2010.04.07

Today's WoD was all about what I'd call compound movements. Each of the exercises involved combining movements to make them harder than doing them individually. So even though it's only 3 rounds, most people took 20 minutes to finish.

As a result, the warm up was relatively light. You'll want to finish the 10-10-10 sets as fast as you can to get more rest, but it's not horrible. You have 60 seconds to finish all those reps. If you don't, just start running. That means no rest, though, so it's harder that way. Really, the point is to make sure your muscles are warmed up for the actual WoD. In fact, for the last set, do them slowly but with really good form.

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Warm Up
3 rounds of:

• Run in place for 60 seconds


• 10 push ups, 10 crunches, 10 air squats in 60 seconds or less

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WoD
3 rounds of:

• 30 sit-stands


• 30 squat-jump box


• 30 burpees with jack

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Exercises

• Push ups
  Bring your chest to the ground for as many of these as possible
  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.


• Crunches
  Yup, you read that right. Do crunches instead of full sit-ups. If you've never done these, lie on your back. Raise your chest off the ground enough that you feel a contraction in your abs. You don't even have to go 45 degrees, it should be far less than that. Go back to the starting position to finish the rep.


• 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.


• Sit Stands
  You'll need one dumbbell for this. Most of the guys grabbed a 15 lb weight, many of the women grabbed a 10lb weight. Believe it or not, a little bit more weight is helpful for this exercise.
  Lie down on your back, holding the weight parallel to the ground with your arms fully extended "above" your head (if you were standing, the weight would be directly above your head). Keep the soles of your feet flat on the ground. Aggressively swing/throw the dumbbell in front of your legs, and then stand straight up. The momentum from swinging the dumbbell will help with this motion, so make sure you really swing the dumbbell hard (this is also why a little more weight helps). Standing up is going to be all legs, though. Go back down to lying down to finish the rep. It might feel like an awkward motion, but the momentum of swinging the dumbbell really helps to complete the motion.
  Scale down: Instead of doing 30 sit-stands, do 15 sit ups and then 15 air squats


• Squat-jump box
  You'll need to set up risers & a platform for this. The most anyone used was 6, but anything up to and including that many risers is fine. Standing behind your platform, do an air squat. Make sure you go all the way down, so your thighs are parallel to the ground (or deeper than that if you can). As you come up from your squat, jump up on to the platform. Jump off of the box, and go back to standing to finish the rep.
  In practice, you can start the very next rep in the same motion. When you jump off, go down directly into the squat for the next rep. If you do this, make sure to keep a good lumbar curve on your squat. You don't want to start leaning over, as that can strain your lower back after enough repetitions.
  Scale down: Step off the box instead of jumping off. It's a little easier on your legs that way.


• Burpees with jack
  This is a 5 step motion: 1) squat down & touch the ground, 2) kick your legs out into a push-up position, 3) do a push-up, 4) jump back to the squatting position, 5) come up from squatting and do a jumping jack.
  
  Scale down: Instead of kicking your legs out in the second step, step back with one leg & then the other. The end result is the same, but it’s not as tough.
  Scale down some more: Cut out the push-up. This really should be a last resort, though.

As always with these, have fun. The combined motions are a little different than our usual, but they're a nice change of pace.