Saturday 5.1: Back squat, deadlift

Saturday. Technique for deadlift. Workout 10-8-6-4-2 of back squats and deadlift. Mobility

Pauliina joined me in that training. Toni had a rest day. My plan was to concentrate on grinding my technique on the deadlift moves. I took some deadlift sets after a good and proper warm-up. As the main workout of the day I planned to go for a combination of squats and deadlifts with weights around 75% of my max loads.

Back extensions

Deadlift technique. One of the beasts at our Box threw me a link to T-Nation's web page where the guys are giving tips to good deadlift technique. I had to absorb the text and was anxious to try the five tips out as this is of the main focus areas for me in the first quarter of this year. I have troubles in keeping my chest up throughout the lift. Instead, my hip shoots up in the air first and that's why I have to pull the entire load with pure back muscles.

By completing the lift the way it's most efficient (leading with chest) I'd be able to utilize my legs and hip more. That would definitely result in me bringing more weights up. I took a few sets of 4 reps with 90-140kg. I feel my form was rather good up to 120kg but on 140kg I went back to my old routines of shooting the hip in the air first.

Workout. Back squat and deadlifts.

• 10-8-6-4-2
• Back squats, 100kg
• Deadlift, 120kg

My maxes are 135kg for back squat and 170kg for deadlift so these weights are about 75% of max loads. I didn't see it coming that my back would be on fire. I went unbroken for the first round of tens. Then I felt some pressure in my lower back and had to take a short break. The second set - eights - of back squats I took 4+4 and the pressure began to grow. After 8 unbroken deadlifts it started to become bigger than life. I have never had that kind of pressure in my back so I started to feel a bit worried. I still continued to rattle on with the weights for a set of 6 squats, in 3+3, then a set of 6 deadlifts. At this stage the pain in my back was simply too much. I took a single rep of squat and stopped there.

The reason I stopped was because I thought something might be wrong. After moaning for 5-10 minutes I felt good again. I talked to my bro who assured me it was caused by the combination of these two movements that both create burden in lower back. Now, after a couple hours of thinking about it, I don't feel as disappointed as I felt right after the workout because I understand it was due to my programming where I have to pay more attention to. If I knew it was only pain in the muscles, I would have probably moved on but I thought something might be wrong in my body so I had to stop, just 6 reps each before the end.

All in all, I got a high rep workout of two main movements, 24 reps each. I believe this day did good to my development as I got a lot of reps with rather heavy weights and I also got the chance to focus on my dl technique. In the end we took mobility, foam rolling and stretching with Pauliina.

Friday 4.1: Technique

Friday. Technique and skills. Snatches, double unders, box jumps and sit-ups.

Today I took it very light. I didn't add any weights on the bar and skipped strength training because I believe my body wanted to take it easier today. My elbows are once in a while giving my some reminders when they hurt and today was one of those days. I took numerous snatches and worked on my explosiveness and technique, several sets of 30 double unders, box jumps and sit-ups. Toni instead worked his ass off =)

Toni's workouts. Back squats 5-4-3-2-1 (100, 107.5, 110, 115, 120kg).

Metcon for time. Time 8.00
21-15-9
Thrusters, 42.5kg
Double unders

He took the first set of thrusters in 7-7-7, second one in 5-5-5 and last one 5-4. Take a look at the video and Toni, give us your feelings!

Thursday 3.1: Back squats, metcon

Thursday. Back squats 3-3-3-3-2 (max 130kg). Metcon 5 rounds of 10 step-ups (80kg) and 5 wall climbs. Time 10.24.

I can really feel yesterday's workout in my body still. I heard something similar from Toni who did exactly the same exercise. It wasn't the easiest of all wake-ups in the morning but I packed my gear, hit the bus towards the Box and was I ready for some action once again! For starters I took the classic rowing set, hip openers before entering my strength training.

Strength. Back squats 3-3-3-3-2 (100, 110, 120, 130, 130kg). I'm actually very happy how well my squats rolled today! Considering the stiffness yesterday evening in my hamstrings and hips. I took sets from 100 to 130, going up by 10's. You know there is a milestone weight which you know you can bring up at least once any day, no matter if it's a good or a semi-good day. My milestone used to be in 120 kilos but now I've brought that up to 130kg. I'm confident and feel strong when I go under the bar. At least that's my feeling at the moment =)

Back squat, 130kg

I took a set of 130kg, three reps, the last one was a battle. Because my aim was to do sets of 3 reps I didn't want to add load and go for 135 I decided to stay with 130kg and aim for another triple set. I came up with two repetitions, last one was simply too much. Good workout after which I rested for a while before my metcon of the day.

Metcon. Time 10.24

• 5 rounds of
• 10 step-ups, 80kg
• 5 wall climbs

Step-ups, first round

Because my strength consisted of back squats I wanted to put more pressure on my hamstrings. Still, some additional upper body load was on my mind. I came up with a five rounder of step-ups and wall climbs. I've found a step-up weight that's pretty good for me considering this was a high-rep metcon: 50 step-ups and 25 wall climbs. Both of these moves belong to my favorite tool bag. Step-ups started to feel in my lower body in the second or third round quite roughly but surely I went unbroken. The wall climbs are always surprisingly fatiguing. Completing one wall climb takes just a few seconds but going 5 in a row round after round will melt down your body very effectively. I had to take a breath and give my shoulders and arms some time to chill out after 2-3 reps in rounds 3-5. That means to say I went unbroken but probably the last three rounds' wall climbs went in two sets.

I had some thoughts beforehand that the number of wall climbs would make me scream after the workout. It wasn't far away from the truth. I liked this one and recommend everyone to try out these moves and this specific workout as well. For cooling down I reminded my body of kipping pull-ups and did some mobility and foam rolling.

I believe Toni had a rest day today unless he decided otherwise and went to the nearby gym.

Wednesday 2.1: Metcon of cleans, front squats and push jerks

Wednesday. Metcon of cleans, front squats and push jerks. Inspired by hero wod Hammer

Toni is on a holiday but still met me at the Box today for a tough metcon that was ahead of us. We didn't take a strength workout for starters because we knew this one would be a killer. And it perfectly follows the guidelines I wrote yesterday: "muscle durability with heavier weights". I believe this was a good lesson for Toni as well.

Metcon. "Hammer".

• 5 rounds of
• 5 clean, 60kg
• 10 front squats, 60kg
• 5 push jerks, 60kg

This workout was inspired by hero wod Hammer. The only difference was that we skipped the 20 pull-ups that were supposed to be done after push jerks each round. Rather heavy barbell for us, 20 reps each round with 60kg isn't easy. Total of 100 reps with that specific bar. I don't know how much the total time was as we did this workout in turns, I only timed the lap times for both of us. I completed my first round, then Toni did his first and we moved on to the second round etc, did every round in turns.

For the first round I went unbroken but on the second round the disbelief crawled in. I thought this workout would take me down eventually. As I moved on rep after rep the light came back and I understood this is as tough a mental game as always and I'm going to beat the discomfort at some point. The last two rounds are usually easier because you know you are about to reach your goal.

My cleans came up well today. Front squats were unbroken as well but I had to stop and breathe once in a while from the second round on. After squats I took 0-2 reps of push jerks for the last 4 rounds before I had to drop the bar. The push jerks were very tough for me. I've usually done those shoulder strength moves as presses (shoulder press / push press with heavier weights) but today I tried to do push jerks. My shoulders and arms were in fire and it was extremely tough towards the end. All in all, this training session worked well for the purpose it was planned for. I'm very happy to the workout itself.

Don's round times

• 1.11
• 1.38
• 1.47
• 1.43
• 1.57

Tony's round times

• 1.34
• 2.28
• 3.17
• 3.47
• 3.37

Toni, what do you think about the workout?

Straight from the Box I went to my floorball training for 2 hours. We also did some mobility at the end with Toni.

Tuesday 1.1: Rest day, thoughts about 2012-2013

Tuesday. Rest day. Thought about 2012-2013.

I suppose it's time to chill out today and prepare myself to the upcoming week's workouts. In the mean while I'll take you back half a year when I did my first crossfit workouts and what's happened since. I'll reveal the development of my strength level as well as Toni's rapid increase of power level.

Don & Tony the Pony

My older brother, Sami, has crossfitted for three years and after a long persuasion he talked me over to try crossfit. I've played floorball as a goal keeper for the last ten years and the last three seasons in the highest national level, in the Finnish national league. My metabolic conditioning has thus always been rather good but I haven't done proper strength training in my life. Sami decided he's not gonna let me go easy on the first workouts because he wanted to shock me in order to get me really interested in crossfitting with him in the future. Well, he did the right call :)

First workout of mine in April was a metcon for time:

• 30 pull-ups
• 30 dips
• 100 push presses, 20kg

Result was that my right shoulder became inflamed. It took about two weeks to recover from this one. The second workout was a nightmare, maybe the most classical of them all:

• One of the Benchmark Girls - Fran - for time
• 21-15-9
• Thrusters, 42.5kg
• Pull-ups

Gee, thanks Sami! Haha, this was a rough one, I timed it at 5.49 if I remember correct. The third workout wasn't any easier

• 1.600m run
• 50 burpees
• 150 single unders
• 800m run
• 35 burpees
• 100 single unders
• 400m run
• 20 burpees
• 50 single unders

Huh, total of 2.800m run, 105 burpees and 300 single unders. I remember the burpees nearly killed me. Those were the first burpees ever for me and I had to do 100+ of them. Those jump ropes were supposed to be done as doubles but hey, c'mon, I'd never even heard of them so naturally I went them in singles. That's the proper way to introduce crossfit to someone's life!!! Well, maybe not straight from the educational books but for me, it worked and I thank my bro for pushing me hard from the very beginning. I understood immediately this sport is not about just talking but it's a tough mental game in every workout. And you always have to break some walls during a workout, they are not piece of cakes, ever... It's been awesome to see I can do any workout, no matter how tough it looks on the paper.

My first workouts took place in April 2012. For the first 2-3 months I only did metcons, not strength exercises at all. I took a timeout in my programming in June-July, thought about my strengths and weaknesses, and made a critical change in the way I train. I increased the amount of workouts dramatically and took strength element in to play vigorously. It had positive effects but also side effect. Even though my sports background is strong, my heart didn't follow and I had some rhythmical problems for 2 weeks. After a recovery period I took it light and little by little I got back, and from then on I've learned to listen to my body better. I was too credulous in the beginning and I didn't believe anything bad could occur by training too much. I remember someone saying "crossfit can kill you". Now I understand the upgrade in the amount of training should have happened in smaller steps because my body wasn't familiar with all the strength movements and so much metabolic pressure to my heart.

With all that said, I've learned a lot of my own body and how much it can take hit and pressure. I've successfully familiarized my body to train approximately 10 times a week. And per one training session, I can take a strength training and a metcon in addition, maybe skills training as well. So in total, there's quite an amount of training taking place in my life. My first strength workouts this year took place in July, 5 months ago. The starting point in July and the current maxes are as follows:

• Bench press, 60kg -> 87.5kg
• Clean, 60kg -> 80kg
• Deadlift, 130kg -> 170kg
• Front squat, 90kg -> 120kg
• Push press, 60kg -> 80kg
• Squat, 100kg -> 135kg

My shoulder press was around 40-50kg, now it's 65kg. I didn't clean & jerk at all at those times but now I'll go for 80kg. Bench press has taken place only in the last 2-3 months, nowadays I'm able to push 87.5kg. My pull-ups were around 8-10 reps, now I'll do 25 in a row. My starting bodyweight was 75-76kg, I've intentionally gained some kilos and now the scale says I'm at 80kg. This is due to eating way more than before, thanks to my own personal nutritionist at home :)

After doing strength training for 5 months, I am extremely satisfied to the results I've gained. I have increased the maxes of pretty much all strength movements with 20-30kg from where I began and can now lift my own bodyweight in all forms, deadlift is over double my bw. My shoulder strength has increased a lot and squats have also gone high. In addition my metabolic condition has increased well and I'm not gassed that quickly. Maybe my 2k rowing says it well, time 7.01. Also mobility has become way better,  in the beginning it was out of question to do deep squats and overhead squats almost at all. I'm very happy I'm doing crossfit nowadays, no doubt about it!

However, the upcoming year brings me some challenges and targets I want to reach:

• Muscle-ups
• Handstand walk
• Handstand push-ups
• Snatch
• Mobility
• Powerlifting technique and through that, increasing weights
• Muscle durability with heavier weights

As you can see, I want to master some skills related movements so that you can throw me any workout and I will do it with style. At the end of this year, I don't want to scale any workouts but do them Rx'd. Snatch is the olympic lift I need to pay more attention to this year than 2012. My mobility will automatically become better as heavy barbells will be lifted often and gymnastics moves are in play constantly. I have proved myself I can lift some heavy objects, now I must pay even more attention to the technique to increase the weights on the barbells.

Toni's development. Huh, with sports background that can't be described as professional or semi-professional, I would say this guy has done something tremendous. The weights he's been able to lift are awesome. At the same time he's bodyweight has dropped 11kg and he doesn't have to stop and breath all the time. He topped his 2k rowing with over 40 seconds (7.56 -> 7.15). I'll leave the door open for him to describe his own development. To the end, I want to thank you Toni, for training with me this much. It would be so much harder to put the alarm clock wake me up at 6.00 if it wasn't for you  driving with me to the Box and give your everything, each day, over and over again, and hear you shouting 3-2-1 go!

• Back squat 80 kg -> 120 kg
• Bench press 80 kg -> 95 kg
• Clean 70 kg -> 85 kg
• Clean & Jerk 65 kg -> 82.5 kg
• Deadlift 110kg -> 160kg
• Front squat 80 kg -> 95 kg
• Push press 60 kg -> 82.5 kg

2012 was also the year I met my baby :)

Monday 31.12: Deadlift, metcon

Monday. Deadlift 5x1 (max PR 170kg). Metcon 5 rounds of  deadlift (120kg), 10 burpees. Time 4.19.

Today we had a quick one together with Toni. Deadlift singles for both of us and then metcons. I stuck with deadlifts and burpees. Toni wanted to do Tabata workouts. A new PR was accomplished as well.

Tabata squats

Strength. 5x1 (130, 140, 150, 160, PR 170kg). My main focus today was on the deadlift centered metcon. For starters I wanted to do heavy deadlift singles, 5 attempts, loading the barbell up to 170kg, my new personal record! It wasn't beautiful, that's for sure, but it came up. I wasn't able to utilize my legs properly so it was all about my back muscles to pull the bar up. Still, I'm very satisfied with the weights. I'm not sure I like to post this rep but I've promised to keep this blog as transparent as possible :)

Deadlift, 170kg, PR

Metcon. Time 4.19.

• 5 rounds of
• 5 deadlift, 120kg
• 10 burpees

I thought this would have been worse metcon than it actually was. I had thoughts beforehand that I'm gonna be gassed after two rounds but it was easier. 120kg isn't that heavy anyway so it was all about burpees. How fast can you do them and how quickly after burpees you can grab the bar as they have just made you breath heavily? Today I believe my strategy was good and my breaks weren't that long. I also learned something new with the burpees. I was able to go down faster than normally and I believe that had effects on the pace of my metcon. I'm happy with the time for now.

Burpees

Toni's workouts. Deadlift singles and tabata workouts.

• Deadlift singles, 130, 140, 150, 150kg
• Tabata ring push-ups. 8+8+8+8+7+7+6+5. Total of 57 reps. Result 5 reps
• Tabata sit-ups. 13+11+10+10+10+10+10+10. Total of 84 reps. Result 10 reps.
• Tabata squats. 19+15+16+15+15+15+15+14. Total of 124 reps. Result 14 reps.

Sunday 30.12: Active recovery, floorball

Sunday. Active recovery, playing floorball with family.

I have three brothers and one sister. One of my younger brothers' - age 13 years - floorball team challenged family members to play against them. So of course I took the challenge and played with Sami - my older brother - in the same line against little bro :) This was a 1.5h game so we got our legs warmed up after a few days crossfit training. Yesterday I was running with sled, the day before I took some 100m sprints and on Thursday I PR'd my back squat. It was a good pitstop to have some active recovery for my legs. Thanks Henkka for giving this opportunity to play against you guys, tough opponent!

Me and Sami warming up

Our dad is on the left

Toni's workouts. Toni went to the Box and concentrated on technique, not heavy weights. What do you think about today's training session? Ring rowing is a new element to you as well as squat cleans.

• Pull-ups
• 4x5 squat clean, 50kg
• 4x5 front squat, 60-70kg
• 4x5 handstand push-ups
• 4x5 ring rows

Saturday 29.12: Handstand push-ups, sled

Saturday. Handstand push-ups, dips, mobility, sled.

Different type of training for this Saturday. We headed to a sports center called Liikuntamylly in eastern Helsinki together with Toni to perform something a bit different. We've never been to this place but the training possibilities are spectacular to say the least. At first we were a bit disappointed because the main weightlifting area was reserved to a team and thus restricted access. So we had to change our plans and to the regular gym in Liikuntamylly.

Sled

Toni did bench presses, I concentrated in bodyweight movements, especially dips and handstand push-ups. I didn't count the reps but there were numerous sets between 3-5 reps. I'd say there were plenty of them. In addition I took dip sets 10+15+20 reps.

For about 20 minutes we did thorough mobility training with Toni. It was very useful because lately we have forgotten to do them properly. We must pay attention to our mobility, elasticity and flexibility constantly. Especially as we are lifting heavy weights all the time we must do mobility to prevent injuries.

As we were ready to leave the place after a semi training session we got to sneak to the weightlifting area and I'm telling you we were like kids in a candy store for the first time. The area was simply perfect. A lot of racks, barbells, plates, sled, wall balls etc. I decided to run with sled, Toni PR'd his deadlift!

Sled. God damn I fell in love with this bastard! It's awesome leg burner :) I have no idea how much I should put weights in that sled, today I had 20+15+15 plates on it, in addition to the sled itself. I guess there should be somewhere around 80-100kg to make the best of it. This time was more like getting to know each other and next time I'll take full advantage of this toy. I believe there were 4 sets back and forth this 20-30 meter distance. It was fun!!! I challenge you Toni to join me with this sled next time...

Toni's workouts. He started with bench presses, reaching 95 kilos, singles and doubles. A lot of handstand push-up training and mobility in between. Finally the climax was his deadlift where he reached 160kg and a new record. Up to 140kg his form looked good! In the final two reps the back maybe leaned a bit forward but the determination was huge to get those weights up. And to be honest, I'm sure he could have added plates in the bar and lift heavier weights but it was smart not to compromise form over new records.

• Bench press sets of 95kg, 1-2 reps
• Handstand push-ups
• Mobility
• Deadlift 3-3-1-1-1 (110, 130, 140, 150, PR160kg)

Crossfit announced a winter challenge, quite a workout...

CrossFit - Announcing The Ranch Big Bob Winter Challenge

Friday 28.12: Sprints

Friday. 10 x 100m sprints with 20sec rest between sprints.

Something a bit different today. It feels I haven't run for ages so today was a good evening for that purpose. This was a good reminder that it must be included in the programming continuously. Keep it constantly varied! Remember to do strength, metabolic training and skills, combine different movements on a daily basis and lift heavy barbells often.

Ready to run

Today I took 10 sprints, each for 100 meters on a snowy pavement. It was anyway a steady platform to run. I took 20 seconds rest after the next run. I started to feel the pressure after 3-4 sets but I believe my pace remained good from the beginning to the end. I didn't have a clock running so it's hard to say how fast my legs were going.

My running track

Toni's workout. Time 15.12.

• 21-15-9
• Clean & jerk, 40kg
• Dips

How was this workout, I think your triceps know you worked today? :)

Thursday 27.12: back squat, pair metcon

Thursday. Back squat 5-5-5-5-3-2 (max PR 135kg). Pair metcon 8 rounds of 10 k2e + box jumps. Time 8.16.

The whole gang at the Box: me, Pauliina, Toni and my brother Sami, nice! Good feeling and ready to lift weights. We took some rowing for starters, then double unders, warming up hamstrings, lower back and hip area. Toni successfully continued to practice his kipping pull-ups, they look much better nowadays and he's able to do a few reps in a row, assisted with a rubber band. I'm confident he's gonna get rid of that band soon and go for genuine kipping pull-ups. I must say he is a determined athlete. Once he has decided to learn something new, he will keep on pursuing that until he reaches his goal.

Strength. Back squat 5-5-5-5-3-2 (100, 110, 120, 125, 130, PR 135kg). Huh, that was not my goal today but once it felt so good, I had to keep on adding plates on the bar and take a new personal record of 135kg :) My goal was to go for 5 rep sets up to maybe 125 kilos but it simply didn't feel that heavy so I had to push through. My warm-up for these squats was good and more concentrated in getting those specific muscles ready that are needed for squats: my hip area, hamstrings, lower back, abs.

This time I believe the depth of my squats was way better than last time, the day before Christmas eve. I'm happy with these. And it was time to break my record, which dates back to 2nd December. It feels like an eternity but it's been only three weeks :) I did that PR in Stockholm. Today I did fives up to 125kg and then 3 reps for 130 and for 135kg my bro secured my lifts from behind. He maybe assisted a bit in the first lift but in the second I took it up myself so I can proudly say I did a new PR :) The last lifts were not easy but I got my head in the game and was able to come up from under the pile of all those plates.

Back squat, 130kg

Back squat, 135kg

Sami went to 140kg and attempted a new PR of 150kg, which this time failed to come up. Current max is at 145kg. Toni also broke his record yesterday with 10kg when going after 120kg.

Metcon. Pair wod with Sami, my brother. Time 8.16.

• 8 rounds
• 10 knees-to-elbows
• 10 box jumps, 64cm

At the end we took a pair wod with Sami consisting of two movements: knees-to-elbows and 64cm box jumps. I started with the K2Es and Sami with the boxes. We did them with pretty much the same pace so this was a good workout to be done with him. Total of 80 reps each movement. Box jumps wasn't the issue for neither of us but the knees-to-elbows became difficult as my groins started to fire up and go numb. For the first maybe 4 rounds I went unbroken, then it had to be divided. Sami had the same problems with K2Es. I think we were equally equipped with strength and skills in this workout and we timed the final reps at 8.16. I focused on raising my knees all the way to my elbows and not doing half reps during the workout.

A little playing in the end

Toni's workout. Time 13.12

• 3 rounds of
• 9 deadlifts
• 50 double unders
• 15 box jumps

Toni skipped strength workouts today and put all effort in completing a deadlift centered metcon. This was a good call and follows Toni's ideology of not every time lifting heavy weights. I believe his plan is to do strength plus metcon on one day and then only a metcon on the second day, following this rhythm few times a week: every other day is a strength based workout. This is how he is going to pay more attention to his metabolic conditioning. Good call!

Wednesday 26.12: Clean and jerk, 12min amrap metcon

Wednesday. 1k row, time 3.24. Clean & jerk 3-3-3-1-1 (max 80kg). 12min amrap of hang cleans and hspu, result 54 reps. In addition biceps and triceps training.

Back to business! Me and Pauliina met with Toni at the Box to do some serious training and we succeeded well today. For starters we took over the rowing machine and the speed was faster than normally for both of us. I have been eager to go for clean and jerk for several days so today I got my chance. Toni concentrated in back squats and done very well, the guy increased his max load with 10kg! Pauliina took an upper body exercise.

Got an iPod Christmas present from my baby :)

Strength. Clean & jerk 3-3-3-1-1 (60, 65, 70, 75, 80kg). If my elbows allow me, I'm absolutety going to do c&j every week from now on. At some points I didn't do them pretty much at all because I did cleans and presses on different days. However, I've realized this is the thing I must improve. It's one of the basic movements in crossfit, the foundation of olympic lifting and I simply love it.

My clean and jerks have basically been clean and press. Today was the first time I took a first step to jerking the bar up. I'm confident that when I reach the point of making this movement naturally, the movement becomes way more effortless. I succeeded in some jerks pretty well in my opinion. Sometimes I've had some problems with my elbows that have hindered my training. Due to the Christmas break I got the rest that I needed and was ready to do c&j again. I reached my max of 80kg. I put 82.5kg on the bar and tried once. From the video afterwards I realized I did the right things, I bounced the bar with good timing, shrugged my shoulders up at the correct time and was able to lift the bar to chest level. However, I wasn't able to use the momentum to my advantage and go under the bar. That's why my new record will have to wait for a while.

Clean & jerk, 80kg

Metcon. Result, 6 rounds and 2 hspu, total of 54 reps.

• 12min amrap
• 4 hang cleans, 60kg
• 4 handstand push-ups

I have a desire to master handstand push-ups well. My hands are long so I have to travel rather long distance up and down the wall but I will strengthen my triceps more in the future to ease this awesome movement. Even though I couldn't go many reps unbroken in this metcon, I still managed to do 26 reps of HSPUs during those 12 minutes. Only on the first round I went unbroken, then on the second 2+2 and then in 2+1+1 / singles.

For the cleans / snatches I've finally got that upper thigh bouncing going well as opposed to how I did them earlier. I used to just lift the bar up without giving that extra speed upwards by bouncing the bar "from the pocket". It's more difficult to bounce the bar by doing hang cleans rather than lifting it from the ground, or at least for me it was. This was a good lesson to remind doing different types of cleans constantly. I suppose performing hang cleans compared to cleans from the ground results in more strength in upper back. Correct me if I'm wrong. I did my hang cleans today unbroken in the beginning, and mostly in two sets later on. This was a good day of training, high rep metcon with semi heavy weights. With every rep my technique becomes better. You'll see the hang cleans in the Youtube Channel.

Toni's workouts. Metcon's result: 8 rounds and 2 cleans, total of 66 reps. Strength: Back squat 3-3-3-2-1-1 (80, 90, 100, 110, PR 115kg, PR 120kg).

• Metcon,12min amrap
• 4 hang cleans, 60kg
• 4 handstand push-ups (assisted with foam roll)

Toni's PR, back squat 120kg

He did good today! PR improved with 10kg, that's remarkable :) And the amount of reps in the metcon was high, well done! For now, he is doing handstand push-ups assisted with a foam roll, very natural way of starting with the movement. We are both in love with HSPU.

Handstand push-ups

Tuesday 25.12: Rest day

Tuesday. Rest day.

Second day in a row of resting, hasn't happened lately. It's because of the christmas holidays, I spent the days at my in-laws with Pauliina, warm and comfortable christmas, their house was decorated like it was the Santa Clause's home =) The food was great, company was even better and I enjoyed the last couple of days tremendously. In the evening we drove back home and Toni is arriving home on Wednesday as well. That means only one thing, we are heading to the gym on Wednesday!

Monday 24.12: Rest day, christmas

Monday. Taking it easy, it's christmas :)

Sunday 23.12: Deadlift, back squat

Sunday. Deadlift (max 160kg) and back squat (max 120kg), 5 reps alternating.

I concentrated purely on strength training today, purpose was not to reach my maxes or close because I'm still fighting against some sort of flu that came two days ago. That's the reason why I didn't want to do any metabolic training today and my rowing warm-up was very slow, just trying to wake up my body. Don't get me wrong, I'm not having fever but my throat and nose are not feeling normal. If I was totally sick, I wouldn't have gone to the gym at all, naturally.

Strength. Alternating two strength movements, aiming for 5 reps each every time for 5 sets.

• Deadlift 5-5-5-3-1 (130, 140, 150, 155, 160kg)
• Back squat 5-5-5-5-5 (90, 100, 110, 115, 120kg)

I tried something different today, alternating two basic strength movements, deadlift and back squat, not for time but for quality. The goal was to do 5 sets of 5 reps each. I started with 130kg deadlift and continued with 90kg back squat. My deadlift went in fives up to 150kg. On the 155kg my right hand slipped on the fourth rep so I didn't get full amount of reps. Then 160kg is rather heavy so I decided in advance to take a single rep.

I haven't done back squat fives for a while so I liked this one. I had a good feeling and I thought my range of motion was good. Now afterwards as I took a look at the videos I didn't like the depth of my squat at all so I'm not gonna post them here :) However, you'll find them in the Youtube Channel as always. I reached 120kg, each set included 5 reps.

Deadlift , 150kg

Saturday 22.12: Rest day

Saturday. Rest day.

Feeling a bit sick today so I'm skipping training. I'm gonna fight this off and head back to gym tomorrow, hopefully. This was not planned so I got to get back on schedule =)

Couple of videos for you guys, enjoy

Jason Khalipa X-mas Turkish Get-Up

Crossfit - Tahoe Throwdown: Rogue vs Again Faster, Part I