New Hero

Here’s how I turned today’s WOD into a Team WOD.
First off, I eliminated the ring portion of the HSPUs and turned them into regular HSPUs, as no one had the skill/strength to pull off ring HSPUs.
I formed 3-person teams (and occasionally 4-person teams, when numbers of students dictated that I must). For the HSPUs and L-pull-ups, teammates would help each other.
So for HSPUs, the assistants would spot the handstander, each grab a leg, and give that person as much or as little assistance on their HSPUs (top of head to just 1 AbMat for cushioning) as they needed. We covered safety/spotting issues before the WOD started to make sure everyone knew how to do this correctly. A 3-person team would need to complete 75 total HSPUs per round (or 25 per person) and could split up those 75 as they saw fit. Groups tended to split them evenly, even though some people were stronger on HSPUs, because those who were weaker on HSPUs would simply receive more assistance from their teammates. Instead of doing 25 each per person before rotating to the next person, many groups split the HSPUs up into 10 per person until the full 75 reps had been met.
All 75 reps of the HSPUs had to be accomplished before moving on to the 75 L-pull-ups. Everyone, no matter their ability, did actual L-pull-ups; however, for those not strong enough to do them unassisted, they would have their 2 teammates each holding a leg and helping to push them up. If the teammates needed to give a lot of help, I showed them how to quasi-front squat/overhead squat the person’s leg and make more use of their own legs so as to save their arm strength for the HSPUs, their own L-pull-ups, and the assisting.
I allowed teams to count heavy-duty L-pull-up squat-assists (for lack of a better term) towards their tally of air squats, which came last each round instead of coming first, to make it easier to track how many air squats needed be done. The group as a whole had to complete 225 air squats (i.e., 75 per person).
People found the workout to be tougher than they thought it would be because of two main reasons: the assistance work took a lot of strength and effort and the team approach motivated participants to work harder so as to not slow down their teammates.
All in all, it was a great WOD and I plan on offering more team and/or partner WODs in future whenever it’s a Sunday Rest Day and I personally get to choose the Black Box WOD.

I was skeptical of the team WOD at first, but it worked out well. The workout was more intense because there was no resting, even the spotting was work, and we didn’t want to let our teammates down.

I was part of the aforementioned Team Shayna-Steve-Jenn @ 33:43.
I have to agree that the Team WOD was an interesting twist. Wouldn’t mind seeing a few of these mixed in every now and then.
Congrats on the pull-up Jenn!

FYI, everybody, Robb Wolf just added another paleo nutrition seminar nearby. He’s gonna be at CrossFit South Brooklyn on April 11th:
https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/asp/home.asp?studioid=2989

Team WOD version with Me, Michael & Chris. Fun way to do this one.
27:57
Congrats on the pullup Jenn!

Allison – Loved the Team WOD today!!