Wednesday, August 30, 2017

2017.08.30 - Smurf

We have Michaella to thank for this one as she chose the "Smurf" a.k.a Murph in commemoration of Labor Day coming up. This was dubbed a Smurf as the first time this workout was performed (2015.05.27), the movements in the middle of the step-ups were partitioned in any way that a person wanted instead of doing the full reps before moving onto the next move (Who does 100 bent over rows!? Then 200 hand release push-ups?!). We all did what we needed to do to get through the workout.

Today, I was the lone wolf that finished as everyone had to run off to a meeting but thanks for helping put away all of it as I just pushed for all of us! Completed in a little under 40 minutes (2 plates for the bar, 4 risers for the box) and I'm sure I was blue by the end of it...be careful on your lower back, as 100 bent over rows, 200 push ups and 300 air squats will really get that bent out of shape. Now I know what a Murph is...I'm okay to not do this one until next Memorial Day...

Warm Up
2 rounds of:

WoD

Exercises
  • T Push Up
    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.
  • 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.
  • Lunge to Elbow
    This starts like any other lunge: 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 farther forward than your 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 front 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.

    Once your lead leg is forward and your knees are bent, reach down with your arms and touch the elbow on the side that's lunging forward to the inside of your calf. If your right leg is forward, touch your right elbow to the inside of your calf. If you can actually reach your elbow to your instep (the side of your foot), do that since that'll make it harder. Try to balance without reaching down your off hand, but if you need to, put your off-hand down on the ground to stabilize yourself. Hold that for a couple of seconds.

    Once you've gotten a good stretch out of the lunge, keep both feet where they are, and lean back. Your front leg will be fully extended and straight out, but your back knee will be bent, and you'll be sitting on your back foot. If your right foot is forward, you'd be sitting on your left foot. Since your front foot is still out in front, this pulls on/stretches your hamstring. Hold that for a couple of seconds.

    Now you have to do the same thing on the other side to finish the rep. You have to do it once with each leg forward for a single rep (or "left/right = 1"). You can either walk forward, or rotate your body so that you are now facing the direction that used to be behind you. Either way, make sure you do the lunges on both sides.
  • Arm Circle
    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.
  • Step Up
    Set up a platform with one on each side or no risers (we chose not to have a riser). 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.
  • Bent Over Row
    You'll need a barbell for this; I usually see between 45lbs and 90lbs.

    To begin with, put it down in front of you. Start with your feet a little bit more than shoulder-width apart, and bend your knees to reach down for the barbell. Grab the barbell with your hands on the outside of your legs/knees, so that your hands are slightly farther apart than your feet. From that position, stand straight up so that you have the barbell resting near your thighs (if you know what a deadlift is, you basically need to do one of those).

    From that position, bend your knees slightly and bend forward until your back is at about a 30 degree angle. Your back still needs to be as flat (like a table top) as you can manage. Squeeze your shoulder blades together before you start, and then pull the barbell straight up to your chest while keeping your back stationary. Bring it back down to the bottom in a fluid motion to finish the rep. You want to bring the weight up and down from this position until you've finished all of your reps.
  • 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.
  • Air Squats to a Box Set up a platform with risers; most people usually use at most 4 risers, though remember that your height makes a difference. For this movement, removing risers makes it harder, because the platform denotes how low you have to squat.

    Stand in front of the platform, and do a regular 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. 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.

    Scale down: If you can't squat that far, you should aim to end up with your thighs parallel to the ground at the bottom of your squat.

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