I had to miss this class because of a meeting, so I don't have first hand experience for this one. Still, Al sent me the WOD. Like a bunch of these WODs, you're going to work your legs a bit, so make sure you've warmed up the muscles in your legs well.
Incidentally, the two exercises that work your legs (the weighted lunges and thrusters) also have the potential to hurt your back if you do them wrong. So don't do them wrong. You don't want to tweak your back, I don't want you to tweak your back, and your fellow CrossFitters don't want you to tweak your back. Keep good form throughout.
WOD
5 rounds of:
- 20 front rack lunges (left/right = 1)
- 15 thrusters
- 10 dumbbell situps (alternate hands)
Exercises
- Front Rack Lunges
You'll need a barbell weighted with as much as you can handle; the most I saw anyone use was 60lbs. 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; this is the "front rack" position.
If you have difficulty with this or feel more comfortable with the bar resting on your back, it's safe to do that. Just make sure that you have full control of the bar when you go to move your legs.
With the weight racked, you want to bring one leg forward in a lunge, and then bend your knees so that both your knees are bent at 90 degrees. Your front knee should be directly over your front foot, otherwise you're putting undue stress on your knees. One cue that can help some folks is to treat your lunge like you're going straight up and down with your back leg.
It's up to you if you want your back knee to touch the ground or not. Touching the ground forces you to complete the full lunge, but doing so means that you'd do your lunge slightly differently. First off, you'll want to put a mat down in front of you so that you don't end up scraping your knees every time you touch the ground. However, you really don't want your front leg to step on the mat, since that can slide as you're moving back and forth (slipping with a barbell in your hands is a BAD idea). So if you're going to make your back knee touch, step diagonally with your front foot and step OVER the corner of the mat. Again, avoiding stepping directly on top of the mat. That angle will allow you to make your back knee touch the mat, but will also give you enough stability to safely perform the exercise.
This time around, you get credit for a rep only after you bring both legs forward (or, "right/left = 1" for short)
- Thruster
Grab a barbell and weight it with as much weight as you can handle (the most I saw was ~66lbs). 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.
Keeping the barbell racked against your chest, do an air squat so that your thighs end up parallel to the ground; if you can "break parallel," that's even better. As you come up, press the barbell directly over your head, until your arms are fully extended. Push the barbell straight up & down, since any horizontal motion will put undue stress on your shoulders.
To finish the rep, you have to bring the weight back to a rack position. For this, you can actually make it a smooth motion, and go straight into the next squat instead of stopping at starting position. This is fine so long as you fully extend the barbell, bring the weight back down before you start your next squat, and keep a good curve on your lower back the whole time.
- Dumbbell Sit Ups
Lay on your back, and hold the weight straight up in the air with one hand; your arm should be perpendicular to the ground. Keeping your arm 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 arm 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.
Make sure to alternate hands on successive reps.
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