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Holiday Challenge: December Quick Fix Challenge

Jim Thorpe Fitness Center

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Note: This event has already passed.

December Challenge

Challenge yourself to complete all the quick fix daily activities starting 1 December until 20 December!

Accept the Challenge

  • Pick up an activity checklist at Jim Thorpe Fitness Center.
  • Record the chosen activity daily. 
  • Verify your entries with the attendant at the front desk.

Choose 1 quick fix activity from activity checklist to complete daily during the first 20 days in December. Check off each quick fix activity as you complete the challenge until all quick fix activities are completed.

  • 60 Hand Release Push-Ups
  • 60 Goblet Squats
  • 60 Burpees
  • 60 Kettleball Swings
  • 60 Second Planks
  • 60 Thrusters
  • 6000 Meter Row
  • 600 Meter Farmer's Carry: 6 each 100 meters
  • 60 Wall Balls
  • 60 Dumbbell Walking Lunges
  • 60 Single Army Dumbbell Snatches
  • 60 Box Jumps (Modification: alt 60 step-up)
  • 60 In & Out Ab Crunch

Activity How To

How to perform activities:

60 Hand Release Push-Ups (Modification: Kneeling Push-Ups) 

How To: Placing hands beyond the shoulder-width apart, which keeps your back and legs straight during a workout, then lift the hands off the floor in between each repetition. 

 

60 Goblet Squats (Females 20lb KB, Males 35lb KB) 

How To: Goblet squats are air squats that are performed with the addition of a dumbbell, kettlebell, or medicine ball. 

 

60 Kettlebell Swings (Females 18-25lb KB, Males 35-45lb KB) 

How To: Place the kettlebell on the ground in front of your feet, which are slightly wider than hip-distance apart with the toes angled out slightly. Bend your knees a little and keep your shoulders rolled back with your abs engaged, drawing your belly button toward your spine. 

Press your hips back, tipping your torso forward as you reach your hands toward the kettlebell handle. Keep your back completely straight and don't squat. If your knees start bending significantly, you'll lose the hip hinge. If you notice this occurring, reset and work on pressing your hips back. 

Inhale as you grasp the kettlebell handle firmly with both hands. Roll your shoulders back slightly to help control the momentum of the swing while preventing a forward curve of the spine. Your core is still engaged. 

Exhale and, in one powerful movement, squeeze your glutes and hamstrings as hard as you can to rise to an upright position. During this part of the exercise, make sure the hips do not extend past your shoulders and allow the kettlebell to swing forward as high as it will naturally go, which is usually around shoulder height. 

Inhale and swing the kettlebell back toward the floor (which it will automatically want to do) while pressing your hips back. Allow the weight to swing between your legs while keeping your neck aligned with your spine. 

Continue the kettlebell swings, remembering to keep your torso straight and to power the movement with your hips and glutes. Don't exit the move suddenly by dropping the kettlebell or forcing your momentum to stop. Instead, reduce the power you use with each swing until you can comfortably and safely return the kettlebell to the floor. 

 

60 Burpees 

How To: Start in a squat position with your knees bent, back straight, and your feet about shoulder-width apart. Lower your hands to the floor in front of you so they’re just inside your feet. With your weight on your hands, kick your feet back so you’re on your hands and toes, and in a pushup position. Keeping your body straight from head to heels, do one pushup. Do a frog kick by jumping your feet back to their starting position. Stand and reach your arms over your head. Jump quickly into the air so you land back where you started. Get into a squat position and do another repetition. 

 

60 Thrusters (Females 10-35lb Barbell/DB, Males 45-65lb Barbell) 

How To: Use an overhand grip to hold a barbell and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Your hands should also be shoulder-width apart. Draw your shoulders back and down. Keep your spine in alignment. Keep a slight bend in your knees. Refrain from locking them. Your feet should be under the bar. Slowly bring the barbell up to your collarbones or above your shoulders. Bring your elbows underneath or facing forward. Engage your core and expand your chest as you slowly lower your body into a deep squat position. Drop your glutes lower than parallel to the ground if you’re flexible enough, as though you’re sitting. Engage your core and turn out your knees slightly for stability. Press your heels and the outside of your feet into the floor and bring your elbows up as you quickly and powerfully explode to return to standing. When your hips are nearly in alignment for standing, engage your glutes, press your heels into the floor, and extend the bar overhead. Straighten your arms and extend your head forward so that your ears come in front of your biceps. Bring your head back into line with your arms. Slowly lower the bar to collarbone height and repeat the movement in a continuous motion. 

 

60 second Plank - 3 each 

How To: Place your hands directly under your shoulders. Spread your fingers wide. Press through your shoulders and dome your upper back to protect your shoulder sockets and strengthen your chest muscles (pectoralis major/minor). Micro-bend your elbows to shield your joints against unnecessary pressure. Lengthen your spine behind you and lift your knees off the floor (you can leave your knees down). Parallel your legs to the ceiling and engage your thighs. 

Tuck your hip bones forward toward your belly button to increase your abdominal and glute engagement. Stack your heels over the ball-mounts of your feet to avoid strain on your toe joints. Gaze down to lengthen your neck and to keep your spine aligned. 

 

6000 Meter Row 

All you need is a rowing machine. 

 

60 Wall Balls 

How To: Choose the appropriately weighted wall ball, and hold it in your hands. Stand about 2 feet in front of the wall with your feet hip-width apart, toes slightly outward. Hold the ball at chest height. Make sure to tuck your elbows into your sides. Engage your core and squeeze the ball. The harder you squeeze the ball, the more you require your core and shoulders to work. 

Begin the downward phase of the squat while keeping the ball at chest level. Squat down until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Then drive your body up while tossing the ball at a vertical target about 8 to 12 feet high. Keep your arms extended. Catch the ball before it bounces, keep the ball at chest height, and squat down to repeat the exercise. 

 

600 Meter Farmer’s Carry – 6 each 100 meters (Females 20-30lbs KB/DB, Males 45-60 KB/DB) 5 times up and back on gym main floor (Track is 100 meters) 

How To: Place the weights in your starting position. Stand tall between the handles, feet about hip-width apart and slightly below the middle of the handles. Grab hold of the handles and squeeze as hard as you can from the center to just slightly behind the middle of the handles. A grip that maintains the handles parallel to the ground. The grip style is also a personal preference. Some like to use a “reverse hook grip,” in which the handles are held normally but lock the thumb over the top of the index finger. Over gripping also known as monkey grip, in which you bend your wrists so that when you raise the handles, it pulls into your palms even more. Take a deep breath into your abdomen and lower back once your grasp is secure. Draw your shoulders back to your hips, and then pull your hips downwards until you sense you have produced the most pressure in your lats. Stand tall and start walking by driving your heels into the floor, squeezing your glutes, and keeping your shoulders back. You’ll need to consistently walk heel to toe, not on the balls of your feet like a sprinter. Complete the necessary steps, come to a halt, and place the weights on the ground while maintaining a tight core and a neutral spine. Rest for 1–3 minutes before repeating the exercise until you have completed the required number of sets. 

 

60 Dumbbell Walking Lunges 

How To: Begin standing with your feet about hip-width apart and holding dumbbells in your hands down by your sides. Step forward with one leg, flexing the knees to drop your hips. Descend until you rear knee nearly touches the ground. Your posture should remain upright, and your front knee should be in line with your front foot. Drive through the heel of your lead foot and extend both knees to raise yourself back up. Step forward with your rear foot, repeating the lunge on the opposite leg. 

 

60 Single Army Dumbbell Snatches 

How To: Grab a dumbbell and stand with feet about shoulder-width apart. Put a slight bend in the knee, brace the core and set the back – shoulder blades pulled back, lats engaged, chest out. Hinge forward by pushing the hips back and let the dumbbell slide down right in between the knees, coming at a stop just below the knee. You are now in the ‘power position’. From here, drive the feet through the floor and aggressively extend the hips, driving the shoulders up and slightly back. As you reach triple extension of the hips, knees and ankles – use a quick, powerful shrug and allow the elbow to break and begin the pull with the arm. Keep the dumbbell close to the body as it travels up. Once the dumbbell reaches the highest point of the pull, rotate at the elbow to catch the dumbbell overhead while simultaneously dropping the hips into a quarter squat and shift the feet slightly out. Finish the rep by standing tall and lowering the dumbbell down to the shoulder first and then back to the starting position under control. Repeat until all reps are completed and then switch arms. 

 

60 CrossFit Butterfly Sit-Ups 

How To: Start seated on the ground and bring the bottoms of your feet together as you let your bent knees fall open into a Butterfly stretch. Bring your heels in toward your body (your mobility will determine how close you bring them in). Keeping your knees open and the bottom of your feet together, lie back on the ground. You can extend your arms overhead or bring them into your chest. Then sit up, rolling up so that your low back stays connected with the ground until the end. Reach your hands toward your feet or keep them in at your chest. The more you swing your arms, the easier the move will be. Then lie back down. Sort of roll back down. Don’t just go flat back down and let your low back arch. Make sure to sort of roll, so you press that low back into the ground. 

 

60 Box Jumps (Modification: alt 60 step-ups) 

How To: Stand facing the box, your feet within roughly six inches of its side. Your feet should be about hip distance apart, your knees and hips slightly bent in an athletic stance. Bend your knees and press your hips back as you swing your arms behind you in a smooth motion. Explode through the balls of your feet, jumping straight up into the air, swinging your arms up and forward as you fully extend your knees and hips to get as much height as you can with your jump. At the height of your jump, bend your knees and hips to draw them forward to be able to land on top of the box. Land with both feet at the same time on top the box, leading with the balls of your feet, following with your heels. Try to do this "softly," allowing your knees and hips to bend naturally to help absorb the shock of the landing. Check your foot position—when on top of the box, your feet should be roughly hip-distance apart. Step—don't jump—carefully off the box and reset for the next repetition. 

 

60 In and Out AB Crunch 

How To: Start in a sitting position, arms either side of your body with your legs bent, feet together, flat on the floor in front of you. Tighten your core and keep a straight back as you raise your hands and feet from the floor and bring your knees up to your chest. You are now in the ‘in’ position. Gently lean back, keeping your spine straight, as you straighten your legs out in front of you. Imagine the movement as a balancing act between your upper body and legs, with your bottom being the only part of your body that makes contact with the floor. As your shoulders come close to the floor, hold the position without allowing them, or any other part of your body except your bottom, make contact with the floor. You are now in the ‘out’ position. Now lift your shoulders and bend your legs back into the ‘in’ position. Remember to keep your core tight throughout. Repeat the ‘in’, ‘out’ movement for the desired number of repetitions.