Thursday 10.3: Curling, Crossfit, Bowling

Thursday. Curling, Crossfit and Bowling.

I took a day off on Wednesday because of issues with timetables. Thursday was a real blast. We directed to Lahti with a bunch of colleagues for workshop purposes, and then relaxed at the Vierumäki sports resort. That is one heck of a mecca for a sports dude. You can practically do anything there, either solo or then in a team.

We had the pleasure of getting familiar with curling to kick the sports piece off. I've played this sport once before in my life couple of years ago when I still played floorball. That time we had a training camp in Kisakallio, similar sports center near Lohja. This was as fun as it could possibly be. We enjoyed this one a lot, hilarious stuff.

Then I got my chance to hit crossfit session and I definitely utilized that. Got some friends accompany me and they were down for a real metabolic conditioning session. I'm very proud of these two studs for giving their best effort in the form of rowing, kettlebell swings and burpees. Looked nasty but they made it through their first cf wod with winning mental attitude!

Oly.

• A - Clean complex: Clean + Hang clean + 3 Front squat (60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 95, 95, 95, 95kg)
• B - Clean singles (100, 105, 110kg)

There was really no plan whatsoever. That's because I had no idea if there will be a good time slot for a training session or not. So I just grabbed the barbell and started moving it around as we got to the gym. Took some front squats at the end of clean + hang clean combo. Thought about doing that for light weights to get legs warmed up properly but during time I realized I was going heavier and heavier with the same format.

These felt pretty good and I'm happy on being able to do the front squats easily right after the second clean on each set. After taking couple of sets on the complex I added some weight for couple singles. Wanted to have bigger weights. I'm pleased that I can clean 110kg any day as my one rep max is set currently at 118kg.

Clean complex @ 90kg

Metcon.

• 7min amrap
• 2-2, 4-4, 6-6… of:
• Front squats @ 60kg
• Burpees

As I put the guys sweat their butts off in a pair workout there was no doubt I would go for burpees myself too. This was a short-ish metcon where the idea is to keep grinding. I went unbroken on the burpees for every round and for front squats up to the round of 10. The 12's were 8-4 and 14's were 8-6. These really shot my legs big time. They were cramping in the evening. Loved this wod!

After recovering in the sauna and eating a fabulous dinner it was time to get some bowling done. It's been years since I've had my fingers on a bowling ball but it came back quite quickly. Best result for one round was 172 points for me so I'll take it!

100kg clean

Saturday 28.7: 8 x 400m

Saturday. 8 x 400m, 90 sec rest between rounds. Time 21.52.

Wake up at 9.00, eat breakfast and hit the track. I took proper warm-up in 20 minutes. The idea is to run 400 meters, then rest for exactly 90 seconds. Repeat this 8 times (of course not the last 90 sec rest). Count the total time. Mine was 21.52. My math says I ran one lap in about 1min 25 sec on average. I'm satisfied with this. It was awkward that my results were getting faster in the last rounds.

Once again, it was a mental game. In the third round it felt it would never end. The first 4 rounds, my respiration was quite fast and had some difficulties due to that. After midway, the muscles started to burn as well. Last 4 laps, my thighs were in pain already after 150 meters. Damned, it was close I gave up after six laps. Somehow, I got an energy boost and my two last rounds were the fastest :) I felt divine after reaching the finishing line.

Tomorrow I'm going to have a rest day. I've been training quite hard this week.
Monday 800m run + push ups + boxes.
Tuesday two sets. First strength: squats. Metcon: L-pull-ups, burpees, KB. Second set: row interval.
Wednesday Bear complex and wod: deadlift+toes-to-bar.
Thursday. Rest day.
Friday. Fight gone bad. Strength: weighted pull-ups
Saturday. 8 x 400m

Friday 27.7: Fight Gone Bad

Friday. Fight Gone Bad. 3 rounds, 1 min rest between rounds. 10 min rest, 5x5 weighted pull-ups.

First round

• Push press 35
• Box jumps 40 
• Wall ball 30 
• Row 17
• Sumo deadlift high pull 20
• Total 142

Second round 

• Push press 30
• Box jumps 30 
• Wall ball 17
• Row 13
• Sumo deadlift high pull 15
• Total 105

Third round 

• Push press 20
• Box jumps 30 
• Wall ball 20
• Row 16
• Sumo deadlift high pull 13
• Total 99

Total of 346 points. This was the first time I hit this wod. It was exhausting, no surprise there. My shoulders were on fire. Man they were feeling tired As you can see from the three different rounds, the total points were going down through the rounds. One minute seems like an eternity when you do the exercise but when you have your one minute off, it feels like ten seconds. Rowing was somehow the station that was not so highly influenced by fatigue even though I thought it would be. Shoulders were burning after one round which affected the results in the following two rounds.

After 10 min rest I engaged the strength training with weighted pull-ups, 5 x 5. Starting from 5kg, going up 10kg, 12.5kg, 15kg, 10kg. Felt good, also first time putting extra weight in pull-ups. I can see the development since starting doing pull-ups in spring time. That time I could make about 7-8 reps and that was pretty much it. Rep after rep muscles have gained enough strength to enable these exercises.

In the end I practiced double unders, I'm now getting to understand how to make those. I can do a DU - normal jump - DU - normal etc. I did also some toes-to-bars, 3 x 10. Stretching in the evening

Week 30

This week's training I have to post afterwards as it's already Thursday. I was resting the entire previous week due to some irregular beating of my heart. I didn't do any workouts Monday through Saturday. On Sunday I was at the gym doing some squats, deadlifts and push presses.

Monday. 800m run, 40 push-ups, 20 box jumps. 5 rounds. Time 26.20. Practising muscle-ups. Tabata hollow hold. Stretching in the evening.

I had two friends with me to run along. I had some doubts about running due to last week's problems so I kind of held back during the workout. However, afterwards it felt good and I had those bad thoughts in vain.

Tuesday, first workout. 5x5 back squats. Max 100kg. 5 min rest. WOD: 5 L-pull-ups, 20 burpee, 25 KB swing (16kg). 4 rounds. Time 10.36. Stretching in the evening.

Felt good. Still taking it easier than normally with the squats. Starting to feel pretty good though. I experimented this type of training from Mikko Salo's training programme: first weight lifting, then rest, then wod. I liked it and probably going to continue like this. This wod caused heavy breathing due to burpees. Kettlebell was too light I think. I have already ordered 20kg KB at my own expense. This 16kg was the heaviest at the gym.

Tuesday, second workout. Row 4 x 750m, 2 min rest between sets. Time 16.48. Practising double unders.

The first training session took place 10.00 in the morning so this afternoon workout was planned to be easier. My girlfriend went to the gym so I immediately tagged along. Rowing started nicely in every four sets. The last 250 meters were slower as fatigue struck. I'm going to increase the amount of rowing in the near future.

Wednesday. Bear complex. 5 rounds 20+25+30+35+20. 5 min rest. WOD: 5 Deadlift (80kg), 5 toes-to-bar. 5 rounds. Time 3.43. Stretching in the evening.

The first time ever to try out bear complex. Pretty tough I would say. Sound easy when you think about the weights I carried. However, for me they were enough, this time... Next time I'll raise. After short break I took on the deadlift and Toes-to-bar combination to strengthen the middle body. Nice combo, deadlift could have been maybe 90kg but due to the nature of the workout maybe it was better to be that 80kg. They were both movements where grip is essential which caused it slightly painful in the palms towards the end.

Thursday. Rest day.

Stretching in the evening. I feel like hitting the gym but I must think this rationally. I'm going to stretch today and take another workout tomorrow.

Starting up

This blog is going to concentrate in crossfit. I'm playing floorball during winter time so some of the posts are going to include other sporting as well. I've played floorball as a goal keeper for about ten years now, of which the last three in the national floorball league Salibandyliiga. Thus, it has pretty much taken all my spare time so I have concentrated all my time in sports to that specific type of sport. The next season I'll be playing in second division team which allows me to put more time and effort in Crossfit.

My brother has been persuading me to participate for over a year and finally he got his mind through. I started CF in April or May and I lost my heart to it immediately. The blog's purpose is to publish my workouts and bring up my ideas of training, this way I can also see the results of hard work my self too. When I'm working against the clock I'll post the time as well for you guys to see them. I'm trying to keep it as transparent as it can be.

For those who are not too familiar with the sport I suggest to visit www.crossfit.com to see what's going on. The workouts are usually quite short in time, 20 minutes or less and can consist of pretty much anything you can imagine. That is also the reason why motivation is easy to keep up. The one who wins the worldwide championship games - CrossFit Games - will be titled as "The Fittest of the Earth". Period.