This one was a really easy one to describe: power cleans and step ups. Like I always say, though, the fewer the exercises, the more reps you're going to have to do. In this case, you're going to do a crap ton of step ups (540 of them, if I counted correctly). Make sure you've stretched out your legs, you're going to need them.
I wrote out the whole thing to keep things simple, but if that looks daunting, just think of it as: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Whenever you see a number, do that number of power cleans. Whenever you see a dash, do 30 step ups. Essentially, count up to 10 and then count down to 1. It's actually a fairly simple structure.
As far as safety goes, mind your form on the power cleans. You're going to do a bunch of those, too, and you're more liable to have bad form when you're in the latter rounds. Slow down if you have to, but do NOT compromise your form. That's a great way to get hurt, and that's the last thing anyone wants.
WoD
- 1 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 2 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 3 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 4 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 5 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 6 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 7 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 8 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 9 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 10 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 9 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 8 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 7 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 6 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 5 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 4 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 3 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 2 power clean
- 30 step ups
- 1 power clean
Exercises
- Power Clean
You'll need a barbell for this, and you'll want to weight it fairly heavily. I usually see between ~45lbs and ~90lbs.
To begin with, put the weight on the ground in front of you (this is different than the "high hang" where you start with the weight near your thighs). Squat down to grab the weights, but remember to face forward and keep your chest facing forward. Stand up, but as you do so, 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.
Lastly, just stand up completely while holding the weight at your chest. You basically just need to straighten your legs out, but you don't want to do this step until you've got full control of the weight. Normally, you would then put the bar back down on the ground to finish the rep, but in this case, you are considered done when you stand tall with the weight racked at your chest/clavicle. All that's really left is to put it all together in a smooth motion.
- Step Up
Set up a platform with one riser on each side. Step up onto the platform, one leg at a time, and then come back down one leg at a time. Stepping up with both legs & stepping down with both legs counts as a single rep. It doesn't matter which leg comes up first or which one comes down first, but some people like to alternate after a set number of repetitions. The faster you do this, the more it feels like a "quick feet" exercise. Even though it's only 1 riser, make sure you look down as you're doing this. After a while, your legs can feel tired enough where you'll slip if you're not careful.
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