Wednesday 10.6: Mu's, Front squat, 30min emom

Wednesday. Skills, muscle-ups (PR 6 reps). Strength, 3@80%, 2@85%, 1@90%, 3@85%, 2@90%, 1@95% (max 128kg). Metcon, emom x 30min: 1st min 15 russian kb swing (28kg), 2nd min 10 pull-ups, 3rd min 20m sled push (85-110kg).

Training day with my bro. The best. Our work capacity is pretty much on the same level so it's easy to come up with workouts. He wrote this training day's components all the way from skills, and strength to metcon. It turned out to be a spectacular day!

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups (3-3-6 reps PR)

Bro wanted to share coaching tips on the muscle-ups. There are some issues we both have on the rings. No doubt the development has been good and I'm very happy on the level I am right now. Hunger grows during time so it's time to step up our game. Bro has had an issue of linking reps together as he hasn't found the rhythm when coming down after first rep. Today he figured out some stuff, and nailed the reps beautifully after that!

Those triples felt semi-heavy and I thought after the third and final set whether I'm gonna get 3 reps or not. Then I said to my bro that next step for me should be that I should maintain tension in the body during the swing, feet close together and squeeze my butt cheeks. These three things in mind I jumped on the rings and just kept completing rep after rep, finally getting a Personal Record of 6 reps, kaboom!!!

Recap of training day

Strength.

• Front squat
• 3 reps @ 80% (108kg)
• 2 reps @ 85% (115kg)
• 1 rep @ 90% (122kg)
• 3 reps @ 85% (115kg)
• 2 reps @ 90% (122kg)
• 1 rep @ 95% (128kg)

Haven't done much of these percentage work on my own. This is pretty classic stuff in the weightlifting scene and in crossfit as well. Considering the rep scheme and loads I was confident on doing these weights without problems. I just did couple of singles at 125kg few days ago.

I was a bit ashamed on the last rep at 128kg as I took a failed rep at first. That went under my skin. Couldn't believe it. So we took the barbell up on the rack and took an easy single at the same weight after a short break. This was a fun short session of front squats.

Metcon.

• Every minute on the minute for 30 minutes
• 1st minute: 15 kettlebell sqing, 28kg
• 2nd minute: 10 pull-ups
• 3rd minute: 20m sled push (85-110kg)

Long emoms are great. Lately I have done them more than before. Sipa got this from his coach so there was no doubt we would hit it. At first it felt easy. At somewhere around 20 minutes we realized the recovery started to change. Heart beat didn't come down as quickly as in the beginning. Russian swings were the easies part of this one. Haven't done russian style swings pretty much ever. They are a lot lighter. They kept the heart rate up though. Couldn't find the 2 pood bell so we used the 28kg version.

Total of 100 pull-ups were a good number for one session. I thought they would start become tougher after kb swings but forearms stayed sharp till the end. It was more like a whole-body fatigue that starting to wear us down. Each part was doable on their own. It was the combination of movements and the time domain that made the last third of the workout tough. Sled was light but in the same way it started to burn legs. We added some weight in the last rounds.

Thursday 16.4: Muscle-ups, Cleans, Handstand

Thursday. Skills, muscle-ups (PR 5 reps), handstand. Complex emom, 1 clean + 1 front squat (up to 105kg). Workout, 3rds of: 1min cleans @ 90kg, 2min rest.

Today I wanted to test out couple of muscle-ups just to see if the previous mu training session was a fluke or success. Then lots of different type of cleans, either as complex or as emom workout. Then I took some tng clean and jerks combined with c2b's, and finally handstand training. Cleans got heavy but other than that the day was a lighter one.

Skills.

• Muscle-ups (PR 5 reps)

My confidence was high when walking to the gym. Short warm-up but I was so hesitant that I needed to get my hands pretty quickly on those rings. Just a double to get used to this movement, then it was time to put my phone on Pauliina's hand and I told asked her to take a short clip because I'm gonna hit a PR right now.

For me this was no surprise. It was the end result of working towards this goal. This thing took another step further when I bought Rogue rings. Since then, I've had the possibility to practice muscle-ups. Okay, we had the same rings at the old gym but there was an issue. The roof was too low in that place which means that my form was not able to be as it should be. When bringing the rings outdoors to a tree branch I was able to hang the rings high enough which means I had to jump on to the rings.

This new place is gonna seal the deal. I'm gonna keep having muscle-ups in my training sessions frequently. Plus, here it's also possible to do bar muscle-ups which is 100% going to have a positive side effect on ring mu's too. On this particular record breaking set the ring straps got stuck around my left foot, and I had to stop the momentum for a while to get the strap loose. After the 4th rep the "natural grip" got ripped off my hands which made the last rep a little challenging. I'll take this for now!

PR, 5 reps

Complex.

• Every minute on the minute
• 1 clean + 1 front squat (40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110kg)
• Then, 5 x 1 clean +1 front squat @ 100kg

Last 2 days my legs have been sore as hell. Don't know if it was the sled work or those 100 thrusters on Tuesday. The reality anyway was that I needed to get some heavier cleans and squats in my system for sure after yesterday's rest day.

This was a fun little complex. Emom workouts are the best. I really like that timer putting some pressure on recovery. Had no issues with these cleans this time. My hands were a bit wider this time too even though it was only cleans, not jerk. This might be a good call because I was able to bring the barbell higher before bouncing it up from the hips. Felt good.

After having done this for 10 minutes this part of the workout was over. After looking at couple of the reps on video I wanted to get more reps done. Decided to make 5 quick sets of the same sequence, clean + squat combo @ 100kg. Enjoyed every single rep of these.

Complex

Cleans.

• 3 rounds of:
• 1 minute of squat clean singles @ 90kg
• 2 minute break
• Result, 6 reps per minute

More cleans baby. I've done more power cleans lately so I took a good doze of squat cleans today. No doubt my legs were tired after this. And this also got my breathing heavy as well. Last reps of each set got challenging for sure. There might have been time for 7th rep in some sets but I was definitely done after 6 reps. I noticed the further the set / minute went, the lower the bar came to my hips which is not a good thing. It was a fatigued man's way to get that barbell on my front rack.

Extra work.

• Clean and jerks (40-60kg)
• Chest-to-bar pull-ups

There was a metcon in my mind but there was no way I was gonna hit it after this one. Toni just did a 3 round workout of 400m running, 10 c&j @ 60kg and 10 c2b's which would obviously be some sort of sprint. A moderate length wod at max.

Instead I just did clean and jerk sets to work on efficient mechanics. Good break between c&j's and pull-ups. C2b's were sets of 10's. Nothing super heavy.

Skills.

• Handstand

In the end I took couple of sets handstand. It went quite decently. I think I'll have to take some clips in order to witness that myself. There has been nice development that I have been able to hold my stance still for longer times than before. I mean without moving my hands at all. Just balancing the entire body by holding the core tight and pressing my fingers strongly or gently towards the ground depending which way my body is leaning.

Sunday 15.3: Run and Gymnastics

Sunday. Run 4km. Gymnastics, ring muscle-ups (PR 4 reps).

We spent the weekend in Klaukkala and my mood was great. Of course the company was good with my fiancé and her parents, plus the weather was so freaking beautiful as it has been the past couple of days. It's been months since I've seen sun so the difference is huge. Okay, I might be exaggerating but it's been dark and wet for some time. We had the possibility to eat outside on our terrace so it really was warm.

Run.

• 4 kilometer run

There was a wall ball in my car too but it stayed there for the entire time. Yesterday I was just chilling out. We made sushi in the evening, and it was the first time in my life. That was kind of cool thing. My rolls weren't the most beautiful ones but they tasted delicious =)

So we were both anxious with Kari to go outdoors for a training session. He's been running like a maniac in the nearby nature for the entire winter so he took me for a run on one of his classic routes. It was a 4km run, easy pace, but it felt good. It was awesome as birds were singing, and sky was clear blue all the time.

Gymnastics.

• Ring muscle-ups
• Complete 15 reps (including 4 rep PR!)

This was the main part of today's training session. I was anxious of searching a spot where I could hang my Rogue rings and hit some muscle-ups. There is something cool in doing this stuff outdoors. No matter if it's gymnastics, sprints, kettlebells, weightlifting or bodyweight training, I just love it outdoors. Weather is neither an issue, but it sure as hell is a positive push if the weather is like this!

I was a bit afraid we wouldn't find a perfect spot but luckily this one was very close to the in-laws house. Maybe 100 meters from there, not bad. Kari brought ladder with him and sawed off one useless tree branch which seemed to be on our way. The hight of this branch was exactly on spot so that I jumped a little to reach the rings and thus I was able to keep my torso straight all the way without stressing my feet hitting the ground. That's the situation at the gym because the rings are too low.

Ring skills

First rep a single, and the purpose was just to get used to this environment. After that one neighbor that we hadn't seen before came out and started talking what's happening here. Luckily he was just interested and wanted to see how things are done. I got a little positive pressure there and took a new PR with 4 consecutive reps! That was a big thing!

I've taken 3 reps once in my life. Those have mostly been singles and doubles. Today I got 2x3 reps and once 4 reps. This was beyond my dreams. Having a place like this where I can use my entire body is essential. It has to be high enough. My sets today were 1-4-3-2-3-2 to reach a total of 15 reps. My technique definitely needs improvement but at this point I'm happy on every single rep I'm able to perform!

Thursday 18.9: Bar muscle-ups, Bench, Dips

Thursday. Skills, bar muscle-ups (25 reps). Strength, close grip bench (max 87.5kg). Ring dips.

I had been waiting for this day for several days. It was like Christmas in September. What would be that much fun. To drive to Pirkkola and practice on bar muscle-ups! How little can make a crossfitter happy about =) I took a trip there right after work, did a quick skills workout, then went home to pick up my baby, and headed to the gym for another quick session.

Skills.

• Bar muscle-ups, 25 reps (PR 10, 5, 5, 5 reps)

Pirkkola is the place to be for this skill practice. It's my favorite outdoor training place. You can practically do anything you want out there. We've hit couple of HC Triplets there too with Toni. This pull-up bar is perfect for my purposes. There are plenty of room both sides of the bar and I can utilize a big kip. At the gym it would be more like a strict muscle-up if I had the skills for that.

I took a short warm-up for my shoulders, then couple of strict chest-to-bar pull-ups and toes-to-bar before jumping on the bar and started ripping it. I've done something like 5 reps at max before this day. One time I've been able to do 9 reps in a row with every rep being ugly, landing over the bar with a twist, right side first. Since Pauliina started coaching my muscle-ups I've jumped to next level and currently those mu's look like they should. The movement is evenly balanced and I'm able to use my hips better than before.

The first reps felt so good that I decided to go after a new record. PR was ahead of me. Finally got 10 reps and was happy at that point. I didn't max out totally, there might have been some room still. Took a break and repeated for 5 reps. Actually I took 3 x 5 reps with rest between sets. This totaled 25 reps which is more than I've ever done in one training day. Plus all of these - I mean every single one - were good reps today! That was more than I was ever hoping to complete. I'm super stoked on this!

PR

Strength.

• Close grip bench press, 5x60, 70kg, 3x80, 82.5, 85, 87.5kg, 5x80kg
• Ring dips 10xbw, 10x10kg, 7x15kg

Couple of hours later I found myself hanging out at the gym indoors doing bench and dips. This was a quick session because of schedule issues. We spent about half an hour at the gym with Pauliina. A lot shorter warm-up than normal was compulsory but I got ready enough for bench. It's been weeks / months since last bench session. Took 'em this time with close grip. The point being giving more pressure on arms / triceps, and thus focusing on translating the benefits to olympic lifts.

Same focus was on weighted ring dips. There's would be a point getting my arms stronger, that would definitely make my overhead strength more legit. I got inspired by Austin Malleolo, Games level athlete who talked about this just currently. Don't worry, I'm not gonna start meatheading frequently but there might be a point in that. Dips are something I have increased gradually to my training but bench is a rarity.

Recap

This training day was all about bar muscle-ups. I've been waiting eagerly to find a good place to knock a bunch of them and hoping my form has stayed good. Luckily the trend continues. And, I'd like to see this develop also technique on ring muscle-ups too! Should be able to go for multiple reps on rings too.

Monday 25.8: Ring mu's, Presses, and Metcon

Monday. Skills, ring muscle-ups (PR 3 reps). Strength, 7 sets of bar complex of: 2 push press + 2 push jerk (70-80kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 10 hspu, 20 power snatch (40kg), 30 box. Time 14.24.

It was great to get back in action after a bit of a slack in the weekend. Don't remember when I would have had 2 recovery days in 3 days. But it might have done good to this body, I definitely hope so. At least I got PR in ring muscle-ups! Strength part consisted of overhead work with a barbell. Finally my metcon was continuous high-rep stuff with couple of movements. Those hurt the body in different nature than low-rep stuff. I also got some good tips from one co-worker regarding mobility on my upper body as I'd like to see my shoulders get more flexible, especially for overhead squat / squat snatch positions.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups (PR 3-2-2-2 reps)

C'mon, I finally got 3 unbroken reps on the rings!!! This is something that's been in my sight for some time but I haven't been able to nail it this far. Entering the gym I was a little nervous about doing muscle-ups because it seems it's been a while since last ring mu session. I've been knocking those bar muscle-ups with good success though.

I grabbed the rings, took a good swing and flew up over the rings. That was easy. I got confident right away and decided to go for more. I've been watching those Grid League professional matches and those muscle-ups in some event looked so easy and effortless that I thought why wouldn't they look as easy when I go after them. With this in mind I dropped down and did another continuous swing and put all in to get over the rings. Check, why not go for the third one. And I got that, what a relief! It felt simply great to get that third one in the books.

As it felt so good I decided to try multiples in the following sets too. I went on by feeling and took a double on the next set. Same with the rest of the sets. This was clearly the best ring muscle-up session ever in my crossfit career. Might sound lame for you guys who can do multiple ring mu's just like that, but for me this was success and boosted my confidence a lot. I realized the same small things that led to my bar muscle-ups proceed to next level brought me to this point. I had the same patience as with bar mu's. Hopefully I get a chance to work on bar mu's as I need to find a pull-up bar with plenty of space. Can't do them at my regular gym. Those bar mu's clearly transfer to some benefits on rings as well.

Strength.

• Bar complex of:
• 2 push press + 2 push jerk
• Sets at 70, 80, 75, 75, 75, 75, 75kg

This was classic overhead strength. I wasn't sure what weights would suit for me. That's because of the push jerk. It's kind of awkward that my push press is actually a little better than push jerk. I remember pressing 90kg overhead but push jerk max is maybe at around 85kg, and a little shaky version for sure. Can't find perfect technique for that movement. So this was both strength and technique training at the same time. Then, on the other hand my split jerk is at 105kg, taken from floor as c&j. There are big differences depending on the way the bar is lifted overhead.

Anyway, I decided to do 7 sets of this complex. First one at 70kg, there was extra room to add the stakes so I put 10kg more weight on the bar. That felt a bit wobbly on the jerks so I dropped it to 75kg and finished the remaining sets with that load. Those felt good all the way. Maybe I could have done this with push press / split jerk combo to make it with heavier loads but on the other hand, it was good to practice on that push jerk technique simultaneously. On lighter weights (around 60kg) it feels great but on heavier sets it's more challenging technique-wise.

Metcon. Time 14.24

• 3 rounds of:
• 10 handstand push-ups
• 20 power snatch (40kg)
• 30 box jumps, 61cm

I wrote having in mind that I need to get those workouts done too where yo have to do more linked reps in a row. Don't know if you can ever call anything "traditional" workout because I try to mic it all the time but normally if I have these movements in a workout, the amount of reps is lower on each of them. This time I added the repetitions to amounts that I knew would be challenging to push through unbroken.

On hspu's the first round was easy, the workout had just began so it was obvious to go unbroken. On the second one I did 5-5, intentionally. I could have pushed them unbroken but that would have eaten the energy of my shoulders. Last round was 6-4. On power snatches I used hook grip which turned out to be a wise decision to save forearms. I'm in the learning stage of hook grip. Sometimes I use that, on some cases not. Took the clean PR last week with hook grip but it's mostly a feeling thing. At the moment there's it's not that black and white. This time it felt natural to go for hook grip. First round was 8-6-6, second 6-5-5-4, last one 6-6-4-4, pretty consistent and my form stayed solid all the way, didn't compromise that at any moment. Felt proud of that.

This is match number 3, I'm kind of hooked on this league!

Box jumps after burning my legs a bit on the snatches felt bad. Got the first round unbroken, then on the second and third round I took some rest periods on top of the box. Plus I had 2 missed reps that I usually don't have at all. The fatigue hit my legs and coordination was more difficult than normally.

This was a great workout and the entire training session actually! Felt super to get those unbroken ring mu's in the beginning and shoulders are always worth training for. I also enjoyed the nature of the metcon. This was a good start to the week.

Wednesday 29.1: Special skills day!

Wednesday. Skills day @ Taitoliikuntakeskus. PR in bar muscle-ups (9 reps)

Lots of playing around, no agenda, playing like a kiddo. My friend Jari -  a former professional snowboarder - invited me to come to this place to work on some skills so I definitely jumped aboard. It turned out to be great! This was a place where you can do pretty much everything you want in gymnastics, move your body and simply have fun.

Skills. What I ended up doing was something like this:

• Trampoline jumping
• Bar muscle-ups (PR 9 reps!)
• Ring muscle-ups
• Handstand
• Handstand walk
• Vertical jumps
• Back lever attempts
• Rope climb
• Some other playing

We warmed up and finished the session by jumping around on the trampoline. This is familiar stuff for Jari as he used to do this kind of training on a daily basis in the history. I believe this was the first time ever for me to jump on a trampoline. That's sick but I don't recall ever doing it =) It definitely got my body prepared and pumped up. It felt a bit difficult to manage it as you can probably see from the video haha

After getting ready I decided to hit a couple of bar muscle-ups. It was a traditional gymnastics bar which was extremely slippery. I was afraid of getting any reps on that bar. It was also thicker than what I have used to. Took the first rep, decided to hit another. Turned out I crushed the old PR in bar muscle-ups with 9 consecutive muscle-ups!!! Previous record was 4 reps. The last ones where tough but I got them. Rested on top for a while and kept going. Great result for me.

We also played around with the rings. At this point I managed to get only 1 successful rep done, tried 2 more but didn't manage to reach good control on the transition stage. My body was smashed from the rope climb I had just tried. By the way, that's way tougher than it looks!

The place was perfect for all this kind of work. The floor was very flexible, made for gymnastics purposes so handstand and handstand walk was destined to happen today. On my first attempt (not on video) I was able to reach some sort of unbelievable stability on handstand hold, I simply stayed still without moving and I felt my feet were correctly flexed. Just felt like the best from I've ever had. Also tried to do some freestanding hspu's but happened to smash my head to the floor every time, nice

There were some parkour guys working out that jumped on the walls and moved around solidly. I tried to slide sideways on one wall as an inspiration from those guys. Jari also challenged me to some vertical jumps on pretty high box so I took it and got it. Take a look at the videos, it's difficult to describe all the fun we were able to haver there.

No doubt I'm going there another time too. Beforehand I thought this skills day would be lighter one. But my legs and back were cramping at times during the training. And upper body is done from all the muscle-ups. I guess there were about 15 reps in total. It was a lot of playing, we spent around 1.5h in the place and getting it done. Awesome place!!!