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.
Sunday. AM: Complex, hang snatch + snatch, build up to a heavy set (62kg). Heavy Grace @ 70kg. Time, 4.30. PM: Metcon, 4rds of: 10 thruster @ 40kg, 10 ring dip, 10 t2b, 10 burpee. Time, 10.45.
I really needed a rest day on Saturday. Body felt very tired after a busy week. It was action from morning to evening every day and I tried to struggle to get some good sessions in the schedule. Succeeded in that too but it took its taxes during the week. Today I felt great again after a relaxing day spent with the family.
Oly.
Complex, hang snatch + snatch
Build up to a heavy set (40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 62kg)
Couple of sets snatches to start the day. This was a rather short session so I took just a few sets and focused on those lifts. I'm happy on all of the lifts this time. Bar path was okay all the way. Everything over 60 kilos starts to get heavy pretty soon but today those were good. I took 62kg and left it there.
Grace. Time, 4.30
30 clean @ jerk @ 70kg
This is a benchmark workout that gets me nervous every freaking time! Somehow Grace and Fran are the most classical benchmarks for me. Every now and then this pops up in my program and then it's time to go. I walked around the gym for a while and tried to find excuses to postpone this one but couldn't find any =)
It was a little heavier workout than normally. Rx'd version is at 60kg but this was 70kg. That means it's gonna burn my shoulders and legs much more than normally in a way. On the other hand on the regular version I'm able to go faster which makes it more intense, thus resulting in probably even more pain in the above mentioned areas, plus the lungs.
My strategy was simple. Go singles all the way from the very beginning. Don't keep too much rest between reps, just grab the bar and put it overhead. First reps were quite easy but somewhere between 5-10 the reality hit me and I recognized it's gonna be an awkward ride to the finish line. And it kind of was.
It got heavy but somehow still manageable. My legs started to get fired up and shoulders too. My jerks were quite good though and the technique stayed right on the point. Steady work through the finish. I'll take this one with a pleasure. It's over 2min improvement compared to the previous 70kg Grace.
Grace @ 70kg
Metcon. Time, 10.45
4 rounds of:
10 thrusters @ 40kg
10 ring dips
10 toes-to-bar's
10 burpees
After couple of hours I returned to the gym as this metcon needed to be completed. I wanted to do this in the morning but didn't have enough time. Plus I was done after 30 clean and jerks. I kept the thrusters light in order to keep the intensity high. That means I was able to go unbroken on them all the way. It sky rocketed my breathing every time and on the last round my shoulders needed to work big time as they started to go numb.
There were three elements that pressured shoulders. Basically everything but the t2b's. Ring dips were the most challenging part. Those have always been challenging for me. First round was unbroken, then I had to start breaking them up. I guess my shoulders are tight and that has an effect on the dips. T2b's were unbroken. Usually burpees keep the breathing up (this was no exception either) but today they mostly shot my shoulders. It felt heavy to push myself up from the floor because of all the shoulder pressure in this workout. Good metcon.
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.
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.
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!
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!
Today was reserved for snatch training. I can't say it's strength training as such but more like technique work. There's a lot of work to be done before I can claim it as strength work. Anyway, I wanted lots of reps so I ended up doing a complex. Felt very tired in my upper body today and therefore didn't get the best out of it at all. I was thinking about hitting heavier weights on the snatches but that wasn't possible this time. That's why I finished it off with snatch pull training.
Snatch complex. 6 sets @ 40kg.
2 power snatch
2 squat snatch
2 overhead squats
This sounded like a perfect plan for my technique training. I wasn't satisfied with the way I performed today. As I just described it's difficult to do snatches for strength as I need to keep the weights moderate. Especially when doing squat snatches. That's a bit awkward my power snatch is heavier than squat snatch. It should obviously be the other way around. That's the reason I'm working towards improving my hip mobility and upper back mobility to find the squat snatch position more comfortable and natural. After the complex I took couple of 50kg snatches, then dropped it and decided to work on my snatch pull.
Snatch pull. 5x5 (50, 70, 70, 80, 70kg). This might actually be quite a good idea to work on occasionally. You can stack more plates on the barbell and practice on the first and second pull. Idea is not to go under the bar at all, just go until the shrug stage. I felt good about this one. And believe me, that 70kg bar felt light after having went for 80kg. That might be a good plan to do couple of heavy snatch pulls before doing actual snatch training. What do you think?
