Once again, it’s the end of October which means it’s time for CFDC to take a forced-outdoor excursion while the church takes over the gym for their annual celebration. As our previous announcement post mentioned, although we originally had plans for a more elaborate field trip, Hurricane Sandy and the Marine Corp Marathon dictated otherwise. Instead, class rolled around the corner to Mitchell Park for a quick dose of fun.
After warming-up with a few of our go-to standards (spider lunge, hamstring walk, and inch worm and band good mornings), class turned to a special squat-technique put to use last year at this time: Curb Squats!
Curb squats are basic body weight squats done on a curb with the front of the feet hanging over the edge. It doesn’t sound like much, but hanging the feet out in space forces us to shift our weight back off the toes – often heard as the cue “from the heels.” Relieving the weight from the toes centers a lifters weight, and thereby helps the lifter recruit the maximum power available from the glutes and quads. Class worked through three rounds of curb squats with a pause and decline push-ups (with feet on the curb and hands on the ground) as skill-development-come-warm-up before breaking out a few KBs to prepare for the workout.
With only 5 KBs to work with and 13 people working out, class broke into the groups, each starting about 2min apart. After the swings, everyone left the park, ran down S St. to Mass Ave, and then turned around and came right back up again, before starting in on the 30 burpees.
It’s been a while since we’ve incorporated windmills into the program, and this seemed an excellent opportunity to revisit the technique. To set-up, keep the foot on the supporting-side pointed straight (or slightly turned in) while turning the off-side foot out at 45 degree angle. The leg on the supporting-side should remain extended, while the off-side can be bent slightly if needed.
With the KB pressed into the overhead position, lock the lower back into a neutral position, and then slowly push into the hip on the supporting side while sliding your empty hand down the inside of the off-side leg (this is less about bending at the waist than it is about pushing the hip to the side to help initiate and control the movement). Keep the supporting arm straight overhead with your eyes focused on the KB at all times, just as you would a TGU.
After warming up with two rounds of un-weighted windmills, followed by two rounds of varying weight, a second weighted option was introduced, where-in a counter-balance weight was picked up off the ground with the empty hand.
Before calling it quits for the day, we decided to have a little fun with a few athletic-skill competitions, including a Standing Broad Jump for Max Distance, a Medicine Ball Shot Put for Max Distance, and a Medicine Ball Over-The-Head Throw for Max Distance.
Great work by everyone who dared to challenge the prospect of dealing with early bouts of Hurricane Sandy’s wrath. It was noted, once again, how fortunate we’ve been to have really accommodating weather each and every time we’ve been forced outside over the past 6 years. Here’s hoping everyone makes it through the next few days without incident!
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Fun class yesterday and very glad that the rain held off!
Lower back/hip was having some problems this past week so subbed swings for some OH step-ups but apparently did 20 fewer than I was supposed to. Oops! Burpees 25-30 after the hill run was rough, but I didn’t want to stop to rest while the rest of class was done and watching.
Thoroughly enjoyed just goofing around after the metcon.
Hope everyone is staying dry and safe!
I drove around and around yesterday and just could not find any parking. I gave up after 20+ minutes. That was one heck of a celebration the church was hosting.
I’m going to do this workout on my own with a few modifications. I was able to take in a challenging yoga class last night. I’m anticipating I’m going to have quite a workout later today keeping my basement dry. I had a lot of water with Irene so I’m expecting Sandy to deliver a good slap as well.
I hope everyone stays safe during the storm.
Awesome to have such a great group out before the storm.
I’m betting there will be some sore ribcages from the windmills. We’ll let everyone get in on some of these soon.
Steph, glad you had fun. As much as we believe in very specific programming, goofing around is an important part of training.
The goofing around part was my favorite!
The metcon was challenging, the run was a little slow for me. Broke the KB swings up into 3 sets and burpees into 2 sets.
Thanks for making sure we had a Sunday morning class Tom and Chris!
What a photo! No comment!
I haven’t commented in a while; therefore…
…congratulations to Sara, Ben, and Sebastian on their performance in the NoVA Open.
Congratulations also to Mike Choi on his performance in the East Coast Gold Classic.
Finally, congratulations to Katie, Lizzy, and Dan-imal. I wish each and every one of you all the best.
After spending a Sunday in Lower Manahttan, NYC and a wonderful week in Key West (including a small run-in with Sandy en route to DC), I enjoyed working outdoors on Sunday. I used the 25kg kettlebell for the swings (which I really felt in my glutes as I was running). Thanks to Chris O. for encouraging me along with the burpees (ugh!). I don’t know what time I finished this workout in, but I do know that I finished it. 🙂
The post-met-con stuff was fun too.
I was also glad to get back to Sunday evening yoga after taking two classes off.