2010.05.12

I got to substitute-CrossFit again today, with the catch that today's WoD was my brain child. The WoD was more of an ab work out, though as one person pointed out, burpees have nothing to do with abs (sorry). Most of the finish times ranged from about 20 to 30 minutes, to give you an idea of how tough the work out was.

The warm up isn't hard, but it will likely make your calves tighten up a little bit. Given that, make sure that you stretch out after you do the warm up. You won't be doing tons of leg exercises for the WoD's, but you still don't want to cramp.

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Warm Up

• 30 seconds of jumping jacks
• 30 seconds of front-back jumping jacks
• 30 seconds of jumping jacks
• 30 seconds of front-back jumping jacks
• 30 seconds of jumping jacks

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WoD
5 rounds of:

• 20 sit ups
• 20 burpees
• 20 elbows-to-knees
• 20 air squats
• 20 V-ups

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Exercises

• 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.
• Sit Ups
  Keep your feet in butterfly position (heels touching each other), since that isolates your abs. Come up to about 45 degrees for each rep – it forces your abs to stay contracted, so it works them harder. Any more or any less, and you're doing less work.
  
  Scale down: Put the soles of your feet flat on the ground instead of in the butterfly position.
  Scale down more: Do crunches instead of sit ups.
• Burpees
  It’s a 4-step motion: 1) squat down & touch the ground, 2) kick your legs out into a push-up position & do the push-up, 3) jump back to the squatting position, 4) come up & jump a couple of inches off the ground (touch your hands above your head).
  Since we only had to do 30 of these total, you're not allowed to scale down that much.
  
  Scale down: Cut out the push-up, so for steps 2 & 3, you just kick out your legs and then jump back to the squatting position
  Scale down more: 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. Still no push-up
  Burpees suck: Cut out the jump, as well
• Elbows to knees
  Lie on your back, and touch your right elbow to your left knee. Then alternate, touching your left elbow to your right knee. As you’re doing that, do bicycle kicks (i.e., kick out with the leg that’s not touching your elbow). You have to touch both elbows to both knees for a single rep.
  
  Scale down: Leave out the bicycle kicks.
• 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.
• V-Ups
  Lie on your back, putting our hands parallel to the ground “above” your head (if you were standing, they’d be directly over your head). Lift your legs off the ground and bring your torso up at the same time to touch your toes. In essence, your body makes a “V” shape. Go back to lying on your back to finish the rep. Be careful about slamming your legs into the ground when you finish the rep, that can hurt your lower back. Some people call these "jack knives," if that helps at all.
  
  Scale down: Bend your knees as your bring your lower body up. You only have to touch your knees this way