2010.01.28

Today’s WoD was a relatively quick one, you should be able to finish it start to finish (including the warm up) in about 20 minutes. Of course, we had to do as many reps as possible of something called a “man maker,” so it’s not like you’re going to cruise (one person called these exercises burpees on steroids). The goal is 50 of them in 10 minutes. We had one person hit that (51), but there were also a bunch of people in the 40’s, so it’s definitely possible.

Again, jumping rope is preferable to jumping jacks for the warm up, so only do the jumping jacks if a jump rope isn’t available. We’re also supposed to start using the jump rope pretty heavily next week, so if you’re trying to do these on your own, make sure you have a jump rope soon. For the V-ups, side-to-sides, and sit-ups, if you finish in less than 60 seconds, you get to rest until the 60 seconds are up. If you don’t finish in 60 seconds, start the next round (i.e., you get no rest).

Warm Up
5 rounds of: 60 seconds of jumping rope OR 60 seconds of jumping jacks
10 V ups, 10 side-to-sides, 10 sit ups in 60 seconds or less

WoD
For 10 minutes: As many reps of “man makers” as possible

Exercises
· V upsStart lying down on your back, with your arms “over” your head, parallel to the ground. If you were standing up, your hands would be over your head. Keeping your legs straight, bring both your torso & your legs up so that they’re perpendicular to the ground, and touch your toes. In practice, you usually don’t get all the way to perpendicular, and you can touch your toes somewhere above 45 degrees. Still, try for perpendicular, that’ll keep you honest as far as form goes. Your upper & lower body will end up making a V shape, hence the name.Scale down: Keep your legs straight up in the air, perpendicular to the ground. This means you only have to move your torso to touch your toes.Scale down more: Bend your knees, and touch your knees instead of your toes. You have to move both your lower & upper body, but there isn’t as much strain on your abs this wayV-ups suck: Do sit-ups insteadWhy do I do this to myself?: Do crunches instead
· Side-to-sidesSit down on the ground, with your legs in front of you. Raise your legs two or three inches off the ground, and lean back about 45 degrees. Do bicycle kicks. As you kick on each side, alternate touching the ground to either side of you. You have to tap the ground on both sides for a single rep.Scale down: Don’t tap the ground. Make sure you rotate your core, but it won’t be as tough if you don’t go all the way to the groundScale down more: Cut out the bicycle kicks, as well
· Sit upsIf you can, do these in the butterfly position (bottoms of your heels touching each other, legs in front of you). As always, if you throw your hands in front of you, the momentum helps a bit. It might seem like cheating, but your abs are still doing the work.
· Man makersGrab two dumbbells (guys used 10-15lbs, women mostly used 8-10lbs). Start standing, with one weight at each side. Squat down and, still holding the weights, put the weights on the ground a little bit wider than shoulder-width apart. Kick your legs back into a push up position. Do the push up. Staying in the push up position, do a one-armed row with your weak hand (i.e. lift one dumbbell off the ground to about your chest while keeping the other dumbbell on the ground). The elbow of the hand that’s lifting should end up behind your back when you do this; otherwise, you’re not lifting high enough. Do another push up. Do a one-armed row with your strong hand. Jump back to squatting position, and then stand to the starting position. That’s one rep.You’re holding on to the weights the whole time, so the push-ups are a bit deeper than usual, and the rows add extra fun. Also, there is no scale down for this, just go slower as they start getting harder.

All in all, it’s a pretty quick workout, and you probably won’t be too sore after you’re done. As always, have fun.