The WoD was also a slightly different format than we've been doing in the past. For each of the exercises, you had to do as many reps as possible in the amount of time given. It's similar to an AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) style routine, but you end up doing a single exercise at a time. The end result is that you'll do a bunch of reps for each of the exercise, but you're working the same muscles for an extended period of time.
Also, you get a choice for the dumbbell press. You can press the dumbbells just about any way you want; push press, push jerk, split jerk, and an overhead press are all okay. So long as you're pressing the weights overhead, you're fine.
Warm Up
- Run with 2lb weights for 5 minutes
WoD
- Max reps of dumbbell press (e.g., push press, push jerk, split jerk, overhead press) for 5 minutes
- 2 minute rest
- Max reps of sit ups for 5 minutes
- 2 minute rest
- Max reps of air squats for 5 minutes
Exercises
- Push Press
Grab two dumbbells (heaviest weight is usually 25 lbs). Hold the two dumbbells at about shoulder level. Hold them with both your palms facing away from your body so that you could see both palms in a mirror, so that the weights are "racked" against your chest.
Do a quarter squat, and press the dumbbells directly over your head as you come up. At the top of your motion, you want your arms to be fully extended and your legs completely straightened out. Because you do a little bit of a squat, your legs generate most of the momentum to drive the weights up. It's still a "dip then drive" movement, so make sure you do that quarter squat to generate the power for your press.
Also, make sure you move the weights directly up & down; if you start moving the horizontally, you'll put extra stress on your shoulders. If your elbows flare out, that's also going to make it difficult to press straight up & down. Your rep is finished when you bring the dumbbells back to beginning/racked position. - Push Jerk
Start from the same racked position as the overhead press: holding the two dumbbells slightly above shoulder level with the grips parallel to each other and your knuckles facing inward towards your torso.
From there, do a quart squat. Do a small hop, shoot the dumbbells straight up, and land in a quarter squat position. The idea is to land so that you have the weights raised above your head with your arms locked, and your body in a quarter squat position. In a way, you're almost trying to get your body under the weights rather than trying to get the weights above your head. From there, stand up with the weights still above your head. Finally, bring the weights back down to the racked position to finish the rep. - Split Jerk
Grab two dumbbells. The first thing you want to do is take a step forward. Whichever leg you brought forward is the one you're going to want to have in front when you "land" during this rep, so keep that in mind.
Hold the two dumbbells at your shoulders, in a hammer fist position (the palms of your hands should both facing inward towards your body). In a nutshell, this is a "dip drive dip" movement.
The first part is to do a very slight squat (that's the first dip). When you come up from that, you want to do that very aggressively and press the weights directly over your shoulders (that's the "drive" part). It's almost like you're jumping, because you want that violent a motion. You also want to rotate your hands as you press the dumbbells, so that your palms end up facing away from your body. If you're facing a mirror, you should be able to see your palms in the mirror.
The last important part is that you don't want to be flat footed when you land. Instead, you want to land so that there's a slight bend in your knees (that's the last "dip"). It helps some people to think about about getting under the weight before it gets to the top. In this case, because it's a "split" jerk, you want your legs to land with one leg forward and one leg back. If your left leg is the one in front, you want it at 11 o'clock, and your right leg at 5 o'clock. If your right leg is in front, you want that leg at 1 o'clock, and your left leg at 7 o'clock. Either way, you want to make sure that your legs aren't locked when your arms are fully extended and your feet hit the ground.
Still holding the weights over your head, move your feet so that you're now directly under the weights. Usually this takes a step with each leg, so we'll refer to it as the "step step" portion of the movement. Remember, you don't want to lower the weights as you're adjusting your feet. Once you're done moving your feet, THEN you can bring them back down to the starting position. That's one rep. - Overhead Press
Grab two dumbbells that you can comfortably press over your head. For this exercise, the "racked"/starting position is you holding the two weights slightly above shoulder level. You want to hold them as if you were doing a hammer curl; that means the grips to the two dumbbells will be parallel to each other and the knuckles on your hands will be facing inward towards your torso.
From the racked position, raise the two dumbbells straight up until your arms lock. Tuck your elbows in so that when you raise the dumbbells, they go straight up and down. If your elbows flare out, you'll be working different muscles. Bring the dumbbells back to starting position to finish the rep. - Sit Ups
Keep your feet in butterfly position (heels touching each other), since that isolates your abs. For these, come up so 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.
As always, happy CrossFitting.
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