Thursday 28.8: Active recovery

Thursday. Active recovery. Jogging, walking, muscle-up, sit-ups, back extensions, stretching.

Together with the colleagues we headed towards the morning workout. In the early morning I found Toni and myself eating breakfast at 7:00 and then heading to the jogging track that was going around the convention centre. There was also a pull-up bar in the middle of the forest so we were forced to stay there to play for a while. We did some stretching and walking / light running for 20-30min before going indoors.

Sunrise @ Långvik

After the jogging part all 30 of us head headed inside to do some circuit type of training for abs and back muscles, some plank holds were included as well. It was good stuff for active recovery. Got some blood circulating in my system but this can definitely be called active rest day.

The venue for the last two days was beautiful if you ask me. The surrounding nature was spectacular. The lake was inviting me to swim or row. Would have been a different type of morning wakening. Tomorrow I'll get back to action with Pony and Pauliina at home gym!

Friday 14.6: Active rest

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 =)

Your gear has arrived!

Friday 26.4: Back squats + technique

Friday. AM: Back squats 7x4 (max 120kg). OHS technique training. PM: technique training.

Purely back squats as strength training. No metcons today, tomorrow's gonna be a difficult day, we are going to hit it hard with Toni. After strength training I took some sets of overhead squats to work on the technique and form. Toni was on a date with Cindy. After work we went back to the gym with Pauliina. I took it light, a little sweat on and then working on technique.

Strength. Back squats 7x4 (100, 110, 120, 120, 120, 120, 120kg). It's been over a week since previous back squats. They've been demanding lately, can't argue about that. The sets today were 4 reps each time and loads were pretty stable around 120kg. Depth of my squats have developed to good direction and even though I didn't have the possibility to videoshoot the attempts, Toni was there to judge some of the sets.

OHS. Didn't take any metcon or cashout but 3x8 sets of overhead squats with a cold bar to find comfortability in the bottom position and to find a form to squat deep and feel like home. It felt very good. The main problem still exists: my upper back mobility is not good enough. I have to widen my grip to get down. I like to snatch with my hands about 10cm from the far end of the barbell. In overhead squat I have to push my hands at the far ends of the barbell, otherwise my back will get too tight and doesn't allow me to go deep enough. I'd love to keep my grip a bit narrower so I'll have to do some mobility work over there. Anyway, while holding my hands as far as possible, I found a stable and solid form and ohs felt natural.

PM: Technique. In the evening I did some skills and technique training. Those split jerks are something worth training. I don't quite get it yet, better study the form more. I did those jerks from front rack position as well as from behind the neck. I wanted to try out that OHS again, and yes, it felt as good as in the morning =) Then some sit-ups with small rest between 50 rep sets. In the end I had good time to do some mobility and stretching.

• Cycling
• Double unders
• Split jerk
• Overhead squat
• Headstand
• 3x50 sit-ups
• Cycling
• Stretching

Toni's workouts. Cindy. Total of 405 reps.

• 20min amrap of:
• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 squats

Week 30

This week's training I have to post afterwards as it's already Thursday. I was resting the entire previous week due to some irregular beating of my heart. I didn't do any workouts Monday through Saturday. On Sunday I was at the gym doing some squats, deadlifts and push presses.

Monday. 800m run, 40 push-ups, 20 box jumps. 5 rounds. Time 26.20. Practising muscle-ups. Tabata hollow hold. Stretching in the evening.

I had two friends with me to run along. I had some doubts about running due to last week's problems so I kind of held back during the workout. However, afterwards it felt good and I had those bad thoughts in vain.

Tuesday, first workout. 5x5 back squats. Max 100kg. 5 min rest. WOD: 5 L-pull-ups, 20 burpee, 25 KB swing (16kg). 4 rounds. Time 10.36. Stretching in the evening.

Felt good. Still taking it easier than normally with the squats. Starting to feel pretty good though. I experimented this type of training from Mikko Salo's training programme: first weight lifting, then rest, then wod. I liked it and probably going to continue like this. This wod caused heavy breathing due to burpees. Kettlebell was too light I think. I have already ordered 20kg KB at my own expense. This 16kg was the heaviest at the gym.

Tuesday, second workout. Row 4 x 750m, 2 min rest between sets. Time 16.48. Practising double unders.

The first training session took place 10.00 in the morning so this afternoon workout was planned to be easier. My girlfriend went to the gym so I immediately tagged along. Rowing started nicely in every four sets. The last 250 meters were slower as fatigue struck. I'm going to increase the amount of rowing in the near future.

Wednesday. Bear complex. 5 rounds 20+25+30+35+20. 5 min rest. WOD: 5 Deadlift (80kg), 5 toes-to-bar. 5 rounds. Time 3.43. Stretching in the evening.

The first time ever to try out bear complex. Pretty tough I would say. Sound easy when you think about the weights I carried. However, for me they were enough, this time... Next time I'll raise. After short break I took on the deadlift and Toes-to-bar combination to strengthen the middle body. Nice combo, deadlift could have been maybe 90kg but due to the nature of the workout maybe it was better to be that 80kg. They were both movements where grip is essential which caused it slightly painful in the palms towards the end.

Thursday. Rest day.

Stretching in the evening. I feel like hitting the gym but I must think this rationally. I'm going to stretch today and take another workout tomorrow.