Wednesday 9.7: Ring mu's, 45min workout

Wednesday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Workout, 3 rds of: 1 round of Hammer, 1k row, 1 round of DT, 1k row. Time 47.28.

Today I left work early to hit a workout on my own. Nobody else at the gym except Pauliina who came there about an hour after I had started. We're heading to Spain for a week in the evening. There was a good time slot to find some real muscle misery in the gym. I went after ring skills and a looooong workout.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups

I had no rush at all so I took my time to get properly warmed up, then hit couple of muscle-ups. Just singles this time, aimed to remind my body how it's done. Couple of reps without false grip and then couple in the end with false grip. No biggie, felt good!

Workout. Time 47.28

• 3 rounds of:
• 1 round of Hammer (5 power clean, 10 front squat, 5 push jerk, 20 pull-ups) 60kg
• 1.000m row
• 1 round of DT (12 deadlift, 9 hang power clean, 6 push jerk) 60kg
• 1.000m row

Huh, not a funny one. I needed to have my hands on a barbell because I don't know when the next time will be. Will I find one in Spain or is it gonna be more like gymnastics and bodyweight movement there. I don't know the answer so I played it safe and worked with a bar quite a lot. Mixed in some rowing to make it more grueling.

Hero workout Hammer consists of power cleans, front squats, push jerks and pull-ups. I took one round of that set, and combined it with another her workout called DT. That one is originally completed with 70kg bar but that would have been too much for me to handle. Especially those hang power cleans. So I went with the same barbell all the way. DT is about deads, cleans and jerks. In between these two heroes I had a 1k row.

This is obviously not an all in effort for the entire time. It's more like finding your pace and try to stick with it. I decided to take the row at a steady pace, not going to gas myself out of the game, it was sub 2:00 / 500m pace. In the end that started to feel bad too =) There was a total of 6.000m row during this metcon.

In general I found it awesome to hit this kind of long workout compared to a 5-20min workouts. Constant variety. Anyway, see ya, we're going to enjoy the sun and vacation!

Thursday 10.10: Hero wod Hammer

Thursday. Hero workout Hammer. Time 18.45.

What a training day. Having done clean & jerks on Tuesday and burning my shoulders, I was thinking about whether they would be recovered enough for today. Decided to hit it! No need for any other support training in addition to the workout of the day. Did mobility in the end and sat in sauna for some time, tried to get a grip of life before going home.

Autumn is beautiful in Finland

Hammer. Time 18.45. Compare to 27.5.2013.

• 5 rounds:
• 5 power cleans, 60kg
• 10 front squats, 60kg
• 5 push jerks, 60kg
• 20 pull-ups
• 90sec rest

There's a lot of repetitions with the barbell and on the pull-up bar. This type of bar action is something I believe I must get better at. Muscle endurance with a bar that's 60kg is classic weight on benchmark workouts and in crossfit in general. I can move the bar rather quickly for some time. It's another thing to keep on going without going tired. My pace stayed ok for 2-3 rounds after which it got slower, and I had to start breaking the reps.

On the first round I did went unbroken throughout the whole round. Of course it got my breathing go fast but it was still manageable. 90sec rest was enough to recover for the next round. On the second round I still went unbroken on the bar complex, front squats were slower this time but unbroken still. On the pull-ups I cut intentionally not to smoke myself too early. Dropped after 10 reps, then did either 10 reps or 5+5. After the second round the nature of the game was clear. It's gonna be serious. Breathing was heavy, forearms were burning and grip strength was soon to be gone.

On the third round I had no other option but to start strategizing on the barbell work on the fly. Did 4 power cleans, took a break, completed the last power clean to move on to 10 front squats and then 5 jerks in a row. The pull-ups were so much tougher on this round. On the last 3 rounds I did them 8 reps, then 4+3+3+2. Can you believe it, it was way tougher than pull-ups are normally. Having no grip strength it was difficult to keep on moving on the pull-up bar. Once I dropped from the bar, I tried to keep the break very short. On the 60kg barbell work, my breaks were longer, though.

On the fourth and fifth round my performance was identical on the strength work. 4 power cleans, break, cleaned the bar back, did 10 front squats, dropped the bar, break, then finished with 5 push jerks. Those breaks tended to be longer than I wanted but they were compulsory. Simply couldn't catch a breath and my muscles were burning. Finally the workout ended, as they usually do =) Time was 18.45, including those 6min rest periods between rounds. That's a PR by half a minute.

The 2 first rounds were fine, had no problems. Third one was the turning point. I was done in 9 minutes and my pace was rather good. However, the last 2 rounds were grueling and painful. This proved to me that I must do more barbell complexes with semi heavy weights. A 60kg bar must move quickly and for a long time.

Those pull-ups made the workout much more challenging compared to moving only the barbell. I did 5 rounds of Hammer in January, alternating with Tony, and my round times were pretty consistent, changing from 1.11 to 1.57. However, there were no pull-ups at all in these rounds. That type of workouts might be the future for me.

Monday 27.5: Hero wod Hammer + muscle-ups, handstand

Monday. Hero workout Hammer. Time 19.13. Muscle-up training (10 reps), handstand walk.

Hero workout Hammer. Created in honor of U.S. Army First Sergeant Michael "Hammer" Bordelon.  He died on May 2005 from injuries sustained from a car bomb explosion near Mosul, in Iraq.

Toes-to-bar

Hammer. Time 19.13. Barbell 60kg. Compare to 2.1.2013

• 5 rounds of:
• 5 power cleans
• 10 front squats
• 5 push jerks
• 20 pull-ups
• 90sec rest

Hero workouts are sick ones. The feeling is intentionally created for athletes to identify themselves with the circumstances the soldiers are going through on a daily basis. No matter the workout, no matter how difficult it is, it's always easier than being in a war. The burden is huge and you'd like to quit sometimes but you don't have an option. You will struggle through, period.

This was no exception, one of the toughest workouts I remember doing. I did this same workout in January without the pull-ups. Still, it was extremely difficult. Since then, I've received more strength and have better technique in those movements required for this wod. That was my salvation 'cause I don't know what would have happened if I had similar problems as few months ago. Then, my jerks were not good and muscle endurance wasn't as good as today. I believe I managed Hammer well today and I'm proud of my performance.

On the first round I did it unbroken. Maybe on the pull-ups I might have dropped from the bar once after 15 reps. My heart was pumping fast. The combination of 20 barbell reps is challenging. On the rounds of 2-4, I did power cleans and front squats in a row and unbroken, then dropped the bar to catch a breath and loosen that tension in the grip, forearms were on fire at times. After a break I grabbed the bar and jerked it 5 times, every time unbroken and in a steady pace. That was from another planet compared to first Hammer. On the last round I did 4 cleans, dropped it and continued to front squats. After 10 front squats had to take another rest and then finish the jerks.

Pull-ups were not cool. On the first round it was almost unbroken. Second round was 10 and 10. Little by little it got tougher. Third round was about 10, 5 and 5. Then it started to go really challenging and had to be broken to smaller pieces. From the very beginning the pull-ups had an effect on my forearms and grip strength and thus influenced the barbell work as well.

I'm very happy for completing this workout rx'd. It surely was difficult and taxing but as each and every workout, it ends at some point. This ended at 19.13, including the breaks (6min).

Round times.

1. 01.40
2. 02.00
3. 02.32
4. 03.06
5. 03.55

Muscle-up

Muscle-ups and handstand. After work we decided to hop on our bicycles and take a short ride to a place where they have monkey bars, pull-up bar, dip station, training place for abs and back muscles as well. Pauliina did toes-to-bar, pull-up training and played with the monkey bars. I had a goal in my sight: muscle-ups and handstand training.

After I completed my first muscle-up at first try (see below), I wanted to get more of them. I did them in singles all the way to 10 reps, yeah baby! This was the second time doing this movement successfully. I can't thank my bro enough for giving those technical hints to complete my first one. Now it seems soooooo much easier. I managed to do all 10 reps without failures in between. It got "easier" after the first one and they weren't such struggles (at least all of them…) compared to the video below =)

After my shoulders were smashed I also took some handstand training but that wasn't so easy after all this training today. 25 cleans, 50 front squats, 25 jerks, 100 pull-ups in the morning, 10 muscle-ups in the evening so I think I can call this a training day. Let's save something for tomorrow.

Toni's workouts.

• Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (90kg)
• Kettlebell work for 45min as Tabata training.