Thursday, January 9, 2014

Thursday 9.1: Muscle-ups, bench, rowing metcon

Thursday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Strength, bench press (max 100kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 500m row, 15 ring dips, 50 du's. Time 16.52.

I had waited this day like a kid waits for his candy day. Why is that? Muscle-ups! That's an awesome movement for starters. Secondly, I've have some problems with the movement lately so I was anxious to get some practicing done. Bench press was the strength part and finished the training session with a metcon with rowing, dips and du's. Good combo.



Skills.
  • Ring muscle-ups
Yeah baby! I was slightly afraid of this one because the previous training sessions with ring mu's included, had not gone as planned. It was frustrating not to get any successful reps done. So I had quite a lot of pressure to get myself pulled up there. There are two options: either stay in that low-zone or do something about it. Decided to go for the latter option.

I watched tons of videos and did mental training. I saw myself go up there with such ease in my head that I was confident of hitting some reps today. I did some progressions in the beginning. From ring row to transition, that's a good one. It felt good so I adjusted the rings high enough and took my first attempt. And I got it! Maybe it wasn't as smooth as I hoped for. This far I've done something between 1-3 single reps every time I've been able to do these. The encouraging thing was that today I got 5 ring muscle-ups!!! That's great for me. Singles of course at this stage. But still, I felt superb. Stayed there, didn't try to go any further this time.




Strength.
  • Bench press, 5x60, 5x80, 4x90, 1x95, 1x100, failed @ 105kg, 4x90, 4x90kg

My plan was to do couple of sets with heavier loads. My max is at 102.5kg so I took some warm-up with lighter weights. At 90kg I got 4 reps and the last one and then decided to take some singles. Once the bar was moving pretty well I decided to try reach 105kg. The 100kg came up surprisingly well that I thought there might be a chance to nail it. Well I got it a little up from the chest but it turned out to be a static hold so my spotter came to help. I took some weight off the barbell and did 2 more sets @ 90kg. it was nice to hit some heavier stuff on bench too. You need to have a spotter though.




Metcon. Time 16.52
  • 4 rounds of:
  • 500m row
  • 15 ring dips
  • 50 double unders

I wanted to row. Ring dips came along because there were muscle-ups and bench done already so I wanted to put more pressure on those muscles. Doubles are always a good option to get some heart beating and practice skills at the same time. This is a workout where you don't make wonders with rowing your brains out. I kept the pace at around 1.45-1.50 each round.

On the ring dips I went unbroken on the first round. The second round was probably 10+5 and the last 2 rounds were somewhere around 7-8 reps on first attempt and then smaller sets to finish it. On double unders I was able to maintain a good form all the way. Second and last round went unbroken. Actually first round was the only one where I made mistakes, I believe I finished it in 3 attempts. On the 3rd round I had to stop after 35 reps as it felt like my shoulders were burning so roughly.

It took me a total of almost 17 minutes. I liked the composition of this workout. 2k rowing, double unders to add the heart beat and then a weakness of mine, the ring dips. It was good kick-ass stuff and I had to walk the pain off after the workout.

My calves were killing me and I must say the lacrosse ball is my new best friend. I've found a way to utilize it in easing the pain I have there. As simple as it gets, just place the ball under the calf, create enough pressure over it with the calf and find the tight spots. I've had issues with my calves for years and it seems this little ball is making big differences. Love it!



Some warm-up tips from California Strength



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