Wednesday. Oly, 10 sets of: snatch high pull + snatch @ 55kg. Strength, pause back squat 6x3 @ 120kg. Metcon, 4rds of: 10 power clean (80kg), 15 burpee, 20 ghd, 25 box. Time, 20.33.
It's my birthday so I found a good way to celebrate it after work: crossfit! =) That's a lot of quality time for sure. Olympic lifts, lower body strength and a bad ass metcon. That took my breath away, literally. Loved every second of today's session.
Oly.
10 sets of: snatch high pull + snatch @ 55kg
Both from hang position
This was a new way to work on snatches. And I enjoyed it. Definitely have to take this type of snatch training more often. Big problem for me is the bar is traveling too far away from my body. By doing high pulls it's easy to keep the bar close. And by teaching the body to keep it close, it is also easier to keep it closer on the actual snatch too.
Yes, there were some reps where I caught the bar in front and had to walk a step forward to catch the bar overhead. Still, I consider this practice worth keeping in the repertoire.
Snatch recap
Strength.
Pause back squat 6x3
Got this idea couple of days ago from somewhere. Since then, it's been tickling me from time to time that I'm gonna hit it someday. I had no idea about the weights I'm able to move but I still decided to go for 120kg for triples. They were actually perfect for weights. First rep was easy, second one needed much more work, and the third one was a good grind!
Squat recap
Metcon. Time, 20.33
4 rounds of:
10 power clean, 80kg
15 burpee
20 ghd sit-up
25 box jumps
This was originally 20min amrap but I decided to finish the last round which brought it half a minute overtime of the time frame. I wanted it to be long and mental. Power cleans were semi heavy. During the workout they naturally turned a lot heavier. These were singles from the very first rep. I understood this is not where time will be saved if I hurried through the first round.
Next movement burpees. Just pace them through. Keep moving. As I've said before, there is no actual need to stop on the burpees. It is an easy movement. You just throw yourself down on the floor, hit chest on the ground, and come up. Pace yourself and keep the rhythm on. Think about the breathing while your doing it to make it easier.
Ghd's, my core seems to be strong. I've realized it during these 3 years of crossfit. Maybe that's because of my earlier career as a goalkeeper in floorball. Stronger core means faster moves on the goal as you need to move quickly sideways. These were also unbroken. I got a good hint from Lauri to engage my hips more when coming up. Currently I'm doing the work mostly with the core.
On the box jumps I decided to walk back from the ghd's and start jumping. This was also the element where I need to control my breath strongly because otherwise I would have gassed even more. This was a very good conditioning piece to crown the training session.
Below are some parts of the metcon in the form of a video. Cleans, burpees and box jumps.
Saturday. Metcon, 5-4-3-2-1 of: bar mu and hang snatch (50kg). Technique, 5x5 hang power snatch (40kg). Skills, bar mu's.
My plans included muscle-ups and snatches. No actual strength work as separate stuff. Rings were first priority but somehow my back felt tight, probably due to all the cleans this week. Yesterday was good volume with them. I thought bar mu's would roll better so I changed them on the fly.
Metcon. Time, 4.54
5-4-3-2-1 of:
Bar muscle-up
Hang squat snatch, 50kg
This is obviously supposed to be a quick one. Yes, I went unbroken on both movements and got it without misses. I was not the most confident with snatches as my warm-up didn't go exactly as I planned. I took hang snatches at 40kg, then 50kg. Those were fine. Then jumped to 55kg and took 2 fails. The first one stayed in front and the second one was a poor attempt, and I didn't go under the bar. More like a snatch high pull =) For some reason there's a huge difference between my clean and snatch. The bar just feels a ton heavier when my grip is wider.
Anyway, I knew I'm gonna do the muscle-ups in a row each round, especially by catching some breath in the transitions. However, on the snatches I wasn't that cocky. So it was a positive signal to hit the first round of 5 reps unbroken. That boosted the self talk in my head and I got the remaining rounds unbroken too. Couldn't grab the barbell right away after dropping down from the mu's. And vice versa. Main goal was to go unbroken. Don't know, maybe I could have gone faster. Not much today but maybe a little. It was difficult to know my body and how it would hold on with this kind of combination.
Technique.
5x5 hang power snatch, 40kg
The metcon was top priority for sure but I wanted to work on speed with snatch afterwards. It's pretty sick how heavy the bar feels like doing snatches. It's always been like that. Even though I kept the bar close. That was my goal in these power snatches.
Skills.
Bar muscle-ups (sets of 3-5-5-5 reps)
Skills in the end, couple of sets. I thought about doing triples for a total of 15 reps but after first set I decided to do 5's. Felt good about these muscle-ups in every single set. Considering the longest streak of mu's I've done in the history of crossfit (10 reps) today's sets felt pretty good. Maybe there is more in the tank than the record says.
Wednesday. Emom x 8min: 2 hang squat snatch @ 50k. Intervals, every 2:00, for 14min, perform 5 s2o (50kg), 10 pull-ups, 15 box.
Today was actually planned to be a clean day but I took those extra cleans yesterday with a great end result so this left some room for snatches. It was an emom workout ahead of me, then quick intervals to get heart beat up and feel miserable (of course in a good way) =)
Snatch.
Every minute on the minute x 8 minutes
2 hang squat snatch @ 50kg
It's been some time since snatching last time. Probably didn't do any of them during Smolov, at least not squat snatches. I'm looking to have better hip mobility for snatches in the future due to all the squatting lately. Today I didn't get these on camera. There were tons of people at the gym and I didn't dare to tape this emom with all the people at the weightlifting platforms.
I feel like hang snatches are better on the spot compared to pulling from the ground. The timing is better and I can hit the barbell on my hips rather than my thighs. Which usually happens when pulling all the way from the floor. These hang snatches were from above knee.
These were decent lifts. I believe I jumped a little too much in front and my legs went a bit too wide on catching the bar but other than that they were quite okay. One missed lift on the last or second last set. That's because the bar stayed front too much. The weight was not the issue though. I took a double right after that. Good to have some snatches in the books! I'm planning to hit these maybe twice a week in the future. I just need more practice on these.
Intervals. Each set was 54-55 seconds
Every 2:00, perform the following sequence:
5 shoulder-to-overhead, 50kg
10 pull-ups
15 box jumps
Put all in effort on each interval, then rest for remainder of the 2 minutes
Great one! The weight should have easily been 60kg but elbows are not in full condition. Had to take it light. All the sets took me 54-55 seconds to complete. The idea was to put 100% effort ton each set. No need to shake hands or legs between movements because it was going to be a short interval. Rip through the jerks, then get rid of the barbell and hop on to the pull-up bar. Finally a good bunch of box jumps. Everything was naturally going to be unbroken. Otherwise the programming would have been a little off.
Rounds 3-7
My plan was to hit this for 10 minutes, that is 5 rounds. This started to kick in at about round 3, and I decided at the 4th round to continue up to a total of 7 rounds. Jerks were the easiest part of this one. Their purpose was just to fatigue the shoulder at least a bit so the pull-ups wouldn't be as easy. 60kg would have been a great weight for this. Combination of jerks at that weight plus pull-ups are a nasty combination, and always worth training for. My legs were on fire at the end of the intervals. These intervals where you have a pre-determined rest period are great.
Tuesday. Snatch emom x 10min: snatch + hang snatch (40kg). Metcon, 10 mu's, then 5rds of: 7 hang power clean (60kg), 30 du's, 12 ghd. Time, 13.34.
I was in no rush at all this Tuesday but on the other hand my posterior chain was a bit cranked up from yesterday's session so this was not the toughest one. Metcon was good, snatches were light.
Snatch.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
1 snatch + 1 hang snatch @ 40kg
There was simply no way of building up to heavier sets. I played around with this weight for some time. Even though I warmed up for quite some time it didn't let me go heavy. I had emom work in my mind anyway, had just thought about putting something between 50 and 60 kilos on the bar.
Metcon. Time, 13.34
10 ring muscle-ups, then 5 rounds of:
7 hang power clean, 60kg
30 double under
12 ghd sit-ups
This was a good metcon. Muscle-ups took an eternity because I took them mostly in singles. First was a double, then maybe another double and the rest were definitely singles. No misses, not even close but somehow the pulling power wasn't explosive so I did only singles.
After 10 reps had been completed, it was time to hit the 5-rounder. Went unbroken each round on every element of the workout. Cleans were obviously the strength-element in this one, double unders the cardio and skills piece, and ghd's were putting core to test. There was distances between the stations so once I got to any of the station, I started working right away.
The walk was the recovery in this one. I'm especially happy about the double unders. I've had some issues on couple of sessions because those haven't been visible that much in my sessions in the past months. Today those felt very good all the way.
Tuesday. Snatch balance 5x3 (up to 70kg). Snatch work (up to 50kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 12 thruster (40kg), 50 du. Time, 10.49
It was time to concentrate on snatches. In my images it went better than the reality actually was. It was still great to have them in the program again. I did snatch balance prior to actual snatches. The metcon in the end was a killer on my shoulders once again.
Snatch balance.
3x40, 50, 60, 65, 70kg
1x75kg
This went pretty well. There were tons of people at the gym so I didn't dare to take videos. But they went well and I felt confident putting that weight overhead and squat at the same time. Tried to do it as explosively as possible. Had one miss, the first rep at 50kg where I pushed the bar too much in front and dropped. The weight was light though so I cleaned it and took a triple right away.
Seventy kilos for a triple pleased me a lot. I also took a single at 75kg, and missed the second at 75kg due to pushing it too much in front again. I decided to stop there because there were squat snatches waiting for me.
Snatch.
Hang snatch
3x40, 40, 45kg
2x50, 50, 50kg
1-1-1-1 @ 50kg
Okay these could have been more beautiful. I thought my hips would be as open as possible after doing heavier snatch balances but still they felt, not stiff but not completely receptive either. I took these light. Mostly because it felt like I don't have enough in the tank for these. Some reps were okay, and some were a lot off of the tracks. The last single was the best, and of course not caught on video. I was very happy on receiving the barbell in the bottom position. That was different to most of these where I caught it around parallel.
Snatches
Metcon. Time, 10.49
5 rounds of:
12 thruster, 40kg
50 double unders
It was no surprise this wasn't fun =) I've been thinking about thrusters for a while but still haven't put them in a workout much lately. Thrusters were the better part of this workout though. How sick is that? I sucked at the double unders today. Lots of misses and they wore me down big time. My shoulders got tired during this workout, and those du's didn't help at all. This was a great workout. I just hoped the double unders had gone better. I lost a lot of time and energy there.
Saturday. 3-position snatches (max 50kg). Metcon, 30min amrap of: 400m row, 2rds of Cindy. Result, 8rds + 100m row.
Home sweet home. I went back to the old gym because there was a lot of seminars and lectures at the new place so I suppose there's gonna be tons of people and no room for workout. Today's agenda was snatches and then a steal from Pat Sherwood. Long workout as I like to have one on weekends. It was a killer one huh huh.
Snatch.
3-position snatches
High hang
Mid-thigh
Floor
Weights @ 40, 45, 50, 50, 50, 50kg
There was plenty of time today to whatever so I got a chance to do snatch work and then a long workout afterwards. There are many ways to practice snatches. This time it was a 3-position snatch drill. That means 3 snatches without letting go of the barbell between reps. Starting from the pocket, 2nd lift was from mid-thigh and the 3rd one from the floor.
I felt pretty good about these snatches. As you see, there's a lot of technical issues still. And there is probably be those for a long time but the development is what I'm interested in. This movement has gone to a better direction this year. Why is that? Because I've practiced it. Surprise surprise. And mobility seems to get better all the time.
On some of the reps I had issues getting below parallel but mostly that didn't cause any problems. Warm-up was long and thus it enabled better mobility and better movement mechanics. It was very encouraging that the weight itself wasn't heavy. Felt quite comfortable in general today with this movement. Purpose was not to go as heavy as possible.
Snatches
Metcton. Result, 8 rounds + 100m row
30min amrap of:
400m row
2 rounds of Cindy (1 round is 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats)
I saw this at Pat Sherwood's Insta page and first instinct was that this doesn't look that bad. Then after 5 seconds I also realized hey c'mon this is Pat's page. These are never easy. Thinking about it up closely rowing / running makes each workout suck big time. This was actually originally running instead of rowing but there was no possibility for that today. Didn't wanna run on a treadmill.
Cindy is a 20min amrap of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats. Pat has ingeniously added rounds of Cindy on workouts from time to time. There is some twist that those bodyweight reps bring to a workout. The purpose of this workout was not go all out from the very first second. It was gonna be a long one, and a miserable one.
This got ugly at around 10 minutes. Got to say I was in deep waters at this point. Luckily there was one training partner to talk me up. Small words in correct place can have a huge influence. I decided to ignore the voices in my head, close my eyes and keep moving forward. After some time the workout was over. This was mentally challenging wod for sure.
Rowing wasn't even the worst part. My guess was that it's gonna be as miserable as it can get. Somehow it was the bodyweight work between row sets. I suppose running outdoors could have been even nastier. Go figure. It was something between 3-4 minutes per round. Rowing was 1.50+ pretty much all the time. Unbroken on Cindy's. There was a total of 3.300m row, 80 pull-ups, 160 push-ups and 240 squats.
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.
Friday the 13th. Still, it was a great session at the gym! Working on my snatch once again, gonna get that shit together in the long run. And today was a good step towards that direction. Then the metcon was written by my main man Toni. I asked for a metcon that includes squat snatches. He said it's easy, took him about 15 seconds to come up with the workout of the day. Thanks for that mister.
Strength.
Overhead squat 3-3-3-3-3 (60, 65, 70, 72.5, 70kg)
Definitely a weakness of mine. The weights I'm able to throw around are baby weights. 1RM is 85kg the last time I maxed out some time last year. Haven't practiced this noble movement that much but it's on my list of goats to be mastered this year. And this went pretty well today in my opinion. I went way below parallel on these sets because I believe that is as beneficial as in all type of squats. Try to hit the bottom if mobility allows that.
First 2 sets went greatly. The first set at 70kg leaned too much in front on the first rep and I had to let it go. Cleaned it back to the rack, got myself together and attempted it again, and finished with a successful triple at 70kg. Decided to add 2.5kg and got it up too. It was a bit too shaky so I came back to 70kg for the last one. Felt very good to do overhead squats with a bit heavier weights.
Metcon. Result, 157 reps (5 rounds + 2 box)
10min amrap of:
5 hang squat snatch, 40kg
10 box jump
15 hand release push-ups
So this was a peak into Toni's mind. I had to stop after each snatch, think about the starting position again before pulling myself under the bar. Still, I got each round unbroken without misses. That wasn't obvious because I had my nanos on, which makes it a notch more difficult for me with this mobility. It's getting better though and these felt rather good all the way. Better with weightlifting shoes but doable with nanos.
Box jumps are my thing. This was not that bad portion, easiest of the three for me. Push-ups are a rarity so this was welcomed with a pleasure. Toni wanted to make those hand release versions which suited me perfectly. I did the first round unbroken, then the rest were 10-5. Got time to hit the 6th round of snatches and 2 box jumps in the remaining 6 seconds after I dropped the barbell.
This was a good metcon. Maybe with these kind of elements it would have suited better for me as a longer workout. In a 10min metcon the intensity should be quite high. And it was but I had to take some breaks because I didn't want to drop the barbell and wanted to make sure I get to squat snatch position. Doing this too hastily would have resulted in awkward looking positions down in the squat snatches.
Thursday. Hang squat snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (50-55kg). Ohs 3x5 (60kg). Metcon, 10-8-6-4-2 of: thrusters (40kg), lateral burpees. Time, 3.04.
Thursday concentrated mostly on snatch work. First some hang snatches, then took some deep overhead squats to work on the position. Finally I had time for a quick one, and it turned out to be very high intensity stuff, and thus cruel for the body and lungs.
Mobility time
Snatch.
Hang squat snatch 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (4x55, 6x50kg)
I had higher expectations for this snatch session. The catching part of the snatch wasn't quite there so I fell forward on some of the reps. Started at 55kg, and after couple of repetitions I dropped to 50kg. Those were much easier but still they were not perfect. There was one miss during the entire session as it fell too much in front but I replaced that with another attempt.
Overhead squat.
3x5 reps (all sets 60kg)
After snatches I added 10kg and worked for the overhead squat movement, and mainly the idea was to dig deep on the squat's depth. I'm happy on the form I was able to maintain on these reps, and my armpits were shooting forward which is a good thing obviously.
There was one moment of lack of concentration on the third set and my barbell fell forward on the 4th set… It wasn't that heavy but it just shakes somehow and it's difficult to save it once it starts to go. Anyway, overhead squats are great for sure. It wouldn't make any harm to combine them with snatch work.
Metcon. Time, 3.04
10-8-6-4-2 of:
Thrusters, 40kg
Lateral burpee
Huh, this was bad ass. I thought about short, high intensity workout. This was exactly that. I was able to do work throughout the workout, I'm very happy on the way this was carried through. There was mental game element involved as my legs started to go jello but I told myself to keep moving anyway.
Naturally everything unbroken. Both of these movements shot heart beat through the roof, and it took some time to get back in life after the workout was over. It was interesting as the weight itself wasn't heavy but my legs were really feeling it. Shoulders kept hanging there pretty well but it was mostly the lower body that tried to whisper to slow down. Luckily head was in the game and I didn't listen. Great workout!
Thursday. Hang squat snatch doubles, 8 sets (50-52.5kg). Ohs pause singles x 5. Emom x 6: 12 unbroken pull-ups. Conditioning, 4rds of: 10 box, 16 db snatch (22.5kg)
I'm getting to like these snatches. I notice I'm waiting for them with eagerness. Got inspiration to work for pause ohs from Chad Vaughn, this work was great. Some pull-up work and a little conditioning part. I noticed my heart was beating too fast compared to how it should work so I took the conditioning part a little easier. It was a good session.
I really want one of these, awesome equipment!
Snatch.
8 sets of hang squat snatches (4 sets @ 50kg, 4 sets @ 52.5kg)
Alright, total of 8 doubles, I took these with just short recovery, it was something like every 90 seconds perform one set of snatches. This time the starting point for the barbell was mid-thigh. I've done them from high hang but today I decided to work on pulling the bar from a little lower starting position.
For the first 4 sets I worked with 50kg and then added just small plates to reach 52.5kg for the final 4 doubles. First 2 sets were a bit off but still manageable. Then it started to snap on its place little by little. I went to the very bottom on every rep to improve mobility in extreme positions. Just like mr. Vaughn teaches. Whatever this guy tells, it seems to be legit. He was also the biggest inspiration for me to finally move on to work that depth on the squats. Don't just go parallel, go beyond. And after Smolov I've been able to do that also with overhead squats because improved mobility.
OHS.
5x1 reps, with a 5 second pause in the bottom position (60, 65, 70, 70, 70kg)
My front squat bottom position is comfortable and I want it to be alike with overhead squats / snatches so this was perfect tool to develop that. The most difficult part of these reps was how to get that bar back on back rack position after the rep was done =) It took me couple of seconds to go deep and find the ultimate position, then hang around for 5 seconds there. That really flexes my shoulders so once I got up it was a bit intimidating to drop it on my back as shoulders were tired.
For legs this was easy. Had I been able to drop the bar after each single, I would have gone heavier for sure. This movement was a king one. Definitely have to go for more pause squats in all versions of squatting, back / front and overhead. I'll do couple of more front squat sessions, then I'm back to squatting for both back and front squats without a specific program in mind.
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute
12 unbroken pull-ups
This is something that should be part of daily fitness: pull-ups. Haven't done my share lately. In November I got my shit together and completed tons of reps but in December it was much less. Got to add reps for sure. Today I did these emom style, 12 reps which took about 15 seconds, then rest for the remaining minute. It showed me there's work to be done as the last 2 sets were tough. They shouldn't be.
Conditioning.
4 rounds of:
10 box jumps, 61cm
8/8 dumbbell 1-arm snatch, 22.5kg
My heart rate was a bit too fast compared to being totally off the cold so I had to take this a little easier. It took me about 90 seconds to finish one round so it definitely wasn't max effort. Both movements tend to push the heartbeat through the roof so I got some rest between stations. All reps unbroken for sure but I took my time between elements. It was great to have some good old sweat running fast!
Monday. Snatch emom x 15min: 1 rep hang squat snatch (52.5kg / 115lbs). Hang power snatch 5x5 (40kg).
Yesterday I got a cool thought. If I want to rock my ring muscle-ups some day, there got to happen two things. I'll have to add volume to practicing them and secondly, strict muscle-up would be great. I've taken some progressions towards a strict rep and I came up with a thought of getting some regular kipping reps done every single day. In the warm-up section. I can't add skill session to everyday training because of schedules. There wouldn't be time practically for anything else. So that's why I thought taking a rep or more every single day. At least most of the days. Today was day 1 on this program.
Squat snatch.
Every minute on the minute, for 15 minutes
1 hang squat snatch (2x50, 13x52.5kg)
You'll be seeing more snatches from me in the future. I figured taking heavier squat snatches from hang position, just singles, and climbing up little by little. It turned out my technique wasn't the best today for squat snatches. Simply didn't have the balls to pull fiercely enough. That's why the bar stayed too much in front. I didn't like it. Had 3 misses in total but managed to get the 15 reps done anyway, 1 per minute.
I had aimed to hit something around 60kg but no biggie, I'll take it another day. Today this was the best I could do. Once I got off the gym it felt like I'm getting a cold. Let's see how this evolves. I'm usually not sick so I'm not welcoming this one either. Pauliina nursed me with hot ginger drinks when we got home. Those really felt like they helped a lot! I'll try to fight this one off. It looks like a great training day tomorrow as we have a public holiday in Finland.
Noah Olsen hitting the Dave Castro challenge, brutal combo
Power snatch.
5x5 hang power snatch (40, 40, 40, 40, 45kg)
Metcon was out of question but I still wanted to get some action done so I took couple of sets hang power snatches from hang position, mid thigh. Those hang squat snatches were mostly from high hang, couple of mid-thigh too. Currently I'm more comfortable with high hang. But during these power snatches I wanted to practice the mid-thigh version.
Power snatch set
In my opinion they went pretty well. I was able to pull with lats, not hands that much. Plus the bar traveled rather high, thus not escaping too much in front. Plus the extension was okay. I'm happy on the way these look like, for now.
Thursday. Hang squat snatches (max 65kg). Workout, 7rds of: 5 hang power clean (70kg), 10 bar-facing burpees, 20 cal row, 3min rest between intervals.
It went a bit late yesterday at the New Year's party at Toni's place so we slept late and let the body recover. Huge breakfast of Californian style omelets and berry smoothies to kickstart the day. Then I just enjoyed some 2010 Crossfit Games from the archives, and slept for 2 more hours for a nap. Late in the afternoon I drove to the gym and was sure to find no one working out. To my surprise there were two 50-year old mammas starting the year off with the right mood.
This will be something I'd like to see myself putting more effort in the upcoming year. The reason is that today my mobility is on the level it allows me to go to these positions that used to be impossible. Squat snatch was something beyond dreams one year ago so something has been done correctly along the path.
3x50kg
Today I built up by feeling. Took couple of triples in the beginning, actually starting from 20 and 30kg bars. I did about half an hour of mobility before touching the barbell for the first time. This would be a good key to happiness but life has its twists. Simply put, I don't have that much time every day so I need to cut it to about 20 minutes. That's the least I'm gonna do for warm-up because good warm-up is definitely the best tool to prevent injuries. Today I played around with resistance band and pvc pipe so long that my joints were loosened up very well. It felt very good to hang around in the bottom position and have the pipe overhead. I did some sotts presses in the rock bottom position. Good times.
1x60kg
These snatches were taken from high hang position at the hips. Coach Burgener seems to teach people to start at these positions when you're a rookie (which I consider myself to be on this move) so I've done these lately on those occasions when I've been snatching. Took triples up to 50kg, and from then on simply singles. My focus was hitting it to the bottom position in the same way as in squat cleans. I'd like to see myself hit the bottom in the same way, very naturally bounce it back up from the ass-to-grass position. My squat snatches have rarely been below parallel in the past but now I'm getting to the level where I need to be. Obviously there's enormous amount of work to be done but there's a lifetime to practice this =) I'm happy on the progress being made. I don't think I've ever hit 60kg for a hang squat snatch so we could as well call these heaviest lifts as PR's.
1x65kg
Intervals.
7 rounds of:
5 hang power clean, 70kg
10 bar-facing burpees
20 cal row
3min rest between intervals
Time, 1.43, 1.37, 1.33, 1.33, 1.36, 1.36, 1.35
This was similar style interval workout as the thruster / double under combination just yesterday. Different movements, different time domain but the idea is the same. Go all out for a while, then rest, and repeat. This was a modification from Pat Sherwood who posted something like this at his Instagram page, awesome stuff!
Even though this was a scaled version it was bad ass. Can't imagine how it would have been for the rx'd version, which was 84kg cleans and 30 cal rows, otherwise the same. I wanted to being able to knock everything unbroken and go full throttle so these numbers suited well for me. And it got ugly towards the end. First round was okay, I even thought about scaling it upwards. On the second one I understood there's no need for that =) Third one was a misery but I still got my time quicker. Fourth was a nightmare already and I just tried to grind through. Luckily got the same time on that round still.
Recap
The last 3 rounds were the toughest physically. Cleans were the easiest part of it. On the last burpees my legs started to get really warm and they were destroyed on the rower. Breathing was heavy on the rowing, it felt really nasty in the guts too. Mentally the last 2 rounds were maybe easier because the light was shining at the end of the tunnel. Got to say I was very delighted to finish the 7th round. This was a very good session to start year 2015!
Wednesday. Snatch, emom x 8min: 2 hang squat snatch @ 50kg. Snatch grip press 3-3-3 (max 70kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 ohs (42.5kg), 10 lateral burpees. Time, 8.12.
Went to work later in the afternoon so I had plenty of time to hit a session in the morning. I stepped at the gym 9.00, and took long warm-up to get ready for this snatch session. I'll continue to focus on snatch to improve on my mobility, and it's paying off. I took some accessory work in the form of snatch press triples. Last element was overhead squat and burpee combo, great one!
Snatch.
Every minute on the minute x 8 min
2 hang squat snatch, 50kg
First I did classic Burgener warm-up stuff with pvc pipe and empty barbell. Then added some light weight on the barbell before starting the actual snatch workout. On these days that I don't have to rush anywhere I definitely take advantage of the time window. I'll prepare my body for 30-60 minutes before hitting it seriously. And I'm sure my body will thank me for that.
First set was on the light side. Second was a disaster with a failed rep on the first rep, and the replacing reps weren't beautiful either. Third set was okay effort and the path was much better than before. Fourth set was the best by far. Both lifts were decent and got to a deeper squat. Next minute effort was pretty much like the the 4th set. Actually the rest of the sets were somewhat similar. There was one shaky lift on the last set but the latter one was a good one. And by good ones I mean good ones for me.
I'm gonna continue to smash snatch in the near future, getting more comfortable in overhead squat position. This is a clean weakness and needs to be corrected.
When I was doing those sets of snatch press it felt all the time like it's well under control. On the video the first set seems a bit wobbly for some reason. The reason why this was part of today's training session was because I want to get stronger on the overhead position with snatch grip. Eventually this will absolutely transfer into snatch with some level.
Snatch presses
Sets were okay, no problems at all in the presses. Three triples with increasing weight, up to 70kg for max set. I did 85kg press last week when I went to max lift on the overhead squat.
Mobility
Metcon. Time, 8.12
5 rounds of:
10 overhead squat, 42.5kg
10 lateral burpee
I reckoned this might be a fun little shoulder pain. And it was. Combination of ohs and burpees made muscles hurt. Again, ohs position is something that needs to be made better. So you'll probably see these in metcons too in the future. Weight was set at the classic 95lbs which converts to 42.5kg. Better do it this way so for example Nancy is similar weight and not a pound more.
This was no surprise that it hurt in my shoulders and legs. Both elements started to get tougher. I had to pace myself steadily because gassing in the beginning is not my thing. So round times were quite stable and that's the reason I was able to keep the man moving. First and last rounds were the fastest, actually the last one was the fastest. It was kinda like the last sprint to the finish line. There's nothing you have to hold back at that point.
Metcon
This was a great training day. My confidence on the snatch scene is getting better. Gotta work on that good base before hitting "heavy" weights. Plus a good old metcon always makes a man happy =)
Wednesday. Hang squat snatch technique. Emom x 8min: 1 hang squat snatch (50kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 500m row, 10 hspu, 20 db snatch (20kg).
Today I went to the gym early in the morning, and then to work until evening. Because there was plenty of quality time at the gym I had planned to do olympic lifts. My current focus is on snatch style working, to get the movement patterns more natural and to acquire better technique. I worked on this skill for at least an hour. Then hit a metcon of rowing, hspu's and db snatch. It took me 2 hours to work through things. Good session.
Snatch.
Burgener warm-up
Hang squat snatch, light weight
Every minute on the minute x 8: one hang squat snatch per min (50kg)
I'm loving it on the new warm-up routines. For some reason I've ignored this for over 2 years even though this stuff is legendary. It just hit me lately. There was a dark era of snatches. I couldn't see the future very bright some time ago. But those Smolov squats improved my hip area mobility (and somehow also shoulder mobility simultaneously) and enabled me to overhead squat like never before. This led to me trying snatch and snatch balance type of elements. And I've seen it very appealing so I'll try to fix some technical issues here and improve mobility further so that I could do deep ohs in a similar way as in squat clean.
I took a few sets between 30-50kg hang squat snatches, aiming to hit it rock bottom on the squat. That's not easy and I definitely didn't find it just like that. I know there's a possibility of getting there but somehow I break it on the way down. That's probably a mobility issue so I unconsciously push against gravity. On the other hand I know I can get there. Sometimes the bar goes too much forward and then it's difficult to go deep.
After working a lot with lighter weights I put the timer on and completed an 8min emom of hang squat snatches, 1 rep at a time with 50kg. I want to and need to get natural with this movement. Building up the base.
Metcon.
4 rounds of:
500m row
10 handstand push-up
20 dumbbell snatch, 20kg
At some point during those snatches I realized I have zero pain in my right wrist. It's been bothering for I don't know, maybe a month? First I couldn't do pretty much anything with it but then little by little it's gotten better and better. This was my time to shine on the handstand push-ups! No pain at all, this was huge!
Rowing for half a kilometer, then 10 hspu's. First I thought this would be a good couplet but those dumbbells caught my attention and one had to be picked up, 20 reps, dividing it equally to both hands. On the first round I went alternating, then the remaining rounds were 5-5-5-5, changing hand after each 5 reps.
Recap
Pace on the rower was sub 1.50. On the first round it was close to 1.45 but then on the latter rounds at about 1.49-1.50. Hspu's went unbroken every round. And I'm telling you, they were light! Those felt like I could continue forever =) I'm sure a new record of unbroken reps would have been in the books had I tried it. Well, now it's just talk but the point is those felt awesome. Very happy on being able to do them.
Tuesday. Skills, headstand. Oly lifts, 7x2 hang squat snatch across @ 50kg. Pair wod, alternating 5 power cleans (70kg), then 5 burpees for both. Result 8rds.
It was cool to go for a pair wod. It's been a long time since last time. We agreed with my bro to match our time tables better this year and hit a workout together once a week. The truth is we haven't hooked up once this year =) It's been too difficult to match the schedules. Anyway I got a partner workout today with one friend. It was super!
Skills.
Headstand
I started by testing my headstand skills. Last time I tried this was probably some time in the summer. On my first try I went a bit too bold on bringing my legs over my head and I fell on the floor. It was an awkward moment because there's not that much space. I felt like now I'm coming down hard and just tried to squeeze every muscle so that it wouldn't cause any injury if my body fell against some machines nearby. Luckily I hit only floor =)
From then on it was easy. It felt great to maintain a rock solid hollow body position. I asked a friend whether it's straight or not and at least the feedback was straight body. I'm happy, it was very natural. I guess all that work on handstand pays off in a way that headstand is so much easier. I felt like there was no problem whatsoever hanging there for longer times.
Pics from last year's Crossfit Open announcements
Oly lifts.
Hang squat snatch 7x2
All sets @ 50kg
I wanna be comfortable with 50kg+ weights on squat snatch. And I'm getting there. The bar ain't that intimidating anymore. Obviously there's more work to be done but the weight is about to find it's place in the universe. The bar falls too much forward on the lift. I should be able to bring the bar up in a more vertical path and bring my body back more efficiently. Now as I squat my body is leaning forward too much and the positioning isn't perfect.
Still, I'm pleased with the way it looks like for now. I'm gonna make it look prettier though. Might be adding some light weight on the bar to get accustomed with heavier weights. I've been moving 40kg barbell on snatch for an eternity and it hasn't developed my technique that much. Once I added weight on the bar with the cleans my technique got way better because it had to. My strength and technique improved at the same time.
Snatch double, 50kg
Metcon. Pair workout
10min amrap of:
Toni, 5 power cleans, then
Don, 5 power cleans (70kg), then
Both, 5 burpees
Toni (not Tony the Pony) joined me at the gym for a pair wod. The idea was that he did 5 power cleans, I completed my 5 power cleans @ 70kg and then we did 5 burpees both. That was one round. We continued till 10 minutes was over. Toni has done some crossfit workouts like Fran and Jackie for a couple of times, and Lynne has taken place at least once. He's also keen on Filthy Fifty. Awesome workouts!
First speculation of the upcoming Crossfit Games that start this Thursday!
It was awesome to hit this workout together with him. We created it on the spot. I had thought of an individual workout of 20min up ladder of power cleans and burpees (1-1, 2-2, 3-3 etc.) but as this guy tagged along we turned it into a pair wod and it turned out to be a good decision.
We both went unbroken on the cleans and burpees too. It was a total of 8 rounds, that's 40 power cleans and burpees for both of us. It was quite a tough one, and started to feel burning after couple of rounds. It took us exactly 10min to reach 8 rounds. It was nice to do it with a partner so we pushed each other to put more effort on the workout.
Take a look at last year's Games' final event, Cinco 1 and Cinco 2, to witness how sick Rich Froning is
Monday. Push press 3-3-3 (70-80kg), jerks 3-3-3 (85-90kg). Squat snatch (40-57.5kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 15 hang power snatch, 30 box. Time 8.24
I had a plan of doing some sort of shoulder-to-overhead movements. Pauliina has been talking me for a while into doing either shoulder or push press so I respected that wish =) Did some jerks too and then moved to working my squat snatch. The metcon in the end was a creation of Toni's affiliate and was a good leg burner.
Shoulder-to-overhead.
Push press 3x70, 3x75, 3x80kg
Push jerk 3x85kg
Split jerk 3x85, 3x90kg
The only logic I had in this one was to do triples to the finish. I didn't know exactly to what I would be capable of with the weights on each movement. It was encouraging to see that the 80kg bar moved nicely. The weight itself wasn't that bad which was very cool. However, I tried to do them touch'n'go style and this time the technique wasn't there. That's why it looks a little shaky =) I'm glad that 70-75kg bars felt light.
Push press 80kg
Push jerk was very shaky for some reason. I think I could have done that 85kg weight as push press too. The barbell leaned too much forward on the push jerks. The first rep was a fail so I took 3 good reps after that one. Then I took split jerk triples @ 85kg and 90kg. I guess I have never done even 2 shoulder-to-overhead reps in a row. Today I did a triple. Not bad!
Squat snatch.
3x40, 3x45, 2x50, 1x52.5, 1x55, 1x57.5kg
I made some success on the snatches. It was the first time I snatched 57.5kg on squat snatch. I guess I have taken 55kg some time but definitely the first one at this weight. I don't wanna call that a personal record because it ain't. I've taken 62.5kg as power snatch which seems to be easier for me to take the "big kilos". As if my snatch weights were big anyway =)
Push jerk 85kg
I took all reps from hang position. It's not okay to drop weights at my gym so it's always a bit mental thing to hit something close to max kilos. I'll definitely take some more squat snatches from the ground on my next holiday week in March. One more point is that at my home gym 10kg plates are the smallest ones. The first big plates are 15kg so those are the lightest ones I could use when pulling from the ground. That's the reason why I find it difficult to practice squat snatch from ground, and go for hang squat snatch instead. I want that 50kg to be light in the future so I can keep on pulling from the ground and to squat snatch.
Metcon. Time 8.24
3 rounds of:
15 hang power snatch, 40kg
30 box jumps, 61cm
I was about done and ready to hit the locker room. Then I started thinking there could be some room for a metcon. I remembered Toni mentioning their "workout of the day" at the affiliate, consisting of hang power snatches and box jumps. It sounded good and I figured it's gonna be rather short one.
Split jerk 90kg
I changed my shoes and packed my oly shoes to my training bag. It was time for some more snatches and box jumps. I put the timer running and started working. The snatches were 10+5 every round. I thought they would smoke me worse than they did. Should have nailed them unbroken. That was a miss in strategy.
Box jumps were tougher. I completed them unbroken though. God damned they started to heat my thighs all around. They were burning from the very first round. I usually do max 15 reps at a time so completing 30 reps is a totally different ball game. I'm glad I got them done without stopping at any point. Naturally my time got slower on them but still unbroken. First time was about 2:20 and the last 2 rounds were the same, about 3:00.
Crossfit 515's mainsite workout. Triple unders and 84kg thrusters
Monday. Hang squat snatch, 2 reps emom, for 16min (40-50kg). Clean and jerk complex at light weight, 5 sets of: 1 power clean, 3 front squat, 1 push jerk, 1 split jerk. All sets @ 60kg.
I started the week with more like a technique training. Not that heavy stuff on the barbell this time. Sunday was already quite heavy on the squats and the metcon in the end really feels in my upper body. That's also one reason to keep it lighter today.
Snatch.
Hang squat snatch
2 reps every minute on the minute
For 16 minutes
7x40, 3x45, 3x47.5, 3x50kg
I felt the snatches were a success today! Each attempt that I had went to parallel or beyond on the squat depth. I've noticed that sometimes when I do squat snatches I have troubles landing my feet in correct position which makes it difficult to go deep. My toes tend to point too wide compared to my normal overhead squat position.
Today I concentrated in the landing and was able to find a form in which it was possible to go down enough on each rep. I took only 2 rep per minute so it was able to focus on the technique. I was thinking about the weights hovering around 40-45kg. I began doing those sets at 40kg and as I felt confident enough I added moderately 5kg on the bar. Took a couple more sets and went to 47.5kg. I took 2 or 3 sets at this weight and finished the emom workout with 50kg. I didn't make notes during the session so I go by memory afterwards. Anyway, it was great! And I could have done heavier sets, this felt good!
Rob Orlando doing a modified Kalsu, one of the toughest workouts
Bar complex.
5 sets of:
1 power clean
3 front squat
1 push jerk
1 split jerk
My left elbow was a bit sore for some reason and upper body had taken some hit yesterday also so it felt natural to stay @ 60kg. I did a total of 5 sets, all with the same weight. It was pretty solid all the way. The bar felt as light as it should have felt. On a heavier day this could be something like 80kg. The shoulder-to-overhead movements would be the toughest one.
Tuesday. Skills, muscle-ups. Strength, overhead squats. Snatch clinic, squat snatch from hang position. Metcon, 10 bar mu, 400m run, 20 c2b, 400m run, 30 pull-ups, 400m run. Time 11.45.
Time to wake up and go to work. I mean real work! It was Liikuntamylly training session ahead of me as the alarm clock woke me up. Muscle-up skills to begin with, overhead squats for strength and squat snatch as technique training. Naturally a metcon took place in the end of the session. Felt great after leaving the place. My butt cheeks are so sore from yesterday's lunges in the evening. Probably Sunday's heavy pause squats also have an effect. It took some time to get my legs ready for today's ohs and snatch.
65kg ohs
Skills. Mu's.
Ring muscle-ups
Bar muscle-ups
I had planned to do 5 ring muscle-ups, followed by 10 bar muscle-ups. The only part that sucked in today's performance was the ring mu's. Got only 1 successful rep. Yeah, I took 3 more ones but they failed, one after another. Some mental stuff because I can't find a reason behind that.
Ring mu
Okay, 1 ring mu and then 10 bar mu's. Decided to do them in singles and focus on my technique. Don't if it was so beautiful but at least I got there pretty quickly. Didn't have to stay and crank my way up there. I felt good with the bar mu's. I kept just a short break after each rep, to keep a good pace on them. Probably about a rep every 30 seconds. That's where I tried to keep it. There were more muscle-ups coming later on in the session.
Muscle-ups
Strength. Overhead squats
5 x 40, 50, 60, 65kg
2 x 70kg
4 x 70kg
Got to use the opportunity of Liikuntamylly to work on my overhead squats and squat snatches. The possibility to drop the weight if needed is tremendous. Especially in the higher loads it's already a mental thing that you know it's safe to drop the bar when needed. And it's not that cool to bring a 70kg bar back to hips from overhead position. I gotta drop it.
Ohs 70kg
I did well on the ohs today. There was another crossfitter to workout, Petteri, who gave me some tips last time I saw him at Liikuntamylly in the Christmas time and since then I've worked more on pause squats in all possible squat forms; back, front and overhead squats. He was talking about the depth of the squats, it got stuck around my head. "Go as deep as possible" where his words. Not only to parallel but further down the hole. Ass to grass every time. He said he rarely does anything else than pause squats on the front squats. There's something to think about.
Recap
I tried to go deeper on the weights and I suppose I managed pretty well up to around 60kg, I actually stayed in the bottom for a second or two before coming up, as a quick pause squat. From there on I stayed at 90 degrees as there was probably some sort of self defense mechanism putting breaks on not to go deeper than parallel. I'm very happy to the way I got these ohs's today. My one rep max is at 75kg. So going for a double and then 4 reps at 70kg felt very pleasing to say the least.
Snatch clinic.
Hang squat snatch
5 x 30, 40, 45kg
10 x 1 @ 50kg
This is something I always look forward when going to Liikuntamylly. We worked on snatch technique together with Toni the last couple of times we went there and he had an eye of a coach. Thanks again for those tips mister. I did lots of snatch balance and snatch presses, even tried some sots press (which btw seems impossible with my mobility) before adding weight on the bar. That snatch balance in particular is a king move. Teaches you some explosiveness. Petteri was also giving tips on the form and the shoulder positions, thanks for those cues!
40kg snatch
I felt much more confident on the squat snatches today than normally. I did them all from hang position, as hip snatches if I can call them as such. The starting point of the bar is at the pocket, not from mid-thigh. The technique definitely needs to be worked on. It's still quite rough on my way down. My feet land wider than on my overhead squats.
50kg pull on the snatch
More repetition to edge it out. I was happy to being able to rock 50kg snatches from pocket without missing any rep.
Metcon. Time 11.45
10 bar muscle-ups
400m run
20 chest-to-bar pull-ups
400m run
30 pull-ups
400m run
When you're at Liikuntamylly, it's almost compulsory to run. There's a 200m inside track. Main focus was on the pull-up bar action. There was a total of 1.2km run, always 400m between pulling myself up on the rack. First muscle-ups, then c2b's and finally basic pull-ups. Pull-ups seem to be some sort of strength, I suppose. But chest-to-bar's and bar muscle-ups are definitely not. I need a bigger kip on the c2b's than on normal pull-ups and at my regular gym the pull-up bar is close to a wall. I can definitely do c2b's there but because of the wall's near proximity I find it difficult to do consecutive reps. So I kind of have to do them as singles. Not drop from the pull-up bar but still it's very ineffective. And I want to emphasize, it's not the wall's reason, it's my own technique that sucks there.
Bar mu
So having a pull-up bar like this, with nothing even close to it, it's perfect to rock some mu's and c2b's. Didn't want to miss that opportunity. And they went pretty well. I had done already 10 muscle-ups earlier so having 10 more reps ahead of me was a bit intimidating. Plus I've never done any rep in a metcon this far. I started with a double, then did singles to finish the 10 reps. On the c2b's I did 10 in a row, then a 5, thought about doing another set of 5 but it turned out to 2+3.
Pull-ups were naturally much easier. Those c2b's made my wings burn. I nailed 15 reps in the beginning and then maybe 10+5 to reach a total of 30 reps.
