Okay, so this one involves picking your own poison. For the WoD, you have to get the barbell from the ground (well, your shins, really) to over your head (in a locked out position). How you choose to do that is completely up to you. If you have good form with snatches and you want to do those, have at it. If you prefer a clean and jerk, more power to you. Heck, if you want to combine a deadlift, a power clean, and a push press, you can do that, too. So long as you do it SAFELY, you have complete freedom to do any combination of lifts to get the barbell overhead. For simplicity's sake, I'll actually list out a few combinations that can help you accomplish that below.
Given that last paragraph, it should come as no surprise what the main safety concern is for this WoD. Again, you get to choose what lift you do, but you must absolutely, positively do that lift safely. Be sure to keep a good curve in your lower back, and be strict about your form. You are going to do this 100 times, in total. Don't hurt yourself by doing it incorrectly 100 times. Or worse, don't give yourself a "Did Not Finish" due to injury.
Warm Up
2 rounds of:
- Run in place for 30 seconds
- 25 jumping jacks
- 5 T Push ups
- 10 jump squats
- 10 bottom downs
WoD
5 rounds of:
- 20 ground to overhead with barbell
Possible options:- Snatch
- Clean and jerk
- Deadlift, hang power clean, push press
- 15 box jumps
- 10 burpees
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Snatch
Grab a barbell, and weight it as heavily as you can. Remember that you're going to have to do 100 reps with this weight, so find something that you can handle for that many reps. It's pretty common for people to use between 45 and 66lbs.
Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart, with the weight on the ground in front of you. Squat down and reach down to grab the bar with a very wide grip; it should be about two shoulder-widths apart. Whatever you do, don't bend over to grab the barbell, since that's a bad habit to get into (your back will not like you). Stand and bring the barbell straight up, aggressively shrugging your shoulders (this helps generate momentum). You want to pull it straight up and jerk your hips forward. The momentum from your lower body will actually help drive the weight up, so that you're not actually lifting the weight with nothing but your arms.
Once the weight comes to about chest level, squat down and raise the barbell so that your arms are above your head. Your arms will make a Y shape with your upper body. Again, you want the weight to travel in a straight, vertical line. Since you're trying to drive so much momentum, you're actually going to stomp hard/jump a tiny bit to get into the squatting position. Keep your weight back on your heels throughout, so that you are as stable as possible with the weight above your head.
Also remember that you want a good lumbar curve at the bottom of that squat. Just because you have weight in your hands, you don't get to cheat on your form (arguably, it's far more important then). Once you're down at the bottom of your squat with the weight over your head, stand up. Remember to keep your arms locked the whole time, since the weight is above your head. It's safe to bring the weight back down to finish the rep AFTER you have completely stopped moving your feet and you are in a standing position.
- Clean & Jerk
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. Stand up, but as you do so, 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. That's the "clean" part of this.
The last part, the "jerk" in the name, involves violently shoving the barbell directly over your head. Make sure that you're in a quarter squat position, then very aggressively press the weights directly over your shoulders. In fact, your momentum will cause you to do a slight hop while your hands go upwards. At the top of the rep, your arms should be completely locked out, and you should stand tall. Because this lets you use your legs to drive the momentum and the power, this should feel easier than a strict shoulder press.
To finish the rep, you have to lower the weight to the ground safely (we're not allowed to just drop weights). From the locked out position at the very top, bring the weight straight back down to the racked position (resting on your shoulders/clavicle, palms facing away from you, elbows as high up as you can). From there, lower the weight to your thighs using your arms. Lastly, squat down to put the weight on the ground. You'll need to keep your chest facing forward the whole time; don't bend forward at any point. All of that is one rep. If you need to, practice the motion until it starts to feel natural; form is really important here.
- Deadlift
Place the barbell on the floor pretty much right in front of your feet (with a full Olympic bar, you'd put your feet right underneath the bar). Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, and bend your knees slightly (about 20 degrees) to reach down to grab the barbell. You want your hands on the outside of your legs/knees, and you want to start with the barbell to be high enough off the ground to be about halfway up your shin (this is about the same height as an Olympic bar resting on the ground with 45lb plates on it). Keeping your head up and your chest facing forward, lift your torso a few inches until the barbell almost hit your knees. Your arms shouldn't bend at the elbows, you're just lifting your upper body with the weight conveniently attached to the upper body. Also, the weight should move in a straight vertical line, with no horizontal motion. It can help to think about it as if you're trying to skin your shins with the weight. Once the barbell is at about your knees, pop your hips forward to generate some more momentum. At the same time, contract your shoulder blades towards each other. This will naturally pull the weight up even more (again, in a straight line). You should be standing straight up with your chest out at the top of the movement. Even though it looks like you're pulling the weight up using your biceps, you should try to avoid pulling up with your arms. That actually decreases the amount of weight you can lift in the long run, and it's bad form.
- Hang Power Clean
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.
- Push Press
Keep using the same barbell that you've been using for everything else, with no change to the weight. To start, hold the barbell slightly below shoulder level with both your palms facing away from your body so that you can see both palms in a mirror. If you've got enough strength and flexibility in your wrists, bring your elbows straight up so that they point away from your body. This will force more of the weight against your upper torso and put more of a strain on your wrists, so only do this if you can sustain this position through a lot of reps. Regardless of how high you bring your elbows, the weights are "racked" against your chest.
Do a quarter squat, and come up as explosively as you can. In reality, you'll end up end up hopping up a tiny bit because you're generating so much momentum/power from your legs. That's okay, but be absolutely sure that you're in control as you do this. You really don't want to trip or fall while holding a barbell. As you come up, press the barbell directly over your head. Remember, your legs should be driving the power in this motion, not your shoulders or arms. At the top of your motion, you want your arms to be fully extended and your legs completely straightened out. Also, bring your head forward a bit so that your arms, spine, and head are all aligned along the same vertical plane.
One last cue is to make sure you move the weights directly up & down; if you start moving the horizontally, you'll put extra stress on your shoulders. If your elbows flare out horizontally, that's also going to make it difficult to press straight up & down. Normally, you'd finish your rep by bringing the weight back to beginning/racked position, but in this case, you'll want to bring the weight to allow you to do your next motion. If your next motion is a back squat, then bring the weight back down behind your head. If your next motion is to start over with the clean, then you're going to need the bar in front of you. So bring the bar down in front of you to a racked position there.
- Box Jump
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.
- Burpees
It's a 5 step motion: 1) squat down & touch the ground, 2) kick your legs out into a push-up position, 3) do a push up, 4) jump back to the squatting position, 5) come up from squatting and jump 2 inches off the ground. Once it starts to feel normal to do this motion, you can start to make it a smoother motion by essentially dropping down into a push up position, rather than squatting and then kicking out your feet. It requires a little bit less energy, but it also requires more coordination and muscle memory.
Scale down: Step back into the push up instead of jumping. Same goes for when you go back to the squatting position (step 4); step forward instead of jumping.
No comments:
Post a Comment