We were going to hit the gym with Pauliina after work but once we were on the locker room I noticed my shorts were not in my training bag, doup! That was a momentary bummer so we decided to drive home and head to the gym later in the evening. However, Pauliina suggested to hit the woods instead and head to a monkey bar station to have some fun with them. The weather was simply perfect and I love working outdoors so there was only one solution to this one. We had a blast training together! Later after eating some food I placed a wall ball on my shoulders and walked to a nearby parking lot for some wb shots and then handstand skills practice.
Skills.
- Bar muscle-ups
- 20-30 reps
This was actually a very good chance to work on this skill set with Pauliina. That's because the pull-up bar is so close to the wall at our regular gym that with my skills / kipping my knees would hit the wall if I tried them over there. I need more space so that's why my bar mu's have always taken place outdoors or at Toni's Box. It is kind of sick that Pauliina was my coach today even though she hasn't done muscle-ups herself. This thing repeats in other aspects of crossfit too. She has a good coach's eye and she's ready to give good tips on form and technique all the time. That has been very useful to me in the course of my crossfit history.
My first muscle-ups were traditional in regards to my form. I landed on top of the pull-up bar with my right hand first and then I twisted my left hand smoothly there too. But it shouldn't be looking like that. And I'm sure it doesn't do good to the joints in the long run. So I've tried to learn the correct style to nail mu's. After looking at it for a while Pauliina threw in some ideas and I tried them in the next set. Basically the main point was that I shouldn't be so hasty with my moves. More patience.
Muscle-ups
These muscle-ups didn't feel heavy as such and my elbows were in much better condition compared to regular muscle-up training. It must be that twisting movements in the joints that doesn't do good for body. But doing the reps correctly is another thing. Then muscles start to get tired after couple of reps for sure. Today I did mostly sets of 5 reps but there was also a 7 involved and then in the end I took a couple or triple. I didn't count them but I'm sure this was the most I've ever done in a day. I was so pumped up about the better form that I couldn't stop doing them. Pauliina was doing her thing between my sets. At least toes-to-bars, monkey bars, and some pull-ups.
Evening session.
- Wall ball shots, 80 reps
- Jogging between sets of 20 wall balls
- Skills, Handstand
When the sun was about to set down I went to my car to get the wall ball, then walked to the nearby sports stadium because there's plenty of empty wall to throw the ball. The intention was not to take a bad ass metcon, I just needed to get some wb shots in my system. I thought throwing 20 reps to the wall, then run a little loop, about 300m and repeat it for a while.
It turned out my lower back is still sore from the deadlifts on Tuesday, and it made it impossible to run a lot. I took couple of loops but then stopped running and focused on wb. This is one of the reasons I'm not fond of doing heavy deadlifts too often. I want to squat, and work hard but going heavy on deadlift kind of paralyzes the whole body. When lower back is sore, it's not that cool to do anything demanding with the body.
After throwing the ball I walked home and at the backyard saw the piece of green and I just couldn't pass it without taking couple of attempts of handstand. Didn't aim to walk, but just stay still and being inverted. It was cool to try this for a while! All in all, the day was a success. It was pleasant to work outdoors with my baby and especially work on these skills that should always be improved and I know there are some real development areas.
Monkey bars and wall ball shots
