Sunday 22.11: Mu's, Jerk, Snatch, Fran

Sunday. Intervals, 3 rds of: muscle-ups and push jerks. Emom x 10min: 3 power snatch @ 50kg. Fran, 21-15-9 of: thruster (43kg), pull-ups. Not for time.

What a great session. Loved this work being put in today. Okay, I felt somewhat tired in the morning from upper body but it woke up finally. It was great to get some muscle-ups done after hands being ripped for a while. Today it didn't bother any more. Then snatches and Fran with easier pace.

Intervals.

• 3 rounds of muscle-ups and push jerks @ 60kg
• 1st round: 3 mu's + 6 jerks
• 2nd round: 2 mu's + 6 jerks
• 3rd round: 3 mu's + 10 jerks
• 2min rest between sets

Awesome to combine these two movements. I've been a bit hesitant to mix muscle-ups with other elements because those aren't too strong in my case. I once did mu's and rowing intervals as a couple and I remember being entirely worn out after couple of sets. Getting tired doesn't matter at all, that's the entire purpose. But the thing is I still don't know how my body reacts to this kind of intervals including muscle-ups, and once they are gone, they really are gone. I can't recover that fast from those. So it's always like I have to play it safe with ring mu's.

Today I thought about doing a triple on the rings, then hitting 6 jerks with a barbell. This was the case on the first set. On the second one I missed the third rep but decided it's more advantageous to move on rather than try for another single on the rings. On the jerks I got the same amount of reps completed.

On the last round I got that much needed triple done and it felt good. That left me with a good feeling, and I decided not to be grumpy about the missed muscle-up on the second set. Still, the bar was not that heavy after all so I did a total of 10 jerks on the last set. Didn't wanna get ripped hands again so this was enough for this portion of the workout.

Sunday recap

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 3 power snatch @ 50kg

I've done more squat snatches, singles and doubles lately. I took couple of singles up to 60kg prior to this one to get used to heavier snatches. These triples felt heavy in the beginning. Probably because I haven't used to do power snatches. Those got better through every round. At some point I thought about adding weight on the bar. Then again, I stayed at 50kg and tried to focus on bringing the bar up as high as possible before the last pull. Working on positions.

This is world record lift, over 3 x bodyweight…

Fran. Not for time but "for quality". Compare to 22.11.2014

• 21-15-9 of:
• Thrusters, 43kg
• Pull-ups

For the third piece of conditioning I only had notes for thrusters and pull-ups. Got to say my shoulders were burned at this point. Never at any point was I shooting for a record breaking effort on this benchmark workout. Instead, I took my time with the transitions and the only goal was to go unbroken, and get a good heavy breathing going on. Goal achieved.

Shoulders were shot already after the first set of thrusters. That kind of set the tone of the workout. Usually the second round - round of 15's - is the nastiest, and takes the most out of a human being physically and mentally. This time I was saved of the long burn which is classic stuff after Fran. Those breaks between movements made the difference. But Fran is always Fran. Nasty lady to say the least. I just realized it's been exactly a year from doing Fran for the last time =)

Saturday 22.11: Squats, Snatch, Fran

Saturday. Squats (max 135kg). Snatch (max 45kg). Bechmark workout Fran, time 4.20.

This was one of those days when nothing seems to go my way. Shortly put, squats felt heavy, snatches felt a little off and Fran took all my energy and I simply sucked at it. Yesterday was rest day so I had a bit higher hopes for making success today but that wasn't the case. After sinking in this misery for a moment I drove home and thought about things. After all, I'm very happy on the level of fitness I've been able to create in the past 2 years. Can't let a shitty training day ruin that fact.

Barbell.

• Back squat, 3x90, 105, 120, 2x135, 5x130kg
• Squat snatch, 3x30, 40, 45kg

To be honest I was looking to hit 5x5 at 135kg in the end after warming up. Don't know why but my body wasn't warm at any point even though warm-up was more than enough. First set of 135kg was brutally heavy and I only took 2 reps, then racked it as I reckoned it's too much to handle for a 5. Dropped down just 5kg and finished 5 reps. I could have continued with that weight further on but the feeling was weird. I felt weak.

Decided to work on squat snatches for a while. Just light weight, taking one rep at a time, between 30-45kg. My timing on catching the barbell was a little off. I'd like to see me catch the bar on my way down, and then hitting rock bottom squat position just like in squat clean where it feels very natural. There was something I liked in the reps though. I'm gonna make it work in the long run.

Fran. Time, 4.20

• 21-15-19
• Thruster, 42.5kg
• Pull-up

I took this on the spur of the moment. This lady is one I'll try to avoid =) It makes my lungs burn so much afterwards it makes me sick already on the thought. Now after having done this about 7 hours ago, I'm still coughing and sneezing constantly and it feels like I'm gonna get sick. I ain't but that's always the feeling after Fran. It really tests the entire system in my body.

This time I probably started off too hastily. I should have kept a longer pause after thrusters. The wall hit me way too early. Last times I remember going unbroken on thrusters every round and then cutting it maybe in 2 sets on the round of 15's and something similar in the last round. Going too fast in the beginning brought a stop that was difficult to overcome. Gotta have better tactic on benchmarks. Thrusters must be unbroken because you lose too much time in picking up the barbell. Preferably pull-ups also ub if possible. If you gotta break something up, it had better be pull-ups. It's faster to get back on the pull-up bar.

I had to break the thrusters up on the round of 15's (9-6 reps). On pull-ups I came down at 15 reps on the first round. Should never happen. That's nothing. On the second round it was even more difficult. I thought about making it 5-5-5 but couldn't nail that. Anyway, it was a battle all the way and I'm happy I got through this one. Next time I'll plan my rest periods better in order to being able to go unbroken on the sets.

Sunday 17.11: Fran

Sunday. Benchmark workout Fran. Time 3.28.

NICE! This is the one, the one and only for me. The one I love and the one I hate. Maybe more of the latter one =) The relationship is awkward towards this one. I know I must repeat this after a couple of months and see how my metabolic condition has improved. Still, I wouldn't like to go for it because the feeling afterwards is disgusting. I'd prefer doing a half an hour hero workout instead of Fran.

Fran. Time 3.28. Compare to 15.4.2013

• 21-15-9
• Thrusters, 42.5kg
• Pull-ups

No matter the feeling afterwards, a crossfitter must put all in to complete Fran every once in a while. This is a good test of muscle endurance and metabolic conditioning. The feeling afterwards is not cool. The "long burn" after Fran in the forearms is sick. For some reason today the burn wasn't as bad as it has always been. This was the fourth time I did this workout. However, my lungs are still feeling it, and it's been couple of hours already since I got it through. It's like my immunity system lowered it's protection and my lungs are worn away.

It is as simple as 21 reps of thrusters and pull-ups, then 15 reps each and finally 9 reps both movements. How simple and deceptive can a workout be. Maybe it's the combination of these two that makes it more challenging than it looks. I don't know. But I do know one thing. I PR'd my Fran time by half a minute!!! My time today was 3.28, last time it was 3.58.

I got the round of 21's unbroken on both movements. On the round of 15's thrusters went unbroken and pull-ups were 10+5. On the last round - 9's - thrusters were unbroken and pull-ups 6+3. That means to say this was the first time I got thrusters unbroken all the way from the beginning to the end. Last time I had to drop the barbell in the middle round. Pull-ups went nicely on the first round. Then on the round of 15's I had to drop after 10 reps, took a 6-7sec pause and finished the round. On the last round I got 6 reps, dropped and did the last 3 reps after resting a second or two.

Fran

The way I could do this one faster would be to cut on the transition time. Even though it feels like I don't give any slack there's still 10-15 seconds wasted in the transition. If you count it, there's 5 transitions in total so there's some time to be taken off the total time. At this stage this pace felt like it was the best I could possibly do and I'm so damned proud of it! It feels like all the work put in is paying off. These benchmark workouts are the moment of truth. They don't lie. It shows the current condition in a very straightforward way. I'm happy I was able to improve on the time this well. The progression on my Fran times in the last about 1.5 years is like this: 5.48 -> 5.31 -> 3.58 -> 3.28.

Monday 15.4: Fran

Monday. Fran. Time 3.58. Cashout. 200 sit-ups.

Phew, third lady in a row, and this was the roughest, by a long mile! Fran is the most classical benchmark workout and it was actually one of the first workouts I ever did about a year ago. I was anxious and scared about this wod already yesterday. I've had butterflies in my stomach and it was difficult to get myself together for completing this one =)

Thrusters

Fran. Time 3.58.

• 21-15-9
• Thrusters, 42.5kg
• Pull-ups

After warm-up I was walking around the Box and doing this and that before I decided to get a grip and select my phone's wodbox application. No more wondering, just tap the start button to here 3-2-1-GO! I went unbroken the first round (round of 21's) of thrusters, same with the pull-ups. On the second round I did 10 thrusters, lowered the bar, grabbed it again and nailed the rest of the 5 reps. I might have been able to push it through but the added value was nowhere in sight as I thought pull-ups would have been very difficult after that. Better this way.

In pull-ups I did 7 in a row, then maybe sets of about 3-4 reps. Hard to say afterwards how many reps I was able to complete in a row from this point on. However, I am proud of myself for how quickly I forced myself to grab the pull-up bar after having to drop down from it.

Last set of thrusters (round of 9's) went unbroken. At this point my forearms were screaming and it wasn't the most exciting thought of going back to pull-up bar. I did some mental game and told myself it's only 9 more reps, that's nothing, just do it man! I jumped back there, pulled myself over the bar in a few sets. Final time 3.58.

Done

I had to walk the pain off for some minutes around the gym. It helped to my legs but the long burn in forearms is something you simply won't find a shortcut. You just have to suck it up and deal with the pain. The pain is something extraordinary and usually only comes through Fran. The combination of thrusters and pull-ups is somehow kinky and brings that tingle in the forearms. I also saw some bright spots in my field of vision after the workout. Nice.

Compare to my previous Fran, back in August 2012. There's also a video included from the entire workout. There's also Toni's first Fran available. I'm extremely happy to my result this time and was able to cut 1.33 from my previous time. And the quality of movement standards is way better than it was in the beginning of my crossfit training. At that time, I wasn't that aware of how deep front squats should be and how the presses should be locked overhead. Same with the pull-ups, I didn't know how to kip in the beginning and that's the reason why I wasn't able to extend my elbows to full extension. Still, I'm proud how I did my first Fran's but today's quality was far beyond those times =)

Cashout. Sit-ups with short rest between sets.

• 4 x 50 sit-ups

Together with Toni we did some abs to finish the training. I did 4 sets of 50 sit-ups, Toni did 3 sets.

Toni's workouts. Metcon, time 18.16. Cashout. 3 x 150 sit-ups

• 10 rounds of:
• 15 deadlifts, 60kg
• 15 push-ups

This workout was on the main site a couple of days ago. Here you'll see how the main site's athletes dominated the workout. The deadlift was high-rep light-weight version but the amount of push-ups was sick. Toni, reveal what type of workout was at hand today!

Toni's skills training for starters, HSPU

Friday 3.8: Fran + back squats (video)

Friday. Fran: 21-15-9 thrusters and pull-ups. Rest 5 min. 5 x 5 back squats. Fran time 5.31. Back squat RM 120kg.

10.00 am, time for Fran. I was nervous already yesterday due to this upcoming workout. It was kind of a similar feeling as before a floorball game. This is one of the things I love in crossfit, everyday is a competition, a race against the clock and a fight against your own mentality! It's a different world compared to jogging or lifting weights in a traditional way. I love it!

Warm-up 20 minutes, body waiting for the workout, anxious to start bouncing thrusters and doing pull-ups. Last time I did Fran in 5.48min, June 25th. I think my squats did not go as down as they did today. My thrusters were unbroken that time but pull-ups felt heavier. In June, I had to do thrusters with 40kg because I didn't have proper equipment. Today thrusters were 42.5kg and I put effort on squatting in 90 degrees angle. A few push presses were not perfect, I admit. I was surprised that I struggled with push presses after about 20 of them. It just felt heavy and thus I had to do a few cleans that I wasn't thinking beforehand. I still managed to improve my time, so I'm very satisfied with today's Fran overall! New PR is 5.31. Tony taped the performance so I'll post it afterwards.

My friend Toni also did Fran in a modified style. For a guy who has just started crossfitting (and immediately fell in love with it) doing 30kg thrusters and jumping pull-ups 21-15-9 is something you can look up to. This guy has a good attitude and he leaves his heart in the battlefield after workouts. I really appreciate his effort! He's done three wod:s in 26 hours: Tabata + Baseline + Fran =)

After a few minutes rest, I collected some weights on the barbell and begun doing back squats 5 x 5. Max rep was 120kg. I'm learning the technic everytime I do it. If I keep my legs too wide, I can't go down enough. If I keep my legs closer to each other, I can drop lower but my back curves a bit even though it should be kept strict.

Second training
I felt so good after work that I decided to go the gym again :) My agenda said front squats 5 x 3/5 and interval rowing. Max reps (3) for front squats were 70 kilos. I concentrated in lowering my butt enough and I made it to 90 degrees. Front squats felt very good actually. I rested some 5 minutes and decided to row three times 1.000 meters with 2 minute rest in between. Total time 14.42. Pretty fast pace but I was totally out of the game when I finished. It felt like my chest is going to burst into flames. I consider rowing very efficient way of increasing stamina and I'm definitely going to continue rowing on a regular basis. I finalized the day with ab-wheel and toes-to-bar workout, 30 each, alternately: 10-8-6-4-2. I'm pretty much done for today, only stretching awaits me in the evening because the body and muscles must taken care of :)

Rowing
First round 3.39 (1.49 / 500m)
Second round 9.10 (1.45 / 500m)
Third round 14.42 (1.46 / 500m)