Monday 26.1: Gymnastics and Cleans

Monday. Gymnastics, 3rds of: max effort c2b, max effort hspu. Strength, hang squat cleans (max 95kg). Emom x 12min: 1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean @ 90kg.

I had lots of plans for this training session. Had no need to rush at all, planned to take my quality time and work through a lot of things. After getting mobile I started the gymnastics part and was pretty much ready to leave after that. It was a big forearm burner =) But then I got my sh*t together and was able to pull off a great clean session also.

Gymnastics.

• 3 rounds of:
• Max effort of chest-to-bar pull-ups (22, 16, 16 reps)
• Max effort of handstand push-ups (25, 17, 16 reps)

I really like these gymnastics starts on training sessions to kick things off. Those have been emom style versions this far but now I decided to step my game up and try some max rep efforts as I wrote that I planned couple of days ago. This was way more taxing to do big sets of pull-ups and hspu's. My lats, forearms and triceps were burning and finally went numb after these sets =)

The name of the game was pretty much clear after the first set already. After second I was done and the third one was just brutal feeling. It took me about 12 minutes to complete this 3-rounder. Not that it was for time, definitely not, but I wanted to have some decency on the time frame. After this I went to warm up with an empty barbell and it felt difficult to hold on.

By the way, I ended up doing a PR on handstand push-ups (25 reps on the first attempt), which pleases me a lot! And actually it has to be a PR on those c2b's as well. That was not the definite max out version of those pull-ups. It was wearing a lot and I did those without stopping at any point. Had I stopped and tried to do singles one by one I could have knocked a little more. But that was mentally disturbing so I just took what I got "unbroken" and was satisfied with that.

Cleans.

• Hang squat clean triples (40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 92.5, 95kg)

After recovering enough and getting my forearms back in the game I started working towards heavier set of hang squat cleans. I built it up from light weights. Actually I did 3 hang power cleans + 3 hang squat cleans up to 60kg, then went to hang cleans only.

The most difficult thing in these sets seemed to be how to have my hook grip on the entire time. I had no issues getting under the bar quickly enough. I'm very happy about this fact. When I clean I catch the bar with open hand, a.k.a. not with hook grip. So once the bar comes down from front rack position I need to catch it mid-air and that seems to be a thing I need to work on. It's a prerequisite to being able to catch the bar with a proper hook grip so another rep is starting from the same position as the first one.

This was my original plan for today

Clean emom.

• Every minute on the minute x 12 minutes
• 1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean @ 90kg

I also wanted to get the timer running and do some work with a good sweat. And this was the answer this time. 90kg power clean is not easy for me. That was much tougher on me than the hang clean. But it was definitely a great way to practice that. And all reps were similar, and that's the most important thing to me. It can not be a surprise how they look like. There needs to be consistency. It felt great to move that 90kg power clean, that's for sure.

Meathead.

• Pendlay row 5x5 (60, 70, 80, 80, 70kg)

Tried also something I thought I'd never do. My training pal who does traditional gym work was talking this movement up a lot so I figured lets give it a shot. Took couple of sets and it really activated the entire back. Okay, maybe not my thing but it was worth trying =)

Friday 2.1: Front squats, Hspu

Friday. Strength, 4x8 (110kg). Hspu's, 1 set of max reps (PR 23 reps).

Very quick workout. Most of my time went to warm-up =) Then some squats that I postponed from 2 days ago. I had Diane in my mind for some reason but the schedules simply didn't match so I took some gymnastics in the end. Tomorrow is going to be a great day as I'm heading to throw down with my main man Toni.

Toni's squats. He made a PR in the past week, congrats!

Strength.

• Front squat 4x8 (112.5, 110, 110, 110kg)

God damn these sets were heavy! I was too weak for the sets. I was thinking how the heck were they so heavy and I wasn't able to smash them through as planned. These were supposed to be 4x9 sets @ 112.5kg. As I came home I checked the weights just in case to make sure there was correct loading. Well, surprise but they were not! It was written as 4x9 @ 105kg. That would have been a totally different thing. I have no idea where those kilos came to my notes. This was very encouraging because that was kind of a bummer I couldn't lift the weights as I had thought in my head.

Now as I think about it, those 105kg squats seems like easy lifts. They definitely are not but at this time when I'm sitting at my couch, it feels much lighter. Truth may be something else at the gym. Last 2-3 reps of each set today were big battles. Mentally strong effort but there was a little rounding in my upper back which I would not like to see ever.

Gymnastics.

• Max effort of handstand push-ups
• Result, 23 reps (PR)

Okay, those squats took me about 20 minutes, I had plenty of time for recovery between sets. Had to be enough time in between. But then again, my time was pretty much up for the day. I just thought about throwing my legs against the wall, inverted and try max reps of handstand push-ups without warming up for the movement at all. Felt pretty good to get a new record by stringing 23 reps together. 2 days of the year are in the books, and I have 2 PR's in the books. I'll take it!

Wednesday 3.9: Hspu, Handstand, Burpees

Wednesday. Gymnastics, hspu max reps (PR 22 reps). Finish up to 50 reps, for quality. Skills, handstand. Metcon, 40-30-20-10 burpees with 3-2-1min rest between sets. Time 9.56 (including 6min rest).

This day was dedicated to bodyweight movements and gymnastics. Wanted to go light this time, at least regarding weights. It felt like a great opportunity to test out max effort of handstand push-ups, then I took handstand for couple of sets and finished the training session with a burpee fiesta to work on my engine. Took some 15 minutes of mobility after training, felt very good on this body.

Real time was 9.56, it took me couple of seconds to stop the clock running

Gymnastics.

• Max effort, handstand push-ups, PR 22 reps
• Then finish off to complete a total of 50 reps

Did a good classic warm-up drills to get myself ready and took couple of hspu's to get this body prepared for what's up next. Then it was time to throw myself inverted against the wall and give it my best shot. Previous PR was 18 reps and I felt like it's time to crush this one. First 10 reps were easy, at 15 reps it got heavy, and at 17-18 reps I had to stop for a second at the bottom position. I was able to push through the worst and just kept going until 22 reps. Then I came off the wall, didn't get a no-rep but it felt like the wall was there. This left something to dream of still. 25 reps will be there in the future. This was a good meter to see where I am at currently with hspu's.

After recovering for a while I took another set of max reps and got 14 in a row. Third max set was 12 reps. That equalled 48 reps and I took couple of reps before the first set so let's say there was about 50 reps, a little over. I'm very happy, not only on the PR, but also on begin able to put out numbers like 14 and 12 reps in second and third set.

Skills.

• Handstand

It's been while since I've tried handstand. For some odd reason I've forgotten this one. Not intentionally, just haven't remembered to practice this skill. There's not much space at our gym, you've seen it in video clips, but that's not a good excuse. Currently as my handstand skills have improved I know the space is enough for me. And it was today as well. I tried to stay as still as possible in a good hollow position but in reality I had to take small steps with my hands to find balance. The first attempt was the longest, I feel like I stayed inverted for eternity. The following attempts were shorter in nature but I probably stayed better within couple of hand steps.

Rob O smashing huge numbers on thrusters

Metcon. Time 9.56 (including 6min rest periods, working time 3.56). Compare to 25.9.2013

• 40 burpees
• 3min rest
• 30 burpees
• 2min rest
• 20 burpees
• 1min rest
• 10 burpees

This kind of workout is great, interval burpees, huh… This is the second time I've done this kind of hardcore burpee sets. It's almost precisely one year ago, the difference was that the descending ladder back then started from 50 reps, totaling 150 reps. Today's set was 100 reps. The nature of the workout is tough. Normally in a metcon it's impossible to go "out of the gates" with burpees, a.k.a. at full speed all the time. In this kind of interval stuff you gotta go with all you got.

40 burpees as fast as you can. I got 26 reps in 60 seconds and 1:37 to finish the 40 reps. If you look at the picture above, cut about 2 seconds from each interval because I had to click the round-button after each set. Three minute rest was enough to get recovered. I felt it in my upper body before dropping my chest to the deck for the second set (30 burpees). At that one I had to grind through the last about 8 reps. Pace stayed pretty much the same, I tried to look at the clock after 26 reps and it was 20 reps again. That means to say the pace was identical. The last reps were tough but I tried to forget it and keep going.

Third set  - 20 reps - was mentally easier but the recovery period was cut shorter too. So the last reps, maybe 6 of them, felt bad but there was no option but to push through. I guess it took me about 46 seconds so the pace was once again the same. It helped a lot that a friend of mine was cheering me on the last burpees. Last set was the easiest, it was 10 reps only so just don't think about it, just go up and down. It was something like 20 seconds, maybe a little more. These might have been the quickest reps I got in this workout.

It was a great way to get lungs to work at max effort. It was also pleasing to get a PR on bodyweight movement and the hspu's rocked very well in general too.

Sunday 12.1: Hspu, burpee, du

Sunday. 50 hspu (PR 18). Workout, 5 rds of: 10 burpee, 20 du. Corework, 50 ab wheel.

We spent the weekend away from home. Today we drove back, and once we parked our car at the home drive way, it was about 10 minutes and I was back on road and headed to the gym. Maybe not the most ideal preparedness for today's workouts but I kept it light and it served my goals well.

Hspu's.

• 50 handstand push-ups
• Sets of 18, 12, 10 and 10 reps

I had only one clear goal for today. Complete a personal record of consecutive reps on handstand push-ups. Previous one was 15 reps and I was looking to crush that one. Goal achieved, 18 is the new number. My warm-up today was pretty lousy, I did some foam rolling, stayed inverted about 20 seconds and took one hspu to get myself ready. This time it was enough to get my body moving. I'm happy I was able to go over reps without having the perfect feeling of preparedness. It started to become heavy after 10 reps. I believe I did 13 reps, then took a break and fought it through slowly to the end.

Recap

Workout. Not timed

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 burpees
• 20 double unders

Sunday was not a barbell Sunday. Kept it at bodyweight and worked light for a not-timed workout to get some blood flowing in my veins. 50 burpees and 100 doubles, just a little short metcon. It was a quick one, couple of minutes to finish it. I had a solid pace, you'll see it from the video what pace I was going through. Not full throttle, goal was just to keep body doing work steadily.

Core.

• 50 ab wheel

I started to feel the burpees in my shoulders after those hspu's. They were surprisingly demanding at some point. Finished the session with some core work. These also pressured my shoulders as well as core. Haven't done them in ages. It was fun.

Monday 30.9: Handstand push-ups, row

Monday. Strength, 5 sets of max effort: handstand push-ups (max PR 15). Metcon, 5 rounds of: 1min row max effort, 1min rest. Distance 1.609m.

I was taking it a bit easier today with concentrating in bodyweight strength and then short rowing workout. I've found a good way to program my workouts so that I don't have to keep total rest days that much and still my body feels fresh all the time. August was a rough month with barbell work taking place pretty much every day. That was seen in the total weights lifted during the month (over 100.000kg) and my body was too tired in the end. In September I decided to take it easier with the barbell, focus on bodyweight movements much more than earlier and it seems to pay off. Finding a balance between the two is an issue to to fight constantly.

Toni's PR stuff

Strength. Total 54 reps

• 5 sets of max effort: 
• Handstand push-ups
• Results PR 15, 10, 11, 9, 9 reps

Building strength base in August and pressing / jerking a lot with heavy bars has strengthened my shoulders. In September I've done numerous reps of handstand push-ups and my technique has developed a lot. Today I did 5 sets of max reps hspu's. The first set was clearly the end result of a lot of work. Did 15 reps which is new PR by 3 reps.

Back in summer I remember doing 30 reps as a metcon. It took me an eternity and about 7 sets to finish it. Today I had 36 reps after 3 sets. And after 5 sets my result was 54 reps. Some development has occurred. This time I did all reps with kipping. Got to work on my strict hspu's as well. Especially in strength sessions like this one. In a metcon, reps for time, it's only smart to do kipping because it's more efficient. However, today I wanted to do a personal record =)

Metcon. Distance 1.609m

• 5 rounds of:
• 1min row, max effort
• 1min rest

Some cardio work in the end. Iw was able to keep the pace under 1.40 all the time. It was around 1.34-1.38 / 500m. Kept the damper setting around 8. Could have continued for longer than 5 rounds but today's agenda was not to keep it on high volume. After rowing I concentrated in mobility, resistance band and lacrosse ball to release soft tissues. Tomorrow I'll get back to action with barbells. Let's see what's in program =)

In the mean while you guys can shake a little haha

Sunday 8.9: Deadlifts and hspu's

Sunday. Skills, double unders 7x30 reps and deficit hspu's. Metcon, 5 rounds for completion: max effort deadlifts (140kg), max effort hspu's.

Deadlifts and handstand push-ups were written in the stars for me. I wanted to hit it hard and get some volume with both of them. I've been putting more effort in deadlifts and posterior chain in general lately. Also hspu's are gonna get my full attention in the fall. Took double unders and deficit hspu's for skills training.

Skills. Du's and deficit hspu's

• Double unders 7 x 30 reps
• Deficit handstand push-ups

Wanted to put some effort on double unders as well. Can't take them for granted any time. My focus today was to keep my torso upright all the time and concentrate in keeping my legs as straight as possible. There's some more work to be done but in general I'm very satisfied to my double under skills.

A new movement was welcomed with pleasure: deficit hspu's. That means you put for example bumper plates under your arms so that when you land to the ground, your head goes below the level where you hold your hands. Thus, having to use extra power and stronger kip to get back up from the "hole". This was the first time I tried it so I stayed moderate and used only one plate under each arm. I found it surprisingly easy to kip up from there. I want to try with bigger deficit in the near future.

Metcon. ME deads and hspu's.

• 5 rounds of:
• Max effort deadlift @ 140kg
• Max effort handstand push-ups

I programmed this workout in the same way as benchmark workout Lynne is carried out. Figured these two movements would suit perfectly together and they are both movements I need to put more focus anyway. I performed well today compared to my strength and skill level. Got a good bunch of reps for both movements.

Results. Total of 54 deadlifts and 49 hspu's.

• 1st round, 15 + 12
• 2nd round 12 + 11
• 3rd round 7 + 9
• 4th round 10 + 9
• 5th round 10 + 8

On the first round I nailed 15 deadlifts. Earlier in the summer I was looking for my 12 rep max in deadlifts and that time I was able to get 140kg successfully. So today I was looking to improve on that figure and got it! The first set of handstand puhs-ups was as spectacular. Got a new PR, 12 reps! On the second round it was 12 reps on the deads and 11 hspu's which was also over my previous record (10 reps).

For the third round I put gloves on my hands 'cause I thought it would give me better grip on the barbell. How wrong was I? At 7 reps the bar slipped from my hands and I decided to ignore the gloves on the remaining 2 rounds. That turned out to be a good choice as my grip was way stronger there, also seen in the results, 10 reps both rounds.

It feels awesome to look at the reps on the hspu's. Starting from 12 reps and coming down to 8 reps is solid work. I was able to use that kip to my advantage quite well. In the beginning of the training session the first warm-up hspu's were very difficult but after doing some more training and also deficit hspu's, it started to feel much easier. My previous record was 10 reps and today each of my sets were close to that and twice I went over it, spectacular =)