Sunday 5.6: Linda

Sunday. Benchmark workout Linda. Time, 22.07

Another benchmark workout in the books for this weekend. Yesterday I met with Amanda for the first time and today another lady came to see me at the gym. Linda is a workout I've done once before. That time it was a fair match as the weights were too heavy for me. Today I got a clear personal record on this one.

Linda. Time, 22.07 (PR). Compare to 8.12.2012

• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of:
• Deadlift @ 120kg
• Bench press @ 80kg
• Clean @ 60kg

It's 3.5 years since meeting with Linda last time. I have gained quite a lot of muscle and strength since then. Back then my maxes were 165kg / 87.5kg / 75kg. Now they are 210kg / 108kg / 117kg so obviously the "three bars of death" were lighter as well. I also weigh a bit more (maybe 84kg compared to 79kg back in 2012) so the weights ought to be a little heavier.

However, I wanted to compare the work to the first time I hit this one so I kept them at 80kg. Bench at 84-85kg would have also brought lots of issues in this type of workout for me. Out of these three movements bench is definitely the weakest of them. I have never been a "bencher" by any means. Took my first bench presses after I started crossfitting, and only take them occasionally.

Deadlifts were unbroken each round. Felt rather smooth on them. My left hand was a bit sore on the palm so I had some doubts about how it would feel like during the wod but it was just fine. Cleans were singles all the way. Reckoned I would be able to keep pace better on them. Bar was light anyway so just drop and pick it up again. Worked well. Another focus area was to start cleaning right after bench.

The thing in this workout was definitely the bench, again =) Bench is my goat for sure. Doing moderate load sets with bigger volume screams for trouble. I'm still happy on how well they went. It's just that comparing them to deads and cleans they were the toughest without a doubt. Went 5-3-2 in the first round, then 3-3-3 on the second. On the round of 8's had to break it more. Plan was to do a triple to start with in every set, and succeeded in it as well. All the way up to the round of 5's (3-2).

Let's see how my body feels after this. Last time it took me almost a week to recover =) I have strong confidence that it was due to the heavy volume considering I had just started crossfit about half a year ago. Now my body feels just fine, hopefully tomorrow as well. Couple of years crossfitting in between must have made miracles to body adaptation and recovery.

Recap

Sunday 9.12: Technique, skills

Sunday. Technique and skills.

Due to yesterday's hard workout I scheduled this day to concentrate mostly on technical things, skills and some giving some pressure on my triceps. I also introduced some new movements into my selection, pistols. I thought I couldn't do any of them because of my mobility but it was a pleasant surprise that it wasn't that tough at all :) I took 1k row for starters and then sweated for one hour with the following movements

Technique and skills. I used only empty bar for technical moves.

• Double unders
• Cleans
• Push jerk behind the neck
• Split jerk
• Pistol
• Free handstand
• Handstand push-ups
• Triceps muscles
• Biceps muscles

Toni's workout. Linda, time 46.28.

• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
• Deadlift, 100kg
• Bench press, 80kg
• Clean, 60kg

Linda should be done in line with own bodyweight. These weights are lighter for Toni than they should be, he wanted to make the workout with same weights as we did yesterday with Sami. Here's the first round of 10's.

Saturday 8.12: Linda + handstand

Saturday. Pair wod Linda. Time 33.21. Handstand and double unders skills training.

Today is my little sister Linda's 18th birthday so in honor of her I met with my brother Sami at the gym to do a wod called "Linda", one of the benchmark Girls. It's also called the "3 bars of death" and for a reason! For a warm-up I took 5x20 double unders, squats, overhead squats, hip openers, cleans, presses and some deadlifts. Then it was time to push the button and hear the classic 3-2-1-go!

Linda. Pair wod, time 33.21. I'm 79kg, Sami is 76kg, we calculated with 80kg anyway.

• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
• Deadlift, 1 1/2 bodyweight
• Bench press, bodyweight
• Clean, 3/4 bodyweight

The weights should be in line with bodyweight. If there is a team, bodyweight is the average of the athletes. We calculated as we weighted 80kg, even though we're a bit shy of that. By the way, I used to weigh same as my bro but I've gained those extra kilos that I was looking for, nice! This workout was cruel. First complete 10 deadlifts, 10 bench presses, 10 cleans, then move to round of 9's and so on. As we did it as a team, you're allowed to move to the next station only when both athletes are done with their reps. Sami started with deadlift, I took off with bench press and rotated as described. Deadlift was 120kg, bench press 80kg and clean 60kg. Take into consideration my current maxes. Deadlift 165kg, bench press 87.5kg, clean 75kg.

Beforehand I thought I would have some gigantic problems with bench press, other than that I was confident I would nail it. That prediction was correct, going after 55 reps of my 91% max was a nightmare. Doing strength training with that weight wouldn't be a prob because of the number of reps but these sets were so long that I was in trouble in the early steps and my bro had to partially help me push the bar up. I would have loved to do it individually to go for rx'd workout but that was simply impossible. Got to keep on improving my chest and triceps muscles.

Cleans and deadlift barbells had nice weights on them. The workout made it tough because of the mountain of reps that had to be completed but I loved the weights they had on. I did cleans in two sets up to round of 6's, then the last five sets unbroken. Same strategy with the deadlifts, I divided it to two pieces and last five rounds unbroken. I believe I could have done them unbroken for maybe first two rounds as well but that was off my strategy because I believed it would have killed me later on in the workout. That's why I stuck with the plan and I'm happy about that.

This was extremely tough one and definitely worth being one of the benchmark girls. It was one of the toughest workouts strength-wise. I simply ran out of gas with bench but managed to stay solid with clean and deadlift. Heavy breathing was part of it for sure and I think the other people at the gym were staring at us and wondering why the hell are those guys shouting all the time. It was a huge mental game, especially up to round of 6's. In the beginning it felt the workout is not progressing at all because there were so many reps. In the last rounds it moved on quickly.

Handstand + doubles. After getting a grip of life again after Linda, we concentrated in two areas of skills that need to be trained on. I have strengths in double unders and Sami has some nice handstand skills. So we helped and coached each other with these ones. Sami also did some muscle-ups, a movement I haven't practiced yet, every once in a while I take some jumping muscles-ups.

In the evening I'm concentrating in eating and watching the floorball world championship games. Happy birthday Linda!