Saturday 29.8: Gymnastics wod, Partner wod

Saturday. 20 burpee mu's for time. Time, 9.27. Partner wod, 15min amrap of lunges, pull-ups and db thrusters (2x15kg). Result, 5 rds + 3 thruster.

We had a nice day with my wife in the city. Just walked around and enjoyed Helsinki. Weather was beautiful so we just hang around and spent some quality time. In the evening we went to the gym to take care of our fitness. It was one gymnastics metcon to kick off the session and then another one

Metcon. Time, 9.27. Compare to 22.4.2015

• 20 burpee muscle-ups for time

It's not many times that I've done muscle-ups in a workout so each and every one of these is a pleasure. I've done this once before couple of months ago. This was fun from the very beginning. Because I really haven't done that many muscle-up workouts it's always difficult to know how to pace myself.

Didn't have any idea how much it took me last time I did this one so there was nothing to compare the time to. I tapped the round times after every 5 reps. First reps took me 1:35, reps 6-10 were done in 3:09 so that was a lot slower one. Third portion was 2:31 and the last 5 reps were completed in 2:11.

To my eyes that means I gave too much slack in the process. Really difficult to know at this point how fast / slow one must go with this movement. I don't wanna burn myself on this because then it takes time to recover. The muscle-ups started to feel better towards the end because I really tried to keep good tension in the entire body on the swing.

Partner wod. Result, 5 rounds + 3 thruster

• 15min amrap
• One athlete must do 2x20m walking lunges, bodyweight, all the time
• Once the other one does lunges, the other does:
• 10 pull-ups and the rest of time dumbbell thrusters (2x15kg db's)

This was fun, to throw down with my baby. The point was that the other one was doing lunges all the time. Pauliina started the lunges so in the mean while I did 10 pull-ups and then dumbbell thrusters (2x15kg db's) as an amrap for the remaining time while she was lunging. When she finished those, we changed the lunge game, and it was her time to do the couplet.

Recap of partner wod

Pull-ups were the easiest part of this one, could have probably added a bit. But on the other hand, the purpose was to get dirty with the thrusters. And those got ugly towards the end of each set. The dumbbells were 15kg's each so it wasn't super heavy but the ultimate point was to do plenty of them during the time frame. Got to say this goal was reached pretty well.

Got 20 thrusters on the first round, 15 reps on the next 2 rounds. Fourth round was 12 and the last full round was 15 again. Only had time for 3 additional reps when the buzzer called it quits. This was quality time at its best doing partner wod with my wife.

Wednesday 22.4: C&J, Front squat, Burpee mu's

Wednesday. Technique, clean and jerk 1+3 (max 80kg). Strength, 4x4 @ 110kg. Metcon, 20 burpee mu's. Time 8.00

This was the first time I took advantage of the coach's eye at the gym. Just realized there's a guy ready to give you tips if you're in need of one. Not bad. I asked for his opinion on clean and jerk. Then some leg strength, and finally something I'm proud of: burpee muscle-ups for time.

Oly.

• Clean and jerk complex (1+3 reps)
• 60, 70, 75, 80kg

Okay, I would have liked to go heavier too. For some unknown reason my elbows sometimes get sore on jerks. Cleans are always okay but jerks bring some pain in my elbows. Anyway, cleans felt great today, no doubt. And it felt like technique was pretty good.

On the jerks the coach videotaped the lifts on his camera, and used some application to indicate the bar path clearly. It showed the bar path goes directly upwards vertically. After the jerk has been done I tend to push the bar a little more back for some reason. Weights remained light for this session.

75kg

Strength.

• Front squat 4x4, across (110kg)

I also got some tips for this portion. Took 4 sets of 4 reps at the same load, 110kg is not tremendously heavy but still something that needs concentration. Rest was quite short between sets. Coach noticed I' not activating my butt cheeks enough on front squat. And that is definitely true, I'm not gonna argue with that one. Same thing happens with back squat. So I guess it's safe to say my squats are more quad dominant. I tried to address this issue by slowing down the part where I go down, and then push the hips further on my way up. Felt like the tips helped already on this first time.

80kg

Metcon. Time, 8.00

• 20 burpee muscle-ups on rings

Another big milestone reached with rings. Some sort of benchmark workout is 30 burpee muscle-ups, and I'm gonna do that one day. At this point 30 reps of muscle-ups is a number I have not yet completed in one training session. It's coming though. This month has been a triumphant of muscle-up development for me.

There's been incredible results seen on this movement, on both bar and ring versions. And I'm definitely taking the joy out of every workout I'm able to hit. Gonna make it rain when I have the possibility. This took me exactly 8 minutes of time. My plan was to take these in sets of 3 reps, then walk out to get more chalk in my hands before taking another set of 3 reps. This continued up to 18 reps, then a double of course. I didn't rush at any point because I had no idea how my body would feel like after doing this movement combo. Felt good in the end!