Thursday 25.4: Clean and jerks, metcon

Thursday. 7 x (power clean + hang squat clean + 2 jerks). Metcon. 3-6-9-12, hang squat clean (60kg), T2B.

Thursday's focus was purely on clean & jerks and metabolic conditioning. First I did different types of c&j strength training and finished with a metcon that reminded CF Open 13.4, consisting of two movements: clean & jerk and toes-to-bar. Toni enjoyed a day off.

Strength. 7 x (2-position clean + 2 jerks). Sets of 60, 65, 70, 70, 72.5, 72.5, 75kg.

• 1 power clean from ground + 1 hang squat clean + 2 jerks

Conducted this in a bit different style this time. 4 reps per set, that is first grabbing the barbell from ground and performing a power clean, then a hang squat clean and finishing it with 2 jerks. I did split jerks for practice purposes up to 65kg, then switched it back to regular push jerks that I'm more comfortable with. I have to keep on doing those split jerks with lighter weights to get used to the movement. I like to mix it up with the cleans and do all kinds of versions; from ground, from hang, as power and squat cleans, keep it varying.

I had no problems with power cleans in any of the sets. The weights were light for that purpose. However, the hang squat clean was as heavy as I wanted it to be. This was the first time I got over 70kg up as hang squat clean. I took that set up twice, then added 2.5kg and took the set up also twice. The last attempt was at 75kg. Managed to power clean the bar easily but the hang squat clean didn't come up so I took 2 power cleans from ground and finally jerked it to the ceiling.

The reasoning for this type of strength training is to have different types of cleans and jerks in program. It also strengthens grip strength as you have to hold on to the barbell for a longer period of time. One more feature is that the second clean - performed as hang clean - is more difficult as you've already put effort in the first clean.

Metcon.

• 3-6-9-12
• Hang squat clean, 60kg
• Toes-to-bar

Resting practically not at all after this, I continued pretty quickly to the metcon at hand. Four rounds with increasing amount of reps, adding 3 reps per round. In CF Open the c&j was not defined as hang squat versions, any kind of clean & jerk was allowed. At the time I thought this workout looks nice and decided to modify it a bit. I didn't define a time cap but upgraded the difficulty of the first movement.

Toes-to-bar was the rest period of this workout, no doubt about it, unbroken each round, not bad. There were a total of 30 reps both movements so it was kind of doing hang squat Grace and adding 30 T2B's in the middle of it =) I did c&j unbroken in rounds of 3's and 6's, then on the next round had to break it.

My heart was bouncing like a madman at the end of the workout. Adding those hang and squat elements to the first movement had its own spice in the entity. It was tough and I liked it!

Hero workout that's already on my calendar