WOD - 3/1

Starting out a new week, let’s do a workout that combines some of the strength-qualities we used over the last two.  Strength qualities, though they are really only one continuous functional quality, are broken out into three (or more, depending on your source) categories: Endurance, Maximal, Explosive

Endurance covers everything from running a marathon to isometrics to doing 12 reps of bench press.  The physiological definition is that you’re using Type I muscle fibers for most of the duration of the movement.  But muscle actually works in this fashion - it recruits the fast-twitch muscles first, till they’re burnt out, then recruits the slow-twitch fibers.  It can take anywhere from 10 seconds to 3-5 minutes to fully replenish ATP stores in your muscle.

Maximal strength is everything from a 1-rep max, to about 8 or 10 reps.  Its focus is really on the Type IIa (fast-twitch muscle fibers that have some endurance qualities, and IIb fibers), but incorporates the Type I fibers as well.

Explosive strength covers everything from starting off of blocks on a sprint (called “acceleration” or “speed” strength), to doing Olympic lifts like the Clean and Jerk and the Snatch.  Explosive strength relies almost exclusively on Type IIb muscle fibers, though some research points to the recruitment of as many fibers and fiber-types (I, IIa, IIb) as possible (another place you’d find the type of static-strength used by Pavel, etc.).

So today, let’s do this:

Warmup - 10 burpees with pushup

Legs

Explosive - 10, 3′ jumps - onto a table, picnic table, or other sturdy waist-height object

Maximal - 8 ea. 1-leg squats, the classic!

Endurance - 1 minute high-knee run-in-place

Upper Body

Explosive - 10 lap pushups (only do these if you can do at least 40 consecutive pushups)

Max - as many as you can  - handstand pushups

Endurance - 30 seconds-1 minute - medicine ball chest passes against a wall, or elevated pushups (hands on a table or high object)

Core

V-ups - bring your upper body and legs up at the same time, try to touch your toes.  Don’t do this if your back starts to arch.  You can modify it by bending your legs at the knees, and curling up with your upper body.

10 Hanging leg raises - hang from something and lift your legs up in front of you.  You can do it with knees straight or bent.

30 second-to-1 minute - Table (back to the ground, hands and feet on the ground,  lift your hips and make a table)

To get some back and external rotation, do this:

Bodyweight rows - overhand grip 10, underhand grip 10

Go through the circuit at least twice, preferably 3x.

Alternately, you can hit your whole body in the same fashion with only three exercises:

Warmup

As many as you can  - Burpees with pushups and jump to pullup

10 -  Pushup on Dumbbells-to-Bent row-to-RDL-to-Squat-to-Overhead Press

20 - Your choice tiangan

Go through 3x…it’ll be just as tough as the first workout, but get the job done in a little less time, with fewer concentrated moves.  It does require dumbbells for the second lift.  That’s called a “compound” lift, incorporating several different lifts into a single continuous movement.

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