This one involved a new combination of ab exercises. We did a bunch of barbell work, too, but the thing that you're really going to feel is the sit up to V-up combination. It's no different than doing a sit up followed by a V-up, so for simplicity's sake, I'll write up the two exercises separately. But it might take a little bit of practice to get the motion down, so I'd strongly suggest trying a few reps before you do the WOD. Also, remember that you have to do 5 more reps of the sit up/V-up combination every round. The number of clean & jerks stays the same every round, but you keep adding to the ab/core exercises. The highest anyone finished was the round of 45 (so he was working on the round of 50 when time ran out).
For the strength portion, we did it with a partner. You can do it yourself, you just have to count to 5 seconds while you're holding the squat. It's just a little bit easier if someone else tracks the time for you. That also lets you alternate, so that you have a little bit of rest built in. The point is to build strength and work on technique, not work on conditioning, so you're not doing any less work by resting.
As far as safety goes, you want to protect your back. If done poorly, both the pause squats and the hang power clean & jerks can hurt your back. It's not as obvious, but letting your legs slam to the ground after V-ups can also hurt, so don't do that, either. It's something you'll see from me all the time, but mind your form. The better you are about your form, the less chance there is that you'll hurt yourself.
Warm Up
2 rounds of:
- 10 jump squats
- 10 bottom downs
- 10 upward to downward
- 10 good mornings without bar
- 10 arm circles
Strength
For 15 minutes (with a partner):
- 3 pause squats for 5 seconds (either front squat or back squat)
WoD
As Many Rounds As Possible (in 15 minutes) of:
- 5 hang power clean & jerks
- 5 sit ups into V-Ups
(Every subsequent round, add 5 more sit up into V-ups)
Exercises
- Jump Squats
This one starts like a normal air squat, from a standing position with your feet about shoulder-width apart. 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 (i.e., "break parallel"). 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. However, 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.
- 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 (without 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.
- Pause Squat
You'll want to weigh a barbell with as much weight as you can handle. The most I saw anyone use was 4 sets of plates on each side, so that worked out to about 90lbs total. You need to get the bar to a racked position, but you get to choose which one. You can either rack the bar against your clavicle/shoulders in front of you (a "front rack") or resting on top of your shoulders (a "back rack").
Once you've got the bar racked, do an air squat. Make sure you keep a good lumbar curve the whole time (you can tweak your lower back otherwise), and you bend at least far enough so that your thighs are parallel to the ground. You need to pause for 5 seconds at the bottom of the squat. To make sure you're counting a proper 10 seconds, add in "thousand" after each number.
Once the 5 seconds are up, come back up to the standing "racked" position to finish the rep. You want to drive the weight up, not just stand up, so think about squeezing your glutes together to generate some momentum. It might sound a little silly, but that motion helps to really push the weight upward. Each time you come back up, that's one rep.
- Hang Power Clean & Jerk
Make sure you have a barbell with weight on it for this exercise; the most I usually see anyone use is 60lbs, but I've see up to ~90lbs.
To begin with, put the weight on the ground in front of you. Squat down to grab the weights, but remember to face forward and keep your chest facing forward. Squeeze your shoulder blades (your lats) tight, and stand up. Keeping the muscles in your upper back tight like that will reduce a lot of the strain on your lower back, so that you're actively protecting it from harm. At this point, you'll be holding the bar at your thighs; that's the starting position (this is where the "hang" part of the name comes from).
From there, stick your butt back and lean forward just a tiny bit. Your torso should still be over the bar, so you can't lean forward that much. From this position, you can thrust your hips forward a bit and yank your torso back a little bit (like a lever). Ultimately, that's what generates momentum and power, so that's why you want to start from a slightly bent over position.
To start generating that momentum, pop your hips forward and 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 hang position 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. 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.
- Sit Up into V-Up
This is basically a sit up followed by a V-up. You can't switch the order, and you have to do both exercises in order to get credit for a single rep. Still, there is no change to the actual sit up or V-up. They are both done as normal:
- Sit Ups
This time around, lie on your back and bend your knees so that the bottoms of your feet are firmly planted on the ground. 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.
- 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). Your legs should also be parallel to the floor. 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
- Sit Ups
Used ~45lbs for most of it, finished 6+ rounds (finished 30 sit up/V-ups, was working on 35 when time ran out)
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