This WOD was actually more like 3 different mini-WODs thrown together. Each one of the mini-WODs only involved two different exercises in the 21-15-9 pattern, but you only get 30 seconds of rest in between each. For the sake of simplicity, I've explicitly spelled out the reps below. That'll make this slightly longer than usual, but it's a pretty simple pattern so you can effectively skip over parts of the description. Still, grab all of the equipment before hand. You'll need risers and a platform, a bar, a pair of dumbbells, and a mat (though this one is mostly for comfort, so it's optional).
This time around, pay the most attention when doing box jumps, back squats, and squat cleans. The first one can lead to you face-planting if you're not careful, and the last two can tweak your back if you're sloppy about your form. Neither of those things is a good thing, so just take some care not to hurt yourself with those exercises. Otherwise, it's just business as usual.
Warm Up
- 25 jumping jacks
- 10 bottom downs
- 10 sit ups
- 10 upward to downward
- 10 arm circles
WoD
- 21 box jumps
- 21 sit ups
- 15 box jumps
- 15 sit ups
- 9 box jumps
- 9 sit ups
- 30 seconds of rest
- 21 back squats with bar
- 21 V-ups
- 15 back squats with bar
- 15 V-ups
- 9 back squats with bar
- 9 V-ups
- 30 seconds of rest
- 21 renegade rows with dumbbells (left/right = 2)
- 21 squat cleans with dumbbells
- 15 renegade rows with dumbbells (left/right = 2)
- 15 squat cleans with dumbbells
- 9 renegade rows with dumbbells (left/right = 2)
- 9 squat cleans with dumbbells
Exercises
- 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.
- Sit Ups
Keep your feet in butterfly position (heels touching each other), since that isolates your abs. Come up all the way, but don't pull your neck forward or bend over as you do so. That releases the contraction of your ab muscles, so gives you less of a work out.
- Upward to Downward
This is a lot like a "judo pushup" in reverse, if you've ever heard of that. If you're familiar with yoga at all, the starting position should look like the "upward dog." Regardless, lay face down on the ground and then lift your entire body off the ground by extending your arms, as if you were doing a push up. However, bring your upper body all the way up, so that your chest up faces forward while your lower body is still parallel to the ground. This is the starting position. From there, lower your head and bring it down and in, as if you were trying to bring it to meet your waist. This will naturally force your hips to come up, and you'll end up holding yourself off the ground with a noticeable bend at the waist (your butt will be a bit higher in the air than your chest or lower body). To go back to the starting position, 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. All of that is a single 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 Jump
Set up a platform with at least 4 risers on each side. 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 to the box, and then step down instead of jumping on the platform. If you do step, make sure you alternate which leg comes down off of the platform first.
- Back Squat with Bar
Grab a weighted bar; unless you've got some sort of a back issue, load it fairly heavily. The bars in the exercise room at work will let you put up to 45 pounds on them, but use what you can handle. From a standing position, lift the bar and then rest it on your shoulders. From this position, do an air squat. Make sure you keep a good lumbar curve the whole time (you can tweak your lower back otherwise), and you bend at least far enough so that your thighs are parallel to the ground. Come back up to the standing "racked" position to finish the rep.
- 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
- Renegade Rows with Dumbbells
Holding a dumbbell in each hand, get down in to a push up position. The dumbbells will be on the ground, and you will essentially be holding yourself up on top of them. Keeping one dumbbell on the ground, pull the other weight up off the ground in a straight line (it's a single-arm row, if you're used to doing those). Try not to rotate your body as you do this, since that makes it easier to lift the weight without working the muscles in your arm. Your chest should be facing towards the ground the whole time. For these, each time you bring up a dumbbell off the ground, that counts as a single rep (e.g., "left/right = 2" for short)
- Squat Cleans with Dumbbells
A single rep of a squat clean is essentially a weighted squat with some hand motions thrown in. This particular version is with a pair of dumbbells, so keep using the same pair of dumbbells you've been using for all of the other exercises.
To begin with, hold one dumbbell in each hand, with your hands down near your thighs (this position is considered a "high hang" so that's where the name comes from). From that position, shrug your shoulders. I know it sounds silly, but it should be an *aggressive* shrug. You really want to build some momentum in that motion. Remember, though, keep your arms locked as you're doing this, or you'll end up doing more of a curl. If you need to make sure you've got it down, practice just that part of it a few times.
The next step, starting from the shrugged shoulder position, is to quickly bring the dumbbells up to about chest level and squat down at the same time. If you were to watch the path the weights travel, it should be completely vertical. If the weights travel in an arc away from your body, you're doing it wrong. Your hands don't lift the weight as much as they adjust themselves to hold the weight differently. At the end of this motion, you should have your palms facing away from your body, as if you were "racking" the dumbbells near your chest/clavicle.
You can almost think of it as letting go of the weight in midair, and positioning your body underneath the weight so that you end up in a squat with the dumbbells at your chest. Don't actually let go of the dumbbells, that can be all sorts of bad. However, you'll find that because it's a quick squat down, you're pretty much jumping into it. At the same time, your hands will suddenly shoot up to hold the weight at your chest.
As always, keep a good lumbar curve. You don't want to bend over as you do this. If you do it wrong repeatedly or with a heavy enough weight, your lower back will pay for it. Again, practice just the squat motion a few times so it feels natural.
Lastly, just stand up while holding the weight at your chest. Once you've stood all the way up, you can drop the weights back down to thigh-level to start over. That's the end of a single rep. Now all that's left is to put it all together in a smooth motion.
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