Al had to miss this class (and I did, too), but he was nice enough to send out the WOD to everyone. So, here it is. It looks like a variation on something called "Filthy Fifty." If you think really hard about it, you can probably guess why it's called that.
There are a bunch of exercises that can tweak your lower back (push press, snatch, supermans, thrusters), so take care not to get sloppy with those. The other thing to watch out for is to make sure you have a stable platform and you're watching where you jump when you do the jump boxes. This is particularly true of the last set, since you're going to do 50 of them when you're already tired. Everything else is just CrossFit as usual: it's going to make you tired and it's going to make you sore.
Warm Up
- 25 jumping jacks
- 10 push ups
- 10 V-ups
- 10 jump squats
- 10 bottom downs
- 10 upward to downward
- 10 arm circles
- 50 box jumps
- 50 dumbbell push press
- 50 single arm dumbbell snatch (25 each side)
- 50 lunges (right/left = 2)
- 50 V-ups
- 50 supermans
- 50 thrusters
- 50 burpees
- 50 box jumps
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.
- 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
- Jump Squats
Do a normal air squat, but as you come up to finish the squat, jump straight up in to the air. You finish the rep when you land and reset yourself. It's not uncommon for people to go right in to the next squat, though. This is okay so long as you're not bending over and losing the lumbar curve in the process. Basically, you don't get to cheat on your form because you're jumping.
- Bottom Downs
From a standing position, reach down and touch your toes. Without letting go of your toes, squat down in to a full squat. Hold the bottom of this position for a beat, and then stand up without letting go of your toes. Your feet should be as close to locked out as possible, so that you're essentially bending down to reach your toes. Hold that position for a beat in order to finish the rep. The idea behind the hold is to ensure that you don't cheat by only coming up or squatting down part of the way.
- Upward to Downward
This is basically a "judo pushup" if you've ever heard of that. If you're familiar with yoga at all, the starting position should look like the "downward dog." Regardless, the starting position is very similar to the static inchworm: start standing and reach down with your hands several feet in front of you. It's a lot like a push up position with a noticeable bend at the waist (your butt will be a bit higher in the air than your chest or lower body).
Lower your head towards the ground, then lower your chest and bring it forward in the same motion. It's not a straight up and down motion like a regular push up, it's more of an arc. You should also keep your lower body off the ground at all times. Continue the arc by straightening your arms and elevating your torso. When you finish the arc, your torso/chest should be facing forward with your lower body parallel to the ground. Now have your body travel the arc in reverse to complete the rep.
- Arm Circles
From a standing position, rotate your arm without extending your arm away from you. You're essentially making a windmill of your arm. Do this in both a clockwise and counter-clockwise motion for each arm, so that you fully warm up & stretch the muscles. Most people just do 10 rotations forward with one arm, 10 rotations backward with the same arm, and then they repeat this with the other arm.
- Box Jumps
Set up a platform with stackable risers. Shoot for at least 4 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 hips should be pushed forward once you're standing on top of the box.
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.
- Dumbbell Push Press
Grab two dumbbells you can safely press over your heard. Usually, most people grab between 10lbs and 25lbs. To start, hold them at about shoulder level with both your palms facing away from your body so that you can see both palms in a mirror. In a sense, the weights are "racked" against your chest.
Do a quarter squat, and as you come up, press the dumbbells directly over your head. In a way, the quarter squat is just used to generate momentum. Remember, your legs should be driving the power in this motion, not your shoulders or arms. At the top of your motion, you want your arms to be fully extended and your legs completely straightened out.
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.
- Single Arm Dumbbell Snatch
You'll only need one dumbbell for this. Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart, with the weight on the ground in front of you. Bring the dumbbell straight up, and aggressively shrug your shoulders (this helps generate momentum). You want to pull it straight up, so your elbow should flare out with your forearm parallel to the ground as it gets close to your chest. Once 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. A couple of cues that can help are to keep your ear close to your arm, so that you are bringing the weight straight up and down. Secondly, think of the squat as an aggressive stomp/jump to get into the squat position and keep your weight back on your heels. You can also hold your off hand out in front of you to maintain your balance.
Also remember that you want a good lumbar curve at the bottom of that squat. Just because you have weight in your hands, you don't get to cheat on your form (arguably, it's far more important then). Once you're down at the bottom of your squat with the weight directly over your head, stand up. Remember to keep your arm locked the whole time. so that the weight is above your head. It's safe to bring the weight back down to finish the rep AFTER you have completely stopped moving your feet and you are in a standing position.
The last thing to keep in mind is that you have to do half of your reps with each arm. That means that you'll do 25 consecutive reps with your left, and 25 consecutive reps with your right. Start with either hand, it doesn't really matter which one goes first.
- Lunges
From a standing position, bring one leg forward in a straight line, and then bend your knees so that both your knees are bent at 90 degrees. The back knee should be close to the ground, and your front knee should be directly over your front foot (otherwise you're putting undue stress on your knees). One cue that can help some folks is to treat your lunge like you're going straight up and down with your back leg. 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. You'll have to repeat the motion with the other leg coming forward for the next rep.
This time around, you get credit for a rep every single time either of your legs comes forward. In other words, lunging with both the right and the left leg coming forward counts as two reps (or, "right/left = 2" for short)
- 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 in a controlled descent. Letting your arms and legs drop to the ground can actually be bad for you, so try to avoid that. That's a single rep.
- Thrusters
You'll need two dumbbells for this. The traditional start has your knuckles facing away from you and the weights resting against the upper part of your chest (this position is often called "racking" the weights).
Do an air squat so that your thighs end up parallel to the ground; if you can "break parallel," that's even better. As you come up, press the two dumbbells over your head, until your arms are fully extended. Push the weights straight up & down, since any horizontal motion will put undue stress on your shoulders.
Bring the dumbbells 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 dumbbells, bring the weights back down before you start your next squat, and keep a good curve on your lower back the whole time.
- 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. Once it starts to feel normal to do this motion, you can start to make it a smoother motion by essentially dropping down into a push up position, rather than squatting and then kicking out your feet. It requires a little bit less energy, but it also requires more coordination and muscle memory.
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.
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