Saturday 20.12: Winter War III, Mainsite

Saturday. Winter War III. Mainsite workout, 1.000m row, 50 db ohs, 750m row, 35 db ohs, 500m row, 20 db ohs. Time, 18.06

Front squats were supposed to be in my program anyway today so I thought why not throw down for the Winter War qualification workout number III. Winter War is the unofficial pursuit to find Finland's fittest man and woman. There are 3 workouts after which we'll find out who are the top 40 to fight for the spot on the podium in February 2015. After this workout I took on one mainsite wod from couple of weeks ago, had to modify it a bit. It was a good kick in the ass.

Winter War III.

• Every 90 seconds, perform 3 front squats
• Weights: 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 150…200kg
• Tie breaker: the amount of deadlifts within the time cap
• 2min rest
• During 3min time cap, max effort of 5 attempts of handstand. Result is the combined time of all 5 attempts
• Result, 2x130kg front squat + 14 deadlift. Handstand, 5x10-20sec holds

Let's start with that my one rep max is 135kg. This almost emom style method here brings its own twist. Time to recover becomes an issue at the heaviest weights. I was looking to hit 120kg for a triple, I've done that once in my life. Having done squats like a maniac the last couple of months seemed to pay off in this workout.

Front squats

The first couple of sets were warm-up stuff. First heavy-ish loads appeared somewhere around 110kg. I'm not sure, maybe earlier. After 115kg I felt like now it's my time to shine. First rep in every set felt great, second was not that comfy anymore, and the third one was pure agony. At least in the 115+ sets.

I'm very happy on the kilos being moved here, went over by goals. 2x130kg was sick. That second reps was so tough that I knew a third would be an outrageous move to go after. Decided to drop the bar and finish it with deadlifts at the same weight. Got 14 reps before the 90sec window ended my work.

It took me 16:30 to finish the squats. There was a prescribed 2min rest period to get my shit together and get ready for handstand. It's been at least 2 months since I've tried the entire movement. That's because my wrist was so messed up for quite a while. Today I did zero attempts before the actual workout, I just went by feeling. It was a 5 attempt effort of which the total accumulated time was calculated, and that's your result.

I took actually 6 attempts because I thought it was the 5 best of all your attempts during that 3min time frame. Well, anyway that didn't change anything, all of my efforts were pretty similar. After the workout it was a slight disappointment as I walked to the camera just to witness my memory card was full…….. So I don't have the exact times of each of the attempts but I promise you they were something between 10 and 15 seconds on each attempt. Once I remembered checking the timer as I took off and once I landed, and it showed 16 seconds. And all those sets were similar in nature. I nailed this one well considering my expectations. One thing is for sure, I didn't tape 1 meter square so I won't promise I stayed within the required area.

Don't know but I guess my results are probably far off the leaderboard but I'm doing this for myself. Otherwise I would be competing. And I'm very happy on being able to get those weights moving and also handstand rocked pretty well.

Mainsite. Time, 18.06

• 1.000m row
• 50 dumbbell 1-hand overhead squat, 12.5kg
• 750m row
• 35 dumbbell 1-hand overhead squat, 12.5kg
• 500m row
• 20 dumbbell 1-hand overhead squat, 12.5kg

Originally this was identical except those dumbbell overhead squats were squat snatches with dumbbells. I tried those and couldn't quite find the mobility to get below parallel. I had troubles with these overhead squats too. For some reason it's more difficult with 1-arm dumbbells than barbell ohs.

And I had baby weights anyway. Rx'd it was 20kg but the movement was not so comfortable that I had to go light on the move. Still, I completed it with 5 reps at a time. Looks awkward on paper but that's all I could fight through. This was nasty stuff. Ended up at 18 minutes of grinding. Definitely a weakness of mine those dumbbell movements.

Friday 10.10: Clean and jerk complex, 12min amrap

Friday. Strength, C&J complex: 1 power clean + 5 jerk (max 85kg). Metcon, 12min amrap of: 10 one-arm kb ohs, 15 ring dips/push-ups, 200m run. Result, 5rds + 12 dips.

It was awesome to get that bar overhead. Sometimes it feels like it's my mission to get it pressed / jerked up in the air. It feels great and there is something brutal in the movement. I feel strong having weight with straight hands in an overhead position. My plan entering the gym was vague and soon I found myself doing some sort of c&j complex with ascending ladder of weights. Afterwards the metcon was a present for doing a good strength training. Pauliina and couple of other training buddies were there too. Good training day for sure!

Strength. C&J complex

• 1 power clean + 5 split jerk (50, 60, 70, 80, 85kg)

My plan Joni was doing cleans so it felt right to do some barbell work in turns with same weights. He was focusing on power cleans and then squat cleans with heavier weights. We started with light weights naturally. I took some power clean sets with 50kg before taking it overhead. The first set of 50kg c&j was wobbly and I couldn't find out why that happened. Cleaning the bar to front rack position was light today, I really feel like my technique is getting there. Starting position is way better than before and my lats are tighter together.

Anyway, it turned out the first set at 50kg was just too light and I had that much speed on the bar so it was somehow shaky. Next set at 60kg was way better, and it stayed good all the way. My focus on these sets was to focus on the bar path, jerking it right upwards in a perfect vertical line. That was the goal, hard to say how it looked like as I didn't have the possibility to catch it on video. But at least it wasn't in front of me because I would have noticed that and it would have not been that stabile. That's why I was very satisfied to this session.

The weights were good for me too. I don't know if I have ever had that much kilos for a set of 5 reps overhead. There's no other possibility but to be happy for this.

There's been a million hits on this blog, never thought this day would come

Metcon. Result, 5 rounds + 12 ring dips / push-ups

• 5 right hand kettlebell overhead squat (10kg)
• 5 left hand kettlebell overhead squat (10kg)
• 15 ring dips / push-ups
• 200m run (treadmill, 16km/h)

The metcon was not supposed to be hardcore but I fought through it with attitude anyway. This was a triplet of kb ohs, dips and running. My original plan was to do ring dips all the way but there were a lot of people at the gym Friday night and one guy came to play with the rings during my running. So I completed first 3 rounds as ring dips and then the last 3 sets were regular push-ups.

Overhead squats with kb in one-arm are challenging to me because of mobility issues, in both shoulders and hips. It would be awesome to being able to knock them just like that, and preferably with double kb's too. I have to keep it light weight because at times the kb might fall a bit forward. Anyway, I got the reps unbroken, first right and then left hand. Went just below parallel, not a deep deep squat but just over 90 degrees.

Ring dips went unbroken on the first round, then it got tougher. Second set 10-5, and third one was something like 5-4-3-3. Push-ups were much lighter but I cut them too on the last sets, after getting the first set unbroken. I'm surprised I've taken running into my programming on a regular basis. It wouldn't be a surprise but doing it on a treadmill is awkward. Lately Pauliina talked me into trying it and since it has felt good on a metcon.

Monday 5.5: Gymnastics day

Monday. Gymnastics: Skills, ring muscle-ups. For quality, 5rds of: 5 strict push-ups, 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups. More skills, weighted pistols squats, one-arm overhead squats, one-arm overhead pistol squats.

Wanted to take it a little easier today so I went through a different style training session. Started off with ring muscle-ups, then some more bodyweight stuff by working on my strict hspu's, lots of pistols and a good bunch of pull-ups.

New fruit & nut bar in test

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups

It felt as good as it always does =) Had no problems getting up there, that seems to be the trend now. I'm very happy over this topic. Haven't used much false grip lately because I wanna get rid of that. It's there in my skills tool bag just in case if I need it but mostly I try to go without false grip.

Workout. For quality

• 5 rounds of:
• 5 strict handstand push-ups
• 10 pistol squats
• 15 pull-ups

This is important stuff. Haven't done many strict hspu's and it was a good reminder when I looked at the Regionals workouts that these need to be worked as well. It was said in one of the Update Shows that there are teams that have said they didn't practice strict hspu's at all in the past year. I bet these guys will face some problems in those tough workouts.

So I did 5 strict hspu's per round. They are clearly tougher than kipping version. Then pistol squats. On some rounds I went alternating leg after each rep. On some rounds I did 5 reps left leg, then switched to right leg. I tried to do these as slow and controlled as possible to teach my body the correct path up and down. I felt very confident on the movement. This is my thing. I remember not being able to complete one single rep when I started crossfit. By crossfitting my mobility, strength, balance and coordination has improved so much that this movement is not challenging anymore.

Pull-ups I did unbroken. That was the goal and I had no doubts of not reaching that. I tried to keep my legs together, looking to engage good kip movement in my hip.

Skills.

• One-arm overhead squats, 10kg kettlebell
• Weighted pistol squats, 10kg kettlebell in front rack position
• Weighted pistol squats, 10kg kettlebell in one-arm overhead squat position

In the end I played with my mobility, and skills. I'm not sure I have ever been able to complete a 1-arm overhead squat with a kettlebell. At least to parallel. It felt magnificent! Something has happened and my mobility has improved. The weight itself was light, the main focus was on body movement.

After having done couple of tens of pistol squats, I took a kettlebell in front rack position and did some weighted pistols. It was naturally heavier but similar movement, no problem. But the last thing was over the top: pistols squats while having a kettlebell in 1-arm overhead squat position. That was sick. Never thought I'd make it but there I was, had to sit in the very bottom, stay there for a second or two as a pause squat and then get back up.

This was the first crossfit video I ever saw. Ben Smith doing thrusters and c2b's