I had to miss this one, but it was your normal CrossFit fare: a 15 minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) work out. You'll want to make sure you warm up your legs, because you'll need them for the deadlifts and dumbbell swings. There are also some push ups thrown in for good measure, but there are pretty good odds that it'll be those first two exercises that will tax your body.
Incidentally, those first two exercises are also the ones that require more attention to form. Protect your back from injury by making sure you're strict about your form. That's where you can hurt yourself, even with a relatively light weight. So don't get sloppy about it.
Warm Up
2 rounds of:
- 25 jumping jacks
- 10 upward to downward
- 10 bottom downs
- 10 arm circles
- 10 good mornings (no weight on bar)
- 10 deadlifts (no weight on bar)
WoD
As Many Rounds As Possible (for 15 minutes) of:
- 10 deadlifts
- 10 single-arm dumbbell swings (left/right = 1, do 10 consecutive on each side)
- 10 hand release push ups
Exercises
- 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 Down
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.
- 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.
- Good Morning
Grab a bar, but don't put any weight on it for the warm up. For the actual WOD, load it up as heavily as you can handle. I usually see between 45lbs and 90lbs.
Standing, rest the bar on your shoulders behind your neck. You'll want to squeeze your shoulder blades together, and keep your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart, and keep your legs locked. Bend at the waist (as if you’re bowing), keeping your eyes forward. Your back needs to be flat as you do that, and you should finish so that your back is parallel to the ground. Come back up to standing to finish the rep. Notice that this variation doesn't require a bend to your knees.
- Deadlift
Place a barbell on the floor pretty much right in front of your feet (with a full Olympic bar, you'd put your feet right underneath the bar). Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, and bend your knees slightly (about 20 degrees) to reach down to grab the barbell. You want your hands on the outside of your legs/knees, and you want to start with the barbell to be high enough off the ground to be about halfway up your shin (this is about the same height as an Olympic bar resting on the ground with 45lb plates on it).
Keeping your head up and your chest facing forward, lift your torso a few inches until the barbell almost hits your knees. Your arms shouldn't bend at the elbows, you're just lifting your upper body with the weight conveniently attached to the upper body. Also, the weight should move in a straight vertical line, with no horizontal motion. It can help to think about it as if you're trying to skin your shins with the weight.
Once the barbell is at about your knees, pop your hips forward to generate some more momentum. At the same time, contract your shoulder blades towards each other. This will naturally pull the weight up even more (again, in a straight line). You should be standing straight up with your chest out at the top of the movement. Even though it looks like you're pulling the weight up using your biceps, you should try to avoid pulling up with your arms. That actually decreases the amount of weight you can lift in the long run, and it's bad form.
- Single-Arm Dumbbell Swing
ou only need a single dumbbell; I usually see people grab 10-15lbs. Do a squat, keeping a good lumbar curve, and hold the dumbbell between your legs at about knee/thigh level. Stand up from the squat, and as you do that, swing your arm upward in an arc until your arm is directly over your head. If you do the motion correctly, your legs will drive most of the momentum, and you're essentially just standing & squatting.
Your arm should stay locked the whole time, so that you're actually swinging the dumbbell. If you start bending your arm at the elbow, you're doing more of a bicep curl. That's not what you're after in this case, so that's wasted effort.
At no point should you bend over, that can hurt your lower back. You always want to be facing forward, with a good lumbar curve. If you get tired, it's preferable to stop for a bit than to do these reps with bad form.
- Hand Release Push Up
Get down in a plank position, with your body rigid and no bend at your waist. Bring your chest to the ground for every single rep, and lift your hands off the ground at the bottom. This forces you to go all the way down (gravity will take care of the rest if you don't actually bring yourself to the ground). At the top of the rep, make sure your arms are fully extended.
Scale down: Do the push ups on your knees. You lift less weight this way, so it's easier.
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