Monday. Clean and jerk 6x3 @ 70, 75, 80kg. Skills, handstand. Wod, 4rds of: 2 rope climbs, 25 du.
Olraight, another training day with Toni @ CF Kehä. We met in the morning. Even though we had a bit different approach to the session I believe we both got what we wanted. Toni worked on his handstand practice and then did a 30min emom alternating between rowing 15 cals and 30 double unders, together with Antti. I wanted to play with the barbell but jumped in on the handstand walks.
Oly.
Clean and jerk 6x3 @ 70, 70, 75, 75, 80, 80kg
These were supposed to be touch'n'go triples all the way. I'm okay with finishing each set overhead but it wasn't cool that I needed to pause on the front rack on the last reps of the 80kg sets. I was looking to bounce it right off my chest and over my head. Sets between 70-75 kilos moved up nicely.
Skills.
Handstand
It's been an eternity since practicing handstand walks. Considering that they went pretty nicely. The biggest weakness there is to learn how to breath properly when being inverted. On the other hand I'm happy I can save the form even when it feels like it's about to fall down.
Workout.
4 rounds of:
2 rope climbs
25 double unders
The last two times I have climbed a rope my left shin has been bruised, bled and been torn and worn. The first of those times kept it out of order for a month. Needed to get some medicine to get that inflammation away from there. So I purchased a shin protector from Rogue which was a lifesaver in action. I'm telling you I will never ever climb a rope without that anymore.
I started this workout as emom wod. Odd minutes were 2 rope climbs and even minutes were 25 double unders. After 2 rounds my shoulders felt like they needed a little more rest so I stopped watching the timer and just worked by feeling. First climb was okay all the time but that second one required some focus and strength. Double unders went nicely today.
Sunday. CF Open 14.4. Result, 184 reps. Accessory, 5rds of: 40m farmer's walk (135kg), handstand.
Old school benchmark which I have somehow been able to avoid this far. It was about time to attack it. After couple of minutes rest it was time for accessory work in the form of strongman meets skills. Farmer's walk set for 40 meters and handstand practice between carries. It's been months since being in freestand handstand.
CF Open 14.4. Result, 184 reps (4 muscle-ups)
14min amrap of:
60 cal row
50 toes-to-bar's
40 wall ball shots
30 power cleans
20 ring muscle-ups
The thing that got me terrified on this workout as I was thinking about was basically the power cleans and muscle-ups. Everything prior to that is just basic conditioning, and I kind of think that's in okay shape in my part.
Rowing was kind of a cool ride and I kept a smooth breathing throughout that stage. It was quite accurately 800 meters of rowing with a 1.48 pace. It's rare to complete a big bunch of t2b's in a row so I decided to go by feeling on this one. Took 10 reps to begin with, then 5's from then on.
Wall balls were the easiest part of this workout, took them in two sets, 25 at first and then 15 to reach a total of 40 repetitions. Those power cleans at this stage of the workout with a rather good heart beat was interesting. The bar felt good in my hands all the time and the weight wasn't too heavy. But it just gets heart beat a lot heavier. Took these in singles for all 30 reps. First a 10 rep stint, then 5's till the end. My heart was racing pretty wildly after these.
Got to admit my body wasn't eager to jump on the rings after working for 12 minutes of rowing, t2b's, wb's and cleans. Damn it felt heavy to get myself on top of the rings. Got a double at first attempt, then two singles. They look easier than they felt and this got me thinking should I have forced myself to jump on the rings earlier with less recovery.
CF Open 14.4
Strongman / Skills.
5 rounds of:
40m farmer's walk @ 135kg
Handstand
Strongman meets skills. Very different type of elements. There were 2x25kg bumper plates on each handle so that means the total weight was 135kg for the farmer's walk. This was not a timed workout, more of an accessory work. It's been months since doing handstand so it was fun to get upside down and attack this skill. It was a good combination of movements.
About time to pull from the ground! This time my hands were not ripped at all, and I was anxious of getting my hands on the barbell. Before that there stood handstand on my notes, and the session ended up with a a good conditioning piece of bodyweight action.
Skills.
Handstand
It was a positive surprise to see I had written down handstand practice in my program for today. This skill was neglected for a good time when I was training at my old gym because there was no space for that basically. It was mostly something I worked on during springs and summers. When I changed to this OPC gym this spring I thought there would be more and more of this type of training. Still, it hasn't been there that much. So it's surprising that this thing is going further little by little =)
Strength.
Deadlift 5x5 @ 160kg
It's been some time since pulling from the ground. Reason for this is that on those days that I've planned to do deadlifts there's been some rips in my hands. So it was a lot of positive enthusiasm towards this portion. Kept the bar light because going heavy after some break in the deadlift really feels in my back for days, and kind of prevents 100% training in the upcoming days. Form stayed good and everything felt great.
5x5 @ 160kg
Metcon. Time, 10.48
5 rounds of:
7 handstand push-ups
14 pull-ups
21 box jumps
Nice one! Hspu's were unbroken, and easiest part of the workout. I'd love to have more of them in this wod. Number of pull-ups was double the amount of hspu's. Went unbroken for the first 2 rounds. Then the next 2 rounds were 9-5. Last round was unbroken again. Might have been able to go ub all the way but this was my decision this time, and I hope this was the quicker version overall. Box jumps unbroken. Good breather!
Wednesday. Skills, handstand. Bar complex: 1 power clean, 1 squat clean, 2 front squat, 2 jerk. Start at 40kg, add 5kg each set. Result, 1 jerk at 90kg. Metcon, 5rds of: 15 kb swing (28kg), 15 box, 300m row. Time, 13.48.
Wednesday's classic morning workout. Yesterday I thought about going for track sprints and / or some sort of running metcon but I couldn't write anything down that would have pleased me enough. Instead I found a gem from archives that was done with barbell. Spiced it up with handstand and rowing (sub for running) for conditioning. It turned out to be a great session!
Skills.
Handstand walk
5 sets for max distance
We spent last Friday in Vierumäki, where I practiced handstand walk after a longer break. That went very well, and that kicked things off and I wanted to have more of it. Started the day with handstand walks after a lengthy warm-up and activation. This was 5 attempts for as far as possible. This also went better than I had anticipated. I'm very happy about this.
This is something I've done couple of times in the past but it's been a while. I put the link above to the previous one. There you can find a link to the session before that etc. Cleans and squats were fine but I've done lots of different types of presses / jerks so my arms were sore before I even touched the barbell for the first time. Last overhead jerk was at 90kg. That wasn't beautiful so I stopped at that point.
Skills and barbell
Metcon. Finished the 5th round at 13.48
12min amrap of:
15 kettlebell swing, 28kg
15 box jump
300m row
Metcon was great. Kb swings, box and rowing. No surprise my breathing was heavy and posterior chain was on fire. Went unbroken on the elements all the time. It was just the transitions that took me some time. Rowing was sub 1.50 constantly. This time the gym was quite empty so I rolled the concept2 rower near the box / kb so I didn't have to walk around the place between stations.
This workout was simple and effective. Wouldn't have changed a bit in the programming. If it was a competition, transitions would have been shortened but I'm very pleased in today's session in general. Awesome morning workout!
Our boss at work had planned a day of different kind of activities in Vierumäki. Toni was there too. This was a whole day of fun, and afterwards we drove back to our workplace to join the evening with our teams. There was a different kind of action going. Basically quality time with good people.
Attaching the equipment for archery
Active recovery.
Body composition measurement
Horseback riding
Foam rolling for an hour
Archery
Handstand
The day started with Inbody body composition test. This was the first time this was done to me, and the results were actually a lot of fun to see. Plus, they were good so there was nothing to be grumpy about. Great to see all the work being done at the gym and in kitchen really pays off.
Pony on a pony
After getting some lunch in our stomachs we went to ride some Islandic horses. That was pretty fun for a one-time experience. Okay, I've ridden a horse twice as a little kiddo.
Foam rolling
Foam rolling was basic stuff, you could call it a mobility class. Back, lats, quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves got hammered. Last thing was an hour of archery. In the beginning I had issues with the grip as I had no idea how to hold the bow. After a while I got a hold on the whole thing and started putting the arrows to the middle. This was a lot of fun in the end!
Me and Vidar
Here is also where I could do my workout of the day. All the activities were not that much sports related. More like active recovery so I worked on my handstand walk while it was others' time to shoot the arrows. Handstands worked very well! From the very first attempt it was very natural and I was able to complete sets of plus 10 meters. It wasn't that shaky as it sometimes is. There was a good rhythm all the way.
The crew
This day goes in the category "always learn and play new sports"
Empty gym in the Sunday evening. Two guys spent some time there but other than that, I was there all by myself. This was more skills oriented session with muscle-ups and handstand walk included. New element was also brought up in the form of sled pull, standing. I might have once done it before.
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
Total of 15 repetitions
It's been some time since previous muscle-up session. This one always gets a little butterflies in the stomach as I don't know how they will go. But when I jump on the rings, something good usually happens. They are not yet at the level that I would be comfortable throwing them into metcons but maybe it could be a good idea to mix them up in conditioning pieces too.
On the first set I was looking to make a triple but failed on the last rep for some reason. The following sets were triples then up to 14 reps. That's the reason why I took one single at the end of the session to compensate the first set that stayed a little shy.
Workout.
10 rounds not for time of:
15m sled pull, standing (55-80kg sled)
5m handstand walk
Wanted to get something totally different to close the week. Handstand was anyway going to be in the workout of the day so I threw in some sled pulls as a couplet. This was not for time. Haven't probably ever done handstand walks in a metcon, and this was also more like for quality. But I didn't give too much slack to myself. Especially after the handstand my plan was to shake it off, walk to the rope and start pulling.
After sled I took more break because my skills in handstand are not perfect and I needed that break in order to cover some distance on the handstand. In the beginning it was much tougher but got easier the more I practiced. This was a fun workout, variety to a traditional crossfit workout even though the elements were not new.
Thursday. Skills day: Ring mu's, Bar mu's, Handstand walk.
This was intentionally a lighter day, and I concentrated purely on developing my skill base. Good bunch of muscle-ups and then handstand walk to crown the session. It was awesome to witness my lovely wife hit some bad ass crossfit metcon.
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
Bar muscle-up
Handstand walk
I took couple of sets of ring mu triples. These felt alright. Had one miss but other than that everything was good. My focus was to keep tension in the body throughout the motion. Both up and down. At the moment I'm happy on the form. In the evening I watched one of Carl Paoli's video clips where he teaches how to do muscle-ups with ease and I got to say it looks a bit lighter than my versions =) Well, that was no surprise but still I'm happy with these.
It was basically 15 reps on both elements. That was the most I dared to do. Don't know what's up with my palms but with a big volume they tend to tear up. So this was the max I wanted to do. There was more energy that could have been used for more muscle-ups but this was a sensible call. Bar mu's were much easier as they always are.
My gym has the best possible platform for training handstand and handstand walk. The grass matt is 20 meters long so that's plenty for me, and there's almost always enough space to practice this specific skill. I took couple of reps / attempts here, and occasionally was able to walk pretty decent distances. 10 meter was the longest streak.
Saturday. Skills, Bar muscle-ups, Ring muscle-ups, handstand.
Today was nothing scheduled on my program so it was more like a play day. Worked on some skills and just had fun fooling around. Pauliina was doing push presses so it was awesome to be there to support her.
Haven't done my homework on the muscle-ups lately. It feels like an eternity since I've done those previously. I had planned on doing only ring mu's but the rings were taken in the beginning so I jumped on the pull-up bar and started ripping it. Took only one set for 10 reps. That was a bit tight in the end but surely some more reps might be in the tank. At home I realized that happens to be my PR number. I've taken it once last fall.
Recap
Ring mu's were doubles every minute for 5 minutes. Felt good on those too. Handstand (walk) is something I could put more effort now as the surroundings are perfect. That grass matt is awesome for training being inverted because it's so flat.
Thursday. AM: Metcon, 3rds of: 400m run, 30 wb, 12 pull-ups. Time, 13.29. Skills, handstand. PM: CF Open 11.2. Result, 357 reps. Emom x 10min: 8 reverse lunges (50kg).
In the morning I drove to a place where I have been about two years ago with my bro. Kauniainen sports track. They have a pull-up bar right next to the track so I went there with some action in my mind. Took also some handstand training. In the afternoon it was time for another session. Found a new Open workout which needed to be tested. Good one.
Metcon. Time, 13.29
3 rounds of:
400m run
30 wall ball, 9kg
12 pull-ups
As I just wrote yesterday, running is not in my wheelhouse, don't like the element that much but it's always worth it. During my floorball years I ran a lot, and had good endurance on that one. Never the fastest but a good conditioning on running. Currently it's not as good for sure. Only because I haven't ran that much. It took my breath away today.
Doing wall balls after running for one lap was not the easiest of jobs. Wb's are my thing but they were tough throughout the workout. Didn't warm-up properly so the first round was as tough as the rest. I went 20-10 each round.
Pull-ups were unbroken. It was the easiest element of this one. Mainly due to the number of reps. My fingers were sore from all the work being done this week and it didn't feel good to even touch the pull-up bar. But once I went up there, it was no biggie after all. Good rather short workout after all.
Wall ball station was that white wall on the left
Skills.
Handstand
After getting my breath back I practiced on my handstand skills. The field was as flat as it can be which made it a perfect platform from being inverted. It turned out to be quite a good session on handstand. This was definitely some sort of PR in handstand walk. I got a 10m distance performed on walking on my hands. It felt like 100 meters though. Felt great!
When we were in Italy Toni sent me a message that he'd done this one so it stuck in the back of my head. It looked like a good workout, and I had never seen this one before. Today felt like a perfect timing to hit this one. Took some heavier deadlifts beforehand just to get used to pulling from ground. 70kg barbell turned out to be very light.
The only thing I had in mind was Toni's result when I entered this one. Somehow I knew it's gonna hurt. It's light work so it's basically about engine. No reason to break the sets. For a second I thought push-ups might become an issue but luckily I got them unbroken too. For sure they got heavier but I was determined to finish them with glory.
Box jumps were probably the most challenging element. My hip flexors have been pretty much on fire the entire week because of the training volume so it was no surprise. My plan was to walk slowly from the push-up station to the box, shake my legs during the way, and once I arrived at the box, started jumping right away. I was able to keep a very steady pace throughout those 15 minutes. Didn't gas out at ay moment, peaceful pace from the beginning to the end. It was definitely a perfect metcon in a sense that heart rate and heart beat was high towards the end.
Accessory.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
8 reverse lunges, 50kg
Stole also this one from my man Toni. A little fun accessory action at the end of the session. Mostly this got to hip flexors. Weight wasn't super heavy. The movement itself was a bit awkward in the beginning. Haven't done much reverse lunges but after 2 sets I felt comfortable with these. Got a good sweat on this one too.
Wednesday. AM: Strength, front squat 3-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1. Farmer's walk 10x20m @ 70-80kg. Accessory, 4rds of: 10 glute ham raises, 15 ghd sit-ups. PM: Skills session of bar muscle-ups (5x5) and handstand.
I had a day off of work so it meant only one thing. It's gonna be two-a-day. There were some errands to be taken care of but I found the time to get a good session in in the early afternoon. It was a squat session combined with some strongman elements and accessory movements. In the evening we went to get with Pauliina and I focused totally on skills. Good one!
Strength.
Front squat 3-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1
Triples @ 110kg
Doubles @ 120kg
Singles @ 125kg
This was tough. I took 60-90kg lifts from a dead stop in the bottom. Started from the hole, stood up and came back down. So it was totally vice versa than normal front squats. Without any bounce from the bottom it made it very difficult and a different type of stimulus. Probably a very good way to train I'd figure.
At 110kg it was triples, got them done in touch'n'go style and was very satisfied on these. Doubles at 120kg were a lot heavier. I took a breath on top before the second rep. And these were the slowest front squats ever. Definitely not even a slight bounce in the bottom. But form remained okay so I'll take 'em!
On the singles the first one was the heaviest. That startled me a bit but then I decided to man up and do the work as planned. Happy on how I got them done. These really got to me legs and they felt smashed already later in the day. Or was it because of farmer's walk, don't know but it feels good.
Front squat recap
Strongman.
10 x 20 meter farmer's walk
70-80kg per hand
I've done this movement once before. It was awesome that time. A lot lighter but it was intentional because it was a metcon spiced up with burpees. Today I went heavier and had 50kg extra weight on this handle that weighs either 20kg or 30kg. Don't know, I asked about it but didn't get a precise answer and haven't compared it to a normal barbell. Anyway, this was much different than the lighter load.
This is a full body workout to say the least. Legs are doing the work, core has to be very tight all the time. Posture has to be good and shoulders back. Grip needs to be strong. Don't know what part of the body this movement would not strengthen. Suits very well to crossfit. This is classic strongman stuff. You'll see farmer's walk in Rob Orlando's site all the time. And there is a reason for that.
This was 10 rounds of 20 meter carry. I didn't have a clock running for a purpose. Recovery was pretty much walking back and forth the grass mat. It was a good length. No need for too much recovery. Could go heavier on this one. It would be a good idea to have a training pal and do this alternating. We're gonna hit it one day with Jasper.
Farmer's walk
Accessory.
4 rounds of:
10 glute ham raises
15 ghd sit-ups
These legs are going to get stronger. Glute ham raises are one more tool to reach that goal. Farmer's walk and sled are also excellent ways to get there. These ghr's are brutal on hamstrings. I still need a resistance band to assist me do these. This was only the second time doing them. Hopefully soon I'll drop the band away and focus on doing them with bodyweight only. Once I got a set of ghr's done I changed sides and completed ghd sit-ups right after, then a pause before doing another round of this couplet.
Skills.
Bar muscle-ups 5x5
Handstand
Handstand walk
Strict weighted pull-ups
Couple of hours later I stepped in at the Box for a skills session. Muscle-ups were the first thing to focus on. Couple of sets of 5's. These felt easy in each session. And I got them done without stopping on top of the pull-up bar. My hands are ripped so had to use gloves to protect them.
It's been time since I was inverted for handstand so it seemed like a perfect decision to practice this demanding skill. I took a few sets of trying to stay as still as possible and then couple of sets to walking on my hands. In the end I put a weight vest on and did strict pull-ups as accessory movement.
Saturday. Ohs with a pause, doubles up to 70kg. Workout, 6rds for quality: 6 hang squat snatch (40kg), 15 ghd sit-ups, 5m unbroken handstand walk.
We spent almost the entire day in Helsinki. It was time to find proper clothing for our wedding for me, and some other stuff needed to be arranged too. Got to spend it with my baby and her parents so that's pretty much everything I want =) There was time to hit the gym in the early morning still.
Overhead.
Overhead squat with a 5 second pause
Doubles @ 40, 50, 60, 65, 70kg
These were not heavy reps for a reason. Goal was to find that good deep position at the bottom of the hole on snatch. I took the bar from the ground so there was one clean and jerk done before getting the barbell overhead. The weights were pretty light for c&j so it was no biggie to drop the bar on my back.
This was a good drill for snatch / overhead squat. Getting comfortable win the hole. I had to look for the perfect position for a while down there. It was a good choice to hold the position for 5 seconds before coming back up. The loads were not insurmountable. Felt good with them all the time.
Recap
Workout.
6 rounds not for time of:
6 hang squat snatch, 40kg
15 ghd sit-ups
6 meters unbroken handstand walk
Saturday's are in principle dedicated for longer workouts with modest intensity. Honing on skills or long emoms. Something out of ordinary without a fast pace or heavy strength work. This is the plan but of course changes will take place. Today's workout was not for time but exactly a moderate heart beat action fro the beginning to the end.
I wanted to put some elements here that I consider more like skills based movements. There's a lot to be done on my snatch technique so it got a place on this workout easily. I got those from hang position intentionally as it's easier for me to keep the bar closer to body from that position compared to floor position.
Core work is always a good choice and these ghd sit-ups are new thing to me so there's still some sort of novelty included. It may also do good to my back's elasticity. At least it feels it kind of improves the mobility on my back.
Handstand has never been part of any workout I've done. Never ever. Those times that I've practiced handstand it's been a skills session entirely. Just focusing on handstand. This was a fresh breeze to combine this skill with other basic crossfit movements. I marked a 6 meter distance on the grass and goal was to cross that line without any misses. I'm very satisfied over completing each set without tripping over. Great session, mission accomplished.
Monday. Snatch by feeling. Ohs by feeling. Metcon, 6rds of: 6 hang power clean (70kg), 9 hspu, 12 high box jumps. Time, 13.00. Skills, handstand
Training day at Liikuntamylly in the morning. This place is divine! I'm on a holiday now so I'm definitely visiting these spectacular places I don't have access on weekdays. There are some restrictions in the evening times for public but during the daytime there's no problem. I worked on my snatch and ohs but the funniest part was absolutely the metcon and handstand.
Barbell.
Squat snatch
Overhead squat
There was no clear plan this time. There would have been but there's too much to work on in my snatch technique. Had it been for example clean, I know there won't be any misses and they are very consistent. I know I can hit high percentages of my max every single day. Snatch is totally different. That indicates snatch is highly technical movement, especially when done as squat snatch.
Got to keep on doing those reps to improve mobility and speed. The outcome will be strength. At least according to Coach Burgener. Mobility is the key, no doubt. On the lighter snatches it felt like a lot of things fell in to place and I was actually very happy on those. After 50kg it got more challenging and my technique collapsed somewhat. And I have no idea what those knees were doing on some of the reps =) After going by feeling in the beginning I took emom workout at 50-55kg snatch singles in the end.
Decided to continue with overhead squats after this. Just took 50, 60, 70, 80, 70kg reps. Basically they were singles, some were done with a pause in the bottom. Wouldn't probably hurt too much to do those pause squats more often. It really feels like mobility improves on every repetition. My armpits easily face down when I'm in the hole instead of facing forward like they should. There are some tightness in my shoulders I guess. When I'm standing, armpits are forward but when I'm down, they tend to switch more downwards.
Barbell work
Metcon. Time, 13.00
6 rounds of:
6 hang power clean, 70kg
9 handstand push-ups
12 high box jumps
This was a great workout! It is a very small thing but it sure feels great to drop the barbell after a tough set of cleans. It mentally feels good you don't have to bring it down nicely. Just drop it and move forward to handstand push-ups. I did everything in this workout unbroken. None of these elements were easy.
Cleans got tough in the middle of the workout but I fought to get them unbroken. I would have done couple of more rounds ub but they would have definitely been challenging. Breathing was heavy throughout the wod which made everything a little worse.
Handstand push-ups were easy in the beginning but got tough about the same time as cleans, at about mid-workout. I went touch'n'go on the first 4 rounds. Last two rounds I had to stop resting my head to the ground after 6-7 reps before finishing the set.
This box height was a compromise but it was actually great! There were these blocks you can pile on top of each others. One was too low so I got two of them which made it a lot higher than regular 61cm box. The height of this one was around my hips. Had to do the jumps in singles, no way I was rebounding back there. Those really got to my legs and breathing. Great workout!
Skills.
Handstand
Handstand walk
I was about to leave the premises but then realized it's ideal for practicing handstand. My shoulders and wrists felt good so I took couple of tries. First, just trying to find a stable freestanding handstand position, and then hs walk afterwards.
It felt like it went pretty well indeed. It's been a while. This is something I don't do that often. If I had training places like this I'd do it 2-3 times a week for sure! Probably spring and summer will make a difference as it's easy to practice being inverted outdoors too.
Sunday was a day at the beach and I focused on sunbathing and handstand skills. It's pretty awesome to throw yourself upside down at such a beautiful scenery if you ask me. And it's been quite encouraging to understand I can do handstand and handstand walk on a sandy platform where tce ground is very uneven under my hands.
Monday. Training at Crossfit Fuengirola. Today was another try to get myself inside the local Box. Kari suggested we'd run there so we agreed to do that together for starters. It was awesome to have him with me at the affiliate. The workout included kettlebell action in the beginning, then some light strength work and finally a killer workout.
Warm-up.
Run 3.5km, then
2rds of:
30sec 1-arm swing, right
30sec 1-arm swing, left
30sec 1-arm clean, right
30sec 1-arm clean, left
30sec kb swing
30sec rest
Barbell.
Deadlift 2x8
Bench 2x8
I did these with light weights. They were supposed to be between 55-65% of max. Had 110kg for deads and 60kg for bench. Way lighter to what I'm used to.
Metcon.
5rds of:
200m run
10 pullups
20 hspu
30 squats
40 du
I saw this written on the wall and said to the coach it's gonna be brutal on shoulders. And it definitely was. The biggest amount of hspu's I've done in training session has been at around 50-60reps. Today the whiteboard said 100 reps. I figured what the heck, let's do it!
It was no surprise it was a nightmare on ly shoulders. All other movements were okay, had no problems with them. But those hspu's... First round was still doable, the desperation hit at the end of second round as I realized there was still 60 reps looming ahead of me.
But somehow I crawled to the finish line in this encouraging environment of crossfit athletes. I felt very welcomed from the first step I took inside this Box. Great community to say the least, respect. And thanks to Kari as well for tagging along and giving good uptalk. Can you imagine he went running alongside me on every round :)
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 :)
Sun's out, guns out. Summer is here! Hopefully to stay for a while. It's been a cold summer this far so we're enjoying every bit of it! I definitely love working outdoors, there's something different than crawling in to a windowless cave and move a barbell. I need to get that in my system too, otherwise I feel I'm missing something. I need and want to work all aspects of fitness. General physical preparedness. That's called crossfit.
Metcon.
3 rounds of:
800m run
10 turkish get-ups, 12kg kettlebell (5/5 per side)
20 medball squat cleans, 9kg
My lower body has done some work lately and I felt it in my body. On the other hand my triceps still hurt from Thursday's 100 rep S2O workout. It's gotten worse by the day =) But I'm sensing tomorrow they'll be good already. So I was thinking for a while what to do today. Running - a weakness of mine - is never a bad choice. And once we had Pauliina's kettlebell with us, I decided to incorporate that to my workout in the form of turkish get-ups. I don't do it that often and the weight seemed to suit well to me. There was also a new fresh movement: medball cleans.
After brainstorming it for a while it turned out to be a 3-rounder of 800m running, 5 right hand tgu's and then 5 left hand tgu's, finishing it with 20 med ball squat cleans. Looks easy on paper but I'm telling you I was done after this one!
On the running I was able to keep up a steady pace. That's always mind comforting to realize you're not slowing down every round. Running got to my breathing for sure, other than that it felt surprisingly good. This was a run in the near park, not in a track, and the distance is not exact.
Those turkish get-ups are a rarity in my training sessions. Today I figured to give it a shot. I'm very slow on those. Or at least I think I am 'cause I haven't seen anyone else do them. At least not live. Had 12kg kettlebell in one arm, did 5 right hand reps first, then 5 on left hand. They were surprisingly nasty towards the end. It's light weight, I'm having hard time to believe it got to my shoulders =)
Medball cleans were something I haven't tried ever before. Probably because I haven't had a wall ball before. Well, now that problem is solved! Anyway, only 9kg ball but they got to the legs pretty darned well! Last 5 reps were painful in each set.
It was great training outdoors second day in a row. I tried to do various kinds of workouts that are impossible to go for in the gym. And I believe I managed very well! Awesome workouts, all three metcons.
Metcon recap
Skills.
Handstand
Headstand
After we came back home I saw the sunny backyard from our balcony and was tempted to take my shirt off and, warm up my shoulders and legs, then hit it outdoors for some handstand and headstand training.
I practiced handstand, handstand walk and headstand. They went pretty good. Started with still handstand training. In my mental training it was supposed to be still pose but it turned out that I had to make a lot of corrective moves. But that's the way it is nowadays. Handstand is a skill that needs to be maintained constantly. This summer I haven't been doing it that much. Took the first steps last spring / summer, before that the skills were practically non-existing. Now it's getting somewhere.
Handstand recap
This summer has been a rainy one and it hasn't been that tempting to go outdoors to practice on a wet ground. In the end I took some headstand just for the fun of it. That's a skill I feel like there's no problems at all, I'm very comfy in that position.
Thursday. Training day in Eltsu. Skills, handstand walk. Metcon, 5rds of: 4 c&j (60kg), 30du, 330, run. Time 15.19. Uphill sprints, 10x70m.
This was awesome, I got a chance to go to Eltsu for training in the afternoon after work. Started off with handstand walk skills. Main wod was a running metcon, added with clean & jerks and double unders. This seemed like a good way to get my lungs to work. I'm stilling missing heavy squats but I'll wait couple of days before jumping into those. It was spectacular to hit a tougher metcon indeed. Couple of minutes after the workout I realized a potential for hill sprints.
It's getting warm in here!
Skills.
Handstand
It felt natural all the way and I was able to stay consistent with my performance. It was something between 8-10m each set I tried. Maybe not the same level as those Crossfit Regionals' athletes that walked several 30m sets in the 3min time cap. I believe the longest distances were around 350 feet which is a little over 100m. Don't take the numbers that seriously, I wasn't that accurate but they were around there.
These sets were pretty much the longest I've had so I would dare to call this a PR. Haven't measured them so precisely but 10m is close to the best I've done. Gotta practice more this summer to master this skill better. Both handstand walk and still handstand position.
Metcon. Time 15.19
5 rounds of:
5 clean & jerk, 60kg
30 double unders
330m run
This was great. Exactly what I was looking for. My breathing was heavy from the beginning and didn't come down until a minute after the clock had stopped. I was able to keep a steady pace and I felt - the first time in a long time - like I was flying on the running part. Well, that might have been a little exaggeration but it felt much lighter than normally. Maybe because I haven't squatted that much lately.
I went unbroken with the clean & jerks. It was a bit shaky on some round with my feet work. I thought it might have been because of my shoes. I've used to lift in weightlifting shoes but these Reebok Nano's are pretty good in anything I do with them. Lift, run, jump, burpees, you name it. They were worth the money.
Run.
Sprints uphill, 10x70m
Recovery, walk back down, then sprint right away
I was about done after the workout but then after resting a while it struck me there is a hill when you walk out from the cave. I measured it's about 70m in total, all uphill, and the incline is pretty steep. I took a total of 10 sprints. The recovery was just a walk down, then turn around and run back up, no rest at the bottom. I tried to use good technique, lifting my legs high and running with my calves so that my legs would touch the ground as little as possible.
It was great to run today. As I wrote, I felt fast and efficient on the metcon and on the sprints. And the main wod was something my soul needed. The fast heart beat was something I live for.
Thursday. Day in Eltsu. Skills, handstand walk. Mobility, hurdle step-overs. Plyometric, hurdle jump-overs. Sprints, 4x400m. Technique, overhead squats, overhead lunges.
Perfect surroundings in Eltsu. Mother nature was hugging me with astounding weather. It was extremely satisfying to work outdoors at the track. Started with skills training, then moved on to play with hurdles, some mobility drills and plyometric work. Then couple of 400m sprints, finishing it off with one mile run with easy pace. Wanted to touch the barbell too so I went indoors to work on my overhead squats and a newcomer, overhead lunges! My body has taken some hit this week so I kept it at one session today. Took a nap, and ate well to recover.
Track and field.
800m run, easy pace
Handstand walk
Hurdle step-overs 8x8
Hurdle jump-overs 8x6
Sprints, 400m every 3:00 (splits 1.30, 1.28, 1.27, 1.26)
1.600m run, easy pace
After running, warming-up, completing tons of lunges and mobility I took on handstand walking. The platform on a track is simply perfect. Couldn't be better. It was a totally different thing compared to my previous hs session in Klaukkala on grass that wasn't a balanced ground. I still need a flat platform with these skills.
It felt good today and my goal was to walk on my hands, not just trying to find balance. Didn't measure the distances, couple of meters were gained per attempt. It was around 20 seconds of inverted position.
Handstand walk recap
Hurdle work is great. Too rarely do I get the chance to go after them. When I played floorball I had one coach that obviously loved them so we used to play with them quite a lot in the summer time. For us goalies he put us do even more drills to enhance hip mobility. I remember having done hundreds of repetitions per training session.
Then, we used to run a lot after them. It was a totally different style of training that time. It wasn't much of strength work. Mostly core and endurance work by running in different methods. And as a goalie, I didn't run at all during the season =) But I guess my core got in good shape because of those times.
Hurdle recap
Today I reminisced some of those hurdle drills. Started by walking over the obstacles, 8x8. Don't have the best of hip mobility but I still feel like it was smoother than it used to be. There's clearly happened some development, on mobility all over my body. Crossfit has helped tremendously on this issue.
Another drill was jump-overs. I've done lots of box jumps that create explosiveness. This is somewhat similar exercise but also improve on elasticity, balance and coordination. Couple of times I lost rhythm on the jumps which indicate inaccuracy in my concentration. Once I focused it was a good workout! Would be awesome to have these more often.
I also wanted to run once there's a chance for that. Took 400m sprints, not all in effort but still with a good pace. I'd like to see myself running easy 1.20 splits and max effort somewhere sub 1.10. Not there yet. Those times used to be my regular times. I remember having ran 8x400m with an average of 1.22 pace when I started crossfit. That time I ran a lot more and okay, I weighed also 10kg less. I've gained lots of strength and muscle since then. My breathing is under control pretty well but my legs start to go burn on inner thighs a lot during the sprints. Got to run now in the summer time more than during winter to regain that speed. My round times got a little faster by the round.
Barbell. Overhead work
Overhead squat technique (40-50kg)
Overhead lunges 3x10, alternating legs (40kg)
After running for 1.600m for recovery to flush legs it was time to go indoors for some barbell work. Didn't go heavy this time, just worked on my overhead squat technique with rather light weights, mostly 40kg, one set of 50kg was thrown in too. In the beginning I noticed my depth wasn't there but luckily I had my coach (=camera) with me to witness this. He told me to go deeper so I fixed it. Too mostly sets of 5's but in the end a set of 15 reps just for fun.
But hey, how cool is overhead lunges? First time I tried it and now I understand how magnificent element that is. They've done front rack lunges and overhead lunges in Regionals and Games lately and I watched those events with a desire to hit this type of movements myself. They also had similar stuff in Finland's own "Crossfit Games", Winter War as we call it. I had only 40kg on the bar but I got the point.
It's definitely a whole-body movement where you have to keep entire core tight, do lots of work with legs and shoulder to stabilize the bar and not drop it. There's probably not a muscle in the body that you don't work with. I took 3 sets of 10 reps in the end of this training session.
Barbell recap
All in all, it was a great day. Skills, mobility, plyometric work, sprints and some barbell work. Only thing missing was a hardcore metcon. Let's see what tomorrow brings us!
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.
