Sunday 5.4: Back squat, Overhead squat

Sunday. Back squat emom singles x 10min (130-140kg). Ohs (max PR 90kg).

It was nice to train outdoors but I really needed to get my hands on a barbell. It was about time after having two bar-free days. It was just rings, rope and kettlebell during the Easter weekend. We hit it right away to the gym with Pauliina after we came home. To be honest I really hadn't thought about the entire training session in particular. Just knew it's gonna be squats in some form.

Squats.

• Every minute on the minute x 10min
• Back squat singles
• 1-2min: 130kg
• 3-4min: 132.5kg
• 5-6min: 135kg
• 7-8min: 137.5kg
• 9-10min: 140kg

I wanted these squats to be heavy. So after I took some triples/doubles at 90, 110, 120kg I decided to take singles at 130kg and over. This was a great way to get heavy reps in my system. Towards the end those lifts were challenging but my mental game was right on the spot so there were not going to be any misses.

Obviously recovery was getting short in the end but still enough to get the strength back in my legs before the next squat. I'm very satisfied over being able to make it all the way to 140kg. That was my goal but in the beginning I had some doubts which I fortunately was able to push aside and focus purely on the lifts, and nothing else.

OHS.

• Overhead squat
• 5x40, 50, 60, 70kg
• 1x80, 90kg (PR)

It felt already on those first reps with an empty bar that my shoulders were loose enough to get something decent up. My goal was to on go by feeling, and to go as deep as possible if mobility allows me to. This plan stood up to 70kg, with all sets as 5's. Don't know if I've done 5x70kg ever, don't have that specific stats on this one. At least the reps have not been as good as today, that's for sure.

I was okay with that weight so I decided to add the stakes and aim for a personal record. Put 10 more kilos on the bar and took a single at 80kg. Got it. At this stage I decided to forget about my previous record of 85kg and jump over it right away to 90kg.

The bar was a little intimidating considering how to get it overhead. Pressing 90kg is no joke to me. I have probably push pressed this weight from front rack but nothing beyond this. Heavier barbells should be jerked for sure. The thing is that I haven't jerked behind the neck basically anything else than 80kg, and some singles at 85kg when I have attempted for ohs record.

Anyway, I got the bar up, had to really press it to stabilize it. Squeezed my butt cheeks, tightened the core and started the slowest descendent in the history of overhead squats =) On both 80 and 90kg lifts I didn't hit ass to grass. I was happy on getting below parallel and then back up. Nailing this last rep was a weight I have not been dreaming for like ever. It was a real success story to get it done. But at the same time it makes 100kg so close that I guess that needs to be conquered some day…

My bodyweight is 80kg so this was clearly over my bodyweight. It still is obviously a weakness. I remember 15xbw overhead squat used to be some sort of benchmark for crossfit athletes. Some months ago these monsters that are Games level athletes aimed to hit 15 reps at 1.25 x bw. That is sick. However, getting more reps at bodyweight is something fancier than getting a cool 1RM at 100kg or alike. It's more beneficial to being able to move semi heavy weight for multiple reps than heavy load for one rep.

Tuesday 2.12: Snatch balance, Ohs, Long metcon

Tuesday. Snatch balance 5-5-5-5-5 (max 65kg). Ohs 1-1-1-1 (max PR 85kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 5 deads (120kg), 10 burpees, 15 pull-ups, 20 box, 30 du, 400m run. Time, 22.32.

Great training day for sure! I had plenty of time, no need to be hasty at any moment. That is my kind of training session. I love when it's just me, a barbell and lots of time. Put them together and I'm ready to rock. As I indicated earlier, I was enlightened by Coach Burgener's warm-up drills and today I put a lot of effort on those. It prepared me very well for snatch balance and ohs which brought some good results too. Last part of the training session was a longer metcon with lots of work.

Snatch work.

• Burgener warm-up drills
• Snatch balance 5-5-5-5-5 (30, 40, 50, 60, 65kg)
• Overhead squat 1-1-1-1 (70, 75, 80, PR 85kg)

Coach is the legend, and for a good reason. Better listen to this god of weightlifting. I paid a lot of attention to these warm-up routines with pvc pipe, empty barbell and then also 30kg bar. Only objective for this massive warming up was to prepare my body more effectively than normally. As I progressed to snatch balance I felt that in my body. My body was much more loose which was nothing but great. I've probably never this good in my body regarding snatch related movements. Having bar overhead and going to squat position.

I took sets of 5 reps of snatch balance, starting from 30kg, building up to as heavy as possible because it felt good. Bar fell a little forward on some reps but still I'm very happy on the movement patterns and weights being thrown around. My mobility has taken big steps this autumn and it's finally paying off in snatch work also. I've done 60kg snatch balance some time ago but hitting 5x65kg was beyond my comprehension.

Due to that I decided to take couple of overhead squat singles. Ascending 5kg by the rep, all the way to a new personal record of 85kg. Previous one was 80kg, done at spring time this year. I'll take this with pleasure! Got to work on that snatch grip push press / push jerk to get the bar more easily overhead. Going for split jerk was kind of awkward, it was more shaky than pressing the barbell. I need to be able to press / jerk the bar without split.

Recap of barbell action

Metcon. Time 22.32

• 4 rounds of:
• 5 deadlift, 120kg
• 10 burpee
• 15 pull-up
• 20 box
• 30 double under
• 400m run

I wanted to get a longer metcon. I thought of some sort of chipper style stuff but ended up going for a 4-rounder of lots of work. Deadlifts made a comeback, haven't done thos much because there's been so much squatting. I find it difficult to go for both. This was a yack type of workout. Lot of grinding. I was able to smash it unbroken each round. What was the toughest? Surprisingly maybe box jumps. My core is sore from yesterday's toes-to-bar / pistol fiesta and on the box jumps I felt it.

I thought pull-ups would have been the most bad ass element of this one. They were but still all the way manageable. Running was also tough, especially on the last 2 rounds. It was great to have my fingers on deadlift after a while. Plus burpees are always a pleasure =) Great training session, this brought to mind whether I should dedicate some days on pure oly work. By focusing more on light work and technique early in the session would loosen joints up better and the results of the barbell work would generate greater results. Let's see how it turns out.

Recap of metcon

Tuesday 22.4: Snatch, Ohs, Nancy

Tuesday. AM: Snatch 5-5-5 (max 55kg). Overhead squats (max PR 80kg). Benchmark workout Nancy, 5rds of: 400m run, 15 ohs (40kg). Time 14.52. PM: Weighted dips workout. Another workout: 5rds of: 10 pull-ups, 50 du.

Holiday! Beautiful weather, I get to sleep more than normally, take some nap, do multiple workouts a day and plan our trip to California which takes place in May with Pauliina. Pretty awesome if you ask me! I went to Liikuntamylly for snatch and overhead squat purposes in the morning. Happened to nail a new PR in ohs. Then I took on Nancy, a great benchmark workout with running and ohs as a couplet. In the afternoon I went to pick up Pauliina from work which turned out to be a good chance to get in another training session.

Summer is coming!

Strength.

• Snatch 5-5-5 (40, 50, 55kg)
• Overhead squats (50, 60, 65, 70, 75, PR 80kg)

Liikuntamylly and Eltsu are the two places where I usually go when I have the possibility. These places are made for olympic lifting. I tend to go heavy on these occasions because of the possibility to drop the bar. It's okay to look for PR's at such venues. I believe I have never gone over 60kg in ohs at my "home gym".

70kg

Didn't take any skills practice prior to strength, jumped right on to snatches. Took good mobility session before I touched the bar though. Then some classic warm-up rituals with a barbell plus snatch balance drills. My intention was to do all squat snatches but I found it a little too difficult today, especially on the 55kg snatches I couldn't find the path down properly. That's why they were power snatches instead. Because I wasn't able to find the correct path all the way down, I stayed at 55kg and didn't go heavier on this one.

80kg

Changed some plates and started doing overhead squats. Didn't have any plan, it's been too long since I've done ohs. So I just played with it for a while, added weight on the bar and took more reps. My wrists are a little sensitive for high-rep overhead squats. It's pretty much the only movement where I get some wrist pain if I hold the bar for a long time. At 60kg this came in to play and the weight itself didn't feel that heavy so I started to take doubles and singles from then on.

My previous 1 rep max was 75kg, which we had taken together with Toni the last time we were here together. It was a little shaky at the time when I held the bar overhead. Today it felt much smoother and steady all the way down and up. We took a shot at 80kg with Toni but I remember it was a desperate seek for both of us. It was wobbling back and forth when I had the bar overhead and there was no chance in trying to lower by butt to the ground. This time the press behind the neck was stronger and I got a solid balance right away. There was nothing more to be done but complete the rep.

Recap of strength

One thing that bugs me is that there's a slight doubt in my mind of the squats's depth being shallow. I'll take this for now but this is something to consider in overhead squats in the future. This movement pattern is not that familiar to me compared to back and front squats. I'm used to squat with mirrors in front of me so it's a bit difficult to perceive how deep I'm going without the familiarity of the mirrors (or training partner).

Nancy. Time 14.52. Compare to 27.12.2013

• 5 rounds of:
• 400m run
• 15 overhead squats (40kg)

The barbell should be 42.5kg. This place don't have those fractional plates or light weight plates of 1.25kg so I went with 40kg sharp. Not a big difference but still it should have been 2.5kg heavier. On the other hand I ran a little more than 400m. There's a 200m track which I ran twice. I couldn't place the barbell right next to the track so I had to take a side step to my "bar station". On my fourth round one guy was just about to take my barbell 'cause he thought it wasn't in use. That would have been a bummer if I had lost my bar in the middle of a workout =) Luckily I was able to finish this one as planned.

We did Nancy together with Toni in the end of last year, during the winter holidays. Great combination of movements, running and overhead squats, high-rep overhead squats. I remember there was some hassle last time because we only had one barbell but it was a great one anyway. I topped my time with +3min, from 18min to 14.52. Last time it wasn't so precise, today I took it by the second. What I'm most happy about is the round time variation, or actually the absence of them. First round was 2.51, and the last one was 2.58, the rounds in between were 2.53 - 3.01 - 3.06.

I'm very pleased on that one! I was afraid running would get way slower towards the end. I've never been a fast runner and especially in a metcon I feel like I'm wearing down in the run parts. Okay, I was decent runner back in the days considering I was a floorball goalie =) But I wouldn't count that as one of my strengths. The round times hint that the performance was steady all the way.

I got the overhead squats unbroken each round, that's another thing to celebrate. It got tough on the third round but I stuck to the bar and never let go before 15 reps were done. By the way, completing ohs with oly lifting shoes and sneakers are two different things. I'd like to do my squats with oly shoes but naturally it's challenging to run with those flat shoe soles. This workout was awesome and it was pleasing to see the time got better with minutes.

Dip dropsets. Total of 60 reps

• In 60sec, amrap weighted dips @ 20kg
• 60sec rest
• In 60sec, amrap weighted dips @ 15kg
• 60sec rest
• In 60sec, amrap weighted dips @ 10kg
• 60sec rest
• In 60sec, amrap weighted dips @ bodyweight

I was open-minded for this second session, and an article came across from "Fit As Fu*k" where Ditte and Sarah were writing about the importance of dips. I realized it's been a while since last time so it seemed to fit in well to this afternoon. This workout was a drop set style, 60 second amrap of dips with dropping weights, one minute break between sets. I liked this much more than traditional style sets of triples or 5's. Managed to nail 15 reps on the first set so I decided to stick to that rep scheme. It got tougher by the round because the rest wasn't enough to get fully recovered.

This is a weakness of mine so I'm happy on the way I was able to perform. Did 15 reps in each set and the feeling was I really had to do work to get them done. Good workout tip by the ladies, appreciate it!

Workout. For quality

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 pull-ups
• 50 double unders

Before the dips I did some pull-ups, strict chest-to-bar versions and couple of belly-to-bar to work on my bar muscle-ups. Also tried to get band-assisted muscle-ups without a swing but that turned out to be too difficult as I've used to do bar mu's with a good kip. This training session was easy in nature, goal was to get body moving, definitely not 100% effort, just get the blood flowing, work on some skills and weaknesses. It was also great to see Joni go after hero workout Small. If you still remember that one: 3 rounds of 1.000m rowing, 50 burpees, 50 box, and 800m running. I did it about a week ago because he talked me into it, now it was his time to suffer =) Good job Joni!

Thursday 2.1: Handstand, OHS, snatch, running metcon + row

Thursday. AM: Skills, handstand. Strength overhead squats. Technique, snatch. Metcon, 6 rounds of: 400m run, 5 hang snatch, 5 hspu. PM: Every minute on the minute style of workout with 3k row, 120 pull-ups and 120 push-ups.

How awesome is it to be on holiday and being able to workout twice a day! And the possibility to go out to Liikuntamylly, which is like a mecca for an athlete =) I'm so thrilled every time I get a chance to go there. And today I had Toni as my training partner. Time flies by so quickly that at one point we realized we had been there for 3 hours haha. Then a lunch and it took us 4 hours total to do some training, nice. It was a PR day for both of us, I got this picture from Toni in the morning as we were both aiming for 75kg lift on the overhead squats. That sealed the deal!

Skills. Handstand. I tried both static handstand hold today and handstand walking. Succeeded pretty well in both of them. I attached samples of both in the recap video. Somehow I'm still wondering why my handstand skills suddenly improved even though I didn't practice that in over a month. That seems a bit weird to me but I don't complain!

Strength.

• Overhead squats 5x40, 3x50, 1x60, 1x65, 1x70, 1x75kg PR, failed on 80kg.

We took some wall balls, barbell warm-up, snatch balance to get joints loosened up and ready for pumping. For starters lengthier sets with lighter weights and then from 60kg on it was all about singles. We were purely after the PR, won't deny that. I still wanted to get a couple of reps with lighter weights and here some tips from Toni, the new L1-ceritified coach. He really has an eye for giving tips on the form. It's a different thing am I able to change my habits.

It was an awesome feeling to get that 75kg down and up. It's no issue in the overhead squat to come back up from the hole but it's more of being able to maintain a rock solid core while going down and how to lock the elbows so they wouldn't shake all around while holding the bar over you head. Once you hit the parallel you know you're gonna make a successful lift from there on. At least that's how Toni and I feel like.

It was a cool feeling to hold that 75kg overhead and even jerk it there because I haven't had a barbell in that position with a snatch grip. We both jerked 80kg as well but it was way too shaky for both of us so today there was no chance bringing it home with that weight. I felt like I'm going back and forth with the 80kg bar, just standing, not even trying to squat. Simply couldn't stabilize it.

Recap

Technique.

• Snatch clinic.

Snatch and especially snatch deadlift + squat snatch have been the thing we have been putting effort with Toni. The technique there should be way better than it's currently but we both believe we have already gained some important development steps. The starting position is something Toni keeps talking about when pulling from the ground. And how the knees should be getting out of the barbell's way on its way up to the hip. The first pull doesn't have to be fast and fierce, it's more of the second pull from the hips that must be explosive. And while pulling, you must pull with your entire body, bounce the bar from the hips, shrug the shoulders and extend your whole body to create an open path for the barbell to come up in a beautiful vertical line. Then just drop under the bar quickly. As simple as that, in theory. In practice there's lots of repetition ahead of us before it looks like that. At least for me.

These clinics we've done with Toni have been very useful and it's not only about loading as much plated on the bar as possible but with lighter weights working on the bar paths and hoping the muscles will memorize it and soon it will happen automatically without too much thinking. We played around today with 30-40kg in the beginning and then took a couple of heavier reps, reaching a max of 60kg. At this point our bodies were already quite fatigued. And it was still a metcon ahead of us.

Metcon. Time around 17:30

• 6 rounds of:
• 400m run
• 5 hang power snatch, 40kg
• 5 handstand push-ups

This was a good metcon with a consistent pace all the way from beginning to the end. No reason to slow down at any moment. Each of my rounds were 2:50, varying only within seconds. The fourth round was longer only because we happened to arrive on the snatch station at the same time with Toni. He took his snatches before me so I waited for him to complete them.

I was very happy being able to maintain the same speed in all elements, running felt the same all the time. My shins were aching some because of those 400 double unders from Monday and I felt some pain on the 2 first rounds, then it faded away. The snatches were light but we decided to do them as hang snatches. Hspu's felt like they were flying up and down.

This place is awesome as it's possible to combine running to barbell work and bodyweight stuff too. Can't dismiss this possibility.

Metcon. Every minute on the minute for a total of 30min

• First 10min:
• Odd minutes, 10 pull-ups + 10 push-ups
• Even minutes, 200m row
• Second 10min:
• Odd minutes, 8 pull-ups + 8 push-ups
• Even minutes, 200m row
• Third 10min:
• Odd minutes,  6 pull-ups + 6 push-ups
• Even minutes, 200m row

We went to have some lunch afterwards with Toni, then back home to chill for a while before entering the gym for second session of the day. This was a 30min emom training go rowing, pull-ups and push-ups. The main idea was to row for 200m every other minute, on the even minutes and then do a couplet of pull-ups and push-ups on odd minutes. I decreased the amount of them after every 10 minutes with 2 reps on both movements.

It was a total of 3.000m rowing, 120 pull-ups and 120 push-ups. Rowing pace was consistently at 1:40 so it took 40 seconds to finish those 200 meters. In this workout I wanted to spend no more than 40 seconds on the rowing because this was second session of the day and I didn't want to wear myself out totally. It was a good interval to work on.

Pull-ups turned out to be the most tasking element of these three. Push-ups worked well and were the easiest of them. Good session in general. I did something you might distantly call ghd sit-ups, something like 40 reps, working the core. They were done on a big gym ball so it's probably nothing similar to ghd sit-ups but the movement looked something like it. Then lots of mobility to the end.

Tuesday 9.7: OHS, back squat emom, metcon + levers, mobility

Tuesday. AM: Overhead squat 3-3-2-2-1-1 (max PR 70kg). Back squat, emom 3 reps @ 100kg for 10min. Metcon, overhead walk, pistols, front rack lunges, hspu. Time 12.58. PM: row 2k easily, elbow levers, mobility, stretching.

Uuh mama! Another shot to train @ Liikuntamylly. The place is spectacular, can't describe it well enough. Now I'm probably getting close to the feeling of people working out at a regular crossfit box. Only imagination is a limiting factor because you have everything there. That's why my workouts today were a bit different. Overhead squats (possibility to drop weights) and the elements of the metcon are impossible for me to carry out at my home gym. In the evening I went to gym for elbow levers and mobility,

Warm-up.

• Run 800m, then 3 rounds of:
• 10 push-ups
• 20 air squats, then:
• 50 wall balls, 5kg

This was a good set to get some blood running in my veins. Running for starters, feels good as normally I get to cycle or row to begin with. That wall ball was also a little twist. Unfortunately that ball was the heaviest, otherwise I would have nailed Karen at some point.

Strength. Overhead squats 3-3-2-2-1-1 (40, 50, 55, 60, 65, PR 70kg). Yes! I tried this about a month ago, that time I also shared previous record of 65kg but failed on the 70kg. Today on my first attempt of 70kg my core collapsed, then shoulders and that made me drop the bar. After half a minute of desperation I realized I'm in the best place to work out, I'm having my PR shirt on and above all, this should be fun. I went back to the barbell, took it in back rack, jerked it up, got my lunges full of air and did what I came here for. It might have been a bit shy of parallel. I'm not used to do squats without mirrors so it was difficult to know. My overhead squats are deep nowadays but this might have been some cents short. Anyway, it felt very good!

Back squat emom. Back squat, 3 reps every minute on the minute @ 100kg for 10 minutes.

Yesterday evening I planned to go for front squat singles as well but then realized it's more vital to work on my hamstring and posterior chain in general to some day squat 150kg. That's my goal to say it out loud. I need to work with semi heavy loads and get more reps. The load today was pretty good for me. I really like the emom training method because it gets to your breathing, muscles durability and strength in the long run.

I went for 10 minutes. Had no problems to lift that 100kg each minute. A total of 30 reps. Next time I might add some weight, 105-110kg. Good pressure on my hamstrings. And my goal was to go as deep as possible, definitely below parallel.

Metcon. Time 12.58

• 4 rounds of:
• 25m walk, barbell overhead carry, 40kg
• 5/5 pistol squats
• 25m lunges, with bar in front rack position, 40kg
• 5 handstand push-ups

This was sick. I realized after first round it's gonna be tough, especially on legs. I had this totally planned yesterday except for the pistols. Had an empty space there so I went to ask Pauliina what she would throw in there. The answer was cruel. Those pistols changed the game pretty much. Going for weighted front rack lunges after that made my legs burn deeply.

The first element - overhead carry - was a little light. Would have been perfect with maybe 60kg. Then it would have been tough as well. However, I had to use the same barbell so 60kg would have been a disaster in the lunges part. On the first round my pistols were a bit shaky, then it got better. Tougher but with better and smoother technique.

On the first round those lunges went unbroken, the remaining round I had to drop the bar once each round. Handstand push-ups went unbroken which pleases me a lot. I did some strict reps each round and once it started to get on my triceps I changed it to kipping hspu's.

This morning session was at least as spectacular as yesterday. Another PR saw day the light and I got to work on my lower body very well. No need to rush, I took my time in the cooling down as well. I ran for 1.000m and stretched as well.

Row, levers, mobility. After working hours Pauliina had scheduled hitting the gym so I joined her but was determined to take it easy. Rowing 2k with a slow pace to start with. I intentionally kept the pace close to 2:00 / 500m, with a smaller damper setting that normally, it took me 7.53 to finish it. Just to activate the body and get ready for stretching.

I got carried away with elbow levers, inspired from Prasara Yoga, I've added some video clips lately. It is an awesome movement to get to know your body, core and balance. I've been working on that one-handed elbow lever, same today. One of my friends showed 2-handed elbow levers as an example so I gave it a shot and succeeded in the movement at first try! Tried it twice, felt pretty natural actually. I'm gonna work on that one-handed lever progression in the future as well. Good work for core, balance and definitely on shoulders.

Toni's workouts.

• Strength. Clean 3-3-3-3-3-2-2-3 (60, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 80 80kg)
• Workout. 10 to 1, down by 1's. Scaled hspu, toes-to-bar. For completion

Toni completed clean triples, power cleans as always. He's done squat cleans with mainly warm-up weights only. It came up nicely up to 70-75kg. On the 80kg bar he missed that third rep twice but after he realized it was only a mental game, he finished the last set with style. He had the bar high enough on the earlier sets as well but just didn't go under the bar quickly enough.

On the workout / metcon, it was purely for completion, not for time. Handstand push-ups wrere scaled to a foam roll. There were 55 reps both movements. Starting from 10 reps, coming down to 1 rep, down by 1 rep at a time.

The Crossfit Games Finals begin 22nd July!

Wednesday 15.5: Back squat, OHS, Finnish CF Final 2012: Karhureiret

Wednesday. Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 (max 135kg), OHS 1-1-1-1-1 (max PR 65kg). Karhureiret, time 15.51.

Main workout of the day was "Karhureiret", loose translation would be "bear's thighs", referring to the amount of leg work ahead of you. This was the final event at the crossfit finland finals in 2012. I've done it once before, today I repeated it with a little heavier load. Before the workout I took singles in back squat and overhead squats.

Going for 130kg

Strength.

• Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 (110, 120, 130, 135, 140f)
• Overhead squat 1-1-1-1-1 (50, 55, 60, 65f, PR 65kg)

Those back squats felt good and I was able to go deep enough with heavier loads as well. After 130kg the game changed and the barbell became heavy. The fourth set - 135 - was successful but the last one with 140kg (tied PR attempt) failed to come up all the way. Haven't gone over 130kg in a while as I remember so I received some confidence for future.

On the overhead squats I was determined to go for new max numbers. Previous record was 60kg so I started my sets from 50kg and added 5kg per lift. On the first attempt of 65kg I failed to come up from the hole even though I landed there nicely but on the second one I nailed it all the way! PR 65kg. I was ready to move on.


Karhureiret. Time 15.51. Compare to 26.1.2013

• 10 back squat, 100kg
• 50 kettlebell swings, american style
• 20 front squat, 80kg
• 40 box jumps, 61cm
• 30 overhead squats, 40kg
• 30 toes-to-bar

I remembered this workout sucks and I remembered correctly =) Three different types of squats with increasing amount of reps and decreasing load. There were kb swings, box jumps and T2B's between squats. Originally Karhureiret says the box jumps should be completed on a 50cm box but we only have 61 so that's a little extra. Then on the other hand the OHS should have been 60kg but considering my max load that would have been ridiculous to try it out with that weight. I put 40kg on the bar and started moving. In January I used only the bar (20kg) so today this workout was heavier.

I completed the back squats unbroken, kettlebells in 30 reps at first try, then 2x10reps with as little break as possible. I just needed to loosed the tension in my forearms for a few seconds. Front squats went better than last time. Now they were 7+7+6, previously I needed 4x5 sets. Box jumps, uhh. Don't remember that precisely, guess it was 15+10+ something. The overhead squats I got to do in sets of 10+7+7+6, better than I expected =) And lastly the toes-to-bars were about 10+10+5+5.

All in all, my breathing was going fast and it was an overall test to how good an all-around athlete I am at the moment. I was pleased on the way I managed to rattle through this workout. There's always something to improve on but in general this went good!

Now I'm off to Barcelona for holiday with Pauliina and her parents. Gonna enjoy the climate and the atmosphere. Of course I'm not forgetting crossfit, that's for sure but I don't believe I have access to barbells so it's gonna be more like bodyweight action, handstand push-ups etc. Like it was any easier… =) Gonna let you know anyway how I'm training.

Saturday 23.2: OHS, front squat, back squat

Saturday. OHS 2-2-2-2-2 (max PR 60kg), Front squat 2-2-2-1-1 (max 125kg), Back squat 2-2-2-2-1-1 (max 140kg).

This week's training has been hard. Starting on Tuesday with 7x5 back squats, followed by heavy clean & jerks, Mary on Thursday and weighted bodyweight movements yesterday. Especially that Mary really feels in my body. Every time I do 100+ pull-ups in a workout, I feel it in my upper back the following day. Also my hands from elbows up have taken their share. This week I intentionally didn't do that many metcons because of a flu on the previous weekend, Mary was the first one this week. I wasn't sure if I would hit it heavy today or just take a light version of technical training. Once I got warmed up I got excited and started piling plates on the barbell. Results were good!

Split jerk behind the neck, 55kg

Overhead squat. 2-2-2-2-2 (40, 45, 50, PR 55kg, PR 60kg). I had an idea of doing 5x1 ohs, 5x1 FS and 5x1 BS. However, the first time I jerked the barbell to the sky, I naturally went for a double rep. From then on I was aiming for 5x2 on each of the squat movement. Overhead squats are not the most natural and suitable movement for me, there have been some mobility issues to say the least. I find it difficult to bring the bar straight overhead and then lower myself to 90 degrees. When I concentrate in pressing my heels to the ground I'm able to do them but for some reason at times I forget it and the outcome is that I can't go deep enough.

Today was a good day and I hit a PR twice! First with 55kg and right after it followed by 60kg, which was my goal of this year… How would it be possible to snatch 60+ kilos if you're not able to overhead squat it as well? I believe when I will get my technique together I'm able to do "much" heavier weights. That jerk behind the neck (BTN) was a new thing for me but it felt quite natural from the very beginning. I'd like to practice that one as well. At our gym it's not ok to drop the bar from the top so it makes it a bit difficult to train max loads with jerks / snatches. Anyway, the overhead squats today were perfect for me!

Overhead squat, 60kg, PR

Front squat. 2-2-2-1-1 (80, 90, 105, 117.5, 125kg, 130 failed). I continued to front squats right away. I took two light sets (maybe too light) with 80 and 90kg before adding the number of plates. I wanted to get my body prepared for what's coming, that's the reason I started so easily. I got that 125kg up, you'll see the video below. My current max is at 130kg and it frustrated me tremendously that I failed to got it up today. I have no words to describe the feelings after the attempt. You can find that attempt plus other lifts on my Youtube channel from today.

Front squat, 125kg

Back squat. 2-2-2-2-1-1 (100, 115, 122.5, 130, 135, 140kg). After having my legs do some serious work the last piece of the combination was to do back squats. I started with doubles up to 130kg after which I took two singles. The weights at this stage felt lighter than normally. My confidence level was good and I was sure to hit my shared PR. There were a total of 6 sets here because I wanted to nail that 140kg for the second time in my life. Once I successfully got it up, I felt nothing but joy!

Back squat, 140kg

Having completed all possible squat variations and receiving good results in all of them, including a PR, my training for today was nothing short of good and I'm proud of being able to do this well after a tough week. My upper body is burnt and probably lower body will share the feeling tomorrow =)

Toni's workout. For quality, something a bit different. Adding skiing to a metcon.

• 1km skiing
• 30 push-ups
• 30 squats
• 100 push-ups
• 100 ohs air squats with skiing stick

Pony starting to ski

Saturday 2.2: Squat, Snatch, OHS, Winter War

Saturday. Back squats 1-1-1-1-1 (max PR 140kg), snatch 1-1-1-1-1 (max PR 52.5kg), overhead squats 3-3-2-1 (max PR 50kg).

Huh, this was one heck of a crossfit day! I spent the whole saturday with my bro. First of all, we met in the morning at the box to do some serious training. Agenda was to train hard first, then take a road trip 2 hours away to Tampere where Winter War - Finnish national crossfit finals - took place throughout the day. Neither of us participated in the qualifiers but we wanted to drive and take a look what it looks like at the spot. Sipa definitely wanted to do the qualifiers before heading to the actual games. I have a Game Day tomorrow so I didn't want to risk anything by going too rough. That's why I went strength singles today, no metcons for me.

Box jumps, Sipa

Strength. Huh, three PR's today!

• Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 (100, 120, 130, 135, PR 140kg)
• Snatch 1-1-1-1-1 (30, 40, 45, PR 50kg, PR 52.5kg)
• Overhead squats 3-3-2-1 (30, 40, PR 45kg, PR 50kg)

I simply nailed it. I just wrote on Wednesday that I'd better get my bro to the box so I'd PR my back squat again =) It's been quite a tradition this far. Those squats felt easy for some reason. I didn't take many reps, just warming up with 60kg, trying to stretch as well before entering to real weights. I still had the feeling I could have piled more weights after 140kg, weird… Felt incredibly awesome!

Back squat, 140kg, PR

After squats I decided to give it a shot with overhead squats. My plan was to do sets of 3 reps and start the movement from the ground by snatching the barbell overhead. After discussing it with Sipa, I managed to find better stability in the overhead squat position. I have been playing snatches with 40kg for some time and gained good confidence. It's not an issue anymore to lift it. Therefore it was only natural to add kilos. I took set of 45kg, my old snatch record and overhead squatted my new record (40 -> 45kg). It was rather easy so I stepped it up a notch, 50kg, both snatch and overhead squat, c'mon! Finally I snatched 52.5kg, which now stands my current snatch PR. I didn't try to squat it at all.

This was beautiful, three PR's in one day. This day will stay in my memories for some time =) Sipa's day was sick. He did three workouts with 5 min rest between workouts. First one was the most cruel, heavy thrusters. Short break and continue with box jumps, push-ups and double unders. Finally funny combo of pull-ups and toes-to-bars. I'm telling you, this guy was crushed after the workouts. His shoulders were screaming in pain. Take a look at the videos below!

Sipa's workout no 1. Result 38.4 reps (38 thrusters and 4 burpees)

• 8 min amrap of:
• 10 thrusters, 40kg
• 10 thrusters, 50kg
• 10 thrusters, 60kg
• 10 thrusters, 70kg
• 10 thrusters, 80kg
• 10 thrusters, 90kg
• Once the athlete is not able to do thrusters anymore: bar-facing burpees

Sipa's workout no 2. Result 132 reps (2 rounds + 2 double unders)

• 6 min amrap of:
• 20 box jumps, 64cm
• 10 hand release push-ups
• 20 double unders

Sipa's workout no 3. Result 58 reps

• 4 min amrap of:
• 1 pull-up
• 1 toes-to-bar

Winter War. After the workouts we headed north to Finland's national crossfit games. The workouts were sick and the guys were monsters. We were stunned to look at the guys performing. The winner - Mikko Aronpää - participated in the Crossfit Games last year and finished as the 32nd fittest human on earth. These athletes had to go through 5 workouts before the last 10 guys reached the final workout which stood as follows. That was sick, especially as the 100kg front squats and 80kg overhead squats started from the ground, not from rack. Cruel.

Mikko Aronpää, rope climbs

With a 15min time cap perform the following. Barbell starts from the ground.

• 10 muscle-ups
• 10 deadlifts, 150kg
• 20 toes-to-bar
• 2 rope climb
• 10 front squats, 100kg
• 20 toes-to-bar
• 2 rope climb
• 10 overhead squats, 80kg
• 20 toes-to-bar
• 2 rope climb
• 5 muscle-ups

Mikko Aronpää at the clean & jerk ladder, 120kg