2011.1.13

Today's WOD was a little harder, even Al was getting teased. ;) Overall times ranged from 21 minutes to around 30 minutes. Most of the guys started with 15lbs weights, then moved down to 12lbs.

For the WoD, as always, pay attention to your form.

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Warm Up
2 minutes of

• step up on one level

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WoD
4 rounds of

• 50 pushups
• 40 overhead press
• 30 good mornings
• 20 lunges (rt/lft = 1)
• 10 jump squats

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Exercises

• Step Ups
  Set up a platform with 1 riser on each side. Step up onto the platform, one leg at a time, and then come back down one leg at a time. Stepping up with both legs & stepping down with both legs counts as a single rep.
  
  Even though it's only 1 riser, make sure you look down as you're doing this. After a while, your legs can feel tired enough where you'll slip if you're not careful.
  
  For the warm up, just go twice as fast for the "double time" portions. It's the exact same motion, just done quicker. You'll want to stay light on your feet (try to avoid having your heels hitting the ground) to make this easier.
• 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.
• 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.
• Good Mornings
  Grab a weighted bar. Most people usually use about 12 lbs, although the highest weight anyone uses is usually around 30lbs.
  
  Stand with your feet about two shoulder-widths apart and rest the bar on your shoulders behind your neck. Keeping your legs locked, bend at the waist (as if you’re bowing), and keep your eyes forward. Keep your back flat as you do that, and finish so that your back is parallel to the ground. Come back up to standing to finish the rep. Unlike the other variation of this exercise, there shouldn't be a bend to your knees during any part of this.
• Lunges
  Make sure you go all the way down on your lunges. In this case, each time one of your legs comes forward, that counts for one rep (or "right/left = 2," for short). Your knees don't quite have to touch the ground (you might get burns/scrapes that way), but come as close as you can to that. If you need extra support, you can use your hands to push up off of your lead leg.
• Jump Squats
  Do an air squat, keeping a good curve in your lower back. As you come up, jump up in the air. As you come down, squat back down to finish the rep.

As always, have fun with it.