2010.10.21

Today's WoD was a relatively long one; finish times ranged from about 18 minutes to about 25 minutes. We had to do 10 rounds, so it took a while for us to finish. There's also an option to make the WoD even more difficult, but no one managed that for all 10 rounds.

For the warm up, go slow on the mountain climbers. It's almost like going from one stretch to the next instead of trying to do reps as fast as you can. Also, don't bounce when you're doing the mountain climbers. Particularly because your muscles are still getting loose, you can pull something or otherwise hurt yourself.

For the WoD, be sure to keep good form in the later rounds. For the weighted lunges, don't start leaning forward. For the burpees, make sure your chest touches the ground for every push up. If you have to go slower to make sure these things happen, so be it. So long as you're doing legit reps, that's fine.

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Warm Up
5 rounds of:

• 5 push ups
• 10 sit ups
• 15 mountain climbers (right/left = 2)

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WoD
10 rounds of:

• 10 V-ups
• 10 weighted lunges (right/left = 1)
• 10 burpees
• 10 supermans

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Exercises

• 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.
• Mountain Climbers
  Get down on all fours, almost as if you were about to start a race. It's also a bit like being in a push up position with a bend at the waist, with only one leg back. From the starting position, simultaneously bring your lead leg back & your rear leg forward. Make sure that your lead leg also slides sideways, so that it is outside of your arm on that side. Do it again to switch the positioning of your legs, again making sure your lead leg ends up outside of your arm.
  
  Each time one of your legs comes forward, that's one rep. For simplicity's sake, we describe that as "right/left = 2."
• 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
• Weighted Lunges
  Grab two dumbbells (heaviest anyone used was 25lbs, lightest was 10 lbs). Hold the weights at your side, one on each side. You can also hold them on top of your shoulders, if that feels more comfortable. Do a lunge with either leg forward, and then do a lunge with the opposite leg forward. That's a single rep (again, we shorten it to "right/left = 1").
  
  The idea is to weigh yourself down with the weights, so you can hold the weights on top of your shoulders if necessary. Either way, make sure you plant the heel of the leg that comes forward, and bring the knee of the back leg (the one that's bending) as close to the ground as possible.
• Burpees
  It's 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 jump 2 inches off the ground.
  
  If you're up for it, you can make these harder than usual by using weights throughout all 5 steps. When you squat down, touch the dumbbells to the ground. Keeping the weights on the ground in front of you, kick back to a push up position. Do the push up while holding the weights (this forces you to go a little bit lower on the push up). Jump back to the squatting position, and jump up while still holding the weights. At that point, you don't have to jump quite as high, but aim for at least an inch off the ground for each rep.
  
  Scale down: Step back into the push up instead of jumping. Same goes for when you go back to the squatting position (step 4); step forward instead of jumping
• Supermans
  Lie face-down on a mat, with your arms outstretched in front of you on the ground. Simultaneously raise both your arms and legs a few inches off of the ground. Bring your arms & legs back down to the starting position. That's a single rep.

As always, happy CrossFitting.