Wednesday 16.9: Squats, Emom, Lunges, Burpees

Wednesday. Back squat (up to 5x138kg). Emom x 10min. Odd min, 10 hspu. Even min, 10 pistol. Metcon, 5rds of: 40m lunges, 10 burpee. Wear a vest. Time, 10.40.

Good long session of crossfit took place today in Vallila's premises. Couple of sets back squat to kick everything off. Then two workouts with bodyweight stuff. Good session for sure. My legs are killing me right now. That's a fact.

Strength.

• Back squat
• 3x100kg
• 3x115kg
• 4x130kg
• 4x5x138kg

Okay, so there was going to be 5x138kg. For four times… Even though I have never lifted that much weight for 5 reps, this didn't scare me at all. When being able to do multiple triples at the same weight, and after having done lots of sets lately at this weight, I was confident of hitting at least the first sets as planned.

The 100kg and 115kg sets were more like warm-up stuff. I did them touch'n'go. Also 130kg set was no big deal anymore. This is very encouraging. Some time ago this would have needed mental preparation but now it's like an everyday load. Very encouraging. Awesome to look back every now and then to realize some development has taken place.

I'm not gonna say the 138kg sets were light. They weren't. But it was alright, form stayed rather good in all the sets and reps, elbows were down, knees out, and back in upright position. So there is no other option but to smile and walk away victorious.

Squats

Gymnastics.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Odd minutes, 10 handstand push-ups
• Even minutes, 10 pistol squats

This was a 50 / 50 rep workout of hspu's and pistol squats. Handstand push-ups were no problem. Unbroken, with a good feeling. It took 20 seconds to finish each set. Easy and steady pace in each set. Pistols were tougher. Those heavy squats definitely had an effect. On the first rep in my warm-up I fell on my butt. After taking couple of reps with each leg they started to feel okay. Not perfect in any of the sets but manageable. I went 5 with left legs and then 5 with right legs.

Metcon. Time, 10.40

• 5 rounds of:
• 40m walking lunges
• 10 burpee
• Wear a 9kg vest

There were plenty of people doing lots of lunges with dumbbells in their hands. That intrigued me a lot so I decided to put on a 9kg vest and went 20 meters back and forth, then hit chest to deck for 10 burpees. Repeat for a total of 5 rounds. Rounds were steady which pleases me big time. Legs were beaten up. I refused to stop and breathe. Actually this wasn't as bad for breathing, it was mostly burning my legs. Pace was steady all the time.

Saturday 15.11: Row, Box, Burpees with weight vest

Saturday. Metcon, 20min amrap of: 500m row, 10 box, 10 burpee. Wear a weighted vest (9kg) throughout the workout. Result, 5rds + 200m row.

Quality time with my fiancé. We didn't have any planned action to go for this weekend so we utilized the opportunity to sleep late, eat a humongous breakfast of healthy smoothie and californian style omelette with spinach, turkey and avocados. Then we headed to "Jumbo" mall for some shopping, and Pauliina ended up finding the wedding ring of her dreams, great! In the evening we drove to the gym for another throwdown.

Metcon. Result, 5 rounds + 200m row

• 20 min amrap of:
• 500m row
• 10 box
• 10 burpee
• Wear weighted vest (9kg) throughout the workout

Yesterday we had a great pair workout with Toni and it really feels in my body. Don't know it it was the push press or ring push-ups or the combination of them and high rep pull-ups but my shoulders and triceps are killing me. It feels great! I've been longing to have a barbell up overhead and yesterday I finally got to do it. I'm resting from squats so I really had no plans for today. At some point I thought about throwing wall ball outdoors but then we headed to the gym anyway.

I decided to get my weight vest with me after a long break of training with it. Smooth move, I liked it a lot. Brutal stuff, it makes training more harsh. I've got it from Pauliina about 2 years ago, love her! This was the first time it was on me while rowing or jumping on a box. Burpees are familiar with this equipment on.

What I had in mind was a longer metcon. I basically wanted to breath heavy and keep moving for a while, building engine. Rowing was somehow a little different with a vest. Breathing was more burdensome than normally. It was like my lungs weighed more. Or something, hard to describe.

Anyway, I got the machine moving pretty well after all. It was about 1:45 pace for 500m in most of the sets. Towards the end it was closer to 1:50 but it never went over that. This was by far the most challenging part of the workout. There was a total of 2.7km of rowing.

Box jumps were completed on the same height as regular jumps. With a vest on I decided to step down after each rep to prevent too hard impact on lower body. I kept moving on constantly which means to say I didn't rest or recover at any point, but jumped right up after stepping down.

Burpees are always a pleasure. No matter whether you have a vest or not. I wanted to have those because I know they make me breath heavily and get the adrenaline up. Luckily though, there were just 10 reps of them. The vest started to unravel on burpees as it was swinging back and forth as I dropped down chest to floor.

This combo of movements was exactly what I was looking for. After finishing the last 200m on the rower, I was definitely done and over this one! Good heavy breather as was the objective of this one.

I'm having high hopes of being able to push the barbell overhead somehow. Let's see how that turns out tomorrow.

Recap

Friday 28.6: Kettlebells & burpees with a vest

Friday. Complete 100 kettlebell swings with a 32kg kb for time. Every time you drop the bell, perform 12 burpees on the spot. Wear a 9kg weighted vest throughout the workout. Time 7.34.

Those high-rep heavy deadlifts on Wednesday really got to my hamstrings and lower back. As I woke up yesterday, those muscles were Stiff. I've been trying to stretch them and use some tips from mobility.wod to loosed them up. Still, today they were disturbing me. For starters I took 2 sets of pull-ups and then a kettlebell oriented metcon. On the pull-ups I did 2 sets of max strict reps with that vest on. Result was 8 reps both times. The first set was palms facing off and the second one palms facing me.

Metcon. Time 7.34, sets of 50, 20, 15, 15 swings

• 100 kb swings, 32kg
• Every time you drop the bell, perform 12 burpees
• Wear a 9kg weighted vest

Huh, I was afraid how this would feel because of those hamstring and lower back muscles hurting already in advance. Well, I had proper warm-up and was ready to start moving. Just as I was about to start my metcon I saw a girl having an accident at the gym. She dropped some weight on her head and started bleeding seriously from the back of her head. Luckily there was my neighbor at the gym as well to give some quick first aid to stop the bleeding. Hopefully everything is okay with her.

Back to the metcon. I was hoping to make it in 4 sets. The first set was naturally the best and longest. 50 swings made my heart beat but it was still okay. I started doing burpees immediately and was thinking about resting after those. The second set of swing was way tougher. I had to get 20 reps or more to stay in that 4-set scheme. My forearms started to feel very tense at this stage. Took another set of burpees to keep moving. The last burpees were heavy on this one.

There were 30 reps left with the swings. I decided to share it in half. Those 15 reps felt surprisingly bad. I did a lot of mental game inside my head to convince it's only 15 repetitions and the weight is not heavy, it's quickly over man. The last set of burpees was very tough. I had to rest for a while before I did them because my forearms were numb at this stage. Reps from 86 to 100 were disgusting. Had pretty much no strength left whatsoever but somehow I got the needed reps done.

Total of 100 swings with 32kg (3.200kg) and 36 burpees. All done with the weighted vest on. I'm telling you, it was far from convenient to keep that vest on after the workout. Had to get rid of it immediately. This got to my breathing quite efficiently and the most difficult part of it was the strength grip. I recommend to try it out!

Two-time champ is definitely out from this year's Games, it's a pity

This guy is still in, the 2-time champ is after his third in a straight in just one month time

Friday 21.6: Rowing, burpees and sit-ups

Friday. 6 rounds of 500m row with 2:00 rest between sets. Metcon, 3rds of 10 burpees and 20 sit-ups, wearing a 9kg weight vest. Time 3.48.

Friday's program was all about metabolic conditioning. Rowing intervals as the main focus area. Total of 3k rowing in small pieces, trying to go all in. I also brought my weight vest to play a role in this training session. I utilized it for burpees and sit-ups. There has not been a single soul at the gym today nor yesterday since it's the finnish mid-summer holiday. The day is longest today, sun will not come down all day / night and people are pretty much at their summer cottages. We're also driving to the country side in the afternoon with Pauliina to meet with some friends.

Rowing. Times between 1.39-1.40.

• 6 rounds of 500m row
• 2:00 rest between rounds

My goal was to go fast each round, not looking to get a good average but to see how fast I can go and then try to maintain that speed through all 6 rounds. On the first round I was at 1.40 / 500m. On the second the same time. Actually, all 4 first rounds my time was identical, 1.40 on the clock =) At this stage I thought the following rounds I might lose a second or two but was actually able to drop 1 sec of the clock, reaching 1.39 on the last rounds. I was pretty wasted after the last round. I taped the first and fifth round, below you'll see some action from the 5th set.

Fifth set of rowing, time 1.39

Metcon. Timr 3.48

• 3 rounds of:
• 10 burpees
• 20 sit-ups
• Wear a 9kg weighted vest

Quick metcon in the end with burpees and sit-ups. Didn't want to take any barbell / dumbbell / kettlebell work today, simply focusing on bodyweight movements spiced with a 9kg vest. What's a better conditioning movement than burpees? It's pretty much the best. Sit-ups as a friend for those burpees. The nature of both movements is different when you wear a vest. Haven't done many vest burpees, definitely wears a man out better and quicker than a traditional burpee. Surprisingly those sit-ups got to my core, even though there were only 60 of them. Guess it was simply the extra weight that had to be carried. Go figure, have to try them more to find the answer. Should utilize this vest more anyway, it seems to be an awesome equipment!

Metcon of burpees and sit-ups

Friday 22.2: Metcon with a vest

Friday. Metcon with a weighted vest. For quality

After a tough week of training I wanted to leave the barbells alone and train with bodyweight. Okay, I added the weighted vest I got from Pauliina earlier this month. I had some training buddies with me to concentrate in strength training. Toni stayed home today.

Weighted dips

Metcon. Not for time.

• 3 rounds of
• 10 push-ups
• 10 burpees
• 10 ring dips
• 10 dumbbell snatches, 20kg, alternating hands
• Wear a 9kg weighted vest during workout

My clock was not running but I still made it without resting more than normally. Three rounds with 9kg vest on me, all but on the last set of ring dips. Four different movements each round. Push-ups weren't too bad, burpees felt odd as I dropped my chest to the floor with that extra weight on me. I managed to do these unbroken but I really felt that weight.

I didn't think about how bad the ring dips might turn out to be but they were quite burning on my triceps and chest. On the first round I completed them in 5+3+2 but on the second one I had huge problems and completed them almost totally in singles. That's the reason why I took the vest off on the last set of ring dips, which turned out to be a good decision. I completed the last set of dips pretty much the same way as the first set.

Those dumbbell snatches are my thing. I love them, got to keep on doing those and add weights. That 20kg was too light I'd say considering the amount of reps. Either add kilos or reps.