I missed this class, but Al sent the WOD. It's a bunch of work for your core, so get ready for sore abs. If you happen to tighten up in the middle of the WOD, stretch out your abs. It's not uncommon for Al to tell someone to flip over into an upward dog type stretch if their abs are starting to tighten up.
As far as safety goes, mind your form on the squat cleans so you don't hurt your back. The sit ups and Russian twists have a much lower risk of injury, though you won't get nearly as good a work out if you get sloppy about your form.
WoD
4 rounds of:
- 10 squat cleans
- 25 dumbbell sit ups
- 25 Russian twists with dumbbell
Exercises
- Squat Clean
A single rep of a squat clean is essentially a weighted squat with some hand motions thrown in. This particular version requires a barbell, so grab one weight it with at least 20lbs. I've seen anywhere up to ~90lbs on one of those barbells.
To begin with, put the barbell down in front of you. From a standing position, squat down while still facing forward (don't bend over). You want the barbell to be at about mid-shin. If you're using the barbells in the exercise room, that means you'll have to lift it up off the ground a few inches. From that position, stand straight up and pop your hips forward. This should be a violent motion, since the point is to generate a lot of momentum (in fact, you should come up on your toes and "jump" from the momentum). However, the barbell will move in a straight vertical line. You're just using your body to move the barbell in as efficient a route as possible.
With the barbell at about hip level, shrug your shoulders. I know it sounds silly, but it should be an *aggressive* shrug. You want to continue the momentum of the barbell without having to "lift" the weight with your arms. That means you have to 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 barbell up to about chest level and squat down at the same time. Again, the barbell should be move in a straight vertical line. If the barbell 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 barbell 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 in a squat with the barbell at your chest. Don't actually let go of the barbell, 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.
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 barbell back down to thigh-level and then put the the barbell back on the ground 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: we usually use a dumbbell, but a plate would technically work, as well. 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.
- Russian Twist with Dumbbell
Sit down on the floor with your legs out in front of you, then lift both of your legs off of the ground. If you have lower back problems, it can help to cross your legs in the air, since it'll take a little bit of the strain off of your back. Lean back a tiny bit, just enough so that you feel your abs contract. You don't want to overextend your back, so don't lean back any more than 45 degrees.
With the weight in your hands, rotate so that the weight moves to one side of you. Touch the ground if you can, but the most important part is that your shoulders stay still during this movement. The idea is for your obliques (the side part of your abs) to do the work, so your core should be doing the rotation. It's possible to keep your abs motionless and just use your arms/shoulders to move the weight from side to side, but that's bad form. One way to think about it is to think that you want your arms about shoulder width apart at all times, and you want your head to be pointing straight ahead between your arms at all times.
The dumbbell has to hit the ground on both sides of your body for a single rep (or, "right/left = 1" for short).
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