The other catch was that we made a point of good form today. Keeping good form is the hard part of just about any exercise, so you won't be sacrificing anything by focusing on that. To quote Al, "I'll take 1 good rep over 10 bad ones any day." And trust me, it's just as hard, if not harder, that way.
The warm up was leg-intensive, so make sure you stretch out your legs when you finish that. You'll need the muscles for the thrusters and squats, in particular.
Lastly, we also did a little bonus challenge at the end. Everyone got in a circle, and we had to try to stay in what we called the "plank" position (see the description below) for as long as possible. Longest to hold it gets bragging rights: 1:30 for the men, 1:07 for the women. After the Tabata push ups, that was all people could manage. See if you can beat that time.
Warm Up
- 30 seconds of running in place
- 30 seconds of high knees
- 30 seconds of jumping jacks
- 30 seconds of front-back jumping jacks
- 30 seconds of running in place
- 30 seconds of high knees
WoD
- 8 rounds of: 20 seconds of push ups, 10 seconds of rest
- 8 rounds of: 20 seconds of dumbbell swings, 10 seconds of rest
- 8 rounds of: 20 seconds of thrusters, 10 seconds of rest
- 8 rounds of: 20 seconds of sit ups, 10 seconds of rest
- 8 rounds of: 20 seconds of air squats, 10 seconds of rest
Bonus
Hold a "plank" for as long as possible
Exercises
- High Knees
It's pretty much what it sounds like; run in place, only bring your knees up as you do that. You want to bring your knees up as high as possible. Also, stay on your toes the whole time. If you do land on your heels, it'll likely hurt, and it'll also slow you down. - Front-back jumping jacks
Start with one leg in front of the other, then alternate. Jump back and forth between the two positions. As you do so, bring your arms up as if you were doing regular jumping jacks. It really is just like a jumping jack, the only real difference is that your legs move forward & backward instead of side-to-side. - Push ups
Bring your chest to the ground for every single rep.
Scale down: Do them on your knees
Scale down more: Use a wall or a ballet bar to push off against. Since you’re doing them at an angle, you’re not pushing your entire body weight that way. - Dumbbell swings
You'll need two dumbbells for thrusters, so just use one of the two dumbbells you already have (most guys used 15lbs, most women were using 8-10lbs). Grab it with your strong hand, wrap your off-hand around your strong hand. You want a curve in your lower back (your lumbar), as if you were sticking out your chest and bending your lower back inward towards your spine. Do a quarter squat and put the dumbbell between your legs, right around mid-thigh. Stand up, and as you do so, swing the dumbbell in front of you, keeping your arms locked. Because it's a light weight, you want to swing the dumbbell until it is perpendicular to the ground, directly above your head. Bring it back to starting position to complete the rep. You want to maintain a good lumbar curve the whole time, and you should bend your legs as you finish a rep. If you’re bending at the waist, you’re doing it wrong, and you might hurt your back. - Thrusters
Grab two dumbbells - most guys used 15lbs, and most women used 8-10 lbs. Hold the weights up near your shoulders so your knuckles face away from you (this position is often called "racking" the weights). Do an air squat. As you come up, press the two dumbbells over your head, until your arms are fully extended. Push the weights straight up & down, since any horizontal motion will put undue stress on your shoulders. Bring the dumbbell back to the “racked” position to finish the rep. For this, you can actually make it a smooth motion, and go straight into the next squat instead of stopping at starting position. This is fine so long as you fully extend the dumbbells, bring the weights back down before you start your next squat, and keep a good curve on your lower back the whole time. - Sit ups
Keep your feet in butterfly position (heels touching each other), since that isolates your abs. Also, don’t go past 90 degrees as you sit up. In fact, try to stay at about 45 degrees – it forces your abs to stay contracted, so it works them harder. - Air Squats
Make sure that when you go down, your thighs are at least parallel to the ground (you can squat farther down than parallel, but it's not required). You want to keep your weight on your heels the whole time, that will help ensure you keep a good lumbar curve & will help with any potential balance issues. For some people, it helps to look up at about 45 degrees to ensure you're not leaning forward & straining your lower back. To ensure this happens, you can throw your hands up to 45 degrees and focus your eyes on your hands on each rep. - Plank
Get down into a push up position. You can do this on your knees or on your toes; do whatever you normally do for push ups. Hold yourself up 2-3 inches off the ground. Essentially, get into the "down" position of a push up.
Remember, today is all about form. You want to do as many reps as possible during each of those sets, but only if you maintain the full range of motion on all of your reps. You'll feel it as you do it, but it won't leave you sore for days.
That said, have fun with it. It's a relatively quick workout, but you'll definitely get a good sweat going.
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