Thursday 13.6: Squats

Wednesday. Doubles in overhead squat, front squat, back squat.

It's been a while since previous rest day and I believe the time to chill is close. My body wasn't at it's  best with the doubles. Still, I was close to a PR in one of the squats. Overhead, front and back squats, some cycling in the end to flush the legs.

Strength. Squat doubles. Easy on the back squat

• Overhead squat 2-2-2-2 (50, 55, 60, 65kg, 70 failed)
• Front squat 2-2-2-1 (100, 110, 120, 125kg)
• Back squat 2-2-2 (100, 110, 120kg)

Main goal was to perform well in the overhead squats. My legs were okay but other than that my body feels a bit stiff. Had scheduled something rough for tomorrow but got to lighten it definitely. I wonder if something has suddenly happened to my overhead squats? Just like that I feel way more comfortable having the bar overhead in a wide grip. And lowering my ass, I still felt good and had no troubles lowering hip crease below knees. Awesome!

I took only doubles today because I wanted to do also front squats (and maybe some back squats). Starting from 50kg, adding 5kg after every set. My previous record was a single rep with 65kg. That time I got it perfectly only after second try. Today I managed 2 reps with that same weight and it felt very good. I was confident of nailing 70kg as well. I tried it twice, failed on both of them. On the first time my hands leaned forward just a little but too much and you know the moment is gone.

I tried it again and something freaky happened. On my behind the neck press I wasn't able to lock my other elbow and the barbell started to come back down. It's difficult to stop that gravity and I definitely can not lower it to my back rack position. So the bar started coming down towards my back / neck so I had to watch out and I moved the barbell in front of me to drop it. Luckily I was able to get my head from under the bar. It was close and kinda scared me. I would have nailed the OHS, I'm sure, the 65kg felt so good. Have to wait for the next time to pr on this one.

Then I moved on to front squats. At this time there was another guy to squat with me. He was way shorter so we lowered the rack. I had to adjust the bar on my front rack from a semi-squat position =) I did doubles up to 120kg and the weight was comfortable at this stage still. The last 5kg increase on the weight sealed the deal. I took a single rep and was done.

There was no reason for me anymore to do those back squats but stubbornly I did some reps. My legs were not that receptive anymore at this stage.

Toni's workouts. Squat and bench press.

• Back squat 5-5-5-5-5 (80, 90, 95, 100, 110kg)
• Bench 5x80, 3x90, 1x100kg, 105 failed
• 21-15-9, bench (50kg), burpees.

Here's a good article on why to have a training partner with you. Article from Fit As Fu*k

Take a look at Graham Holmberg - Games Champ from 2010 - performing this year.

Wednesday 12.6: DU skills, shoulder press

Wednesday. DU skill. Shoulder press (max 60kg). Mobility.

Was so tired in the morning but after breakfast I was ready to get own my way to the gym. Schedule was concentrated in skills and mobility but couldn't skip strength totally. I did 5 sets of shoulder press, haven't been doing them after April?!? It feels like it wasn't that far away but I guess it was.

DU skills. For quality.

• 200 reps

Another skill that needs to be practiced. Can not take this for granted. I trained and trained this for months and finally achieved a level where I feel comfortable moving up and down with the jump rope. My PR in consecutive repetitions in double unders is 100 reps but that seems like a distant dream currently. Only because I haven't been doing this skill movement. I put a note on my excel to incorporate double unders in metcons and in skills training sessions. Just like we used to do with Pony when we both were learning this skill fiercely.

Strength. Shoulder press, 5 sets.

• 5x50, 4x55, 3x60, 4x60, 4x60kg

It was cool to do some old school stuff again. Five sets of shoulder press. I went on by feeling, not following a strict plan of doing something like 3's or 5's. I took off with 5x50, then added 5kg, and another 5kg to reach 60kg. After first set with that weight I realized there's no point in adding it to 65kg 'cause I wanted more than 1-2 reps. I repeated it and got 4 reps, what happened? Mental game. Took another and last set, completed 4 reps again. I liked it!

I used a lot of time in mobility between DU's and shoulder press as well as in the end of the training session. I felt like my muscles hurt and they needed some treatments. Activating, foam rolling and stretching the entire body.

Toni's workouts. Push press 5x60, 5x65, 3x70, 3x75, 3x80kg.

• Metcon, not timed.
• 30-20-10
• Kettlebell swings, 24kg
• Push-ups, surprise ;)
• Air squats

Rory McKernan talks with "the dad"

Tuesday 11.6: Nicole

Tuesday. Benchmark workout Nicole. 8 rounds and 120 pull-ups.

I'm waiting forward to these outdoor training sessions! We have agreed with Marko to meet in Pirkkola, outdoors sports center where they also have track and field possibilities. It's also the venue for "HC Triplet II, in to the woods". This time we were going to include running and other bodyweight movements. A new benchmark was ahead of me, girl named Nicole.

Nicole. Result. 8 rounds, 120 pull-ups.

• Complete as many rounds in 20min as you can of:
• 400m run
• Max rep pull-ups

How simple can a workout be? Run and do pull-ups, period. The location of the pull-up bar is not close to the track so we ran in the middle of the forest. I've enjoyed these running metcons, at least this far ;) My brother was doing Murph at the same time in another place, that's deep. It took about 32min from him. Got to try it some day.

Back to Nicole. Run 400 meters, then complete as many pull-ups as possible without dropping from the pull-up bar. Have no idea how fast I was running each round, my timer was on the ground. Even though my upper back was kinda jammed I still hoping to break that old 33-rep record of mine.

On the first round the pull-ups started to feel heavier than normally at about 15 reps. Shouldn't feel like that at this stage. However, I was able to force more reps, little by little I reached 35 reps and a new PR! Didn't come easy though. This gave me more confidence as I felt I wasn't at my best because the pull-ups started to feel heavy earlier than they should have.

For the net 3 rounds the number of pull-ups was 15 each round, and on the last rounds a bit less. Total of 120 reps and it was time. My lats were smashed already after the first round of 35 so I had some difficult thoughts about how to perform pull-ups with style. Here's the number of pull-ups each round:

• 1st round. 35 reps
• 2nd round. 15 reps
• 3rd round. 15 reps
• 4th round. 15 reps
• 5th round. 10 reps
• 6th round. 10 reps
• 7th round. 12 reps
• 8th rounds. 8 reps
• Total of 120 reps

Marko's workout.

• 800m run
• 50 wood thrusters
• 50 burpees
• 50 lunges
• 800m run

Good amount of reps for this fellow! A lot of sweat was shed and muscles will hurt tomorrow, and the day after. The only thing he subbed was the amount of burpees, dropped from 50 to 30. And the last sprint of his was phenomenal. It was cool to see him give his everything and sprint like a mad man!

Monday 10.6: Back squats, pistols, dips

Monday. Back squats 5-5-5-3-1 (max 130kg). Workout, pistols and dips.

I was thinking about thrusters and pull-ups for today (not Fran!) but my right shoulder was a bit too sore from yesterday's muscle-up training. So I switched some days in this week's calendar and decided to squat instead. Back squats and then workout of 2 movements that I consider a skill as well: pistols and dips.

Ring dips

Strength. Back squats 5-5-5-3-1 (100, 115, 122.5, 125, 130kg). Did some 5's to start with. After 122.5kg I took a triple with 125kg and wanted to push 130kg up once. I was thinking to take another single with 130 or heavier but decided to skip it today. I had some pistols ahead of me so I knew my legs would hurt anyway. I felt good squatting today even though the digits were not huge. I felt comfortable with the weight in my back.

Back squat 3 x 125kg

Workout. For quality.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 pistols, alternating legs
• 10 ring dips / rack dips, then

• 3 rounds of:
• 10 biceps
• 10 rack dips

Main idea was to do 10 pistols and 10 ring dips for 5 rounds. There was one dude that needed the rings as well so at some point I switched to rack dips instead of rings. After those pre-determined 5 rounds I decided to take 3 additional rounds with some ancillary movements (biceps) and yet rack dips. Thus, I was able to work on my weakness, the arms, biceps and triceps. Quite a number of dips today, a bit over 80 dips (I did some extras when doing rack dips 'cause they are easier than rings). Also, those 60 pistols made my quads hurt already at the gym.

Pistol squat

Toni's workouts.

• Death by deadlift, 120kg. Result 9 rounds. Compare to 24.3.2013.

Sunday 9.6: Muscle-ups, handstand

Sunday. 2k run, muscle-ups and handstand training.

I had written rest day in my training calendar for today. At some point of the day I found myself hanging in the pull-up bar doing muscle-ups =) It was about a 1.000m run to the spot at Helsinki's central park, completing 13 muscle-ups and then running back home. I also had a chance to improve on my handstand skills. I call this day a success.

Muscle-ups. Pr'd with 3 unbroken reps.

• 13 reps (1+3+3+3+2+1)

Yeah! Can't describe how happy I'm with the development of the muscle-ups =) It's been just a short while sine I got the first rep and since then I haven't tried a rep without succeeding in it. Not a single no-rep at first try since then. I didn't have a clear plan when I started practicing them today. I came, did the first one. It felt good so I decided to try how many I could do in a row.

I got 3 reps, almost 4, the video is below. Tried another set and got 3 again. Total of 3 similar sets in a row. Then I felt my strength was about done and I did smaller sets to finish it. My technique doesn't allow be to go on top of the bar totally balanced so I land on the bar with my right side first. That's why my right shoulder takes more hit than left side. Next time I should try to land on my left shoulder first and definitely work on those legs on the swing. It's great to video shoot your own performance to understand the strength and weaknesses of your attempts.

3 muscle-ups

Handstand. I had some really sick attempts when training my handstand. I'm very pleased. Even though I started to lean forward or backward, I was still able to stabilize myself. I was totally surprised how natural I felt and how well I knew my body and was thus able to correct the form with my hands and core. Unfortunately couldn't catch it on tape this time. Perfect skills training day!

Here's a slow motion version of yesterday's pr lift with some comments as well =)

Toni's workout. 200 reps each

• From 20 to 1, down by 1's of:
• Push-ups, hands on dumbbells
• Shoulder press with cold barbell (20kg)
• Back squat with cold barbell (20kg)

May's stats

May's statistics. May was the first month I kept a more detailed statistics over my training. It covered each kilo lifted or pulled in the strength training. There's also skill movements, bodyweight movements and cardio with which I mean running, rowing, swimming or cycling within a metcon.

Hero workouts.

• Bradshaw. Time 28.33
• Elizabeth. DNF
• Hammer. Time 19.13

Completed 2 hero workouts and one classic benchmark girl workout, Elizabeth. Had some problems with my body during her so had to stop timing it. The other were rx'd. Tough ones.

Strength. 66.500kg

• Back squats 11.000
• Front squats 6.000
• Overhead squats 2.000
• Clean 16.000
• Jerk / Press 3.200
• Clean & jerk 1.600
• Snatch 2.400
• Thrusters 2.400
• Deadlift 13.000
• Bench 3.700
• Step-ups 5.000

Quite a number of kilos as I look at tit afterwards. Over 66k in different types of strength movements. As you can see, I put a lot of effort in clean technique and upper back strength in May. I felt like I didn't squat pretty much at all but that was still clearly another focus point.

Skills.

• 60 pistols
• 14 Muscle-ups
• 360 double unders
• 143 hspu
• 2 times ring skills training
• 6 times headstand / handstand walk / inverted

First month of muscle-ups! I've been focusing more and more in being inverted, doing handstand push-ups and handstand walking. I feel like that's my weak point / goat at the moment and I definitely want to improve in that field.

Bodyweight.

• 400 air squats
• 170 dips
• 385 push-ups
• 205 burpees
• 490 pull-ups
• 158 T2B / K2E
• 450 sit-ups
• 310 box jumps

Bodyweight movements rock! These all are tough when you do a lot of them in a row. Have to increase the number of air squats, dips and push-ups in the future. Burpees are always a great training method and the number of pull-ups will definitely help me achieve strong back and facilitate also the muscle-ups and chest-to-bar pull-ups.

Cardio. 23.600m

• 8.900m rowing
• 5.600m running
• 9.100m cycling

During summer you'll see more running compared to winter time. Also got to keep on rowing consistently. Those cycling kilometers were from interval training with a stationary bike.

PR's.

• First bar muscle-ups, 2 reps in a row
• Overhead squat, 65kg
• Deadlift, 185kg
• Clean, 92.5kg
• Bench press, 97.5kg

Lifting those heavy weights brought some results in my max loads as well. OHS, deads, clean and bench all improved a bit. The biggest satisfaction to me anyway brought the muscle-ups!

Saturday 8.6: Cleans

Saturday. Ring muscle-up training. Cleans 3-3-3-2-2-1-1 (max PR 95kg).

Today's program was simple. Put your PR shirt on, try to get that first ring muscle-up and complete a new record in cleans. Muscle-ups are still waiting for the daylight, clean pr: check! Later today I'll attend a friend's wedding ceremony to celebrate his great day.

The groom =)

Ring muscle-ups. These bastards still beat me. I'm comfortable doing bar muscle-ups, I don't remember an attempt of not completing them after I got my first successful rep. There were 14 of them in the end of last month. However, the movement is a bit more challenging - at least it now feels like it - with the rings as they are swinging around. I can not get that needed help from my leg work currently. I'm confident that as I get the first rep, I realize some stuff in a similar was as with the bar muscle-ups.

Strength. Cleans 3-3-3-2-2-1-1 (70, 75, 80, 85, 90, PR 95kg, 97.5f). I decided on the rep scheme and weights before I opened the gym door. Do triples to start with, then move on to heavy doubles (85/90kg) and go for new PR right after that. I managed to stay with the plan perfectly. That last attempt was kind of a hope to increase the record even more.

Last month was golden time for my cleans. I practiced it a lot, many times, a lot of reps. I believe I've got my technique forward greatly. And squat cleans feel so natural nowadays. The triples up to 80kg didn't feel bad at all. From 85kg on the weights were feeling heavy. I took a double with 85 and with 90kg I took it up twice, had to drop the barbell between those 2 reps.

Clean x 3, 80kg

I skipped the previous record of 92.5kg 'cause I felt the 90kg came up rather easy anyway. I put 5kg more kilos on the barbell and decided to go with the 95kg bar. Got it up, take a look below. Felt awesome! I was greedy and wanted to try that 97.5 as well but I didn't have that juice left anymore that's needed to get those max lifts successful.

Clean PR, 95kg

Friday 7.6: Front squat, DU, K2E

Friday. Front squat 3-3-3-3-3 (max 110kg). Metcon of double unders and knees-to-elbows.

Today I rattled through front squat strength training and some skills / metcon training afterwards. Double unders that I haven't been doing much lately, the other movement being knees-to-elbows on which I think I always need to become better at. Can't practice those too much. In the evening I met with some colleagues and went for a dinner.

Strength. Front squat 3-3-3-3-3 (100, 110, 110, 110, 110kg). Today's sets were triples, starting from hundred and I thought going up, to somewhere around 120-125kg. But the first set of 110kg felt heavy and my sole goal was to do heavy sets of 3 reps, I didn't want to risk my triples so I stayed there for the rest of the sets. That's 4 sets with 110kg. Depth and form was good and I nailed all those sets nicely. However, going further would have brought troubles and I probably could have done some singles or doubles but definitely wasn't my strongest front squat day.

Metcon. For quality.

• 5 rounds of:
• 40 double unders
• 15 knees-to-elbows

This one was not for time. I didn't warm-up with the jump rope practically at all, just started jumping those double unders. I did these sets mostly in two parts, 20+20 or 25+15 reps. On the last set I tried to do all unbroken, stumbled on the 39th rep, doup! Knees-to-elbows always seem easy in the beginning and nightmarish in the end =) Today I did the first set unbroken, the second in 10+5 and the last 3 sets in 3 parts. It's a tough movement to do high-rep metcons. There were a total of 200 double unders and 75 K2E's.

Some meat for the boys

Thursday 6.6: Diane, dips

Thursday. Benchmark workout Diane. Time 16.02. Dips, 4x15.

Second benchmark wod in two days. It was time to improve my Diane time 'cause I've been doing some invert training after the last try. I still need A LOT of practice with handstand push-ups and strengthen my shoulder / triceps section.

Diane. Time 16.02

• 21-15-9
• Deadlift, 102.5kg
• Handstand push-ups

Diane is not an easy woman to handle for me. Deadlifts are light, okay with that but that the hspu's are tough with so large amount of reps in a row. I remember doing workouts like Mary with 5 reps per round and I've been able to hit them unbroken from beginning to the end. But completing 21 reps without doing something in between is sick. This is a workout that definitely reveals my weakness. The deadlifts were a rest to me. This workout is only about handstand push-ups, how fast can I complete 45 of them.

I started to feel the tension in my upper body already in the first round. The set of 15 was very tough and the last set was a mental battle. The finish was in the horizon so I was able to improve a bit compared to the middle round.

My total time improved a bit over one and a half minutes: 17.47 -> 16.02. Not bad. I'm gonna improve on my handstand push-ups and handstand walk this summer a great deal and later this year I'm gonna complete Diane with style.

Meathead section.

• 50 Push-ups
• 4 x 10 biceps
• 4 x 15 rack dips

In order to improve my upper body strength, I did some ancillary movements, basically biceps and triceps. Those push-ups I did with narrow grip to focus as much pressure on my triceps as possible. I did 3/4 sets unbroken with the rack dips.

Here's a Talayna Fortunato's recent workout. I envy those HSPU's!

P.S. Miss you Benny…

Wednesday 5.6: Hero wod Bradley

Wednesday. Hero workout Bradley. Time 21.11 (including rest).

Today is a sad day for me and people close to me. My life-long friend Benny, my 11-year old golden retriever, passed away in the morning. I'm sad and missing the old man tremendously. I'm happy for him anyway for getting a quick relief and he didn't have to suffer. Hope you can sleep well now in peace. Love you so much Benny! <3

I wanted to get something else in my mind for a second so I hooked up with Marko to do a workout outdoors. Didn't want to sit, cry and sleep all day. I decided to hit it hard and do a hero workout called Bradley, in memory of Benny, consisting of running, pull-ups and burpees. I wrote a workout for Marko with kettlebells and running.

Bradley. Time 21.11 (including rest)

• 10 rounds of:
• 100m run
• 10 pull-ups
• 100m run
• 10 burpees
• 30 sec rest

Total of 2.000m running, 100 pull-ups and 100 burpees. I managed to push it through unbroken with the pull-ups. And burpees too; towards the end the pace got slower but I managed to maintain rhythm with burpees as well. That 30sec rest period between rounds was welcomed with a pleasure. The breathing was heavy, especially as there was 29 degrees outdoors, huh. Had to splash water at my face between the rounds.

Marko's workout.

• 5 rounds of:
• 200m run
• 20 kettlebell swings, 20kg
• 200m run
• 20 clean & jerk, 20kg, alternating hand

Tuesday 4.6: Muscle-up practice, metcon, headstand

Tuesday. Muscle-up training. Metcon, time 17.52. Headstand skills training.

Today's main concept was a metcon of bodyweight movements, got my breathing go heavy on this one. Prior to the metcon I tried to do ring muscle-ups. Afterwards did some headstand skills and abs copied from Crossfit Games athlete Talayna Fortunato's blog. For warm-up I rowed 500m and did 5x20 unbroken double unders.

Headstand

Muscle-up training. Tried a few sets but today was not the day for my first ring muscle-up. Couldn't keep the package tight and thus the rings fell too wide apart from each other. This was still way better than before. Those bar muscle-ups definitely have helped me in this area. I can perform several of them in singles and soon I'll master the ring version as well!

Muscle-up training

Metcon. Time 17.52

• 15 hspu
• 50 air squats
• 50 double unders
• 50 push-ups
• 50 box jumps, 61cm
• 2.000m row

The main objective of the workout was to move my body without weights. Handstand push-ups to begin with. Originally I had 10 reps but decided to upgrade it to 15 to get more practice there. Good call. Last week's run / squat metcon brought me back to reality on the air squats. Got to do them 'cause they felt hard a week ago. Today I completed 50 of them.

The double unders I broke in two sets not to burn my shoulders too much. Still, the push-ups were a joke! Don't even dare to unravel in what type of sets I was able to do… But to say something, it took waaaaay too much time! The box jumps at this stage of the game were leg-burners. Breathing was going heavier by the minute so I got that feeling with the box jumps that I usually am after. The hamstrings are on fire, heart is pumping and focus is purely on the next box jump.

To have the 2k row at the end of the workout while blood is pumping fiercely in my veins, I had to mentally uptalk myself to finish the workout. I started and finished easily on the row, it took 7.34min to finish that rowing. The last part of the workout was cruel, but intentionally created.

Headstand training. Took a few sets of headstand training to find balance being inverted. Hopefully this helps my handstand training as well. Getting more and more familiar being upside down.

Cashout. L-sit 0:30, 0:10.

• 2 x max time L-sit hold, immediately turned into 1min plank hold into 30 sit-ups.

I read Talayna Fortunato's blog on a regular basis and caught inspiration from her training. Some abs in the end.

Toni's workouts. AM: swimming. PM: deadlift, burpees, pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups

• Swimming 1k
• Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5 (100, 110, 110, 120, 130kg)
• Metcon 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1, burpees and pull-ups
• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 push-ups and sit-up

Monday 3.6: Back squats, Bear Complex

Monday. Back squats 3x5 (max 120kg). Bear complex (max 50kg).

I started my training week with back squat strength and then a bear complex, which surprised me totally. Definitely a tough workout. Toni did some strength as well in western Finland at a local gym.

Strength. Back squats 5-5-5 (100, 110, 120kg). God damned it was tough, whaaaat!?! I felt good entering this training session but for some reason I didn't have the strength needed for this one. I have been thinking the whole day what it was, what's the reason 120kg back squat felt heavy but haven't found the reason yet. Yesterday was a rest day so should have been ready to pump it up! Well, I'm not gonna think about it too much because there are awesome training days ahead of me.

Back squat, 120kg

Bear complex. Result 40, 45, 50, 50, 40kg

• 5 rounds of 7 sets of:
• Power clean
• Front squat
• Push press
• Back squat
• Push press

Completing the sequence of power cleaning the barbell from ground -> front squatting -> push pressing and landing the barbell in back rack position -> back squatting and finally push pressing the barbell and landing it to front rack position, is considered as 1 rep. The athlete must complete 7 reps (35 movements) before he's allowed to drop the bar and lose grip on it. After completing those 7 reps, he's allowed to rest and then add weights. This is not a timed workout. The result is the heaviest successful 7 rep combination. The 7-rep combo is repeated for a total of 5 rounds (175 reps in total). Today my result was 50kg, didn't try to go higher.

So a total of 5 rounds to be completed. I started with 40kg and as I understood the toughness of the workout I only added 5kg for the next round. On the 3rd and 4th round I kept 50kg on the barbell and didn't try to go further. I could have done some sets with heavier volume but I don't know about the entire 7 reps. I wanted to close this workout as it's meant to be done so I stayed with 50kg. I also haven't been dropping weights to my back from the push press lockout and I wasn't that comfortable dropping it there.

Bear complex definitely put a lot of pressure on the forearms. The tension was huge. The movements themselves weren't hard as you think about the kilos in play. Squats were easy, power clean too. The "toughest" part strength-wise was the push press but hey, it was only 50kg. However, having to keep a grip on the bar continuously was strenuous. I liked the feeling of it.

Round of 50kg bear complex

Toni's workouts. Morning swim, evening strength training.

• Swimming 6 x 25m for breakfast
• Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (80, 90, 100, 100, 100kg)
• Clean & jerk 5-5-5-5-5-5 (60kg all sets)

Rob O, key to success: constant variety

Sunday 2.6: Active recovery

Sunday. Active recovery / rest day.

It's hot in here! We took our bicycles and went to Helsinki's swimming stadium to hang out and enjoyed the sunbathing. It was something around 28 degrees so it was spectacular to take a nap in the sun, relax and swim.

Eagerly waiting to get back on barbell action tomorrow morning! It should be a tough week to say the least. Strength training, metcons, barbell complex, rowing, benchmark workouts, there's a little teaser of the upcoming week! =)

Here's a couple of videos from the South West Regionals this weekend. Chris Spealler and Matt Chan. Before the last workout Chan is number 1 and Spealler is on third spot. Tough guys.

Saturday 1.6: Sprints

Saturday. 4x400m, 90sec rest. 4x100m.

Those back squats yesterday made my hamstrings sore, and that's the way I like it! I still wanted to get some leg work done today as I had scheduled running for work today. We were planning to run sprints together with Toni and then some farmer's walk pair metcon but unfortunately we couldn't match the time tables together. My lither sister is having her graduation party today so I had to do my training in the early morning.

400m sprints. Time about 10.10.

• Run 4 x 400m
• 90 sec rest between sets

I took some warm-ups running and a few semi-fast sprints to get my legs opened from the jam the squats had created. And also some hip openers to seal the deal. 400 meters is a long way when you're running to the fullest. I have no idea what my fastest lap would be if that was the only goal I had in the training and gave my all in that specific 400m sprint. Today I ran those 4 rounds at 1.22-1.24 on average.

You can't copy that feeling of wearing down when you compare running with other type of metcons. The feeling when you're about to get tired is sick in both cases but it's still totally different. Legs are burning and lungs are having a tough time. Kind of the same but still different. Hard to describe the difference. When running, most of the work is done through legs but in metcons you're doing more all-around work with the body.

I'm very happy I was able to get up from that bed early in the weekend to complete this workout. I'd like to keep running on agenda somehow on a weekly basis, hopefully I can carry it out through the summer.

Pirkkola track and field early in the morning

100m sprints.

• Run 4 x 100m
• Walk back for recovery

After catching my breath I did 4 sprints of 100 meters with recovery of walking slowly back to the start line. I felt quick on these ones! And especially after the 400 meters as the nature of the sprint is different. In 400 you got to take into consideration that it's gonna take something between 1.10-1.30, is it possible to go all-in from the first meters? Hard to believe, you got to have a strategy to reach the best time possible. And do that multiple times, and the game changes even more to get the best possible total time.

In 100m it's simply 100% from the first step, close your eyes, think about beautiful things and be mentally strong, it's anyway gonna be over in seconds so why not accelerate to the fullest from the first second! These sprints felt good all the way.

Last summer I did 8x400 with 90sec recovery once or twice. This was a good start for running sprints. Definitely didn't want to start with huge load so this was way better amount of meters to be run in the early summer. And even though there was only 2.000m in the digits as I stopped running I felt the burden instantly in my shins. These short sprints really makes my legs hurt. Had to give them cold treatment in the shower to get the fluids flowing. Hopefully it eases with more running =)

Don's family: The grand old man and his Susanna, all three bros and graduating sister

Toni's workout. Result 8 rounds

• 16min amrap of:
• 15 box (40cm)
• 10 push-ups
• 10 snatches (20kg)

Muffi and a new tractor wheel

Friday 31.5: Back squat, front squat, interval cycling

Friday. Back squat 3-3-3-3-3, front squat 2-2-2. Interval cycling. Cashout 4x50 sit-ups.

I had another workout in my mind yesterday evening but decided to listen to my body that felt destroyed in the morning. My shoulders were strengthless so I decided to postpone a workout that would have been done with dumbbells and included a few strength movements. Instead, I took rather easy back squats and easy front squats. It's been 2 weeks since I've squatted so I wanted to get back on track. Not superheavy but still squatting. Then, some interval cycling to get some cardio work done.

Strength. Back and front squats.

• Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (100, 110, 120, 120, 120kg)
• Front squat 2-2-2 (100, 100, 100kg)

Intentionally stayed at 120kg and didn't want to push further. I felt good squatting and it was a nice "variation" as I haven't been doing this one in two weeks. Definitely should have. The weights start to feel heavier when you don't squat in a while, that's for sure. I kept the back squats at 120kg and front squats at 100kg.

Cycling. Distance 3.200m

• 5 rounds of:
• 2min work
• 1min rest

Some cardio work and more burden for legs. This was an easier training day and mostly concentrated on my legs. Not extreme but a moderate work load. I felt good about getting back on track with squats even though the weights were not heavy. And some cycling in the end. I got my quads and hamstrings burn.

Cashout.

• 4 x 50 sit-ups

Short breaks between sets.