This one was a partner WOD, but you can still do it on your own. You'll just count your final score differently. In that sense, it'd be hard to compare against any scores that the teams put up, but otherwise, it's the same basic idea. For the partner piece, you and your partner both have to be doing something in order for the reps to count. One of you will hold a static position while the other person does reps. If the partner holding the position has to rest, then the reps don't count. And obviously, if the person doing reps stops, you don't get credit for reps during that period. You'll alternate between who does reps and who holds the static position, so everyone gets a turn in the fun. All told, you will get two chances to do reps and two chances to hold, but it's up to you who does which one first.
Also, you only get to rest after you've done a set of reps and a set of holds. That essentially means you will do 8 minutes of work before you get to rest.
Lastly, every single rep you do for every single exercise counts, so try to bang out every last rep you can. The team's final score is the sum of both partner's reps when it was their turn to do reps. Al said it was a pretty close score in the end, so our team's score of 536 is probably a good indicator of what to shoot for.
Most of the exercises were pure body weight, but both the squats and hang cleans should make you take extra care about your lower back. Even for a pure air squat (with no weight), you don't want to build bad habits and translate that over to an exercise that involves a barbell or weights in your hand. That advice goes double for the hang clean, since that involves a barbell in your hand. Take care with your form, so that you don't hurt your lower back.
Warm Up
2 rounds of:
- 25 jumping jacks
- 5 T Push Ups
- 10 upward-to-downward
- 10 bottom downs
- 10 arm circles
WoD
4 rounds of: (remember to alternate between reps and holds every round)
- 60 seconds of push ups OR 60 seconds of plank
- 60 seconds of sit ups OR 60 seconds of sit up hold
- 60 seconds of air squats OR 60 seconds of squat hold
- 60 seconds of hang cleans OR 60 seconds of barbell hang
- After every two rounds, rest 60 seconds
Cash Out
3 rounds of:
- 60 seconds of sit ups with weight
- 15 seconds of rest
Exercises
- T Push Ups
Drop down 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Push Ups
Bring your chest to the ground for every single rep, and when you come up, make sure your arms are fully extended.
- Plank
From a push up position, lower yourself so that you are about two inches off of the ground. Keep yourself there without moving up or down for the full sixty seconds.
- Sit Ups
Keep your feet in butterfly position (heels touching each other), since that isolates your abs. Come all the way up, but don't pull on your neck or lean forward. Doing either of those things reduces the work that your abs have to do.
- Sit Up Hold
Lay down on the ground, and keep your feet in a butterfly position. Raise your torso off the ground to about a 45 degree angle, then hold yourself in that position for 60 seconds.
- Air Squat
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.
- Squat Hold
It's fairly simple: do a squat but don't stand up. Essentially, you're holding the bottom of a squat (hence the name) for as long as possible. Make sure you keep good form on that squat; in particular, keep a good lumbar curve. You can set your feet as far apart as you like, so long as you squat deep enough for your thighs to be slightly lower than parallel to the ground. That means that your knees should be higher off the ground than your butt. Lastly, don't rest your hands on your knees. It's easier that way, and you want to hold a legit squat for as long as possible.
- Hang Clean
To begin with, hold the barbell 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 weight up to about chest level and bend your knees a tiny bit 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 so that you can receive the weight with the weight at your chest. Don't actually let go, that can be all sorts of bad. However, you'll find that because there's so much momentum and you're trying to "catch" the weight with your knees bent, 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. You can practice this one step at a time until the motion starts to feel more natural. Lastly, just stand up straight while holding the weight at your chest. Once you've stood all the way up, you can drop the weight 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.
- Barbell Hang
This one was probably the easiest exercise of all. Grab the barbell in any grip you like, and just hold it at thigh level. You don't have to squat or otherwise move, you just have to make sure you hold the barbell there. It's a little bit like the very top of a deadlift, if that makes sense to you.
- Sit Up with Weight
You'll need a weight for this: we used one of the barbell plates since they were handy, but a dumbbell would work just as well. Lay on your back, and hold the weight straight up in the air with both hands; your arms should be perpendicular to the ground. Keeping your arms locked and your eyes on the weight, do a sit up. You will be keeping the weight in the air as you move your trunk, and you want your arms to stay perpendicular to the ground the whole time. This forces your abs to do all of the work, since your upper body is otherwise occupied and it can't generate any forward momentum.
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