This one was a 12 minute AMRAP, so you knew exactly how much you were in for at the beginning. The strength portion was basically a back squat, but you want to set up some risers or a box to make sure you do a full squat. Basically, it's a trick to teach you how deep to squat, even when you have a barbell on your back. The WOD itself is your usual CrossFit fare: several movements thrown together in a way that works your whole body.
As far as safety goes, pay the most attention to the back squats and the thrusters. Even though you have very little weight in your hands with the dumbbell thrusters, pay attention to your form. You learn bad habits if you get sloppy, and I've seen someone tweak their back using "light" dumbbells. No one wants to see you get hurt, so just be mindful of your form.
Strength
For 10 minutes:
WoD
As Many Rounds As Possible (in 12 minutes) of:
- 5 dumbbell thrusters
- 10 lunges (left/right = 2)
- 15 V-Ups
- 50 single-unders
Exercises
- Back Squats to Box
Set up a platform with risers adjusted for your height. You want to be able to sit on the box with your thighs parallel to the ground. Most people usually use at most 4 risers, though your height makes a difference. For this movement, removing risers makes it harder, because the platform denotes how low you have to squat.
Grab a barbell, and load it as heavily as you can handle. I usually see between 45lbs and 90lbs. Load the bar on to your back, with the bar resting on your shoulders, with your hands a little wider than shoulder-width apart. Make sure that the bar is resting on the muscles in your upper back, and NOT on your neck. Squeeze your shoulder blades together, since that'll force you into better posture and help protect your lower back.
Stand in front of the platform, and do an air squat. Make sure that when you go down, your bottom touches the platform; this should be at parallel or further. Don't rest your weight on the box at any point, though, since that's cheating. You want the box to provide a target, but it shouldn't carry some of the weight that your legs should be carrying. If you have to do your squats slower to accomplish this, that's fine. Regardless of how far you squat, 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.
Once you've touched the box with your bottom, come back up to the starting position. Stand tall with your legs fully locked out to complete the rep.
Scale down: If you can't squat that far, add some risers to your platform so you don't have to squat as far.
- Dumbbell Thrusters
Grab a pair of dumbbells; this time around, I saw the guys grab 10lb dumbbells and the women grab 7.5lb dumbbells. The idea was to simulate a wall ball without actually throwing something at the wall, so the weights make up the weight of the medicine ball you're supposed to throw.
Start with the dumbbells at your shoulders with your palms facing each other (towards your armpits) and your knuckles facing out away from your body. You're going to be doing this in the hammer fist grip this time around (your forearm and the dumbbell make a hammer that you could swing). This is the start, or "racked" position for this exercise.
Do an air squat so that your thighs end up parallel to the ground; if you can "break parallel," that's even better. As you come up, press the weights over your head, until your arms are fully extended. Push the dumbbells straight up & down, since any horizontal motion will put undue stress on your shoulders.
Bring the dumbbells back to the “racked” position to finish the rep. For this, you can actually make it a smooth motion, and go straight into the next squat instead of stopping at starting position. This is fine so long as you fully extend the dumbbells, bring the weight back down before you start your next squat, and keep a good curve on your lower back the whole time.
- Lunges
From a standing position, bring one leg forward in a straight line, and then bend your knees so that both your knees are bent at 90 degrees. The back knee should be close to the ground, and your front knee should be directly over your front foot (otherwise you're putting undue stress on your knees). One cue that can help some folks is to treat your lunge like you're going straight up and down with your back leg. Your knees don't quite have to touch the ground (you might get burns/scrapes that way), but come as close as you can to that. If you need extra support, you can use your hands to push up off of your lead leg. You'll have to repeat the motion with the other leg coming forward for the next rep.
This time around, you get credit for a rep any time one of your legs comes forward (or, "right/left = 2" for short).
- V-Ups
Lie on your back, putting our hands parallel to the ground "above" your head (if you were standing, they’d be directly over your head). Lift your legs off the ground and bring your torso up at the same time to touch your toes. In essence, your body makes a "V" shape. Go back to lying on your back to finish the rep. Be careful about slamming your legs into the ground when you finish the rep, that can hurt your lower back. Some people call these "jack knives," if that helps at all.
Scale down: Bend your knees as your bring your lower body up. You only have to touch your knees this way
- Single-Unders
This basically means jumping rope. The “single” refers to how many times the rope revolves around you each time you jump. Try to keep a steady rhythm, so that you can do all of your reps without stopping.
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