Today was a very early training session in the morning. I was surprised how fresh I felt at that time. Okay, body feels a bit hammered but I wasn't tired at all and that was a great signal of having enough time to recover and sleep on holidays. Upper body strength to start with, and then a notch longer workout with easier heart rate.
Strength.
Bench press 6x5 @ 80kg
The effect of all the presses and jerks yesterday were obvious today. I felt it in my shoulders for sure. That's why bench presses were heavier than they usually are. I stayed at relatively light weight in all sets, across 80kg in all sets. No prob in these sets though.
Gymnastics.
Weighted dips 7x3 @ 20kg
Last set as many reps as possible. Result, 7 reps
This has been non-existing for a long time. I figured it suits well with the bench. There was a set of bodyweight dips for a number of reps, then triples at 10kg and 15kg before doing the first working set. Ended up doing 7 sets at this fixed load.
One set of dips
On the last rep I allowed myself to enjoy the moment and do as many reps as possible to finish the dips. My shoulders were shot at this point but still I was able to do 7 reps. Felt good about it.
Metcon. Time, 25.50
4 rounds of:
1.000m row
20 push-ups
10 right hand kettlebell overhead lunges, 16kg
10 left hand kettlebell overhead lunges, 16kg
This workout's purpose was to go steadily with a bit lower heart rate. Rowing was at 1:55 throughout the wod. Push-ups were unbroken. Kettlebell lunges with holding the single kb overhead is something new I wanted to try out. One training pal threw in the idea of overhead lunges so I modified it to this version.
Short recap of metcon
Had no idea what weight might work for its purpose. I grabbed the first kettlebell and started walking with it. It was 16kg all the way. I also tried 2x16kg but that felt a bit difficult considering my shoulder mobility. Got to try them out later on too. I guess those might make a positive impact.
In the end I realized the weight of the kettlebell was too light. These didn't burn as much I had anticipated. Shoulders were strong in this one. Nice little metcon to finish the session.
Holiday! Beautiful weather, I get to sleep more than normally, take some nap, do multiple workouts a day and plan our trip to California which takes place in May with Pauliina. Pretty awesome if you ask me! I went to Liikuntamylly for snatch and overhead squat purposes in the morning. Happened to nail a new PR in ohs. Then I took on Nancy, a great benchmark workout with running and ohs as a couplet. In the afternoon I went to pick up Pauliina from work which turned out to be a good chance to get in another training session.
Summer is coming!
Strength.
Snatch 5-5-5 (40, 50, 55kg)
Overhead squats (50, 60, 65, 70, 75, PR 80kg)
Liikuntamylly and Eltsu are the two places where I usually go when I have the possibility. These places are made for olympic lifting. I tend to go heavy on these occasions because of the possibility to drop the bar. It's okay to look for PR's at such venues. I believe I have never gone over 60kg in ohs at my "home gym".
70kg
Didn't take any skills practice prior to strength, jumped right on to snatches. Took good mobility session before I touched the bar though. Then some classic warm-up rituals with a barbell plus snatch balance drills. My intention was to do all squat snatches but I found it a little too difficult today, especially on the 55kg snatches I couldn't find the path down properly. That's why they were power snatches instead. Because I wasn't able to find the correct path all the way down, I stayed at 55kg and didn't go heavier on this one.
80kg
Changed some plates and started doing overhead squats. Didn't have any plan, it's been too long since I've done ohs. So I just played with it for a while, added weight on the bar and took more reps. My wrists are a little sensitive for high-rep overhead squats. It's pretty much the only movement where I get some wrist pain if I hold the bar for a long time. At 60kg this came in to play and the weight itself didn't feel that heavy so I started to take doubles and singles from then on.
My previous 1 rep max was 75kg, which we had taken together with Toni the last time we were here together. It was a little shaky at the time when I held the bar overhead. Today it felt much smoother and steady all the way down and up. We took a shot at 80kg with Toni but I remember it was a desperate seek for both of us. It was wobbling back and forth when I had the bar overhead and there was no chance in trying to lower by butt to the ground. This time the press behind the neck was stronger and I got a solid balance right away. There was nothing more to be done but complete the rep.
Recap of strength
One thing that bugs me is that there's a slight doubt in my mind of the squats's depth being shallow. I'll take this for now but this is something to consider in overhead squats in the future. This movement pattern is not that familiar to me compared to back and front squats. I'm used to squat with mirrors in front of me so it's a bit difficult to perceive how deep I'm going without the familiarity of the mirrors (or training partner).
The barbell should be 42.5kg. This place don't have those fractional plates or light weight plates of 1.25kg so I went with 40kg sharp. Not a big difference but still it should have been 2.5kg heavier. On the other hand I ran a little more than 400m. There's a 200m track which I ran twice. I couldn't place the barbell right next to the track so I had to take a side step to my "bar station". On my fourth round one guy was just about to take my barbell 'cause he thought it wasn't in use. That would have been a bummer if I had lost my bar in the middle of a workout =) Luckily I was able to finish this one as planned.
We did Nancy together with Toni in the end of last year, during the winter holidays. Great combination of movements, running and overhead squats, high-rep overhead squats. I remember there was some hassle last time because we only had one barbell but it was a great one anyway. I topped my time with +3min, from 18min to 14.52. Last time it wasn't so precise, today I took it by the second. What I'm most happy about is the round time variation, or actually the absence of them. First round was 2.51, and the last one was 2.58, the rounds in between were 2.53 - 3.01 - 3.06.
I'm very pleased on that one! I was afraid running would get way slower towards the end. I've never been a fast runner and especially in a metcon I feel like I'm wearing down in the run parts. Okay, I was decent runner back in the days considering I was a floorball goalie =) But I wouldn't count that as one of my strengths. The round times hint that the performance was steady all the way.
I got the overhead squats unbroken each round, that's another thing to celebrate. It got tough on the third round but I stuck to the bar and never let go before 15 reps were done. By the way, completing ohs with oly lifting shoes and sneakers are two different things. I'd like to do my squats with oly shoes but naturally it's challenging to run with those flat shoe soles. This workout was awesome and it was pleasing to see the time got better with minutes.
Dip dropsets. Total of 60 reps
In 60sec, amrap weighted dips @ 20kg
60sec rest
In 60sec, amrap weighted dips @ 15kg
60sec rest
In 60sec, amrap weighted dips @ 10kg
60sec rest
In 60sec, amrap weighted dips @ bodyweight
I was open-minded for this second session, and an article came across from "Fit As Fu*k" where Ditte and Sarah were writing about the importance of dips. I realized it's been a while since last time so it seemed to fit in well to this afternoon. This workout was a drop set style, 60 second amrap of dips with dropping weights, one minute break between sets. I liked this much more than traditional style sets of triples or 5's. Managed to nail 15 reps on the first set so I decided to stick to that rep scheme. It got tougher by the round because the rest wasn't enough to get fully recovered.
This is a weakness of mine so I'm happy on the way I was able to perform. Did 15 reps in each set and the feeling was I really had to do work to get them done. Good workout tip by the ladies, appreciate it!
Workout. For quality
5 rounds of:
10 pull-ups
50 double unders
Before the dips I did some pull-ups, strict chest-to-bar versions and couple of belly-to-bar to work on my bar muscle-ups. Also tried to get band-assisted muscle-ups without a swing but that turned out to be too difficult as I've used to do bar mu's with a good kip. This training session was easy in nature, goal was to get body moving, definitely not 100% effort, just get the blood flowing, work on some skills and weaknesses. It was also great to see Joni go after hero workout Small. If you still remember that one: 3 rounds of 1.000m rowing, 50 burpees, 50 box, and 800m running. I did it about a week ago because he talked me into it, now it was his time to suffer =) Good job Joni!
I've had pretty awesome training sessions at the end of last week. Their nature have been great. Today I had more of a meathead day with bench pressing and weighted dips for strength. Some controversy for the body so it wouldn't adapt too much and get comfortable at any regular workout. I spiced it up with weighted dips and then a bodyweight wod combining 2 upper body movements and pistol squats. Good day.
Strength. Bench and dips.
Bench press 7x3 (80, 85, 90, 90, 90, 85, 85kg)
Weighted dips 5x3 (10, 15, 20, 25, 30kg)
For some unknown reason I was eagerly waiting for benching after a break. As you probably already know, this movement is not one I go for every week, more like every 3 weeks. I find there are movements that are more useful for all-around athlete. Still, it's important to have a strong chest and front shoulders so I'll do it every now and then. Weighted dips seemed like a good combo so I attached them for this session.
Did 7 sets of triples on the bench and 5 sets of triples on dips. I really would have liked to go heavier on the bench but without a spotter it's kind of a risky business and I didn't want to call that card. That 90kg bar was a good weight and I really wanted to see how many sets I could have done with 90+. Now 6/7 sets were 85 or 90kg and I felt good on the lifts. The one on the video is my 4th strength set. There is room to add the weights.
Bench 90kg
Weighted dips feel awkward. It's like my shoulders and elbows are rasping and it doesn't feel that natural. Without weights is okay but with added weight hanging from a belt makes the feeling different. I didn't enjoy the uncomfortable feeling. I don't mind muscle pain - I love it - but this is something different so I took only couple of sets of which most weren't even that heavy. I'd rather do bodyweight dips instead.
Metcon. Result
10 min amrap of:
10 pull-ups
10 push-ups
10 pistol squats, 5/5 alternating
Metcon with Pauliina's handprint on =) This was once again a metcon where I was able to keep my motor running on a balanced pace. The picture above shows the round times on rounds 2-7. My result on this one was 8 total rounds + 10 pull-ups. That makes it 90 pull-ups, 80 push-ups and 80 pistols. Pull-ups were easy, on the push-ups it started to become heavier but managed to go unbroken as well. Couple more rounds and it would have been different. The pistols were definitely the hardest part of it. I did them unbroken but with some instability. The pace with them wasn't fast, at least it felt like it. I got rounds done in about 1.10-1.17. Definitely a good metcon and my lunges were damaged after having done this.
Saturday. Skills, C2B pull-ups and ring pull-ups. Strength, weighted pull-ups and dips. Metcon, for completion, 8 rounds of: 30 DU + 10 T2B.
Today I was concentrating in pull-up skills and strength in the same session. This day was more skills oriented, trying to work on the technique and efficiency. On the other hand, I had my weighted vest on and was doing some sets of pull-ups and dips with weights. In the late afternoon we headed to the woods with Pauliina for over one hour to wander around.
Weighted reps.
Pull-ups, 5x9kg, 5x9kg, 4x14kg, 10x9kg, 11x9kg
Dips, 5x9kg, 5x9kg, 5x9kg, 5x24kg, 5x29kg, 5x29kg
Just went by feeling with the weights. My vest weighs 9kg. Must be beneficial to go for these two movements with weights. Haven't given much thought on the rep scheme when doing these movements. Bodyweight pull-ups seem to be something you could call a strength for me but having weights hanging from my waist was another thing.
Having my weighted vest on me, it seemed easy to do the pull-ups because I was able to use small kipping movement. Once I had plates hanging from me, it's purely strict pull-ups and there I kind of didn't have the technique right. At least it felt more difficult to get the body moving like I'd want. Better practice on those strict bodyweight movements as well, not always kipping.
Metcon. For completion
8 rounds of:
30 double unders
10 toes-to-bar
Originally I was looking forward to doing 15min amrap of 5 handstand push-ups, 30 double unders and 10 t2b but my neck was a little sore from some clean & jerks earlier this week. So I dropped the hspu's and focused on these 2 movements. I was trying to keep my torso in a more upright position on the doubles and then complete the t2b's as efficiently as possible. In the later rounds of the t2b's I was able to use the swing in a less consuming way.
Couple of hours later we headed to the nearby woods with Pauliina to pick up some berries and play around.
Today was an easier day. I took some squats to start with, then continued to do weighted dips. No idea when I last did them, might have been some time last year =) And then a metcon for which I got inspired by crossfit athlete Garret Fisher's Instagram photo. It was a kind of interval type of rowing metcon.
Strength.
Back squats 5x100, 5x100, 4x110, 4x110kg
Weighted dips, 5x10, 5x20, 5x30, 5x35, 5x20kg
Just to get the feel on the squats, not that heavy, working on form and technique. I did those 4 sets pretty quickly, actually about one set per minute. I was thinking about doing heavier sets as well emom style but my back was little sore so I stayed at 110kg.
For some reason my mind got twisted around weighted dips from nowhere so took a few sets. First bodyweight dips and then adding extra weight. Completed sets of 5 reps with the weights and reached a new max of 35kg. I remember hitting 30kg max earlier.
Rowing. Distance 3.850m
3 rounds of:
2 min row, 1.50-1.55 pace
1 min row, all in
2 min row, 2.10-2.15 pace
1 min walk
This was fun! Gonna redo it some day but definitely increase the volume. This was only for 3 rounds but 5-7 rounds would be more useful in the long run. Doing max effort of 1min row after rowing 1.50-1.55 for 2 min was surprisingly taxing. Maybe not on the first round but from then on yes.
In the morning I concentrated in upper body strength training and after work we went outdoors with Pony. Main objective was to run and create a metcon with a high heart rate and make muscles hurt. Then we also took advantage of Pirkkola's outdoor pull-up bars to practice pull-up techniques.
Personal Record, c'mon! It's been a while since bench pressing for max load, must have been in February since seriously trying to go at 90kg or more. My goal was to do sets of 5 as long as possible. I haven't done 5's with 85kg prior to this day. Managed to push them through for 2 sets and on the third one 3 reps. The last set was very tough, first rep not so bad but the following 2 reps needed extra effort. My training partners talked me into trying for record numbers. Didn't need much of persuasion =) I was ready to try it instantly. I took 90kg and it came up easily! That was weird considering how much effort needed to be done for 85kg. Okay, there were multiple reps with that weight so guess that's only natural. There were no other options left but to put 95kg on the barbell and take it up. Thanks Hannu and Visa for spotting the weights!
As I was already focused on upper body strength, why not take weighted dips to maximize the effort. Sets of 5 reps, starting with bodyweight, then using 8kg dumbbell between legs, then 12.5kg db. After this I put on a belt where I was able to mount plates, first 17.5kg, then 25 and finally 30kg. Managed to keep sets unbroken constantly. In the end I did quite a lot of triceps to strengthen that part as well. I want to make the handstand push-ups perfect some day and triceps are the key to success!
Weighted dips, 30kg
Metcon. Run and squats, wearing a weighted vest.
10 rounds of:
100m sprint
20 squats
Wear a 9kg vest
This was much more wearing than it may sound on paper. We wanted to do 4 rounds of 400m run and 50 squats between rounds but the track was not yet open. It was full of snow still, it's only April. Even though the streets are snow-free, there are still some white in the forest. It didn't take long before Pony modified the workout to 10 rounds of short sprints and 20 air squats between rounds. We did it together at the same time. To put some more difficult level in to this one, I had a 9kg vest throughout the workout. My quads and hamstrings were devastated after this one, already in the middle of it. We managed to keep a steady pace all the time. If there was a clock running, I believe the lap times would not have dropped significantly.
Pull-ups. Several sets of pull-ups.
On the first set of regular pull-ups I was still wearing the weight vest, and took 10 reps for warming up. Then I took a few sets of regular ones, followed by chest-to-bars. I've had difficulties at home Box 'cause the rack is located so close to wall. I feel like I have to do a bigger kip and I need that spaceat least now in the training phase. Here in Pirkkola that's possible. I did some sets of C2B's, max set was 8 in a row. As a cashout I did max effort of regular pull-ups, that was 20 reps after all training, I'm pleased.
My crossfit was non-existing today because this was a Game Day. We won the last game of the regular season 6-4 so I guess we'll continue the season in the playoffs.
Toni's workouts.
5x5 hspu, scaled to foam roll
5x5 weighted dips, 15kg
5x1 weighted pull-ups, 10kg
1/2 Cindy, 10 rounds in 10 minutes
Back squats, 3x100, 3x110, 1x120, failed attempt of 130kg, 1x130kg (PR)
I wonder when comes the day I can perform muscle-ups
Tuesday. Row 30sec on, 30sec off for 20min. Weighted push-ups.
Today's focus was in interval rowing. I wanted to leave the barbell for others and concentrate in metabolic conditioning. Toni did strength training with deadlifts. Yesterday was anniversary for me and Pauliina, it's been one year since we met for the first time. Love you baby! I guess she knows me well 'cause she bought me a 9kg weighted vest as a present =) I did my cash out today with that on. See picture below.
Weighted pull-ups
Row. Total of 3.400m.
30 sec on
30 sec off
Row for 20 minutes
I've done this workout two times earlier but only for 10min. Toni did this for 30min 25th January. My pace in the morning was fast. During the entire workout my pace for 500m was between 1.35-1.37. I consider this one a success! It takes nerves to row around 1.40 for a longer distance constantly. For example those 2k tests are pretty horrific.
For interval training my strategy was to go as fast as I can for those 30 seconds, then chill out for the following half a minute. After 5min my ass started to go numb so I had to stand up after each interval =) By the way, I have never rowed over 3km in a workout. This workout was nice and got to test that 30 minutes as well.
3.4km in interval rowing
Cashout. 50 weighted push-ups. With a 9kg weighted vest. I believe that vest is going to give me some grey hair in the future. I'm gonna use it instead of using my own bodyweight: running, burpees, pull-ups, push-ups, squats, box jumps, dips, you name it.
Toni's workouts.
Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5 (120kg)
Dips 10x3
Weighted dips, 15kg, 5-4-4 reps
Toni's main agenda for deadlifts was to concentrate in form, in keeping his back straight, and not to go further with the weights. Then he did dips and for the first time in his athletic history: weighted dips with 15kg.
Monday. 10-8-6-4-2, deadlift and bench press, 80% of RM. Weighted dips 4x5 (max 25kg), weighted pull-ups 4x3 (max 15kg). Workout 4 rounds of 10 reps: ab wheel and knees to elbows for quality.
Deadlift & bench press. 10-8-6-4-2. Start from deadlift, continue to bench press, sets going down from ten reps to two reps with two rep interval. Total of 30 reps each. Weights 80% of RM.
10-8-6-4-2
120kg deadlift
60kg bench press
I didn't take exact time, the nature of the workout was to do it with quality, not for time. Anyway, I tried to do it without any extra breaks. It took a total of about 4-5 minutes. All sets unbroken. My maxes for these movements are 150kg for deadlift and 75kg for bench press so I ended up in 120kg for deadlift and 60kg for bench press. First 10 deadlifts, then 10 bench presses, 8 deadlift, 8 bench presses...
I've seen this kind of workouts from Rob Orlando, from where I got the inspiration to mix two strength moves together. This was definitely worth the try and it will be applied in the future as well, maybe next time with different moves. Let's say clean and squat for example. My bench presses have been few so it was important to implement that into my workouts as well. It's 100% sure I'm going to take more presses in the future. Doing all sets unbroken pleased me a lot. I took some breath between sets so that I could push it through unbroken. The last reps were tough so I really believe this workout worked for its purpose!
Dips & pull-ups. Weighted dips 4x5 (10+15+20+25kg), weighted pull-ups 4x3 (5+10+15+15kg). Today my dips and pull-ups were not that easy. I managed to go up to 25kg with dips and 15kg with pull-ups. This time I didn't mix these two but went for dips first for all 4 sets and then moved on to pull-ups. I had thought going for these two only tomorrow but I was so eager that I decided to do them today. That gives some space for tomorrow's training.
Core. The last set of action concentrated on improving my core.
4 rounds of
10 ab wheel
10 knees to elbows
I took four rounds of 10 ab wheel rolls and 10 reps of K2Es. All concentrating in mainly abdominals, but also shoulders got their piece. I didn't time this workout but went on constantly without breaks as well. All sets unbroken, not too bad.
Toni reportedly had visited the gym in the morning for clean training. He might have shared his previous personal record today :) Tell us more! My training schedule was on my phone which went broken during the weekend so in the evening I'll do some planning for the rest of the month and try to memorize what was planned already. Today I also saw the guy at the gym who is responsible for the renovation and it seems the rings are about to be installed to the ceiling so I can progress to learn muscle ups and also the 60cm Rogue box is on its way, c'mon!
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.
Wednesday. Weighted dips 5x5 (max 30kg) and weighted ring dips 4x5 (15kg).
Toni doing dips
Strength. Yesterday the amount of heavy deadlifts really nailed my back. Today was scheduled to be a clean strength training but that was out of question. I took some reps with 40 and 50kg but the stiffness in my lower back hindered me to go further. My backup plan was weighted dips as strength training so I immediately switched plans and went for dips. Toni took some clean training for starters, then joined me to do dips, rather new stuff for him. He took clean sets of 5 reps with 40+50+60kg, then 3 reps with 65kg. My dip sets were as follows:
Dips 5x5 (10+15+20+25+30kg)
Ring dips 4x5 (0+0+10+15kg)
First I took regular dips for sets of 5 reps. Starting with lighter weights and going up to 30kg. All other sets were 5 but I was powered out at the 30kg and managed to go for 2 reps only. I still call this a good dip day, especially as I also did ring dips in addition to regular ones. I took a 5-10min break in between, then did some ring dips, much more difficult movement which forces you to have a good body control, otherwise you will swing back and forth all the time. Whatever you do with the rings, keep your hands close to your body, that's the way you'll survive from too much wiggling.
I took ring dips with body weight first but because it felt so good and natural, I decided to add kilos. Finally I took 15kg set of 5 reps. The last reps were quite a battle after all that dip action during the morning as you can see from the picture. I really fell in love with the rings instantly and I recommend all you guys to purchase ones. I'm happy my employer agreed to get those to the "box". Soon they will be attached to the roof for a specific bar, both ordered from Rogue Fitness Europe. Then it's time to start practicing muscle-ups!
Ring dips, 15kg
Ring push-ups: 20+20+15
For final climax I did ring push-ups. Again, the hands must be kept close to the body because otherwise the position is going to be very weak. By doing push-ups with rings, it enables a good range of motion as you can hit your chest through your hands close to the rings and then naturally push yourself all the way to an elbows-locked position. Good and tough movement. It would be awesome to have a weighted vest to use in this type of training as well.
Toni also did regular dips and ring push-ups. You will see videos of him performing as well in my Youtube channel. He will definitely go for ring dips in the future too but first he will learn the regular dips perfectly, then go to the next level. He did ring push-ups well as you can witness from the clips. He's gonna be resting for two days now because of a mini vacation with some buddies. Let's see what I will do in the following days, I have some open questions in the air about tomorrow. At least on Friday my brother is going to practice with me, can't wait!
Sunday. Today I'm going to pay attention to body recovery. No strength training nor workouts, mainly just doing some mobility work for my upper body and then a lot of stretching for the entire body to get full utilization of the rest day. I've done my share for this week in training, here's a summary of the training workouts from the past week. Three floorball sessions, strength training on four different days to cover all main muscles and some metcons to increase metabolic conditioning and endurance. I feel this week was a good one and there were some rather new movements such as bench press and weighted pull-ups and dips. Toni was training with me on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Today he was doing cleans and push press for strength, added with some Tabata workouts.
Monday. Floorball training and a metcon. Tuesday. Back squat and a metcon in the morning, rowing and a metcon in the evening. Wednesday. Deadlift (PR) in the morning, floorball in the evening. Thursday. Game day, floorball, season opener. Friday. Push press (PR), shoulder press (PR) and bench press (PR) in the morning, plus a metcon. Saturday. Row 2k, weighted pull-ups and weighted dips. Sunday. Mobility, stretching, relaxing.
I finalized my programming for October just yesterday. The main idea is to include both back and front squats once a week. I believe once you're legs are strong, it eases a lot of other movements as well. I will also include one deadlift training on most of the weeks. For my upper body strength I will have clean, push press, shoulder press and thruster training once or twice a week. I will rotate the strength trainings with a proper interval so that there wouldn't be too much burden for one part of the body in too short time. Some additional supportive strength trainings may be included as well.
Another main ingredient is to include hero wods on a regular basis to really test my limits. Naturally on those days I will concentrate purely on that workout because they are longer workouts in their nature. For metabolic conditioning I want to have rowing workouts and metcons included alongside strength trainings. However, don't stress, there will be rest days as well =) Toni will tag along with the workouts so I will be posting his development as well. He has done tremendous work after the summer holidays when he began crossfitting. He is hitting PR results consistently, his endurance has improved and he has enacted new movements. And above all, he is giving his everything in all the workouts, he really has that crossfit attitude never to surrender during a workout.
Here is a Team USA training. Team Europe includes Mikko Aronpää from Finland. These two teams are going to compete against each other on October 13th in London. Take a look how these US beasts practice for the upcoming!
This was supposed to be a rest day as I was called on duty at work. Right after work I headed to watch a floorball game of the national league because of some old friends are playing there. However, my boss came to work to back me up so I was able to hit the gym =) Awesome deal! Programme was rowing for 2k and weighted pull-ups and weighted dips.
Row 2k. What I had in mind when going to the gym was to do some weighted pull-ups. I took off by rowing. Usually I row 500m for about 1.45min as to get my heart beat up. This time I decided to go for 1.000m when I was ready with the 500 meters. At the same time I turned the digital screen facing the ceiling 'cause I didn't want to stare the numbers. When I thought I might be close to 1k I stopped and looked at the distance. It stood 1.250m, it gave me enormous boost and instantly I was determined to go for 2.000m for time. Still, I kept the meter facing upwards. Finally my time was 7.12. Previous record was 7.17. This time I held two short pauses as I was pondering what to do with the screen. I'm very happy I went all the way and the time got better compared to last test.
Strength. Weighted pull-ups 3x3 (15+15+15kg), weighted dips 5x5 (15+15+20+20+25kg). I've only taken these weighted moves once or twice before, I really don't know why I have avoided them because they are pretty awesome. My style was to take 3 reps for pull-ups, then 5 reps for dips. First two rounds I stayed with 15kg, then on the third round I lifted the weight for dips because it felt too light. I took three rounds for pull-ups and five rounds for dips.
Pull-ups were heavy for me, I managed to do two reps well but the last two rounds I went 2+1 reps for pull-ups, couldn't go three straight even though I tried. It was more like 2.5 reps, then I had to drop and do the third after a couple of seconds rest. Only the first round was three straight. I'm still happy to the result. I took some lighter weights first and they went smooth. Anyway, the dips moved well in my opinion and I was disciplined with the full movement in both pull-ups and dips. I'm sure I could have dipped more kilos, this time the record was 25kg for 5 reps.
This was a good and fast exercise, my triceps are burning right now and I can really feel the training from yesterday's presses and today's moves. In addition, the game I went to watch was very entertaining so this Saturday was something to remember afterwards =)
