Monday 4.11: Back squat, shoulder press maxes

Monday. 1 rep max: back squat (140kg) and shoulder press (PR 75kg).

Today is my birthday and for that reason I'm going to test some 1 rep max single attempts on certain strength movements this week. Last Saturday I did it on deadlifts (got PR of 200kg), today it was time for back squat and shoulder press. No metcons for today.

Strength. Singles

• Back squat (100, 110, 120, 130, 140, failed on 145kg)
• Shoulder press (40, 50, 60, 70, PR 72.5kg, PR 75kg)

My legs have become tremendously stronger lately. I used to do various kinds of strength workouts, some sort of ladders, emoms and eccentric squats. Only once did I do sets of 3's and 5's. And the loads those times were great for me. On the 3's I got 135kg and on the 5's 130kg. So I had some huge expectations entering this day. It turned out to be a little short of my goal on the back squats as I didn't get 145kg up. However, there's also a positive side. Doing a squat of 140kg felt good and as you see on the video, it wasn't that tough. I've done tougher lifts.

For some reason it got mental at that point I guess because the 5kg leap is small but it felt heavier. I should have got that PR lift up, no doubt about it. My legs have become so much stronger lately and I know I'm capable of doing heavier lifts. That 140kg lift is a good signal of my possibilities. I'm gonna keep on squatting more towards the end of this year and my goal of squatting 150kg is still valid. I'm gonna make that lift some day!

Recap of the training day

Okay, having a birthday and missing a big lift got me a bit down. However, there was another strength element left in my schedule: shoulder press. When was the last time I did presses as strength training, no idea, it's been ages. Had no idea how this one would turn out but at least my shoulders have done a lot of work in the past half a year.

I did 40 & 50kg sets for warm-up, then completed a couple singles. My previous PR was 70kg, done back in April. It was a lot of work, that I do remember =) Now it was time to update these figures and walk away with a PR in my pocket! Got that old record up rather easily. Wasn't light but it felt like something more is waiting for me. Upgraded it to 72.5kg, played it safe and wanted to take at least something heavier up than 70kg. Got it and decided to add stakes. 75kg was next stop. I tried it once, got half a rep, racked it, took a moment to think about it. Decided to put all in, went after the barbell, took a deep breath and pushed it with everything I had in my tank. Finally it went overhead and a new record saw the daylight, 75kg shoulder press! That's huge for me. Unfortunately my camera wasn't rolling anymore on the last rep so the last one you'll see on the vid is 72.5kg.

Shoulder press, 72.5kg

When I look at this day in a bigger picture, it was great. Adding 5kg on the shoulder press 1-rep max load and completing a beautiful 140kg back squat, these numbers are good for me. As I wrote earlier, I'm gonna add more weight on the squat, no doubt about it. Today's 140kg was the best I've done. This was the third time I got it up. This was clearly the best and purest one. I'll have to be happy about my birthday training day =D

Sunday 1.9: Kalsu with cleans

Sunday. Half Kalsu with cleans for time. Time 7.00. Then, 10 rounds of: 5 burpees, 5 power cleans, not for time.

This was destined to be a challenging day. Knew it from the workout that was ahead of me: Kalsu. I've heard people saying it's the worst workout they've ever done and after today's training I understand why! The workout was way stronger than I was. Pauliina and Toni were both joining me, Pauliina for leg work and Toni was working on his shoulders strength, he went after the main site's wod.

Half Kalsu. Time 7.00

• 50 power cleans for time, 60kg
• On top of every minute, perform 5 burpees

Got to say I was not ready for the 100 reps for time. The workout's nature is that you complete 5 burpees on top of each minute, then you have the rest of the minute to do as many reps as possible. Originally this one is done with 60kg thrusters but I had planned to do power cleans instead. Today I did 50 reps for time. I wasn't in the 100 rep shape.

In the first round I did 10 cleans, same on the second one. From then on it was between 5 and 7 reps. It's difficult to describe the feelings during the workout. The first 2 rounds were okay but it hit me probably on the 3rd one. Burpees made me breath heavier and cleans nailed me. And there isn't much to rest as the clock is running and the burpees are waiting if you wait too long.

Pauliina doing leg work

I was wondering did I go too fast in the beginning but on the other hand, I don't think so because I had plenty of time to mark my reps on the paper and wait a few seconds before entering the next minute and next set of burpees. On the 3rd round the barbell began to feel nasty. From 4th to 7th minute it was pure grinding through and hoping to reach 50 reps of cleans.

I believe I still fought well up to 50 reps. Even though it felt awful, I was able to keep on moving. It felt impossible to continue after that.

Half Kalsu. Not for time

• 10 rounds of:
• 5 burpees
• 5 power cleans, 60kg

At 50 reps I was done, simply couldn't go further anymore. I felt so awful inside and had to pause for a while. My intention in the morning was to go as far as 100 reps, all the way. Those burpees made the cleans so much harder. The thought of grabbing the barbell was repulsive. So I took a couple of minutes break after the first set of 50 reps.

But after getting a grip of life again, I was regretting my decision to chill out. Even though I was still feeling it in my guts, I decided to go further, completing 10 rounds of 5 burpees and 5 power cleans. I went slower than the first 50 reps but I managed to finish the workout with some dignity. Totaling 100 power cleans @ 60kg and 85 burpees.

Toni's workouts. Main site workout.

• Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 (50, 60, 60, 60, PR 62.5kg)
• Push press 3-3-3-3-3 (60, 70, 75, 80x1, 80kg f)
• Push jerk / split jerk 5-5-5-5-5 (60, 60, 60, 65, 70kg)

It's been a while since Toni have done pure shoulder strength. Today he completed the main site's workout of the day. And happened to break an old record in shoulder press, mark the new digits at 62.5kg!

Split jerk, 5x65kg, Toni

Sunday 28.4: Shoulder press, push press metcon

Sunday. Shoulder press 3-3-3-3-2-1-1 (max 70kg PR). Push press metcon. Total of 94 reps.

The day after Seven. I felt good and was ready and anxious to train again. I recovered well from that tough and demanding workout and didn't have anything hindering from working hard. I drove to the Box and I was the only soul there during my training session. I guess people liked to to outdoors as it was a beautiful day in Helsinki.

Shoulder press. 3-3-3-3-2-1-1 (50, 55, 60, 62.5, 65, PR 67.5kg, PR 70kg). I woke up in the morning and thought I'd like to do some old school strength training, shoulder press! It's been a while since I've been isolating strength training to focus purely on shoulders. Had I thought about this day on Friday, I'd say it would have been impossible because of all the shoulder work done during Seven but the feeling this morning was perfect.

I took a different approach to warm-up: Jumping Jacks, boxing and some barbell work. Little by little I added some more weights on the barbell and quickly I was at 50kg doing shoulder press. I took videos of today's every lift, including warm-ups, you'll find them from my Youtube channel. I was confident of hitting a new record today. Actually, I wrote in my training notes already in advance =) I went on in triples up to 62.5kg, which I haven't been able before. I believe I've taken that weight up only in singles. And the next weight - 65kg - was a double, definitely haven't been able to do that earlier.

The next weight was a new record, 67.5kg, it came up and I was anxious to try new digits, 70kg (that's 5kg improvement). My first try there was extremely close but it got stuck just inches away from full extension. That was frustrating! Had to take a break, get myself together and force it up. Another PR was created, 70kg!!!

Shoulder press, 70kg, PR

Shoulder press, 70kg, PR, different angle

Metcon. Push press, 35+30+29 reps. Total of 94 reps.

• 3 rounds of
• 2min amrap of push press, 50kg
• 2 min rest

After resting for about 3 minutes I wanted to give the final shot to my shoulders and completed a push press metcon, 3x2min amrap of 50kg push press, 2min rest between rounds. You'll find each round also from Youtube. I was wondering what weight would be perfect for me. I copy pasted this workout from one interview with Mikko Salo and I recall him saying he usually hits about 30-40 reps per round so 50kg turned out to be pretty similar, I'm happy with the decision on the weights. And my result didn't drop dramatically so this definitely was a good workout. My shoulders were numb in the end. Take a look at the first round here.

Cashout. Some quick abs in the end.

• 2 rounds of
• 50 sit-ups
• 10 ab wheel

Source: google

Friday 30.11: Clean, shoulder press, bench press, hs

Friday. Clean (max 70kg), shoulder press (max PR 65kg), bench press (max PR 87.5kg). Handstand skills training.

At gym in Stockholm with Pauliina, nice! Good workout, good results. I took strength workouts and finished with handstand skills training. I'll take my metcon next time, which I had in mind for today. It will include kettlebells and hopefully gonna be very rough.

Going for 87.5kg

Strength. Clean, shoulder press and bench press.

• Clean up to 70kg
• Shoulder press 3-3-1 (55, 60, PR 65kg)
• Bench press 3-3-3-1-F (70, 80, 85, PR 87.5kg, 90kg)

I started off with cleans but it simply didn't go the way I wanted so I didn't get stuck with it but quickly changed to shoulder press, which  turned out to be a good deal. I took a PR in shoulder press, adding it up to 65kg.

Shoulder press, 65kg, PR

After shoulder press I moved on to bench press. Alternating with Pauliina, I was determined to hit big numbers on this one as well. My previous max was 2x85kg. Today I took a steady 3 rep set and then put more weights on the bar. New record saw the daylight: 87.5kg. I also tried 90kg but today was not the day for that one. The results for today's strength training were better than I thought when entering the box.

Handstand. The conditions for practising free handstand here in this particular Swedish gym are perfect. There is a large room with a floor covered with soft mattresses. Ideal to train for handstand and handstand walk. I was wondering how I would be able to progress with these skills and asked for Pauliina's view on this one. She simply said I should move my hands when balancing and move my hands if I want to walk with my hands. Well, I listened to her, moved my hands and was able to perform so much better than before. I realized I had never even tried to move my hands when inverted, simply just trying to find a stable and solid form and failing time after time. Today I couldn't stop practicing as I was so happy I was able to stand for a few seconds and move around by standing only with my hands. Awesome!

Toni's workouts. Toni texted he did exactly the same workout I did a litte over a month ago, 20th October. In addition he took that PR with back squats as he promised, he did good today!

Tuesday 27.11: Shoulder press, handstand, du

Tuesday. Shoulder press 5 sets (max PR 62.5kg), metcon of handstand hold and double unders, for quality.

My body was still asleep when arriving at the gym, this time alone, Toni will do his training in the evening. I was very happy to hit new records with shoulder press even with a tired body. I haven't done double unders lately so I included a metcon with DUs and handstand moves. This metcon was not for time but for quality with minimum rest.

Strength. Shoulder press 5-5-2-1-f (50, 55, 60, PR 62.5kg, 65 failed). Another record with presses, these have gone well lately! I believe this was the fifth or sixth time in November to hit PRs with presses, that's scary… Shoulder press has improved 7.5kg, push press 7.5kg and bench press 10kg in one month. Today I took 5-rep sets with 50 and 55kg, tried the same with 60kg but managed only 2 reps. Decided to go further with singles, got a new PR with 62.5kg and 65kg was halfway there but didn't get that through :)

Shoulder press, 62.5kg PR

Metcon. Static handstand hold, handstand push-ups, double unders for quality.

• 30sec handstand hold
• 50 double unders
• 5 handstand push-ups
• 50 double unders
• 30sec handstand hold
• 50 double unders
• 30sec handstand hold
• 50 double unders

Total of 200 double unders and hanstand holds as well as few hspu. I was thinking about doing 5 handstand push-ups (my favorites!) each round but reality came into play. Damned they were tough today after shoulder press. Doing double unders also hit my shoulders big time so I did mostly handstand holds against a wall. I wasn't sure how DUs are gonna rock but they rocked solidly! I didn't stumble even once, I only had to take some breaks as my shoulders were going numb, haha. It was awesome to see the skills have not vanished.