March 2009

Split jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Woo hoo! My absolute favorite thing to do in the gym.

As usual, if you do not have the skill yet, practice it for 20 minutes with a PVC pipe. Then do the workout with the next easiest progression. In this case, it’s push press.

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“Murph“

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run.

Beginners — partition in a 1-2-3 pattern based on your weakest skill. It’s probably pullups:

1 pullup, 2 pushups, 3 squats for 100 rounds, 

or 2 pullups, 4 pushups, 6 squats for 50 rounds, etc.

Give yourself plenty of time, and just get it done. Whatever it takes.

As this one is particularly rough, set aside some time to relax and feel good about it afterwards. Some research shows that you remember the end of the workout, not the beginning — if the ending is a bit more enjoyable, you’ll be more enthused to try “Murph” next time it comes up.

The research is thin, but there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that this is how it works with yoga — those five minutes they spend lying on their backs at the end gets more people to show up for the next class.

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Rest Day

Heretofore to be known as Gymnastics Skills Day.

Got ten minutes?

Pick one — work on your L-hold, your press-to-handstand, your pirouette. Whichever one you’re worst at - don’t get into the habit of choosing the activity that’s easiest for you! I’m sure there’s a life lesson in there somewhere…

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Clean and Jerk 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps

Spend a good twenty minutes in deliberate practice with the bar prior to adding weight. No matter how experienced you are, remember the importance of avoiding automation. Once you feel like you’re “riding a bike”, its much more difficult to improve your mechanics.

Everything you’ve got, every workout!

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“Barbara“

Five rounds, each for time of:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats

Rest precisely three minutes between each round.

A gymnastics benchmark WOD. Beginners, shoot for three rounds. Drink plenty of water.

After you recover, you should be pretty loose and pretty tired. This is a good time for some Pavel Tsatsouline-style “forced relaxation” stretching. If you’ve got the mental fortitude, go for a “clasp knife” stretch on your problem area.

Everything you’ve got, every workout!

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“Helen“

Three rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
1 1/2 pood Kettlebell X 21 swings (or 55 pound dumbbell swing)
12 Pull-ups

For beginners, we’ll finish the 400 meters with whatever monostructural activity is appropriate. We’re a big fan of “odd object” lifting (vacuum cleaner push-press is a good time), so we’ll swing whatever we can find. Pull-ups, we’ll do whatever you can do along the progression to kipping pull-ups.

Everything you’ve got, every workout!

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