9 Hang Power Cleans
• 6 Push Jerks

The prescribed weight is 155 lbs for men and 105 lbs for women.

Obviously you can scale the weight as necessary, and I did.

Both times I did this workout I performed it with a 55-pound barbell.

Comparing My Approaches to the CrossFit DT

My First DT

• Date: 09/14/2023 @ 5:30 am
• Load: 55 lbs
• Total time: 15:25

My Approach

The first time I did DT, on September 14, I treated each movement as a discrete set:

I put the bar down for a brief rest after completing all reps of that set, before picking it up to do the next movement.[1] If I had to break up a set of a given movement within any round, I still put the bar down between two movements.

Here’s what it looked like over 5 rounds:

Round 1:

• 12 Deadlifts [pause]
• 9 Hang Power Cleans [pause]
• 6 Push Jerks [pause and reset for next round]

Round 2:

• 12 Deadlifts [pause]
• 9 Hang Power Cleans [pause]
• 4 Push Jerks [pause]
• 2 Push Jerks [pause and reset for next round]

Rounds 3 and 4:

• 12 Deadlifts [pause]
• 5 Hang Power Cleans [pause]
• 4 Hang Power Cleans [pause]
• 3 Push Jerks [pause]
• 3 Push Jerks [pause and reset for next round]

Round 5:

• 12 Deadlifts [pause]
• 5 Hang Power Cleans [pause]
• 4 Hang Power Cleans [pause]
• 2 Push Jerks [pause]
• 1 Push Jerk [pause]
• 3 Push Jerks [end]

My Second DT

• Date: 11/03/2023 @ 5:30 am
• Load: 55 lbs
• Total time: 9:39

My Approach

The second time I did DT, I followed the strategy to put the bar down after 11 deadlifts and after 8 hang power cleans. My goal was to do all sets unbroken, other than those pauses, and I was able to do that.

For all 5 rounds, it looked like this:

Rounds 1–5

• 11 Deadlifts [pause]
• 1 Deadlift into 8 Hang Power Cleans [pause]
• 1 Hang Power Clean into 6 Push Jerks [pause and reset for next round]

Even on paper, it looks a lot more efficient. But let’s break it down.

3 Factors That Contributed to My 6-Minute Improvement in my DT Time

(1) Strength Improvement

It’s fair to ascribe some of my improvement to improved strength and cardio capacity.

I was able to go unbroken in all sets of each movement, and the bar moved better on the cleans and push jerks.

I wasn’t as winded in the later rounds of the workout on my second attempt as I was the first time around.

That said, my strength didn’t improve that much in the 7-week span between the first and second times I did this workout.

I didn’t make any major gains in my max cleans or push jerks. Both of those movements are also still very challenging for me on a cognitive/neurological level: I struggle with coordination and timing in movement and these movements require precision in both.

Am I stronger now than I was 7 weeks ago? Probably. Am I 6-minutes stronger? Unlikely.

(2) Scheduling

Another possible factor that influenced my performance was scheduling of the workout.

Nothing happens in a vaccum. Everything depends on context.

I looked back at the scheduling to remind myself of the level of intensity we had on the schedule in each week I did DT, because the other workouts of the week definitely impact the body that I brought to the workout.

The first time I did DT, it was the last of 3 “Hero” WODS we did that week.

We started that week with a 9/11 Hero WOD on Monday. On Tuesday, we did the notorious “Fran” WOD. Thursday we did DT.

On the day I did the first DT, we started class with a strength complex of hang cleans and clusters. So by the time I got to DT, I had already done 4 sets of cleans and clusters at a heavier load. That meant I was primed to fatigue more easily.

The week of the second DT was not necessarily less intense, but it was different. As with the September week, we also did a re-test of Fran last week, on Monday. On Tuesday we tested back squats to a 1 rep max. On Thursday we did snatches and a 500M row test. We did DT on Friday, after testing bench press for 1 rep max.

It’s hard to quantify the impact of doing bench press instead of a clean/cluster complex before doing DT, or the impact of the other workouts of the week.

It does feel like it’s better to go into DT without first doing a complex of cleans and clusters, but I don’t think that it’s a 6 minute difference.

(3) Strategy

By far the biggest impact on my time improvement was the strategy.

I learned that when it comes to the DT workout, it matters when you put the bar down.

Even if you have to split a set into multiple reps within a round, you should rest before the last rep for that movement, so you can take the last deadlift into the first hang power clean and the last hang power clean into the first push jerk.

Here’s why this is so crucial: If you put down the bar in the wrong place you’ll end up doing extra reps.

In DT–1, putting the bar down after completing 12 deadlifts and again after completing 9 hang power cleans resulted in doing 2 extra reps in each round, before any other breaks.

Here are 3 reasons the extra reps are so deadly:

(1) Extra Reps Add Up

Even if I had been able to do all sets of each movement unbroken for all 5 rounds, as I did in DT–2, resting the bar after 12 deadlifts and after 9 hang power cleans would have led to 10 extra reps through five rounds.

That’s almost a complete extra set of deadlifts — and that’s before other breaks.

And, of course, after my first round in DT–1, I didn’t go unbroken in either the hang power cleans or the push jerks.

Starting in the second round, I split the push jerks into two sets, and three on the final round. That’s another extra rep per round, and two extra in the final round.

Starting in the third round I split the hang power cleans into two sets. That’s another extra rep per round.

Here’s a summary of how many extra reps I did in each round of my first DT:

• Round 1: 2
• Round 2: 3
• Round 3: 4
• Round 4: 4
• Round 5: 5

That’s a total of 18 extra reps across all 5 rounds of the workout, which is like adding an extra half round to the workout.

That will occupy some time.

(2) Fatigue Impact of Extra Reps Compounds Over Time

Consider also that the impact of those extra reps isn’t equal. The first 2 extra reps in may not feel like much in Round 1, but the impact compounds over time like interest, creating increased fatigue.

This shows in my progression through the first DT, where I required more breaks in each round of the workout.

What’s not reflected in the numbers, but is evident in the video, is that I was increasingly struggling in the later rounds.

(3) Every Pause Requires More Mental Energy to Return

The other thing that you can’t see “on paper” is that each pause to rest is not equal. As I got into later rounds, the breaks became longer. And it required more mental energy to get back in it.

This workout is not just a physical test; it’s also a test of mindset. Each time you put the bar down you must remotivate and re-engage to pick it up again, despite feeling like you’re dying. That, too, requires energy.

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1. A video review of the prep round I did the first time shows that the coach that day did tell me to take the deadlift straight into the power cleans and the cleans straight into the push jerks. But I didn’t remember that in the rush of the moment in the actual workout. Under the stress of the workout, my nervous system defaulted to habit, which is to complete all the reps before resting the bar.  ↩