Saturday. 1k row, time 3.26. Shoulder press 6x4 (max PR 60kg), push press 4x3 (max PR 75kg). Short metcon.
Today was game day, we had a home game in the evening. Still, I wanted to go to the gym in the afternoon and went for shoulder and push press because my Wednesday's wasn't a success story. I nailed it today and made some personal records. I started with classic 1.000m row, time 3.26 and finished the day with a short metcon in which I didn't time it at all, just wanted to do the workout for quality.
Push press, 70kg
Strength. Shoulder press 4-4-4-4-4-3 (40, 45, 50, 55, PR 57.5, PR 60kg). Push press 3-3-3-2 (65, 70, PR 72.5, PR 75kg). God damned this was a good strength training session! Personal records in both shoulder and push press, both improved with 5kg. And I was able to do even those weights more than once, I'm so satisfied with this one! Maybe it was the amount of carbs I put in my mouth yesterday and the fact that I had the chance for a good night sleep. My training sessions have usually taken place very early in the morning and still I have been able to improve my max results consistently. However, the afternoon and weekend trainings have probably been most successful.
Shoulder press, 60kg
Push press, 75kg
Metcon. For quality
3 rounds of:
10 knees-to-elbows
3 wall climbs
10 dumbbell thrusters (15kg db's)
I didn't rush with this one, just wanted to get those movements done with quality, I didn't time this one at all. I like all these moves.
Today I met Toni at the box at 6.30am, never been at the gym this early =) It was difficult to get the body prepared and ready for heavy lifting. After some rowing, air squats, lunges, stretching and mobility it was time to go to the squat rack.
My back squats reached 120kg this time, two reps. I began with 4 rep sets. I took several warm-up reps up to 90kg but started to count my sets from 100kg. On the last set I took those 2 reps and as the last one was so tough that I just got it up, I didn't continue to third attempt. This was the second time I took up that 120kg, previous time it was my personal record as I went all the way to 125kg.
My bench press was ok today but not a huge success story. We didn't take much warm-up to chest & shoulders. Soon we put 60kg, then 70 and 75kg, I took sets of two reps, except the first 60kg set. I tried 80kg once but it didn't come up at all, today just wasn't my best press day, I feel I have potential to more than 80kg at the moment.
Toni's workouts. Triples on front squat, singles on bench press
Front squat 3-3-3-3-3-3 (60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85kg)
Bench press 1-1-1-1-F-F-F (60, 70, 80, 90, 92.5 F, 92.5 F, 92.5kg F)
He did a new record in front squats, 85kg and his form was phenomenal: elbows straigth ahead, squatting deep and able to maintain good midcore posture, good job Toni! With bench presses he was stubborn with PR attempt. He took singles and aimed to go beyond previous max, 90kg. He added 2.5kg, tried it three times but this time was not able to pick it up.
Thursday. This day was exactly what I needed. I took one hour technique and skills training, concentrating a lot to my snatch technique. I really got forward, my confidence level increased and I found the tracks better and was able to do squat snatches. I practiced the movement from the floor and from the hang position. I've been watching coach Burgener's teaching videos and tried to absorb every tip possible. There were quite a number of repetitions and I only used a 20kg bar, intentionally didn't add any kilos, just learnt the technique. I also did squat cleans and overhead squats, it took something like 30-40min. I've been doing power cleans lately so it was very important to do them as squat versions.
They both moved forward, it's hard to describe how happy I am to this day's success. I also took some handstand, double unders and ring skills for about half an hour. It was very good session. From there I drove to my floor ball training where we took 20-30min circuit training. All in all, good day!
By the way, since starting Donscrossfit 27th July this year, the blog has received 5.000 hits in total! Thanks a lot for following, I'm happy you guys enjoy! You are always free to comment and give suggestions.
As a teaser I can say that HC Triplet II is taking place 17th November =)
Wednesday. 1k row, shoulder press 5-5-5-2. Mobility. Floorball training in the evening.
My plan was to do some fierce training in the morning. However, I felt it already in the warm-up and rowing that today my body is not gonna make any magic today. I did some training and finally ended up screening Toni's workouts and encouraging him.
Ring push-ups
Strength. Shoulder press 5-5-5-2 (50, 50, 50, 55kg). On the third set of 50kg press my left elbow got sore. On the fourth one (55kg) I felt my juice was gone and the pain increased, only two reps came up. I had high hopes for today so this was definitely a disappointment for me. I still pushed forward with push press for 55kg and 60kg, 3 reps for both of them. Then I called it off. My strength training was over. I only did some mobility for the next half an hour. After one hour it got better, and now in the evening it's all good, luckily =) We had team practice in the evening for 2 hours, I took some burpees, sit-ups, squats, lunges and back extensions before the training.
20 walking lunges, 20kg bar in front rack position, alternating legs
15 ring push-ups
10 pull-ups
First round of Toni's metcon
He started pull-ups as assisted versions with a rubber band but after 7-8 reps he tossed it away and did the remaining ones without it. That's awesome Toni, 40 pull-ups, that's a lot, probably more than you've ever done! Ring push-ups went unbroken in the first round, and 3x5 in the remaining rounds. Walking lunges seemed to be the easiest of these three moves.
Tuesday. Front squat 3-3-3-3-2 (max PR 112.5kg). Metcon 5 rounds of: 20 lunges with 40kg in the front rack position, 10 pull-ups, 5 hspu and 10 k2e. Time 15.17.
Handstand push-up
Strength. Front squat 3-3-3-3-2 (100, 105, 107.5, 110, PR 112.5kg). Nice! I got these going well from the very beginning. I've been able to add kilos to my max sets steadily and continuously. It's very heavy, no doubt but still it comes up and I don't compromise the form. I suppose my core is in good shape which enables these weights. I took 5 sets of 3 reps, only the last rep didn't come up. My belly was full as I got the second lift up on the last round so the last attempt was really no attempt. Today was a success with front squats, 14 reps over 100kg, that's something to be proud of :)
Personal record in front squat, 112.5kg
Metcon. Tough one, 5 rounds of weihgted lunges, pull-ups, hspu, k2e, time 15.17.
5 rounds of
20 lunges with a 40kg bar in the front rack position
10 pull-ups
5 handstand push-ups
10 knees-to-elbows
Huh, this was a tough one! It got to my heart, it got to my shoulders and it got to my hamstrings and quads. I intentionally made it longer than normally because I wanted to put my heart to test as well and also see what happens with those moves as I add more reps to a workout. First of all, the lunges. I held the barbell in the same way as if I did front squats. I put 40kg on the bar and did 20 lunges per round, with alternating legs, i.e. 10 per leg. For the first three rounds I went unbroken, for the last two rounds I did 14+6 reps. It really burnt my legs in the end and also caught my respiration.
My pull-ups have taken a step further. All rounds unbroken, boom baby! Haha, spectacular feeling as I got some kipping style to ease the movement. After pull-ups the next move was handstand push-ups, five of them each round. Today I finally made the decision to skip the foam roll and hit my head to the floor, very smart decision! This makes the movement many times harder compared to lowering head to a foam roll or something alike. For the first two rounds I went unbroken, third and fourth round 3+2 and the last round 2+2+1. It was tough, my shoulders were in pure pain, just the way I like it =) I should learn how to kip the handstand push-ups, it would make it so much easier, especially when fatigue come into play. After HSPUs the knees-to-elbows were easy, ten reps isn't that bad. All rounds unbroken, easiest movement in the workout.
My first round was around two and a half minutes, second round little less than three minutes and the last three rounds were just over three minutes on average.
Toni handstanding
Toni's workouts. Today Toni put all his focus on strength training, deadlift and bench press.
Monday. Thrusters 5x3 (max 70kg), metcon of snatches and lunges.
Again at the gym, with Pauliina. She put effort on her shoulders and abs, I wanted to go for thrusters, snatches, legs and metabolic conditioning. I took thrusters as my strength exercise and then did a workout where snatches and lunges were included. Toni went to the gym in the morning and did squats and a workout after that.
Strength. Thrusters 3-3-3-3-3 (50, 60, 65, 70, 70kg). This workout shows me I'm ready to increase the load next time for clean and presses. My standing max for both clean and push press is 70kg, today I did 2x3 thrusters with those same weights. It wasn't light, for sure it weighted a lot but I managed to go for two times 3 reps. The front squat part was the easy one for me, that was quite light actually. It's nice to see the shoulders getting stronger in crossfit even without targeting them precisely. So many movements are strengthening the athlete's overall conditioning and shoulders are activated continuously.
This workout goes so that on the first minute you do snatches, on the second minute lunges, third minute snatches, fourth minute lunges etc. Increase load on the snatches after each set.
I took some snatches just to practice the technique, then decided to go for a metcon consisting of snatches and also lunges. Two movements, on odd minutes I took 6 snatches and the idea was to increase the load after each set so that you're able to increase it until the last round. On even minutes do 20 lunges, I was thinking about doing them with dumbbells and increase the load correlating. However, it would have been a mess to run around the gym and change the dumbbells all the time. So I skipped the db's and did regular lunges.
The first rounds of snatches were easy, until 35 kilos. Then I began to feel the pressure on those. I planned to do this for 12 minutes but wanted to go for one extra round in the end as I just loved the snatches, even though they were very tough at the end. I think I'll take snatches as strength move some day in the near future, I like these and want to develop in them, a lot!
Each of these movements took about 20-30 seconds each round so there was about half a minute to recover and catch a breath. I thought this session would stress my heart a bit more and thus increase metabolic conditioning as well. In the last rounds of the snatches it did but as a whole it could have put more pressure on the heart. The key was that I was able to maintain the same pace with both snatches and lunges throughout the workout and this gave me about 30 sec to recover each round. That was enough for me and I was able to put all in all the time. I thought beforehand that it might take some more seconds as the weights are going to increase after each set. I'm happy I still managed to do the sets in the same time frame consistently. Maybe if I had taken dumbbells with the lunges, the nature of the workout would have been totally different. My legs got the most of it in this workout, they were burning when I snatched in the last rounds.
Toni's workouts. Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (80, 85, 90, 95, 100kg) plus a metcon, time 11.08.
1.000m row
40 double unders
20 dips
30 sit-ups
30 push-ups
You can give some comments on the workout Toni, I guess the back squat's idea was not to max it out today? The rowing part took about 3.40, that's a good pace. How did it affect the rest of the workout, did you leave some juice to the rest of the workout? What was to easiest, what was to hardest move?
Sunday. Deadlift 5x3, birthday wod, time 7.38. I met Toni at noon to do some training. Today is my birthday, I'm turning 33 so we decided to celebrate it with some heavy work =) I took deadlifts for starters as my strength training and then a "birthday wod". Toni concentrated in push press, accpmplishing a new personal record and a tough metcon at the end. Naturally the session began with rowing. Strength. 5-5-5-5-3 (120, 130, 140, 145, 150kg). I'm very happy to the workout. For the last times I've gone for deadlifts, I've done them as a combination with some other strength movement or then I've done 3 rep sets. Today my focus was to do 5 reps in each set and see how far I could go. My max stands at 155kg (single rep). I did 5 reps up to 145kg, never done that many repetitions with those weights. And I ended the workout with 3 reps of 150kg, that was tough guys! I'm very happy with the amount of deadlifts with heavy kilos today, 13 reps over 140kg. And I felt it in my back, great.
Deadlift, 145kg
Metcon. Upper body workout, total of 198 reps. Time 7.38.
33 ring dips
33 double unders
33 pull-ups
33 double unders
33 push-ups
33 double unders
To celebrate the 33th birthday, I took 33 reps of some movements. This metcon was very nasty as ring dips, pull-ups and push-ups all concentrated in my upper body, chest and triceps especially. Doing 33 reps of these movements isn't that bad but doing them in a row is very bad. Ring dips burnt me in the very beginning, after 20 this workout started to feel it's difficult to finish it with style. The last 10 reps were a struggle and I completed them in threes and twos. It also affected my double unders, which I consider one of my strengths when you think about the skills required in crossfit. I managed to complete DUs in two sets.
I thought the pull-ups would bring a lot of problems but evidently they weren't the issue today. Actually, I believe I did them best of all these three movements (dips, pull-ups, push-ups). Starting with 9 pull-ups, then 7, in the end a few reps at a time. There has clearly been strong development and I'm able to utilize the kipping mode. In the second round of double unders I went unbroken.
When I finally moved on to push-ups, I could barely feel my hands, my triceps were killing me. I couldn't do them much in a row, just a few reps after the first attempt. Very difficult, somehow I stumbled through them. At the final round of double unders, it was very difficult to control the jump rope as my triceps and hands in general were so numb. I really enjoyed this workout as it concentrated on those muscles which I definitely want to strengthen: chest, triceps, shoulders. And this workout obviously doesn't get easier by time, net year it's gonna be 34 reps each :)
10 push press (2rounds with 60kg, 3 rounds with 50kg)
10 burpees
20 double unders
Toni was able to do a personal record with push presses, renewing 1 rep max to 77.5kg. His metcon looked nasty. Five rounds of three movements: 10 push presses, for the first two rounds he did it with 60kg. However, the weights were too heavy and had to be decreased to 50kg for the three remaining rounds. In the first round he went unbroken, the second was a battle, and went in twos on average. From then on it was 2-5 reps at a time.
Burpees weren't that bad, at least they seemed to be going okay. The progress of his burpees has been tremendous, great job Toni! Double unders' success changed by the round. Third round went unbroken, nice! The other rounds had some difficulties but I saw some development there, it was better than before. It's good you've been jumping around a lot, it's visible now. Toni, share your thoughts!
Saturday. 1k row, 3.26 + back squat 5x3 (max PR 125kg), metcon of step-ups, HSPUs and T2Bs + ring skills.
This happens when you bring a pole dancer to the gym =)
After a rest day my enthusiasm to train was high. Together with Pauliina we drove to the gym and were about to back squat our personal records. And we both did! In my metcon I wanted to have some new elements so it was a bit different this time. At the end we played with the rings once again and I also want to develop my pull-up technique so that chest-to-bars are possible in the future. My training session started with 1k row, time 3.26, which I think is my fastest time for 1.000m row by far.
Strength. 3-3-3-3-2 (100, 110, 115, PR 120, PR 125kg). Great! Previous max stood at 117.5kg so getting up to 125kg was something beyond my dreams for today, my goal stood at 120kg. As 110kg seemed light and I was able to keep my form well I decided to take 115 and then move directly to new weights, 120kg. I took 3 reps of this new weight and then attempted to go for 3 reps of 125kg. Two reps succeeded, the third one didn't have a chance. I'm not totally satisfied with my squat depth of the 125kg but still extremely happy for these kilos.
Metcon. Total of 40 step-ups, 30 hspu and 40 toes-to-bar. Time 7.08.
5 rounds of:
4x2 step-ups (60kg, alternating legs, 4 each)
6 hspu
8 toes-to-bar
I used a foam roll on the handstand push-ups to which I lowered my head and then pushed myself back up. The three stations are all in different corners of the gym so it took some time to walk around during the workout in the transitions. I should have put either more plates on the bar with the step-ups or increase the amount of reps. The purpose of the workout was to stress the entire body but my legs found out their part was rather easy. I haven't done step-ups yet, I thought it might be a bit shaky to step to the bench (about 40cm) with one leg so I figured 60kg would be alright. I'd say 80kg would have been better or then double the reps.
Step-ups, 60kg
Handstand push-ups went unbroken each round, I think I must start getting rid of that foam roll. I took some attempts without it after the metcon and managed to perform them correctly. However, they were so much heavier than with this scaled style. My toes-to-bars were unbroken as well. The pull-up bar is very close to the wall so I've been avoiding T2B movement for quite a while. Today I realized it's just an excuse :) I will do them in the future as well, the wall's near proximity was no issue.
As a summary, these movements were good. We talked with Pauliina that this could have been a great workout if conducted for example as 18min amrap. Then more reps would have taken place. Now it was too short, too easy, too light. Only handstand push-ups started to feel tough at the fourth round. There I can clearly see a development point.
Bench press
Skills. At the end we played with the rings again. They are simply awesome! Skin the cat has become my new favorite just like that. It really improves mobility and you can strengthen the core at the same time. I also took some steps to front lever and back lever. At the end I took 20 "chest-to-bar" pull-ups. This was the first time I was able to pull myself high enough but still it feels difficult to make my chest actually tough the bar. I can force my lats close together but still need that final strive to touch the bar to be counted as a reps.
Today I'm going to give my body an earned rest day. It feels good, no sore places and eager to work hard but sometimes I just need to think logically. Give a break to my system so that it is better equipped with to go for the next practice. Only my shins are killing me at the moment. Maybe all the weights I'm carrying all day in different ways are giving a lot of pressure to my legs so they are a bit sensitive at the moment. However, they don't bother me in the training. I don't know if my shins allowed me to run or not. Anyway, lets take it easy today and recover. I'm going to meet the in-laws tonight with Pauliina at an Italian restaurant for a little celebration.
Here are the workouts I've done since previous rest day. There have been quite a number of workouts in between. In addition to this there have been hundreds of double unders during the workouts as well as several rowing kilometers as I intend to row 1k each time for starters.
Thursday 25.11: Active recovery
Friday 26.11: Technique, skills, game day
Saturday 27.11: shoulder press, push press, burpee amrap
Sunday 28.11: back squat, bench press, pull-ups, ring dips
Monday 29.11: front squat, snatch, overhead squat + floorball
Tuesday 30.10: clean & jerk, metcon
Wednesday 31.10: 30min Fry-up a.k.a metcon
Thursday 1.11: bench press, ring skills, metcon
Toni's workout. Bench press, front squat, mobility. Time of the wod: 7.45
10-8-6-4-2
Bench press (65kg)
Front squat (60kg)
Toni, please correct if I'm wrong but I believe your maxes are around 90kg for bench press and around 100kg for front squat. So these weights are somewhere around 60-70% of your current max. How was the workout in your opinion, how did you do? Where the sets unbroken?
Rob Orlando doing "Sandy", 9-7-5 of 365 lbs back squats and strict handstand push-ups
Thursday. Row 1k time 3.28, bench press 6x3 (max PR 80kg), ring skills, metcon 2 rounds of 50 hand release push-ups, 50 DUs and 50 sit-ups, time 7.54.
I took off by rowing 1k, I pushed myself to the edge, there might be some occasional seconds taken off but that's pretty much the limit. That speed is 1.44 / 500m. For 500m I have rowed 1.40 but never tried to keep that pace for 1.000m. That means 1k would be 3.20 if the pace would remain the same. Anyway, today's agenda was to go for bench press and bench press only, for strength. Additionally I wanted to utilize the rings and do some skills training there. Finally my metcon included push-ups, double unders and sit-ups. I wanted to make my triceps scream and succeeded in that! Pauliina is visiting home for a few days and today she joined me at the box. She did her own program and tried the rings as well.
Strength. 3-3-3-3-3-2 (60, 70, 75, 75, PR 77.5, PR 80kg). I did well today and I'm proud of it. I've tried bench press for a few times and my previous record is 75kg. I've never tried heavier weights. My goal today was to reach 80kg and luckily I got there. Starting from 60kg, moving up to 70 and 75kg. Pauliina said it came rather easily and had the opinion that more kilos should be added so why not? I added 2.5kg first and as it came up 3 times, I decided to round it up to 80kg. Two reps went ok but she had to assist me with the third one. It's nice to see I can lift more than my bodyweight (77kg). By the way, I've gained extra 1-2 kilos as I started my eating process a 1-2 weeks ago, nice! My energy consumption is huge so I must also eat huge loads. Three warm meals is minimum amount for me in a day, in addition to everything extra that goes down my system.
Ring skills. Those rings are simply awesome! I took some ring pull-ups with false grip, it feels a bit awkward to do them but definitely helps in doing muscle-ups, sometime in the future. Pauliina inspired me to do some inverted holds and "skin the cat" as well. Those ring are very helpful to play with. And you can really make some moves to make your abs and shoulders beg for mercy. Doing them also increases mobility, especially in the shoulder area.
Metcon. Hr push-ups, double unders and sit-ups, total of 300 reps. Time 7.54
2 rounds of
50 hand release push-ups
50 double unders
50 sit-ups
The purpose of this workout was to put my triceps and chest to the limits. Total of 300 reps, 50 hand release push-ups, double unders and old school sit-ups for two rounds. Clearly, push-ups were the toughest. On the first round I did 30 in a row, then I took 10 and 5+5. On the second round my push-ups were done in small bits, something like 10+10 and then fives till the end. My triceps were pushed to the stage of going numb so I couldn't do them more in a row.
My double unders were perfect, both times unbroken! C'mon, that seems to be the new trend. This is very promising, it's not long ago as I still had some problems with them. That encourages me to do all other skill type of exercises such as headstand, handstand, muscle-ups. Just keep on practicing and some day you'll master them! Sit-ups in this metcon went naturally unbroken as well. This workout was a good one and worked exactly as I wanted. My triceps and chest need to be worked on more in the future. This day was a good step towards that goal.
Today's agenda was thinking out of the box. As Toni wrote yesterday: "Tomorrow is all about cooking. If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen!"We went after a workout consisting of several movements, as many reps as possible in 30 minutes, some strength moves and some basic stuff. This was the longest amrap we've had this far. As warm-up we rowed, did regular warm-up and then lifted deadlifts and push presses with 100 and 50kg and naturally went through all the Fry-up's moves.
Fry-up. Result: 7 rounds and 22 double unders. Total of 732 reps.
3 deadlift (100kg) = 24 reps
7 burpee = 56 reps
40 double unders = 302 reps
3 push press (50kg) = 21 reps
7 pull-ups = 49 reps
40 squats = 280 reps
It was difficult to set a strategy beforehand as I've never done as long a wod as this was. I figured one round would take somewhere around 5 minutes so I decided to concentrate doing one round unbroken, then keep a 30sec break and move on to next round. I stuck with this plan throughout the entire half an hour. Thinking it afterwards, I shouldn't have taken those breaks necessarily after each round. I was afraid of getting totally burnt if I don't take rest periods at all in 30min. The combination of burpees and double unders got my heart, racing wildly. Other than that, my conditioning stayed good and consistent.
The deadlifts were too light. 100kg is about 60% of my max, it felt like the bar was flying up. Maybe more reps or heavier kilos would have been a wise decision. I thought about 120kg yesterday but decided on 100kg anyway. Burpees got some action in my heart even though there were just a few of them. Especially as double unders followed right after them. I'm very happy of my double unders during this workout. First round I took all 40 reps in a row. All but round number 4 went in 2x20. Only that fourth round went in 3-4 attempts. I've never been this good in double unders in a workout when fatigue crawls in. Really, these were easy, awesome!
Push presses were the most demanding movement for me today. Maybe because my shoulders have taken hit for several days in a row. Doing clean & jerks, snatches, overhead squats, pull-ups, ring dips, shoulder presses and push presses in the last four days maybe took their toll. All pull-ups went unbroken, I liked doing them and could have taken more of them. Nice to witness that pull-ups were not a struggle this time :)
Squats were the ones that burnt my hamstrings. The first rounds were not bad but then in the middle of the workout those last squats - after 30 reps - the hamstring fire came in. I pushed them through unbroken anyway. As a summary, all reps in all movements went unbroken, except from double unders which I did in 2x20reps.
Our fry-up worked well for its purpose. The point was to increase metabolic conditioning, go for a clearly longer metcon than normally and include power ingredients as well. We could have spiced it up with heavier kilos in the barbell. Next time when I go for similar type of workout, I'll strategize it more perfectly. If I could turn back time, I would keep shorter breaks between rounds. I thought I would be totally gassed after this one. However, I felt like I had something in my sleeve after the half an hour.
Toni's fry-up. Result: 6 rounds and 5 burpees. Total of 368 reps.
3 deadlift (100kg) = 21 reps
7 burpee = 47 reps
20 double unders = 120 reps
3 push press (50kg) = 18 reps
7 pull-ups = 42 reps
20 squats = 120 reps
Toni's deadlift
Toni took the same wod with slight modifications. Double unders and squats were 20 reps and pull-ups were assisted pull-ups. I think we felt the pressure differently on the moves. Toni experienced push presses as easy ones. Give us some insight of your thoughts chef!
Visa took another huge load up, this time deadlifting 180kg. And hey, this is his "easy week" =)
Tuesday. Clean & jerk 3-3-3-2-1 (max 70kg). Metcon 4 rounds of db thrusters, hspu and lunges.
This day was somewhat easier one. I took some sets of clean & jerk, ending up to 70kg. Training also included a metcon with dumbbell thrusters, handstand push-ups and lunges with a bar at my back. Toni was at the gym with me, he went for cleans, bench press and similar kind of workout as I did. This evening is free of training so tomorrow morning we are prepped up for going after something awkward with Toni. Stay tuned!
Dumbbell thrusters
Strength. Clean & jerk 3-3-3-2-1 (50, 60, 65, 70, 70kg). On the last round I took 3 cleans, only 1 jerk. My cleans were power cleans. However, with 50kg I took squat cleans to remind myself who they should go. So this workout was to combine clean and push press to reach "clean & jerk". I took 70kg C&Js up 2 times on the fourth round and once in the last round. In the last round I anyway took 3x70kg cleans and only one jerk. I just realized when writing this that 70kg was my clean PR from 10 days ago, and push press PR from 3 days ago. I thought my morning training wasn't such a success I wanted but now I actually feel pretty good! Still, it takes time to go for Grace (30 x clean & jerk) with the rx'd weights (60kg). It might take a while. I enjoyed that workout a lot when I did it with 50kg last time. However, next time I think I'll go for the original weights.
Metcon. Dumbbell thrusters, handstand push-ups, lunges. I didn't time this one.
4 rounds of:
10 db thrusters (12.5kg dumbbells)
5 hspu
20 lunges (with 20kg bar)
I did it with normal speed, no extra breaks in between. I just didn't have the clock running. I felt this one in my hamstrings when doing thrusters in the deepest position. And handstand push-ups are always tough. I used a foam roll where I landed my head with the HSPUs. All sets went unbroken except the last rep of handstand push-ups, last rep! Damned, it was a half of a rep, I didn't want to count that so I did one proper one. I totally enjoy push-ups when inverted, must keep on enhancing in them. Then Diane (21-15-9, deadlift & hspu) would also be possible. And I definitely need to get rid of that foam roll, just bang my head to the floor :) Thrusters and lunges were not that bad, my legs felt it but in reality they were not bad. I should have done this in amrap-mode, more rounds or then just simply more reps. Good movements though!
Toni, how was it, here is the last round of your amrap. First round it took about 1:30, then the following rounds were about 2 minutes. It was solid effort and you managed to keep the pace steady. What do you think of your strength training in the morning?
What a wonderful day for squatting. Yesterday I did 30 reps of back squats with 85% of max weights. This caused my legs to be somewhat tired in the morning as I woke up. I wasn't sure how the energy level would be to do heavy front squats. I proved to myself that great portion of training is mental. I pushed that fatigue to the background and started working. I ended up with another personal record and continued with snatches and overhead squats. I started the day by going 5x20 double unders, all sets unbroken and easy, nice!
Front squat. Sets of 3-3-3-3-2 (95, 100, 105, PR 110kg, 110kg). It is awkward that the more I put plates on the bar, the easier it got. I took some warm-up lifts with 80kg, they felt heavier than I thought they should be. It definitely didn't feel like there's gonna me any magic happening today. However, as I piled more weights, I suppose my joints and hip got more open and I managed to get a good form and the center of mass focused on the right spot. Sets around 100kg were not that bad so I added 5kg after each set until 100kg. I took my new personal record up three times. It felt very good so I took it again, this time 2 reps was enough for me. The first rep of that set looked good but on the second one I lost my form and decided to put the bar on the rack.
Snatch. Sets of 5-5-5-5 (30, 35, 40, 40kg). This is actually turning in to a strength move which I'm always looking eagerly forward to. My technique definitely needs to be worked on. I was going after coach Burgener's tips in snatching the bar from the ground, slowly to the halting deadlift and then furiously snatching it to the top. Previously my attempts have been hang snatches. At this moment I don't feel comfortable enough doing squat snatches, they are always power snatches. That's why I'm going after power snatches and overhead squats to find my perfect form. Once I feel confident with those, I'm able to add kilos and do squat snatches as well.
Overhead squats. Sets of 5-5-5-5 (30, 30, 30, 30kg). That's how my bottom position looks like. It's alright at the moment, my knees are still not pointing enough outside, in my opinion, and the weight is not on my heels. That's what I'm trying to fix now. However, my upper body mobility is from another world today and I'm able to go deep enough with shoulders giving up and letting my hands go back. Today I took 4x5 with 30kg on the bar.
Overhead squats
Toni's workouts. Back squats, technique focused pull-ups / dips workout and finally a metcon, time 9.55. Back squat 5-5-5-5-3 (80, 90, 95, 95, 95kg). Pull-ups 5x3, dips 5x4. Toni's metcon. Time 9.55
1.000m row
20 k2e
20 dips
20 du
Knees-to-elbows
Toni, tell us your feelings, how was the back squat? What kind of sets did you go for with these movements? I saw only your knees-to-elbows. By the way I'm very proud that you are doing those nowadays! One month ago you were laughing at them. Now you look like a pro.
By the way, here is a video of Visa doing his back squats in the morning. Pretty light one, 180kg on the bar... He is an animal!!!
Sunday. Three workouts. 10-8-6-4-2 of back squats and bench press, for quality. 10-8-6-4-2 of pull-ups and ring dips, for quality. Handstand holds and L-sit holds. Start with 1k row, time 3.30.
L-sit hold
I just love it that in the weekends there's no rush at all compared to weekdays. Work sets its own barriers for crossfit as well as my floorball season, which lasts until March. They are not hindering it but certainly I have to plan my schedule better. Pauliina has been in Sweden as exchange student for couple of months which has allowed me to fully concentrate in enhancing my overall conditioning through hard training. Let's see what happens when she comes back =) No, really, she enjoys sports and encourages me a lot to do crossfit and gives all the space I've needed for crossfit this far. She often joins me at the gym, she is just perfect to me. I love her, couldn't imagine being happier!
Today I did three workouts, the first one is inspired by Rob Orlando who often combines two or three strength movements and does them with significant loads. I combined back squat and bench press this time with heavy kilos. Second workout was similar but performed totally with own bodyweight, pull-ups and ring dips. At the end my third workout was pretty much copied by gymnasticswod's workout of the day, holds of handstand and L-sit. Naturally I started the whole day by rowing. Time 3.30. Then some pvc pipe dribbling, stretching, opening up my joints throughout the body and going after bear complex.
First workout. For quality. Total of 30 reps each. 85% of max.
10-8-6-4-2
Back squat, 100kg
Bench press, 65kg
These weights are heavy for me. About 85% of my max reps. Back squat max is 117.5kg and 75kg is the heaviest I've tried by far for bench press. So going after 30 reps each movement was supposed to be tough. They weren't easy at least. All sets unbroken except for that round of sixes where my last press didn't come up. I had to lower it to my chest and roll it away. I forgot to put the safety bars there... Must have looked simply stupid as I was getting away under the bar. Other than that rep, the workout was a good one. A lot of reps with heavy kilos is exactly what I was looking for. The sets were tough, no doubt about it. I liked the last reps in each set as they didn't come easy. Back squat actually was relatively light (?) but the bench press's last 1-2 reps each round were quite heavy, me likey. My chest felt the burden at the end.
Second workout. For quality. Total of 30 reps each. Own bodyweight.
10-8-6-4-2
Pull-ups
Ring dips
I had to take a 10min rest period before moving on to second workout because my chest had taken some pressure with bench press. All pull-ups went unbroken until the end, not bad, could've gone longer. I was also able to do some kipping movement there even though I've always thought that is not the ideal spot to have a pull-up bar, as you can see in the video. My ring dips were okay for 10 and 8 rep rounds. I had to split the 6 reps in 2x3. Fours went in 2-2 and the last two were 1-1. There were one rep in the both of the last two rounds which I didn't count as reps, otherwise the last set would've been unbroken. I like these both moves a lot. That can also be seen in my programming, there have been quite a number of both of them lately. There was quite a long period where pull-ups were non-existing. That was due to my shoulder problems. Those worries are gone and I've introduced pull-ups to program again.
Third workout. Three set of holds each. Own bodyweight.
60sec handstand hold
60sec L-sit hold
30 sec handstand hold
30 sec L-sit hold
20 sec handstand hold
20 sec L-sit hold
Pretty much directly taken from gymnasticwod's workout of the day from today, Sunday 28th. Only the length varied a bit and they added 100 reps of hollow rocks to the end. One minute of handstand hold felt long, that was pretty much the top length for me after all the training today. The second round was a bit short in my opinion, I could have taken 45 seconds. Last round of 20sec was easy. However, I wanted to do same length for both movements, that's the reason why I put only 30 and 20 seconds in rounds 2 and 3. Those L-sits were awful. The first round went surprisingly well. However, in the second round my legs were shaking so bad that I was sure I wouldn't last the whole time. Somehow I managed. Last round went nicely but probably couldn't have gone for half a minute.
The day was hard. Rowing fast for 1k. Back squatting and bench pressing with 85% of max weights for 30 reps each. Then pull-ups and ring dips, 30 each. In the end different holds. I believe my entire body felt it today. Legs were given the "easiest" role today, upper body definitely got the highest pressure moments.
Damned today was a good day! Toni and I both made personal records and we hit a metcon that was known to be very unpleasant. We did it, and felt superb after that! This day concentrated mostly on shoulder and upper body area. I've added my rowing in the warm-up, nowadays I usually row for 1k, today as well. The time is around three and a half minutes each time, today it was 3.34. I know that if I put "all in", the time is few seconds under 3.30, somewhere around 3.20-3.25. My forearms still feel a bit awkward from the early week's training but they certainly do not bother the training that much. We took quite a lot of double unders for starters, for about 10 minutes and also some bear complex movements with the bar. Also snatches and overhead squats - first with pvc pipe, then with empty bar - are part of my rituals nowadays.
What happened?!? My previous record for shoulder press was 50kg, a tough struggle as I remember it. Today I went over my limits by doing 8 reps with higher kilos (3-3-2)... 55kg is the new record. The last reps were tough as they are supposed to be. I'm very satisfied to my performance!
Toni's shoulder press was a success story as well. 3-3-3-F-2-1 (50+55+60+62.5+60+ PR 62.5kg). His presses with 50-55kg looked easy. Sixty kilos came up with three reps and looked very good. He added 2.5kg and failed to get it up. Then he repeated 60kg with two reps and finally got his mind together and outrageously pushed the single attempt of 62.5kg up! New personal record was born =)
Push press rolled as nicely as shoulder press, for both of us. My previous record was 65kg. I started the sets from where I got stuck with shoulder press. First set 60kg, then adding 2.5kg each round. I already did new PR with 67.5kg, 3 reps, and as my mind was strong I put 70kg on the bar and fiercely forced the bar to go towards the ceiling two times, the last rep simply couldn't be lifted anymore.
Toni also got his record broken, 72.5kg was his last set. He took sets of 3 reps with 60, 65, 70, 72,5 kilos and finally two reps with new PR 75kg. How awesome can a day be if both of us do personal records with both shoulder and push press!
The feeling after the training was just perfect. Hitting two records in one day is awesome. My shoulders are exactly the area in my body where I'd like to see some development in my strength training. I'm sure my back squats are going to come up as I have learnt new technique to have a better form in lifting kilos. My front squat technique is good at the moment and clearly my strongest movements. Toni has also made steady development in his strength levels.
Metcon. 117 reps, Toni 84 reps.
7min amrap
Burpees
What a feeling.. The heart is given huge pressure and my triceps were also smashed in the end. We first counted the reps for 118 and 85 but after video review had to drop them to 117 and 84, it was good we taped them. The camera's memory stick got full during my workout so I didn't catch it until the end. Anyway, here is Toni's version of this nightmarish workout. My wod is in Youtube (about 5min) as well. I had no strategy before, it's hard to think of one as I've never done this workout. I began by going 30 in a row, then 3 seconds pause to shake my hands and legs, continue with 15 reps, another shake, then tens until the end. The last 60-70 seconds I pushed through without any breaks. It's comforting to understand you're near the finish line and I had another motivation as well. My brother did this one and completed 113 reps so I had to beyond that point so he won't be trash talking afterwards. He's finding it difficult that little bro is going further ;) He said today he'll try to beat that result and go for 120 reps, haha, good one, I'm sure he will, he is strong minded and this is the ultimate motivation for him!
