Monday 24.11: Front squat, Ohs, Row

Monday. Front squats 5's (max 115kg). Ohs singles (max 70kg). Metcon, row intervals, for a total of 3.600m.

My calendar said it was time to squat. Back squat 5's with semi heavy weights. In my car on my way to the gym I had the ultimate desire to do front squats. I couldn't overcome it so front squats it was. After having done my squats I decided to take couple of overhead squats. My strategy is to hit snatches, snatch balances, overhead squats and snatch grip push presses / jerks more often. Just to get used to the mechanics and bar paths. After bar play I stole a workout from Joni who just finished the row interval workout earlier today.

Strength.

• Front squat, 3x80, 95, 105kg, 5x115, 110, 110, 110kg
• Overhead squats 2x40, 1x50, 1x60, 1x70kg

It's been freaking long since front squatting last time. Smolov made me back squat on high intensity and there was no room for front squats. Now my wrists have been bothering me for about 3 weeks and it's not totally over on the right wrist. Left one is totally fine. Right one is still sore in certain positions.

Hand didn't feel the best on front squats today. Maybe back rack would have been a better call. But it was fun as hell to have some good old school load on front rack and then hit it all the way to the floor and back. Had no idea hoe the weights would turn out. First sets were light, then I realized at 115kg that it made my hand a bit sore. Plus it was quite heavy stuff. So I dropped 5kg and it felt much better in every part of my body. And it turned out to be heavy after all.

As I wrote earlier, if I'll take some forms of snatch more often, it has to convert to squat snatch too. The weights were feather light all the way to 70kg. It didn't feel heavy at all in my legs, core nor shoulders. I felt much more confident with the weight than before. My hand just didn't feel good in the twisted position so I stopped at 70kg. I took one missed rep at that weight but it was a lack of concentration. No biggie, repeated it and took a successful one.

Recap of squats

Row intervals. Result, 3.604m / 278 cal

• 1 min row
• 60 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 50 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 40 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 30 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 20 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 10 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 20 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 30 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 40 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 50 sec rest
• 1 min row
• 60 sec rest
• 1 min row

This gem was from Joni. It might have been from his old crossfit affiliate from CF Basement, Helsinki. Had to think about this one for a minute before taking the first stroke. There were so long breaks in the first about 3 intervals that I decided to give it a go in the beginning. The first sets my pace was sub 1.40/500m, something like 1.36-1.38.

After there was only 30 seconds recovery period I changed dropped it to around 1.40 or a 1.42, somewhere around these figures. Those middle rounds were miserable ones as the recovery was so short, 10-20 seconds between 1min rowings. I didn't try to hold on to the pace so it got to somewhere around 1.48 for those 3 most challenging rounds. Then it helped a little as the recovery came back to 30-40 seconds. That had a direct effect on my rowing pace and I was able to make it up again at around 1.40. Last 2 rounds were again sub 1.40 pace. Great workout! There was a total of 12 x 1min rowing intervals with changing recovery periods.