Tuesday 9.7: OHS, back squat emom, metcon + levers, mobility

Tuesday. AM: Overhead squat 3-3-2-2-1-1 (max PR 70kg). Back squat, emom 3 reps @ 100kg for 10min. Metcon, overhead walk, pistols, front rack lunges, hspu. Time 12.58. PM: row 2k easily, elbow levers, mobility, stretching.

Uuh mama! Another shot to train @ Liikuntamylly. The place is spectacular, can't describe it well enough. Now I'm probably getting close to the feeling of people working out at a regular crossfit box. Only imagination is a limiting factor because you have everything there. That's why my workouts today were a bit different. Overhead squats (possibility to drop weights) and the elements of the metcon are impossible for me to carry out at my home gym. In the evening I went to gym for elbow levers and mobility,

Warm-up.

• Run 800m, then 3 rounds of:
• 10 push-ups
• 20 air squats, then:
• 50 wall balls, 5kg

This was a good set to get some blood running in my veins. Running for starters, feels good as normally I get to cycle or row to begin with. That wall ball was also a little twist. Unfortunately that ball was the heaviest, otherwise I would have nailed Karen at some point.

Strength. Overhead squats 3-3-2-2-1-1 (40, 50, 55, 60, 65, PR 70kg). Yes! I tried this about a month ago, that time I also shared previous record of 65kg but failed on the 70kg. Today on my first attempt of 70kg my core collapsed, then shoulders and that made me drop the bar. After half a minute of desperation I realized I'm in the best place to work out, I'm having my PR shirt on and above all, this should be fun. I went back to the barbell, took it in back rack, jerked it up, got my lunges full of air and did what I came here for. It might have been a bit shy of parallel. I'm not used to do squats without mirrors so it was difficult to know. My overhead squats are deep nowadays but this might have been some cents short. Anyway, it felt very good!

Back squat emom. Back squat, 3 reps every minute on the minute @ 100kg for 10 minutes.

Yesterday evening I planned to go for front squat singles as well but then realized it's more vital to work on my hamstring and posterior chain in general to some day squat 150kg. That's my goal to say it out loud. I need to work with semi heavy loads and get more reps. The load today was pretty good for me. I really like the emom training method because it gets to your breathing, muscles durability and strength in the long run.

I went for 10 minutes. Had no problems to lift that 100kg each minute. A total of 30 reps. Next time I might add some weight, 105-110kg. Good pressure on my hamstrings. And my goal was to go as deep as possible, definitely below parallel.

Metcon. Time 12.58

• 4 rounds of:
• 25m walk, barbell overhead carry, 40kg
• 5/5 pistol squats
• 25m lunges, with bar in front rack position, 40kg
• 5 handstand push-ups

This was sick. I realized after first round it's gonna be tough, especially on legs. I had this totally planned yesterday except for the pistols. Had an empty space there so I went to ask Pauliina what she would throw in there. The answer was cruel. Those pistols changed the game pretty much. Going for weighted front rack lunges after that made my legs burn deeply.

The first element - overhead carry - was a little light. Would have been perfect with maybe 60kg. Then it would have been tough as well. However, I had to use the same barbell so 60kg would have been a disaster in the lunges part. On the first round my pistols were a bit shaky, then it got better. Tougher but with better and smoother technique.

On the first round those lunges went unbroken, the remaining round I had to drop the bar once each round. Handstand push-ups went unbroken which pleases me a lot. I did some strict reps each round and once it started to get on my triceps I changed it to kipping hspu's.

This morning session was at least as spectacular as yesterday. Another PR saw day the light and I got to work on my lower body very well. No need to rush, I took my time in the cooling down as well. I ran for 1.000m and stretched as well.

Row, levers, mobility. After working hours Pauliina had scheduled hitting the gym so I joined her but was determined to take it easy. Rowing 2k with a slow pace to start with. I intentionally kept the pace close to 2:00 / 500m, with a smaller damper setting that normally, it took me 7.53 to finish it. Just to activate the body and get ready for stretching.

I got carried away with elbow levers, inspired from Prasara Yoga, I've added some video clips lately. It is an awesome movement to get to know your body, core and balance. I've been working on that one-handed elbow lever, same today. One of my friends showed 2-handed elbow levers as an example so I gave it a shot and succeeded in the movement at first try! Tried it twice, felt pretty natural actually. I'm gonna work on that one-handed lever progression in the future as well. Good work for core, balance and definitely on shoulders.

Toni's workouts.

• Strength. Clean 3-3-3-3-3-2-2-3 (60, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 80 80kg)
• Workout. 10 to 1, down by 1's. Scaled hspu, toes-to-bar. For completion

Toni completed clean triples, power cleans as always. He's done squat cleans with mainly warm-up weights only. It came up nicely up to 70-75kg. On the 80kg bar he missed that third rep twice but after he realized it was only a mental game, he finished the last set with style. He had the bar high enough on the earlier sets as well but just didn't go under the bar quickly enough.

On the workout / metcon, it was purely for completion, not for time. Handstand push-ups wrere scaled to a foam roll. There were 55 reps both movements. Starting from 10 reps, coming down to 1 rep, down by 1 rep at a time.

The Crossfit Games Finals begin 22nd July!

Saturday 6.7: Metcon of kettlebell presses and swings, squats

Saturday. Prasara yoga: elbow lever progressions. Metcon of kettlebell presses, swings and air squats. Time 13.38.

We are spending the weekend at the countryside. The surroundings are perfect as always. This weekend I'm gonna leave barbells alone and concentrate in bodyweight movements and kettlebells. To warm-up I did elbow lever progressions and then a metcon with kettlebells and air squats.

Elbow levers. This looks easy but is very demanding on the shoulders. I mean very taxing. I got way better this time with the movement than before. Only few seconds of staying still but I got much better control over my body than earlier. My shoulders were on fire after having completed this part. Worked on the lever progressions for about 10 minutes. Having the skill to balance your body with the help of your core is nothing short of spectacular. I'm gonna keep this one on my schedule in order to develop as an all-around athlete.

Metcon. Time 13.38

• 3 rounds of:
• 20 kettlebell presses, 20kg
• 50 air squats
• 20 kettlebell swings, 32kg
• 50 air squats

We packed our kettlebells with us, one for Pauliina, two for me. In this workout I did the presses with 20kg bell and swings with 2 pood bell. Between kettlebells there were 50 air squats to pressure my legs. Times for those 3 rounds were approximately as follows:

• Round 1: 4.10
• Round 2: 4.50
• Round 3: 4.40
• Total 13.38

The presses were completed in sets of 5 reps per hand, then changing hands. All kettlebells unbroken, both movements. Air squats were more difficult. There were 300 of them. First set unbroken, then I believe I had to break it. Usually the first attempt was 20, then 15 and something else. My hamstrings were killing me in the end. Hard to believe such a simple movement can cause such a tremendous burn. Air squat is a genius move!

This workout got my heart pumping blood in my veins and lunges also had to do work. It was a warm day and it was awesome to do this outdoors. The only thing bothering were the flies and other bugs flying around me :) Easy to swing a kettlebell when a bug is eating my calf…

I was tempted to practice on my handstand walk but now I just wanted to relax for the rest of the day. We put chicken skewers on the grill and enjoyed a food feast at the terrace. It was an easygoing and relaxing day with Pauliina!

Wednesday 3.7: Bodyweight action

Wednesday. Bodyweight action.

Took it easy today. Practically no barbells at all today. Just worked on some split jerk with empty barbell, it's hard to land the feet in perfect position. Probably because I just haven't practiced that movement. Only occasionally. I worked on elbow levers and planche hold. Then some handstand hold agains the wall for time (max hold 1:00) and then tried to let my heels get off the wall and hold my body still.

Mostly this day was not physically taxing except those elbow levers. I definitely felt them in my shoulders. This Prasara Yoga stuff I've learned from Blair Morrison is sick. Looks very easy and is extremely demanding. I have a long way to go before I feel comfortable in those positions. I will still determinedly work on those movements to improve body control. It's tough, excruciating, difficult to learn but still probably very rewarding once you get the hold of it. And I'm sure it not only bodyweight movements but also other movements easier where you handle some weights. And obviously mobility enhances as well.

Wednesday's focus areas.

• Elbow levers
• Planche
• Handstand hold against wall
• Handstand practice
• Stretching

Toni's workouts. Shoulder press, emom.

• Shoulder press, 50kg
• Emom for 12 min, 3-5reps
• 5-5-5-5-3-3-3-3-3-4-4-5

 

Thursday 20.6: Cleans and metcon

Thursday. Warm-up, cycling and Prasara Yoga. Strength: Cleans (all sets 80kg). Metcon, 3 rounds of Erin. Ancillary movements for arms and shoulders.

Today's set included some yoga to start with, heavy cleans followed by 3 rounds of benchmark wod Erin. I also did few sets of ancillary work for upper body in the end. And mobility. The coolest part of this session was the yoga set which I have now tried to occasionally include in my training hours.

Pauliina doing push press

Cleans. Sets of power clean and squat clean: 3x80, 5x80, 5x80, 5x80, 2x80kg. Today I decided to use a different type of approach in determining the weights on the barbell. Traditionally I've increased the kilos after each set for as long as it's possible. This time the weight stayed the same (80kg each set, bodyweight, 85% of max) and tried to finish it till the end. Original plan was to do triples but after first set I decided to go for 5's.

Attempting a pose called "half crow"

I wasn't quite sure what kind of cleans I'd like to do so finally I mixed power and squat cleans. Don't know if that's the smartest thing to do but anyway, on the first set I went all power cleans. On the second I took one power clean, on the third set 3 power cleans and on from then on only power versions. So 14/20 were power cleans.

It felt better to do power cleans instead of squat cleans. That's because those hamstrings were not that flexible even though I've tried to loosen the muscles. Considering those were power cleans, I must be happy with the amount of reps completed. On each set but the last I managed to push through the pre-determined sequence. There were a total of 20 reps. It wasn't long ago since I posted a clean single lift-PR video of 80kg.

Metcon. Didn't time this one.

• 3 rounds of Erin:
• 15 dumbbells split clean, 17.5kg
• 21 pull-ups

This has been on my calendar for about 2 weeks now. I've been checking this workout earlier and today decided to hit 3 rounds of it after strength cleans. Clearly my upper back was not feeling totally fresh and I had some problems with pull-ups. Split cleans with dumbbells are something I haven't done ever in my life. Not a bad movement at all!

DB split clean

Yep, it looks a bit different when this guy does the same movements. Hopefully my mobility improves through this new practice method. Prasara Yoga - Half Crow

Tuesday 18.6: Burpees, ring dips and du's

Tuesday. Ring muscle-up skills training. Metcon. 40 burpees buy-in, then 4 rds of: 15 ring dips and 50 double unders. Cashout with 40 burpees. Time 15.27. Mobility.

My legs are destroyed after Sunday's kettlebell work added with yesterday's lower body workouts. Today's focus was on metabolic conditioning with the help of burpees and double unders. Upper body / triceps were also in real test because of the ring dips. Did some Prasara Yoga and stretching for mobility.

Ring muscle-ups. Tried to get that first muscle-up on the rings today. Actually I tested a new thing. I tied a rubber band around my legs to prevent my legs to wonder around. This proved to be a good point and my attempts were way more solid and balanced than before. To how I see it, the swing and pull parts are okay, good enough and I'm able to pull myself high enough to complete a rep. However, my legs do not perform the correct motion in the end of the movement, the kick backwards. They tend to stay in front of my body so I can't turn myself over the rings. This was a good notification of my own performance. Definitely eases the progression as I understand the deficits in my technique. Gonna make it some day!

Metcon. Time 15.27

• 40 burpees, then:
• 4 rounds of
• 15 ring dips
• 50 double unders, then:
• 40 burpees to finish it

Note to self: no more burpees and dips in a same workout! How did I forget this combo, just combined them a bit over a month ago. Starting with 40 burpees to get gassed early in the workout. Then 4 rounds of ring dips and double unders. After 4 rounds of these 2 movements, finish the workout with another set of 40 burpees. Total of 80 burpees, 60 ring dips and 200 double unders. Those were good heavy-breather movements.

And why is the combination of burpees and dips a bad ass? Because the triceps will tire. Dips and triceps in general, I consider them not my strength so this was a good workout to practice them. I'll fix this issue so I don't have to talk about it anymore. Anyway, my dips were the bottleneck in this workout. And the last set of burpees was tough on my arms, the strength was simply gone in the dips.

In the double unders, I was good. Not a single miss during the workout, even though my hands, triceps and shoulders were tired and breathing was heavy. I split them intentionally in sets of 30+20 each round. I'm very happy I didn't have to put any time there in vain. DU's rolled well.

After having finished the workout I figured this workout worked perfectly for its purpose. Get the heart pumping strong and keep on continuing the movement. Ring dips slowed my down but still I didn't take too long breaks there either. Pace was slowing down towards the end but still I call this a solid performance.

Took a few sets of head standing before moving on to mobility. I did something remotely like these Prasara Yoga movements. I really like the way this guy moves. I'm going to give it a shot and try these moves out in the future, either as warm-up or as afterwork.

Toni's workouts.

• Deadlift 3-3-3-3 (120, 130, 130, 130kg)
• Emom for 12min: 5 hang power snatch (40kg)