August 1st, this summer is screaming bye. In our defense, it did feel like it took a little while to get here.
How did last months water challenge go? Hopefully it simply made you think about your hydration a little more throughout the day and helped you stay on track. Let’s make sure we don’t forget those hydration behaviors in the dogs days of summer, August is going to be a hot one.
That being said, this months challenge is another one based on recovery. Too many times we finish our workouts, wipe down our equipment and then get in the car to go home. Simply spending 2 or 3 minutes on recovery will signal the central nervous system and begin the process of refueling the depleted energy stores and repairing stressed and tired muscles. If you skip your cool down, the body won’t go into recovery mode nearly as soon and will take a lot longer to get back to neutral. So this month we are going to focus on our cool downs. 3 cool downs will be written out in your PortComplete list for the week every Monday. Simply complete one of them, any of them, after a WOD and receive a point. You can earn up to 5 points per week. How many points will you have at the end of the month?
Here are the first 3 of the month
1. Spend 2 minutes on a bike
Then, 1:00 in each stretch, on each side (so 4:00 total)
Couch
Banded hamstring
2. Row at a 2:00/2:20 pace for 3 minutes
Accumulate 100
Banded pull-aparts
Lying banded pull-through
3. Cool down 800m run
Foam roll for 2:00
Spiderman 1:00 each side
Warm-up
3 rounds of increasing weights
200m run
10 step-ups
10 air squats
10 deadlifts
10 burpees
Mobility
Posterior chain prep – hamstrings and glutes
Pistol prep – quads and ankles
Skill
The pistol and it’s progressions
Make sure you take the time to work through the progression tree for the pistol. Start with the easiest movement and walk yourself through each step; air squats – close stance air squats – reverse lunges – box step-ups – box pistols – pistols with a band – pistols using the rig – Rx pistols
Form is everything with pistols. As you get tired and form breaks down, the knee will start to come over the toes, and we all know that isn’t the way it should be. Be smart but hold yourself accountable, if you really start to lose your good form, simply scale the movement so you stay safe.
WOD
“Venti Five”
25 min partner AMRAP
800m run with med ball
40 pistols
40 box jump overs (24/20”)
400m run with med ball
20 deadlifts (275/185#)(225/155#)
20 synchronized bar facing burpees
You can split the runs and the reps however you want. Just make sure that whoever is running is holding a med ball. As soon as both partners are in from each run, work on the movements can begin. The only time both partners are working together is during the synchronized burpees. Those might take some practice, so get a few in before you start the WOD.
