Monday, July 24, 2017

2017.07.24

Jill picked this one out and it was back on 2015.01.08.  Large group today (7 if I counted correctly).

So the warm up really does warm you up. As you're going to be doing a lot of arm work here, make sure you really do stretch out during your T push ups and upward and downward.

The workout itself is an AMRAP of some sorts. Boxed time to basically 30 minutes (29 if you don't really count the last minute of rest). You're going to do one move every minute, no rest, until you're done with all the moves (5 to be exact) and then you get one minute of rest. You get to do this for 5 rounds.

Descriptions copied for easy access below. Enjoy! I know we did.

Warm Up
2 rounds of:
WoD
5 rounds of:

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.
  • Jump Squats
    This one starts like a normal air squat, from a standing position with your feet about shoulder-width apart. 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 and 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 and 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. However, as you come up to finish the squat, jump straight up in to the air. You finish the rep when you land and reset yourself. It's not uncommon for people to go right in to the next squat, though. This is okay so long as you're not bending over and losing the lumbar curve in the process. Basically, you don't get to cheat on your form because you're jumping.
  • Renegade Rows
    Holding a dumbbell in each hand, get down in to a push up position. The dumbbells will be on the ground, and you will essentially be holding yourself up on top of them. Keeping one dumbbell on the ground, pull the other weight up off the ground in a straight line (it's a single-arm row, if you're used to doing those). Try not to rotate your body as you do this, since that makes it easier to lift the weight without working the muscles in your arm. Your chest should be facing towards the ground the whole time. For these, you have to do lift both dumbbells off the ground to complete a single rep (e.g., "left/right = 1" for short).
  • Dips
    Set up a platform with risers; most people usually use at most 5 risers, though remember that your height makes a difference. For this movement, adding risers makes it harder, because the platform denotes how far you have to dip your body weight.

    Position yourself so your arms are holding you up/off the edge of your platform, with your legs straight out in front of you. You should just be barely forward of the platform; your butt should practically touch the platform as you do your reps. If you come forward too far, you'll put unnecessary strain on your shoulders.

    Lower yourself so that your butt touches the ground, and then raise yourself back to the starting position. That's 1 rep. If you do the exercise properly, you'll feel the exercise the most in your triceps.

    Scale down: Bend your legs, and put your feet flat on the ground before doing your dips. Since you're lifting less weight this way, this makes the dips easier
  • Russian Twists
    Sit down on the floor with your legs out in front of you, then lift both of your legs off of the ground. If you have lower back problems, it can help to cross your legs in the air, since it'll take a little bit of the strain off of your back. Lean back a tiny bit, just enough so that you feel your abs contract. You don't want to overextend your back, so don't lean back any more than 45 degrees.

    With the weight in your hands, rotate so that the weight moves to one side of you. Touch the ground if you can, but the most important part is that your shoulders stay still during this movement. The idea is for your obliques (the side part of your abs) to do the work, so your core should be doing the rotation. It's possible to keep your abs motionless and just use your arms/shoulders to move the weight from side to side, but that's bad form. One way to think about it is to think that you want your arms about shoulder width apart at all times, and you want your head to be pointing straight ahead between your arms at all times.

    Every time the dumbbell passes across your body, that's 1 rep (or, "right/left = 2" for short).
  • 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.
  • Box Jumps
    You'll need to set up a platform with risers; most people use at least 4, but I've seen up to 7 on occasion. Before you even start the WoD, stomp on it really hard. You want to make sure it'll support your weight and won't move around when you jump on it. Just in case, look down at the platform when you jump. If it does move around at all, keeping your eyes on it should help prevent injury.

    When you do jump on it, you want to make sure that you stand tall once you're on the platform. If you stay hunched over the whole time, you're not getting the full effect of the exercise. One way to think about this is that you want your hips to "open up" on both the jump up and the jump down; all that really means is that your hips should be pushed forward once you're standing on top of the box.

    Scale down: Step up to the box, and then step down instead of jumping on the platform. If you do step, make sure you alternate which leg comes down off of the platform first.

No comments:

Post a Comment