Su-Mo 13-14.7: Handstand + CF Fuengirola

Sunday-Monday. Handstand + Crossfit Fuengirola.

Sunday.

• Handstand

Sunday was a day at the beach and I focused on sunbathing and handstand skills. It's pretty awesome to throw yourself upside down at such a beautiful scenery if you ask me. And it's been quite encouraging to understand I can do handstand and handstand walk on a sandy platform where tce ground is very uneven under my hands.

Monday. Training at Crossfit Fuengirola. Today was another try to get myself inside the local Box. Kari suggested we'd run there so we agreed to do that together for starters. It was awesome to have him with me at the affiliate. The workout included kettlebell action in the beginning, then some light strength work and finally a killer workout.

Warm-up.

• Run 3.5km, then
• 2rds of:
• 30sec 1-arm swing, right
• 30sec 1-arm swing, left
• 30sec 1-arm clean, right
• 30sec 1-arm clean, left
• 30sec kb swing
• 30sec rest

Barbell.

• Deadlift 2x8
• Bench 2x8

I did these with light weights. They were supposed to be between 55-65% of max. Had 110kg for deads and 60kg for bench. Way lighter to what I'm used to.

Metcon.

• 5rds of:
• 200m run
• 10 pullups
• 20 hspu
• 30 squats
• 40 du

I saw this written on the wall and said to the coach it's gonna be brutal on shoulders. And it definitely was. The biggest amount of hspu's I've done in training session has been at around 50-60reps. Today the whiteboard said 100 reps. I figured what the heck, let's do it!

It was no surprise it was a nightmare on ly shoulders. All other movements were okay, had no problems with them. But those hspu's... First round was still doable, the desperation hit at the end of second round as I realized there was still 60 reps looming ahead of me.

But somehow I crawled to the finish line in this encouraging environment of crossfit athletes. I felt very welcomed from the first step I took inside this Box. Great community to say the least, respect. And thanks to Kari as well for tagging along and giving good uptalk. Can you imagine he went running alongside me on every round :)

Wednesday 12.3: Badminton, pause squats, metcon + running

Wednesday. AM: Sports, badminton for 1 hour. Strength, pause back squats 3's / 5's. Metcon, 12min amrap of: 15 burpees, 20 one-arm kb swings (16kg), 20 air squats. Result, 5rds + 4 burpees. PM: Recovery run for 30min.

"Regularly learn and play new sports" - Greg Glassman, founder of Crossfit. Okay, so as Pauliina suggested to go and play badminton in the morning, I was in. We played for one hour, then headed to the local gym for dessert. It was a good warm-up to play badminton. It's been couple of years since I've played it last time. Then, it was time for pause squats and a metcon. In the evening I went for a recovery run to flush legs and get them better ready for tomorrow.

Strength.

• Pause back squats
• 3x80, 5x100, 5x110, 3x120, 3x120, 5x110kg

The place didn't have a safety rack so I had to be careful with the weights. I have never learned how to drop the weight backwards if it gets too heavy. And I'm used to squat the heaviest weights inside the rack with safety bars so it's kind of intimidating to squat without that mental safety of the rack.

110kg

I like these pause squats a lot. I wanted to do regular squats with heavier weights for the last couple of weeks so I skipped pause squats for a while. It was a cool comeback of the pause squats and they made me happy. I've learned to love the squat in all possible forms.

I did sets from 80kg to 120kg. The heaviest sets - 120kg - I did in triples, all others in 5's. I would have liked to try 5 reps in the heaviest sets too. Plus it would have been awesome to try a little heavier, 125 or even 130kg for singles or doubles. This type of squat is totally different and tends to be very cruel as you have to start your way up from a still position in the bottom.

120kg

Metcon. Result, 279 reps (5 rounds + 4 burpees)

• 12 min amrap of:
• 15 burpees
• 20 one-arm kettlebell swings, 16kg, alternating
• 20 air squats

Originally we had planned to go to our home gym with familiar surroundings and certain possibilities for metcons. As we were in a bit different place I had to created a metcon out of blue after the squats. I looked around for weights and equipment, realized the only thing I liked to use was a kettlebell. Unfortunately 16kg was the heaviest one.

No prob, I thought one-handed kb swings to eye level would have been great. And it was pretty cool. Didn't burn the muscles that much but boosted the breathing as I wished. My goal on the metcon was simply get my breathing up and keep going. Classic cardio stuff. And it worked well for it's purpose.

The burpees were a positive surprise, I was able to keep on moving continuously, from the beginning to the end. Round times also indicated this, there wasn't much differentiation between the rounds. I caught my breath after burpees, and grabbed the kettlebell. It was a nice movement, I did 'em "russian style", that is a little over eye level. So that I could see my face in the mirror below the bell. As I said, the weight itself wasn't much, it could have been heavier but the movement itself was easier to handle than regular 32kg kb swings. That's because normally my forearms burn as hell but now the tension eased every time I changed hands.

Air squats can also be tricky in a workout. Such a simple and innocent movement as air squat. But once you keep on doing them high-rep amounts the legs start to get in fire, and the motion gets a little slower. I focused on full range of motion throughout the workout. A good bounce in the bottom and extending my entire torso in the upright position.

It was a good metabolic condition workout. I'm happy I was able to create this one just like that and it turned out to answer to my needs perfectly. At first I felt I don't have the energy at all but after the first set of burpees I was back in the game and after first round my entire body was ready to rock.