Thursday 23.6: Push jerks, Burpee box, Wb

Thurday. Push jerks, build up to a heavy triple (max 90kg). Conditioning, every 3:00 x 7min: 10 burpee box jump + 15 wb.

Plan was to do some emom snatches. My back was still sore from Tuesday's deadlifts. It's common that going a bit heavier on the pulls my back definitely feels it the following couple of days. Going to a squat position didn't feel attractive so I changed the plans when I was warming up. Remembered the good streak of overhead strength and body felt receptive for that so I decided to go for push jerk triples.

Overhead.

• Push jerk triples
• Build up to a heavy triple (40, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, PR 90kg)

It was probably about a week ago when I got 5 reps at my 1RM @ 85kg on this movement. Split jerk can carry heavier weights but that doesn't feel so natural in my shoulders so I've worked much more on push jerks lately. Today I thought 85kg should not be an issue (if everything was going good) and possibly a new record on push jerk might be true.

I built up to a heavy triple on 5kg increments after 70kg. It was kind of funny that 50kg and 70kg barbells felt heavier and maybe not that smooth. The other sets felt goof. After completing 80kg set without problems I knew 85kg would be cool too. Got that completed touch'n'go too. At that moment I realized I'm gonna put 90kg over my head at least once. It was huge thing to make it three times. Even on would have been a record.

Intervals.

• Every 3:00, for 21 minutes
• 10 burpee box jumps + 15 wall ball shots

These were all-in intervals. Got 10 reps of burpee boxes as soon as possible, then walked couple of meters to the wall ball station to start throwing the ball around. This burned my legs a lot! Especially on the wall balls. Right after I finished the last box jump it hit me in the legs, and throwing ball got them even more fired up already on the first reps. This was a good conditioning piece and got mental at around 3 rounds. I had thought about doing it for 5 sets but took couple of extra ones to dig deeper.

Saturday 14.5: HC Triplet Goes Kehä!

Saturday. HC Triplet Goes Kehä. Three team events with Toni and Sipa.

Huh what a competition day with the boys!!! The volume ramped up to this year's HC Triplet. To see what HC Triplet is really about you can scroll to the right hand side of the blog and check the links to prior Triplets. This was the fifth time we arranged this with Toni. Last two times my bro has been part of it too. Shortly, the idea is to thrown down for 3 grueling events to torture our bodies and minds. This year's "games" were a success as well. First time we did this inside, location was Toni's crossfit affiliate called Crossfit Kehä. Usually we have been outdoors, mainly in Pirkkola sports park. This was also the first year we had barbells included in the game.

Event 1. Time, 38 minutes

• One athlete rows 300m constantly
• In the mean while, 2 athletes chew down a chipper of:
• 50 bar muscle-ups
• 100 burpee box jumps
• 50 handstand push-ups
• 100 pull-ups
• 50 squat cleans @ 80kg
• 50 thrusters @ 50kg

All of the three events were supposed to be different style and different stimulus. The first one was classic chipper style workout with one guy rowing at the sidelines all the time. Just row your 300 meters and tag next one in line for rowing. We rotated the rower evenly of course for the entire 38 minutes that this bad boy took us to complete.

This felt like it took an eternity. It was difficult to know exactly how much it would take time but it was no surprise it took energy, a lot of energy to get to the finish. Our plan was to go by feeling. We didn't divide the work load evenly, just agreed to go for a good bunch of reps, then tag the next one to work on his behalf.

Bar mu's kind of fell on my neck to complete mostly. Those felt pretty good today. I reckoned not to take too big bites as it was the first part of the workout. It was 3-5 reps per set all the way. Burpee box jumps were about 5 reps per dude at a time. That seemed to suit well for everybody.

Hspu's felt very good. Those also seemed to be good for Sipa and Toni too. So I only got to do one set for 10 reps and the second one for 5 reps. At this point I thought they would suck more but luckily not.

Pull-ups. Those could have potentially destroyed us but there was good mental strength and someone was hanging on the pull-up bar constantly. Toni ripped his hands right on the bar mu's so these were nasty to go after with a bloody blister in hand. Luckily he found a glove in his bag. It was probably not cool to do pull-ups with just fingers.

God damn that squat clean @ 80kg! Especially the first reps felt heavy. I was able to rack that barbell perfectly every time. It just felt heavy as hell in the bottom position. There was no doubt of standing it up though. But it really smoked legs and hip flexors with every lift. But those got better through time on everybody's behalf. I believe I got most of these done. Ideally it was planned so that we would do quick singles but it change on the fly and went by feeling.

In the beginning thrusters felt like they would definitely be the most disgusting element. Never have I done so light thrusters at 50 kilos! After 80kg barbell that really felt something we smashed rather easily. It was about sets of 5 reps all the way. Finally after 38 minutes it was over. Very good job guys! Great way to start the Triplet, awesome commitment from everybody!

Event 1

Event 2.

PART A. Time 17min

• Interval work of kettlebells and shuttle runs
• Each athele completes one round of work, tags the next one to work the same work load. Once every athlete has completed the first round, they move on to the next round
• 1st round: 20 kettlebell swings @ 32kg + 10x10m shuttle run
• 2nd round: 20 kettlebell snatches @ 24kg + 10x10m shuttle run
• 3rd round: 20 deadlifts @ 32kg + 10x10m shuttle run
• 4th round: 20 double kettlebell jerks @ 16kg + 10x10m shuttle run
• 5th round: 20 double kettlebell front squats @ 16kg + 10x10m shuttle run

PART B. Result, 74 reps.

• Right into part b, as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of:
• Clean and jerks @ 70kg

This was nasty. If the first was more of a long, grueling chipper, this was interval work where legs were destined to get murdered in the process. Point was that Sipa started, he completed the 1st round of work, Toni and me rested in the mean while. Once Sipa threw himself over the finish line, I completed the same work load. And after I had done my part, Toni did his. After Toni, Sipa moved on to round 2, and this system continued through all 5 rounds.

The dark place definitely showed up on the shuttle runs. It was shuttle runs on purpose. That's a million times worse than 100m run itself. It really didn't matter which element of these five alternatives was going on. Okay they first swings were heavier, and front squats got our legs big time as well.

Sipa lost his calf in the process on one of the runs. He started limbing because of the cramp. Luckily we had magnesium spray and he was able to continue nicely. We had different weights for different movements. This time we agreed the loads were right were they needed to be.

It took us 17 minutes to complete the kettlebells and runs. Part B initiated right after the work had been completed. This frightened us a little prior to the workout. I thought why the heck did I program this heavy barbell right after intervals.

However, we got this! We won the barbell for sure. We kept the same order on this one. Sipa started, I was second, Toni came third. I felt strong already on the first rep. Took it on the front rack, and bounced it overhead with the same movement, not stopping at any point. Was able to keep this pace throughout the 8 minute time window. I felt like my partners also improved towards the end all the time, and it started to look like a feather in their hands towards the end! We got through 24 rounds + 2 reps. That makes it a total of 74 reps.

Event 2

Event 3.

• 15min amrap of:
• Rope climbs

Grande Finale! We once saw Mikko Salo and Jonne Koski post a workout where they did 30min amrap of rope climbs. That really stuck to my head as we honored their work capacity with my bro. HC Triplet seemed like the perfect place to redeem that promise we made to each other to get after it some day.

The rope was long. A lot longer than I have used to climb in Klaukkala. Well, I have 7.6m rope but the distance to climb is probably 5 meters long. This was probably 7 meter all the way. At first we climbed to 5m (I went to mark it with a tape in the beginning) but at some point I decided to start going all the way to the roof. I still had something in my tank and strength left, and I didn't want that to be the case once HC Triplet Goes Kehä was finished!

It felt super good to climb. And I was very positively surprised how well my body was able to hold on with just short recoveries between climbs. Toni had some issues with his shoulder and had to withdraw at some stage and it was on me and Sipa to finish the 15 minutes. That made the recovery even shorter. Still, we somehow were able to move up and down the rope nicely. I have no idea of the amount of reps we completed. Sipa had an idea of about 20 reps per dude.

These competitions have always been tough as nails for us. Definitely heavy work both physically and mentally. These are written to be tough, and we succeeded in that goal. As we look at this afterwards I got to say some progress has taken place for Sipa, Toni and I. There's no way we could have done this volume in the last Triplet in 2014. Neither did we have the skills back then required in this comp. So it's very uplifting to stop for a while and think how much progress has been made in the past years.

Event 3

Sunday 10.1: Mu's, Press, Emom

Sunday. Emom x 10min: mu's 2-3 reps. Push press 1x6 @ 78kg. Emom x 15min: 1st 5 c&j @ 60kg, 2nd 8-10 burpee box, 3rd 12 pull-ups.

The past two days have been pretty awesome in the field of crossfit. After couple of easier days I've got a chance to hit it at the gym for real. Both of these days have been very efficient. Yesterday the session took me 43 minutes in total after warm-up. Today it was 42 minutes. Somehow after this kind of intense sessions I leave the gym with a happy face as it feels like things happened efficiently. Not that I would like to spend the entire day at the gym if it was possible =)

Gymnastics.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Muscle-ups, 2-3 reps per minute
• Total of: 24 reps

Damned it was fun to go after muscle-ups! It's been a while since doing these last time. It's always a bit of a nervous situation to walk to the rings and start working. It wouldn't if I mastered them but that's not the case. I was a bit conservative in the beginning and took doubles. Actually the first was a triple but then couple of doubles before finishing it with triples again. I counted a total of 24 reps which makes it 4 triples and 6 doubles. Felt good on these. Obviously I ripped my left palm as the tendency seems to be on mu's.

Overhead.

• Push press 1x6 @ 78kg

This is the part of the progression I've been doing the past 6 weeks to put some beef on my shoulders. Started warming up with an empty barbell right after muscle-ups. Little by little crawled up to 80kg for a single. Then dropped to 78kg for a max set. It says 6 reps but there was a permission to go further. It was a good battle to complete the 7th rep too. See the video for that set.

Recap

Conditioning.

• Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
• 1st minute: 5 clean and jerk @ 60kg
• 2nd minute: 8-10 burpee box jumps
• 3rd minute: 12 pull-ups

Some emom rotation on couple of elements. Those clean and jerks were a great piece of this workout. It would definitely be beneficial to mix c&j's in workouts more often. They are a great way to cause fatigue on entire body.

 I changed between 8 to 10 reps on the burpee box jumps, and 12 pull-ups on the third minute. I actually started at 10 pull-ups, changed it on the second round and finished the last round with 14 reps.

Friday 7.8: Squats, Partner workout

Friday. Back squat 7x5 (125kg). Partner workout, 3rds of: 20 dead (100kg), 60 push-up, 40 db snatch (25kg), 20 burpee box, 20 hspu, 40m lunges (2x25kg db's). Time, 31.30.

It was a blast to have my main man Toni take a surprise visit to my gym. He was supposed to go to his own but I talked him over, and then went to his place to spend the Friday evening. It was back squats again - no surprise there - and then a long ass workout with a partner.

Smolov.

• Back squat 7x5 (125kg)

Huh, every day there is a bigger load on my back and it always feels how much more can this body take. But every time up to this point I have walked away victoriously. It sure feels good to complete these sets without problems. There's a lot of mental game in the play as well.

It took me about half an hour to finish the sets so it was about a set every 4 minutes. Recovery was abundant, and my legs got enough rest between sets. All sets were pretty much similar in my head. Quite heavy from the first to last set but still something I was able to manage well.

Squats and start of the wod

Partner workout. Time, 31.30

• As a team, complete the following for 3 rounds for time of:
• 20 deadlift, 100kg
• 60 push-up
• 40 dumbbell snatch, 25kg
• 20 burpee box jump
• 20 handstand push-up
• 40m walking lunges, 2x25kg

At first we just brainstormed over the elements we want to have as part of the workout. Pushing, pulling, jumping, lunging, that's pretty much it. Worked well. It turned out to be something like a chipper, consisting anyway of 3 rounds. We had planned on doing certain sets, and we followed the plan for the first round, then improvised on the second and third round to make the movements as fast as possible. That means the sets were a bit shorter so either of us was constantly moving body or weight.

Deadlifts were the easiest part. Easy weight, and just couple of reps. Toni had just done heavy deads for strength and I had Smolov so we decided to keep the weight light. On the push-ups I did 15's at first, and then 10's towards the end.

Db snatches we agreed to do 10 reps in a row, then change. I did 5 on the right hand, then switched to left hand, and completed the reps from hang position at 25 kilos. Both snatches and burpee box jumps brought the heart rate up.

I had thought about doing these strict and did so in the beginning. That would have killed the pace on this workout and so I changed to kipping versions. Toni also had some issues on the hspu's so I completed majority of the reps. Burned shoulders very well.

Lunges with 2x25kg dumbbells was probably the most unpleasant element in this workout. There was no doubt we would go unbroken on those 10 meter walks up and down the green matt. But it felt disgusting at the end of rounds two and three. Good workout for a partner wod for sure. And it was great to throw down with Toni.

Monday 6.7: Mu/Row intervals, Squat, Team metcon

Monday. Intervals, every 3:00, perform 3 mu's + 300m row. Back squat (max 135kg). Metcon in a team of 3: sled push (80kg + sled), 100 hspu, 500 du, 100 s2o (60kg), 150 burpee box. Time, 40min.

Got a huge chance to train with my bro and Jasper together. First time ever, freaking awesome! We did intervals in the beginning with Sipa meanwhile Jazz PR'd his deadlift to quite manly numbers, 190kg. And he did a double while he was at it! Sounds like he's about to enter the two hundred digits, c'mon! Squats for strength according to Sipa's plan, and then a brutal workout together as a team of three.

Toni rocked the show on Saturday!

Intervals.

• Every 3:00, perform:
• 3 ring muscle-ups + 300m row
• "All in pace"

Give it all you got on the rower. We went 1.30+ each round. Those muscle-ups were difficult after the first round. This was the first time we both tried something like this with muscle-ups. Not the easiest workout. The purpose was more like a warm-up workout.

5x110kg

Strength.

• Back squat
• 1st set: 5 reps @ 75% (110kg)
• 2nd set: 3 reps @ 85% (125kg)
• 3rd set: 1 reps @ 90% (135kg)
• 4-6th set: 2 reps @ 87% (130kg)

Cool work. Not the heaviest squats. We hurried these over pretty quickly. Just short recovery between sets. Jasper had already smashed his strength and we had a good workout waiting for us. Felt good on the squats. Great to have my hands on the barbell!

1x135kg

Metcon. Time, 40min

• In a team of 3 athletes
• One athlete pushes sled constantly, 2x20m at a time, then slap hands and change the athlete
• 100 handstand push-ups
• 500 double unders
• 100 shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
• 150 burpee box jumps, 61cm

One pushes sled all the time. This was carried out in a similar way as the workout we did in Copenhagen couple of weeks ago with Sipa and Toni, when we were on my bachelor party trip watching the Crossfit Meridian Regionals. That means one is working with the sled all the time. The other two are chipping away the rest of the work. That is first 100 hspu's. You can't do any other element before those 100 reps are in the books.

Once hspu's were done it was time to move on to double unders. Total of 500 du's. Those sucked. Our shoulders were murdered after the hspu / sled push combo. That was much worse than any of us had imagined! I never got to a smooth rhythm on the jump rope. Hspu's were my thing. Felt great on those all the way.

2x130kg

Third element was basically jerks at 60kg. We went mostly on 5's throughout the 100 reps. In the end I took closer to 10 reps on the last set as I felt the energy flowing. Technique was right on spot and these felt good even though shoulders had already been smashed for 15 minutes before touching the barbell in this workout.

Last station burpee boxes. Huh, those kept the heart beat up. Combine that with the sled work, and this last element felt like it took an eternity. The crew was shot after this session. Very good one and we definitely got what we deserved =) Tomorrow we're heading to Italy with Pauliina for our honeymoon, waiting eagerly for that one!

Sunday 7.6: Snatch, Long emom

Sunday. Technique, snatch. Workout, emom x 28min, 1st: 12 kb swing (28kg), 2nd: 10 burpee box, 3rd: 10m walking lunges (50kg), 4th: 12 ghd.

We spent the day in the nature. There is this place called Seurasaari which is beautiful in the summer time. I have actually been there only once before but it sure is a cool place. In the evening I had plenty of time to hang around at the gym so it was a long warm-up before touching the barbell. Snatch technique and another long emom style workout for the weekend. Below are some pics from Seurasaari.

Technique.

• Snatch

Focus was on keeping the bar close to body, have the weights light, and analyze the foot work. It seemed difficult for me to go low enough. I can do overhead squats with butt way below parallel but in the very deepest position my spine takes a short bend so that's not the depth I'm looking for right now. But I'd like to see myself drop below parallel on snatches anyway.

Workout.

• Every minute on the minute x 28 minutes
• 1st min: 12 kettlebell swing, 28kg
• 2nd min: 10 burpee box jump
• 3rd min: 10 meter walking lunges (50kg), barbell in back rack
• 4th min: 12 ghd sit-ups

This was not fun. Couldn't find the 2-pood bell so I had 28kg instead. Not a big difference but I'd like to move the 32kg bell most of the times. This element together with ghd's were the "easiest" of this one. Burpee boxes and lunges were a bad ass combo.

My pace remained identical for all 7 rounds. It just started to feel nastier and nastier every round but mental games was there so I was able to keep up the pace. It took 20-30 seconds to finish swings and ghd's. Not quite sure about the lunges but burpee boxes took about 30 seconds. Those must have been the longest portion of this workout.

Here's a recap of all work being done this Sunday. Actually it was fun =)

Thursday 4.6: Clean and jerk, Snatch, Burpee box, T2b

Thursday. Clean and jerk 3 sets of 1+3 @ 80kg. Jerk dips 5x3 (max 110kg). Emom x 15min, 1st min: 12 db snatch (25kg), 2nd min: 10 burpee box, 3rd min: 12 t2b.

This was a good day! My personal training wasn't at its best with the barbell, felt heavy with loads that should not feel like so. But the big news was I got a friend at the gym with me. We've tried to match timetables together so that Jouni would have the chance to hit it with me at the gym. Then Jasper also came there a little later. That was freaking awesome!

Strength.

• Clean and jerk, 3 sets of 1+3 @ 80kg

This is great exercise for building up consistency on clean and jerk. One clean, then 3 split jerks. I took the first two sets with squat clean, then the last one with a power clean. My body was still a bit tired as I wrote yesterday so having a semi-heavy barbell on my hands didn't feel like it's flying up.

I took the first set as touch'n'go at the front rack position, never resting the bar there between jerks. Below you'll see the second and third set. And as you see, they are far from perfect. Foot work wasn't there. Too short lunges which means the jerk is not balanced that well. This weight should feel much lighter than it was today.

Accessory.

• Jerk dips 5x3 (90, 100, 110, 110, 110kg

This was kinda accessory work for the jerk. Took the bar from rack, placed it on the front rack position, and took a triple dip. Getting used to heavier weights than my max load for jerk. Having that weight on my front shoulders more frequently should make it easier to jerk weights over 90kg up in the air. Plus I get to work on my hip work at the same time.

Metcon.

• Every minute on the minute x 15min:
• 1st min, 12 dumbbell snatch, 25kg (6/6 reps)
• 2nd min, 10 burpee box jump
• 3rd min, 12 toes-to-bar

This was a great one! At first I thought how is it going to feel but I reckoned it's probably going to get real pretty soon. And it did. First round okay, then it got heavier. All these three elements were nasty in their own way.

Snatches got to the breathing, and also grip strength was on test at some point of the workout. I put the weight at 25kg per dumbbell, and took the reps from hang position. Six reps with right hand, then six reps with left hand. It probably took something like 25 seconds.

Burpee box jumps can be nothing but a delight. Those obviously put the heart rate up in the sky in a blink of an eye. All these movements had to be unbroken of course. Otherwise the point of the workout would have been missed quite badly. Doing these burpee boxes took something like 32-33 seconds per minute. At first I thought about 12 reps but those 2 extra reps would have took about 40 seconds and made the recovery tougher for the next movement which was t2b.

Got these also done ub but in the last two rounds they got tough. I was not going to break them down though, that was a mental decision. Jasper was talking me up during the wod and that helped tremendously.

Sunday 17.5: Battle ropes, Push press, Long metcon

Sunday. Battle ropes. Emom x 10min: 2 push press (max 80kg). Chipper, 2k row, 50 ohs (40kg), 50 t2b, 50 s2o (40kg), 50 burpee box jump. Time, 28min

Once again, the signs are that the summer is around the corner. It was awesome to wake up to this kind of weather so there was simply no option but to put eat a huge breakfast at our balcony in the sun, digest it for a while and head outdoors for a long walk in the nature. That is our thing. In the evening Jasper joined me for a good training session at OPCenter.

Battle ropes. They acquired these battle ropes at the gym some time ago. I haven't touched them before. Only once last spring when we visited California with Pauliina there was one hotel that had them. That San Francisco hotel had insane gym. Really made a difference compared to other hotel gyms around there.

Jasper suggested these so we took turns learning how to make them move efficiently. This was basically our warm-up after some mobility. You don't have to do this for long in order to activate entire body and to break a good sweat. You have different styles I guess, doing small or big moves, we tried both and they had different stimulus. Good conditioning element!

Strength.

• Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes
• 2 push press (2x70, 2x73, 2x75, 2x78, 2x80kg)

Lately I haven't had any issues with my shoulder that hindered me from doing overhead strength for some weeks. This portion of the training session felt very good. We did them simultaneously with Jazz so that he started at 0:00 and I started my share at 0:30, taking a double every minute on the minute. This way we got a chance to observe the other's moves and give coaching tips during the presses.

I started at 70kg, and built up after every 2 minutes. It felt good all the time so I kept putting weight on the bar. My friend did the same, adding load after every 2 minutes. It was great to see him smash the weights too. Last set was something I needed to focus a lot on but it came up nicely.

Presses

Metcon. Time 28min

• 2.000m row
• 50 overhead squat, 40kg
• 50 toes-to-bar
• 50 shoulder-to-overhead
• 50 burpee box jump

Another inspiration from the Crossfit Regionals. Yesterday evening I already put the lights off and was about to put my head to the pillow. Then this hit me. Had to pick up my phone again and open my training notes. This is what I came up with. This somehow remotely reminds of the workout where they ran, did ohs, ghd sit-ups and a bunch of other stuff.

Chippers are the worst to me. Doing a bunch of work on one single movement without having the goal line in sight. As Jasper said at some point of the workout "why do you do this kind of shit?". I think that was a legit question for sure. That time I thought the same question myself. It was a dark moment.

It definitely helped to have a training partner do the same workout, and it pushed me further as well. Two kilometer row to start with. No point in putting all in on that one because what you gain compared to what it might do to your body is not worth it in my opinion.

Overhead squats were 10-8, and then mostly 6 rep sets.  Toes-to-bar's were 10-10-10, and 5's to the end. I felt yesterday's 120 ghd's in my core before this so that brought its own twist in a funny way. S2o's were pretty much the same as ohs. I remember they were 10-8-7, and then 5's all the way.

At this point my shoulders were killing me. So it was great to throw down, and push myself up from there. Hmm, let me think again, it wasn't. Breathing was at its max pretty soon after couple of burpee box jumps, and stayed there for the rest of the wod. I thought pushing it for a big set in the beginning, and then go by feeling. My mind changed after 7 reps, these felt horrible. I took 10 reps, and then had to do them in sets of 5 reps till the end. The feeling was a bit hopeless to say the least. We both seemed to share the same feeling. What a great workout for conditioning, pure crossfit!

Monday 27.4: Squat, Ohs, Lunges, Burpee box, Hspu

Monday. Strength, back squat 10x3 (mostly 130kg). Ohs 3x10 (max 60kg). Metcon, 7min amrap of: 7 burpee box jump, 7 hspu. Result, 81 reps. Accessory, 8x12m lunges (2x25kg db's).

I woke up in to this day with a relaxing mind and had a peace in my mind as I thought about the upcoming training session. Then it hit me. It's gonna be ten sets of back squats, doup! That brought some anxiety but of course in a good way =) Decided also to do longer sets of overhead squats. Short metcon was predetermined but the accessory lunges were just a bonus round.

Strength.

• Back squat 10x3 (110, 120, 125, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130kg)

It was gonna be a tough day for this body. Ten sets are usually no joke. And triples tend to be more on the heavier side. And they were today as well. I was aiming to smash them at 130kg all the way. But on my way climbing up to that weight I took couple of lighter sets and counted them on anyway.

Got to say the last 3-4 sets were nasty. Especially the last rep. Damn. But I made it through all the sets without misses. I almost asked for a spotter in the last set but then decided to stop bitching and do the work. Actually the last one wasn't the worst, it was the last sets before that.

Squat recap

OHS.

• Overhead squat 3x10 (40, 50, 60kg)

This was cool. I'd like to see where my max load would be on this movement for a high rep set like this. This was definitely not max. It felt great to do some empty bar squat snatches after squatting a lot because my hips were as open as they could possibly be. And it wasn't too bad for overhead squats either.

My elbows have been quite sore for the past two days so I didn't dare to go heavier on this one. These felt good anyway and no pain. I felt it in my elbows more in the back squats than overhead squats. It's also very beneficial to do pause squats on overhead squats. It will definitely make the bottom position of snatch / ohs a comfort zone.

Metcon. Result, 81 reps (5 rounds + 4 hspu)

• 7min amrap of:
• 7 burpee box jump
• 7 handstand push-ups

For conditioning this seemed perfect, and it actually was. It got tough because there were pushing motion in both movements. I reckoned I'll smash the handstand push-ups unbroken and then pace myself on the burpee box. I didn't not realize burpees would have an impact on the hspu's and that they would get much tougher.

Burpee box jumps were thus easier. They were a good conditioning part and no doubt my heart beat took big jumps up when I started the workout. My result was 3 reps shy of 6 full rounds. I remember it was probably 3 rounds unbroken on the hspu's, then it was 5-2 on the 4th round, and 4-3 on the 5th round. Last round I just tried to get as many as possible in the remaining time and was able to tho those 4 reps to finish at 81 total reps in 7 minute time frame. I felt success on this one.

Accessory.

• 8x12m lunges with 2x25 dumbbells

This is something I haven't done this far but realized it's a good accessory stuff on a day after killing legs anyway. Sled and / or farmer's walk would be other elements worth considering. Those are more like strongman tools.

These got a little spicy, and I felt it in my butt cheeks. Later I went outdoors for a short walk and noticed my right quad was inches away from cramping. Probably due to a lot of pressure on lower body today. Felt good about it!

Thursday 12.2: Deadlift, Two metcons, Burpees

Thursday. Strength, deadlift 10-10-10-8-6 (max 165kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 pull-ups, 10 db thrusters. Metcon, 5min amrap of: 6 burpee box jump, 9 t2b. Result, 79 reps. Cashout, 30 burpees.

I hooked up with a friend at the gym, we agreed to hit it same time and throw down on same workouts too. It was a pleasure to share the agony of this session. It was a great day of training! I'll take couple of pulling sessions in the near future just to get back in the rhythm of deadlifting. Jasper came up with the idea for the first metcon and I needed to get some more work being done so the second metcon came up on the spot. Some burpees to finish the session.

Strength.

• Deadlift 10-10-10-8-6 (100, 125, 135, 145, 165kg)

This was based on the percentages of 1RM, which is currently at 210kg. Haven't tried heavy heavy pulls in ages but that is the last one rep max that I tested. Some time ago I did clean grip deadlift for a heavy single at 200kg. Anyway, these were about 50, 60, 65, 70, and 80% of max load.

I've pulled twice after a loooong break. After the first time my back was sore for a week but after the second one it was like nothing. Hoping my recovery on deadlifts will get back to where it was and it doesn't cripple me for days =)

First set was obviously easy, so was the second. Didn't have any chalk on my hands so 125kg started to get slippery. I took an adjustment with chalk and got a way better grip on the remaining sets. It was 8 reps at 145kg and I thought it would be heavier. In the end it went pretty well. My focus today - and what I asked Jazz to coach me too - was in lowering my butt on the way down in order to engage more hamstrings in the pull. It went better but more work needs to be done. Last set was @ 165kg for 6 reps.

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 pull-ups
• 10 dumbbell thrusters, 2x15kg db's

Jasper used to do this kind of stuff in Crossfit Copenhagen in Denmark back in the days when he lived there so he pitched me with the idea of hitting this combo. It reminded me of Fran so this didn't bring that many positive thoughts =) Didn't put all in from the beginning because I knew this would make me cry in the end. It was a great heavy breather anyway! Went unbroken on both elements, then just took a pause between the stations to settle my breathing a bit.

Metcon. Result, 79 reps (5 rounds+ 4 burpee box jump)

• 5min amrap of:
• 6 burpee box jump
• 9 toes-to-bar

Somehow I was left with a feeling that something needs to be done still. At first it was box jumps and t2b's but then again, burpee box jump is an awesome movement and brings another level to box jumps. I went unbroken on the box jumps, and dropped from the pull-up bar couple of times in rounds 4 and 5. This started to burn my hip flexors and core. Breathing was heavy constantly. These were quite consistent on round times through all the 5+ rounds.

Cashout.

• 30 burpees

I was done after those metcons but my training buddy was about to hit 30 more burpees just for fun. Didn't want him to enjoy those on his own so I joined him on this one. We did these simultaneously and got 'em done efficiently and quickly. Didn't time this one but it was a very short and intense work. Good session!

Saturday 3.1: Clean and jerk complex, 30min pair wod

Saturday. Skills, muscle-ups, rope climb. Strength, c&j complex, 1 clean + 3 jerk (max 95kg). Pair workout, 30min amrap of: 4 rope climb, 8 bar mu's, 16 burpee box, 32 partner wb's, 18m overhead walking lunges (40kg). Result, 5rds + 3 rope climb.

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.