Sunday 28.12: Sotts Press, Filthy Fifty

Sunday. Snatch mobility drills, sotts press. Benchmark workout Filthy Fifty. Time, 23.33.

Sunday was time for a benchmark workout. I browsed through some archives and found an interesting one named Filthy Fifty. It's been a while since I did it last time and my memories are quite horrific about this one. My body felt a little wrecked after breakfast so it was only suitable that we went to the gym later in the afternoon.

Mobility.

• Burgener warm-up drills
• Sotts press 5x5 (20kg)

Prior to the metcon I did lots of mobility stuff to get my body loosened up and ready for the metcon. Most importantly, to improve my mobility in hips and shoulders. There are some tightness that needs to be worked on. Coach Burgener has awesome tools for this so I've been following he's tips on those occasions where I have enough time.

Today I also did something I haven't been able to earlier. Well, I've done sorts presses with a pvc pipe and with another kind of pipe that weighs couple of kilos. But doing it with a barbell has been off limits this far. At least I don't remember doing them with 20kg bar.

It wasn't as natural as I'd like it to be and look like but I'm getting there. These steps aren't always huge but the most important thing is I'm getting to the right direction. And that's definitely what's happening. This last half a year has been a big thing considering my mobility, in both hips and shoulders.

My back rounds a bit when I'm in the rock bottom position of the overhead squat. That can be seen in those sotts presses. I'm not feeling like home in there but this position is already possible in general and that's a big thing for me.

Recap

Filthy Fifty. Time, 23.33

• 50 box jumps, 61cm
• 50 jumping pull-ups
• 50 kettlebell swing, 16kg
• 50 walking lunges
• 50 knees-to-elbows
• 50 push press, 20kg
• 50 back extensions
• 50 wall ball shots, 10kg
• 50 burpees
• 50 double unders

Lot of action going on in here! First of all, this was the first time I did this workout with rx'd box jumps. Previous times it's been a bench for about 40cm. That's a totally different game and I noticed it right away on the first 2 elements. Box jumps got to my legs and they weren't so fresh for the jumping pull-ups. For some reason I had no pulling power on the "pull-ups". I really don't know what the standard is for the jumping pull-ups. Box took me 1:55 and jumping pull-ups 3:05.

Kb swings were like I wasn't doing anything, it was feather light weight. Got them unbroken all the way, it took 1:42. I'm used to moving double the weight, pretty much the only bell I'm handling is the 2-pood version.

Walking lunges were completed by stepping around the gym. Had to stand up at some time of the round, after thirty something. Those took 1:31. K2e's were bad. I thought I'd rock them but that was not the case. Got them something like 8-8-8-6, and from then on I have no memory at all. That also took some of the intensity off because I had to come down from the pull-up bar. Total time for the k2e was 3:34.

Push press was luckily light weight, completed them in 30-10-10 reps with a total time of 1:58. Back extensions were done in the same manner with same rep scheme, and those took about the same time, 1:49.

Then the heavy breathing began. Wall balls, burpees and double unders. Until this point this had not been the best intensity I could imagine. Had to substitute the wb's to moving 10kg bumper plate up and down. I pushed the plate strong up in the air as if I was throwing a wb, and held my hands up there to "receive" the ball coming back from the wall. Got these done in 3 sets, most likely 20-15-15 reps, time was 2:16.

Burpees were awful! Those bastards took me 4:42, and they totally beat me up. I'm kind of disappointed in not being mentally strong enough to keep pounding my chest to deck continuously. Because I strongly believe burpee is a movement where you actually can move all the time. It's a conscious decision to stop moving. I got these done in sets of 10 reps. Those took an eternity.

Final movement was double unders. Simple at this stage of the workout. I just couldn't grab the jump rope right away. It's quick to go through them anyway, it was 0:53 for this final element, in sets of 30 and 20 reps.

Good workout for sure. Not awesome intensity in the beginning but towards the end it got serious. In the beginning it was more like muscle burn and I couldn't push through for example 50 k2e's. That was impossible. That caused me to have rest periods and breathing was well under control throughout the first 15 minutes.

This stuff is incredible. Each event from the 2009 Crossfit Games. The year our very own Mikko Salo dominated the Games. Crossfit HQ has posted each individual event for both men and women on their Youtube channel. Probably the best way to spend a weekend, enjoy!

Tuesday 2.12: Snatch balance, Ohs, Long metcon

Tuesday. Snatch balance 5-5-5-5-5 (max 65kg). Ohs 1-1-1-1 (max PR 85kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 5 deads (120kg), 10 burpees, 15 pull-ups, 20 box, 30 du, 400m run. Time, 22.32.

Great training day for sure! I had plenty of time, no need to be hasty at any moment. That is my kind of training session. I love when it's just me, a barbell and lots of time. Put them together and I'm ready to rock. As I indicated earlier, I was enlightened by Coach Burgener's warm-up drills and today I put a lot of effort on those. It prepared me very well for snatch balance and ohs which brought some good results too. Last part of the training session was a longer metcon with lots of work.

Snatch work.

• Burgener warm-up drills
• Snatch balance 5-5-5-5-5 (30, 40, 50, 60, 65kg)
• Overhead squat 1-1-1-1 (70, 75, 80, PR 85kg)

Coach is the legend, and for a good reason. Better listen to this god of weightlifting. I paid a lot of attention to these warm-up routines with pvc pipe, empty barbell and then also 30kg bar. Only objective for this massive warming up was to prepare my body more effectively than normally. As I progressed to snatch balance I felt that in my body. My body was much more loose which was nothing but great. I've probably never this good in my body regarding snatch related movements. Having bar overhead and going to squat position.

I took sets of 5 reps of snatch balance, starting from 30kg, building up to as heavy as possible because it felt good. Bar fell a little forward on some reps but still I'm very happy on the movement patterns and weights being thrown around. My mobility has taken big steps this autumn and it's finally paying off in snatch work also. I've done 60kg snatch balance some time ago but hitting 5x65kg was beyond my comprehension.

Due to that I decided to take couple of overhead squat singles. Ascending 5kg by the rep, all the way to a new personal record of 85kg. Previous one was 80kg, done at spring time this year. I'll take this with pleasure! Got to work on that snatch grip push press / push jerk to get the bar more easily overhead. Going for split jerk was kind of awkward, it was more shaky than pressing the barbell. I need to be able to press / jerk the bar without split.

Recap of barbell action

Metcon. Time 22.32

• 4 rounds of:
• 5 deadlift, 120kg
• 10 burpee
• 15 pull-up
• 20 box
• 30 double under
• 400m run

I wanted to get a longer metcon. I thought of some sort of chipper style stuff but ended up going for a 4-rounder of lots of work. Deadlifts made a comeback, haven't done thos much because there's been so much squatting. I find it difficult to go for both. This was a yack type of workout. Lot of grinding. I was able to smash it unbroken each round. What was the toughest? Surprisingly maybe box jumps. My core is sore from yesterday's toes-to-bar / pistol fiesta and on the box jumps I felt it.

I thought pull-ups would have been the most bad ass element of this one. They were but still all the way manageable. Running was also tough, especially on the last 2 rounds. It was great to have my fingers on deadlift after a while. Plus burpees are always a pleasure =) Great training session, this brought to mind whether I should dedicate some days on pure oly work. By focusing more on light work and technique early in the session would loosen joints up better and the results of the barbell work would generate greater results. Let's see how it turns out.

Recap of metcon