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.
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.
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.
Yesterday my bro planted the idea of this first workout in my head, and I couldn't push it away. Sounded like a perfect metcon to me. This was an efficient session as it took me about 35 minutes to finish this after I started the first metcon.
Metcon. Time, 12.00
500m row
15 shoulder-to-overhead @ 60kg
500m row
20 shoulder-to-overhead @ 50kg
500m row
25 shoulder-to-overhead @ 40kg
This was excellent. The only bad thing was that it took some extra time in vain as I changed the plates on the barbell. That ate a bunch of the entire workout. But the combo of rowing and jerks was pretty cool. And it probably made it even more mental as the reps grew every round, even though the weights decreased. Don't know. Both ways would have rocked. Like this or then 15 reps @ 60kg every round.
I went unbroken on the 60kg jerks. Then 15-5 on the next round, and 18-7 on the last one. It just felt like my shoulders were getting numb on those two latter rounds. I really enjoyed this kind of pain on the jerks in a metcon.
Accessory.
5 sets of 20m walking lunges @ 50kg, back rack
This was more like muscle endurance / strength piece in the end. Weight was good. Next time I might go heavier on this kind of stuff. First 10 meters were fine. The last meters burned my legs big time. I'm very happy on today's performance by all means. Lunges for accessory are knocking at the back of my head quite often but there isn't enough time to get these finishers done.
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.
Wednesday. 10min amrap: 20 squat, 10 db snatch @ 25kg, 10 t2b. Result, 226 reps. Every 2:00, perform 10 tng power snatch @ 40kg. Wod, 5rds of: 30 du, 10 s2o @ 40kg.
It was a nice session indeed, 3-piece action where I had two metcons - in the beginning and in the end - and some barbell cycling in the middle. Had a running clock that took me 37 minutes to finish these wods.
Metcon. Result, 226 reps (5 rounds + 6 snatches)
10min amrap of:
20 air squats
10 dumbbell snatches, 25kg, alternating
10 toes-to-bar
It was possible to jump into this without much of a warm-up. I've done this type of solutions lately every now and then. But the first metcons must then be mostly bodyweight stuff. It also works as a warm-up workout. This burned my legs definitely, especially on the snatches.
Barbell cycling.
Every 2:00, perform:
10 touch'n'go power snatches @ 40kg
This was absolutely beneficial for me. I have rarely done longer sets of snatches so this came in handy for sure! I felt comfortable with the movement itself. That was a positive feeling after having a good break of snatch work.
It felt consistent with the bar path and I was able to bring the bar up to the hips before the last pull. That satisfied me big time.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
30 double unders
10 shoulder-to-overhead @ 40kg
On this one I didn't follow the clock that much. As such the workout is rather light and short. After those earlier pieces and after not having worked my shoulders that much lately this burned shoulders pretty well. Even with just 40kg on the bar. Du's went pretty well too. I foam rolled my shins prior to jumping around, that seems to be the key to success on these.
Another outdoor workout in the morning. Then in the evening we went to the gym together with Pauliina for some quality family time. I needed to get part of that overhead strength progression in the books.
Metcon.
4 rounds of:
15 shoulder-to-overhead, 45kg
40 walking lunges
Practically without any warm-up I took the barbell up and started moving. Of course shoulders felt a bit stiff in the beginning but got better after round one. Legs felt tired in the process because they never got a rest period.
Lunges naturally made my legs work and because I did s2o's as push jerks my legs were doing small "squats" all the time. It wasn't a biggie in the beginning but got spicy pretty soon. Legs felt heavier in the jerks than the shoulders. I was able to maintain a good and consistent pace throughout the workout.
Overhead.
Push press 3x6 @ 73kg
This happened hours later. After couple of days without real weights I felt like I needed to focus on the warm-up. That sealed the deal and prepared my body for the strength work nicely. These sets were kinda towards the heavier side but still they were manageable. Felt like they were right on point.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
10 hang power clean @ 60kg
15 ghd sit-ups
Just before the last set of push presses we agreed with Pauliina we're gonna leave in 15 minutes. This was a quick session in other words. At first I thought this strength piece is enough. That was the only thing in my mind when entering the gym.
Then on the other hand there was 10 minutes of spare time so I took some weight off the barbell and carried it to the weightlifting platform. After one minute of doing the last press set I began the metcon. Plan was to work until my time is up and we are ready to leave. It turned out that 5 rounds was sufficient. It took probably something like 7-8 minutes I'd say.
I actually don't have a cell phone right now which I always use as a timer so I haven't timed my metcons in the past week or so. It has been pretty awesome in a sense that it hasn't taken that much time to start the metcons. Usually I prepare myself more than lately because I want to have a good time. Now I just start working and it does not affect the pacing at all. I work as if it was a regular metcon.
Great session! My legs were out of control due to yesterday's training session. I took couple of push jerks to get used to heavier weights before the metcon, then hit one benchmark workout from the 2012 Crossfit Open. In the end it was just some extra work to flush my legs from that tough workout.
This is something I've done maybe 3 times or so. It's gone to my guts every single time. Today it was tough because my legs were burning after the first round. Monday's training session had its effect for sure. But hey, actually something good happened before the timer went on. I took push jerks up to 85kg which is heaviest I've ever done this style. It was 5x40, 50, 60kg, then 3x70, 1x80 and 85kg. And that last rep felt very good and stabile, no problem whatsoever. There was room for record for sure.
Back to the workout. Box jumps and t2b's were unbroken each round. Boxes definitely take care that breathing is sky rocketing throughout the workout. But the burn came just after the box jumps had been completed. They went fine and I got a good rhythm every round.
T2b's were unbroken too. My grip started to slip on the last rounds but there was no doubt of hitting them in a row every round. Core felt great on those. But the beef of this wod is the part where barbell action takes place, hands down. I've tried both styles: unbroken and breaking it to two sets. Of course unbroken sounds good but that takes a bit more recovery between movements.
Today I went on by feeling. First 2 rounds were unbroken, then I started to complete it in 7-5 for most of the rounds. At some point I did 8-4. Damned I was sweating a lot, and heart beat was heavy for probably the last 15 minutes. There was some mental strength though as I was able to still keep moving, and keeping the transitions modest. End result was a PR which is always good news.
Workout. Not for time
5 rounds of:
300m row
15 ghd sit-ups
My tank was pretty much empty after the main workout of the day and legs didn't recover enough to hit another metcon with full force. So this portion was more like to do some extra work, and recover so tomorrow I'd be back in action. And legs especially. Pace was slow on the rower but ghd's unbroken. There I tried to engage hip flexors more than before.
We had a training session ahead of us with Jasper. Agenda was pretty open and free but the thought was about doing deadlift, bench and a conditioning piece. Thursday is usually a classic meathead day strength-wise and today was exactly that.
Strength.
Bench press 5-5-5-5-5 (80, 90, 90, 90, 90kg)
We actually started with deadlifts. Barbell was light, back and legs felt great but my hands couldn't take the burden. My palms and fingers seem to be the part which determine whether pulls are going to be good or bad in any given day. Today it felt like my fingers will get cut off. Hurt like hell. Already at 130kg it felt painful on the fingers and palms. 150kg was nightmarish.
I took sets at 60, 100, 130, 150, 150, 130kg for different amount of reps but I don't count this as a strength portion at all. It was a disappointment that I wasn't able to pull heavy. Jasper did his part of the real as planned.
Bench was kind of lame after those deads but little by little I got excited about this movement and got good sets in the books at 90kg. Warm-up was 10x60, 5x70kg.
Pair wod.
2 rounds of:
40 shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
50 toes-to-bar
60 burpee
Just before we started our metcon I realized I'm in a bit of a rush so it was time to put the clock on and start working. Plan was to do the jerks by changing after every 5 reps, and we stuck to that on the first round. On the second one I did a bit more of the work as I did these as push jerks, and Jazz went with push presses. T2b's were the easiest part of this for me, and I used it more as recovery.
Beforehand we thought burpees would be a walk in the park as we planned to do them in sets of 6 reps, then change. This was not the case though. Yes, we went in sets of 6 reps all the way but they were surprisingly hard on the second round. And the jerks right after these burpees were not tempting but still doable. I felt good on this workout but it surely brought a lot of tension on shoulders. Nice burned with a training buddy.
On Sunday I went to the gym in the evening. I've felt kind of tired all weekend but I'm very happy I pushed myself to the gym in the evening. We had some errands to be done so only time slot was later in the day.
Gymnastics.
30-25-20-15-10-5 of:
Unbroken sets of pull-ups
Rest as needed between sets
Lots of pull-ups. My pal Toni did a good bunch of pull-ups couple of days ago so that inspired me to hit big sets too. Well big, that's kind of relative. I saw Nathan Bramblett hit a 5min emom of 30 unbroken pull-ups… That's from another planet. Yes, I can hit 30+ pull-ups (max set is 41 in the history) but it needs some time to recover before the next set.
Below you can see the set of 20 reps. All these sets were doable, even though the last reps felt tough. And that's how it was supposed to be. Had they been too easy, I would have walked away a bit disappointed.
20 pull-ups
Wod.
5 rounds of:
10 burpee
7 right hand kettlebell jerk, 24kg
7 left hand kettlebell jerk, 24kg
Later on I threw my chest to the floor, knocked couple of burpees, then saw a kettlebell next to me in the process, and decided to jerk it in the air. It formed to burpee / kb shoulder-to-overhead. Seven jerks per hand, then change from right to left hand, and repeat. I was pretty well gassed after this one.
Monday is a rest day. I was supposed to hit it for cleans, front squats for barbell work. Then rowing and light hang cleans for conditioning but it turned out that we were home only in the late evening, and there was practically no time anymore to workout. That didn't bother me this time at all. Somehow I'm pleased to this full rest day. Hopefully tomorrow's a better energy level.
Sunday. AM: Skills, muscle-ups emom x 8min. Emom x 12min: clean doubles. Metcon, 21-15-9 of: s2o (60kg), row for cal, ghd's. Time, 10.02. PM: Run 5k with vest.
This was a great session. Some skills to kick it off (okay those could have gone a bit better but I'll take it for now), then a good bunch of cleans in different styles. Finally a 10min session of barbell and bodyweight. In the evening I went for a 5k run.
Skills.
Every minute on the minute x 8min:
Ring muscle-ups, doubles and singles
In my head this was planned to be an 8min emom of 2-3 reps per minute of muscle-ups. Maybe triples in the beginning and then doubles in the latter half. Something like that, not a strict plan. I took couple of videos but there were other people on the background so I didn't put that in the recap.
It was more like doubles for the first half, and singles in the latter half. Tried to do a triple in the beginning but it didn't feel that good. It's been some time since muscle-upping last time. I took slow-mo analysis and it looks like I was rushing it a bit. Legs bent too easily when pulling up. And hips didn't take a violent extension so there was an obvious reason why it felt heavier than it used to be. But the take away was to be happy of performing mu's after a longer break.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 12min:
Odd min, power clean + squat clean
Even min, 2 x hang squat clean
1-4min: 80kg
5-8min: 85kg
9-12min: 90kg
This is something I've been looking for! Cleans. There is a loving relationship with cleans and me. I could clean all day, every day. When pulling from the ground it still felt tight in right hamstring so I tried to be careful in those. Hang cleans didn't have any issues.
Weights started at 80kg, then 5 more kilos after every 4 minutes. That means there was three different loads during those 12 minutes. Not super heavy but for today there were great. Once I get my shit together I'll go heavier. Today I felt like my technique was pretty good, and the reps looked pretty much alike. There are some instant replays included in the video below to see there's plenty of shoulder shrug and patience in bringing the barbell to hips.
Metcon. Time, 10.02
21-15-9 of:
Shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
Row for calories
Ghd sit-ups
Had the same feeling for a while as yesterday. Why would I do a workout with this many jerks in a row. Then again, I thought that might be a fun variance. That's the reason this ended up in my notes anyway. Usually there's just a couple of reps unbroken in a conditioning piece but completing 21 reps in a row is another story.
If it was just for the 21 reps I might have it in me to push through unbroken. But in a workout like this, it would have been absurd for me to do it. Or would it? Don't know but I thought this was a better strategy. It might have been a good idea to just push it and thinking about a happy place at the same time.
Anyway, the first round was 13-4-4, second one 10-5, and the last one was unbroken for 9 repetitions. Rowing and ghd's were unbroken. There was a lot of walking around the gym during the transitions. Had it been less people I would have moved the rower close to the weightlifting platform. Ghd's were originally box jumps but those boxes had mysteriously disappeared during the weekend. Hopefully they make a comeback soon =)
Run.
Run 5km with a weight vest
My plan was to just get outdoors and catch some fresh air but it somehow twisted into a 5 kilometer run with a 9kg vest. It was surprisingly fun to run. That's usually not my forte but this time it felt smooth and effortless. Kind of awkward that when I put some weight on, it feels lighter =) Anyway, this was more like a recovery run. It was a 10km/h pace for 5k.
Tuesday. Emom x 8min. Odd min 10 hspu, even min 10 c2b. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 7 s2o (50kg), 12 t2b, 7 ohs (50kg), 12 box. Result, 190 reps. Accessory, 5rds of: 10 ring dip, 20 ghd.
So we spent a long weekend in Berlin, Germany the past days. We came home yesterday at midnight after a great mini vacation! There was simply no time to do workouts as the tour leader (read: my wife) had arranged so much action and activities around the city. Plus we walked around all day, everyday so our feet were destroyed after wandering around for 10k per day. One huge highlight was when we went to see Bundesliga soccer with Kari between Berlin and Hamburg. The atmosphere was spectacular! One evening I had the change of throwing down for burpees, thrusters and some dumbbell work.
Got these little guys for new training shoes, Nano 5's
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute x 8min
Odd minutes, 10 handstand push-ups
Even minutes, 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
I decided to start with more like bodyweight movements instead of killing the barbell. I believe this was a good plan after couple of days more or less chilling. I went unbroken on both movements each round but I got to admit it started to get tough on the c2b's. Next round would have been a huge battle to go unbroken. Hspu's weren't light either. Okay, to mid-workout it was alright but the latter half was challenging. My lats were burning after this and I had to stretch out for a while to get them ready for the upcoming metcon.
Watching Bundesliga with Kari, c'mon!
Metcon. Result, 190 reps (5 rounds)
15min amrap of:
7 shoulder-to-overhead, 50kg
12 toes-to-bar
7 overhead squat, 50kg
12 box jump
The worst part for me of this was one definitely overhead squats. I had thought about jerking 60kg but there would have been change of plates between jerks and ohs so that might not have been the best solution time-wise.
All these elements were completed unbroken according to plan. Only exception was the t2b which was ub for first 2 rounds. Next 2 rounds were 8-4, and the last one was 7-3-2 because I had to rush to jump on the pull-up bar to finish the last round before the buzzer.
Each element had its own twist in the game, and breathing was rather high all the time. None of the movements allowed the possibility to drop heart beat down and recover energy. So I'd call this workout a success in programming. It was great to do ohs with 50 kilos as it is probably the first time I've had this weight in a metcon. Not sure but most likely so. Usually it's been 40-43kg.
Accessory.
5 rounds of:
10 ring dips
20 ghd sit-ups
This was not a timed workout. Just needed to get some extra workout done because there was no need to rush away from the gym. Ring dips are always a good call for me as there's plenty of room for improvement. Main focus on this one was rhythm and good range of motion. Goal was met.
Ghd's were good for core. I got a little headache for some unknown reason so maybe ghd's were not the best option because I had to go upside down on every rep, and hold breath when having head downwards. Still, this was a good cashout.
Monday. Emom x 10min: snatch (up to 55kg). Pair wod, 3rds of: 50 burpee, 120 du, 60 jerk (2x15kg db's).
Monday means some sort olympic lifting. Squats should also be part of this day and I like the idea big time. My lower back has been sore as hell for the past week. It doesn't bother me in real life and in most of the movements. But every time I lift something from the floor or go below parallel. That's why I'll take the squats some other day.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 10min
1 snatch
1-3min: 50kg
4-6min: 53kg
7-10min: 55kg
Two things I'm concentrating nowadays every time I pick the barbell from the floor. Shins are as vertical as possible. Secondly, I'll keep my eyes pointed forward, not downwards. Actually there is a third point also. I'll focus on bringing the bar over my knees as slow as possible. It's a basic mistake of mine that I'll be too hasty with the first pull, and thus the bar tends to fly wherever it pleases.
These lifts were a bit shaky on the legs as I look at them afterwards. Could have been slower at the first pull but the starting position seems better than before. That's the takeaway from this session. That back pain disturbed me the later I went in the emom. I was supposed to go for 15 minutes of heavier snatches but that was not possible today.
Pair wod.
3 rounds of:
50 burpee
120 double under
60 shoulder-to-overhead, 2x15kg dumbbells
It was awesome to throw down together with Pauliina. This is couple's quality time at its best! =) This was "you go I go" style workout. We were working towards the same mutual goal as a pair. We did 50 burpees, alternating after every 5 reps. Double unders were done in sets of 20 reps. Got to say I'm extremely proud of how fantastic Pauliina dominates the doubles nowadays! Third element was dumbbell jerks.
Shoulders got shot in this one after all the work was done and over. Actually on the second round of s2o's made the shoulders burn big time. There was a lot of people at the gym so it was a bit difficult to find a spot where we could conquer our space for double unders but we found it. I was trying to convince Pauliina to skip the du's and sub it to something else but luckily she forced us to practice on those. Good partner drill in general this entire workout!
Tuesday. Back squat (up to 5x138kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 10 hspu, 15 pull-ups, 10 s2o (50kg), 15 box jump over. Time, 14.40.
I really needed to get to the gym. And luckily there was no rush at all. There was some work to be done, and it would not have been ideal to rush through the elements. Squats and a tough metcon were in the agenda.
Strength.
Back squat
3x90, 108, 123kg
5x138, 138, 138, 138, 138kg
This was supposed to take place yesterday but it got transferred to today. First sets were more like warm-up sets but they were pre-determined as well so I went through them with ease. Legs felt great in those, no prob at all. The jump from 123kg to 138kg is big for me. Just like that, 15 kilos were more in the barbell, and it was supposed to be 5's for multiple sets.
Last week I went up to 4x5 @ 138kg. That was definitely a 5RM for me, and it was for a total of 4 sets. Today it was upgraded to 5 sets, 5 reps per set at the same weight. Absolutely the heaviest I have ever done back squats. Got to be happy and proud of the journey I have come in the past years. Can't bluff it, these were heavy. I knew I'll do them but they were very heavy.
Recap of the session
Metcon. Time, 14.40
4 rounds of:
10 handstand push-up
15 pull-up
10 shoulder-to-overhead, 50kg
15 box jump over
Those squats really took the best energy of my body, and legs got fatigued in the process. Had to take a good lengthy recovery before hitting this workout. Pull-ups have been on the agenda lately pretty well, and the volume is okay currently. Another bodyweight element - handstand push-up - is something that needs to be in the program constantly.
There was a combination of hspu's and shoulder-to-overheads which made it tough on the shoulders. Hspu's were unbroken for 2 rounds, then the 3rd one was maybe 7-3, and the last round was 6-2-2 reps. In the beginning the first unbroken rounds felt good but then the workload started to get to me.
Pull-ups were unbroken for 2-3 rounds, not quite sure. When they were broken, it was 10-5. At least in the last round, maybe also the 3rd one. Now as I think more closely, it was broken to two sets in the third round as well. But I kept the pause short there, just couple of seconds.
Jerks felt nasty. The load was light but because of the character of this workout, shoulders got tired and the jerks got heavier. I was still able to do them without dropping the bar between reps. Last two rounds were a good mental battle for the last reps. It felt like it's difficult to hold my arms locked out as I recovered from the drop under the bar. I managed it but damned it was challenging.
Box jump overs were the "easiest" part of this one. That's a bit misleading because actually no part of this one was a walk in the park. Box overs kept the legs tense and breathing heavy. I was happy after every set of 15 reps was done. Good metcon! And good training session in general. Good compensation to Monday's sesh.
My plan for this early week was to take it easy on Monday, just focusing on upper body stuff. Tuesday's about conditioning. Wednesday's agenda is strength and oly. Thursday is gonna be posterior chain and conditioning. Friday has two options. Either a hero workout or snatch / squat session. Depending on my training buddy.
Metcon. Result, 203 reps (5 rounds + 3 s2o)
10min amrap of:
20 shoulder-to-overhead, 2x15kg dumbbells
20 ghd sit-ups
Haven't seen this many people at the gym this far. They opened during Easter this year and little by little the place has gotten crowded at times. The word is out there that this place is a good one, I guess. Today I was a little worried as all the barbells were taken so I had to modify my plans. Had I done strength, it would have probably been okay to share a squat rack but for metcon you got to own the barbell.
These two metcons were supposed to be the other way around but it didn't matter. I subbed bar to dumbbells which worked as well, didn't matter. This brought a good burn on the shoulders and core. I got 5 full rounds and couple jerks in addition to that. First 3 rounds were unbroken on the jerks, then it was 12-8 and 13-7 on the remaining two rounds.
Ghd's were unbroken each round. Even though they got tougher, there was no doubt of hitting them unbroken. They definitely started to feel in my core at some point but this is somewhat a strength of mine. Good metcon!
Metcon. Result, 144 reps (7 rounds + 4 sdhp)
10min amrap of:
10 sumo deadlift high-pull, 40kg
10 burpee
Had to go upstairs because all the people. It was a good call as they had 3 additional barbells. This metcon was not going to be done without a bar. It's been ages since doing sumo deadlift high pulls last time. Really, it's been months or over a year, no idea when. But I liked it! Felt rather natural on this one and the bar didn't bounce back and forth but stayed in my control all the way.
This workout freaked me out. Especially after the first one. I realized this is going to hurt. My shoulders got hurt (only muscle hurt though) on the first one so there was a chance this is not going to be fun at all. Both elements forced heart rate up, and I got them unbroken each round. Burpees were nastier. This got me better than the first workout. Had to walk away the pain after 10 minutes was up.
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.
Friday. Emom x 9-10min: 5 c&j @ 60kg. Deadlift 3x10 (max 140kg). Partner wod, 16min amrap. One athlete rows 500m constantly, the other performs 20 burpee, 15 s2o (70kg), 10 pistols.
We had some after work party taking place this Friday. Okay not a huge all night celebration but some sauna, table tennis, food, and bowling. We still had time to hit the gym with my main man Toni. It was a tight schedule so we decided to keep the training session intense from the very beginning. We had lots of work ahead of us so there was no room for slack time. And it definitely was a fast pace session.
Barbell conditioning.
Every minute on the minute x 9-10 minutes:
5 clean and jerk @ 60kg
It was great to have some quality time with Toni. It's always cool to have a partner throw down with you so I had lots of energy and body was fresh so it didn't take long before I had a barbell in front of me with 60kg load. Clean and jerks, emom style at the classic weight.
In the beginning the load felt good, and the bar moved fast. In this endorphin boost it was like nothing. The enthusiasm faded away little by little and the bar got heavier =) In the end I'm not quite sure if it was a total of 9 or 10 minutes. Anyway, a good bunch of reps with this benchmark weight load. I'm happy how smoothly the barbell listened to my commands.
Emoms
Friday pulls.
Deadlift 3x10 reps (120, 130, 140kg)
We had to move pretty quickly to pull from the ground. Toni had some predetermined program for this as 3x8 at a certain percentage work. I needed to get high rep sets in the system. Hadn't thought of the weights at all. To be honest, I was quite devastated after clean and jerks. It got very intense in the end so lots of energy was consumed there.
Still, these deads felt great. But the weights were not huge. I just took the first set at 120kg. That was kind of light so I kept adding 10kg for each set, last one standing at 140kg. I have tried 20-rep max maybe a year ago, and I remember pulling 130kg on that one. Maybe 10's would be ideal at around 150kg when being fresh.
Partner workout. Result, 3 rounds + 20 burpees
16min amrap of:
20 burpee
15 shoulder-to-overhead, 70kg
10 pistol squat
One athlete must row for 500m constantly
Toni had a master plan to finish the session. It looked like a lot of fun on paper. And it was. But we had a little brainfart with the reps. It turned out that Toni did almost all the burpees, and I did jerks and pistols were distributed evenly. The idea was that either of us would have to sit on the rower all the time, changing turns after every 500 meters. The other one is completing the amrap as such. And when we changed on the rower, the other one continued right where the other one stayed on the amrap.
So Toni started, and did 20 burpees. You probably know it's not very nice to do jerks right after a good number of burpees. So he basically did a double and a single, then it was time to change roles. I finished them and got the pistols done all except one. On the next round it was basically the same ideology. Toni did all the burpees, and 3 jerks. I got to the same situation, had 6 pistols when Toni shouted he has 50 meters left. He clearly was eager to smash some pistol squats so I let him finish it.
On the third round he got through all burpees but one, so I had all the jerks to myself. Doing 15 jerks isn't that light anymore so my time was basically consumed there. Toni got the pistols to himself and once again the burpees. He did 79 burpees, I had 1. He did 6 jerks, I did 39 reps. Pistols were 15/15 for both. Good workout but we could have changed the number of reps, to maybe smaller pieces. Then those would have divided more evenly among us. Most likely at least. Now Toni got a good conditioning piece with rowing and burpees. I got a good jerk workout and muscles burned a lot in the upper body. Different kind of stimulus for both of us.
Wednesday. Emom x 8min: 2 hang squat snatch @ 50k. Intervals, every 2:00, for 14min, perform 5 s2o (50kg), 10 pull-ups, 15 box.
Today was actually planned to be a clean day but I took those extra cleans yesterday with a great end result so this left some room for snatches. It was an emom workout ahead of me, then quick intervals to get heart beat up and feel miserable (of course in a good way) =)
Snatch.
Every minute on the minute x 8 minutes
2 hang squat snatch @ 50kg
It's been some time since snatching last time. Probably didn't do any of them during Smolov, at least not squat snatches. I'm looking to have better hip mobility for snatches in the future due to all the squatting lately. Today I didn't get these on camera. There were tons of people at the gym and I didn't dare to tape this emom with all the people at the weightlifting platforms.
I feel like hang snatches are better on the spot compared to pulling from the ground. The timing is better and I can hit the barbell on my hips rather than my thighs. Which usually happens when pulling all the way from the floor. These hang snatches were from above knee.
These were decent lifts. I believe I jumped a little too much in front and my legs went a bit too wide on catching the bar but other than that they were quite okay. One missed lift on the last or second last set. That's because the bar stayed front too much. The weight was not the issue though. I took a double right after that. Good to have some snatches in the books! I'm planning to hit these maybe twice a week in the future. I just need more practice on these.
Intervals. Each set was 54-55 seconds
Every 2:00, perform the following sequence:
5 shoulder-to-overhead, 50kg
10 pull-ups
15 box jumps
Put all in effort on each interval, then rest for remainder of the 2 minutes
Great one! The weight should have easily been 60kg but elbows are not in full condition. Had to take it light. All the sets took me 54-55 seconds to complete. The idea was to put 100% effort ton each set. No need to shake hands or legs between movements because it was going to be a short interval. Rip through the jerks, then get rid of the barbell and hop on to the pull-up bar. Finally a good bunch of box jumps. Everything was naturally going to be unbroken. Otherwise the programming would have been a little off.
Rounds 3-7
My plan was to hit this for 10 minutes, that is 5 rounds. This started to kick in at about round 3, and I decided at the 4th round to continue up to a total of 7 rounds. Jerks were the easiest part of this one. Their purpose was just to fatigue the shoulder at least a bit so the pull-ups wouldn't be as easy. 60kg would have been a great weight for this. Combination of jerks at that weight plus pull-ups are a nasty combination, and always worth training for. My legs were on fire at the end of the intervals. These intervals where you have a pre-determined rest period are great.
Monday. Intervals, every 3:00, perform 3 mu's + 300m row. Back squat (max 135kg). Metcon in a team of 3: sled push (80kg + sled), 100 hspu, 500 du, 100 s2o (60kg), 150 burpee box. Time, 40min.
Got a huge chance to train with my bro and Jasper together. First time ever, freaking awesome! We did intervals in the beginning with Sipa meanwhile Jazz PR'd his deadlift to quite manly numbers, 190kg. And he did a double while he was at it! Sounds like he's about to enter the two hundred digits, c'mon! Squats for strength according to Sipa's plan, and then a brutal workout together as a team of three.
Toni rocked the show on Saturday!
Intervals.
Every 3:00, perform:
3 ring muscle-ups + 300m row
"All in pace"
Give it all you got on the rower. We went 1.30+ each round. Those muscle-ups were difficult after the first round. This was the first time we both tried something like this with muscle-ups. Not the easiest workout. The purpose was more like a warm-up workout.
5x110kg
Strength.
Back squat
1st set: 5 reps @ 75% (110kg)
2nd set: 3 reps @ 85% (125kg)
3rd set: 1 reps @ 90% (135kg)
4-6th set: 2 reps @ 87% (130kg)
Cool work. Not the heaviest squats. We hurried these over pretty quickly. Just short recovery between sets. Jasper had already smashed his strength and we had a good workout waiting for us. Felt good on the squats. Great to have my hands on the barbell!
1x135kg
Metcon. Time, 40min
In a team of 3 athletes
One athlete pushes sled constantly, 2x20m at a time, then slap hands and change the athlete
100 handstand push-ups
500 double unders
100 shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
150 burpee box jumps, 61cm
One pushes sled all the time. This was carried out in a similar way as the workout we did in Copenhagen couple of weeks ago with Sipa and Toni, when we were on my bachelor party trip watching the Crossfit Meridian Regionals. That means one is working with the sled all the time. The other two are chipping away the rest of the work. That is first 100 hspu's. You can't do any other element before those 100 reps are in the books.
Once hspu's were done it was time to move on to double unders. Total of 500 du's. Those sucked. Our shoulders were murdered after the hspu / sled push combo. That was much worse than any of us had imagined! I never got to a smooth rhythm on the jump rope. Hspu's were my thing. Felt great on those all the way.
2x130kg
Third element was basically jerks at 60kg. We went mostly on 5's throughout the 100 reps. In the end I took closer to 10 reps on the last set as I felt the energy flowing. Technique was right on spot and these felt good even though shoulders had already been smashed for 15 minutes before touching the barbell in this workout.
Last station burpee boxes. Huh, those kept the heart beat up. Combine that with the sled work, and this last element felt like it took an eternity. The crew was shot after this session. Very good one and we definitely got what we deserved =) Tomorrow we're heading to Italy with Pauliina for our honeymoon, waiting eagerly for that one!
