Tuesday. Front squat (max PR 120kg). Grace (50kg), time 3.10.
I had planned to wake up eagerly and go to the gym. For some reason I slept too late and had to hurry myself on the way. No prob, I had enough time to do some PR's with Toni & Joni =) I went for front squats and hero called Grace. Toni did took bench press, front squat and Grace, Joni concentrated in front squat.
Toni front squatting
Strength. 2-2-2-2-f (90, 100, PR 115, PR 120, f 125kg).
Yeah baby! I wanted to see how much further I could push it with front squats so I took doubles to new digits. I was pumping it with Joni who also managed to squat his new PR of 110kg. I took sets of 90 and 100kg. My previous max was 112.5kg. We thought we put 107.5kg on the bar but after having done my squats I realized there were 115kg, a little miscalculation so to say :) Luckily this way and not downwards. I new it already at 100kg that it's going well today. That 115kg PR lift was easy two rep set so I added it to 120kg and took it up twice as well. I got greedy and wanted to add bets, plates worth 125kg came down but not up. Hey, 7.5kg improve on the max load of my front squat, damned I felt strong!
Front squat, 120kg
Toni shared his old record in bench press with 95kg and front squatted 90kg, which also happens to be his max, dating back to week 47.
Grace. I modified to 50kg. Time 3.10. Grace = 30 x clean & jerk.
This was the third time we've done Grace. First time was 7th September, my time was 5.40, on the same day I PR'd my front squat to 95kg. Hmm, 25kg up in three months time, guess that's ok. Mid-October we took a pair wod with Toni, Double-Grace, and we timed it 5.50. Today my time was 3.10 with same weights, 50kg on the barbell. Next time there are no options, better upgrade it to Rx'd weights, 60kg.
I took 5 sets of 6 reps to reach 30 reps in total. It was mentally easier to go in sets rather than push to the limits and then struggle to the end. I planned to do 6 reps a minute but because my first set was done in about 25 seconds and it didn't feel that bad, I decided to go further rather quickly. I was done two rounds little after one minute. On the second round the bar started to feel heavier and rest periods didn't make their purpose anymore. After fourth round I didn't rest much - at least it didn't feel like it - because goal line was looming somewhere ahead. I pushed through in 3.10 and improved my time with 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
Grace, Don
After I finished, Toni got a boost and wanted to have piece of this girl as well. He had same strategy of 6x5 reps which proved to be a success for both of us. The first time Toni did Grace with 40kg and timed it 4.09. Today he went with 50kg and clock stopped at 4.04.
Monday. Back squats 5x3 (max 120kg), metcon of back squats and pull-ups, time 10.43, 73 pull-ups.
Alarm clock had its moment at 6.00, I woke up and ate breakfast, then headed to the gym with Toni to go for back squats and back squat + pull-up oriented metcon. My quads were still sore from front squats and thrusters. Toni took bench presses as strength training and then five different Tabata workouts.
Tabata rowing in process
Strength. Back squats 5x3 (100, 110, 115, 120, f 125kg). Nowadays I know I can reach 120kg every time I go for it. 125kg seems to be a tough one, today I tried it once but didn't get it up. Sets of 100, 110, 115 and 120kg succeeded. My legs and joints were not that flexible this time, somehow they were stiff from the very beginning. Even though I put effort on my warm-up and used more time in opening my legs than normally. Anyways, 120kg was the max of Monday squats.
Metcon. Time 10.43. Compare to 21st August. Squats with 60kg, my pull-up reps for each round are in brackets.
18 back squats
Max pull-ups (PR 25 reps)
15 back squats
Max pull-ups (12 reps)
12 back squats
Max pull-ups (12 reps)
9 back squats
Max pull-ups (12 reps)
6 back squats
Max pull-ups (12 reps)
50m walking lunges with 20kg bar overhead
Total of 60 back squats with 60kg and 73 pull-ups. Not bad, my pull-ups have improved greatly. I still remember the feelings from that August workout and this was very much similar. All rounds of back squats went "unbroken" but in the second and third rounds I had to take a 2 second pause to shake my legs before continuing further. That 60kg is about 50% of my max load. This workout is not only for time but also for pull-up reps. Last time I got 48 reps, this time 25 more... That's progress, I'd say. The first round of pull-ups witnessed my new PR, 25 reps. On the second round I finished 12 reps and decided to hold on to that number throughout the workout.
50m walking lunges in the end after having done back squat strength training and having done 60 squats in this particular workout really burnt my legs, big time. Pressure in the shoulders and upper back area were considerable because of the pull-ups and the overhead position. I did this one in 20m + 20m + 10m sets. For some reason I like this workout a lot and I will keep on doing this one in the future as well. Try it out and you'll see what I mean =)
Total of 34 dips, 87 sit-ups, 72 hspu, 850m row, 118 double unders. Result for dips was 2reps, 9 sit-ups, 4 hspu, 100m row, 5 double unders. I would say the first round of Toni's double unders were probably the best I've seen from this fellow. It seemed he was like a pro doing his basic double under training. Toni's handstand push-ups were modified to keeping the legs on the stall bars. The biggest thing was that he also made a personal record in bench press, single press of 95kg, nice! Didn't get that on video but here's the 2x90kg
Saturday. Workout inspired by "The Seven", seven movements, five rounds. Time 26.00
Saturday morning, tough workout, result happy and tired. Toni was there with me and we pushed through this heavy workout. No separate strength workout today as the metcon included deadlifts and thrusters with heavier weights already and handstand push-ups as well.
Metcon. Time 26.00. Toni did 4 rounds in 31.27.
5 rounds of
7 handstand push-ups
7 thrusters (50kg)
7 knees-to-elbows
7 deadlifts (120kg)
7 burpees
7 kettlebell swings, 1 pood
7 pull-ups
Deadlift
This was a tough one. It was inspired by the workout called "Seven". It wasn't rx'd. The original consists of 60kg thrusters and 2 pood kb swings and lasts naturally 7 rounds. Because of the huge number of handstand push-ups I decided to use foam roll as my assistance so I didn't lower my head all the way to the floor. Toni hasn't performed HSPU's yet so he took advantage of stall bars, he laid his feet on the bars and did semi handstand push-ups.
I had no rush from the very beginning, concentrating in doing the movements unbroken and catching my breath. Everything but deadlifts and thrusters went unbroken. Actually the handstand push-ups with the help of foam roll was too easy. The two movements I was afraid of - hspu & thrusters - were not the most difficult. It was definitely the deadlift, it was the most demanding part of the workout with plates worth of 120kg in the barbell. For the first round of thrusters I took the bar to my chest when lowering it from the upright position and then front squatting with the bar. That wasn't smart so from the second round on I started to do them as real thrusters, flexing my knees when bringin the bar down to my chest and keeping the motion continous up and down. The last two rounds I had to do 5+2 reps, it was such a tough job to go unbroken.
Thruster
Knees-to-elbows usually feels quite light, at least with a small amount of reps. But then, deadlift... Huh, Total of 35 reps during the workout, nice! First round unbroken. The following 4 rounds 5+2 or 4+3 depending on the round. It came up well but it was heavy. It's good that I had this workout because I haven't had deadlifts lately. It usually tears skin off my palms but today's tapes saved my hands.
Burpees I took with easy pace. Kettlebell swings were way too easy, almost a rest period because we don't have heavier kettlebell at the gym. We were thinking about doing swings with two 1 pood kettlebells but didn't want to risk swinging the kb to the knee cap and take an injury =) Pull-ups went unbroken each time, that seems to be the trend nowadays.
Burpee
All in all, this workout was physically demanding. Doing high rep thrusters and deadlifts with heavier weights wasn't that easy. It took quite a while - about hald an hour - so stamina was definitely on test as well. I could have put my body work even harder and shorten the breaks between movements but I thought it's gonna be a nightmare because of the length of it. I'm satisfied with how I was able to partition this workout. It really sucked the juice out of me and I felt great after the workout. We would have gone for the total seven rounds for sure, it was just a matter of schedules. We had to go to work at 9.00 so we were in a rush from the very beginning =)
Press day, and a good one! In all three strength moves I tied my current record or went beyond it. My throat aches a bit so I decided to skip metcons for a couple of days and focus on strength. It's not that badly hurt anyway, doesn't prevent me from training. This proved to be smart decision and I headed to the gym with Toni for heavy presses. After doing a lot of pressing we drove to Pirkkola for Toni having the possibility to learn kipping pull-ups.
Push press 77.5kg
Strength. Presses
Shoulder press 4-4-2-2 (50, 55, 60, 60kg)
Push press 3-3-2-1 (65, 70, 75, PR 77.5kg)
Bench press 4-4-4-3 (60, 70, 75, 80kg)
Before this day my record for shoulder press was 60kg, push press 75kg and bench 80kg. It was all going up well and I was quite proud of myself. It's been only ten days (10.11) since my previous records for these shoulder oriented strength exercises, the improvements back then were 5kg each and now I was able to go for even higher weights. My bench press record also dates to the early November when I did 80kg twice. Today it came up three reps and the fourth was inches away from clean rep but Toni assisted me in the last moment, might not have come up without him, don't know. Anyway, it was a very good press day.
Toni also tied his PR in push press, he went up to 55 for shoulder press and 77.5kg for push press and so very close to 80kg. Shoulder press was a bit sticky but once he got his legs in the play and changed to push press, things started to happen. The plan was to do fours for shoulder press and threes for push press. His sets look slightly bizarre this time. For some reason 75kg came up only once but once he took a 2 min break he shot the bar up three times, then added load to 77.5kg and did two reps. Finally that magical 80kg refused to go all the way three times. He was determined and persistent! This just wasn't that day yet.
Pull-up clinic. Toni learning the secrets of kipping pull-ups. I believe this was useful training for him and we utilized Cherie Chan's tutorial video for this purpose.
My body really wasn't in the best possible shape in the morning. I felt it in advance and decided yesterday to concentrate in some skills in the morning. It turned into a pull-up workout and handstand skills training. Toni did a new PR for bench press.
Workout. For quality.
10 rounds of
5 wide grip pull-ups
5 ring pull-ups
5 attempts of handstand
I performed my pull-ups with ease. I had no juice to for strength training today but this workout was perfect for me. 100 different type of pull-ups and skills training as well. Doing pull-ups with rings will definitely work for my benefit with muscle-ups in the future. I also wanted to do the regular bar pull-ups with a grip that is way wider than normally.
He had a lot of reps today. 3 rep sets up to 80 as intended. He then took 85kg up twice. After a short rest, three reps popped up. Same happened with 90kg. This encouraged him to go for new personal record and he got it, 92.5kg! Toni still pursued 95kg but it wasn't time for that, yet… Strength training was followed by hero called Annie, 150 double unders and sit-ups in sets of 50-40-30-20-10. Time 10.50
Monday. Back squats 4-4-4-4-3-2 (max 120kg), metcon of wall climbs, ring dips and pull-ups.
We gathered at the gym in the morning 07.00 with Toni, classic morning training was ahead of us. Schedule stood back squats, in sets of four reps, go as far as possible with those sets. My goal was to go for 120kg with good form. At the end we took a pair metcon together with Toni, for quality. It consisted of wall climbs, ring dips and pull-ups. Today my 1k warm-up row took 3.33 minutes. In the evening I drove Pauliina to the airport as she flew back to Stockholm. I'll be visiting her once more and after one month she will return back home for good in December. From the airport I drove to my team's home stadium. I went jogging for 40min and then we had a 2h floorball practice. Rough day.
Strength. Back squat 4-4-4-4-3-2 (100, 107.5, 115, 120, 120, 120kg). I took a good warm-up, got my joints prepared for the upcoming workout and I was confident of reaching my goal of the wod. I took sets of 4 reps starting from three digit numbers, first 100kg, then 107.5kg, finally 115kg. Then I was able to touch the goal line, 120kg. I took 4 reps but wasn't totally satisfied with the depth of my squat. That's why I took another set of same weights, three reps came up. Finally I still wanted the same bar to come up, managed to go for two reps. This was a good session, very pleased actually. Doing 9 reps of 120kg is good for me, I really felt I did something good today!
Going for 120kg, 3 times
Toni also did back squats, went up to 105kg with 4 rep sets, here is a sample of his 90kg set.
4 reps of 90kg, Toni
Metcon. Five rounds of the following movements, pair wod, for quality.
5 rounds of:
3/3 wall climbs
6/3 ring dips
9/3 pull-ups
Ring dips
We both wanted to go for these movements so we did it a bit differently this time. We made it into a pair wod for quality, the other one rests while the other one performs. I took reps of 3 wall climbs, 6 ring dips and 9 pull-ups each round, Toni took 3 reps each movement. Toni started with three climbs on the wall and I continued immediately when he was ready. After I finished he did 3 ring dips and I rested. Immediately after he did his third dip I did my 6 reps. So the only time we had rest time was the period the other was performing. We rolled through all five rounds so there was a total of 15 wall climbs, 30 ring dips and 45 pull-ups. Toni's total was 15 each.
Wall climbs, Toni
My energy level was huge entering this workout so this was an easy one, all sets unbroken and easy as well, wall climbs were lighter than ever before. I thought those pull-ups might get heavier but they were also easy each round. Definitely a positive sign of development. Toni also did all wall climbs and pull-ups unbroken if I remember correct but those ring dips were broken in some of the sets.
Wall climbs, 3 reps
I got a good feeling of today's workouts. First of all, the heavy back squats succeeded and I got a lot of reps with heavy bar on my back. 4-rep sets over 100 kilos and numerous reps with 120kg. And the metcon in the end was smooth from the beginning to the end.
Jogging and floorball. In the evening I went jogging before our floorball practice. I was at the stadium over one hour prior to the starting time so I had no rush, I took it easy, just wanted to go running as I haven't done that for a while. I've taken care of my metabolic condition through rowing, metcons and floorball. It would be wise to go running once in a while. During summer I did it more often. This was a good day of practicing, now I'll concentrate in eating =) After I started eating more, I've gained about 2 kilos in weight, and I've been eating under the instructions of my own nutritionist, Pauliina :) She's the best trainer for me in this section, she's been taking care of eating the correct foods, balancing between carbs, proteins and fibers. Thanks a lot for that!
Wednesday. 1k row, shoulder press 5-5-5-2. Mobility. Floorball training in the evening.
My plan was to do some fierce training in the morning. However, I felt it already in the warm-up and rowing that today my body is not gonna make any magic today. I did some training and finally ended up screening Toni's workouts and encouraging him.
Ring push-ups
Strength. Shoulder press 5-5-5-2 (50, 50, 50, 55kg). On the third set of 50kg press my left elbow got sore. On the fourth one (55kg) I felt my juice was gone and the pain increased, only two reps came up. I had high hopes for today so this was definitely a disappointment for me. I still pushed forward with push press for 55kg and 60kg, 3 reps for both of them. Then I called it off. My strength training was over. I only did some mobility for the next half an hour. After one hour it got better, and now in the evening it's all good, luckily =) We had team practice in the evening for 2 hours, I took some burpees, sit-ups, squats, lunges and back extensions before the training.
20 walking lunges, 20kg bar in front rack position, alternating legs
15 ring push-ups
10 pull-ups
First round of Toni's metcon
He started pull-ups as assisted versions with a rubber band but after 7-8 reps he tossed it away and did the remaining ones without it. That's awesome Toni, 40 pull-ups, that's a lot, probably more than you've ever done! Ring push-ups went unbroken in the first round, and 3x5 in the remaining rounds. Walking lunges seemed to be the easiest of these three moves.
Tuesday. Front squat 3-3-3-3-2 (max PR 112.5kg). Metcon 5 rounds of: 20 lunges with 40kg in the front rack position, 10 pull-ups, 5 hspu and 10 k2e. Time 15.17.
Handstand push-up
Strength. Front squat 3-3-3-3-2 (100, 105, 107.5, 110, PR 112.5kg). Nice! I got these going well from the very beginning. I've been able to add kilos to my max sets steadily and continuously. It's very heavy, no doubt but still it comes up and I don't compromise the form. I suppose my core is in good shape which enables these weights. I took 5 sets of 3 reps, only the last rep didn't come up. My belly was full as I got the second lift up on the last round so the last attempt was really no attempt. Today was a success with front squats, 14 reps over 100kg, that's something to be proud of :)
Personal record in front squat, 112.5kg
Metcon. Tough one, 5 rounds of weihgted lunges, pull-ups, hspu, k2e, time 15.17.
5 rounds of
20 lunges with a 40kg bar in the front rack position
10 pull-ups
5 handstand push-ups
10 knees-to-elbows
Huh, this was a tough one! It got to my heart, it got to my shoulders and it got to my hamstrings and quads. I intentionally made it longer than normally because I wanted to put my heart to test as well and also see what happens with those moves as I add more reps to a workout. First of all, the lunges. I held the barbell in the same way as if I did front squats. I put 40kg on the bar and did 20 lunges per round, with alternating legs, i.e. 10 per leg. For the first three rounds I went unbroken, for the last two rounds I did 14+6 reps. It really burnt my legs in the end and also caught my respiration.
My pull-ups have taken a step further. All rounds unbroken, boom baby! Haha, spectacular feeling as I got some kipping style to ease the movement. After pull-ups the next move was handstand push-ups, five of them each round. Today I finally made the decision to skip the foam roll and hit my head to the floor, very smart decision! This makes the movement many times harder compared to lowering head to a foam roll or something alike. For the first two rounds I went unbroken, third and fourth round 3+2 and the last round 2+2+1. It was tough, my shoulders were in pure pain, just the way I like it =) I should learn how to kip the handstand push-ups, it would make it so much easier, especially when fatigue come into play. After HSPUs the knees-to-elbows were easy, ten reps isn't that bad. All rounds unbroken, easiest movement in the workout.
My first round was around two and a half minutes, second round little less than three minutes and the last three rounds were just over three minutes on average.
Toni handstanding
Toni's workouts. Today Toni put all his focus on strength training, deadlift and bench press.
Tuesday. Clean & jerk 3-3-3-2-1 (max 70kg). Metcon 4 rounds of db thrusters, hspu and lunges.
This day was somewhat easier one. I took some sets of clean & jerk, ending up to 70kg. Training also included a metcon with dumbbell thrusters, handstand push-ups and lunges with a bar at my back. Toni was at the gym with me, he went for cleans, bench press and similar kind of workout as I did. This evening is free of training so tomorrow morning we are prepped up for going after something awkward with Toni. Stay tuned!
Dumbbell thrusters
Strength. Clean & jerk 3-3-3-2-1 (50, 60, 65, 70, 70kg). On the last round I took 3 cleans, only 1 jerk. My cleans were power cleans. However, with 50kg I took squat cleans to remind myself who they should go. So this workout was to combine clean and push press to reach "clean & jerk". I took 70kg C&Js up 2 times on the fourth round and once in the last round. In the last round I anyway took 3x70kg cleans and only one jerk. I just realized when writing this that 70kg was my clean PR from 10 days ago, and push press PR from 3 days ago. I thought my morning training wasn't such a success I wanted but now I actually feel pretty good! Still, it takes time to go for Grace (30 x clean & jerk) with the rx'd weights (60kg). It might take a while. I enjoyed that workout a lot when I did it with 50kg last time. However, next time I think I'll go for the original weights.
Metcon. Dumbbell thrusters, handstand push-ups, lunges. I didn't time this one.
4 rounds of:
10 db thrusters (12.5kg dumbbells)
5 hspu
20 lunges (with 20kg bar)
I did it with normal speed, no extra breaks in between. I just didn't have the clock running. I felt this one in my hamstrings when doing thrusters in the deepest position. And handstand push-ups are always tough. I used a foam roll where I landed my head with the HSPUs. All sets went unbroken except the last rep of handstand push-ups, last rep! Damned, it was a half of a rep, I didn't want to count that so I did one proper one. I totally enjoy push-ups when inverted, must keep on enhancing in them. Then Diane (21-15-9, deadlift & hspu) would also be possible. And I definitely need to get rid of that foam roll, just bang my head to the floor :) Thrusters and lunges were not that bad, my legs felt it but in reality they were not bad. I should have done this in amrap-mode, more rounds or then just simply more reps. Good movements though!
Toni, how was it, here is the last round of your amrap. First round it took about 1:30, then the following rounds were about 2 minutes. It was solid effort and you managed to keep the pace steady. What do you think of your strength training in the morning?
What a wonderful day for squatting. Yesterday I did 30 reps of back squats with 85% of max weights. This caused my legs to be somewhat tired in the morning as I woke up. I wasn't sure how the energy level would be to do heavy front squats. I proved to myself that great portion of training is mental. I pushed that fatigue to the background and started working. I ended up with another personal record and continued with snatches and overhead squats. I started the day by going 5x20 double unders, all sets unbroken and easy, nice!
Front squat. Sets of 3-3-3-3-2 (95, 100, 105, PR 110kg, 110kg). It is awkward that the more I put plates on the bar, the easier it got. I took some warm-up lifts with 80kg, they felt heavier than I thought they should be. It definitely didn't feel like there's gonna me any magic happening today. However, as I piled more weights, I suppose my joints and hip got more open and I managed to get a good form and the center of mass focused on the right spot. Sets around 100kg were not that bad so I added 5kg after each set until 100kg. I took my new personal record up three times. It felt very good so I took it again, this time 2 reps was enough for me. The first rep of that set looked good but on the second one I lost my form and decided to put the bar on the rack.
Snatch. Sets of 5-5-5-5 (30, 35, 40, 40kg). This is actually turning in to a strength move which I'm always looking eagerly forward to. My technique definitely needs to be worked on. I was going after coach Burgener's tips in snatching the bar from the ground, slowly to the halting deadlift and then furiously snatching it to the top. Previously my attempts have been hang snatches. At this moment I don't feel comfortable enough doing squat snatches, they are always power snatches. That's why I'm going after power snatches and overhead squats to find my perfect form. Once I feel confident with those, I'm able to add kilos and do squat snatches as well.
Overhead squats. Sets of 5-5-5-5 (30, 30, 30, 30kg). That's how my bottom position looks like. It's alright at the moment, my knees are still not pointing enough outside, in my opinion, and the weight is not on my heels. That's what I'm trying to fix now. However, my upper body mobility is from another world today and I'm able to go deep enough with shoulders giving up and letting my hands go back. Today I took 4x5 with 30kg on the bar.
Overhead squats
Toni's workouts. Back squats, technique focused pull-ups / dips workout and finally a metcon, time 9.55. Back squat 5-5-5-5-3 (80, 90, 95, 95, 95kg). Pull-ups 5x3, dips 5x4. Toni's metcon. Time 9.55
1.000m row
20 k2e
20 dips
20 du
Knees-to-elbows
Toni, tell us your feelings, how was the back squat? What kind of sets did you go for with these movements? I saw only your knees-to-elbows. By the way I'm very proud that you are doing those nowadays! One month ago you were laughing at them. Now you look like a pro.
By the way, here is a video of Visa doing his back squats in the morning. Pretty light one, 180kg on the bar... He is an animal!!!
Wednesday. Deadlift 5x3 (max PR 155kg), metcon 3 rounds of 1.000m row & 20 kb swing. Time 14.55.
This was pretty awesome day, to say the least! The whole gang was at the gym. Tony the Pony, Joni and Visa as well. It was crowded today and the plates ran out as everyone were doing their strength workouts at the same time =) I took deadlifts, Toni and Joni took front squats and bench press, Visa did purely strength today and went for back squats, bench press and deadlift. My metcon was a bad ass and really made me suffer in a good way! Strength. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3-1 (120+130+140+145+150+ PR 155kg). Strength consisted of serious deadlifting. Luckily Visa pushed me forward to make the record, 155kg. After some lighter weights as warm-up, upto 100kg, I began my grimacing with the weights. It came "easily" for the first two or three sets, then it got extremely heavy. I still managed to pull it up with rather nice form (I think) to the end. 145 and 150kg were tough ones for sure, no surprise there. I have never tried a deadlift that hasn't come up so this time ought to be different. I took 155kg up once, probably took several seconds as it was a mental and physical battle all the way. As I landed the bar, I had used all my power that was in the storage and I didn't even go for another attempt. It would have not been possible at this stage. I felt strong today and I'm very happy I'm able to lift double my bodyweight (76kg)!
Metcon. Rowing and kettlebell swings (20kg). Time 14.55.
3 rounds of
1.000m row
20 KB swing (20kg)
It was a mind blowing experience to combine rowing and kettlebell swings. I've done the combo in a bit different style 2.5 months back and it was a rough one then as well. I knew before the workout that it's gonna demand more mental capacity than normal metcon. And it was so true. I'm very satisfied I completed this workout with style. My pace for the rowing was 1.46/500m for the first round, 1.50 for the second round and finally 1.55 for the last round.
Kettlebells went unbroken except the last round where the handle and my hands were so wet that I had to stop swinging after 10 reps and dry my hands for two seconds. Okay, sounds like an excuse but really, it was slippery =) My forearms were extremely burnt and numb after the workout. The feeling just before hitting the third round, my forearms hurt so much I was wondering how to grab the rower's handle. My grab power was weak that it seemed very difficult to row for another 1k. Anyway, I pushed through and saw the finish line finally. Time 14.55. Happy that I combined these two and went outside the comfort zone! There was a total of 4k rowing today, 1k as warm-up and 3k in this workout. All pretty much with same speed. This is exactly what I wanted.
Toni's front squat
Toni's workouts. Toni took sets front squats 5-5-5-5-5 (max 75kg) and then bench press 3-3-3-3-3-1, maxing it out with 90kg, his new personal record! He did his metcon together with Joni. Toni's time 9.03, Joni 9.10.
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.
Second day of training in Sweden. This day concentrated in my shoulder area. After warming up by rowing and skierg machine, squats with pvc pipe etc. I focused on presses. I started by shoulder presses and continued with push presses. After a pause, I did workout called Karen, 150 wall balls for time. At the end I trained skills by attempting to find stability in hanstand. I can say my shoulders were burning after the training.
Pauliina tightening the core
Strength. Shoulder press 4x4 (40+50+50+50kg) and push press 4x4 (50+55+60+65kg). First, sets of 4 reps by shoulder press, stiff legged, purely lifting the bar with hands only. Old school strength for shoulders. Fifty kilos is the max that I've every tried in shoulder press. This time I got that 50kg up several times. In the last two rounds I was able to do three reps each time instead of the planned four reps. I think my rest times were a bit too short anyway, so fatigue maybe hit me too early as I was on top of my max load anyway. Still, 10 reps with shared pr-result is not bad.
I continued it instantly with push presses so it was more like a 8x4 set of presses, just changed the style halfway. I took one set of 50kg first, then added extra 5kg after each set. Some of the reps were a mental game to push it up. Luckily Pauliina was next to me encouraging "you didn't come all the way to Sweden to do half reps, push it!" That really helped, thanks baby! In the last set, 65kg, I took three reps, that was tough after the first rep already. I was very pleased to be able to push my limits a little further.
Kettlebell, 32kg
Karen. Karen consists of 150 wall ball shots up to 3m in height for time. My time was 5.01. The ball should be 20lbs (9kg). Unfortunately the gym had only 5kg ball so I had to use that instead. First time doing this workout so I had no idea what the strategy should be. That's why I took sets of 35+35+40+40 reps. Afterwards I realized there should not have been as many breaks. Could've have probably done it in two or max three sets. However, in so many workouts it hits you badly if you rush in the beginning so I figured it's wise to have a break anyway after 35 reps. It would be awesome do this with the original weight. In my opinion, at least this time and this weigth, the movement seemed easier compared to those thrusters that I've done with 15kg plate to substitute wall ball movement. I might change my opinion once I get a hold of a 9kg wall ball :)
Karen going on
Handstand skills. At the end I took 15 minutes training for handstand skills. There were a couple attempts where I was able to stabilize for a few seconds. The biggest problem was that I didn't feel comfortable swinging my legs strong enough to the sky. That's why my legs dropped to the same direction I had just started from. Good that I took this practice, better keep on continuing enhancing my skills.
Pauliina pressuring her abdominals
Pauliina concentrated today mostly in metabolic condition and abdominal workouts. Toni reported from home base that he went to the gym second time to do deadlifts, knees to elbows and pull-ups. I heard there was some sort of personal record broken as well. You better tell it Toni!
Tuesday. 100 DUs. Back squat 3x5 (100kg), weighted lunges 3x5 with alternating legs (60kg), overhead squats 3x8 (20kg). Wod consisting of back squats and ring dips, time 5.51. Weighted ring dips 3x5 (max 15kg), weighted pull-ups3x5 (max 15kg). 100 DUs to cool down.
Overhead squats
Quite a day! Woke up at six o’clock in the morning and headed to the gym with Toni and another fresh crossfitter, Joni. My agenda was to go for back squats, not to the max anyway. In addition I decided to take weighted lunges and learn some technique for overhead squats. After that I took a metcon consisting of back squats and ring dips. Finally I felt there was still some juice left so I put on the belt and started loading some weights on it, and began doing ring dips and pull-ups. For starters and cooling down I took 100 reps of double unders in each end of the training session.
Strength. Back squats 3x5 (100+100+100kg). Weighted lunges 5x5 with alternating legs (60+60+60kg). Then I also took overhead squats 3x8 (20+20+20kg).
I wanted to give pressure for my legs by concentrating on quantity this time. I piled it up to 100kg for back squats and took 3 sets of 5 reps. If this was a regular heavy squatting day, I would’ve put more plates on the bar. Today’s agenda was a bit different. I don’t want to get stuck on the same routines so I’m trying to find various types of exercises, which still increase my strength level. I felt confident doing those back squats today. After traditional squatting, I took lunges with a barbell in my back. I took five reps with each leg, alternating after each step. Every set included 5 lunges with both legs. I had 60kg in the bar. Not too heavy, could’ve carried more weights though.
This was a good and different type of leg workout. At the end, I wanted to have a look how my overhead squats are at the moment. I can tell you there is remarkable difference in my overhead squats compared to summer time. Then, it was just impossible to squat by holding a bar overhead and squat simultaneously. Of course I was able to hold the bar overhead but when I tried to go down, my upper body naturally leaned forward and caused the bar to drop in front of me. After doing mobility movements inspired by Kelly Starlett, my mobility has improved greatly and nowadays I can do those squats. I’m not sure my technique is perfect but it’s manageable. Better start doing them consistently. Then, in the future you will witness me doing overhead squats with proper weights as well as snatches.
Metcon. Back squats and ring dips. Time 5.51.
4 rounds of:
20 back squats (50kg)
10 ring dips
Metcon. My metcon part was also about squats. Four rounds of back squats, 20 reps with 50kg, and 10 ring dips. Total of 80 squats and 40 ring dips. All sets went unbroken. My strategy was to do sets unbroken so I didn’t rush between transitions because that might have forced to have a break in between. My legs were burning in the second round of the workout. On the third and fourth rounds I stopped for maybe two seconds to give a short break for my hamstrings. I kept the bar all the time at my back, just wanted to take a short breath during the squats, then continued to the end. Ring dips went also unbroken each time.
Strength for dips and pull-ups. Ring dips 3x5 (10+10+15kg) and pull-ups 3x5 (10+10+15kg). I was still hungry for training so decided to get the belt and and put some weights hanging from it and do some ring dips and pull-ups. I mixed these two movements. First 5 ring dips with 10kg, then 5 pull-ups with same kilos. A break, another round, a break, increased it to 15kg and repeated the same protocol. I just love those rings, nothing else to say about them, they are awesome! The pull-ups were more difficult for me than ring dips. Next time I might add more kilos to ring dips, I suppose 20kg will come up in a set of 5 reps. However, I think I managed to do 3 or 4 pull-ups with 15kg in the last set. I really don’t consider my pull-ups to be my strength. My max amount of pull-ups is 20reps currently, I see a definite development target there.
Toni’s workouts. Strength for front squats (max 3 x 70kg) and back squats (max 2 x 100kg). Metcon was
3 rounds of:
15 burpees
30 sit-ups
20 squats
20 kettlebell (16kg)
Toni going for 100kg back squat
Toni will comment his metcon himself, we were doing our metcons simultaneously so it’s hard to say how he did. At least he had hard times after the workout so I bet this was a rough one.
Monday. Game day, we had a Finnish Cup Champion game at home stadium. We lost the game in overtime 5-6. Damned it was disappointing. I must go to the gym in the morning forget the game. Toni focused today in crossfit.
His metcon consisted of rowing, dips and double unders. Time 16.30
4 rounds of:
500m row
5 dips
20 double unders
I wasn't there with him so Toni please comment on the nature of the workout so that we can feel what thoughts you had during the workout and live it through with you! :) I bet the combination of rowing and doubles really attacked your heart?
Another mobilitywod workout for leg and hip flexibility. Awesome assistance for squats
Sunday. Hero workout Adrian. Time 14.37. Mobility afterwards. Floorball in the morning.
In the morning we had floorball training with my sports team for 1.5 hours. Before that I was watching my little bro's game, they beat the other team 8-2 and he shined at the field, well done! Anyway, we had planned to do Adrian with my big bro, Sipa, but we had some schedule problems so we had to call the plans off. He took five rounds of Adrian by himself and I headed home to eat and recover from team training. Toni was supposed to have a day off but after same persuasion, he finally took the bait and we agreed to meet at the "box" where we tend to hang around every day.
Wall climbs
Adrian. Time 14.37
7 rounds of:
3 rollovers
5 wall climbs
7 K2E (should be T2B)
9 box jumps
What does a hero wod actually mean? They are workouts that are made in honor of soldiers who have served their country and were killed in line of duty. Crossfitters forget the pain during the workout and continue to the end vigorously in honor of these people. Adrian's workout is based on this:
U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Adrian Elizalde, 30, of North Bend, Oregon, assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), based in Fort Lewis, Washington, died on August 23, 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. He is survived by his parents, Jorge and Teresa Elizalde, sister Rachel, and daughter Sydney Grace.
I modified the toes-to-bars to knees-to-elbows because the pull-up bar rack is so close to the wall that there's not enough space between the wall and the bar. This time I wanted to jump to a higher box, I don't know what the height was but I put 15kg plates under the bench onto which I was jumping. However, this workout was all about wall climbs, they were insane!
Rollovers basically just make your head spin around for a while, especially if you're not used to them. I've done them last time when I was a little kiddo. I found a rather smooth style to complete them, surprisingly. Three of them wasn't bad physically. The idea of a wall climb is to lay face to the floor, heels against the wall. From there, you start pushing your heels up the wall until your chest touches the wall. This wasn't the most familiar movement to me so for the sake of safety I didn't push my chest entirely to the wall. This movement really gets to your shoulders, damned it was rough in the last 2-3 rounds. In the beginning I was able to do them unbroken but the last rounds something like 3+2 and 2+2+1.
Clip of Adrian
All sets of K2Es were done unbroken. My transition times were not the fastest but that was my original plan from the very beginning. I've never done Adrian before but all hero wods are nasty and long in nature so I realized that it would be stupid to rush in the beginning. That's why I took transitions as my short rest periods. Then do sets unbroken. I figured this would be the ideal way of performing this workout. And my plan held till the end nicely. All but wall climbs went unbroken. Box jumps weren't any issue, even with the plates under the bench. I'm really waiting for that Rogue 24 inch box to be delivered to the gym so that I can really get my legs burning with box jumps.
I was thinking beforehand what is the movement in this workout that is going to make me sob. My bro warned me about the climbs and he had it right. Climbing up the wall hit the shoulders and it also got my heart. My respiration went faster every round I was pushing myself up. Doing this for over 14 minutes did have an effect in my breathing. I enjoyed Adrian a lot. It was a different type of exercise in which you can put "all in". I was also happy with my time as I was able to do all other movements unbroken but the climbs. This resulted in quite a good time I suppose? At least I'm satisfied with my effort. This workout was at the main site September 23rd, those crossfitters' times were between 12.46 - 29.55, most of them over 20 minutes. Compared to that I'm very pleased :)
Rollovers
Toni's wod. Toni didn't go after Adrian, too many unfamiliar movements so he did another one. Time 10.53.
21-15-9
Thrusters (35kg)
Burpees
Toni couldn't speak in the following few minutes after the metcon. Actually I had to get him a trash bin during the last round of the metcon 'cause he was about to throw up. After the workout, he was gone. I had to pour some water on his head as he had really given his everyhing. No need to be scared, he's ok but he was trashed from this wod =) His thrusters rolled well for the first 15 reps. Then the following 6 he took in two sets. 21 burpees unbroken. The second round brought fatigue. Those 15 thrusters came up in 5 sets of 3 reps. Burpees unbroken, pace slowing down. Last set of thrusters speeded up a bit, then slowed down, ending in 4-3-2 reps.
Toni's burpees
I was trying to do some mental job with him in the last round. He did his best burpees of the workout in the final round. His pace was much faster than in the first or second round. His final time was 10.53. Today Toni went to the battle field and came back as a winner!
Toni, I still have to thank you for your yesterday's help in my Filthy Fifty's burpees. Can you imagine, he was doing my last 10 burpees with me, which forced me to keep up a good pace with them. The only thought in my head that time was to keep up with him. Awesome inspiration man!!!
At the end Toni took some ring skills and we also witnessed his first full range motion of a ring dip, c'mon! The training session started with rowing and double under skills training.
Toni's ring dip
Here's some mobility workout tips by K-Starr from mobilitywod. He is awesome, I've paid a lot of attention to his tips in the recent weeks. It doesn't take much time and effort but it's very important to take care of the body as I tend to put it work quite a lot. 1-2 trainings a day requires me to do some body maintenance as well, naturally.
