2010.10.28

So, I meant to post the Thursday WoD this weekend, but forgot.  Going from that, as you can tell I am not Sam.  Sam is off on vacation and should be back in about a week.

Today's WoD involved isolation for the upper body, while keeping some core.  The warm up was done as a group, and completed at a moderate pace.  The goal of the warm up was to simply loosen up the shoulders and hips.  Takes about 5 minutes to complete.

The WoD was a shorter one.  Most people finished under 10 minutes, with a few people hitting 12 minutes.  Times ranged from 8-12 minutes.  Most of the men used 20lbs dumbbells while most of the women used 12 & 15lbs.  Most of the men used 5 levels for jump box while most of the women used 4 levels.

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Warm Up

3 rounds of:

·         5 shoulder rolls with bar

·         10 overhead squats

·         15 good mornings

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WoD

5 rounds (for time) of:

·         5 one-handed dumbbell snatch (weak side)

·         5 one-handed dumbbell snatch (strong side)

·         20 situps

·         5 one-handed dumbbell thrusters (weak side)

·         5 one-handed dumbbell thrusters (strong side)

·         20 jump box

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Exercises

·         Shoulder Rolls with Bar

Start with the body bar (10-12lbs) in a hanging position in front of you and then slowly rotate it behind you, over your head.

If this is to uncomfortable, do a high pull & shoulder shrug.  Again, start with the bar in a hanging position.  Pull the bar up to your chest, and then let the bar go back into a hanging position.  After doing 5 of these, do a shoulder shrug.

It's just like it sounds, except you want this to be a quick motion. You do this to build a little bit of muscle memory, since you're essentially doing the exact same thing for a bunch of lifting motions (snatch, clean & jerk, high pulls, etc.).

·         Overhead Squats

Grab a weighted bar; most people used one of the body bars (10-12lbs), but the heaviest anyone used was a 30lb bar. Standing, hold the bar over your head with your arms locked. Your arms should make a “Y” shape with the rest of your body. You want the bar directly over your torso, so that your spine & the bar are lined up (the idea is to keep you from leaning forward on the actual rep). This actually feels like you're holding it behind your head, and you should make sure not to lean forward. Do a squat, keeping your arms locked as you go down & come back up. Make sure you keep a good lumbar curve the whole time, or you can tweak your back.

·         Good Mornings

Grab a body bar (most people used 12lbs). From a standing position, rest the bar on your shoulders behind your neck. Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart, and bend your knees slightly. Bend at the waist (as if you’re bowing), keeping your eyes forward. Keep your back flat as you do that, and finish so that your back is parallel to the ground. Come back all the way to a standing position to finish the rep.

·         One-Handed Dumbbell Snatch

Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart, and hold the weight about an inch off the ground in front of you. Bring the weight straight up, and aggressively shrug your shoulders (this helps generate momentum). As the weight comes to about chest level, squat down and raise the weight so that your arm is above your head. Again, you want the weight to travel in a straight, vertical line. Stand up, keeping your arm locked so that the weight is above your head. Bring the weight back down to finish the rep.

·         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.

·         One-Handed Dumbbell Thrusters

Grab a dumbbell (guys used 15-25lbs, women used 10-15lbs), and hold it near your shoulder in the "racked" position. Do a full air squat (if you can, go lower). As you come up, press the dumbbell over your head, until your arm is fully extended. Push the weight straight up & down, since any horizontal motion will put undue stress on your shoulder. 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 dumbbell and bring the weight back down before you start your next squat. You also want to keep a good curve on your lower back the whole time.

·         Jump Box

Before you even start the WoD, stomp on it really hard. You want to make sure it'll support your weight & won't move around when you jump on it. Just in case, look down at the platform when you jump. If it does move around at all, keeping your eyes on it should help prevent injury.

Scale down: Step up & step down instead of jumping on the platform. If you do step, make sure you alternate which leg is stepping up. Otherwise, you're only working one leg the whole time.