2014.01.09

This one was one that got easier as it went along, since the reps decrease each round. The only thing that doesn't decrease is the number of box jumps between each round. It's a simple enough scheme, but for simplicity's sake, I just wrote out the whole thing below. As Al told me, once you get past the round of 7, it gets a lot easier. You want to push hard through to the end, but if you're looking for a target, try to get through at least those first 4 rounds in a single burst.

I think I've written it a bajillion times, but the squat cleans can hurt your back if you're not careful about your form. Keep your chest up and don't bend forward. Also, make sure to keep an eye on the platform to make sure you don't accidentally miss your footing somehow and that you have a good chance of recovering if your feet do fail you.

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Warm Up
2 rounds of:

• 25 jumping jacks
• 5 T push ups (left/right = 1)
• 10 sit ups
• 10 bottom downs
• 10 good mornings without bar
• 10 arm circles

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WoD

• 10 squat cleans
• 10 decline push ups
• 10 sit to stands
• 10 box jumps
• 9 squat cleans
• 9 decline push ups
• 9 sit to stands
• 10 box jumps
• 8 squat cleans
• 8 decline push ups
• 8 sit to stands
• 10 box jumps
• 7 squat cleans
• 7 decline push ups
• 7 sit to stands
• 10 box jumps
• 6 squat cleans
• 6 decline push ups
• 6 sit to stands
• 10 box jumps
• 5 squat cleans
• 5 decline push ups
• 5 sit to stands
• 10 box jumps
• 4 squat cleans
• 4 decline push ups
• 4 sit to stands
• 10 box jumps
• 3 squat cleans
• 3 decline push ups
• 3 sit to stands
• 10 box jumps
• 2 squat cleans
• 2 decline push ups
• 2 sit to stands
• 10 box jumps
• 1 squat clean
• 1 decline push up
• 1 sit to stand
• 10 box jumps

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Cash Out
50 rolls with barbell

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Exercises

• T Push Ups

  Drop down on in to a push up position, and lower your body until your chest hits the ground. Push your body up off the ground, but as your arms start to get fully extended, lift one of them off of the ground. Rotate your torso towards the side where you lifted the arm, so that you are now facing sideways rather than towards the ground. At the same time, extend the arm you lifted straight up in the air. This is actually where the name comes from: at full extension, your body will make something of a T-shape. Lower your arm and rotate your torso back in to a regular push up position. Repeat this motion by lifting your other arm in to the air to complete a single rep.

• 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.

  Since this particular WOD is going to work your legs, you can add an extra bit of stretch by pushing out your knees at the bottom of the squat. You can even let go of your feet and push out with your elbows.

• Good Mornings without Bar

  Stand with your legs about shoulder width apart, and put your hands on the back of your neck. Don't apply pressure (that's bad for your neck), just rest your hands there. Bend your knees slightly, and bend at the waist (as if you’re bowing) while keeping 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.

• 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.

• Squat Cleans

  A single rep of a squat clean is essentially a weighted squat with some hand motions thrown in. This particular version requires a barbell, so grab one weight it with at least 20lbs. Several people end up using 40lbs and 60lbs.

  To begin with, put the barbell down in front of you. From a standing position, squat down while still facing forward (don't bend over). You want the barbell to be at about mid-shin. If you're using the barbells in the exercise room, that means you'll have to lift it up off the ground a few inches. From that position, stand straight up and pop your hips forward. This should be a violent motion, since the point is to generate a lot of momentum (in fact, you should come up on your toes and "jump" from the momentum). However, the barbell will move in a straight vertical line. You're just using your body to move the barbell in as efficient a route as possible.

  With the barbell at about hip level, shrug your shoulders. I know it sounds silly, but it should be an *aggressive* shrug. You want to continue the momentum of the barbell without having to "lift" the weight with your arms. That means you have to 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. Again, the barbell should be move in a straight vertical line. If the barbell travels 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 barbell 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 barbell at your chest. Don't actually let go of the barbell, 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 barbell back down to thigh-level and then put the the barbell back on the ground 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.

• Decline Push Ups

  Despite the name, it's more like an incline bench press. Set up a platform with as many risers as you can handle (the most I saw anyone use was 5). Put your feet on the platform and your hands on the ground; your feet should be higher than your face. Do your push ups that way, with your chest touching the ground for each rep.

  Scale down: Put your knees on the platform instead of your toes. That reduces some of the weight that you have to push off the ground, so it makes it a bit easier.

• Sit to Stands

  Lie down on your back, and keep the soles of your feet flat on the ground. Aggressively swing/throw your arms in front of your legs, and then stand straight up. The momentum from the swing will help with this motion, so make sure you really throw your hands hard. Standing up is going to be all legs, though. Go back down to lying down to finish the rep.

  This is an awkward motion for most people, so using some weight helps. Most people grabbed roughly 15lbs of weight (dumbbell, medicine ball, doesn't matter), and used that to help with the balance. Think of the weight as pulling your weight forward a little bit as you're standing up; that's why you want an aggressive throw.

  Scale down: If you can't stand in a single motion, you can do a sit up, and then use one hand to help push yourself off the ground. Be very careful with where you place your hand, you don't want to twist a wrist the wrong way and then apply your whole body weight to it. It's almost preferable to do this part slowly to prevent injury.

• Box Jumps

  Use the same platform you had for the decline push ups. 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.

• Rolls with Barbell

  You'll need a mat and a barbell with this; believe it or not, it's actually easier to do this with more weight on your barbell. Everyone used at least 45lbs on the barbell for this exercise. With the proper amount of weight on your barbell, set it down in front of your mat so that it can roll forward, and make sure you've got about a body length of space in front of your mat.

  Kneel down near the front of your mat, and put your hands on the barbell. Keeping your knees on the mat, bring your feet off the ground. At this point, your knees should be the only point of contact between you and the mat. Lean forward so that the barbell starts to roll forward; the weights are like wheels and the barbell is like an axle. You want to roll forward until your body is as close to parallel to the ground as possible. Your core/ab muscles are going to be the only thing keeping you off the ground, though, so you'll feel those muscles working.

  To finish the rep, start the barbell rolling back towards the original start position. This will require your core to counter the forward momentum of the barbell. Try to keep your feet off of the ground the whole time, but if you have to lower them to the ground to give yourself a bit more leverage, go ahead. Roll back to the starting position to finish the rep.

  Scale down: At the forward position, you can lay all the way down on the ground to decrease the work that your core has to do. The only down side is that you then have to start rolling backward from a completely prone position and you won't have any momentum.

Happy CrossFitting, y'all.