Tuesday. Complex, build up to a heavy complex of: 1 power clean + 3 tng push jerk (up to 90kg). Wod, 20min amrap of: 5 power snatch @ 60kg, 25 ghd, 500m row.
Focus on Tuesday was moving the barbell up from front rack. It feels like an eternity since going overhead. Don't know if that's the truth but that's the first feeling. Second focus was putting 60kg snatches on a metcon. Not a joke for me.
This was success. I did these rather fast without that much recovery between sets. Every set was touch'n'go from front rack to overhead. I'm very proud of these lifts. Lately since getting our firstborn, my training volume has gone down quite naturally but it has felt great every time when hitting the gym. It's spectacular to spend time with this little kiddo so the change has been something I can definitely live with =) Got the last set on video.
Wod. Result, 4 rounds
20min amrap of:
5 power snatch @ 60kg
25 ghd sit-ups
500m row
Snatches were heavy for me, 60kg ain't that easy. Took them singles all the way. No misses however, which is good news. Ghd's were unbroken and rowing was around 1:50 pace all the way. At one point I had to wait for 30-60 seconds to hop on the ghd's as one guy stepped in in the middle of the metcon. I wrote this as 20min amrap but decided to finish the 4th round. Timer stopped at 20.34, and considering that extra stop on the ghd's, let's say it was 4 rounds sharp.
Saturday. Back squats 6x4 @ 120kg. Metcon, 3rds of: 10 c&j @ 70kg, 500m row. Time, 11.11.
We were on the move for the entire day so it was late night when I found a good spot to hit the gym. Back squats were on the program and then brutal combination of overhead stuff and rowing.
Strength.
Back squat 6x4 @ 120kg
This part continues to follow the weightlifting101 system. Just another day of grinding. The weights at 80% are something I have used as warm-up sets so this needs some mental game to understand these are useful in the long run. Maybe I have done too heavy sets before? Don't know. Can you do too heavy sets. Somehow it makes sense to me to lift as heavy as possible, and as often as possible. Period.
Last 5 sets
Metcon. Time, 11.11
3 rounds of:
10 clean and jerk @ 70kg
500m row
This was a lot of fun. I had some thoughts. The other one was doing a long version of this one, let's say 20 minute amrap, or then a shorter one. The nature of the workouts would have been totally different between those. Long workout would have been slower on the clean and jerks but this kept the pace good with the barbell, and there were no long breaks between reps.
Rowing was 1:55 for the first 2 rounds, then sub 1:50 on the last one. I used that rowing for recovery. The barbell got me after every set of 10 reps so it was only logical to get heart rate back down before another set of c&j's. Got to say this was one heck of a workout!
Monday. Row 8x500m, 1:1 work:rest ratio. Wod, 10rds of: 5 hang power clean @ 60kg, 10 high box.
Conditioning. Period. Intervals to start with, then light cleans and high box jumps to seal the deal. I took some double unders in the beginning of the latter workout but my shins didn't like it even though there was some serious foam rolling prior to that. So I changed it after 3 rounds to high box jumps.
Intervals.
8 x 500m row
1:1 work:rest ratio (Every 3:30)
These are tough. Both physically and mentally. Maybe 3 rounds went okay even though there were some leg pain already at that point. But it got serious at 4-5 rounds. The recovery was enough to get back in action but the sets started to feel nasty at about midway, 250-300 meters down. The last 200m of the last sets were pure agony. My legs hurt and lungs were screaming for air. Nice body melt down =) Felt good!
Workout. Not for time
10 rounds of:
5 hang power clean @ 60kg
10 high box jumps, 70cm
First 3 rounds were 25 double unders instead of the box but the remaining was 10 box jumps at a higher box than what I'm used to. It's quite rare actually when I've completed this high jumps. Just couple of occasions.
The barbell was light and focused on perfecting those reps every time. It was a nice end to the session. That row session practically ate my soul so this was an easier one.
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!
Wednesday. Push jerk 5's (up to 80kg). Metcon, 6rds of: 15 t2b / ghd, 15 push-ups, 15 cal row.
Yesterday's Holleyman with Toni really feels this morning. My traps are sore as hell which means to say those 30x95kg power cleans were really heavy for me. It was one heck of a workout, and I liked it a lot. Especially doing it with my best pal.
Overhead.
Push jerk 5's (60, 70, 75, 80, 80, 80kg)
In the morning I went to hit another session. Overhead strength and a conditioning piece to seal the deal. This jerk thing has really gotten to another level. I'm extremely happy about it. It's very cool to see that 80-90kg bar goes up nicely. Recently I did 5x85kg and 3x90kg sets for personal records where 90kg is also my 1 rep max. Seems like there's some room to go heavier.
Today I decided to stay at around 80kg for couple of sets, and felt good on those sets. On the last set (on video) I had to correct my feet which didn't please me but overall I'm very happy on the performance.
Metcon.
6 rounds of:
15 toes-to-bar / ghd sit-ups
15 push-ups
15 cal row
Plan was to do ghd sit-ups for all 6 rounds but just when I was about to start the machine got occupied so I changed it to t2b's on the fly. In the end it was 3 rounds of t2b's and 3 rounds of ghd's. Went unbroken on the first round of toes-to-bar's, and the other two had to be broken up, don't quite recall how. Second set of t2b's were probably 9-6 or 9-3-3, and the last set maybe 5-4-3-2-1. Yeah, I'm quite sure this is how it went.
Push-ups were unbroken, easier than I thought. On the rower I have no idea of the pace as I only stared on the calories on the digital screen. Anyway, this was a good metabolic conditioning portion for the day.
Week started with bodyweight gymnastics stuff and another metcon consisting of barbell work and rowing. Lots of sweating and breathing.
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
1st min: 15 pull-ups
2nd min: 10 handstand push-ups
3rd min: 15 box jumps
These were destined to be unbroken. Pull-ups went very well and didn't have any issues on those. It was surprising that handstand push-ups felt a bit awkward in the beginning. Had couple of no-reps that I had to compensate. Feet came off the wall and I lost my balance. That was not cool. Shoulders took them quite well though. I realized my hand position was a bit off on the first sets. That's why there were some issues. Corrected it and the last sets went nicely. Box jumps kept breathing a notch faster.
Metcon.
10 rounds of:
3 bench press @ 80kg
250m row
Plan was to do heavy power cleans and rowing. Cleans would have probably been at 90kg. However, all three platforms were taken as well as all squat racks. Only one bench station was free so I figured why not. Turned out to be 3 bench at semi-heavy weight and rowing with a faster pace. This was a good wod.
Tuesday. Deads 5x3 @ 170kg. Emom x 10min: 3 power clean @ 80kg. Row, 30sec on, 30sec off, for 10min. Result, 1.700m
Huh, Monday's leg oriented day clearly feels in my body. Legs are sore on the sides as well as quads. At least it feels like I've done something for real. It was time to pull from the ground today and finish the session with a little row action.
Pulls.
Deadlift 5x3 @ 170kg
It's been some time since completing a bit heavier deadlifts. Okay these were not superheavy but still something you need to play attention to very closely. Took some lighter sets at 130, 150, 160kg before getting up to the working sets.
It felt good to get my hands around the barbell and pull it from the floor. Was able to maintain torso straight in all sets and not compromise form at any stage. Hands also took this pretty well. It's sometimes challenging to get through heavy deads without any rips in palms / fingers.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
3 power clean @ 80kg
I put the timer on with a mindset of doing either 2 reps per minute or 1 rep every 30 seconds. Once I took the first lift the bar felt very good so I decided to add it up to 3 reps in one set. Continued this for 10 minutes, and finished the last set for a total of 10 reps. Being able to complete those without any major issues was a good confidence booster.
Conditioning. Result, 1.700m
30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, for 10 minutes
Row
In the end I was running out of time so I created this on the spot. Basically I just unloaded the barbell, put the plates where they need to be and sat on the rower. Pace was about 1:40 per set. More like sub 1:40. Butt cheeks numbed at around 7 minutes.
Wednesday. Metcon, 5rds of: 3 mu + 50 lunges. Metcon, 5rds of: 12 kb swing + 250m row. Time, 7.54.
I realized on my way to the gym that I had zero plans of what to practice today. That was kind of odd but "luckily" the traffic was jammed and I had plenty of time to think about the workouts. First one was more skills based and the second one was a great conditioning piece.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
3 ring muscle-ups
50 walking lunges
It struck me suddenly that muscle-ups need to be performed today. I looked at my hands and they looked alright. Ready for action. Without that much warm-up I jumped on the rings and started moving. Mental pre-game was on point today and it helped tremendously with the muscle-ups.
Took one set of mu's, and went lunging for 50 reps. Repeated this for a total of 5 sets. It was a very positive thing that the rings felt great today. Those sets didn't feel like they would be any kind of issue at all. The video below is the last set.
Metcon. Time, 7.54
5 rounds of:
12 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
250m row
This was more intense. Kept the transitions as short as possible all the time. It's important to take the first pull on the rower right away and not hang around to adjust the foot handles before that. There's plenty of time to adjust those after you get the "boat" moving.
Kettlebell was 2 pood version and I programmed it at 12 reps in order for me being able to grab it right after the rower. Had it been 15-20 swings I would have taken a short break before swinging it.
Monday. Gymnastics, death by hspu. Result, 55 reps. Metcon, 6rds of: 300m row, 10 burpees. Time, 11.03.
Started the week with a quick session of two metcons. First started with skills based portion, then pure conditioning to finish the session. We went out with wife afterwards for dinner and stroll in the sun. I like the way this week started for sure =)
Gymnastics. Result, 55 reps (round of 10 reps completed)
Death by handstand push-ups
It's been ages since doing "death by" workouts for the previous time. The idea is that you put the clock on, and complete one rep on the first minute. Two reps on the second minute, 3 reps on the 3rd min and so on. It ends when you can't finish the reps needed within one minute.
My shoulders felt yesterday's push jerks already before this session began so it was challenging enough to smash these handstand push-ups. It was easy in the beginning but once it gets taxing, the difference is suddenly quite big compared to the previous minute.
It was somewhere at probably 7 reps that I felt it's gonna be tough to get 10 minutes done. Had to break the reps on the last rounds but still got the work done.
Metcon. Time, 11.03
6 rounds of:
300m row
10 burpees
I had decided to have a short training session so I basically jumped on to this with just short recovery. I was sweaty already so why waste time as you can also hit it right away. This was a good wod indeed. Rowing and burpees never fail. Rowing was 1:40+ and from there I walked couple of meters to my burpee area.
The strategy was to walk those few steps deliberately and start working the burpees right away. No standing still and waiting the breathing to settle. And after burpees I walked back to the rower and took the first stroke immediately. Then adjusted the foot handles during the process. Focus was on these transitions today.
Pauliina had girls gathering at our house so I needed to get out of the house for the evening. I had no troubles figuring out where to go. It was a crossfit session to come for sure. For some reason I had no plans whatsoever for this session at all, just went on by feeling. Turned out to be snatches, amrap, accessory and cool down.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 18 minutes
Snatch
1-3min: 50kg
4-6min: 55kg
7-9min: 58kg
10-12min: 60kg
13-15min: 63kg
16-18min: 65kg
I took the warm-up easily, didn't rush at all, just kept pounding 40kg barbell up and down for a while. Then turned on the clock and completed one rep per minute. It was great to be able to climb up to 65kg again. Had no desire to build up to max of the day. Just needed to work on my technique. And there is something to be worked on for sure. But the lifts are getting better anyway. The bar is not going all over the place anymore. The lifts are starting to look more similar compared to each other.
Metcon. Result, 222 reps. 7 rounds + 7 db jerks
12min amrap of:
5 deadlift @ 100kg
10 shoulder-to-overhead @ 2x20kg dumbbells
15 box jump
Good metcon! Deadlifts have been away from my thoughts lately but it suited very well for this metcon. It could have been heavier but my palms were a bit sore so it didn't feel that good to hold a barbell. Deads were the easiest part of this workout.
Workout's idea was to keep moving constantly. The longest break was between deadlifts and dumbbells as I needed to complete those s2o's unbroken. No point in dropping the db's as it would be a waste of time picking them up from the floor again. Box jumps put breathing high as they regularly seem to do.
Accessory.
5 rounds of:
12 reverse hypers
8 bicep curls
Reverse hypers have been in the back of my head for a long time. Occasionally I get to do them and enjoy every time. Okay, I could do them more often but it's more of a time issue. Accessory portions are for days when there's no rush at all. This was good accessory piece. After all the work I rowed for 3k for cool down purpose.
This is something I have neglected for too long. It would definitely be beneficial to attack this weakness more often. Strict gymnastics movements. Whether it's handstand push-ups, pull-ups or muscle-ups. Ideally in a metcon it's naturally assisted with a kipping movement in order to utilize the entire body. But for strength purposes strict would be a good tool too.
It was one set every 3 minutes. Started with 10 reps, then 8 and the last sets were 5 reps per set. These tax my shoulders pretty good but also back and hammies are activated as I felt those muscles contract a lot and almost cramp at one set =)
Metcon. Result, 6 rounds + 199m row
15min amrap of:
300m row
30 double unders
15 push-ups
My plan was to take it rather easy this time. My body felt beaten up big time so I figured moving around a bit would be a good thing. It turned out pretty soon that it's not gonna be a walk in the park though. Somehow I turned the buttons on and went after it with a good mentality. I'm very happy I was able to dig deep and find the appropriate mental state.
It's been ages since doing double unders so I had no idea how they would turn out to. I foam rolled my shins good as I have found that's a good way to avoid the shin pain on the jumps. That was a good decision and maybe that's the reason why my du's rolled very nice. Had zero misses on those boom!
Push-ups were unbroken too. The round times also stayed consistent throughout the workout and I was able to keep the transitions rather quick as well. At least it felt like it. It's another thing what it looked like from outside hehe
Thursday. Metcon, 3rds of: 30 cal row, 30 ghd, 30 box jump overs. Time, 14.10. Metcon, 8min amrap of db snatch (25kg) and burpees.
The playoffs started today in the Ice Hockey World Championships. Had to rush home after work to check Finland win Denmark. Got to say there seemed not to be a lot of feeling and will to win but on either team's mentality. Still, Finland won and moved on to compete against Germany or the comp host Russia. I found a chance to hit the gym after the game.
Metcon. Time, 14.10
3 rounds of:
30 cal row
30 ghd sit-ups
30 box jump overs
This was all about hip flexors. Every movement put pressure on those areas and it took a while after the metcon to recover. No idea of the row pace, I just looked at the calories and kept pulling. Ghd's were unbroken on the first round. On the second round I broke it to 18-12, and 12-10-8 on the last round. Core stayed good on these, it was all about the hip flexors. On the box overs I paced myself but never stopped moving.
Metcon. Result, 116 reps
8min amrap
2-2, 4-4, 6-6… of:
Dumbbell snatches @ 25kg
Burpees
My plan was to hit another metcon today so after recovering for a while I came up with this one. One training partner hit something with db snatches and burpees and it sounded good so I modified it to this one. This was a perfect conditioning piece. Got my breathing high and the overall fatigue hit me little by little.
Saturday. HC Triplet Goes Kehä. Three team events with Toni and Sipa.
Huh what a competition day with the boys!!! The volume ramped up to this year's HC Triplet. To see what HC Triplet is really about you can scroll to the right hand side of the blog and check the links to prior Triplets. This was the fifth time we arranged this with Toni. Last two times my bro has been part of it too. Shortly, the idea is to thrown down for 3 grueling events to torture our bodies and minds. This year's "games" were a success as well. First time we did this inside, location was Toni's crossfit affiliate called Crossfit Kehä. Usually we have been outdoors, mainly in Pirkkola sports park. This was also the first year we had barbells included in the game.
Event 1. Time, 38 minutes
One athlete rows 300m constantly
In the mean while, 2 athletes chew down a chipper of:
50 bar muscle-ups
100 burpee box jumps
50 handstand push-ups
100 pull-ups
50 squat cleans @ 80kg
50 thrusters @ 50kg
All of the three events were supposed to be different style and different stimulus. The first one was classic chipper style workout with one guy rowing at the sidelines all the time. Just row your 300 meters and tag next one in line for rowing. We rotated the rower evenly of course for the entire 38 minutes that this bad boy took us to complete.
This felt like it took an eternity. It was difficult to know exactly how much it would take time but it was no surprise it took energy, a lot of energy to get to the finish. Our plan was to go by feeling. We didn't divide the work load evenly, just agreed to go for a good bunch of reps, then tag the next one to work on his behalf.
Bar mu's kind of fell on my neck to complete mostly. Those felt pretty good today. I reckoned not to take too big bites as it was the first part of the workout. It was 3-5 reps per set all the way. Burpee box jumps were about 5 reps per dude at a time. That seemed to suit well for everybody.
Hspu's felt very good. Those also seemed to be good for Sipa and Toni too. So I only got to do one set for 10 reps and the second one for 5 reps. At this point I thought they would suck more but luckily not.
Pull-ups. Those could have potentially destroyed us but there was good mental strength and someone was hanging on the pull-up bar constantly. Toni ripped his hands right on the bar mu's so these were nasty to go after with a bloody blister in hand. Luckily he found a glove in his bag. It was probably not cool to do pull-ups with just fingers.
God damn that squat clean @ 80kg! Especially the first reps felt heavy. I was able to rack that barbell perfectly every time. It just felt heavy as hell in the bottom position. There was no doubt of standing it up though. But it really smoked legs and hip flexors with every lift. But those got better through time on everybody's behalf. I believe I got most of these done. Ideally it was planned so that we would do quick singles but it change on the fly and went by feeling.
In the beginning thrusters felt like they would definitely be the most disgusting element. Never have I done so light thrusters at 50 kilos! After 80kg barbell that really felt something we smashed rather easily. It was about sets of 5 reps all the way. Finally after 38 minutes it was over. Very good job guys! Great way to start the Triplet, awesome commitment from everybody!
Event 1
Event 2.
PART A. Time 17min
Interval work of kettlebells and shuttle runs
Each athele completes one round of work, tags the next one to work the same work load. Once every athlete has completed the first round, they move on to the next round
5th round: 20 double kettlebell front squats @ 16kg + 10x10m shuttle run
PART B. Result, 74 reps.
Right into part b, as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of:
Clean and jerks @ 70kg
This was nasty. If the first was more of a long, grueling chipper, this was interval work where legs were destined to get murdered in the process. Point was that Sipa started, he completed the 1st round of work, Toni and me rested in the mean while. Once Sipa threw himself over the finish line, I completed the same work load. And after I had done my part, Toni did his. After Toni, Sipa moved on to round 2, and this system continued through all 5 rounds.
The dark place definitely showed up on the shuttle runs. It was shuttle runs on purpose. That's a million times worse than 100m run itself. It really didn't matter which element of these five alternatives was going on. Okay they first swings were heavier, and front squats got our legs big time as well.
Sipa lost his calf in the process on one of the runs. He started limbing because of the cramp. Luckily we had magnesium spray and he was able to continue nicely. We had different weights for different movements. This time we agreed the loads were right were they needed to be.
It took us 17 minutes to complete the kettlebells and runs. Part B initiated right after the work had been completed. This frightened us a little prior to the workout. I thought why the heck did I program this heavy barbell right after intervals.
However, we got this! We won the barbell for sure. We kept the same order on this one. Sipa started, I was second, Toni came third. I felt strong already on the first rep. Took it on the front rack, and bounced it overhead with the same movement, not stopping at any point. Was able to keep this pace throughout the 8 minute time window. I felt like my partners also improved towards the end all the time, and it started to look like a feather in their hands towards the end! We got through 24 rounds + 2 reps. That makes it a total of 74 reps.
Event 2
Event 3.
15min amrap of:
Rope climbs
Grande Finale! We once saw Mikko Salo and Jonne Koski post a workout where they did 30min amrap of rope climbs. That really stuck to my head as we honored their work capacity with my bro. HC Triplet seemed like the perfect place to redeem that promise we made to each other to get after it some day.
The rope was long. A lot longer than I have used to climb in Klaukkala. Well, I have 7.6m rope but the distance to climb is probably 5 meters long. This was probably 7 meter all the way. At first we climbed to 5m (I went to mark it with a tape in the beginning) but at some point I decided to start going all the way to the roof. I still had something in my tank and strength left, and I didn't want that to be the case once HC Triplet Goes Kehä was finished!
It felt super good to climb. And I was very positively surprised how well my body was able to hold on with just short recoveries between climbs. Toni had some issues with his shoulder and had to withdraw at some stage and it was on me and Sipa to finish the 15 minutes. That made the recovery even shorter. Still, we somehow were able to move up and down the rope nicely. I have no idea of the amount of reps we completed. Sipa had an idea of about 20 reps per dude.
These competitions have always been tough as nails for us. Definitely heavy work both physically and mentally. These are written to be tough, and we succeeded in that goal. As we look at this afterwards I got to say some progress has taken place for Sipa, Toni and I. There's no way we could have done this volume in the last Triplet in 2014. Neither did we have the skills back then required in this comp. So it's very uplifting to stop for a while and think how much progress has been made in the past years.
Thursday. Emom x 10: Snatch complex (up to 55kg). Metcon, 8rds of: 12 s2o @ 50kg, 40m walking lunges, 500m row. Time, 38min.
On Thursday agenda was snatch work in the beginning and then a long metcon for conditioning purposes. That one was easier on the lungs but burned my legs big time.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Power snatch + Hang snatch + Snatch balance
1-5min: 50kg
6-10min: 55kg
Metcon. Time, 38 minutes
8 rounds of:
12 shoulder-to-overhead @ 50kg
40m walking lunges
500m row
After sparring with couple of friends I ended up doing a longer conditioning piece. This was kind of gnarly. Mostly due to the lunges. Those bastards shot my legs. Basically each movement put pressure in the lower body, and it felt after the 38 minutes were done. S2o's were unbroken, so were the lunges. Okay, it's 20 meters one way, and then back down. Rowing was easy pace, at 1:55.
Wednesday. Oly, power clean triples (up to 90kg), hang squat cleans (up to 100kg). Front squat 3-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1 (up to 130kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 21 cal row, 15 pull-ups, 9 thrusters (2x20kg db's).
This time there was no rush at all so I took a good bunch of volume after work day before heading home to eat and recover. It was a whole lot of fun to throw down at the gym with some friends.
Oly.
A - Power clean triples (80, 83, 86, 88, 90kg)
B - Hang squat clean doubles (80, 85, 90, 95, 100kg)
The thing was to hold on to the bar and go for touch'n'go reps on the cleans. No dropping in-between but hold that grip and complete the triples and doubles. Consecutive power cleans at these weights are something I haven't been practicing that much so this was beneficial for sure. I built up to 90 kilos and walk home with some pride in my shirt.
Second part of cleans was hang squat cleans. These are closer to my forte as I can utilize my legs more. Thus, I was able to go to 100kg. Cleans felt pretty good. On the last one I had to adjust my grip before completing the latter rep of the heaviest load.
More barbell work. These were supposed to be done yesterday but I simply forgot to do them. Who does that? =) At home it came to my mind so I postponed it for today. Couple of triples, doubles and singles, with increasing load. The 130kg was heavy and took me a good time to bring it up so I dropped down to 125kg for the last two singles.
Metcon. Time, 15 minutes
5 rounds of:
21 cal row
15 pull-ups
9 thrusters @ 2x20kg dumbbells
After working with the barbell for some time my body felt like the session is about ready. Had to sell the idea of this metcon to myself more than normally. This was stolen from Ben Bergeron, just modified it a little. Original version was c2b pull-ups and thrusters were clusters. I figured it would be a better conditioning piece this way. No need to lean my elbows on my knees that much.
It worked very well for the purpose I was looking for. No idea what the pace was on the rower, just tried to get that Concept2 moving right away as I sat down. Pull-ups were unbroken on the first round, and then 10-5 from then on. Yes they were pain in the ass (okay, in the lats) but somehow I felt more comfortable on those compared to how I imagined they might feel like. There was 75 total reps anyway. Comfortable is probably not the right word, they were nasty. But I was able to keep moving which was the main goal here.
Thrusters kept heart rate up for sure, as did each of the elements in this workout. Went unbroken with the dumbbells. Shoulders got smashed on these though. Legs felt fine on the thrusters but really needed to focus to get the path good on the dumbbells.
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!
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?
Thursday. Back squat, singles up to 140kg. Chipper, 30 hang power clean (60kg), 30 box, 30 front squat (60kg), 30 pull-ups, 30 jerk (60kg), 30 burpees. Intervals, 30sec on, 30sec off, for 10min: row.
Nice! It was great to get back to the gym. Had to take two days off of training. One day would have been okay but there have been so much things to be taken care of lately that I simply don't have time to hit the gym. I leave home early in the morning and come back late in the evening and go to bed. This has also taken some of my energy, and it showed today.
Strength.
Back squat
5x60, 90kg
3x110kg
1x120, 130, 140kg
There was no chance in going heavy today. It felt tough from the very beginning. Body wasn't very receptive to big loads on my back. But these weights were okay anyway. I'll take these for now.
Chipper.
30 hang power cleans @ 60kg
30 box jumps
30 front squats @ 60kg
30 pull-ups
30 push jerks @ 60kg
30 burpees
This was a great workout, c'mon! Alternating between barbell and bodyweight for six different elements in a chipper style for time. I went 10-7-7-6 on the hang cleans and was able to maintain a solid breathing. Box jumps unbroken, then squats were 12-10-8. My front squats with light weights are at okay level. I can maintain a good form on those, they just burn legs a lot.
Pull-ups were 10 reps at first, then 5's to the end. At this point I started to feel like a car had driven over me. Jerks were not cool at all. At this stage of the workout those felt heavy. I went 8-6-6-5-5 on those but had to take longer breaks than I hoped for. There were elements of mental breakdown =) Once those were done the burpees felt like an eternity. Rarely have those felt so miserable but somehow I crawled to the finish line. Damned it was heavy. For sure my preparation was not on point leading up to this day but this probably would have been bad wod in any case.
Intervals.
30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, for 10 minutes:
Row
After recovering for a while and trying to get myself back in the game I did a short interval work. Rowing pace was at 1:40 on average. Something between 1:38 and 1:41. Felt bad on my legs.
Monday. Macho Man @ 65kg. Metcon, 4rds of: 30 wb, 500m row. Time, 15.08.
Time for another benchmark workout, two days in a row. This is not one of the headquarter's benchmarks but Ben Bergeron's (a.k.a. competitorstraining). He's the Man in the biz, coach for a bunch of Crossfit Games athletes.
I've done this bad boy 3 times in the past years and it's eaten me alive every time. It's been completed at 60kg every time. Today I decided to roll the dice with 65kg. For maybe 3 minutes I thought this is gonna be okay. After completing 5 minutes it was a tough to digest I was only at mid way.
After 7 minutes it was a battle. My quads burned a lot but they held on for the entire 10 minutes. Got to say I was relieved when 10 minutes had passed. It was a good decision to go 65 kilos. Maybe some day 70kg could be the thing. It's not that any of the movements would be too tough but it's the entity. There is 9 reps per minute and the recovery part starts to feel rather short as time passes.
Macho Man @ 65kg
Metcon. Time, 15.08
4 rounds of:
30 unbroken wall ball shots
500m row
Needed to take some recovery after Macho Man. There was some walk between the stations so I lost quite a bit of time each round in the transitions. Anyway, 30 wall balls were written to be unbroken. Shoulders got on fire somewhere in the third round probably. Luckily I managed to go ub every round. Rowing was moderate pace, somewhere around 1:50. Didn't rest between the two though, just hopped on the Concept2 and grabbed the wall ball right away.
Friday. Back squat, up to 3x140kg. Metcon, 5rds of: 300m row, 200m shuttle run, 10 burpees. Time, 14.07. Skills, 5x5 bar mu's.
Late evening workout. My body was definitely very tired due to not having enough recovery the entire week. Don't know if it was the best idea to go to the gym. Afterwards I was pleased though.
Strength.
Back squat 5x90, 3x110, 1x120, 1x130, 3x140, 2x138kg
This was absolutely a disappointment when working out as I didn't hit the numbers I was looking for. On the other hand I feel it's okay that I can hit a triple @ 140kg even on a very crappy day.
Metcon. Time, 14.07
5 rounds of:
300m row
200m shuttle run (10x20m)
10 burpees
This was a good one, and my round times were consistent. The rounds varied in just seconds, it was somewhere at 2:50 per round. Rowing was maybe 1:45 pace, no idea about the run but it took a little more than the row. That turn after every 20 meters caused that. Burpees went smoothly
Skills.
Bar muscle-ups 5x5
It was great to get some skills action also in the books. Got these nicely, some reps were tough on these sets but mostly it was alright
