Monday 25.2: Thruster ladder

Monday. Thruster ladder. Time 9.30.

My goal was to get my breathing flow fast and also test my strength level at the same time. Probably the best movement with a barbell for this one is thrusters. As if my shoulders weren't already smashed after this I took a cashout in the end to burn them even more. Toni's training today consisted of squats and a box jumps / ring push-up metcon.

Elias doing sit-ups

Ladder. Time 9.30.

• Complete the following thruster ladder for time
• 10 x 40kg
• 10 x 50kg
• 10 x 60kg
• 10 x 70kg

I can't think about a more comprehensive movement than thrusters. Well, okay maybe snatches as well. I took a ladder consisting of 10 reps at each weight, completing 4 weight steps, starting from 40kg and finishing at 70kg. First set went unbroken in short time. I took my time to change the plates in no rush because I figured hurrying with this one would cause troubles later on in the workout. The set of 50's went unbroken as well. Same thing, I didn't rush with the plate changing operation.

Thrusters, 60kg

The third set - 60's - went in two parts, 6 reps and 4 reps. This went well too, my time at this stage was 4-5 minutes. I had thought about this beforehand that this set should not bring troubles but I also knew it's gonna take at least two attempts to finish it. The last set with 70kg on the barbell was naturally the toughest. However, the clean part of it was surprisingly easy, this really boosted my confidence! Each time I had to bring the bar back up to my chest, I had no troubles with it. It was clearly the press part of the movement that I had difficulties with. I completed the set with 3 reps to start with, followed by something like 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1. I took one failed attempt at some later stage of this set.

Thrusters, 70kg

Why haven't I done more thrusters? Maybe because they are horrible =) Should do them though because they are not nice but they develop me as an all-around athlete. This workout showed me something. It wasn't my breathing that hindered me from going faster but it was my shoulders that were burning. I consider this rather good thing that my metabolic conditioning should be at a rather good level currently. I was ready with the set of 60's after 4-5 minutes and it took about the same time to finish the last set. I had to keep a bit longer breaks because I didn't want to take any failed reps in between.

Cashout. Unbroken double unders and wall climbs.

• 5 x 20 unbroken double unders
• 10 wall climbs

In the end I wanted to do 5 sets of 20 unbroken double unders. My first set was 12 reps, lack of concentration. Then I finished the workout straight away without any stumbling. The last thing I wanted was to give that extra pressure on my shoulders and wall climbs are just a perfect way of doing that. 10 reps and I was done. Good training day!

Toni's workouts. Back squats for strength and a metcon. Time 6.11.

• Strength: back squats 7 x 5 (100kg each set)
• Metcon, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
• Box jumps, 64cm
• Ring push-ups

Back squat, 100kg, Toni

A friend of mine - Elias - is recovering from a knee injury and wanted to enhance the heeling by doing crossfit workouts. I planned two workouts for him for today. We had to be careful with the movements as his knee is still loose and can't take any hit. What a brave guy as normally people would still be laying in the bed but this dude is at the Box giving his everything! This movements do not stress his knee too much. A little pressure is only a good thing =) I'm proud of this man!

Workout 1.

• 5 rounds of
• 5 bench press
• 5 shoulder press
• 20 sit-ups

Workout 2.

• 10min amrap of
• 10 kettlebell swings
• 10 hand release push-ups
• 10 dumbbell snatches, alternating hands