First time putting all the plates on the barbell for modest weight pulls from the ground. Then some skills as I did 100 pistol squats before hitting the last piece with my wife. She told we'd do lunges and push-ups.
It felt great to get a little heavier barbell on my hands. It's been a notch lighter since I stopped training at my previous gym. There's a little transition before we move to our new home. Then I will get back in action for real. Next week we'll go for a holiday. Until then, I'll keep doing crossfit at our current home.
Gymnastics.
Pistol squats, alternating 5x20 reps
Pauliina worked on her deadlifts whereas I practiced sets of unbroken pistol squats, alternating between legs after each rep. Haven't been front or back squatting lately, and it felt like these pistol squats were heavy, a little heavier by each set.
We have been walking around in the nature quite a lot. Yesterday we wandered in Seurasaari to watch the sunset. Below there are couple of pictures along the trip.
Accessory.
4 rounds of:
30 walking lunges, bodyweight
25 push-ups
Not a timed workout. It was cool to do this side by side with Pauliina, each rep was completed at the same time. Synchronized movements as a team =)
Wednesday. Gymnastics, emom x 12min: odd 10 hspu, even 10 pistols. Front squat 6x2 @ 110kg. Metcon, 10 deads (100-130kg), 10 box. Time, 6.18.
Got one hour to improve my fitness. There was some good planning so I found a way to sneak three pieces in one session to get more volume. Gymnastics, strength and conditioning.
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute x 12 minutes
Odd min, 10 handstand push-ups
Even min, 10 pistol squats
After short warm-up I just threw myself against the wall and went for a set of handstand push-ups, 10 reps per set. I knew hspu's would probably go well but pistols were a mystery. Haven't done those in a while, and I'd say my leg strength is not at its highest level of all times. Left leg was good but right felt a notch weaker. Still, this portion was okay!
Strength.
Front squat 6x2 @ 110kg
110kg is 80% of my 1RM and something I can move nicely for small sets. That's why I did these every 2:00. Recovery was definitely enough. Sets were good all the way. I'm waiting how the game changes as there gonna be bigger sets at this weight.
Metcon. Time, 6.18
10 deadlifts @ 100kg
15 box
10 deadlifts @ 110kg
15 box
10 deadlifts @ 120kg
15 box
10 deadlifts @ 130kg
15 box
Deadlifts and box jumps are quite a combo, you probably know that. Idea was to do 10 deads with ascending weights, and 15 box jumps between deads. Focus was to do both elements unbroken, and I got that. Got to admit I wanted to drop the bar on 120kg and 130kg sets but got through those thoughts and finished with pride.
Saturday. AM. Oly complex @ 80kg. Wod, 3rds of: 500m row, 20 db snatch @ 30kg. Time, 10.53. Gymnastics, 50 pistols. PM. Metcon, 5k run and 90 pull-ups. Time, 32.47
Sunday morning's main focus was on moving barbell and improving c&j ability. Then a conditioning piece that left a little bit of my soul at the gym. Finally worked on some skills before heading back home. In the evening I went for a jog that turned out to a metcon.
Oly.
Every 2:00, for 12 minutes
Complex of power cleans + push jerks
3+1
3+1
2+2
2+2
1+3
1+3
Barbell @ 80kg at all times
Felt a bit stiff in the morning so I was a notch hesitant with that 80kg barbell. It was a load that was pre-determined so I decided to not listen the voices in my head and just build up to that. First set felt probably the heaviest but it was doable so I decided to just attack it. And told myself I just did a 80kg Grace with Toni, maybe last week.
These went nicely in my opinion. I got some of them on video. You'll see them on the recap. I reset the barbell on each jerk before completing the next one.
Recap of C&J and snatches
Metcon. Time, 10.53
3 rounds of:
500m row
20 dumbbell snatches @ 30kg, alternating
This turned out to be gnarly huh… Rowing was sub 1:50 at first, then on the last two rounds I went at pretty accurately that 1:50 pace for 500m. It took me about 41 strokes each round to get the distance covered.
Those snatches though. Those ain't light anymore. I've moved around 25kg dumbbell quite a lot outdoors as I own two of those dumbbells. Okay, 30kg db is not a stranger either. But 20 reps in a row (alternating between hands after every rep) brought such overall nasty feeling that it really felt miserable at times =)
Gymnastics.
50 pistol squats
This was rather quick accessory gymnastics work to work on some skills. One-legged squats in sets of 10 reps, alternating the performing leg after each rep.
Metcon. Time, 32.47 (total of 5.000m run & 90 pull-ups)
Run
30 pull-ups
Run
30 pull-ups
Run
30 pull-ups
Run
We spent the day in Helsinki, walking around as the weather has been awesome the past weeks as I have enjoyed my paternity leave. It's been the time of my life spending it with my loved ones. Next week I'll be heading back to work so let's see how the routines turn out to. We'll be moving later in the fall (plus one temporary move in the process as well), and I've been planning a home gym in the new house. So that's probably where most of my training will take place, starting from late fall.
Anyway, this workout was created during the first kilometer. Plan was to just go for a jog for about 5k but during the first leg of the run it came up to my mind that I'll head to one familiar pull-up station. They have monkey bars there. Complete 30 pull-ups and run to another pull-up station within 500-1.000m distance, and complete another set of 30 pull-ups. Run a loop and return to the first station, complete 30 pull-ups and then head back home.
I'm very happy on the pull-ups. I did some strict ones today in the morning but those sucked so I got my revenge. First set of pull-ups went unbroken, all 30 of them. I was pumped up and could have linked more together if needed even though it started to feel awful. Thought that might have destroyed my lats but I got 20 unbroken reps at the second station too. Finished it with quick recoveries, then 5-5 to reach a total of 30 reps. Same thing at the last time I jumped on the pull-up bar.
I'm very pleased on that performance. Running taxed my legs so that my quads were cramping big time as I finished. It was difficult to stand. Every time I came back from a squat, quads cramped immediately. Maybe it was lack of fluids in my body. There is a possibility I had not drank enough during the day. It was one heck of a training day!
Saturday. Pair wod, 15min amrap of sandbag run, s2o and pistols. Result, 7 rounds.
It was one and done on that day. My pal Antti who also lives in Klaukkala joined me for a metcon so it turned out to be a pair workout. Sandbag, barbell and bodyweight.
Metcon. Result, 7 full rounds
15min amrap of:
One athlete runs with a sandbag for 200m
In the meanwhile the other does 15 s2o @ 30kg, and amrap of pistols
This was a great workout for sure! Thanks Antti for throwing down with me. The point was that I started with the run portion. Took the sandbag on my back and went down and back the park. During that time Antti did push presses for 10 reps and the rest of my run time he went for pistol squats. Once I came back from the run I did 15 s2o's and pistols for as many reps as possible during his sandbag sprint.
The sandbag started to feel nasty on back and put a lot of pressure on breathing. Barbell was light but that's why there were quite a bunch of reps per round. Got those unbroken and then finished each round with pistol squats. It was awesome when my training partner suggested we'd do these. It's not self-evident that people can smash them, and Antti had perfect mobility and leg strength to work it up and down just like that. I got 10 reps per round.
Monday. Back squats 5x10 @ 90kg. Skills, 3rds of: 14 pistols, 20 ghd. Accessory, 400m walking lunges with weight vest.
Bradshaw destroyed my forearms the other day. My best guess is that my right forearm is in a bit of an inflammation mode right now. That has an effect on the things I was able to practice today. I was pumped up to do a bunch of stuff but turned up smart and listened to my body. Today was purely lower body oriented session due to circumstances.
Strength.
Back squats 5x10 reps @ 90kg
Touch'n'go style
This was a bit different action. Lots of reps with lighter weight. The thing was that breaks were not allowed on these sets. Just take it on your back, and pump it up and down for 10 reps. Weights was alright for today, last reps were nastier on the sets, especially the 4th and 5th set. This could have been heavier though but for now I'll take it. These weren't a walk in the park by any means.
Recap
Skills.
3 rounds of:
14 pistol squats, alternating
20 ghd sit-ups
Holy hip flexors. Both movements burdened those areas and they didn't get much recovery in the process. Changed the leg after every rep. Completed those without breaks but paced myself every round. Ghd's unbroken.
Accessory.
20x20m walking lunges (400m)
Wear a vest
I've done this before in the past. In the beginning this goes on nicely. After couple of rounds it gets tough. Legs burn a lot. Towards the end it just gets worse. The latter part is miserable. But it's definitely going to be good in the long run. In the evening my legs cramped continuously so the leg work for today was definitely on point.
Sunday. Power clean 3-3-3-3-3 (up to 95kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 power clean @ 50kg, 20 pistols. Metcon, 4rds of: 40m farmer's walk @ 130kg, 25 ghd's.
Today's agenda was inspired by the ongoing crossfit regionals. Pistols and cleans were the main goal for today. Prior to that I decided to take triples on power cleans and hit some records there. In the end another brutal workout to seal the deal. I call that a great Sunday! During the day we spent quality time with my wife in Porvoo, what a beautiful city, especially during the summer time!
Oly.
Power cleans 3-3-3-3-3 (80, 85, 90, 93, 95kg)
Didn't have this part in my mind early on but at at some point today I realized I need to warm-up anyway for the pistol / clean portion so why not take advantage it and rattle through some triples in the process. This time I built up to a heavy touch'n'go triple.
There is no doubt that those last two sets were personal records if I recorded max sets of something else than singles. Heavy power cleans are definitely not in my wheelhouse so I'll take this result victoriously and a smile on my face.
Metcon. Time, 9.00
5 rounds of:
10 power cleans @ 50kg
20 pistol squats, alternating
They did this for 4 rounds of 28 pistols and 15 power cleans. I modified it a notch, the volume stayed a little lower (118 --> 100 pistols and 60 --> 50 cleans). The reason was 28 pistols didn't something I'd be going through very fast. My legs are smoked from yesterday's strongman type of workout. Figured this would give me more intense end result.
This was brutal on lower body. Damned those pistol squats. I have them okay but when there's a good volume of those they are going to wear me down. More efficiency on those wouldn't be too bad of a thing. I did them 10-10 in every set.
This started with power cleans and so I did the first set unbroken. The following rounds were all singles. That was not predetermined by any means. In the beginning they were light, especially after the heavy clean triples. But then after the first round I started to save my legs for the pistols. Going unbroken would have taxed me a lot more than these singles. And thus I was able to keep going more effectively.
Metcon. Time, 12.20
4 rounds of:
2x20m farmer's walk @ 130kg
25 ghd sit-ups
My legs were cramping after the pistol metcon. Especially right quad was feeling miserable. Had to drink a lot and foam roll those quads to recover before the last event on this Sunday. I'll tell ya, those farmer's walks felt much more brutal after previous work being done today.
Ghd's were destined to be completed unbroken. Had to take a short break in the last set on top of the ghd machine as it felt like I'm not going to get up again otherwise =) This was a very good workout to smash core all the way.
Wednesday. Every 30sec, for 10 min: clean (up to 100kg). Wod, 6rds of: 10 hspu, 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups.
Some oly lifts to begin with, then Mary-style practice to hone on my gymnastics skills. By the way, it's getting closer. The Crossfit Regionals I mean. On Friday the first athletes are going to throw down in California. It's gonna be freaking awesome!
Oly.
Every 30 seconds, for 10 minutes
1 squat clean
0-2min: 80kg
2-4min: 85kg
4-6min: 90kg
6-8min: 95kg
8-10min: 100kg
This was one squat clean per 30 seconds. And after every 2 minutes I put 5kg more weight on the barbell, starting at 80kg and finishing at 100kg. I'm happy on these lifts. First ones were easy, and the jumps were moderate so my body adjusted well to those weights. It was good to see the 100kg cleans went down well too. It's cool to be able to move that weight. Sometimes I take that for granted but then again looking back occasionally from where I come from this is good progress. Wasn't able to clean 50kg when I started crossfit =)
Metcon.
6 rounds of:
10 handstand push-ups
10 pistol squats
15 pull-ups
Didn't time this one and I took it easier than a normal metcon. Wasn't looking for the best possible time. Instead, focused on going unbroken on the sets. Not that I took too much recovery anyway. This burned my lungs anyway. These movements tend to do so at least in my case. Last set of hspu's had to be broken to two sets but other than that it was ub. It is also good to witness doing sets of 15 pull-ups quite often and I've been able to do most of them unbroken.
Sunday. Gymnastics, strict mu training. Intervals, every 3:30 for 5 sets: 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups, 20 wb's.
This day concentrated in skills training and intervals for conditioning. I got the inspiration to practice strict ring muscle-ups from CF Regionals and as I saw one of my buddies nail some of them just couple of days ago. I haven't tried one in years so I had no idea how they would be like. Afterwards pretty much bodyweight interval work for engine.
Gymnastics.
Strict muscle-up training
Took maybe 10 attempts to get one. Not today but in the future I'll take one. I just need some coaching for this. Got to ask Lauri at the gym how to do one. I did use false grip for these, and got my hand ripped from the wrist. It's unbelievable how easily my hands get ripped on muscle-ups and pull-ups if they are not protected. Blisters, tears and rips all the way.
The thing is I need to keep the rings closer to my chest. That part felt difficult. They easily go apart. Another thing is that on the last reps I remembered to lean backwards on the first moments of pulling. Maybe I should maintain that position a notch longer before pushing forward with my chest, or something.
Recap
These felt much better than they were ages ago when I last time attempted these. It was a very feeling as these have gotten a lot better. I believe this is achievable.
Intervals.
Every 3:30, for 5 sets, all in
10 pistol squats
15 pull-ups
20 wall ball shots
Decided to hit some interval work to get blood running in this body. Pistols, pull-ups and wb's. Tried to minimize the recovery time between elements. I'm very happy I got the pull-ups done without them getting too taxing. I thought they might be the ones that get me today but luckily they feel rather strong now. Went unbroken each time. One round might have been something 1:30 per round, not quite sure, didn't time them that precisely, just kept moving.
Friday. Emom x 10min: snatch (up to 60kg). Every 90sec: front squat triple (up to 120kg). Metcon, 60 pistols, 60 db snatch (22.5kg), 1.000m row. Time, 11.38. Intervals, every 3:00 x 8 sets: 10m front rack lunges (50kg), 8 bar-facing burpees.
This Friday I spent a good 2+ hours at the gym and didn't have to rush anywhere. It was great after the busy days we've had a lot lately. Olympic lifting, strength and couple of conditioning pieces.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
2x50kg
2x50kg
2x50kg
2x50kg
2x50kg
2x55kg
1x55kg
1x55kg
1x60kg
1x60kg
Body felt a bit stiff in the hips and shoulders but still these lifts were still okay, after couple of lifts. Had one miss in the 60kg's but corrected that one on the next attempt.
Strength.
Every 90 seconds, perform front squat triples (60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120kg)
It's been ages since front squatting. I've been having that barbell on my back in the past weeks more often but today I simply wanted to have the fronts now. These felt heavy, even though I climbed up just to 120 kilos.
Metcon. Time, 11.38
60 pistol squats
60 dumbbell snatches @ 22.5kg (alternating hands every 5 reps)
1.000m row
This was fun! Maybe that is not the right word to describe the feelings but it was one heck of a time to do such a good bunch of reps of one movement without throwing anything else in between. I did the pistols in sets of 10 reps. Towards the end my hammies and quads were shot and felt almost numb.
Db snatches needed to be 5 reps with right hand, then 5 snatches with left hand. You can see the entire wod except the rowing in the video below
Intervals.
Every 3:00, for 8 sets:
10m front rack lunges @ 50kg
8 bar-facing burpees
This far there had been a good amount of work so I needed to recover for a while and get my protein shakes inside this body. After some time it felt pretty good to hit it again and the green matt was free so I decided to go for one more piece in the workout session with interval work. Lunges and burpees. Not sure but I'd guess it took something like 45 seconds per set?
Tuesday. Wod, 3rds of: 40 cal row, 20 s2o @ 50kg, 20 pistols. Time, 15.12. Emom x 14min. Odd min, 7 c2b. Even, 15 ghd.
Was supposed to do push press sets for strength but left shoulder felt awkward on those reps that I did with 60kg barbell so I dropped it and moved on with my plan. The metcon was great. Then some accessory elements in emom style to finish it.
Metcon.
3 rounds of:
40 cal row
20 shoulder-to-overhead @ 50kg
20 pistol squats
I'd prefer workouts where you can go unbroken on each element each round. That is exactly the reason why I programmed this one. These are always a pleasure though. In other words, I don't mind the workout. Everything goes.
Row for 40 calories equalled something around 550m per round. I tried to keep a good pace all the time, didn't rest on the rower. Didn't go 100% either, that would have been an awkward decision. Jerks were 14-6 on the first round, then 10-5-5 on the latter rounds. Yes, those felt in my shoulders but legs were burning throughout the workout. None of the elements gave a proper rest period for them.
Pistol squats crowned the triplet. Smashed my lower body for sure. I was a bit afraid to redline on the jerks as those had a big effect on my legs. So I had to hold back a bit on those. In the big picture I believe this workout went nicely.
Accessory.
Every minute on the minute x 14 minutes
Odd minutes, 7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Even minutes, 15 ghd sit-ups
I consider c2b's a weakness for me so this piece was warmly welcomed. I've knocked 20+ unbroken chest-to-bar's but the endurance for those is not greatest. And I'd like to do them in bigger sets. No point in doing just a few reps at a time. At least for me that's not the achieved state of mind. Ghd sit-ups are strong within me. Still, these got to my core pretty well in the last rounds.
Tight schedule this day so I went to the gym in the evening. My wrist has not gotten any better and it's very unpleasant to write on a computer so I'll just post the workouts without further explanations this time :)
Nice session. Loved to pull heavier after a long time. Then longer metcon. Went to the countryside afterwards to spend the weekend.
Pulls.
Deadlift 5x5 (140, 150, 160, 170, 180kg)
Felt like these went very well. It's been a long time since last time. Especially the heavier pulls. Last set at 180kg. That is the heaviest deadlift set for 5 reps but there's more in the tank for sure. I'll post videos tomorrow.
Metcon.
Emom x 20min
1st, 18 cal row
2nd, 12 pistol squats
3rd, 12 pull-ups
4th, 16 ball slams
This was surprisingly hard to finish with respect. There's been rather much pistols lately. Rowing also burned legs a lot. And those ball slams. It's all about squatting and towards the end my arms felt it too. I slam the ball to the ground with all I got every time to get the most out of this movement. Pull-ups were unbroken.
This was a one-metcon day and it was definitely enough for me. Wrist is still nagging so I still need to select what elements can be done. It was a positive thing that dumbbell snatches were okay!
Metcon.
15min as many repetitions as possible of:
10 pistol squats
10 pull-ups
10 dumbbell snatches @ 30kg, alternating after each rep
Pistol squats are always a good choice. Last time when there were pistols in my metcon couple of days ago those rolled pretty nicely. That encouraged me to throw them into today's wod as well. Pistols were alright, heavy but went unbroken with them in sets of 10 reps per round.
This was third day in a row of pull-ups. Okay, the volume hasn't been huge in the previous days. This is a movement that you can never do too much and these don't bother my wrist at all so why not do them a bit more now. These were unbroken too.
But those dumbbell snatches. Don't know why I picked up a 30k db… Okay 10 reps at lighter weight would have forced me to do more pistols and pull-ups. That would have changed the nature of the workout. On the other hand I'm very happy with being able to move this heavy 1-arm db snatch. In the first rounds I did these unbroken, and at some point started to do them in 6 reps, then a pause, and finish the last 4 reps.
I believe those snatches wore me out big time. The effect didn't focus in one place at all but it was a general fatigue that those brought. They gassed me pretty well and it wasn't a very tempting idea to start pistol squatting right away. Transitions in this wod started to get longer towards the end. Very good metcon.
Today we went to the gym together with Pauliina. Quality time with the family I would say. Plan was to ride to the sun with jerks but my wrist hurts more than it has this far. Got to be careful with that one so I changed plans and did things that don't put lots of pressure on that area.
Metcon.
1.000m row
50 pistol squats
50 sumo deadlift high-pulls @ 50kg
Great one! Huh, this was not a pleasant idea to jump on to. The row was a good warm-up. I saw there no point in rowing my ass off and getting out of breath before the pistols. That would gassed me out of the game. The pace was a little faster than 1:50 / 500m. I guess the time was 3.38 at 1.000m.
Got to admit that 50 pistol squats in a row made me hesitate a bit. Decided to complete them in sets of 10 reps, alternating after every rep. They went better than I anticipated. Very pleased on them. Maybe couple of shady ones there that I'm not entirely pleased with but in general I'm very happy.
Last element sumo deadlift high-pulls. These were supposed to be 70kg hang power cleans but there was no chance I was getting a barbell on my front rack. Wrist doesn't allow that to happen. This was a perfect sub for cleans. Doing high-rep workout with sdhp's has been tickling me for a long time so this suited very well. Got them done in 10-10-5-5-5-5-5-5. Check the video for pistols and sumo's.
Sled.
Sled pull backwards
3x40m @ 110kg (plus sled)
Rest as needed between sets
This was a killer in the end. It's now been pretty much 10 days in a row doing squats or burning legs in some form. The purpose of this workout in the end was to get strong mentally. I'm telling you my quads were burning big time. Especially on the way back. The grass matt is 20 meters so I went back and forth. The way back was a murder on the mid-way. I took something like 3min rest between efforts. My quads were hard as rock after each set. They were close to cramping most of the time.
Friday. Thruster ladder, 8min amrap of ascending weights. Result, 43 reps. Metcon, 5rds of: 3 bar mu, 5 power snatch (40kg), 7 hspu, 10 pistols.
Weekend is coming and I'm loving it! Today was a good session at the gym. When I was warming up I accidentally heard from one of the coaches that floorball team Tapanilan Erä is coming to train to the gym. I knew there are some old pals that I used to play with in a different team. It was great to see those guys and throw some small talk while we threw down. Great times! These are the guys I miss from playing floorball seriously. The people around us.
Rosendahl!
Barbell conditioning. Result, 43 reps (3x80kg)
8min amrap of:
10 thruster, 40kg
10 thruster, 50kg
10 thruster, 60kg
10 thruster, 70kg
10 thruster, 80kg
10 thruster, 90kg…
Winter War qualifications are now taking place which means they are trying to find out who are the toughest crossfit athletes in Finland. The contest is in February but qualification is taking place now in December. This was event 1 maybe three years ago. This year it was similar with the difference that the weights started at 50kg. Otherwise the same ideology exists. I figured I'd get a better workout by starting at 40kg to get some heavy breathing.
Tapanilan Erä
Went unbroken on the first two sets, both at 40kg and 50kg. Those were pretty self-evident beforehand as I thought about this. It's been time since doing 60kg thrusters so it was a mystery how those would feel like. My warm-up wasn't perfect and I felt my elbows being very tight. After doing 40kg thrusters for couple of sets in the warm-up and stretching a little more, they started to cooperate.
However, I had to power clean the barbell on the front rack before starting the first repetition. Ideally I would squat clean the bar but it makes it more challenging to get a full grip and having an ideal grip to press the barbell up and overhead. 60kg was 6-4 reps.
At 70kg the barbell was clearly heavier but I got through the set with 4-3-3 reps. Last weight was at 80kg, and I had to go for singles for each rep completed. Legs were good all the way, those felt strong all the time. Shoulders are my weaker part compared to legs and core and it was not surprise that upper body bailed on me on the thrusters finally. It was difficult to know how much to rest between attempts. Didn't wanna burn my shoulders out totally but then again it's not cool to have too long of a break.
Thruster ladder
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
3 bar muscle-ups
5 power snatch, 40kg
7 handstand push-ups
10 pistol squats
This was inspired by Bobby Noyce's workout that I saw in Youtube yesterday. This was a little modification compared to that. He also had overhead squats after snatches, and muscle-ups were completed at the rings. Those bar muscle-ups felt in my core after doing 100 ghd's yesterday. Maybe there's a correlation between those. Bar mu's were as perfect as are in my case. I was proud of those for sure.
Last thruster done
Snatches were light but in the course of action it was probably a good weight as after those it was time to throw myself upside down against the wall for hspu's. My butt is still a bit sore but it definitely didn't bother at all. It was awesome to do pistols, it's such a freaking good movement. Everything went unbroken and that was the goal for sure. Didn't have a timer rolling. That didn't change the nature of the workout a bit. This was my best effort for today.
Monday. Snatch singles (up to 66kg). Back squat singles, emom x 10min (130-135kg). Metcon, 12min amrap of: 5 thruster (50kg), 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups. Result, 163 reps.
After a more easy going weekend it was time to go heavier. Snatches to improve olympic lifts, squats to get the legs stronger, and then the real workout of the day arrived in the form of thrusters and bodyweight movements for time.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 10min: snatch
1-2min: 55kg
3-6min: 57kg
7-8min: 59kg
9-10min: 61kg
Exra snatches at 64, 66kg. Fails at 68kg
It was a mind blowing discovery to work on snatch high pulls. That has enabled me to keep the barbell closer to body. Today it helped as well. I took couple of pulls in the beginning just to remind how it's done.
Then I put the clock running and took snatch singles. It was easy pace, just singles per minute as the focus was to get good reps in the books. This movement is slowly getting better session by session. Today I was able to lift rather heavy. Yes, these are baby weights for most people but for some reason this movement is difficult for me. My clean PR is 116kg, and squat is around 150kg so everything says I should be snatching something close to 90-100kg but it's not even close. I'll try to improve the technique, and get more comfortable with bigger weights.
It's been ages since I took 66kg up in snatch. That was a spectacular feeling. 68kg was as high as it should be. For some reason I hesitated to go under the barbell. There was no reason for that.
Metcon's round times
Strength.
Every minute on the minute x 10min: back squat
1-5min: 130kg
6-10min: 135kg
Right after snatches it was squat singles. First 5 minutes were at 130kg, and the latter half at 135kg. After all these were more on the comfort zone. Doing them every minute on the minute had its own flavor.
Metcon. Result, 163 reps
12min amrap of:
5 thrusters, 50kg
10 pistol squats
15 pull-ups
This was not the most pleasant idea to hit it but I had decided to go after this one no matter what. Thrusters and pull-ups are quite nasty combination. Throw in some pistol squats and it's going to next level. In addition, these were 50kg thrusters which feel like a lot heavier than 40kg thrusters which is the traditional thruster weight.
Thrusters put the breathing heavy but those were surprisingly easy to handle. Well, easy is not the correct word. They felt heavy in the metcon but there was no doubt of hitting them unbroken. Pistols were mostly unbroken. Towards the end they were 6 reps in a row, then a break and 4 more reps completed.
Pull-ups were unbroken in the first 2 rounds. Then I cut them to maybe something like this: 10-5, 9-6, and 8-4-3. Had to take some breaks between the attempts and movements, and my round times grew longer by the round. That was expectable, especially as there were 15 pull-ups every round. I knew it's gonna be ub in the beginning, and some breaking down towards the end. This was one hell of a workout. Very good one!
Saturday. Metcon, 4rds of: 4 bar mu's, 8 hang power clean (60kg), 12 pistol, 16 overhead lunges (50kg).
Today was a different kind of Saturday as we went to witness one of our friend couple's newborn getting baptized. That's why I went to Optimal Training Center only in the evening. It was a late evening session, consisting of gymnastics and barbell work. My original plan was to do back squats but my back is sore from Thursday's deadlifts so that was not an option.
Metcon.
4 rounds of:
4 bar muscle-ups
8 hang power clean, 60kg
12 pistol squat
16 overhead walking lunge, 50kg
This was a great and tough combo. Didn't do this for time though. Bar muscle-ups went pretty well, unbroken each set. Had no issues in the sets. At the end I realized my lats were tight as hell, and started to get sore. Like I had done 120 pull-ups or something =)
Cleans were the easiest part of this one. Easiest doesn't mean they were a walk in the park. These brought breathing heavier for a while. Pistols were done with the new nano 5's. They seem to have a bit harder shoe sole than my previous nanos which makes it a bit easier to do one-legged squats. Best shoes for this movement is definitely lifting shoes, for sure.
Toughest element of this workout was overhead lunges, no doubt about it. Haven't done 50kg lunges that much while having the bar over my head so there was a lot of work. Legs, core, shoulders, stabilization. Couple of things to pay attention to. Good workout to close out Saturday!
Sunday. Shoulder press 5-5-5-5-5 (up to 61kg). Emom x 30min. 1st min, 3 power clean (80kg). 2nd min, 12 pistols. 3rd min, 15 push-up. Accessory. 10 ghd's.
Great to get a good long session in the books. No rush, just quality time at the gym. Shoulder press is something that has not been in the system lately. Metcon was long version of emom workout. Then a good bunch of core work in the end. Yammy.
Strength.
Shoulder press 5-5-5-5-5 (50, 55, 57, 59, 61kg)
This has been off the program because I have wanted to push press or jerk the bar overhead. However, it seems that this elbow pain is quite consistent when talking about heavier weights overhead. Shoulder press seemed like a good way to get shoulder burn with lighter weights too, building on pure shoulder strength.
Some time ago I did strict press triples at around 60kg. Today's agenda was 5's all the way. Starting at 50kg, building up to 61kg. I felt good on all of these sets, and happy on being able to push it to 61kg at heaviest. Maybe shoulder press could be the way to get stuff overhead without teasing elbows too much.
Recap
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 30min
1st min, 3 power clean, 80kg
2nd min, 12 pistol squat
3rd min, 15 push-up
Long emom. Some time ago I did these much more, 21-30min emoms. Those are usually tough mentally. This was no exception in that sense. Pistols got me in the end. These have usually been mostly bodyweight in my case but today I decided to throw some cleans in the mix. Those worked well. 80kg reps for a triple every third minute. Working on mechanics. The weight itself wasn't the issue, it moved around pretty well.
Pistols were the toughest on this one. Okay, I got them unbroken every round but they were challenging mentally and physically. Those wore my legs out and by mid-workout they felt horrible. I was shaking back and forth when doing those, but got them done anyway as planned. Alternating legs after each rep.
Push-ups are basic element that is rarely seen in my workouts. They are always a good option though so somehow I got them thrown in this workout. This amount was okay. 15-20 was the range. Don't know if 20 would have been too much in the end. On the other hand, I got these done unbroken quite nicely. Breathing stayed under control but on the pistol squats it was probably higher than otherwise.
Acecssory.
100 ghd sit-ups
My hip flexors were on fire because of all the one-legged squats but I still wanted to get some core work done in the form of ghd sit-ups. Took 4 sets of 25 reps, with no timer running in the background. First 2 sets felt fine, third was a notch tougher and the last one was a good battle.
Wednesday. Back squat (up to 5x138kg). Emom x 10min. Odd min, 10 hspu. Even min, 10 pistol. Metcon, 5rds of: 40m lunges, 10 burpee. Wear a vest. Time, 10.40.
Good long session of crossfit took place today in Vallila's premises. Couple of sets back squat to kick everything off. Then two workouts with bodyweight stuff. Good session for sure. My legs are killing me right now. That's a fact.
Strength.
Back squat
3x100kg
3x115kg
4x130kg
4x5x138kg
Okay, so there was going to be 5x138kg. For four times… Even though I have never lifted that much weight for 5 reps, this didn't scare me at all. When being able to do multiple triples at the same weight, and after having done lots of sets lately at this weight, I was confident of hitting at least the first sets as planned.
The 100kg and 115kg sets were more like warm-up stuff. I did them touch'n'go. Also 130kg set was no big deal anymore. This is very encouraging. Some time ago this would have needed mental preparation but now it's like an everyday load. Very encouraging. Awesome to look back every now and then to realize some development has taken place.
I'm not gonna say the 138kg sets were light. They weren't. But it was alright, form stayed rather good in all the sets and reps, elbows were down, knees out, and back in upright position. So there is no other option but to smile and walk away victorious.
Squats
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Odd minutes, 10 handstand push-ups
Even minutes, 10 pistol squats
This was a 50 / 50 rep workout of hspu's and pistol squats. Handstand push-ups were no problem. Unbroken, with a good feeling. It took 20 seconds to finish each set. Easy and steady pace in each set. Pistols were tougher. Those heavy squats definitely had an effect. On the first rep in my warm-up I fell on my butt. After taking couple of reps with each leg they started to feel okay. Not perfect in any of the sets but manageable. I went 5 with left legs and then 5 with right legs.
Metcon. Time, 10.40
5 rounds of:
40m walking lunges
10 burpee
Wear a 9kg vest
There were plenty of people doing lots of lunges with dumbbells in their hands. That intrigued me a lot so I decided to put on a 9kg vest and went 20 meters back and forth, then hit chest to deck for 10 burpees. Repeat for a total of 5 rounds. Rounds were steady which pleases me big time. Legs were beaten up. I refused to stop and breathe. Actually this wasn't as bad for breathing, it was mostly burning my legs. Pace was steady all the time.
Today's agenda was inspired by the partner workout we did with Toni last Friday. I decided to go after a similar one, this one by myself. It was a tough one. My body felt like someone had hit it with a baseball bat. My back is sore, maybe from the dumbbell snatches. Hamstrings and butt cheeks are also beaten up from the squats. That was the starting point for this session.
Foam rolling, mobility and mental check, and I was ready to hit it! Jerks were the ones I was mostly a bit nervous about but then, I remembered how it felt last Friday to throw the barbell around. That really was a mental thing. I took sets at 40, 60 and 70 kilos for couple of reps, then walked around the gym anxiously before tapping the timer on on my cell phone.
It was a 15min work domain, 15 reps per each movement on each round. Jerks were 70kg so it was pretty obvious these were not written to be unbroken. I have probably not done more than 5 reps at this weight ever. Just haven't had it in my program ever. If it has been a big set of jerks, it's been at 60kg or less. So this was a lot of "fun" to do a bit different type of overhead strength.
On the first round I went 8-4-3 on the jerks. That made me feel like a king. 8x70kg was super. That wasn't a max load obviously. No point in burning shoulders on the very first set =) Ten reps would definitely go up. It took me 1:30 to finish these jerks. Second and third round was 6-3-3-3 reps. And the last one which I didn't finish during the time frame was 6-3-2 reps to reach a total of 11 reps.
Pistol squats are rather easy with the left leg but right leg ones are a lot tougher. Might be something to do with ankle mobility. I have sometimes written in the past that it is probably because of the history as a floorball goal keeper. My basic positioning when playing, forced my left ankle to stretch a lot more than the right one.
T2b's were unbroken on the first round, then I believe they were broken as 10-5 reps. This was the easiest part of the metcon. But it had its own spice in the mix for sure.
