The warm up is very straight forward; you basically want to keep yourself moving for 4 minutes. If you have a rope available, you should favor jumping rope. No matter which exercise you pick, make sure you stretch out after you finish the warm up. Three of the five exercises are going to tax your legs (jump box, overhead squats, and dumbbell swings), so you'll want those muscles to be loose.
For the WoD, be careful about your lower back. Overhead squats and dumbbell swings can hurt your lower back if you're not good about your form. In fact, it's preferable to just stop if you find that you're bending over or not keeping a good lumbar curve. Also, for the scissor kicks, support your lower back if you need it. Again, you don't want to put any undue strain on your back.
Warm Up
4 minutes of:
Jump rope (single-unders) OR running in place OR jumping jacks
WoD
10 rounds of:
- 5 push ups
- 10 jump box
- 15 overhead squats (with bar)
- 20 single-arm dumbbell swings (10 each side)
- 25 scissor kicks on platform (right/left = 1)
Exercises
- Single-Unders
This basically means jumping rope. The “single” refers to how many times the rope revolves around you each time you jump. Try to keep a steady rhythm, so that you can do all of your reps without stopping. - 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. - Jump Box
Set up a platform with stackable risers (the most anyone uses is usually 6 risers). 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.
When you do jump on it, you want to make sure that you stand tall once you're on the platform. If you stay hunched over the whole time, you're not getting the full effect of the exercise. One way to think about this is that you want your hips to "open up" on both the jump up and the jump down; all that really means is that your butt shouldn't be sticking out at all and your hips should be pushed forward.
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. - Overhead Squats with Bar
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. - Single-Arm Dumbbell Swings
Just like a kettle bell throw, but with a dumbbell (guys usually use 15-25lbs, women usually use 10-15lbs). Do a squat, keeping a good lumbar curve, and hold the dumbbell between your legs at about knee/thigh level. Stand up from the squat, and as you do that, swing your arm upward until your arm is almost directly over your head. If you do the motion correctly, your legs will drive most of the momentum, and you're essentially just standing & squatting. At no point should you bend over, that can hurt your lower back. If you get tired, it's preferable to stop for a bit than to do these reps with bad form.
For these, you want to work both arms evenly, so do half of your reps with each arm. Some people have a slight preference for starting off with your weak arm (the set gets easier as you go along that way), but the order doesn't really matter. So long as you do all of your reps and you work both arms evenly, you're good. - Scissor Kicks on Platform
Lie down on top of the platform you set up, facing up with your back against the platform. You want your legs to be parallel to your body, hanging off of the edge of the platform.
From that position, lift one leg so that it is several inches higher than your torso while keeping the other leg parallel to your torso. Bring your leg back down to the starting position. Now switch legs, and lift the opposite leg several inches higher. Bring your leg back down to the starting position to finish the rep (it's "right/left = 1").
In practice, most people do this quickly and make it a very smooth, continuous motion. There's nothing wrong with that, so long as you're still completing the full range of the motion. If you're barely moving your legs, you're not really getting the full effect of the exercise.
As always, have fun with it.
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