Finns have been celebrating Midsummer this weekend. The sun will never go down during the night and it's light all day. Usually people go to their summer cottages and celebrate this festivity with friends or family, grill some food and enjoy their time. We went to Klaukkala but in the morning I went to the gym to do strongman style workout. It's a bummer that I videotaped the workouts but accidentally deleted everything from my camera during the weekend =)
Sunday. Gymnastics, strict mu training. Intervals, every 3:30 for 5 sets: 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups, 20 wb's.
This day concentrated in skills training and intervals for conditioning. I got the inspiration to practice strict ring muscle-ups from CF Regionals and as I saw one of my buddies nail some of them just couple of days ago. I haven't tried one in years so I had no idea how they would be like. Afterwards pretty much bodyweight interval work for engine.
Gymnastics.
Strict muscle-up training
Took maybe 10 attempts to get one. Not today but in the future I'll take one. I just need some coaching for this. Got to ask Lauri at the gym how to do one. I did use false grip for these, and got my hand ripped from the wrist. It's unbelievable how easily my hands get ripped on muscle-ups and pull-ups if they are not protected. Blisters, tears and rips all the way.
The thing is I need to keep the rings closer to my chest. That part felt difficult. They easily go apart. Another thing is that on the last reps I remembered to lean backwards on the first moments of pulling. Maybe I should maintain that position a notch longer before pushing forward with my chest, or something.
Recap
These felt much better than they were ages ago when I last time attempted these. It was a very feeling as these have gotten a lot better. I believe this is achievable.
Intervals.
Every 3:30, for 5 sets, all in
10 pistol squats
15 pull-ups
20 wall ball shots
Decided to hit some interval work to get blood running in this body. Pistols, pull-ups and wb's. Tried to minimize the recovery time between elements. I'm very happy I got the pull-ups done without them getting too taxing. I thought they might be the ones that get me today but luckily they feel rather strong now. Went unbroken each time. One round might have been something 1:30 per round, not quite sure, didn't time them that precisely, just kept moving.
Tuesday. Shoulder press 7x5 (across, 50kg). Workout, 5rds of: 10 shoulder press (40kg), 10 back squat (40kg). Workout, 6rds of: 6 strict pull-ups, 10 back squat (40kg). Gymnastics, ring dips and iron cross progression.
My right hamstring that got sprained on Sunday is clearly getting better. At least the pain is not as constant as it was yesterday. In the morning as I woke up the feeling was promising. Hopefully this trend continues in the near future as it's a bit difficult to pump the upper body every single day =) Today was mostly about strict presses, gymnastics and light squats. In squats my leg feel fine which makes it a bit strange. Pain comes when I have to keep my leg straight as the hamstring is under tension in a stretched position.
These were my vague plans before coming to the gym
Overhead strength.
Shoulder press 7x5 (across @ 50kg)
After warm-up I pretty quickly got to the first working set. First 3 sets felt a bit awkward in my shoulders. By going further shoulders loosened up as they got warm. Last sets felt a lot better in this sense. For some reason I have learned to like shoulder presses.
For a long time my opinion was that it's better to do heavier loads by push pressing or jerking the barbell up instead of shoulder press. And I don't say that still is my view on the subject as heavier loads overhead bring heavier tension on the shoulders. But shoulder presses have their own share in the mix too.
Workout.
5 rounds of:
10 shoulder press, 40kg
10 back squat, 40kg
By just pressing the bar sweat was non-existing. I had enough of it after 7 sets of strict presses for strength so I took a bit off the barbell, added reps, and combined presses with squats. I had tried air squats and light squats so I felt confident of hitting those without pain in the leg.
This turned out to be tough on the shoulders. First 2 rounds were unbroken, then I had to cut them in two pieces, 6-4 reps for the remaining rounds. Surprisingly heavy but considering there was no actual rest period determined. I did the presses, then dropped the bar in my back and completed the squats right away. Then racked the bar and shook my shoulder and tried to recover them before next set. Squats were light but I would definitely not go heavier at this stage.
Workout.
6 rounds of:
6 strict pull-up
10 back squat, 40kg
This was as fun as the previous workout. Okay strict pull-ups are not fun, ever. There is something in them that I don't like =) Maybe that is exactly the reason those should be in the program. Because I tried to complete this with a good rhythm in order to break a good sweat. I live for sweating like a pig. The past days have been tough in this sense. It's been more or less traditional gym-going, and not as much crossfit with high intensity.
Gymnastics.
50 ring dip
Iron cross progression
In the end I did couple of sets ring dips, total of 50 reps, in sets of 10 reps. Mostly they were done normally but some of them I did with slower pace, with the idea of putting focus on controlling the movement up and down. One set was slow-mo on the way down, then a short pause before coming up from the hole with speed. Got to say that set was a bit tougher.
We have one former gymnast who used to be on Finnish national team for years. He came around when I did those dips, and we started to fool around. It ended up with doing couple reps of iron cross on the rings. That was pretty sick feeling. He placed a rubber band between the rings, and pointed the rings sideways to get more support on the forearms. It was surprisingly easy under the instruction of this guy.
Today Finland played ice hockey in the world championships so we had to rush home after work to see the full game. Luckily we won in the penalty shots finally! After the game I drove to the gym late in the evening and got a good piece of work done. Still a bit lighter work but the workout in the end was a real deal.
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute x 6min
8 handstand push-ups
These workout sessions are still focusing more on upper body. Hspu's are always a good choice. And what is a better way to do it than emom workouts. Those demand a lot from muscle endurance. This was a short one but I got a good doze of hspu's done in rather short time, total to 48 reps. Didn't do much warm-up, just basically threw myself upside down and started ripping hspu's. Last sets were more demanding naturally, and I had to break them a little.
Hspu's
OHS.
Overhead squats 3x10 reps (40, 50, 50kg)
I figured my legs can already take some hit and overhead squats are a lighter way to test them out. It wasn't yet time to front / back squat but ohs was fine. Sets were longer and lighter. Just wanted to get a feel on the barbell again.
I'm wondering if it's ankle mobility or what but my form is leaning quite a lot forward and I'd like to see myself more on my heels. This transfers directly to squat snatch and the issue there is that if I miss a lift it's because the bar stays too much in front. got to work on my ankles. I'll start sitting on them in the evenings. Hopefully that will help.
Overhead.
Snatch grip push press 5x5 (50, 60, 70, 75, 80kg)
This was great. Another movement that will strengthen the overhead position and will most probably transfer directly to full snatch. Having confidence holding a heavy weight overhead makes it easier to sit in the bottom position with the same load overhead.
I took 5's and basically built up to a heavy 5-rep set. I had not planned on doing these but this was the part that felt very good. There is a rumor we're gonna have blocks at the gym once the handyman finds time to build them. I'm definitely going to take advantage of them on heavy singles and doubles for overhead strength. It's good to have the chance to drop the weights on the blocks. Okay, this builds confidence too when you have to drop them in your back but it's more safe to drop them on the blocks.
California Strength's training
Randy. Time, 6.08
75 power snatch, 35kg
Yeah, sounds easy. Light weight for couple of reps, no biggie. Hmm, let me think again… It wasn't that easy for sure! I feel like an amateur doing this in 10's and 5's, especially after seeing Jason Khalipa rip this through unbroken haha =) The big boys are on a bit different level. Regionals athletes are probably gonna crush this in about 3 minutes which is only half of my time.
First two sets were 10's, and the rest of them were 5's. I could not imagine how this should be done because I haven't done 35kg snatches that much, and especially not for this many reps. There is one Open workout where you mix 35kg power snatches and doubles unders. That was the reference point how I could think of this beforehand.
I decided to go by feeling anyway. I figured there's no point in gassing out in the beginning and then suffer for the rest of the workout. Snatch is obviously one of my weaknesses and it was exposed in this workout. Efficiency is not the best but I got the work done decently. This was a very good metcon, no doubt!
Sunday has lately been the day when I leave barbells and metcons off the program and concentrate in different types of bodyweight control movements. This time it was handstand after a long break. Had that issue with my right wrist for quite a while so that prevented handstand training but now it's all cool. I also brought weight vest with me so I played around a bit with that.
Gymnastics.
Handstand
Weighted handstand push-ups
Strict muscle-up progressions
It was freaking awesome to hit some handstand training today after a long break! Loved every attempt of it. All those attempts were around 20 seconds being inverted. There were moments where I found a zen-like state of mind where I was able to hold still, not move a muscle, and just balance it off by pressing my fingers / palm back and forth. One thing to remember, is to breath. That seems to be something I need to focus on.
Recap
I put a 9kg vest on and had some fun being upside down. Never tried that before. Handstand push-ups, it was a lot tougher naturally but the path up and down felt as natural as regular hspu's. That vest just bailed on me at one point and fell on my face =) I guess it's not made for being inverted. I don't know but it was fun.
Last part of my training session was fooling around with rings. Weighted pull-ups with false grip, then having a resistance band on the rings I tried to do strict muscle-ups, still with the vest on. Finally I took it off and attempted more strict mu's, and then practiced the sole transitions. Naturally needed the band for that.
Sunday. Gymnastics, emom ring muscle-ups (total 15 reps). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 deads (85kg), 10 lateral burpee, 20 air squat, 7 ring dip. Time, 10.40
Sunday and it's time for gymnastics training. Got successful today with muscle-up. Usually I don't do much else than rings, handstand or some body control stuff on days like this. Or that was at least the original plan on these "gymnastics" days. However, yesterday was easier day with just running in my program so I figured I might just do something else too. The bar felt extremely heavy though so I left it alone. Just worked on technique for snatch and cleans but nothing much in that scene.
Rings.
Every minute on the minute, to reach 15 ring muscle-ups
After warming up my joints for a while I jumped on the rings and put the clock running. I wanted to have some sort of structure on this one. So it was every minute on the minute one set of muscle-ups. In the beginning it was singles, then towards the end it got to doubles which was awesome! I have muscle-ups but it's not that easy for me to link 'em together for multiple reps. Currently I'm trying to build up a good confidence on this movement (and it has already taken huge leaps forward), and getting some volume. I'm sure it will pay off in the end. Below are the reps by the minute.
Metcon. Time, 10.40
5 rounds of:
10 deadlift, 85kg
10 lateral burpee
20 air squat
7 ring dip
I had one bad ass workout in mind, written by Ben Bergeron himself, but the bar felt super heavy. I took 40kg overhead squats and 60kg power cleans and it was like a ton was being lifted. No need to give that torture on my body because it obviously wasn't receptive this time.
Muscle-ups and barbell work
This metcon was created on the spot because I wasn't ready to leave. I really wanted something to put me breathe heavily. Got a successful metcon in that sense =) Light deadlifts for quite a number of reps, burpees over the bar, squats with just bodyweight and more rings.
Metcon
The number of reps were put down in a way they could be handled unbroken. Had no troubles in hitting them ub but they started to wear me down for sure. I'm really happy I jumped on this train and finished the training session with a good metcon.
The man, the myth, the legend - Mikko Salo on 13.5
It's really awesome to sense the Crossfit Open atmosphere in our sport right now. The season is long, and has just begun. We will be seeing another great and intense year of competition. Here's one clip from our own champion, Mikko Salo smash 13.5 from 2 years ago. He's a man with incredible mental toughness.
It was time to go outdoors. I was thinking about getting my rings with me and find a spot to hang around with them. The weather was a bit rainy so I bitched out and decided to grab my wall ball instead. I had spotted a place where is a good place for wall ball shots plus a wall I could climb over. In the evening we went for a walk with Pauliina, and somehow my rings were brought along…
Metcon.
4 rounds of:
20 wall ball shots
5 wall climb overs
This kind of stuff inspires me a lot. Probably due to watching Blair Morrison do his training outdoors. Those workouts are cool as hell and always gets me pumped up to train. This spot today is located near our house but I just realized it last week it's perfect for an outdoor workout. Haven't' been throwing my wb around in ages so it was about time to get going with it.
It was a cool different type of workout. No need to have iron in my hands to make it inhuman workout. This was mostly killing my shoulders. Had some issues with the wall balls. In the two first rounds I had gloves on and I just couldn't catch the ball at all, it slipped right through my fingers no matter what. That was frustrating big time.
Plus those wb throws seemed like no reps considering the depth of the squat so it wasn't a huge success even though the surroundings were perfect. Got my breathing go high and shoulders burn so it was worth the effort!
Recap
Rings.
Muscle-ups
We went for an evening walk together with Pauliina and I wanted to try out those rings of mine how they would work in the nature. It was freaking cool to do muscle-ups outdoors! Next time I'll hang them higher. It was a bit of a hassle to get them in the correct height but it was definitely worth it. Good way to finish Sunday.
My plan for this year was to have a gymnastics day once a week. In January I had couple of those but in February I missed those without any real reason. So today was a comeback to improving my gymnast skills.
I got inspired by the video I posted yesterday to practice on my muscle-ups. Did drills to ease normal kipping mu's and how to engage the core in this movement, also progressions to some day reaching strict muscle-up. That is my distant drew, some day…
I got those assisting moves done in the beginning, just to show my body how it should feel like when entire body is tight and ready to do the required work. Ideally the body works like an arrow that is being bent to extreme. Today I focused on keeping my legs tight all the time and having my body being straight instead of bent legs in the swing.
It's still difficult as hell for me to link consecutive reps together. So I did some singles for a total of 10 reps. Plus all the accessory work. This needs to be part of a weekly training routine. These days aren't that physical anyway so it's more like an active recovery day. In the end I did some handstand push-ups just to test how it feels like on my right wrist. Felt doable as the wrist was well warmed up.
Monday. Gymnastics, 3rds of: max effort c2b, max effort hspu. Strength, hang squat cleans (max 95kg). Emom x 12min: 1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean @ 90kg.
I had lots of plans for this training session. Had no need to rush at all, planned to take my quality time and work through a lot of things. After getting mobile I started the gymnastics part and was pretty much ready to leave after that. It was a big forearm burner =) But then I got my sh*t together and was able to pull off a great clean session also.
Gymnastics.
3 rounds of:
Max effort of chest-to-bar pull-ups (22, 16, 16 reps)
Max effort of handstand push-ups (25, 17, 16 reps)
I really like these gymnastics starts on training sessions to kick things off. Those have been emom style versions this far but now I decided to step my game up and try some max rep efforts as I wrote that I planned couple of days ago. This was way more taxing to do big sets of pull-ups and hspu's. My lats, forearms and triceps were burning and finally went numb after these sets =)
The name of the game was pretty much clear after the first set already. After second I was done and the third one was just brutal feeling. It took me about 12 minutes to complete this 3-rounder. Not that it was for time, definitely not, but I wanted to have some decency on the time frame. After this I went to warm up with an empty barbell and it felt difficult to hold on.
By the way, I ended up doing a PR on handstand push-ups (25 reps on the first attempt), which pleases me a lot! And actually it has to be a PR on those c2b's as well. That was not the definite max out version of those pull-ups. It was wearing a lot and I did those without stopping at any point. Had I stopped and tried to do singles one by one I could have knocked a little more. But that was mentally disturbing so I just took what I got "unbroken" and was satisfied with that.
After recovering enough and getting my forearms back in the game I started working towards heavier set of hang squat cleans. I built it up from light weights. Actually I did 3 hang power cleans + 3 hang squat cleans up to 60kg, then went to hang cleans only.
The most difficult thing in these sets seemed to be how to have my hook grip on the entire time. I had no issues getting under the bar quickly enough. I'm very happy about this fact. When I clean I catch the bar with open hand, a.k.a. not with hook grip. So once the bar comes down from front rack position I need to catch it mid-air and that seems to be a thing I need to work on. It's a prerequisite to being able to catch the bar with a proper hook grip so another rep is starting from the same position as the first one.
This was my original plan for today
Clean emom.
Every minute on the minute x 12 minutes
1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean @ 90kg
I also wanted to get the timer running and do some work with a good sweat. And this was the answer this time. 90kg power clean is not easy for me. That was much tougher on me than the hang clean. But it was definitely a great way to practice that. And all reps were similar, and that's the most important thing to me. It can not be a surprise how they look like. There needs to be consistency. It felt great to move that 90kg power clean, that's for sure.
Meathead.
Pendlay row 5x5 (60, 70, 80, 80, 70kg)
Tried also something I thought I'd never do. My training pal who does traditional gym work was talking this movement up a lot so I figured lets give it a shot. Took couple of sets and it really activated the entire back. Okay, maybe not my thing but it was worth trying =)
Great day as my pal Toni came to train with me and Pauliina after work. Today my back was in okay condition so it was definitely time to squat. Pause squats this time, not heavy though. Those gymnastics emom are the best to get pumped up and a good way to hone your weaknesses.
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute for 12 min
Odd min: 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Even min: 10 pistol squats, alternating
I've been able to slid lots of pull-ups in my training volume through these emom sets "pre-workout". Today we did these together with Toni, he just had different movements but we worked together anyway. He did ring dips and box jumps. C2B's are a great element to work on in this part in my opinion. Getting stronger with the movement and especially pull-ups where chest hits the bar every time. These were kind of semi-big sets for me. I might try out how many c2b's I can link together in one set. Hmm… good idea.
Pistol squats are always tough. Note to self though: don't do them on a squat day. They took the best of my legs just before back squats. But anyway, these were a perfect movement to be practiced this style. Loved every rep of it. We did these for 12 minutes, that is 6 rounds of each element, totaling 60 reps for both movements.
Strength.
Pause squats 5x3 (across 100kg)
Not heavy this time. It was great to have that bar in my back rack for sure. Squats is something that should be done at least 3 times a week. Big muscles need to be worked on a lot. And it's only through squatting and deadlifts that you can get the best results on lower body.
Pair workout with Toni.
2 rounds of:
2:00 of squat clean, 50kg
0:30 rest
2:00 of ring dips
0:30 rest
2:00 of burpees
0:30 rest
"You go, I go" style
This was purely Toni's imagination. He came up with the time and rep scheme. And it was a good one. We didn't decide on the reps beforehand but agreed to do this "You go, I go" style. That means Toni started the squat cleans, dropped when he felt like it and it was my time to go right away. I had 5's in the squat clean all the way, in both rounds. Ring dips were mostly 6's in the first round and on the 2nd round they varied between 4-6 reps.
Burpees were the only one where he had a game plan because we could have knocked 2 minutes in a row individually but there would have not been any point as a pair wod. It would not have been that intense. So on the first round we did 5's, then high-fives and changed turns. On the second round we did those alternation after each rep, with a good speed and we actually got a little more reps compared to the first round.
My notes are quite blurry but my best guess is that I had about 50-60 cleans, 50 ring dips and actually about the same amount of burpees as well. This was a good end to the training session. I recovered quickly, it wasn't all in type of workout but a good breather anyway. Those rest periods gave us enough time to go full throttle in those work periods.
This was the weekly gymnastics quota. I really like these days now as my muscle-ups are about to jump to the next level. Gymnastics days equals no-barbell / no-metcon programming. Simultaneously these days are my active recovery days as I don't like pure rest days that much. Not that I needed one today. Okay, my back muscles are sore in a good way.
Gymnastics.
15 muscle-ups
Handstand
L-sit to tuck hold
Elbow levers
Those muscle-ups are really coming together finally. At least there's some progression in my technique as they are somewhat lighter and I can do them with shorter recoveries. I didn't time those repetitions but it was somewhere around 10 minutes to get those reps. I took singles in the beginning, then one friend told me to take a double as singles looked too easy. That was a big motivation for me :)
After muscle-ups I took couple of sets freestanding handstand, that was okay. Then something new cool stuff on putting couple of bumper plates on top of each other, and performing L-sit on them, and from there transferring it to a tuck hold. That was a great core movement, definitely not an easy one. Finally some elbow levers and different kinds of body control movements. Great training day!
Saturday. AM: Gymnastics, emom x 14min, odd min: 8 c2b, even min: 8 hspu. Strength, t'n'g squat clean triples (max 100kg). CF Open 14.1, 10min amrap of: 30 du, 15 power snatch (35kg). PM: Push press triples (70-77.5kg). Metcon of running, s2o's and t2b's. Time 19.51.
Rough day. Two-a-day. Pauliina was celebrating one of her friend's bachelorette party so I had my day to pretend I'm a professional athlete =) Ate a good breakfast, went to the gym, did mobility for much more than normally. Then hit it for a good 2 hours before heading home to eat, take a nap and eat more. In the evening it was time to drive back to the gym for another session. I'm telling ya that 1 hour nap did miracles. My body was tired from the first session but I felt great later in the day. Today also included lots and lots of mobility.
Gynastics.
Every minute on the minute x 14
Odd min: 8 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Even min: 8 handstand push-ups
My daily dose of pull-ups are in the books. That emom workout I did just yesterday felt like a good idea to practice on this gymnastics movement. It hit me today in the morning that I want more of this fun but let's throw some handstand push-ups in the mix too. This was a good combo, alternating the movement every other minute. I also added reps for c2b's. These took only about 10 seconds on both of the movements and the recovery was abundant to get back in the game for the next minute. This indicates there's still more room to add reps or minutes on the pull-ups.
Gymnastics
Strength.
Squat clean triples, touch'n'go
Build up to a heavy triple (60, 70, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100kg)
Toni did these one day earlier this week and it inspired me to put this in my calendar as well. The idea was specifically to do touch'n'go style repetitions. That means not resting on the floor at all. I don't know have I ever built these up to a heavy triple. The heaviest reps have always been pretty much singles, I mean at around 90kg and beyond. Or then they have been doubles and triples but there has been a re-grip at the floor.
So it was cool to see how I would be able to fight through these mentally. It was difficult to hold on to the bar on the heaviest weights. When I catch the bar on front rack position, I don't hold it with full grip, it's more like couple of fingers are under the bar in squat clean position. So I have to throw the bar up, catch it again on its way down with a hook grip. With 95 and 100kg this started to come an issue but somehow I got it. On 100kg I had to adjust my fingers on top position before heading down with the barbell.
Clean was heavy but I got under the bar well anyway. My legs took some hit but they were strong all the way. They just got a little fatigue even though they held on well under the barbell.
Clean triples, tng
CF Open 14.1. Result, 260 reps (5 rounds + 30 du + 5 snatch)
10min amrap of:
30 double under
15 power snatch, 35kg
This is a good workout. I did this a while ago solo but the order of the movement was the other way around, by accident, and it was also mistakenly a 12 min amrap. I just didn't remember the specifics correctly so that's why. Plus we did this together with Toni as a pair workout, one athlete working for one round, then high fives and the other one steps up. That time I knocked all snatches unbroken because there was recovery between rounds.
Today those snatches were too much for me to fight through unbroken. I went 10-5 each round, didn't try to go ub on the first round as I anticipated problems by pedaling too much in the beginning. Maybe I still should have gassed more. There were one miss on first and second round on the double unders, other than that they were unbroken. Hook grip stayed on at the snatches but they just wore me down whole-heartedly. Maybe all that work being done had its effect on my endurance on this one. Anyway, this is a great workout, no doubt! Good engine wod.
Start of the wod
Strength.
Push press triples (70, 72.5, 75, 77.5, 70kg)
There were several hours between sessions and a nap that made the difference. It's great to have a sleep during the hour, then hit another training session. Food is also the key to recovery. Today I used a lot of time for mobility at the start of AM session, and kicked off the PM session too with the same ideology, plus ended it with mobility work. I've probably never done this much body maintenance in one day. Felt good.
Push presses were a bit sticky, not the smoothest days of putting weight overhead. Weights were not awesome but I definitely had to do work to get them done.
Metcon. Time, 19.51
1.000m run
10 shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
20 toes-to-bar
800m run
8 shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
16 toes-to-bar
600m run
6 shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
12 toes-to-bar
400m run
4 shoulder-to-overhead
8 toes-to-bar
200m run
2 shoulder-to-overhead
4 toes-to-bar
Goal was to get a good semi-long metcon in the system with lots of running included. This was my answer to the call. Descending distance / reps of all three elements guaranteed that the intensity stayed high. My running pace got faster towards the end as the meter were cut down every round with 200m. That way I was able to run quicker.
Even though push press triples were maybe not the best I've done in my life, this shoulder-to-overhead was good job from me. In real life, this was push jerk with 60kg. I got these 30 reps total whereas running was for a total of 3.000 meters. Because t2b's are obviously easier to complete than jerks, I doubled the amount of them each round so there were a total of 60 reps of those. They felt great all the way. Timer stopped at 19.51 after finishing all the reps. This was exactly what I was looking for! Great way to end the training day. In the evening it basically more eating, sauna and tv time =)
Mobility. I got inspired by Crossfit Reykjavik's youtube channel where Jami Tikkanen and Annie Thorisdottir demonstrated couple of mobility tips for the entire body. They actually have lots of those short videos there, go check them out. I posted one video yesterday. Today I took advantage of those tips, and got loose on my body. Lacrosse ball has been away in my training bag for too long but today it saw the daylight again. Resistance band is a daily tool to activate my body and it was in play earlier in the day of course.
Friday. Gymnastics, emom x 6min: 7 c2b. Strength, 10x3 front squat (120kg).
Another day of hard grinding with the squats. It was front squats this time. Got to say it's time to hit some back squats, I've been longing for them for quite some time. My system required back squats so I took one session of those couple of days ago but mostly it's been purely front squats. Today's sets were heavy triples. Prior to them I got c2b's for skills purposes.
It's that time of the year. The CF Open is upon us!
It's gonna be a blast watching these bulls chip away the workouts
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute, for 6 minutes
7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
I need to get my pull-ups done. No excuses. Today I knew there's not gonna be enough time to hit a metcon so this emom warm-up was my way to add some elements to strength portion. It was awesome to witness these c2b's were light. They didn't come even remotely tough at any moment of these 6 minutes. Had no doubts I would nail them but there was a chance they would have been unpleasant anyway. On the other hand, my chest-to-bars have become a lot better in the past year. Before that they were pathetic. As I think of it, these could have been done with more reps per minute or more minutes with the same reps.
Mobility tips by Jami Tikkanen @ Crossfit Reykjavik
Strength.
Front squat 10x3 (1x125kg, 9x120kg)
There was no doubt these are gonna be brutal. Goal was to hit them with 125kg load. I took one and it was heavy as sh*t. Got it, but it was obvious it's gonna be too heavy for 9 more sets. Had to drop down to 120kg, and continue smashing the sets. I took 'em every 3 minutes, and after 5 rounds one set every 4 minutes. I wanted to keep some intensity there because that seems to work better for me. After 5 sets the load was too heavy to keep the same imd frame so I took one extra minute for recovery.
First rep was doable, the second was heavy and the last one was painful. Last sets were the most challenging physically but mentally it was the most difficult before the middle of the workout. Those sets were seriously heavy and there was more than half to be completed still. Set by set those got done and gainz were made.
Another benchmark lady was ahead of me today. I've done Helen once - in the beginning of my cf career - over 2 years ago. Today was a repeat workout but instead of running I went rowing. Afterwards I concentrated in bodyweight stuff, basically hanging upside down, doing static holds and hspu's. Later on Jouni arrived to the gym and we practiced front squats with him for the first time.
Helen was one of the first benchmark workouts I ever did, back in August 2012, that's also about when I started writing this blog. We did it together with my bro at Kauniainen's sports track. The difference with this and that was running versus rowing. Plus kb swing 2 years back were merely Russian swings, barely even eye level. Bell was same in weight. Originally it should be 24kg but I don't have access to that. I have one 20kg at home which I used 2 years ago. And the heaviest bell at our gym is also 20kg so I used that one today. I've also done a combination of DT and Helen with kettlebells last year, 25.12.2013.
This guy looks a bit different 2 years ago =) I've come a long way
This was by no means rx'd version of the workout because I rowed and the bell was 4kg too light. I understood beforehand this is gonna be rather fast workout so there's no time to start whining but just go and rip it out. On rowing I went something like 1:45 on the first round, around 1:50 on the second and a little slower on the last round. The difference between running and rowing is that you got to set yourself on the rower before you get moving. When running you can drop from the pull-up brand set off right away on that same second.
Kettlebell swings were light, I don't usually do work with anything else than 2-pood bell, that is 32kg. Completed all 3 sets unbroken, and those didn't cause any issues. These were American swings, haven't done Russians probably after the first Helen =) This naturally takes more time as the bell travels higher overhead instead of eye level.
Swings weren't that bad themselves but they consumed some of my energy on upper body so that I couldn't pull off the pull-ups unbroken. First round ub, then 8-4 and last set was 6-3-3. My grip was gone and just couldn't hold on to the bar. I tried to use much more legs in rowing to save my grip and arms for the remaining 2 movements. I was surprised the pull-ups felt that tough but that was the name of the game. Recoveries were short. Transitions were also as short as possible, and round times were 2:46, 2:58 and 2:55, pretty consistent. Great workout! As benchmark workouts tend to be =)
Gymnastics.
3 sets of: handstand hold (0:60, 0:45, 0:30sec)
Deficit handstand push-ups for quality
Today's agenda was solely Helen and I had no other strictly planned workouts. I decided to throw myself in inverted position and took static holds in handstand position. First set was for one minute, second one 45 seconds and the last attempt for 30 seconds. This was useful training.
Secondly, I wanted to play around with handstand push-ups, climbing it to deficit hspu's. I didn't count them that precisely but it was basically triples at different heights. Took off with just one plate under each hand, making the deficit for about 5cm, or whatever the plate's width is. Then plate by plate I went up to 4 pieces making it somewhere between 20-30cm deficit, for a triple. I took 3 sets at this deficit. This was fun play in the end.
This was a great training day. For a second I thought it might be a rest day but then again another option hit my mind. Why wouldn't I practice on some skills and keep it light, kind of active recovery style. Well, this wasn't quite that but not that heavy either. I worked on some body control movements and had a blast at the gym!
Great article, guess I should work more on ankle mobility
Gymnastics.
Ring muscle-ups
Skin the cat
Frog stand
Planche progressions
Weird breakdance moves
For starters I don't recall when was the last time I did muscle-ups on rings. It was about time! There was some anxiety up in the air when I walked to the gym and realized some work has to be done on the rings. Luckily my skills had not vanished just like that and I was able to hit couple of reps, one double and then singles. Some additional ring skills were ahead of me in the form of skin the cat. It really got to the core and my shoulders felt tight in the end of the motion.
There is something fascinating in human's ability to control his body. I enjoy movements like handstand, hspu's and muscle-ups on pull-up bar and rings. In all of these you need to be aware of how your body works, otherwise it's gonna be no good. It's been ages since I've done any kind of body control moves or poses but every time I do, it's freaking awesome. And because it's been such a long time I realized my skills in controlling body have increased a lot. That was super inspiring!
I did different kinds of static hold positions, don't even know what to call all those moves. There was a colleague of mine who's a dancer to give some additional tips on breakdance style poses. My point is I enjoyed every minute of these bodyweight things and I'd like to witness me doing these more often in the future.
It's great to have a holiday here in Spain. Nothing special in program except for relaxation. No time pressure to visit new places or drive around looking for attractions. I've spent numerous summers here when I was a little kiddo and the places are familiar already. Now it's time to chill out and enjoy the stay.
On Thursday we were at the beach sunbathing and I felt Wednesday's workout in my body so I decided to take it easy. Handstand was all I got my hands into. There's something awesome in handstanding at the beach when sky is clear, there's 30° and water is splashing to your hands while you're inverted. It's a bit different practicing this skill at the beach as the ground is a little inclined instead of a flat platform. Considering that I think my session went well!
On Friday we visited Malaga, nearby town to go shopping and enjoy the lively atmosphere of the city. Later in the evening I got a chance to play with a pull-up bar at the beach right in front of our casa. By the way, the bar is thick as a tree, not the easiest for the grip! I did some muscle-ups, pull-ups and played around some sort of calisthenics movements while hanging on the bar.
Also did 50 t2b and then 100 push-ups to finish the session. It wasn't the toughest I've done but it seems it's always harder to do workouts abroad for some reason. Maybe it's the nutrition or something in the energy levels but bodyweight feels heavier. Anyway, the point is taking it easier every now and then and relax :)
I had a good feeling about today's workout already before I stepped over the gym's threshold. My gut feeling was on spot. I feel like the programming today was good. Gymnastics to start with, work on those weaknesses. Then old school squat strength, and finishing it off with one qualification workout for Karjalan Kovin, one of the most known Finnish throwdowns.
Our newest family member
Gymnastics. C2B
Chest-to-bar pull-ups
7x6 reps, 0:50 rest between sets
I told about this one to Toni and he knew instantly where I got the idea from. 'Competitorstraining' for sure. Ben Bergeron has come up with a progression for c2b pull-ups. This is the first step, 7x6 reps, totaling 42 reps in 7 minutes. It's kind of like an emom workout for 7min. I thought this is a good starting point because I really wanna excel in c2b's. Regular pull-ups are rolling well already but I want to make this one of my strengths too. Had no problems in manhandling these reps which got my smiling all the way.
Strength. Squats
Back squat 5-5-5-5-5 (100, 110, 120, 120, 120kg)
"Regardless of what the problem is, the answer is to squat". Couldn't agree more with the statement, first introduced us by the founder of Crossfit, Greg Glassman. Lately I've been cleaning a lot as well as putting lots of weight overhead, thus squatting has not been the main focus. I think I'll put more effort on squats in the near future.
This time it was 5-rep sets for a total of 5 sets. Those 120kg sets were tough. They were hard last week too so this means I got to have more weight in my back and do the work. Legs have to be strong in order to do well in this sport. It's a strong prerequisite for having an efficient motor inside as well as strong legs.
Metcon. Result, 4rds + 7 thrusters (97 reps)
Karjalan Kovin, 1st event
5min amrap of:
10 box jump overs
10 thrusters, 40kg
My legs were smashed after having done those squat sets. Took couple of min rest before attacking this 5min amrap. I thought it was short so of course I could go all in even though those legs were screaming for help. High-rep thrusters have always fell short on my shoulders, never on my legs. Have I dropped the barbell on thrusters, it's been because of upper body. Shoulders have gone numb at some point. But legs have always churned on. Today my lower body was jello from the second round on. Guess those squats had their effect on this one.
I did both movements unbroken every round. I have a feeling I could have done these faster with fresh legs, or actually shorten the transition times between sets. It was a good short, intense workout and really got to me. Had to ask Pauliina to shake my legs after the workout, they were in shock after those 5 minutes. That was very helpful.
It sure was a good training day. Gymnastics/skills, strength and a hardcore metcon in the end. And my shoulders were feeling much better than yesterday. The recovery has taken place and they feel fine now. Looking forward to the upcoming week!
Saturday. Gymnastics. 1: 5 sets of 10 strict hspu, 10 strict pull-ups. 2: 5 sets of 10 strict ring dips, 1min dead hang on pull-up bar.
Oh boy, the wake-up was rough. My left hip flexor is indeed smashed. Home doctor evaluation says it's inflamed so got to let it be for now. Now working out with lower body whatsoever. It's difficult to walk, it's pretty much limbing style that I roll now. That doesn't keep from working out though. Don't want to use that as an excuse. But I'm not trying to be stupid. I defined the workouts so that they bring burden to my upper body only. Strict reps of hspu's, pull-ups and ring dips. Don't wanna use kip to engage lower body.
Gymnastics.
5 sets of:
10 strict handstand push-ups
10 strict pull-ups
I was thinking about making it emom training to get my heart beat up. That's what I would have really wanted. Metcon after metcon to get my lungs back to shape.With strict reps it's way more challenging and once those muscles start to get numb there's not much to do. Kipping helps in those situation but I had decided not to kip.
Recap
So I took strict hspu's to start with. First round went unbroken. That's by the way more than I've ever done as strict hspu's, c'mon! My "official" PR is 18 reps, used kip motion then. The following 4 sets of handstand push-ups were completed in 3 sets: 6+2+2 each round. I'm very happy how I got these through. There was a possibility that I would have to cut them to more pieces but fortunately I got them done pretty well.
Strict pull-ups are also a rarity. It would be smart to do 'em every now and then but it usually turns to kipping pull-ups because I incorporate them into metcons and there the idea is to complete the reps as quick as possible. Then strict reps wouldn't be the smartest thing to improve metabolic conditioning. Last reps were tough in each set, no doubt. First set was actually quite smooth but then from 2nd round on I had to battle those last 2-3 reps.
Gymnastics.
10 strict ring dips
1 min dead hang on pull-up bar
Ring dips were a bit too easy this time. I was in my thoughts I guess because I realized this only after the workout was done =) I had no issues in any of the sets. Ring dips is something I've considered a weakness of mine. The problems usually occur in high-rep ring dip workouts. But a 10-rep set shouldn't bring any issues. I should have put bigger numbers per round.
But the pull-up bar hang was nasty! I thought it would be cool to just hang around there and enjoy the moment. It was disgusting. Phew. On the first round I was there for about 50 seconds before dropping and finishing the 60 seconds with another 10 sec hang. On the following rounds I completed the 60 sec hang in 3 sets. About 30 + 15 + 15 second sets. My forearms were tingling and they started to go numb. Also my grip strength simply wasn't there. I felt my fingers sliding down the bar little by little.
This was a good substitute day to what I had originally planned. A different one. I missed the metcon and strength but these practiced movements were something that are always useful. I had thought of hard core bar action and kettlebell / run metcon outdoors but I'll save those for another moment.
Mr. Muhammed rocked that rope climb / sprint workout last weekend!
Monday. Gymnastics: Skills, ring muscle-ups. For quality, 5rds of: 5 strict push-ups, 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups. More skills, weighted pistols squats, one-arm overhead squats, one-arm overhead pistol squats.
Wanted to take it a little easier today so I went through a different style training session. Started off with ring muscle-ups, then some more bodyweight stuff by working on my strict hspu's, lots of pistols and a good bunch of pull-ups.
New fruit & nut bar in test
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
It felt as good as it always does =) Had no problems getting up there, that seems to be the trend now. I'm very happy over this topic. Haven't used much false grip lately because I wanna get rid of that. It's there in my skills tool bag just in case if I need it but mostly I try to go without false grip.
Workout. For quality
5 rounds of:
5 strict handstand push-ups
10 pistol squats
15 pull-ups
This is important stuff. Haven't done many strict hspu's and it was a good reminder when I looked at the Regionals workouts that these need to be worked as well. It was said in one of the Update Shows that there are teams that have said they didn't practice strict hspu's at all in the past year. I bet these guys will face some problems in those tough workouts.
So I did 5 strict hspu's per round. They are clearly tougher than kipping version. Then pistol squats. On some rounds I went alternating leg after each rep. On some rounds I did 5 reps left leg, then switched to right leg. I tried to do these as slow and controlled as possible to teach my body the correct path up and down. I felt very confident on the movement. This is my thing. I remember not being able to complete one single rep when I started crossfit. By crossfitting my mobility, strength, balance and coordination has improved so much that this movement is not challenging anymore.
Pull-ups I did unbroken. That was the goal and I had no doubts of not reaching that. I tried to keep my legs together, looking to engage good kip movement in my hip.
Skills.
One-arm overhead squats, 10kg kettlebell
Weighted pistol squats, 10kg kettlebell in front rack position
Weighted pistol squats, 10kg kettlebell in one-arm overhead squat position
In the end I played with my mobility, and skills. I'm not sure I have ever been able to complete a 1-arm overhead squat with a kettlebell. At least to parallel. It felt magnificent! Something has happened and my mobility has improved. The weight itself was light, the main focus was on body movement.
After having done couple of tens of pistol squats, I took a kettlebell in front rack position and did some weighted pistols. It was naturally heavier but similar movement, no problem. But the last thing was over the top: pistols squats while having a kettlebell in 1-arm overhead squat position. That was sick. Never thought I'd make it but there I was, had to sit in the very bottom, stay there for a second or two as a pause squat and then get back up.
This was the first crossfit video I ever saw. Ben Smith doing thrusters and c2b's
My body felt great during the day and I was ready to go. On the other hand I had zero seconds to think about the workout at hand, what to work on. On the last minute I decided to see how cleans would feel like and then do some bodyweight stuff, skipping metcon for today.
Barbell.
Squat cleans 5-5-5-5 (60, 70, 80, 90kg)
After warm-up I started to move the barbell. For some reason it felt heavier than normally from the very beginning, even though I felt good entering the gym. I took some fives and called it quits. I completed the reps by feeling, didn't have a certain rep scheme in my mind. Just went by flow and took some reps to get some good reps done.
It wasn't the best barbell day so I deloaded the barbell after 90kg and decided to concentrate on bodyweight stuff, developing body control.
Haven't done hook grip at all, ever. It's been tickling on my mind to try but haven't made any moves
Gymnastics.
Ring muscle-ups
4 rounds of:
15 toes-to-bar
Planche holds on a bench between t2b sets, then:
Pull-ups on rings
Stall bars holds
Stall bars mobility moves
I actually took ring muscle-ups after warm-up, before cleans. Both false grip and without false grip. Then a short 4-rounder, not for time. 15 unbroken t2b's and planche holds on a bench. My focus there was to enhance my body core control and shoulder strength. Aiming to find a strict torso all the way from toes to shoulders, having only my hands to touch the bench. I feel like I've improved on this type of movements a lot. Let's say one year ago I tried these at times but haven't done 'em in a long time. Still, I'm doing clearly better nowadays. Through crossfit I've learned to control my own bodyweight better, there's no doubt about it. Plus, these moves are very cool, I get a lot of enjoyment practicing them.
CF Games Update Show
It was a tough core work as I did those t2b's between planche holds. After having done 4 rounds of this combo I took some strict pull-ups on rings and then also worked on stall bars that we have at the gym. I'd like to see myself doing a "flag pole" move someday at either stall bars or then on a real flag pole outdoors. That's a bad ass movement and demands a lot strength-wise and definitely a kick-ass body control. In the end I remembered mobility tips from Dave Durante where he stretches on the stall bars. I wrote about it some weeks ago if I remember correctly. It was a good call to leave the bar alone and concentrate in bodyweight stuff
This is what I'm talking about, how sick body control is this?
