Another training session, working towards being a better athlete. Bench is something I rarely do and it was about to hit some iron on the barbell. I was thinking about doing heavy front squat doubles as well but the end result was a single PR. In the end I wanted my lungs to do heavy work too so there was a 15 minute amrap.
Strength.
- Bench press, 8x60, 4x70, 3x80, 1x90, 1x95, 1x100, 3x90kg
- Front squat, 5x60, 4x80, 3x100, 2x110, 2x120, 2x125, 1x130, 1x132.5kg PR
Bench is somehow a strange movement. The bar starts to feel heavy after certain weights but I don't even get sweaty during my training. Unless it's a high-rep metcon or something alike. And my metabolism is sick, I get all sweaty without doing nothing. That's why it feels like a rest day when I'm benching. Haven't done bench press in ages with heavy weights so I figured why not try where the max is.
I took light weight in the beginning, then little by little climbed up, dropped the number of reps and increased weights. The 90kg bar was still light, same with the 95, that wasn't too bad. Had to do some work on 100kg but I thought let's jump to 105kg right away. That lift was nothing close to a successful rep. It was kind of boring to miss that lift so I took a triple at 90kg in the end.
Sunday recap
On front squats my original idea was to do couple of sets of heavy doubles, something like 120kg. As I started to put some weight on the bar it felt like it might get a little too challenging to hit 3-5 sets of 2x120kg. However, as I put piled more plates on the barbell and looked the lifts on video afterwards, they looked easy and my confidence boosted and the bar started to feel lighter =)
I was extremely happy on how the lifts looked like. Or let's say I was happy that the lifts looked the same no matter how much iron there was on the barbell. Elbows stayed up and front no matter the weight. I definitely wasn't looking for a max load but as I was able to take 2x125kg up for the first time in my life I knew it might be worth trying the 1 rep max.
The strangest thing was that I took 132.5kg up without huge issues but then 135kg didn't come up. It didn't even feel that heavy. Of course it was heavy but not that heavy. I thought I would take it home and I should have. I'm glad of the PR, no doubt, but it was realistic to get 135 as well. Now I left something to think about for next session. Most important thing about today was the ease how 120-125kg were moving for doubles.
Metcon. Result 290reps
- 10 kettlebell swing, 32kg
- 10 pistol squats, alternating legs
- 10 push-ups
- 20 walking lunges, with 2x17.5kg dumbbells
Had my 2-pood bell with me. I love training with kettlebells but carrying them around is not cool =) Luckily it's not that long a distance I have to carry them if we go to our home gym. Car does most of the work. The practical issues is the reason I usually train with kettlebells only during weekends. It's not nice to be sweating my butt off for carrying kettlebells before and after work.
You can create killer metcons with kettlebells. I usually tend to do basic movements with 'em: swings, cleans, clean & jerks, snatches and occasional deadlifts. Maybe occasional goblet / front squats. Today swings played a big role in my metcon.
There were some rare elements in today's workout. There's not that much people at the gym during weekends so it's often possible to do different kind of things there. For example those walking lunges are impossible normally 'cause it's too crowded, simply don't have enough room for that. Pistols are awesome but I always forget to do them. So it's like once a month probably that I do them.
Kettlebells made my breathing go heavy. They didn't kill my forearms as they usually do. Maybe the reason was the number of reps. When you do 15-20 consecutive reps it starts to burn the forearms a lot. It also burns the entire body when it turns to high-rep action. Ten reps is something you can nail anytime.
Pistols were tough. Had only 10 reps per round, alternating after each rep, so 5 reps for both legs. It's a highly skilled movement in my opinion. It's not only strength, it's also mobility, balance, and coordination. If you fail to have these qualities it's gonna get you into problems. I try to concentrate in having knees in correct form when I do the squat but it's not always perfect. That's the element I should be working on.
Push-ups. I've intentionally increased the amount of these. Still need to add the reps. Haven't thought about this too much but something needs to be done so that they wouldn't be my "goat" in the future. Nailed the 6 rounds unbroken though.
Toni's PR lift, 85kg OHS
The last movement of the four was lunges. That is something my legs do not like. No matter if it's sandbag in my back or dumbbells on my hands or barbell in either front or back rack position, it feels awful. The burn in my legs is huge. They were suffering already after first round. Okay, there were 3 elements in this metcon that pressured my lower body: kb swings, pistols and lunges. So no wonder they would have enjoyed a short break every now and there.
I found a lane to walk through in lunges for 10 steps / meters, then dropped the db's down, turned around and lunged back. My quads were taking most of the hit during the workout. I think pistols also focus more on quads than hamstrings so lunging after those was not a walk in the park. I'm guessing I'll feel this metcon in my quads tomorrow. The burn in my lower body was tougher than it's been in a while. Go try it out and you probably know what I mean =) My result was 10 lunges short of 6 full rounds. The most important thing was that the round times were quite equal, so I didn't fade out during the workout. That's what I'm always looking for, consistency.
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