Saturday 18.4: Snatch, 30min amrap

Saturday. 3-position snatches (max 50kg). Metcon, 30min amrap of: 400m row, 2rds of Cindy. Result, 8rds + 100m row.

Home sweet home. I went back to the old gym because there was a lot of seminars and lectures at the new place so I suppose there's gonna be tons of people and no room for workout. Today's agenda was snatches and then a steal from Pat Sherwood. Long workout as I like to have one on weekends. It was a killer one huh huh.

Snatch.

• 3-position snatches
• High hang
• Mid-thigh
• Floor
• Weights @ 40, 45, 50, 50, 50, 50kg

There was plenty of time today to whatever so I got a chance to do snatch work and then a long workout afterwards. There are many ways to practice snatches. This time it was a 3-position snatch drill. That means 3 snatches without letting go of the barbell between reps. Starting from the pocket, 2nd lift was from mid-thigh and the 3rd one from the floor.

I felt pretty good about these snatches. As you see, there's a lot of technical issues still. And there is probably be those for a long time but the development is what I'm interested in. This movement has gone to a better direction this year. Why is that? Because I've practiced it. Surprise surprise. And mobility seems to get better all the time.

On some of the reps I had issues getting below parallel but mostly that didn't cause any problems. Warm-up was long and thus it enabled better mobility and better movement mechanics. It was very encouraging that the weight itself wasn't heavy. Felt quite comfortable in general today with this movement. Purpose was not to go as heavy as possible.

Snatches

Metcton. Result, 8 rounds + 100m row

• 30min amrap of:
• 400m row
• 2 rounds of Cindy (1 round is 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats)

I saw this at Pat Sherwood's Insta page and first instinct was that this doesn't look that bad. Then after 5 seconds I also realized hey c'mon this is Pat's page. These are never easy. Thinking about it up closely rowing / running makes each workout suck big time. This was actually originally running instead of rowing but there was no possibility for that today. Didn't wanna run on a treadmill.

Cindy is a 20min amrap of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats. Pat has ingeniously added rounds of Cindy on workouts from time to time. There is some twist that those bodyweight reps bring to a workout. The purpose of this workout was not go all out from the very first second. It was gonna be a long one, and a miserable one.

This got ugly at around 10 minutes. Got to say I was in deep waters at this point. Luckily there was one training partner to talk me up. Small words in correct place can have a huge influence. I decided to ignore the voices in my head, close my eyes and keep moving forward. After some time the workout was over. This was mentally challenging wod for sure.

Rowing wasn't even the worst part. My guess was that it's gonna be as miserable as it can get. Somehow it was the bodyweight work between row sets. I suppose running outdoors could have been even nastier. Go figure. It was something between 3-4 minutes per round. Rowing was 1.50+ pretty much all the time. Unbroken on Cindy's. There was a total of 3.300m row, 80 pull-ups, 160 push-ups and 240 squats.

Wednesday 5.11: Squats, Snatch pulls, 3-rounder

Wednesday. Strength, back squat (max 127.5kg). Snatch pull triples (max 90kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 600m run, 5rds of Cindy. Time, 20.30.

Went to work for the evening so morning was booked for gym time. I dropped Pauliina to work and started busting off with no rush at all. I took proper warm-up with classic routines spiced with rowing. Because of this painful wrist I had to shoot some more squats, this time back squats. No overhead work for this guy right now. Snatches and snatch balance were in my mind but I put those thoughts aside and come back later when it's possible. It was time for squats, snatch pulls and long metcon.

Barbell.

• Back squat 3x100, 4x112.5, 4x127.5, 4x127.5, 4x127.5, 5x127.5
• Snatch pull 3x40, 60, 70, 80, 90kg

Even though Smolov is over I'll keep on checking the program and what it would have to offer. I completed the first half of the program called "Base Cycle", then chilled during the "Switching". Now it would be time to hit the "Intense Mesocycle", which is based on the new 1RM. It seems to be based on percentages. Today it showed me various sets at 65-75-85% of my max load. This time I followed them closely.

Yesterday was a rough day on the legs. First, it was front squats, then 2k row and finally 50 pistols in metcon style. My butt cheeks and legs in general are sore from that session. So today was not the ideal starting point for back squats but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. One freak thing was that I squatted outside the safety rack. It's been very long since squatting there. It was mentally a different thing.

The sets at 85% (127.5kg) were pretty tough but manageable anyway. Had they been heavier I would have moved the bar inside the rack just in case. It felt great to have some squats in my system, I enjoy them a lot! Luckily so because legs better be in shape.

Metcon. Time, 20.30

• 3 rounds of:
• 600m run
• 5 rounds of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats)

I had pull-ups in my mind for today's main element. Benchmark workout Cindy is something you can mix up with pretty much anything you come up with. Cindy is 20min amrap of pull-ups, push-ups and air squats, a good test of fitness, classic crossfit stuff. I put together running and these benchmark elements and the end result was very good.

What got me on the positive side was the small variance on the lap times. I had to use treadmill because there's no access outdoors from our gym. Treadmill was set at 14km/h. I really haven't thought about it at all whether it's faster or slower had I ran outdoors. I'd think this machine has that positive side that it keeps your pace the same, you just got to keep lifting your legs and keep going.

On that 5 round Cindy I did each round as fast as possible, then took a short recovery and complete another round. Kept this strategy for every single round during this workout. That turned out to be a good call and probably the reason why I was able to have a steady pace all the way. All movements were unbroken.

Tuesday 28.10: Clean and jerk, Snatch balance, 20min emom

Tuesday. Clean and jerk, 3rds of: 1min amrap at 60kg, 3min rest. Technique, snatch balance (max 55kg). Metcon, emom x 20min: 1 round of Cindy.

Had no need to rush this through, took plenty of time to rock it. After getting my body warmed up and ready to rumble it was time for some clean and jerk action, then I took a moment to get my technique better for snatch. Used a complex focusing mostly on snatch balance. Finally something of a mixture between Cindy and Chelsea took place. Great session, felt good!

Clean and jerk.

• 3 rounds of:
• 1 min amrap of clean and jerk, 60kg
• 3 min rest
• Result, 13-13-13 reps

This popped into my head from last Saturday's workout where I worked for 12 minutes between power cleans, burpees and rowing, each for a total of 4min in a row. This got me thinking of doing high intensity clean and jerks for a while, then recover and hit it again. C&J is a tough movement, gets heart beat hit the sky and muscles burn from lower body to shoulders, especially in a high-rep version. So that got me thinking about the time frame.

This time it turned out to be 1min of work, and 3min of rest. That rest was enough to get me back on track and ready for another sprint. On the first round I completed 8 reps in a row, then brought the bar down, took another set of 4 reps and finished with one single in the end, total of 13 reps. I had time to think between sets and I decided to approach the next set differently; 5 reps, release the tension, take another 5 reps, reset and take the last 3 reps. Was able to stick to this plan, it burned a lot but I got it.

For the third and last round I entered with same plan as for the second. Forced myself to grab the barbell after short recoveries between those sets. So it was 5-5-3 this time too. This got me to the limits for sure. Looks easy on paper but implementing this was a different story. Very useful to say the least!

Snatch complex.

• 1 power snatch
• 1 overhead squat
• 4 snatch balance
• Sets at 20, 30, 40, 50, 55, 40kg

On Sunday I took squat snatches for the first time in eternity, and realized my mobility is on a level where I can actually do the movement with proper standards and form. I get below parallel and shoulders are in correct position. That was mind blowing moment for me to understand there are no restrictions in my mobility. At least it's getting to better direction, clearly.

That encouraged me to hit this movement again but with different approach. Coach Burgerner is always swearing in the name of snatch balance, and I decided to obey the man. The weights were light, this was more for technique. Took the barbell from ground, threw it overhead, completed an overhead squat, and then the actual diamond of the complex, snatch balance.

I built it up gradually to 55kg. There were 4 snatch balance in every set except of the 55kg where I lost concentration and stupidly dropped the bar in front of me. That was a bummer as the bar wasn't heavy but it was purely a technical mistake. I took another set with lighter weights just to complete the last set with perfection. Muscle memory thing.

Funny thing was that snatch balance felt much more natural and right compared to overhead squat. It was kind of like I found the tracks more easily there, and the path down was great. At the moment I'm feeling like there's been huge steps in my snatch so maybe this will trigger me into practicing it more in the future.

Coach with Dave Lipson

Metcon.

• Every minute on the minute, for 20 min of:
• 1 round of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats)

Wanted to get the blood flowing in this body, and there's been lack of pull-ups lately in my workouts so this seemed like a good idea. Emom training, for a total of 20 minutes. This was a combination of benchmark workouts Cindy and Chelsea. I kind of went by feeling all the way. I have intentions of bringing pull-ups back to the level where they used to be. Adding volume is on my mind. This workout got me a chance to get a good number of reps done. They were easy, and should have been with just 5 reps at a time.

Push-ups were the thing on this workout, and has always been on Cindy and Chelsea likewise. I got them unbroken ever round but they started to feel fatiguing at around 13 minutes. I've completed Chelsea once before and hit 22+ rounds on Cindy. Both of them have been good pain caves. It took me exactly 30 seconds to finish one round of this emom training, thus leaving exactly 30 seconds to recover before the next round.

This was a good day of training. Was able to work on clean and jerks, and snatch progressions. Plus this grande finale was also a good choice. Liked the entity a lot!

Sunday 19.10: Kettlebell and bodyweight metcon

Sunday. 3rds of: 20 kb swing, 1rd of Mary, 20 box, 1rd of Cindy. Time, 14.45

There was an option thrown in the air of us going to train outdoors but the weather was as ugly as it gets with rain and fogginess. It was by no means tempting so we packed our gym bags and headed to the gym with Pauliina. It seemed right to take the 2-pood kettlebell with me, and spice the metcon with bodyweight movements.

Metcon. Time, 14.45

• 3 rounds of:
• 20 kettlebell swing, 32kg
• 1 round of Mary (5 handstand push-ups, 10 pistol squats, 15 pull-ups)
• 20 box jump, 61cm
• 1 round of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats)

My body was a bit beaten up so main focus was on bodyweight movements, kettlebell was the only weighted element. This was a good and tough workout. Don't know how much it had an effect that I wasn't fresh but my legs got steamed early on in the metcon. I wanted mix those benchmark wods Mary and Cindy into something of my on creation. It turned up to the above described combo.

It was cool to swing that bell around the gym after having a break of working out with this guy. I was able to manhandle the bell well and all sets unbroken, no problems with this one. Usually I work with kettlebells out in the nature because carrying those around is a workout in itself =) So normally I don't carry it with me to work but weekends are an exception when I might have it with me at the gym.

Mary is probably my favorite benchmark wod, consisting of hspu's, pistol squats (a.k.a. one-legged squats) and pull-ups, with the classic 5-10-15 rep scheme. Handstand push-ups are coming to be some sort of a strength of mine, which is awesome as I think about the early steps when they used to be a big time goat.

Pistols have been non-existing for quite a while and it felt good rocking them, alternating legs after each rep. These are much harder without the weightlifting shoes as Nano's don't have that elevation in the heel section. I stood on the edge of one of those gym mats to get something below my heel for more stability.

Mary's pull-ups consist of 15 reps per round. In a longer workout that is tough, and that's exactly what it the toughest portion of Mary. In today's workout they were challenging too but I got all of them unbroken - in both sections of them (15 and 5 reps). At some point of the workout I had to wear gloves on pull-ups as the friction started to tear the calluses.

Box jumps were for two rounds whereas on the third round my legs were burning a lot but I still tried to keep moving constantly and not stop in vain. Pace was probably slower but the man was moving. Round times were 4:14, 5:12 and 5:18. First round is always quicker because you start the work immediately. I'm happy my third round was consistent with the second one even though it felt horrible at times.

Short recap

Thursday 21.8: Clean and Jerk complex, metcon

Thursday. Barbell, complex of 1 clean + 3 jerk (max 85kg). Metcon, 2rds of Cindy, then 5 c&j (60kg), 1min rest. For a total of 5 sets.

It was a tough day. I mean it felt heavy from the beginning on the jerks and I didn't quite get it going at any moment as I wanted. My work day was not cool at all. We were in a long seminar day and there were no possibility to stand up pretty much at all during the day. You should never have people sit down for a whole day. Huh, that wasn't great for the body, especially as I'm used to move all the time during day. Anyway, I went home, ate with my baby and then headed to the gym together with Pauliina.

Barbell. Clean and jerk complex

• 1 squat clean + 3 split jerk
• 60, 70, 80, 85kg

Had something a lot heavier in mind but it simply felt a little to awkward from the beginning and I couldn't find my technique in place. Cleans were light all the time, as they should have been, but the overhead party was too shaky even with light weights. Maybe it was just lack of concentration here, I admit that. Took just couple of sets with moderate weights.

Barbell work and maybe last 2 rounds of the metcon

Metcon.

• 5 sets of:
• 2 rounds of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats) + 5 clean & jerk, 60kg
• 1min rest between sets

My thoughts were on a "twisted Cindy" consisting of normal Cindy with clean and jerks in an ascending ladder every round. However, my energy wasn't quite there so I did a lighter version of the same movements. This was a good interval action of about 1:40 per set. There was a 60 second rest period at the end of each interval. The idea was to being able to go hard at every set.

I had to break the last set of push-ups, other than that I guess I pushed them unbroken. Pull-ups were like feather light, squats started to make my quads and hammies heavy but I did them unbroken too. Clean and jerks went in touch'n'go style all the way.

There's not much to be told to the future generations about this workout. Barbell complex was off track a bit so I just basically wanted to get my lungs work well and I reached that goal. I was gassed after the interval work. Great workout by the way!

Friday 7.2: Muscle-ups, half Murphy

Friday. Skills, muscle-ups. Metcon, half Murphy: 800m run, 10 rounds of Cindy, 800m run. For completion.

Last day of holiday so it was definitely a drive to Liikuntamylly once more. It was an easier day for a reason. I wasn't ready to hit another tough day with heavy barbells. So I stayed at skills and a metcon of running and bodyweight movements. It was a good decision, that's for sure.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups
• Bar muscle-ups

I was prepared to work on the rings longer than normally and hit several reps. One thing I've noticed though. When my body is tired, I find it difficult to get any reps done on the rings. Bar mu's, no problem, but ring mu's are very challenging. Today was one of those days. The only reason I didn't take a rest day, is because I had the possibility to come to Liikuntamylly. It's a rarity so I definitely ain't gonna skip it! And I'm glad I came. It was just too much for my body on the rings. I took a couple of misses and then focused on the bar muscle-ups.

Metcon. For completion

• 800m run
• 50 pull-ups
• 100 push-ups
• 150 squats
• 800m run
• You can partition the movements as you wish

I took it without any stress today and completed a bodyweight metcon. Murphy is a her workout, 1 mile run, 20 rounds of Cindy followed by another 1 mile run. That's rough. I decided to make it a half Murphy, cutting the number of reps and meters to half. 800m run on both ends of the workout and then 10 rounds of Cindy. In Murphy you can partition the 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 squats as you like. I've understood people traditionally run them through as a 20-round Cindy, a.k.a. 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats per round, a total of 20 rounds.

This metcon felt better than I thought. I wasn't so gassed and it didn't feel as bad as I thought it might. That was a great surprise. I did this for completion, not for time, didn't have a timer running, no idea how much it took.

Recap

It has been an awesome week. My holiday weeks tend to be the best training days as the opportunities are endless and I get to work on my oly lifts in places that are normally out of reach. I saw a PR in Grace earlier this week. I was also able to practice on my handstand skills and bar muscle-ups. It was also cool to mix running into my workouts, in metcons and as intervals, love it! In other words, I worked on my weaknesses.

Monday 6.1: Overhead complex and a twisted Cindy

Monday. Overhead barbell complex. 5 working sets of: 1 shoulder press, 3 push press, 5 push jerk @ 60kg. Metcon, twisted Cindy. 20min amrap of: 1 c&j (60kg), 1rd of Cindy, 2c&j, 1rd of Cindy, 3c&j, 1rd of Cindy… Result. 341 reps.

What a training day! My shoulders are so messed up from busting my ass off at the gym. Got to give my pal Joni some credit from bringing the metcon in to my knowledge he had seen somewhere. I don't know if I like that he tipped it to me or not. It was a rough one! Plus there were some serious presses and jerks done prior to the metcon so it had its own flavor in the mix too. Took me some time to recover for sure.

Overhead complex. Presses / jerks.

• 5 working sets of:
• 1 shoulder press + 3 push press + 5 push jerks
• Barbell at 60kg in each set

This was something new and definitely worked to increase strength and muscle endurance. The weight was good for 5 sets. I wanted the weight to be across, i.e. same weight in all working sets. Took warm-up sets with 40 and 50kg. Shoulder press was the limiting factor for which it would have been difficult trying to add kilos on the barbell. I can shoulder press 75kg for a single but doing 65-70kg after couple of sets would have been very challenging. Plus there was a total of 9 reps per set so 60kg turned out to be great this time.

It was also cool to mix these three different style of shoulder-to-overhead movements into each other and practice on the various lifts together. About a year ago we used to have lots of press days with Toni where we worked on our shoulder strength, starting at shoulder press and once the bar went heavier we transitioned it to push press. Those were great workouts too.

The last set was quite tough and it took some minutes to recover and get ready for the upcoming metcon. Could not have moved directly to it because the work load for shoulders was burdening. Got to try this one another time as well.

Recap of overhead complex

Twisted Cindy. Result 341 reps.

• 20min amrap of:
• 1 clean & jerk (60kg) + 1 round of Cindy (5pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats)
• 2 clean & jerks + 1 round of Cindy
• 3 clean & jerks + 1 round of Cindy…

Gee, thanks Joni =) He just mentioned it by accident one day and it stayed in my mind to haunt. Kind of a Cindy but you'll have to complete 1 clean & jerk on the first round, then 2 reps on the second, always increasing 1 more c&j after every round of pull-ups, push-ups and squats. Cindy is one classical benchmark workout to test one's fitness. Tough test indeed.

Those clean & jerks were absolutely the hardest part of this one. I got to 9 full rounds of the workout and on the last round I completed 10 c&j's, 5 pull-ups and 1 push-up. Damned they were tough. For a long time after the workout I felt like my shoulders were on fire. I went unbroken with bodyweight movements from the beginning to the end but had to cut the c&j's after 6 rounds.

I realized the nature of this workout already after 3-4 rounds. It was a lots of work. And once it was a long workout I decided before the workout not to rush and gas myself out. Because the first rounds might be easy and you could rattle them through quickly but it would definitely get back at you after a short while. So I took my time with the transition before grabbing the bar for clean & jerks.

For first 6 rounds I got the c&j's unbroken, the 7th round was 5+2, 8th round was 5+3 and the 9th was 6+3. On the last round I got 4+3+3 reps. It was bad when I had to let go of the bar. It's not easy to go for another rep right away. That's why I tried to do it unbroken for as long as possible.

Good workout indeed and perfect training session. This took my breath away and was definitely one of the toughest in a while!

Friday 13.12: Snatch, Chelsea

Friday. Snatches, benchmark workout Chelsea: For 30min, every minute on the minute, 1 round of Cindy.

Took some snatches to work on my squat snatch technique as I haven't done this movement in a way too long time. Early autumn I promised myself to keep on training this movement. I definitely haven't stood up to that promise. So I made a comeback on this movement. Plus today was time to complete a benchmark workout, Chelsea, who is a newcomer for me.

Snatches. Had no plan in going for certain sets. Mainly just working on sets of couple reps with weights around 40-45kg. My focus was on squat snatches but some power reps were seen as well. For me, the power snatch is way easier than squat snatch. The weight itself is not the case in squat snatch but the complexity of the movement. I tend to lean too forward on my squat snatch and thus lose balance. It's not as stabile as I'd like it to be. It's probably also dependent about the bar path.

Here are few snatches from today

Chelsea. Passed rx'd.

• Every minute on the minute for 30min:
• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 squats

You probably remember Cindy, 20min amrap of the same movements, pull-ups, push-ups and air squats. I did it back in August and completed 22rds + 5 pull-ups, take a look at it here. Chelsea is similar to Cindy, same pattern on per round but it's every minute on the minute type of training. That means one round of the triplet and then chill out for the rest of the minute. Continue to a total of 30 minutes. That equals a total of 150 pull-ups, 300 push-ups and 450 squats.

Wasn't sure how this one would feel like. There's a whole bunch of reps in half an hour. I remember feeling devastated after Cindy and on this one I was looking to go for 8 more rounds. Okay, the difference was huge as there was also rest time included. In Cindy you'll have to go all the time without breaking at any time except when you're not able to move anymore. It was surprising how well I did this one. Can you imagine my round times stayed exactly the same for the entire 30min? It took me 30sec each time so there was also 30sec rest every minute. That makes me think I could be able to improve my time on Cindy as well, hmm…

Pull-ups were the easiest part, just 5 reps per round. Got everything unbroken but the two other movements started to feel tougher towards the end. I kept my hands at a very narrow width and focused on pointing my elbows straight along my body in a good position. Squats went actually very well. Legs were not burning at any stage of the wod.

This workout was somehow easier than Cindy. Maybe it was simply the time to recover between rounds. But hey, it was great to being able to keep the pace identical each round! That was very much due to mental strength because the feeling was I'd like to slow it down but decided to go fast every round.

Wednesday 11.9: Squats, weighted dips, rowing

Wednesday. Squats, weighted dips 5x5, rowing metcon.

Today was an easier day. I took some squats to start with, then continued to do weighted dips. No idea when I last did them, might have been some time last year =) And then a metcon for which I got inspired by crossfit athlete Garret Fisher's Instagram photo. It was a kind of interval type of rowing metcon.

Strength.

• Back squats 5x100, 5x100, 4x110, 4x110kg
• Weighted dips, 5x10, 5x20, 5x30, 5x35, 5x20kg

Just to get the feel on the squats, not that heavy, working on form and technique. I did those 4 sets pretty quickly, actually about one set per minute. I was thinking about doing heavier sets as well emom style but my back was little sore so I stayed at 110kg.

For some reason my mind got twisted around weighted dips from nowhere so took a few sets. First bodyweight dips and then adding extra weight. Completed sets of 5 reps with the weights and reached a new max of 35kg. I remember hitting 30kg max earlier.

Rowing. Distance 3.850m

• 3 rounds of:
• 2 min row, 1.50-1.55 pace
• 1 min row, all in
• 2 min row, 2.10-2.15 pace
• 1 min walk

This was fun! Gonna redo it some day but definitely increase the volume. This was only for 3 rounds but 5-7 rounds would be more useful in the long run. Doing max effort of 1min row after rowing 1.50-1.55 for 2 min was surprisingly taxing. Maybe not on the first round but from then on yes.


Toni's workouts.

• Deadlift, emom, 4 reps @ 120kg, for 10min

Metcon. Half Cindy, result 7 rounds

• 10min amrap of:
• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 squats

Saturday 31.8: Push jerks, Cindy

Saturday. Push jerks, emom, 3 reps @ 70kg, for 10min. Benchmark wod Cindy, result 665 reps.

Went to the gym with my babe without an exact and proper plan. Had in mind to do what I turned out to do but my guts were saying that listen to your body. To say the truth it's been a tough month, I've never lifted this much weight and guess that's the reason why my body feels a little tired at times. Considering the amount of kilos lifted, I feel super though! :) So I ended up doing push jerks emom-style and then 20min amrap of Cindy.

Strength.

• Push jerk, every minute on the minute
• 3 reps @ 70kg, for 10min

I was thinking about doing only bodyweight stuff but once I laid my eyes on the barbell, I couldn't back away, it was simply too tempting to garb it and start moving. Did some warm-up movements with lighter weights and then hit 70kg on the bar and tapped the clock on. Every minute complete 3 push jerks @ 70kg. On the first 3-4 rounds I did push presses and then progressed to push jerks. The bar has become significantly lighter on the shoulder-to-overhead movements during this summer, significantly! In the spring time this weight would have sounded too heavy for me so it's awesome to witness some progression here.

Plus I was able to do all sets with the bar moving constantly. That means to say I didn't have to stop the bar at my chest after any of the jerks. I completed 3 reps in a row with dropping the bar and bouncing it right back up. That definitely made good things to my confidence. Had no problems lifting the bar up.

Cindy. Result 665 reps (22 rounds + 5 pull-ups)

• 20min amrap of:
• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 air squats

I've been thinking about this lady for the entire year. For some unknown reason I haven't performed it though. Only once in the early steps of my crossfit "career" sometime last summer. That time my result was a little short of 20 rounds but I bet my squats were not done to parallel level. There's a big difference in doing them correctly or half way. I was afraid of how well I could match the result from last year, it was 19 full rounds + 5 pull-ups + 5 push-ups, totaling 580 reps. Today without "no-reps" my result was 22 rounds + 5 pull-ups, totaling 665 reps, that's 85 more than last time. Got to be proud about that!

The result equals to 115 pull-ups, 220 push-ups and 330 squats. The catch in Cindy for me is absolutely the push-ups. I was able to go through pull-ups and squats unbroken every round. On the push-ups I went in sets of 10 reps less than 10 rounds, probably somewhere around 7-8 rounds. From then on until the last set I did 6+4 reps, just kneeling a bit and loosening the tension in chest and triceps, then continuing again.

Cindy was tough. I had a lot of mixed emotions during the workout. In the beginning it didn't feel difficult at all. After a couple of rounds it got tougher and tougher. In the middle of the workout there was merely desperation in the air and I was only hoping the time to run fast so it would be over sooner. After grinding through a couple of rounds I realized I'm gonna reach a decent result in the 20min cap. The last rounds included a lot of breathing, a lot of sweating and a lot of mental game to keep on moving.

I kept record of my lap times. I stayed between 40-50 seconds for the first 10 rounds, then the following rounds 10-15 were between 50-60 seconds, slowing a bit every round, and then for the remaining 7 rounds (16-22) I was able to maintain a solid 61-62sec round time. I believe there was a lot of determination involved as I was able to stick to the same time frame each round even though my time had been getting a little longer every minute for the first 15 rounds. Had I not been able to pace up, my result would have been a little shy of 22rds.

Toni went to his Box in the morning. At least he did his first ever pistol squat, awesome! Plus 12 kipping pull-ups in a row, that's spectacular considering his earlier PR was 5 reps. How is that possible man?!? Furthermore, he finished 3 x 50 reps unbroken double unders. I believe his earlier max was 50 reps and today he did it 3 times. That's a good training day!

Friday 2.8: Deadlift, bench and accessory work

Friday. Metcon, 10-8-6-4-2, deadlift (130kg), bench press (70kg). For completion, 5 rounds of: 10 weighted box jumps, 10 curls, 10 ring dips.

It's been an awesome training week. Our goal this week with Toni was to do same workouts together, at least as much as possible. We were able to match our schedules well and the plan was implemented. Thrusters, hspu and box on Monday, handstand skills, snatches and heavy Grace on Tuesday, squats, burpees and du's on Wednesday, handstand skills, split jerks, run/clean metcon on Thursday and today some meathead action. A lot of strength and heavy breathing has been witnessed this week both in our home gym and at Eltsu weightlifting venue. Both of us are feeling good about this!

Metcon. Alternating with Toni

• 10-8-6-4-2
• Deadlift, 130kg (Toni 120kg)
• Bench press, 70kg

Didn't think about the clock this time. We did it as fast as we were able to do it. I've done this type of workouts with the similar movement combo but most of them were last year. I've kind of forgotten about this. It's a smart set to combine deadlift and bench, you get the heart rate up and they do not prevent each other. You can smack around some nice weights and get a good number of total kilos. It was 3.900kg on the deads and 2.100kg on the bench.

I was able to manhandle both movements and go unbroken each set. Toni also smashed the bench but had some broken sets on the deads. I have this mindset in my head that I'm gonna make my posterior chain stronger in the near future, at least I'm gonna concentrate in squats and deadlifts. Let's see what the outcome is. I'm also trying to find a wider stance in squats to find more stability and a thus a stronger ground on my lifts.

For completion.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 weighted box jumps
• 10 curls
• 10 ring dips

Something accessory. Saw a video of weighted box jumps to increase explosiveness. Gave it a shot, it was ok, don't know if I'm gonna do them in the future. Not bad, still not a mind-blowing experience so let's see. At least it made my hamstrings burn, even though my dumbbells weren't that heavy.

Curls, hmm. Not often but sometimes to increase arm strength. I have those handstand push-ups in mind when I do this movement. Each and every time I do a curl I remind myself why I'm doing them. I consider this a pretty meathead movement. Ring dips are always smart to do. Pretty much the same logic still behind this is that I want my arms to get stronger.

Toni's workouts.

• Same bench/dead workout @ 120kg deadlifts and @ 70kg bench
• Metcon. 10 rounds of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats). Time 18.33

Sunday 17.3: Game Day

Sunday. Game Day.

My crossfit was non-existing today because this was a Game Day. We won the last game of the regular season 6-4 so I guess we'll continue the season in the playoffs.

Toni's workouts.

• 5x5 hspu, scaled to foam roll
• 5x5 weighted dips, 15kg
• 5x1 weighted pull-ups, 10kg
• 1/2 Cindy, 10 rounds in 10 minutes
• Back squats, 3x100, 3x110, 1x120, failed attempt of 130kg, 1x130kg (PR)

I wonder when comes the day I can perform muscle-ups

Saturday 12.1: Game Day

Saturday. Game Day. Result 16-3.

A day off from crossfitting as my team was about to travel against another team. In the first round we had a tie with these guys so it was supposed to be a close one again. It couldn't have been further away from that. First period, 7-0 for us. At the final buzzer the score board stood 16-3, another win for us.

Toni's workout. Cindy. Result 12 rounds + 5 pull-ups

• 20 min amrap
• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 squats

Toni went to the Box, let's here what he has to offer for us. What kind of feelings, I guess some puke was in play as well :) 65 pull-ups for you man, that's awesome!