Monday 4.3: Weighted pull-ups, hip thrusters

Monday. Weighted pull-ups 3x10, floor press 3x6, hip thrusters 4x10.

Yesterday's workout - hero workout Coe - really has its after aftershock on my body today. The combination of thrusters and ring dips have caused my triceps to be extremely sore right now and back squats and thrusters made the same feeling on my legs. Every time I love this feeling as much even though it hurts like hell =) Hopefully I can do my olympic lifting training tomorrow as planned.

I've done much more benchmark / hero / challenge workouts lately compared to history. The reason for that is my goal to achieve better muscular stamina and I genuinely believe this is the correct road. These type of workouts are cruel and effective. Today's agenda after yesterday's hard work was a notch easier. Weighted pull-ups, then first touch to floor press and couple of sets of hip thrusters. Toni did a 20min amrap of modified hero wod Coe.

Hip thrusters @ 60kg

Weighted pull-ups. 3x10 (9kg vest). I've done weighted pull-ups and dips earlier but today was the first time I did pull-ups with my vest, which weights 9kg. I took 3 sets, 10 reps each time. Could've also put more effort on training chest-to-bar pull-ups (C2B) but this was my choice today.

Weighted pull-ups @ 9kg

Floor press. 3x6 (40, 60, 60kg), just trying to get familiar with the movement. After pull-ups I realized my triceps were still burning from Coe so I didn't start to load the barbell with heavy weights. My focus was to get used to this movement, never tried it before. The difference between bench press and floor press is the range of motion. Floor prevents you from lowering the bar all the way to chest so the main focus of this one is to focus on the pressing power in the middle to top position. Pretty much the same if you did deadlift from a rack, from knee level to full extension.

Floor press @ 60kg

Hip thrusters. 4x10 reps (60, 60, 60, 80kg). I remember doing hip thrusters once or twice about half a year ago. This is a good supportive movement to create explosive power in the hips. In this set I realized my heels are too far away from my rear. To place the heels closer demands also a greater push from the hips, simultaneously you get better positioning and more stable stance. I corrected my position after this first set. I was able to move that last set of 80kg as easy as the 60kg ones. I believe this is a good movement to take on once in a while.

Hip thrusters @ 60kg

Toni's workouts. Modified Coe, result 6 rounds + 10 thrusters.

• 20 min amrap
• 10 thrusters, 42.5kg
• 10 dips

Instead of going for 10 full rounds Toni subbed this to 20min amrap, which may have been a smart decision. Another adjustment was to replace ring dips with regular dips. Toni, you can give your own comments on this one, did you like it? Do your hands and legs scream for pain? 6 1/2 rounds of pure pain =)

Saturday 15.9: Game + deadlift + metcon

Saturday. Deadlift 3x3 (max 137.5kg), hip thrusters 3x8 (max 80kg), good morning 3x8 (max 60kg). Wod. 4 rounds of 30 box, 15 K2E, 30 DU. Time 9.44.

One game, strength training concentrating on back muscles and hip plus a metcon. Tough day, just the way I like it. We had three games today as a small tournament, it was part of the rivalry for the Finnish Cup Champion. I played the last game of the day. We had one tie and one win before the last game so we needed to beat our competitor to move to the next round. The result 6-0, can't be more than proud of the team and how well we played and definitely earned the spot in the next round. In addition to my shoutout, I also got one assist and denied one penalty shot at the end of the game, not bad.

Strength. Deadlift 3x3 (130+135+137.5kg), hip thrusters 3x8 (60+60+80kg), good morning 3x8 (50+55+60kg).

Yesterday I was wondering weather to go for front squats or deadlifts and finally decided for squatting. So today it was obvious that I would compensate that decision for my body. I had already a good "warm-up" and sweat on because of the game and therefore I took on rather quickly the strength training. I did some 80 / 100 / 120kg weights up first and then moved on to test my back some more with heavier weights. I took 130+ weights as my 3-rep sets. I was happy with the result. My aim was not to go for personal records this time (140kg) but I was close.

After deadlifts I wanted some more strength training before a metcon and my calendar showed I should go after hip thrusters. Never done them before, only looked some videos on youtube. They should create power and explosiveness to hip area, crucial for deadlifts at least. I took 3 sets of 8 reps, first 60 kilos twice and finally 80kg. It really felt this was the first time doing them, it wasn't that stable and solid. But at least the weights came up =)

I also took good morning as last strength training, 3x8, adding kilos in each set. Starting from 50, going up with 55 and 60kg. I'm going to add this once in a while to my deadlift training days. It's a good variation to keep the body fresh.

Wod. Box jumps, knees-to-elbows and double unders. Time 9.44. Four rounds for time of:

• 30 box
• 15 K2E
• 30 DU

Felt like a heart attack was about to come my way. Good workout! Combination of box jumps and double unders are a killer. A mand gets gassed rather quickly, the third round was tough, hard to catch a breath and you don't want to take a pause once you're fighting the clock. I went unbroken for two rounds for all the movements. For box jumps I recall stumbling two times during the workout and for K2Es I had to go 10+5 for the last two rounds. DUs didn't go unbroken in any round, usually in three sets. It was tough, exhausting workout and I really enjoyed it. The abs also got their part of the workout with the knees touching elbows (okey, some of them touched only triceps). I recommend. Once you do it, post your time, I'm interested to see where I stand among you guys.

Toni suggested this workout to be done next week. It also caught my attention, probably going after it

Five rounds for time of:

• 15 walking lunge steps, carrying a 95 lbs barbell (43kg) in the front rack position
• 30 double unders

Monday 3.9: Back squats + wod (row, burpees, kb, du, lunges)

Monday. Back squats 5x5 (max 110kg) + wod: row / burpee / KB / DU / lunges. Time 13.03

Strength training, small rest period and then a workout consisting of rowing, burpees, kettlebell swings, double unders and lunges. I finalised the workout with a second set of rowing. I had scheduled hip thrusters as well but I didn't have enough time so I had to skip 'em. I must include those in some other training, but not early in the morning. Can't apparently wake up that early =)

Strength. Sets of 5 repetitions, once again, 80+90+100+105+110 (4 reps). My warm-up wasn't that good today, at least my joints didn't feel as flexible as they should have and what they are capable of. That worried me in the beginning but once I got it going, I forgot it rather quickly and it went smoothly. However, warming up is crucial so never forget to get the muscles and joints prepared before the workout! Another thing I was discussing with my brother was that there should be some variations in the strength workouts' amount of repetitions. I've been stuck with 5x5 sets and will therefore have more deviations in the future. 3x1, 3x5, 3x5, 5x1, 5x3, 5x5 type of sets. Bring some new stuff for the body so it won't get too familiar and doesn't stay in the comfort zone. This is the new approach to developing strength in my body. Today I still went through the routine with 5x5 reps. Max rep set was the same as my personal record of 110kg, I lifted it four times and on the fifth I needed a friend's help to get it pushed back up. Thanks Visa :) Anyway, I can't be dissappointed as 110 came up four times.

Wod. Rowing as main ingridient, with sidekicks of burpees, KB, DU and lunges. Time 13.03

• 1.000m row
• 20 burpees
• 30 KB (20kg)
• 40 DU
• 50 lunges
• 1.000m row

Beforehand I figured the pace of rowing would not make a difference in the final time as much as to do the other movements unbroken. A couple of seconds difference in the rowing pace per 500m wouldn't determine if the wod was successful or not so why try make record on the first rowing kilometer. Better to make it with good and fast pace but not so that you're totally out of the game after that. There was a time for that hero achievement: in the last rowing sprint. I clocked 1.45 / 500m pace on the first kilometer of rowing, went burpees unbroken, same with the kettlebell. There were too many double unders for me to manage them unbroken, I recall them somewhat around 15+10+5+10. Then lunges went unbroken as well, it was a thigh burner for sure but I didn't want any further interruptions after DUs. The last row was around 1.50 / 500m pace so the difference between rows was around 10 seconds.

Considering it afterwards, I put my heart into the wod completely. There may have been some time saving in double unders but I had to get my breathe at some points, I couldn't keep it continuous all the time. Burpees are a movement which in my opinion require skills to get them going fast. The movements have to be so smooth to keep the body going at all times. There could have been saved time seconds. Other than that, I'm happy with the kettlebell and lunges, I don't think I could have done them any quicker. All in all, I'd say this wod performance was rather good. In the evening I have 1.5h floorball training. Tomorrow I'm having two crossfit sessions in my schedule.