I felt like crap as I woke up. It aches in probably every cell I have in my body. Some places hurt more than others. My upper back is sore, hamstrings and butt cheeks are sensitive too. It feels like there's not much strength within me. If I had to do 60kg clean & jerks it would be a nightmare. Yesterday was a great experience and spectacular workouts.
I took it easy today, just wanted to get my blood flow and get the juice moving in my body. Didn't touch the bar at all nor did I do any bodyweight movements. Just used some cardio machines, rowing, treadmill and stuff like that. Easyyyyy.
Active recovery.
1km row
1km crosstrainer
1km cycling
1km running
1km crosstrainer
Mobility
Recap
Tomorrow morning we are traveling to the States with Pauliina. Destination California! First time ever for me traveling there. I've been to Florida twice and last year we visited New York with Pauliina. I love traveling to USA, it's my kind of place, there's something that suites us both.
We are going to Los Angeles first, then Las Vegas and finally San Francisco, for a total of 2 weeks. It's gonna be spectacular, no doubt! This is a holiday for sure so I'm not gonna stress about sports that much. But even though we are at the other end of the world we are definitely going to take care of our fitness somehow. Stay tuned.
Friday. AM: Snatch (max 65kg). Benchmark workout Isabel: 30 snatches for time (50kg). Time 3.01. PM: Ring skills. Recovery 9km / 30min cycling.
The tough holiday (=training) week continued today in Eltsu. Obviously I can feel it in my body there's been a lot of workouts in the past couple of days. It has helped that I've had the possibility for naps, no need to work and have had good company with Pauliina, the love of my life. She stayed home to study and I went to workout in Eltsu in the morning. It was snatches all the way.
40kg
Snatch.
5x40, 5x50, 5x50, 3x55, 1x60, 1x65kg
As I walked through the tunnels of Eltsu there were not another soul, got a chance to workout in piece. I taped my hands properly as it feels like there have become all kinds of wounds in my fingers and palms this week. When you hold on to a barbell on a daily basis, hand care plays a significant role in your life. If it doesn't, destiny will remind you to keep them in shape.
I took much longer warm-up to get properly ready for the work ahead of me. In the middle of my snatch session an old guy entered the cave. He was around 70 years old and had competed in weightlifting back in the days. It was more like 50 years from now. We talked in length about training, competing and, weightlifting and crossfit. To put things into perspective he snatched 120kg and clean & jerked 150kg as his one rep maxes. Those are pretty impressive numbers for a 20-year old dude back in the 60's!
It was a heart-warming feeling as the gentleman was giving props on my power snatches and the general fitness level of being able to smash 30 snatches away in relatively short time. That conversation boosted us to talk about crossfit of which he said sounded pretty much like a perfect training method. Couldn't agree more!
Snatch recap
Anyway, I had no specific objective for the snatch session. Wanted to build it up to rather heavy and listen to my body and listen to what it tries to tell me. it would tell me how far could I go. My goal was to do squat snatches but on the video at the spot I found out I didn't go below parallel. Just couldn't find the path all the way down. So those were definitely power snatches in description. But I tried to lower my butt below 90 degrees.
My max today was 65kg, not the most beautiful as I had to take couple of corrective steps to balance it, it was about to fall forward. Those 50-55kg lifts came up "easily", then on 60kg I had to concentrate a lot to get it. The last weight (65kg) failed at first, then I got it up on the second try.
55kg
Isabel. Time 3.01
30 snatches (50kg)
I had clean and jerks in mind too but it was way too goo momentum on the snatches to throw it away. I took couple of power snatches with 50kg and put the clock running. Probably would have been smart to rest a little after the power snatches. It felt like light weight so I didn't wanna wait anymore, just put the camera running and do the work.
Decided to go by feeling from early on. I took a set of 5 reps in the beginning, dropped the bar, and then decided to stick to this rep-scheme for as long as possible. Those 5's felt good and I had the possibility to drop the bar after each set so I pushed through those mental obstacles and kept the motor running with 5's. The grandpa talked to me every now and then, so I tried to say something back to be polite =) I almost made it to the end as planned. After 25 reps I decided to grab the barbell quickly. The recovery was too short for me to knock the last 5 reps in a row so I dropped it after 28 reps and then took the last 2 to finish at 3.01.
Isabel
This was second time I took on Isabel, the first one was at 40kg a little over a year ago. Then, in the beginning of this year I completed 30 snatches not for time but I remember those snatches being way consuming and I had to cut them to doubles from early on. I was very happy of being able to smash them in 5's almost to the finish line.
Rings.
Ring muscle-ups (10 reps)
Ring swings
In the evening Pauliina needed her fitness doze so we drove to "our" gym. This week has been ring-free so it was about time to go after them. I took no stress about the training session and it turned out I put effort in my ring skills. I took all reps without false grip. This is next level stuff for me. I try to get rid of false grip to being able to knock consecutive reps. Today I did one set of double, the rest being singles, total of 10 reps.
We noticed that my kip swing is a bit inadequate in terms of being as aggressive and smooth as I'd like to. I have a standard height to where I adjust the rings at the gym. It's about max height they can be 'cause otherwise I'll smash my head to the tubes running in the ceiling. After having done muscle-ups I raised the rings a little higher so that I had to jump to catch them in the starting position.
Muscle-ups
Now I was able to swing with much better motion, way smoother and way more momentum. However, now the rings are too high and I can't go over the rings because my head would touch the ceiling. Anyway, it felt good to practice on those swings and I gained more confidence on those.
Friday. Active rest. Cycling, rowing, mobility, stretching.
Today was my day off of crossfit. Pauliina desired to go to the gym so I joined her, did some light work to mainly mobilize my body and enhance the recovery. I cycled for 10 minutes, did 5-10min something remotely close to "pigeon to pigeon transitions", inspired by crossfit athlete Blair Morrison's blog post. Then I rowed slowly for 1k, did foam rolling and finally stretching. A good mobility session and definitely nothing strenuous.
Today I really needed a break and I will take this possibility not to work out. I'm gonna stuff food in my mouth, enjoy the company of my girlfriend and get ready for tomorrow's training. I was extremely happy as I received a package from Rogue today, including 2 t-shirts for me, 1 for Pony and 1 for my bro. I also bought 2 jump ropes, for Marko and one for back up =)
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. EMOM for 12 minutes, 4 snatches, 50kg. Ring skills. Cashout. cycling and sit-ups.
Those Wednesday's hang squat cleans still hurt my upper back, it was a veery good workout! I did today's workout in a similar way. In addition there were ring skills included and some cycling to finish it. Toni is on a leave so he didn't wake up 7.00 in the morning to workout. Instead, he headed to a local gym in the afternoon.
Workout.
Every minute on the minute for 12 minutes
4 snatches, 50kg
I'm very pleased for being able to lift 4x50kg snatches every minute for 12 minutes. That totals for 48 snatches. The CF Open 13.1 was an eye-opener for me. I still remember the feeling of having 60kg on the barbell, 7.5kg over my max load. It was a huge mental barrier to overcome but I nailed it 6 times in the competition. After that single workout I've been able to do sets with the same weight that was my max load prior to the Games. That feeling is simply awesome!
Today's workout was a mixture of strength training and metcon, as are all EMOM-workouts. It takes about 20 seconds to finish those reps and you have 40sec to recover. That means you are able to recover but heart still beats clearly faster than normally.
I was able to do all sets unbroken without losing grip of the barbell. Naturally towards the end it came heavier but still manageable.
Ring skills 2rnft.
2 rounds not for time
30sec invert hold
10 ice cream makers
30sec L-sit hold
10 toes-to-rings
After the snatch workout I played with the rings to get more natural with them and to improve skill level and ring grip strength. It didn't take long before forearms started to fire up. This was not a timed workout. I took my time while transfering between movements. Was able to do those hold movements unbroken as well. There were not many reps in this one but still I felt the burden in my forearms. Maybe those snatches had something to do with it.
Cashout.
5min cycling
100 sit-ups
5min cycling
To finish the training day I stepped up to the stationary bike and started moving. 5 min on, then 100 sit-ups in a row and another set of cycling.
Toni's new crossfit shoes
Toni's workouts. Strength elements, not looking for maxes.
Rest day turned in to interval training. I was supposed to take it easy but I'm a weak man to say no to training. Pauliina asked me to come workout with her so I had no other choice but to grab my training gear and head to the gym!
Workout. For 7 full rounds and 1/2 round on top of that for total of 30min.
For 30 min
2min cycling (800m)
2min rowing (550m)
The goal was to keep a steady pace in both cycling and rowing. I'm happy with the pace I was able to keep. It was somewhere around 1.45-1.48 when rowing, the distance was 540-570m each round. After 7 rounds I did one extra round with 1min cycling and 1min rowing to make it 30 minutes. Then the pace when rowing was about 1.39.
That totals for 4150m rowing and somewhere around 6.000m cycling. I tried to keep the transition short and didn't count those seconds to the 2min work periods so the total time of the workout was more than 30min, the efficient work time was exactly 30min.
I wanted to have a metcon that would make me difficult to breath. I found the way through benchmark workout Christine. A girl not that familiar to me beforehand. You can find all crossfit benchmarks at wodboard.com. She included rowing, bodyweight deadlift and box jumps. Pauliina drove with me to the gym.
Christine. Time 10.28.
3 rounds of:
500m row
12 deadlift, bodyweight, 80kg
21 box jumps, 61cm
It looked easy on paper but reality was something different =) It was surprising to me how roughly this took on my legs. I may have started too fast, the first set of rowing was 1.41 min. The rest of the rowing were about 1.47-1.48 per 500m. Deadlifts were light, only bodyweight, so naturally they went unbroken. Box jumps were the toughest part of this workout. Those deadlifts started to bring some pain in my thighs on the last reps. Moving on to box jumps wasn't the most pleasant thought in my head at that point. And there were 21 of them each round.
I didn't see what the round times were. I would have liked to see them in order to see how well I managed to keep my pace or did I go slower towards the end. I believe my speed was rather solid but some slowdown must have occurred because I wasn't able to do box jumps in a row on the second and third round.
Tuesday. Back squats (max 125kg). Interval cycling, 30sec on, 30sec off for 10min. Strength. 100 (3), 110 (3), 120 (3), 125 (2), 125 (1), 100 (5), 100 (5) kg. Felt very stiff in the morning and couldn't take the best out of my engine. We are moving today and tomorrow with Pauliina to a brand new home so it's been very busy day :)
Thursday. Overhead squat 5x5 (max 50kg), KB overhead squat 4x5 each hand (16kg). Bench press various sets (max 85kg). Metcon of box, T2B & hr push-up.
I had plenty of time after work to work out before floorball training. I took my time and did quite a number of reps overhead squatting, both with a barbell and one-handed kettlebell OHS. Then few sets of bench press and a bodyweight metcon. Finishing the training with cycling. Then shower, and off to floorball training.
Strength. Overhead squats, KB OHS and bench press.
The goal was to do 5 sets of overhead squats. I blew the third and fourth sets by completing only 4 and 3 reps in those sets, a.k.a failed sets. I got myself together and managed to complete another full set of 5 reps. I'm not sure but I believe I did one additional set (6th) of 50kg, in which I completed 3 reps. My wrists took some hit in this movement. It's tough to hold that bar in a full lockout position with hands in snatch grip hold. I'm holding my hands in the very far ends of the bar. That's the only way to lower myself deep enough to go parallel. The first rep was always the most difficult. Once I got there the first time, it was only going down and up for a total of 5 reps.
This movement is actually awesome for my upper body and back muscles mobility as well. I feel that tension in my back while doing overhead squats. I strongly believe this will enhance my mobility and elasticity. I continued OHS my doing them one-handed with a 16kg kettlebell. I did 5 reps right-handed, then 5 reps left-handed. It's not as easy as I thought. Trying to hold that bell right up brings the challenges. It tends to lean forward the lower you squat. This was my first try on the movement and I'm definitely in the opinion that this is a good movement as well for better mobility. After overhead squats I tried my first ever turkish get-ups as well.
Last strength movement was bench press. I had no specific plans or objectives. This was created more like in the spur of the moment. I took sets of 6 reps for 60, 70 and 80kg. Then I was aiming for 3 reps at 85, Pauliina assisted the third one a bit so I don't count that. Didn't have my head with me in that last heavy set. Then I took 2 sets of 10 reps with 65kg. Pauliina suggested to have it 70kg, which would have been better because this was a bit too light. I hoped the last reps would have been extremely rough.
Metcon. Not for time, with minimum rest though.
21-15-9
Box jumps, 61cm
Toes-to-bar
Hand-release push-ups
My metcon today was done with bodyweight movements. Boxes, toes-to-bar and push-ups by releasing hands in the bottom position. I went unbroken through box jumps and push-ups and the first round of T2Bs. For some reason I faced some problems with toes-to-bars in the round of 15's. My legs didn't come up in the way they normally come and as they did in the first round. I didn't time this workout but completed it with minimum rest anyway.
Cycling and stretching. 10 min cycling to flush my legs. Then stretching and hip openers in the end. After crossfit I drove to my team's training.
Tuesday. Back squats 5-5-5-3 (+f). Metcon, stationary cycling, 30sec on, 30sec off, for 15minutes.
Alright, ready for back squats while Toni's thoughts were on deadlifts. Another workout for the day was meant to be interval rowing which I subbed because the rower was occupied by someone else. Anyway, I was able to put my legs and respiration to test today.
Strength.Back squats 5-5-5-3-f (100, 110, 120, 130, 135). I enjoyed this morning's training a lot. Squats are simply my favorites, luckily it's one of the most important strength movements. You need your legs all the time in all movements, you better have strength in there. Well, I wanted to take longer rep-sets today with heavy weights. Hundred kilos come up and down easily but it's a good starting point to shoot up. At 120kg I know it goes down and up anyday but it was awesome to see I can pop it 5 times in a row. Going for 5 reps is heavy, at least the last reps are tough. I added 10kg to the load and it was heavy man. I pushed 3 reps with pure psyche. I tried 135 - my current PR - but it didn't come up just like that. It was close though…
Back squats, 130kg
Metcon.
Stationary cycling
30sec on, 30sec off, for 15minutes
This was not a bad trade at all. I haven't used stationary bikes almost at all, maybe sometimes in the past for warming up but it turned out to be quite a leg burner. After 5 minutes my quads and hamstrings understood the point of the workout as the last 10 seconds each round were tough. I liked this one, no doubt about it. No matter if it's rowing, running or biking, interval workouts are effective.
Toni's workouts. Deadlifts and squat snatches
Deadlifts 5-5-5-5-5 (110, 115, 120, 125, 130kg)
Squat snatches 5-5-5 (technique training with empty barbell)
Deadlift, Toni, 120kg
Toni's focus was on 5-rep sets of deadlifts. This is part of a bigger plan of his. Toni has been doing sets of mostly 3 reps for a long time so through extending it with 2 reps is a remarkable change. He took 5 sets between 110 and 130kg, all fives. It was also cool to see this dude doing snatches! I don't recall him doing them almost at all. This day was more like a technique training and getting familiar with the movement. The overhead squat part of it looked natural.
