Saturday. Intervals, 6 sets of: 10 hang power clean @ 60kg + 10 burpees.
After almost 3 weeks of traveling in France and Italy, it was time to dial back and return home, back to grinding. I missed my barbell big time. There were some training abroad as well but weights were pretty much non-existing.
Intervals.
6 sets of:
10 hang power cleans @ 60kg
10 burpees
Got outdoors in the evening as you can see from the video. Not much to be seen as it's getting darker this time of the year. Didn't have a timer but I checked from tape that the recovery was around 1-2 minutes between sets. Basically the idea was to settle the breathing a notch before hitting another set. Unbroken every round of course, otherwise it would have been a bit awkwardly written workout. The purpose
Wednesday. Lots of cleans. Thursday, metcon of running and barbell cycling with light weight.
Wednesday.
Hang power clean 5x5 @ 80kg
Emom x 10 min: 2 hang power clean @ 90kg
Purely moving the barbell. This was the first time I went a little heavier with the weights when training in Munkka, outdoors. It's been a blast doing stuff in the nature. Somehow I get a lot of kicks training outdoors. There's definitely a little twist working at an unsteady grass. But it's something I'm gonna get used to in the long run. I will train somewhere else than gym for the most of my times in the future.
Wednesday's clean session
Thursday.
15 thrusters @ 40kg
Run around the block
15 hang power clean and jerk @ 40kg
Run around the block
15 push press @ 40kg
Run around the block
15 front squat @ 40kg
Run around the block
15 back squat @ 40kg
Run around the block
Practically without no warm-up I started moving that light bar. Every bar set was unbroken of course with such light loading. My shoulders took beating in this one. That was kind of a funny thing as I thought legs would get killed. Breathing was high for sure, from the very beginning. Running around the block meant about 400m lap each round.
Friday. Gymnastics, 4 x max reps hspu (max set 24 reps). Accessory, 5rds of: 10 hang power clean @ 60kg, 20 push-ups.
I got inspired to hit couple of sets handstand push-ups. I was also thinking about doing a complex of strict and kipping hspu's but this was the decision this time. The latter part was not a timed workout.
Gymnastics. Total of 62 reps
4 sets of max handstand push-ups
Sets 24, 15, 11, 12 reps
On the first set I thought I had nailed a new record as I thought 21-22 reps was previous PR. So after thinking about crushing that one I guess my stomach was full already and didn't have the passion to push through beyond 25 reps. Had I not known that it would have been interesting to see if I could have broken that old record.
Accessory. Not for time
5 rounds of:
10 hang power clean @ 60kg
20 push-ups
Got to admit my legs were so destroyed from that 10 rounder where I did 10 front squats at 50kg. It hurt bad and it's been difficult to walk, especially stairs. It's even challenging to sit on a toilet seat right now haha :) That's why I took this day's metcon a bit more easily. Got both elements done in unbroken style.
Monday. Row 8x500m, 1:1 work:rest ratio. Wod, 10rds of: 5 hang power clean @ 60kg, 10 high box.
Conditioning. Period. Intervals to start with, then light cleans and high box jumps to seal the deal. I took some double unders in the beginning of the latter workout but my shins didn't like it even though there was some serious foam rolling prior to that. So I changed it after 3 rounds to high box jumps.
Intervals.
8 x 500m row
1:1 work:rest ratio (Every 3:30)
These are tough. Both physically and mentally. Maybe 3 rounds went okay even though there were some leg pain already at that point. But it got serious at 4-5 rounds. The recovery was enough to get back in action but the sets started to feel nasty at about midway, 250-300 meters down. The last 200m of the last sets were pure agony. My legs hurt and lungs were screaming for air. Nice body melt down =) Felt good!
Workout. Not for time
10 rounds of:
5 hang power clean @ 60kg
10 high box jumps, 70cm
First 3 rounds were 25 double unders instead of the box but the remaining was 10 box jumps at a higher box than what I'm used to. It's quite rare actually when I've completed this high jumps. Just couple of occasions.
The barbell was light and focused on perfecting those reps every time. It was a nice end to the session. That row session practically ate my soul so this was an easier one.
Friday. Snatch / Ohs e2mom complex @ 60kg for 16min. Front squat 6x2 @ 110kg. Intervals, every 3:00, for 15min: 1 rope + 4x10m light sled push. Hang power clean triples, build up (up to 95kg). Accessory, 50 hspu.
This time I took my time at the gym. It turned out to be an effective session and I moved around between different portions. Started with snatch complex, then front squats for strength, intervals, more olympic lifts, and gymnastics work.
Oly.
Snatch + Overhead squat complex @ 60kg
Every 2:00 minutes, perform
1+3
1+3
2+2
2+2
3+1
3+1
4+0
4+0
This one was stolen from one athlete who's been working at Toni's Box the past week. It sounded like a great complex for improving snatch. Started with one snatch and more overhead squats, then changed so that the number of snatches increased and ohs decreased. The barbell remained at 60kg at all times.
There were some reps I wasn't satisfied with. It's not a good rep in my books if you have to catch it by stepping forward. You should be able to catch it where you land. My warm-up was also short and hips weren't feeling mobile so I stayed above parallel. Other than that the barbell felt good all the way and there were no misses at all. It's cool to see good things are happening at 60kg.
Strength.
Every 2:00, front squats 6x2 @ 110kg
Feels like an eternity since squatting. Last time it was back squats, this time front squats. Felt stiff and slow from the very first set. However, on the video it looks pretty good. Okay, it's still not the most explosive out of the hole but elbows seem to point straight ahead and form stays good.
Sprints, one rope up and down, then a sled that only had 4x10kg bumpers on. Went down and back for 4 legs of the matt. Felt miserable on the legs. I got 5 of these sets completed, one round every 3 minutes.
Oly.
Hang power cleans, build up to a heavy triple (40, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95kg)
We were pretty much ready and everything had been performed what we had thought of. I threw in the idea of Toni joining me to pull some barbell from hang position. We basically didn't have any plans. I took a triple, and he followed. Round by round we added a bit weight until we reached something that could be described as a personal record for both of us. Toni was doing these as hang squat cleans.
I don't remember taking 3 reps of hang power cleans ever @ 95kg. It was remarkable for me! Gainz. Toni also reckoned that weight to be his record for a triple @ 95kg. Great work mister!
Gymnastics.
50 handstand push-ups
In the end I did quick gymnastics piece to burn shoulders and improve skills. Goal was to do sets of 10 reps with short rest periods. Those recovery times were on point. I got to 40 with 10-rep sets, then 2x5 to finish it. I was satisfied to these at this point of the session.
Toni did benchmark workout Cindy of which you can see the last reps here
Monday. Pair workout, 20min amrap of DT @ 60kg, You go, I go style. Result, 16 rounds + 3 clean.
Toni asked me to hit a morning's bro session with him on Monday. I'm still on holiday this week so it suited well for my plans. After the session I headed back to Klaukkala where we stayed for couple of days with the family. It was another long day of doing work at the house. They are moving so we got rid of a lot of stuff at the house. We started right after I came back from the training session and I got home after 10pm. Okay we had lunch and coffee during the day but other than that it was action all the way. It wasn't difficult to get sleep for the night =)
Metcon. Result, 16 rounds + 3 clean
Pair workout
20min amrap of:
DT, You go, I go (12 deadlift, 9 hang power clean, 6 push jerk)
Barbell @ 60kg
Tough. Very tough. Body felt tired in the morning. The sandbag run had destroyed my legs nicely so luckily this was more focusing on upper body, grip strength and lungs. It was great to have a training partner to share the suffer. This was lighter than the regular DT but we added some stakes by making it a 20min amrap. I started, completed one full round, then Toni did one round. We alternated after every round.
We held on to one minute per round for about 8 minutes. Then we started slowing down. I call this a great session with my main man Toni.
Thursday. Emom x 15min: Cleans (up to 100kg). Front squat 7x5 @ 100kg. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 10 hang power clean (40kg), 12 box, 14 ghd. Result, 293 reps.
Today I'm having a day off from work so I got a chance to hit it early in the morning. I had some studying waiting me up to do so that's the reason the session took place even earlier than normally on free days. Took some clean and jerks in the beginning but shoulders felt tired so I changed it to cleans on the fly and then some lighter front squats. And metabolic conditioning in the end. Good session.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
1-5 minutes: 3 cleans @ 80kg
6-10 minutes: 2 cleans @ 90kg
11-15 minutes: 1 clean @ 100kg
These were all squat cleans. Decided to go by feeling on these. Even though I warmed up longer than normally my body felt stiff and maybe it was still asleep =) That's the reason why the upcoming front squats turned out to be a notch lighter as well.
Three parts, each section took 5 minutes. 3x80, 2x90, 1x100kg emoms. At first I almost game myself too much slack and thought about going at 80 kilos all the way. Luckily I didn't. These felt pretty good despite the stiffness.
Strength.
Front squat 7x5 @ 100kg
It was fun to get some front rack squats done after a while. The load was moderate, something that needs to be moving smoothly under any circumstances any day. I focused on proper bar path and having a good control through the middle on both ascend and descend parts.
Metcon. Result, 293 reps (8 rounds + 5 cleans)
As many reps as possible in 15 minutes of:
10 hang power clean @ 40kg
12 box jumps
14 ghd sit-ups
This seemed like a lot of fun and definitely was so. Cleans and box jumps were completed right next to each other so there was no time-waste there. Ghd's need to be completed at the other side of the space and you can't do cleans there so this needed to be completed at two spots. That took some transition so I played it in my head before starting the workout.
I figured the walk is compulsory between stations so my strategy needs to be so that once I get to the ghd's I gotta jump right into those and start moving. Same thing when returning from there. Grab the barbell right away (after marking the time of each round). Did all these unbroken for sure. I wrote this so that there are no excuses to stop. Round times varied by just seconds, they were quite sharp around 1:50.
Thursday. Back squat, singles up to 140kg. Chipper, 30 hang power clean (60kg), 30 box, 30 front squat (60kg), 30 pull-ups, 30 jerk (60kg), 30 burpees. Intervals, 30sec on, 30sec off, for 10min: row.
Nice! It was great to get back to the gym. Had to take two days off of training. One day would have been okay but there have been so much things to be taken care of lately that I simply don't have time to hit the gym. I leave home early in the morning and come back late in the evening and go to bed. This has also taken some of my energy, and it showed today.
Strength.
Back squat
5x60, 90kg
3x110kg
1x120, 130, 140kg
There was no chance in going heavy today. It felt tough from the very beginning. Body wasn't very receptive to big loads on my back. But these weights were okay anyway. I'll take these for now.
Chipper.
30 hang power cleans @ 60kg
30 box jumps
30 front squats @ 60kg
30 pull-ups
30 push jerks @ 60kg
30 burpees
This was a great workout, c'mon! Alternating between barbell and bodyweight for six different elements in a chipper style for time. I went 10-7-7-6 on the hang cleans and was able to maintain a solid breathing. Box jumps unbroken, then squats were 12-10-8. My front squats with light weights are at okay level. I can maintain a good form on those, they just burn legs a lot.
Pull-ups were 10 reps at first, then 5's to the end. At this point I started to feel like a car had driven over me. Jerks were not cool at all. At this stage of the workout those felt heavy. I went 8-6-6-5-5 on those but had to take longer breaks than I hoped for. There were elements of mental breakdown =) Once those were done the burpees felt like an eternity. Rarely have those felt so miserable but somehow I crawled to the finish line. Damned it was heavy. For sure my preparation was not on point leading up to this day but this probably would have been bad wod in any case.
Intervals.
30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, for 10 minutes:
Row
After recovering for a while and trying to get myself back in the game I did a short interval work. Rowing pace was at 1:40 on average. Something between 1:38 and 1:41. Felt bad on my legs.
Monday. Cleans (up to 110kg). Front squats (up to 130kg). Pair wod, 100 box, 150 burpees (emom 3 hang power clean @ 60kg).
Uuh, what a training day! As I have written earlier, Toni is about to open his own Box in April with his pal in Varisto, Vantaa. It's called Crossfit Kehä. He invited me to go and test the gym today so it was a no brainer. I was all in right away!
Oly.
Cleans
3x60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 100, 105kg
1x110kg
We started with cleans, then continued with squats and finished with a partner workout. Those usually rock big time. Today was no exception in this sense. Cleans felt great all the way! Maybe it was the atmosphere of this affiliate or something but it was just freaking great. These guys have made a good job with the layout. There's plenty of space for metcons, awesome pull-up / squat rig, and the equipment is right on point. I give 10/10 points for this Box.
On the cleans I built up by feeling. Started with triples without thinking about it that much. I kept adding stuff on the bar up to 105kg for a triple. Felt smooth on those too. Unfortunately didn't get that on tape but 100kg triple is there. On the 110kg I wasn't fully satisfied on that rep as I had to re-bounce on the bottom but it was alright anyway.
Strength.
Front squat
5x60kg
3x90, 100, 110, 120kg
2x125kg
1x130kg
It was a natural choice to continue with front squats after squat cleans as legs are already warmed up. Sets at 60kg and 90kg felt awkwardly stiff on my knees for no reason but then as I kept going heavier they felt better and better. And in the end I'm very happy on getting a rather easy 130kg single up.
Pair wod. Time, 12-13min
As a team of two:
100 box jumps
150 burpees
On top of every minute: both complete 3 hang power cleans @ 60kg
This was brutal in its own way. Those cleans started to wear me down at some level. Yes, this definitely was a good metabolic conditioning piece and I'm proud that we were able to have either of us moving constantly. No resting on knees at times. That was no option. It was good to have a partner to push you mentally further. It was a big thing.
We completed both box jumps and burpees in sets of 5 reps pretty much all the time. Some minor deviations from this plan but quite accurately we stuck to the plan. Got to say that every time you put something on top of every minute - this time it was cleans, usually it's burpees - it gives the workout a twisted turn. It doesn't help to rest as the clock doesn't ease the pain. The reps are coming there on top of every minute anyway =)
Wednesday. Cleans, build up to a heavy double (110kg). Back squat 7x5 @ 120kg. Metcon, 5rds of: 30 du, 7 hang power clean @ 60kg.
Classic stuff in the form of oly lifts and squats. It was mind blowing to get a barbell on my back for squats as my back has been bugging me lately. Felt great today and hit some volume on the squats for that reason.
Oly.
Cleans, build up to a heavy double (60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110kg)
It's also been some time since going this heavy on the cleans. At times the bar feels heavier but then again, as you just keep putting weight on the barbell, it keeps coming up anyway. According to some people, you should go heavy every single time you touch the bar.
Weights were good until the first rep at 105kg. The rest came up in a similar way but the rest of them didn't go as smooth up from the hole. First attempt at 105kg came up as if it was 90kg. Definitely felt heavier but I mean there wasn't same bounce from the bottom as I'm used to. Had to take a pause squat on the second rep at 105kg, and re-bounce on both lifts at 110kg. That rarely happens in my cleans so that caught my attention. I'm still very happy on these lifts as I haven't gone this heavy lately.
Strength.
Back squat 7x5 @ 120kg
Yeah, the weights are baby weights to be honest. On the other hand, I had to start somewhere after having a break on back squats. Focus today was on keeping the form real and go through every set of 5 reps quickly. Just one inhale on top and then back down. Loading was right on point this time. Got to build this thing up again.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
30 double unders
7 hang power clean @ 60kg
Got a chance to work on double unders again. Always a useful opportunity to take advantage of. Took couple of reps and it hurt shins a lot as usual. I took a foam roll, went back and forth couple of times on that and it helped big time, and allowed me to go for doubles. This was fun little action in the end of the training session.
Saturday. AM. Nasty Girls. Time, 13.16 (PR). Cashout, 3rds of: 1min row, 1min bike. PM. 5rds of: 12 lunges (2x25kg db's), 10 front squat (2x25kg db's). Accessory, 4x15 bent over row (2x25kg db's).
We spent the weekend in the countryside so I didn't have possibility to write about Saturday's training sessions. It was a two-a-day. In the morning we hit it with Pauliina. There was a benchmark workout called Nasty Girls. In the evening we went outside with Kari for another session. Awesome Saturday!
Nasty Girls. Time, 13.16 (PR)
3 rounds of:
50 air squats
7 ring muscle-ups
10 hang power cleans @ 60kg
This was the second time I've done this benchmark workout. These muscle-up wods are always a bit horrifying in advance. Those are not my strength and they tore my palms big time each and every time. There probably hasn't been even one session without rips. Okay that may be exaggeration but it's close anyway.
But the fact is that today's muscle-ups rocked my world. I was proud of myself in the middle of the workout. On the first round my plan was to go 4-3 reps which was a bit optimistic. However, as I started to do them my focus was on keeping a hollow body, tightly together, with a good back swing and lots of patience on the front swing before pulling myself up and over the rings. These must have been one of the best (if not even the best) muscle-ups I have performed. It's a pity I don't have video material as I'd really like to analyze that.
So first round was 4-3 even though it felt like I had something in me to go even unbroken. That would have been a pr so that would have probably been the most stupid thing to do in a workout like this =) Once mu's are gone, it's difficult to get them back. Second round was 3-2-2 and the last one maybe a double or two and then singles. Still the technique was good on these ones all the way.
Air squats were unbroken on the first round, and then I kept a short pause after 30 reps on latter rounds. Cleans were unbroken each round, those were the easiest part of this workout.
Cashout.
3 rounds of:
1min row
1min bike
This might be quite an awesome workout to continue for 20-40 minutes. At least something similar. Don't have a SkiErg which would make it even better. This time there was no time to work more on this couplet.
Legs.
5 rounds of:
12 walking lunges @ 2x25 dumbbells
10 front squats @ 2x25kg dumbbells
I had bought 25kg dumbbells from Germany and this was the first time I got my hands on them. Those little babies were great! And the weather was perfect too so the combination was simply just too good not to hit another session. This focused purely on those db's.
My legs were on fire. Doing this on snow made it interesting as I slipped every now and then as the snow started to pack and turn firm. That made it slippery as ice. This was not a timed wod.
Accessory.
4 x 15 bent over row @ 2x25kg dumbbells
Just needed to get something else done with these guys. Bent over rows don't appear very often in my training but it's still a good movement. Today I decided to give it a shot as Pauliina suggested it =) Had to take them for 15 reps as the weight was not heavy for that purpose. I did these with two dumbbells at the same time
Tuesday. Complex emom x 10min: 1 hang squat clean + squat clean + front squat. Intervals, every 3:00, for 21min: 250m row + 7 hang power clean (60kg).
Awesomeness continues! First day having a barbell on front rack position in ages. And it didn't hurt at all, loved every second of it! Went for bar complex and afterwards interval work through rowing and power cleans.
Complex.
Every minute on the minute x 10min
1 hang squat clean + squat clean + front squat
1-2min: 80kg, 3-10min: 85kg
You can't imagine how much I've been waiting for this day. Feels like it's been months since I had a bar on front rack previous time. Somehow I believe I live for cleans. Okay, maybe I should stop bitching about a nagging pain. That's probably not the most severe thing of all. It still affected my mental game quite a lot.
This was a lot of fun for sure. Weights stayed conservative for a reason. Didn't wanna go all out on the very first day. After all, I had no idea how my hand would react to this session. It feels good so I'm confident it's gonna be just fine. First 2 minutes were at 80kg, the rest of the sets (8 min) were at 85kg
Complex
Intervals.
Every 3:00, for 21min (7 sets)
250m row
7 hang power clean @ 60kg
Purpose was to go full throttle on each interval. It took me 50 seconds to finish the rowing. Pace was 1:37 in all but 2 sets. One set in the middle was 1:38, and the last one was 1:36. From there I walked to the bar, picked it up and performed 7 hang power cleans. Then walked back to see what the timer said, and it was at 75 seconds. That means to say it was around 70 seconds to finish each set. There was some distance between stations. I'm happy on being able to hold the pace static through all 7 sets.
Great combination of movements. Wanted to take everything out of the cleans, now as I'm able to do them again. I didn't hold back at all on the rowing, that was the main point on this one. My legs were burning as I walked to the bar, especially in the latter half of the workout. It took some 20+ strokes on the Concept2 to finish 250 meters.
Monday. AM. Metcon, 15-12-9 of: hang power clean (50kg), hspu, burpee. Skills, 5x50 du. Ring skills. PM. Rowing and mobility.
Christmas is coming and I'm having two weeks of free time. My plan is to hit it twice a day on most of the weekdays. On Christmas eve it's gonna be a day off but other than that I'm planning to get the most out of this time. One setback has occurred though. My back is killing me. It's due to those deadlift sets I completed last Thursday… Yes, it's been days since pulling from the ground but my back is still sore.
Metcon.
15-12-9 of:
Hang power clean, 50kg
Handstand push-ups
Burpee
Back definitely was an issue today. I was supposed to meet Toni in Liikuntamylly for a long session but my training partner slept in late =) Morning's agenda was kind of Monday Monster Mash type of workout. Three-piece workout of intervals. That didn't happen because my back thought otherwise. Can you believe that 50kg barbell felt heavy to lift from the ground to hips.
Cleans were better but the first pull was awful and got worse by the round. Hspu's were okay but burpees were also painful. Simply couldn't go further. Had to settle my back for a good 15-20 minutes afterwards.
Skills.
5x50 double unders
Ring skills
Little by little it got better and I wanted to practice on my double under skills. It's been long time since doing them so it was about time. Those were supposed to be part of my workout anyway but this worked well too. On some occasions du's went well but there were lots of misses too. I also used rings for skills training, muscle-ups and dips.
Row.
1.000m row
3min rest
2.000m row
3min rest
3.000m row
Went downtown for a long lunch with some colleagues at noon and then headed back home from where I pretty soon went back to the gym with Pauliina. Didn't wanna pressure my back too much so I sat on the concept2 and went after rowing. 1k + 2k + 3k with 3min rest between distances.
My pace was sub 1:50 on the first, sub 1:55 on the second and sub 2:00 on the last 3k row. At that point my butt was numb already =) This was a good replacement for morning's setback.
Accessory & Mobility. I had plenty of time to stretch and mobilize my joints and muscles. I also did some upper body strength in the form of biceps and triceps. On these sessions where I have extra time it might be useful to hit some of this type of accessory work. I know for a fact that having these muscles stronger would transfer to oly lifts too. That's the reasoning behind it.
Tuesday. Back squat 4x8 @ 120kg. Emom x 21min: 1st min 5 hang power clean (50kg) + 5 burpee, 2nd min 10 reverse lunges (50kg), 3rd min 10 push-up + 10 t2b.
It's December c'mon! Time to start waiting for Christmas. Our house is already looking like it and work place too. Yesterday's session feels in my body for sure. Entire upper body is smashed. The volume of pull-ups made a big difference. And somehow also legs had taken a hit. Had to warm-up up properly to get fluids flowing in my body and legs ready for the upcoming task.
Strength.
Back squat 4x8 @ 120kg
When doing these sets I wanted to get a feeling of a little heavier weights before starting the first working set. Built up to it by doing 6x60, 5x90, 3x110, 1x120, 1x130kg. The last rep was still easy and I thought about doing 140kg too but for some reason decided to start working already. That wasn't much heavier than the work set but it sure helped to go a bit higher in kilos. Bar felt much lighter on the way down than on the way up. Funny but it's true.
On the first set I went 4 reps straight away touch'n'go without any pause. From then on the latter half were "singles", and then a breath taking moment on top. Last 2 reps were not nice. On the 2-4 sets it was possible to get only 3 reps tng style before knocking them one by one.
On the last set I had to ask for a spotter because my legs were jello already on the second set. Third set was brutal, and a real battle for the last reps. Last set was horrible. My legs went noodles big time. It felt difficult to stand after those final repetitions. At least that made good to lower body!
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 21 minutes
1st minute: 5 hang power clean, 50kg + 5 burpee
2nd minute: 10 reverse lunges, 50kg
3rd minute: 10 push-ups + 10 toes-to-bar
This was tough as well. Okay first and third minute work were easier but with these legs those lunges weren't that cool. Those also made the clean/burpee and push-up/t2b sets worse. Breathing was under control even though it started to get heavier but legs and hip flexors started to get tight in the course of the emom wod. It was kind of like a whole-body meltdown and recovery started to become an issue. It took me equal amount of time each round but mentally this got tougher by the round.
Wednesday. Clean complex, 5 sets of: tall clean + mid-thigh + full clean. Intervals with partner, 14 rounds of: 4 hang power clean (70kg), 8 t2b, 12 box. Result, 12.49.
Another loooong day at the office but this time I was able to move around much more and prevent body from total system failure =) It was a huge positive surprise as my main man Toni threw me a message in the morning that he could come and train with me after work. He also had the agenda ready. I got a tetanus vaccination in the morning so that kind of disturbed my plans so Toni's suggestion was right on point!
Toni working on his clean complex
Oly.
5 working sets of the following clean complex:
Tall clean
Clean from mid-thigh
Full clean
Every clean as squat clean (80, 85, 85, 85, 85kg)
The first repetition of this complex is by far the most challenging for me. I haven't used to finish the "tall cleans" in this way. Luckily Toni was there to coach me through it. This really forced me to go under the barbell faster than normally. I'm very happy on the way I was able to carry through each tall clean.
The second and third reps were easy. The weights were so light that there were no issues whatsoever. But I had to stay with these weights because the first one wasn't that easy. That one was more like technique training. First set was at 80kg, the rest at 85kg. Maybe 90kg could have been there too. This time I just wanted to learn how to do this.
Recap of complex
Pair workout. Time, 12.49
14 rounds of:
4 hang power clean, 70kg
8 toes-to-bar
12 box jump
Interval style, you go 1 round, I go 1 round. Rest while the other one works
The point of the workout was to do each round as fast as possible. Go all out every round, which means it is 7 rounds per athlete, total of 14 rounds as a team. Total time was 12.49. For me, there was a bit too long recovery between rounds or then the work load put in was too low as I didn't get too gassed. I was hoping the stimulus to be so that I'd be leaning on my elbows after each round. Then recovering just enough for the next round.
The end of our partner wod
Anyway, I believe this kind of intervals have a lot of potential. When doing them solo, the key is to define fixed rest times between sets / rounds / intervals. That allows you to put 100% effort on each round, then recover, and repeat that for a certain amount of rounds. There were about 40 seconds per round on my behalf and rounds were pretty consistent.
One thing is for sure. It was a blast training with Toni. We started our crossfit journey together back in the days, and it's always quality time to train with my best friend. These are rather rare occasions as we workout in different gyms regularly.
Thursday. Shoulder press x 10 @ 50kg. Push press x 10 @ 60kg. Push jerk x 10 @ 70kg. Bench, 3x10 (up to 80kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 20 ghd, 20 hang power clean (40kg).
Great time, as it always is when Jasper hits the gym with me. We did pretty much the same elements in this session. He worked on his pull-ups while I tried to master overhead strength. Then we got some bench press done, and finally a good metcon to burn the forearms big time.
Overhead.
Shoulder press 1x10 @ 50kg
Push press 1x10 @ 60kg
Push jerk 1x10 @ 70kg
It was cool to hit longer sets of overhead strength. More like muscle endurance. The entire idea was to go touch'n'go in each set. No stopping to breath at any moment. I mean on the front rack position. Actually I don't think I stopped overhead either. But had I took a pause that would have been allowed. In my head.
There weren't that proper warm-ups before I took the first set so shoulder presses felt a bit stiff on the shoulders but went smoothly anyway. Probably the first time I've ever done 50kg for this many reps. That was actually pretty cool to realize. Push presses were maybe the easiest part of these three.
Last set of push jerks felt awkward for 2 reps but then I got a good hold and great rhythm for each rep. That made it possible to keep the barbell bouncing touch'n'go rep by rep. I've done more of longer sets at decent weights in metcons in the past weeks so I was looking this from the bright side already beforehand. All sets went as planned.
Bench.
Bench press 3x10 reps (70, 75, 80kg)
Last set was only 8 reps though
We moved directly to different type of press strength. Bench was ahead of us. Jasper is a monster with this movement, and is a mile ahead of me. I took 10x20, and 5x60kg to get used to this element, then started pumping the sets. We went alternating each set, Jazz just took a notch heavier sets.
First set was easy, no prob. Second set was okay up to somewhere at 7-8 reps, then I had to push more but it was still something that I was able to manhandle. I knew the last set was going to be tough if it was 80kg but I stood up to the challenge. It was alright to 6 reps, the next one was heavy, the 8th of course heavier so at this point I was just hoping for good things to happen but the wall came just like that on the 9th rep.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
20 ghd sit-ups
20 hang power clean, 40kg
Stole this one from Rich Froning's "What's Rich Doing?" clip that I posted earlier this week. The difference was he made it with 60kg. Got 3 rounds of cleans unbroken. Then had to divide it to 13-7 and 14-6 on the last round. My forearms were shot. Actually they were gone after about 2 rounds. It was a good fight after that. Even though the barbell was only 40kg it started to weigh a lot. But mostly it was that I started to lose my grip. Just couldn't feel my hands anymore.
I dare to say ghd's are strong for me. Those went smoothly, and unbroken each round. On the last round I had to huff and puff a bit more but it was obvious to go without breaks on this movement. Very good combo to mix these two. And it was cool to throw in a high rep cleans in a metcon. Different kind of stimulus. This entire day was more of a muscle endurance type of training.
Saturday. Metcon, 4rds of: 4 bar mu's, 8 hang power clean (60kg), 12 pistol, 16 overhead lunges (50kg).
Today was a different kind of Saturday as we went to witness one of our friend couple's newborn getting baptized. That's why I went to Optimal Training Center only in the evening. It was a late evening session, consisting of gymnastics and barbell work. My original plan was to do back squats but my back is sore from Thursday's deadlifts so that was not an option.
Metcon.
4 rounds of:
4 bar muscle-ups
8 hang power clean, 60kg
12 pistol squat
16 overhead walking lunge, 50kg
This was a great and tough combo. Didn't do this for time though. Bar muscle-ups went pretty well, unbroken each set. Had no issues in the sets. At the end I realized my lats were tight as hell, and started to get sore. Like I had done 120 pull-ups or something =)
Cleans were the easiest part of this one. Easiest doesn't mean they were a walk in the park. These brought breathing heavier for a while. Pistols were done with the new nano 5's. They seem to have a bit harder shoe sole than my previous nanos which makes it a bit easier to do one-legged squats. Best shoes for this movement is definitely lifting shoes, for sure.
Toughest element of this workout was overhead lunges, no doubt about it. Haven't done 50kg lunges that much while having the bar over my head so there was a lot of work. Legs, core, shoulders, stabilization. Couple of things to pay attention to. Good workout to close out Saturday!
Tuesday. Overhead complex, push press + push jerk + split jerk (5x75kg). Metcon, 15min amrap of: 10 hang power clean (50kg), 15 box, 20 cal row.
Today was a joyous day. We got a chance to go and see our friends' newborn baby. Okay we went to see that little guy already when he was couple days old but today he already looked like a human being so that was a lot of fun =) That's the reason my session was quite late in the evening today. Elbows hurt like hell without any good reason so the strength part wasn't right on the spot but metcon worked pretty well.
Overhead.
Complex of:
Push press
Push jerk
Split jerk
5 sets @ 75kg
To be honest my plan was to do 8 sets of this complex at 80kg working on speed and explosiveness but that wasn't going to happen. These elbows were okay in the beginning but pretty sooner started to remind what's going on. I really like to have a barbell overhead and was looking forward to this one so it was a bit of a downer.
Metcon. Result, 5 rounds rounds + 15 box
15min amrap of:
10 hang power clean, 50kg
15 box jump
20 cal row
My metcon originally looked like 15min amrap of 3 muscle-ups, 10 push jerks and 20m sled pull. That sled pull was going to be so that I would stand still and pull the sled with a long rope. It would have kicked my butt good time. Maybe some other day.
I kept the cleans light because I didn't want to tease elbows too much. This weight was okay for them anyway. And they felt good throughout the metcon. Light weight so it was unbroken each round. It got to my legs, felt a good burn there. Upper back was alright all the time, as well as grip. Breathing was going heavy on these, as well as in every element of the wod.
Box jumps were heavier than normally but they must be done unbroken if the number of reps is this low. No other option. On the rower I didn't stare at the digits and don't have any idea how fast / slow the boat was moving. All in all, this workout was good. Didn't stress about the pace that much but it was going to be unbroken for sure. After 15 minutes were up I finished the round by rowing the required 20 calories to get 6 full rounds.
Wednesday. Hang snatch 7x3 @ 40kg. Emom x 10min: 1 hang squat snatch (50kg). Metcon, 13min amrap of, 2-4-6-8… of: hang power clean (60kg), front squat (60kg), hspu. Result, 146 reps.
I went to work at noon so I had a good two hours of training time ahead of me early in the morning. Got to say mornings are not my favorite time for real. Nothing was sore, felt good all the way but somehow I felt much more stiff and fatigue than normally. Especially weights were heavier than normally.
Technique.
Hang snatch 7x3 @ 40kg
That was also the reason why I just couldn't put more weight on the bar. Felt a bit off with even this one =) It took a lot of time to get at least somewhat comfortable with the barbell. As you can see from the video below it wasn't very smooth. It was also difficult to get below parallel. I've noticed that when I widen my feet on the land, my hips can't get low enough. But those legs go wide naturally so I'll try to keep them closer together, with about the same width as in the clean. All my squats (front, back and overhead) have a narrow stance so that's what I'm targeting on this one too.
Snatches
Snatch.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
1 hang snatch (3x45, 7x50kg)
After throwing that barbell in the air for some time I eventually started feeling better with it. I'm not saying it looked any better but it got lighter in the course of action. That encouraged me to throw in another snatch workout. Emom style singles from hang position. Purpose was to go squat snatch but that didn't actualize in the way I was looking for. But there were decent ones too. Got to just keep on snatching more!
First part of the metcon
Metcon. Result, 146 reps (6 front squat on the round of 14's)
13min amrap, 2-4-6-8… of:
Hang power clean, 60kg
Front squat, 60kg
Handstand push-up
This was one qualification event in a Finnish throwdown called Karjalan Kovin, one of the biggest competitions in Finland. It caught my eye when I first saw that one so today it finally ended up on my program. 13 minutes of bar work and hspu's. Idea was to start with 2 reps of each, then 4, then 6, always adding 2 more reps after each round, until the time cap gets you.
Hard to say which element was the toughest, each had their thing in the mix. I broke the cleans the most. Rounds of 2-4-6 were unbroken and combined immediately with the squats. Round of 8's was basically also unbroken. I did 7 reps, and put the bar down because I wanted to recover for the squats. Round of 10's started to beat me up good time. It was 6-3 before the final single and front squats. 12's was 6-5, and then the last power clean before hitting the squats.
Second part of the metcon
Squats really burned my legs. That was no surprise. It was pretty obvious it's gonna hurt a lot. 60kg barbell is going to feel a lot more at certain point. They also brought flames on my lower back. That was probably the most painful thing in this one, and prevented me to drop ass to grass. I went unbroken with the squats up to the round of 10's. At 12's I did 8-4, and then moved on to the hspu's. They were 8-1-1-2. I lost some balance there so it cut to smaller pieces in the end. Other than that they rolled well and were probably the "easiest" part of this. Very good and holistic workout! And tough.
Tuesday. Every 30sec: 1 power clean, for 10min (max 95kg). Metcon, 20min amrap of: 20 cal row, 20 hang power clean (40kg), 15 hspu. Result, 3rds + 50 cal row.
I was waiting this training day eagerly. No squats today. But that was not the reason for me being anxious. I watched the Matt Fraser document that I've posted here as well. Got an inspiration from there so it's been tingling me for some time. Took some power cleans prior to that.
Strength.
Every 30 seconds, perform 1 power clean
0:00 - 1:00: 80kg
1:00 - 4:00: 85kg
4:00 - 8:00: 90kg
8:00 - 10.00: 95kg
Agenda was to just lift. Hadn't planned on the weights at all, just went by feeling. My legs are a bit tired from all the squatting but still the weights came up pretty well. Actually, I felt confident on the cleans, had no issues whatsoever. Breathing was easy throughout the 10 minutes which indicates the weights were easy to handle too.
My max power clean is 103kg so the heaviest ones were not that far away from that milestone. I thought 85kg would be pretty okay but it turned out to be too light. 90-95kg's were perfect for today's session.
Yes, I know the camera is somewhere it shouldn't but hopefully you get the idea =)
Metcon. Result, 3 rounds + 50 cal row
20min amrap of:
50 cal row
20 hang power clean (40kg)
15 handstand push-ups
This was rough stuff. Rowing was definitely the toughest part of this one. The combination of rowing and another pulling movement - cleans - was a sick combo. My forearms were numb at some point of the workout. Simply didn't have energy to hold on to the rower's handle. Almost.
It was a different type of approach to the cleans. Lots of them in one set with a light weight. It felt almost like cheating to have the barbell at 40 kilos only. It was light indeed. But it's kind of funny that it started to burn my forearms. For 2 rounds I went unbroken on the cleans. On the third round I fought the reps between 10-15, then had to drop it as I practically didn't feel my arms anymore.
Hspu's were good too. Okay, had to shake a bit after the cleans to get the feeling back on hands but then jumped agains the wall to knock some repetitions. First round was 10-5, second one was 7-4-4, and the third one was 8-4-3 reps.
There was a lot of conditioning to take place in this one. Rowing was challenging. It was exactly the combo of cleans and rowing that made it difficult. Hspu's was a smart move to throw in this one. Breathing was heavy throughout the workout for sure. This is something I recommend you guys to test out.
