Monday. Benchmark workout Loredo. Time, 20.10 (PR)
My lower body felt stiff as f*ck entering this week. Well, maybe entire body was somehow in off-mode, and definitely not ready for a workout. I went outdoors with the twins, kicked some football with my wife at the same time, and started to get my joints feeling better and better. Still, first air squats felt like I had a weight vest on.
Loredo. Time, 20.10 (PR)
6 rounds of:
24 air squats
24 push-ups
24 lunges
400m run
I saw Toni post a teaser in Instagram that he's about to hit this one in the near future so maybe that had stayed ringing in my head and this morning it felt like an okay idea. I just started moving and decided to see what happens. First round of bodyweight movements felt a bit stiff but after coming from the first run and entering second round od bodyweight stuff the feeling was much different.
I went unbroken on squats, push-ups and lunges without having to slow down at any point. Same with running. This workout felt like I was the captain all along. I remember having to pause those bw elements occasionally before but this time those were not an issue. Felt great about it. That run is quite precisely 400 meters but there's some incline on the road so that makes the return part of the run feel like I'm running uphill. Even though it's not that radical elevation for sure.
This was a dream day. Spent the day with the family, then towards the evening we met Toni and his wife at Crossfit Kehä, and hit a training session in the process. Toni had a plan to hit a hero workout Holleyman. Who was I to think otherwise. Kehä's coach Anssi also threw down with us.
Rx'd weight is 102.5kg. Considering my 1RM on power clean is registered at 103kg, that would have been quite humorous to go at the prescribed weight. Last time I did this one with 90kg at 28.10. So today it was 9 seconds slower but with heavier load. I consider this a victory! That's 92% of my max anyway. Took one rep at 100kg before we entered the wod to build some confidence on this heavy lift.
It was cool to have those guys with me to attack this hero workout. Wall balls were the easiest part, then came the handstand push-ups and lastly the cleans, those were heavy. Every one of them. Strategy was to do wall balls and hspu's rather quickly, then recover a little before the clean.
This was more like a strength session for me. Breathing stayed under control. Shoulders started to fatigue early on, maybe before 10 rounds were completed. But the thing was definitely the cleans. I'm super happy to hit every single lift without misses. Great mental win!
Saturday. Hero workout Bradshaw. Time, 21.06 (PR).
We went to the gym with Pauliina at noon. Ate a good breakfast and went after a hero workout that I've done twice before. It's been ages since doing it before so it was about time to take a gut check.
Had the same feelings as before prior to the workout. Looks a lot easier on paper than in real life. Pull-ups were the only thing I was concerned about. Hspu's were small number, deadlifts were light, and I hoped my shins would feel fine on the du's. I was ready to quite after 3 rounds though =)
Handstand push-ups were the clerkly the easiest piece of these 4 elements. Could have continued them forever. Deadlifts were light theoretically yes. But in real life those started to burn my hamstrings efficiently, and at some point of the workout I needed to take a break before getting on the pull-up bar as those deads hurt so much.
Pull-ups were the toughest of them all by a long mile. Went unbroken on the first 3-4 rounds. From then on I divided them into 8-4 till the end. Those hurt big time. Double unders went well. I foam rolled my shins properly. I've noticed that's the key to success. Without that operation my shins and ankles feel weird, tight and there's some sort of nagging pain in the shins. Today those felt great. Had some misses on couple of sets but majority of them were unbroken. On the last round my shoe laces opened up and the jump rope hit those laces. Couldn't move on like that so I got rid of my other shoe and finished the workout. Must have been an awkward sight, guy jumping rope with only one shoe =)
Strategy in the big picture was to head straight to the wall on the hspu's as they were easy. From there I walked to the barbell, rolled it from the rack to my lifting station and completed the required 6 reps. After deads I needed my break. In the beginning I went straight at the pull-up bar but little by little this transition as well as the completion of pull-ups got longer. After pull-ups I grabbed by jump rope, inhaled and exhaled, then started moving for the double unders. This is how it looked like in my head. It would have been cool to see a video but today there is none available.
We went to Tallinn with my wife for a short trip to spend some quality time. It was an overnight journey to get a quick getaway from the day to day routines. This was third time in a month I visited Tallinn in the past month =) The two previous trips have been work related.
Loredo. Time, 24.12
6 rounds of:
24 squats
24 push-ups
24 lunges
2min crosstrainer (rx'd version is 400m run)
The hotel had a pretty cool spa at the highest floor. The view was beautiful from there. It was also very relaxing to spend time there, just hang around in the pool, jacuzzi and turkish steam sauna. At some point I sneaked to the very small gym in the hotel and did a modified version of hero workout Loredo. Subbed that 400m run to 2min of crosstrainer. Got to say crosstrainer is not something I'd normally jump into but this time it worked perfectly and burned my quads big time.
I was able to go unbroken in every part of the workout, and that was the first time doing so. I'm very pleased on the way I performed! Legs were on fire early on but still I found energy to push through. Round times were consistent each round
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
Saturday. Hero wod Holleyman, 30 rds of: 5 wb, 3 hspu, 1 power clean (90kg). Time, 28.10.
It was time to take a rematch with Holleyman. It's a hero workout that I've done once before year and a half ago. Since then my upper back strength and conditioning must have gotten better since I PR'd this workout with over 13 minutes. Why this workout came to my mind was because my friend Toni just hit it about a week ago with same weights so there was a good incentive for me.
Yeah, I know it's a bit messy but it shows most of the round times
Last time (and first time) when I completed this one my clean weren't as strong and I had to take the bigger weights as squat cleans. It's not that long ago that my max power clean was 90-95kg. Currently it stands as 103kg. Squat clean is a notch better, at 116kg. Holleyman is 225 lbs (102.5kg) as rx'd. That would be pretty much the same as my record for a single so obviously time is not ready for those weights, yet. Went after 90kg cleans which are no joke to me, especially for this many reps.
Naturally all the reps were to be done unbroken, just 5 reps of wall ball shots and 3 hspu's per round. My strategy was to hold on to a steady pacing from the very beginning. I tried to do a collage of most of the round times, check above. I believe my tactic worked as well as it could have worked. I'm very satisfied to this. It was around 55 seconds per round for all 30 rounds.
Plan was to knock wall balls and hspu's right away, and then shake my shoulders before the clean. Right after I dropped the barbell, I went to do another set of wall balls and hspu's. Then releasing the tension in the shoulders again. This worked well.
It was a long ass workout to say the least, and at times it felt like it's never going to end. I just tried not to think about the rounds or anything else of this workout for too much, just complete every set of wall balls, every set of hspu's and every single clean at a time, then head forward. This time this also got to my breathing more than before. At that time I remember my lower back being on fire on the wall balls and squat cleans (had to do them as squat cleans that time).
I thought I had recorded the first 10 minutes of the workout but after looking at the video at home this was all there was =) Memory card had gotten full after less than 5 seconds. Nice.
Today Finland played ice hockey in the world championships so we had to rush home after work to see the full game. Luckily we won in the penalty shots finally! After the game I drove to the gym late in the evening and got a good piece of work done. Still a bit lighter work but the workout in the end was a real deal.
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute x 6min
8 handstand push-ups
These workout sessions are still focusing more on upper body. Hspu's are always a good choice. And what is a better way to do it than emom workouts. Those demand a lot from muscle endurance. This was a short one but I got a good doze of hspu's done in rather short time, total to 48 reps. Didn't do much warm-up, just basically threw myself upside down and started ripping hspu's. Last sets were more demanding naturally, and I had to break them a little.
Hspu's
OHS.
Overhead squats 3x10 reps (40, 50, 50kg)
I figured my legs can already take some hit and overhead squats are a lighter way to test them out. It wasn't yet time to front / back squat but ohs was fine. Sets were longer and lighter. Just wanted to get a feel on the barbell again.
I'm wondering if it's ankle mobility or what but my form is leaning quite a lot forward and I'd like to see myself more on my heels. This transfers directly to squat snatch and the issue there is that if I miss a lift it's because the bar stays too much in front. got to work on my ankles. I'll start sitting on them in the evenings. Hopefully that will help.
Overhead.
Snatch grip push press 5x5 (50, 60, 70, 75, 80kg)
This was great. Another movement that will strengthen the overhead position and will most probably transfer directly to full snatch. Having confidence holding a heavy weight overhead makes it easier to sit in the bottom position with the same load overhead.
I took 5's and basically built up to a heavy 5-rep set. I had not planned on doing these but this was the part that felt very good. There is a rumor we're gonna have blocks at the gym once the handyman finds time to build them. I'm definitely going to take advantage of them on heavy singles and doubles for overhead strength. It's good to have the chance to drop the weights on the blocks. Okay, this builds confidence too when you have to drop them in your back but it's more safe to drop them on the blocks.
California Strength's training
Randy. Time, 6.08
75 power snatch, 35kg
Yeah, sounds easy. Light weight for couple of reps, no biggie. Hmm, let me think again… It wasn't that easy for sure! I feel like an amateur doing this in 10's and 5's, especially after seeing Jason Khalipa rip this through unbroken haha =) The big boys are on a bit different level. Regionals athletes are probably gonna crush this in about 3 minutes which is only half of my time.
First two sets were 10's, and the rest of them were 5's. I could not imagine how this should be done because I haven't done 35kg snatches that much, and especially not for this many reps. There is one Open workout where you mix 35kg power snatches and doubles unders. That was the reference point how I could think of this beforehand.
I decided to go by feeling anyway. I figured there's no point in gassing out in the beginning and then suffer for the rest of the workout. Snatch is obviously one of my weaknesses and it was exposed in this workout. Efficiency is not the best but I got the work done decently. This was a very good metcon, no doubt!
Tuesday. Hero workout Chief, 5 sets of 3min amrap of: 3 power clean (60kg), 6 push-ups, 9 air squats. 1min rest between amraps. Result, 5rds each amrap.
Today I got a chance to train only in the evening. So I fueled up properly and hit the gym later. My body hurt from yesterday's session a lot. There were a lot of cleans on Monday and the weights were heavy so it definitely feels now. Pull-ups also makes my lats tight as hell so I was feeling quite hammered.
Okay, so they also have a rope here. Waiting for that to be installed on the ceiling
My warm-up consisted of traditional stuff but spiced up with some rowing / ghd sit-ups / burpee workout. I wanted to get my breathing go faster and get blood pumping in this body before touching a barbell for the first time. Normally 60kg cleans are like nothing but this torso was not as loose I'd like to so I was thinking how it might feel like.
When I finally began the workout it was tough already after the first amrap =) I really had to talk myself up to finish this one. I was in deep waters on the second amrap. My legs were burning so awfully that it made me sick. Power cleans started to torture my legs. Upper body felt fine with these even with a big number of pulling yesterday. That didn't bother but lower body was taking a big hit.
2nd round of Chief
Push-ups were the "easiest" part of Chief. Went unbroken with cleans and push-ups. It's been a while since doing this element in a workout. Those air squats were the toughest part of the entire wod. No idea how my legs were so jello on the second part of this workout. It looked okay on the video but the feeling was totally different =) It was a huge mental win to finish this workout rx'd and with 5 full rounds in each of the amraps.
There were couple of options how to approach this Thursday. Had to listen to my body and what it needs to get done today. Snatches were one option, squats were on the table too as well as a chipper style clean and jerk / bodyweight combo. All good and different workouts but a hero workout was the winner.
Zimmerman. Result, 220 reps (9 rounds + 2 deads)
25min amrap of:
11 chest-to-bar pull-ups
2 deadlift, 142.5kg
10 handstand push-up
This is a newcomer for me. It's been in my phones notes since January, and I've promised myself to give it a try someday. Friday is already a classic for deadlift but I took it one day earlier because this seemed to feel my mood of the day perfectly. Pull-ups were very intriguing and I had to get them done.
Zimmerman is a long amrap, 25 minutes of elements that are not that easy. Pull-ups are chest-to-bar versions, deadlifts are semi heavy, and the number of hspu's per round is high. So it was difficult to comprehend how this is going to turn out. My strategy was to go by feeling. I know my body and that there would be no point in rushing through the gates early on because c2b's would kill me later on. And traditionally people think that once hspu's are gone, they really are gone.
I cut the pull-ups in pieces already in the first round. I wouldn't gain anything by trying to be a hero and aim for unbroken sets. Instead it was 6-5 or 7-4 in the first rounds. For most of the last rounds it was 6-3-2 reps, to release the tension in my lats and forearms. The amount of volume was huge for me. Total of 100 c2b's is no joke. I've done 100-150 pull-ups in a metcon but c2b's are next level. And hundred of them is about 100% more I've ever done in a workout.
Deadlifts would not create any problems. They were semi heavy but totally manageable. This was the easiest part of the workout. Focus here was not just to pull it but maintain good and solid form all the way. I believe it absolutely stayed as planned.
Hspu's were a mystery beforehand. How would they go? No idea. I'm very comfortable nowadays on them but if the volume would grow over 60 reps that would probably slow down. There was a total of 90 reps of these in the end. I'm extremely happy I was able to get through each and every set unbroken!
This hero wod was tough especially on upper body, not that bad for breathing. Consistency is a word that describes my pace well today. On the 7th round my heart was taking some extra beats so I had to wait for a while, that's why it took a bit longer.
Tuesday. Hero workout Gator, 8rds of: 5 front squat (85kg), 26 ring push-ups. Time, 19.28.
I knew beforehand that this training day is gonna be a shorter one so I planned for one metcon and one metcon only. So it was supposed to be rather quick session. After checking out couple of hero workouts, I ended up choosing this one: Gator. Squats sounded good and ring push-ups was a great counter element.
Gator. Time, 19.28
8 rounds of:
5 front squat, 85kg (from ground)
26 ring push-ups
Had no idea how long this might take. I googled "crossfit Gator" and ended up at mainsite's workout, dating back to August 2011. After browsing those comments I reckoned it's gonna be finished somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. I also thought those round times would start to get longer and longer because there was insane amount of ring push-ups. So needless to say it was a pleasant surprise I got this one sub 20min and that those rounds didn't collapse towards the end.
This is 185lbs rx'd which equals to 84kg, and I thought the barbell is supposed to be taken from the floor as it usually is unless otherwise told. That weight is okay for me, no problem. My traps are sore from yesterday's cleans, much more sore than normally. That's naturally because of the volume. Still, it felt good to get the bar from the floor. Those front squats felt good, and I got them unbroken. Had to push through somewhat but there was no doubt I would do them unbroken every round.
Mat Fraser
The amount of push-ups on the rings was intimidating at first. It was a reason why I hesitated to take this workout at all. I'm happy I did it. Went as deep as it's possible on the rings and managed to get a total os 208 reps in the books. Decided to go by feeling from the first round on. First round was maybe 16-10, next 2 rounds were completed in 3 sets, something like 10-8-8 or 10-9-7. Next 2-3 rounds were over in 4 sets, I remember them being 8-7-6-5.
For 4 rounds my times got slower each round as probably my rest periods took an extra second here and there, which totaled a little longer round. Then I realized I'm already mid-workout and started to speed it up a notch. From then on my rounds got faster every time. I'm very happy of being able to pace it up. Got some sort of mental boost of confidence and knocked the push-ups in 3 sets for the last rounds, about 11-9-6.
This was a good workout for sure! Mostly it put a lot of burden on upper body for me. Squats definitely felt but those were not the thing. It was absolutely the chest and shoulder work. Breathing was well under control all the time because I had to break down the sets on the rings.
It was great to have a day off of work, and we went shopping for a bit. Spent the day in Jumbo and after chilling for a while we threw down for a workout. Clean and jerk was how I kicked it off and finished it with a new benchmark workout. Very good training day.
Strength.
Every minute on the minute, for 5 minutes
7 clean and jerk, 60kg
This was actually horrible. Lots of reps and not that much recovery. It brought Grace to my mind… Feeling was pretty much the same at some point. I haven't done this many reps as emom training and it really felt nasty. It's kinda hard to say where it felt the worst, it was more like a overall fatigue hit me big time.
For the first 3 rounds I went unbroken, and the last 2 rounds were 5-2 reps. This was a great way to add high-rep sets into classic clean and jerk strength training. It was more like muscle endurance type of stuff than strength based programming. You can have a look of the session below.
Clean and jerk emom
Rahoi. Result, 163 reps
12min amrap of:
12 box
6 thruster, 42.5kg
6 bar-facing-burpee
I noticed this one sometime ago and there was no doubt I would do it one day soon. I've just been waiting for the right moment. It looks easy on paper but you don't have to be the smartest guy in the world to realize it's gonna hurt. It's a hero wod for god's sake. The first part of my training session was so rough that for a minute I though that's gonna be enough for the day. After recovering for 5-10 minutes I started moving and decided to move with a steady pace and not rush through it.
Today my result ended up being 5 burpees short of 7 full rounds. The amount of reps were small for each movement so I had troubles figuring out how this would turn out. As I started working I went unbroken with the elements and kept a break before moving on to the next one. I thought this would benefit me in the long run. 12 minutes is rather long time if you're going all in from the very get-go.
Box jumps were probably the most fatiguing element of this benchmark. You can always swallow 6 more thrusters and burpees, even with them being bar-facing versions which are the worst in my opinion. Every good workout to say the least and the entire training session was intense!
Monday. Ohs 3x2 (70kg). Hero wod Josh, time 10.43.
Long day at work, after which I drove back home to my love, ate some dinner and then we headed to the gym with my baby. Program stood heavy overhead squat doubles and a hero workout I just recently caught from somewhere. I've missed this one totally before. Maybe I have ignored it because overhead squats have been a problem earlier. But new tides have turned and I can rock them nowadays. Josh, here I come!
Strength.
Overhead squat 3x2 (across 70kg)
My intention was to get some heavy ohs done before the actual workout in order to get the metcon weights feel light. Plus it's about time to hit some heavier reps every once in a while. Focus was on moving deep enough and find good balance on the movement. Had no problems carrying the weight on my shoulders. That was good news. It was too heavy for me to try drop it to back rack. I could have but it was a bit intimidating so I decided to drop it to the floor.
Ohs recap
Took some lighter sets at 40, 50, and also 60kg warm-up sets. Total of 5 sets at 40kg, going as deep as possible, like a pause squat depth. That felt great so I continued the same process on 50 and 60kg. On the sets of 70kg my depth was not rock bottom but still below parallel. It would be a good call to go as deep as possible each and every time I squat. Just like on back and front squats.
Josh. Time, 10.43
21 overhead squat, 42.5kg
42 pull-ups
15 overhead squat, 42.5kg
30 pull-ups
9 overhead squat, 42.5kg
18 pull-ups
Great workout! It was challenging on grip strength for sure! My forearms were killing me during the pull-ups. Strategy was to hit barbell movement without dropping the bar at any point. I knew that would be a bit of a challenge but I was able to make it. Goal achieved. I had no idea how long this wod would take time, I guessed something between 10-20 minutes. It ended up being correct, final time 10.43 =)
Ohs was the easier movement. Pull-ups were awful. On the set of 42 reps I cut it early on. It was 10-10-8-7-7 reps. Next round was something like 6-4-4-4-3-3-3-3, and the last one 6-3-3-2-2-2. That means to say it definitely wasn't easy to hold on to the pull-up bar and knock the reps on.
Go ahead and try the workout. Be aware to have some good tension in the forearms. Plus don't let the barbell drop at any point.
Saturday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Hero workout JT, 21-15-9 of: hspu, ring dips, push-ups. Time, 12.11. Cashout, 50 burpees for time. Time 2.13.
This was a long work week, I went to work today as well. But afterwards Pauliina came to our gym and we hit a workout together, and started the weekend through this kind of quality time. No weights today at all. First ring skills, then hero wod JT, and finished the training session with 50 burpees. This was Pauliina's idea. She hit it first, and then talked me over. Thanks for that, it was a good finisher.
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups (2-1-1-1)
I've done some sort of muscle-ups 4 times in the past week. That's frequent for me. I usually do them once or twice a week. Ideally I would do bar muscle-ups twice a week and rings maybe once. I would also mix bar mu's into metcons if I had proper equipment for that. That would be great! For the past week I wanted to add more of them in to my programming.
Bar muscle-ups are rolling very nicely currently, and I'm a little proud of myself to say the truth. I'd like to see this transfer to ring muscle-ups too. It's much more complex movement and I tend to get fatigue on rings quickly. I don't do false grip practically at all anymore because I want to practice on strong swing and kipping. Hmm, that brings me to a question should I get back to false grip and complete more reps to get my body used to ring muscle-ups. Don't know but I'd like to see myself banging 10-20 reps in a session those times when I sacrifice time for ring muscle-ups.
Recap of rings
JT. Time 12.11
21-15-9 of:
Handstand push-ups
Ring dips
Push-ups
Because of my life's first strength program - Smolov squat program - I have neglected quite a number of movements that burn legs. Then again, that's been the reason why I've looked for workouts that put more pressure on upper body. Benchmark wod JT seemed perfect for these purposes. A lot of pressing. Think about it, 3 press movements, you're pushing your body to some direction. No real recovery time except the time you decide to rest.
In this workout at least I needed rest. This wasn't bad on breathing nor metabolic conditioning but more on muscle endurance. My upper body / shoulders were smoked after first round. I had to have a strategy for this workout. Gassing too early would have been a disaster so I took 15-6 on hspu's, then broke ring dips to 7-7-7, same with push-ups.
Round of 15's took me longer than the first round. Hspu's were 5-4-3-3, ring dips 5-5-5. At that time the burn started to get fierce and I couldn't speed it up even a bit. These sets were perfect for me. It was tough but doable. Last round on hspu's was 4-3-2, ring dips were 5-2-2 and push-ups 4-3-2. On last round I tried to minimize the recovery between sets. This was a good workout for upper body strength and endurance. I liked it a lot. It was tough, got to say.
Recap of JT
Cashout. Time 2.13
50 burpees
Because JT didn't get to my lungs practically at all, I needed to get something to get heart beat up. Pauliina did 50 burpees for time at the same time with my JT, and she started persuading me to hit the same workout. That sounded like a good short and intense workout. The only thing I was thinking about beforehand was the numbness in my shoulders / chest. How would those burpees hit me?
Well, it definitely had an effect but not that bad anyway. It was a bit slower than with fresh body but I'm pretty happy on the pace I was able to keep. And my body was moving constantly for the entire workout. Thanks Pauliina for this tip, it was a good finish to this effective training session!
Sunday. Deadlifts, build to heavy single (max PR 210kg). Cleans, build to a heavy single (max 110kg). Hero wod JJ: 1 to10, up by 1's squat cleans (85kg), 10 to 1, down by 1's deficit hspu. Time 30.21
Heavy day. Definitely a heavy day. Goal for the day: build up to a heavy single in both deadlifts and cleans. Haven't done heavy deadlifts in a while so I decided to find out where we're going right now. Deads took my sharpest edge but I wanted to take couple of cleans anyway. Last weekend I was wondering between Holleyman and JJ - both hero workouts - and went after Holleyman. It was only natural to attack JJ too because it had stayed in the back of my head. I wanted to feel the pain.
210kg, check!
Strength. Deads and cleans
Deadlift, build up to a heavy single (5x100, 3x140, 2x170, 1x190, 1x210kg PR)
Clean, build up to a heavy single (5x60, 3x80, 1x90, 1x100, 1x110kg)
I warmed up by posterior chain and lower body properly, did some "scorpion twists" to make sure my back, spine and core was ready for what's coming at ya. I started building up to a heavy single by loading 100kg on the bar and took a 5-rep set, slow one for the last rep to really engage posterior chain. 140kg felt like a feather. I added 30 more kilos and took a double. I've done a triple @ 180kg some months ago, it might be fun to see how many reps I could nail at heavier weights.
I decided 190kg would be a light one. Mental decision, I cheated my mind to make it light. As I took it up I knew there would be a new personal record today. Those around 200kg lifts are not easy so I jumped 20kg up right away to a PR lift of 210kg. It came up nicely, in my opinion. Not perfectly lined back but still a decent lift. It felt like it wasn't the ultimate max load but I don't wanna sacrifice form over kilos at these weights. It would be scary to smash the max load with a terrible form.
210kg
I was really happy on getting another PR on deadlift. I'm 34 years old and still hitting records on a steady pace. I'm satisfied on the strength levels I've gained through crossfit even though my main focus is on building a good engine within me. Strength is somewhat a compulsory element you must have in order to have a strong machine inside you. And let's be honest, it's freaking cool to lift heavy sh*t often!
110kg
Hero workout JJ. Time 30.21
1 squat clean, 85kg
10 deficit handstand push-ups
2 squat clean, 85kg
9 deficit handstand push-ups
3 squat clean, 85kg
8 deficit handstand push-ups
4 squat clean, 85kg
7 deficit handstand push-ups
5 squat clean, 85kg
6 deficit handstand push-ups
6 squat clean, 85kg
5 deficit handstand push-ups
7 squat clean, 85kg
4 deficit handstand push-ups
8 squat clean, 85kg
3 deficit handstand push-ups
9 squat clean, 85kg
2 deficit handstand push-ups
10 squat clean, 85kg
1 deficit handstand push-ups
Huh, what a workout. I don't have parallettes at the gym. I once asked for them but it's pretty obvious I'd be the only one using them so they didn't wanna order them. We've got rings, box and bumper plates so got to be pleased on the equipment =)
This workout is a little sick. There are some mixed emotions in play. In the beginning handstand push-ups suck a lot and cleans are easy. In the middle of the workout it gets easier as a whole, the rounds between 4-8 were quite steady pace around 3 minutes. Then the last couple of rounds really start to get under the skin. Hspu's get easier and squat cleans are a nightmare. Last 3 rounds were simply awful because of the cleans. My lower back was on fire all the time. It didn't even help on those rest periods I had between lifts or on the hspu's.
Because of the lack of parallettes I modified it so that I put plates on both sides of my head. I have no idea how big the elevation should be actually. Never have I completed deficit hspu's in a workout. I'm telling you they weren't easy. In the first round they went okay because the workout had just began and not lot of burden had been focused on shoulders and arms. I mainly tried to do hspu's in sets of 3 reps throughout the workout. On the first rounds probably a little more than that.
JJ recap
On squat cleans I took singles all the way from the first to the 55th rep. It was a blessing to being able to drop the bar down on the floor after cleans. That was possible as we were training just the two of us at the gym. It's probably a little frowned upon when there's more people at the spot. The clean part was okay, easy in the beginning, little by little it got heavier but there was no possibility on missing a lift. The most difficult part was the burn in my lower back when I was in the bottom position of the squat. And these had to be done in squat cleans, power cleans were not allowed.
This Sunday was a heavy day, no questions asked. Heavy singles in deadlifts and clean plus a hero workout. That creates a good combo of fitness!
Saturday. Hero workout Holleyman (scaled), time 41.43
Yesterday was a rest day so it allowed me to go heavy today. Body was fresh and ready to hit it. Tomorrow we are going to the country side so it's most likely gonna be bodyweight, kettlebells and sled action. So I was considering between Holleyman and JJ. Both are newcomers in my training and both looked very challenging indeed. I didn't mind which one to go after so I asked Pauliina and she decided on Holleyman. So put on the clothes and do the work. Took some ring dips in the warm-up section to improve on my weakness.
Rx'd version would be done with 102.5kg power cleans. No squat clean allowed. That's a little too much for me, I usually do squat cleans anyway on the heavy lifts. I don't even know where my max rep would be for power cleans. Probably somewhere around 90kg.
Don't have a wall ball either (yet…) so I replicated the 9kg wall ball movement with a 15kg bumper plate. I feel like regular wall ball is easier movement compared to this one. It doesn't matter when there's only couple of reps at a time but if I'd go for 50 in a row, I'd rather do it with normal wall ball. These plates are on your face all the time. Plus you get that short rest as you throw the ball up on the wall. Anyway, I like to have 15kg plate if I don't have access to wall ball because I'm not throwing the plate in the air whereas wall ball needs to be thrown with explosive movement.
The workout itself was a little intimidating. As I think about it, 100kg clean is rather close to my one rep max (110kg) so I didn't know what to think about it. Also 90 handstand push-ups looked like an eternity of reps. Max number I've done in a workout is hovers somewhere around 60 reps. Well, okay this workout was gonna be a longer one so it might not devastate me in the end. Thought 150 wall balls would not gonna be any issue by any standard. I'm comfortable with the movement and consider that some sort of strength.
I started the workout with 100kg squat cleans. Don't know why but after a few rounds my lower back hurt a little in both squat cleans and wall balls. Not in positive way. I don't mind if my muscles hurt but this wasn't a pleasure feeling so I scaled to 90kg. Same feeling occurred in both squat cleans and wall balls, in the squat position. It didn't help on the 90kg squat cleans so after 15 rounds I decided to do power cleans. Had no problems after that at all so it helped mentally a lot. I had good form on both movements so it's difficult to understand where this came from. Anyway, it went away and everything's fine. I'm feeling great at the moment!
I once saw this workout completed year or two ago and it's been on the back of my mind since then. I looked up to this guy crushing Holleyman and wanted to give it a shot myself too. Some day maybe I'm able to do it rx'd. The cleans were the thing in this workout, at least for me. Wall balls were the easiest. Hspu's started to feel heavier at around 20 rounds. Managed to fight through them unbroken though.
Recap of Holleyman
This wasn't that much of a cardio stuff. That's because the barbell was so heavy I couldn't lift it right away. My body was sweating a lot but breathing was under control constantly. A good workout, nothing more can I say. Great one.
Sunday. Hero workout Nate, 20min amrap of: 2 muscle-ups, 4 hspu, 8 kb swing (32kg). Result 8rds. Workout, emom for 14min. Odd min 6 back squat (100kg), even min 12 kb swing (32kg).
What a weekend, two hero workouts in two days. Nate has been teasing me for some time because it would be a workout with muscle-ups included. Completed another workout too, inspired by The Champ Mikko Salo who posted his workout on Instagram yesterday. That one included back squats and kb swings with 2-pood bell. Mikko is a CF Games champ from 2009 so I had to modify my workout a little compared to him.
Nate. Result 8 rounds
20 min amrap of:
2 ring muscle-ups
4 handstand push-ups
8 kettlebell swings, 32kg
I'm extremely happy on that Nate was within my reach. I've been working on my muscle-ups the past couple of months since I got the first one in December. For a long time it looked like the progression stays slow and nothing happens. Singles every now and then. Little by little I got them rolling better and the future started looking brighter.
Next development step was to being able to do muscle-ups without false grip. I do both style mu's. Today the workout anticipated lots of reps so I turned to false grip after the first one. The greatest number of ring mu's I've done during one day was 10 reps prior to this day. So I was looking to complete something like 5-6 rounds at most. Those 2 other movements were not gonna be an issue but I thought muscle-ups would turn out too challenging after couple of rounds. Got the muscle-ups done without misses almost completely. Only on one round I had one miss as my tapes failed me. Okay, maybe an excuse but I lost concentration once those tapes started coming off.
Handstand push-ups were easy, same with the kettlebell swings. I tried to nail those reps right away and then rest for a while to save some energy for the muscle-ups because this workout is definitely mu-oriented. All three movements put pressure on upper body so considering that, I'm even more satisfied how well this one went.
And now there's a starting point from which to improve on. Once I get those mu's rolling better I'll do them unbroken and don't have to rest that much between kb swings and mu's. There was a total of 16 mu's, 32 hspu's and 64 kb swings. I tried to nail one more rep in the last seconds but failed to shoot my head through the rings fast enough. Very happy on the result though!
Recap of Nate
Workout.
Every minute on the minute
Odd minutes, 6 back squats, 100kg
Even minutes, 12 kettlebell swings, 32kg
Mikko completed a workout like this. On the minute, complete 10 back squats (100kg) and 10 kb swings. Then rest for one minute. Total of 10 rounds… That is some heavy shit!!! My version of the workout was also emom but I changed between squats and swings. Thought 6 squats and 12 swings would make the deal. And they certainly did. My focus on the squats was to do them without stopping at any point of the set to catch a breath. Just force the body move back down immediately after coming up.
This was a great end to the training session. The combination of squats and swings made me gasp for air and my legs burn. Excellent training for this Sunday!!!
I was open-minded for Saturday's workout. My upper body was a bit smashed so I decided to leave barbells alone this time. One pal of mine - Joni - threw a message yesterday that he's gonna hit a hero workout called Small at this affiliate and asked me to join him. Unfortunately I wasn't able to join him but that workout he described sounded something I could work on. We went to the home gym with Pauliina in the afternoon.
Small. Time 45.24
3 rounds of:
1.000m row
50 burpees
50 box, 61cm
800m run
It turned out Joni himself didn't even do this workout today so I challenge you mister to hit it in the following days! Beforehand we were thinking about the length of this workout with Pauliina and ended up somewhere around 45 minutes. Well, the truth was exactly that, 24sec over. Pauliina seems to have extremely good perception of how long I work on these metcons =)
This workout was cruel as all four movements' nature is that you can keep moving if you have the mental capacity. It's not like you would have to squat clean 90kg all the time. It's simple bodyweight stuff, just keep the engine rolling. This is exactly a workout where the inner machine is built.
I can't say which movement was the easiest or toughest. Maybe rowing wasn't that bad as I thought it would be. Then on the other hand, running felt more consuming that I had thought about. It's no wonder burpees and box jumps were awful throughout the workout. It's very rare I do 50 consecutive of either of the movements. And here there were 3 sets of each… Seriously, it's just Filthy Fifty where 50 burpees / box takes place. Other than that, I don't know if I've ever done that many reps in a row.
On the rowing I kept the pace slower intentionally. Thought that 5-10 second faster pace wouldn't bring any victory home but taking it a bit slower would save energy for the huge amount of burpees and box jumps ahead of me. That turned out a good strategy for me. My 1k times were 1.42, 1.49 and 1.52 so it was around 1.50-1.55 / 500m pace.
Recent days training had its effect on my shoulders. They have felt a bit tired. Or maybe not tired but the training has had its effect. Yesterday's "overhead party" was a nice one to build strength on upper body. Anyway, doing high-rep burpees was tough today on my shoulders. Still, I'm very happy on how well I was able to keep myself moving up and down.
Already the first set of burpees was a nasty one but I kept thinking about happy thoughts, simultaneously cursing Joni for planting the idea of doing Small in my head =) On the first set I did 20 reps, then took a short break and continued with 10's till the end. I realized in the beginning that this is gonna be a long one so rushing things in the beginning would bring nothing good to the table.
So I took my time with the movements, trying to do them as efficiently as possible and with a steady pace. Tried to keep the rest periods as short as possible, still catching some breath every now and then. The second set of burpees was 15+10+10+8+7. The last round was most likely 5x10 reps.
Box jumps are something I've practiced lately a lot. I believe it was around 650 reps in March and there were quite a bunch in February too. I believe I've developed a lot in my technique and can keep on rocking them better than before. My legs don't fatigue that soon anymore and I can nail more reps in a row than before.
On the first round I did 20 reps, then probably 10's till the end. The breaks were just quick one to shake legs and release tension. Second round was something like 15's and 10's, and the last round was all 10's. At that time my legs were pretty smashed. Other than that I feel like my technique stayed solid. I just needed the occasional breaks because the legs were crying for a break.
Last movement was running. Our gym is located in a basement without access outdoors so it's one big part why I don't have that much running in my programming. It's a pity because it makes metcons very nasty. Usually I try to stay away from treadmills 'cause it's kinda boring stuff but this workout required it. So I hopped on and started moving. It's difficult to determine the speed, I haven't used any equipment when running so I don't know the pace I should be setting there. I kept it at 12km/h and then on the final round it was 13km/h. No idea how fast or slow that is in real life. I'd rather do the running in nature or at track.
Small was Big indeed! Lots of cardio stuff and the number of reps on those bodyweight moves were great. Total of 3km rowing, 2.4km running and 150 burpees and box jumps. That's a lot of working out. It's very rare to hit a workout this long. I anticipated this beforehand and took an extra water bottle that I filled with salted water. My metabolism is huge and I needed to refill my body with Himalayan rock salt.
Recap of Small
This workout was great challenge and it was awesome to being able to rock it through without greater problems. It was very tough, lot of breathing took place and lots of action was going on at four different stations but I managed it. Proud of that.
In the late afternoon we went to see my bro's family and their new house. No surprise there were Rogue wooden rings hanging right outside the front door. And probably not a surprise either that I had to test them with a muscle-up =)
