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.
Friday. Snatch balance 5x3 (50-60kg). Karhureiret. Time, 14.35. Conditioning, 7rds of: 2min row, 2min bike.
It was a notch longer workout session today. Tried some snatch balances in the beginning to get a feeling of those after a long break. Then some old school stuff from Finland's championships some years ago. That sucked. Then conditioning piece in the end.
Oly.
Snatch balance 5x5 (50, 50, 60, 60, 60kg)
These have been rare in the past months. I had that wrist issue earlier in the year and that caused I haven't done either these nor overhead squats with proper weights at all. It still felt kind of funny even though I have no problems in my wrists and haven't had in a long time.
It was cool to get these done. I'm looking forward to doing more of these accessory stuff for snatch in the future. I'm certain these will build up the confidence for the actual snatch too.
The video is unedited for couple of min
Karhureiret. Time, 14.35. Compare to 15.5.2013
10 back squats @ 100kg
50 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
20 front squats @ 80kg
40 box jumps
30 overhead squats @ 50kg
30 toest-to-bar's
The reason is unknown but I was done already on the swings. Literally I was trying to create excuses not to finish this workout. Luckily didn't but for some reason my body refused to work ideally, even though I had lots of passion to attack this workout.
Yes I got through this faster than before with heavier weights but I can't be satisfied of the effort fully. Especially the kettlebell swings and box jumps stayed to haunt in my head. Had to break both of them. Kettlebell swings more than once. No reason for that. And this was probably the first time ever pausing on the box jumps. Body was just completely in shut down mode. Somehow I got through this and maybe the last two elements went better than I assumed at that point of the workout. Back squats were unbroken, front squats were 5's and overhead squats were 10-8-7-5 reps.
Conditioning. Total of 28 minutes
7 rounds of:
2min row
2min bike
Damned I was over and out after that metcon. Yesterday my gym turned 1 year old so they had a birthday party. There was some leftover cake at the lobby. Once I saw it after the metcon I felt weak in my body and needed to fuel up. That felt like a perfect idea =) Huh, it was delicious!
After some recovery I jumped on the rower and bike combo, 2 minutes each with a running clock for 28 minutes total. That was a good end to the session!
Monday. Snatch complex: high pull, full snatch, snatch balance, ohs (40-65kg). Snatch pull triples (up to 90kg).
Lots of snatch action today at the gym. It took me an hour to go through all the work load. This time I didn't have strict plans on the weights at all. Just went on by feeling. What I had in mind was the complex that was carried out as such.
Complex.
Snatch high pull
Full snatch
Snatch balance
Overhead squat
Bunch of sets @ 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65kg
Lots of fun. I took several sets at each load so there was a good volume of snatches today. These felt very good, and my technique (compared to what it used to be) was somwhat on point. I'm very happy of today's progress!
60kg
Pulls.
Snatch high pulls
Triples @ 68, 70, 70, 80, 80, 80, 90, 90, 90kg
65kg snatch is pretty much the most I've lifted in ages so this was big time success. I jumped to 68kg which turned out to be just a snatch high pull because I didn't drop under the barbell for some unknown reason. Even though 65kg was rather easy, some wall hit me in courage. There's something to be worked on.
65kg
So I changed to snatch high pulls with a bit heavier weights. Focusing on bringing the bar up slowly as I've learned now, then pulling from the hips. Good sesh.
Long session at the gym. Good warm-up, no rush. Got my hips and shoulders ready for some action. It was overhead work pretty much today, assistance stuff for snatch. Metcon consisted of ohs and pull-ups, which are poison to me as a combination. Finished the session with some light work.
This was basically overhead squat triples but I started almost every set with a snatch balance. Only the last set was a pure ohs triple without the snatch balance. Just pushed the barbell to straight arms before squatting. In Denmark I didn't finish the 75kg triple and it got me thinking there's a possibility I have never got a3 reps at this weight. Don't know, it is possible but I just don't remember it. That was enough for the day on this movement for me. Felt pretty good on the overhead squats this time!
Recap
Pulls.
Snatch pulls 3x5 (90, 100, 100kg)
This is something I've found very useful. It teaches me lots of patience for snatch. And the bar path looks to be much better, way more correct than before. That makes me smile big time. Plus it's great to get some pulls done as deadlift has been out of question for about 3 weeks now. I told you some time ago there is some weird pain in my left ribcage when pulling heavy loads from the floor or alternatively when sneezing / coughing.
Everything else is okay, no pain at all. But on these occasions there is an internal pressure which I do not like. These 100kg pulls are so light that it doesn't matter. But for snatch grip pulls it is quite a load. I'll have these in my repertoire in the near future just to teach my body. Weight was good.
Metcon. Time, 12.22
5 rounds of:
10 overhead squat, 40kg
15 pull-ups
30 double unders
Huh, it was known already beforehand that ohs and pull-ups are a difficult combo for me. That means to say it is useful to practice that. Ohs was unbroken each round, pull-ups were so for 2 rounds. The following were 8-4-3 for each of the remaining 3 rounds. Double's had trips in 2/5 sets. Three sets were good. This one made me breath hard for sure, and muscles got tired during the course of the workout.
Finisher.
3 rounds of:
500m easy row
20 ghd sit-ups
After writing down what work I had been doing I sat on the rower to get my thoughts together, and did a little cash out in the end. Rowed with easy pace for 1.5km, it was somewhere between 1.50-1.55 per 500 meters. Ghd's were there just to get some core work done in the process.
Tuesday. Snatch balance 5x3 (up to 70kg). Snatch work (up to 50kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 12 thruster (40kg), 50 du. Time, 10.49
It was time to concentrate on snatches. In my images it went better than the reality actually was. It was still great to have them in the program again. I did snatch balance prior to actual snatches. The metcon in the end was a killer on my shoulders once again.
Snatch balance.
3x40, 50, 60, 65, 70kg
1x75kg
This went pretty well. There were tons of people at the gym so I didn't dare to take videos. But they went well and I felt confident putting that weight overhead and squat at the same time. Tried to do it as explosively as possible. Had one miss, the first rep at 50kg where I pushed the bar too much in front and dropped. The weight was light though so I cleaned it and took a triple right away.
Seventy kilos for a triple pleased me a lot. I also took a single at 75kg, and missed the second at 75kg due to pushing it too much in front again. I decided to stop there because there were squat snatches waiting for me.
Snatch.
Hang snatch
3x40, 40, 45kg
2x50, 50, 50kg
1-1-1-1 @ 50kg
Okay these could have been more beautiful. I thought my hips would be as open as possible after doing heavier snatch balances but still they felt, not stiff but not completely receptive either. I took these light. Mostly because it felt like I don't have enough in the tank for these. Some reps were okay, and some were a lot off of the tracks. The last single was the best, and of course not caught on video. I was very happy on receiving the barbell in the bottom position. That was different to most of these where I caught it around parallel.
Snatches
Metcon. Time, 10.49
5 rounds of:
12 thruster, 40kg
50 double unders
It was no surprise this wasn't fun =) I've been thinking about thrusters for a while but still haven't put them in a workout much lately. Thrusters were the better part of this workout though. How sick is that? I sucked at the double unders today. Lots of misses and they wore me down big time. My shoulders got tired during this workout, and those du's didn't help at all. This was a great workout. I just hoped the double unders had gone better. I lost a lot of time and energy there.
Thursday. Skills, emom x 8min. Odd min 12 c2b, even min 12 pistols. Snatch complex, 1snatch balance + 2 ohs. Snatch complex, 3 snatch press + 3 ohs. Cashout, 100 t2b.
Today was mainly a skills / technique oriented training day. Nothing super heavy or tough, but getting better at my gymnastics, working on technique and mobility for the snatch, and then getting some accessory work done for core. I got the biggest kicks of the day when Pauliina hit a PR in back squat =)
50kg
Skills.
Every minute on the minute, for 8 minutes
Odd min, 12 chest-to-bar pull-ups
Even min, 12 pistol squats
So this was surprisingly tough in the last 2 sets of c2b's. Okay, let's be honest, all my emom c2b's have been smaller rep sets before this one so it was kind of cool to hit unbroken sets of 12 reps. Only the last set had to be broken down but the first 3 of them went perfectly. Felt very good about those! These skills / gymnastics emom workouts to kick things on in the beginning of the training sessions are great way to break a sweat, get the body warm and fully awake for the work load ahead.
Pistol squats are funny. It was once again witnessed that for my left leg they are easy but right leg ones are challenging. The difference is quite big. Must be the influence of my previous sports career as a goal keeper in floorball. On the first round I did them alternating, and then the rest of the sets I went 6 left - 6 right. That's because I wanted to focus on linking multiple reps with right leg.
Snatch complex.
1 snatch balance + 2 overhead squat
Weights 50, 55, 60, 65, 70kg
This one was on my mind in addition to the skills part when I entered the gym. I wanted to build up to a heavy set on this combo. It was no surprise that overhead squats were lighter than snatch balances. On lighter loads I'm able to drop under the bar with speed. Warm-up weights were 20, 30 & 40kg. If I would drop as fast as in those lights it would be freaking awesome. At times I was afraid how quickly I got there haha =)
No but really, there was a difference. The heavier the barbell got, the slower the snatch balance turned out to be. In the beginning I had my feet in the air for a while whereas in the heavier complexes my feet stayed in the ground the entire time and I had breaks on a little. The last one was the slowest on the way down. I probably came up faster than went down.
Snatch complex.
3 snatch grip push press + 3 overhead squat
Weights 40, 45, 50, 55, 60kg
This section was not planned beforehand. Pauliina did her squats and I just did some extra work with the bar between her sets. This wasn't heavy at all, the main point was practicing bar paths on both the press and squat. Extending my hips fully in the press and locking out elbows for a stable and solid overhead position.
Then again, keeping it on the heels on overhead squats and hitting it low. I stayed in the bottom position for 2-3 seconds after the last ohs in each set. To sit in the deepest position frequently will definitely increase mobility. And that's exactly my weak point in this movement even though it's gone forward a lot.
Accessory.
100 toes-to-bar
Okay, that was about it. It was time to cool down. I thought about knocking some t2b's just for fun. I took 20 reps at first, then 15 reps, and the rest were 10's and 5's in the end. Once I jumped on the pull-up bar the thought was to complete 50 reps but then again, it felt so good to link those reps together that I decided to go to 75, and finally it changed to 100 reps. I'll take it! My abs were nearly cramping at times at about 70-80 reps but after a little stretching it was all good.
Tuesday. Snatch balance triples (up to 65kg). Metcon, 7rds of: 4 jerk (60kg), 8 burpee, 12 t2b. Time, 11.31.
Getting more and more confident for snatch. This element called snatch balance is a great way to build up self esteem for snatch. Got those done today and afterwards the metcon consisted of jerks (first time like ever!), burpees, and t2b's. Good, intense metcon.
Random thoughts on how to program my training per week. It's not gonna happen like this. It's gonna take changes on a steady basis, that's for sure. This was just a thought.
Snatch work.
Snatch balance
Weights 50, 55, 60, 65, 65, 65, 65kg
It's a pity I didn't get any of these sets on video. I would have liked to see whether my feeling and the way it looks are the same or not =) It felt pretty okay, and confident all the way. Couple of reps were a bit wobbly as the bar went too much in front. Some I was able to save but there were also 2 misses. I finished those sets right away.
Snatch (balance) is a movement where lots of balls are required. In my opinion it tells a lot of mental strength if you dare to drop under the barbell in squat cleans and squat snatch under heavy loads. Squat cleans are okay with me but there's still lots work to be done in the snatch department. I went to the bottom on these snatch balances. Especially on the last rep where I stayed in pause overhead squat position for couple of seconds. It felt good and much much better than some time ago!
Metcon. Time, 11.31
7 rounds of:
4 push jerk, 60kg
8 burpee
12 toes-to-bar
I had an ambitious dream of doing push jerks in this metcon. And it succeeded. No problems whatsoever. This was big news for me, and my wrist. I took 'em only 4 reps per round just in case, then spiced tit up with burpees and t2b's. This was supposed to be a 10min amrap but as the clock was 9.50 and there were 6 rounds completed, I felt there's a need to do some more work. So it changed to 7 rounds for time on the fly.
It turned out the jerks were the easiest part of the metcon, basically didn't wear me down that much. Burpees are always a great tool to build up the machine. Hardest part of this was definitely toes-to-bar element. Got the first part unbroken, second round was 8-4, and from then on it was 3 attempts to finish those 12 reps. It got surprisingly challenging from 3rd round on. Maybe the combination of these movements made it tougher. It felt like my hip flexors and groins were on fire, as well as core in general. I remember doing burpees and t2b's once as a couplet and those t2b's were a nightmare that time. There might be a relation to that. Anyway, good metcon, no doubt!
Great to be back in the game! If there was enough time, I would have hit back squats too but today it was mostly snatch work. It was success all the way, and my body felt good in this session. Emom snatch balances and ohs / box jump metcon worked perfectly together.
Snatch work.
Every minute on the minute, for 8min:
1 power snatch + 3 snatch balance @ 50kg
At first this was supposed to be taken from rack and focus purely on the snatch balances. However, there were some guys doing their share of squatting so that left me with no choice but to take the barbell from the floor. No prob there, it was actually a good call as it was a great chance to practice the quick turnover and keeping the barbell close to torso.
The main focus was still on the snatch balance and quick drop under the bar. Don't know what has happened but it felt very natural and smooth all the way. And the weight felt light too. My armpits were facing forward, the support was strong and steady on shoulders, plus my hips were as mobile as they genuinely can be. It it freaking awesome to see that all this crossfit stuff really makes me better as a human being. I'm feeling much more flexible, strong and agile than before crossfit. And the past year has been mind blowing in this sense.
So I hit the very bottom position of snatch on these snatch balances. I'm gonna keep on putting effort in the full range of motion because that's pretty much the key to good mobility. And keep grinding more overhead squats, snatch balances, squat snatches to get better in these extreme positions.
Metcon. Result, 7 rounds
8min amrap of:
6 overhead squat, 40kg
12 box jump
Needed to get something quick in my system. This was the perfect solution! Tough on lower body, no doubt. There's always the question whether to put on nanos or weightlifting shoes =) I get better support from weightlifting shoes but then again you can't perform any kind of jumps with those. And I'd like to put nanos on every time in a metcon anyway. Today's big question was the combo of overhead squats and box jumps. Obviously nanos but the issue is that ohs is quite a challenge mobility-wise for me due to some tightness in ankles. It's very good to practice those so of course it was nanos.
I'm very happy I can also do overhead squats without my weightlifting shoes. It's not ideal but I can hit it below parallel for sure. This workout was short and thus more intense of course. Both elements brought a lot of burden for quads and hamstrings, and breathing of course. In the last round I asked my training partner to check out the timer but he accidentally reset the timer on the same second as time ran out. So I'm not exactly sure how many rounds I got in this one. Fact is that the first round was 60 seconds so my best guess is my result was 7 rounds. I just got the 12th jump as time cap was full. And I had solid round times so it must have been 7 rounds, totaling 42 overhead squats and 84 boxes.
I had a day off of work and hadn't thought about this training day at all. Then, yesterday evening I realized there's a great opportunity to drive to Liikuntamylly, the most amazing sports center there is in Helsinki. At least in my opinion. Didn't have to think much whether I would go there or not. This place is made for olympic lifts but that was not gonna happen seriously because this wrist is not perfect right now. Doable but not perfect. In the afternoon I went to pick up Pauliina from work so I took another session as she went to the gym anyway.
Snatch work.
Every minute on the minute, for 10 minutes
3 snatch balance @ 40kg
This part of the training session was more like a warm-up and technique. Something like I've done with bodyweight elements like c2b pull-ups, pistols, handstand push-ups and box jumps. I wanted to work my snatch and at first it was supposed to be squat snatch triples pulled from ground. In the warm-up snatch balances felt very good and I changed my game plan.
Those started to feel more and more comfortable after every set and I think my peak was on the 7th set's last rep =) That was probably my best one as well as the 8th and 9th set. I realized I need to use the bar as a counterforce to push myself down. That was a eye-opener. The weights stayed light for a good purpose. These were not planned to be a strength element but a technique part for eventually building up a solid full snatch.
Snatch balance recap
Squats.
Every minute on the minute, for 10 minutes
2 back squats @ 120kg
If I can't do cleans or jerks that smoothly, it's gonna be squats all day all night baby! My legs were a bit stiff in the beginning but it helped to do more of those. I took 60, 90, and 110kg warm-up sets before clicking the timer on. Doing rather heavyish squats in emom style with the same weight was a little tougher than I had expected but there was no issues in bringing the weights up. Good adjustment with the weights for a double.
I've been squatting a lot lately. There's probably been one day without squats in the past 2+ weeks. As for squats I mean back squat, front squat, overhead squat, squat snatches, squat cleans, thrusters. But i my opinion that's the way it should be. Gotta keep those legs strong and moving. Posterior chain is the starting point of any movement so it needs to be activated regularly.
Squat emom
Sled.
6 x 20m sled push
4 sets at extra 25kg load
2 sets at extra 15kg load
This was a real quad killer! The sled was very low in height. The handle was somewhere around 15 cm from ground I guess. Don't know how much that weighed but I put 15kg and 10kg bumper plates on top of it. That load felt very heavy because the center of gravity had to be so low. The position is not that natural for me and I had to grind a lot to keep the sled moving. Intention was to get that thing moving without stopping in between. For the first 4 distances there was 25+15kg plates and then the last 2 sets I took the 10kg plate off. It was totally different and I was practically able to jog with it. It still burned quads =)
Base camp
Gymnastics.
Bar muscle-ups
20 reps in sets of 3-3-3-3-4-4
In the end of the first training session there was a bunch of muscle-ups on a pull-up bar. There's plenty of space here in Liikuntamylly so there's really no excuse not to go for them. There was no time pressure. Basically I did a triple, looked at it on the camera and went after the next set. After having completed 4 sets of triples, I did some math and realized there's 8 more reps to reach 20 reps total. So I took 2x4 in the end.
Muscle-up recap
Somewhere in the middle of the sets I remembered feet should be kept together so that was my focus point in the remaining sets. Those muscle-ups were good and solid. My gloves were a bit slippery though, didn't like that fact. Last set was done bare hands but the friction is annoying. That would definitely rip the calluses off my palms so I need to wear gloves normally.
Bar muscle-up station
Press.
Snatch grip push press
Loads: 40, 50, 60, 70, 72.5, 75, 77.5, 80kg
Late in the afternoon was another session and the original plan was to go light. Maybe only mobility, and some rowing at slow speed. Just activate the body and then stretch out. But I felt great and there were a lot of people at the gym so it kind of boosted the adrenaline. I couldn't just step aside so I went and grabbed the barbell and started moving it around. Push presses behind the neck with snatch grip was somehow natural so I started to put weights on the bar.
These were triples and I built it up to a heavy triple. I've been a bit afraid to drop the bar on my back rack from overhead but little by little it has come more natural through lots of reps. The heaviest I've dropped has probably been 70kg. Heavier than that I have dropped the bar down in front of me. Last sets were going up 2.5kg per set so I got a good bunch of heavy snatch presses in the books and have never gone this heavy in this movement.
3x80kg
Conditioning. Not for time, touch'n'go / unbroken
5 rounds of:
7 snatch grip push jerk, behind the neck (60kg)
14 toes-to-bar
Practically right after completing the last set of 80kg for a triple I took the extra 10kg plates off and tried out how snatch jerks feel like from behind the neck. That's because I want to have that strong for the case of going heavy on overhead squats. You have to get that barbell up somehow before hitting the overhead squats. Snatch press is tough at 80-90kg. So doing them as jerks would help a lot. That's a movement I haven't done them basically at all.
So after changing the plates back to 60kg I took the bar right away on my back from the rack and did 7 touch'n'go jerks. From there I jumped on the pull-up bar and completed double the amount of repetitions compared to jerks. This seemed like a good combo so it continued for a total of 5 rounds. Didn't have a timer running but this was definitely a conditioning workout. Good one! And a perfect training day. Lots of work, focusing on weaknesses, skills, strength, odd objects, conditioning. Perfect!
It was Super Bowl Sunday so I had to watch the game! It's broadcasted in Finland in the middle of the night, the game started at 01.30 am and ended at about 5.00 in the morning. Had time to sleep 2+ hours before the game and couple of hours afterwards. I went to work later than normally but for this reason I decided to lay low this Monday. By the way, it was a heck of a game!
Snatch work.
Power snatch
Overhead squat
Snatch balance
Sotts press from back rack
Sotts press from front rack
Mobility
It turned out to be much greater day than I had anticipated. I thought it would be very small gains but I had a training partner with me that has probably the best mobility in this entire country. I admire his elasticity a lot. He suggested we'd work on some oly stuff with barbell only. At first I wasn't that much into it because I had thought about rowing more today but luckily I jumped aboard.
I worked with hang power snatch but mostly on overhead squats and snatch balance. I did enormous amount of reps and went all the way to the bottom position. Between sets I did mobility drills Benjamin suggested and I felt the change right away. Doing ohs and snatch balance after those mobility workouts it was like my shoulders had been replaced with someone else's. It was awesome to hit bottom position with armpits pointing forward much more easily than regularly.
Gotta work these mobility things on a regular basis. I do mobility every evening anyway so just add some new stuff there. In the end I stretched my legs a lot, and felt very good exiting the gym to the sauna.
Great training day for sure! I had plenty of time, no need to be hasty at any moment. That is my kind of training session. I love when it's just me, a barbell and lots of time. Put them together and I'm ready to rock. As I indicated earlier, I was enlightened by Coach Burgener's warm-up drills and today I put a lot of effort on those. It prepared me very well for snatch balance and ohs which brought some good results too. Last part of the training session was a longer metcon with lots of work.
Snatch work.
Burgener warm-up drills
Snatch balance 5-5-5-5-5 (30, 40, 50, 60, 65kg)
Overhead squat 1-1-1-1 (70, 75, 80, PR 85kg)
Coach is the legend, and for a good reason. Better listen to this god of weightlifting. I paid a lot of attention to these warm-up routines with pvc pipe, empty barbell and then also 30kg bar. Only objective for this massive warming up was to prepare my body more effectively than normally. As I progressed to snatch balance I felt that in my body. My body was much more loose which was nothing but great. I've probably never this good in my body regarding snatch related movements. Having bar overhead and going to squat position.
I took sets of 5 reps of snatch balance, starting from 30kg, building up to as heavy as possible because it felt good. Bar fell a little forward on some reps but still I'm very happy on the movement patterns and weights being thrown around. My mobility has taken big steps this autumn and it's finally paying off in snatch work also. I've done 60kg snatch balance some time ago but hitting 5x65kg was beyond my comprehension.
Due to that I decided to take couple of overhead squat singles. Ascending 5kg by the rep, all the way to a new personal record of 85kg. Previous one was 80kg, done at spring time this year. I'll take this with pleasure! Got to work on that snatch grip push press / push jerk to get the bar more easily overhead. Going for split jerk was kind of awkward, it was more shaky than pressing the barbell. I need to be able to press / jerk the bar without split.
Recap of barbell action
Metcon. Time 22.32
4 rounds of:
5 deadlift, 120kg
10 burpee
15 pull-up
20 box
30 double under
400m run
I wanted to get a longer metcon. I thought of some sort of chipper style stuff but ended up going for a 4-rounder of lots of work. Deadlifts made a comeback, haven't done thos much because there's been so much squatting. I find it difficult to go for both. This was a yack type of workout. Lot of grinding. I was able to smash it unbroken each round. What was the toughest? Surprisingly maybe box jumps. My core is sore from yesterday's toes-to-bar / pistol fiesta and on the box jumps I felt it.
I thought pull-ups would have been the most bad ass element of this one. They were but still all the way manageable. Running was also tough, especially on the last 2 rounds. It was great to have my fingers on deadlift after a while. Plus burpees are always a pleasure =) Great training session, this brought to mind whether I should dedicate some days on pure oly work. By focusing more on light work and technique early in the session would loosen joints up better and the results of the barbell work would generate greater results. Let's see how it turns out.
Wednesday. Barbell, snatch balance (max 60kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 15 pull-ups, 10 ohs (40kg), 400m run. Time, about 10.20
Evening at work and morning at gym. That was the game plan for today. I felt the urge to get my hands on snatch balance. That was spectacular. I had no rush at all, just kept working on my technique on snatch balance. My metcon was supposed to be something else but it felt like a great idea to do overhead squats as a continuance to snatch balance.
Barbell.
Snatch balance, sets of 1-3 reps at 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60
I really think this might be the key to success on snatch. Coach Burgener seems to think that way too. I got to step up my game with the snatch. 10-year old kids lift more on snatch than I do. I'll add snatch balance to my warm-ups to some extent and olympic lifts must be a regular thing in my programming. I've neglected snatches in all forms for way too long. My mobility has neither been on a level where I could do squat snatches so that has had its effect. Now that shouldn't be that big of a prob anymore. It has to get better still but it's already taken huge steps forward.
This time I took couple of snatch grip presses / jerks, then mostly triples of snatch balance. Focusing on trying to find the correct path down in the hole. Plus I focused on getting below parallel. It was good job when I held the bar back enough. At times I was probably too nervous and pushed the barbell in front a little which created problems in stabilizing the bar overhead in the squat position.
All in all, I'm very satisfied to this practice. I've never probably gotten an accepted rep on snatch balance. And the heaviest no-repped attempt has been at 50kg. Why they have not been okay reps is the depth on squat. This time that was good in majority of the reps, some definitely stayed above parallel though.
Recap
Metcon. Time, about 10.20
3 rounds of:
15 pull-up
10 overhead squat, 40kg
400m run
This was fun in its own way. There's been tons of pull-ups lately. Actually there's been about 400-500 this month and about the same amount on the last weeks of October. Okay, I promised myself I'll put them back to where they belong but it's also because there have been restrictions on things I've been able to perform.
Anyway, I love pushing through those pull-ups on a regular basis. Plus it was cool to do overhead squats. Because there was running included I had my nano's on. Still, it felt natural to complete those ohs reps below parallel without having mobility issues. This means to say something positive has happened after squatting my ass off on the Smolov program. Hip mobility has improved a lot and some good things have happened on the shoulder / back section too.
I didn't rush with this workout. It was more like to just grind the reps in the books. Go unbroken on pull-ups and overhead squats. I didn't time this so precisely but on the video I count it was approximately 10.20. Good moving around in general. I liked this session!
Tuesday. Clean and jerk, 3rds of: 1min amrap at 60kg, 3min rest. Technique, snatch balance (max 55kg). Metcon, emom x 20min: 1 round of Cindy.
Had no need to rush this through, took plenty of time to rock it. After getting my body warmed up and ready to rumble it was time for some clean and jerk action, then I took a moment to get my technique better for snatch. Used a complex focusing mostly on snatch balance. Finally something of a mixture between Cindy and Chelsea took place. Great session, felt good!
Clean and jerk.
3 rounds of:
1 min amrap of clean and jerk, 60kg
3 min rest
Result, 13-13-13 reps
This popped into my head from last Saturday's workout where I worked for 12 minutes between power cleans, burpees and rowing, each for a total of 4min in a row. This got me thinking of doing high intensity clean and jerks for a while, then recover and hit it again. C&J is a tough movement, gets heart beat hit the sky and muscles burn from lower body to shoulders, especially in a high-rep version. So that got me thinking about the time frame.
This time it turned out to be 1min of work, and 3min of rest. That rest was enough to get me back on track and ready for another sprint. On the first round I completed 8 reps in a row, then brought the bar down, took another set of 4 reps and finished with one single in the end, total of 13 reps. I had time to think between sets and I decided to approach the next set differently; 5 reps, release the tension, take another 5 reps, reset and take the last 3 reps. Was able to stick to this plan, it burned a lot but I got it.
For the third and last round I entered with same plan as for the second. Forced myself to grab the barbell after short recoveries between those sets. So it was 5-5-3 this time too. This got me to the limits for sure. Looks easy on paper but implementing this was a different story. Very useful to say the least!
Snatch complex.
1 power snatch
1 overhead squat
4 snatch balance
Sets at 20, 30, 40, 50, 55, 40kg
On Sunday I took squat snatches for the first time in eternity, and realized my mobility is on a level where I can actually do the movement with proper standards and form. I get below parallel and shoulders are in correct position. That was mind blowing moment for me to understand there are no restrictions in my mobility. At least it's getting to better direction, clearly.
That encouraged me to hit this movement again but with different approach. Coach Burgerner is always swearing in the name of snatch balance, and I decided to obey the man. The weights were light, this was more for technique. Took the barbell from ground, threw it overhead, completed an overhead squat, and then the actual diamond of the complex, snatch balance.
I built it up gradually to 55kg. There were 4 snatch balance in every set except of the 55kg where I lost concentration and stupidly dropped the bar in front of me. That was a bummer as the bar wasn't heavy but it was purely a technical mistake. I took another set with lighter weights just to complete the last set with perfection. Muscle memory thing.
Funny thing was that snatch balance felt much more natural and right compared to overhead squat. It was kind of like I found the tracks more easily there, and the path down was great. At the moment I'm feeling like there's been huge steps in my snatch so maybe this will trigger me into practicing it more in the future.
Coach with Dave Lipson
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute, for 20 min of:
1 round of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats)
Wanted to get the blood flowing in this body, and there's been lack of pull-ups lately in my workouts so this seemed like a good idea. Emom training, for a total of 20 minutes. This was a combination of benchmark workouts Cindy and Chelsea. I kind of went by feeling all the way. I have intentions of bringing pull-ups back to the level where they used to be. Adding volume is on my mind. This workout got me a chance to get a good number of reps done. They were easy, and should have been with just 5 reps at a time.
Push-ups were the thing on this workout, and has always been on Cindy and Chelsea likewise. I got them unbroken ever round but they started to feel fatiguing at around 13 minutes. I've completed Chelsea once before and hit 22+ rounds on Cindy. Both of them have been good pain caves. It took me exactly 30 seconds to finish one round of this emom training, thus leaving exactly 30 seconds to recover before the next round.
This was a good day of training. Was able to work on clean and jerks, and snatch progressions. Plus this grande finale was also a good choice. Liked the entity a lot!
Wednesday. Skills, handstand. Complex, 2 power snatch + 2 snatch balance (40-52.5kg). Strength, jerk (max 95kg). Cashout, 200 wall ball together with Toni.
I had the morning off and Toni is still on holiday so we had the chance to repeat the same idea as we did last week. Woke up in the morning, I drove Pauliina to work and then headed to meet with Toni in Eltsu. We had agreed on olympic lifts but hadn't locked it up what to do exactly. That was the first mistake, we didn't quite get our heads together and we couldn't find this session as productive as we wanted.
Skills.
Handstand
This was fun after having neglected for a while. First attempts felt like I haven't tried handstand walking like ever. It was very shaky and I couldn't find balance at all. But on the 3rd attempt it was like I was at home again being inverted. Today I tried to focus on my breathing. It's been an issue because halting breath is not a good thing with this movement. I can stay inverted for about 20+ seconds but then as I lose focus and start breathing all of a sudden I tend to collapse. Breathing steadily all the time would be ideal.
Complex. Snatch
2 power snatch + 2 snatch balance
Numerous sets at 40-45-50-52.5kg
Another complex of:
1 snatch deadlift + 1 snatch pull, 60-70kg
I took quite a number of snatch related movements with empty bar and 30-40kg barbell: power snatch, snatch press behind the neck, overhead squats, snatch balances and squat snatches. Even though my upper body was warmed up after handstand and even though I carried my own foam roll with me to get ready for squat snatches, my body never accepted the fact it was time to go ass to grass.
So I didn't force it but instead came up with this complex of power snatches and snatch balances. And this set felt good. I didn't keep count on the number of sets I got with this complex but I started with 40kg and then built up after maybe 2-3 sets to 45, then 50 and finally 52.5kg which was the heaviest weight on this one. Don't remember exactly how many were done with these weights.
On the power snatches my focus was on hook grip and bar path. Snatch balance was a substitution for squat snatches. I wanted to copy the bottom position of a squat snatch and this time snatch balance seemed like a good choice for that one. Those felt way better than the squat snatches I had tried earlier.
Strength.
Snatch deadlift 70-90-110kg
Split jerk 4x50, 3x60, 2x70, 2x80, 1x90, 1x95kg
Toni suggested to work on the starting position of a snatch so I took couple of sets snatch deadlift + snatch pull combination and after working on those I took snatch deadlifts and tried to build it up a little heavier. I believe it would be a great tool to build on my snatch for sure. Today was just a first glimpse on that movement.
We had great ambition on the split jerk training from rack. However, I felt it already at 50kg that my body wasn't that receptive to barbell work today. I tried to make it believe it is ready but that strategy didn't work well in the morning. We built up to 95kg but those weren't the most beautiful reps I have done. Front leg wasn't doing its share of the game and I was jerking the bar too much front instead of straight up vertically. Well, I'll take it for now, 95kg is okay number to get up on a bad day.
Cashout. For about 7min
200 wall balls as a team, alternating after 10 reps
I had carried my wall ball around so I wanted to play around with it for more than just warming up. I suggested Toni we'd do 10 reps per guy, alternating right away after we've done our share. So Toni started, I took off immediately and we continued this way until we had 200 reps done. It took quite precisely 7 minutes.
It was a light workout in the end. I felt much better in my joints after having done that. Maybe I should have completed those wall ball reps prior to barbell work. This didn't get to my breathing basically at all, that's because there was that pause while the other guy was throwing the ball. I really love working with wb, I always have. I'm so happy to be an owner of one!
This is my deaload week if you wanna call it that. I've taken it easier on purpose for the last 3 days. It was a tough couple of weeks early this year. And there hasn't been a day without heavy heartbeat nor metcon at all. So on Tuesday I only took heavy singles and climbed up to some record breaking numbers. Yesterday we were doing lots of different skills training with my pal and today I worked with snatches only. Next week I'm on a holiday so I'll have the possibility to train like a pro without time constraints. Waiting eagerly to it!
Snatches. For quality
30 power snatches, 50kg
This was not a modification of Isabel. I didn't pay attention to the clock this time. Classic crossfit test is a benchmark workout called Isabel, 30 snatches for time. Professionals seem to pound it through in 1-2 minutes, as the weight is 60kg rx'd. That's sick pace if you ask me. My goal was to focus on quality and technique. I did the reps as power snatches.
Tried to bring the bar as high on my hips before bouncing it up with explosive hip movement. I did them in doubles and singles. In the end I took 4 reps in a row to finish the workout. This was a good workout to work on quality.
Technique. Snatch
Snatch balance
Snatch press
Squat snatch
Overhead squat
Overhed squat with a pause
I took uncountable amount of snatch balance. Some snatch presses, overhead squats without a pause and with a 10 second pause. I kept light weight only on the movements, most of them with the bar only, or 30 kg on the snatch moves. On the overhead squats my max load was 50kg so it was purely focusing on technique. For some reason I love pauses with a pause. I feel comfy in the bottom position.
I realized something big today on the snatch balance. My feet are pointed differently when I'm doing overhead squats and squat snatches / snatch balance. On ohs my feet are pointed more forward whereas my toes are pointing out more in the squat snatch. On ohs I can hit ass to grass, way beyond parallel. However, as my toes go wider I find it difficult to go below 90 degrees. And that is a problem.
Let's think about it through cleans. When I do squat cleans I do not slow down on the bar at all on my way down. Once my butt hits the ground I start pushing myself up. I can go down relaxed and with good range of motion and mobility, then push aggressively up after reaching the turning point. The case is not the same with my snatch. And my feet look similar, no matter whether it's power clean or squat clean. I'd like to witness the same technical development with my snatch. I'm gonna focus on my feet stance on the landing phase so that I can hit rock bottom on my way down.
Friday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Snatch complex: 1 squat snatch, 1 snatch balance, 1 snatch press, 2 overhead squats. Metcon, 10-8-6-4-2 power snatch (50kg), 30-25-20-15-10 pull-ups. Time about 13.40
Yes, I got those ring muscle-ups in my program again. That turned out to be a great decision. This is my style of programming. If I have enough time to workout, I'd rather make it like this: first skills, then barbell / strength work and finish it off with a metcon. Sometimes maybe even some technique work before metcon. Love it! Today's barbell work was all about snatches and the metabolic workout itself in the end continued with snatches, added with pull-ups. Tough.
Pauliina: sunset
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups (5 reps)
Last 2 times I performed well with muscle-ups. Before that I had a downslide for couple of training sessions. Now I'm back on track! The video I posted yesterday is simply great. Hopefully Toni is also getting his first muscle-up too. He's promised it to himself for this January. Otherwise he'll punish himself with 10k row. I believe 2k is the longest he's done this far. Hopefully we're going to here positive news after this weekend!
I took some ring row to transitions in the beginning, took couple of chest-to-bar pull-ups and was ready to go. My first attempt failed and I was like what the f..k! Decided to get my head back in the game and not get down from the first setback. Went back on the rings and managed to complete the ugliest muscle-up ever =) But I got there and that was the most important thing! My second rep was as ugly as the first one.
Ring muscle-up
At that point I decided to step up my game and understood there must better use of my hips in the transition. That turned out to be the key and the last 3 reps were much cooler versions of ring mu's. You'll see the last rep in the video.
Snatch complex.
1 squat snatch
1 snatch balance
1 snatch press
2 overhead squats
I've decided to work on my snatch technique, and especially squat version of it. In overhead squats I can go ass-to-grass but in squat snatches I feel like the path on my way down is on different tracks and I can go only at 90 degrees. It would be crucial to bounce my butt all the way to the bottom. As you can see from some of the squat snatches I tend to lean a bit forward and that hinders me to travel down correctly.
Snatch balance is a movement I've done just a couple of times and mostly with cold bar only. Going to 40-50kg forces me to push the bar upwards, even though snatch balance's idea is to just drop down as quickly as possible and not push at all. I can still do it with lighter weights but those last sets were too heavy for completing the movement as it should. Anyway, the complex was cool.
Metcon. Time 13.40
10-8-6-4-2, power snatch, 50kg
30-25-20-15-10, pull-ups
This was tough stuff. It was 30 power snatches and 100 pull-ups, and as a combo it ripped my palms as there was some sort of bar in my hands for the entire time. It took 13.40 to finish it. Those power snatches turned out to be challenging when high-rep pull-up scheme was mixing it up simultaneously. I did the set of 10 reps in 6+4. On the round of 8 reps, I might have done doubles. From then on it was mostly doubles and singles.
On the pull-ups I decided not to pursue the sets unbroken. That would have demolished my forearms and grip strength. So I went 20+10 in the first one, then 15+10, on the round of 20 I did 10+5+5, then 10+5 and the last set was unbroken.
Big boys attacking Cindy XXX, main site's wod some days ago
This was tough for me. Yes, it took on my breathing but mostly it crushed my forearms. At times it felt like my left forearm was so numb I couldn't have any grip on the bar for the snatches. I decided to hit this metcon yesterday evening. It sounded like a good plan in the evening but after the snatch complex I was looking at my notes like whaaaaaat… Decided to hit it anyway and it was a good one, it definitely was a metcon worth doing!
Monday. Strength. Every minute on the minute, 1 squat clean @ 90kg, for 10 min. Rowing intervals, 30 sec on, 30 sec off, for 10 minutes. Distance 1.800m
Today was a bit easier day, at least compared to last week. The first part of it was heavy though but still not that many reps. I was thinking about one benchmark wod but that would have torn my shoulders too much. I really need them tomorrow in a rough training day with my brother.
There's some attitude in Toni's cleans from some time ago
Strength.
Every minute on the minute for 10 min
1 squat clean @ 90kg
There's no doubt this is my favorite strength movement. It's a full-body movement that requires your entire body to make some work. Strength on legs, core and especially upper back. It's a technical movement that requires you to pay attention to various steps along the pull and when dropping under the barbell. Plus, it improves your explosiveness. Spectacular movement.
I had decided on the weight beforehand and determined to do 10 sets of single lifts. Once I put the clock running I saw myself doing lifts approximately once per minute. There was plenty of time to recover and the purpose of this workout was not to stress cardio but to focus on technique with heavy weights.
I'm very happy with the way I was able to go through this set. The weight wasn't that bad to handle. Each lift looked similar to each other. My technical skills on the movement have improved a lot through tons of reps. I'm eager to try new kilos in squat soon. Got 100kg in the meter currently, looking forward to break that record.
Interval. Distance 1.800
30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, for 10 minutes
Rowing
Did some interval rowing in the end for 10 minutes. Full throttle for 30 seconds, then 30 seconds full rest. I was rowing somewhere around 1.31-1.36 in all sets. Mostly around 1.33-1.35. This was a good breather, liked to row after some break.
Toni's workouts. Snatch balance technique and a metcon. Working at a local affiliate
Main focus today: squat snatch, mobility. Toni joined me at the gym for same objectives.
Squat snatch, Toni
Snatches. Few sets of snatch complex, up to 40kg.
Power snatch from ground
Hang power snatch
Squat snatch
2 x overhead squats
Snatch balance
These snatch sets' main purpose was to do semi-long sets of various snatches with one grip. See the link on Fit As F*ck's pages of the complex benefits. My hips were suddenly very stiff and I found it extremely difficult to get them open up for this workout. My squat snatches were pathetic and I simply couldn't find a way to complete them with style. I had to snatch the barbell, then squat, to complete a squat snatch. Same with snatch balance, that was far away from beautiful and explosive movement. However, my snatches and hang snatches rolled well and the weight seemed lighter after lifting those 60kg barbells last week.
Metcon. Didn't time this one. Did this simultaneously with Toni.
6 rounds of
5 hang squat cleans, 60kg
10 burpees
This I loved! Same ideology here, one grip in the hang cleans. Do not break the sets, do them unbroken and finish the sets with style. I went unbroken throughout the workout. It was a nice test to my lunges and they survived today. Better keep on having hang cleans and hang snatches in the selection regularly to build up explosiveness and upper body strength. I guess I've done my share of the burpees for one week after completing the CF Open 13.1 workout twice (burpees + snatches).
We did this workout same time with Toni. I started with cleans, he took off with burpees. There was some pause at occasionally as we were both trying to grab the same barbell but the pace was the same as if there was a clock running, even though we didn't time this. This day worked well for its purpose. A lot of repetition for upper back, strenuous movements for grip power and cardio was also in play.
After work I'll head to home stadium to floorball training. During next night Crossfit Games will publish the workout number two for this year's competition. You can watch it live at games.crossfit.com as Annie Thorisdottir and Lindsay Valenzuela will go head-to-head only minutes after the announcement of workout 13.2!
