There was a WOD, but it was a pretty simple one. We were running out of time before the next class, so we limited ourselves to 10 minutes. You don't have to hold to that same constraint, but if you can finish before the 10 minutes are up, that's ideal.
That said, what most people remember about this WOD is the skills test in the middle. We did this with partners, so we took turns doing reps. If you're doing this yourself, I'd say just give yourself about a minute rest between exercises. You only get one chance to crank out as many reps as you can for each exercise, and they have to be unbroken. I'll spell out what that means for each exercise below, but, basically, you can't take a break in the middle of doing reps. Also, keep track of your numbers. We're going to do this again sometime in the near future.
As far as safety goes, the only real concerns are the L sits and squat cleans. The first is just because you'll be suspending your whole body off the ground, so you have to be really sure that the platforms you're using are steady. If they move, you're going to fall over. Nobody wants that. For the squat cleans, we used dumbbells (everyone's legs were pretty beat up from the skills test), so it's not going to be heavy weight. But as I've said many a time, you can still hurt your back with low weight if you have poor form. So don't do reps with poor form.
Warm Up
2 rounds of:
- 25 jumping jacks
- 5 T Push Ups
- 10 upward to downward
- 10 bottom downs
- 10 jump squats
Skills Test
As Many (Unbroken) Reps As You Can:
WoD
- 30 burpees
- 60 hollow rocks
- 90 dumbbell squat cleans
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.
- 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.
- Push Ups
ou want your entire body straight/rigid, without a bend at the waist, and you want to maintain this position the whole time. If you start dropping your waist, you're not doing it right. Bring your chest to the ground for every single rep, and when you come up, make sure your arms are fully extended.
Since this is a skill test this time around, you have to be absolutely sure that your chest hits the ground. If it doesn't, that's a no rep. Secondly, you can't rest on the ground. If you need to stop, you can rest at the top of the position (in a plank, basically). You can then continue your reps by lowering yourself to the ground again. Once you rest on the ground, you have finished your set.
- Sit Ups
Keep your feet in butterfly position (heels touching each other), since that isolates your abs. Also, be sure to keep your feet planted on the ground (lifting them off the ground generates momentum that doesn't really come from 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.
You can't rest at all for the skills test. If you pause at any point during your reps, you've finished your set. The idea is that for this exercise, any kind of a pause is equivalent to resting. It's okay to move slower if you're fighting for reps when you're tired, but you can't completely stop your movement.
- Air Squats
Make sure that when you go down, 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.
Normally, it's okay to "just" hit parallel, but in this case, we were very strict about breaking parallel. If your butt doesn't end up lower to the ground, that's a no-rep.
- L Sit
There are a couple of different ways to do this, depending on how much equipment you have around. If you can grab some risers, sit down and set up a platform with 5 risers on either side of you. Put one arm on each platform with your fingers facing forward. From a sitting position, lift your body off the ground using your arms and keep your legs straight out in front of you. Your body will make the shape of an L (hence the name), but it feels a bit like holding a dip.
If you don't have any platforms available, you can do the same exercise on the ground. This gives you a little less height on the sit so you have a smaller margin for error, but that also means you can't hold the sit in as deep a position. It's not necessarily easier or harder this way, just a little bit different.
For the skills portion, count the number of seconds you're able to hold the L-sit. A watch or a timer is incredibly helpful in this scenario. As soon as your feet touch the ground, that's your score.
Scale down: If it's too hard for you to hold your feet straight out in front of you, you can bend your knees and bring them closer to your chest. That takes some of the pressure off your core and triceps, because your legs help carry some of the weight.
- Dips
Set up a platform with risers; most people usually use at most 5 risers, though remember that your height makes a difference. For this movement, adding risers makes it harder, because the platform denotes how far you have to dip your body weight.
Position yourself so your arms are holding you up/off the edge of your platform, with your legs straight out in front of you. You should just be barely forward of the platform; your butt should practically touch the platform as you do your reps. If you come forward too far, you'll put unnecessary strain on your shoulders.
Lower yourself so that your butt touches the ground, and then raise yourself back to the starting position. That's 1 rep. If you do the exercise properly, you'll feel the exercise the most in your triceps.
Scale down: Bend your legs, and put your feet flat on the ground before doing your dips. Since you're lifting less weight this way, this makes the dips easier
- 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.
- Hollow Rocks
Start by laying down on your back. Extend your arm and legs straight out (so that your body is completely flat), and then tighten your abs so that both your arms and legs are a few inches off the ground. One cue that can help is to exhale as you do this. Without releasing the contraction of your abs, rock forward and back on your butt. Do not let your hands or feet touch the ground. Forward and back is 1.
- Dumbbell Squat Cleans
A single rep of a squat clean is essentially a weighted squat with some hand motions thrown in. This particular version is with a pair of dumbbells, so grab a pair that you're comfortable using for the entire WOD (I mostly saw people use 15lb dumbbells).
To begin with, hold one dumbbell in each hand at your side so that your palms are both facing each other (if you know what a "hammer fist" is, that's what you want). Keeping your chest up, squat down and lower your arms so that the dumbbells are a couple of inches off the ground. From that position, start to stand and pop your hips forward. That will generate a bunch of momentum so that the dumbbells start to move upward. You want the dumbbells to move in a straight vertical line, even though you're doing more than just standing up.
Next, shrug your shoulders aggressively. I know it sounds silly, but it really 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 dumbbells up to about your shoulder level and squat down 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.
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 in a squat with the dumbbells at your chest. Don't actually let go of the dumbbells, that can be all sorts of bad. However, you'll find that because it's a quick squat down, you're pretty much jumping into it. At the same time, your hands will suddenly shoot up to hold the weight at your chest; since you are holding the dumbbells in a hammer fist, that's basically the same as bringing the dumbbells to your shoulders.
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 it feels natural.
Lastly, just stand up while holding the weight at your chest. Once you've stood all the way up, you can drop the weights 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.
For skills: 35 push ups, 50 sit ups, 55 squats, 11 seconds, 10 dips
ReplyDeleteFinished up to 26 squat cleans in 10 minutes (15lb dumbbells)