I have finally recovered from the last Brutal WOD I reviewed (Scottie) and now it is time for another one, lucky me.
For this workout, we are taking on the hero WOD “Arnie”. This is one that I am really not looking forward to when I look at it on paper. This might be my least favorite of all the WODs I have done this far. Let’s take a look at this one and you will see why.
Arnie – The Workout
For Time:
21 Turkish Get-Ups, Right Arm 50 Kettlebell Swings 21 Overhead Squats, Left Arm 50 Kettlebell Swings 21 Overhead Squats, Right Arm 50 Kettlebell Swings 21 Turkish Get-Ups, Left Arm
Use a single Kettlebell (2/1.5 pood)
Arnie is named after and is done to honor Los Angeles County Fire Fighter Arnaldo “Arnie” Quinones, who was killed in the line of duty in 2009 during the Station Fire. His emergency response vehicle went over the side of the road and fell 800 feet into a steep canyon during fire suppression activities protecting Camp 16 outside of Palmdale, California.
Initial Thoughts
This is one WOD is am really dreading just by looking at all those Turkish get-ups. Don’t get me wrong, get-ups are a great exercise and I don’t mind doing them but I really don’t look forward to doing that many of them with a 2 pood kettlebell. I wouldn’t call overhead squats one of my favorites either, the only tolerable part of this WOD might be the kettlebell swings.
I anticipate this workout taking a long time and I am really not looking forward to it. I also anticipate my shoulders and core being pretty well torched between the Turkish get-ups and overhead squats using one arm. I don’t think I have ever done that many get-ups in a workout so I am a little worried about how I will hold up.
Arnie WOD Time – Analysis
Well, I was right, this workout totally sucked. Straight from the get go doing 21 Turkish get-ups with 2 pood (72lbs) with the same arm was brutal. I actually wasn’t sure if I would get the first round of get-ups done and they did take an embarrassedly long time. Once I finally got them done I was more than happy to move on to kettlebell swings which weren’t woo bad. After that it was on to the overhead squats, thank god these were done with the left arm because my right shoulder was still toasted from the get-ups. The overhead squats totally sucked and my other shoulder was like rubber by the end of it. Again it was on to the kb swings which were pretty taxing this time around, I had to take a few small breaks to get through them.
Then it was back to the overhead squats again, this is where things started to go south. This time I had to do the overhead squats with the right arm that was still tired out from the torturous Turkish get-ups. I knew this wasn’t going to last long. After 12 squats I had to go down to lighter kettlebell, my shoulder just couldn’t hold it up anymore. I dropped down to a 50lb kettlebell and finished the squats off. The kb swings were a bit easier with the lighter weight which was nice but then it was on to the final round which was the Turkish get-up again. These were pure torture even with the smaller kettlebell and I probably would have called it quits if it wasn’t the last round and I had the end of the workout in sight. It was god awful and I was moving at a snail pace but I finished.
My crappy time: 39:27
Afterward
Afterward, my core and both shoulders were completely toasted and I was gassed. That is one WOD that I have made a promise to myself that I will never do again. When I looked at it on paper I knew it would be bad and it was. It wasn’t the hardest WOD I have ever done, that would be Kalsu, this one is easily my least favorite of all the brutal WODs I have done. It just sucked, there is no way around it
Any Advice?
This one is a little tougher to give advice on than the others I have done. Since you are doing get-ups at the beginning that makes it hard to start too fast so that isn’t much of a problem. For this WOD my best advice would be to make sure your shoulders and core are up to the task if you are going to do the WOD Rx’d. Those Turkish get-ups with 2 pood are no joke, I almost didn’t get through the first set of get-ups without going lighter so make sure you can handle this before starting.
Swallow your pride and scale back with a lighter kettlebell if you need to, wouldn’t want that shoulder to give out and drop 2 pood on your head, that would make this WOD suck even more.
I have finally recovered from the last Brutal WOD I reviewed (Scottie) and now it is time for another one, lucky me.
