Tuesday 18.6: Burpees, ring dips and du's

Tuesday. Ring muscle-up skills training. Metcon. 40 burpees buy-in, then 4 rds of: 15 ring dips and 50 double unders. Cashout with 40 burpees. Time 15.27. Mobility.

My legs are destroyed after Sunday's kettlebell work added with yesterday's lower body workouts. Today's focus was on metabolic conditioning with the help of burpees and double unders. Upper body / triceps were also in real test because of the ring dips. Did some Prasara Yoga and stretching for mobility.

Ring muscle-ups. Tried to get that first muscle-up on the rings today. Actually I tested a new thing. I tied a rubber band around my legs to prevent my legs to wonder around. This proved to be a good point and my attempts were way more solid and balanced than before. To how I see it, the swing and pull parts are okay, good enough and I'm able to pull myself high enough to complete a rep. However, my legs do not perform the correct motion in the end of the movement, the kick backwards. They tend to stay in front of my body so I can't turn myself over the rings. This was a good notification of my own performance. Definitely eases the progression as I understand the deficits in my technique. Gonna make it some day!

Metcon. Time 15.27

• 40 burpees, then:
• 4 rounds of
• 15 ring dips
• 50 double unders, then:
• 40 burpees to finish it

Note to self: no more burpees and dips in a same workout! How did I forget this combo, just combined them a bit over a month ago. Starting with 40 burpees to get gassed early in the workout. Then 4 rounds of ring dips and double unders. After 4 rounds of these 2 movements, finish the workout with another set of 40 burpees. Total of 80 burpees, 60 ring dips and 200 double unders. Those were good heavy-breather movements.

And why is the combination of burpees and dips a bad ass? Because the triceps will tire. Dips and triceps in general, I consider them not my strength so this was a good workout to practice them. I'll fix this issue so I don't have to talk about it anymore. Anyway, my dips were the bottleneck in this workout. And the last set of burpees was tough on my arms, the strength was simply gone in the dips.

In the double unders, I was good. Not a single miss during the workout, even though my hands, triceps and shoulders were tired and breathing was heavy. I split them intentionally in sets of 30+20 each round. I'm very happy I didn't have to put any time there in vain. DU's rolled well.

After having finished the workout I figured this workout worked perfectly for its purpose. Get the heart pumping strong and keep on continuing the movement. Ring dips slowed my down but still I didn't take too long breaks there either. Pace was slowing down towards the end but still I call this a solid performance.

Took a few sets of head standing before moving on to mobility. I did something remotely like these Prasara Yoga movements. I really like the way this guy moves. I'm going to give it a shot and try these moves out in the future, either as warm-up or as afterwork.

Toni's workouts.

• Deadlift 3-3-3-3 (120, 130, 130, 130kg)
• Emom for 12min: 5 hang power snatch (40kg)

Monday 17.6: Back squats, clean and jerk, metcon

Monday. Back squats 3-3-3 (max 130kg). Clean & jerk EMOM workout. Assistance metcon of kb ohs, push-ups and glute ham raises.

God damned that yesterday's kettlebell work feels in my body. In my entire body! A good solid and quick workout, 12 minutes of work and I can really feel it in my hamstrings, glutes, lower and upper back, a.k.a the entire posterior chain. I stubbornly wanted to squat as that was my original plan. Continued by clean & jerks and some assistance work in the end.

Strength. Back squats 3-3-3 (100, 120, 130kg). Today the weights were a bit different than normally. Usually after 100kg the next step is 110 and maybe even 115 before hitting 120kg. Today my strategy was different. Jump right into 120kg and then 130kg. I managed to get those up and it felt way better than before. Got to remember this when squatting for the next time. Note to self: don't wear yourself down with too many sets before the "targeted" weights.

Metcon. Clean & jerks, 60kg. Total of 40 reps.

• Every minute on the minute (EMOM) for 8 minutes
• 5 clean & jerks, 60kg

Trying to improve on a few things. To mention a couple: high-rep c&j, grip strength, mental game, breathing, metabolic conditioning and technique after quite a number of reps. My jerks were more like push presses today. However, that was intentional, this time. I wanted to give more stress on my shoulders and make it harder for them.

Metcon. For completion

• 5/5 kettlebell overhead squats, 16kg
• 15 push-ups
• 10 glute ham raises (modified)

Some assistance work. There was a point for all these movements. Overhead squats to get familiar with the movement and increase mobility as well as confidence carrying weights overhead. Push-ups are my goat, have to improve on them. Glute ham raises to strengthen my hamstrings as a new movement to shock my legs. This was not a timed workout, only for completion.

Those glutes were tough. I used that Bosu ball as alternative (check the video below from about 02:40 to understand the movement). I can already feel my hamstrings taking the hit from squats and this new movement.

Check out some alternatives for glute ham raises if you're missing the equipment like I do

How about Blair Morrison's workout, looks awesome, hopefully I can try it some day. Read the blog post from here.

Sunday 16.6: Handstand, kettlebell

Sunday. Handstand skills training. Kettlebell swings for 5.760kg.

As we woke up in the morning, there was a nice invitation from the in-laws to come and join them for Sunday lunch at their place. There was no doubt of hopping in the car and driving to enjoy the delicious food fest prepared by these awesome persons =) We were supposed to go to the gym and my schedule stood 3k rowing, 300 double unders as skills training and ring skills. I was soon to determine a new workout that can be done outdoors.

Handstand training. After a few hours of enjoying Pauliina's parents' company and having a full stomach I started with handstand training. At the time I started it was raining a bit but little by little the grass was soaking wet. And it had been raining for quite some time prior to my training. I might have been a bit too cautious with my kicks up. Okay, I performed okay but I've have better handstand trainings. There were times my body was stable.

Kettlebell EMOM metcon.

• Every minute on the minute for 12 minutes
• 15 kettlebell swings, 32kg

My car is always loaded with my kettlebells, my sugars 20kg and 32kg bells. I tried a new movement - turkish get-ups - and understood I've neglected this awesome movement for no reason whatsoever. Have to keep on adding that occasionally. I've read some kettlebell training stuff on recent articles on a web site that seems to be nearing perfection, breakingmuscle.com. This specific article opened my eyes to the benefits of working with kettlebells.

After trying out that new movement, I moved on to my workout of the day. It was all about kettlebell swings. Total of 5.760kg of them… Complete 15 reps of 32kg kb swings each minute. Repeat the same scheme for 12 minutes. I realized after 4 minutes it's gonna be a tough one. Breathing got heavier and most of all, my forearms were going numb. It took about 30 seconds to finish those 15 reps each minute.

After 6 minutes it was a struggle. I managed to run through about 8 rounds unbroken. Then I had to break it. First to 10+5, then 8+7, 8+4+3 and 5+5+5. That's what I remember. I was glad the workout was over! My forearms were totally in fire, and it hurt for a long time after the workout as well. A good workout in short time. My form stayed good the entire workout, no arching in the back. The swings were made american style, i.e. swinging it overhead, not eye-level.

Here's a clip from the end of the workout.

Second step in perfecting the handstand walk. Compliments from DowTown Crossfit and Dusty Hyland. Continuance to yesterday's opening part.

Virtuosity, Dusty Hyland: Handstand balance

Saturday 15.6: Clean and jerk, bench press, dumbbell action

Saturday. Clean & jerk (up to 80kg), bench press (up to 95kg). Dumbbell metcon.

Today's program was about working with barbells and dumbbells. Some clean & jerk for starters and bench press.

Strength. C&J and bench.

• Clean & jerk, 5x60, 3x70, 3x75, 2x80 (failed on the third rep at 80kg)
• Bench press, 3x70, 3x80, 3x90, 1x95, failed on 100kg

That 90kg bench was sick. I believe I've done that weight only in singles before. Now I hit a triple, nice! After all that work with clean & jerks and bench, 100kg didn't come up. I'm sure it would if going only after a record with singles. You'll find those attempts in Youtube.

3x90kg

1x95kg

Dumbbell workout. Increase load between sets. Not for time. Sets: 17.5, 20, 22.5, 22.5, 22.5kg db's.

• 5 rounds of:
• 5 deadlift
• 5 hang cleans
• 5 press
• 5 squat

Rest between sets as needed. Had no idea what weights would suit for me to start with. I grabbed 17.5kg, added to 20kg and finished the last 3 cycles with 22.5kg. Grip strength was the name of the game.

Take a look at this series of handstand training. I'll keep adding the rest of the season clips, awesome tips to proceed in handstand walk (up the stairs…)

Virtuosity, Dusty Hyland: Handstand position

Friday 14.6: Active rest

Friday. Active rest. Cycling, rowing, mobility, stretching.

Today was my day off of crossfit. Pauliina desired to go to the gym so I joined her, did some light work to mainly mobilize my body and enhance the recovery. I cycled for 10 minutes, did 5-10min something remotely close to "pigeon to pigeon transitions", inspired by crossfit athlete Blair Morrison's blog post. Then I rowed slowly for 1k, did foam rolling and finally stretching. A good mobility session and definitely nothing strenuous.

Today I really needed a break and I will take this possibility not to work out. I'm gonna stuff food in my mouth, enjoy the company of my girlfriend and get ready for tomorrow's training. I was extremely happy as I received a package from Rogue today, including 2 t-shirts for me, 1 for Pony and 1 for my bro. I also bought 2 jump ropes, for Marko and one for back up =)

Your gear has arrived!

Thursday 13.6: Squats

Wednesday. Doubles in overhead squat, front squat, back squat.

It's been a while since previous rest day and I believe the time to chill is close. My body wasn't at it's  best with the doubles. Still, I was close to a PR in one of the squats. Overhead, front and back squats, some cycling in the end to flush the legs.

Strength. Squat doubles. Easy on the back squat

• Overhead squat 2-2-2-2 (50, 55, 60, 65kg, 70 failed)
• Front squat 2-2-2-1 (100, 110, 120, 125kg)
• Back squat 2-2-2 (100, 110, 120kg)

Main goal was to perform well in the overhead squats. My legs were okay but other than that my body feels a bit stiff. Had scheduled something rough for tomorrow but got to lighten it definitely. I wonder if something has suddenly happened to my overhead squats? Just like that I feel way more comfortable having the bar overhead in a wide grip. And lowering my ass, I still felt good and had no troubles lowering hip crease below knees. Awesome!

I took only doubles today because I wanted to do also front squats (and maybe some back squats). Starting from 50kg, adding 5kg after every set. My previous record was a single rep with 65kg. That time I got it perfectly only after second try. Today I managed 2 reps with that same weight and it felt very good. I was confident of nailing 70kg as well. I tried it twice, failed on both of them. On the first time my hands leaned forward just a little but too much and you know the moment is gone.

I tried it again and something freaky happened. On my behind the neck press I wasn't able to lock my other elbow and the barbell started to come back down. It's difficult to stop that gravity and I definitely can not lower it to my back rack position. So the bar started coming down towards my back / neck so I had to watch out and I moved the barbell in front of me to drop it. Luckily I was able to get my head from under the bar. It was close and kinda scared me. I would have nailed the OHS, I'm sure, the 65kg felt so good. Have to wait for the next time to pr on this one.

Then I moved on to front squats. At this time there was another guy to squat with me. He was way shorter so we lowered the rack. I had to adjust the bar on my front rack from a semi-squat position =) I did doubles up to 120kg and the weight was comfortable at this stage still. The last 5kg increase on the weight sealed the deal. I took a single rep and was done.

There was no reason for me anymore to do those back squats but stubbornly I did some reps. My legs were not that receptive anymore at this stage.

Toni's workouts. Squat and bench press.

• Back squat 5-5-5-5-5 (80, 90, 95, 100, 110kg)
• Bench 5x80, 3x90, 1x100kg, 105 failed
• 21-15-9, bench (50kg), burpees.

Here's a good article on why to have a training partner with you. Article from Fit As Fu*k

Take a look at Graham Holmberg - Games Champ from 2010 - performing this year.

Wednesday 12.6: DU skills, shoulder press

Wednesday. DU skill. Shoulder press (max 60kg). Mobility.

Was so tired in the morning but after breakfast I was ready to get own my way to the gym. Schedule was concentrated in skills and mobility but couldn't skip strength totally. I did 5 sets of shoulder press, haven't been doing them after April?!? It feels like it wasn't that far away but I guess it was.

DU skills. For quality.

• 200 reps

Another skill that needs to be practiced. Can not take this for granted. I trained and trained this for months and finally achieved a level where I feel comfortable moving up and down with the jump rope. My PR in consecutive repetitions in double unders is 100 reps but that seems like a distant dream currently. Only because I haven't been doing this skill movement. I put a note on my excel to incorporate double unders in metcons and in skills training sessions. Just like we used to do with Pony when we both were learning this skill fiercely.

Strength. Shoulder press, 5 sets.

• 5x50, 4x55, 3x60, 4x60, 4x60kg

It was cool to do some old school stuff again. Five sets of shoulder press. I went on by feeling, not following a strict plan of doing something like 3's or 5's. I took off with 5x50, then added 5kg, and another 5kg to reach 60kg. After first set with that weight I realized there's no point in adding it to 65kg 'cause I wanted more than 1-2 reps. I repeated it and got 4 reps, what happened? Mental game. Took another and last set, completed 4 reps again. I liked it!

I used a lot of time in mobility between DU's and shoulder press as well as in the end of the training session. I felt like my muscles hurt and they needed some treatments. Activating, foam rolling and stretching the entire body.

Toni's workouts. Push press 5x60, 5x65, 3x70, 3x75, 3x80kg.

• Metcon, not timed.
• 30-20-10
• Kettlebell swings, 24kg
• Push-ups, surprise ;)
• Air squats

Rory McKernan talks with "the dad"

Tuesday 11.6: Nicole

Tuesday. Benchmark workout Nicole. 8 rounds and 120 pull-ups.

I'm waiting forward to these outdoor training sessions! We have agreed with Marko to meet in Pirkkola, outdoors sports center where they also have track and field possibilities. It's also the venue for "HC Triplet II, in to the woods". This time we were going to include running and other bodyweight movements. A new benchmark was ahead of me, girl named Nicole.

Nicole. Result. 8 rounds, 120 pull-ups.

• Complete as many rounds in 20min as you can of:
• 400m run
• Max rep pull-ups

How simple can a workout be? Run and do pull-ups, period. The location of the pull-up bar is not close to the track so we ran in the middle of the forest. I've enjoyed these running metcons, at least this far ;) My brother was doing Murph at the same time in another place, that's deep. It took about 32min from him. Got to try it some day.

Back to Nicole. Run 400 meters, then complete as many pull-ups as possible without dropping from the pull-up bar. Have no idea how fast I was running each round, my timer was on the ground. Even though my upper back was kinda jammed I still hoping to break that old 33-rep record of mine.

On the first round the pull-ups started to feel heavier than normally at about 15 reps. Shouldn't feel like that at this stage. However, I was able to force more reps, little by little I reached 35 reps and a new PR! Didn't come easy though. This gave me more confidence as I felt I wasn't at my best because the pull-ups started to feel heavy earlier than they should have.

For the net 3 rounds the number of pull-ups was 15 each round, and on the last rounds a bit less. Total of 120 reps and it was time. My lats were smashed already after the first round of 35 so I had some difficult thoughts about how to perform pull-ups with style. Here's the number of pull-ups each round:

• 1st round. 35 reps
• 2nd round. 15 reps
• 3rd round. 15 reps
• 4th round. 15 reps
• 5th round. 10 reps
• 6th round. 10 reps
• 7th round. 12 reps
• 8th rounds. 8 reps
• Total of 120 reps

Marko's workout.

• 800m run
• 50 wood thrusters
• 50 burpees
• 50 lunges
• 800m run

Good amount of reps for this fellow! A lot of sweat was shed and muscles will hurt tomorrow, and the day after. The only thing he subbed was the amount of burpees, dropped from 50 to 30. And the last sprint of his was phenomenal. It was cool to see him give his everything and sprint like a mad man!

Monday 10.6: Back squats, pistols, dips

Monday. Back squats 5-5-5-3-1 (max 130kg). Workout, pistols and dips.

I was thinking about thrusters and pull-ups for today (not Fran!) but my right shoulder was a bit too sore from yesterday's muscle-up training. So I switched some days in this week's calendar and decided to squat instead. Back squats and then workout of 2 movements that I consider a skill as well: pistols and dips.

Ring dips

Strength. Back squats 5-5-5-3-1 (100, 115, 122.5, 125, 130kg). Did some 5's to start with. After 122.5kg I took a triple with 125kg and wanted to push 130kg up once. I was thinking to take another single with 130 or heavier but decided to skip it today. I had some pistols ahead of me so I knew my legs would hurt anyway. I felt good squatting today even though the digits were not huge. I felt comfortable with the weight in my back.

Back squat 3 x 125kg

Workout. For quality.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 pistols, alternating legs
• 10 ring dips / rack dips, then

• 3 rounds of:
• 10 biceps
• 10 rack dips

Main idea was to do 10 pistols and 10 ring dips for 5 rounds. There was one dude that needed the rings as well so at some point I switched to rack dips instead of rings. After those pre-determined 5 rounds I decided to take 3 additional rounds with some ancillary movements (biceps) and yet rack dips. Thus, I was able to work on my weakness, the arms, biceps and triceps. Quite a number of dips today, a bit over 80 dips (I did some extras when doing rack dips 'cause they are easier than rings). Also, those 60 pistols made my quads hurt already at the gym.

Pistol squat

Toni's workouts.

• Death by deadlift, 120kg. Result 9 rounds. Compare to 24.3.2013.

Sunday 9.6: Muscle-ups, handstand

Sunday. 2k run, muscle-ups and handstand training.

I had written rest day in my training calendar for today. At some point of the day I found myself hanging in the pull-up bar doing muscle-ups =) It was about a 1.000m run to the spot at Helsinki's central park, completing 13 muscle-ups and then running back home. I also had a chance to improve on my handstand skills. I call this day a success.

Muscle-ups. Pr'd with 3 unbroken reps.

• 13 reps (1+3+3+3+2+1)

Yeah! Can't describe how happy I'm with the development of the muscle-ups =) It's been just a short while sine I got the first rep and since then I haven't tried a rep without succeeding in it. Not a single no-rep at first try since then. I didn't have a clear plan when I started practicing them today. I came, did the first one. It felt good so I decided to try how many I could do in a row.

I got 3 reps, almost 4, the video is below. Tried another set and got 3 again. Total of 3 similar sets in a row. Then I felt my strength was about done and I did smaller sets to finish it. My technique doesn't allow be to go on top of the bar totally balanced so I land on the bar with my right side first. That's why my right shoulder takes more hit than left side. Next time I should try to land on my left shoulder first and definitely work on those legs on the swing. It's great to video shoot your own performance to understand the strength and weaknesses of your attempts.

3 muscle-ups

Handstand. I had some really sick attempts when training my handstand. I'm very pleased. Even though I started to lean forward or backward, I was still able to stabilize myself. I was totally surprised how natural I felt and how well I knew my body and was thus able to correct the form with my hands and core. Unfortunately couldn't catch it on tape this time. Perfect skills training day!

Here's a slow motion version of yesterday's pr lift with some comments as well =)

Toni's workout. 200 reps each

• From 20 to 1, down by 1's of:
• Push-ups, hands on dumbbells
• Shoulder press with cold barbell (20kg)
• Back squat with cold barbell (20kg)

May's stats

May's statistics. May was the first month I kept a more detailed statistics over my training. It covered each kilo lifted or pulled in the strength training. There's also skill movements, bodyweight movements and cardio with which I mean running, rowing, swimming or cycling within a metcon.

Hero workouts.

• Bradshaw. Time 28.33
• Elizabeth. DNF
• Hammer. Time 19.13

Completed 2 hero workouts and one classic benchmark girl workout, Elizabeth. Had some problems with my body during her so had to stop timing it. The other were rx'd. Tough ones.

Strength. 66.500kg

• Back squats 11.000
• Front squats 6.000
• Overhead squats 2.000
• Clean 16.000
• Jerk / Press 3.200
• Clean & jerk 1.600
• Snatch 2.400
• Thrusters 2.400
• Deadlift 13.000
• Bench 3.700
• Step-ups 5.000

Quite a number of kilos as I look at tit afterwards. Over 66k in different types of strength movements. As you can see, I put a lot of effort in clean technique and upper back strength in May. I felt like I didn't squat pretty much at all but that was still clearly another focus point.

Skills.

• 60 pistols
• 14 Muscle-ups
• 360 double unders
• 143 hspu
• 2 times ring skills training
• 6 times headstand / handstand walk / inverted

First month of muscle-ups! I've been focusing more and more in being inverted, doing handstand push-ups and handstand walking. I feel like that's my weak point / goat at the moment and I definitely want to improve in that field.

Bodyweight.

• 400 air squats
• 170 dips
• 385 push-ups
• 205 burpees
• 490 pull-ups
• 158 T2B / K2E
• 450 sit-ups
• 310 box jumps

Bodyweight movements rock! These all are tough when you do a lot of them in a row. Have to increase the number of air squats, dips and push-ups in the future. Burpees are always a great training method and the number of pull-ups will definitely help me achieve strong back and facilitate also the muscle-ups and chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Cardio. 23.600m

• 8.900m rowing
• 5.600m running
• 9.100m cycling

During summer you'll see more running compared to winter time. Also got to keep on rowing consistently. Those cycling kilometers were from interval training with a stationary bike.

PR's.

• First bar muscle-ups, 2 reps in a row
• Overhead squat, 65kg
• Deadlift, 185kg
• Clean, 92.5kg
• Bench press, 97.5kg

Lifting those heavy weights brought some results in my max loads as well. OHS, deads, clean and bench all improved a bit. The biggest satisfaction to me anyway brought the muscle-ups!

Saturday 8.6: Cleans

Saturday. Ring muscle-up training. Cleans 3-3-3-2-2-1-1 (max PR 95kg).

Today's program was simple. Put your PR shirt on, try to get that first ring muscle-up and complete a new record in cleans. Muscle-ups are still waiting for the daylight, clean pr: check! Later today I'll attend a friend's wedding ceremony to celebrate his great day.

The groom =)

Ring muscle-ups. These bastards still beat me. I'm comfortable doing bar muscle-ups, I don't remember an attempt of not completing them after I got my first successful rep. There were 14 of them in the end of last month. However, the movement is a bit more challenging - at least it now feels like it - with the rings as they are swinging around. I can not get that needed help from my leg work currently. I'm confident that as I get the first rep, I realize some stuff in a similar was as with the bar muscle-ups.

Strength. Cleans 3-3-3-2-2-1-1 (70, 75, 80, 85, 90, PR 95kg, 97.5f). I decided on the rep scheme and weights before I opened the gym door. Do triples to start with, then move on to heavy doubles (85/90kg) and go for new PR right after that. I managed to stay with the plan perfectly. That last attempt was kind of a hope to increase the record even more.

Last month was golden time for my cleans. I practiced it a lot, many times, a lot of reps. I believe I've got my technique forward greatly. And squat cleans feel so natural nowadays. The triples up to 80kg didn't feel bad at all. From 85kg on the weights were feeling heavy. I took a double with 85 and with 90kg I took it up twice, had to drop the barbell between those 2 reps.

Clean x 3, 80kg

I skipped the previous record of 92.5kg 'cause I felt the 90kg came up rather easy anyway. I put 5kg more kilos on the barbell and decided to go with the 95kg bar. Got it up, take a look below. Felt awesome! I was greedy and wanted to try that 97.5 as well but I didn't have that juice left anymore that's needed to get those max lifts successful.

Clean PR, 95kg

Friday 7.6: Front squat, DU, K2E

Friday. Front squat 3-3-3-3-3 (max 110kg). Metcon of double unders and knees-to-elbows.

Today I rattled through front squat strength training and some skills / metcon training afterwards. Double unders that I haven't been doing much lately, the other movement being knees-to-elbows on which I think I always need to become better at. Can't practice those too much. In the evening I met with some colleagues and went for a dinner.

Strength. Front squat 3-3-3-3-3 (100, 110, 110, 110, 110kg). Today's sets were triples, starting from hundred and I thought going up, to somewhere around 120-125kg. But the first set of 110kg felt heavy and my sole goal was to do heavy sets of 3 reps, I didn't want to risk my triples so I stayed there for the rest of the sets. That's 4 sets with 110kg. Depth and form was good and I nailed all those sets nicely. However, going further would have brought troubles and I probably could have done some singles or doubles but definitely wasn't my strongest front squat day.

Metcon. For quality.

• 5 rounds of:
• 40 double unders
• 15 knees-to-elbows

This one was not for time. I didn't warm-up with the jump rope practically at all, just started jumping those double unders. I did these sets mostly in two parts, 20+20 or 25+15 reps. On the last set I tried to do all unbroken, stumbled on the 39th rep, doup! Knees-to-elbows always seem easy in the beginning and nightmarish in the end =) Today I did the first set unbroken, the second in 10+5 and the last 3 sets in 3 parts. It's a tough movement to do high-rep metcons. There were a total of 200 double unders and 75 K2E's.

Some meat for the boys

Thursday 6.6: Diane, dips

Thursday. Benchmark workout Diane. Time 16.02. Dips, 4x15.

Second benchmark wod in two days. It was time to improve my Diane time 'cause I've been doing some invert training after the last try. I still need A LOT of practice with handstand push-ups and strengthen my shoulder / triceps section.

Diane. Time 16.02

• 21-15-9
• Deadlift, 102.5kg
• Handstand push-ups

Diane is not an easy woman to handle for me. Deadlifts are light, okay with that but that the hspu's are tough with so large amount of reps in a row. I remember doing workouts like Mary with 5 reps per round and I've been able to hit them unbroken from beginning to the end. But completing 21 reps without doing something in between is sick. This is a workout that definitely reveals my weakness. The deadlifts were a rest to me. This workout is only about handstand push-ups, how fast can I complete 45 of them.

I started to feel the tension in my upper body already in the first round. The set of 15 was very tough and the last set was a mental battle. The finish was in the horizon so I was able to improve a bit compared to the middle round.

My total time improved a bit over one and a half minutes: 17.47 -> 16.02. Not bad. I'm gonna improve on my handstand push-ups and handstand walk this summer a great deal and later this year I'm gonna complete Diane with style.

Meathead section.

• 50 Push-ups
• 4 x 10 biceps
• 4 x 15 rack dips

In order to improve my upper body strength, I did some ancillary movements, basically biceps and triceps. Those push-ups I did with narrow grip to focus as much pressure on my triceps as possible. I did 3/4 sets unbroken with the rack dips.

Here's a Talayna Fortunato's recent workout. I envy those HSPU's!

P.S. Miss you Benny…

Wednesday 5.6: Hero wod Bradley

Wednesday. Hero workout Bradley. Time 21.11 (including rest).

Today is a sad day for me and people close to me. My life-long friend Benny, my 11-year old golden retriever, passed away in the morning. I'm sad and missing the old man tremendously. I'm happy for him anyway for getting a quick relief and he didn't have to suffer. Hope you can sleep well now in peace. Love you so much Benny! <3

I wanted to get something else in my mind for a second so I hooked up with Marko to do a workout outdoors. Didn't want to sit, cry and sleep all day. I decided to hit it hard and do a hero workout called Bradley, in memory of Benny, consisting of running, pull-ups and burpees. I wrote a workout for Marko with kettlebells and running.

Bradley. Time 21.11 (including rest)

• 10 rounds of:
• 100m run
• 10 pull-ups
• 100m run
• 10 burpees
• 30 sec rest

Total of 2.000m running, 100 pull-ups and 100 burpees. I managed to push it through unbroken with the pull-ups. And burpees too; towards the end the pace got slower but I managed to maintain rhythm with burpees as well. That 30sec rest period between rounds was welcomed with a pleasure. The breathing was heavy, especially as there was 29 degrees outdoors, huh. Had to splash water at my face between the rounds.

Marko's workout.

• 5 rounds of:
• 200m run
• 20 kettlebell swings, 20kg
• 200m run
• 20 clean & jerk, 20kg, alternating hand