Oh my, these legs have felt sore big time since Thursday. Yesterday's heavy squats probably didn't help either. Today's agenda was snatches in the beginning and then a longer amrap in the end.
It was a blessing to get my hands on a barbell and hit some snatches. It was a blast. I honestly feel like my snatches have taken a huge leap forward (not literally) on the technique. Once in a while I look at the videos from history just to compare how things have changed on my crossfit path during time.
Began at 50kg and went on by feeling. The snatches were okay. Only the first 60kg lift was horribly off but other than that they were alright. They were caught a little too front which is a classic in my case. I have never failed a snatch too much behind so that probably gives a hint that I'm not pulling back enough.
Snatches and first round of overhead squats
Metcon. Result, 5 rounds + 379m row
20min amrap of:
400m row
20 ghd sit-ups
10 overhead squats @ 42.5kg
This was on mainsite (www.crossfit.com) yesterday and it caught my attention. Decided to hit it today, just subbed running for rowing due to circumstances. Rowing was easy pace, something around 1:50+. My reasoning was that saving couple of seconds there would not make a big difference. Instead, cutting the transition times would make.
Through the rounds of 2-4 I had to change the order of ghd's and ohs's because someone was hassling over with the ghd machine for some back extensions. Well, I didn't mind which movement came first, and didn't reckon a difference in the difficulty level either way. These were unbroken each round.
Took a long session today of which big portion went to mobilizing my body. It really feels good sometimes to have that much time to maintain the body. First part was directly taken from the mainsite crossfit.com, Wednesday's wod.
Overhead complex.
7 sets of:
1 thruster
1 push press
1 push jerk
1 split jerk
Loads: 70, 72.5, 75, 77.5, 80, 82.5, 85kg
It was a funny coincident that I had thought about doing a complex of push press - push jerk - split jerk today. As I woke up today, there stood one pretty much the same workout at crossfit.com. Only difference was that it started with a thruster. Not a bad idea so I took it!
Got off with 70kg, and added 2.5kg per set. It was a rare moment to do as heavy thrusters as I did today. For some reason those are usually the classic 42.5kg / 95lbs in a metcon but almost never as a strength part of the training session.
The only set where I couldn't finish as planned was the last one. I couldn't nail the push jerk. Actually I didn't even try as the push press was so tight that I barely got it up. Push press seems easier for me than push jerk. Must be something to do with shoulder mobility. Or then not. It feels somehow tighter.
Metcon. Result, 15's + 12 thrusters
7min amrap of: 3-3, 6-6, 9-9... of:
Thruster, 42.5kg
T2b
This was a lot of fun. Thrusters are great for sure. Nasty but effective. Toes-to-bar made a good combo with them. It was a lot of breathing and burning in shoulders. That 7min time was perfect for this combination. I got the round of 15's done and then 12 thrusters on the round of 18's.
Today was Pauliina's official graduation party at the university so we put on our best clothes in the afternoon and went to celebrate the occasion with her parents. Lots of festivities and definitely worth dressing up =) I sneaked to the gym earlier for a quick workout. Took short warm-ups because this was mostly bodyweight stuff. Just needed to get joints and muscles ready for the workout. Lately there have been awesome wods in the mainsite crossfit.com. I took this one from there, dating back to 6.12.2014.
Metcon. Result, 425 reps (7rds + 5 pull-ups)
20 min amrap of:
10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
20 back squat, 42.5kg
30 double unders
This was a good rival to the other mainsite workout of rowing and dumbbell snatching. For some reason this won. I wanted to get pull-ups done so this was rather easy to pick. My result was 7 full rounds + 5 c2b pull-ups. This was a long metcon and I knew once again there is no reason to start running back and forth in the beginning. That would have only brought fatigue alongside.
On the c2b's I went 6-4 for up to 4-5 rounds. From then on it was 6-2-2, and the 8th round I had time to finish 5 reps in the last seconds of the workout. These were tough but still, I've developed a lot on this move. This brought me no problems even though they burned my upper body.
Have you done 42.5kg (95lbs) back squats? I don't remember ever having done them at this light weight. They caught me by surprise. Okay, I realized beforehand they must be challenging because otherwise they wouldn't exist on crossfit.com workouts. These wods always kick ass, and this was no exception. Each set of back squats was heavy on my legs.
I got them done unbroken without dropping the bar at any point. I took the bar tom ground every round. On the first round I did 10 reps, then caught my breath and completed a set of 5, more breath and another set of 5 reps. From then on it was 5-5-4-3-3 with short pause on top. But never did I drop the bar before 20 reps were done. That would have been a dork move strategically.
Start of the metcon
Double unders would have suited perfectly for me but there's obviously someone who has thought through this workout beforehand and who has wanted that legs are smashed from the squats before you got to move on to double unders. It's not so cool to jump around with stiff legs. But I got them pretty okay because there was only one miss during the workout, it was on the 5th round.
Great workout! I always love the mainsite wods. There's something in those workouts. Entire body is getting crushed each and every time.
Monday. Mainsite workout from yesterday. Max reps of shoulder presses in a descending weight ladder and pull-up variations.
Better leave this lower body chill out for a while, my right calf went to cramp during yesterday's workout in the last two rounds and has not recovered since so it's been a limbing day =) Anyway, that's not an excuse to skip the gym so I went there and reckoned the main site's workout from yesterday would turn out perfect for me. And it certainly did. Got to mention that Pauliina continued her burpee project and smashed couple of tens them again. I'm extremely proud of her!
Workout. Total of 54 shoulder presses and 57 different pull-ups
Max reps shoulder press, 60kg (result 6 reps)
Max reps L-pull-up (result 10 reps)
Max reps shoulder press, 50kg (result 10 reps)
Max reps strict pull-up (result 12 reps)
Max reps shoulder press, 40kg (result 16 reps)
Max reps chest-to-bar pull-up (result 15 reps)
Max reps shoulder press, 30kg (result 22 reps)
Max reps pull-up (result 20 reps)
The weights were described as in pounds, I wasn't so precise them. They should have been 135, 115, 95 and 65lbs. I rounded them up to the nearest ten kilos. Started at 60kg and dropped 10kg after each set. On the pull-ups the style changed every round, starting from L-pull-ups coming down to regular pull-ups.
This looked easier on paper than the feeling in my body was during and after the workout. It was not a timed workout. The main point was to put max effort to the table and see how many reps you can nail in every press / pull-up set. My shoulders and arms in general were burning like crazy, already in the 50kg presses. My entire body was shaking, legs included, when I pressed the bar up for max reps. It was a sick feeling to have it as whole-body feeling even though this was targeted to upper body mostly. I guess I gave it my all in this condition as my body was shivering all the way.
L-pull-ups are something I rarely do. To be honest I've done them just couple of times in my life so I didn't know what to expect from them. In my opinion they went pretty well. Got two-digit numbers and that satisfied my hunger. On strict pull-ups I was looking to get somewhere around 15 reps but my strength started bailing me after couple of reps and I couldn't find a good rhythm. Those presses prior to this one definitely had its' effect. Then on the other hand C2B's went very well. Having done them clearly shows in this number (15 reps). At this point my upper body was numb and I still got 15 reps done so I'm happy. Last set of regular pull-ups was not cool either because shoulders and arms had taken so much hit.
It was a very good strength type of workout. As this one was not a timed workout, I took my rest times between attempts and heart rate was high only occasionally but for a very short period of time. These mainsite workouts seem to always kick ass!
Sunday. Strength, every 30 seconds, perform 1 hang squat clean (70-85kg), for 8min. Metcon, 20min amrap of: 3 power clean (70kg), 6 ring dip, 9 box jumps, 27 double unders. Result 496 reps.
My legs are shaking. Lots of pressure on them the last two days. I had determined to do some more leg work today and I couldn't persuade myself out of it so I had to hit it as planned. Tomorrow was supposed to be back squat day but it's not gonna happen. Have to change the game plan. But today's workouts were great, both the strength part and the metcon which was actually taken from the main site, crossfit.com couple days ago. There was also something extra good happening at the gym as Pauliina tried some crossfit stuff in the form of burpees, box jumps and clean technique. That was spectacular!!!
Strength. Emom
Every 30 seconds, perform 1 hang squat clean, for a total of 8 minutes
Reps at: 1x70, 2x75, 6x80, 7x85kg
Even though those legs were sore already when walking at the gym I got them warmed up pretty well and they were able to take more hit in this strength section. I find squat cleans very useful and important movement for a number of reasons so I want to keep them on my programming constantly. My 1RM taken from floor is 112.5kg. And if you saw the post I put on during that last PR day you probably also noticed I pulled the bar as high on the failed 115kg attempt as I did on the lighter ones. So we figured with Joni who was training with me that day that maybe I should be doing high hang squat cleans with heavier loads so that I would be forced to get under the bar quickly. Because that was exactly the reason I didn't take it home on the 115kg attempt. Have to get under the bar more quickly. There is enough strength to pull the bar high enough.
That was the reason for today's high hang squat cleans. I did them emom style, one rep every 30 seconds. I didn't determine the loads beforehand but went by feeling. The first one was too light so I added 5kg more. Those 75's were too light as well so I went to 80kg. Took couple of them before making it to 85kg. I got them all done pretty well. I have once hang cleaned 90kg, but mostly it's been around 80kg. Considering that these weights were very good for me.
My hang cleans are mostly from pocket, i.e. from high hang position. Mostly when you say high hang, people tend to lower the bar to just above knees from where they take advantage of the second pull and the upward motion's momentum. For some reason I have always cleaned high hang reps from the pocket. I could probably clean more weight from low hang but this is the way I'm used to do my thang.
Metcon. Result 496 reps (11 rounds + 1 clean)
3 power clean, 70kg
6 ring dip
9 box jump, 61cm
27 double under
This was posted on the main site just couple of days ago, on the 16th of July. The difference was the cleans. It was rx'd at 84kg and they were to be cleaned as hang power cleans. Hmm, that's too heavy stuff for me so I scaled it to 70kg power cleans. That was proper weight indeed. It was a 20 min amrap so there was a lot of work ahead of me.
I know how my body works and what I'm capable of. It's much easier nowadays to pace myself and not burst out of the gates because I know pretty well how this human being operates. It's hard to say what part of the workout was toughest. Those power cleans started to weigh much more than just regular 70kg cleans. I did them touch'n'go every round unbroken so even though they weren't easy they certainly were nasty.
Luckily there were only 6 ring dips after the cleans. Otherwise I might have had to break them down at some point. Now I got them done 6 per set on one attempt all the way. There were no doubt at any point I wouldn't do them ub but I took a short breathing session after the cleans before jumping on the rings.
Box jumps seem to be my thing. I do them a lot. Jumping up and down causes breathing to go heavier and legs a bit soft but it's always manageable to do them. I think I mastered them well today every round.
Beforehand I was thinking about the double unders and how big the number of reps would turn out eventually. 27 reps is not bad for a couple of times but this was more than just couple of times. Total of 11+ rounds was my result and I'm more than happy to write that I got them unbroken on each round! Don't know if that's a great success story but it feels awesome to nail through the workout without having to stop at any station for any reason at any given point.
My round times were consistent and that is always my goal for a workout this long. 20 minutes of constant moving around is a long time. I had my breaks in the transitions between movements but when I started working I did everything unstoppable.
And hey, have you guys realized the Crossfit Games begin in 3 days!!! How sick is that. There's gonna be a rivalry we haven't seen before. There are so many candidates for those podium spots in both men and women that it's hard to understand. Rich Froning, the 3-time champion. Scott Panchik who was close to Rich in every workout at the Regionals. Jason Khalipa, a former champ and second place last year. Let's add couple of more names to the list: Ben Smith, Josh Bridges, Dan Bailey, Neal Maddox, Chris Spealler, and rookie Matt Fraser who crushed the Regionals. Plus of course our very own Jonne Koski, the bad ass from Finland who won the European Regionals this year. By the way, he's been mentored by The Champ, Mikko Salo.
On the women's side last year's champion, British Sam Briggs couldn't make it to the Games but 2-time champ Annie Thorisdottir from Iceland is making a comeback after skipping last year due to injury. Also Julie Foucher is making her comeback and is aiming to the podium. There are tons of ladies reaching for that number one spot: CLB a.k.a Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, Alessandra Pichelli, Talayna Fortunato, 7-time Games athlete Rebecca Voigt and naturally Valerie Voboril as well. Last year Garrett Fisher made it 5th as a rookie, how does his rookie sister Lauren Fisher make it? The set-up on both men and women is sick, I can't wait to see the fittest of fittest compete against each other!!!
