This one was a variation of the partner WOD that we did on August 5th, 2015. In fact, it's the same set of exercises, but we did them in reverse order. Mind you, that makes it a bit harder, because doing push ups and planks after doing presses and power cleans is harder.
That said, it's the same idea as before: you and a partner will team up. Your partner had to hold a static position while you did your reps. The longer you took to finish, the longer your partner had to hold that position. There's a lot more motivation to finish quickly when someone else has to pay for it if you dawdle. Secondly, you both have to be doing your exercise for it to count; for example, if someone has to drop from a plank, the push ups don't count. Lastly, you're going to alternate for every exercise, so both people get a chance to do reps while the other person holds a static position.
For simplicity's sake, I put what both partners do on the same line, separated by a slash. So, if it says, "50 push ups / plank," then one person does push ups while the other person holds a plank. Remember, you only get credit for reps if your partner is holding their position. Then, once the person doing the push ups is done, switch places. The person who was holding a plank now has to do push ups. Essentially, every person is going to do 10 different exercises. Given that, if one person is stronger, have that person start with the hold. It's slightly harder to hold first.
Most of the exercises are "just" body weight, so in terms of safety, the push press and hang power cleans are the two of the most concern. They're perfectly safe exercises if you mind your form, so mind your form. You don't want to do them wrong and tweak your back (heck, I don't want you to do that, either).
Warm Up
2 rounds of:
- 25 jumping jacks
- 5 T push ups
- 10 upward to downward
- 10 bottom downs
- 10 shoulder rolls
WoD
- 50 hang power cleans / dumbbell hold
- 50 air squats / bottom squat hold
- 50 sit ups / 45 degree sit up hold
- 50 push ups / plank
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.
- Shoulder Rolls
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.
- Hang Power Clean
You'll need a barbell, weighted as heavily as you can handle. I usually see between 45lbs and 90lbs.
The starting position for this is with the barbell around mid-thigh in front of you, with a slight bend to your waist (this position is considered a "high hang" so that's where the name comes from). Obviously, though, you have to get the barbell there from the ground somehow. The safest way to do this is actually to deadlift the barbell. In essence, keep your chest up, bend down, and then lift the barbell from the ground using your legs (not your back).
From that position, shrug your shoulders. I know it sounds silly, but it 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 weight up to about chest level and bend your knees a tiny bit at the same time. If you were to watch the path the weight travels, it should be completely vertical. 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 barbell near your chest/clavicle. You can almost think of it as letting go of the weight in midair, and positioning your body so that you can receive the weight with the weight at your chest. Don't actually let go, that can be all sorts of bad.
However, you'll find that because there's so much momentum and you're trying to "catch" the weight with your knees slightly bent, 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. You can practice this one step at a time until the motion starts to feel more natural.
Lastly, just stand up straight while holding the weight at your chest. Once you've stood all the way up, you can drop the weight 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 Hold
Grab a single dumbbell and grip it with both hands. Keeping your back straight, hold the dumbbell straight out in front of you, at a 90 degree angle to the ground. Hold the dumbbell there while your partner finishes their hang power cleans.
- Air Squats
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.
- Bottom Squat Hold
It's fairly simple: do a squat but don't stand up. Essentially, you're holding the bottom of a squat (hence the name) for as long as possible. Make sure you keep good form on that squat; in particular, keep a good lumbar curve. You can set your feet as far apart as you like, so long as you squat deep enough for your thighs to be slightly lower than parallel to the ground. That means that your knees should be higher off the ground than your butt. Lastly, don't rest your hands on your knees. It's easier that way, and you want to hold a legit squat for as long as possible.
- Push Press
You'll need to weight a barbell as heavily as you can. I usually see between 45lbs and 90lbs.
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. You want the weights "racked" against your chest, with your elbows farther forward than the bar. You don't need to bring them all the way up like you do with a front squat, but you do want your forearms vertical and supporting the bar from underneath.
Do a quarter squat, and come up as explosively as you can. In reality, you'll end up end up hopping up a tiny bit because you're generating so much momentum/power from your legs. That's okay, but be absolutely sure that you're in control as you do this. You really don't want to trip or fall while holding a barbell. As you come up, press the barbell directly over your head. Remember, your legs should be driving the power in this motion, not your shoulders or arms. At the top of your motion, you want your arms to be fully extended and your legs completely straightened out. Also, bring your head forward a bit so that your arms, spine, and head are all aligned along the same vertical plane.
One last cue is to make sure you move the weight directly up & down; if you start moving the horizontally, you'll put extra stress on your shoulders. If your elbows flare out horizontally, that's also going to make it difficult to press straight up & down. Finish your rep by bringing the weight back to beginning/racked position.
- Overhead Press Hold
You simply need to get the bar overhead as if you were doing the push press, and then hold the bar there while your partner does their push presses. The easiest way to get the bar there is to do a push press, funnily enough. Make sure you start from a racked position: hold the barbell slightly below shoulder level with both palms facing away from your body and your elbows pointed up as high as you can.
Do a quarter squat, and come up explosively to get the bar moving upward. Once your arms are locked out at the top of the press, hold your arms there so that the bar is locked into place. Hold this position. If you have to rest or your partner has finished their push press reps, then lower the bar to the racked position.
- 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.
Don't bounce your hips or your legs against the ground to generate momentum. That actually generates power from your legs, rather than your core. In essence, that's cheating since you're not working your core as much that way.
This time around, you have to touch your toes to get credit for the rep.
- Sit Up Hold
Lay down on the ground, and keep your feet in a butterfly position. Raise your torso off the ground to about a 45 degree angle, then hold yourself in that position until your partner finishes their sit ups. If you want to make this even harder, then bring your lower body up off the ground at a 45 degree angle, as well. That makes it more like a V-Up, which is harder on your core.
- Push Ups
You 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.
- Plank
From a push up position, lower yourself so that you are about two inches off of the ground. Keep yourself there without moving up or down while your partner does push ups. If you have to stop at some point, you can, but then your partner's push ups don't count.
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