First of June, summer is officially here! However, May has been warm. It's been beautiful pretty much all the time, and Helsinki has blossomed nicely. Downtown has been crowded for couple of weeks. Today was been predicted by some sources to be the hottest day this spring / summer this far. Pauliina had a great idea of going to Kumpula outdoor swimming pool. This was the first time I went there. It turned out to be pretty cool stuff. To my surprise there was also a training place!
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
15 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
12 (6/6) kettlebell snatches @ 24kg
We sunbathed and hang around at the pool. At some point I went walking around to discover the training place. One friend gave a hint there might be some cool stuff to be played around with. It turned out there was pull-up stations, barbells, bumper weights and kettlebells of different loads.
At first I took a set of 10 strict pull-ups to get the mood on. It didn't take too long to find the kettlebells and come up with this workout. This was tough on the forearms if you think about it. Had to grip some sort of bell in both movements. Swings were unbroken, and the snatches were completed 6 per right hand, then 6 per left hand. Very good one!
Christmas training. We left home the day before Christmas to spend it together with the family. We visited my pops earlier and then drove to Klaukkala to cool down with Pauliina's parents for the past couple of days. Didn't concentrate in writing the blog this time, hopefully you guys survived =)
Thursday.
Rest day
My upper body was jammed from all the training in the week so it was perfect to have a day off at Christmas Eve. It was a "busy" day anyway with all the traditions taking place. It was a spectacular day as the entire rest of the week spending it in the best company.
Friday.
Metcon,
5 rounds of:
3 rope climbs
450m run
It was going to be lots of outdoor activities while being in Klaukkala. I had pretty much every fitness equipment with me in the trunk of the car. Agenda was totally open. I just went by feeling. Friday was a good shoulder burn in the rope climbs. It was awesome to go for them after a long break. Felt great. Kari ran with me on the run. Had to save some gas for the rope climbs.
Saturday.
Every minute on the minute x 10min: 10 thrusters (40kg)
Metcon, 4 rounds of:
16 overhead walking lunges, 40kg
400m run
This was a two-part training session. It was nice to have Kari and Pauliina train with me outdoors at the yard. There were a lot of lunges completed with the trio. My first piece was thrusters at 40kg. Ten reps per set. Didn't have a timer running at all. It was something like one set per 60 or max 90 seconds. It also got to my shoulders finally, and they got nasty.
Right after that I took a metcon with the same barbell, lunging with it overhead. Went 8 steps down, and 8 steps back. Kept the bar overhead all the time. It was strange to turn around having a bar overhead. With this weight it was okay but having more weight might have felt exotic. Running and lunging made my legs burn and breathing go heavy.
Sunday.
Metcon, 5 rounds of:
20 walking lunges, 45kg barbell in back rack
20 kettlebell snatches, 16kg (10/10 per hand)
Wear a 9kg vest
On Sunday I got a chance to go two-a-day. We got snow on the ground on Saturday. It was pretty freaking awesome to train outdoors in this kind of weather. It was sunny, bright and the air was crispy. Great to breath heavily. My butt and quads were sore from training but I guess today made it's last effect on my lower body to break down. In a good way. I like it when it hurts.
I went to 45kg, put the barbell in my back, and lunged for 20 steps / meters. This was a bit longer distance than I'd normally lunge. It was a bit torturing on my butt and legs. The idea was of course to go unbroken, and I did. Kettlebell was light as that was probably the only thing I didn't have with me on this trip. Kari had this one so I wanted to borrow that one for the workout.
It suited well for this metcon. One-hand snatches, 10 with right hand, then 10 reps with left hand. Total of 5 rounds. This really hurt in my legs and made my breathing go heavy. I liked it a lot. There was a mental side of the wod too with the longer distance of the lunges.
Evening session.
Push press 1x8 (73kg). Did 10 reps
Front squat doubles, 7x2 across @ 120kg
Power clean, 5x3 @ 80kg
In the evening we drove home and I went to the gym because there was some work to be done. Purely a barbell session. I had my overhead progress going on and it was time for that final set of 8's today. One set of 8 reps @ 73kg. And there was the permission of going more than 8 reps if possible. Warm-up was 10x40, 5x50, 3x60, 2x70, 1x80kg. That 80kg press was probably the easiest I've done in the past couple of weeks. Then dropped down the only working set. Got 10 reps on that one which pleased me tremendously.
Even though my lower body and especially quads were killing me I wanted to get real squats done. My back prevented to squat in the past week so I missed them a lot. Did some doubles in front squat. Not super heavy. Felt heavier than they looked. Quite solid sets. In the end couple of sets of light power clean triples. Just to get a good touch on the movement.
Last day at work. What a roller coaster of emotions. It's awesome to see all close colleagues have gathered around to show their love as we have spent so much time together in the past. It's been a humble experience and I absorb every bit of it with great gratitude. For the last time I went to train at the place where it all began 3 years ago, Haaga cave. This is where I have built up the base for all strength and skills work. Conditioning was made already somewhat during my floorball career earlier.
Overhead.
Push press 3x8 @ 67.5kg
This is part of the progress with the goal of building stronger shoulders. Now it's all about the 8's, and program said the weight is going to be 67.5kg. The last set was tough and I wasn't fully satisfied on having to arch my back way too much on the last 3 reps. Other than that I walked away with a good feeling of this strength portion.
Pulls.
Deadlift 5x5 @ 170kg
Last time when I did pulls from the floor it was 5x5 @ 160kg. Those deadlifts felt rather light so I decided to jump it up a notch. It's usually depending on how my palms look on pulling days whether it's going to be a good day or a day where I have to stay light. Back and posterior chain in general always take the loads well. Today it was 5 sets of 5 reps at 170 kilos. Felt good about it.
Conditioning.
10 rounds of:
10 handstand push-ups
14 kettlebell snatches, 20kg (7/7)
20 box jumps
This was not for time. It was originally but then a party of two came to hang around at the stations I was working on hspu's, and there's no other place where those could be performed. There was personal training session going on so I didn't have the heart to bother them. There were 3 rounds where I didn't do handstand push-ups and 3 rounds where I didn't do box jumps but snatches took place every single round. I went 7 on right hand, and then switched it to left hand for another 7 reps.
Accessory. There was plenty of time before sauna so I did some biceps and triceps. Something I do practically never. Not that those wouldn't be useful for me. It's just simply something that has not been in my tool box. Today I gave them a shot.
Spent the weekend in Klaukkala, in the countryside and as you probably already know the surroundings are perfect for crossfit. This time it was a metcon with running and kettlebell snatches.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
400m run
5 right hand kettlebell snatch, 32kg
5 left hand kettlebell snatch, 32kg
Wear a 9kg weight vest
This was something I call fun. It's been time since playing around with the vest I got from my baby something like 2 years ago. Every now and then I go and get it from the cellar, put it on, and get to work. It gives classic movements a different edge for sure.
Running was for 400 meters, 200m back and forth basically. I brought my 2-pood bell with me. This was pretty much without a warm-up. Took couple of swings and snatches with it and got to work. Breathing was high as both running and kb action have their effect on the game.
Friday. Squat (up to 2x140kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 right hand kb snatch (20kg), 10 left hand kb snatch (20kg), 10 burpee, 10 t2b.
There was a bit of a rush today but I found a spot to get a training session done. In the evening we went to see some friends at a restaurant for some quality time. Session included squats and conditioning.
Strength.
Back squat
3x90, 107.5, 122.5, 132.5kg
2x140, 140kg
Even though the deadlifts felt and looked pretty good yesterday I can feel there was some work being done. My back was tight big time so squats were not something I was looking forward to. That stood in my calendar and I didn't have time to think this over so I stuck to the plan. Triples in the beginning and the doubles in the end. Those doubles were supposed to be triples too but today that 140kg barbell weighed more than normally. On the other hand, all these reps came up pretty nicely so I'll take this for now.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
10 right hand kettlebell snatch, 20kg
10 left hand kettlebell snatch, 20kg
10 burpee
10 toes-to-bar
This was freestyling as there wasn't a strict plan how to work on my conditioning. Burpees were on the table, and snatches came to accompany them in the form of kettlebells. This session took place at my old gym where I used to do lots and lots of t2b's. That came to my mind and I threw it in the mix too.
Good wod for sure! Total of 20 kb snatches, 10 per hand in a row, then change hands. Everything was completed unbroken. It was mostly tough in general. There was no single piece that felt the worst or most challenging. Breathing was heavy all the time, and there is really no need to stop because the movements were either at bodyweight or then the kettlebell was only 20kg.
Saturday. Metcon, "Kettlebell Hell", 3x3min workouts of kb swing, burpees, kb snatch / kb c&j and goblet squats.
Workout outdoors, that's great. Love every minute of it. We are spending the day at Pauliina's parents. Just hanging around and chitchatting. The plan was to hit it early afternoon at their place and throw down together for a training session, all four of us. That's family quality time if you ask me!!!
"Kettlebell Hell"
1. In 3 minutes complete:
25 KB Swings, 32kg
15 Burpees
AMRAP of 1-arm KB Snatches (32kg) from the hang in the remaining time.
Result, 14 snatch
Rest 1 minute
2. In 3 minutes complete:
25 KB Swings, 32kg
15 Burpees
AMRAP of 1-arm KB Clean and Jerks (32kg) from the hang in the remaining time.
Result, 12 c&j
Rest 1 minute
3. In 3 minutes complete:
25 KB Swings, 32kg
15 Burpees
AMRAP of KB Goblet Squats (32kg) in the remaining time.
Result, 20 squats
I'm so proud of this gang as they did this idetical workout with me. Maybe a bit scaled version but still the idea was the same. It was awesome to witness these guys are ready for some serious work! Great attitude.
After I had done my share of the workout I checked how the original post stood at competitorstraining.com and the idea actually was to rest 5min and then repeat the whole thing. Well, I gotta redo this as rx'd some day.
I got all kb swings unbroken each round and paced myself through the burpees with quite a steady pace. Haven't done this heavy kb snatches a lot, maybe once or twice before. To my surprise they weren't that bad. Clean and jerks felt a little tougher. Goblet squats burned my legs. As if they weren't already smashed from squatting two days in a row.
This was a great workout to be done outdoors and I think I'm gonna do this again in the future. That time with the prescribed rest after workout and then redo the whole thing.
Take a look at the following link below, an interview of Rich Froning, four-time Crossfit Games Champion: Article of the Games champion.
Tuesday. Skills, bar muscle-ups. Strength, weighted ring dips with wall ball. Metcon, pair workout of running, kb snatches (24kg), and wall ball shots.
Alright, getting together with my main man Tony the Pony is always great! I see this dude pretty much every day of my life but still we don't have that many opportunities anymore to hit a workout together. So I cherish every time that happens. He's a great training partner to have. Always pushing you forward and talking you up so no wonder he's a liked person to be around. Today we drove to Pirkkola, a classic outdoors place if you've followed me before. The place is destined for some bar muscle-up training, and Toni brought his rings from home so we took advantage of those too. We pushed to the limits with a pair workout in the end.
Skills.
Bar muscle-ups (21 reps)
I'd really like to practice this skill frequently now as I've learned the right technique finally. Since I got my first bar muscle-up - probably last summer? - I haven't had missed attempts practically at all. I can get myself over the pull-up bar but my technique has demanded some requirements. There was a time I understood it but then I didn't practice it that much and I kind of regressed to that awkward style where I do the work mainly with the right side of my body instead of using the entire body evenly.
Recap
Recently there has happened a huge progress and I realized the technical improvements and was able to take them in to use. With the help of Pauliina actually. So I really wanted to try them out today and prove myself this is a movement pattern I can do. And I certainly proved it to myself. Took 22 reps in total, in sets of 3-6-7-6. Felt good all they way!
Dips.
Weighted ring dips 5-5-5-5-10 reps
With 9kg wall ball between legs
This was a cool twist. It's a rarity to play with weighted ring dips. It would definitely be a good ingredient to the soup. Probably would somewhat help with all work done with the rings, muscle-ups especially. We took couple of sets without any extra weight and then grabbed the wall ball between our legs and completed sets with that 9kg ball. I took mostly 5's but then in the end I took 10 reps. That maybe says I could have taken higher rep sets. For some reason those dips were heavy-ish though.
Metcon. Pair workout, time 20.21
5 rounds for time and reps of:
Athlete 1: Run 350m
Athlete 2: Complete 8/8 kettlebell snatch (24kg), followed by amrap of wall ball until athlete 1 finishes his run. Then change roles and finish the round
This was lots of fun. It was an individual work being done as a team. We worked towards a common target, getting the work done as quickly as possible. It took us 20+ minutes in total. Either Toni or me was running all the time. While the other one was running his 400m run (it might be shorter), the other completed 8 right hand kb snatches with 1.5 pood bell and then as many reps as possible of wall ball shots in the remaining time of the other one's running.
So I started and went for running for the loop and Toni did kb snatches and amrap of wall balls. As I returned, we changed so that he went running and I started the kb/wb work. Result was the number of wall balls you got each round. My result was 25-25-25-20-25 reps, a total of 120 reps.
My lower back hurt like hell during the snatches. This is sick but those heavy deadlifts have bugged me for a week now. I did them last Tuesday so it's about time to get rid of it. Running and snatches were the ugly part considering that back pain. Other than that I felt great during the wod. Running was not fast, didn't time it but I felt like I can't run that fast. On the wb's I got a steady pace. First round unbroken, and I took that as my target for the remaining rounds. On the second I guess I did 15-10, and something similar in the later rounds. Maybe 3rd and 4th were 15-5-5 and 10-5-5, and in the last round I got 15-5-5, tried to keep the recovery just short so that the tension in the shoulders could be released.
This was an excellent session. Working outdoors is always a pleasure and in good company it's always even better. Hoping to see some friends hit workouts with me outdoors while the weather is still great and summery!
Tuesday. Strength, deadlift 5x5 (max 185kg). Pair wod, as a team complete: 60 hspu, 80 deadlift (100kg), 100 kb snatch (20kg). Right after as an individual, 2 min amrap of burpees. Result, 39 reps.
Yesterday I wrote my friend returned from abroad back to Finland and luckily we are working in the same building and thus have the possibility to hit crossfit workouts together. We hooked up right away and it was time to do some deadlifting for strength and then a pair workout with Jasper afterwards. Great session!
Jasper in action
Strength.
Deadlift 5x5 (130, 150, 165, 175, 185kg)
When have I done some serious deadlift strength last time? No idea but it's been long time ago! Jasper threw the idea up in the air and it got to say, it sounded good. I wanted to see where I am at right now with this king movement. We decided to go for 5's all the way. That is, not maxing out on singles even though the weights felt good, but exactly see what is the 5RM currently.
This session went very well. I don't keep track on 3 or 5 rep maxes, I only keep notes on the heaviest single lifts. Anyway, I have the feeling my max heavy set would be 3x180kg. Never have I taken a heavier set, they have been singles if I remember correctly. Those earlier sets felt very good and the iron was light so the only option was to keep adding weight on the bar. The 175kg bar was clearly tougher already but after getting it back on the ground I knew there's potential for more.
At the last set - 185kg - the first and last reps were the most challenging. Getting the bar up from the floor for the first time needed a lot of energy but then I got a good rhythm on and went up and down as required. For the last 2 reps I reset at the top, inhaled, kept the air inside, tried to keep a good posture and then lower the bar to the ground and lift it back up. This was a biggie.
Metcon. Pair wod
As a team, complete the following:
60 handstand push-ups
80 deadlift, 100kg
100 kettlebell snatch, 20kg
Right after, both complete 2min amrap of burpees individually
Result, 39 burpees
After pulling the weights from the ground we hit a metcon together as a team. Chipper style stuff. One movement at a time, first hspu's, and once they were completed we moved on to deadlifts, and finally kb snatches. We split the movements in half so both did 50% of the repetitions. I was surprised those handstand push-ups turned heavy at some point. I thought I would knock that amount of reps without issues but in the end it was something like 4's at minimum. We started with 10's and then slowly faded to smaller sets.
Deadlifts we had agreed on both doing 8's all the way so it was 5 sets for both. We both did them unbroken. It didn't feel good on the grip but we managed to fight through. Those heavier sets caused issues on our palms. KB snatches were sets of 10's, changing the hand after every 5 reps. So it was 5 right hand and 5 left hand snatches, then I passed the kb to Jasper who did his share. The workout took us something like 12.30, after which we kept the clock running and worked for a 2min amrap of burpees individually. It was pure grinding for 120 seconds during which we completed the reps almost evenly with same pace, my result in the end was 39 reps. That was a game changer, a very good twist in the end of a workout.
It was awesome to get a chance to hit a workout with this great guy! Jasper is a friend from way back and it seems like he's gonna headquarter at this gym in the future. Hopefully so. Then we are definitely going to do more workouts together in the future.
We're gonna spend some time at Pauliina's parents place in the countryside. I had a quick sneak-in at the gym early in the morning. I had desired for split jerks for couple of days now so now it seemed like a good idea. No time for metcons or anything else, just classic split jerks, put the bar overhead.
My playmate on Sunday
Strength.
Split jerks 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 (across 90kg)
My goal was to take heavy singles, not looking to max out but more like 90% effort. I built up to 90kg by doing 5x40, 5x60, 2x70, 1x80kg split jerks. I'll add video tomorrow of all the shoulder-to-overhead moves. It felt good to jerk the bar.
I believe all the 90kg reps looked pretty much the same, that's where I get my satisfaction on this kind of heavy lifts. I also believe my legs were doing enough work and I dropped under the bar instead of just pushing / pressing the bar up.
Recap of split jerks
In the afternoon we drove to Klaukkala to celebrate Pauliina's parents' 30th anniversary. I say that's a big deal! Congrats to you guys, incredible achievement and commitment!
Chilling in the sun
Before the feast we finished the operation of building a sled with Kari. I'm glad we actually finished the project :) That wasn't self-evident in the beginning. It turned out to be perfect, simply perfect! I took my breathing up by pulling the sled back and forth, and did some kb snatches and swings in between.
Home gym in Klaukkala
The home gym starts to look like professional stuff! Haha, lots of kettlebells, sled, pull-up bar, dumbbells, resistance band, barbell with weights up to 50kg. What more could you ask for?
Plus it seems like the weather is always perfect in Klaukkala, it's difficult for me to understand
We had plans of hittimg the gyl for heavy back squats and a metcon but then again the weather was beautiful and as Pauliina suggested to go outdoors I was instantly down with that idea. In the morning I did a metcon at backyard and then we drove to Klaukkala where I completed another metcon.
Metcon.
15min amrap of:
Run 200m
20 kettlebell swing, 32kg
10 knees-to-elbows
This was fun. Enjoyed working outdoors tremendously, sun was shining, it was bright sky and spring is obviously on its way! Most challenging thing was that my forearms were killing me. I intentionally wrote 20 kb swings at 2 pood weight to put pressure on my grip strength.
I ran back and forth at our backyard for 2x100m, then completed 20 swings and finished a round with 10 knees-to-elbows. As there's no pull-up bar nearby I had to improvise. There's children's swing which goes perfectly as a pull-up bar. It was cool to have running element involved, I gladly take one if there's a possibility for that.
Kettlebell swings were toughest. After 3 rounds it was challenging to go unbroken and I had to decide it mentally that I'm not gonna drop the bell. It was painful from about 12 reps on. But I knew dropping the bell would waste time so I kept going. I'm very happy about being able to unbroken with the kb's.
K2e's were just part of the metcon. Wasn't bad. Just 10 reps so it was supposed to be ub as well. Breathing was heavy as usual. When I was running I tried to shake off the tension in my forearms. It got worse by the round. After the workout I couldn't squeeze my fingers together for a while :)
In-laws had cut a big pine tree in smaller pieces and saved some logs for me to handle a workout. Naturally I wanted to take advantage of that stuff. It's awesome to do any sort of metcons outdoors. I'm ready, no matter the weather. But the weather was still beautiful, sun was about to set.
I took 2 smaller logs and carried them for about 100m, went around a tree at about 50m distance and back. After log carry - which made my heart beat greatly - it was time to dp kb snatches. I didn't carry my own bell with me but luckily my old 20kg bell is nowadays located here at the in-laws. The weight was pretty good for snatches.
It was pretty cool to do the workout while the sun was going to sleep at the same time.
Both workouts were awesome! I updated this post with a load of photos and a video of the first workout of the day.
