Sunday. Emom x 10 min: 3 hang squat cleans @ 80kg. Accessory, 5 sets of: 12 step-ups @ 60kg
Barbell work all the way. First squat cleans, then accessory stuff to strengthen lower body.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes:
3 hang squat cleans @ 80kg
Found a steady spot at our current house so I was able to knock down couple of sets of squat cleans. My traps were sore from yesterday's cleans but it sure felt awesome to get hands on a bit heavier barbell. My neck and left shoulder have been sore for the past 3 weeks. I have never had any issues sleeping in various beds but this time the first bed on our journey was the worst I've ever had. Since then my left shoulder has felt a bit numb and neck is sore. Got to take that into account when writing my wods.
Accessory.
5 sets of:
12 (6/6) step-ups @ 60kg
It would have been nice to throw that barbell overhead but I didn't dare. Same reason kept the weight moderate on the step-ups but it was a good choice to get more burden for the legs. Went 6 reps on the left leg and then 6 reps on the right leg.
Saturday. AM: Workout, emom for 20min, combination of benchmark workouts. Strength, step-ups 5 x 5/5 (80-90kg). PM: Wall ball 100 reps
Even though my body feels tired and aches a little, especially in upper body I decided to go and hit a workout. Simply couldn't stay away =) And I'm glad I didn't. It was a good training session, lots of movement - barbell and man - took place and gains were achieved. One of my little bros had his confirmation party so we drove to my paps place for the afternoon to meet the family. It was some quality time for sure! After coming back home I came up with an idea of going to test the new wall ball. Pauliina was in to the idea so we went to explore the neighborhood for a good spot.
This is some sort of combination of four different benchmark workouts. First minute is one round of Cindy, the second minute is Grace, third one refers to Nate and the fourth minute is obviously Isabel. It is emom style workout which means you complete the defined workload, then recover for the rest of the minute before moving on to the following movements. After four minutes you start over, and continue for a total of 20 minutes.
It's not that easy to say which was the easiest or toughest one. Every set started to feel heavy at some point and it wasn't an easy recovery minute at any time. And my shoulders were burning already before the workout even started. I used same weights on the barbell for clean & jerks and snatches. Beforehand I thought about doing c&j's at 60kg and snatches at 50kg. It was a good decision to go with one barbell. Clean and jerks might still have been the easiest one to handle. 50kg is not that much, I don't remember doing this light reps with this movement.
Those muscle-ups were a disaster. I got the first rep done but from then on it was all fails. They were all close but I couldn't dive through aggressively enough. Plus one round of Nate would include 2 muscle-ups. I knew that would be too much for me as an emom workout. Hspu's and kb swings were okay stuff.
Those snatches surprised me somewhat. Each rep was tough and I had to take them as singles. Body was simply not receptive to these snatches. Used hook grip on most of the reps. 20 minutes was as far as I wanted to go.
Strength.
Step-ups 5 x 5/5 (80, 90, 90, 90, 90kg)
After resting for couple of minutes I still wanted to have something done. That workout burned my legs but there was something left. Squats would have been too much at this point but step-ups felt like a good idea. Haven't done those in ages. Really got to put core to work a lot too to keep the package tight. I took 5 reps with left leg and then 5 reps with right leg. One set with 60kg, another at 80kg and then couple sets with 90kg.
Wall ball.
100 reps
This was fun! I had no goals for this "workout". Just wanted to get used to my wall ball and check it out where would be a good place to throw that ball to the wall. I took 20 reps at first, then couple of 10's and then 15's in the end, short recovery between sets. It wasn't a metcon, more like skills and technique, getting used to the movement.
I've thrown some wall balls earlier but most of the time it's been my brother's self-made basketball filled with sand (9.1kg). Toni's Box has 8kg wb which we played around this Wednesday. This ball is 9kg and is going to be part of my outdoor workouts for sure. My gym's ceiling is not high enough so this could be used there but that's no problem, I'm sure there's gonna be great workouts ahead of me combining wall ball, kettlebells and bodyweight!
Sunday. Back squats, emom, 4 reps @ 100-105kg, for 10min. Metcon, 5 rounds of: 10 step-ups (90kg), 15 ring dips.
A lot of leg work today! I'm determined to fix my technical issues with back squat by correcting my stance and finding just the right position for my legs to be placed on the ground. This time I took some air squats and light weight squats in the beginning to find the best stance for me. Just like we did together with Toni last Saturday. Then a metcon with step-ups and ring dips. I actually started the session with ring muscle-ups, or attempts to get one. The time wasn't ready for a successful rep.
Strength. Back squats
Every minute on the minute, for 10 minutes
Back squat, 4 reps
7 sets @ 100kg, 3 sets @ 105kg
This is a good way to do strength training. I've found this very functional for me. I've done a lot of jerks and cleans this way and now squats a few time as well. Started with 100kg and in the last rounds added small plates on the bar. Through emom training the total load tends to be greater than traditionally. It was around 4.000kg of squats today.
I believe I've found a better stance and comfortability in my back squat form. Being able to spread my heels a bit more away from each other and pointing toes a little outwards. The most important thing is still the way the knees behave. Got to push them out to be able to "sit in the hole".
Metcon. For completion
5 rounds of:
10 step-ups, 90kg
15 ring dips
These both are consuming movements. The step-ups are a full body movement, naturally mostly paying attention to lower body but the core is needed as much in order to maintain a safe form. It also wears the upper body, at least when you combine it with dips. I felt the tension in my shoulders each round.
Ring dips have always been difficult to me. I don't actually have anyone to compare with but doing sets of 15 reps is very challenging for me. On the 2 first rounds I did them 10+5, on the 3rd on 8+4+3 and then had to cut it even more. I really liked to have a lot of reps with the ring dips.
Friday. Back squats 5x3 (max 120kg). Metcon, 6 rounds of 10 step-ups (80kg) and 5 wall climbs. Time 14.17.
Got back from Spain 7.00am in the morning. Went to sleep, woke up at noon, ate breakfast and headed to the gym with Pauliina. Nobody in there 'cause everyone was working upstairs. The basement "box" was all ours. Few minutes of cycling to get some blood running inside, then stretching, air squats and bar warm-up. Soon after it was time to start adding plates on the bar. Back squats for strength and step-ups / wall climbs for metcon.
Strength. Back squats 3-3-3-3-3 (100, 110, 120, 120, 120kg). I guess it shows I haven't had the possibility to work with barbells in a while. It feels like an eternity. I did triples between 100 and 120kg. I didn't risk the unbroken sets and stayed at 120 at max. Felt good squatting and got deep reps all the way. Should have gotten more total kilos anyway, today I stayed at 1.700kg back squatting. Program said there's still work to be done, step-ups and wall climbs.
Metcon. Time 14.17.
6 rounds of:
10 step-ups, 80kg
5 wall climbs
Here I got more leg work done. It's a different movement for sure but now I got almost 5.000kg done with legs and core. I was thinking about the weights for a second. I've been doing these with 80-100kg and decided on the lighter one because I've had this break from barbell work. Towards the end it got tougher but I believe I could have carried that 100kg in my back as well. I was able to keep a good steady pace from beginning through the end with the step-ups.
Wall climbs were significantly tougher. It's been a long time since I did that cruel movement. 5 reps each round, make your chest hit the wall before coming down. I usually did 2-3 reps in a row, then took a breath and finished off the last reps. On some rounds, had to break it in 3 sets. This is a rough movement on shoulders. Simultaneously breathing gets heavier by every rep. In other words, a great movement! =)
First round was 1.55, then all other rounds between 2.07 and 2.47. On the last one I was able to speed up and complete it half a minute faster than the 5th round. Pretty stable pace anyway in the workout. It took me a few seconds to stop the clock, there's the difference to my time: 14.17.
Metcon, round times
It felt incredibly good to get back on track. I'm definitely going back tomorrow for some hardcore stuff. Hopefully seeing Pony as well.
Tuesday. Metcon: 5 rounds of 10 step-ups (100kg) and 5 HSPU. For quality.
This day was scheduled for pure leg pain. After work I walked the stairs down to the gym and opened my training bag, only to see I was missing my training shorts. Doup! I was there with Pauliina so this caused some problems to schedule. I left her to workout and drove home to get my gear. No prob, I was quickly back at the Box. However, I had to skip my heavy back squat sets and thus completed only the metcon that I wanted to do after the squats; heavy step-ups and handstand push-ups.
Metcon. For quality
5 rounds of:
10 step-ups, 100kg (5 left, 5 right)
5 handstand push-ups
Couplet of step-ups and hspu's. I intentionally wanted the leg-work to be tough. I put 100kg on the barbell, took it on my back and started moving. That was exactly as heavy as I hoped it would be. I did 5 reps with left and 5 reps with right leg. Hope this compensated the missed back squats.
On the HSPU's I had one goal. Go unbroken on the strict handstand push-ups. For the first 3 sets I got them. On 4th one I got 4 reps and had to kip the 5th one. On the last set I kipped the last 3 ones. Combination of these two movement surprised me that it focused so much burden on the shoulders. Right after step-ups it was hard to start the inverted movement. The combo and amount of reps was perfect!
Toni's workouts.
Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (90, 100, 110, 115, 120kg).
Metcon. Time 8.50
20-16-12-8-4, kettlebell swing, 20kg
10-8-6-4-2, snatch, 40kg
Pony completed the triple back squats up to 120kg. He hasn't gone this far in a while so it was a job well done! On the metcon he alternated the two movements: kb swings and barbell snatches, with decreasing amount of reps on both of them. Total of 60 kb swings and 30 snatches.
I had plenty of plans for today and wanted to go heavier but then again I was holding back a bit because tomorrow I'm gonna do the 13.2 workout in the 2013 CF Open together with Toni. The workout includes push presses, deadlifts and box jumps so it's not wise to do heavy back squats, clean & jerks or deadlifts the day before. My decision was to do step-ups and also remind my body of double unders, which I haven't done in a while.
Workout. Few sets of step-ups and double unders after which a workout:
10 step-ups, 80kg
20 double unders
8 step-ups, 80kg
20 double unders
6 step-ups, 80kg
20 double unders
4 step-ups, 80kg
20 double unders
2 step-ups, 80kg
20 double unders
My legs felt good in the workout and also double unders rolled well from the start. I took rowing, stretching, pvc pipe movements, barbell squats and 5x20 double unders for quite a long time as warm-up before hitting the workout. My body felt fresh and was ready to pump it up.
I kept this session light so let's see what happens tomorrow. It's not gonna be an easy one, my heart will race hard already in the early stages of the workout.
Toni's workouts. Bench and short metcon.
Bench press 5-3-3-2-1-1 (60, 80, 90, 95, PR 100, PR 102.5kg). Toni hit it after training half a year for this goal =) He really wanted to lift 100kg and finally did it. His previous max was 97.5kg, today his 95kg looked easier than normally so he immediately added some weights to reach 100kg. He did a single and added 2.5kg on the bar and reached a new max of 1 rep to 102.5kg. He also tried 105kg twice but failed. Nice improvement on the max load Toni, 5kg!
After bench Toni did two rounds of tomorrow's workout, just to get a feeling what's coming up and what to expect from the workout. Looked like it's not gonna be as easy as it looks on paper. No surprise there =)
My plan for Thursday was not to do heavy strength training nor a hard core metcon. This was an easier day for a while. I still wanted to give some pressure on my legs and shoulders. My workout's main ingredient was step-ups with a barbell in my back. I added some spice to it by doing hspu's, T2B's and K2E's between sets. This workout was not for time but for quality, skills and technique.
Step-ups, 90kg
Workout. For quality.
10 step-ups, 82.5kg, alternating legs
Max effort handstand push-ups, 8 reps
10 step-ups, 82.5kg, alternating legs
10 toes-to-bar + 10 knees-to-elbows, hold on to the grip from start to end
10 step-ups, 90kg, alternating legs
Max effort handstand push-ups, 8 reps
10 step-ups, 90kg, alternating legs
10 toes-to-bar + 10 knees-to-elbows, hold on to the grip from start to end
10 step-ups, 90kg, alternating legs
Max effort handstand push-ups, 6 reps
10 step-ups, 90kg, alternating legs
10 toes-to-bar + 10 knees-to-elbows, hold on to the grip from start to end
I began the training session by rowing for a while, opening my hips by squatting with a pvc pipe, doing inverted holds and skin the cat with the rings. Then I took some long sets of back squats and tried to go as deep as possible, over 90 degrees to increase mobility. My sets were around 60-100kg. After getting properly warmed up I took two sets of 60 & 82.5kg step-ups. Why 82.5kg? Because there was another guy doing his squat sets as well so I figured that weight is alright for me as well. After couple of sets I added it to 90kg.
All together I did 6 sets of step-ups with 82.5 - 90kg. Between sets I did something totally else. Every other set was max effort of handstand push-ups (hspu) and every other time I did 20 reps of first 10 T2B and then 10 K2E by holding on to the pull-up bar continuously, not dropping down and adjusting grip in the transition stage.
My handstand push-ups rolled well. On the first set I did 8 reps (PR, previously 6 reps) through kipping method. On the second try I also did 8 reps but I changed the approach so that I tried to do as many reps as possible strict before kipping. I managed to do 6 strict ones, then adding 2 kipping versions to reach a total of 8 reps. On the last one I got 6 total reps (4 strict + 2 kipping).
On the pull-up bar the number of reps was no problem. I believe I'm rather solid with toes-to-bar and knees-to-elbows. It's the grip that sometimes becomes an issue. I decided to do 10 T2B reps, then change it to 10 K2E on the fly with the same grip. A total of 20 reps. It was nice to do these two movements, it's been some time since previous reps. This was the first time there was 90kg on the step-ups and it felt just fine in my back.
My training partner Toni took a rest day. In the evening I'll have some floorball with my team.
Monday. Back squats 5-5-5-5-5-3 (max 130kg). Metcon of step-ups, hspu and burpees.
Squat day! I love 'em =) My legs were a bit shattered from yesterday's Fight Gone Bad but after some double unders and warm-up I was ready to pump it. My theme for the following weeks is to get my breath going and increase my metabolic conditioning so I finished the morning workout with a metcon, consisting of leg work, hspu and some classic stuff: burpees. Toni completed pretty much the same workouts. Awesome training day!
Step-ups, Toni
Strength. 5-5-5-5-5-3 (100, 110, 120, 125, 125, 130kg). Sets of 5, starting from 100kg, going up to 125kg with fives. I took another set of 125kg because I knew that's pretty much the limit for fives. So I was able to complete 5x5 back squats. For some extra work I took 130kg as many reps as possible. Today it was 3 times down and up.
Metcon. Time around 11.30.
4 rounds of
10 step-ups, 80kg, 5 both legs
3 handstand push-ups
15 burpees
Step-ups are very efficient way of torturing your hamstrings and quads. Going for 10 reps each round is a good number of reps and 80kg seems to work for me pretty well. I'd like to test 100kg but I'm a bit nervous about piling that much load in case I land down in a not-perfect position and something bad would happen. Handstand push-ups seem to be my "goat". I'm having troubles finding enough strength in my triceps to push myself up effectively. I guess kipping would improve my hspu's remarkably. Burpees: you gotta love them and hate them. They get the blood and breathing flowing vigorously but it really feels awesome as you're able to go unbroken for several rounds. I'm definitely going to include these nasty ones in my training programme constantly.
Pony
Toni's workouts.
Back squats 5-5-3-2 (100, 105, 110, 110)
Metcon was similar as mine. He scaled step-ups to 60kg and foam rolled the handstand push-ups. Time was also around 11.30. We had a good rhytm going on as we did it together. There was a good rotation as I started and Toni followed right behind me.
Thursday. Back squats 3-3-3-3-2 (max 130kg). Metcon 5 rounds of 10 step-ups (80kg) and 5 wall climbs. Time 10.24.
I can really feel yesterday's workout in my body still. I heard something similar from Toni who did exactly the same exercise. It wasn't the easiest of all wake-ups in the morning but I packed my gear, hit the bus towards the Box and was I ready for some action once again! For starters I took the classic rowing set, hip openers before entering my strength training. Strength. Back squats 3-3-3-3-2 (100, 110, 120, 130, 130kg). I'm actually very happy how well my squats rolled today! Considering the stiffness yesterday evening in my hamstrings and hips. I took sets from 100 to 130, going up by 10's. You know there is a milestone weight which you know you can bring up at least once any day, no matter if it's a good or a semi-good day. My milestone used to be in 120 kilos but now I've brought that up to 130kg. I'm confident and feel strong when I go under the bar. At least that's my feeling at the moment =)
Back squat, 130kg
I took a set of 130kg, three reps, the last one was a battle. Because my aim was to do sets of 3 reps I didn't want to add load and go for 135 I decided to stay with 130kg and aim for another triple set. I came up with two repetitions, last one was simply too much. Good workout after which I rested for a while before my metcon of the day.
Metcon. Time 10.24
5 rounds of
10 step-ups, 80kg
5 wall climbs
Step-ups, first round
Because my strength consisted of back squats I wanted to put more pressure on my hamstrings. Still, some additional upper body load was on my mind. I came up with a five rounder of step-ups and wall climbs. I've found a step-up weight that's pretty good for me considering this was a high-rep metcon: 50 step-ups and 25 wall climbs. Both of these moves belong to my favorite tool bag. Step-ups started to feel in my lower body in the second or third round quite roughly but surely I went unbroken. The wall climbs are always surprisingly fatiguing. Completing one wall climb takes just a few seconds but going 5 in a row round after round will melt down your body very effectively. I had to take a breath and give my shoulders and arms some time to chill out after 2-3 reps in rounds 3-5. That means to say I went unbroken but probably the last three rounds' wall climbs went in two sets.
I had some thoughts beforehand that the number of wall climbs would make me scream after the workout. It wasn't far away from the truth. I liked this one and recommend everyone to try out these moves and this specific workout as well. For cooling down I reminded my body of kipping pull-ups and did some mobility and foam rolling.
I believe Toni had a rest day today unless he decided otherwise and went to the nearby gym.
Wednesday. First workout: 10-8-6-4-2 deadlift (120kg), bench press (65kg), time 6.30. Second workout: 9-7-5, step-ups (80kg), strict handstand push-ups. Time around 11 min. Handstand skills training.
Today's schedule was a bit different. I skipped traditional strength workout and took two workouts to replace it. The first one was purely strength oriented and the second one didn't let me slack at all. First I combined deadlift and bench, then continued with step-ups and hspu, which are my favorite. I love them and hate them. I'd love to master them and do them unlimitless amounts but I struggle with them.
I completed this same workout about two months ago, this time I just added a bit to bench. I like this one, these weights are about 70-75% of my maxes. I didn't time this workout last time, I wrote it took about 5-6 minutes. Afterwards I seriously doubt it because I definitely went faster this time =) I was thinking whether to pile 120 or 130kg on the bar for deadlift and 65 or 70kg for the bench. My body wasn't in such a receptive mode so I took coward step and took the lighter ones. I went unbroken each set, both movements. There might have been space to upgrade the weights to 70/130kg and still go unbroken. All in all, the heavier weights could have been a smart move.
Workout 2. Time around 11 min.
9-7-5
Step-ups, 80kg
Handstand push-ups
What a struggle with the hspu! This was the third time I've ever done step-ups. I've written both earlier times that 60kg I had in the barbell wasn't enough. I upgraded it to 80kg and liked it very much. It was a good move and the instability of the move pleases me. Eighty kilos was good for this amount of repetitions. No problem with them, steady unbroken sets. However, hspu wasn't rolling well today. I just didn't have enough strength to push my body up from the floor. On the first round I banged my head to the floor in sets of 4-3-2. On the second set I had to put a 5kg plate below me. Sets were probably 2-1-1-1, pathetic. Same on the third set. All my strength purely vanished and it was extremely hard to push myself. Maybe it was the bench press prior to this workout or then just lack of practice with hspu. I haven't done this many reps actually at all at once, 21 hspu.
Toni's workouts. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3 (120, 130, 135, 140, 145kg) and a metcon. Time 15.25.
Wednesday. 1k row, time 3.22. Strength clean & jerk (max PR 70kg, clean PR 75kg), pair wods consisting of farmer's walk, dumbbell thrusters and step-ups, twice. Floorball in the evening.
This day was simply phenomenal! A lot of work was done and some personal records were broken. We took off with Toni by rowing our PR's, then we had strength training. I had clean & jerk on my list, Toni concentrated in push press. Then we took a pair wod, we loved it and felt we have more juice so we took another workout after that. In the evening I had my floorball practice. Between sessions we went to buy a regular sand bag with Toni and turned it into a "crossfit sand bag" =)
Row. Time 3.22, improving previous record with 4 seconds. In such a short distance, I have a feeling this was pretty awesome. I didn't have this in mind but as it felt light from the very beginning, I put some more power in the rows and it just slid through. I usually have my damper setting at 8, today as well. I have counted that some time ago I took 9 strokes to reach 100 meters, then it came down to 9, nowadays it's 7-8 strokes. I use a lot of leg power and I pull the handle quite far away and higher than I used to, that means the pull is more fierce and longer. Toni also id his personal record as he reached the momentum after seeing the digits on my clock. He was pulling it like a maniac and finally reached 3.27, that's pure force man!
PR
Strength. Clean & jerk 3-3-3 (60, 65, 70, 75 failed / PR 75kg clean succeeded). I took clean & jerks, sets of 3 reps starting from 60kg. My max for clean is 70kg and I managed to take three reps of c&j today so I was extremely happy. In addition I decided to go for 75kg and got the clean nicely. I used all my juice in that move and I couldn't get it going anymore, I dropped the bar after that. I tried it once more after some rest but it was impossible. I'm glad I got 75kg clean up, 5kg improvement, nice!
Clean & jerk, 70kg
Toni did push presses, 3-3-3-3-2 (60, 65, 70, 72.5k, 75kg). Take a look at his video to witness the last set.
Push press, 75kg, Toni
Metcon. Time 8.13. Use 25kg dumbbells for farmer's walk and 15kg dumbbells for db thrusters. Both me and Toni had farmer's walk on the agenda, my other movements were 60kg step-ups and 15kg db thrusters. Toni's movements were farmer's walk, ring push-ups and 15kg db thrusters, the number of reps are marked after the movement.
90m farmer's walk, (Ring push-ups, 14 reps)
Step-ups, 13 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk, (dumbbell thrusters, 10 reps)
Dumbbell thrusters, 18 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk (ring push-ups, 17 reps)
Step-ups 14 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk (dumbbell thrusters, 10 reps)
Dumbbell thrusters 14 reps (90m farmer's walk)
I hope you guys understand what this workout was all about =) We liked it, a lot! The main idea is that the 25kg dumbbells play the main role in this pair workout. The other one carries them continuously with farmer's walk style. While the other one farmer walks, the other does as many reps as possible during that time. If the one with the 25kg dumbbells, drops the db's, the other one has to stop as well. We did this workout at the gym so that 90 meters was a shuttle walk, 6x15m. My performance is listed first in the bullets above, Toni's movements are in the brackets. You still following? =)
Farmer's walk
I got all sets unbroken except the last two rounds of farmer's walk. My hands were getting numb and I lost my grip on the dumbbells. It was also challenging to grab the dumbbells for db thrusters right after that. This was an awesome workout and got to the whole body exactly as I wanted. It was also great to get this walk on the workout as the gym was empty and we had the possibility to add this one to the wod. The most difficult was definitely the walk. Last time when I did step-ups, I wrote that more reps or more kilos should be added. This time I added reps but still I have the feeling I wanted to be more exhausted after them. Thus, I will add more weights next time. Thrusters were tough but manageable. Let's say I didn't mind Toni dropped his 25kg dumbbells in farmer's walk so I had to drop mine as well.
DB thrusters
Second metcon. Exactly the same, time 8.23. Time difference +9 seconds.
90m farmer's walk, (Ring push-ups, 23 reps)
Step-ups, 12 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk, (dumbbell thrusters, 10 reps)
Dumbbell thrusters, 16 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk (ring push-ups, 13 reps)
Step-ups 12 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk (dumbbell thrusters, 9 reps)
Dumbbell thrusters 17 reps (90m farmer's walk)
You know, we had an awesome feeling after the first workout and we kinda wanted something more. We thought of going for another similar type of workout but Toni threw the idea up to go for exactly the same workout and see how much of a difference will there be. Now it would be a matter of metabolic condition and also very much a mental game!
Our time was 9 seconds slower on the second metcon, not bad =) How about the number of reps between metcons?
Don
360m -> 360m farmer's walk
27 -> 24 step-ups
32 -> 33 dumbbell thrusters
Toni
360m -> 360m farmer's walk
31 -> 36 ring push-ups
20 -> 19 dumbbell thrusters
Not a huge difference, we can conclude that we managed to keep up the pace with both speed and number of repetitions between metcons. After a long day of work it was a notification that got us smiling greatly =) Finally in the evening I had my floorball practice.
Saturday. 1k row, 3.26 + back squat 5x3 (max PR 125kg), metcon of step-ups, HSPUs and T2Bs + ring skills.
This happens when you bring a pole dancer to the gym =)
After a rest day my enthusiasm to train was high. Together with Pauliina we drove to the gym and were about to back squat our personal records. And we both did! In my metcon I wanted to have some new elements so it was a bit different this time. At the end we played with the rings once again and I also want to develop my pull-up technique so that chest-to-bars are possible in the future. My training session started with 1k row, time 3.26, which I think is my fastest time for 1.000m row by far.
Strength. 3-3-3-3-2 (100, 110, 115, PR 120, PR 125kg). Great! Previous max stood at 117.5kg so getting up to 125kg was something beyond my dreams for today, my goal stood at 120kg. As 110kg seemed light and I was able to keep my form well I decided to take 115 and then move directly to new weights, 120kg. I took 3 reps of this new weight and then attempted to go for 3 reps of 125kg. Two reps succeeded, the third one didn't have a chance. I'm not totally satisfied with my squat depth of the 125kg but still extremely happy for these kilos.
Metcon. Total of 40 step-ups, 30 hspu and 40 toes-to-bar. Time 7.08.
5 rounds of:
4x2 step-ups (60kg, alternating legs, 4 each)
6 hspu
8 toes-to-bar
I used a foam roll on the handstand push-ups to which I lowered my head and then pushed myself back up. The three stations are all in different corners of the gym so it took some time to walk around during the workout in the transitions. I should have put either more plates on the bar with the step-ups or increase the amount of reps. The purpose of the workout was to stress the entire body but my legs found out their part was rather easy. I haven't done step-ups yet, I thought it might be a bit shaky to step to the bench (about 40cm) with one leg so I figured 60kg would be alright. I'd say 80kg would have been better or then double the reps.
Step-ups, 60kg
Handstand push-ups went unbroken each round, I think I must start getting rid of that foam roll. I took some attempts without it after the metcon and managed to perform them correctly. However, they were so much heavier than with this scaled style. My toes-to-bars were unbroken as well. The pull-up bar is very close to the wall so I've been avoiding T2B movement for quite a while. Today I realized it's just an excuse :) I will do them in the future as well, the wall's near proximity was no issue.
As a summary, these movements were good. We talked with Pauliina that this could have been a great workout if conducted for example as 18min amrap. Then more reps would have taken place. Now it was too short, too easy, too light. Only handstand push-ups started to feel tough at the fourth round. There I can clearly see a development point.
Bench press
Skills. At the end we played with the rings again. They are simply awesome! Skin the cat has become my new favorite just like that. It really improves mobility and you can strengthen the core at the same time. I also took some steps to front lever and back lever. At the end I took 20 "chest-to-bar" pull-ups. This was the first time I was able to pull myself high enough but still it feels difficult to make my chest actually tough the bar. I can force my lats close together but still need that final strive to touch the bar to be counted as a reps.
