Friday. Ohs 7x3 @ 60kg. Emom x 10min: odd min 5 bar mu, even min 15 box jumps.
Haven't done overhead squats in a while. My wrists usually don't like it that much. It's probably due to the wider grip. It feels difficult to go heavy on this movement because of that. After ohs I worked on some skills and box jumps.
Oly.
Overhead squats 7x3 @ 60kg
Towards the end I narrowed my grip and it felt better and better with each set. Before I haven't found it possible to go this narrow. My shoulder mobility has prevented it. For some reason it was much better today. It felt better in pretty much everywhere to go narrower. Got to try it out in the future as well. Stayed conservative on the weights as I wrote because of the wrists. They are fine normally but this is the only movement which feels awkward in there.
Workout.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Odd minutes, 5 bar muscle-ups
Even minutes, 15 box jumps (max reps on the last minute: 32 reps)
Muscle-ups needed to be done. There was no doubt about it. Just need to throw something in the mix so it wouldn't be just mu's. Emom wod seemed like a great idea, and it was. Five bar muscle-ups every other minute and then box jumps every other minute. On the last minute I did some more boxes than on the previous rounds.
Saturday. AM. Ohs triples, build up to a heavy triple (up to 75kg). Wod, 10rds of: 3 power clean (85kg), 3 back squat (110kg). Time, 12.25. PM. Wod, 5-4-3-2-1 rope climb, 15 medball clean.
Thursday and Friday were full rest days. We had lots of stuff to be taken care of and I simply didn't find time to hit a workout. And that felt kind of good anyway so I let the gainz take control on those recovery days. On Saturday I woke up early to hit the gym for barbell work. Then at noon we traveled to Klaukkala to spend the weekend with Kari and Maija. It was a double training session.
Oly.
Overhead squat
Build up to a heavy triple (40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75kg)
It's been a while since doing overhead squats at real weights. My wrist have not liked this movement and it feels a bit awkward on this movement. It's kind of funny as it doesn't matter on the snatch though. I started at 40kg, then added 5kg after each set. No time domain here, just went on by feeling. It was rather straight forward action anyway with short recoveries.
I'm very happy on these weights. Probably the most I've been able to overhead squat for a triple. This movement is not the best of my lifts by a long mile. I've done 90kg for a single once but it gets really heavy at around these loads.
Metcon. Time, 12.25
10 rounds of:
3 power clean @ 85kg
3 back squat @ 110kg
This was different kind of action with only barbells in sight. Usually there is some bodyweight element included but doing just barbell work is a different kind of nature. The weights were moderately heavy so that I can't just go and rip it all the time. However, it was supposed to be something I can still move nicely. That means it's gonna hurt.
Got the power cleans in singles all the way from the very first set. It was heavy but manageable. Back squats were obviously unbroken. Had to take my time between movements in order to perform well all the time. In the beginning it was about one minute per round for 3-4 minutes, then it started to get a little longer per one round.
Metcon.
5 rope climb
15 medball clean
4 rope climb
15 medball clean
3 rope climb
15 medball clean
2 rope climb
15 medball climb
1 rope climb
15 medball clean
In the evening we went to the nearby park with Kari to do a workout in the nature. It's been 3-4 weeks from HC Triplet. During the last event there (15min amrap of rope climbs) I hurt my left shin big time. It got rubbed agains the rope so bad that it went all bloody from two sides of the shin. Afterwards it got inflamed and it took weeks to get the wounds totally healed up.
So yesterday I thought now it's about to test rope climbs again. The result was that the same wounds are now open and active again. Got to medicate those rashes well… Hopefully they recover much sooner this time.
Anyway, this workout was super cool! Holy arm pump. I can manage some rope climbs for sure but getting some volume on this movement gets to my body. Great workout.
Friday. Snatch balance 5x3 (50-60kg). Karhureiret. Time, 14.35. Conditioning, 7rds of: 2min row, 2min bike.
It was a notch longer workout session today. Tried some snatch balances in the beginning to get a feeling of those after a long break. Then some old school stuff from Finland's championships some years ago. That sucked. Then conditioning piece in the end.
Oly.
Snatch balance 5x5 (50, 50, 60, 60, 60kg)
These have been rare in the past months. I had that wrist issue earlier in the year and that caused I haven't done either these nor overhead squats with proper weights at all. It still felt kind of funny even though I have no problems in my wrists and haven't had in a long time.
It was cool to get these done. I'm looking forward to doing more of these accessory stuff for snatch in the future. I'm certain these will build up the confidence for the actual snatch too.
The video is unedited for couple of min
Karhureiret. Time, 14.35. Compare to 15.5.2013
10 back squats @ 100kg
50 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
20 front squats @ 80kg
40 box jumps
30 overhead squats @ 50kg
30 toest-to-bar's
The reason is unknown but I was done already on the swings. Literally I was trying to create excuses not to finish this workout. Luckily didn't but for some reason my body refused to work ideally, even though I had lots of passion to attack this workout.
Yes I got through this faster than before with heavier weights but I can't be satisfied of the effort fully. Especially the kettlebell swings and box jumps stayed to haunt in my head. Had to break both of them. Kettlebell swings more than once. No reason for that. And this was probably the first time ever pausing on the box jumps. Body was just completely in shut down mode. Somehow I got through this and maybe the last two elements went better than I assumed at that point of the workout. Back squats were unbroken, front squats were 5's and overhead squats were 10-8-7-5 reps.
Conditioning. Total of 28 minutes
7 rounds of:
2min row
2min bike
Damned I was over and out after that metcon. Yesterday my gym turned 1 year old so they had a birthday party. There was some leftover cake at the lobby. Once I saw it after the metcon I felt weak in my body and needed to fuel up. That felt like a perfect idea =) Huh, it was delicious!
After some recovery I jumped on the rower and bike combo, 2 minutes each with a running clock for 28 minutes total. That was a good end to the session!
Went to the gym in the morning. Body felt a bit smashed after yesterday's longer session. Still it was great to find time for another training session. Needed to do it with bodyweight and light weights though. In the afternoon we went to see my brother's kids' ice skating show. It was a blast, and to see my family after a break was even more fun!
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 25 minutes
1st min: 15 pull-ups
2nd min: 10 overhead squats @ 40kg
3rd min: 15 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
4th min: 30 air squats
5th min: rest
This was scheduled to be unbroken all the way. I'm very happy the pull-ups rolled nicely every round. Could have gone for more rounds too even though they started to feel uncomfortable. Overhead squats burned my legs. Probably due to back and front squats in the past days. Kb's and squats with bodyweight also put more pressure on my legs so this mostly trashed my lower body and kept breathing heavy basically all the time. It was a fun workout still.
Monday. Emom x 10min: 3 c&j @ 70kg. Benchmark wod Air Force. Time, 7.51 (PR)
Rough day huh. That Air Force is one nasty maddafakka. I took clean and jerks in emom style with a little heavier weight than normally in barbell conditioning workouts. Then a blast from the past in the form of that benchmark workout. That sealed the day perfectly.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
3 clean and jerks @ 70kg
It was great to smash that barbell up and down. Focus was to keep the barbell moving touch'n'go on the ground and on the front rack. No pausing at any stage. Went for triples at 70kg which is basically 10kg more than normally when keeping a bar moving constantly. These felt pretty good even though I haven't done c&j's in a while.
It's been about 1.5 years since I've done this benchmark workout. It's been in my mind in the past weeks and months but it's a nasty one so maybe that's the reason I've been putting it in the background. Those punishment burpees are cruel.
My mental game was clearly better than before and I'm extremely happy on this matter. Especially on thrusters and sdhp's. Jerks were okay but it would have been cool to smash then faster. Overhead squats looked ugly and felt miserable. That was not a surprise though.
What I'm super happy about is the way I finished the workout. Grabbed the bar after ohs's to get couple of reps done before the hopefully last burpees. I was definitely not going to complete a single burpee anymore so I fought through the 15 front squats even though my legs were very weak at that point and my mind wanted to put the bar down and go to bed.
It took me a good time to recover from this but I'm super happy for completing this! This was a 2min personal record on this benchmark wod.
Oh my, these legs have felt sore big time since Thursday. Yesterday's heavy squats probably didn't help either. Today's agenda was snatches in the beginning and then a longer amrap in the end.
It was a blessing to get my hands on a barbell and hit some snatches. It was a blast. I honestly feel like my snatches have taken a huge leap forward (not literally) on the technique. Once in a while I look at the videos from history just to compare how things have changed on my crossfit path during time.
Began at 50kg and went on by feeling. The snatches were okay. Only the first 60kg lift was horribly off but other than that they were alright. They were caught a little too front which is a classic in my case. I have never failed a snatch too much behind so that probably gives a hint that I'm not pulling back enough.
Snatches and first round of overhead squats
Metcon. Result, 5 rounds + 379m row
20min amrap of:
400m row
20 ghd sit-ups
10 overhead squats @ 42.5kg
This was on mainsite (www.crossfit.com) yesterday and it caught my attention. Decided to hit it today, just subbed running for rowing due to circumstances. Rowing was easy pace, something around 1:50+. My reasoning was that saving couple of seconds there would not make a big difference. Instead, cutting the transition times would make.
Through the rounds of 2-4 I had to change the order of ghd's and ohs's because someone was hassling over with the ghd machine for some back extensions. Well, I didn't mind which movement came first, and didn't reckon a difference in the difficulty level either way. These were unbroken each round.
Thursday. Back squat triples / doubles / singles (up to 145kg). Metcon, long chipper. Time, 15.30.
Huh, today was as sentimental day as it could possible be. I'm about to change my employer after working for this current company for 10 years. I've grown up to a man within that building's walls around me. It has not been just a job, it's been something close to a second home. From the beginning of next year I'm about to build similar confidence and society with another company. Today was my farewell party and it was a really touching event to say the least. I appreciate those guys tremendously. They've affected me in more ways I could ever imagine.
Jasper after the chipper
Strength.
Back squat
Triples (60, 70, 80, 90, 100kg)
Doubles (110, 120, 130kg)
Singles (135, 140, 145kg, fail at 150kg)
After work I hooked up with Jasper and we agreed to get some strength in our lower bodies and then get a good sweat together. This session was supposed to be identical to the one I just did earlier this week with front squats. That was every 90 seconds for a set of front squats, with climbing weights and descending reps, up to a heavy single.
There were not more than one rack available so we shared it with Jazz. that's the reason why I didn't take a look at the clock at all. Point was to go for a set once the bar was available. This was a good workout and the tempo was good. We did the sets alternating. Triples were light, more like warm-up sets. Doubles were easy too. It was great to see that also 2x130kg was ways.
It was kind of funny to witness that singles were under very good control all the way up to 145kg. That last successful one was a bit tight in the end but there was no doubt in my mind it would come up. And I felt strong on that lift. Some doubt still crawled in my mind about hitting the 150kg lift, and that must have affected the last attempt. It went down smoothly, small bounce there and coming back up. Just didn't have enough to bring it all the way up so I had to let it go. Still happy on the 145kg. It's been a while since going this heavy on back squats.
Got this sandbag from Toni and couple of colleagues today =)
Chipper. Time, 15.30
15 pull-ups
20 kettlebell swings, 20kg
30 medball slams, 9kg
30 air squats
15 toes-to-bar's
600m row
30 push-ups
20 lunges
25 ghd sit-ups
15 dips
20 box jumps
10 handstand push-ups
20 overhead squats, 20kg
30 burpees
This is something Jasper had written down some months ago. He's had some issues with his hips so we haven't been able to go after this one. Today he was well rested and body felt fresh so it was time to see what this is all about.
The ideology behind this is a chipper. Every movement exists there only once so you just chip it away. All the movements and reps were designed so that you don't have to stop and lean your elbows on your knees but just keep moving.
I was able to obey that plan pretty well. Only two elements had to be broken down. Those were dips and push-ups, a.k.a the pressing movements. Push-ups were 20-5-5, and dips were 8-3-2-2. They got spicy. However, my breaks were not that long as I wanted to keep moving all the time. There was not a single movement that would have been too much to handle. It was more like the continuing agony of having heart rate up and muscles working.
Okay, the last element of 30 burpees was disgusting. At that point of the wod it was just awful. My strategy was just do them one by one, without thinking too much about it. I went up and down without stops. I'm proud of this one.
Monday. Snatch complex: high pull, full snatch, snatch balance, ohs (40-65kg). Snatch pull triples (up to 90kg).
Lots of snatch action today at the gym. It took me an hour to go through all the work load. This time I didn't have strict plans on the weights at all. Just went on by feeling. What I had in mind was the complex that was carried out as such.
Complex.
Snatch high pull
Full snatch
Snatch balance
Overhead squat
Bunch of sets @ 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65kg
Lots of fun. I took several sets at each load so there was a good volume of snatches today. These felt very good, and my technique (compared to what it used to be) was somwhat on point. I'm very happy of today's progress!
60kg
Pulls.
Snatch high pulls
Triples @ 68, 70, 70, 80, 80, 80, 90, 90, 90kg
65kg snatch is pretty much the most I've lifted in ages so this was big time success. I jumped to 68kg which turned out to be just a snatch high pull because I didn't drop under the barbell for some unknown reason. Even though 65kg was rather easy, some wall hit me in courage. There's something to be worked on.
65kg
So I changed to snatch high pulls with a bit heavier weights. Focusing on bringing the bar up slowly as I've learned now, then pulling from the hips. Good sesh.
Saturday was a fun day as our god son got baptized. It was a nice gathering to celebrate the birth of this little dude. Later in the evening I got a chance to hit the gym. It was an easier session as I've had a little sore throat for maybe two days. That wasn't serious at any point, and it's already gone but still having a running nose.
Strength.
Overhead squats
5x40, 50, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70kg
It was fun to do overhead squats. Today's focus was on getting deep enough on this movement. This is the only form of squat where I need to pay attention to it. It always feels like I'm in the very bottom but then afterwards I see on video it's just barely below parallel. Mobility issue. It feels tight on shoulders, back and hips at a certain point. But it's definitely doable when being focused on.
Plan was to do 5x5 at 60 kilos all the way. However, it felt good so I kept adding 2kg per set until 70kg was on the barbell. Definitely a good session of ohs. Another thing I kept paying attention to was where my armpits are pointing on the way down. They easily turn downwards instead of pointing forward. From the side view they look good but then when filming from the front it looks like they are rotating inwards a bit.
Recap of the day
Workout.
6 rounds of:
15 pull-ups
10 overhead walking lunges, 40kg
Because nose was running somewhat I took this one more easily. Pull-ups needed to be done for sure. And because the gym was almost empty there was enough space to go for walking lunges across the gym. Weight was light, didn't wanna get my breathing high as lungs / throat / nose were not in perfect condition.
Pull-ups went smoothly. There was no doubt of hitting the sets unbroken but the latter half of them definitely needed some work to be put in the last couple of reps. Lunges were much lighter than pull-ups. Lunges in any form are great. Back rack, front rack and overhead lunges, or lunges with dumbbells. No matter which one it is, it's gonna be great.
Week started with overhead strength and a nasty combo of overhead squats and pull-ups. In the evening we went for a stroll with Pauliina in the woods for recovery purposes. The weather is rainy and windy, quite an autumn weather, classic stuff. But it doesn't matter, at least the air is brisk and easy to breath. Perfect for wods.
Time was 12.35
Strength.
Push press 4x10 reps @ 60kg
Goal is to get more shoulder strength. I talked to couple of big time lifters and got cued to add volume for presses. My focus right now is to do bigger sets of push presses, two weeks in the start of 10's, then two weeks of 8's, and two weeks of 6's.
Today's agenda was 4x10, and the load turned out to be 60kg. I went up to 1x80kg prior to the first working set to get used to heavier weights before (5x40, 5x50, 3x60, 3x70, 1x80kg). These felt good, maybe somehow awkward after not doing this long sets before. Shoulders took it well, and I'm looking to add some weight in the upcoming days.
Presses
Metcon. Time, 12.35
20 overhead squat, 40kg
40 pull-ups
15 overhead squat, 50kg
30 pull-ups
10 overhead squat, 60kg
20 pull-ups
These two are my least favorites elements to mix together. These are never a good call for me. Plus these overhead squats climbed up to 60 kilos which is more than "normal" ohs weight. Lately I've tried to go at 50kg or even more for metcons / intervals to get used to something heavier than 95lbs / 43kg.
It was a little bummer to see on the video that some of the reps on the ohs are a bit shallow. First reps in each set seem to be so. It felt like I'm going deep down but there is more work to be done on that part. Mobility is one issue on this movement. Plus my armpits are turning down on the bottom position.
Metcon
Anyway, this was a good metcon to get some volume for pull-ups too. Plan was to break down the reps already in the beginning, with the intension of not to burn my lats and forearms early in the workout. First round was about 10's. Second one was maybe 8-7, and then 5's. The last one was a battle too. The reason for pull-ups being as challenging as they were, was the numbness in my forearms. They were shot, and it was difficult to hold on to the bar. Breathing was rather heavy for sure but forearms were the reason preventing me to go faster. Changing the plates also took me some time between the squats.
Today was kind of a day where I didn't have strict plans whatsoever. On the way to the gym something like this started developing in my head. There were also row, c2b and sled somehow vaguely at some point but this is what it turned out to be. Weakness party =)
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
10 overhead squat, 50kg
15 burpee
50 double under
Well, burpees are not a weakness of mine but overhead squats have never been in my wheelhouse, and double unders have been at least questionable in the past months. Plan at this workout was to go unbroken. Ambitious goal regarding the double unders. Burpees would definitely be as "unbroken" as they can ever be. Just pace them properly, don't stop and keep moving. As simple as that.
Overhead squats were not that light but I felt confident in hitting the sets without dropping the barbell at any moment. The last two sets started to get a bit shaky but I got them. This pleased me a lot. It's not normal to go this "heavy" with ohs. It actually is not that heavy but I haven't done many workouts traditionally over 40kg. Lately I've tried to go heavier (50-60kg) with ohs wods.
Biggest takeaway of the day was confidence with double unders. In the past crossfit career I gained a good level of skills. Then I kind of forgot to practice them so little by little I realized the skills went away too. In the past months I started focusing more on du's to get the good rhythm back.
Currently jump rope is obeying my commands pretty well. Today I went ub on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th round. First round was good for 48 reps =) and last one was actually the only one with a miss in the middle (at 34 reps). This felt freaking awesome. It felt very natural. Just started to burn my shoulders
Bit of a lengthier session to finish Wednesday. My pal Jasper hit the gym too so it was a blast. We did some individual stuff in the beginning and crowned the session with team Karen. We realized there is a spot where we can throw wall ball around. That was pretty spectacular.
Yesterday was a turning point. Got some very light back squats in the system so my confidence of going for overhead squats was high. This couplet was completed in interval style with break after every round. Couple of overhead squats with changing weights, then barbell down and complete 10 pull-ups.
I started with 40kg bar, then climbed up to 65kg and the last five sets were completed at 60kg. This was actually pretty cool to smash some ohs at this weight without any issues. Okay, it's quite far away from my max load but considering I usually do ohs in metcons at somewhere around 40-45kg this was good. I had Nanos for shoes which made it a bit challenging I'd think, but then again they are the best overall shoes I've had the pleasure of having so actually it wasn't all that bad. I love those shoes. Very stabile ones.
Wod.
3 rounds of:
30 unbroken wall ball shots
20 kettlebell swing, 28kg
The thing was to go unbroken. No other options. There were recovery between movements but the goal was to get a good burn on shoulders by knocking the repetitions without dropping the ball / bell before the required amount of work was done.
Pair wod. Time, 4.50
150 wall ball shots
Alternating after every 15 reps
I was already about to leave but one idea came to my mind. That was Karen with a partner. We did 15 reps, then changed roles. Point was to keep the ball moving, with a good flow all the time. Those 15 reps could have actually been 20 reps per round per person. That way our shoulders might have been more shot and breathing heavier. While Jasper was doing his thing, there was enough time to recover for the next round.
We had some activities in the evening so I left early from work to get my daily doze of crossfit done. Today's objective was to get a longer workout in the books with lower heart rate. Not a pedal to the medal kind of conditioning piece.
Workout.
5 rounds of:
1.000m row
20 unbroken overhed squat, 40kg
So this was not for time. It took half an hour to complete the work. It was a 5k row mixed with 100 overhead squats. I took my time between the rower and the barbell as I was not looking to be totally gassed during or after the workout. Rowing was a little sub 2:00 pace as I look at the entire 5k.
On the overhead squats my only plan was to get a big chunk per set so it formed to be 20 reps. And the point was to do them unbroken. No exceptions. Weight was light so that was going to happen. It still burned my legs pretty big time. Shoulders felt good all the time, not bad.
This was a fun little piece of work to end the work week. Then we went to see some friend for the evening. Good day =)
Tuesday. Emom x 8min. Odd min 10 hspu, even min 10 c2b. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 7 s2o (50kg), 12 t2b, 7 ohs (50kg), 12 box. Result, 190 reps. Accessory, 5rds of: 10 ring dip, 20 ghd.
So we spent a long weekend in Berlin, Germany the past days. We came home yesterday at midnight after a great mini vacation! There was simply no time to do workouts as the tour leader (read: my wife) had arranged so much action and activities around the city. Plus we walked around all day, everyday so our feet were destroyed after wandering around for 10k per day. One huge highlight was when we went to see Bundesliga soccer with Kari between Berlin and Hamburg. The atmosphere was spectacular! One evening I had the change of throwing down for burpees, thrusters and some dumbbell work.
Got these little guys for new training shoes, Nano 5's
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute x 8min
Odd minutes, 10 handstand push-ups
Even minutes, 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
I decided to start with more like bodyweight movements instead of killing the barbell. I believe this was a good plan after couple of days more or less chilling. I went unbroken on both movements each round but I got to admit it started to get tough on the c2b's. Next round would have been a huge battle to go unbroken. Hspu's weren't light either. Okay, to mid-workout it was alright but the latter half was challenging. My lats were burning after this and I had to stretch out for a while to get them ready for the upcoming metcon.
Watching Bundesliga with Kari, c'mon!
Metcon. Result, 190 reps (5 rounds)
15min amrap of:
7 shoulder-to-overhead, 50kg
12 toes-to-bar
7 overhead squat, 50kg
12 box jump
The worst part for me of this was one definitely overhead squats. I had thought about jerking 60kg but there would have been change of plates between jerks and ohs so that might not have been the best solution time-wise.
All these elements were completed unbroken according to plan. Only exception was the t2b which was ub for first 2 rounds. Next 2 rounds were 8-4, and the last one was 7-3-2 because I had to rush to jump on the pull-up bar to finish the last round before the buzzer.
Each element had its own twist in the game, and breathing was rather high all the time. None of the movements allowed the possibility to drop heart beat down and recover energy. So I'd call this workout a success in programming. It was great to do ohs with 50 kilos as it is probably the first time I've had this weight in a metcon. Not sure but most likely so. Usually it's been 40-43kg.
Accessory.
5 rounds of:
10 ring dips
20 ghd sit-ups
This was not a timed workout. Just needed to get some extra workout done because there was no need to rush away from the gym. Ring dips are always a good call for me as there's plenty of room for improvement. Main focus on this one was rhythm and good range of motion. Goal was met.
Ghd's were good for core. I got a little headache for some unknown reason so maybe ghd's were not the best option because I had to go upside down on every rep, and hold breath when having head downwards. Still, this was a good cashout.
Thursday. Emom x 10min, odd min 12 kb swing, even min 15 ghd. OHS singles, build up (up to 80kg). Rowing Nancy, time 14.30 (PR).
Today's workout of the day was great. Nancy is one tough lady! I've had a date with her couple of times before and she's mean every time. Prior to that wod I did some overhead squat singles. Didn't quite go the way I planned but it was cool to do those after a long break.
Warm-up.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Odd minutes, 12 kettlebell swing, 24kg
Even minutes, 15 ghd sit-ups
After my regular warm-up routines I did a short workout in emom style to activate the entire body. Legs, core and shoulders all got their share and I felt ready after this one. Kettlebell was the heaviest I found from the place, and it was light for sure. Didn't matter, this was only for warm-up purposes. Ghd's felt also light all the way. Still, this was a good way to get pumped up.
There were basically just couple of reps on overhead squats as they were singles and my max lift is at 90kg. That means to say the limit comes pretty quickly. I haven't had heavy stuff over my head in a while and that really felt like it too. I wasn't that confident pressing the barbell up in the sky. However, once I got it there, the descent and ascend from the bottom felt pretty solid up to 80kg.
On the 85kg I somehow didn't find the path down there. Tried it twice in that same lift but it got desperate. Hopefully my elbows stay good now as they are healed so I could do presses and jerks much more. That would create confidence in having the bar overhead.
Uuh, this is a perfect workout. I've done normal Nancy maybe twice before and rowing Nancy once last year. You have a link couple of rows above to that blog post. This was almost a half a minute PR on the benchmark workout. I was definitely not super confident of hitting a new record but I decided to give it a shot. Plan was to row modestly, and then complete the overhead squats unbroken each round. I've been able to do that before so that game me confidence. On the other hand, I also remember they being very nasty so that was not a confidence booster =)
After the first round my legs were burning so that brought some thoughts in my head that maybe this is not going to that easy after all (like I ever even thought of that). I decided to put those thoughts somewhere else and keep grinding. Rowing was something like sub 1:50 for some time, and towards the end it was about 1:50 on average.
Ohs were unbroken every round and I'm very proud of that. Shoulders were great but my legs were in flames for most of the workout. They got so jammed up in the middle of the workout that I had to beat them with my hands to get some blood flowing and to flush them. Don't know if that made any difference but it was great to go unbroken. This time I also had 43kg on the bar. Okay, that's just a tiny addition to the weight but still, it's nice to get this done in shorter time domain with slightly heavier bar =)
Two heavy Smolov weeks are in the books and the third one just kicked off. That naturally means more squats. After squatting my butt off I went for overhead squats and toes-to-bar as a couplet. The gym was crowded. It really looks like everybody wants to hit it on the first day of the week. And maybe it can be seen that the holiday's are pretty much behind us and people are ready to grind.
Smolov.
Back squat 4x9 (118kg)
Two weeks have gone by with this squat fiesta. The barbell has obeyed me this far. Every day has been heavy but still I've been able to move it around. When I first did these 4x9's the weight was 103, and last week it was 113kg. So today it was 15kg more than the first time. It's cool to see how it still comes up properly.
There's no chance of doing these reps touch'n'go style. Haven't even tried that. Maybe 2-3 reps but that would eat the energy of my legs so better do them as singles, reset at the top and then squat again. My fingers were tingling at the end of the sets. Maybe the blood isn't flowing as well after a long set because they are tightly around the bar.
Squats
Metcon. Result, 112 reps (7 rounds)
8min amrap of:
8 overhead squat, 40kg
8 toes-to-bar
Legs are taking this squat mafia thing well but my elbows have been painful for about two weeks now. It doesn't seem to go away easily. It's a bit of a dull thing as I'd like to do presses and jerks a lot alongside Smolov. At first I was about to skip the entire metcon because of this but then decided to stop bitching, and do the work.
This was in my notes reserved for a rainy day. It worked perfectly for today's agenda. It was a quick and intense work. Went unbroken on both movements. The time was consumed in the transitions. Couldn't jump right into the next station. Okay, I could have but I wanted to go unbroken all the way. In the beginning this was emom style but then pace slowed down a little and ended up reaching a total of 7 rounds. I was happy over this. Had no idea how far I would go but this was good.
Wednesday. Back squat 7x3 (across 120kg). Metcon, with a running clock for 15min, 5x3min amrap. 300m row, then amrap of squat clean (70kg) for remaining time. Result, total of 44 cleans. PM: Metcon, 5rds of: 15 t2b, 200m sandbag run, 30 air squat. Skills, bar mu's. Metcon, 3k run.
What a great training day! Woke up, and wanted to go swimming but it was raining so I ate breakfast and got ready for a gym session. First time after the vacation my legs were feeling good. Originally I had planned to squat today but I thought my lower body wouldn't agree on that plan. Luckily it was a good day, so I smashed my legs. In the evening I went outdoors with a sandbag.
Warm-up.
4 rounds of:
3 bar muscle-ups
10 overhead squat with a narrower grip
This week I've done different types of warm-ups, changing from the routines. It's been kb's and du's, turkish get-ups, muscle-ups and overhead squats. Something I feel like needs to be worked on. So in this portion I'll do those with quality, and trying to modify technique a bit. Muscle-ups felt great, and it was a positive surprise to be able to do ohs with narrower grip than normally. This might be the thing to better shoulder mobility.
Strength.
Back squat 7x3 (across, 120kg)
I took only light squats last Saturday but those ones murdered my lower body for days. It really felt I haven't done work with weights in about 2 weeks. That was the longest break of training in my crossfit history, probably in my life. It was just light work during the trip.
Now I've had the possibility to sleep and recover well as I'm returning to work only next week. This week is dedicated to training. Today's agenda was triples for a total of seven sets, and I kept the weight at the same load, 120kg each set. Felt a bit stiff for some reason, even though overhead squats felt super good and I was able to sit very comfortable in the bottom. Towards the end hips got better.
Squat recap
Metcon.
With a 15min running clock:
Every 3 minutes complete:
300m row + amrap squat clean (70kg)
This was a nightmare. I was very anxious before putting the clock running. It was obvious it's gonna hurt. This is basically five 3-min amraps with no rest between sets. Every amrap begins with 300m row, and then you have that about 2 min time to work on the cleans. Do them as squat cleans to make it hurt more. I got the inspiration from Ben Bergeron's site competitorswod.com. When I came home I noticed it was supposed to be 200m row instead of 300m but that didn't matter. It was tough.
On the first round I did 10 reps, and realized if I'm gonna keep this pace on the cleans I'm gonna be in big trouble. On the following rounds I completed 8 reps for the next 3 rounds. Last round it was 10 reps again. There was enough time to do 10 reps each round but the feeling was disgusting. I had something like half a minute extra time after those 8 reps but I used the time to give my legs a bit of rest and adjusted the plates / collars back to the barbell. I did singles and the collars were bouncing back and forth. This was one of the worst workouts in a while. It took a while to get back to this planet earth. Afterwards I foam rolled a lot to massage the entire body.
Stage for the metcon, Concept2 and barbell
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
15 toes-to-bar
200m sandbag run, 25kg
30 air squat
In the evening I went to Pirkkola. It was devastating that they had torn the place up. I had wall ball and Sandy with me as I thought about doing a combination of wb's, sandbag run and something with the pull-up bar. My mind was blown as I saw there was no wb station anymore and the place was totally under construction. I gathered my thoughts and came up with this metcon. It was a very good breather!
I've never done any kind of runs with a sandbag. It was a 200m run with a 25kg "Sandy". I tried different styles of carrying it. On some rounds it was on my back, and on some rounds it was on either my left or right shoulder. Don't know which one felt better so I kept changing it. This one really brought the heart rate up better than I expected.
T2b's were ub for the first round, then I broke it into 10-5 for the remaining rounds. It mostly got to my grip. Air squats are always surprisingly burning on the legs when you throw a good bunch of them. They were intentionally right after the sandbag run which definitely had an effect on the squats. Good metcon!
Evening recap
Skills.
Bar musle-ups
The pull-up bar that I found there was high enough so it was a good place to hone on the bar mu skills. I took couple of sets so that today's total figure climbed to somewhere about 20 reps. I tried to swing my legs behind the vertical line on the pull-up bar.
Metcon.
Run 3.000 meters
At first this was supposed to be a recovery run but after the first round I paced up and ended up having cramps on both of my quads so it definitely got to a good workout in the end. Normally I really don't like running, especially as a unilateral element. As one part of a metcon it's a great one. But just running, that's a bit boring. Today it felt very good. My body was feeling fresh despite all the work begin done in the past days.
Towards the end it took its toll and brought the cramps. I had trouble to walk to the water station about 200m away from the track. Had to stop 3 times and go to squat as it released the tension in the quads. Once I got my recovery shake, it eased immediately. I drank one liter right away. Recovery back home was a lot of food, sauna and cold treatment for the legs in shower.
This body really feels beaten up. Huh, but I sure love to drive to the gym, do my thing and smile. For the morning session my intentions concerned snatches. Wanted to do them in a similar way as the clean and jerks yesterday. Emom work as singles. Then I went for a short metcon. In the evening we went for a recovery walk in the woods.
Snatch.
Every minute on the minute x 20 minutes
1 snatch
5x45, 5x50, 5x55, 5x57kg
No misses. And these felt surprisingly good. I did some mental prepping for this snatch session. I saw myself lifting perfect reps in my mind, and figured out the bar paths a lot beforehand. Maybe that helped or not, but this one got me a good mood for sure. Focused on pulling slowly from the ground, and bringing the bar as high as possible before extending my hips and dropping under.
First weights were light at 45kg. My plan was to increase the loading every 5 minutes, same as yesterday. I have once lifted 70kg in my life in the snatch so comparing to that, these were something between 70-82% of 1rm. In real life I would probably lift something like 65kg or a little more if I tried the max lift.
Snatches
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
6 chest-to-bar pull-ups
8 overhead squat, 40kg
10 burpee
I couldn't put all in effort on this one as my legs were not feeling super happy. That reflected on the entire body. Went unbroken on each element. I just worked through, and the thing I put my thoughts on was the depth of the ohs. I went clearly below parallel, forced myself to do that. It was easier after the snatches as hips were loose enough at this point.
Overhead squats with a 10 second pause in the bottom
6x1 @ 60kg
First of all, I fell in love with this Rogue Ohio Barbell. I've done pretty much all my work with a different type of barbell where the knurl is very sharp. Plus I've used a lot of chalk in my lifts. Maybe that's the reason why my hands are all torn up since I moved to this new gym. There's simply too much friction between hands and the bar. This Ohio bar is smoother on the knurl, and this time I left the chalk alone in its basket.
Tried to improve my snatch by doing overhead squats with a long pause in the bottom position. I went all the way to the very bottom, that's my extreme position on this movement. These lifts felt good all the way. Weights were moderate so there was not supposed to be big problems in any of the singles. Because the paused time was quite long, I wasn't building it heavier this time.
Ohs
Metcon. Time, 30.49
10 power clean, 80kg
10 front squat, 60kg
15 ghd sit-ups
20 lunges
500m row
8 power clean, 80kg
10 front squat, 60kg
15 ghd sit-ups
20 lunges
500m row
6 power clean, 80kg
10 front squat, 60kg
15 ghd sit-ups
20 lunges
500m row
4 power clean, 80kg
10 front squat, 60kg
15 ghd sit-ups
20 lunges
500m row
2 power clean, 80kg
10 front squat, 60kg
15 ghd sit-ups
20 lunges
500m row
Those cleans were originally supposed to be a buy-in of 10 reps. Then a 30 minute amrap of front squats, ghd's, lunges and rowing. However, the first cleans felt super and my body just needed to get those more in my system. I decided to do those in singles because the workout was long. No point in rushing those in the beginning and then suffer for the rest of the workout.
Front squats were kinda light if you think about 60 kilos in general but 10 reps in this workout were not cool. They pretty soon started to brome tough. Nasty but tolerable. Went unbroken each round. Had to keep a pause on top after 6 reps in each set to give my legs a break of the tension.
Ghd's were the easiest part of this one. It was mostly about controlling breath when being almost inverted. Core took this well. I got lunges done yesterday too for the same distance. This movement is actually pretty good. That's the reason why they have appeared more in my workouts lately. As pretty much everything else in this wod, lunges also took a lot of burden for legs.
Metcon recap
Rowing was the finisher of each round so I got 2.500 meters in total. My focus was to keep the pace at 1:50 all the time. Rowing in metcons is usually a big mental thing and also burns the body whole-heartedly. At the end of this workout it was really hard to stand up. I went on my knees after the last meter had been rowed. My legs were almost numb. It was a long burn for the lower body. And I also felt like the bar path on the power cleans was good this time and I was able to use my legs much more. That obviously burned legs even more.
Long session at the gym. Good warm-up, no rush. Got my hips and shoulders ready for some action. It was overhead work pretty much today, assistance stuff for snatch. Metcon consisted of ohs and pull-ups, which are poison to me as a combination. Finished the session with some light work.
This was basically overhead squat triples but I started almost every set with a snatch balance. Only the last set was a pure ohs triple without the snatch balance. Just pushed the barbell to straight arms before squatting. In Denmark I didn't finish the 75kg triple and it got me thinking there's a possibility I have never got a3 reps at this weight. Don't know, it is possible but I just don't remember it. That was enough for the day on this movement for me. Felt pretty good on the overhead squats this time!
Recap
Pulls.
Snatch pulls 3x5 (90, 100, 100kg)
This is something I've found very useful. It teaches me lots of patience for snatch. And the bar path looks to be much better, way more correct than before. That makes me smile big time. Plus it's great to get some pulls done as deadlift has been out of question for about 3 weeks now. I told you some time ago there is some weird pain in my left ribcage when pulling heavy loads from the floor or alternatively when sneezing / coughing.
Everything else is okay, no pain at all. But on these occasions there is an internal pressure which I do not like. These 100kg pulls are so light that it doesn't matter. But for snatch grip pulls it is quite a load. I'll have these in my repertoire in the near future just to teach my body. Weight was good.
Metcon. Time, 12.22
5 rounds of:
10 overhead squat, 40kg
15 pull-ups
30 double unders
Huh, it was known already beforehand that ohs and pull-ups are a difficult combo for me. That means to say it is useful to practice that. Ohs was unbroken each round, pull-ups were so for 2 rounds. The following were 8-4-3 for each of the remaining 3 rounds. Double's had trips in 2/5 sets. Three sets were good. This one made me breath hard for sure, and muscles got tired during the course of the workout.
Finisher.
3 rounds of:
500m easy row
20 ghd sit-ups
After writing down what work I had been doing I sat on the rower to get my thoughts together, and did a little cash out in the end. Rowed with easy pace for 1.5km, it was somewhere between 1.50-1.55 per 500 meters. Ghd's were there just to get some core work done in the process.
