Monday 27.10: Squats and Christine

Monday. Strength, back squat 6x4 (130kg). Benchmark workout Christine, 3rds of: 500m row, 12 deadlift (bodyweight), 21 box. Time, 9.58 (PR).

Working out with Jouni. He was giving wall balls, burpees and lunges some hard time and my focus was on getting legs stronger plus knocking one benchmark workout called Christine. She's a bad ass lady and get to the very core of posterior chain and heavy breathing. Awesomeness!

Strength.

• Back squat 6x4 (125, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130kg)

This time I had decided on the reps beforehand and that was a smart move =) The bar felt heavy-ish on the 125kg but I still decided to push it through a little heavier load. Most sets were at 130kg. Warm-up sets took place at 60, 90, and 115kg, couple of pause squats and regular squats at these weights. The working sets were good for today, I got every rep done with style without compromising form or anything else.

But simultaneously, the last reps were definitely tough! I wanted to have more reps at these heavier weights. Smolov squat strength program has brought a huge load of confidence on bigger loads, there's no doubt about that. Guess I'll take some front squats next time because it's been a while since previous time.

Looks like a great workout!

Christine. Time, 9.58. Compare to 21.12.2013

• 3 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 12 deadlift, bodyweight (80kg)
• 21 box

She's great! This was the third time going after this one. As you can see, all three stations bring a lot of burden on lower body / posterior chain. I remembered this should hover around 10 minutes so it's something you got to attack rather fiercely but can't get too jumpy in the beginning because otherwise legs are gonna call it off too soon and the rest of the wod is miserable.

On the rowing I went something like sub 1:50, which is not fast but getting too quick on this one would have probably brought issues on the other 2 elements. Winning 5 seconds here would have probably been lost somewhere else. At least that was my reasoning this time. Plus I tried to pull more with my hands compared to normal case where I try to put more stress on strong pull with my legs. This strategy I chose today was based on saving my legs for deads and box. Worked well.

Deadlifts were obviously unbroken, the load was such a light version and the number wasn't huge. I would have been disappointed if this wasn't the case. For the first time in a metcon I used clean grip (with hook grip) on deadlifts, it felt only natural to grab the barbell with this style. I'm hoping this will bring good things on cleans and snatches in the long run. Even though the barbell was loaded at bodyweight (80kg), of course it started to get the hamstrings heated up.

Box jumps after rowing and deadlifts is not that awesome =) First reps were the toughest, then my body got accustomed to the movement. Nailed all jumps unbroken, with a steady pace, not stopping at any point. My focus in general was to have a solid pace in all three stations and not get fatigued over time. I kept telling myself this is only about 10 minutes, so keep on going.

I'm very pleased on how this workout turned out. First round was about 3:14, second was 3:27 and the last 3:18. That means to say it was a steady ride all the way. This is exactly what I'm looking for in every workout. Good intensity with the engine rolling continuously. Plus I was ably to force myself to take the first stroke on the rower on second and third round as quickly as possible. There's no point in stopping and catching breath. Better take that first pull no matter what the pace is, this enables you to get the boat rolling and you save time.

Saturday 21.12: CJ emom, Christine

Saturday. Clean & jerk emom, benchmark workout Christine. Time 10.38.

Tough day! Working some snatch technique in the beginning with Hannu, then the actual training was clean & jerk strength / endurance training to start with, and finished with benchmark workout Christine with a 10min recovery between workouts. Both were nasty ones.

Strength. Clean & jerk emom

• Every minute on the minute for 12min
• First 3min: 3 x 70kg
• Second 3min: 4 x 65kg
• Third 3min: 5 x 60kg
• Final 3min: 6 x 50kg

Clean & jerk emom

I took inspiration from competitorswod.com that I spoke up yesterday. Naturally the monsters did these with weights beyond my strength level so I modified this one to match my levels. And I succeeded in defining the weight on the barbell just greatly. It felt bad and good at the same time.

It took about 15-20sec to finish those sets each minute. I was extremely happy to being able to do 70kg clean & jerks with a continuous movement, not stopping the bar in the middle but jerking it with the use of the "bounce" after clean. The recovery time was enough for me to get back in shape and prepared for the next set.

This workout gave me more confidence in moving the bar in a high-rep workout like Grace. Got to do more workouts like these where a lot of reps are done with a manageable weight, not always maxing it out. Lighter bar and more reps = consistency and endurance.

70kg clean & jerk

Christine. Time 10.38. Compare to 14.4.2013

• 3 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 12 deadlifts, bodyweight (80kg)
• 21 box jumps, 61cm

Had a 10min break before entering this one. I ripped my fingers to blood in the c&j emom so I just put more tape on my hands and put gloves on so it wouldn't do any more harm. I've done Christine once more and I remember looking at it and thinking it's quite an easy one. Hmm, it wouldn't be a benchmark wod if it was easy. Last time I did it, my box jumps can't have been according to Games standards because this time I went unbroken, previously not and my time was 10sec faster in April. That's weird.

My rowing pace was around 1.45 on the first round, and a little slower on the last 2 rounds, about 1.48-1.50. I didn't see the benefit of gassing out on the rowing because it would have slowed me down on the deads and boxes. I wanted to get them unbroken so I went couple of seconds slower on the rower.

And I followed this game plan till the end. The deads were as light as they were last time. My weight is currently at about 82kg, I put the same weight today as last time to get some comparison as the difference in my bodyweight is marginal between the two Christines.

I'm happy the box jumps went unbroken. The difference between following Games standard box jumps and not following the Games standards is the full extension on top of the box. You have to extend the entire body so that heels, hip and shoulders are in straight vertical line if you look at it from the side.

If you don't do it and just jump right off the box once you land there, you'll save time tremendously and it also doesn't consume as much energy. I remember knocking boxes was a walk in the park when I didn't follow the standards but once I got to know them, I have been doing them "correctly" ever since. Even though it means the pace is slowing down.

For me, it's important to being able to look at my videos afterwards and be proud of having done the movements as they should be done. I did some horrible movements in the beginning of my crossfit career and as I saw them in the video, little by little I realized they are not okay and I learnt how to do the movements correctly.

I'm very pleased on the workouts completed today. I felt hammered after the clean & jerk emom and it was difficult to think about jumping into a benchmark workout. But once I recovered for a while I was able to put the timer running and start moving.

Christine, 2+ rounds caught on video

Both workouts were cruel in their own nature and I had lots of fun getting after them. Above is about 9 minutes of today's Christine, my camera won't record more than 10min at a time.

Sunday 14.4: Christine

Sunday. Christine. Time 10.28.

I wanted to have a metcon that would make me difficult to breath. I found the way through benchmark workout Christine. A girl not that familiar to me beforehand. You can find all crossfit benchmarks at wodboard.com. She included rowing, bodyweight deadlift and box jumps. Pauliina drove with me to the gym.

Christine. Time 10.28.

• 3 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 12 deadlift, bodyweight, 80kg
• 21 box jumps, 61cm

It looked easy on paper but reality was something different =) It was surprising to me how roughly this took on my legs. I may have started too fast, the first set of rowing was 1.41 min. The rest of the rowing  were about 1.47-1.48 per 500m. Deadlifts were light, only bodyweight, so naturally they went unbroken. Box jumps were the toughest part of this workout. Those deadlifts started to bring some pain in my thighs on the last reps. Moving on to box jumps wasn't the most pleasant thought in my head at that point. And there were 21 of them each round.

I didn't see what the round times were. I would have liked to see them in order to see how well I managed to keep my pace or did I go slower towards the end. I believe my speed was rather solid but some slowdown must have occurred because I wasn't able to do box jumps in a row on the second and third round.

Cashout. DU's and cycling.

• 5 x 20 unbroken double unders
• 5 min stationary cycling to flush legs

Man behind mobilitywod.com, Carl Paoli