Monday 11.5: Hspu emom, Ohs, Press, Randy

Monday. Gymnastics, emom x 6min: 8 hspu. Ohs 3x10 (max 50kg). Snatch grip push press 5x5 (max 80kg). Hero workout Randy. Time, 6.08

Today Finland played ice hockey in the world championships so we had to rush home after work to see the full game. Luckily we won in the penalty shots finally! After the game I drove to the gym late in the evening and got a good piece of work done. Still a bit lighter work but the workout in the end was a real deal.

Gymnastics.

• Every minute on the minute x 6min
• 8 handstand push-ups

These workout sessions are still focusing more on upper body. Hspu's are always a good choice. And what is a better way to do it than emom workouts. Those demand a lot from muscle endurance. This was a short one but I got a good doze of hspu's done in rather short time, total to 48 reps. Didn't do much warm-up, just basically threw myself upside down and started ripping hspu's. Last sets were more demanding naturally, and I had to break them a little.

Hspu's

OHS.

• Overhead squats 3x10 reps (40, 50, 50kg)

I figured my legs can already take some hit and overhead squats are a lighter way to test them out. It wasn't yet time to front / back squat but ohs was fine. Sets were longer and lighter. Just wanted to get a feel on the barbell again.

I'm wondering if it's ankle mobility or what but my form is leaning quite a lot forward and I'd like to see myself more on my heels. This transfers directly to squat snatch and the issue there is that if I miss a lift it's because the bar stays too much in front. got to work on my ankles. I'll start sitting on them in the evenings. Hopefully that will help.

Overhead.

• Snatch grip push press 5x5 (50, 60, 70, 75, 80kg)

This was great. Another movement that will strengthen the overhead position and will most probably transfer directly to full snatch. Having confidence holding a heavy weight overhead makes it easier to sit in the bottom position with the same load overhead.

I took 5's and basically built up to a heavy 5-rep set. I had not planned on doing these but this was the part that felt very good. There is a rumor we're gonna have blocks at the gym once the handyman finds time to build them. I'm definitely going to take advantage of them on heavy singles and doubles for overhead strength. It's good to have the chance to drop the weights on the blocks. Okay, this builds confidence too when you have to drop them in your back but it's more safe to drop them on the blocks.

California Strength's training

Randy. Time, 6.08

• 75 power snatch, 35kg

Yeah, sounds easy. Light weight for couple of reps, no biggie. Hmm, let me think again… It wasn't that easy for sure! I feel like an amateur doing this in 10's and 5's, especially after seeing Jason Khalipa rip this through unbroken haha =) The big boys are on a bit different level. Regionals athletes are probably gonna crush this in about 3 minutes which is only half of my time.

First two sets were 10's, and the rest of them were 5's. I could not imagine how this should be done because I haven't done 35kg snatches that much, and especially not for this many reps. There is one Open workout where you mix 35kg power snatches and doubles unders. That was the reference point how I could think of this beforehand.

I decided to go by feeling anyway. I figured there's no point in gassing out in the beginning and then suffer for the rest of the workout. Snatch is obviously one of my weaknesses and it was exposed in this workout. Efficiency is not the best but I got the work done decently. This was a very good metcon, no doubt!

Wednesday 10.12: Snatch, Snatch press, Ohs, Burpees

Wednesday. Snatch, emom x 8min: 2 hang squat snatch @ 50kg. Snatch grip press 3-3-3 (max 70kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 ohs (42.5kg), 10 lateral burpees. Time, 8.12.

Went to work later in the afternoon so I had plenty of time to hit a session in the morning. I stepped at the gym 9.00, and took long warm-up to get ready for this snatch session. I'll continue to focus on snatch to improve on my mobility, and it's paying off. I took some accessory work in the form of snatch press triples. Last element was overhead squat and burpee combo, great one!

Snatch.

• Every minute on the minute x 8 min
• 2 hang squat snatch, 50kg

First I did classic Burgener warm-up stuff with pvc pipe and empty barbell. Then added some light weight on the barbell before starting the actual snatch workout. On these days that I don't have to rush anywhere I definitely take advantage of the time window. I'll prepare my body for 30-60 minutes before hitting it seriously. And I'm sure my body will thank me for that.

First set was on the light side. Second was a disaster with a failed rep on the first rep, and the replacing reps weren't beautiful either. Third set was okay effort and the path was much better than before. Fourth set was the best by far. Both lifts were decent and got to a deeper squat. Next minute effort was pretty much like the the 4th set. Actually the rest of the sets were somewhat similar. There was one shaky lift on the last set but the latter one was a good one. And by good ones I mean good ones for me.

I'm gonna continue to smash snatch in the near future, getting more comfortable in overhead squat position. This is a clean weakness and needs to be corrected.

Snatch emom

Barbell.

• Snatch grip push press behind the neck 3-3-3 (60, 65, 70kg)

When I was doing those sets of snatch press it felt all the time like it's well under control. On the video the first set seems a bit wobbly for some reason. The reason why this was part of today's training session was because I want to get stronger on the overhead position with snatch grip. Eventually this will absolutely transfer into snatch with some level.

Snatch presses

Sets were okay, no problems at all in the presses. Three triples with increasing weight, up to 70kg for max set. I did 85kg press last week when I went to max lift on the overhead squat.

Mobility

Metcon. Time, 8.12

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 overhead squat, 42.5kg
• 10 lateral burpee

I reckoned this might be a fun little shoulder pain. And it was. Combination of ohs and burpees made muscles hurt. Again, ohs position is something that needs to be made better. So you'll probably see these in metcons too in the future. Weight was set at the classic 95lbs which converts to 42.5kg. Better do it this way so for example Nancy is similar weight and not a pound more.

This was no surprise that it hurt in my shoulders and legs. Both elements started to get tougher. I had to pace myself steadily because gassing in the beginning is not my thing. So round times were quite stable and that's the reason I was able to keep the man moving. First and last rounds were the fastest, actually the last one was the fastest. It was kinda like the last sprint to the finish line. There's nothing you have to hold back at that point.

Metcon

This was a great training day. My confidence on the snatch scene is getting better. Gotta work on that good base before hitting "heavy" weights. Plus a good old metcon always makes a man happy =)

Wednesday 22.10: Snatch, 21-15-9

Wednesday. Barbell, snatch complex: 3 power snatch + 3 snatch grip push press (max 50kg). Technique, overhead squat (max 60kg). Metcon, 21-15-9 of: hspu, front squat (70kg), bar-facing burpees. Time, 12.22.

Went to work later in the day so I had time to hit a workout in the very morning. It's been an eternity since working on snatch so it was about time! Didn't wanna go after max numbers though, just getting the feeling back with a complex. Then, some progress on ohs too. Finally, the metcon was a bad ass version to get some pure crossfit in my system.

Barbell.

• Complex 3 power snatch + 3 snatch grip push press behind neck
• Overhead squat singles for technique (40, 45, 50, 55, 60kg)

I had thought about doing presses with snatch grip but then again, why wouldn't I practice the actual snatch too. I looked for the correct width on the grip so the barbell would hit the correct hight before touching my body. The reality was I had to get the hands more narrow than I've thought they should be. Only now I understand where they must be located. Another thing I focused was the starting position. Same as with cleans. Start from low enough by sitting down.

In my opinion I got the touch point to a correct place. It's another thing how well I was able to utilize that to bounce the barbell in a beautifully vertical path. There's more work to do for sure. Doing squat snatches is a different ball game, especially with this more narrow grip. It makes it much more difficult to get below parallel with the barbell overhead. I have never been able to squat down with a narrow grip.

Today was the first time in the history of squat snatches / overhead squats that I got below parallel by having my grip so that my hands are not in the very end of the barbell. This was a huge success story for me. This means to say there's still hope that some day I'll be able to do squat snatches with good mobility. I've done some extra stretches for shoulders every single day lately. I have a broom at work place and from time to time I use it as a pvc pipe for mobilizing my shoulders. On the overhead squats I took just singles, going down slowly, staying in the squat for a while, then coming back up. Just to make sure I can do the movement.

Recap of training session

Metcon. Time 12.22

• 21-15-9 of:
• Handstand push-ups
• Front squat, 70kg, from ground
• Bar-facing burpees

Huh, this was tough. Bar-facing burpees are always a pleasure, not! =) They're totally different than regular burpees. The jump over and turning around makes it a lot more taxing. On hspu's I managed well. Took 15-6 on the first round, then something like 6-4-3-2, and the last round was 6-3. Even though I had to cut them in couple of sets on the round of 15's they felt solid all the way. It took some time in the transitions between movements.

The bar was at 70kg so it didn't feel tempting to grab it right away. I should have pushed myself a bit more in the squats. At the moment it felt heavy but with common sense says it should have been able to gone in bigger sets. First round was 11-5-5, second round 9-6 and last one unbroken. The first round should have easily been done in 2 sets. My legs could have tolerated that. First instinct was that I got to save my legs for the bar-facing burpees somehow.

Those are tough. Would I do only things I enjoy, bar-facing burpees would never be part of my programming. But they are because these bastards are useful. Awesome movement for metabolic conditioning. Gets breathing very heavy plus it kind of forces you to use the hips because you want to make the movement strong so you jump over the barbell right away without having to step close to the bar before jumping over.

Lauren Fisher