Monday 12.8: Heavy cleans and rowing intervals

Monday. Strength. Every minute on the minute, 1 squat clean @ 90kg, for 10 min. Rowing intervals, 30 sec on, 30 sec off, for 10 minutes. Distance 1.800m

Today was a bit easier day, at least compared to last week. The first part of it was heavy though but still not that many reps. I was thinking about one benchmark wod but that would have torn my shoulders too much. I really need them tomorrow in a rough training day with my brother.

There's some attitude in Toni's cleans from some time ago

Strength.

• Every minute on the minute for 10 min
• 1 squat clean @ 90kg

There's no doubt this is my favorite strength movement. It's a full-body movement that requires your entire body to make some work. Strength on legs, core and especially upper back. It's a technical movement that requires you to pay attention to various steps along the pull and when dropping under the barbell. Plus, it improves your explosiveness. Spectacular movement.

I had decided on the weight beforehand and determined to do 10 sets of single lifts. Once I put the clock running I saw myself doing lifts approximately once per minute. There was plenty of time to recover and the purpose of this workout was not to stress cardio but to focus on technique with heavy weights.

I'm very happy with the way I was able to go through this set. The weight wasn't that bad to handle. Each lift looked similar to each other. My technical skills on the movement have improved a lot through tons of reps. I'm eager to try new kilos in squat soon. Got 100kg in the meter currently, looking forward to break that record.

Interval. Distance 1.800

• 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, for 10 minutes
• Rowing

Did some interval rowing in the end for 10 minutes. Full throttle for 30 seconds, then 30 seconds full rest. I was rowing somewhere around 1.31-1.36 in all sets. Mostly around 1.33-1.35. This was a good breather, liked to row after some break.

Toni's workouts. Snatch balance technique and a metcon. Working at a local affiliate

• Snatch balance, 4 x 12 (20, 30, 30, 20kg)

Toni's metcon. Result, 2 rounds + 25 swings

• Metcon. 8 minute amrap of:
• 15 ohs, 20kg
• 15 box jumps
• 15/15 one-handed kettlebell swings, 16kg

Sunday 11.8: Turkish get-ups, hero wod DT

Sunday. Technique / skills: Turkish get-ups. Modified hero workout DT with kettlebell. Time 8.10.

Those kettlebells that I've bought in the course of my crossfit career have definitely paid back in dividends. I recommend everyone to go get one (or a couple) and start moving some weight! Start with lighter ones and build up to heavier loads. I guess one could easily get in very good shape by working solely on kb's. Props to the guy who invented this piece of iron! I started today with turkish get-ups, an awesome all-body movement and a perfect way to get warmed-up for the main workout of the day: hero wod DT.

Turkish get-ups

Technique.

• Turkish get-ups

On a few occasions I've tried this movement. It's actually a very comprehensive move that forces the entire body to be active: legs, core, hand and shoulders. Plus it forces you to balance with your own body and the bell overhead. I have to keep the weights low at this stage as I'm not that familiar with the movement. Guess I did 6 reps both hands.

DT. Time 8.10

• With one hand working at a time with a 32kg kettlebell
• 6 rounds of:
• 12 deadlifts
• 9 hang cleans
• 6 push jerks

Originally hero workout DT is 5 rounds, with 70kg barbell, same movements, same amount of reps. I did this one-handed each round. First round with right hand, second round with left hands. Then right, left, right and left. 3 rounds both hands, alternating after each round. Felt awesome after yesterday's kb presses so I dared to try them (and hang cleans) with this 2 pood bell, movements at a weight that had not seen the daylight before this weekend.

Hang clean

Round times remained solid. 2 rounds (working both hands) took me 2:45, 2:48 and 2:37. Was indeed able to finish stronger towards the end. I was afraid going too fast in he beginning because I didn't know how my shoulders would react to such a workload. Hang cleans and push jerks with this piece was a bit intimidating at start. It went on nicely though. Enjoyed this workout a lot. Have to try it with the original rx'd version with a barbell. Must be a lot tougher as I think about jerking a 70kg bar up there 30 times. Brings me some memories of the chunky Grace I did a while ago.

The weekend was a success. We spent it totally at the country side together with my loved one. Had the possibility to relax, workout together, go outdoors, eat some spectacular barbecue food and watch movies. Nothing more could I ask from a weekend!

Saturday 10.8: Uphill run and kb swings, kb presses

Saturday. AM: Metcon, 15min amrap of: uphill run, 20 kb swings (32kg). Result, 6 rounds + up/downhill run. PM: Strength. 5 x 5/5 kb presses (32kg)

Weekend at the countryside. I've been looking at that local hill for some time. Every time I drive by it, I get excited and I'd like to turn to the gravel road that would take me right to the bottom of the hill, and then start running and swinging some kettlebells. Today was the day I finally got there with Pauliina. The only thing needed, was running shoes and kettlebells.

Uuh

Metcon. Result 6 full rounds + run up/downhill.

• 15min amrap of:
• Run uphill, then downhill
• 20 kb swings, 32kg

We had the camera with us but for some reason I forgot to take the cord with me with which it's possible to transfer the vids and photos to my mac. So I'll do it tomorrow. Update: done! The metcon itself was cool. Hard to say how long a distance the run was up and down the hill. It started with a gentle sloping but after midway it got steeper. The last 5-10 meters were very tough.

I went unbroken with the kettlebell swings for the first 3 rounds, then the 3 last rounds were 12+8 reps. The run really got to my legs, the last 10 meters of the uphill run were killing my quads and hamstrings. And heavy breathing was no surprise to anyone I suppose =) The path up there wasn't smooth so I had to all the time pay attention where to step in order no to twist my ankles. Especially on the way down, it was difficult to control the stepping.

This workout has been on my calendar from time to time but for different reasons I haven't been able to go and do it. I'm happy I got it off my thoughts. Loved it. Good high intensity training and a lot of kettlebell swings (120 reps). Also promised myself to run / row more so this was good workout in that sense as well.

Here's the first round of the workout

Strength. PM Strength session

• Kettlebell presses 5 x 5/5 (32kg)

In the afternoon I took another session working with my bells. Never tried to clean nor press / jerk my heaviest kettlebell prior to this. There heaviest I've gone has been 20kg kb. I've done some dumbbell presses a bit heavier but not even close to 2 pood weight. I did 5 sets with both hands, 5 reps each time per hand. Starting with my right hand, finishing 5 reps, taking a breath and then 5 reps with left hand. Took my time to recover and went on for a total of 5 sets both hands.

Felt good to be able to manhandle my heaviest bell. I thought it would be heavier but considering my max loads with a barbell it was actually rather good weight for me. Haven't been jerking that much with one hand only. It's a totally different ball game right there. I feel it's very beneficial to work with single-arm activities as well. It definitely reveals if a person is stronger / weaker on other side. This session increased my confidence working with kettlebells over my head.

Tried some Kelly Starlett's mobility stuff yesterday evening and I definitely felt the improvement just like he and the other guy do in the video. Try it out!

Friday 9.8: Front squat, hspu, pistol, row

Friday. Metcon. 20 front squats @ 80kg, then 6 rounds of: 3 hspu, 10 pistols, 15 cal row. Cashout 60 rack dips.

Felt the burden in my upper body today because of clean & jerks from the previous days. Okay, my entire body felt a bit fatigue. I took a metcon with front squat as the strength part and then some skills oriented movements combined with short distance rowing.

Loving my heart out <3

Metcon. Not for time

• 20 front squats, 80kg, then
• 6 rounds of:
• 3 strict handstand push-ups
• 10 (5/5) pistol squats
• 15 calories row

Pretty decent. My conscience played its trick on me as I didn't do any front squats in July, none! That's very awkward considering it used to be my favorite movement some months ago. Better keep on doing front squats in the future as well. The metcon started with 20 reps @ 80kg. Not a heavy load but unable to go unbroken. I did 12 reps and then finished with 8 more. Followed by 6 rounds of 3 different stations: hspu, pistol squats and rowing.

I was thinking about how many hspu's would be reasonable to include in this one. Thought about higher rep scheme but I wanted to go through without extra breaks so I stayed at 3 reps per round. Got them all unbroken, strict reps. Pistol squats were "the thing" in the workout. My legs had taken their toll in the previous days' workouts so they were not freshly awaiting for one-legged squats.

I was still able to push through quite nicely even though the first reps felt a bit difficult. It got easier after the first round as my joints figured out the movement and got familiar with the range of motion. In the end it was naturally much harder again.

Rowing was surprisingly quick part of the whole metcon. It was somewhere around 0:50min per 15 calories. That's how I'd planned it but somehow it felt like a rest period, thought it would be more challenging. Maybe should have rowed double the time to make it agonizing. Now I got only 1.300m row if I recall correctly. This was still a good crossfit workout!

Cashout.

• 60 rack dips

After the workout I had planned for some dips. Weighed between ring dips and rack dips, finally went after rack dips and smiled afterwards on the decision. It felt extremely natural and good, enjoyed it a lot. Completed 2 sets of 20 reps, then 2 sets of 10 reps. Excellent movement!

Second part of Froning's story by BSN

Thursday 8.8: Clean and jerk, burpees, du

Thursday. Metcon with clean & jerks, burpees and double unders.

Due to time table issues, I had to go with this workout today. Awesome workout but not the most optimal way to do clean & jerks twice in two days. Yesterday I was doing those heavy ones as emom training and today combined lighter c&j's with burpees and du's. It's been a lot of heavy breathing this week and Thursday was no exception.

Newborn mini pig from Toni's in-laws =)

Metcon. Time 12.10

• 1 clean & jerk, 1 burpee, 30 double unders
• 2 clean & jerk, 2 burpees, 30 double unders
• 3 clean & jerk, 3 burpees, 30 double unders
• 4 clean & jerk, 4 burpees, 30 double unders
• 5 clean & jerk, 5 burpees, 30 double unders
• 6 clean & jerk, 6 burpees, 30 double unders
• 7 clean & jerk, 7 burpees, 30 double unders
• 60kg on the barbell

Yep, it really got to the core of crossfit. Strength, bodyweight, skills and breathing. The weight for clean & jerks wasn't heavy, actually in the end it felt light. However, through time the barbell got heavier and heavier as both burpees and double unders made my shoulders more tired. I got them unbroken for the 5 first rounds. On the 6th I did 4+2, and on the last one 4+2+1.

Not a huge amount of burpees, they were not the beef on this workout. The purpose of them was still to make me breath a bit heavier. Double unders. I wrote some time ago that next time I do DU's I might just add the number of reps per round. Guess it was that time I did some warm-up battle with Toni. We did sets of 10x20 reps then, alternating turns. I was good with this skill today, except on the last round. I guess I made one mistake on the second round after 4 reps, then jumped through without any flaws. For 5 rounds I went unbroken. The last round was difficult. Lost my concentration and stumbled a bit.

Liked this workout to the fullest. Tough combination of 3 movements, stuffed together to make a human soul cry. Just the way it should be. Loved it!

Found a short series of mr. Froning

Toni's workouts. He did a pair workout with one of his buddies. 20 min amrap of cleans, swings and thrusters, all completed with kettlebells. An some additional bear walk. No idea how they combined the movements together but the story tells there were about 40 reps each movement.

Wednesday 7.8: Clean and jerk, running metcon

Wednesday. Clean & jerk, emom 2 reps @ 80kg for 8min. Running metcon with pull-ups & k2e.

I'm concentrating in training somewhere else than @ home gym 1-2 times a week to get some versatility in my training program and to utilize places where certain kind of workouts are easier to implement. Today I started off with heavy clean & jerk emom training at home Box and then went outdoors for a metcon including running combined with bodyweight movement done on a pull-up bar.

Strength.

• Every minute on the minute for 8 minutes
• 2 clean & jerk @ 80kg

This was sick. I have never done this heavy clean & jerks in a metcon style. When it's been 80kg or more, it's been pure strength training, probably doubles or singles. So programming double c&j's @ 80kg as emom training was a risk worth taking.

After first round I thought "hey, this is heavy". After second round: "what the f*ck". After third round it was a survival battle! I'm very happy to the result that I got a total of 8 rounds done without misses. Had to take a few split jerks in the end. Even though it was heavy for the entire 8 minutes, I had no doubts of the jerks getting up in the air and reach full extension. The cleans were the easy part, took each one with a squat. I guess my explosiveness in the shoulder-to-overhead movements has gotten better through time.

Metcon. Time 16.50

• 30 pull-ups
• 400m run
• 30 knees-to-elbows
• 400m run
• 20 pull-ups
• 400m run
• 20 knees-to-elbows
• 400m run
• 10 pull-ups
• 400m run
• 10 knees-to-elbows
• 400m run

I tore my palm last Saturday as I was playing with the monkey bars and doing toes-to-bar. It's still hurting even though I've tried to take care of it and get it in better condition. I taped my right and with double tapes but still it hurt too much in my palm when hanging from a pull-up bar. That forced me to hang with only my fingers. That made it a bit tougher for the grip.

This workout was programmed to get some running back in the schedule, with 30-20-10 pull-ups and k2e's as side dish. Total of 60 reps both and then 2.4km run. Pushed through in 16.50. Really didn't have the juice to go all-in today in the metcon, maybe it was only mental as my hand wasn't in its best shape. Maybe it was just an excuse. Didn't take any breath taking breaks but I guess my pace wasn't outrageously fast. But the strength part went very well and I cherish that moment in my memories =)

Toni's workout. Skills day for Pony. Kipping pull-ups and handstand push-ups. The second pull-up in the video is a genuine kipping pull-up, the best I've seen from Toni.

Tuesday 6.8: Deads, push-ups and box

Tuesday. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 5 deadlifts (120kg), 10 push-ups, 15 box jumps. Result, 275 reps.

Today's focus was purely on the metcon. I figured it's gonna be enough. The main strength element was deadlift, accompanied with two bodyweight movements. Got a lot of reps and wanted to keep my motor running throughout the workout. Toni worked out at the affiliate.

Metcon. Result 9 rounds + 5 deadlifts (275 reps)

• 15min amrap of:
• 5 deadlifts, 120kg
• 10 push-ups
• 15 box jumps, 61cm

I think this workout was genius. There's enough time to get serious with the weights, it was a total of 6.000kg deadlifting, 90 push-ups and 135 box jumps. The "thing" was obviously the box jumps. It's a tough movement, it crawls under the skin. It gets breathing go sick, legs are going to burn and the overall feeling makes you fatigue.

The deadlift wasn't heavy. Still, once the metcon rolled on, I had to get some breath before grabbing the barbell for the next round. My strategy was to go through one round and then catch a breath. I managed to obey that routine for the 15 minutes pretty well. My round times didn't drop dramatically. They were mostly around 1:40. The first round was the fastest, about a minute. Didn't go light-headed in the beginning because this was a long workout. Tried to maintain a solid pace without too much breaks. Managed to follow that path well.

Chilling at Toni's place

Toni's workouts. Shoulder press & metcon.

• Shoulder press 4x8 (40, 45, 40, 40kg)

Toni's metcon. Time 18.30

• 8 rounds of:
• 24 kb presses, 16kg
• 20 walking lunges with 10kg plate overhead
• 12 kb swing, 16kg

July's stats

July's stats. The figures from July

This month I tried a few records and was able to break them. Not that many benchmark workouts, only Chief and Grace but a lot of barbell work and metabolic conditioning took place in the middle of the summer. I was also able to increase the amount of bodyweight workouts. That had it's cost, I couldn't keep up with the "cardio" work, meaning running, rowing etc.

Benchmark workouts.

• Chief, 72 cleans, 144 push-ups, 207 squats
• Heavy Grace, time 7.12

Both of these guys really got under my skin. I've done Chief twice and it's been a killer both times. Chief is a bad ass of power cleans, push-ups and air squats, 5 x 3min amraps, a lot of breathing. Grace is what Jason Khalipa would say: "throw your balls to the wall" =) That is, go all-in from the very beginning. I did a chunky Grace, adding 10kg to the rx'd weights.

Strength. 72.000kg

I spent one week in Spain in the middle of the month. Had no possibility to touch a barbell. Considering that, I still had more lifted kilos compared to June & May. That means to say the total weights per lifting day was higher than earlier.

Got back to over 10.000kg back squats. For some reason I didn't front squat even once last month? Not intentional, just didn't do it. Well, there was a lot of squat cleans though. Overhead squats were almost a weekly tradition with squat snatches. Cleans and shoulder-to-overhead movements were frequent. Haven't jerked / pressed this much ever. Got to strengthen my shoulders and I really feel I moved forward with them.

Skills.

Not a huge difference in the skills department. A bit more handstand push-ups but pistols, muscle-ups and double unders remained the same. As much handstand training as earlier.

Bodyweight.

Almost all movements were performed at higher volumes than in June. Only pull-ups got a little lower and that's actually something I need to focus more on in the future. A lot of squats, almost doubled the amount. Also push-ups and burpees mounted up. Sit-ups are not essential, not gonna concentrate in those. I rely on toes-to-bar / knees-to-elbow more in the future. Don't understand why I haven't done that many box jumps lately, weird.

Cardio. 8.000m

Can't keep on increasing everything and for that reason the amount of cardio work staeyd lower. There was about 20k running and rowing last month and this month only 8k (3.5k rowing, 4.5k running). Not good! Still, huge amount of metabolic conditioning took place in July.

PR's.

• Clean & jerk, 87.5kg
• Overhead squat, 70kg
• Clean, 100kg
• Jerk, 90kg
• Muscle-ups, 4 reps

Tried a few personal records and got them successfully done. Not bad!

Monday 5.8: Squats, hspu

Monday. Metcon of back squats and handstand push-ups. Time around 14min.

This week is not gonna be an easy evening stroll. It started with strong leg work and handstand push-ups. I'm gonna train without Toni 'cause he's enjoying some summer leave for the next two weeks and is going to train at Crossfit Vantaa at least the following few days.

Metcon. Time around 14min

• 18 back squats, 80kg
• 6 hspu
• 15 back squats, 80kg
• 6 hspu
• 12 back squats, 80kg
• 6 hspu
• 9 back squats, 80kg
• 6 hspu
• 6 back squats, 80kg
• 6 hspu

I've done this type of decreasing back squat metcons with something nice between those squat sets. I've tried pull-ups and snatches, today I decided to go for hspu's. I hit the very bottom on the squats, adjusted my stance to go as low as possible with the load on my back. I got through all squats unbroken, even though it was tough, especially on those 15 & 12 rep sets.

I've done this workout with pull-ups and that time I went for max reps between squats. I was thinking about it for a while for today as well but then realized I might get more reps if determining a fixed number of hspu's. I could have got more reps on the first set but from then on it would have been very difficult to get more than 6 reps. That confirmed fixing the figure at 6 reps was a better decision. This way I got 30 reps in total. For the 2 first sets I went unbroken, and from then on it was approximately 2 reps per attempt. Quite a number of singles were seen as well.

It was a good metcon up to 12 back squats. But because I had to break those hspu's breathing was no problem anymore, it was purely a strength deficit. Anyway, I like the workout style, a lot of squats with bodyweight barbell and a lot of bodyweight stuff between.

Respect!

Toni was training today but I don't know yet what the affiliate came up with. Story tells there might have been some deadlifts.

Sunday 4.8: Rest day

Sunday. Rest day

Taking a day off and spending the day in the city with Pauliina. Yesterday we had a great night at Toni's place. He had some superb tools to play with and I simply couldn't leave them alone =)

Chef de Pony was doing some delicious meals for us with her wife. We definitely enjoyed our stay! Have some photos from yesterday below. Toni was on the second day today on the on-ramp course. Can't wait to hear those tips he has learned again.

Hammering the tire

Nature's own push press / overhead squat tools

Flambéing some pancakes, yammy!

Saturday 3.8: Muscle-ups, monkey bars

Saturday. Muscle-up skills. Monkey bar playing and toes-to-bar with rotation.

We are going to spend the day at Case de Toni with the ladies today. Got some spare time in the morning so I took my bicycle, rode to the nearby place where the city of Helsinki has put up a pull-up bar and other sports tools. Worked on my muscle-ups and played with the bar in other ways too. Toni had a crossfit on-ramp course today (and tomorrow) so I'm eager to hear about what it was like.

Muscle-ups for breakfast

Muscle-ups. 10 reps, mostly in singles

• Working on technique

I can get over the bar and perform a muscle-up. That's been quite obvious since the day I got my first rep. Haven't actually had a no-rep since. However, there's a "but". I'm landing in the dip position with my right side first and that's definitely a weakness that must be corrected. I took a rubber band today with me in order to work on this shortage.

I tied it tight around my ankles and hoped it would force my legs to stay together. When my legs would stay together, the kick backwards would be simultaneous and then I would reach top position over the bar equally on both sides. Well, the rubber band wasn't a miraculous tool to fix this, still got to focus more on the pull and kick parts.

There was some horse competition some 50 meters away from my training place so don't wonder why there are horses in the background =)

Monkey bars. Also wanted to play with the monkey bars like a little kid so I walked them through in air a couple of times. Actually it was kind of cool stuff to play with. I remember seeing something alike in some Crossfit Games video clips from earlier years.

Toes-to-bar. Made them with rotation. That means I kept swinging my legs to the bar, starting from left side, then bringing it down and up again on the right side. I was aiming at 50 reps in the end. However, my hands got torn to blood at 36 reps and I had to stop and go clean the mess home.

Toni's workouts.
Haven't heard yet what the guy was doing there in precise but he went to a crossfit on-ramp course for beginners. Guess he was pretty advanced. What I do know, is that he got some great tips on deadlift and squat technique, can't wait to hear those hints!

You'll see some toes-to-bar with rotation in Blair Morrison's workout from 2.55min on. By the way, the workout he's doing, is quite sick!

Friday 2.8: Deadlift, bench and accessory work

Friday. Metcon, 10-8-6-4-2, deadlift (130kg), bench press (70kg). For completion, 5 rounds of: 10 weighted box jumps, 10 curls, 10 ring dips.

It's been an awesome training week. Our goal this week with Toni was to do same workouts together, at least as much as possible. We were able to match our schedules well and the plan was implemented. Thrusters, hspu and box on Monday, handstand skills, snatches and heavy Grace on Tuesday, squats, burpees and du's on Wednesday, handstand skills, split jerks, run/clean metcon on Thursday and today some meathead action. A lot of strength and heavy breathing has been witnessed this week both in our home gym and at Eltsu weightlifting venue. Both of us are feeling good about this!

Metcon. Alternating with Toni

• 10-8-6-4-2
• Deadlift, 130kg (Toni 120kg)
• Bench press, 70kg

Didn't think about the clock this time. We did it as fast as we were able to do it. I've done this type of workouts with the similar movement combo but most of them were last year. I've kind of forgotten about this. It's a smart set to combine deadlift and bench, you get the heart rate up and they do not prevent each other. You can smack around some nice weights and get a good number of total kilos. It was 3.900kg on the deads and 2.100kg on the bench.

I was able to manhandle both movements and go unbroken each set. Toni also smashed the bench but had some broken sets on the deads. I have this mindset in my head that I'm gonna make my posterior chain stronger in the near future, at least I'm gonna concentrate in squats and deadlifts. Let's see what the outcome is. I'm also trying to find a wider stance in squats to find more stability and a thus a stronger ground on my lifts.

For completion.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 weighted box jumps
• 10 curls
• 10 ring dips

Something accessory. Saw a video of weighted box jumps to increase explosiveness. Gave it a shot, it was ok, don't know if I'm gonna do them in the future. Not bad, still not a mind-blowing experience so let's see. At least it made my hamstrings burn, even though my dumbbells weren't that heavy.

Curls, hmm. Not often but sometimes to increase arm strength. I have those handstand push-ups in mind when I do this movement. Each and every time I do a curl I remind myself why I'm doing them. I consider this a pretty meathead movement. Ring dips are always smart to do. Pretty much the same logic still behind this is that I want my arms to get stronger.

Toni's workouts.

• Same bench/dead workout @ 120kg deadlifts and @ 70kg bench
• Metcon. 10 rounds of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats). Time 18.33

Thursday 1.8: Handstand, split jerks, running metcon

Thursday. Skills, handstand. Strength, 1 squat clean + 3 split jerks @ 70kg for 10min. Metcon, 10 rounds of: 5 power cleans @ 70kg, run 380m. Time 24.03. Evening, cycling for cooling down and 50 pull-ups.

Great day! Skills, then we continued what we started last week with the split jerks and finally a metcon including running and power cleans. That was challenging. I believe we've had pretty awesome workouts this week with my training buddy, Toni, every day!

Skills. Handstand. Gonna keep this in my schedule regularly, trying to squeeze in 1-2 times a week. Can't develop if there's not enough repeats. We tried something different today in the end, a partner drill. Toni held my legs while I was aiming to move forward with my legs. Not a bad drill at all.

Toni concentrated in handstand hold against a wall. Static holds and then also pushing his fingers to the ground and thus making his heels pull away from the wall. He's not practiced this that much so it was definitely a good call for him!

Strength.

• Every minute on the minute for 10min
• 1 squat clean + 3 split jerks @ 70kg
• Toni did the same @ 50kg

Emom training suited here well. We were sweating like pigs after this one and got the heart rate up nicely. First one squat clean, followed by 3 split jerks. I'm using my left leg as the front leg in each lift. 70kg felt comfortable today, heavyish but manageable. Have to keep on improving my technique with the split jerks, this was the second time doing them. Somehow I enjoy them a lot! Toni did exactly the same workout, we alternated the turns.

Take a look at Toni's performance as well. How did you feel man?

Metcon. Time 24.03 / Toni 24.12

• 10 rounds of:
• 5 power cleans @ 70kg / Toni @ 50kg
• 380m run

Yes, good call. I wanted to get a lot of running because last month it somehow left in the shadows. Compared to June, it felt like I didn't run at all. Today we got 3.800m run and 50 power cleans @ 70kg. We did the workout at the same time. Toni did it with a bit lighter weight (50kg).

Round times: Don / Toni

1. 2.13 / 2.15
2. 2.23 / 2.23
3. 2.22 / 2.24
4. 2.25 / 2.32
5. 2.29 / 2.32
6. 2.29 / 2.40
7. 2.30 / 2.34
8. 2.31 / 2.31
9. 2.30 / 2.25
10. 2.07 / 1.52

We took it "easy" in the beginning. Even though it was pretty much the fastest round, I believe we didn't run that fast. At least I was afraid to get gassed too soon if I started running faster too early. All in all, the lap times remained quite stable in my opinion, not a big variance there, for neither of us. Both of us smashed the power cleans unbroken each round, and didn't practically rest before grabbing the bar after run, nor after the cleans.

Hard to say afterwards could the run have been faster in the beginning. Somehow it feels like this pace was good as I was able to maintain the pace consistent through all 10 rounds. For the first couple of rounds we ran together, then at some point there was a bit of a difference, a few tens of meters. In the last 3 rounds Toni started to put on his diesel mode and kept pacing up. He managed to fight his best lap on the last round with 1.52. I heard his breathing from far away as he was getting closer like a maniac =)

After crossing the finish line, we were exhausted. It really burnt in the breathing. Those rather heavy power cleans took some tax on the beginning of my each run. Pony said this was one of the best workouts he's ever done. I'm very happy we had the possibility to do this. Not possible at our home gym so we have to think outside the box when we hit these various training places.

Pony

Evening.

• Cycling
• 50 pull-ups

Forgot to mention this in the original post. Went cycling after I came home. Found a pull-up bar on my trip and decided to do some pull-ups, felt good! =)

Wednesday 31.7: Squats, burpees, du

Wednesday. Back squats, emom, 4 reps @ 100kg, for 10min. Metcon, 10min amrap of 10 burpees, 25 double unders.

It was time to squat. I'm changing the way I think about traditional strength training. Doing 5x5 or 5x3 type of training was what brought me to a certain point and there's nothing bad in that structure. But I need some change and some action in the strength training as well. I've adopted a lot of emom (every minute on the minute) type of training. Today it was time to try it out with back squats. Then a metcon that was on the main site in late June, a lot of heavy breathing.

Back squats.

• 4 reps @ 100kg for 10 minutes

This adopts to back squats very well too. I've done it once over a month ago with 3 reps x 100kg. Today I added the fourth one and wanted to know what it feels like. You've got one minute to finish those four reps. It takes only 15-20 seconds and there's plenty of time to recover. We did this together with Toni so that Toni started, took 3 reps, and I started 30 seconds after he had taken his first set up. This way either of us was squatting pretty much all the time. The rhythm was perfect, when you're doing work, the other one checks your form, depth and talks you up to nail those reps. Then switch turns. We both liked this style. Plus, there's a lot more weight being brought up compared to for example 5x5 with 120kg. That would lead up to 3k, now I got 4k.

The weight was good today, had no problems with it whatsoever. Might go up a little next time I'll do this.

Metcon. Result 294 reps.

• 10 min amrap of:
• 10 burpees
• 25 double unders

Huh, heavy breathing was ahead of me. When you have a couplet of burpees and double unders, there's no doubt you're gonna be totally fatigued in the end. This was as nasty as it sounds. At the end of the workout I was drained and my heart rate was as high as it possible could be. I got 8 full rounds + 10 burpees + 4 double unders. That equals to 90 burpees and 204 du's. Total of 294 reps.

I got those burpees rolling pretty well from the beginning to the end, with pace slowing towards the end, little by little. Double unders were near perfect as I tripped on only one set. 7 rounds of them went unbroken. Had to take a little break after burpees before entering du's because I definitely wanted to do them unbroken. It's mentally so much easier when you don't have to start over with the double unders. On the only set I stumbled, I got 17 reps and then had to finish it to 25 reps.

Don't know how I could have been faster with this one. The only part is the transitions. Don't think too much, go down on the burpees and once you're finished, start circling the jump rope. Lots more cardio work so I wouldn't have to stop to catch a breath. Lots of crossfit =)

Toni's workouts.

• Back squats, emom, 3 reps @ 100kg, for 10min.
• Metcon, time 10.54
• Rack dips, 10 to 1, down by 1's
• Between dip sets, 20 air squats

Toni did the same workouts. That's been this week's main goal that we get some more drive from each other by doing exactly the same workouts. We did the squats simultaneously. Toni had forgotten his shoes home (who does that? :)) so it was impossible to do double unders. It hurts like hell when you stumble and don't have shoes on. Been there, done that… So he had to be creative and do a metcon of dips and squats. 20 squats between every set of dips. He started with 10 dips, then 9, down by 1 rep until there's only 1 left.

'

Tuesday 30.7: Handstand, snatches, heavy Grace

Tuesday. Handstand skills. 10 x (2 hang squat snatches + 2 ohs). Heavy Grace (70kg). Time 7.12.

Another day in Eltsu, probably our favorite place to workout. Together with Toni we had plan to go for olympic lifts, we scheduled certain workouts especially for this venue. It's easier to drop weights here when you're doing snatches and / or clean & jerks. Can't do that in a regular gym. Some skills to start with, then snathces, and finally it was time for another benchmark workout, Grace.

Skills. Handstand skills. I'm thinking I managed rather well. Was trying to find stability in the inverted position and I'm simply feeling more and more confident being upside down. Even though I start to fall to some direction, I'm able to correct my form and get it back together. That's valuable. There was a time when I dropped from the position each and every time I started leaning too much to some direction. Handstanding / handstand walking feeling good nowadays.

Snatches.

• 10 x (2 hang squat snatches + 2 overhead squats)
• Weights between 30 & 45kg. One set at 35, about 5 @ 40, the rest @ 45kg

Not the best day of snatches for me. Had a few misses at 45kg. Somehow the bar stayed way too forward up there. And I noticed from the video that the bar path is somewhere else it should be. It's way too front of me. Should be much closer to my body and the path should be vertical. Have to keep on training more.

Heavy Grace. Time 7.12. Compare to 22.4.2013

• 30 clean & jerks, 70kg

Tough! Simply tough. Went after benchmark wod Grace. I've done it a few times, twice as rx'd and then as a pair wod with Toni we've done double Grace. Today was the first time I put on a heavier barbell than it should be as rx'd. The original weight is 60kg, decided to add 10kg to make it a bit tougher. Toni did the same workout with the original weights. We completed the workout simultaneously. Nice variation!

It was difficult to come up with a plan how to proceed with this one. Decided to go by feeling. It soon turned out to be a game of single reps. Take a look at the show below. I didn't count that last rep of mine because I don't think there was full extension in the top position so I repeated it. Toni's plan was to go in sets of 5 for as long as possible.

Toni's workouts.

• Skills. Inverted position, hspu
• Snatches. Same sets
• Grace rx'd. 30 reps clean & jerk, 60kg