Friday - Saturday 1-2.1: Outdoor metcons

Friday - Saturday. Metcon, 21-15-9 of: sandbag cleans, sandbag lunges, wall balls. Rope climbs. One mile run with sandbag. Karen.

We spent the past couple of days in the countryside so it was quite obvious it's gonna be more or less outdoor metcons all the way. Had one rest day on the New Year's Eve but then I tried to find some time for rather quick workouts. Weather was snowy and suited very well for training outside.

Metcon.

• 21-15-9 of:
• Sandbag cleans
• Sandbag lunges
• Wall ball shots

This was an intense one for sure. It was the first time I played around with a new sandbag I got from Toni and couple of colleagues as a farewell present as I changed workplace recently. I went to the store and bought sandpit sand and filled it up with Kari. It says it can be added up to 28kg but it simply wasn't possible. The little bags inside are full and it possibly weighs only about 20 kilos.

Getting it a bit heavier would be great. However, it's definitely not an issue. There are plenty of ways to use this tool. It also helps that there are handles on different sides of the bag. That enables various grips and tosses around. Doing ground-to-shoulder's a good bunch in a row puts breathing heavier. This was a very quick workout. Everything unbroken and without pauses. On the lunges I had the bag on my back. That brought a good pressure on my arms and made my forearms burn somewhat.

Skills.

• Rope climbs

Later on we went to goof around with the rope. It's always a hassle to get the rope up on the tree branch so we have been thinking how to get it up and down on the branch without climbing ladders. We finally seemed to get it through. In the middle of the process I took couple of reps rope climbs for fun.

Run.

• 1 mile sandbag run

This happened on Saturday morning. We were going shopping but I negotiated 15 extra minutes in order to do a metcon. Had no time to think about it so I just grabbed the sandbag and hit it right away without warm-up.

I went back and forth a 200 meter leg of the road. Dropped the bag after every 200 meters because holding it in back rack position started to make my forearms go numb. This was a fun little piece to start the day.

Karen.

• 150 wall ball shots

In the evening I also had something like 8 minutes spare time left for a workout =) There was Finland's ice hockey game just about to start against Canada. And what a game it was! Under 20 year old world championship game playoffs are going on and this is huge. It was a great game but before it started I grabbed my wall ball and started throwing it against the wall.

I went 20-20-20-20-20-20-15-15 reps to finish Karen. It was more of an emom training. I took 15 breaths in between sets. Didn't have a timer on as I didn't have in any of the workouts. With that said, I worked like the timer was pushing me. No difference there.

Sunday 3.8: One mile sled drag + Karen

Sunday. AM: 1mile sled drag, 60kg. Time 27min. PM: Benchmark workout Karen, 150 wb for time. Time 7.46.

Great weekend! Yesterday we had a family reunion, annual tradition from Pauliina's side of the family. These people are great and it's a blast hanging out with them. The event is always hosted by Pauliina's parents so we stayed at their place for the entire weekend and came back late Sunday evening. The surroundings and nature at their backyard is just a big gym in my eyes so it's difficult for me not to workout there. After breakfast we took the home made sled from the storage and it was some serious sled drag time and some playing with the pull-up bar. Later in the afternoon after fueling some food I went to my car to get wall ball and hit Karen just for fun.

Sled. Time, 27 minutes

• 1 mile sled drag, 60kg sled
• 125m downhill, 125m uphill

Credits to Pat Sherwood, host of the Crossfit Games, for posting this one on Instagram. It could not have come to a better time as we were spending the days in the countryside where we have the home-made sled, built with Kari in the springtime. Today it saw the daylight again as I decided to hit this workout. Totally different in nature to what I thought I would do with the sled. One mile of constant pulling / dragging. Today we weighted the sled for the first time, it was about 22kg, made solely from wood.

I put 38kg worth of stuff inside, a smaller kettlebell and 30kg worth of weight plates. So it ended up being 60kg. The venue was the back yard of the in-laws which is practically a city-owned park with plenty of space. I measured the distance being 125m one way and there's a slight incline on the park which made it a downhill to one way and uphill back to the starting point. One round was thus 250m. One mile equals 1.600m so it was 6 rounds + 100m.

Beforehand I thought it would be my legs that would be burning on a regular basis. And I'm not telling it wasn't so, they were definitely on a burn. What surprised me was the pain in my arms and especially elbows too. The straps came over the shoulders and I kept my hands in a tight package on my chest. Holding the straps there on a steady position for a long time caused a lot of static hold and that resulted in a misery for hands. My elbows were killing me as much as my legs.

On the first set of 100+ meters I thought this might be easier than I figured. As I turned and faced the incline for the first time my mind changed =) It was another game to work through that slight uphill. It obviously wasn't much but you don't need much when you're dragging a load behind you. On the last set I was able to jog a little 'cause the end was looming so nearby. Gave my heart to this one in the end. Awesome workout but mentally tough as you just have to walk with the sled and it feels the goal is not in sight.

Karen. Time 7.46

• 150 wall ball shots, 9kg

After recovering for couple of hours I was ready for another shot. I had no intention to go after Karen in the beginning. Just throw the ball in emom style. We measured the hight of the wall and marked it with a tape so I would know where the ball should hit the wall. Told Kari I would throw 20 wall balls in a minute, then rest for the remaining of the 60 seconds. Then maybe drop it to 15 reps after a while because it would obviously be tougher. At some point I realized I've done these about a 100 and at that point I reckoned Karen is close by and I went after her.

Couple of L-pull-ups for core work

I started by doing 20 reps per minute and it took me 40 seconds each time, so there was 20 seconds recovery after each set. Continued like tho for 4 rounds (=80reps). From then on I did 15's per minute and there was clearly more recovery time. It was welcomed with warmth. Took 4 more sets of 15 reps. At some stage I stopped looking at the clock because I'm about to complete my first Karen rx'd. The final set was 10 reps to reach 150 reps.

Karen was done in sandals this time. It's summer!

My shoulders were wasted after the workout and breathing was as heavy as the hot summer air. This was a good burner. There might be some time to be squeezed by shortening the recovery periods after the set of 15's. It took about 30 seconds (about 2sec per throw) so I could have started a little earlier. But it was emom workout at that point. My shoulders would definitely have been in more pain but what would have happened to the sets, that remains a mystery. Could have I kept working on sets of 15's to the end or would have I cut them in 10's or something like that.

Cashout. Wash the cars. Before that, move them to a proper spot

At this point we won't get an answer. This was my first Karen ever. Good benchmark workout! I enjoyed this weekend a lot. Thanks for Kari and Maija for hosting us and letting us stay over!

Friday 12.10: Shoulder / Push press + Karen

Friday. Shoulder press 4x4 (max 50kg), push press 4x4 (max 65kg). Karen (5kg ball), time 5.01. Handstand skills 15 minutes.

Second day of training in Sweden. This day concentrated in my shoulder area. After warming up by rowing and skierg machine, squats with pvc pipe etc. I focused on presses. I started by shoulder presses and continued with push presses. After a pause, I did workout called Karen, 150 wall balls for time. At the end I trained skills by attempting to find stability in hanstand. I can say my shoulders were burning after the training.

Pauliina tightening the core

Strength. Shoulder press 4x4 (40+50+50+50kg) and push press 4x4 (50+55+60+65kg). First, sets of 4 reps by shoulder press, stiff legged, purely lifting the bar with hands only. Old school strength for shoulders. Fifty kilos is the max that I've every tried in shoulder press. This time I got that 50kg up several times. In the last two rounds I was able to do three reps each time instead of the planned four reps. I think my rest times were a bit too short anyway, so fatigue maybe hit me too early as I was on top of my max load anyway. Still, 10 reps with shared pr-result is not bad.

I continued it instantly with push presses so it was more like a 8x4 set of presses, just changed the style halfway. I took one set of 50kg first, then added extra 5kg after each set. Some of the reps were a mental game to push it up. Luckily Pauliina was next to me encouraging "you didn't come all the way to Sweden to do half reps, push it!" That really helped, thanks baby! In the last set, 65kg, I took three reps, that was tough after the first rep already. I was very pleased to be able to push my limits a little further.

Kettlebell, 32kg

Karen. Karen consists of 150 wall ball shots up to 3m in height for time. My time was 5.01. The ball should be 20lbs (9kg). Unfortunately the gym had only 5kg ball so I had to use that instead. First time doing this workout so I had no idea what the strategy should be. That's why I took sets of 35+35+40+40 reps. Afterwards I realized there should not have been as many breaks. Could've have probably done it in two or max three sets. However, in so many workouts it hits you badly if you rush in the beginning so I figured it's wise to have a break anyway after 35 reps. It would be awesome do this with the original weight. In my opinion, at least this time and this weigth, the movement seemed easier compared to those thrusters that I've done with 15kg plate to substitute wall ball movement. I might change my opinion once I get a hold of a 9kg wall ball :)

Karen going on

Handstand skills. At the end I took 15 minutes training for handstand skills. There were a couple attempts where I was able to stabilize for a few seconds. The biggest problem was that I didn't feel comfortable swinging my legs strong enough to the sky. That's why my legs dropped to the same direction I had just started from. Good that I took this practice, better keep on continuing enhancing my skills.

Pauliina pressuring her abdominals

Pauliina concentrated today mostly in metabolic condition and abdominal workouts. Toni reported from home base that he went to the gym second time to do deadlifts, knees to elbows and pull-ups. I heard there was some sort of personal record broken as well. You better tell it Toni!