Saturday. Ohs with a pause, doubles up to 70kg. Workout, 6rds for quality: 6 hang squat snatch (40kg), 15 ghd sit-ups, 5m unbroken handstand walk.
We spent almost the entire day in Helsinki. It was time to find proper clothing for our wedding for me, and some other stuff needed to be arranged too. Got to spend it with my baby and her parents so that's pretty much everything I want =) There was time to hit the gym in the early morning still.
Overhead.
Overhead squat with a 5 second pause
Doubles @ 40, 50, 60, 65, 70kg
These were not heavy reps for a reason. Goal was to find that good deep position at the bottom of the hole on snatch. I took the bar from the ground so there was one clean and jerk done before getting the barbell overhead. The weights were pretty light for c&j so it was no biggie to drop the bar on my back.
This was a good drill for snatch / overhead squat. Getting comfortable win the hole. I had to look for the perfect position for a while down there. It was a good choice to hold the position for 5 seconds before coming back up. The loads were not insurmountable. Felt good with them all the time.
Recap
Workout.
6 rounds not for time of:
6 hang squat snatch, 40kg
15 ghd sit-ups
6 meters unbroken handstand walk
Saturday's are in principle dedicated for longer workouts with modest intensity. Honing on skills or long emoms. Something out of ordinary without a fast pace or heavy strength work. This is the plan but of course changes will take place. Today's workout was not for time but exactly a moderate heart beat action fro the beginning to the end.
I wanted to put some elements here that I consider more like skills based movements. There's a lot to be done on my snatch technique so it got a place on this workout easily. I got those from hang position intentionally as it's easier for me to keep the bar closer to body from that position compared to floor position.
Core work is always a good choice and these ghd sit-ups are new thing to me so there's still some sort of novelty included. It may also do good to my back's elasticity. At least it feels it kind of improves the mobility on my back.
Handstand has never been part of any workout I've done. Never ever. Those times that I've practiced handstand it's been a skills session entirely. Just focusing on handstand. This was a fresh breeze to combine this skill with other basic crossfit movements. I marked a 6 meter distance on the grass and goal was to cross that line without any misses. I'm very satisfied over completing each set without tripping over. Great session, mission accomplished.
Friday. AM: Back squat triples (up to 125kg). Metcon, 5-4-3-2-1 of: bar mu's and front squat (90kg). Time, 4.20. Metcon, 5min amrap of: 3 power snatch (50kg), 6 hspu, 9 box. Result, 84 reps.
Had to wake up too early in the morning to get my daily doze of crossfit done. Well, okay I woke up at 8.00 and hit the gym at 9.00 but on a holiday it's too early =) My body wasn't fully prepared for strength work at that time as I've used to train in the afternoon normally. Got couple of metcons done during the day, and worked on my skills on muscle-ups. Right after morning session I drove to Klaukkala to play handyman with Kari. We built a fence to fill an empty space on the wall. Felt awesome to finish it as I don't have a huge confidence in building stuff. So that was my "third" session of the day I suppose.
Strength.
Back squat triples (110, 120, 125, 125kg)
It was great to get some squats done after a while but my body sure wasn't at its best this early. Somehow I felt stiff all the way even though there was proper warm-up included before touching the barbell. It may have also somehow affected me that I was squatting outside the safety rack. Haven't done that with heavier weights so I can admit I was hesitant to put more weight on the barbell. My original plan was to hit 130+ loads.
Recap of squats
Metcon. Time, 4.20
5-4-3-2-1 of:
Bar muscle-ups
Front squat, 90kg, from rack
Even though back squat strength didn't go exactly as planned both metcons were okay. Mixing bar mucsle-ups and heavy front squats has been knocking in the back of my head since I saw something like this being done by Chris Spealler as it was "workout of the day" at crossfit.com some months ago. I just haven't had the possibility to do it anywhere before today. This new place has two places where I can do bar mu's and I'm definitely using those more in the future!
My hands are ripped in 3 different parts so I had to tape 'em up a lot, and used natural grips too in order to prevent more tears. This was also the reason I bitched out and took the barbell from rack instead of cleaning it from the floor. Good decision this time.
Starting the project
Went unbroken on both movements. I may have been a little too conservative on this one. Because I haven't done much muscle-ups in metcons it is still difficult to know how my body takes them. I could have kept shorter breaks before jumping on the pull-up bar or front racking the 90kg bar.
What I'm really proud of, is how my muscle-ups looked like. It was very balanced and strong hips were in play too. Very happy about this one! My breathing was well under control throughout the workout which means to say pace could have been a bit faster.
I believe I posted the first part of this earlier. Here's second and third too.
Metcon. Result, 84 reps (4 rounds + 3 box)
5min amrap of:
3 power snatch, 50kg
6 handstand push-ups
9 box
This was is stolen from Toni. He smashed it yesterday and once knowing what he got, it was easy to set a target and keep moving. For warming up I took couple of t'n'g reps at 40-45-50 kilos, and then it was time to hit it.
Done!
This was unbroken all the way. Very good combination of elements and burned the body in a wholehearted way. Not targeting anything specifically but just simply wore a man out. I believe there was potential hit finish that 5th round. Now I got stuck at 3 box jumps on the 5th round.
Snatch, hspu, box
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
This was the first time I laid my hands on the rings at this place. Those rings are metallic so they haven't been tempting this far. Owner told they already have wooden ones but they just haven't had time to hang them yet. They are also working on building up blocks during the summer. Wall balls should be coming, as well as battle ropes and possibly a climbing rope. That's dope!
Anyway I jumped on the rings and took my first attempt. I was very surprised to fly over the rings. Took couple more singles and they were all as easy as they can be. I was amazed. What the heck has happened. Is the work really paying off? There was a small issue with these rings. The lock was so close to the rings and it was not adjustable that it scratched my triceps a lot. Hurt like hell. I still took the easiest triple in the end. Felt like I could have continued forever.
Metcon. Result, 360 reps (5 rounds + 20 cal row)
20min amrap of:
5 bench press, bodyweight (80kg)
10 pistol squats
20 calory row
30 double unders
Main workout of the evening was this long amrap. Bench press, whaaat? Time for the compulsory bench every quarter of the year. These were bodyweight presses at 80 kilos. This is not one of my strengths. I've benched a little over 100kg but after 90kg it starts to get heavy. In this one I did first 3-4 rounds unbroken, and then cut it to 3-2 reps.
Pistol squats were alternating leg after each repetition. Doing these in Nanos is always a bit more challenging but they went actually very well today. Got a good rhythm in every set and was able to do them unbroken without any breaks in between.
Rowing was mentally tough at times. It was only 20 calories which equalled 260 meters quite precisely each round. I changed the damper setting between 8 and 10, didn't see big differences. Maybe those calories came quicker with 10.
There were lots of space which is important in order to get a good confidence on double unders. I had one trip in one set at 26 reps. Other than that, all sets were good. It also felt like my body was pretty tight. Good long workout indeed!
Thursday. AM: Overhead strength, press / jerk (up to 90kg). Intervals, every 4:00min, for 20min, complete 300m row + 10 burpee. PM: Long recovery walk.
In the morning it was time to stuff a monster breakfast in my face before heading to the gym. It was presses and jerks for a while and then finishing it with nasty interval work in the form of Concept2 and burpees. In the evening we were supposed to go squatting but Pauliina suggested we'd take a long work to downtown Helsinki. The weather was perfect and the upcoming spring inspired us to go for this long recovery walk.
Machine straight from hell
Overhead.
Shoulder press, 5x40, 3x50, 1x60, 65kg
Push press, 1x70, 3x70, 1x75, 80, 85kg
Jerk with a pause, 1x85, 85, 90, 90, 90kg
This went totally by feeling. Haven't done shoulder presses pretty much at all in ages. Only in warm-ups when I'm doing overhead strength. Usually the heaviest strict presses are 40-50kg on those warm-up sets. This time I built up to a heavy single which turned out to be 65kg. Next lift at 70kg didn't come all the way up so I push pressed it up.
Push presses were my thing today. This wider grip thing really seems to work. The light pain in left shoulder is not there anymore. I guess my shoulders are just too tight for a narrow grip. Built up to a heavy single of 85kg. My heaviest push press is 90kg so this was pretty close. Didn't go heavier today.
Lastly I took couple of singles of jerks. Mostly with a pause in the dip position. This seems to be a very good drill to find an explosive burst from the hole. I don't say it looks fast and furious but I'm aiming towards that goal.
Recap of presses / jerks
Intervals.
Every 4:00 for a total of 20 minutes, complete:
300m row + 10 burpee
Time each round: (1.21-1.23min)
These were awful! Looks very easy and light on paper but the reasoning behind intervals is that you go 100% from the very first second until you've completed the last rep of each set. That means to say I pulled my ass off on the rower for 300 meters, then hit my chest to deck.
This rower is from another planet than the one at my previous gym. No matter how hard I pulled there, the pace didn't go that fast. Here the rower is identical but an updated version of Concept2. I believe I was able to move it much faster than normally. Pace was around 1.30-1.33 in each interval. That last 100 meter of the sprint was not pleasant.
Intervals
Burpees were as horrible as they can be. Or actually I moved up and down without thinking about it at all. But the second I stopped after 10 reps it hit me like a wall. It was a disgusting feeling =) Had to walk the pain away for a minute. First interval was okay, second one made me think if I want to continue this workout. After third I was in big pain, and the rest was just "think about a happy place" kind of battle in my mind.
Wednesday. AM: High hang snatches (up to 60kg). Metcon, 10min amrap of: 10 t2b, 10 db snatch (25kg), 10 high box (70cm). Result, 172 reps. PM: Running 4x400m. Total 7km running for recovery.
Being on a vacation is like living a dream. I get a chance to workout twice a day, eat and sleep well and still arrange things that needs to be arranged in life. I'm definitely taking advantage of this holiday! At noon I went to the gym to work on my snatches, then back home to eat. Later the same day I went running in the woods and ended up at Eltsu track for some intervals.
Snatches.
High hang snatches
5 x 40, 40, 45kg
3 x 50kg
1 x 55, 57.5, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60kg
This time I decided to take these snatches from the pocket instead of floor. This way I get the touching point between barbell and hips to the correct place. From the floor it's not that obvious for me. I just realized today that on those days that I don't have hours to workout and there are snatches on the agenda, I need to focus purely on snatches. What I mean by this is I have to take such a long warm-up leading up to squat snatches that it's definitely worth sacrificing all the time on that.
If I skip the half an hour warm-up my shoulders and hips are not open enough and it feels like I'm forcing those extreme positions. Doing snatch balances with both a broomstick and empty 20kg barbell are a game changer. Those have really made my life better.
So it was time to do squat snatches. And it's really comforting to know it's okay to drop the barbell in case you miss it. It allows you to take more risks. I started to build up from 40kg, took two sets and the third 5-rep set as at 45kg. From then on I dropped the reps and added weight. Finished with 60kg singles. There's obviously tons of issues to be fixed on my snatch. Haven't really squat snatched before last fall because my mobility wasn't there. Now it's getting much better and there's a possibility to go deep.
Recap
Metcon. Result, 172 reps (5 rounds + 2 box)
10min amrap of:
10 toes-to-bar
10 dumbbell snatch, 5 right / 5 left (25kg dumbbell)
10 high box jump, 70cm
There were overhead squats and t2b's marked up in my calendar but that wasn't going to happen. I was done with that barbell for this day. Instead, I picked up a 25kg dumbbell and rolled a box so it stood at 70 centimeters.
This was intensive workout once again. Not that long - 10 minutes - so I was able to keep moving between the stations. There were 75 ghd sit-ups yesterday but my core felt good so I dared to put more t2b's in this one. Those went unbroken and they should have, even though they started to feel uncomfortable deep inside later in the wod because of those ghd's.
This dumbbells is pretty much the heaviest I've used for db snatches. Usually it's around 20-25kg. This time I did 5 reps with right hand, then 5 reps with left hand. One option would be to change after each hand. No biggie, but these were tough but okay.
Box jumps were the ones that wore be the most. Haven't done that much high box jumps. That's obvious because I haven't seen a high box before. Only randomly I've had the opportunity to do these 70cm jumps. Can't do them t'n'g style. They are singles but I'm going back up right away.
Running.
4x400m
Total of 7km running
After eating, relaxing and foam rolling for 2-3 hours I put on my jogging pants on and headed outdoors. It was a great weather for sure. Windy but sun was shining and birds were singing. My destination was in Eltsu track and field, the legendary training place. This is the practice place when Helsinki hosts World / Europe Championships in Athletics.
It's about 2km distance from my place to here so that was my warm-up. Some stretching and lunges, hip openers and I was ready to go. Took only 4 sets of 400m running. Basically because I've been busting my butt off this week and feel a bit sore from everywhere. Plus I hate running =) Don't even know why I bothered coming here. I guess because I wanna be a better all-around athlete. If I was about to compete, I'd be running more, much much more.
The point is I suck at it. I've ran so much in my past life that I've ran my share. When my floorball career was going on, it was part of a daily routine, on some days it was shorter, some days longer distances. Summer times were all about running to create a good basic conditioning. My pace today on those intervals was around 1:33 / 400m. That means to say it wasn't the fastest pace on planet earth. Still, it felt good to get these legs moving! Afterwards I did couple of rounds with different pacing, and ran home.
Tuesday. AM: Clean complex, 1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean + 1 squat clean (up to 95kg). Emom x 10min: 1 squat clean @ 100kg. Metcon, 6 rds of: 10 deads (60kg), 10 front rack lunges (60kg), 10 burpee. Time, 11.40.
PM: Front squat triples (max 120kg). Metcon, 5 rds of: 8 hspu, 12 pull-ups, 16 ghd sit-ups. Time, 10.52
I woke up in the morning like I was about to go to work. Okay, I did but not to to my workplace. Instead, it was time to put some Rogue apparel on and head to Eltsu for a good morning grind. Afterwards I drove to Klaukkala to assist the in-laws in cleaning their house up. Aftermath of the big spring cleaning. Plus it's time to change those winter tires to summer versions so I went tire shopping with Kari. In the afternoon we went to train at Optimal Performance Center (OPC) for another session of the day.
Clean complex.
Build up on the following complex:
1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean + 1 full squat clean
Weights: 40, 60, 70, 80, 85, 90, 95kg
Considering my max loads on clean these weren't too serious weights. Power clean is pretty close to max load (1RM is 103kg from one week ago) but that didn't bring any issues. Those felt quite good all the way. Squat cleans were further away from my one rep max (squat clean 1RM is currently 115kg).
However, after racking the barbell on my shoulders as power clean, it's not that easy for me to get a good grip for the second rep, let alone the third one. Yes, it would be easy to get an open hand grip but that's not what I'm looking for. I want to have hook grip in order to have stronger grasp on the bar.
That is exactly why this was a great exercise for me to practice re-gripping the barbell on its way back down from front rack position to hips. This wasn't bad for my legs, this was more like a way to work on that strong grip and transition from one rep to another. Efficiency. I'm happy I was able to hit 95kg. There the last rep had some issues on the grip so I stopped it there and moved on.
Complex recap
Clean.
Every minute on the minute, for 10 minutes:
1 squat clean @ 100kg
Wasn't done with cleans though! Decided to add 5 more kilos to get 100kg. Then, I put the timer running and took one rep at a time, one rep per minute and recovered for the remaining minute. It was a total of 10 minutes. It was cool to get these rather heavy cleans done more than couple of reps.
It was kind of bipolar mentality. First half of them were light and I thought about adding load but then decided to stick to the plan anyway. The latter half were not that heavy either but I had some issues racking the bar as I wanted in the last reps. But they were okay too so this went actually quite well in general.
Cleans
Metcon. Time, 11.40
6 rounds of:
10 deadlift, 60kg
10 front rack lunges, 60kg
10 burpee
Once again this place is great because there's plenty of space so it allows you to do various kinds of stuff that are not possible in my regular gym. One of these things is walking lunges with a barbell. It doesn't matter if it's front rack, back rack of overhead lunges. They all kick ass. I've done them mostly outdoors in Klaukkala as there's a big grass field or some sort of park so it's easy to go after these.
Last week I did overhead lunges, now it was a bit heavier front rack lunges. I piled up 60kg on the barbell and decided to combine deadlifts and lunges as barbell movements, and then burpees to make it a real conditioning session. This really took my breath away.
There are usually heavier deadlifts in my metcons so this 60kg (135lbs) was very light. However, it was surprising how that started to weigh much more during the workout. I got them unbroken anyway, would not have accepted anything else.
Front rack lunges were great! It's mostly been exactly overhead lunges but these one notch heavier front rack lunges made my butt cheeks hurt. It's difficult to describe where this hurt most. The entire body must work together, from legs to shoulders, breathing also becomes an issue. Have to be very tight and tense all over the body, and core must be strong in order to keep the bar in the front rack instead of dropping it too much in front.
Burpees are always a pleasure. In this one they just increased heart beat to the roof. There's no mystery to knocking burpees. Just pace yourself and keep moving. No reason to stop. I'm happy on how the pace of this workout stayed alright throughout the 11-12 minutes. The feeling inside got worse by the minute and it took some time to recover afterwards but it was a very good metcon for conditioning, hands down!
Strength.
Front squat
3x90, 100kg
5x110kg
3x115, 120, 90kg
We decided to start going to this new place I wrote about last week. It's called Optimal Performance Center (OPC). Some of the days we'll hit it here and some days at our workplace. And once the spring / summer gets further, I'll definitely do some outdoor training as well. This new place has perfect prerequisites for crossfit training. Only things they are missing are wall balls and ropes. Other than that it's everything you'd like to have.
My butt cheeks were almost cramping during the day so maybe hitting front squats wasn't the smartest decision but I still decided to stick to my original plan. This was totally by feeling. This was light weight. It went okay but I was a bit conservative as the morning already took some of my energy away from lower body.
Metcon. Time, 10.52
5 rounds of:
8 handstand push-ups
12 pull-ups
16 ghd sit-ups
Ghd sit-ups are my new favorite. It's something I've been dreaming of for about 2 years now. Haven't had the possibility to do them anywhere at all. It has looked so cool when those pro guys and girls have done it that I thought it's a must thing. This was the second time in this place and second time of jumping on ghd sit-ups.
Combination turned out to be hspu's, pull-ups and ghd's. This too, was a great combination of movements. At first there were pistols included in this triples instead of some other element (don't remember anymore what it replaced) but this worked well too.
My hspu's are on a level that these sets didn't burn me too much. At first I had planned on hitting bigger sets of every movement for 3 rounds but this 5-rounder kept me moving better and faster as everything went unbroken. This way I got much more intense of this. There's a time and place for bigger sets too, definitely.
On pull-ups I was practicing in keeping my feet together and bringing them much stronger back on my way down to gain more momentum for the motion. It feels more efficient when using a stronger kip than before. No wonder…
I'm very happy on how those ghd's seem to be a strong side for me. Got through all these 5 sets unbroken and without hesitation. There was a little walk around the gym between all three stations but once I got to the core station I climbed on and started doing reps right away.
Monday. Clean and jerk singles (up to 90kg). Emom x 10min: 3 c&j @ 70kg. Metcon, 10min amrap of: 5 push jerk (60kg), 10 pull-ups, 15 box. Result, 185 reps.
It was about time to get a hardcore metcon in this body! First I took some clean and jerk singles, just focusing on getting good reps in the system. That emom workout was rather tough in the end. And the final part of the session was intense as hell.
Oly.
Clean and jerk singles
40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 85, 90kg
Last week I took jerks from rack and I reported how my left shoulder was in pain, and has been for some time in heavier overhead lifts. Then, I widened my grip on the barbell and it eased the pain a lot. So I was anxious today of hitting clean and jerks. Focus was on getting good reps in the bank and use that wider grip as it was proved a good thing.
Wasn't going heavy anyway. Just took some singles and wanted to secure my technique is on the spot and that different grip gets comfortable, and there wouldn't be any soreness in left shoulder. All goals were pretty much met. Technique is always something to be improved but the main thing is that this was a pain-free zone this time.
Clean and jerks
Muscle endurance.
Every minute on the minute, for 10min
Clean and jerk
3 reps @ 70kg
After going rather heavy I dropped back 20kg to make it a 70kg bar. Idea was to do couple of reps every minute for 10 minutes. Emom workouts are great in general but even more bad ass when it's clean and jerk. It makes pulse go faster after every set. Okay, there was plenty of recovery time after each set and the bar was tolerable in weight but still it got intense during those 10 minutes.
I wanted to do all reps touch'n'go style in unbroken sets, and got them. Had I done it some other way, I would have been disappointed. That was not going to happen. The first set was a little off as I hit the bar on my chin on the very first rep. That wasn't cool but I finished the set immediately anyway.
C&J emom
Metcon. Result, 185 reps (6 rounds + 5 jerk)
10min amrap of:
5 push jerk, 60kg
10 pull-ups
15 box
This was bad. Jerks and pull-ups are traditionally quite a combo. This was simple 5-10-15 rep triplet of classic elements. I wanted the length of this one to be not short but not long. So that I would have to keep on moving, and that I could keep up a rather solid pace all the way. This was a perfect time domain for that. At first I was thinking about 8 minutes but then locked it to a full ten minutes.
Hard to say which one was the toughest part of this workout. They all had their twists. Holding the barbell was not tempting after every round but somehow I got my hands around it. Obviously it had to be unbroken.
Metcon
Pull-ups were only 10 reps per round so they were unbroken. Going right away to them after jerks is much more challenging than it would for example after box jumps. But having 2 elements for upper body like this might be hard in the long run or if the reps would have been higher. I was able to use my legs / hips / lower body much more efficient than normally. I focused on bringing my legs back when I come down from the top. That really helped a lot. Got to remember this in the future too.
Box jumps kept my heart beat to the roof all the way. Had one no-rep during the metcon so I had to repeat that one of course. Very good and simple workout for sure. Go ahead and do this one if you want traditional crossfit stuff done.
Natural grips. Am I doing something wrong with them as they tend to slide to the side of my palm when doing pull-ups
Walk 8km. In the evening we went for a long walk with my loved one. Walked around the beautiful Töölönlahti lake in downtown Helsinki. That was an awesome walk route and made good for recovery purposes.
Sunday. Back squat emom singles x 10min (130-140kg). Ohs (max PR 90kg).
It was nice to train outdoors but I really needed to get my hands on a barbell. It was about time after having two bar-free days. It was just rings, rope and kettlebell during the Easter weekend. We hit it right away to the gym with Pauliina after we came home. To be honest I really hadn't thought about the entire training session in particular. Just knew it's gonna be squats in some form.
Squats.
Every minute on the minute x 10min
Back squat singles
1-2min: 130kg
3-4min: 132.5kg
5-6min: 135kg
7-8min: 137.5kg
9-10min: 140kg
I wanted these squats to be heavy. So after I took some triples/doubles at 90, 110, 120kg I decided to take singles at 130kg and over. This was a great way to get heavy reps in my system. Towards the end those lifts were challenging but my mental game was right on the spot so there were not going to be any misses.
Obviously recovery was getting short in the end but still enough to get the strength back in my legs before the next squat. I'm very satisfied over being able to make it all the way to 140kg. That was my goal but in the beginning I had some doubts which I fortunately was able to push aside and focus purely on the lifts, and nothing else.
OHS.
Overhead squat
5x40, 50, 60, 70kg
1x80, 90kg (PR)
It felt already on those first reps with an empty bar that my shoulders were loose enough to get something decent up. My goal was to on go by feeling, and to go as deep as possible if mobility allows me to. This plan stood up to 70kg, with all sets as 5's. Don't know if I've done 5x70kg ever, don't have that specific stats on this one. At least the reps have not been as good as today, that's for sure.
I was okay with that weight so I decided to add the stakes and aim for a personal record. Put 10 more kilos on the bar and took a single at 80kg. Got it. At this stage I decided to forget about my previous record of 85kg and jump over it right away to 90kg.
The bar was a little intimidating considering how to get it overhead. Pressing 90kg is no joke to me. I have probably push pressed this weight from front rack but nothing beyond this. Heavier barbells should be jerked for sure. The thing is that I haven't jerked behind the neck basically anything else than 80kg, and some singles at 85kg when I have attempted for ohs record.
Anyway, I got the bar up, had to really press it to stabilize it. Squeezed my butt cheeks, tightened the core and started the slowest descendent in the history of overhead squats =) On both 80 and 90kg lifts I didn't hit ass to grass. I was happy on getting below parallel and then back up. Nailing this last rep was a weight I have not been dreaming for like ever. It was a real success story to get it done. But at the same time it makes 100kg so close that I guess that needs to be conquered some day…
My bodyweight is 80kg so this was clearly over my bodyweight. It still is obviously a weakness. I remember 15xbw overhead squat used to be some sort of benchmark for crossfit athletes. Some months ago these monsters that are Games level athletes aimed to hit 15 reps at 1.25 x bw. That is sick. However, getting more reps at bodyweight is something fancier than getting a cool 1RM at 100kg or alike. It's more beneficial to being able to move semi heavy weight for multiple reps than heavy load for one rep.
This weekend was dedicated to cleaning warehouses and attic in Klaukkala. It took us couple of hours on both days. A big spring clean up so to say. In addition I got to work on rings a lot. Both Friday and Saturday consisted of rings. Yesterday was kb swings and muscle-ups as a combo. Not very tough but it was cool to combine these two. I needed to get my breathing go up so I worked more with the bell.
Workout.
5 rounds of:
2 ring muscle-ups
10 kettlebell swings, 32kg
I could have just worked on my ring skills but I already did those triples yesterday. Now I wasted to make it a little different by combining rings with kettlebells. It's rare for me to mix muscle-ups with basically anything. Especially ring mu's. That is because they are not that strong yet. But maybe little by little they can be added to metcons too. Hopefully so. Don't want them to be just singles if they are in a metcon.
My bar muscle-ups are on a decent level already so I've done metcons that include those. Each and every one of those workouts were awesome and rocked my world. Those are tough workouts.
Here's a short clip of yesterday's muscle-ups. My camera's battery was running low so this is the only clip there is from Saturday's training session. By the way, doing crossfit outdoors is sick. I'd do it everyday if I had the possibilities and barbells.
Posterior chain.
100 kettlebell swing, 32kg
Even though this combo was great, I wanted to have my heart beat up. Kb swings is a perfect way to carry that out. Didn't have a clock running but I took those hundred repetitions in 5 sets of 20 reps with just a short break in between. Grip strength started to become issue for sure. Last 2 sets were horrible. This was exactly what I was looking for this Saturday to end the day. Spent about 5 hours outdoors.
Friday. Skills day, muscle-ups 5x3 and rope climb, 5 reps.
Huh how cool is it to hang from a branch tree and improve my fitness. The answer is freaking awesome! It was a skill day all the way.
Started with muscle-ups and they rolled very well. I did five sets of three unbroken muscle-ups on the rings. This is the best performance I've ever done on the rings. I just jumped up there and took the first set to get used to them. Without any warm-up. Felt good so I decided to aim for same reps on the second set. Succeeded. From here on I just tried to hang on for those triples for couple of sets.
Recap of mu's and rope
Got a total of 15 reps. I'm extremely happy over this! And it was great to have Kari encourage and coach me with my feet work. It really helped, no doubt! Was able to keep my feet better together, especially towards the end. I'll put some stuff in here later on. Now I don't have acceess to right equipment.
This was the third time I got to play with my rope and the first time on this tree. It was placed at around 5m which was just about perfect. Took a total of 5 reps. One "double", the rest were singles. This was somehow easier than before. This element is not easy by any means, don't get me wrong. It gets to the entire body. Mostly upper body and breathing. Great day!
Thursday. AM: Snatch technique (7x5 @ 40kg). PM: Back squat emom (up to 142.5kg). Metcon, 10 to 1, down by 1's of: pull-ups and burpees. Time, 5.13
Had to wake up rather early today because we are leaving to the country side to meet the in-laws for Easter. I needed to get two sessions in and there was also a barber shop visit ahead of me so this was the earliest training sessions I had in Eltsu this morning. It was all about snatches. In the afternoon I went to pick up my lady from work and stayed there to strengthen my legs and do a quick intense cardio workout.
Snatch.
Technique
7x5 squat snatch (all sets @ 40kg)
Purpose was not go heavy. My warm-up was long, probably took a good half an hour before my first set at 40kg. Snatch as squat version requires a lot of mobility and I won't take it for granted. I'm not that flexible and elastic that I could do it right away. Need to get my hips and shoulders work together for this goal. The path to this is warming up a lot.
I used just empty barbell for some time for power snatches, squat snatches, overhead squats, snatch balances. Plus took quite a lot of mobility time before laying my hands on the barbell in the first place. Finally I got to the point of putting some plates on the bar. One set at 30kg, then 40kg for the remaining of the sets.
I had huge desire to keep on piling stuff on the bar but that was not going to be the case today. I wanted to work on my snatch mechanics, building awareness of how the bar should travel and learn my body how it should move on this very complex movement.
This session went great in my opinion. Comparing to my own level, these snatches were pretty good. Mobility is crucial thing in this one, I'll keep on improving that one in order to make snatches easier. Gotta have mobility, speed, strength. In that order. That's what the legendary Coach - Mike Burgener - says. And it's not difficult to agree on this statement.
Strength.
Every minute on the minute
Back squat
1-3min: 3x110kg
4-6min: 2x120kg
7-11min: 1x130, 135, 140, 142.5, 145f
In the afternoon my goal was to strengthen my legs. Yesterday was front squat, today was gonna be back squats. Idea was similar. Emom workout, add weight, drop reps. Started with 110kg for triples, then 120kg for doubles. These were light. Then it was all singles from there on. One rep every minute until failure. The wall came at 145kg. Recovery became an issue there. My legs were getting jello at 140kg, and the one after that was tough. Thus, it was too challenging this time to get 145kg up. Felt awesome to back squat!
Metcon. Time, 5.13
10 to 1, down by 1's of:
Pull-ups
Burpees
Once I sat on the barber shop chair, this came to my mind. Old classic. I used to combine these two movement couple of times in different combinations. It has always sucked big time. Today was no exception. This combo meant that you complete 10 reps of both elements, then 9 reps, 8-7-6…. until 1 rep.
The rounds of 9-8-7 are the worst. Especially the 9's and 8's. I tried to keep a good pace from the very beginning without stopping too much between sets. This made even my stomach ache. It was hurting big time in lats, shoulders, and core. Breathing was heavy obviously all the time.
It helped mentally at the round of 6's because the amount was getting smaller every round. I wanted these sets to be unbroken and got them. That wasn't actually an issue at any time. I was just afraid that it might become if I gassed too much. Luckily everything went well. Very good, short and intense workout to seal the day!
Wednesday. AM: Run 8km and pull-up complexes (about 70 reps). PM: Metcon, 7rds of: 500m row, 10 push press (40kg), 20 hr push-ups. Time, 28min. Mobility
Damned those yesterday's training sessions hurt in my body as I woke up. Body was fatigued all over the place. Felt like I was hit by a truck. My answer to this was to sleep, eat big time, watch a movie and consider what's my next move. I packed my gear and walked to a nearby gym. Waited there for some time for the clerk to come. He/She didn't come and I felt like I'm done. Snatches weren't that tempting anymore so I left the place and decided to go for an easy run. In the afternoon there was anyway going to be another training session.
Run and pull-up complex.
8km run
Bar muscle-ups
Complexes of pull-up + chest-to-bar + muscle-up
To the end, 5 sets of: 5 pull-ups + 5 chest-to-bars
I had no idea where I would go but taped my thumbs just in case and took gloves in case I happened to find a pull-up bar. Surprise surprise, I found one… Neither had I an estimate of how far I had traveled but luckily Google Maps tells the truth. It was a total of 8 kilometers of running. This was definitely more like a recovery run. At times I stopped to take some photos and enjoy the scenery.
The weather wasn't very summery and the air was cool and windy but it made for a good running weather. Easy to breath and temperature was good. Töölönlahti's water was freezing, hrrrr. Before I went running that traditional loop I stopped by at a pull-up bar that I spent some time last summer.
Basically my goal was just to have fun and play around. Took some bar muscle-ups only because I love the movement. Then a complex consisting of pull-ups, c2b's and finally a mucsle-up. That combination seemed a bit challenging. Maybe not because of strength but because of the rhythm. After practicing it, I found myself on top of the pull-up bar but at first it felt awkward to pull for mu right after c2b.
Bar muscle-ups
After fooling around for some time, the grande finale was to do 5 sets of 10 pull-ups, 5 regular ones, going right into 5 c2b pull-ups. This was a good combo for sure. I could have continued this pattern with these breaks for maybe 2-3 more sets unbroken. Or then more, don't know but the first ones were easy but 4th and 5th set were a bit tougher.
Pull-up complex
What I realized from the videos is that my regular pull-ups seem to go rather high and c2b's accordingly. It looks like my ribs are touching the bar. Well that's not a bad thing at all.
Pull-ups + C2b's
After taking my time on the pull-up bar, I continued to adventure my path around Helsinki. Had to do some foam rolling after getting home. Those quads really needed that treatment.
Metcon. Time, 28min
7 rounds of:
500m row
10 push press, 40kg
20 hand release push-ups
Afternoon's training session was also a lighter one. Didn't feel like going 100% today. There had to be rowing. That was not open for discussion. The rest I decided on the spot. Rowing and pressing. Push presses (or shoulder presses in the beginning) were the easiest part of this workout. My rowing pace was around a steady 1.52 / 500m.
Rowing was okay, easy in the beginning. Still, I decided to keep it at this pace as this was not supposed to be 180 heart rate all the time. More like a moderate workload from the beginning to the end. Towards the end the concept2 started to feel a bit more uncomfortable.
Push press work wasn't that bad. The loading was light so it caused no problems, especially in the beginning. However, doing push-ups right after pressing barbell probably had its own flavor. These push-ups were hand release versions to make them suck a little more than normal ones.
After having done the metcon I took my time to do mobility. Hopefully my body thanks for that tomorrow. I've been sleeping much more than normally and that is a prerequisite for me to train twice a day. Loving every second of this holiday thing =)
Tuesday. AM @ Eltsu: Strength, press / jerk (max 90kg). Strength, front squat emom (up to 135kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 250m run, 10 oh lunges (40kg), 50 du. Time, 13.20.
PM @ OP Center: Power clean emom x 11 (PR 103kg). Metcon, 12min amrap of: 4 bar mu, 8 hspu, 12 pistol. Result, 127 reps. Cashout, 60 GHD sit-ups. Skills, handstand.
What a day! In the morning we went to our wedding place to arrange some things concerning the big day. Afterwards I dropped my lady to work and my responsibility was to go to work in a bit different style. Today it was Eltsu cave where I got my daily doze of crossfit in. After food and nap it was time to hit it again, this time in a totally new place, Optimal Training Center.
Starting the day by putting weight overhead. I was looking forward to this part for sure. Actually the entire day got me chills as I was thinking about it. I was like a little boy in a candy shop. My left shoulder has bothered me for some time in the heavier weights. In lighter ones no problem. I was optimistic today but it made a comeback after I put 70kg on the barbell.
This was a bummer my mood dropped for a second. No stretching would help and I couldn't figure out what to do. Then somehow it occurred to my mind that I could take a wider grip on the barbell. That's because there are no issues when I do snatch grip presses or jerks. Let's give it a shot. And it helped immediately! Couldn't be happier about this. I was a little careful on the jerks but it sure felt great to put weight overhead!
After finishing the complex sets I decided to work on my jerk. Let's do it with a pause on the dip phase. Get your breath, dip down, halt there for a moment, then extend the hips and jerk it to the sky. These were amazing. Why have I not done these before. I believe these will bring awareness to the movement very well.
Recap of overhead strength
Squats.
Front squat, 3 x 60, 90, 100kg
Every minute on the minute
1-3min: 3 x 100kg
4-6min: 2 x 110kg
7min: 1 x 120kg
8min: 1 x 125kg
9min: 1 x 130kg
10min: 1 x 135kg
11min: 1 x 140kg failed
This part was left a bit to imagination on the spot. Took some triples to get a feeling how my body reacts on these. Feeling was great. I did pause squats on those earlier sets. Then it hit me that this should definitely be an emom workout. With ascending weights and descending reps. Started off with triples, then doubles and finally singles. My camera's memory card went full at some point so I didn't get the entire stuff on video.
After 6 minutes it was supposed to be singles and 120kg was light so I added 5kg after each minute. Ended up hitting 135kg and I', telling you it wasn't that bad. Yes, I Had to push it but it was manageable. The easiest one I've had this far. It was probably the third time I've got it ever. After that one I put something like 160-170kg on the bar, took it on my front rack, stepped back, held it for couple of seconds and put it back on the rack. Actually I had troubles re-racking the bar for some reason so I had it for quite a while =)
The strategy for this one was to fake my body to first give a huge load, then drop it back to 140kg and nail it. I believe this was a good strategy as the bar felt comfortable after that monster load. Still, I couldn't finish this one. It's almost there though. I'm taking it one day.
Attempt at 140kg
Metcon. Time, 13.20
5 rounds of:
250m run
10 overhead walking lunges, 40kg
50 double unders
Running is a great element in metcons. Usually I have to utilize treadmill if I wanna have running as part of a metcon and that's just not the same. I'll take it as there are no options but I prefer real running any day. Another thing I wanted to have in this metcon is an element that I can't do in my normal gym. Overhead lunges. Okay it's possible to do them but you can't walk forward, you just have to go up and down within that one meter area. No cool. Here I can walk around with the bar as there is plenty of space. Double unders were part of this just to get some skills done and breathing go high.
This was exactly what I wanted as I was writing the metcon. Running was steady pace. Oh lunges unbroken. Got to shoulders and breathing. Double unders are okay but putting a lot of them in a workout in a row makes it a bit miserable. They burn my shoulders a lot. I've done 100 reps sometime unbroken so I got them but 50 reps in a workout will probably force me to break them down somehow. This time I did them in either 25-25 or 20-15-15 reps. I think there was one trip but other than that it was intentional.
Strength.
Every minute on the minute x 11 minutes
Power cleans
1-3min: 3 x 80kg
4-6min: 2 x 85kg
7-8min: 1 x 90kg
9min: 1 x 95kg
10min: 1 x 100kg
11min: 1 x 103kg (PR)
After eating, taking a nap and eating, I headed to this new place that was just opened about two weeks ago. Optimal Training Center, a freaking heaven. There were Rogue and Eleiko bars and plates, possibility to do muscle-ups, handstand walk, do farmer's walk, push sled, ring muscle-ups, ghd sit-ups, reverse hypers if you want to. The point is: once I come here, it's not gonna be just basic stuff but I want to utilize these circumstances.
Wanted to get my hands on this Rogue bar right away. Power cleans in the same way as front squats in the morning. I saw mr. Froning do this kind of workout and got inspired by it right away. These cleans felt super good, and it felt from the very beginning it's gonna be a great day of cleaning. Ended up getting a personal record. Getting bigger numbers for power clean must mean things are looking better for squat cleans too.I've improved about 10kg of my power clean lately. I'll take it.
Emom power cleans
Metcon. Result, 127 reps (5 rounds + 3 hspu)
12min amrap of:
4 bar muscle-ups
8 handstand push-ups
12 pistol squats
Looked easy on paper but damned it got me big time! Bar muscle-ups and handstand push-ups are a real combination. First time ever I've mixed these two elements. I was able to do mu's unbroken except for one set. I believe it was the 3rd or 4th round. Purely lack of concentration. On hspu's it was same thing. With the difference that it was not lack of concentration, it was lack of strength =) My shoulders were killing me. It was the last full set of hspu's that I had to break in to 5-3 reps.
Didn't warm up for pistol squats. Just took one rep with both leg before the workout to check it how it's done. I figured my legs were already waiting for some action. And they worked well. These were surprisingly comfortable. I liked how they wore me down in the course of the workout but still I was able to keep moving on them. My breaks took place between pistols and bar mu's. I wanted to get those mu's unbroken so I had to chill instead of jumping right back on the pull-up bar.
Cashout.
60 GHD sit-ups
Had to do these. I've never tried even one rep so this was a must. Took 4x15 reps with a pause between sets. Total of 60 reps. This was cool, and I guess these would definitely get to the core in a workout. This might be a deceiving movement. It wasn't that bad but let's wait for tomorrow. Then we'll see how it really goes.
Skills.
Handstand
Just wanted to play around and take advantage of the great area of grass to go inverted. Liked it a lot. That grass area is perfect for handstand walk as well as sled push and farmer's carry. There were some people doing their thing so the latter ones were out of question. Great day of training for sure. Loved every second of it!!!
Monday. Snatch by feeling. Ohs by feeling. Metcon, 6rds of: 6 hang power clean (70kg), 9 hspu, 12 high box jumps. Time, 13.00. Skills, handstand
Training day at Liikuntamylly in the morning. This place is divine! I'm on a holiday now so I'm definitely visiting these spectacular places I don't have access on weekdays. There are some restrictions in the evening times for public but during the daytime there's no problem. I worked on my snatch and ohs but the funniest part was absolutely the metcon and handstand.
Barbell.
Squat snatch
Overhead squat
There was no clear plan this time. There would have been but there's too much to work on in my snatch technique. Had it been for example clean, I know there won't be any misses and they are very consistent. I know I can hit high percentages of my max every single day. Snatch is totally different. That indicates snatch is highly technical movement, especially when done as squat snatch.
Got to keep on doing those reps to improve mobility and speed. The outcome will be strength. At least according to Coach Burgener. Mobility is the key, no doubt. On the lighter snatches it felt like a lot of things fell in to place and I was actually very happy on those. After 50kg it got more challenging and my technique collapsed somewhat. And I have no idea what those knees were doing on some of the reps =) After going by feeling in the beginning I took emom workout at 50-55kg snatch singles in the end.
Decided to continue with overhead squats after this. Just took 50, 60, 70, 80, 70kg reps. Basically they were singles, some were done with a pause in the bottom. Wouldn't probably hurt too much to do those pause squats more often. It really feels like mobility improves on every repetition. My armpits easily face down when I'm in the hole instead of facing forward like they should. There are some tightness in my shoulders I guess. When I'm standing, armpits are forward but when I'm down, they tend to switch more downwards.
Barbell work
Metcon. Time, 13.00
6 rounds of:
6 hang power clean, 70kg
9 handstand push-ups
12 high box jumps
This was a great workout! It is a very small thing but it sure feels great to drop the barbell after a tough set of cleans. It mentally feels good you don't have to bring it down nicely. Just drop it and move forward to handstand push-ups. I did everything in this workout unbroken. None of these elements were easy.
Cleans got tough in the middle of the workout but I fought to get them unbroken. I would have done couple of more rounds ub but they would have definitely been challenging. Breathing was heavy throughout the wod which made everything a little worse.
Handstand push-ups were easy in the beginning but got tough about the same time as cleans, at about mid-workout. I went touch'n'go on the first 4 rounds. Last two rounds I had to stop resting my head to the ground after 6-7 reps before finishing the set.
This box height was a compromise but it was actually great! There were these blocks you can pile on top of each others. One was too low so I got two of them which made it a lot higher than regular 61cm box. The height of this one was around my hips. Had to do the jumps in singles, no way I was rebounding back there. Those really got to my legs and breathing. Great workout!
Skills.
Handstand
Handstand walk
I was about to leave the premises but then realized it's ideal for practicing handstand. My shoulders and wrists felt good so I took couple of tries. First, just trying to find a stable freestanding handstand position, and then hs walk afterwards.
It felt like it went pretty well indeed. It's been a while. This is something I don't do that often. If I had training places like this I'd do it 2-3 times a week for sure! Probably spring and summer will make a difference as it's easy to practice being inverted outdoors too.
Today's training session was not hard core. It was supposed to be a long steady pace workout with muscle-ups included. It started off well but quite soon both of my elbows started talking to me you shouldn't go there. I've had this similar pain more often something like 2 years ago when I still played floorball. Had to take it easy for that reason because I don't want it to come back.
Workout.
4 rounds not for time of:
1 power clean, 90kg
2 ring muscle-ups
10 pistols
15 toes-to-bar
This type of stuff work actually worked very well. On longer workouts with moderate pacing I usually put some elements that are kinda weaknesses for me. It's a great way to improve on those elements. I would have continued this sequence for about half an hour but stopped after 4 rounds due to the elbows being too sore in a bad way.
Power cleans at this weight are no joke for me. For squat clean that wouldn't be that bad but as power it's a different game. Not too long ago this was pretty much my 1 rep max. Last week I upped it too 100kg.
It was cool to have muscle-ups as part of a metcon. I have a dream that some day I'll hit benchmark workouts Amanda and Nasty Girls. When those days come I have reached everything I have dreamed of as a crossfitter =)
Core and intervals. My mood wasn't the best after I stopped the workout of the day. So I walked around for a while and thought what I was able to do next. Even hanging from the pull-up bar was uncomfortable. Finally I grabbed a dumbbell, put it on my chest and did sit-ups for a while, couple of sets. Finally I needed to get my breathing go fast so I jumped on a crosstrainer and did intervals 30 sec on, 30 sec off. Those are always great, no matter if it's rowing, running or crosstrainer.
