Tuesday 19.8: Jackie, 3-Rounder and Tabata Rowing

Tuesday. Benchmark workout Jackie, time 7.24. Metcon, 3rds of: 10 hspu, 20 t2b, 30 squats. Time 7.07. Metcon, Tabata rowing, result 944m.

Tuesday was practically a non-barbell day. Okay, had an empty bar for Jackie, which is by the way a workout I've never hit before. After recovering for a while, I tried to fix my overhead squat position with my training partners, then went after another bodyweight workout, created on the spot. Chilled out a bit, then jumped on the rower for Tabata workout, also first timer. Usually I don't have time to do any mobbing afterwards, I tend to do it before the workouts, but this time I sacrificed about half an hour to stretch out and other mobility stuff. And it felt great!

Jackie. Time 7.24

• 1.000m row
• 50 thrusters, 20kg
• 30 pull-ups

Alright, first date with Jackie. Every now and then this one pops up into my head but for a reason that I don't know this lady has stayed in the background and has never been done. This sounds rather easy, and I want to emphasize the word "emphasize". Had no idea how to approach the workout. It was obvious that I couldn't push it through unbroken and that means there's gonna be breaks during the workout. That's the reason why I figured not to gas myself out in the rowing. I took it easy with 1.49 pace. It was exactly 3.38 as I finished the 1k row. Definitely not fast but winning 5 seconds here wouldn't do any good for the rest of the workout. For Games athletes it would make.

From this moment on I had no idea how to proceed. So I took the barbell in front rack position and started moving the bar up and down. I exaggerated the movement so that I went way below parallel, more than needed, because that's the way I like to do my squats nowadays. For this workout this was extra range of motion, and actually not needed at all. For the overhead position I took the Rich Froning approach, meaning I locked it overhead, and got in to a good rhythm of inhaling at the top and exhaling in the bottom position. This rhythm was maybe little too much for this weight, I should have just pushed it through and paced up at this point. Took 35 reps at first attempt, laid the bar down and picked it up for the remaining 15 reps. After thrusters it was about 6 minutes in to the workout.

In the pull-ups I also gave a little slack. It didn't feel like that during the workout but I realized it after the wod that I could have done faster. Took the pull-ups in 10-8-7-5. I got these sets done without huge efforts. My fear was that I would hit a wall had I gone too fast at any given moment. This was valuable info for upcoming Jackies =) The workout itself was funk and somehow the nature was a lot different than for example Fran and Grace which I consider the most classic stuff.

Metcon. Time 7.07

• 3 rounds of:
• 10 handstand push-ups
• 20 toes-to-bar
• 30 air squats

Jackie took my breath away for a while but the recovery was fast after this one. I wasn't all done so I needed some more work to be done. It turned out to hspu's, t2b's and squats. Got the hspu's done unbroken for the first 2 rounds and fell off the wall on the third one. That was practically ub as well. T2b's were unbroken for the first round and actually felt light. There was room for more reps still.

Second round was tougher, and I got them done 12-8. Third one was done in 3 sets, 10-5-5. Air squats weren't that bad. Or actually they were a bit nasty, especially after toes-to-bar's as my hip flexors were tense in both movements. But I mean I got them done unbroken without any issues, it just got to me flexors more than I had thought.

Post workout meal. Salmon, lots of salad, avocado, and veggies 

Tabata. Distance 944m

• 8 rounds of: 20 sec work, 10 sec rest of:
• Rowing

This was the Grande Finale of the training session. Just sat on the rower and started pulling the strokes for these 20 second intervals. Tabata is a great training method for pretty much any movement. I've done it usually on bodyweight stuff with the exception of 120kg deadlift. Works perfectly for air squats, push-ups and sit-ups, why wouldn't it suit for kettlebells, double unders and actually everything!

This was a lot more painful than I thought of. Couple of sets went by nicely but in the middle I was in a lot of muscular pain, and towards the end it was pure misery. Good classic short workout! This day in general was purely focusing on metabolic condition and I liked it a lot. Jackie was a fresh one and I've got to hit it some other day too.

This was nasty!

Sunday 21.7: Tabata deadlift, metcon

Sunday. Tabata deadlift @ 120kg. Result, 48 reps. Metcon, 5 rounds of rowing, hspu and ring dips. Time 18.40.

Felt very tired in the morning. After breakfast I was ready to take a nap =) However, we loaded our bodies full of energy and headed to the gym with Pauliina. Both eager to train because of a bye week in Spain. Did Tabata deadlifts today and then a metcon consisting of hspu's and ring dips, rowing as well.

Strength. 48 reps

• Tabata deadlift
• 20 sec on, 10 sec off for 8 total rounds
• 120kg on the barbell
• Result, 6 reps each round

This was a newcomer. Haven't done Tabata workouts in strength movements. Only once with light push presses waaaaay back with Tony the Pony. A good workout to say the least. It was difficult to know how to approach this one. Normally when you attack Tabata workouts, if you go full steam in the beginning you're gonna get smoked in the end. When you do a steady work throughout by starting with lesser reps, the end result is that you end up having more reps.

That was the reasoning for me to aim for 6 reps each round. I carried out the strategy perfectly. Result 6 reps per round, totaling 48 reps with 120kg, 5.760kg in 3.50min. In the beginning I could have done 8-10 reps for 2-3 rounds probably but then the fatigue would have hit me pretty badly. This is all guessing but that's what I recon the feelings were at the time. After 4 rounds the 120kg started to feel heavier because there's not much to recover. I was also thinking about 130kg in advance but I'm satisfied I locked it at 120kg. Those extra 10kg might have come back to haunt me.

With that being said, I believe the weight for today and the strategy carried out were both very good choices for me. This workout is very much recommendable. Since I couldn't take a video of my Tabata, I'm gonna let you see the monster himself doing the same workout with 150kg. Be my guest: Rob Orlando.

Metcon. Time 18.40

• 5 rounds of:
• 500/400/300/200/100m row
• 5 handstand push-ups
• 15 ring dips

Took some time with the workout. Basically it was the ring dips that made me suffer. The distance of rowing got shorter by the rounds. Starting at 500m, next round 400m etc. Then 5 handstand push-ups that I was able to do unbroken for the first 3 rounds. No misses though. I knew where my strength level was at the time and didn't waste energy in failed attempts.

Ring dips are not one of my strengths. For 2-3 rounds I had a strategy of completing them 5-5-5. On the last 2 rounds I had to split it a bit more. I felt the movement's toughness in the front of my shoulders, chest and triceps. Okay, my breathing was rather fast after rowing, I tried to keep a good pace there and also after handstand push-ups. But on the ring dips it was more of a strength issue. Got some chance to catch my breath 'cause I had to take breaks with dips.

First round of hspu's as strict, then kipping

I'm so happy we went to train and not skip it. After having a week off from training with barbells this has been a rather rough starting point to workout with heavy weights. For barbell work, there's been back squats, heavy step-ups, cleans, clean & jerks, snatches, overhead squats and deadlifts in the last 3 days, accompanied with bodyweight stuff.

Wednesday 27.2: Elizabeth

Wednesday. Elizabeth. Time 10.28

Elizabeth, she was tough. I took over another benchmark girl to accompany the others. I've had this in my calendar for a long time but for several times but now I finally got the chance to prove I can do it. There have been a lot of cleans and c&j lately and my technique has taken a giant leap so it felt natural to give a shot at Elizabeth. Toni did snatches and Tabata training.

Warming up

Elizabeth. Time 9.28

• 21-15-9
• Squat cleans, 60kg
• Ring dips

In a long workout like these girls tend to be, you must have a strategy. If you don't have one, it's gonna eat you alive. If you start pushing 110% from the very beginning, you're gonna get gassed very soon after starting. My plan was to do 3 sets of 7 cleans in the first round. It went something like that. On the second one I planned to do 3x5 and on the last set I hoped to do it in two sets. It didn't go exactly as I planned but close. On the ring dips I had a steady goal and implementation, 5 rep sets all the way except on the last set when I did 7 unbroken and then the remaining 2 reps.

Elizabeth (last squat clean & last set of ring dips missing)

It felt very exhausting during the workout. I had to take some breaks during the squat cleans. That movement took my energy and made my guts burn. I hoped I could have gone more unbroken but that wasn't the case today. Maybe I could sometimes take sets of 10 unbroken touch'n'go squat cleans, hang cleans or something like that. Or then simply do 30 reps as fast as possible to test how quickly it can be done. I haven't done many workouts like that. Not a bad idea.

Elizabeth worked perfectly for its purpose. A hard core metcon that I needed for today. This week has consisted of good training this far. Monday's thruster ladder was awesome and deadlift strength training rocked. Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Elias was also at the Box for another crossfit training. Today his program consisted of Tabata training of ring rows, sit-ups and dumbbell clean & jerks. He fought bravely!

Toni's workouts. Snatch, sets of 3 reps. Tabata training (db snatches, push-ups, double unders).

• Snatches 5x3 (40, 40, 40, 45, 40kg)
• Tabata dumbbell snatches, 15kg (12, 9, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10 reps)
• Tabata push-ups (10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 7, 7, 6 reps)
• Tabata double unders (15, 10, 15, 13, 17, 15, 17, 14 reps)

Monday 31.12: Deadlift, metcon

Monday. Deadlift 5x1 (max PR 170kg). Metcon 5 rounds of  deadlift (120kg), 10 burpees. Time 4.19.

Today we had a quick one together with Toni. Deadlift singles for both of us and then metcons. I stuck with deadlifts and burpees. Toni wanted to do Tabata workouts. A new PR was accomplished as well.

Tabata squats

Strength. 5x1 (130, 140, 150, 160, PR 170kg). My main focus today was on the deadlift centered metcon. For starters I wanted to do heavy deadlift singles, 5 attempts, loading the barbell up to 170kg, my new personal record! It wasn't beautiful, that's for sure, but it came up. I wasn't able to utilize my legs properly so it was all about my back muscles to pull the bar up. Still, I'm very satisfied with the weights. I'm not sure I like to post this rep but I've promised to keep this blog as transparent as possible :)

Deadlift, 170kg, PR

Metcon. Time 4.19.

• 5 rounds of
• 5 deadlift, 120kg
• 10 burpees

I thought this would have been worse metcon than it actually was. I had thoughts beforehand that I'm gonna be gassed after two rounds but it was easier. 120kg isn't that heavy anyway so it was all about burpees. How fast can you do them and how quickly after burpees you can grab the bar as they have just made you breath heavily? Today I believe my strategy was good and my breaks weren't that long. I also learned something new with the burpees. I was able to go down faster than normally and I believe that had effects on the pace of my metcon. I'm happy with the time for now.

Burpees

Toni's workouts. Deadlift singles and tabata workouts.

• Deadlift singles, 130, 140, 150, 150kg
• Tabata ring push-ups. 8+8+8+8+7+7+6+5. Total of 57 reps. Result 5 reps
• Tabata sit-ups. 13+11+10+10+10+10+10+10. Total of 84 reps. Result 10 reps.
• Tabata squats. 19+15+16+15+15+15+15+14. Total of 124 reps. Result 14 reps.

Sunday 11.11: Tabata

Sunday. Tabata workouts: push-ups (8), L-pull-ups (4), sit-ups (12).

I was supposed to have a day off… Today is Father's Day and we spent it at the in-laws with Pauliina. Spectacular lunch and good company. As we drove home I wanted to do some crossfit training at home. I took some Tabata training with push-ups, L-pull-ups and sit-ups.

Tabata timer

Tabata. 8 rounds of 20sec work, 10sec rest. Total of 80 push-ups (result 10), 35 L-pull-ups (result 4), 100 sit-ups (result 12).

• Push-ups (10+10+10+10+10+10+10+10)

• L-pull-ups (5+5+5+4+4+4+4+4)

• Sit-ups (14+12+12+12+12+12+12+12)

Tabata workout's idea is to do 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times. First I did push-ups for a total of eight rounds (10sec rest in between), then continued to L-pull-ups and finally sit-ups. I counted the number of total reps but the actual result is the lowest number of reps during those eight rounds. I had a total of 80 push-ups, lowest round was 10 reps. Total of 35 L-pull-ups, lowest round was 4 reps. Total of 100 sit-ups, lowest round was 12 reps.


This time I planned my Tabata's beforehand. I decided to go for 10 push-ups each round to reach 80 reps in total. Previous times I've done as many reps each round as possible and my result has dropped from 20 reps in the first round to 3-4 reps in the last round. This new tactic brought me more reps in total and my lowest number was also better than before. This was the first time I did L-pull-ups as Tabata and as I hit 5 reps in the first round (my triceps were burning after push-ups), I decided to stick to that number. After three rounds I managed to get 4 reps in the remaining rounds.

L-pull-up

My sit-ups were strong. I decided to put myself to test in the first round and hit 14 reps. However, I decided to go for 12 reps each round. That's a number I can definitely reach and this time was no exception.

Sit-ups

Friday 19.10: Front squat + metcon

Friday. Front squats 5x3 (max 107.5kg PR), metcon consisting of back / front / overhead squats plus pull-ups, ring dips and ring push-ups.

Toni's workouts did their purpose

All focus on squats. My start for this day wasn’t the best possible. I was quite tired when I woke up, my fridge was empty and it was difficult to find a proper breakfast and I didn’t stretch yesterday evening so my hips were a bit jammed. I somehow started my engines, headed to gym and found out that my warm-up had to be different this time as the rowing machine was taken. Maybe not the best possible starting point as I seem to be a slave of my habits. Anyway, I continued through, got myself together, concentrated in doing reps in good form, Toni and Joni soon joined me and we made history. Personal record in front squats, awesome!

Strength. Front squat 5x3 (90+100+102.5+105+ PR 107.5kg)

All of my front squat warm-ups were smooth and it felt good from the very beginning. I had decided to take some reps with lighter weights and start doing heavier from 90kg. It was feather light with 90 so I put 10 more kilos. From there one I added 2.5kg each round, finally taking my personal record with 107.5kg. And I consider my form stayed good, I went deep enough and it wasn't the max I could have gone today. I took all three reps clean and nice. I'm proud of this one =)

Metcon. Squats, pull-ups, ring dips and ring push-ups

• 30 back squats (60kg)
• Max pull-ups (15)
• 20 front squats (50kg)
• Max ring dips (10)
• 10 overhead squats (40kg)
• Max ring push-ups (20)

My legs were smashed from the workout and actually my upper body was quite tired as well. I pushed through this workout but my result wasn't that good. I could have done better some other time, definitely. The idea was to do 30 back squats (60kg), then do as many pull-ups as possible, I managed to for 15 reps. Then I took 10kg off and took 20 front squats. Then I did max reps of ring dips, only 10 reps as my result. Finally 10 overhead squats with 40kg was supposed to be done. I took one rep, after which it came unbearable. I dropped the bar at the second rep, no count. I tried it third time, same result. I just couldn't keep the bar even steady over my head so it was impossible to do those overhead squats. I skipped that one and finally took 20 ring push-ups. I was disappointed I couldn't finish the overhead squats at all. On Wednesday it wasn't a problem at all to do ohs with same kilos. Today it was the burden my legs had taken before and upper body fatigue that wrote my destiny. Still, I was all smile during the day because my strength training went so damned good!

Toni's workouts.  Deadlift (105kg), bench press (65kg): 10-8-6-4-2. Time 5.50

• Tabata double unders
• Tabata hand release push-ups

Toni did the same workout I did Monday, only the kilos were different. He took 105kg deadlift and 65kg bench press. 10 reps of deadlift, 10 presses, 8 reps of deadlift, 8 presses etc. His time 5.50. Deadlifts went ok for the first round, then his form kind of betrayed him and back arched, sets went broken, it was a bit of a struggle. However, his bench presses looked good and easy. He really pushed them well, all sets unbroken, without problems. I think there could have been more kilos on the bar and he still could have taken it up unbroken.

He wrapped the day with two Tabata style workouts: double unders and hand release push-ups.

• Tabata double unders 10+10+5+1+10+5+15+5 = 61 reps in total. Result 1 reps
• Tabata hand release push-ups 7+7+6+4+4+4+4+2 = 38 reps in total. Result 2 reps

Toni concentrating in deadlift technique

Joni took a set consisting of thrusters and burpees. Time was somewhere around 12 min. You will see both Toni's and Joni's workouts from today at my Youtube channel, the link is on the upper right corner of the page. I thought Joni had 40kg at the barbell but from the video it looks like there's little plates at the end as well so I figure it's 42.5kg.

• 21-15-9
• Thrusters (40 or 42.5kg)
• Burpees

Friday 28.9: Press day + tabata (videos)

Friday. Press day. Strength training for push press 3x3 (max 65kg PR), shoulder press 3x3 (max 50kg PR) and 3x3 bench press (max 75kg PR). Wod Tabata push press for 40kg and tabata burpees.

Huh, what an awesome training day!!! I was working out with Toni, 7.30am at the gym, ready for heavy pressing. I haven't been able to go for shoulders for a while because of that handstand incident. On Monday it was the first day for a while I didn't feel any pain so I was hopeful there could ba a chance I could try it out this week. Today seemed to be a perfect day for upper body workout since I had put pressure on the lower body and yesterday was a game in the evening. Toni was very pumped up about going for bench press today, a new movement for both of us. He has done it some years back more fiercely but not in the near past.

Strength. Three press movements for strength training.
Push press 3x3 (55+60+ PR 65kg). Toni did the same weights.
Shoulder press 3x3 (45+50+ PR 50kg). Toni went for 45+50+55kg.
Bench press 3x3 (60+70+PR 75kg). Toni did the same weights.

I had never even tested anything more than 60kg for push press so it was about time to go for it. We lifted it up to 65kg which is my new personal record, Toni came along with the same weights and left a bit in the storage for shoulder press and bench press. He has lifted 70kg before so this was not his limit. It felt very good to give some pressure for the shoulders after a short pause.

Almost every time I've done shoulder strength training, I've gone for push press and not shoulder press practically at all. Same with Toni, we have concentrated in push press, clean & jerk and thrusters but not old school shoulder press. So advertising my PR is more like a statistical thing at the moment. I'll definitely add shoulder press to my future training together with push press. Anyway, the current top result for me is 50kg. The first time I took it up, I was able to do only 1.5 rep. The second time I took 2.5reps. Only at the third attempt I was able to lift the bar all three times. It was a good struggle. Toni upgraded the weights with 5kg up to 55kg for 3-rep sets.

How about the bench press? For some reason it felt awesome! we were both in chills after the workout. It was a totally new thing for me and I enjoyed it a lot. Considering I've never done anything more than warm-up with bench press I was thrilled to get my body weight up at the first time. 3-rep sets for 60, 70 and 75 kilos. Toni was also making it look easy and I'm sure his max reps are beyond this point currently. Anyway we had quite a number of reps by far and there was a Tabata wod ahead of us.

Tabata. Tommi 3 push press, 6 burpees. Toni 3 push press, 4 burpees.

• Tommi
• Push press 40kg, 45 reps (9+8+8+8+6+4+5+3)
• Burpee, 36 reps (6+6+6+6+6+6+6+6)

• Toni
• Push press 40kg, 30 reps (3+5+5+4+3+4+3+3)
• Burpee, 35 reps (5+5+5+4+4+4+4+4)

As for counting the results for Tabata workout, my weakest push press set was 3 reps, so was Toni's. For burpees, I had a steady performance with 6 reps each round, Toni's weakest set was 4 reps. However, I also prefer to count the total amount of reps. I had 45 presses and 36 burpees, Toni completed 30 presses and 35 burpees. At some point my legs were cramping with the push presses. The first four rounds were a stable result with 8+ reps each round. From then on I had some problems with shoulders feeling numb. I had to do a lot of leg work. From the video I noticed I was almost jumping at some point to force the bar go to the ceiling. I saw Toni doing similar moves. We didn't count all reps if they were inches away from full extension.

I'm happy with my current burpees as I'm not all spaghetti after few reps but I can go further with them. I'm definitely going to keep them on the schedule on a regular basis. Good general movement and it develops the metabolic conditioning surely. Toni found it difficult to go for push presses right after burpees but was able to improve in the following rounds, ranging between 3-5 reps. He also had a steady performance with burpees with 4-5 reps each round.

This was a spectacular day of training. We were excited the entire day and full of energy for several hours after the workout :)

Thursday 27.9: Gameday + Toni’s wods

Thursday. Floorball season starts today, game will start 18.30. I’m just about to head to the visitor’s stadium. I’m anxious about the game, I'll inform you guys afterwards how it went. Toni instead went to the gym in the morning for two workouts: Tabata something else and row 2.000m for time.

Tabata something else. Total of 307 reps (1 pull-up, 5 push-ups, 8 sit-ups and 12 squats)

• Pull-ups, 18 in total (4+3+3+3+2+1+1+1)
• Push-ups, 89 in total (20+15+10+5+10+7+8+5)
• Sit-ups, 75 in total (12+9+9+9+10+8+9+9)
• Squats, 125 in total (20+20+17+15+12+13+13+15)

Lips over the bar

Toni will comment his feelings in the comment section later on. The pull-ups were completed with a rubber band assistance. I’m very happy you took pull-ups as part of your workouts and you’re not avoiding them anymore. Here is a Toni style of doing pull-ups, kiss the bar ;)

Row 2.000m. Time 7.52, average speed 1.58 / 500m

After tabata exercise this is a tough one. Toni still managed to move around for 1.58 average speed.

Wednesday 5.9: Rowing, skills training, tabata

Wednesday. This day was a mixture of all kinds of exercises. It all started 7:30am with rowing. My focus on the day was more like an active recovery and skills training, there was no strength training included at all, nor a wod. The idea was to meet up with Toni at the gym as I had planned to inspire him to better performance by coaching him but we had some miscommunication as he had a rest day due to several days of training in a row. So I decided to take a lighter version of training today as I had already wen through four sessions myself this week in two days.

There was a nice exercise at www.crossfit.com few days ago:

• 30 rounds for distance
• 30 seconds row
• 30 seconds rest

I took off with this workout by completing ten rounds, my distance was 1.600m, one mile. I'll definitely take this wod some morning, seemed cool. After getting my heart pumped up, I took about ten minutes skills training with jump rope. All kinds of jumping, single unders, double unders, single unders by jumping in different styles, sideways, with one leg etc. Very useful, this is my new favorite, I've had my jump rope with me pretty much every time in the last couple of weeks and I will going to master double unders this autumn due to skills training =)

I also wanted to take a quick glimpse to overhead squats (OHS). My mobility in shoulders and back muscles isn't flexible enough to make the movement easily. It takes a lot of effort and it requires a lot of work to get to - let's say almost 90 degrees angle - in the bottom position. It went better than last time I tried it some time ago. I've been kidding around with PVC pipe at the gym and I can see some slow progression in my shoulder mobility. I was able to snatch the bar to satisfactory position and then somehow managed to squat with the bar 3 x 10 (20kg). I'm gonna take this as a skills training in the future, accompanied after some strength training and wods. Anyway, the morning workout (45min) was active recovery, so to say, and increasing mobility on my body. Good job in my opinion.

In the evening I had 1.5h floorball practice and my coach asked me to get the team mates warmed-up with crossfit style training so I decided to go with tabata squats and another tabata style workout. It was kind of a plank hold in an upright push-up position, with the difference that you must extend your arms a little bit forward along your body. That means your hands are not at the breast level but over the head. Then the entire body must do work, not just your shoulders. You have to keep the entire core tight, abs definitely and shoulders too. I didn't take notes on the reps in squats but they were around 18+ per round.

Monday 27.8: Tabata

Monday. Tabata: Du (84) + push-ups (84) + sit-ups (96) + squats (166).


Finally, after five days of resting (40km walk and carrying stuff) I got the proper chance to do some workouts, I was missing this badly! I flew back tonight from Stockholm in the evening and decided to take some tabata workouts for starters. My neck still hurts like hell, no idea what those push presses caused couple of weeks ago. I did tabatas for double-unders, push-ups, sit-ups and squats. Tabata means 8 rounds of work: 20 sec work, 10 sec rest, repeat 8 times. Very quick and efficient way of training. You can apply it to pretty much everything you can imagine of: pull-ups, rowing, back extensions etc.

Double-unders, total 84 (15+15+8+8+12+6+10+10)
Push-ups, total 84 (20+15+12+9+7+7+7+7)
Sit-ups, total 96 (12+12+12+12+12+12+12+12)
Squats, total 166 (20+20+21+20+21+21+21+22)

DU 84. I'm glad my double-unders are finally beginning to roll. I had some lack of concentration in some of the rounds, that's why I stumbled a bit too much. Actually I stumbled in each round at least once. Once I get rid of those stupidities, numbers are gonna rise a lot.

Push-ups 84. On push-ups, same issues occurred as last time. My strength level works for the first 2-3 rounds, then I have to struggle quite much to get myself pushed back up. I'm proud of doing push-ups properly, hitting low enough. Previous record was 69.

Sit-ups 96. Not bad at all, I just couldn't be any faster. Could have lasted for longer.

Squats 166. After one week's pause, these slid nicely. I remember I did something around 18 reps per round last time. Now the lowest was 20 reps. Very good

Sunday: Rest day (active recovery: tabata)

Sunday. Giving my body and neck another day to recover. I was eager to do workouts today as usual but its been a while since I rested so I decided to take it easy and take my dog for a swim instead.

Some workouts that I haven't yet tried out but which I'm looking forward to:

• Grace
• Eva
• Murph
• 21-15-9, burpees and pull-ups
• Push press, 2 min amrap, 2 min rest, 3 rounds
• 40-30-20-10, KB, wall ball and box jumps
• "Death by" - wods

Tomorrow I'll get back to crossfit training in the morning. Stay tuned!

Update. I couldn't stay away from training, I had to take some active recovery so to say... Tabata this:

• Squats (144)
• Ab wheel (64)
• Hollow hold
• Push-ups (69)
• 1 min rest between sets

I did 18 squats in each round, it wasn't that bad, maybe could have upgraded it to 19 or 20 per round, then it would have really burnt my thighs. Also ab wheels were a steady performance with 8 reps each round. Hollow hold after ab wheel got to my core abs nicely, I like those steady moves that you can feel burning and developing those core muscles such as plank position etc.

Hollow hold

Fatigue hit me in push-ups totally after two rounds. My triceps were killing me. First round 18 reps, second round 16 reps, third round 10, the remaining 5 rounds were 4-6 reps each, pathetic. Tomorrow I'll meet Toni at the gym for strength training and a metcon.

Wednesday 1.8: Deadlift + handstand (video)

Wednesday. Strength: deadlift 5 x 5. Max 130kg. Metcon: 7 min AMRAP. 5 deadlift (80kg) + 5 pull-ups + 15 push-ups. Total 6 rounds, 5 deadlifts + 3 pull-ups.

Workout consisted of two parts as usual. The first one concentrating in strength. I made a personal record in deadlift with 130kg, nice! It was heavy but I had the feeling I could have taken it one notch up, maybe 135 or 140kg. Preparation was good, warm-up was comprehensive and my whole body was awake when I started to put kilos on the bar. My legs were aching from previous days' training but I got them going quite nicely in the warm-up.

Metcon included deadlift, pull-ups and push-ups. I'm not quite sure if I did 6 or 7 full rounds, let's make it 6. In addition I hurried some extra moves in daedlift and pull-ups. Total amount in this 7 minute amrap workout was 35 deadlifts with 80kg, 33 pull-ups and 90 push-ups. I've put a lot of effort in accomplishing the moves perfectly. Special effort on the push-ups, chest must touch the ground. I should also start doing the pull-ups in a chest-to-bar-mode instead of chin-to-bar. I did push it through unbroken except the push-ups. First 30-50 were easy, then the problems begun. Deadlifts and pull-ups were pretty light but push-ups after midway seemed heavier than they normally are. This was a surprise but obviously the combination of all these three movements was too much for my upper body.

After I got myself together I did some abs. Tabata ab wheel for those classic 8 rounds, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. After about two hours I went to the close-by park near my home and practiced some handstand with my girlfriend. I love this workout! As you can see, I'm not mastering it but hey, this is a proper start anyway =)

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.