Friday 19.4: Snatch EMOM, ring skills

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.

• Hang clean 5x5, 60kg
• Couple sets of deadlift, 100kg
• Bench press 5-5-5-5-2 (70, 70, 80, 90, 100kg)
• Dips 5x5

Thursday 11.4: Back squat, metcon + metcon

Thursday. AM Back squat 3-3-3-3-3-1 (max 132.5kg). Metcon, 4min amrap of ring pull-ups and toes-to-rings. Result 58 reps. PM run and kettlebell action.

Thursday's goal was to do strength and short metcon in the morning, then continue with longer workout in the evening to increase metabolic conditioning. Yesterday's rest day probably was a good thing, my joints felt good in the morning and I was ready to squat. There were rings in play with the metcon. I have two kettlebells that suited perfectly for the evening's workout!

Strength. 3-3-3-3-3-1 (100, 110, 120, 125, 130, 132.5kg). Was it the rest day or proper warm-up that got me going, go figure, but at least it felt good and I was well prepared to squat deep! For the last three squatting days I haven't got the best out of me. Today it felt very much different. On those previous days it has been tough to nail 120kg, I recall the barbell weighing like hell. Today there was no problem carrying that weight. I managed to lift 3x130kg and then a single rep for 132.5kg.

Metcon. Result 58 reps

• 4min amrap
• 1 ring pull-up
• 1 toes-to-rings (T2R)

I would have done this with a pull-up bar but it's located a bit too close to the wall in my opinion. It wouldn't bother me normally but I thought there might be some significant kipping included so I carried it out with Rogue rings, which was probably the better decision. 4 minutes is a short time so it's all about going as fast as possible. I thought it would have been easier, at least it looks easy on paper =) I took 20 reps in a row for starters, then a short break. All of a sudden I realized it's not that light anymore! Doup, it started to become a struggle pretty soon after that and wasn't able to make many pull-ups in a row from then on. My forearms definitely felt the burden after the workout.

Metcon. Time 10.30.

• 2 rounds of
• 150m run
• 20 kb clean & jerk, 20kg
• 150m run
• 20 kb swings, 32kg
• 150m run
• 20 kb snatches, 20kg

Wanted to do double training and decided to go outside with my kettlebells. My warm-up was about 300m farmer's walk with the kettlebells, the other one 20kg and the other one 32kg. It was actually a good preparation for the workout. In addition I jogged and made some hip openers before I heard the 3-2-1-go! I kept a steady pace from beginning to end, in the middle of the workout my time was about 5 minutes. I did all the reps unbroken both rounds so the only thing that slowed me down was the pace I ran.

Felt good about this training session, haven't ben doing serious job with the bells for a long time. I'd like to work with them. The logistics is always a bit of a challenge with them. Got to keep on carrying them with me in a car and working outdoors with 'em.

Toni's workouts. First clean & jerks, then double unders.

• For 12 min, every 2 minutes
• 5 clean & jerk, 60kg
• Cashout. 10 x 20 double unders

Monday 11.3: Deadlift metcon

Monday. 15min amrap of deadlifts, box jumps and toes-to-rings. Result 7 rounds + 9 T2R, 234 reps.

My upper hamstrings were killing me in the morning as I woke up because of yesterday's squats. I'm still smiling after having done those squats concentrating in quality, at least in my opinion =) I really felt the hip flexors and hamstrings stretching more than normally and hopefully this is the right path to better lower body mobility. Today's programming stated a 15min metcon, main strength element was deadlift, together with box jumps and a newcomer, toes-to-rings. Toni did the same workout except the last movement was replaced with toes-to-bar.

Handstand training

Metcon. Result 6 rounds + 9 toes-to-rings. Total of 204 reps.

• 15min amrap of
• 5 deadlifts, 102.5kg
• 10 box jumps, 64cm
• 15 toes-to-rings

I had a total of 204 reps consisting of 35 deadlifts, 70 box jumps and 99 toes-to-rings. Why put 102.5kg on the bar? That's 225lbs (102.3kg), which is sometimes used as weight in benchmark workouts. I have never done deadlifts with this weight, usually it's around 120kg in a metcon. I wanted to test it out if the bar would be easy to keep bouncing up and down continuously for 15min. For example Diane (21-15-9, deadlift and hspu) uses these 225lbs or 102.5kg. We did this together with Toni so we wanted the bar to be rather easy to lift for both of us.

Deadlifts were not bad at all as I thought beforehand. Don't know what would happen in Diane as you have so many reps to go in all sets, 21 reps, then 15 and 9, hopefully unbroken… Box jumps also were done unbroken. Nowadays I'm extending my body entirely to full extension each time when I jump on the box. This is done because I don't want to be "no rep'd" in vain.

Toes-to-rings were the most demanding movement of all these. On the first round I went unbroken. On the second round 10+5. Then from third round on I always did at least 6 reps in first attempt, then in smaller sets. My abs and upper quads were going numb at some point of the workout.

I don't which one is tougher, doing this last movement with the rings or with a pull-up bar. Doing it with pull-up bar you stay more stable, with the rings you swing more and maybe have to do more work with abdominal muscles. Don't know, go figure

Toes-to-rings

Toni's workout. Result 4 rounds + 8 toes-to-bars. Total of 143 reps.

• 15min amrap of
• 5 deadlifts, 102.5kg
• 10 box jumps, 64cm
• 15 toes-to-bar

Toni had a total of 143 reps in total consisting of 25 deadlifts, 50 box jumps and 68 toes-to-rings. In the end of the training session he practiced handstand push-ups for a while.

In the evening I went to play floorball with my team. Still one more game to go in the regular season. Then we'll see if there are playoffs waiting for us.