2013.12.05

This one was a very simple WOD, and it was the very first WOD I remember doing. The idea was to see how much progress you've made as the year has progressed. I wasn't around early in the year, but I'm fairly certain I heard people talking about how many rounds they did the first time around this year. I also could've sworn I heard someone say they did 27 rounds, but don't hold me to that. Even if that's not true, your goal should be to at least do 20 rounds, so that you average one round per minute.

All of the exercises in this one are pretty simple, and you're not likely to do any damage to yourself today. I tend to preach about form, though, and the air squat is the basis for a whole heck of other movements. So try to be especially good about your form, since there's really no excuse not to be for this WOD (it's not like you've got a bunch of weight to worry about).

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Warm Up
2 rounds:

• 25 jumping jacks
• 5 push ups
• 10 sit ups
• 10 bottom downs
• 10 arm circles

WoD As Many Rounds As Possible (in 20 minutes) of:

• 5 push ups
• 10 sit ups
• 15 air squats

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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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Air Squats

  Make sure that when you go down, your thighs are at least parallel to the ground. If you can, squat farther down than parallel, so that your bottom ends up closer to the ground than your knees. 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.

As always, have fun.