Thursday 7.8: Active recovery, Row and Headstand

Thursday. Active recovery. Row 5k at easy pace. Skills, headstand.

It was definitely a time to take a break from real training and step back. I took some sweat on with rowing, then skills training for a while before stretching out my legs. Now it's time to eat well, get some sleep in this body and prepare for the next workout.

That rowing was at easy pace, it was something like 2:00 all the way, that was my goal. Not that fast, just to get the fluids running in my body but this was not supposed to gas me out. The pace turned out to be good for today.

Active recovery

After rowing for a while I tried my headstand skills. This was easy. I'm happy my body balance is good during this movement. I get to the final position very slowly. Maybe I should try that one also with handstand training. Took a couple of attempts here and they were all smooth. Straight core, no probs in holding the form and also when coming back down I used the same path as I did on my way up.

Tuesday 25.2: Headstand, snatches, pair wod

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

Tuesday 18.6: Burpees, ring dips and du's

Tuesday. Ring muscle-up skills training. Metcon. 40 burpees buy-in, then 4 rds of: 15 ring dips and 50 double unders. Cashout with 40 burpees. Time 15.27. Mobility.

My legs are destroyed after Sunday's kettlebell work added with yesterday's lower body workouts. Today's focus was on metabolic conditioning with the help of burpees and double unders. Upper body / triceps were also in real test because of the ring dips. Did some Prasara Yoga and stretching for mobility.

Ring muscle-ups. Tried to get that first muscle-up on the rings today. Actually I tested a new thing. I tied a rubber band around my legs to prevent my legs to wonder around. This proved to be a good point and my attempts were way more solid and balanced than before. To how I see it, the swing and pull parts are okay, good enough and I'm able to pull myself high enough to complete a rep. However, my legs do not perform the correct motion in the end of the movement, the kick backwards. They tend to stay in front of my body so I can't turn myself over the rings. This was a good notification of my own performance. Definitely eases the progression as I understand the deficits in my technique. Gonna make it some day!

Metcon. Time 15.27

• 40 burpees, then:
• 4 rounds of
• 15 ring dips
• 50 double unders, then:
• 40 burpees to finish it

Note to self: no more burpees and dips in a same workout! How did I forget this combo, just combined them a bit over a month ago. Starting with 40 burpees to get gassed early in the workout. Then 4 rounds of ring dips and double unders. After 4 rounds of these 2 movements, finish the workout with another set of 40 burpees. Total of 80 burpees, 60 ring dips and 200 double unders. Those were good heavy-breather movements.

And why is the combination of burpees and dips a bad ass? Because the triceps will tire. Dips and triceps in general, I consider them not my strength so this was a good workout to practice them. I'll fix this issue so I don't have to talk about it anymore. Anyway, my dips were the bottleneck in this workout. And the last set of burpees was tough on my arms, the strength was simply gone in the dips.

In the double unders, I was good. Not a single miss during the workout, even though my hands, triceps and shoulders were tired and breathing was heavy. I split them intentionally in sets of 30+20 each round. I'm very happy I didn't have to put any time there in vain. DU's rolled well.

After having finished the workout I figured this workout worked perfectly for its purpose. Get the heart pumping strong and keep on continuing the movement. Ring dips slowed my down but still I didn't take too long breaks there either. Pace was slowing down towards the end but still I call this a solid performance.

Took a few sets of head standing before moving on to mobility. I did something remotely like these Prasara Yoga movements. I really like the way this guy moves. I'm going to give it a shot and try these moves out in the future, either as warm-up or as afterwork.

Toni's workouts.

• Deadlift 3-3-3-3 (120, 130, 130, 130kg)
• Emom for 12min: 5 hang power snatch (40kg)

Friday 26.4: Back squats + technique

Friday. AM: Back squats 7x4 (max 120kg). OHS technique training. PM: technique training.

Purely back squats as strength training. No metcons today, tomorrow's gonna be a difficult day, we are going to hit it hard with Toni. After strength training I took some sets of overhead squats to work on the technique and form. Toni was on a date with Cindy. After work we went back to the gym with Pauliina. I took it light, a little sweat on and then working on technique.

Strength. Back squats 7x4 (100, 110, 120, 120, 120, 120, 120kg). It's been over a week since previous back squats. They've been demanding lately, can't argue about that. The sets today were 4 reps each time and loads were pretty stable around 120kg. Depth of my squats have developed to good direction and even though I didn't have the possibility to videoshoot the attempts, Toni was there to judge some of the sets.

OHS. Didn't take any metcon or cashout but 3x8 sets of overhead squats with a cold bar to find comfortability in the bottom position and to find a form to squat deep and feel like home. It felt very good. The main problem still exists: my upper back mobility is not good enough. I have to widen my grip to get down. I like to snatch with my hands about 10cm from the far end of the barbell. In overhead squat I have to push my hands at the far ends of the barbell, otherwise my back will get too tight and doesn't allow me to go deep enough. I'd love to keep my grip a bit narrower so I'll have to do some mobility work over there. Anyway, while holding my hands as far as possible, I found a stable and solid form and ohs felt natural.

PM: Technique. In the evening I did some skills and technique training. Those split jerks are something worth training. I don't quite get it yet, better study the form more. I did those jerks from front rack position as well as from behind the neck. I wanted to try out that OHS again, and yes, it felt as good as in the morning =) Then some sit-ups with small rest between 50 rep sets. In the end I had good time to do some mobility and stretching.

• Cycling
• Double unders
• Split jerk
• Overhead squat
• Headstand
• 3x50 sit-ups
• Cycling
• Stretching

Toni's workouts. Cindy. Total of 405 reps.

• 20min amrap of:
• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 squats

Monday 22.4: Grace, headstand, handstand

Monday. Grace. Time 3.48. Handstand hold, headstand & handstand training.

There are a couple of benchmark workouts that make me nervous. Some of these make my stomach go upside down and just before the zero-hour for a second I try to find an excuse why not to do them. That's only because they are cruel and make your body scream for pain. Then I get a grip and talk myself up to crash the workout. The feeling after these workouts is something that can't be described in words. It's freaking awesome, the reason I love crossfit and today was no exception!!!

Grace. Time 3.48

• 30 clean & jerk, 60kg

It's unfortunate they forbid videoshooting your own training sessions at our Box so I don't have video material to offer from my newest Grace. Sometimes it's possible to take pictures or videos if there are no other people working out but today there were plenty of them. This was the first time I did it with the original weights, rx'd weight is 60kg. For the first time I did it back in September 2012, then together with Toni we completed a double Grace in October 2012, and the last time was in December 2012, all were done with 50kg on the barbell. That weight is history, the only possibility is to do it with 60kg nowadays.

My strategy was to do sets of 6 reps for as long as possible. I recall doing the previous Grace in sets of 6 reps. Today the sets were 6-6-5-4-4-2-1-1-1. The breaks between sets were rather short in my opinion, at least they felt like it =) The first 6 reps were done in about 20+ seconds and 12 reps were in records after 60 seconds. I tried to keep the breaks somewhere around 10-15 seconds in the beginning. From 17 reps on the burden was going up rapidly. It was a tough mental play from then on. I forced some reps up even though my body wanted to take a rest. From 21 I got to 24, then a double and finally 3 singles in the end with no rest between them, only dropping and lifting again. Finally the clock stopped at 3.48.

Tension in forearms was tingling and definitely the most difficult part was the jerk. I believe my clean is at a pretty ok level and I didn't have problems in getting the bar at my chest. Some of the jerks were more like push press or even a shoulder press. For some reason you might sometimes forget to utilize the legs and hip drive and that was exactly what happened at some reps. That's why they felt heavier than they should have felt in the end. Luckily I had no failed reps during the workout, managed to push the bar all the way up to full extension with each attempt. I was extremely satisfied after the workout as I felt I gave my everything to Grace. My goal with both Grace and Fran was to go under 4 minutes and I reached those objectives with both of these benchmark girls.

Inverted. Headstand and handstand practice

• 3 x ME static handstand hold against wall
• Headstand training
• Handstand training

My bro has strong handstand skills and he's been talking me into testing max effort of static handstand hold against wall. I took three attempts, first attempt was 1 minute, then I had to drop off the wall, the following attempts were half a minute each. It probably wasn't the easiest one after doing 30 clean & jerks =)

Then I did some headstand and handstand training. Once again, headstand rolled well. I had no problems in finding a stable form and holding a straight body from head to toes. I also tried another type of approach. Previously I've held my hands close to my head, actually they are located just beside my head, touching the back of my head. The stability comes from head, forearms and elbows touching the ground. The other option is to create a triangle from both palms and a head. Both versions worked for me. In the end I did some free handstand training. To finish the training I did mobility for lower body.

Toni's workouts.

• Back squats 5x5, 100kg
• For 10 min, 30sec on, 30sec off. Distance 1.751m

Pony's goal was 5 sets of 5 reps and he managed to complete them as planned, all sets with 100kg. From the other side of the gym I heard some growling so I guess he really had to focus on the last reps =) That rowing metcon starts to become a classic among us, it definitely is a good workout. You can do it for 10, 20 or 30 minutes, all are good versions.

Wednesday 17.4: Clean EMOM + HSPU

Wednesday. Morning: EMOM for 12min, 4 x hang squat cleans, 60-70kg. DB Grace (2x15kg), time 1.36. Evening: handstand push-ups and headstand.

Plan was to do one workout in the morning, focusing on heavy hang cleans. In the evening Pauliina got an idea to go and workout together so I joined and concentrated in handstand push-ups and headstand. Toni did another long metcon in the morning.

Workout.

• Every minute on the minute for 12 minutes
• 4 hang squat cleans, 60-70kg

Complete 4 reps in the beginning of each minute, rest the remaining time of the minute and repeat for a total of 12 rounds. I started with 70kg and my goal was to do the whole set with same weights. Managed to do so for 6 total rounds. On the 7th minute I got 2 reps, tried the third twice but couldn't get it up. From then on I took 10kg off the barbell and finished it with 60kg. The difference was huge. It wasn't that bad to clean 60kg.

Can't deny that I love cleans. I have added the training of them and especially taken from hang position as well as squat cleans. I believe these two elements have increased my upper back strength and technique has definitely improved as well. This was a cool workout. Even though it's purely one strength movement, it makes heart bounce after a few rounds. You still have time to recover before the start of next round. I recommend this one!

Db Grace. Time 1.36

• 30 clean & jerk, 2x15kg dumbbells

After couple of minutes I decided to do a mini-Grace. I took 15kg dumbbells and completed 30 reps of clean & jerk with them. The weight wasn't heavy and intentionally so. Didn't want to go all in, more like a cashout type of training. It would be cool to do this with heavy weights because doing Grace with dumbbells has probably totally different character compared to regular Grace, which is done with 60kg barbell.

HSPU + headstand.

• 4 x 7 hspu
• 3 x handstand hold
• 3 plank hold

In the evening we walked to the nearby gym in order to give Pauliina the possibility to train. I utilized the chance to do inverted training. After cycling and rowing I took some handstand holds against a wall, then continued to do 4 sets of handstand push-ups. On the first round I did 7 strict reps, that was the highest number ever with strict hspu. My max is 8 reps unbroken but those have mainly been kipping. I was very pleased to complete 7 strict hspu.

Handstand push-ups

I did 7 reps each round but the number of strict and kipping varied. First round 7 strict, second round 3 strict, third round 4 strict, last round all kipping. You find the videos on Youtube. Then I did 3 sets of headstand practice, searching for stable inverted hold. I believe I managed quite well. Then to finish it all, we did 3 plank hold sessions with Pauliina.

Headstand

Toni's workouts. 18.06

• 5 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 10 box, 61cm
• 10 front squats, 30kg

Not sure if it was like this, the number of boxes and squats may have been something else. I believe Toni's time was 18.06, correct me if I'm wrong Pony!

Sunday 7.4: Rowing, headstand, handstand

Sunday. 4x750m interval rowing. 50 ab wheel. Headstand and handstand skills training.

I thought about staying home today as I've trained a lot with barbells this week. I'm so glad Pauliina wanted to go there so I accompanied her and concentrated in cardio and skills. This training day was just perfect!

Rowing. Time 16.27. Rounds of 750m row 2.39 + 2.39 + 2.35 + 2.34.

• 4 rounds of
• 750m row
• 2 min rest

This workout was the crown for this week's rowing. On Friday there was about 3.3km row, yesterday 2km and today 3km, altogether I'm very pleased I found enthusiasm in rowing. It's very good way to put your heart racing wildly. In the first two rounds my average was around 1.46/500m and on the last two ones approximately 1.43/500m. I consider that pace rather good for this workout. I was done after the fourth set and called it quits.

Cashout. 50 ab wheel. Wanted to do some abs and decided on ab wheel. I did sets of 20 + 15 + 15 reps. Not for time.

Headstand. I believe the last time I've practiced headstand was in New York last summer =) Since then, it's been mostly handstand training or inverted holds on rings if I've been upside down. This was surprisingly easy! Suppose my body control has improved in the last year so that I was able to keep a steady form. I was able to catch two videos from this training. All together I trained headstand for quite a while, for several sets, maybe 15+ minutes.

Handstand. After headstand I wanted to upgrade to handstand as my confident level was already good on this one. It's been too long since I last practiced so it was about time! I believe this went well too. Here you can take a glimpse on this one. As you see, everything doesn't always go as you'd like to ;) Well, I was satisfied that I was able to maintain that inverted position for a few seconds. I can't hold my hands still as I must try to control and stabilize my body constantly.

Handstand

It doesn't always go as planned =)

Friday 6.10: Front squat + skills

Friday. Front squat 4x5 (max 105kg PR). Skills training for headstand, handstand, double unders.

Once in a while my brother has the opportunity to come train with me at my box, today was another such day. I look up to him for his training attitude and it's always a great deal for me to get a chance to work out with him.

Strength. Front squat 4x5 (80+90+95+100kg, in addition 102.5kg x 3 and 105kg x 1 PR). Sipa took deadlifts as 10 minute on the minute: 5 deadlifts (120kg).

I think it's been three weeks since last front squats so it was about time. I've tried to include them in every week's schedule but for some reason my calendar shows it's been a while. This is probably my favorite movement, I feel fairly confident when going down that I can lift it up no matter how much I pile up the kilos. I'm actually quite proud of the amount of weights I can front squat. Today I took sets of 5 for 80, 90, 95 and 100kg. As it was moving well, I wanted to max out. I took 3 reps with my previous PR 102.5kg and wanted to test the 105kg as well. I took it once, on the second rep my technique collapsed and I couldn't bring it back up. However, on the first rep I managed to keep it together in a similar way as with around 100kg weights. Progress!

Front squat, 105kg

Sipa took deadlift as strength training and used a method as: "10 minute on the minute". He put 120kg on the barbell and the idea is to go for 5 reps on each minute for ten minutes. Start timing, do 5 reps immediately, rest until one minute is up, then do another 5 reps and chill out the rest of the minute. Continue for total of 10 rounds. All in all, there are 50 reps in 10 minutes, this time he did it with 120kg. He managed to keep a steady pace with the reps, it took about 10-15 seconds each round to do those needed reps. His technique also kept well, even with enormous amount of total weights (6.000kg during the workout). My lower back was awfully junked up for 2-3 days after Tuesday's heavy deadlifting. That day I took somewhere around 8.000kg up with deadlifts during strength training and the metcon.

Skills. For cooling down we wanted to utilize the chance to workout together and solve each other's technical problems so we took some skills training for headstand and handstand, did some rollovers from those positions and took few reps of handstand push-ups. Sipa also taught me some technique for chest-to-bar pull-ups, I haven't got it by far, now I'm one step closer. It was a good day of training, PR, awesome training partner and skills training in the end.

It was a pity we didn't have enough time, I certainly would have liked to go for this metcon. I have had this plan for quite a while now so the eagerness is growing towards this! Some day...

• 5 rounds of:
• 20m walking lunges with 42.5kg bar in the front rack position
• 30 double unders

Toni has returned from his mini vacation and is back for action tomorrow. Let's hope he is ready for some heavy training!