Tuesday. Metcon. Inspired by two benchmark wods: DT & Helen.
Yesterday was an easy one so I needed to get some action going on today. What could I do? I had my dear 2-pood kettlebell with me and a pair of sneakers. What more could you ask for? I combined two familiar workouts into one and I got what I deserved.
Metcon. Mixture of DT + Helen.
2 rds of:
400m run
12 deads, 32kg, right hand
9 hang clean, 32kg, right hand
6 jerk, 32kg, right hand
400m run
12 deads, 32kg, left hand
9 hang clean, 32kg, left hand
6 jerk, 32kg, left hand, then
3rds of:
400m run
21 kb swing, 32kg
12 pull-ups
Start with something that resembles hero workout DT and incorporate running into it. I wanted to get running as an element because it exists in my training way too rare. It was a good decision, I got 2.8km running in the metcon and it felt pretty good. Better than normally and shins were not hurting practically at all.
That kettlebell action between run was great. DT is originally 5rds of the same reps but with a 70kg barbell. I enjoyed the movements with the kb as well.
After finishing the DT part I jumped right on to running and started the benchmark workout Helen. It would be awesome to do it rx'd some day. I've done it only once - 08/2012 - so it's been a while. My running was definitely getting slower towards the end but still solid. I got the reps unbroken each round, that was great as there were 21 reps kb swings with 2-pood bell. Helen is rx'd 24kg so this was a bit heavier. 21 reps starts to feel in those forearms a lot! Add in 12 pull-ups and they are on fire. After the workout my veins in the forearms were coming through my shirt, they were so pumped up :)
It was a great wod! Definitely, and needed lots of work and determination to finish it with style. I liked the feeling afterwards and felt like I put on a lot of work! My father-in-law was working out side by side with me and worked his ass off as well.
Pauliina got a new camera for christmas present and has already taken hundreds of pictures so I'll add some when we return home! :)
I had some plans for hitting a short metcon today but the schedules were a bit tight during the day so I decided to postpone it. We were celebrating the Christmas in a traditional way: breakfast, sauna, porridge, church, dinner, opening presents, playing board games and eating more. Classic stuff and I liked it!
And the presents were right on! Take a look at the picture :) In the evening I went outdoors to do some pull-ups and push-ups as I felt too lazy doing nothing sports-wise. It felt good, did some different types of grips pull-ups in sets of 10 reps, totalling 50 reps.
Monday. AM: Skills, handstand. Strength, front squats 5x5. Technique, hang squat snatch. PM: 20 rep benchmark, bench press (65kg). Row intervals for 2.400m
I'm on a vacation for about 2 weeks now and it brings me possibilities to workout in the morning and maybe twice a day occasionally if my body is receptive to it. Today I went to the cave I used to workout in the summer time more often. The place is spectacular! And offers possibilities to work on olympic lifts as you can drop the bar. It's important in certain lifts: clean & jerks, squat snatch and overhead squats. Crucial. It offers the possibility to go beyond comfort zone and create development.
Skills. Handstand.
Yeah baby! It's been too long time since last time I had the possibility to do handstand skills training. I was afraid what has happened to my skills as I haven't kept it up lately. There's no possibility at my gym to do handstand, there's not enough space. So I basically have been training outdoors in the spring and summer time. Now the weather in Finland is not tempting so it's just been off my programming.
However, it felt good from the very beginning! I believe some sort of record was done too. I stayed inverted for about 20 seconds. On my first attempt I had too much eagerness and that turned out to me going too much forward and losing balance. On the second attempt it felt surprisingly natural and I was able to maintain body control quite well. I took a few attempts and felt the burden in my shoulders. This small doze of handstand was perfect for today. Hopefully I'll find a way to practice it in the winter time as well, somehow.
Strength. Front squats 5-5-5-5-5 (100, 100, 105, 105, 105kg). Regularly I haven't done squats here because I've benchmarked this place for oly lifts. But today I had the burning desire to do front squats and I couldn't fight it away. So 5x5 front squats were done. Didn't have a mirror there so I had no idea how deep I was going. Just hoping it was beyond parallel. From the video I checked it was ass to grass, that was a nice surprise haha.
No wonder the weight felt like a some work was being done. It's been a while since doing 5's in front squat so this was a good variation to the selection of different types of squat training. I felt confident with the weights being handled. Still, I didn't want to add more plates in the barbell. It didn't felt awesome in my knees for some reason. Even though I believe my form was good and knees were pointing out. Go figure.
55kg
Technique. Hang squat snatch.
After hanging around there for a while it started to feel cold. The temperature there is quite low and you better keep on doing work if you wanna stay warm. I was feeling a bit stiff after taking a short rest after squats. I simply grabbed the empty barbell and took a few reps hang snatches as power and squat versions plus overhead squats. Got my blood flowing again and decided to add something at the end of the barbell.
I repeated the same ritual with 30kg and it felt natural as well. From then on I realized there's no other option but to keep on adding stuff on the bar. Next step at 40kg, still felt good. There was one guy coaching another athlete and he offered to take some video of my performance. I politely said no thanks no need to but if you have time to check my lifts and give some tips, it would be appreciated a lot. These kinds of possibilities come rare to me as I usually train alone. Don't have a coach normally. It would be awesome to have one though.
40kg
I once went to Toni's crossfit affiliate and the coach gave valuable tips on my jerk. Today the guy was telling me I was maybe pulling too early with my arms. That is true, it happens with both snatch and clean. What he gave props on was the line of the back and lumbar curve. Felt good hearing some feedback from an outsider. And I kept on adding weight. I took all snatches from pocket. Some of them power but main focus was on squat snatches.
I was able to go at 55kg which is a weight I've never taken as squat snatch! Today I tried it 3-4 times and all successful ones, boom! I might have regained my snatch confidence. But I definitely need a place where I know dropping bars is okay. That's because it's some sort of fear of dropping the bar and knowing it's not okay, that results in some twisted thoughts in my head and me not pulling as fiercely. For example in this place I don't have to think about anything else than lifting that damned bar =)
Recap!
20-rep benchmark. This is something new I'll try to bring to the table. High-rep benchmarks. Got to go unbroken. Today was my first test. This was the second training session of the day. I had enough time to recover, rest and eat in between sessions. After the session we'll head to the in-laws to celebrate Christmas for a couple of days so it's gonna be bodyweight and kettlebells while we're away from home.
I started this benchmark scheme with bench press. Had no idea what would be a weight I would certainly bring home for 20 reps. I figured 60 is too light and 70 might be a little too heavy. I put 65kg on the bar and started working. And got it for a total of 20 reps. I'll take that for now!
Row intervals. Distance 2.400m.
5 rounds of:
1:40 on, 0:20 off
Some engine work in the end. It averaged 480m for each round (1:40). Towards the end the fun part was over and it was all work. Some day I might hit this one for a longer period of time. This was a good ending to the training day!
Good training day! My shoulders are crushed. Had a lot of work being done with those pieces of my body. And lots of metabolic conditioning was also in play in both metcons. In the morning I went to the gym with Pauliina for 2 metcons and in the evening I wanted to flush legs so I went for a little run and found a pull-up bar to work on my chest-to-bars.
Pauliina worked on her handstand skills today as well as snatch technique. It was awesome to witness her doing both of these. Her body control is very good and it will definitely yield on results as we keep on working these skills. And her mobility is something I'm jealous of. Doing squat snatches is no prob. And the width of her hands on the bar, that's narrow. There's a goal for me, got to ask for some tips on mobility from her =)
Metcon. Result 5 rounds + 10 db snatch
15min amrap of:
8 handstand push-ups
8 right-handed dumbbell snatches, 22.5kg
8 left-handed dumbbell snatches, 22.5kg
32 double unders
My brother asked me afterwards "what's with the rep scheme in this metcon, why so many reps each movement?" I answered: constant variety. Do you need more justification to write a workout that includes high rep movements. Had I done it in for example 5 hspu, 10 db snatch, 20 du, it would have definitely been easier and went unbroken all the way. Decided to mix it up a little by increasing the reps per round this time.
The combination of movements was cruel on my shoulders. Handstand push-ups are always tough. Add some snatch and du pressure on the shoulders and I was done. Continue for 15 minutes and I felt like my gas tank was empty.
I went unbroken on the hspu's for the first round, then it was pretty much 5+3 for the rest of the rounds. On the snatches I did 16 reps - 8 right hand snatches, then 8 left hand snatches. Double the amount to 32 and you have the number of double unders per round. I messed up with them on the first round as my shins ached like hell. After first round it was way easier and better on the double unders.
Strength. Push press, 57 reps
3 rounds of:
2min amrap, push press, 60kg
2min rest
I remember Mikko Salo saying in one clip this was the workout he used to go after quite often to build shoulder strength. I've done it once before, something like a year ago, with 50kg. It was a lot of work to say the least. That 2min rest was warmly welcomed between rounds.
My shoulders were useless after the 15min metcon so it was intimidating to start throwing the 60kg barbell up in the air. It felt good for about 5 reps =) Then it felt like my entire body was shivering. It was a shaky ride but I got it through. And the reps per round were 21+18+18, total of 57 reps.
Chalk it up baby!
On the first round I did 10 in a row, then a rest, continued with 5+3+3 if I remember right. You'll get them from the video. The second round was tougher and the pressure on my shoulders was increasing by every rep. The recovery between racking the bar and taking it back felt like nothing and it definitely was a good workout for the shoulders. Lots of reps with a barbell that you should be able to move fast and for a long period of time. That's why I liked the nature of this one.
Running in the woods
The reason for doing the 15min amrap before this push press amrap was that I knew hspu's would have been a nightmare if there were around 60 push presses completed before them. Then, it would have been very difficult to go for 8 handstand push-ups in a row and I would have been forced to modify the reps somehow. Better this way, I got both workouts and it was as tough as it was supposed to be!
Running & C2B's.
After couple of hours chilling and eating I wanted to flush my legs and go for a run. It's been ages since I've been running / jogging. I found a pull-up bar "accidentally" haha. I decided to practice on my chest-to-bar pull-up skills and pulled as high as possible. I felt like some of the reps were abs-to-bar. It was spectacular to notice I'm able to do consecutive c2b's. It's very difficult at my regular gym because the wall is very close and I need more kip than in regular pull-ups. At this pull-up bar located outdoors. There was plenty of space and I used to hang around at this place more in the summer time.
Saturday. Clean & jerk emom, benchmark workout Christine. Time 10.38.
Tough day! Working some snatch technique in the beginning with Hannu, then the actual training was clean & jerk strength / endurance training to start with, and finished with benchmark workout Christine with a 10min recovery between workouts. Both were nasty ones.
Strength. Clean & jerk emom
Every minute on the minute for 12min
First 3min: 3 x 70kg
Second 3min: 4 x 65kg
Third 3min: 5 x 60kg
Final 3min: 6 x 50kg
Clean & jerk emom
I took inspiration from competitorswod.com that I spoke up yesterday. Naturally the monsters did these with weights beyond my strength level so I modified this one to match my levels. And I succeeded in defining the weight on the barbell just greatly. It felt bad and good at the same time.
It took about 15-20sec to finish those sets each minute. I was extremely happy to being able to do 70kg clean & jerks with a continuous movement, not stopping the bar in the middle but jerking it with the use of the "bounce" after clean. The recovery time was enough for me to get back in shape and prepared for the next set.
This workout gave me more confidence in moving the bar in a high-rep workout like Grace. Got to do more workouts like these where a lot of reps are done with a manageable weight, not always maxing it out. Lighter bar and more reps = consistency and endurance.
70kg clean & jerk
Christine. Time 10.38. Compare to 14.4.2013
3 rounds of:
500m row
12 deadlifts, bodyweight (80kg)
21 box jumps, 61cm
Had a 10min break before entering this one. I ripped my fingers to blood in the c&j emom so I just put more tape on my hands and put gloves on so it wouldn't do any more harm. I've done Christine once more and I remember looking at it and thinking it's quite an easy one. Hmm, it wouldn't be a benchmark wod if it was easy. Last time I did it, my box jumps can't have been according to Games standards because this time I went unbroken, previously not and my time was 10sec faster in April. That's weird.
My rowing pace was around 1.45 on the first round, and a little slower on the last 2 rounds, about 1.48-1.50. I didn't see the benefit of gassing out on the rowing because it would have slowed me down on the deads and boxes. I wanted to get them unbroken so I went couple of seconds slower on the rower.
And I followed this game plan till the end. The deads were as light as they were last time. My weight is currently at about 82kg, I put the same weight today as last time to get some comparison as the difference in my bodyweight is marginal between the two Christines.
I'm happy the box jumps went unbroken. The difference between following Games standard box jumps and not following the Games standards is the full extension on top of the box. You have to extend the entire body so that heels, hip and shoulders are in straight vertical line if you look at it from the side.
If you don't do it and just jump right off the box once you land there, you'll save time tremendously and it also doesn't consume as much energy. I remember knocking boxes was a walk in the park when I didn't follow the standards but once I got to know them, I have been doing them "correctly" ever since. Even though it means the pace is slowing down.
For me, it's important to being able to look at my videos afterwards and be proud of having done the movements as they should be done. I did some horrible movements in the beginning of my crossfit career and as I saw them in the video, little by little I realized they are not okay and I learnt how to do the movements correctly.
I'm very pleased on the workouts completed today. I felt hammered after the clean & jerk emom and it was difficult to think about jumping into a benchmark workout. But once I recovered for a while I was able to put the timer running and start moving.
Christine, 2+ rounds caught on video
Both workouts were cruel in their own nature and I had lots of fun getting after them. Above is about 9 minutes of today's Christine, my camera won't record more than 10min at a time.
Friday. Winter War, 3rd event. 10min amrap of: 30 power cleans, 10 pull-ups, 30 box, 10 pull-ups, 30 du, 10 pull-ups. Result 185 reps.
My boys Sipa and Toni had done the qualification workout for Finland's crossfit games so I figured why not go for it too. It looked like an okay metcon and easy to arrange, no extra equipment needed and no need to drop heavy weights so I completed that one today.
Everyday salad with the dinner, keep it clean and healthy
Winter War, Event 3. Result 185 reps.
10min amrap of:
30 power cleans, 50kg
10 pull-ups
30 box, 61cm
10 pull-ups
30 double unders
10 pull-ups
I finished the first round and completed 25 box jumps on the second round. The issue here was trip strength. Even though the barbell was light at 50kg on the cleans, it started to pressure the forearms greatly and it was challenging to keep a hold on the bar. Simply couldn't press my palm into fist anymore after a certain point. So that was definitely the movement that kept me from moving faster.
Pull-ups went unbroken, double unders unbroken and the box jumps also practically unbroken. I kept a 2 second pause on the first round at 10 and 20 reps. On the second round I went unbroken. So it's obvious the power cleans was the thing for me in this one. Had it been for example 10 reps each movement each round, I would have gone ub all the way. But that wasn't the case and it made me think about programming.
Competitor's wod programming philosophy includes the following statement: "20 Rep Benchmark: We will be rotating through movements and testing a 20 rep max lifts twice per week. 20 reps is enough to ensure we are developing more than just maximal strength. We are looking for strength endurance, stamina, and efficiency in our movements. In addition, 20-reps, if done right, is enough to get yolked and see God."
That site is freaking awesome, hosted by Ben Bergeron, is focused in posting some bad ass workouts for those who aim to be the fittest of the earth, for those who want to make it to the regionals and for those looking to make their best in the Crossfit Open. So in practice you'll find the workout of the day that suits perfectly for you, no matter what your background is.
Back to the initial idea: 20 rep benchmarks. Not a bad idea. Haven't done them at all. Why not try them? It definitely improves strength endurance, stamina and overall fitness level in all dimensions. No matter if it was clean & jerk, snatch, squat or whatever strength movement. Note to self: do it!
I'd love to try jerking from the blocks, have never seen those things live, anywhere
Thursday. Back squat triples (max 130kg). Metcon, 7rds of: 1 squat clean (80kg), 2 front squats (80kg), 10 ring dips, 10 t2b. Time 12.30.
After 2 consecutive rest days I had no other possibilities but to squat. Triples it was. My choice on the metcon was different in nature: heavy-ish barbell and bodyweight stuff. It turned out to be quite a good one indeed.
Squat
Strength. Back squats 3-3-3-3-2 (120, 125, 130, 130, 130kg). I was looking the squats to be lighter because of the rest time the last two days. However, the barbell felt heavy all the way. I was still able to carry the weight pretty well and that pleased me a lot. I was able to do 2 sets of triples @ 130kg and 2 reps on the last set. The last reps on the sets were very tough and that brought me even more delight that the bar came up each and every time.
Metcon. Time 12.30
7 rounds of:
1 squat clean, 80kg
2 front squats, 80kg
10 ring dips
10 toes-to-bar
I wanted to mix it up a little and threw 80kg clean / front squats in there together with ring dips and t2b's. First I was thinking about putting 15 t2b's but it was a good call to stay at 10 reps in order to get it unbroken. And that was a good call.
I wanted to add enough weight on the barbell so it wouldn't be too light. So that I would have to concentrate in lifting heavy even though my muscles would be fatigued. I have nothing bad thing to be said about this metcon, it worked to its purpose very well. Those ring dips turned out to be the most muscle-burner movement of these. Clean and front squats weren't that bad. The weight on the barbell was great, not too light, not too heavy. I got it up every time as planned but needed to stop and concentrate before the lift.
Ring dips were unbroken for 4 rounds, and the rest of the rounds were something like 6-7 on the first attempt and then the rest. T2b's were unbroken except for the last round. The 6th round was a battle on them but I got them ub. On the last round I needed to stop just before the end, then continue to finish it all.
Aaarrrgghh! Second day of rest in a row, didn't see this coming. I had such a long work day / training session at work that it sucked all time and energy out of me. Muscles better grow and prepare for tomorrow 'cause I'm planning to hit it hard! Definitely going to work out.
Well, to tell the truth it must be good for my body to get some time off. It's been rough the last couple of months and rest days have been a rarity. It's a weakness for me not to have days off of training. On the other hand, my body has been ready to work out so I haven't seen the reason to step back that often. I've been able to plan my training sessions so that it's constant variety all the time and thus I've been able to keep on moving on a daily basis.
As I told earlier there's the qualification is currently going on to find the fittest men / women in Finland. There's a total of 3 events before the best of the best will be seen in the Finals 1st February 2014. Yesterday evening was the announcement of the last 3rd and last event. It's a:
10min amrap of:
30 power clean, 50kg
10 pull-ups
30 box jumps, 60cm
10 pull-ups
30 double unders
10 pull-ups
Looks like a very attempting workout, classic crossfit stuff: make those lungs carry the air effectively and burn your muscles. All movements are light so the "thing" is who can keep on moving in the pain zone. It's gonna start hurting and you have to be mentally tough to ignore the pain and just keep on completing rep after rep. I'm looking forward to seeing Toni do his share of the work. By the way, Toni has his birthday today, congrats!
This was a compulsory rest day. The schedule was simply too much to handle. Went to work in the early morning, and directly after work we went for a dinner with the big boss and colleagues to celebrate the end of this year. So I'm letting my body and muscles take it easy today. Let's see what tomorrow brings us, it's gonna be a looooooong work day, and I'm not sure I have time to train tomorrow either. I hope I'll squeeze a metcon in at some point of the day!
Starting the week with building the engine. Through a painful session of rowing intervals, full speed at all times. For a total of over 5k. I took inspiration from Chris Hinshaw who seems to be a god in endurance training, at least if you believe the monsters at NorCal Crossfit. He's created awesome endurance training at track and field for these Crossfit Games competitors so I wanted to have a taste of that and modified some of his training methods.
Intervals. Total of 5.250m. Full speed all the way.
3 rounds of:
1.000m row, 1:00 rest
500m row, 2:00 rest
250m row, 0:30 rest
It proved to be a spectacular way to put lungs, endurance and legs to real test. Mostly it was my legs that were the most damaged. I'm very pleased I was able to breath, heavily but still the lungs were doing their part. It felt like my quads and hamstrings were burning in the end of the sprints.
My focus was to go at full speed from the very beginning. And I was able to keep a good pace on even with the pain crawling in more and more after every sprint. I didn't keep a track of the screen and wrote the times on paper but I remember being satisfied on the numbers after each set.
The variation in the rest periods was somehow smart. Naturally the 1k row was the toughest because of the length but the recovery was only 1min before going all in on the next one - 500m. This distance takes about 1:45 to finish in a workout like this so the 2min recovery was warmly welcomed. At this stage my legs were always hammered. The third sprint, the shortest of them, was fast and I rowed at 1.34-1.39 each round.
Last 250m
So having only 30seconds to recover prior to entering another 1k row was not cool. But that was my strategy from the very beginning: not to think too much about the future, just live in the moment and try to keep a good pace throughout the workout. That being said, you probably understand the twist of the variation in the rest times.
He's one of my favorite Games athletes, Dan Bailey
Sunday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Strength, front squats with a pause. Pair wod with Sipa, chipper: 60 hspu, 120 pull-ups, 150 box, 100 burpees. Time 17.42.
This was a cool day, got my big bro to train with me after weeks or months break since last time. It was awesome to get him live at the gym to work on our ring skills and then complete a pair wod together with him. I took some front squats between rings and metcon.
Skills. Ring muscle-ups. It's been 10 days since my first mu and since then I've been able ti do multiple reps. My bro got his months ago, maybe last summer, don't know, but anyway he's done a bunch of them. He also happens to have an issue there: they've all been singles. He understood the technique way earlier than me and has done tens and hundreds of 'em. I've tried to learn from him but we've never had the possibility to work on this technique together. This day was valuable in this sense.
The biggest news was that Sipa was able to do not 1, not 2 but 3 reps in a row!!! That's huge man. I feel like each rep I complete consumes a lot of energy. At least at my current style. The secret behind Sipa's 3 rep set was false grip. He was able to maintain that grip and thus the starting point in the bottom position was similar in all mu's. Good job man!
Strength. Front squats with 3sec pause (60, 80, 90, 100, 100, 100kg). First time ever doing squats with a pause. And it felt good! I had no idea what kind of weights I should be using for this type of squats. I thought the weights should be lighter compared to regular weights. So I started with light ones and added from there on. Didn't go to the ceiling, I stayed at 100kg for the last sets.
I think I'll might go after these squats more often, also in back squats. I assume it helps the athlete to get out of the hole easier. Lately pause squats seem to have become more regular among crossfitters. That's the reason I wanted to take a shot at them.
Pair chipper. Time 17.42.
60 handstand push-ups (in sets of 5)
120 pull-ups (in sets of 10)
150 box jumps, 61cm (in sets of 10)
100 burpees (in sets of 10)
This was a pair wod, chipper style, meaning there are no rounds, there's just a bunch of movements you chip away. Complete a number of reps of a certain movement, and once you've done them all, you move on to the next movement. Because we are pretty much equal in the movements in the wod we decided to determine the number of reps to be completed. So we went in sets of 10 except the hspu's were in sets of 5 reps per brother.
Another style to complete a chipper with a partner is to do "you go, I go", going max reps per set and then change turns. I've tried both and both work. In the latter option you're ending up to do more reps in a row. In this equal distribution it's as much work / recovery. This worked very well for these bro's as the burden was similar for both of us.
The only movement I had issues with was handstand push-ups. The number wasn't huge but because Sipa was effective with them, I had little time to recover. 30 reps felt like more work had been done. The first 20 reps were okay, the last 2 sets were more challenging. Last set was 4+1, others unbroken.
Pull-ups weren't bad. I'm feeling confident hanging from the pull-up bar and I could have continued longer. There was a difference on the 2 first movements between me and Sipa. He was clearly more effective on the hspu's and I was with the pull-ups. He made the handstand push-ups look so easy.
Box jumps we did in sets of 10 reps, Games standards as always: full extension on top of the box. There were no probs for either of us, unbroken all the way. We were able to keep a good pace in all movements actually. The number of reps per set were suitable, we didn't have to stop for breathing, just kept going all the time.
Burpees were the last element, 100 reps, 50 for both. I put the last gear on on after 20 reps. I tried to go as fast as I've ever gone, full speed, all in. The end result was that we did the 100 reps in about 4 minutes. We finished at 17.42. Hspu's were about 4:30, pull-ups 3:20, box jumps 5:40 and burpees 4:10.
It was a great day, I love these days were I have a training partner. First some ring skills, then strength and a pair wod, that's a dream come true type of training day! Pauliina was obviously with us at the gym.
