difficulty understanding the WODs

[juiop]

I really want to start doing the WOD's now. I have just been doing the Killroy template. But there are a few things I don't understand:

1. Can I just start anywhere along the WODS? ie can I start on next weeks routine, next week? Or do I have to go back to some start cycle?

2. What do you mean by 'Embedded' in "1 Embedded XR L-sit + 5 Tempo XR Bulgarian Dip" ? And What did you mean by Tempo?

3. I understand that we are suppose to scale back to what we can do - ie do the basic variation of Back Lever and not the actual back lever if you never done it before. But some exercises like "2 L-sit press to Tuck PL" I dont know how to scale this down? I don't think I can even move from an L-sit to the most basic variation of a Tuck PL. So are there going to be some exercises that even a beginner wont be able to do (ie wont be able to scale down) or can every exercise be scaled down in some way?

[Adam Bodestyne]

1. Can I just start anywhere along the WODS? ie can I start on next weeks routine, next week? Or do I have to go back to some start cycle?

1. I'm fairly certain you can feel free to start wherever you like. Just make sure you try to be consistent from then on, and over time you'll be hitting everything you need to. They're (more-or-less) cyclical, so it doesn't really matter where you start, just as long as you aren't constantly skipping them (or worse, always skipping a specific type of WOD--that will probably lead to imbalanced training)

2. What do you mean by 'Embedded' in "1 Embedded XR L-sit + 5 Tempo XR Bulgarian Dip" ? And What did you mean by Tempo?

2. Embedded is mentioned in the back of the BTGB book, but I admit I also didn't quite understand what it meant either. I consider an embedded static to be one which is entered/exited via another movement. e.g. for an embedded L-sit, you could just jump into the L-sit, and then hold it, and jump down again; or you could start by doing a leglift, lower your legs to the L-sit position, and then hold. For something like Front Lever, you could jump to the FL position, or lower slowly from hanging upside down, or do a Front Pull into the lever position..

Tempo is how long a particular movement should take. Coach typically specifies the intended tempo in the bottom notes for the particular WOD. e.g. "Use a tempo of 242 for the XR Bulgarian Dip and the Under-grip HLL". In this case he means it should take a count of one-two as you lower into the dip, at the bottom you should hold it for a count of one-two-three-four, then as you press up, you should take a count of one-two to get to the top of the dip again.

3. I understand that we are suppose to scale back to what we can do - ie do the basic variation of Back Lever and not the actual back lever if you never done it before. But some exercises like "2 L-sit press to Tuck PL" I dont know how to scale this down? I don't think I can even move from an L-sit to the most basic variation of a Tuck PL. So are there going to be some exercises that even a beginner wont be able to do (ie wont be able to scale down) or can every exercise be scaled down in some way?

3. Some exercises may need to be scaled back to entirely different exercise, or sometimes into component exercises. I'm not really sure what a good way to scale the L-sit press to Tuck PL is, though. Since Coach recommends getting a good L before planche work, maybe just omit the tuck-PL part and just do a couple of short L-sit holds. Scale these to whatever you think will be appropriate for doing 2x between each of the other exercises.

[Alvaro Antolinez]

Also I would like to add that don't be shy to scale down A LOT the movements. I mean stick to rows , pull ups, push ups, dips maybe shoulder press with small dumbbells( if they still are demanding to you). I made the mistake of trying to follow the WOD more strictly doing advanced exercises(for which I wasn´t prepared ) and every time I did I just stagnated my progress. You must feel worked but not destroyed after a workout. If you do it properly you will improve much much faster.

I´ll put an example , to be able to do the clapping push ups I had to kneel. To finish the WODs with high repetition of dips (or dynamic dips) I have to go with my legs on the ground (doing them between two chairs ) removing quite a lot of my weight to be able to finish the repetition range.

[Vincent Stoyas]

3. I understand that we are suppose to scale back to what we can do - ie do the basic variation of Back Lever and not the actual back lever if you never done it before. But some exercises like "2 L-sit press to Tuck PL" I dont know how to scale this down? I don't think I can even move from an L-sit to the most basic variation of a Tuck PL. So are there going to be some exercises that even a beginner wont be able to do (ie wont be able to scale down) or can every exercise be scaled down in some way?

To scale down the L sit to Tuck PL, one option would be to start in a Tuck PL and descend into the L sit. That's one rep, stand back up and repeat it again.