Those privy to the functional fitness scene are very familiar with the so-called "conventional” exercises in WODs and competitive exercise events. They include air squats, pull-ups, clean and jerks, running, and kettlebell swings. Before we introduce some unconventional movements, let’s take a look at what makes the conventional movements both effective and appropriate for conditioning.

Full body effort

Isolation exercises don’t make the cut because they don’t have enough of an effect metabolically and because they are too easy to cheat. Need to finish an isolation exercise faster? Use your whole body, and there goes its efficacy.

Scalability

Almost all exercises are scalable, so a professional athlete and my grandmother are able to do the workout to some degree. (We’ll talk more about appropriate and effective scaling at the end of this article.)

Safety

Anything is potentially dangerous, but not everything is inherently dangerous. A college strength and conditioning coach’s number one job is keeping the athletes injury-free, and so is yours.

Specific competition standards

For an exercise to have a competition standard, it has to have a clear beginning, middle, and end. An example of an exercise that doesn’t meet this requirement is a good morning. What is the middle of a good morning? 45 degrees? Questionable. Parallel to the floor? Impossible for many athletes. Make sure your standards are clear and easy to explain in a class setting.

Unconventional Movements

Each of these unconventional movements adheres to the above rules while adding elements of intrigue - added benefits or unusual challenges. As is the case with conventional movements, it is important that these movements be performed virtuously to receive their full benefit. I tell my students all the time, “We don’t move prettily for the sake of moving prettily. We move prettily because it is the most efficient way to move.” Move prettily, please.

Also, adhere to the classic rule: learn the movement, do it consistently, and then add intensity. Just because you’re able to do another version of any of these movements doesn’t mean you’ll transition smoothly to its variation.

1. Behind-the-neck thrusters

The BTN thruster is performed much like a regular thruster except the bar is placed on the shoulders, like a back squat, and thrust up from there. This movement is great for athletes with a compromised front rack. In fact, it may improve their front rack because it acts as a great stretch for the upper back and shoulders.

Many athletes find that lowering the bar to the back rack is the hardest part. Instruct them to keep their elbows below or behind the bar during the descent and to do it faster while maintaining control.

2. Heavier Jump rope

By using a heavier jump rope, (here is an example, or using a rope, or something like a garden hose) you increase the work for the shoulders. You also increase skill acquisition because doing single or double-unders with a heavy rope is a whole new game. Be sure you are comfortable with heavy single-unders before attempting doubles. And just like when you were still learning doubles, don’t do sets to failure during the workout. If you have to do 50 heavy double-unders per round in a workout and you knock out a set of 37 and then fail, you are inevitably going to find the rest of the workout very, very frustrating.

3. Hurdles

To run over, of course. If you have a former track star in your midst, it would be awesome to learn proper hurdle form. Also consider using large hurdles, such as walls, high bars, or fences, as mountable obstructions during running workouts, like you see used in adventure racing. This will strengthen your upper body and add an element of fun to a boring ol’ running workout.

4. Pull-ups with varying grips

Your “Cindy” (20 minute AMRAP: five pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats) score is better than all your buddies, but can you come close to your PR with a chin-up grip or a fat bar for pull-ups? What about these other implements instead of a bar?

• a ledge
• rings
• rope or towel
• uneven grips
• tree limb

These all sound like functional fitness to me. Make sure as the programmer or athlete that you don’t underestimate how much more difficult a new grip will make the workout.

5. Variations on overhead squats

Variations on overhead squats are made by changing the grip width or implement, or by only using one arm. Any change to the classic snatch grip overhead squat with a barbell make it MUCH more difficult. Make sure an athlete is very competent and comfortable with the conventional overhead squat before adding variety. All of these changes will make the overhead squat more of a challenge for the shoulders, legs and core stability, so be ready.

6. Core holds for time

Planks, L-sits or hangs, hollow holds: all of these can be used in conditioning workouts as long as the athlete holds themselves to the time designation. Holds don’t have as much of a metabolic effect as conventional core exercises such as GHD sit-ups or toes to bar, but they can be a wonderful scaling option for beginner athletes who need improved core strength and stability, and are surprisingly terrifying for even the most high level athletes.

7. Heavy ball tosses for distance

Throwing a slam or medicine ball down Broadway in New York City is not possible for me, unfortunately, but if you have the space, they can be done feet or yards at a time and are a wonderful exercise for the shoulders, core, and hips. Tosses can be done overhead or backwards, make certain the athlete is throwing the ball with the power of their core, not just flinging it with their arms.

8. Quadruped Exercises

Mountain climbers and bear crawls are awesome conditioning tools that use the upper body and core much more than running does. They can also be done with significantly less room. Just like many movements, don’t let athletes bite off more than they can chew at the beginning. Long bear crawls should be broken up into reasonable chunks and mountain climbers should not be done to failure. Here’s a bear crawl workout to try on for size:

3 rounds for time: 50-meter bear crawl 25 Russian kettlebell swings (24/16 kilograms)

Note: this bear crawl video showcases bent knees, but it can also be done with legs straight.

9. Medicine ball as additional weight

The National Pro Grid League (check it out if you haven’t already) is currently experimenting with med balls as additional weight. Check out the weighted handstand push-ups at 1:13 in this video and the toes to bar. This is a simple way to make a movement more difficult for an advanced athlete. It looks really silly, I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that it can be effective if performed well.

10. Biking

Not all of the above movements are completely novel ideas. Heck, we’ve even seen biking in the CrossFit Games. I bring it up now because it is a perfect example of a fun WOD you could do as a special event at your local box. It may be too difficult to ask members with bikes to bring them to the box on a weekday, but some sunny afternoon you could invite everyone out to the park to do a biking and bodyweight WOD with friends and family. Biking and burpees sounds like a recipe for a killer workout.

Guidelines for scaling movements in group fitness classes

Here are some ground rules for scaling movements in conditioning workouts to make sure everyone can make the most of the workout you have planned.

1. Scale to a movement with competition standards. This seems obvious, but remains just as important when scaling. Don’t give your athletes a chance to cheat, because they will and it’s your fault, not theirs. For example: scaling handstand push-ups to box handstand push-ups (knees on box, butt in the air, hips above shoulders) is rarely effective because as an athlete becomes more and more fatigued their form fails as they drop their butt (a section of the movement that can’t be standardized). Instead, consider scaling handstand push-ups to regular push-ups (improve upper body pushing and core strength) or pike walkouts (improve upper body straight arm and core strength and kinesthetic awareness) instead.

2. Scaling to a movement that can be done just as well at the beginning as at the end. If a movement has to be gymnastics perfect in order to be effective (for instance, the hollow rock), it’s probably not appropriate in a conditioning workout. What can be cheated on, will be cheated on.

3. Scale based on the purpose of the exercise, not just the component parts. For example, a muscle-up can be scaled to a pull-up and a dip simply enough, but if the purpose of the muscle-up in that workout is practicing highly technical gymnastics under fatigue then maybe it should be scaled to a jumping muscle up (to practice the transition from pull-up to dip) or a belly button to bar kipping pull-up.

If, on the other hand, the purpose of the muscle-up is as a metabolic stressor, then perhaps it should be scaled to a burpee pull-up. Don’t base scaling options simply on what a movement looks like; think about why you’re actually using it. Another good example, if you want “Fran” to be a sprint workout, scale the pull-ups to jumping pull-ups not banded pull-ups.

Skill acquisition in a conditioning workout can be a recipe for failure with beginners. When novice athletes get tired they get cranky. Asking them to focus on improving a skill can be a huge waste of time. More often than not, leave new, challenging movements to non-timed, skill practice and breathing hard to conditioning workouts. Mixing modes only depreciates both of their values.

4. Scale with your logistics in mind. If you scale push-ups to hands elevated push-ups, did you just give yourself a huge headache by having to set up a bunch of boxes and bars? Consider scaling to knee push-ups instead. “If the coach ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

Example Workouts (scaling included)

For time: 50-40-30-20-10 Double-unders with heavy rope (scale to: normal rope) Butterfly sit ups
5 rounds for time: 400-meter run with a hurdle every 100 meters Accumulate one minute in a plank 15 behind the neck thrusters 95/65# (65/45)

10 minute AMRAP: 5 standard towel pull-ups (towel rows) 10 burpees 20 walking lunges

For time: Bike 1 mile 50 toes to bar (5x30 second h-hang) 50 wallballs 20/14# to a 12’/10’ target (14/10#) 50 box jumps 24”/20” (20”/12”) Bike 1 mile

Constant variation not only makes good athletes, it also keeps athletes entertained and engaged. Don’t be afraid to try new things. You may come across something that works really well or learn something from your mistake that leads to another cool idea. As you experiment with these ideas, shoot me a tweet @kjs_37 to let me know how it's going.