The WOD starts out pretty simple. You have to do a simple 3 minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible), with just 3 exercises. Of course, I always tell people that fewer exercises means more reps of those exercises. Either way, though, do as many reps and rounds as you can in those 3 minutes.
Keep track of where you ended up, because you're going to start there after the minute of rest. For example, say you were working on your 4th push press when time runs out. Rest a minute (and add a plate to your bar), and then do the 5th and 6th push presses with the now-heavier bar. Then do your air squats to finish out that round. Essentially, it's a 9 minute AMRAP that happens to be interrupted by 60 second breaks to make your bar heavier.
If you want a goal, the most anyone finished was 10 rounds. Al's folks at his gym also did this with much heavier weight (95/115/135lbs for the men, and 65/75/85 for the women), and they got up to 5 rounds.
On the safety front, keep strict form on the hang power cleans, front squats, and push presses. Those all have the potential to hurt your back if you do enough of them poorly. So, um, don't do them poorly. Strict form protects your back and keeps you from getting hurt. That's why I always harp on it. No one wants to see you get hurt.
Strength
For 10 minutes:
WoD
As Many Rounds As Possible (in 3 minutes) of:
Rest 1 minute and add another plate to your bar. If you started with 2 plates, now make it 3.
Picking up where you left off, As Many Rounds As Possible (in 3 minutes) of:Rest 1 minute and add another plate to your bar. If you had 3 plates, now make it 4.
Picking up where you left off, As Many Rounds As Possible (in 3 minutes) of:Exercises
- Hang Power Clean
You'll need a barbell, weighted as heavily as you can handle. I usually see between 45lbs and 90lbs. For the WOD, don't start with your max weight. You're going to have to add plates, so use something less than the heaviest you can lift, at least to start with.
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.
- Front Squat
Hold the barbell at about shoulder level, with your palms facing away from your body so that you could see both palms in a mirror. In a sense, the weights are "racked" against your chest. If you've got enough strength and flexibility in your wrists, bring your elbows straight up so that they point away from your body. This will force more of the weight against your upper torso and put more of a strain on your wrists, so only do this if you can sustain this position through lots and lots of reps. Regardless of how high you bring your elbows, the weights are "racked" against your chest.
Keeping the barbell in this position, do a squat. The same rules apply as always: keep a good lumbar curve while you do this, keep your weight on your heels, keep your head up & look forward, and keep your chest facing forward (don't bend over). With weight in your hands, these cues become more important. If you do enough reps poorly, you can tweak your back. Incidentally, this is also why we try to learn good from with air squats; so that it's habit by the time you put weight in your hands.
- Push Press
You'll need a barbell. For the WOD, weight it heavily, but not with the max you can lift. You're going to add weight to the bar before you finish, so give yourself enough room to add plates. At the max weight, I usually see between 45lb and 90lb on the barbell.
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. If you just finished doing a clean, the weight will already be racked for you. 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.
- Air Squat
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.
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