Thursday. Metcon, 3rds of: 30 cal row, 30 ghd, 30 box jump overs. Time, 14.10. Metcon, 8min amrap of db snatch (25kg) and burpees.
The playoffs started today in the Ice Hockey World Championships. Had to rush home after work to check Finland win Denmark. Got to say there seemed not to be a lot of feeling and will to win but on either team's mentality. Still, Finland won and moved on to compete against Germany or the comp host Russia. I found a chance to hit the gym after the game.
Metcon. Time, 14.10
3 rounds of:
30 cal row
30 ghd sit-ups
30 box jump overs
This was all about hip flexors. Every movement put pressure on those areas and it took a while after the metcon to recover. No idea of the row pace, I just looked at the calories and kept pulling. Ghd's were unbroken on the first round. On the second round I broke it to 18-12, and 12-10-8 on the last round. Core stayed good on these, it was all about the hip flexors. On the box overs I paced myself but never stopped moving.
Metcon. Result, 116 reps
8min amrap
2-2, 4-4, 6-6… of:
Dumbbell snatches @ 25kg
Burpees
My plan was to hit another metcon today so after recovering for a while I came up with this one. One training partner hit something with db snatches and burpees and it sounded good so I modified it to this one. This was a perfect conditioning piece. Got my breathing high and the overall fatigue hit me little by little.
Quick session at the gym on this Saturday evening. We had a great day in downtown Helsinki with Pauliina. That's why I went to get my conditioning piece done later in the day.
Metcon.
20min amrap of:
4 squat cleans @ 70kg
8 handstand push-ups
12 pull-ups
16 box jump overs
Don't know why my back has felt a bit tight. It comes when I keep doing squat movements, going below parallel. That is the reason I have been avoiding heavy back and front squats lately. It felt stiff on this one too, especially on the cleans and box jumps. Hspu's and pull-ups gave it some rest in between.
Completed the cleans in singles all the way. Reckoned it is the most beneficial way to go for them. Handstand push-ups were unbroken every round. Had no other option with them but to go without breaks. Pull-ups were mostly 8-4 reps with the exception of first round going in one full set. I never wanted to hit a wall on the pull-ups, that's the reason for breaking them up even though they could have been ub. Tried to pace myself on the box jumps and keep moving constantly.
Quality time with my wife. Crossfit at the gym. Nothing more needed from my perspective.
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 36 minutes
1st min, 15 kettlebell swing, 24kg
2nd min, 15 box jump overs
3rd, 15 ghd sti-ups
This was a great workout for basic conditioning. Longer metcon where breathing stayed under control pretty well. I prefer this kind of action to steady pace by for example running or rowing.
I had thought about swinging a 2-pood bell but for some reason there wasn't one available so I took the heaviest I found which was 1.5 pood bell (24kg). The weight wasn't very heavy at any point of the workout but time did its trick during the 36 minutes and it started to take its toll. Maybe it was more mental as my shoulder, core and posterior chain took it well. Breathing got heavier towards the end but it was manageable anyway.
Box jump overs are a cool way to get box jumps done in a bit different way. Had 2-3 of stumbles there due to lack of concentration. But only one no-rep though. Those are unforgivable so I repeated that one.
Ghd's were fine all the way. It's cool as I think about the volume of all movements here. There were 180 reps of each element. For ghd's it's probably the biggest volume I've ever done. Core took it well throughout but let's see how it's like tomorrow =)
Friday. 30sec on, 30sec off, for 10min: row. Wod, 10min amrap: 10 sdhp @ 50kg, 20 box overs. Wod, 5rds of 12 kb swing @ 32kg, 12 ghd.
Efficient session. Three-piece wod to finish the working week. I'm telling you guys I'm missing some old school barbell cycling. Once I get my body healed up 100% I'm gonna smash cleans big time. I've been dreaming of getting a bar on my front rack for some time now.
Workout.
0:00 - 10:00
30sec on, 30sec off, row for max distance
10:00 - 15:00
Rest
15:00 - 25:00
Amrap of:
10 sumo deadlift high-pulls @ 50kg
20 box jump overs
Result, 199 reps (6 rounds + 9 box)
25:00 - 33:00
Rest
33:00 - 39:27
5 rounds of:
12 kettlebell swing @ 32kg
12 ghd sit-ups
Clock was running constantly. The plan was to keep 5min breaks between wods but the latter recovery period stretched a bit as I was re-evaluating the movements. This was a great combination of action. There could be some cleans / snatches in the mix as well as hspu's, burpees and ring dips if my wrist would allow it. I really like this kind of effective sessions!
On the rowing my butt got numb towards the end and legs were smoked! Pace was around 1:35 throughout. A little faster in the beginning, maybe 1:32, and at slowest it was 1:37. I checked the distance after 10 minutes were over but I already forgot it.
On the second part the plan was to go unbroken on both movements. I could have broken the sdhp's early on and shortened the transitions. Don't know what would have been the best version but the goal of the workout was met today. Only in the last round I broke the reps as clock was winding down.
Box jumps seem to be my thing. I can keep going even with a heavy heart rate. Legs got tired though during the course of this workout for sure.
After these two workouts my legs were pretty much done so having kettlebell swings in the last piece got me thinking what can I pair it up with. Turned out to be ghd's. This was a nice core workout indeed. Took me slightly over 6 minutes to finish finish it.
Saturday's training session was an easier one. Only one metcon. My back felt as stiff as it could be after those heavier deadlifts on Friday. Even though they felt good when I did them, the following days are often the moments when I feel like something had been pulled from the ground. Another reason for taking it easier was schedule. We were going to celebrate one family member's 70 year birthday party. It was a blast, these people are great!
Winter War, Event 3. Result, 142 reps
10min amrap of:
20 cal row
15 wall ball
10 box jump overs
2/4/6/8… muscle-ups, ascending ladder
Winter War is a throwdown which aims to find the fittest in Finland. There are a total of 4 qualification events of which the 32 fittest will be called to the competition in February. The events are:
Event 1.
8min amrap:
10 thruster, 50kg
10 thruster, 60kg
10 thruster, 70kg
10 thruster, 80kg…
Event 2.
4min amrap:
1 chest-to-bar pull-up
1 toes-to-bar
Event 3.
10min amrap of:
20 cal row
15 wall ball
10 box jump overs
2/4/6/8… muscle-ups, ascending ladder
Event 4. "Barbell Hell"
50 deadlift, 60kg
50 bar over hops
50 hand power clean, 60kg
50 bar over hops
50 front squat, 60kg
50 bar over hops
50 shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
I did that first one some time ago. It was a repeat workout from 3 years ago. The only difference was that it started at 40kg then, and I went after the 2012 version. Now it was time for that third event. It looked like a nice one with some muscle-ups in the mix too. Those are always a bit challenging to think how to pace myself because one muscle-ups are gone, it's quite miserable situation =)
Today muscle-ups were not bad at all. To be honest this workout was all about muscle-ups. Row, wall balls and box jumps were small reps which made it easy to cruise through them. My plan was to take it easy on those though because I reckoned gassing myself out on those would make mu's so much more difficult.
First set was unbroken. Muscle-ups were put here in an ascending ladder, going up by 2 reps per round. On the round of 4's I got 3 in a row, and then a single to finish the round. I made a costly mistake there. I tried to jump on the rings to get the last rep done and couldn't get a grip on the rings. They started to swing back and forth which took some time to get them settled. One more muscle-up was completed on the round of 6's. All the muscle-ups were relatively easier than I thought.
It's not common to have mu's in a metcon for me so these are always good ones. Looking back at the workout I could have gone faster. Usually I know how fast I can go but mu's are still difficult to assess. Maybe that's a good reminder of putting them in metcons more often. That's how I would know better how much my body can tolerate of this skills element, strength and conditioning together.
Morning workout. All that bench work made my chest and shoulders were tight big time. Mobility made tricks and I got them ready for work. Squats were in the game to get strength in there, and then a sprint of heavy breathing in the end.
This was continuance to earlier work with this same rep scheme. Singles in strict press, push press, push jerk, and split jerk. Idea is to do 3x1 reps at the same weight, then add weight and change the style of putting the bar overhead. Shoulder presses were okay. The second rep was a battle as there wasn't enough aggression. Third one was the best of those.
Push presses went fine, those were the most steady reps of these all in my opinion. On the push jerks the weight was 85kg which is the heaviest I've ever put on straight hands so that was a bit different game. Couple of days ago I took 85kg for a single and it came up nicely. Today the first rep was ok, second left slightly in front which I couldn't save. On the third attempt I gathered some mental strength and put it overhead with ease.
As I lowered it back down on my front rack I didn't bring elbows in front which made the bar crash on my collarbones. Hurt like hell. I have a rip in one of my left hand fingers so that's the reason I didn't take it down in a normal way. That was a mistake as that collarbone got instantly swollen. I realized it on the first and only attempt of 95kg split jerk. The pressure was huge in that painful area, and I had to stop jerking right away. Went to see that in the mirror. Looked nasty. But it felt great to get 95kg up even though it definitely was a bit ugly.
Strength.
Every minute on the minute x 10min
3 touch'n'go back squat @ 120kg
This was written to do these exactly as t'n'g squats. No stopping on top. This was a lot of fun. Sweat and breathing were more intense than normally, and legs were burning big time. The third rep was tight on the sets, and after couple of minutes this turned out to be surprisingly mental stuff.
Metcon. Time, 2.20
30 burpees
30 box jump overs
I was already in a bit of a hurry so I had to start working if I wanted to do some conditioning piece. This was just a short one. Plan was to do two metcons but there was no time for that. This was anyway an awesome way to get heart beat up in a second. This kind of work would be ideal as interval work. Let's say something similar with 2-3min breaks in between, and repeat for a number of rounds. Or maybe 2min amraps of: 30 burpees and rest of time box jump overs.
Damned my body felt the past week of training today. It hurt basically everywhere. But my arms / triceps were really smashed. Today didn't include any strength portion as such but there were two metcons, different elements but the ideology was identical. Good ones.
Metcon. Result, 90 reps (round of 12's + 6 deads)
7min amrap
2-2-4-4-6-6… of:
Deadlift, 100kg
Handstand push-up
This was a good preparation for benchmark workout Diane. Same movements but the movement pattern is different, that is 21-15-9. It was kind of sick that hspu's were easier for me this time. Probably would have been the other way around but my back was lit up pretty early on which made it challenging to pull. It didn't feel heavy at all but that lower back was just all out on fire. It didn't feel good to pull from the ground.
Had to break the deads at some point but hspu's went unbroken up to the round of 10's. The last full round (12's) was 8-4. They were surprisingly easy to complete. I thought hspu's would have become an issue at some point but that was not the case. Had to walk around the gym and stretch out my back before I was able to think about the next workout. My plan was to hit the same wod that mr. Froning did one day. It would have been 70kg power cleans and pistol squats in the same format, ascending ladder for 7min.
Metcon. Result, 118 reps (round of 14's + 6 jerk)
7min amrap
2-2-4-4-6-6… of:
Push jerk, 40kg
Box jump overs
So this was created on the spot. I thought about what would not create that much pressure in the lower back. While I was doing my brainstorming back started to feel okay again. Still, I didn't wanna risk anything so the two elements turned out to be light push jerks and box jumps in a bit different style. The point was to jump on top of the box, then drop down to the other side of the box. That constitutes one rep.
Because the barbell was light, I was able to move faster throughout the workout. The bar was this light because my triceps were sore as hell for the entire day. On this workout the loading was right on the spot.
I was able to move all the time, and completed the repetitions unbroken, each round. Same with the box jumps. My strategy on this kind of box jumps is to drop down sideways and bounce right back on top of the box. Makes it effective for me.
Tuesday. Back squat (up to 5x138kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 10 hspu, 15 pull-ups, 10 s2o (50kg), 15 box jump over. Time, 14.40.
I really needed to get to the gym. And luckily there was no rush at all. There was some work to be done, and it would not have been ideal to rush through the elements. Squats and a tough metcon were in the agenda.
Strength.
Back squat
3x90, 108, 123kg
5x138, 138, 138, 138, 138kg
This was supposed to take place yesterday but it got transferred to today. First sets were more like warm-up sets but they were pre-determined as well so I went through them with ease. Legs felt great in those, no prob at all. The jump from 123kg to 138kg is big for me. Just like that, 15 kilos were more in the barbell, and it was supposed to be 5's for multiple sets.
Last week I went up to 4x5 @ 138kg. That was definitely a 5RM for me, and it was for a total of 4 sets. Today it was upgraded to 5 sets, 5 reps per set at the same weight. Absolutely the heaviest I have ever done back squats. Got to be happy and proud of the journey I have come in the past years. Can't bluff it, these were heavy. I knew I'll do them but they were very heavy.
Recap of the session
Metcon. Time, 14.40
4 rounds of:
10 handstand push-up
15 pull-up
10 shoulder-to-overhead, 50kg
15 box jump over
Those squats really took the best energy of my body, and legs got fatigued in the process. Had to take a good lengthy recovery before hitting this workout. Pull-ups have been on the agenda lately pretty well, and the volume is okay currently. Another bodyweight element - handstand push-up - is something that needs to be in the program constantly.
There was a combination of hspu's and shoulder-to-overheads which made it tough on the shoulders. Hspu's were unbroken for 2 rounds, then the 3rd one was maybe 7-3, and the last round was 6-2-2 reps. In the beginning the first unbroken rounds felt good but then the workload started to get to me.
Pull-ups were unbroken for 2-3 rounds, not quite sure. When they were broken, it was 10-5. At least in the last round, maybe also the 3rd one. Now as I think more closely, it was broken to two sets in the third round as well. But I kept the pause short there, just couple of seconds.
Jerks felt nasty. The load was light but because of the character of this workout, shoulders got tired and the jerks got heavier. I was still able to do them without dropping the bar between reps. Last two rounds were a good mental battle for the last reps. It felt like it's difficult to hold my arms locked out as I recovered from the drop under the bar. I managed it but damned it was challenging.
Box jump overs were the "easiest" part of this one. That's a bit misleading because actually no part of this one was a walk in the park. Box overs kept the legs tense and breathing heavy. I was happy after every set of 15 reps was done. Good metcon! And good training session in general. Good compensation to Monday's sesh.
Saturday. OHS, 10 sec eccentric, 10 sec pause (up to 65kg). Close grip bench press triples (up to 96kg).
There was no there option but to focus on barbell work. I wasn't going to get my heart beat up because my throat was more sore in the morning than it has been in the past couple of days. Other than that I feel great. Went to the gym at noon with mobility stuff in my mind. It turned out to be overhead squats and bench presses.
OHS.
Overhead squat
10 second eccentric phase, 10 second pause at the bottom
40, 50, 60, 60, 65, 60kg
The reason behind this is mobility for snatch. This was way different than normal overhead squat. It was a slow motion movement. 10 seconds to lower my butt to the ground, then 10 seconds to hold at the bottom position. Idea is to see improvements in mobility in the long run. The weights were not super heavy at all. Mostly it felt in my wrists as it took 20 seconds per set to hold on to the bar. I felt relieved when I dropped the barbell.
Recap
Bench.
Close grip bench press triples
70, 80, 85, 90, 92, 94, 96kg
Bench never gets my heart rate up and it's kind of an easy element so it suited perfectly for today. Normally bench grip width is wider but this time I narrowed it to the same width as when cleaning or jerking. That feels much more natural anyway for me, now I realized that fact.
This felt ridiculously good. There is no doubt this is some sort of PR for me. I have never pressed these weights for a triple. And even the last set felt like there's more in the tank. Didn't have a spotter so I didn't dare to go heavier anymore. This was a huge positive surprise for me. In the end I took some box jump overs just for fun. But not too much to keep heart rate down.
Saturday. Sotts press 5x5 (max 30kg). Deadlift, build up to a heavy 5-rep set (up to 180kg). Metcon, emom x 30min. 1st: 10m overhead walking lunges, 2nd: 10 burpee, 3rd: 10 box jump overs. Mobility.
Yesterday's midsummer party makes this weekend seem long as there was one extra day off of work. That's always good news hehe. People are usually at summer cottages at this time of the year and the city is quiet. It was awesome to spend time at friends' house and we made it back home after midnight. Slept late today and then I hit the gym sometime way after noon. No surprise the gym was also quite silent too.
From evening's recovery walk with my love
Sotts press.
Sotts press 5x5 (20, 22, 25, 27, 30kg)
This was not scheduled but it's been at the back of my head that this would definitely be a good tool for me to improve mobility. Don't know if it's wise to put as much load on the bar as possible or just take it light but today was anyway the first day I had something else than a pvc pipe or 20kg empty barbell on my back for sotts presses.
This position is a bit awkward to say the least. It's not as comfortable right now as I'd like it to be. Ideally the torso would be more upright and vertical in order to get good stability, and then it would also be possible to push bigger weights overhead in the squat position. Getting to that position comfortably would make a big difference on snatch, no doubt.
I was able to sit below parallel but going deeper than that would make the position away from ideal one so I stayed there. Some day I'd like to see myself sitting as low as possible. If I'm patient enough, that day will come.
These teens are machines
Pulls.
Deadlift, build up to a heavy 5-rep set (100, 130, 150, 160, 170, 180kg)
It's at least 3 weeks, maybe 4 weeks since I've pulled some serious weights. The reason is clear. I had some weird pain like my left rib was broken or something. The pain was real but only when doing deadlifts. Plus coughing, strange stuff… So I wasn't sure if it would be possible to do these pulls. Very happy the pain is gone and I felt strong on deads today! This should be part of weekly programming to have heavy barbell in my hands.
Because I hadn't had deadlifts in a while my plan was to do sets at around 150 kilos but it felt great and the hunger got bigger during the course of the session so I kept adding weight. Finally went for a pretty heavy set at 180kg. For a second or two I was thinking about maxing out for singles but then kept it rational in the end. These felt very good, great to pull after a long break!
Deads and presses
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute, for 30 minutes
1st min: 10m overhead walking lunges, 40kg
2nd min: 10 burpee
3rd min: 10 box jump overs
There was maybe 2 persons at the gym so I had the grass matt all by myself. That meant lunges for sure. In the previous post I wrote my legs felt fine on the wall balls but I guess the impact of Thursday's lunges and Friday's massive amount of wall balls hit me a little bit late as my lower body was pretty tight and sore. Let's see how more lunges will make them feel like.
Metcon recap
Long emoms are somehow bad ass. In the beginning they feel much easier. The workout starts to feel a bit uncomfortable at about 15 minutes. And at 20 mins I notice recovery is becoming an issue. Don't have enough time to get the heart beat back down before next minute starts. So the nasty feeling is accumulating by the minute, and the last 10 minutes are a misery.
This was the case with each movement. Do just 10 burpees and it's like nothing. Or 10 box jumps, no biggie even though they would be jump overs. But continuing this same pattern for half and hour and it starts to become another case. I like the agony of these. Even though these feel tough mentally I feel like I could continue for much longer. Got to do everything unbroken and so the time spent on each stations remains identical each round.
Friday. Strength, Ohs triples (max 75kg). Emom x 7min: 5 deads @ 140kg. Metcon, 7rds of: 7 hspu, 7 hang power clean (50kg), 7 push jerk (50kg), 14 box jump overs. Time, 15.30.
Last night was time for the second live Open announcement, CF Open 15.2. It was a repeat workout from last year, 14.2. Not my cup of tea. I just did it earlier this year and sucked at it big time. I'm not participating in the Open anyway, just enjoying myself watching my friends compete. I don't train at a crossfit affiliate, it would probably pull me in the atmosphere if others at our gym would be doing it. For now, I'll just enjoy the ride, and follow these monsters in live announcements smash the workouts. On my own behalf, today was ohs strength, emom deads and about 15min metcon.
This was success. Super cool movement if you ask me, especially when bigger weights are included. But no matter what load there is on the bar, the movement requires good mobility so when I'm hitting the absolute bottom position, I smile every time internally. My mobility hasn't been there but the last half a year has made a big difference. That has also allowed me to add more ohs and squat snatch training, and it has been a blast!
Today I had the feeling of building up to a heavy triple. Last time I did triples, in early February, it ended up to 70-72.5kg, and felt like it's the most I could lift. Today it was much better. Last two sets at 70-75kg were rather heavy but not the heaviest I can go. I believe I have more in reserve. It was bit wobbly but still well in control.
Pulling.
Every minute on the minute x 7min
5 deadlift @ 140kg
Friday pulls included emom work this time. Previous deadlift sessions have been percentage work between 10-6 reps with ascending weights, building the base. Today the game changed to building up muscle endurance. Short recovery, and more intense movement.
The weight wasn't too bad. I still have that crack in my palm and I haven't cut calluses this week so it was a risk to place the bar normally. So I had to hang it from my fingers, and I'm telling you, it hurt like hell. For a moment I thought my fingers are going to get cut off =) Had to put more tape in the middle of this one. That helped a lot and it wasn't an issue anymore to pull. Back felt strong all the way.
Metcon. Time, about 15.30
7 rounds of:
7 handstand push-ups
7 hang power clean, 50kg
7 push jerk, 50kg
14 box jump overs
This Friday was more like freestyling and cruising through whatever comes to mind. Overhead squats and deadlifts as elements were clear though. There was no doubt I was about to do those for strength, just wasn't sure how to implement them. This metcon popped into my head after deadlifts.
After writing some ideas down, it took this form. Wanted about a 15 minute workout, so this was pretty good knowledge of my own body. My timer-man accidentally reset the time after the workout so the time was not accurate. It was most likely something between 15.30-16.00. It was quite steady pace anyway. First round was way faster but then it slowed down just seconds every round. The toughest part of this one was the shoulder-to-overhead movement.
Hspu's went unbroken, and actually just the last 2 rounds were tough. Other than that it was no big deal. This indicates that my handstand push-ups have gone a lot forward. About a year ago I remember having some angst over this movement but then I tripled the volume of those reps. Little by little those got better and year 2014 really did make a big deal.
Power cleans from hang position were light. So the beginning of each round was easier than the rest of it. I put down the bar after 6 cleans, recovered for a while and took the last clean to jerk it up 7 times. Those got pretty heavy from early on. Have to say it was the toughest element of the entire workout and I really had to push it towards the end. Probably the combination of hspu's and jerks got to me even though hspu's were okay.
Box jump overs took my heart beat up big time. So as jerks put my muscles to test, box jumps put my heart do the work. It was a good combination of movements. And a good training session in general too, great to have those ohs done, and that my fingers held on in the deads.
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.
There's something great to have a barbell on my back and do some brutal work up and down. Today's last sets were heavy and I felt them in my legs. Another focus point in my current training are pull-ups. I'll try to add them on a regular basis in the sessions and today it was c2b's turn to appear in the metcon.
Strength.
Back squat 4x90, 4x105, 4x120, 3x135, 4x135, 4x135kg
These were 60-70-80-90% of my 1RM. This was not my own creation but Smolov's. Smashing sets of multiple reps at 90% of max is not that easy. Especially as last time I made a mistake with 135kg and finished only one rep out of the 3 planned reps. This took place last Friday.
Completing sets at 60% was very light as it was supposed to be. It was definitely warm-up weights. Same with 105kg. Next set was 120kg and it felt fine all the way. The jump from 120 to 135 was a bit intimidating but in the end it turned out to be my thing. I nailed all of these sets without issues. The last 2 sets were definitely challenging but I got them done with a little growling.
4x135kg
Metcon. Result, 7 rounds (147 reps)
7min amrap of:
7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
14 box jump overs
Pull-ups and box, what a great combo and makes an awesome workout. There was a twist in both of the elements. Pull-ups were chest-to-bar's and on box jumps were up and over style. Both are more taxing than regular ones. On pull-ups you just need to pull with more power. On box jumps turning sideways on each rep makes it somehow tougher.
I was wondering about the time domain and the specs of this workout until last minute. I'm very happy on how it turned out. I had decided on the elements beforehand, was just thinking about whether to involve a third element or not. It turned out to be a couplet.
I was almost certain I would have to start breaking the sets on the c2b's at some point. I was super stoked to get them done unbroken each round. Plus round times were extremely balanced, no big difference between them. Round 4-5 were couple of seconds slower so I had to speed up in the last 2 rounds.
Needless to say box jump overs were quite steady paced too because otherwise round times would have been equipped with bigger difference. Reps on both elements were great. Having more c2b's would have been bad stuff but those 7 were manageable. I wanted this metcon to be one where I could keep on moving constantly and it was. Good choice!
What else would a man do on Friday night than squat. Got the barbell on my back rack and started working. Metcon of snatches and box action was ahead of me afterwards. It's been difficult to think about those metcons because I don't want them to be too heavy and I wouldn't wanna burn my legs that much. My lower body needs to be ready for squats because there's gonna be squatting at least every other day. This far the metcons have rocked, today as well!
Strength.
Smolov, back squat 5x7 (across 110kg)
Last squat session was 2 days ago but my legs were perfectly recovered, no problems whatsoever. Wednesday's session was tougher because my legs hurt already before the squats. Today these squats felt light even though they were heavier in weights (102.5 -> 110kg). I followed the program exactly as it stood, 5 sets of 7 reps at 110kg. It's getting heavier by the session, number of sets will increase and number of reps decrease while the load gets heavier each time. After four sessions it's gonna start back from 4x9 and then go through the same sequence as this week (4x9, 5x7, 7x5, 10x3). Take a look at the last session from today below.
Squats, 110kg
Metcon. Result, 89 reps (5 snatch on the round of 14's)
7min amrap
2-2, 4-4, 6-6… of:
Power snatch, 40kg
Box jump overs
This past week my metcons have mostly been created right at the gym, not that much pre-planning. I love programming my workouts way before, one of my greatest pleasures :) I also love box jumps but have neglected them because the high amount of squats lately. I guess that's been too cautious, I'm gonna have them back gradually.
Today's workout was a 7min amrap of 2 movements, starting from 2 reps each, climbing up 2 reps per round. Power snathes were light in nature, only 40kg because I wanted this workout to be more like a metabolic stuff, keeping the man moving, not worrying about the weights that much. Box jumps over the box is a great movement! I've done 'em couple of times and have enjoyed it every time. These two fit perfectly together.
Go and give it a shot, the combination is great. My effort today in the metcon was not 100%, but I believe I moved well and quite effectively. We're traveling to Vierumäki leisure centre together with Toni and our teams from work. There are some scheduled program and we're also hoping to make it to watch Finland's national weightlifting team hit their practice. And it would be awesome to get some olympic lift training done with Toni as well. At least the surroundings are as good as they can get!
Wednesday. Strength, power snatch 3-3-3-3-3 (across 55kg). Metcon of power snatches and box jump overs.
It was all about snatches today! This is not one of my favorites and I admit I don't do them that often. It's very technical movements and it kind of bugs me that my mobility doesn't allow me to do proper squat snatches. That is probably one reason I tend to focus more on clean and jerks, squats and other strength movements. Today I focused a lot on this movement, first on strength and then on a metcon.
Strength.
Power snatch 3-3-3-3-3 (across 55kg)
I was very satisfied with this strength session. It was simultaneously technique training for this olympic lifting movement. Main goal with this one was finding a good bar path, and to be able to move proper weights. The load was good, I'll take it for now. About the bar path, it was okay for now but it definitely should travel closer to my body. There's way too much distance between body and path at the moment. I try to pull the back of my head fiercely backwards to open space for the bar to travel directly vertically. However, I should do it better because the bar runs away a little too much forward
Snatch strength
Metcon.
3x3 min amraps
2min rest between amraps
A) 3 power snatch (45kg) + 6 box jump overs (result 5rds + 3 snatch)
B) 2 power snatch (50kg) + 6 box jump overs (result 5rds + 4 box jump overs)
C) 1 power snatch (55kg) + 6 box jump overs (result 6rds + 1 snatch)
This was great! Got the inspiration from NC Lab. This was a good metabolic conditioning plus my legs started to burn big time. The set-up was so that you complete 3min workout (as many reps as possible in that time frame), then rest 2 min before hitting another 3min amrap, then another 2min rest before the last 3min amrap. The number of repetitions dropped by one rep on the snatch in every amrap and simultaneously the weights went up with 5kg. The last was supposed to be challenging but I got them done much better than I thought.
Snatch + Box jump overs
Had no idea how many rounds I did every round, had to check it from the video. I got a little further every round. It started from 5+ rounds and ended up with 6+ rounds. I had my thoughts about the loads but I had decided those beforehand and decided to follow the plan. This workout was supposed to be of the nature where you can keep on moving constantly so that's the reason why I was thinking whether I had set the kilos right on the barbell each round.
I enjoyed this training session a lot. It was cool to go for snatches and they felt good. I used hook grip on the strength portion. This is something I've tried to learn little by little. Got it also in cleans, occasionally.
I had a good feeling about today's workout already before I stepped over the gym's threshold. My gut feeling was on spot. I feel like the programming today was good. Gymnastics to start with, work on those weaknesses. Then old school squat strength, and finishing it off with one qualification workout for Karjalan Kovin, one of the most known Finnish throwdowns.
Our newest family member
Gymnastics. C2B
Chest-to-bar pull-ups
7x6 reps, 0:50 rest between sets
I told about this one to Toni and he knew instantly where I got the idea from. 'Competitorstraining' for sure. Ben Bergeron has come up with a progression for c2b pull-ups. This is the first step, 7x6 reps, totaling 42 reps in 7 minutes. It's kind of like an emom workout for 7min. I thought this is a good starting point because I really wanna excel in c2b's. Regular pull-ups are rolling well already but I want to make this one of my strengths too. Had no problems in manhandling these reps which got my smiling all the way.
Strength. Squats
Back squat 5-5-5-5-5 (100, 110, 120, 120, 120kg)
"Regardless of what the problem is, the answer is to squat". Couldn't agree more with the statement, first introduced us by the founder of Crossfit, Greg Glassman. Lately I've been cleaning a lot as well as putting lots of weight overhead, thus squatting has not been the main focus. I think I'll put more effort on squats in the near future.
This time it was 5-rep sets for a total of 5 sets. Those 120kg sets were tough. They were hard last week too so this means I got to have more weight in my back and do the work. Legs have to be strong in order to do well in this sport. It's a strong prerequisite for having an efficient motor inside as well as strong legs.
Metcon. Result, 4rds + 7 thrusters (97 reps)
Karjalan Kovin, 1st event
5min amrap of:
10 box jump overs
10 thrusters, 40kg
My legs were smashed after having done those squat sets. Took couple of min rest before attacking this 5min amrap. I thought it was short so of course I could go all in even though those legs were screaming for help. High-rep thrusters have always fell short on my shoulders, never on my legs. Have I dropped the barbell on thrusters, it's been because of upper body. Shoulders have gone numb at some point. But legs have always churned on. Today my lower body was jello from the second round on. Guess those squats had their effect on this one.
I did both movements unbroken every round. I have a feeling I could have done these faster with fresh legs, or actually shorten the transition times between sets. It was a good short, intense workout and really got to me. Had to ask Pauliina to shake my legs after the workout, they were in shock after those 5 minutes. That was very helpful.
It sure was a good training day. Gymnastics/skills, strength and a hardcore metcon in the end. And my shoulders were feeling much better than yesterday. The recovery has taken place and they feel fine now. Looking forward to the upcoming week!
Training day with my main man Toni! Freaking awesome. He's on summer holiday and I was going to work for the evening so we had plenty of time to schedule our morning for some crossfit action. I got a chance to play around with different skills scenarios which was great. And we locked this workout together with Toni some weeks ago and decided to hit it some day together. That day was today!
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
Bar muscle-ups
Rope climb
It was great to get some room around me when attempting muscle-ups! At my home gym the wall is quite close for bar mu's and the ceiling is low on ring mu's. Those might be excuses but at least it was cool to practice these skills at Toni's crossfit affiliate as there was a lot of space to play around. I took some mu's on both rings and pull-up bar. I almost got 3 in a row on rings, well okay almost is as much as nothing so let's say I got 2 reps =)
On bar mu's I felt very good. I was able to do work with my entire body and hip was doing it's share in the process. I landed smoothly on top of the pull-up bar , not unevenly as I sometime tend to. These muscle-ups were good indeed.
Skills, recap
A newcomer in my training was the rope climb. Yesterday I checked the video below by Carl Paoli and with those tips in mind I was going to make it a successful attempt. He had effective tools to make it easier on the grip. Okay I didn't take many attempts but at least those didn't burn my forearms and hands in a similar way as it has 1-2 times before when I have climbed a rope. This is definitely something I'd like to do more often. I've seriously thought about buying a rope but I really don't know where to hang it for training purposes.
The most difficult part of climbing the rope was clinging the rope between feet. And the second toughest was coming down after reaching the ceiling. By following Carl Paoli's tips I saved my forearms a lot.
Workout. Regionals, Event 6. Result, 431 reps.
50 calories row
50 box jump overs
50 deadlift, 83.5kg
50 wall ball, 8kg
50 ring dips
50 wall ball, 8kg
50 deadlift, 83.5kg
50 box jump overs
50 calories row (got to 31 calories before time cap)
30min time cap
This looked rough at first sight. The very first time I saw this when it was published I knew I wanna do it someday. What I was most afraid of was the ring dip portion, 50 reps in a row is no joke as such but doing it during a workout was even more frightening. Box jump overs is something I've done once before, couple of weeks ago with Juuso in Pirkkola. But it was on a bench that was probably something like 40cm in hight. Today's box jump overs were on a regular 61cm box.
I started the workout with a steady and smooth pace on rowing. It would have been stupid to burst out of the gates and hit it hard in the very beginning. This was a long workout and winning couple of seconds on the rower would bring no real benefits. The thing where you make the difference in this workout are the breaks. How long are you gonna stop and breathe before continuing. We were done at the same time with Toni. We are definitely 2 different type of rowers as you can see from the video. Toni is pulling shorter and more frequent strokes where I aim to pull strong and then recover slowly before the next stroke. The result was even though, no matter the style. Toni was 1 stroke ahead after stepping off the rower.
On the box jump overs I felt being efficient. We did this "Regionals-style" meaning we moved the box further after every 10 reps. Same thing with the deadlifts, move the bar after 10 reps. I figured jumping right back after coming off the box is the most efficient style to nail these reps.
Deadlifts were light, we had 83.5kg. However, when doing 100 reps with any weight, it starts to come heavier than it actually is. I took 2 or 3 sets as 10's, then finished it off in 5's on the first round. Wall balls were 10's on the first round and it felt good. Even though my shoulders were getting burned and my lower back was also smoked.
First 10min
Next station, ring dips… I did much better on them than I expected! Got it done in sets of 5 reps up to 25 or 30 reps. After that I took it in 3-2 reps per attempt. These dips were very encouraging. On the latter set of wall balls i got some issues. My lower back was getting hotter and hotter after every rep and it felt horrible. I hoped to complete sets of 8-10 reps but after the first set it was actually 5's.
Having finished the wb's the deadlift barbell wasn't that attempting with a back that was burning hot already. I finished deads in sets of 5 reps all the way. After getting the last deadlift done I took a sip of water and started jumping around over the box. I think I did these as effectively as on the way up, for some reason these suited me very well!
This movement is a heavy breather though. After 50 more reps only the rower was ahead of me and the clock was ticking ahead. At this point the Open Gym was about to start and some people had already poured in and they were cheering us to finish strong. This really helped mentally and I was able to push through even though my heartbeat was through the roof. Rowing after having moved around for about 28 minutes is horrible. I gave it my all and was pulling the boat like a maniac. I had 31 calories when at the time cap so I was missing 19 calories to finish the entire workout. Toni had 8 box jump overs on his way back. To no one's surprise Toni had miscalculated the weights on the deadlifts and completed it with 73.5kg =)
I'm grateful for the chance to workout with Toni at their affiliate and for the coach who was there all the way with us and was talking us up from the very first minute all the way to the end. The spirit at the Box was great, once again.
Training day with my training pal Juuso. We decided to make it a bit different. First work on some strength and technique at the gym. Then we jumped in my car and drove to nearby Pirkkola outdoor sports center. Our focus was supposed to be pull-up bar and running. From these elements we ended up doing muscle-up / kip skills and then a metcon with running included.
Strength.
Squat cleans, 10x60, 10x70, 5x80, 5x80kg
Front squat, 4x3 (across 100kg)
First, it was clean-time. I came empty-headed to the Box and started thinking what to do with cleans. I was thinking about building it up to a heavy single and that way get back to the feeling of heavy weights. Then again, I decided to get multiple reps at medium weights. Took the first set unbroken touch'n'go style, as well as the set of 70kg's too. My forearms were numb at the end of 70's.
That set was tough and I knew 10x80kg unbroken t'n'go would be impossible. My grip strength was gone after those 2 first sets. After Juuso had done his snatches in between I piled 10 more kilos and adjusted my feet below the bar. I took 5 reps at first, then after a break I took another set of 5 reps. Actually it was more like 5 singles with minimum rest, but definitely not touch'n'go.
It was great to clean that bar, no doubt. One of my favorite moves. It feels heavier than I'm used to. The reason for this is the absence of heavy barbell in couple of weeks. I'm building it up to where the weights used to be.
Skills.
Bar muscle-ups
It's been a while since I last time did mu's at a pull-up bar. It was a magnificent day that time as I learned how to land over the bar balanced. Today I did them not in such style as I did more work with the right side of my body / legs. That's why I did the old school twisting to get up there. Anyway, it was great to do muscle-ups once again. Got to do them more!
Couple of muscle-ups
Metcon. About 11min
4 rounds of:
400m run
10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
20 box jump overs
This was great! Horrible but great! Running metcons are usually nasty. That element puts me in a dark place from where I have to dig myself up to find a daylight =) It felt bad but I enjoyed every second of it. The second element was pull-ups but I upgraded it to chest-to-bars. At first I thought about making it 15 regular pull-ups per round but this was more beneficial in my opinion. And it was very encouraging to make each round unbroken!
Originally we had thought the metcon to be a couplet of the above mentioned but I threw in a surprise element of box jump overs, for the first time in my life. I saw those guys smash them in the Regionals and instantly wanted to do 'em. We took some reps to get a feeling and get a better understanding what the rep scheme should be like.
20 box jump overs was great indeed. At first it felt easier but pretty soon it hit us what this is going to be like. On the second round of the workout we shared the disbelief of completing the workout. At 3rd it felt bad but the end was near and we both fought through the muscle and lung burn. Last round is usually mentally easier because you know you'll only have to grind through just a little bit.
It was a good training day, no doubt! Gym strength, cleans and squats, and classic running metcon spiced up with training for weaknesses, muscle-ups and chest-to-bars. Thanks to my training partner for keeping it real!
