2010.10.19

Today's WoD had a scary sounding name: 300. Before class started, we were hypothesizing it involved sets of 300 or had something to do with the crazy workouts those actors did for the filming of 300. Needless to say, we were a little scared. Luckily for us, it was called that because there were a total of 300 reps. That's definitely something we're capable of, and we've probably done more than that plenty of times. In fact, finish times were all under 14 minutes, to give you an idea of how hard the WoD was.

To make up for that, we also did one of those "hold a position for as long as you can" challenges. This time around, we had to lie on the ground and lift our legs 6 inches off the ground. You're allowed to support your lower back however you like, but you have to keep your legs off the ground. The longest time was 4 minutes (that lady's got some strong abs).

For the warm up, a stop watch might be handy. You end up switching exercises every 10 seconds, so you're constantly changing from one movement to another. Also, be sure to stretch out your legs once you finish; you're going to need them for the squats & thrusters.

For the WoD, you have to try to break parallel (squat deep enough that your knees end up higher off the ground than your bottom) on the thrusters and squats. If you have to slow down to make sure you do that on every rep, so be it. Form is more important than speed.

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Warm Up
2 rounds of:

• 10 seconds of running in place
• 10 second of high knees
• 10 seconds of running in place
• 10 seconds of front-back jumping jacks
• 10 seconds of running in place
• 10 seconds of quick feet

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WoD

• 25 thrusters
• 50 push ups
• 50 sit ups
• 50 air squats
• 50 dips
• 50 modified wipers (left/right = 2)
• 25 thrusters

Bonus
Hold a leg lift for as long as possible

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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.
• Quick Feet
  You're sort of running in place, but the idea is to step as many times as possible in the allotted time. That means that you're taking really small, quick steps, and you should stay on your toes the whole time. Most people end up hunching over slightly to help facilitate this (it's hard to do this while standing straight). Try to maintain the same speed for the entire time.
• Thrusters
  Grab two dumbbells (highest anyone used was 25lbs, lowest was 8lbs). Hold the weights up near your shoulders so your knuckles face away from you and the weights are resting against the upper part of your chest (this position is often called "racking" the weights).
  
  Do an air squat so that your thighs "break parallel." That means that at the bottom of your squat, your bottom should be closer to the ground than your knees. 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.
• Push Ups
  Bring your chest to the ground for every single rep, and when you come up, make sure your arms are fully extended.
  
  Scale down: Do the push ups on your knees. You lift less weight this way, so it's easier.
• Sit Ups
  Keep your feet in butterfly position (heels touching each other), since that isolates your abs. Come up all the way so that your torso is perpendicular to the ground.
• Air Squats
  Make sure that when you go down, your bottom ends up closer to the ground than your knees (this is called "breaking parallel"). If you have to do your squats slower to accomplish this, that's fine.
  
  Regardless of how far you squat, 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.
  Scale down:If you can't squat that far, you should aim to end up with your thighs parallel to the ground at the bottom of your squat
• Dips
  Set up a platform with at least 4 risers on each side (the most anyone used was 6). Position yourself so your arms are holding you up/off the edge of your platform, with your legs straight out in front of you. You should just be barely forward of the platform; your butt should practically touch the platform as you do your reps. If you come forward too far, you'll put unnecessary strain on your shoulders.
  
  Lower yourself so that your butt touches the ground, and then raise yourself back to the starting position. That's 1 rep. If you do the exercise properly, you'll feel the exercise the most in your triceps.
  
  Scale down: Bend your legs, and put your feet flat on the ground before doing your dips. Since you're lifting less weight this way, this makes the dips easier
• Modified Wipers
  Grab a body bar; the most common was 12lbs. Lie down on your back and hold the bar straight up in the air, above your chest. Lift your legs up and to the side, so that your legs end up touching the end of the bar. You don't want to touch the middle of the bar, that works different muscles; in this case, the sideways motion ends up working your obliques.
  
  Bring your legs back down to the ground, and then lift them up and touch the other side of the bar. Bring your legs back down to the ground to finish. At this point, you will have lifted your legs off the ground twice, and touched each end of the bar once. In this case, that counts as 2 reps ("left/right = 2" for short)
• Leg Lift Challenge
  Lie down on your back and lift your legs 6 inches off the ground. Your (lower) abs are going to have to do all of the work to hold your legs off the ground. Hold that position as long as you can.
  
  For many people, it helps to support their lower back as they do this. One way to do so is to put your hands flat on the ground, underneath your lower back. You can also place your hands on top of your stomach or the top of your shorts/pants; that's less support for your back, but it helps some people with balance.

As always, have fun with it.