Sunday 27.4: Deads, Cleans, Hero wod JJ

Sunday. Deadlifts, build to heavy single (max PR 210kg). Cleans, build to a heavy single (max 110kg). Hero wod JJ: 1 to10, up by 1's squat cleans (85kg), 10 to 1, down by 1's deficit hspu. Time 30.21

Heavy day. Definitely a heavy day. Goal for the day: build up to a heavy single in both deadlifts and cleans. Haven't done heavy deadlifts in a while so I decided to find out where we're going right now. Deads took my sharpest edge but I wanted to take couple of cleans anyway. Last weekend I was wondering between Holleyman and JJ - both hero workouts - and went after Holleyman. It was only natural to attack JJ too because it had stayed in the back of my head. I wanted to feel the pain.

210kg, check!

Strength. Deads and cleans

• Deadlift, build up to a heavy single (5x100, 3x140, 2x170, 1x190, 1x210kg PR)
• Clean, build up to a heavy single (5x60, 3x80, 1x90, 1x100, 1x110kg)

I warmed up by posterior chain and lower body properly, did some "scorpion twists" to make sure my back, spine and core was ready for what's coming at ya. I started building up to a heavy single by loading 100kg on the bar and took a 5-rep set, slow one for the last rep to really engage posterior chain. 140kg felt like a feather. I added 30 more kilos and took a double. I've done a triple @ 180kg some months ago, it might be fun to see how many reps I could nail at heavier weights.

I decided 190kg would be a light one. Mental decision, I cheated my mind to make it light. As I took it up I knew there would be a new personal record today. Those around 200kg lifts are not easy so I jumped 20kg up right away to a PR lift of 210kg. It came up nicely, in my opinion. Not perfectly lined back but still a decent lift. It felt like it wasn't the ultimate max load but I don't wanna sacrifice form over kilos at these weights. It would be scary to smash the max load with a terrible form.

210kg

I was really happy on getting another PR on deadlift. I'm 34 years old and still hitting records on a steady pace. I'm satisfied on the strength levels I've gained through crossfit even though my main focus is on building a good engine within me. Strength is somewhat a compulsory element you must have in order to have a strong machine inside you. And let's be honest, it's freaking cool to lift heavy sh*t often!

110kg

Hero workout JJ. Time 30.21

• 1 squat clean, 85kg
• 10 deficit handstand push-ups
• 2 squat clean, 85kg
• 9 deficit handstand push-ups
• 3 squat clean, 85kg
• 8 deficit handstand push-ups
• 4 squat clean, 85kg
• 7 deficit handstand push-ups
• 5 squat clean, 85kg
• 6 deficit handstand push-ups
• 6 squat clean, 85kg
• 5 deficit handstand push-ups
• 7 squat clean, 85kg
• 4 deficit handstand push-ups
• 8 squat clean, 85kg
• 3 deficit handstand push-ups
• 9 squat clean, 85kg
• 2 deficit handstand push-ups
• 10 squat clean, 85kg
• 1 deficit handstand push-ups

Huh, what a workout. I don't have parallettes at the gym. I once asked for them but it's pretty obvious I'd be the only one using them so they didn't wanna order them. We've got rings, box and bumper plates so got to be pleased on the equipment =)

This workout is a little sick. There are some mixed emotions in play. In the beginning handstand push-ups suck a lot and cleans are easy. In the middle of the workout it gets easier as a whole, the rounds between 4-8 were quite steady pace around 3 minutes. Then the last couple of rounds really start to get under the skin. Hspu's get easier and squat cleans are a nightmare. Last 3 rounds were simply awful because of the cleans. My lower back was on fire all the time. It didn't even help on those rest periods I had between lifts or on the hspu's.

Because of the lack of parallettes I modified it so that I put plates on both sides of my head. I have no idea how big the elevation should be actually. Never have I completed deficit hspu's in a workout. I'm telling you they weren't easy. In the first round they went okay because the workout had just began and not lot of burden had been focused on shoulders and arms. I mainly tried to do hspu's in sets of 3 reps throughout the workout. On the first rounds probably a little more than that.

JJ recap

On squat cleans I took singles all the way from the first to the 55th rep. It was a blessing to being able to drop the bar down on the floor after cleans. That was possible as we were training just the two of us at the gym. It's probably a little frowned upon when there's more people at the spot. The clean part was okay, easy in the beginning, little by little it got heavier but there was no possibility on missing a lift. The most difficult part was the burn in my lower back when I was in the bottom position of the squat. And these had to be done in squat cleans, power cleans were not allowed.

This Sunday was a heavy day, no questions asked. Heavy singles in deadlifts and clean plus a hero workout. That creates a good combo of fitness!

Friday 31.1: Dead singles, 20-rep benchmark, bench

Friday. Deadlifts singles (max PR 205kg). 20-rep benchmark @ 130kg deadlift. Bench singles (didn't quite make the PR lift of 105kg).

I continued the easy week on this Friday by doing just some strength work and maxing out on the weights. Just a couple of lifts to keep my body awake and not stress too much about it. This week has been kind of lame, it feels like I haven't been doing much work but I decided to do it so anyway. Next week is gonna be tougher so I'm getting prepared. Tomorrow I'm gonna hit the road to see Finland's own Crossfit Games, called "Winter War" at Tampere, it's gonna be awesome!

205kg and happy

Strength. Deads and bench

• Deadlifts 5x100, 5x130, 3x150, 3x170, 1x190, PR 1x205kg
• 20-rep benchmark @ 130kg deadlift
• Bench 5x60, 3x70, 3x80, 1x90, 1x97.5, 1x105kg up with just a little assistance

The only thing I had in mind was to do the 20-rep benchmark when I opened the gym's door. However, I thought taking couple of heavier lifts would make the 130kg bar much lighter. And it certainly did. When you're doing multiple reps with a certain weight, at least I've found it wise to go a bit heavier before jumping in to it. I put some plates on the bar and started pulling. It felt good so I decided to keep adding stuff and complete the lifts.

190kg

Took triples @ 150kg and 170kg. Then I started to think what to put on the barbell. It was a decision of whether to go for the max lift or concentrate on the 20-rep benchmark. Decided to max out and see whether that 200kg some time ago was a lucky lift or deserved one. I put 190kg and took it up pretty nicely.

PR 205kg

I jumped to 205kg right away. They are heavy lifts anyway so I didn't wanna take any reps in between. You'll see the PR lift below as well. I remember having done some PR lifts at much lighter weights in the history. The problem then was that my hips shot the air first and I couldn't keep my chest up. Now as I've gotten stronger on my legs and hammies I'm able to keep a better form.

20-rep benchmark @ 130kg

After having celebrated the lift with Pauliina for a while I took 75kg off the barbell and prepared myself for the competitorswod benchmark workout. The aim is to do 20 unbroken reps of a barbell movement. Had no idea what weight would be suitable for me. I've done 12 reps @ 140kg couple of months ago so that might have been close. This 130kg was something I was able to handle well, naturally in the end it started to get heavier. But I'm sure heavier bar would have been doable, 135-140kg maybe.

I felt like I wasn't done so I took couple of bench reps too. Aimed for a single 105kg lift, had it clear in my mind in the start. It was easy up to 90kg. The 97.5kg was also a confident lift and as I aimed for a max lift I decided to jump it right away to 105kg. It was so close. Pauliina was spotting me and it took an eternity to bring the bar back up. She touched the bar a little bit and helped me bring it up so we reckoned it wasn't a good rep. She helped a bit for a reason.

Saturday 2.11: Deadlift, metcon of jerk and pull-ups

Saturday. Strength, deadlifts (PR 200kg!). Metcon, 500m row, then 5 rounds of: 5 push jerks (60kg), 15 pull-ups. Time 9.11.

My goal today was to do deadlift doubles as I've intentionally neglected them lately because I've added squats remarkably in my training in October. It turned out to be a PR day! Then after getting myself together again, I did a grueling metcon of push jerks and pull-ups. Great training day with Pauliina!!!

200kg, boom!

Strength. Deadlifts, 5x100, 2x130, 2x150, 2x170, 1x190, 1x200f, PR 1x200kg.

I had a picture in my mind that I would do doubles at something like 150-160kg for a couple of sets. Once I started adding weights on the bar, I realized it doesn't weigh at all, it was like a feather being lifted from the floor. Okay, slightly exaggerated… Anyway, it felt extremely good to do deadlifts after a while. I recall August or September being a month where I lifted somewhere around 30.000+ kilos and my results bounced up in a short time. In October I decreased the amount greatly because I wanted to focus on my squats. And doing both at the same time creates too much pressure on lower back and I don't want that. Want to focus strongly on the things I'm developing.

I did doubles up to 170kg. At this point I made my decision to forget this method and loaded it to 190kg, took a single rep and decided instantly to hit 200kg. My first attempt was very very close but my hands started to slip in the end, just before I was about to straighten my torso. I had gloves on because I forgot my tape at home. Those gloves are not ideal for deadlifts but I need something to cover my hands because otherwise my calluses will get ripped off and my hands are all bloody. Been there, done that. That's the reason why I'm always wearing tape on my hands.

After the first attempt of 200k I thought how will my hands have it for another attempt. Then I remembered I have chalk in my training bag. Threw the gloves away, and chalked the bar and my hands so that it wouldn't be depending on my grip anymore. That turned out to be a perfect decision. The grip was from another world! There was no doubt in my mind and I smashed the old PR of 190kg. I had my moment once I had straightened my body, wanted to savor that moment for a second or two.

Pretty much the first time I grabbed a barbell in my life was in the summer of 2012. Then we started lifting weights with Toni. The progress has been great to say the least. I still remember those PR's I did with 120-135kg deadlifts. They were huge benchmarks for me. Now, I reached something beyond my wildest dreams. 200kg is a weight I didn't know would be reachable in my life time. This gives confidence to everything I do at the gym or outdoors. And the means to do it: crossfit. I don't want to let my body get used to anything, constant variety. Everything's achievable. Just believe it!

Recap of deads

Metcon. Time 9.11

• 500m row, then
• 5 rounds of:
• 5 push jerks, 60kg
• 15 pull-ups

Uuh, one tough metcon. Starting off with rowing for 500 meters, then 5 rounds of a couplet: jerks and pull-ups. This is a modification of the "2007" workout that we saw in this year's Crossfit Games 2013. Those monsters did 1.000m row, then 5rds of: 7 jerks and 25 pull-ups. A little too much for my upper body strength. These loads were perfect for me.

I got the workout done unbroken. That was a huge thing for me. Both movements made my forearms, biceps and triceps burn and go numb. It took probably 10min to feel normal on my arms. Round after round I needed a bit more time to get muscles recovered and be ready for the next set ahead of me.

My baby <3

Don't know which movement was easier / tougher, they both had their twists in the game. Grip power was an issue. For the entire 9 minutes I had to do work to keep a hold on the barbell or the pull-up bar. Tough metcon to say the least. Breathing was manageable. Heart rate was up, of course, but the tougher thing was the strength issue and grip strength. My forearms were tingling from round 2 on. Go try it and have fun!

Tuesday 20.8: Deadlifts and hspu

Tuesday. Skills, double unders. Deadlift singles (max PR 190kg). Metcon, 10 rounds of: 5 deads (140kg), 4 strict hspu. Time 14.49.

Tuesday was reserved for deadlifts. For some very strange reason deads have been rare in my training calendar in the summer. Luckily there's been some kettlebell swings to correct the shortage of them. I wanted to find out where my max load would be since the last time I tested that, dates back to May 10th. Singles were followed by heavy weight workout.

Pony's new training gear from Rogue =)

Skills. Double unders. Took 10 sets of 20 reps and focus was purely on keeping my torso straight and thus just simply jump higher so that the rope would have time to pass my feet twice on one jump. That's no problem but I've noticed my legs have bent too much lately on the doubles. That's the reason I'm gonna occasionally put effort on this skills movement, to perform the reps more efficiently and with more ease.

Strength. Deadlifts 1-1-1-1-1 (140, 160, 170, 180, PR 190kg). Saw this Mark Rippetoe's video some days ago and decided instantly to make some room for deadlift training. Loved the easiness of how mr. Rippetoe instructs the athletes to stay in a perfect stance and form. Could you make it any more easier?

Well, I tried to go as instructed and started pulling. The barbell was light today… Took some longer sets with lighter weights to get myself properly warmed-up after the double unders. Then I started taking singles, starting from 140kg, added 20kg and then 10kg until I reached the figures I was looking for, a new PR of 190kg, boom baby!!!

Damned it felt good! It wasn't as heavy as I thought but I felt my form wasn't that beautiful anymore so I definitely didn't want to risk that for results too much so I stuck here. Gonna put more and more effort in my posterior chain to improve on my squats and deadlifts so that one day the day will come when I get the chance to post a personal record starting with number 2. Time will tell when that's going to be. As I was looking at the coming year in last New Year, I reckoned there's a chance to lift 190kg so I marked that as my goal for this year. That's achieved so everything on top of that is a plus.

Metcon. Time 14.49

• 10 rounds of:
• 5 deadlifts, 140kg
• 4 strict handstand push-ups

Usually my metcons that include deadlifts are somewhere around 100-130kg. Todays metcon was different in nature. Didn't rush between the 2 movements 'cause they were both heavy for me. Total of 50 reps of 140kg deads and 40 strict handstand push-ups without kipping tend to take their toll on me. Today I got everything unbroken!

It was challenging with about 7.000kg deadlifts and without utilizing kipping style the hspu's started to feel heavier. Still, there was not doubt I would nail all those reps in both movements unbroken. I was happy with the amount of reps per round, that was exactly perfect for me. Had there been more of them per round, it would have been very very tough.

Toni's workouts. Result in metcon. 5 rounds + 13 push-ups

• Skills. Rope climb, box jump and wall ball
• Metcon. 15min amrap of: 15 push-ups, 15 box jumps, 15 wall balls (8kg)

Friday 10.5: Deadlift, team wod

Friday. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3-1-1 (max PR 185kg). Team metcon, hspu, pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups.

Today's agenda was to do a team workout together with Toni but during the day my team mate's feeling grew and he had the desire to reach the same clean numbers that I got up yesterday. So I also had some time to deadlift, haven't been doing that much lately with heavy loads. You'll find videos of our lifts from the links I attached, there's still some problems with attaching own videos to the post.

Strength. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3-1-1 (120, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 185kg). I took some reps with 60 and 100kg before moving on to heavier loads. This time it was triples all the way up to 170kg. It was the first time I did more than singles with 160kg, at least I believe so. That 170 was rather heavy and on the 180kg (my current PR) I took only a single, would have been a struggle to get another rep. Once I was already at this level, I had to add 5kg and take a new PR, 185kg =) And my form stayed ok in this strength training, I'm glad about that!

1 second after the PR, 185kg =)

Team metcon. Together with Toni. One team member works at a time.

• 40 handstand push-ups
• 100 pull-ups
• 200 push-ups
• 200 sit-ups

This was the first time we did this type of workout together. Not the first time doing a wod with Pony but determining a certain number of reps per movement and completing them in alternating turns was new thing for both of us. Toni started with the hspu's, did as many as possible, then it was my turn. I was able to hit a PR of hspu's in the first round, 10 of them, first ones were strict and the rest kipping, could've probably squeezed 1-2 more but there were plenty of them in front of us and little time to rest. Once the other one was performing, the other one rested and then a switch.

The pull-ups weren't bad and I'm quite proud of this other crossfitter's pull-ups. He nailed his new max, 10 pull-ups in a row. And from then on, he also did 5+ sets till the end as I recall it. I got 25 on the first round, then 15 and the rest I don't remember.

The push-ups were a nightmare and it felt it took forever to finish them. Toni completed 30 reps on the first round and gassed himself. On the second round he got 10 and less from then on. I got 15 on the first round, then 10's for some time and 5's in the end.

The sit-ups were easy, too easy, should've done it some other way. Maybe toes-to-rings, knees-to-elbows or something like that. We did them in turns, 20 reps per dude, and then switch, only 100 reps each.

My upper body was jammed after this. There were a big number of hspu's, pull-ups and push-ups in total. I enjoyed the way we carried the workout through. Got to propose these type of workouts in the future to Toni as well. What did you think man?

Toni's workout. Clean singles, 70, 75, 80, 85, PR 90, PR 92.5kg. C'mon, he did as well! Great job mate, previous PR was 87.5, today two lifts after that to reach 92.5kg and Toni always does them as power cleans, he hasn't practiced squat cleans to feel natural with heavier weights.

Tuesday 26.2: Deadlift

Tuesday. Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5-1-1 (max PR 180kg).

Yes, I took over deadlifts and proved myself that previous record I did in the last day of 2012 would come up anyday. My focus for today was deadlift fives as strength training and then my plan was to do a metcon of DL's and box jumps. However, I slept a bit late and didn't have time for that good workout. Have to take it another day though.

Deadlift, 180kg, PR

Strength. Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5-1-1 (120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, PR 180kg). There was a time in December when my elbows were hurting pretty much every other day so because of that I did squats and deadlifts way more than normally because they didn't cause any pain. Since then, I haven't been deadlifting a lot. That's why I took sets of 5 reps today together with Toni. After warm-up and some lighter lifts of 60/100kg I began my sets. I put more effort in my technique today, my focus was constantly in pressing my heels to the floor, maintaining good back posture and heading chest up first before shooting my hips to the air.

I managed to go further with a better technique than normally, up to about 140kg. Then, my form started to collapse, which led to my hips shooting up first, only then my back followed. Okay, I have enough strength in my back to bring the barbell up even though there's heavier loads but I should do some tricks to maintain that good package all the way from floor to full extension. I'm sure that would lead in some tremendous success with heavy loads.

Deadlift, 130kg

Toni's workouts. Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5 (110, 120, 120, 120, 120kg).

Toni also did deadlifts, heavy sets 5x5. He also didn't have enough time to do a metcon in addition to strength training.

Deadlift, 120kg, Toni

Monday 31.12: Deadlift, metcon

Monday. Deadlift 5x1 (max PR 170kg). Metcon 5 rounds of  deadlift (120kg), 10 burpees. Time 4.19.

Today we had a quick one together with Toni. Deadlift singles for both of us and then metcons. I stuck with deadlifts and burpees. Toni wanted to do Tabata workouts. A new PR was accomplished as well.

Tabata squats

Strength. 5x1 (130, 140, 150, 160, PR 170kg). My main focus today was on the deadlift centered metcon. For starters I wanted to do heavy deadlift singles, 5 attempts, loading the barbell up to 170kg, my new personal record! It wasn't beautiful, that's for sure, but it came up. I wasn't able to utilize my legs properly so it was all about my back muscles to pull the bar up. Still, I'm very satisfied with the weights. I'm not sure I like to post this rep but I've promised to keep this blog as transparent as possible :)

Deadlift, 170kg, PR

Metcon. Time 4.19.

• 5 rounds of
• 5 deadlift, 120kg
• 10 burpees

I thought this would have been worse metcon than it actually was. I had thoughts beforehand that I'm gonna be gassed after two rounds but it was easier. 120kg isn't that heavy anyway so it was all about burpees. How fast can you do them and how quickly after burpees you can grab the bar as they have just made you breath heavily? Today I believe my strategy was good and my breaks weren't that long. I also learned something new with the burpees. I was able to go down faster than normally and I believe that had effects on the pace of my metcon. I'm happy with the time for now.

Burpees

Toni's workouts. Deadlift singles and tabata workouts.

• Deadlift singles, 130, 140, 150, 150kg
• Tabata ring push-ups. 8+8+8+8+7+7+6+5. Total of 57 reps. Result 5 reps
• Tabata sit-ups. 13+11+10+10+10+10+10+10. Total of 84 reps. Result 10 reps.
• Tabata squats. 19+15+16+15+15+15+15+14. Total of 124 reps. Result 14 reps.

Wednesday 28.11: Deadlift, bench press metcon

Wednesday. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-1 (max PR 165kg), metcon of bench press, ring dips and burpees. Time 7.30.

Yesterday I took a nap after work as I really felt my body needed a break. I had no floorball in the evening so I had the possibility to take it easy and recover. I ate tons of food, slept and chilled. This was the recipe for success today. Both I and Toni PR'd our deadlift maxes big time. And after strength workout I took a metcon which was rough on the upper body. This day was good and hard.

Toni, 130kg

Strength. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-1 (130, 140, 150, PR160kg, PR 165kg). What happened, I'm still asking myself? 165kg, you must be kidding me. For warmup I took sets of 60, 90 and 120kg and then started hitting plates on the barbell. I thought 140kg would be tough but once it came up easily I knew instantly I'm gonna try new numbers today. I decided to take 10kg steps up, 150kg and then skipping my old record of 155 and going straight to new PR 160kg. I took a steady three-rep set so natural step was to add bets and go for 165kg. That was a struggle but I nailed it, what a feeling! These weights are over double my body weight so I can't be nothing more than super happy =)

Going for 160kg, PR

Metcon. Time 7.30, bench press, ring dips and burpees.

• 4 rounds of:
• 7 bench press (60kg)
• 7 ring dips
• 7 burpees

Total of 28 bench press, ring dips and burpees in 7.30. All these three movements took their share of my upper body strength. There was no "rest" for chest and shoulders. Doing ring dips after bench press was rough and even the burpees after those two felt heavy. First round was unbroken. I'm not sure if I did bench unbroken in the second round or not but third and fourth round went 3+2+2 as ring dips ate my juice little by little. Ring dips went unbroken in the first round, 5+2 on the second round and smaller pieces in the last two rounds. Burpees were naturally unbroken because there were so few of them but they made those other two movements more difficult. This was a hard training session, at least my upper body got its share of the work load. I haven't done many workouts where I'm moving rather heavy weights in a metcon so this was a good variety. We discussed with Toni that we must take these more often in a similar way as in the "Sevenish" last Saturday.

Toni's workouts. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-1-1 (110, 120, 130, 140, PR 145kg, PR 150kg). Wow, this guy also PR'd his old max with 10kg. His previous max (140kg) came up easily so it was obvious he's gonna take heavier weights up in that workout. Toni went straight to 150kg, failed to lift it so he put 145kg on the bar, took it up once and then succeeded to take also 150kg. Very good job man! I'm wondering how come you've been stuck with that 140kg for quite a while because you made it look easy today.

Toni, 140kg, old PR

Toni, 150kg, PR

Toni's metcon. Time 14.12. Compare to my workout 3rd September.

• 1.000m row
• 20 burpees
• 30 kettlebell swing (1 pood = 16kg)
• 40 double unders
• 50m lunges
• 1.000m row

Guy looked ehxausted, what were your feelings? We did this workout pretty much identically, I used 20kg kb instead of 1pood. In September I didn't have the double under skills in good form, I did them in double-single-double-single mode.