Wednesday. Benchmark workout Barbara. Time, 34.36.
This has been in my plans for some time and was thinking about doing it earlier this week too. Got to say the day wasn't ideal as my core was smashed from Monday's ghd's and hip flexors were aching too. However, that's life and you just have to deal with it. Don't bitch about it, just do it.
At first I thought pull-ups and push-ups would be the deal breaker here, and sit-ups and squats would be the easier part. It turned out to be quite the opposite. Those were the easier parts of these 4 elements. First two rounds were unbroken on the pull-ups, then 15-5, fourth round started with 13-4-3 pull-ups and the last one was 10-4-3-3 reps.
On the push-ups I got through mostly something like 10-15 reps on the first try, then 5's before relaxing the tension, until I reached 30 reps. This was the plan which I was able to carry through alright.
Rounds 1-3
But the sit-ups and squats. Damned they got me. And usually any kind of sit-ups are my strong part so this was not cool to witness. My core was still sore from Monday's ghd's so that definitely had an effect. The first round went okay but already on the second one I had to start breaking them up. And lost a ton of seconds / minutes in the long run because of that.
Rounds 4-5
Sit-ups also made my hip flexors tight. It was awkward trying to get up from the floor right after sit-ups =) Squats got tough too. Legs were burning for sure but those hip flexors were the issue. Wasn't able to keep going, felt so nasty in there. This is a good benchmark workout, as they all tend to be. Haven't found a benchmark wod that would be a waste of time. Bad ass workouts all around.
Thursday. Row, 12min. Result, 3.220m. Benchmark workout Annie, 50-40-30-20-10 of: double unders and sit-ups. Time 6.03 (PR).
Had to go to see a doctor today due to my wrist. Okay, it felt a little better this morning as I woke up but still there's something wrong I suppose. At least right wrist is bigger than the left one so it looks awkward. Went to get the x-rays and now I'll wait for doc's statement tomorrow. I had a wrist support on my hand and it didn't bother me at all. Maybe this is just something minor stuff. Anyway, to take the burden off I went for rowing and benchmark lady Annie.
Row.
12min as far as possible
Result, 3.220m
I've sat on the rower more lately than before. Not huge distances but the occasions have been more frequent. It's an awesome machine to say the least. For building engine it's number one element. Today I was open minded when I sat down and started pulling. I tried to keep a steady pace throughout the session. It was not easy at any point. It fatigued me a little more than normally but I'm happy on the distance I reached.
It's been over a year since previous Annie. This was an easy call so I hit it with pretty much max effort. Double unders were as light as they could be. Went easily unbroken all sets. They got heart beating faster but because sit-ups don't get my heart rate up that much it stayed controlled all the way.
This was probably also the first time of regular sit-ups since previous Annie =) I do t2b's for core work and of course all strength movements and basically all elements of crossfit tend to develop core strength big time. Sit-ups also unbroken every round. I had my feet anchored during these reps. After Annie I tried some "around the world's" though, just for fun, inspired by Camille Leblanc-Bazinet and Kenneth Leverich. I saw them knock those on pull-up bar and decided to do couple of tens of those. Tough stuff for core.
It was a good workout to hit today. Got some adrenaline going and it didn't put any extra pressure on my hand. I'm satisfied on this training day as a whole.
Saturday. HC Triplet IV. Three Events, pair workouts. Paired up with Toni against Sipa and Jake.
Awesome!!! What a day! On the other hand, can't call it a surprise. These Triplet throw downs are simply the best crossfit time ever. Having a blast with my training partners. Today was the first time ever we had company with Toni in these Triplets. Sipa and Jake tagged along so it was only natural to do these workouts as pair workouts, teaming up with Toni against Sipa and Jake. It was a tight one!
The gang
Event 1. Toni & Don 22.39. Sipa & Jake 23.05
200 double unders cash in
400m run
40 kettlebell clean & jerks, 32kg
400m run
60 burpees
400m run
80 sit-ups
400m run
100 walking lunges, 25kg sandbag
200 double unders cash out
All these workouts were different style of events. The first one was something like a chipper. One athlete was allowed to work at a time except for the run part. Both were required to run at the same time for the entire 400 meters. On all movements one guy was allowed to move body or weights at a time. The reps were ascending from 40 to 100 reps, changing the element after each run. The workout began and ended with 200 double unders.
I'm very happy on the way Toni was dominating all of these events. There was a time in the past where most of the reps would have fallen for me to complete. But today we are in a situation where this stud has developed tremendously and we were able to complete most of the reps evenly. I think I did a little more burpees and sit-ups but other than that we made the reps fifty fifty.
Recap, Event 1, Sipa & Jake
Our strategy was simple. We got to keep moving all the time, no rest at any time of the workout. Once the other one wears down it's time for the other guy to step in. On the c&j's we had planned on making it in 4 sets of 10 reps but if it starts to burn too much, it's okay to drop it and let the other one perform. We didn't want to see those moments where you try to gasp for air and the kettlebell is not moving at all. Those sets were somewhat challenging but we were able to manhandle them nicely!
On burpees our plan was to do first sets as 5's and then singles, alternating after every rep. On couple of occasions I took couple of extra reps to let Toni rest for a few seconds. We were both moving efficiently and there was no need to stop and breath. Either of us was moving all the time.
Recap, Event 1, Toni & Don
On sit-ups I believe we went through it mostly in sets of 20 reps. That wasn't the most taxing element in this one. I tried to do them as fast as possible with some rage in my mind. This was something I didn't wanna slow down.
Lunges were definitely a pain in the ass, literally =) 100 lunges, which we divided something like 20's. It most definitely burned my lower body. Toni didn't seem to bother at all about this movement, the guy was enjoying his time!
In the end it was time to hit another set of 200 double unders. We had some misses in both ends of the workout on du's but mostly it was okay performance. I believe these were the only one where we could have done better? It was a solid effort all the way from beginning to the end. Running was decent in all rounds. I'm telling you it sucked big time right after burpees! Huh it felt like we were on a slow recovery jog. But then after sit-ups it felt light. The element performed affected a lot.
Sipa and Jake probably ran a little faster. On the other hand we nailed the kettlebell jerks in 4 sets whereas they had about 7 sets. That made a difference to our advantage plus we did Sandy lunges in less sets so we saved some time in the transition. We got this one with about 30sec shorter time.
Event 2. Toni & Don 35.16, Sipa & Jake 30.34
21-15-9-15-21 of:
Wall ball, 10kg / partner in squat hold
Pull-ups / partner holds wall ball overhead, 9kg
Kettlebell swings, 32kg / partner pull-up bar dead hang
On paper this seemed like "the thing". As nasty as it gets. Traditional 21-15-9 rep scheme with a twist as you have to climb back with 15 and 21 reps in the end. Another twist was that while the other athlete is completing the required reps, the other one has a role as well. He has to stay in a static hold position. Either sit in a squat, hold a wall ball overhead, or dead hang from pull-up bar. We had 2 wall balls with us, Jake has a 10kg ball and Sipa 9kg. Those are both home made from a basket ball filled with sand.
Recap, Event 2, Sipa & Jake
Recap, Event 2, Toni & Don
The static hold was the surprise element at least to me. Haven't done anything like that. It really made a difference here. Especially on the pull-up bar dead hang. And think about the order of the elements. Both had to complete all 81 reps of all 3 movements, that is 81 wall balls, 81 pull-ups and 81 kb swings. In addition they had to do those static holds while the other one was doing his share. Lots of work.
Toni started this one with 21 wall balls, I was in squat. After Toni did his reps, we changed positions. After my 21 wb's, Toni jumped on the pull-up bar and did 21 of them while I held the wb overhead. And then changed again. This was the name of the game. Imagine doing pull-ups and then stay up there for static hold as Toni moved on to kettlebell swings. That wasn't cool.
Jake and Sipa beat the crap out of us on this one. Guess there was about 4-5min difference. The difference was made mainly on the pull-up bar. We were evenly good on wall balls, all 4 of us. Even though it felt difficult in the beginning to hit the target with good enough accuracy, it started to feel better and better towards the end. Everybody had misses, it was different to throw the ball on this target compared to a wall.
There was a good amount of reps to be done and those static holds had their influence, no doubt. Because we took some time on the pull-up bar, I got some extra recovery time so I felt pretty good during the workout. Forearms were definitely tingling because all the work but it was manageable. And palms were quite sensitive after the workout. We were afraid how it would affect the last event. They were sore as hell, same on the legs, it felt horrible. These 2 workouts had been taxing! The first one was 20+min and this was about 35min so no wonder we were aching in pretty much all body parts.
Event 3. Toni & Don 4rds + 32 kb snatch. Sipa & Jake 3rds + 17 t2b
20min amrap of:
50 air squats
40 kettlebell snatches, 24kg
30 toes-to-bar
20 goblet squat, 32kg kettlebell
My favorite! We had a good rhythm and fast heart beat from the very beginning. All 4 movements guaranteed heart rate was sky rocketing and muscles hurt. But it was the last event and we had a good vibe going on all the time. We nailed this one. No extra pauses, just kept moving continuously. The only strategy we had was on the t2b's and snatches. We had decided Toni would do 5's and I'd do 10's. We managed to follow that rep scheme for 3 full rounds, on the 4th round we both did something like 4's and 8's.
On snatches we decided to try complete them in 10's for as long as possible. Other than that it was more like "go by feeling", complete as many reps as you can, don't gas yourself but don't give slack either. That worked very well. We did goblet squats in 2 sets all the time, we did something between 8-12 in every round. On the squats I have no idea what happened or how many we did in any of the sets =) We just listened to the judge count the reps and talked during the workout. "You go!"
It was a surprise how well we moved, ourselves and the weights. We were in a zone. Must say I had a great training partner! This day was something like a perfect training day come true. Something I'd like to do if I had a bachelor party some day =)
Entire Event 3, Toni & Don
We were able to top Sipa's / Jake's time on the first one, then on the second one we were beaten roughly. On the third one we made a comeback and got a little over 1 round better result. I'm very happy overall on my personal performance and above all our team's effort. Don't know what we could have strategized better on these events. Double unders could have been better, that I can say out loud. Other than that we kept the motors running constantly. It's pretty obvious Toni's engine has also taken some big steps as he was also able to keep on moving without stopping to gasp. That was some sick action mate!
And probs to Sipa and Jake too. That was some beast mode crossfitting in every workout. You guys had a good and clear strategy as well in each of the 3 cruel events and you stuck to it. It was a pleasure witness your incredible work capacity. There was something cool in the atmosphere during the day. Thanks to Toni, Sipa and Jake for making this day possible. It was definitely a great training day!!!
Wednesday. Benchmark workout Barbara, 5 rounds of: 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 50 air squats, 3min rest between rounds. Time 32.51 (including rest).
I thought it would be a good time to go purely at bodyweight for a while. This benchmark workout has been on my mind for about a week so I decided to hit it. The memory I have from previous time I did this one is that it took me 3 days to recover. That was a good starting point =)
It felt horrible! After 3 rounds of this workout it felt very challenging. My strategy was totally different today compared to the first Barbara I did. Maybe today's version was not the best one I suppose. At least as I compare the total time. Last time I did first rounds unbroken on the pull-ups and then as many reps as possible later in the workout. This time I intentionally broke it already on the first round. I did something like 13+7. I thought breaking the sets in the beginning would save my upper body and then it would be easier to work on the push-ups. That's because they are my goat, a weakness I haven't put enough focus on to get them rolling well.
Breaking the sets didn't help at all. Maybe I should have just gone through the sets unbroken for couple of rounds. I know I could have done it. My body was a little smashed and tired in the beginning but I still believe I could've done it. The push-ups were tough already in the beginning. In the later rounds it was a little pathetic how challenging they turned out for me. I tend to do push-ups with very narrow grip.
Sit-ups were the easiest part of the workout. No doubt. I completed them unbroken each round, the last 2 rounds were a bit tough but it was manageable all the time. It felt like a vacation after having done pull-ups and push-ups.
It turned out my legs were tired because I had to break the squats each round. I remember having nailed the squats unbroken last time, at least in the beginning. Now they felt like lead all the way. My legs barely carried me after the workout. In fact, they were so weak I thought I might fall any minute, and my calves and thighs were cramping.
Crossfit Games Update, Malleolo dominated 14.3
Sit-ups were the easiest, then pull-ups. Squats smashed my legs but the most difficult part was push-ups. I think I'll just add the movement to my metcon routines. Got to be better at them. I checked what I wrote last time on Barbara. It seems the sit-ups brought some issues then, but not today. Push-ups were toughest then as well. And squats were easier back then. On the pull-ups I had a different strategy.
This lady is a bad ass. There was a total of 700 reps, 100 pull-ups, 150 push-ups, 200 sit-ups and 250 squats. Hopefully I'll be able to recover faster than last time. That would be recommendable! My pal Toni was thinking about going after Barbara soon too. I'd like to hear how he nails this.
Tuesday. Squat snatch technique. Benchmark workout Annie, 50-40-30-20-10, double unders and sit-ups. Time 6.26. Rest 3-5min, repeat Annie. Time 6.55.
Was supposed to go to Eltsu with my bro, to the cave where magic happens with olympic lifting. Had some timetable issues and the whole trip was flushed down the toilet. Had some great plans that had to be modified on the fly. My focus was on squat snatch technique that I want to refine. After snatches I wanted to take double unders but didn't know what to put with them. Remembered benchmark workout Annie and decided to complete it twice.
Technique.
Squat snatches
Empty bar snatches, overhead squats @:
3 x 30, 40, 40kg
2 x 45, 45kg
1 x 50, 50, 50, 50, 50kg
Small steps on the way to perfection. Currently my technique sucks =) Let's take half a year from this moment on and see what it looks like. I bet it's on a whole different level, I'm very confident about that. Did some light weight in the beginning, simply empty bar and 30kg reps. Added some weights until I hit 50kg. The bar wasn't heavy but it was difficult to find the correct spot for the bar to land overhead in the squat's bottom position. This was the first time I had 50kg in squat snatch. So that definitely was a step forward!
Got to practice these in a place where I don't have to mind if the bar drops. Only then I can dare to put more weights on the bar and hit heavier sets as well. Currently I can power snatch 60+ kilos so naturally squat version should be heavier. Same ideology as in power / squat cleans. Squat version's 1RM should always be heavier. Currently this is the other way around on my snatches.
As you can see from the videos (by the way, there's a lot of puffing before the actual reps…) I don't dare to drop down aggressively enough. I kind of break the speed on my way down. There's no need for that. Should just let go and drop my butt just like that. But the positive thing is that there are no mobility issues as long as I have good and long warm-up. Some time ago squat snatch was very challenging considering my mobility. I've been doing work for them and hopefully it starts to pay off.
Annie has been in my calendar once before, in January. This is not a traditional benchmark workout in a certain sense. Breathing is tolerable all the way as normally breathing is extremely difficult in some point of benchmark wod. I thought I would do the double unders unbroken but it turned out that I did mistakes in sets of 50's and 40's. That consumed some time. Sit-ups are sit-ups. Haven't done them and probably won't be doing them. Don't find the movement that beneficial. On sit-ups there simply can't be a break. It's an easy movement. Speed on them definitely slows down except on the last 2 rounds when it's possible to speed up because of the amount of reps.
Annie. Time 6.55.
50-40-30-20-10
Double unders
Sit-ups, anchored feet
Understood that my sit-ups would probably slow down a little bit so my plan was to concentrate properly on the double unders to finish in same time frame as in the first Annie. However, I made the same stumbles in the first 2 rounds as in the first Annie. That sucked but other than that, I managed to keep a good upright form in both workouts with the DU's. Focused on bending my knees as little as possible and keep straight torso from toes to head. It's not perfect but it's better than before. Step forward as well =)
Thursday. 1h warm-up with colleagues. Then, snatch emom, 3 reps @ 50kg, for 12min. Metcon, 6 rounds of: 250m row, 5 hspu, 10 burpees. Time 14.16.
At work we had we had a 1h training session, directed group session where we lots of squats, sit-ups and push-ups. After the session was over, I went to the gym and did snatch emom training and bodyweight metcon.
Snatches.
Every minute on the minute
3 reps @ 50kg, for 12min
This was nice, that bar flew up nicely and had no probs to get those lifts done. I had to concentrate on each lift to make it beautiful but it was definitely manageable. I was thinking about adding 5kg on the last sets but this time stayed at 50kg each set. Felt good!
Metcon. Time 14.16
6 rounds of:
250m row
5 handstand push-ups
10 burpees
Perfect breather! Entirely bodyweight stuff, rowing, hspu's and burpees. Especially rowing and burpees made my heart beat fast and then the hspu's were getting on my shoulders and triceps. Got to say that for some reason I've learned lately some technique on the handstand push-ups and they are way easier now. Hopefully this is not only the feeling of last two training sessions but a long lasting result of hard work.
I rowed at 1.40-1.45 for a couple of rounds and then slowed down to around 1.50 towards the end. The difference is not remarkable whether you row fast or moderate pace in such a short distance. It's a total of 1.5km. All hspu's were unbroken, used a kip. Those burpees were nasty, I must say. My break times were located right after rowing. Wanted to nail the hspu's unbroken with style. And I did.
Liked this workout a lot. It was challenging considering heavy breathing but the bodyweight movement type of metcons have caught my attention lately and I'm gonna take more of them in my programming this month.
Friday. Back squats 3-3-3-3-1 (max 130kg). Complex, 12 x (2 power snatch + 2 ohs) @ 50kg.
I decided to workout today. Having 2 rest days in 3 days is something that really gets under my skin. Got to try being smart anyway so I didn't do any metcons or anything super heavy strength-wise. Back squats by feel and then technique with snatch and overhead squats. Luckily for me, that flu-ish feeling went by as quickly as it occurred!
Strength. Back squats 5x80, 3x100, 3x110, 3x120, 3x125, 1x130kg. I've mostly done workouts with around 100kg, except for the last training session with my bro 27th August. My goal was to increase the amount of squats in all forms as well as deadlifts in August but the reality was that there wasn't much action with squats. Instead, there were plenty of deads. September must witness way more squats. And with heavy weights as well.
I felt good squatting today, really felt good. I guess it still feels that I haven't been playing with heavier kilos lately. I had no plan whatsoever with this part of the training, went on purely by feeling. Did a few sets of triples and managed to push through 125kg. On the heaviest load I got one rep. More training is needed ahead of me!
Recap of the day
Complex. For quality
12 x (2 power snatch + 2 overhead squats)
50kg on the barbell each set
Not extremely heavy. I took each set in about 90sec time frame. I was thinking about emom training but then again, considered to give my lunges a break for one more day. Just in case. Twelve sets of the following complex: 2 power snatches followed by 2 overhead squats with 50kg barbell. I like those snatches. I have some work to do with my technique, guess the bar escapes too far away from my body, it should travel in a very vertical path up the body. I've tried to lean back and pull more aggressively to allow room for the barbell to move correctly. Hopefully it pays off in the long run so it would become natural.
The guy told me today that his quads are killing him. That's because of the pistols. I had the exact same feeling yesterday due to Mary. So today's metcon at the affiliate was a little lighter on the metcon.
Wednesday. AM: Benchmark wod Mary. Result, 9 rounds + 2 hspu. Total of 272 reps. PM: Skills, handstand
Back from Sweden in the morning, taking a nap, eating and heading to the gym. That rest day was a good thing for me, my body felt good after being a little stiff for a couple of days. Stockholm was beautiful as it always tends to be. It also seems to warm and sunny every time I've been there =) It was awesome to make a comeback there as it used to be Pauliina's home for a couple of months last autumn. It would have been nice to stay a little longer.
I once read Mary is Mikko Salo's least favorite benchmark Girl. For some reason that inspired me to go for this benchmark early this year. I completed 7 rounds + 3 hspu's and today I was able to top that result with about 2 full rounds. Not bad! In April I did this one for 5 rounds for time. Then it was little less than 11 minutes. Today I happened to check time at that point and the digits showed it was about 9 minutes. Realizing I had topped my previous time clearly brought that much needed encouragement in the middle of the workout.
This metcon went very well in all meters. Every set of handstand push-ups were unbroken. I once dropped off the wall on the first rep because of weak balance but jumped right back up on the wall to finish the set. Don't know if I've done 47 reps in a workout, ever. Very glad about this amount!
Mary's rounds of 1-6
The pistol squat always gets me a bit confused. It feels taxing in the beginning as body is not yet fully prepared to do one-legged squats. Even though I mobbed my ankles and legs properly pre-workout. Then after squatting for a while, it gets much easier. Once you've been squatting some more, the strength-part walks in and it gets way tougher to get ass back up from the floor. I managed this movement well today. Same as with the hspu's, probably never smashed as many reps (90) in one session.
On the pull-ups I went unbroken for maybe 4 rounds. For the next 3 rounds I did 11+4 reps, and the last 2 ones it was 9+3+3. I focused on minimizing the rest period between the reps. Once I dropped from the bar, I shook my hands, tried to release the tension and jumped right back there. In my opinion I was more consistent with the breaks and transitions today overall as well. My pre-determined break was placed after the pull-ups. I had the feeling that if I tried to go straight to hspu's, it would have been much more challenging. As I held a break there, I was able to do the hspu's unbroken. Then I figured that I should do pistols right away because the two other movements are not leg-oriented.
Mary's rounds of 4-9
First round was around one minute, the next two ones about half a minute slower, and the following rounds were between 2:10 - 2:50. I was able to pace up on the last 2 rounds and cut some time on both of them compared to the previous one. All in all, I figure this workout went well for me.
After the workout I spent about half an hour for mobility at the gym. Used the resistance band and lacrosse ball to find painful points and then active stretching to finish it. Wish I had enough time on a regular basis to put enough effort on mobility. I've been taking stretching / mobility sessions in the evening, hopefully it pays off.
Handstand. Couple of hours later I went cycling for active recovery purposes and found a perfect place to practice on my handstand skills. Just couldn't drive by, had to stop and utilize the opportunity. In the beginning it was a bit shaky, my legs were waving in the air to all possible directions. Still, I was able to maintain inverted position and move forward. In the end I was focusing more on keeping my legs more together. It's still far from the look of gymnasts doing handstand walk :)
Thursday. Active recovery. Jogging, walking, muscle-up, sit-ups, back extensions, stretching.
Together with the colleagues we headed towards the morning workout. In the early morning I found Toni and myself eating breakfast at 7:00 and then heading to the jogging track that was going around the convention centre. There was also a pull-up bar in the middle of the forest so we were forced to stay there to play for a while. We did some stretching and walking / light running for 20-30min before going indoors.
Sunrise @ Långvik
After the jogging part all 30 of us head headed inside to do some circuit type of training for abs and back muscles, some plank holds were included as well. It was good stuff for active recovery. Got some blood circulating in my system but this can definitely be called active rest day.
The venue for the last two days was beautiful if you ask me. The surrounding nature was spectacular. The lake was inviting me to swim or row. Would have been a different type of morning wakening. Tomorrow I'll get back to action with Pony and Pauliina at home gym!
Thursday. 10 x (hang squat snatch + full squat snatch). Metcon for time. 20 back squats (100kg), 20 OHS (50kg). Cycling to cool down.
Inspired by yesterday's success with hip mobility I decided to change some plans of today's workouts. I was planning to power snatches but was courage enough to trade it to squat snatches. Then a heavy metcon of back squats and overhead squats. Pony and Pauliina joined at the gym. Toni shared the first snatch workout with me.
Squat snatch
Snatches.
10 x (hang squat snatch + full squat snatch)
Weights around 35-40kg
This workout worked perfectly for us. Both Toni and I did this, alternating. No need to rush, working on our technique. Neither of us have done squat snatches. Toni has probably made them with empty barbell, I did my first ones yesterday. We started by having only 30kg on the barbell, then for few rounds kept it at 35kg and the last 5-6 rounds it was 40kg. No need to add weights just for adding weights. This was a new thing for both of us so we wanted to stick to weights we are comfortable with. Having too much weight on the bar would not have worked for its purpose.
The first maybe 3 rounds it was kind of unstable work for both of us. Kind of wiggling and waggling with the bar overhead. With every rep we both felt it got better and it definitely looked better as we were coaching each other. This is new stuff for us so I think I was too cautious to lift the bar vigorously over my head and let it push me towards the ground. That's why the bar didn't land perfectly at each attempt. The weights were anyway light so that I was able to correct those flaws with strength. We should just add strength in the pull so that the bar would come down in upright vertical movement.
This was ideal training for us and boosted a lot of confidence in this movement. Got to have a huge warm-up on my hips and legs in general in order to do this one. Otherwise my hips won't flex enough.
Squat / Overhead squat. Time 7.06
For time:
20 back squats, 100kg
20 overhead squats, 50kg
Uuh, tough one. 20 reps each. My strategy with the squats was to finish it in 3 sets and overhead squats in 4 sets. With squats I took 8 reps at first try, then 7 and finally those 5 that were left. God damned I did good squats. Probably because my hips were so mobilized after those squat snatches. They were tough towards the end but manageable. Time after squats was 2.19. My legs were quite destroyed at this point and I had 20 reps left. Had to shake my legs each time I racked the bar with back squats or dropped the bar at OHS.
With overhead squats I wanted to make it in 4 sets. At first I did 6 reps, then 5. Had 9 left and my shoulders were shaking. Another set of 5 reps to make it 16 total reps. Last set, 4 reps: 3 left, 2 left, 1 left and my shoulders failed me, leaned forward and dropped the bar, damn! That was unreal. Only one simple rep left to do and I had to let it go. I want to believe it was more like a technical mistake of not concentrating enough and thus I didn't do enough work with my shoulders.
Eeach time I dropped the bar, I cleaned it up, placed it on the rack, put it on my back, jerked it up and started moving. I lost some valuable time on the last miss so it finally went over 7 mins. Had to re-collect my strength after each set, no matter was it back or overhead squat. Had I taken another set immediately after racking or dropping the bar, I don't think I could have made as long sets as today.
I still left with a goof feeling from the training. The first one was good technical progression and the latter one was a good battle of strength and metabolic conditioning. Afterwards 6min cycling to cool down, decreasing tempo gradually. Some mobility / stretching in the end.
Toni's workouts.
Same snatch combo as I did
Power cleans, 5x5 (all sets 60kg)
5 rounds of: 20 sit-ups and 20 double unders. Time 6.23
He performed good with the snatches, no doubt about it. We both realized some clear development points in our action but overall, he did good. He took a metcon in the end with 2 basic movements, sit-ups and DU's. Would you believe it, he counted the double under reps correctly! Usually this guy does about 85% of the reps he's supposed to do. It's just too difficult to do the math. Well, I was giving him props for counting right. The answer was he intentionally counted to 23 reps to have it right =D
Sunday. AM: Back squats 3-3-3-3-3 (max 130kg). Metcon, 6 rounds of hero wod Nick. Time 16.00. PM: Handstand skills training.
I was ready to pump it up after a rest day. Pauliina joined me at the box early in the afternoon for a training session. From the members' book we saw there had been only 2 persons training in the last 2 days. Guess the Midsummer party in Finland has taken its' toll on people =) I'm guessing tomorrow there's another mood and people are back at the gym. I went after squat triples today, followed by half a hero wod and some weighted vest action. Couple of hours later I concentrated in skills training.
Strength. Back squats 3-3-3-3-3 (100, 110, 120, 125, 130kg). I was hoping to make good numbers today after a rest day. My 1rep max is 140kg. Today's focus was in triples. I was hoping to nail that 130kg with which I've had some troubles lately. I've been able to get it up as single lift when I've tried it but a triple has been challenging. Today I skipped 80kg from my warm-up, did only cold bar squats and 60kg warm-up after jumping directly to 100kg. Of course I warmed-up in other ways but didn't want to put too much focus on semi-weights. Max load today was 3x130kg, I'm very happy about these lifts today.
Back squats 3x120kg
Metcon. Time 16.00
6 rounds of:
10 hang squat cleans with dumbbells, 20kg each hand
6 handstand push-ups
Quite a thorough workout for upper body if you ask me! Hero workout Nick, dumbbell squat cleans and hspu's. Rx'd this workout is done for a total of 12 rounds. That would total 72 handstand push-ups which is clearly too much for me in one day. Well, there would have been 120 cleans as well but that would have been manageable. My version of the workout was 6 rounds, or half a Nick.
The work done with dumbbells must be beneficial. The movements are so much different if you compare them with barbell work. And you really see the difference between arm / shoulder strength. I can see my right side is slightly stronger than my left, especially in presses and grip strength. Left arm starts to wiggle a bit earlier than right one.
Those handstand push-ups started to wear me out after a couple of rounds. First round unbroken, then 4+2, then the last 4 rounds it was probably in 3 sets. What took me time was the time between those sets because I know that if I try to rush it and force another hspu, it will be very very challenging without recovery. I had 2 failed reps as I was not listening to my burning shoulders. Attempted a rep but couldn't straighten myself and lock the elbows so had to take a short break to recover.
That other movement, hang squat cleans with dumbbells, was cool! It was a forearm burner and once I let go of the db's, my shoulders were firing up as well. But I liked it =) Thought it would be tough on legs as well because of all that squatting before and during the workout but it wasn't.
Cashout. Not for time. 20 to 2, down by 2's, sit-ups and presses.
20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
Sit-ups
Strict dumbbell press, 2x10kg
Wear a 9kg vest
I brought my 9kg vest just in case with me and I'm happy I did so. In the end the cashout consisted of regular crossfit style sit-ups and strict dumbbell presses with 10kg dumbbells each arm. Weight wasn't heavy because the point was to move fast. There were a total of 110 reps each movement. Starting from 20 reps, coming down by 2's all the way to 2 reps. Had my vest on the entire time. After the workout we did some other style of ab work with Pauliina as well, she had some good training tips there. Finally 5min work with crosstrainer to cool down.
Handstand training. After coming home we ate at the balcony and I realized the view was perfect. I couldn't ignore the freshly planted grass matt at our back yard. There was simply no other chance but to go and practice handstand skills. My friend / neighbor also joined me there and we did handstand training and muscle-ups (at the kids playground swing). I saw the opportunity and utilized it =)
I had good attempts and I'm very satisfied to this session as well, actually the entire day was a good training day!
Free handstanding
This little guy also had some advice to handstand training =)
Friday. 6 rounds of 500m row with 2:00 rest between sets. Metcon, 3rds of 10 burpees and 20 sit-ups, wearing a 9kg weight vest. Time 3.48.
Friday's program was all about metabolic conditioning. Rowing intervals as the main focus area. Total of 3k rowing in small pieces, trying to go all in. I also brought my weight vest to play a role in this training session. I utilized it for burpees and sit-ups. There has not been a single soul at the gym today nor yesterday since it's the finnish mid-summer holiday. The day is longest today, sun will not come down all day / night and people are pretty much at their summer cottages. We're also driving to the country side in the afternoon with Pauliina to meet with some friends.
Rowing. Times between 1.39-1.40.
6 rounds of 500m row
2:00 rest between rounds
My goal was to go fast each round, not looking to get a good average but to see how fast I can go and then try to maintain that speed through all 6 rounds. On the first round I was at 1.40 / 500m. On the second the same time. Actually, all 4 first rounds my time was identical, 1.40 on the clock =) At this stage I thought the following rounds I might lose a second or two but was actually able to drop 1 sec of the clock, reaching 1.39 on the last rounds. I was pretty wasted after the last round. I taped the first and fifth round, below you'll see some action from the 5th set.
Fifth set of rowing, time 1.39
Metcon. Timr 3.48
3 rounds of:
10 burpees
20 sit-ups
Wear a 9kg weighted vest
Quick metcon in the end with burpees and sit-ups. Didn't want to take any barbell / dumbbell / kettlebell work today, simply focusing on bodyweight movements spiced with a 9kg vest. What's a better conditioning movement than burpees? It's pretty much the best. Sit-ups as a friend for those burpees. The nature of both movements is different when you wear a vest. Haven't done many vest burpees, definitely wears a man out better and quicker than a traditional burpee. Surprisingly those sit-ups got to my core, even though there were only 60 of them. Guess it was simply the extra weight that had to be carried. Go figure, have to try them more to find the answer. Should utilize this vest more anyway, it seems to be an awesome equipment!
Tuesday. Muscle-up training. Metcon, time 17.52. Headstand skills training.
Today's main concept was a metcon of bodyweight movements, got my breathing go heavy on this one. Prior to the metcon I tried to do ring muscle-ups. Afterwards did some headstand skills and abs copied from Crossfit Games athlete Talayna Fortunato's blog. For warm-up I rowed 500m and did 5x20 unbroken double unders.
Headstand
Muscle-up training. Tried a few sets but today was not the day for my first ring muscle-up. Couldn't keep the package tight and thus the rings fell too wide apart from each other. This was still way better than before. Those bar muscle-ups definitely have helped me in this area. I can perform several of them in singles and soon I'll master the ring version as well!
Muscle-up training
Metcon. Time 17.52
15 hspu
50 air squats
50 double unders
50 push-ups
50 box jumps, 61cm
2.000m row
The main objective of the workout was to move my body without weights. Handstand push-ups to begin with. Originally I had 10 reps but decided to upgrade it to 15 to get more practice there. Good call. Last week's run / squat metcon brought me back to reality on the air squats. Got to do them 'cause they felt hard a week ago. Today I completed 50 of them.
The double unders I broke in two sets not to burn my shoulders too much. Still, the push-ups were a joke! Don't even dare to unravel in what type of sets I was able to do… But to say something, it took waaaaay too much time! The box jumps at this stage of the game were leg-burners. Breathing was going heavier by the minute so I got that feeling with the box jumps that I usually am after. The hamstrings are on fire, heart is pumping and focus is purely on the next box jump.
To have the 2k row at the end of the workout while blood is pumping fiercely in my veins, I had to mentally uptalk myself to finish the workout. I started and finished easily on the row, it took 7.34min to finish that rowing. The last part of the workout was cruel, but intentionally created.
Headstand training. Took a few sets of headstand training to find balance being inverted. Hopefully this helps my handstand training as well. Getting more and more familiar being upside down.
Cashout. L-sit 0:30, 0:10.
2 x max time L-sit hold, immediately turned into 1min plank hold into 30 sit-ups.
I read Talayna Fortunato's blog on a regular basis and caught inspiration from her training. Some abs in the end.
Friday. Back squat 3-3-3-3-3, front squat 2-2-2. Interval cycling. Cashout 4x50 sit-ups.
I had another workout in my mind yesterday evening but decided to listen to my body that felt destroyed in the morning. My shoulders were strengthless so I decided to postpone a workout that would have been done with dumbbells and included a few strength movements. Instead, I took rather easy back squats and easy front squats. It's been 2 weeks since I've squatted so I wanted to get back on track. Not superheavy but still squatting. Then, some interval cycling to get some cardio work done.
Strength. Back and front squats.
Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (100, 110, 120, 120, 120kg)
Front squat 2-2-2 (100, 100, 100kg)
Intentionally stayed at 120kg and didn't want to push further. I felt good squatting and it was a nice "variation" as I haven't been doing this one in two weeks. Definitely should have. The weights start to feel heavier when you don't squat in a while, that's for sure. I kept the back squats at 120kg and front squats at 100kg.
Cycling. Distance 3.200m
5 rounds of:
2min work
1min rest
Some cardio work and more burden for legs. This was an easier training day and mostly concentrated on my legs. Not extreme but a moderate work load. I felt good about getting back on track with squats even though the weights were not heavy. And some cycling in the end. I got my quads and hamstrings burn.
Friday. 30sec on, 30sec off for 20min, rowing. Distance, 3.410m. Metcon, 6 rnft: 20 ub du, 10 pistols.
Friday's agenda was to keep it on cardio. Classic interval rowing to begin with and then other skills to add up: double unders and pistol squats as a metcon for quality. Haven't done many pure sit-ups this month so I took some of them as cashout training.
Rowing. Distance 3.410 meters.
30sec on, 30sec off for 20 minutes
Rowing
Done this workout for a few times, sometimes rowing, sometimes cycling with stationary bike. It's a good way to get the heart pumping and blood running in your veins. The same thing happens every time, my butt gets numb after some time =) Got to stand up occasionally to loosen the tension back there. My pace on the rowing was constantly between 1.35 - 1.39 throughout the workout. Mostly I saw the numbers 1.38 on the digital screen.
Metcon. Double unders and pistol squats, skills training.
6 rounds not for time:
20 unbroken double unders
10 pistols, alternating legs
Thought about whether to do it for time or for quality. Decided to leave the clock alone because I'm not the fastest person with pistols. I wanted to get a certain number of reps so I decided to do this one for quality and minimum rest.
I did all but the last set of double unders unbroken so I had to redo only the last set. The pistols, what a movement. Very rarely have I done those. On benchmark workout Mary, it's a compulsory movement. Other than that, it's been a random movement in my training. Today I got 60 of them. I'm very happy about the way I'm able to do those nowadays. That's definitely a movement where you can see the development of mobility in your body. I was very far away from completing a pistol squat a.k.a. one-legged squat a year ago when I started my crossfit training. It was just too difficult to go down and not fall over. I've seen that improvement in so many movements this far and hopefully will see in the future as well.
Friday. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3-1-1 (max PR 185kg). Team metcon, hspu, pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups.
Today's agenda was to do a team workout together with Toni but during the day my team mate's feeling grew and he had the desire to reach the same clean numbers that I got up yesterday. So I also had some time to deadlift, haven't been doing that much lately with heavy loads. You'll find videos of our lifts from the links I attached, there's still some problems with attaching own videos to the post.
Strength. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3-1-1 (120, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 185kg). I took some reps with 60 and 100kg before moving on to heavier loads. This time it was triples all the way up to 170kg. It was the first time I did more than singles with 160kg, at least I believe so. That 170 was rather heavy and on the 180kg (my current PR) I took only a single, would have been a struggle to get another rep. Once I was already at this level, I had to add 5kg and take a new PR, 185kg =) And my form stayed ok in this strength training, I'm glad about that!
1 second after the PR, 185kg =)
Team metcon. Together with Toni. One team member works at a time.
40 handstand push-ups
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
200 sit-ups
This was the first time we did this type of workout together. Not the first time doing a wod with Pony but determining a certain number of reps per movement and completing them in alternating turns was new thing for both of us. Toni started with the hspu's, did as many as possible, then it was my turn. I was able to hit a PR of hspu's in the first round, 10 of them, first ones were strict and the rest kipping, could've probably squeezed 1-2 more but there were plenty of them in front of us and little time to rest. Once the other one was performing, the other one rested and then a switch.
The pull-ups weren't bad and I'm quite proud of this other crossfitter's pull-ups. He nailed his new max, 10 pull-ups in a row. And from then on, he also did 5+ sets till the end as I recall it. I got 25 on the first round, then 15 and the rest I don't remember.
The push-ups were a nightmare and it felt it took forever to finish them. Toni completed 30 reps on the first round and gassed himself. On the second round he got 10 and less from then on. I got 15 on the first round, then 10's for some time and 5's in the end.
The sit-ups were easy, too easy, should've done it some other way. Maybe toes-to-rings, knees-to-elbows or something like that. We did them in turns, 20 reps per dude, and then switch, only 100 reps each.
My upper body was jammed after this. There were a big number of hspu's, pull-ups and push-ups in total. I enjoyed the way we carried the workout through. Got to propose these type of workouts in the future to Toni as well. What did you think man?
Toni's workout. Clean singles, 70, 75, 80, 85, PR 90, PR 92.5kg. C'mon, he did as well! Great job mate, previous PR was 87.5, today two lifts after that to reach 92.5kg and Toni always does them as power cleans, he hasn't practiced squat cleans to feel natural with heavier weights.
