Al had to miss this class, but he sent it out. It was a pretty quick one, but you're going to need to grab some dumbbells and set up a platform. For the first round, you do 1 of each rep, and then you keep adding one more rep of each exercise in the following rounds. So for round 2, you do 2 reps of each, and for round 3, you do 3 reps of each. There is no rep limit, you just keep going until the 12 minutes are up. For simplicity's sake, I just wrote out the first round
Be careful with the cleans and the box jumps. The former can hurt your back if you're not careful, even with light weights. I've seen someone do just that with 15lb weights, and you don't want to end up the same way. The latter can scrape up your shins pretty bad, so keep an eye on the platform and watch your footing.
Warm Up
2 rounds of:
- 25 jumping jacks
- 5 T push ups
- 10 sit ups
- 10 jump squats
- 10 arm circles
WoD
As Many Rounds As Possible (in 12 minutes) of:
- 1 dumbbell squat clean
- 1 dumbbell sit up
- 1 box jump
- Add 1 more rep of each exercise every subsequent round
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Dumbbell Squat Clean
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.
- Dumbbell Sit Up
You'll need a weight for this: you should have a dumbbell handy from the squat cleans, but you can use a plate if you find that easier. Lay on your back, and hold the weight straight up in the air with both hands; your arms should be perpendicular to the ground. Keeping your arms 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 arms 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.
- Box Jump
You'll need to set up a platform with risers; most people use at least 2, but I've seen up to 5 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.
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