Monday 1.7: Complex and a rowing metcon

Monday. Strength: 10 x (hang squat clean + full squat clean + 2 push press @70kg). Metcon, 2k row. Every 250m perform 5 strict shoulder press + 5 diamond push-ups. Wear a 9kg vest. Time 13.36

I love cleans! It was time for another complex type of workout, combining cleans and push presses. It was perfect. And the metcon to follow, huh, exactly what I wanted. And it gets better. I had Pauliina and Tony the Pony with me, couldn't be better.

Strength.

• 10 x (hang squat clean + full squat clean + 2 push press)
• 70kg on the barbell each set

Was wondering the weights for a second and then realized 70kg would suit well for my purposes. I wanted to have 2-position squat cleans: from hang and from ground. I can clean 95kg from the ground but haven't probably done cleaned more than 70-75kg from hang position. And there were also 2 push presses to be done after the cleans. So I got my head around 70kg and completed all sets with the same weight.

It was good to have Tony with me to coach. We did our strength parts alternating so that we were able to give feedback to each other. That was valuable. My elbows weren't in perfect position in the first 2 sets. After that Toni pointed out the importance of the elbows shooting straight ahead. The weight was not that heavy that it would force me in having them in the right position so it was crucial to have a coach saying that out loud. Thanks for that man.

Barbell flew up pretty nicely in my opinion. That 70kg isn't that bad and it was awesome to realize it was also easy on the hang squats as well. The push press was the toughest part strength-wise. However, I had no doubts in any of the lifts. The weight was simply perfect for today. Could have been 75kg but no point in going further from that in this type of workout. It was about one set per 1.5min throughout the workout.

Metcon. Time 13.36

• 2.000m row
• Every 250m, perform the following:
• 5 strict dumbbell presses, 2 x 17.5kg
• 5 diamond push-ups

This was nice. Rowing pace was around 1.40 / 500m in the beginning and the latter kilometer was around 1.45 / 500m. I usually go with the damper setting of 8 and today was no exception. 250m is a short sprint, only about 20 strokes so you can put more effort there. Those presses and diamond push-ups started to eat some of the strength which caused the pace to slow down a bit. Still, that was not the bottleneck, it was more like the transition times between movements.

Had 2 x 17.5kg dumbbells with the strict shoulder presses. Those went unbroken as well as the diamond push-ups. Those concentrate more pressure in the triceps. Having 9kg vest on from the beginning makes it a bit tougher on every aspect of it. In the beginning it felt awkward to row with a weighted vest but I got used to it pretty quickly.

Enjoyed this workout and this entire training session a lot. These were all good wods, first the barbell complex and then some wet-shirt metcon wearing a vest. Loved it!

Toni's workouts.

• Back squats (80, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115kg)
• Metcon. 4.5 rounds of: 10 box (61cm), 10 dumbbell snatch (20kg). Time 5.45

Pony did some old school strength to strengthen his posterior chain. He did some beautiful squats, good depth on the reps, good form in general, and good breathing technique as well. Highest set was 115kg. Then it was time to move on to his metcon, consisting of box jumps and db snatches. He completed those snatches changing hand after 5 reps: first 5 left, then 5 right hand. I put there 4.5 rounds because he was supposed to do 5 rounds but for some sick reason he forgot to complete the last set of snatches =) Well, he punished himself after he relayed it and did the 10 missing reps with 25kg. Fair enough.

Second part of Dan Bailey's short documentary

Sunday 23.6: Back squats, metcons + handstand skills

Sunday. AM: Back squats 3-3-3-3-3 (max 130kg). Metcon, 6 rounds of hero wod Nick. Time 16.00. PM: Handstand skills training.

I was ready to pump it up after a rest day. Pauliina joined me at the box early in the afternoon for a training session. From the members' book we saw there had been only 2 persons training in the last 2 days. Guess the Midsummer party in Finland has taken its' toll on people =) I'm guessing tomorrow there's another mood and people are back at the gym. I went after squat triples today, followed by half a hero wod and some weighted vest action. Couple of hours later I concentrated in skills training.

Strength. Back squats 3-3-3-3-3 (100, 110, 120, 125, 130kg). I was hoping to make good numbers today after a rest day. My 1rep max is 140kg. Today's focus was in triples. I was hoping to nail that 130kg with which I've had some troubles lately. I've been able to get it up as single lift when I've tried it but a triple has been challenging. Today I skipped 80kg from my warm-up, did only cold bar squats and 60kg warm-up after jumping directly to 100kg. Of course I warmed-up in other ways but didn't want to put too much focus on semi-weights. Max load today was 3x130kg, I'm very happy about these lifts today.

Back squats 3x120kg

Metcon. Time 16.00

• 6 rounds of:
• 10 hang squat cleans with dumbbells, 20kg each hand
• 6 handstand push-ups

Quite a thorough workout for upper body if you ask me! Hero workout Nick, dumbbell squat cleans and hspu's. Rx'd this workout is done for a total of 12 rounds. That would total 72 handstand push-ups which is clearly too much for me in one day. Well, there would have been 120 cleans as well but that would have been manageable. My version of the workout was 6 rounds, or half a Nick.

The work done with dumbbells must be beneficial. The movements are so much different if you compare them with barbell work. And you really see the difference between arm / shoulder strength. I can see my right side is slightly stronger than my left, especially in presses and grip strength. Left arm starts to wiggle a bit earlier than right one.

Those handstand push-ups started to wear me out after a couple of rounds. First round unbroken, then 4+2, then the last 4 rounds it was probably in 3 sets. What took me time was the time between those sets because I know that if I try to rush it and force another hspu, it will be very very challenging without recovery. I had 2 failed reps as I was not listening to my burning shoulders. Attempted a rep but couldn't straighten myself and lock the elbows so had to take a short break to recover.

That other movement, hang squat cleans with dumbbells, was cool! It was a forearm burner and once I let go of the db's, my shoulders were firing up as well. But I liked it =) Thought it would be tough on legs as well because of all that squatting before and during the workout but it wasn't.

Cashout. Not for time. 20 to 2, down by 2's, sit-ups and presses.

• 20-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-4-2
• Sit-ups
• Strict dumbbell press, 2x10kg
• Wear a 9kg vest

I brought my 9kg vest just in case with me and I'm happy I did so. In the end the cashout consisted of regular crossfit style sit-ups and strict dumbbell presses with 10kg dumbbells each arm. Weight wasn't heavy because the point was to move fast. There were a total of 110 reps each movement. Starting from 20 reps, coming down by 2's all the way to 2 reps. Had my vest on the entire time. After the workout we did some other style of ab work with Pauliina as well, she had some good training tips there. Finally 5min work with crosstrainer to cool down.

Handstand training. After coming home we ate at the balcony and I realized the view was perfect. I couldn't ignore the freshly planted grass matt at our back yard. There was simply no other chance but to go and practice handstand skills. My friend / neighbor also joined me there and we did handstand training and muscle-ups (at the kids playground swing). I saw the opportunity and utilized it =)

I had good attempts and I'm very satisfied to this session as well, actually the entire day was a good training day!

Free handstanding

This little guy also had some advice to handstand training =)