Thursday 22.11: Bench metcon + kb metcon

Thursday. Metcon, 50 bench press (75kg). For every racking, perform 30 air squats. Couple of hours later. Metcon, 4 rounds of: 5/5 kb clean and jerk, 15 kb swings, 15 goblet squats. Kettlebell 2 pood (32kg).

Time for the monthly bench press workout. I've did something like this earlier as well. Today it was high-rep semi-heavy bench metcon with a spice of squatting between bench. I went home, ate well, dropped Pauliina to see her friend, then wore some shorts on again and went to back yard to complete another metcon with kettlebells. Then it was time for the fourth warm meal of the day. I'm a hungry guy.

50 bench for time

Metcon. Time 15.09.

• 50 bench press @ 75kg
• Every time you rack the barbell, perform 30 air squats for penalty

The essence in this workout was to get a lot of repetitions at semi-heavy weights. This is about 75% of my max load. I got 10 reps on the first attempt, then 8, 6 and the rest were between 4-5 reps till the end. Every time I had to put the barbell back on the rack, I did 30 air squats and burnt my quads. This was more stressful on muscles than on breathing / metabolic condition. That's because there was a "compulsory" recovery break between the movements. I had to get some strength back on my chest / shoulders / triceps before taking another attempt on the bench.

It took me a total of 9 sets and 8x30 air squat penalties to finish the workout. That's over 3.5k bench in rather short time domain. I'm happy I got the reps done stylishly with a 75kg bar. That's heaviest I've done in high rep bench metcons.

Those squats started to make my legs feel sorry for themselves. There were 240 reps in total. The most difficult thing was to complete 30 reps in a row. About 20 reps can always be done unbroken. Adding 10 reps to that doesn't sound much but it certainly feels in lower body. It burnt my legs a lot. This 50 bench type of workout is a nice way to incorporate bench press into metcons as well. I originally took influence of this one from Blair Morrison's blog "Anywherefit". He's got some pretty spectacular workouts there.

Metcon. Approximately 12.30.

• 4 rounds of:
• 5/5 kettlebell clean & jerks, 32kg
• 15 kettlebell swings, 32kg
• 15 goblet squats, 32kg

Uuh mama. Looks simple, feels awful. Those goblet squats just don't feel good. I had my 2 pood kettlebell (equals to 32kg), and that's pretty much all I need for an exhausting workout. The first workout of the day concentrated more on the strength aspect so this one was more on the metabolic side of fitness. Clean & jerk with kb, then swings and finally goblet squats. That's basically a front squat, just hold the kb upside down at your chest. I did 5 c&j's both hands.

Hey c'mon, it's 7 p.m. in Finland and you can't see shit, it's the darkest time of the year as you can see :)

I was thinking about doing a 10min amrap, didn't want to stress about the minutes or rounds when I started. During the workout I realized the reps are gonna stay too low in 10 minutes so I finished 4 rounds in about 12.30. My time got slower towards the end, it got tougher on both my breathing and strength. I call this a training day, versatile stuff, body got what it hungers every day: hard work and dedication.

Impressive and consistent work from both Miranda Oldroyd and Garret Fisher on benchmark workout Fran

Monday 2.9: Handstand, kettlebell metcon

Monday. Skills, handstand walk. Kettlebell metcon, swings, presses, goblet squats.

Today I stayed at home circle and focused on skills training and created a metcon for my kettlebells. In the afternoon we're heading to Stockholm, Sweden, for couple of days with Pauliina on a cruiser so I had to wake up early to do some training.

Handstand. Practiced on both stabilizing myself in the handstand position and also on the handstand walk. Managed to walk a couple of meters and having some sort of balance while doing it. Below I tried only to stay stabile, no to move forward. Happened to move a bit further and backwards =)

Metcon. Kettlebell

• 30sec on, 30sec off
• 6min, kettlebell swings, 32kg
• 2min rest
• 6min, kettlebell presses, 20kg
• 2min rest
• 6min, kettlebell goblet squats, 20kg

Brought two of my bells outdoors and did a metcon "interval" style. Swings, presses and goblet squats (front squats). Six minutes per movement, the rest, and move on to next movement. I aimed for a certain amount of reps and then held on to that figure. On the swings it was 15 reps, 20 presses and 15 squats.

Guys playing

Wednesday 13.8: Front squats, thrusters, pull-ups

Wednesday. Front squats 5-5-5. Metcon, 4 rounds of: 10 thrusters (45kg), 10 pull-ups. Time 4.20.

Wednesday stood for front squats after a long time and then the classic combo of thrusters and pull-ups. Something Fran-alike. Uuh, nice. Toni was hitting some back squats and kettlebell stuff. Plus a lot of mobility. I've also done some K-starr mobility workouts lately in the evenings.

Some evening abs :)

Strength. Front squat 5-5-5 (100, 110, 110kg). Did some front squats, they've been non-existing lately. Been doing a lot of squat cleans though so some amount of front squats have been there. Today I took 3 sets of 5 reps. 100kg on the bar, went through those 5 reps. Added 10kg and it felt quite tough after 3 reps. So I stayed with 110kg in the last set as well. Was able to push through well all 3 sets. Have to do more back and front squats this autumn. Squats and deadlifts are something I really want to focus on. Got some technical issues as well to which I'm looking to improve on.

Metcon. Time 4.20

• 4 rounds of:
• 10 thrusters, 45kg
• 10 pull-ups

These movements are tough when you put them together. And the long burn afterwards, very comfortable… not! =) 4 sets of 10 thrusters and pull-ups for time. This is "balls to the wall" type of workout. No need to rest because it's such a short one. The problem I had was that my barbell was about 10 meters away from the pull-up rack. That was a bottle neck time-wise. It's easily 5-10 seconds in the transition each time and there were more of them compared to benchmark workout Fran.

All rounds in both movements unbroken. It felt good and I felt strong moving the bar and my body. This was a good preparation mentally for doing Fran some day. It's awkward that it's such a short workout and you're still kicked in the ass big time.

Toni's workouts. Two sessions. Skills and squats in the morning, kb action in the evening.

AM. Skills: kipping pull-ups, wall balls and ring pull-ups
Strength. Back squat 3-3-3-3-1-1-1 (100, 110, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140kg)

PM. Metcon, 30 second on, 30 seconds off, for 20 minutes:

• Kettlebell swings (averaging 18 reps)
• Kettlebell front squats (averaging 10 reps)
• Kettlebell clean & jerks (averaging 10 reps)
• Alternating these three movements every minute
• Using 20kg bell

Toni has improved greatly on the kipping technique in pull-ups. Also his squats have taken a huge leap forward. Story tells that today's 140kg was rather easy and the coach was ready to pump more weights on his back. This was his shared pr. Evening workout sounded worth trying.