This was a variation on good old Dirty 30. Essentially, you're going to do 3 rounds, where each round has 3 different ab exercises. For each exercise, you're going to do 30 reps. By the time you finish, you'll have done 270 reps of some sort of ab work. It's all sort of "fun." We had to limit ourselves due to time constraints, but the fastest person finished in 11:29.
The safety warnings this time around are for the floor press and the box jumps. For the floor press, it's the spotter that bears the responsibility to make sure your partner doesn't get hurt. Make sure that you grab the weight and have it clear of the person's body/head. You should be able to drop the weight straight down when you let go without hurting your partner (or requiring anyone to scramble out of the way). That means you have to grab it from the person and make sure the weight isn't anywhere near the floor person's head when you're spotting them. Secondly, for the box jumps, just make sure to stomp on the platform real hard so that it doesn't move when you're jumping on it.
Warm Up
- 25 jumping jacks
- 10 push ups
- 10 upward to downward
- 10 good mornings (no bar)
- 10 arm circles
Skill
15 minutes of partner floor press (with partner)
WoD
3 rounds of:
- 30 box jumps
- 30 sit ups
- 20 box jumps
- 30 elbows to knees
- 10 box jumps
- 30 V-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.
- 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.
- Good Mornings (no 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.
- Partner Floor Press
This is very much like a simulated bench press, only you're going to do it on the ground. You'll need a barbell (the most we managed to get on the barbell was 4 plates, or a little less than 90 lbs). Lie down on the ground so that you're facing the ceiling, and have your partner stand near your head. Your partner will lift the barbell off the ground and place it over your chest (your partner is essentially going to spot you). Reach up to grab it, and let your partner know once you've got full control of the weight. Pull your shoulder blades together, so that you're contracting your back muscles. From there, keep your elbows in tight to the side of your body, and lower the weight in a smooth, controlled arc. This is not a straight up and down motion. If the weight starts over your chest, it will be closer to your belly at the bottom of the arc. Push the weight back up so that it reverses the arc (starts closer to your belly at the bottom, and finishes above your chest). You have to bring the weight down and up for a single rep.
If you're curious, the point of this exercise was to help give us that final kick when doing a bench press. Normally you push your feet into the ground and drive your hips into the bench, using that force to help drive the weight up. Still, there's going to be a point when you get stuck and can't quite finish a rep. The motions in this exercise help teach you how to do that final push so that you can finish the rep in that situation.
- Box Jumps
You'll need to set up a platform with risers; most people use at least 4, but I've seen up to 6 on occasion. 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.
- 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. You have to touch your toes to get credit for the rep.
- Elbows to Knees
Lie on your back, and touch your right elbow to your left knee. You want to move both your elbow and your knee during this motion, rather than keeping one static and touching the other one to it. Also, while you're doing this, your right leg will be straight out in the air about six inches off the ground. Then alternate, touching your left elbow to your right knee.
This time around, you only get credit for a rep once you've touched both elbows to both knees. We tend to call that "left/right = 1" for short.
- 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
Finished 2 rounds and 20 box jumps when time ran out (~11 minutes)
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