Sunday, August 31, 2014

Saturday 30.8: Squats, Team Series Event 4

Saturday. Strength, back squats 5-5-5-5-4 (max 125kg). Metcon, 30 cal row, 30 bar-facing burpees, 30 hang power clean (60kg). Time 6.27.

It was a late Saturday night workout this time. We spent the day downtown, enjoying the late summer or more like early autumn day. It was a great weather, sun was shining and the temperature was around 20 degrees. Still, we needed jackets, it's obvious that the fall is coming with full throttle. Anyway, the training session took place somewhere around 7-9 pm, much later than normally. Had the opportunity to take a nap after our stroll in the city, loved every minute of it. It was time to squat and do the Team Series event 4 that was just released.



Strength.

  • Back squats 5-5-5-5-4 (100, 110, 120, 125, 125kg)

I'm feeling a bit confused on my back squats. It feels like my front squats are in better condition currently. There may be something to the way how the weight is distributed through my body. It feels like the weight is a little too much in front of me, whereas it should be on my heels. Therefore I can't transfer the strength all the way to the bar. I really feel like I could nail heavier kilos as I've squatted 140kg for a triple earlier this year.


I started with 100kg, that wasn't too bad, and it definitely shouldn't be at this stage. When there was 120kg on the bar, I felt the burden way differently. The weight went too much to the middle / front of my leg and that caused some technical problems. I was hoping to lift heavier weights but this day wasn't the best of days in that sense. What to do in the future? Squat more. Simple answer.



Metcon. Team Series Event no: 4. Time 6.27

  • 30 calory row
  • 30 bar-facing burpees
  • 30 hang power clean, 60kg

This was a lot of fun! The workout was not written by me, instead it was stolen from Crossfit's Team Series, Event number 4. It looked like a perfect workout for this weekend and I decided to give it a shot. For some reason it was very difficult for me to understand how much time this one would take. It was surprisingly short workout.




Therefore it was also difficult to think about the strategy how to head towards this piece. I reckoned not to gas out on the rower, then pace myself on the burpees, keeping a steady pace, and then go by feeling on the cleans. Haven't done that much hang cleans in a workout, they have mostly been from floor in metcons.



It took about 1:20 to finish the 30 calorie row. Don't know what that means as per 500m pace. It was about one stroke and one calorie. It took me too about 15 seconds in the transition between rowing and burpees. I was messing around with gloves before putting my chest on the ground for the first time. For some reason I wore gloves on the rower.




Burpees took about 2:00 in total. These were bar-facing burpees. There are lots of different variations of burpees that are on the field. Bar-facing burpees, lateral burpees, burped box jumps, box over burpees, and those box versions might sometimes be done with dumbbells in both hands. I've tried them all but this bar-facing burpee stuff is rare. There was a couplet of bar-facing burpees and thrusters in the Crossfit Open this year, that was a cruel combo!



This is some technicality in play. As you see in the video I took the first burpee with poor technique. As I jumped up from the floor my feet landed too far away from the bar and cause me to take an extra step before hopping over the bar. I realized this immediately and decided to use my hips more to make my feet land so close to the bar that I can jump over it in one continuous movement. These are small things but they make a big difference in the long run. This was a short workout so maybe not that big of an issue but it's better to make it right in every workout.



It was good to testify from the video that the feeling I had was true. Burpee-pace was steady all the way. It was around 40 seconds per 10 burpees. These are way slower than regular burpees. Plus they eat more energy reserves. Anyway, it was good news that my pace remained the same throughout the burpee section.



Once again it was 15-20 second transition between stations, before grabbing the barbell for cleans. It took about 2:45 to get the cleans done. I took the cleans in sets of 5 reps, total of 6 sets. For the first 2 sets I did them touch'n'go, the rest of the sets I reset after every rep. I don't know how they should have been done, because usually my hang cleans are for strength purposes and I do reset after every rep.

Video of the metcon


The recovery between sets was 15+ seconds which might have been a little too much. Ideal would have been 10 seconds, that would have made it about half a minute faster in total time. I've noticed there's a big difference if I'm able to hold hook grip on the bar. Probably no news to anyone but it saves a lot of grip strength. That's been mind blowing to witness. I'm still learning this new style grip. Might have pushed a little harder on this one. It was taxing, no doubt! I'd like to believe there was a little left in the tank as the burn in muscles and lungs was tolerable right after the workout.





No comments:

Post a Comment