Sunday 28-31.8: Olympic lifts, Conditioning, Bodyweight

Sunday 28.6 - Wednesday 31.8: Olympic lifts, Conditioning, Bodyweight.

Last weekend we needed to prepare our home for the upcoming move. We finally moved this week's Tuesday. So there's been quite a lot of other stuff called life. Luckily those days have counted when I've had the chance to hit the gym. Unfortunately my gym card for Optimal Performance Center is over now, ended this Wednesday. I've bought some iron from Rogue and waiting to receive those this week.

Sunday.

• Every minute x 15 minutes: Clean & jerk
• 5min: 5 reps @ 60kg
• 5min: 3 reps @ 70kg
• 5min: 1 rep @ 80kg
• All sets touch'n'go

No pause at any point, just cycle the barbell. These felt great. There's something cool to move the barbell up and down without breaks.

C&J's emom

• Wod. Time 5.33
• 3 rounds of:
• 10 power clean @ 80kg
• 10 high box jumps

This combo was tough, no doubt. Both elements took my breath away. Power cleans were not light. Especially for so many reps. I did those in quick singles. I'm very happy how well I got this metcon done even though it felt awful quite soon.

Monday.

• Oly, jerk from rack 5x3 @ 80kg

Also touch'n'go style, push jerks. I did these every 2:00 but the recovery was enough. Not light for sure, not the heaviest possible but I needed to concentrate well to get these done. A little shaky on some reps in my opinion but still something I was able to manhandle.

Clean / Box metcon

• Wod. Result, 232 reps (7 rounds + 8 pull-ups)
• 12min amrap of:
• 12 pull-ups
• 20 wall ball shots

Huh, this hurt. Unbroken on the pull-ups for maybe 4-5 rounds. I tried to keep the transitions rather short so that's why I needed to break them in the last rounds. Wall balls were ub for probably 2 rounds, then it was 12-8 for the rest of the way.

Wednesday.

• Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes: 1 snatch @ 60kg

It's been a while since doing snatches so it was 'bout time. Decided to do one rep every minute. That seems to be enough recovery to smash another within the time cap. There are things to be worked on so I didn't go heavier.

Snatch emom

• Gymnastics, 30 bar muscle-ups

This was not a timed workout. Just completed them for quality. It was 6-5-4-4-3-3-3-2. My lats are sore from that 12min amrap of pull-ups and wall balls. Great to be able to do these as well without issues still, even though my volume has been lighter lately.

• Every minute on the minute x 20 minutes:
• Odd min, 15 ghd sit-ups
• Even min, 10 dumbbell snatches @ 25kg, alternating

This was the last day in OPC and I didn't have to hurry as the rest of the family was on the move. I decided to do another workout of core and snatches. It took 25-30 seconds to finish every set on both movements so there was consistency on the board.

Thursday 11.8: Deads, Burpees, Wall balls

Thursday. Wod, 5rds of: 10 deads @ 100kg, 20 burpees, 30 wb's. Time, 21.29

Only had time for a short session. A total of about half an hour so it was a quick workout. Took couple of deadlifts up to 140kg after foam rolling, then just put the timer on and went to work.

Metcon. Time, 21.29

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 deadlifts @ 100kg
• 20 burpees
• 30 wall ball shots

This got nasty. Deadlifts were the "easiest" part of this. Burpees were horrible, and wall balls were also obnoxious after the burpees. Got the deads unbroken. Burpees were ub too, just paced myself throughout the metcon. Wall balls were the only ones I broke from round one. They were 18-12 each round.

Wednesday 27.7: 30min amrap

Wednesday. Metcon, 30min amrap of: 300m run, 10 burpee, 15 box, 20 wb. Result, 7rds + 100m run.

Got a chance to hit a workout with a bunch of guys at Crossfit Kehä. Toni had pulled some strings and there ended up to be 5 studs working towards the same goal. Improving overall fitness with the boys.

Metcon. Result, 7 rounds + 100m run

• 30min amrap of:
• 10 burpees
• 15 box jumps
• 20 wall ball shots

Long workout with heavy breathing from quite early on. First round went by without that much blood and tears. Maybe on the second or third round I started to count a little that wait a minute, this is gonna take something like 7 rounds before the 30 minutes are full.

It felt like it's gonna be a long workout as it felt bad already before 10 minutes were full. I'm very happy on being able to maintain my pace throughout the workout, even with that gnarly feeling. I went unbroken on all bodyweight movements. Maybe the transitions from burpees to box jumps, and box jumps to wall balls grew a little towards the end but run was probably pretty much the same and I dropped directly to burpees when I came back in from the run.

Some forecasts said it's the hottest day this summer so it wasn't a surprise it was a bit sticky running outside. It wasn't easy to breath compared to a crispy autumn air. It was kinda intimidating to throw down with a bunch of dudes for the same workout as I have used to do metcons by myself, and against only myself. Especially as I knew there was one masters-aged guy who has been dominating the scene in competitions. However, it was a blast to hit the workout with them!

Tuesday 12.7: Holleyman

Tuesday. Hero workout Holleyman. Time, 28.19.

This was a dream day. Spent the day with the family, then towards the evening we met Toni and his wife at Crossfit Kehä, and hit a training session in the process. Toni had a plan to hit a hero workout Holleyman. Who was I to think otherwise. Kehä's coach Anssi also threw down with us.

Holleyman. Time, 28.19. Compare to 21.11.2015

• 30 rounds of:
• 5 wall ball shots
• 3 handstand push-ups
• 1 power clean @ 95kg

Rx'd weight is 102.5kg. Considering my 1RM on power clean is registered at 103kg, that would have been quite humorous to go at the prescribed weight. Last time I did this one with 90kg at 28.10. So today it was 9 seconds slower but with heavier load. I consider this a victory! That's 92% of my max anyway. Took one rep at 100kg before we entered the wod to build some confidence on this heavy lift.

It was cool to have those guys with me to attack this hero workout. Wall balls were the easiest part, then came the handstand push-ups and lastly the cleans, those were heavy. Every one of them. Strategy was to do wall balls and hspu's rather quickly, then recover a little before the clean.

This was more like a strength session for me. Breathing stayed under control. Shoulders started to fatigue early on, maybe before 10 rounds were completed. But the thing was definitely the cleans. I'm super happy to hit every single lift without misses. Great mental win!

Below you'll see the work we put in with the boys

First piece

Second piece

Sunday 3.7: Wb, Swings, Run

Sunday. Metcon, 4rds of: 25 wb, 15 swings @ 25kg db, 400m run.

Metcon.

• 4 rounds of:
• 25 wall ball shots
• 15 swings @ 25kg dumbbell
• 400m run

Hit a metcon on Sunday evening. Without warm-up I grabbed the wall ball and start throwing it against the wall. Got to say hips were amazed what the heck is happening right now. Soon they got used to the movement and those felt good. Went unbroken each round even though they burned my shoulders pretty well.

Swings needed to be performed with a dumbbell exceptionally. Didn't have a kettlebell with me so why not try it with a dumbbell instead. I changed the grip every other round. Left hand being in front first, then right hand on the second round. Run felt brutal. Actually the entire workout was very nasty. I forced myself to keep moving all the time so this really made my day.

Thursday 23.6: Push jerks, Burpee box, Wb

Thurday. Push jerks, build up to a heavy triple (max 90kg). Conditioning, every 3:00 x 7min: 10 burpee box jump + 15 wb.

Plan was to do some emom snatches. My back was still sore from Tuesday's deadlifts. It's common that going a bit heavier on the pulls my back definitely feels it the following couple of days. Going to a squat position didn't feel attractive so I changed the plans when I was warming up. Remembered the good streak of overhead strength and body felt receptive for that so I decided to go for push jerk triples.

Overhead.

• Push jerk triples
• Build up to a heavy triple (40, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, PR 90kg)

It was probably about a week ago when I got 5 reps at my 1RM @ 85kg on this movement. Split jerk can carry heavier weights but that doesn't feel so natural in my shoulders so I've worked much more on push jerks lately. Today I thought 85kg should not be an issue (if everything was going good) and possibly a new record on push jerk might be true.

I built up to a heavy triple on 5kg increments after 70kg. It was kind of funny that 50kg and 70kg barbells felt heavier and maybe not that smooth. The other sets felt goof. After completing 80kg set without problems I knew 85kg would be cool too. Got that completed touch'n'go too. At that moment I realized I'm gonna put 90kg over my head at least once. It was huge thing to make it three times. Even on would have been a record.

Intervals.

• Every 3:00, for 21 minutes
• 10 burpee box jumps + 15 wall ball shots

These were all-in intervals. Got 10 reps of burpee boxes as soon as possible, then walked couple of meters to the wall ball station to start throwing the ball around. This burned my legs a lot! Especially on the wall balls. Right after I finished the last box jump it hit me in the legs, and throwing ball got them even more fired up already on the first reps. This was a good conditioning piece and got mental at around 3 rounds. I had thought about doing it for 5 sets but took couple of extra ones to dig deeper.

Monday 30.5: C&J, Wall ball, Snatch

Monday. Emom x 10min: 2 c&j @ 80kg. Metcon, 4rds of: 25 wb, 10 db snatch @ 25kg

Starting the week with clean and jerk action, in the form of heavier emom. Then a metcon that shot my shoulders. In the evening we went to Kaivopuisto. What a beautiful day it was! It was quality time to say the least strolling around the coast in south of Helsinki.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 2 clean and jerk @ 80kg

This was freaking great! I'm very proud of myself being able to complete this stuff. The big thing was to do these c&j's without resetting the barbell in front rack position. I'm not sure have I been able to do this kind of clean and jerks before at this weight. This got me sky high emotionally.

I was looking to go for 5 minutes but instead smashed it right into double the time. I've been trying to work on those fast transitions from front rack to overhead. It's nice to see 80kg is moving with the same bar path as 60-70kg bars.

Recap of clean and jerks

Metcon.

• 4 rounds of:
• 25 unbroken wall ball shots
• 10 dumbbell snatches @ 25kg, alternating

The purpose of this one was to do the wall balls unbroken. After those I moved right into snatches. Changed the hand after each rep. Tried to keep the transitions as short as possible from snatches to wall balls, with the thought in my head that I can't drop the ball once I lift it up. This definitely hurt my shoulders nicely.

Sunday 22.5: Pull-ups, Wb, Front squats

Sunday. Emom x 20. 1st, 15 pull-ups. 2nd, 15 wb. 3rd, 10 front squats @ 60kg. 4th, rest.

Today was a busy day even though it's Sunday. We had some errands to take care of and then there was ice hockey world championship's final day and teams are fighting for bronze, silver and gold medals. Finland was part of this dog fight but Canada took them out on the gold game. We went to to the gym for a short session with Pauliina.

Workout of the day.

• Every minute on the minute x 20 minutes
• 1st min: 15 pull-ups
• 2nd min: 15 wall ball shots
• 3rd min: 10 front squats @ 60kg
• 4th min: recovery

This was not supposed to be the toughest session of them all. At first I thought about having a recovery day in the form of just jogging for a while but once wife suggested some couples retreat at the box I started gathering my gear up and was ready to pump it up!

These were unbroken sets for sure. There was practically no warm-up prior to this one. No time for that. Just mobilized some joints and then hit it. Pull-ups started to become a factor and legs were on fire, especially on the last 2 rounds. Good one!

Wednesday 18.5: Press, Squat, 15min amrap

Wednesday. Push press 5-4-3-2-1 (up to 85kg). E2mom for 10min: 1 pause squat + 2 squat @ 120kg. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 5 power cleans @ 80kg, 10 pull-ups, 15 wb. Result, 200 reps.

Damned, I wrote a post already and then it disappeared mystically. So this time I let the numbers speak by themselves without stories =) Got to say I'm happy on the push presses. Haven't pressed more than 85kg ever so got to take this with a smile on my face.

Overhead.

• Push press 5-4-3-2-1 (60, 70, 75, 80, 85kg)

Strength.

• Every 2:00, for 5 sets
• 1 pause squat + 2 squats @ 120kg

Metcon. Result, 200 reps (6 rounds + 5 wall balls)

• 15min amrap of:
• 5 power cleans @ 80kg
• 10 pull-ups
• 15 wall balls

Friday 13.5: Crossfit Kehä

Friday. Metcon, 12min amrap: 8 wb, 10 burpee, 12 box. Result, 228 reps.

It was a recreational day at work. Together with Toni we arranged so that a good bunch of my colleagues got a chance to get a first taste of crossfit in their life. It was a 90-minute class of introducing crossfit as a sport and hobby, then warm-up, metcon and cool down. Great way to close the work week.

Metcon. Time, 228 reps (7 rounds + 10 burpees)

• 12min amrap of:
• 8 wall balls
• 10 burpees
• 12 box jumps

Got to be proud of these guys! It was a blast throwing down with good people. And Toni did a good job hosting our team this Friday. The metcon itself was a lot more brutal than I anticipated. It looks so deceptively easy. I'll tell you, it wasn't.

Bodyweight movements all the way. No need to stop at any point. That made it mentally challenging. There were no excuses. I kept moving and got through almost 8 rounds. Those burpees sucked butt. Really nasty. That seemed to be the general opinion. It was great to see these guys attack it from the very first 3-2-1-go command! There was a lot of eagerness in the air, and they went all in right away.

Sunday 8.5: Gymnastics, Intervals

Sunday. Gymnastics, strict mu training. Intervals, every 3:30 for 5 sets: 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups, 20 wb's.

This day concentrated in skills training and intervals for conditioning. I got the inspiration to practice strict ring muscle-ups from CF Regionals and as I saw one of my buddies nail some of them just couple of days ago. I haven't tried one in years so I had no idea how they would be like. Afterwards pretty much bodyweight interval work for engine.

Gymnastics.

• Strict muscle-up training

Took maybe 10 attempts to get one. Not today but in the future I'll take one. I just need some coaching for this. Got to ask Lauri at the gym how to do one. I did use false grip for these, and got my hand ripped from the wrist. It's unbelievable how easily my hands get ripped on muscle-ups and pull-ups if they are not protected. Blisters, tears and rips all the way.

The thing is I need to keep the rings closer to my chest. That part felt difficult. They easily go apart. Another thing is that on the last reps I remembered to lean backwards on the first moments of pulling. Maybe I should maintain that position a notch longer before pushing forward with my chest, or something.

Recap

These felt much better than they were ages ago when I last time attempted these. It was a very feeling as these have gotten a lot better. I believe this is achievable.

Intervals.

• Every 3:30, for 5 sets, all in
• 10 pistol squats
• 15 pull-ups
• 20 wall ball shots

Decided to hit some interval work to get blood running in this body. Pistols, pull-ups and wb's. Tried to minimize the recovery time between elements. I'm very happy I got the pull-ups done without them getting too taxing. I thought they might be the ones that get me today but luckily they feel rather strong now. Went unbroken each time. One round might have been something 1:30 per round, not quite sure, didn't time them that precisely, just kept moving.

One extra set of 15 pull-ups

Saturday 30.4: Rope, Snatch, Wb, Run, Pull-ups

Saturday. AM. Intervals, every 3:00 for 5 sets, perform 3 rope climbs + 10 db snatch @ 25kg. Metcon, 5rds of: 15 wb, 400m run. PM. Gymnastics, 50 strict pull-ups

It was an awesome weekend to celebrate the First of May in Klaukkala. As you can get a clue from the pictures and videos there is plenty of space to workout and especially in the spring and summer time there's nothing that can beat working outdoors in my opinion.

Intervals.

• Every 3:00 for 5 sets
• 3 rope climbs + 10 snatch @ 25kg dumbbell

This was quite a combo of movements. This is the only place where I can get my hands on a rope for climbing purposes so it's quite rare to attack them. It's a pity since rope climbs are a killer movement and it would definitely improve my overall fitness if I had them more often. I took couple of climbs and then right away more snatches. Holy moses the heart beat and numbness in my upper body.

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 15 wall ball shots
• 400m run (approximately)

This second metcon took place right after the first one. I had left my wall ball at this place previous time so it was time to dig it up from the warehouse. The weather was simply perfect for outdoors training, there's no doubt about it. Felt like taking my shirt off as it was so hot in the sun. First time this warm in the spring.

Wall balls were unbroken and the focus was on minimizing the transitions from wall balls to run and vice versa. I'm very happy on the outcome actually. It didn't take much to get legs going.

Gymnastics.

• 50 strict pull-ups

In the evening I went outdoors to the terrace to clean up my equipment and decided to take advantage of the situation and completed 50 strict pull-ups. Not for time, just for quality. Felt great to get those in the books too.

Monday 18.4: Macho Man, Wb and Row

Monday. Macho Man @ 65kg. Metcon, 4rds of: 30 wb, 500m row. Time, 15.08.

Time for another benchmark workout, two days in a row. This is not one of the headquarter's benchmarks but Ben Bergeron's (a.k.a. competitorstraining). He's the Man in the biz, coach for a bunch of Crossfit Games athletes.

Macho Man. Compare to 2.5.2015

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 3 power clean @ 65kg
• 3 front squat @ 65kg
• 3 push jerk @ 65kg

I've done this bad boy 3 times in the past years and it's eaten me alive every time. It's been completed at 60kg every time. Today I decided to roll the dice with 65kg. For maybe 3 minutes I thought this is gonna be okay. After completing 5 minutes it was a tough to digest I was only at mid way.

After 7 minutes it was a battle. My quads burned a lot but they held on for the entire 10 minutes. Got to say I was relieved when 10 minutes had passed. It was a good decision to go 65 kilos. Maybe some day 70kg could be the thing. It's not that any of the movements would be too tough but it's the entity. There is 9 reps per minute and the recovery part starts to feel rather short as time passes.

Macho Man @ 65kg

Metcon. Time, 15.08

• 4 rounds of:
• 30 unbroken wall ball shots
• 500m row

Needed to take some recovery after Macho Man. There was some walk between the stations so I lost quite a bit of time each round in the transitions. Anyway, 30 wall balls were written to be unbroken. Shoulders got on fire somewhere in the third round probably. Luckily I managed to go ub every round. Rowing was moderate pace, somewhere around 1:50. Didn't rest between the two though, just hopped on the Concept2 and grabbed the wall ball right away.

Sunday 10.4: CF Open 14.4, Strongman

Sunday. CF Open 14.4. Result, 184 reps. Accessory, 5rds of: 40m farmer's walk (135kg), handstand.

Old school benchmark which I have somehow been able to avoid this far. It was about time to attack it. After couple of minutes rest it was time for accessory work in the form of strongman meets skills. Farmer's walk set for 40 meters and handstand practice between carries. It's been months since being in freestand handstand.

CF Open 14.4. Result, 184 reps (4 muscle-ups)

• 14min amrap of:
• 60 cal row
• 50 toes-to-bar's
• 40 wall ball shots
• 30 power cleans
• 20 ring muscle-ups

The thing that got me terrified on this workout as I was thinking about was basically the power cleans and muscle-ups. Everything prior to that is just basic conditioning, and I kind of think that's in okay shape in my part.

Rowing was kind of a cool ride and I kept a smooth breathing throughout that stage. It was quite accurately 800 meters of rowing with a 1.48 pace. It's rare to complete a big bunch of t2b's in a row so I decided to go by feeling on this one. Took 10 reps to begin with, then 5's from then on.

Wall balls were the easiest part of this workout, took them in two sets, 25 at first and then 15 to reach a total of 40 repetitions. Those power cleans at this stage of the workout with a rather good heart beat was interesting. The bar felt good in my hands all the time and the weight wasn't too heavy. But it just gets heart beat a lot heavier. Took these in singles for all 30 reps. First a 10 rep stint, then 5's till the end. My heart was racing pretty wildly after these.

Got to admit my body wasn't eager to jump on the rings after working for 12 minutes of rowing, t2b's, wb's and cleans. Damn it felt heavy to get myself on top of the rings. Got a double at first attempt, then two singles. They look easier than they felt and this got me thinking should I have forced myself to jump on the rings earlier with less recovery.

CF Open 14.4

Strongman / Skills.

• 5 rounds of:
• 40m farmer's walk @ 135kg
• Handstand

Strongman meets skills. Very different type of elements. There were 2x25kg bumper plates on each handle so that means the total weight was 135kg for the farmer's walk. This was not a timed workout, more of an accessory work. It's been months since doing handstand so it was fun to get upside down and attack this skill. It was a good combination of movements.

Strongman / Skills

Monday 28.3: Intervals, Ghd's

Monday. Every 4:00, perform 15 cal row, 12 wb, 9 burpee. For 7 total sprints. Accessory, 75 ghd's.

This day was all about sprinting as fast as possible. I left the barbells alone. My legs are still tired so today's effort was a good battle. This was entirely bodyweight stuff. In the end I did core accessory work.

Intervals.

• Every 4:00, for 28min
• 15 cal row
• 12 wall ball
• 9 burpee

Each set took me about 1:20, couple of seconds give or take to some direction. Rowing was somewhere at 1:30 pace. At least on the two sets on which I checked the digits afterwards. Can't see the pace when the digitals show the number of calories so I had to come back, push some buttons and see the pace after intervals. I just wanted to go max effort each time I had my hands on the handle. Happy to see the pace was fast for me.

The reps of each element was planned so that I can push through even with the dark place crawling in. It's a funny feeling when legs are almost out of gas but you just keep going forward. It's not the first intervals that are bad but after couple of those the last ones are miserable. It finally made my legs hurt already after the rowing.

Burpees started to burn legs big time, and 9 reps were definitely enough. I had thought about the rep scheme in couple of different styles but this was eventually the one, and I liked it.

Recap

Accessory.

• 75 ghd sit-ups

Some core work in the end. I basically did this as an emom workout. One set of 15 reps per minute. It took quite precisely 30 seconds so it was 1:1 work:rest ratio. It got hard on the last 2 minutes but there was no doubt of hitting each set.