What a day! I was so done as the training session was over and still at home I was feeling sick. I had planned to go to Eltsu for clean and jerk, went to my home gym instead. All I had in mind was clean and jerk. Ended up there with Juuso for some olympic lifts, core work and deceptive workout.
I warmed up my lower body properly before touching the barbell, then took some more hang cleans, jerks and front squats with lighter barbell. Started off by doing a set of 5 reps with 60kg and a hang squat clean at the end of those reps. Same with 70kg. At 80kg I did one squat clean and 3 split jerks. So that was not actually clean and jerk set but a sort of clean / jerk complex. After that I took only a double @ 85kg and then simply singles.
I've done some jerks with 90kg barbell and it feels comfortable nowadays. I guess that's pretty much the heaviest I've climbed at this gym because it's not possible to drop the weights. So it was a little intimidating trying to jerk the bar up. However, I felt good and confident, the bar wasn't that heavy so I kept pushing it.
Never has 100kg felt so light! I've taken it overhead only couple of times. Not sure but I'll guess maybe 2-3 times? At this point it was only natural to go try that record. The clean stayed a little too forward so my clean wasn't a perfect one. Usually my cleans tend to look similar, at least in my opinion. I either get the clean up and they look alike or then I'm not fast enough to drop under the bar. Anyway the bar was on my front rack and it was time for some real action. Took the dip and drive, hoped for the best and gave it a shot. Bar felt comfortable on the dip part. When I began to drive it up, the bar was like a ton of iron was on my shoulders. I put all my effort in the jerk and got it up. Stayed still for couple of seconds victorious with 105kg bar overhead.
After clean & jerks I took 3 sets of clean pulls. First set @ 110kg, and the last 2 sets @ 120kg. For sets of 5 reps they were heavy. Let's think about it. I've done couple of 100kg+ clean singles in my life so going for 110-120kg clean pulls must be heavy. My grip strength was a little challenging. This was the first times I tried hook grip. That's because my grip strength wan't there after 2 reps. Had to go for hook grip. And I must say it was a totally different thing. Grip was easy but my thumb was smashed. Maybe I gotta try this more. Maybe there's a point why everybody's using it =)
Core.
Floor wipers 3x10 (50, 60, 60kg)
This was something Juuso talked me into trying. Some core work. Have you ever tried? I haven't. With these weights it was more like a body control movement, balance, and coordination. We took sets of 10 reps. The idea is you're laying on your back, take the bar from rack just like you would be doing floor press. While holding the bar with straight hands. Then bring your legs to the bumper plates side to side. Start with left side and then right, alternating after each rep.
Workout.
20sec on, 40sec off, for 10 minutes
Thrusters, 40kg
Something that was created on the spot. Turned out to be a sick one! One barbell, two men and a timer. We completed this together even though it was an individual workout. Juuso started at 0:00, worked for 20sec, then rested 40sec and started his second set at 1:00. My turn began at 0:30 and I worked for the same time domain, 20 sec on and 40sec off. I realized it takes about 2sec to complete a thruster.
This started to feel bad in 3-4 minutes. At 6 minutes it was horrible. At 8min I felt rhabdo is on its way. Well that was a joke, luckily it wasn't on its way. At 10min I was so smoked. Hard to describe. Had to knee down, then I tried to walk the pain away but the pain just wanted to stay in my body. It felt bad somewhere deep inside long after I came home.
Now I smile as I look back at the work put in earlier today. Lot of stuff was overhead, supportive core work was there too, and the grande finale was great!
Monday. AM: Skills, handstand. Strength, clean & jerk (max PR 102.5kg). Bar complex, 3 sets of: 1 squat clean, 3 split jerk (across @ 80kg). Metcon, 10 rds of: 5 back squat (60kg), 30 du. Time 9.50. PM: Playing outdoors.
First day of my holiday and straight to Liikuntamylly. It was a tough day there, lots of action going on. Skills, strength, technique and metcon to crown the training day. Personal record also saw the daylight. Could have I asked for more. Don't think so! In the evening we went for a walk with Pauliina and I had the chance to play a little in the woods.
Skills.
Handstand
Handstand walk
It's been some time since I was walking with my hands last time. It felt pretty good and natural. I'm very happy about it. I was afraid in the autumn what would happen to my newly learned skills during the winter time as it's difficult to find a place where to practice this particular skill set. Last spring / summer I did quite a lot of handstand outdoors on grass but having the ground filled with snow it's a bit different thing. Below you'll see how it went today.
Handstand skills
Strength.
Clean & Jerk, max out
5x60, 3x70, 2x80, 1x90, 1x95, 1x100, 1x102.5kg PR
My upper body was tight from last two days of training. Somehow it was stiff already yesterday evening and not any better as I woke up today. I tried to loosen it up by hanging from a pull-up bar at home. My goal today was to try some max efforts on clean & jerks. That's because Liikuntamylly is a place where you dare to push the limits. You can drop the barbell if you fail to lift it. Bringing 100k nicely to the front rack isn't a simple thing when you're at the limits. So it's safer to just drop it. That's why I tend to go to max when training at Liikuntamylly.
Did some traditional bar warm-up, good mornings, clean pulls, power cleans, front squats, push press, back squat and press behind the neck. The usual stuff. Then some more of cleans to get ready. Couple of clean & jerks with 40kg as well. Then I started working towards the heavier sets. The 60kg set I went in touch'n'go style, then I took singles all the way to the end. The clean part wasn't much of a thing. It was more of the jerk part that made this movement more challenging. It started to become a little wobbling at around 95kg. I'm not entirely satisfied in my technique on the 100+ weights but I'm definitely happy I got them up and a new record was born!
Barbell work recap
Complex.
3 working sets of:
1 squat clean + 3 split jerk
Across @ 80kg
This was supposed to concentrate more on jerk technique than anything else. My elbows started to become a bit sore - actually they came sore already on the c&j's - so instead of completing 5 sets I had to stop after 3 sets. Didn't want to risk anything. The pain wasn't feeling good. The weight itself was not heavy but I wasn't right on it with my technique today. I was pushing the bar too much forward, not straight upwards. Plus the feet work, not the most beautiful lunge I have seen. Still, the load itself was moving easily and that's always a positive sign! There was a time when 80kg was my max load shoulder-to-overhead so in these moments it's important to cherish those moments =)
Metcon round times
Metcon. Time 9.50
10 rounds of:
5 back squats, 60kg, from rack
30 double unders
After letting my elbows recover for a while I came up with a metcon where elbows wouldn't play the main role. Back squats and double unders. That turned out to be a great combo for a metcon. Main goal of this metcon was indeed to work on the metabolic conditioning. Keep that body moving no matter how you feel. Just bare with it and focus on the next rep.
And I was able to complete that task. As you see from the round times it was a solid effort from the beginning to the end. Naturally the back squat wasn't that heavy, it wasn't the purpose of it. It was supposed to fatigue my legs a bit and let the double unders finish the man. I got the double unders unbroken if you don't count the very first set where I had a miss after 2 reps =) After that it was a smooth sail at the sea.
Metcon, all but the last about 10 du's
Plus I believe my form was quite good on the double unders. Somehow I might be able to make it more economical, not to burn myself that much. Maybe circulating the rope a little faster so I wouldn't have to do that much work with my legs. I don't know, I feel pretty good about it. If you have tips, feel free to give 'em. I'll absorb it.
Anyways, this was a good workout where I got to keep breathing under control throughout the workout. It was about 50+ seconds per round. I walked to my timer between rounds just to tap on the clock and see how my round times look like afterwards. There I lost couple of seconds per round but that's a small thing.
It was an awesome training session at Liikuntamylly, no doubt! First of all, handstand skills, one of my favorites! Then PR in clean & jerk + some bar complex work. And the metcon was the cherry over the cake, my kind of training day.
Constant variety.
Wall climbs, 15 reps
We went to the woods for a recovery walk. Somehow we ended up at this wooden wall that I've had one encounter before. Even though it's not that high you still have to do surprisingly lot of work to get over it. At least it gets to the breathing in no time. Entire body is in tension when doing work. But most of all, this was fun! It was something like 15+ reps on the wall.
GREAT DAY!!! My first touch at a crossfit affiliate. I went to "open gym" with Toni to work on ring skills, we were looking to improve on our ring muscle-ups. Then it was time to do some personal records with the barbell: clean & jerks and clean PR's both saw the daylight. Toni also did clean PR. We finished the workout session by doing a pair wod, bad ass chipper.
Skills. Bar muscle-ups and ring muscle-ups.
After doing some stretching and foam rolling I grabbed the pull-up bar and did some pull-ups and chest-to-bars. It felt easy to pull myself high so I decided to go higher, and ended up doing some bar muscle-ups. Haven't done them probably in a month so I completed 10+ reps, couple of singles in the beginning, then 4 in a row, and then 3 unbroken.
Then it was time to do some ring muscle-ups. I feel like it hasn't been that close this far. Okay, I've got the height at a decent level but I haven't been able to duck my head forward through the rings. Today something happened and I got there. We did progressions with Toni's coaching. He's been learning this movement lately and seems to have an obsession of completing a successful rep before the year changes. And I'm sure he will with this level of determination.
We lowered the rings and did some transitions plus we did muscle-ups by sitting on a resistance band that was tied between the rings. It felt so easy to do one muscle-up with the help of those. Maybe that's the reason I understood the transition stage better. My last rep was pretty damned close as you can see from the pic and the video. I know it looks nasty once I dropped there but don't worry, nothing bad happened =)
Two PR's in one session, not bad, I'll take that! The idea was to do clean & jerks and I had not scheduled to do records today but there was something in the atmosphere and the barbell felt lighter than normally so I figured why not hit the max load. And this is one of those places where you can drop the bar and not having to think about being too careful. At my work place's gym you are not allowed to drop the bar so you've got to be careful not to miss a lift.
The 60kg reps we did from hang clean position, then jerked it up in different variations. I took power and squat cleans, push jerk and split jerk, just to get all styles involved and muscles ready for anything that's coming up. On the 70kg I did regular clean & jerks push jerk style. At 80kg I still went touch'n'go for all 3 reps. On the 90kg I did 2 singles and it felt awesome and my form stayed good all the way. Probably haven't jerked that easy 90kg ever.
Took a single lift at 95kg, then moved on the the PR attempt. I have cleaned 100kg twice and jerked it from a rack once but never have I got it to the sky all the way from the floor. My confidence level was high and there was no doubt if the bar would come up or not. Clean was rather easy, and on the jerk I had to do some work. The local coach gave some vital tips on the use of my back leg on the split jerk. I tend to position it a little sideways even though it is critical to have the toes pointed forwards for stability's stake. Next time I'll be split jerking with a better foot positioning for sure. Thanks for the coach Aleksi!
I still took one clean @ 102.5kg for a clean PR, this time the jerk stayed in the middle and I had to drop it. Technique wasn't there on the jerk. There had been quite a lot of work for the shoulders so it was time to catch a breath and move on to our pair chipper.
Pair wod. Chipper
120 wall balls, 8kg
100 pull-ups
80 kettlebell swings, 32kg
40 handstand push-ups
20 cleans, 80kg
We had thought about nailing some thrusters after kb swings but our shoulders were smashed already atfter the muscle-ups and strength training so we decided to skip it. The idea was that one partner works at a time. We split the wall balls in sets of 20 reps, both completed them unbroken. Then on the pull-ups we went "you go, I go", meaning that I started, did as many reps as possible, then we switched turns. Alternating on the pull-up bar, we moved to kettlebell work after we finished 100 reps. On the swings it was 4 sets of 10 reps for both of us, on the hspu's the principle was same as with the pull-ups. And finally some heavy cleans (at least at this stage of the workout) in singles, alternating.
Shoulders were burning already after wall balls. All the work put in prior to the chipper really had its effect on us. Wall balls were okay, the ball was 8kg, the heaviest they've got. I've done some hundred reps with my brother's self-made wall ball out of basket ball which is half the size of this one we used today. It was awkward handling this big a ball, and it slipped sometimes from my hands. Pull-ups felt normal, easy in the beginning, then turning uglier after couple of tens.
Kettlebells seemed like the heaviest movement in this one. For some reason the bell felt way heavier than normally. Maybe it was the combination of the movements, there was quite a lot of action for the upper body. We both managed the hspu's nicely, I did 7 reps on the first 2 sets, then 5-3 towards the end. It was genius to program quite heavy cleans as the last movement in this workout. We both had never done that.
It didn't start well, both took a failed rep as the first rep =) I tried the first attempt as power clean so it didn't take long to make the decision to change it to squat cleans. And they felt great from then on! Got to do more stuff like this where there's a heavy barbell included in a metcon.
Recap of the training day!
All in all, it was a spectacular training day with Tony the Pony, the guy I basically did my crossfitting for the first year. Now he's been working out at this affiliate which obviously has lots to offer for a humble athlete. Plus the atmosphere seemed to be encouraging as well, obviously, it's a crossfit Box.
Tuesday. Freestyling with clean & jerk + split jerk (PR 95kg, split jerk PR 100kg). Pair wod with bro: 5 rounds of: 300m run, 5 clean & jerks (60kg), max effort double unders while the other partner runs.
Training day with my older brother! These days tend to be heavy in nature. My shoulders were smoked after we left the building. So was Sipa's. In other words: great training!!! We did some sort of clean & jerk complex, single clean & jerks and split jerks. Finished the training with a pair wod, running, c&j and double unders.
PR BABY!!!
Strength. Going by feeling
Started with 2 cleans + 3 jerks (including warm-up: 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 85, 90kg), then
Clean & jerk (PR 95kg, failed on 100kg), then
Split jerk from rack (PR 100kg)
We started by doing a complex of 2 squat cleans + 2 push / split jerks. The goal was to go as heavy as possible doing this type of complex. Other option would have been simple and old school singles. But we wanted something different. After the barbell got too heavy, I decided to do singles. End result was that I completed 2 personal records: clean & jerk with 95kg and 100kg jerk.
It was light in the beginning for sure. Tried to do warm-up with bear walk and by using resistance band. Then some barbell work and I started working towards clean & jerks. Started with light weight, moving up together with my brother. 2 hang squat cleans up to 70kg, then 2 jerks. On 80kg I did a hang squat clean but the second rep failed so I repeated it from ground. Went up to 85kg, completed it and decided to go for 90kg. I dropped the bar after the first clean but finished it till the end with 2 split jerks.
Next stop, 95kg. Clean, failed, what? Why would I fail on a clean at 95kg? This wasn't the best of my clean days. That was clear to me already earlier on. My technique wasn't as explosive as it needs to be. I was able to pull the bar at a decent hight but I wasn't going under it fast enough. I still got good results which is of course encouraging. Took the 95kg again and completed it nicely.
Tried to clean 100kg once but as it failed I decided to put the bar on the rack and jerk it from there. I was confident enough to get the bar up. As you see from the video my legs are not doing the job they were created for, not going under the bar as fiercely as would be smart. But that's the way it is when you're handling weights that are on the limits of your strength. This was definitely somewhere around there and the main point is that I got the hundred kilos up in the sky!!!
Pair wod.
Partner 1: 300m run
Partner 2: complete 5 clean & jerks (60kg), then max effort double unders while partner 1 runs 300m
Result. 300 double unders (60 each round)
As if our shoulders weren't smashed already, we created a pair wod on the go with Sipa. The other one runs for 300m (back and forth 150m), and the other one has that time to complete 5 clean & jerks with 60kg and the remaining time as many reps as possible of double unders.
My double unders were good today. Completed 60 reps each round, total of 300 reps in the workout. I did 20 reps on average per set. Completing double unders after having ran for 300m and completing 5 unbroken c&j's right after it was a bit challenging. It would have been nice to breath every once in a while… =) Good breather!
We both completed the clean & jerks unbroken. Both of our shoulders were in pain already before the workout so you can probably imagine the feelings in the middle of the workout. Still, I'm glad we nailed it unbroken. Had to take a pause before starting the double unders.
My brother did similar training with me. As I arrived, he was holding 70kg overhead and he was squatting like there was a feather above him. He soon went to 80kg (current PR) and finally did 85kg, a new PR. Looked good! He also tried to go for 90kg but he failed to lock out the bar overhead. Great results bro!
All in all, this was a great training day! And these days with Sipa tend to bring in quite a burden on the body. Enjoyed every minute of it!
Monday. Clean & jerk singles (max PR 87.5kg). Metcon, 4 rounds of 430m run, 10 hang squat cleans 60kg). Time 12.11.
Yes, had a possibility to work out at Liikuntamylly sports center and I definitely went there. I had nothing but good memories training there. The circumstances are perfect. You can do practically anything out there. It's super for olympic lifting plus you have all possibilities for metcons as well. Today I did clean & jerks and then a running metcon added with some barbell work. Unfortunately my bro couldn't make it as we had planned. Would have been awesome to kick some pair wod.
Strength. Clean & jerk singles (70, 80, 85, PR 87.5kg). For warm-up I did 800m run, lunges, push-ups, squats and then barbell warm-up. I was thinking about whether to try for snatch PR as well but realized that's not the main issue with snatch. It's more important to concentrate in my snatch technique and finding out comfortability in squat snatching. Today I did some hang squat snatches with 20-30kg simply to work on my technique, stance and mobility. Then worked towards the c&j.
Cleans and presses with 40kg & 60kg before starting the singles. 70kg was easy, 80kg came easily as well. I've had some issues pressing / jerking weights over 80kg but today getting that old PR of 85kg up was n issue at all. It felt good. Those cleans were easy for me today all the way. I dared to put small plates in both ends of the barbell and try for a new record, 87.5kg. I'm super happy I got that up, boosted a lot of confidence! You'll have the videos below.
C&J, 85kg
C&J 87.5kg
Metcon. Time 12.11
4 rounds of:
430m run
10 hang squat cleans, 60kg
I scheduled to go for 400m run and 10 hang squat cleans. That track was 200m long so I ran it twice but the transition from there to my barbell took 30+ meters. I believe I ran a solid pace so I was wondering why the clock was at 1.50 when I returned from first lap. The transition must have taken some time from the barbell to the track 'cause I felt good through the workout if you don't count the last lap. It was awful in the end.
On the first round I got those cleans unbroken, the following 3 rounds went in 6 and 4 reps. Love this place for being able to drop the weights when you don't have the energy hold on to it anymore. It's a small thing but at that given moment it feels good!
I feel like I didn't give myself a slack with the cleans. Once I got back from the running I grabbed the barbell rather quickly. And once I dropped the bar on those 3 last rounds I didn't stay and try catch a breath for long. Stepped back, pushed the bumpers back in place and did the remaining cleans. On the last round that running felt nightmarish. My lunges were trying to get a breath so once I went running it just felt like it's burning in my guts. Luckily I got that feeling over after 100 meters.
This workout was perfect for me. This is the only place where I've had the possibility to combine running and barbell work. At my home gym there's no possibility to run and then if I train outdoors I don't have access to barbells, only kettlebells. That's why I need to utilize this place in my summer holiday. On regular working days that weightlifting platform is reserved for sports teams so it's difficult to come here normally.
Today was all about doing strength singles. I had planned to do snatches, clean & jerk, front squat and back squat, all according to Diane Fu's training program. My time was a bit short so I had to eliminate snatch and back squat from the equation so I only did CJ and front squat. No metcons today.
Strength.
Clean & jerk, 70, 75, 80, 85, 87.5kg (clean successful, jerk failed). PR's in clean and c&j!
Front squat, 100, 110, 120kg, 130f, 130f
Awesome! I had put on my PR shirt and was ready to upgrade some digits on the max loads =) My clean has taken some serious steps forward this year, I believe, and through the latest development - squat cleans - I've been able to add load constantly. I have also added hang cleans to my selection way more than before. All in all, there's been a good number of various reps so this was only a consequence of all those. I'm very satisfied!
I began the clean & jerk sets from 70kg, then adding 5kg until 85kg, which was my precious max for clean and 2.5kg beyong my jerk max (82.5kg). Jerking it up felt good and it actually came up a bit easier than the 80kg, which startled me big time =) At 80 I had to push the last centimeters hard to reach full range. At 85 it came easier, nice one.
I realized going for 90kg would not have been the smartest thing so I went for 87.5kg. I managed to get it at my chest at first try with a deep squat clean. My jerk got half way but wasn't able to get it all the way. Split jerk would help a lot in this movement. I don't think I'm trying max weights at home box as I can't drop the weights but I've already spotted a place where olympic lifts can be done properly so I believe we'll deah there with Toni some day next week. I tried clean & jerk with 87.5kg another time and I got that clean part of it successful for the second time in a row! Jerk was bit of a joke this time but how awesome was it to get that clean twice with a new PR! And just moments ago my jerk also improved to 85kg. Great day!
With front squats I got too greedy. I took 80kg up, then 100, 110, 120kg. All came up solidly, after which I put 125 on the barbell. Thought about it for a few seconds, then decided to change directly to 130kg, my current max. That 120kg was so light. That was a stupid move this time, I believe I should have taken 125kg up once and only then continue forward. There was a slight mental hesitation after having 130kg in front rack position and bouncing back up from the bottom position. I got it up enough to know it's only a matter of mental strength but for some reason I thought I can't lift it so I dropped it. I knew right after it I should have delivered it all the way up. The second try wasn't that good, my stomach was already full of satisfaction I suppose so I didn't get that flow zone on anymore.
It was a good training day. I would have liked to go through all four movements but had not enough time to do them all. Toni is travelling this week as well, hopefully he finds that mental toughness to create space for some insane training.
In the evening we went for a one hour stroll in the forest with Pauliina for active recovery =)
It was about time to go for clean and jerks. I love this movement a lot. It's only been one week since last time but I'm all constantly looking forward to doing c&j again. There was about one month break in December that I didn't do them at all because of minor injury. Once I got back in action, it's been a pleasure! Today I accidentally hit a PR =)
Strength. Various sets, max PR 82.5kg
5 hang clean + 5 jerk, 40kg
5 hang clean + 5 jerk, 60kg
5 x clean & jerk, 70kg
3 x clean & jerk, 75kg
1 x clean & jerk, 80kg
failed clean & jerk, 85kg, twice
1 x clean & jerk, 82.5kg, PR
I started the workout by doing 5 hang cleans and 5 jerks after that without adjusting my grip in between. For starters I did it with 40kg and 60kg. Then I started to do regular clean & jerks, 5 reps with 70kg, 3 reps with 75kg, probably never done as many reps with 75kg I suppose.
I was fizzing around for a while and collected my confidence and went for my old record of 80kg. It has traditionally been quite a struggle but today that was surprisingly easy so I decided to add load. I asked Pony whether to add 2.5kg or 5kg. He thought 85kg would come up, and so did I. I was so sure it would come up at least to my chest. The first attempt was a bit pathetic but the second one came well, not as high as it should have so I couldn't turn myself under the barbell. Take a look at the attempts in Youtube. Here's the successful 80kg lift.
Clean & Jerk, 80kg
Because the 80 was rather easy, I wanted to add stakes anyway even though 5kg was too much. As a compromise 82.5kg was a successful lift all the way up, clean and jerk. A new max was created! The jerk part of it wasn't a beauty, it came up through a mental battle but hey, it still came up, everything counts =) It felt damned good!
Clean & Jerk, 82.5kg, PR
In the evening I had floorball with my team.
Toni's workouts. rounds + 5 front squats
15min amrap of
5 front squats, 60kg, starting the barbell from ground
10 burpees
20 double unders
There were a lot of people today at the Box which forced Toni to wait for access to the barbell at times. Plus he still feels the weekend's tax on his body / throat. I bet he would have done better if he was in good shape. You'll find one of his front squat sets below.
