The Bear
Today your WOD is a compilation of different barbell movements put together into a sequence of repetitions. It’s called the Bear Complex and here’s how it works:
7x through the cycle = 1 round
- Power clean
- Front squat
- Push press
- Back squat
- Push press
MAKE SURE TO PROTECT YOUR UPPER BACK WHEN LOWERING THE BAR!!
You perform this for 5 rounds, increasing the weight each round if you can, though it is not required. Rest anywhere but the ground once you begin the round.
Here is a demonstration:
O man, I have been nervously anticipating the day that The Bear would show up. I am both terrified and excited for tomorrow.
This looks terrible. See you there.
It is terrible, Amos. Everyone will feel this break down in a different place, so the best “rest” position will be different for each person. (Ideally, *speed* will save you so that your rest happens with the barbell on the ground.)
That said, speed can kill you if you sacrifice form.
Here’s a common pattern starting in the Push Press: A lack of hip drive, or a premature arm push, will wear out your delts/shoulders and lead to a breakdown in your front squat. Now your shoulders can’t drive your elbows up, so the bar sags and your weight comes into your toes. With your weight forward, your back strains to keep you upright and you start to really suffer. With your back tired your clean starts to look like dogshit so you pull with your arms to compensate, but guess what? They’re what was burned to start with. You’re pretty much fresh out of body parts to use to compensate for bad form. And so you fail.
And that’s the beauty of The Bear.
There’s too much going on in too many places for too long for anyone to get away with the compensation tricks we use to muscle our way through any given single lift. You get too tired, and form becomes paramount. You’ll either clean it up and find your form, or find yourself staring with amazement at a bar sitting on the ground when you *know* you can lift a lot more than that.
I thought I could do about 30# more than I finished at today. I’m listening to the soreness in my traps and neck and trying to figure out what that is telling me about my form (because I don’t have Yosh here to tell me in person).
Here’s the trick: don’t let ego get in the way. Listen to your soreness. Take it as a cue to learn and correct your form. If you fail, drop the weight down 5-10# and try the Bear cycle again with better form rather than crashing yourself futilely against a weight that your body is telling you (in no uncertain terms, with audiovisual assistance) is too big for you. Don’t break yourself against the barbell today.
terribly awesome! one of my favorite WODs, I wish I was in today for it…downright jealous even. “don’t let ego get in the way” couldn’t be any more true, last time I was hellbent on getting what I thought *should be* my max weight, tried it 3x in a row and simply failed faster each time.
the Bear.
for the last month, i’ve been participating in a performance based paleo challenge with the fenway people. on 1/16 i completed 10 mins of cindy and 10 mins of DT with 11 minutes of rest in between. last night, i did them again after about a month of paleo eating (the eating started on 1/23).
cindy:
1/16: 8+12
2/16: 10+8
DT:
1/16: 3+17 @ 75#
2/16: 4+13 @ 75#.
many thanks to yosh and the 6pm and 7pm classes last night for helping me through that one. i’m psyched to see progress!
today’s bear was, well, a real bear. the less than 12 hours between work outs was definitely less than ideal, but i did my 5th set at 75# and almost panicked in my 5th round of that set. definitely a HUGE mental battle.
and, for good measure, i finally found good videos of all things i think of when i hear ‘the bear’:
daaaaaaaaaaaa bears: http://www.hulu.com/watch/4171/saturday-night-live-bill-swerkskis-super-fans
1985 bears superbowl shuffle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=draiscAGt-k&feature=related
Cal you smashed it! Awesome push in both Wods
What a beast of a workout. Thanks 530am class!
5:30 Beast represent! Good job pushing yourself with the weight, Harry.
You too Hill. Good work on all of the rounds.
This is a tough workout and can get mentally exhausting. I’m glad you guys have it a try! Shawn and David did a great job in the noon class as well.
Ah Shit, I am giddy and nervous for this one. Looks like a beast of way to end the week. Excited to challenge myself. See you tonight!
This was fun! And I say fun because I didn’t smash my collarbones into oblivion. 😉 I love full classes!
#75
I leave you all with a real picture from Will’s mom’s back porch:
http://tinyurl.com/shityouseeinthe413
The Bear: Topped out at 105#.
I respected The Bear, and I walked away unscathed.
Maybe next time I’ll give him a little smack in the face and see what happens to me…
The bear bit me bad man.
I thought I would get more weight on. Started with 65 for a round, then 80 for 3 rounds, then 85 for 1. The 85 took me three attempts to finish the round. Me thinks i didnt pace myself well.