Thursday. Back squats 5x5 @ 135kg. Accessory, 5rds of: 5 bar mu, 12 reverse lunges @ 50kg
Getting heavier and heavier on the squats. Another grind day by having a barbell on my back. Then skills and more leg burn afterwards. Didn't time that one at all. It was more like accessory work even though the recovery time wasn't too long.
Strength.
Back squats 5x5 @ 135kg
Last days of this progression that I wrote by myself. It's been 5's all the way. Different amount of sets every time but the main point is that I'll keep adding weights on the bar and keep the volume up. It's been mentally tough at times and especially the last couple of squat sessions have built a lot of personality so to say. These sets were challenging sets but I managed to finish them, very happy!
Accessory.
5 rounds of:
5 bar muscle-ups
12 reverse lunges @ 50kg
This was not a timed workout. I did the muscle-ups and immediately walked to the bar, back racked it and took 12 reverse lunges. Then sat down for a while, went back to chalk my hands and hit another set. It was great to get muscle-ups done, it was simply awesome. I had a miss on the third round. Then got my head around the game again and finished the following repetitions smoothly.
Lunges burned my legs more than I anticipated in the beginning. Last reps of each set were heavy but I refused to pause at any moment. The bar was rather light anyway so I decided to push forward.
Monday. Emom x 10min. Odd, 3 power clean. Even, 3 hang squat clean. Front squat 3x5. Metcon, 5rds of: 7 back squat (70kg), 12 burpee. Time, 6.00. Accessory, 3rds of: 10 reverse lunges, 10 reverse hypers.
Efficient but a rather lengthy session. Oly lifts, squats, metcon and some accessories. Everything I'd like to squeeze in one session of crossfit. Still, it got fit in one hour.
Reverse hypers
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Odd min, 3 power clean
Even min, 3 hang squat clean
Sets at 80, 85, 85, 90, 90kg
Started quite soon after entering the gym. Original goal was to go at 90kg all the way but I took the first as "warm-ups". I really didn't take that much preparation before these lifts. These went pretty well. I'm happy that those 90kg power cleans were unbroken without dropping the bar between reps. That was kind of a mystery how it would turn out to be.
Strength.
Front squat 3x5 (110, 115, 120kg)
This felt heavier right after the cleans. Especially now as I try to do the pieces with less rest time in between. I actually wasn't able to get the last rep on the set of 120kg done. That was a bummer but I decided to forget it and move on.
Metcon. Time 6.00
5 rounds of:
7 back squats @ 70kg
12 burpees
Huh, this was a quick and intense one. Burpees are the real deal in here. Okay, also squats are challenging as the entire body is pumped up from the burpees. The last 2 reps on squats burned my hamstrings nicely but the thing was absolutely the burpees. I'm happy on the way I was able to keep moving.
Accessory.
3 rounds of:
10 reverse lunges (60, 70, 80kg)
10 reverse hypers (0, 20, 30kg)
The purpose was just to get more strength stuff done. Lunges are perfect for that. I have never gone this heavy on these. Mostly something like 50-60 kilos. Right after every round of lunges I went to do reverse hypers which is a killer movement for hamstrings and butt cheeks, the entire posterior chain to be correct. Started with that empty machine and added some weight on the following sets. This is rather new stuff for me.
Monday. Push press 4x8 @ 65kg. Front squat emom (up to 135kg). Emom x 10min: 10 reverse lunges (50kg).
This overhead strength thing is getting interesting. I'm looking forward on these sessions where I have the possibility to put the barbell over my head for a good number of reps. Today the game changed a bit. Then squats even though my hamstrings are sensitive from yesterday's good mornings. It wasn't a surprise as I haven't done those basically at all. Seems like a good activating movement! Finally more smashing of lower body with weighed lunges.
Overhead trength.
Push press 4x8 @ 65kg
Two weeks of 10's are in the books. Now it's time to cut the reps and go heavier. It's gonna be 8's for the next two weeks with increasing weights. It's not easy to determine the loads but luckily me and my shoulder strength mentor had exactly the same view on this issue. It was 65kg for today, then building up in the future. I took one set on video, the 3rd one.
Presses and squats
Strength.
Every 0:60, perform 3 reps (60, 70, 80, 90, 100kg)
Every 1:30, perform 2 reps (105, 110, 115, 120kg)
Every 1:30, perform 1 rep (125, 130, 135kg, fail at PR attempt of 140kg)
Loved it. No doubt about it. I was supposed to do sets every 90 seconds but I realized after two sets that I had done them every 60 seconds so I went with that execution up to the triples at 100kg. Then changed it to doubles every 90sec, and finally after the last double at 120kg it was singles every 90 seconds.
I'm very pleased to this portion. Never in my mind had I these weights in my mind for today. My posterior chain is quite jammed but legs felt okay anyway. Didn't know I'd be so well prepared for heavy squats. Don't even remember when I took 135kg up for the last time. Today that was solid effort and form was not compromised.
That gave me confidence to add 5 more kilos for an attempt at new personal record. Before that I loaded up to 160kg, took it up in my front rack and stood it up, stayed for couple of seconds before re-racking the bar. Tried to fool the system this way to think the bar wouldn't be that heavy. The descent was good, and some way back up looked like it should but then strength vanished and I couldn't stand it up. I'm happy that my core didn't bail me. It was just lack of leg strength.
Accessory.
Every minute on the minute x 10min
10 reverse lunges @ 50kg
Great way to finish lower body. Go after weighed lunges. Had the bar on my back and completed a set of 10 reverse lunges per minute. That took something like 20-30 seconds every round. This also broke a good sweat after couple of minutes. Liked the fact that it burned my legs and put blood running wildly in my body.
Tuesday. Back squat 4x8 @ 120kg. Emom x 21min: 1st min 5 hang power clean (50kg) + 5 burpee, 2nd min 10 reverse lunges (50kg), 3rd min 10 push-up + 10 t2b.
It's December c'mon! Time to start waiting for Christmas. Our house is already looking like it and work place too. Yesterday's session feels in my body for sure. Entire upper body is smashed. The volume of pull-ups made a big difference. And somehow also legs had taken a hit. Had to warm-up up properly to get fluids flowing in my body and legs ready for the upcoming task.
Strength.
Back squat 4x8 @ 120kg
When doing these sets I wanted to get a feeling of a little heavier weights before starting the first working set. Built up to it by doing 6x60, 5x90, 3x110, 1x120, 1x130kg. The last rep was still easy and I thought about doing 140kg too but for some reason decided to start working already. That wasn't much heavier than the work set but it sure helped to go a bit higher in kilos. Bar felt much lighter on the way down than on the way up. Funny but it's true.
On the first set I went 4 reps straight away touch'n'go without any pause. From then on the latter half were "singles", and then a breath taking moment on top. Last 2 reps were not nice. On the 2-4 sets it was possible to get only 3 reps tng style before knocking them one by one.
On the last set I had to ask for a spotter because my legs were jello already on the second set. Third set was brutal, and a real battle for the last reps. Last set was horrible. My legs went noodles big time. It felt difficult to stand after those final repetitions. At least that made good to lower body!
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 21 minutes
1st minute: 5 hang power clean, 50kg + 5 burpee
2nd minute: 10 reverse lunges, 50kg
3rd minute: 10 push-ups + 10 toes-to-bar
This was tough as well. Okay first and third minute work were easier but with these legs those lunges weren't that cool. Those also made the clean/burpee and push-up/t2b sets worse. Breathing was under control even though it started to get heavier but legs and hip flexors started to get tight in the course of the emom wod. It was kind of like a whole-body meltdown and recovery started to become an issue. It took me equal amount of time each round but mentally this got tougher by the round.
Thursday. AM: Metcon, 3rds of: 400m run, 30 wb, 12 pull-ups. Time, 13.29. Skills, handstand. PM: CF Open 11.2. Result, 357 reps. Emom x 10min: 8 reverse lunges (50kg).
In the morning I drove to a place where I have been about two years ago with my bro. Kauniainen sports track. They have a pull-up bar right next to the track so I went there with some action in my mind. Took also some handstand training. In the afternoon it was time for another session. Found a new Open workout which needed to be tested. Good one.
Metcon. Time, 13.29
3 rounds of:
400m run
30 wall ball, 9kg
12 pull-ups
As I just wrote yesterday, running is not in my wheelhouse, don't like the element that much but it's always worth it. During my floorball years I ran a lot, and had good endurance on that one. Never the fastest but a good conditioning on running. Currently it's not as good for sure. Only because I haven't ran that much. It took my breath away today.
Doing wall balls after running for one lap was not the easiest of jobs. Wb's are my thing but they were tough throughout the workout. Didn't warm-up properly so the first round was as tough as the rest. I went 20-10 each round.
Pull-ups were unbroken. It was the easiest element of this one. Mainly due to the number of reps. My fingers were sore from all the work being done this week and it didn't feel good to even touch the pull-up bar. But once I went up there, it was no biggie after all. Good rather short workout after all.
Wall ball station was that white wall on the left
Skills.
Handstand
After getting my breath back I practiced on my handstand skills. The field was as flat as it can be which made it a perfect platform from being inverted. It turned out to be quite a good session on handstand. This was definitely some sort of PR in handstand walk. I got a 10m distance performed on walking on my hands. It felt like 100 meters though. Felt great!
When we were in Italy Toni sent me a message that he'd done this one so it stuck in the back of my head. It looked like a good workout, and I had never seen this one before. Today felt like a perfect timing to hit this one. Took some heavier deadlifts beforehand just to get used to pulling from ground. 70kg barbell turned out to be very light.
The only thing I had in mind was Toni's result when I entered this one. Somehow I knew it's gonna hurt. It's light work so it's basically about engine. No reason to break the sets. For a second I thought push-ups might become an issue but luckily I got them unbroken too. For sure they got heavier but I was determined to finish them with glory.
Box jumps were probably the most challenging element. My hip flexors have been pretty much on fire the entire week because of the training volume so it was no surprise. My plan was to walk slowly from the push-up station to the box, shake my legs during the way, and once I arrived at the box, started jumping right away. I was able to keep a very steady pace throughout those 15 minutes. Didn't gas out at ay moment, peaceful pace from the beginning to the end. It was definitely a perfect metcon in a sense that heart rate and heart beat was high towards the end.
Accessory.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
8 reverse lunges, 50kg
Stole also this one from my man Toni. A little fun accessory action at the end of the session. Mostly this got to hip flexors. Weight wasn't super heavy. The movement itself was a bit awkward in the beginning. Haven't done much reverse lunges but after 2 sets I felt comfortable with these. Got a good sweat on this one too.
