Tuesday. Complex emom x 10min: 1 hang squat clean + squat clean + front squat. Intervals, every 3:00, for 21min: 250m row + 7 hang power clean (60kg).
Awesomeness continues! First day having a barbell on front rack position in ages. And it didn't hurt at all, loved every second of it! Went for bar complex and afterwards interval work through rowing and power cleans.
Complex.
Every minute on the minute x 10min
1 hang squat clean + squat clean + front squat
1-2min: 80kg, 3-10min: 85kg
You can't imagine how much I've been waiting for this day. Feels like it's been months since I had a bar on front rack previous time. Somehow I believe I live for cleans. Okay, maybe I should stop bitching about a nagging pain. That's probably not the most severe thing of all. It still affected my mental game quite a lot.
This was a lot of fun for sure. Weights stayed conservative for a reason. Didn't wanna go all out on the very first day. After all, I had no idea how my hand would react to this session. It feels good so I'm confident it's gonna be just fine. First 2 minutes were at 80kg, the rest of the sets (8 min) were at 85kg
Complex
Intervals.
Every 3:00, for 21min (7 sets)
250m row
7 hang power clean @ 60kg
Purpose was to go full throttle on each interval. It took me 50 seconds to finish the rowing. Pace was 1:37 in all but 2 sets. One set in the middle was 1:38, and the last one was 1:36. From there I walked to the bar, picked it up and performed 7 hang power cleans. Then walked back to see what the timer said, and it was at 75 seconds. That means to say it was around 70 seconds to finish each set. There was some distance between stations. I'm happy on being able to hold the pace static through all 7 sets.
Great combination of movements. Wanted to take everything out of the cleans, now as I'm able to do them again. I didn't hold back at all on the rowing, that was the main point on this one. My legs were burning as I walked to the bar, especially in the latter half of the workout. It took some 20+ strokes on the Concept2 to finish 250 meters.
Wednesday. Skills, handstand. Bar complex: 1 power clean, 1 squat clean, 2 front squat, 2 jerk. Start at 40kg, add 5kg each set. Result, 1 jerk at 90kg. Metcon, 5rds of: 15 kb swing (28kg), 15 box, 300m row. Time, 13.48.
Wednesday's classic morning workout. Yesterday I thought about going for track sprints and / or some sort of running metcon but I couldn't write anything down that would have pleased me enough. Instead I found a gem from archives that was done with barbell. Spiced it up with handstand and rowing (sub for running) for conditioning. It turned out to be a great session!
Skills.
Handstand walk
5 sets for max distance
We spent last Friday in Vierumäki, where I practiced handstand walk after a longer break. That went very well, and that kicked things off and I wanted to have more of it. Started the day with handstand walks after a lengthy warm-up and activation. This was 5 attempts for as far as possible. This also went better than I had anticipated. I'm very happy about this.
This is something I've done couple of times in the past but it's been a while. I put the link above to the previous one. There you can find a link to the session before that etc. Cleans and squats were fine but I've done lots of different types of presses / jerks so my arms were sore before I even touched the barbell for the first time. Last overhead jerk was at 90kg. That wasn't beautiful so I stopped at that point.
Skills and barbell
Metcon. Finished the 5th round at 13.48
12min amrap of:
15 kettlebell swing, 28kg
15 box jump
300m row
Metcon was great. Kb swings, box and rowing. No surprise my breathing was heavy and posterior chain was on fire. Went unbroken on the elements all the time. It was just the transitions that took me some time. Rowing was sub 1.50 constantly. This time the gym was quite empty so I rolled the concept2 rower near the box / kb so I didn't have to walk around the place between stations.
This workout was simple and effective. Wouldn't have changed a bit in the programming. If it was a competition, transitions would have been shortened but I'm very pleased in today's session in general. Awesome morning workout!
Tuesday. AM: Clean complex, 1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean + 1 squat clean (up to 95kg). Emom x 10min: 1 squat clean @ 100kg. Metcon, 6 rds of: 10 deads (60kg), 10 front rack lunges (60kg), 10 burpee. Time, 11.40.
PM: Front squat triples (max 120kg). Metcon, 5 rds of: 8 hspu, 12 pull-ups, 16 ghd sit-ups. Time, 10.52
I woke up in the morning like I was about to go to work. Okay, I did but not to to my workplace. Instead, it was time to put some Rogue apparel on and head to Eltsu for a good morning grind. Afterwards I drove to Klaukkala to assist the in-laws in cleaning their house up. Aftermath of the big spring cleaning. Plus it's time to change those winter tires to summer versions so I went tire shopping with Kari. In the afternoon we went to train at Optimal Performance Center (OPC) for another session of the day.
Clean complex.
Build up on the following complex:
1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean + 1 full squat clean
Weights: 40, 60, 70, 80, 85, 90, 95kg
Considering my max loads on clean these weren't too serious weights. Power clean is pretty close to max load (1RM is 103kg from one week ago) but that didn't bring any issues. Those felt quite good all the way. Squat cleans were further away from my one rep max (squat clean 1RM is currently 115kg).
However, after racking the barbell on my shoulders as power clean, it's not that easy for me to get a good grip for the second rep, let alone the third one. Yes, it would be easy to get an open hand grip but that's not what I'm looking for. I want to have hook grip in order to have stronger grasp on the bar.
That is exactly why this was a great exercise for me to practice re-gripping the barbell on its way back down from front rack position to hips. This wasn't bad for my legs, this was more like a way to work on that strong grip and transition from one rep to another. Efficiency. I'm happy I was able to hit 95kg. There the last rep had some issues on the grip so I stopped it there and moved on.
Complex recap
Clean.
Every minute on the minute, for 10 minutes:
1 squat clean @ 100kg
Wasn't done with cleans though! Decided to add 5 more kilos to get 100kg. Then, I put the timer running and took one rep at a time, one rep per minute and recovered for the remaining minute. It was a total of 10 minutes. It was cool to get these rather heavy cleans done more than couple of reps.
It was kind of bipolar mentality. First half of them were light and I thought about adding load but then decided to stick to the plan anyway. The latter half were not that heavy either but I had some issues racking the bar as I wanted in the last reps. But they were okay too so this went actually quite well in general.
Cleans
Metcon. Time, 11.40
6 rounds of:
10 deadlift, 60kg
10 front rack lunges, 60kg
10 burpee
Once again this place is great because there's plenty of space so it allows you to do various kinds of stuff that are not possible in my regular gym. One of these things is walking lunges with a barbell. It doesn't matter if it's front rack, back rack of overhead lunges. They all kick ass. I've done them mostly outdoors in Klaukkala as there's a big grass field or some sort of park so it's easy to go after these.
Last week I did overhead lunges, now it was a bit heavier front rack lunges. I piled up 60kg on the barbell and decided to combine deadlifts and lunges as barbell movements, and then burpees to make it a real conditioning session. This really took my breath away.
There are usually heavier deadlifts in my metcons so this 60kg (135lbs) was very light. However, it was surprising how that started to weigh much more during the workout. I got them unbroken anyway, would not have accepted anything else.
Front rack lunges were great! It's mostly been exactly overhead lunges but these one notch heavier front rack lunges made my butt cheeks hurt. It's difficult to describe where this hurt most. The entire body must work together, from legs to shoulders, breathing also becomes an issue. Have to be very tight and tense all over the body, and core must be strong in order to keep the bar in the front rack instead of dropping it too much in front.
Burpees are always a pleasure. In this one they just increased heart beat to the roof. There's no mystery to knocking burpees. Just pace yourself and keep moving. No reason to stop. I'm happy on how the pace of this workout stayed alright throughout the 11-12 minutes. The feeling inside got worse by the minute and it took some time to recover afterwards but it was a very good metcon for conditioning, hands down!
Strength.
Front squat
3x90, 100kg
5x110kg
3x115, 120, 90kg
We decided to start going to this new place I wrote about last week. It's called Optimal Performance Center (OPC). Some of the days we'll hit it here and some days at our workplace. And once the spring / summer gets further, I'll definitely do some outdoor training as well. This new place has perfect prerequisites for crossfit training. Only things they are missing are wall balls and ropes. Other than that it's everything you'd like to have.
My butt cheeks were almost cramping during the day so maybe hitting front squats wasn't the smartest decision but I still decided to stick to my original plan. This was totally by feeling. This was light weight. It went okay but I was a bit conservative as the morning already took some of my energy away from lower body.
Metcon. Time, 10.52
5 rounds of:
8 handstand push-ups
12 pull-ups
16 ghd sit-ups
Ghd sit-ups are my new favorite. It's something I've been dreaming of for about 2 years now. Haven't had the possibility to do them anywhere at all. It has looked so cool when those pro guys and girls have done it that I thought it's a must thing. This was the second time in this place and second time of jumping on ghd sit-ups.
Combination turned out to be hspu's, pull-ups and ghd's. This too, was a great combination of movements. At first there were pistols included in this triples instead of some other element (don't remember anymore what it replaced) but this worked well too.
My hspu's are on a level that these sets didn't burn me too much. At first I had planned on hitting bigger sets of every movement for 3 rounds but this 5-rounder kept me moving better and faster as everything went unbroken. This way I got much more intense of this. There's a time and place for bigger sets too, definitely.
On pull-ups I was practicing in keeping my feet together and bringing them much stronger back on my way down to gain more momentum for the motion. It feels more efficient when using a stronger kip than before. No wonder…
I'm very happy on how those ghd's seem to be a strong side for me. Got through all these 5 sets unbroken and without hesitation. There was a little walk around the gym between all three stations but once I got to the core station I climbed on and started doing reps right away.
Thursday. Bar complex, e2mom x 10min: 1 clean + 2 front squat @ 100kg. Workout, 10rds of: 250m row / 300m run + 10 burpee, 60sec rest.
It was destined to be a shorter session but I managed to arrange my schedules so that there was enough time to some barbell work in addition to intervals which were the priority of the day. Rather heavy cleans to begin, and then burpees and running / rowing for high intensity work.
Complex.
Every 2 minutes, total of 5 sets:
1 clean + 2 front squat @ 100kg
Original plan was to do clean and jerk singles with heavy weight and then call it a training day. However, last Sunday's muscle-ups tore a good piece off my right palm so having a good grip has been difficult ever since. On Monday it wasn't too bad yet but the last two days have had some issues with having a hold on anything.
Today I had plenty of tape on my right hand to smoothen the contact with the bar. That helped a lot. Clean was no biggie with the help of tape. The complex was the heaviest I've done this way. One squat clean, then add 2 more front squats. This was very good complex. Something I'd like to do on a daily basis =) Preferably heavy. 100kg sounded heavier beforehand. In the end, it wasn't that bad. Clean was about 87% of my 1RM, and squat was 74% so actually, it shouldn't be that bad either.
Intervals.
300m run / 250m row
10 burpee
60sec rest
6 rounds running, 4 rounds rowing
I wanted to do 10 rounds of rowing and burpees, with just 60sec rest between intervals. Concept 2 was taken in the beginning, and it was about to be taken for the next 15 minutes so I had to start because of schedules. As running is easier for me I decided to add it to 300 meters on the running. It surprised me how much easier this was compared to rowing. I've done this same 10-rounder with just rowing once before and my memories from that day are horrific. It was a lot of mental battle, especially after the mid-workout.
Now these sprints felt lighter. Had I been running outdoors I could have paced it up and ran as fast as possible. Then, it would have definitely been a pain in the ass. But I had to run on a treadmill indoors and the pacing was as high as it gets so there wasn't much to do. The idea in this workout was to hit chest to deck right after running or rowing, no rest between at all.
Of course these sets burned my lungs on the running part too. After 6 rounds I got the chance to sit on the rower so the last 4 rounds were as planned. It was much tougher from the very first round. Rowing requires so much more the entire body in my opinion. What describes my workout and pacing best is consistency. Round times on the running portion was between 1 second each round, at 1..38-1.39. On the rower it was about 2:24 on average, each round getting a bit faster.
Tuesday. Clean and jerk complex, 7 working sets of: 1 clean + 2 front squat + 1 split jerk (mostly 90kg). Clean triples (max 105kg). Metcon, 10min amrap of: 6 hang power snatch (35kg), 9 t2b, 12 box jump overs. Result, 191 reps.
Yesterday was a light day because of Super Bowl so my body felt ready for some barbell work. It's been some time since previous bar complex and I had some sort of desire to hit one. Also took couple of sets heavy cleans, and conditioning part was a mixture of light snatches, toes-to-bar and box jump overs. All in all, it was a great session! I took my time to get warm and joints prepared. It took me a good 2+ hours to hang out at the gym.
Complex.
7 working sets of:
1 clean
2 front squat
1 split jerk
Loads: 80, 85, 90, 90, 90, 90, 90kg
These complex stuff are great. It's totally different compared to regular clean and jerk work. Being longer under the stress brings its own twist. Jerk is definitely what is my weak side on these kind of combos. I got these weights done with style but heavier ones could have been too challenging.
Clean was easy, no doubt. Front squats were light if we just look at the weights and compare them to max loads. But in a complex like this they start to bring burden. Especially as there was the jerk waiting around the corner. Jerk is definitely my weaker side of c&j, gotta be putting more effort on that one. More push presses and jerks. Anyway, I'm happy on the way I performed on this one! And the reps were pretty solid on each set. Looked similar, no big differences.
Strength.
Clean 3-3-3-2 (95, 100, 105, 107.5kg)
I had planned on hitting some heavier cleans after the complex. It was supposed to be heavy and it was exactly that. I did these in weightlifting style. I mean they were not touch'n'go triples, more like 3 singles with as minimum rest as possible between reps.
It was positively surprising how high I was able to climb on these sets. I've done 100kg for a triple before but that's the heaviest. Now I got 105kg, there's a video of those lifts below. I knew there's more in the tank so I piled it up to 107.5kg and went after it. I got 2 reps done. Third one fell forward a bit too much and I had to let it go through my hands. That sucked a lot. I really wanted to get that. My training pal said "you'll get it, I already thought you got it".
That was the final trigger for me to try get it once more. I grabbed the bar and pulled. Got it front racked but not in a perfect position. I somehow lost my balance a bit and had to drop the bar. My balance was off too much back and once I tried to drop the bar in front, my right wrist got twisted in a position it didn't want to. So it's been aching for a while now. Hopefully it's just a small thing. Otherwise there's gonna be squats everyday in the future =)
3x105kg
Metcon. Result, 191 reps (7 rounds + 2 snatch)
10min amrap of:
6 hang power snatch, 35kg
9 toes-to-bar
12 box jump overs
This was a good conditioning part in the end. Light snatches, core and hard breathing. That's how I would define this one. It was intentionally light so that it would be possible to keep on going without pauses in vain.
I took the power snatches from high hang position all the way. Those were light, and I liked it. Had they been heavier, it might have had a butterfly effect on the entire workout. Now all elements were completed unbroken each round. For a while I was afraid what would happen with the t2b's. They felt good in the beginning but round by round they got more challenging. Luckily I got them ub for all 7 rounds.
Those box jumps are comfy for me. Don't know what the deal is as those are tougher than normal box jumps but I really enjoy doing them. The number of them was the highest of these three elements and took most of the time and got heart beat high for sure. This was a good triplet to get some action going on and develop metabolic conditioning.
Great experience! Working out with Toni. This was my third trip to his crossfit affiliate ever. Every time it's been like two kids in a candy shop. These training sessions have been a blast and awesome things have happened. We like to throw down for a pair workout those times that we rarely get to train together. Today I learned new skills, we hit oly lifts and finally a long metcon together. It was probably closer to 3 hours that I spent at the Box. Later in the afternoon I headed downtown with Pauliina for a date night. Food and movies, just the way we like it =)
Skills.
Bar muscle-ups
Rope climb
I took about an hour to warm-up. No need to rush at all. That is great, body thanks for it every time. There was open gym and the Box was full of people so I took my time and taped up, mobilized my joints, did lots of Coach Burgener warm-ups, foam rolled, used resistance band to open up my shoulders and lats too. It was also awesome to just see everybody work their fitness. There were some studs at the affiliate. Couple of them are headed to Winter War, Finland's national competition to find out who's the toughest man / woman in the country.
Finally I touched the pull-up bar, took couple of reps just to get the rhythm going on. The rig was great and it's easy to string reps together. Much easier compared to my home gym, no doubt about it. There's so much room for legs to move around that you can use a good kip. For pull-ups I've developed a style where I don't need it anymore that much but for muscle-ups it's a taken.
For the first attempt at bar mu's I took 4 good reps. It's been a while since last time I had the chance to try these because at my home gym I should do them pretty strict and I haven't practiced those at all. So it must have been some time in autumn I took my previous bar mu's. Before any attempts I did couple of reps in my head to ease the path. After first rep it got back to muscle memory right away. On the second attempt I took 7 reps. Just for fun, getting the touch on the movement. Great feeling!
It was awesome to see people started to work their muscle-ups too, and we talked with couple of dudes on how to get those mu's rolling. I felt very humble people came to talk to me like I was a regular at their Box and give credits on those repetitions. They were also interested in the background as I'm not training at any affiliate. The atmosphere is warm here at Crossfit Vantaa. I understand why Toni busts his ass there on a regular basis.
I've touched a rope three times in my life. And completed as much as 2 rope climbs that I remember in all 35 years of my life. Climbing ropes was anyway my idea. I want to know how it feels like and I also want to be good at it. It's been in the back of my head to acquire a rope and throw it around a tree branch for some play time. Anyway, after Toni showed me how to do them, it was easy. It burned but there were no issues in getting up there.
Strength.
Clean and jerk complex
1 clean + 3 split jerk (60, 70, 80, 85, 90, 95kg)
1 clean and jerk at 100kg
Little by little people started to leave from the Open Gym and we had time and space to work these complexes. Toni was guiding people during the morning so he couldn't work on his own naturally. We both completed clean & jerks in complex style. I did the same as last earlier, 1+3 style as jerk is weaker than clean. Toni has quite the opposite so he did 2 cleans + 1 jerk.
These felt good. I climbed up without a proper plan. Hit 80kg jerks t'n'g from front rack, and from 85kg on I took a breath before jerking it again. Okay, the bar was quite heavy even though I got them done well. So I didn't go heavier than 95kg even though I had something like that in mind. Still, I wanted to take one rep at 100kg just to get that heavy single under my belt. Have to get those heavy singles done too. I'm very satisfied on this strength portion!
Pair workout. Result, 5 rounds + 3 rope climb
30min amrap of:
4 rope climb
8 bar muscle-ups
16 burpee box jump
32 partner wall ball shots
18m overhead walking lunges, 40kg
Long workout. Neither of us knew how this would turn out to be like. It was a wild card so to say. With my top climb background and high-rep number of bar muscle-ups in a metcon, hmm. Haven't done them in metcons at all. And those are not walk in the park for my training partner either. He can definitely do both of them which is freaking awesome but these were both something that we are not used to on a regular basis. Plus Toni just did 28 bar mu's yesterday in his training session, that's a lot for us.
There were lots of elements that are not everyday elements. I'm really happy we were both able to perform well and consistently throughout the workout. In addition to ropes and mu's, we added spice to this soup by throwing partner wall balls in. That means I shot the 9kg ball to the wall, Toni caught it, and threw it right back. Overhead walking lunges are always a pleasure. Not very often you see these, my share of oh lunges usually takes place in Klaukkala when I work outdoors at the in-laws.
This workout was very well planned after all. Risk was worth taking. And it feels so good to get these new elements included in a metcon. We were able to maintain a solid pace all the way. Basically there weren't any big breaks when clock was running. This was more like interval training. While I was working, Toni had his break. When I was done, it was high fives and you're on mister.
We did rope climbs in singles, one for me, one for Toni, and repeat. Plan for the muscle-ups was to split them in 2 sets, 4 & 4. That worked perfectly for first 2 rounds. From then on I did 5 and Toni did 3 reps. Those were damned hard towards the end but we both nailed them as planned. Awesome work pal!
Burpee box jumps were naturally 8-8 for both. It was probably a bit tougher for Toni as I did them first, and he was down then. I had my time to settle breathing down whereas he was getting some wall balls right at his face after burpee boxes. Those box jumps really got to our legs, even with as few reps but still. Lunges were okay, not the toughest of these but they still got the wod-feeling on. And it never got easier to jump for the rope again.
Fastened recap of the entire 30 minutes
We battled through 5 full rounds and 3 rope climbs before the time cap was done. Got a total of 40 bar muscle-ups during the day and 15 rope climbs in addition to all other work. We got Toni a new toy for birthday present in addition to the Rogue box =), and he started to play with it right away. Sony's version of the Go Pro camera. Freaking awesome tool. Check out Ponyschannel on Instagram to see couple of videos from today's training. The video above is also made with that camera.
Wednesday. Complex, 1 clean + 3 jerk, start at 60kg, add 5kg per set, add up. Result, 95kg. Then, 3x100kg clean. Then, 8x112.5kg front squat. Emom x 10min: odd min, 10 thrusters (40kg) and amrap of du's. Even min, rest. Result, 50-45-40-35-33 du's.
Last workout of the year. Make it count. Got some real heavy clean and jerks in the books. Then played around with cleans and front squats just for fun, and finally hit an interval workout in the way I see Pat Sherwood fool around all the time. Good inspiration. This was created by myself though. In the evening we went to casa de Toni to celebrate the New Year's Eve and his birthday at the same time =)
Somehow I kind of forget to practice my overhead strength. At least that's the feeling I have right now. Often I'm thinking about focusing on that but then after some time I realize I haven't put weights over my head. So it was about time. This complex is perfect workout for me. My clean is much stronger than the jerk so this focuses on the weakness on clean and jerk.
I'm very happy on being able to move these loads. I went up to 80kg for touch'n'go on front rack position, first set where I rested the bar on from rack was at 85kg. My core felt very strong today and there was no shake and bake in midline at all. It also felt like all the lifts were kinda similar. I was able to throw my front foot forward enough which created stability in the movement.
Unfortunately the gym got crowded after 75kg so I had to put my camera down and couldn't get the heaviest lift on video. That would have been very beneficial to see if that technique really worked. Last set was a good battle. Those jerks weren't light at all but I had good confidence and was able to hold on. As I jerked the bar up, I waited for a second before bringing my feet together to ensure good stability. There was some more room to build up but this felt like it was good to stop here. This is also the heaviest I've done for a triple, ever. Maybe I could try this same thing in the near future and try to build up. It would be crazy to throw 100kg up in the air for multiple jerks someday. That was such a distant dream some time ago, even for a single.
Recap of the early jerks
Cleans were light today. I just wanted to take couple of heavy cleans for fun. There as 100kg on the bar and I took it up for a triple. Dropped the bar from top, re-grip and took it up again. Felt perfect all the way. Three identical lifts. Felt great!
Front squats were part of my squat program. 4x9 reps at heavy weights was too much to handle today. I'll take these some other day. I got 8x112.5kg, then decided to rack it and move on.
I like the way Pat Sherwood posts his workouts. Interval stuff. All out effort for a certain time, then rest for a predetermined period. On this one there was 10 thrusters at 40kg, then as many reps as possible in the remaining minute. It took me about 20 seconds to finish the thrusters. So there was about 35 seconds to get max effort of double unders in. Maybe for me something like burpees would have worked perfectly because the transition would be 0 seconds. Somehow I lost time before my first double under.
I got 50 du's on the first round without making any misses. Unbroken all the way. It takes about half a second to finish one rep so there should be time for 60-70 reps? On the following rounds I had probably one miss or then an intentional break every round which dropped the number from 50 to 45, then 40, 35 and finally 33 double unders. My shoulders bailed me and that caused lack of concentration. This was actually a very good workout and this kind of interval work forces you to push through no matter what. Now as I think about it, I should have somehow fought the strength to keep on skipping the rope. Lesson learned!
Tuesday. Strength, clean and jerk complex: 1 power clean + 3 split jerk (max 90kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 7 push jerk (60kg), 15 pull-ups. Time 7.09.
Another day of training with Jouni, c'mon! He's taken it up a notch and is focusing on deads, squats and presses currently. Plus naturally metcons to finish it every training day. For me, between squat days it's natural to go after some overhead strength and / or metcons. I'll try to write the sessions so that my legs wouldn't burn too badly. Today was heavyish jerk action and the metcon was a tough one for upper body strength.
Strength. C&J complex
1 power clean + 3 split jerk
Sets at 70, 80, 85, 85, 90kg
My max clean is around 115kg and jerk at 105kg. I haven't been able to jerk from blocks and rack jerks are a rarity so my that 105kg PR is actually a clean and jerk. Anyway, that is a clear indicator that my jerk needs more work than clean. Ideally they would be about the same. Having this kind of complex is created to work on the weaker one of these movements. Plus I took the clean as power clean to work on that technique. That's close to my max power clean from ground if I recall it right. For some reason I've been able to take 4 or 5 reps at 90kg for hang power clean, hmm…
I felt solid on this complex today. Lately the use of chalk was forbidden at our gym (which is insane) so I had to pay a lot of attention to my hook grip to prevent it not to slip. Barbell was "light" up to 80kg, then on the 85kg I wanted to take the same load for another time just to focus o the technique another time. Last set was at 90kg. Had no troubles in getting the reps done. I just did some time ago similar type of session, that time I climbed up to 95kg. Plus couple of days ago it was 1+5 session for up to 85kg. It would be freaking awesome to being able to hit 100kg reps for multiple reps. Maybe I just need to try them out I guess. I would feel more safe if there was a possibility to drop the weights in case it's not under control.
Metcon. Time 7.09
5 rounds of:
7 push jerk, 60kg
15 pull-ups
This got inspired from the workout "2007" if you know what I refer to. In 2013 Crossfit Games we saw a workout called 2007 which was a tribute to the first ever Crossfit Games and actually the very first workout that year. Back then 60kg was considered a heavy weight for men but last year it was like a toothpick. The development of these human weapons is huge. The rx'd version of the workout was 1.000m buy-in, then 5 rounds of 25 pull-ups and 7 push jerks. The number of pull-ups is too much for me, the intensity would go down and the dividends wouldn't yield as well as I'd like to in this kind of metcon.
First round of this one was easy, the barbell was light and pull-ups went unbroken. I intentionally kept a short pause between movements because I've done this type of stuff before, similar couplet, ad I know my body. Took me 0:51. It wouldn't have been a smart decision to go all out from the gates. Second round, still unbroken on both movements. Barbell still okay, pull-ups got tougher. Took me 1:10 for this round. On third round the barbell wasn't that pleasant anymore and pull-ups probably broke after 10 reps. I dropped down and finished the 5 remaining reps. Time on 3rd was 1:35.
Fourth round got naturally tougher. Jerks still ub even though those felt heavy. My legs started to burn too, and shoulders were getting fatigue. Hmm how were the pull-ups? Probably 9, then 2 sets of 3 reps. At this point I tried to keep the recovery as short as possible because there was only one more round to go. It still took me 1:51 because I had to drop down from the pull-up bar.
On last round I was able to speed it up just a little bit (1:41). All jerks during the metcon went touchn'n'go all the way. The last 2 reps were tough on this one but manageable. Legs were on fire at this time, and shoulder of course. Pull-ups were "the thing" in this workout. Last round was 6-4-3-2 but the rest times were as short as possible and they actually were because this was quicker than the 4th round.
This is a challenging workout, at least for me. I like it, it's tough, mentally and physically. Having that row in the beginning would mix it up a lot too. Don't know why but there have been less pull-ups in my training than regularly. Got to keep adding reps on my training for sure. Anyway, I'm very satisfied to this training day!
Friday. Bar complex 1 hang squat clean + 3 split jerk (max 95kg). Hang squat clean singles (max 105kg). Back squat 3x9 reps (across 90kg).
My pal Jouni entered the cave again this Friday. I went to pick up Pauliina after work and hit it at the gym for another training day. I was a bit nervous about the training because my shoulders felt a little tired but I still decided to give it a shot on my original plan of hitting jerks. I love working for overhead strength, there's some brutality in that. Jouni took his first presses ever, then some deads and 5k row for time, great to see this man progress to a better fitness level!!!
We are heading to the countryside for the weekend so I needed to get some barbell work done before that. This kind of bar complex that I did in the beginning is simply great. Why not go for pure clean and jerks? This type of complex work is a great way to work on the weaker part of c&j movement. Mine is clearly the jerk, there's about 10kg difference in my max lifts between cleans and jerks. Getting the bar to front rack position is one move, and I need to develop my shoulder-to-overhead movement even more so I took jerk triples for that purpose.
Some core work at the end of the session
Warm-up was done for a little longer than normally because I felt like that's in place today to get this body properly ready for these lifts. It's definitely worth it in order to get good lifts done. For some reason I took all cleans from hang position instead of pulling from floor. It felt great and light so why not improve this movement at the same time. I've always taken my hang cleans as "tall cleans" or "pocket cleans" meaning the bar's starting point is at a very high position. Earlier this week Toni came to do a workout with me and we worked on our technique and he taught me how to do hang cleans from above-knee position. That rocked my world and obviously it's been a lot easier since then on hang cleans in general.
Those jerks felt good too and I was able to climb up well on the weight ladder. And they were decent in technique too! There's nothing I was left to think about that I'd like to change. They went as planned, no matter the weight. I remember having done a heavy triple like this at 90kg but 95kg was definitely a new max weight. I'm very happy on this one, some sort of record is in the books!
After having done that last 95kg lift I decided to let the jerks alone and take couple of hang cleans because it rolled well. There was 100kg on the bar next time and it felt great. Had no other chance but to add weight. I took 105kg up as well and to say the truth, that was not the max. This is sick if you compare the weights I've moved before. I believe previous max hang clean was either 90 or 95kg.
Yesterday was a pause squat day and that was more than enough to get these legs done. However, I read a lot about Smolov squat program in the evening and was enthusiastic about that theme. I don't like to follow any programs because that's as far away from crossfit as possible and I strongly believe you gotta keep the body guessing when you go to your Box. But why I got into studying this thing more is the high probability to increase leg strength remarkably. Don't know how to incorporate those into crossfit so probably I won't do that. Just wanted to get a feeling of squatting on back-to-back days. Felt good!
Monday. Skills, ring muscle-ups (PR 3 reps). Strength, 7 sets of bar complex of: 2 push press + 2 push jerk (70-80kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 10 hspu, 20 power snatch (40kg), 30 box. Time 14.24.
It was great to get back in action after a bit of a slack in the weekend. Don't remember when I would have had 2 recovery days in 3 days. But it might have done good to this body, I definitely hope so. At least I got PR in ring muscle-ups! Strength part consisted of overhead work with a barbell. Finally my metcon was continuous high-rep stuff with couple of movements. Those hurt the body in different nature than low-rep stuff. I also got some good tips from one co-worker regarding mobility on my upper body as I'd like to see my shoulders get more flexible, especially for overhead squat / squat snatch positions.
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups (PR 3-2-2-2 reps)
C'mon, I finally got 3 unbroken reps on the rings!!! This is something that's been in my sight for some time but I haven't been able to nail it this far. Entering the gym I was a little nervous about doing muscle-ups because it seems it's been a while since last ring mu session. I've been knocking those bar muscle-ups with good success though.
I grabbed the rings, took a good swing and flew up over the rings. That was easy. I got confident right away and decided to go for more. I've been watching those Grid League professional matches and those muscle-ups in some event looked so easy and effortless that I thought why wouldn't they look as easy when I go after them. With this in mind I dropped down and did another continuous swing and put all in to get over the rings. Check, why not go for the third one. And I got that, what a relief! It felt simply great to get that third one in the books.
As it felt so good I decided to try multiples in the following sets too. I went on by feeling and took a double on the next set. Same with the rest of the sets. This was clearly the best ring muscle-up session ever in my crossfit career. Might sound lame for you guys who can do multiple ring mu's just like that, but for me this was success and boosted my confidence a lot. I realized the same small things that led to my bar muscle-ups proceed to next level brought me to this point. I had the same patience as with bar mu's. Hopefully I get a chance to work on bar mu's as I need to find a pull-up bar with plenty of space. Can't do them at my regular gym. Those bar mu's clearly transfer to some benefits on rings as well.
Strength.
Bar complex of:
2 push press + 2 push jerk
Sets at 70, 80, 75, 75, 75, 75, 75kg
This was classic overhead strength. I wasn't sure what weights would suit for me. That's because of the push jerk. It's kind of awkward that my push press is actually a little better than push jerk. I remember pressing 90kg overhead but push jerk max is maybe at around 85kg, and a little shaky version for sure. Can't find perfect technique for that movement. So this was both strength and technique training at the same time. Then, on the other hand my split jerk is at 105kg, taken from floor as c&j. There are big differences depending on the way the bar is lifted overhead.
Anyway, I decided to do 7 sets of this complex. First one at 70kg, there was extra room to add the stakes so I put 10kg more weight on the bar. That felt a bit wobbly on the jerks so I dropped it to 75kg and finished the remaining sets with that load. Those felt good all the way. Maybe I could have done this with push press / split jerk combo to make it with heavier loads but on the other hand, it was good to practice on that push jerk technique simultaneously. On lighter weights (around 60kg) it feels great but on heavier sets it's more challenging technique-wise.
Metcon. Time 14.24
3 rounds of:
10 handstand push-ups
20 power snatch (40kg)
30 box jumps, 61cm
I wrote having in mind that I need to get those workouts done too where yo have to do more linked reps in a row. Don't know if you can ever call anything "traditional" workout because I try to mic it all the time but normally if I have these movements in a workout, the amount of reps is lower on each of them. This time I added the repetitions to amounts that I knew would be challenging to push through unbroken.
On hspu's the first round was easy, the workout had just began so it was obvious to go unbroken. On the second one I did 5-5, intentionally. I could have pushed them unbroken but that would have eaten the energy of my shoulders. Last round was 6-4. On power snatches I used hook grip which turned out to be a wise decision to save forearms. I'm in the learning stage of hook grip. Sometimes I use that, on some cases not. Took the clean PR last week with hook grip but it's mostly a feeling thing. At the moment there's it's not that black and white. This time it felt natural to go for hook grip. First round was 8-6-6, second 6-5-5-4, last one 6-6-4-4, pretty consistent and my form stayed solid all the way, didn't compromise that at any moment. Felt proud of that.
This is match number 3, I'm kind of hooked on this league!
Box jumps after burning my legs a bit on the snatches felt bad. Got the first round unbroken, then on the second and third round I took some rest periods on top of the box. Plus I had 2 missed reps that I usually don't have at all. The fatigue hit my legs and coordination was more difficult than normally.
This was a great workout and the entire training session actually! Felt super to get those unbroken ring mu's in the beginning and shoulders are always worth training for. I also enjoyed the nature of the metcon. This was a good start to the week.
Thursday. Barbell, complex of 1 clean + 3 jerk (max 85kg). Metcon, 2rds of Cindy, then 5 c&j (60kg), 1min rest. For a total of 5 sets.
It was a tough day. I mean it felt heavy from the beginning on the jerks and I didn't quite get it going at any moment as I wanted. My work day was not cool at all. We were in a long seminar day and there were no possibility to stand up pretty much at all during the day. You should never have people sit down for a whole day. Huh, that wasn't great for the body, especially as I'm used to move all the time during day. Anyway, I went home, ate with my baby and then headed to the gym together with Pauliina.
Barbell. Clean and jerk complex
1 squat clean + 3 split jerk
60, 70, 80, 85kg
Had something a lot heavier in mind but it simply felt a little to awkward from the beginning and I couldn't find my technique in place. Cleans were light all the time, as they should have been, but the overhead party was too shaky even with light weights. Maybe it was just lack of concentration here, I admit that. Took just couple of sets with moderate weights.
Barbell work and maybe last 2 rounds of the metcon
My thoughts were on a "twisted Cindy" consisting of normal Cindy with clean and jerks in an ascending ladder every round. However, my energy wasn't quite there so I did a lighter version of the same movements. This was a good interval action of about 1:40 per set. There was a 60 second rest period at the end of each interval. The idea was to being able to go hard at every set.
I had to break the last set of push-ups, other than that I guess I pushed them unbroken. Pull-ups were like feather light, squats started to make my quads and hammies heavy but I did them unbroken too. Clean and jerks went in touch'n'go style all the way.
There's not much to be told to the future generations about this workout. Barbell complex was off track a bit so I just basically wanted to get my lungs work well and I reached that goal. I was gassed after the interval work. Great workout by the way!
Those heavy deadlifts really feel in my body right now. I feel like I was hit my a car, body is totally hammered. I realized it only at the gym, didn't see that coming earlier in the morning. I went to work later in the afternoon so we had time to hit the gym in the morning with Pauliina. I went there with blank thoughts and it soon turned out I'd better listen to my body and take it easy this time. Took some press work and then a workout for quality, not for time.
Barbell.
3 shoulder press + 3 push press
Sets @ 40, 50, 55, 55kg
Even though my posterior chain is screaming for help I wanted to touch the barbell, only for a light work though. I did it in complex style of shoulder presses and push presses. Definitely didn't feel like putting a lot of load overhead today. But this was a good one, the weights stayed light and it seemed to suit well for me today. Had no problems with the sets in any of them.
Workout.
4 rounds of:
500m row
15 pull-ups
10 shoulder press (40kg)
This time I have no idea how much this one took me because that was not the main point of the workout. Just needed to get some work done so I took my pauses and breaks after every station. On the rower my pace was 1.50 or a bit faster. I basically focused on doing the work with my legs instead of hands. The goal was to put lower body in action here and save upper body for pull-ups and shoulder presses.
I got the pull-ups unbroken for all 4 rounds. That was not a surprise as such but for some reason my body felt way more tired than normally so that caused the pull-ups to be more challenging than regularly. Presses were light in weight but they were to be completed without using legs at all, as shoulder presses. Usually I don't put shoulder presses into metcons ever but the nature of this one was different as I took my time to recover between movements. So I got these unbroken each round too.
This is part 5 of the series: "Lucas Parker's Road to the Games". I suggest you to take a look at the entire series. Just put the topic on youtube and you will be guided to all sets
Haven't done much handstand in Haaga, mostly outdoors or in places like Liikuntamylly or Eltsu. Now the gym was empty and even though the there's not much room I decided to give it a shot. My skills have gotten much better and the tiny space didn't bother me. There was some pressure to stay still and not move around. Maybe that was a good thing and I was able to handle my skills pretty well.
Strength.
Complex of:
1 clean + 3 jerk
Sets @ 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90kg
I wanted to put some weight overhead. Thought it would be a good idea to take the bar from ground anyway. I kind of get my hands on the bar better when I clean it from ground compared to grabbing it from a rack. My hands go around it more naturally when I do the front squat, bounce the bar up and catch it airborne over my shoulders. Funny but that seems to be the case. It's more natural for me.
Recap of the training day
My goal was to go as heavy as possible in touch'n'go style. It felt very good on almost all sets. There were maybe two reps where I jerked it too much forward instead of upwards but the tng style worked well for me. The last set that I got as planned was 85kg. On the 90kg I had to re-rack the bar in the front rack position before completing the last rep. Anyway the first two reps went touch'n'go on that set too.
Metcon.
21-15-9-6-3 of:
Handstand push-ups
Front squat, 70kg (from ground)
Bar-facing burpees
This was a pain cave! I'm telling you I was so deep in some dark place that I was thinking about dropping crossfit. But as it always happens, you just push through and keep thinking about happy thoughts until you reach what you came to the Box for. And once you nail that last rep, get a grip of life again, you feel like a king and are ready for another challenge. That is crossfit. You overcome the barriers thrown in front of you. Period.
This workout was something similar to the Regionals' workout. I did something like this once before because the Regionals workout looked cool when I first saw it. Those handstand push-ups are always a battle. Not that bad when you do something like 5 reps per round in a workout but these high rep rounds are killers for shoulders. Today I got them done okay but my shoulders were burning big time. On the first round I did maybe 10-5-4-3. On the round of 15's it was probably 5-4-3-3, round of 9's was 5-2-2 and then 3-3 and unbroken the last round.
If hspu's made my shoulders go numb, front squats were destined to make my legs spaghetti. 70kg front squat isn't bad when you do couple of reps. But hey c'mon, 21-15 sets are not cool with this weight. On the first set I got them 11-5-5, the second set was 9-6 and then it was unbroken on the remaining sets. They felt grueling on my lower body. I had a week's pause on squatting (and barbell work in general) and my legs were a misery all day today as I squatted yesterday. I figured more squatting would help. A man's logic… Let's see how they feel tomorrow =)
So the first two movements made my strength leave my body and bar-facing burpees were left to destroy my engine. They made me breath like a maniac. I kind of love and hate those burpees. No doubt they are a pain in the ass but they also bring you the mind-blowing feeling afterwards as you realize you can hit them and don't let the workout beat you. Bar-facing burpees are way tougher than normal burpees. If you haven't done them, try them and you know what I'm talking about.
World class breakfast in Don's Kitchen (okay, Wifey's Kitchen)
Great day in general! Loved the day with Pauliina earlier and then I survived the evening training at the gym too. It was also great to get some handstand action done too.
Monday. Complex, emom x 20. Odd min, 1 hang squat clean + 2 front squat. Even min, 1 power clean + 2 jerk (70-80kg)
Today's workout was inspired by crossfit athlete Jeremy Kinnick. Strengthening the entire body by doing clean and jerk type of complex in emom style. Nothing more was needed this time. It was a short training session and I got what I needed.
Toni's brand new Nano 4.0's boom
Barbell. Complex
Every minute on the minute, for 20min
Odd minutes, 1 hang squat clean + 2 front squat
Even minutes, 1 power clean + 2 split jerk
1-4min, 70kg
5-8min, 75kg
9-20min, 80kg
With a 20 minute running clock, perform a set of hang squat clean and front squats on odd minutes and then another combination of power clean and jerks on even minutes. So it was 10 rounds of both complexes. I had not pre-determined the weights but I climbed up as it felt the load was manageable. Started with 70kg, and after having taken 2 sets for both complexes I felt it's good to add weight. Did another 4min with 75kg before jumping to 80kg where I stayed for the rest of the workout.
I'm actually very happy I got to do this to the end with 80kg. Those hang squat cleans started to get challenging towards the end. My max clean from ground is 110kg and max hang clean is 90kg. That's because I tend to do hang cleans from the pocket, some might call it high hang. I took these hang squat cleans from the pocket too. So little by little I had to be faster in pulling myself under the bar.
My hands were slippery in the last 5-6 minutes even though I chalked them up all the time. It just didn't help at all, that was kind of strange. But it didn't bother that much, I used some hook grip to ignore those slippery hands. I'm feeling very comfortable and confident on having weight overhead. Split jerks are coming together and putting 80-90kg weights in the air feels good right now. I've been cleaning and jerking a lot of stuff this month because I wanted to make up the 2 week barbell break I had in the end of May. It's payback time =)
Monday. Barbell complex, 2 clean + 2 front squat + 2 jerk. Start at 40kg, add 5kg per set. Go until failure, then start over. Result, first round 90kg, second round 85kg.
Start @ 40kg, add 5kg after every set. Continue till failure, then start over.
Result. 1st round 90kg, 2nd round 85kg
I remember having done this at least 2-3 times before, this is kind of my own benchmark workout (Don) haha. Well, I'll give some credit to Chris Spealler who I saw do something like this way way back. I tried it once then, and fell in love on the complex right away. I've been testing myself every now and then to see how my strength levels have increased. And it has definitely been a positive signal that I've always been able to lift heavier weights than previous time.
I checked it afterwards that on those earlier occasions I've done 1 power clean and 1 squat clean. Today my goal was to hit it with 2 power cleans all the way. I almost stuck to that plan. Only the last clean on both rounds were squat cleans. That means the latter 90kg clean on the first round and the latter clean on the second round at 85kg were squat cleans, everything were power cleans. That was great job for me! I tend to go squat clean when it goes over 80kg to develop my full clean.
So the nature of the workout is that you do all those 6 reps (2 cleans, front squats and jerks) touch'n'go style without readjusting the grip anywhere in the middle. When I did this one for the first time my 1 rep max jerk was around 80kg (now it's 105kg) and the point was to start at about 50% of that 1RM. So just for comparison purposes I've done this in a similar style, starting at 40kg still at this date. Add 5kg after every set (those 6 consecutive reps) and try again, a little heavier all the time.
Those first sets are obviously light but they are actually very good warm-up and preparation to those heavier sets. My work capacity today was very good indeed. I must say. Power cleans went smoothly, the bar path was natural and the turnover was quick. On the front squats I went deep, way below parallel to improve mobility at the same time. Utilized the bounce at the bottom on some sets. I was afraid the jerks would be the most difficult part and it probably was but I was efficient there too. My dip and drive part was effective enough to get the barbell overhead with a good lockout.
This was the first time I got to 90kg. I think I had something left in my tank at this point. My elbows were getting a little sore after all the jerking around so I stayed at this weight. There was another round of reps ahead of me. On the second round I got to 85kg as prescribed. On both rounds I felt like I could have still moved the barbell. At this stage my elbows were definitely kindly asking me to stop so I listened and saved a little for future.
This was very encouraging complex work for me. The weights were heavy for this kind of complex. Unfortunately I couldn't take a video of the work put in.
Thursday. Clean and jerk complex, 7 sets of: 1 squat clean + 3 jerks (max 90kg). Burpees, 30sec on, 30sec off, for 7min. Result, 12 reps per set.
I don't seem to get tired of working my strength to next level with barbells. Putting weights overhead is a great feeling after a successful lift. Doesn't matter which movement it is but having a barbell loaded with plates and having it with straight arms brings satisfaction beyond words. Today it was turn to work on clean and jerks in a bar complex style. It took its taxes and I felt hammered after that. I only took some burpee sprints in the end.
Barbell complex.
7 sets of: 1 squat clean + 3 split jerks
Weights at 60, 70, 80, 82.5, 85, 87.5, 90kg
I felt good on these lifts. Foam rolling and mobility in the beginning to get myself going. Took some empty bar and 40kg warm-up lifts before making it to 60kg. I felt more shaky in this weight compared to heavier ones =) Squat clean was easy on all lifts. I had the barbells on my fingertips only on the clean and then re-adjusted the bar as I stood up and bounced the bar up to get a good grip.
From 70kg on the lifts were identical in my opinion. I focused well on each set and had good jerks at all reps. I believe my hip work - dip and drive - were good today and I simply felt very confident all the way. Before walking to the gym I thought it would be nice to throw around weights at around 80kg. After having taken that first set at this weight I realized there's more room to go up. So I kept adding 2.5kg after every set.
I can't say the last set was light. But I want to believe there was still air to making it heavier. I wanna keep adding strength on overhead strength so more jerks are ahead of me.
Bodyweight.
30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, for 7 minutes:
Burpees
Result 12 reps every set
I took some double unders at this stage but it felt like my shins were aching and shoulders were also somehow painful so I skipped it pretty soon. I had some jump rope action in my mind but I changed it on the fly and took burpee intervals. Nice… I set the timer in front of me and started moving up and down.
30 second intervals, as many reps as possible in this time frame. With a running clock, recover for the rest of the minute, then start again. Repeat for a total of 7 minutes. I had time to complete 12 burpees in every set. That was the best pace I was able to go for today. It felt a little worse by the round but I had it locked up in my mind to stick to the 12 burpees after first round.
I'm happy I was able to maintain that speed all the way. Looking from the side it probably looked the same. In the inside it felt different the longer the minutes went on. But I pushed the feeling aside and kept moving. It was a total of 86 reps during this intervals.
Saturday. Skills, TGU. Strength, cleans (PR 110kg). Clean and jerk complex (max 95kg). Benchmark workout Chief, 5 x 3min amrap of: 3 power clean (60kg), 6 push-ups, 9 air squats, 1min rest. Result, 459 reps.
What a day! We slept late, ate a good breakfast and hit the gym with Pauliina. We met a friend - Juuso - at the gym for a training day. He's a new crossfitter and has taken on the challenge quite well in my opinion. I talked him into this sport for quite a while before he tried his first wod. Since then, he's taken on some pretty nasty workouts, Fran and Cindy to mention some examples. Today it was time for him for a PR squat of 115kg. I did some barbell work in different styles of clean & jerks, some PR stuff was also in play.
Skills.
Turkish get-ups, couple of sets
I've forgotten this movement totally. Yesterday evening Toni threw in this one so that's the reason I figured why not? We don't have any heavy kettlebells at the gym so I used dumbbells instead. It feels a little different with kettlebells / dumbbells. With kb's the weight leans towards the wrist where as db's don't. This was actually a good preparation to the training session as it activated pretty much every muscle in my body and stretched the shoulders as well.
Strength. Cleans
Hang clean, 5x60, 3x70, 3x80, 1x85, 1x90kg
Clean singles from ground 1x100, 1x105, 1x110kg PR
I had planned on doing a clean and jerk complex but decided to take some hang cleans prior to that main strength element. The cleans felt good so I ended up hitting some PR's =) First of all the heaviest bar I've ever hang cleaned is either 80 or 85kg at max. Probably 85kg, I recall I might have once taken a single at that load. Today I as able to get 90kg on my front rack starting from hang position. Some might call that a PR.
That was great and felt awesome! I had to hurry getting under the bar. I felt like the bar didn't come that up so there was no other option but to drop down and find a place under the bar. After 90kg hang clean I wanted to take a couple of regular full cleans, from ground as squat clean. The bar was light so it turned out I had taken a 105kg clean up and understood it's pretty close to a PR lift. My max load before this day was 107.5kg. I decided to give it a shot and skip it, jump to 110kg and try it out. I know it failed last time because I simply didn't dare to go under the bar.
The front squat part of the clean is not the thing, it's definitely the speed under the bar. And courage to drop there. Today I psyched myself up to the lift properly and had decided to get it. It wasn't the most beautiful lift I've done but hey c'mon it was 110kg, that's a big load for this guy.
110kg clean, PR
Clean and jerk complex.
1 clean + 5 split jerk (60kg)
1 clean + 3 split jerk (70kg)
1 clean + 2 split jerk (80, 85, 90, 95, 90kg)
The main focus of the day strength-wise was the jerk portion. I've been thinking about pushing / pressing more iron to the sky in the future to strengthen my shoulders. Push presses, push jerks and split jerks are gonna be the answer. Let's see how it turns out. Anyway, today I did this so that I picked the bar from the floor and then did couple of split jerks in a row.
Starting at low weight, building it up to 90kg and up. I think I'll still have to drop lower on the jerks. A positive thing was that I was mostly jerking the barbell upwards, not that much forward. And my back leg is not sideways anymore as it used to. I got some tips rom Toni's coach when I visited his affiliate. I appreciate the tips I got there.
After quite a lot of cleaning and jerking my fuel was pretty much gone. I had thought about it yesterday but at this stage it wasn't that attempting anymore as I had done more barbell work than I had planned. Chief is a tough bad ass so it would be nice to do it with a fresh body. Luckily Juuso was there too so I suggested we'd hit it together. It's definitely easier mentally to start off if you have a training buddy with you. He was in and so we put the clock running!
I don't know how the total result should be announced but I completed 5+ rounds per amrap. I played it safe all the way. I got those 5 rounds in about 2:30-2:40 each amrap. I thought pushing the limits to the final seconds all the time would have burned my legs badly so I left something in the tank in each 3min amrap. There were a total of 81 cleans, 153 push-ups and 225 squats.
Cleans were the easiest part for me in this one. Then came the push-ups and lastly the squats. It has surprised me every time how the squats eat the juice out of legs. I went through all the movements unbroken except the last couple of sets of squats where I took one second of breath to release the tension in my lower body.
Push-ups are tough for me normally but in Chief I believe I haven't had any issues. That's naturally because of the number of consecutive reps. And the clean is light weight for me so I would be surprised if that brought any issues. The only thing I'm wondering afterwards is should have I gassed more in the earlier amraps to gain better result. I know I could have pushed it for 6 rounds on the first amrap. But how would it affect the following sets as it would obviously suck the strength out of a human being more fiercely.
Don't know the answer. Maybe it could be worth doing couple of short amraps of this one just for fun to see how many rounds I could hurry if it was just for let's say 2-3 amraps with all-in mode. Could it possible to maintain that 6 round pace? I was happy for being able to keep this pace today and speed up a little on the last set. I was done after the workout, both of us were. Chief is tough.
