This was a rough week of meetings, so I couldn't get to the gym for this work out. Still, Al made sure we all had it, so here it is. The movements target a variety of muscles, so it's not like you're going to kill any one body part. Just push hard through your reps, and it'll be over in 12 minutes.
I say this whenever we do the Olympic-style lifts, but watch your back. If you do it wrong, you can hurt yourself. Even with a light weight, if you do it wrong long enough, you can hurt yourself. Don't hurt yourself. That would make a bunch of us pretty unhappy.
Warm Up
2 rounds of:
- 25 jumping jacks
- 10 push ups
- 10 bottom downs
- 10 jump squats
- 10 good mornings
- 10 power cleans (with just the bar)
WoD
As Many Reps As Possible (in 12 minutes) of:
- 10 power cleans
- 10 V-Ups
- 10 hand release push ups
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.
- 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 three seconds, 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 three seconds 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.
- 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.
- Good Mornings
Grab a bar and add as much weight as you can handle (a lot of people use 40lbs, most I've seen is 60lbs). Standing, rest the bar on your shoulders behind your neck. Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart, and keep your legs locked. Bend at the waist (as if you’re bowing), 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. Notice that this variation doesn't require a bend to your knees.
- Power Cleans
This exercise is meant to be done with barbells, so if you feel comfortable using that weight, go for it. If you aren't comfortable with that weight or the technique using a bar, switch to a pair of dumbbells. Remember, just make sure that you're comfortable with the form with whatever you use.
To begin with, put the weight on the ground in front of you (this is different than the "high hang" where you start with the weight near your thighs). Squat down to grab the weights, but remember to face forward and keep your chest facing forward. As you stand up, shrug your shoulders aggressively. I know it sounds silly, but it should be an *aggressive* shrug. You really want to build some momentum in that motion. However, 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 weight up to about chest level and do a quick hop at the same time. If you were to watch the path the weight travels, it should be as close to your body as possible, and as close to completely vertical as possible. If the weight 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 weight 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 with your knees slightly bent and the weight at your chest. Don't actually let go of the weight, that can be all sorts of bad. However, you'll find that because it's a quick hop, 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 that it feels natural.
Lastly, just stand up completely while holding the weight at your chest. You basically just need to straighten your legs out, but you don't want to do this step until you've got full control of the weight. Once you've stood all the way up, you can drop the weight back down to 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.
- 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
- Hand Release Push Ups
Bring your chest to the ground for every single rep, and lift your hands off the ground at the bottom. This forces you to go all the way down (gravity will take care of the rest if you don't actually bring yourself to the ground). At the top of the rep, 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.
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