Saturday. OHS, 10 sec eccentric, 10 sec pause (up to 65kg). Close grip bench press triples (up to 96kg).
There was no there option but to focus on barbell work. I wasn't going to get my heart beat up because my throat was more sore in the morning than it has been in the past couple of days. Other than that I feel great. Went to the gym at noon with mobility stuff in my mind. It turned out to be overhead squats and bench presses.
OHS.
Overhead squat
10 second eccentric phase, 10 second pause at the bottom
40, 50, 60, 60, 65, 60kg
The reason behind this is mobility for snatch. This was way different than normal overhead squat. It was a slow motion movement. 10 seconds to lower my butt to the ground, then 10 seconds to hold at the bottom position. Idea is to see improvements in mobility in the long run. The weights were not super heavy at all. Mostly it felt in my wrists as it took 20 seconds per set to hold on to the bar. I felt relieved when I dropped the barbell.
Recap
Bench.
Close grip bench press triples
70, 80, 85, 90, 92, 94, 96kg
Bench never gets my heart rate up and it's kind of an easy element so it suited perfectly for today. Normally bench grip width is wider but this time I narrowed it to the same width as when cleaning or jerking. That feels much more natural anyway for me, now I realized that fact.
This felt ridiculously good. There is no doubt this is some sort of PR for me. I have never pressed these weights for a triple. And even the last set felt like there's more in the tank. Didn't have a spotter so I didn't dare to go heavier anymore. This was a huge positive surprise for me. In the end I took some box jump overs just for fun. But not too much to keep heart rate down.
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.
Saturday. Ohs with a pause, doubles up to 70kg. Workout, 6rds for quality: 6 hang squat snatch (40kg), 15 ghd sit-ups, 5m unbroken handstand walk.
We spent almost the entire day in Helsinki. It was time to find proper clothing for our wedding for me, and some other stuff needed to be arranged too. Got to spend it with my baby and her parents so that's pretty much everything I want =) There was time to hit the gym in the early morning still.
Overhead.
Overhead squat with a 5 second pause
Doubles @ 40, 50, 60, 65, 70kg
These were not heavy reps for a reason. Goal was to find that good deep position at the bottom of the hole on snatch. I took the bar from the ground so there was one clean and jerk done before getting the barbell overhead. The weights were pretty light for c&j so it was no biggie to drop the bar on my back.
This was a good drill for snatch / overhead squat. Getting comfortable win the hole. I had to look for the perfect position for a while down there. It was a good choice to hold the position for 5 seconds before coming back up. The loads were not insurmountable. Felt good with them all the time.
Recap
Workout.
6 rounds not for time of:
6 hang squat snatch, 40kg
15 ghd sit-ups
6 meters unbroken handstand walk
Saturday's are in principle dedicated for longer workouts with modest intensity. Honing on skills or long emoms. Something out of ordinary without a fast pace or heavy strength work. This is the plan but of course changes will take place. Today's workout was not for time but exactly a moderate heart beat action fro the beginning to the end.
I wanted to put some elements here that I consider more like skills based movements. There's a lot to be done on my snatch technique so it got a place on this workout easily. I got those from hang position intentionally as it's easier for me to keep the bar closer to body from that position compared to floor position.
Core work is always a good choice and these ghd sit-ups are new thing to me so there's still some sort of novelty included. It may also do good to my back's elasticity. At least it feels it kind of improves the mobility on my back.
Handstand has never been part of any workout I've done. Never ever. Those times that I've practiced handstand it's been a skills session entirely. Just focusing on handstand. This was a fresh breeze to combine this skill with other basic crossfit movements. I marked a 6 meter distance on the grass and goal was to cross that line without any misses. I'm very satisfied over completing each set without tripping over. Great session, mission accomplished.
