Tuesday 5.2: Deadlift & bench press metcon

Tuesday. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 deadlift (120kg) and bench press (60kg). Time 11.05

Today I was at the gym by myself. Toni did Chief in the morning and my bro maxed out his current back squat PR to 150kg (2 reps), congrats! Pauliina had to work and there were no other souls at the gym. No problem, I put my iPad on and concentrated in deadlifts and bench press.

Workout. Time 11.05

• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
• Deadlift, 120kg
• Bench press, 60kg

My goal today was to do deadlifts and bench with approximately 70% of 1RM. The goal was to do high rep workout without stressing that much about time. I put the clock running in order to avoid extra breaks but the focus was purely on doing the movements unbroken from the beginning till the end. I've done this type of workout with different rep sets (10-8-6-4-2) 15th October and 5th December. Today I wanted to add the number of reps but still keep the weights same. Previously there's been a total of 30 reps, today it was 55 each movement.

Rounds of 10, 9 & 8

I liked it a lot. Bench press is something I don't do that often even though there would be benefits of doing it regularly. There's just so many other things to practice that I don't think this is comes first on my priority list.

With deadlift I want to add the number of reps in my training. Currently I can lift 170kg and I'm sure it's not the max. However, my technique is not perfect and I want to keep on training on that one with lighter weights as today's workout. There's still plenty to do with my form. I have troubles in generating power from my legs.

My plan worked well in this one and I managed to do all 110 reps unbroken throughout the workout. Tomorrow I'll probably focus on training mainly with my own bodyweight.

Cashout. My chest-to-bars are not perfect, they are the highest pull-ups possible for me, they are close.

• 3 rounds of
• 5 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 5 ring dips

Toni's workout. Chief. Compare to yesterday's workout.

• 3min amrap of
• 3 cleans, 60kg
• 6 push-ups
• 9 squats
• Rest 1min. Repeat for a total of 5 cycles. Post rounds completed for each of the 5 cycles.

Toni's results. Total of 63 cleans, 126 push-ups and 189 squats.

• 1st cycle: 5 rounds
• 2nd cycle: 4 rounds
• 3rd cycle: 4 rounds
• 4th cycle: 4 rounds
• 5th cycle: 4 rounds

Monday 4.2: Hero Wod Chief

Monday. Hero wod Chief.

I'm having a week off from work so I have the possibility to train at day time, no need to wake up that early. The side effect is that Toni is training at different times so I got to do some more mental game. Luckily Pauliina had the possibility to come to the box with me. My agenda for today was a hero wod, which carried out exactly as I wanted: better muscular endurance. It was a high rep workout with cleans as main strength ingredient.

Time!

Chief.

• 3min amrap of
• 3 cleans, 60kg
• 6 push-ups
• 9 squats
• Rest 1min. Repeat for a total of 5 cycles. Post rounds completed for each to the 5 cycles.

There were quite a number of reps in total during this total of 19min workout. On average I was able to maintain 5 round pace throughout the Chief. Naturally in the beginning it was easier and then in the middle of the workout I had to rush to get those rounds full. Finally on the last round it was only 6 squats shy of 5 rounds.

Clean

This was a "fun" workout if you can call any workout hilarious. It was exactly what I wanted. I need to play high rep games with rather heavy kilos. For this purpose completing 78 cleans with 60kg worked well! There were also 150 push-ups and 219 squats. I was able to perform all those cleans well without troubles, same with the push-ups, all unbroken. My legs were killing me at some point of the workout. I was surprised about that but maybe it was yesterday's game that still burnt my legs. My thighs were cramping in the evening :) Because there was 1min break between 3min amraps my breathing got a chance to slow down but it quickly came heavy as the next amrap began.

Push-ups

Chief was pretty awesome as it improved my metabolic conditioning, allowed me to high-rep cleans and I got the chance to work my triceps and chest with push-ups, let's not forget the leg work needed for this one.

Squats

Results of Chief. Total of 178 cleans, 150 push-ups and 219 squats

• 1st cycle: 5 rounds + 3 cleans
• 2nd cycle: 5 rounds
• 3rd cycle: 5 rounds
• 4th cycle: 5 rounds
• 5th cycle: 4 rounds + 3 squats

1st 3min amrap of Chief

Cashout. After resting a while my cash out concentrated in triceps.

• French push-ups 3x12
• Narrow grip press 3x12

Toni's workouts. Metcon of thrusters and dips.

• 6 rounds of
• 6 thrusters, 50kg
• 6 dips

Sunday 3.2: Game Day

Sunday. Game Day.

Today I had no possibilities to crossfit as my team was heading to face a fierce rivalry against another team in our division. It didn't turn out the best way as the opponents took the points home. Enough said about that.

We are still pumped up about yesterday with my bro =) I had a dream last night concerning my deadlifts, and all kinds of speculation has taken place concerning our programming. What would be the ideal way to train hard and to gain best possible results? What kind of workouts should be done? What is the relationship with strength training, metcons, skills and mobility? I have no definite truth but some changes will take place in my programming.

In the mean while, enjoy Jason Khalipa and Kristan Clever doing a workout from last year's Crossfit Games Open, consisting of thrusters and chest-to-bar pull-ups.

And hey, if you're in to football: it's Super Bowl Sunday!!!

Saturday 2.2: Squat, Snatch, OHS, Winter War

Saturday. Back squats 1-1-1-1-1 (max PR 140kg), snatch 1-1-1-1-1 (max PR 52.5kg), overhead squats 3-3-2-1 (max PR 50kg).

Huh, this was one heck of a crossfit day! I spent the whole saturday with my bro. First of all, we met in the morning at the box to do some serious training. Agenda was to train hard first, then take a road trip 2 hours away to Tampere where Winter War - Finnish national crossfit finals - took place throughout the day. Neither of us participated in the qualifiers but we wanted to drive and take a look what it looks like at the spot. Sipa definitely wanted to do the qualifiers before heading to the actual games. I have a Game Day tomorrow so I didn't want to risk anything by going too rough. That's why I went strength singles today, no metcons for me.

Box jumps, Sipa

Strength. Huh, three PR's today!

• Back squat 1-1-1-1-1 (100, 120, 130, 135, PR 140kg)
• Snatch 1-1-1-1-1 (30, 40, 45, PR 50kg, PR 52.5kg)
• Overhead squats 3-3-2-1 (30, 40, PR 45kg, PR 50kg)

I simply nailed it. I just wrote on Wednesday that I'd better get my bro to the box so I'd PR my back squat again =) It's been quite a tradition this far. Those squats felt easy for some reason. I didn't take many reps, just warming up with 60kg, trying to stretch as well before entering to real weights. I still had the feeling I could have piled more weights after 140kg, weird… Felt incredibly awesome!

Back squat, 140kg, PR

After squats I decided to give it a shot with overhead squats. My plan was to do sets of 3 reps and start the movement from the ground by snatching the barbell overhead. After discussing it with Sipa, I managed to find better stability in the overhead squat position. I have been playing snatches with 40kg for some time and gained good confidence. It's not an issue anymore to lift it. Therefore it was only natural to add kilos. I took set of 45kg, my old snatch record and overhead squatted my new record (40 -> 45kg). It was rather easy so I stepped it up a notch, 50kg, both snatch and overhead squat, c'mon! Finally I snatched 52.5kg, which now stands my current snatch PR. I didn't try to squat it at all.

This was beautiful, three PR's in one day. This day will stay in my memories for some time =) Sipa's day was sick. He did three workouts with 5 min rest between workouts. First one was the most cruel, heavy thrusters. Short break and continue with box jumps, push-ups and double unders. Finally funny combo of pull-ups and toes-to-bars. I'm telling you, this guy was crushed after the workouts. His shoulders were screaming in pain. Take a look at the videos below!

Sipa's workout no 1. Result 38.4 reps (38 thrusters and 4 burpees)

• 8 min amrap of:
• 10 thrusters, 40kg
• 10 thrusters, 50kg
• 10 thrusters, 60kg
• 10 thrusters, 70kg
• 10 thrusters, 80kg
• 10 thrusters, 90kg
• Once the athlete is not able to do thrusters anymore: bar-facing burpees

Sipa's workout no 2. Result 132 reps (2 rounds + 2 double unders)

• 6 min amrap of:
• 20 box jumps, 64cm
• 10 hand release push-ups
• 20 double unders

Sipa's workout no 3. Result 58 reps

• 4 min amrap of:
• 1 pull-up
• 1 toes-to-bar

Winter War. After the workouts we headed north to Finland's national crossfit games. The workouts were sick and the guys were monsters. We were stunned to look at the guys performing. The winner - Mikko Aronpää - participated in the Crossfit Games last year and finished as the 32nd fittest human on earth. These athletes had to go through 5 workouts before the last 10 guys reached the final workout which stood as follows. That was sick, especially as the 100kg front squats and 80kg overhead squats started from the ground, not from rack. Cruel.

Mikko Aronpää, rope climbs

With a 15min time cap perform the following. Barbell starts from the ground.

• 10 muscle-ups
• 10 deadlifts, 150kg
• 20 toes-to-bar
• 2 rope climb
• 10 front squats, 100kg
• 20 toes-to-bar
• 2 rope climb
• 10 overhead squats, 80kg
• 20 toes-to-bar
• 2 rope climb
• 5 muscle-ups

Mikko Aronpää at the clean & jerk ladder, 120kg

Friday 1.2: Skills day

Friday. Skills oriented day. Plenty of different movements.

It's been quite a week after Barbara, Isabel, squats and cleans so today's goal was to take it a bit easier. Well, my shoulders and hands got to test today anyway as I was like a little boy when playing with the rings. They were my focus area but I also did other skills training.

Ring skills.

• Invert hold
• Skin the cat
• Levers
• Ice cream makers
• Ring push-ups

It's simply fun! Play with the rings. Probably should play a little more to someday master the muscle-up as well. I took a few sets of inverted holds, skin the cat, levers and one set of ice cream makers. To the end 3x15 ring push-ups.

Other skills.

• Double unders
• Chest-to-bar pull-ups
• Handstand hold
• Handstand push-ups (max PR 6 reps)
• One-handed push-ups
• Pistols

It was awesome to see I was able to hit my chest to the bar with pull-ups. It's been hard previously. I thought it would be more difficult but it actually touched the bar. Yeah baby, it inspired me to practice them more in the future. Handstand was another area where I wanted to put effort today. I wanted to break that old record of handstand push-ups so I added one rep to the old PR. Took some other sets as well. A newcomer was one-handed push-ups, positively surprised that I got them on the first try =)

Take a look at one of my training partner's show of one-handed push-ups.

One-handed push-ups, Anton

Thursday 31.1: Cleans

Thursday. 5-4-3-2-1: 2-position cleans (from ground + hang clean), 60kg, for quality.

I had ambitious goal to go for cleans. It's been a while since I last time did them, same with clean & jerks and presses. Hammer on 2nd January was previous day including cleans. All because of my elbows that have been taken too much hit. For a long time I thought it's because of crossfit but lately I've noticed it screams more because of my floorball training. Anyway, this week has been different. I was able to do Barbara on Monday, including 100 pull-ups during the workout, snatches have felt good and today I was able to do cleans nicely. It felt good!!!

Ab wheels, Toni

Cleans. For quality.

• 5-4-3-2-1
• 2-position cleans (from ground + hang clean), 60kg

2-position cleans (from ground + hang clean)

It felt so good to do cleans. I have always enjoyed the movement a lot. It's demanding, explosive and strong movement and I'm "all in" with my heart with the cleans. Hope I can do them consistently in the future. Can't wait to do clean & jerks, probably the most demanding and rewarding movement of them all!

Before I started my workout I took a few sets with 60kg and lighter weights and tried out regular cleans, hang cleans and squat cleans, a bit of a mixture of various cleans. It was natural, the tracks and form felt like they should be, and considering how long it's been since previous cleans, I can do nothing but be proud of my upper body this time. Intentionally I stayed at 60kg today not to stress my elbows too much.

My workout was 2-position cleans, which means holding on to the bar continuously and completing a set of two cleans, the first one from ground and the second from knee level as hang clean. Thus, two cleans build up to one rep. My rounds were 5-4-3-2-1. As thinking about the total amount of repetitions, it's 10-8-6-4-2. Each round hold on to the bar without loosing your grip on the bar

I liked this one. It was tough on my pressing power but I made it through. I believe there was one rep that didn't go as I planned so I had to retry it. Other than that, I went by the plan. Looking forward already for the next clean day!

Cashout. To the end I took 50 push-ups + 50 sit-ups as fast as possible, just for fun.

Toni's workout. Time 9.01

• 3 rounds of
• 10 power cleans, 60kg
• 20 push-ups
• 30 double unders

His main ingredient was also cleans. Ten reps each round, adding push-ups and double unders to the play. Total time 9.01. Below you'll see his last round of cleans.

Toni's last round of cleans

Toni's cashout. Handstand training + ab wheel + 50 air squats.

Wednesday 30.1: Back squats

Wednesday. Back squats 5-5-5-5-2 (max 130kg).

My strategy for today after two hard metcon days was to do back squats fives all the way I could climb up to. Nothing else, just heavy squatting. My upper body is jammed due to Barbara and Isabel. Toni's program showed it's time to snatch and he really nailed it.

Strength. Back squats 5-5-5-5-2 (100, 110, 120, 125, 130kg). I'm holding on to that 130kg, which seems to be my threshold right now. I've lifted 135kg once 27th December. Since then, the line has stayed at 130kg. I guess I'd better invite my bro to squat with me again to go for heavy singles or doubles to reach new records =)

Toni's workouts. Snatch 5-5-5-5-2 (30, 35, 40, PR 45kg, PR 50kg). PR baby! C'mon, way to go mister.

Toni's metcon. Time 2.57

• 6 rounds of
• 5 dumbbell snatch, 15kg, right arm
• 5 dumbbell snatch, 15kg, left arm

Tuesday 29.1: Isabel, snatches

Tuesday. Isabel, 40kg. Time 3.39. Metcon, 6 rounds of 5 db (20kg) snatches, right hand and 5 snatches, left hand. Time 2.49.

This day was fully snatch-oriented. My main workout of the day was Isabel, second benchmark wod for this week. After getting a grip again, I continued doing snatches with dumbbells, it was something like Isabel as well. I also did some kipping handstand push-ups training. Toni took it easy in the morning.

Isabel. Time 3.39

• 30 snatches for time, 40kg

This workout should be completed with a 60kg barbell but considering my max snatch (45kg), 60kg would be a joke. I piled 40kg on, and started lifting. My strategy was to do sets of 5 reps with a short break and continue this style throughout the workout. This plan held on until 20 reps. Next set after that was 4 succeeded ones and one failed rep. Then I struggled with the last piece of strength that was left in my body to finish Isabel. Finally the clock stopped at 3.39. I'm quite happy I was able to do this workout consistently, with a steady pace and without too much breaks in between. I believe soon it's about time to add weights and complete a PR.

After the workout I had similar feeling as with Grace. The start of the workout flows forward without too much troubles. After one third the barbell starts to weigh quite a lot. After two thirds it's a mental game as you simply don't have that strength anymore but you have to dig it from somewhere. I enjoy both of these a lot. Throughout the workouts breathing grows heavy quite soon and you have to do work to catch your breath and simultaneously keep on lifting the bar. Good and complex movements.

It was a bummer my camera's memory card filled up during the filming of Isabel so the last reps are not shown in the video… The first 24 reps are on the video, all that went by the plan :) The last 6 were tougher.

Isabel

Metcon. Time 2.49

• 6 rounds of:
• 5 dumbbell snatches, 20kg, right hand
• 5 dumbbell snatches, 20kg, left hand

I wasn't done with Isabel =) I wanted to do it in a different way, with dumbbells. I used 20kg dumbbell by snatching it one handed, 5 reps with right hand, then 5 reps with left hand, continuing for 6 total rounds. That is 30 reps with both hands. My time was about one minute faster with dumbbells compared to 40kg barbell. The big difference was that I went unbroken all the time. I didn't have to break it into sets. My heart beat was fast but manageable. It was a good metcon and I'm gonna add dumbbells into my metcons as well after some good experience working with them. Last time I used 15kg db's, but 20kg was way better and more suitable for me.

Monday 28.1: Barbara

Monday. Barbara. Rounds between 3.06 and 4.47.

I wanted to start my CF week with own bodyweight workout and make it a tough one. My solution was one of the benchmark workouts: Barbara. She was nasty and made me gasp for a while after the workout. It consisted of four movements, pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and squats. Toni called in sick today so he naturally took a rest day.

Barbara. Rounds between 3.06 and 4.47.

• 5 rounds of
• 20 pull-ups
• 30 push-ups
• 40 sit-ups
• 50 squats
• 3min rest

The rounds were as follows:

• First round, 3.06
• Second rounds, 3.35
• Third round, 4.11
• Fourth round, 4.47
• Fifth round, 4.43

There were a total of 100 pull-ups, 150 push-ups, 200 sit-ups and 250 squats, total of 700 reps. It's been a while since I've done pull-ups or cleans to strengthen my upper back so going for 100 pull-ups today was magnificent. My elbow has been screaming for the start of this year in pain, which is the reason for falling back on pull-ups and cleans. Therefore it really boosted my confidence a lot as I was able to do first and second round unbroken, 20 each round. On the third one I did 15 at first attempt and 10 reps on the fourth and fifth round. Very pleased about that!

My push-ups are my goat, as I've told you guys before. I had troubles with them from the very beginning, especially going for them after pull-ups isn't easy for me. The number of sit-ups caused me to go slower from the mid-workout on. In the beginning it was easy but as the reps grew over 100, they started to become slow. Squats weren't that bad. It hurt my legs but I was able to keep on going.

As a summary, my pull-ups and squats were near to perfect but my pace with push-ups was pathetic and I also got slower in sit-ups towards the end, which actually surprised me somewhat. But hey, there were 200 of them so I guess that should have been predictable =) This was a cruel workout but worth doing. Desperation crawled in just before the middle of the workout. I was able to push those feelings aside and continue to push forward. It would have helped to have a buddy to shout and cheer, no surprise there. Still, I want to emphasize that there were 100 pull-ups, c'mon!

Sunday 27.1: Rest day

Sunday. Rest day.

Hey, it was a good week of training. It's rare that I'm not training on weekend. However, today it was my brother's kid's birthday party and then time to relax with Pauliina.

Since last Sunday, I did Fight Gone Bad, then on Monday continued with back squats strength training and a metcon. Tuesday was a snatch metcon day. Wednesday concentrated in floorball, Thursday was deadlift fives and then 2011 CF Open workout. On Friday I had a game and then Saturday was the Finnish Crossfit Final from 2012. That was a rough one and my legs got their share of the training.

After having this much variety this week and not having the sickest intensity like before, I feel my body is well prepared for the upcoming week. I feel relaxed and I'm anxious to hit the gym. Looking at some awesome videos on Youtube has raised my expectations and hopes for next week. It's gonna be spectacular!

Toni also took it light today. He went to the Box but took it easy. Some ab wheel and then foam rolling and mobility.

Take a look at these fellows:

Dan Bailey, 75 hspu and 100 du in 4.59...

Blair Morrison really understands the meaning of constant variety

Saturday 26.1: Squat metcon, Finnish CF final 2012, Karhureiret

Saturday. Finnish Crossfit Final 2012: Karhureiret. Time 12.22.

What is a better way to launch the weekend on Saturday morning than giving your everything at the Box and let crossfit suck all energy out of you =) With Toni we decided to step it up a notch and do a workout that was in the crossfit finals in Finland 2012. The workout is called Karhureiret, or "Bear's thighs". A lot of squatting took place today spiced up with kb, boxes and T2Bs. Pauliina joined our training session.

For starters we took some handstand push-up training. My focus was purely on the kipping style. I haven't been able to do them efficiently this far but today I found out how they should be done. And all of a sudden, the movement was way easier. I'm very happy about this one!!!

Kipping handstand push-ups

Karhureiret. Time 12.22

• 10 back squats, 100kg
• 50 kettlebell swings, 32kg
• 20 front squats, 80kg
• 40 box jumps, 64cm
• 30 overhead squats, 20kg
• 30 toes-to-bar

All but box jumps and overhead squats were rx'd. In the original version box height should be only 50cm, we used the official 64cm. Then overhead squats should be 60kg but hey c'mon, I've never put over 40kg in this movement. I used only the bar which happened to be too light.

What a workout, I enjoyed it! 10 back squat for starters gets the blood flowing nicely. Moving on to 50 kettlebell swings, by the way I've never done that many with 32kg. I divided it into 2 x 25 reps, I was surprised how "easily" I was able to move the weight. I've taken it as a standard to do kb swings american style which means the kettlebell must go overhead to reach full range of motion. 20 reps of front squats turned out to be demanding. I did them in sets of 5 reps.

Box jumps

After quite a lot of reps at this stage it was no surprise box jumps wouldn't go unbroken. I took them with a steady pace, locking my hips at the top, then dropping down and jumping right back. If I needed rest, I stayed at the top for a while, no need to rest at the bottom, that's not beneficial in a metcon. The only thing that made me think what I could have done differently in the workout, is the weights in the overhead squats. I usually have troubles going deep enough in OHS and it's difficult to put weights on the barbell. I haven't done them that much anyway. For some reason, at this point in the workout my hips were loose in a good sense and I was able to lower my body well and I don't think it would have been a problem to add weights. It was too easy I believe. It's been a while since last toes-to-bars took place. I nailed them pretty efficiently. Ten plus ten and then some smaller pieces.

All in all, I think my hamstrings and quads are thanking me afterwards for giving such a pressure on them today. It was rough but manageable all the time. The workout reveals my weakness, which is definitely OHS. Must pay attention to mobility and this movement more. How to find time for everything, that's the key issue. Final time today, 12.22.

Time!

Toni's Karhureiret. Time 24.01

• 10 back squats, 80kg
• 50 kettlebell swings, 32kg
• 20 front squats, 60kg
• 40 box jumps, 64cm
• 30 overhead squats, 30kg
• 30 toes-to-bar

Toni smashed the plates =)

Toni did the same workouts. He started with handstand push-up training after warm-up, then Karhureiret was ahead of him as well. He modified the weights in back squats to 80kg, front squat to 60kg and overhead squats to 30kg. The other movements rx'd.

Toni's front squats

He stayed with the same pace with me through back squats and maybe kettlebells as well. This was the first time he threw 32kg around so completing 20+15+15 sets was awesome! I remember times he had troubles swinging 20kg kettlebell. Tony has done some tremendous development in the last 1-2 months. Front squats he completed in sets of 5 reps. From box jumps on he had to catch some breath once in a while which slowed him down a bit. Doing 30 toes-to-bar (once again, he haven't done these) in the end, that was time for some high fives =) Final time 24.01.

Karhureiret sucked our energy big time

Friday 25.1: Game Day

Friday. Game Day.

I had a game in the evening. We lost 4-5 at home…

Toni's focus was purely on metabolic conditioning today as he did interval rowing for half an hour.

Toni's workout.
30 sec on
30 sec off
for 30 minutes

In addition some dips (2x10) and ab wheel (4x10). He loved the rowing part. Tell us more about it!!! I've only done it twice, but only for 10 minutes. Also once I did similar workout with stationary bike.

Thursday 24.1: Deadlifts and 2011 games open metcon

Thursday. Deadlift 5-5-5-5 (max 150kg). Metcon 2011 crossfit games open 11.1. Result 186 reps.

Okay, today it was rather tough one. First strength and then finishing the training with crossfit games open from 2011, workout number 11.1, consisting of double unders and snatches. Toni was doing these workouts together with me.

Strength. Deadlift 5-5-5-5 (120, 130, 140, 150kg). I wanted to concentrate purely on doing fives from the beginning to the end. My grip started to get loose on the last set so I figured it would be difficult to stay with the frame up to 160kg. Last time when I did fives, I went to 160kg as well. I remember my grip holding on much better that time. I believe I wore gloves, today my tape adjustments was sliding away from my palms. Anyway, the lifts felt good all the way and the bar wasn't that heavy at all. I could have easily gone higher with a good grip. There was a tough metcon ahead of us so I saved a bit of my energy for that as well.

Games Open 11.1.

• 10 min amrap
• 30 double unders
• 15 snatches, 35kg

This was the first workout 2011 in the Crossfit Games Open. This year's Open starts 6th March so we'll see some pretty interesting metcons and fierce competition once again worldwide! I enjoyed this workout a lot. Good amount of double unders and snatches. I'm not a specialist in snatches so going for 4 full rounds and 6 double unders pleased me, this time... Once I get a proper hold on snatches I should be able to complete these type of workouts more effectively.

Today my double unders were as good as they have been nowadays. All rounds unbroken but one, on which I did 22 reps before making a minor mistake. Snatches were not bad on the first round but going for the second round I took 5 reps in a row from that point on. The plates on the barbell were very small in size so we had to squat very deep to lower the bar and touch the floor. So there was a good range of motion which added some spice to the workout. We had to take a look at the 2011 standings in Europe and how we would have performed in the Open had we participated. My place in the standings would have been no. 612 in Europe =)

Toni's workouts. Result 136 reps.
Deadlift 5-5-5-3-5-2 (100, 110, 120, 130, 130, 140kg)
Games Open 11.1

• 10 min amrap
• 30 double unders
• 15 snatches, 35kg

Toni's goal was also to do fives. He went to 120kg nicely but then slipped the bar at 130kg after 3 reps. He took another attempt and completed the 5 reps. Finally 140kg was a bit too much and he took 2 reps. His 1-rep max is currently at 160kg. Pony also pushed through the metcon very well. On the first round he did squat snatches for some unexplainable reason =) First round took him 4 minutes, then he completed 2 following rounds in 6 minutes.

Wednesday 23.1: Floorball

Wednesday. Floorball. Rest from crossfit.

Today I had only floorball training in the evening. I had the possibility to sleep longer than on a normal day, which worked well for me. My body wanted to have some recovery, hope it enables me to work better for the next workout. Toni also chilled out this Wednesday.

Some different type of tests

This is the workout that inspired my yesterday's metcon

Tuesday 22.1: Metcon of db snatches, ring dips + Tabata

Tuesday. Metcon of dumbbell snatches and ring push-ups.

This morning training consisted of a metcon. Simple and beautiful. Toni took clean & jerk strength training in the beginning and then continued with a 12min amrap. In the evening I continued with Pauliina for a 1h walk in the crispy winter Helsinki and for dessert some Tabata training =)

Ring push-ups, Toni

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of
• 10 dumbbell snatches, right arm, 15kg
• 10 dumbbell snatches, left arm, 15kg
• 10 ring push-ups

Actually, it was the first time I did dumbbell or kettlebell snatches and I felt it immediately, got to do this more, just add some weights. I would have liked to do these squat versions but I realized my mobility was an issue, same as with regular bar snatches. My hands either tempt to lean too forward or then I have troubles going deep enough. Better take snatches with low weights in to my warm-up selection to get my body used to this type of movement.

Back to the metcon. There were a total of 50 reps each, 10 reps per round. It was a good set of repetitions to go unbroken. I'd like to see how the game would change if I had 20-25kg db's instead. Everything went unbroken without breaks throughout the workout, I also minimized the transitions between movements. I didn't put my clock running. It's very beneficial to work with kb's and db's as it's totally different compared to barbell work, the weights tend to wiggle more in this version.

Tabata. One hour brisk walk for warming up and then continued with Pauliina for Tabata training. We took sets of the following:

• Air squats
• V-ups
• Push-ups

It was awesome to walk around Helsinki's beautiful surroundings in a good wintery weather! Thanks honey for the quality time =) After the walk, put the sauna on, do three sets of Tabata training, squats, mid core through V-ups and finally push-ups. I didn't push through like a maniac, squats were around 16 reps per round, V-ups between 10-14 reps and push-ups 12 reps per round. The point of Tabata training is to do 8 x (20sec work, 10sec rest per round) for each movement. First 8 sets of squats, then abs, finally push-ups. It's rewarding to have a sauna afterwards, c'mon!

Overhead squats, Toni

Toni's workouts.
Clean & jerk 5-3-4-3
Metcon. 6 rounds + 1 ohs

• 12 min amrap
• 5 overhead squats, 30kg
• 10 ring push-ups
• 5 knees-to-elbows

He really had a good pace and didn't rest in vain. Nice job Toni!