Friday 7.8: Squats, Partner workout

Friday. Back squat 7x5 (125kg). Partner workout, 3rds of: 20 dead (100kg), 60 push-up, 40 db snatch (25kg), 20 burpee box, 20 hspu, 40m lunges (2x25kg db's). Time, 31.30.

It was a blast to have my main man Toni take a surprise visit to my gym. He was supposed to go to his own but I talked him over, and then went to his place to spend the Friday evening. It was back squats again - no surprise there - and then a long ass workout with a partner.

Smolov.

• Back squat 7x5 (125kg)

Huh, every day there is a bigger load on my back and it always feels how much more can this body take. But every time up to this point I have walked away victoriously. It sure feels good to complete these sets without problems. There's a lot of mental game in the play as well.

It took me about half an hour to finish the sets so it was about a set every 4 minutes. Recovery was abundant, and my legs got enough rest between sets. All sets were pretty much similar in my head. Quite heavy from the first to last set but still something I was able to manage well.

Squats and start of the wod

Partner workout. Time, 31.30

• As a team, complete the following for 3 rounds for time of:
• 20 deadlift, 100kg
• 60 push-up
• 40 dumbbell snatch, 25kg
• 20 burpee box jump
• 20 handstand push-up
• 40m walking lunges, 2x25kg

At first we just brainstormed over the elements we want to have as part of the workout. Pushing, pulling, jumping, lunging, that's pretty much it. Worked well. It turned out to be something like a chipper, consisting anyway of 3 rounds. We had planned on doing certain sets, and we followed the plan for the first round, then improvised on the second and third round to make the movements as fast as possible. That means the sets were a bit shorter so either of us was constantly moving body or weight.

Deadlifts were the easiest part. Easy weight, and just couple of reps. Toni had just done heavy deads for strength and I had Smolov so we decided to keep the weight light. On the push-ups I did 15's at first, and then 10's towards the end.

Db snatches we agreed to do 10 reps in a row, then change. I did 5 on the right hand, then switched to left hand, and completed the reps from hang position at 25 kilos. Both snatches and burpee box jumps brought the heart rate up.

I had thought about doing these strict and did so in the beginning. That would have killed the pace on this workout and so I changed to kipping versions. Toni also had some issues on the hspu's so I completed majority of the reps. Burned shoulders very well.

Lunges with 2x25kg dumbbells was probably the most unpleasant element in this workout. There was no doubt we would go unbroken on those 10 meter walks up and down the green matt. But it felt disgusting at the end of rounds two and three. Good workout for a partner wod for sure. And it was great to throw down with Toni.

Thursday 6.8: Cleans, Pull-ups, Burpees, Row

Thursday. Every 30sec, for 6min: 1 squat clean @ 90kg. Metcon, 12min amrap of: 12 pull-ups, 10 burpees, 300m row. Result, 4rds + 67m row.

Great session! I was a bit hesitant to do squat cleans because there's a lot of back squatting taking place right now. However, I missed heavier cleans and decided to rock it. Metcon was entirely bodyweight stuff. Cleans were on the table for some time but then I decided to take them off because my back felt like it's taking a lot of hit due to these squats.

Barbell.

• Every 30 seconds, for 6 minutes
• 1 squat clean @ 90kg

Damned these felt good. Cleans seemed also to be similar when I compare them to each other. I played these back and forth on the video player and I'm happy on them. Quite solid work in my eye. This was a total of 12 reps on a 6 min time frame. One single rep every 30 seconds. Below you'll have the entire clip.

Only one I almost slipped my hands off the bar when catching it on the front rack. But I was able to save that one too. Held it with probably one finger on both left and right hand. Very pleased on the work being done here. I just felt my back is somewhat tired of all the Smolov back squats lately. Legs are feeling fine and I could have continued this forever otherwise. It was also cool to notice 90 kilos ain't much to clean.

Cleans

Metcon. Result, 4 rounds + 12 pull-ups + 10 burpees + 67m row

• 12 min amrap of:
• 12 pull-ups
• 10 burpees
• 300m row

This was genius. I've added the volume on pull-ups and intend to keep it that way in the near future. I wanna get them stronger. They used to be my strength, and I liked it. I don't see a reason why they wouldn't be that again.

Twelve reps of pull-ups, unbroken each round. Total of 5 rounds equals 60 reps. Then straight to burpees. Nailed them unbroken too. Paced them through every round. Breathing was high so I didn't rush them but kept the body moving constantly.

Huh, this is what crossfit does to people

There was a little walk to the rower in the transition. My pace was sub 1:50. Don't know why that picture up there shows 1:51 as the digits were sub 1:45 on the first round and then it was 1:47-1:50 all the time when I pulled the strokes. Anyway, rowing was a good element to be in this one. All movements kept the heart beat high and it was my decision whether to keep moving or stop breathing. Result was a little shy of 5 full rounds.

Wednesday 5.8: Squat, Row, Hspu

Wednesday. Back squat 5x7 (120kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 500m row, 10 hspu. Time, 10.55.

More work on the legs. Make them carry the load on back. This has been great this far. It's getting heavier by the day. After squats it was rowing and hspu's. Short and intense. Legs can take the burden on the legs, they are not sore but they feel a bit tired after squats.

Smolov.

• Back squat 5x7 (120kg)

Huh, this getting rather uncomfortable. Still, I feel like a man after pushing through these sets. I still got what it takes to push these loads for longer sets. Last week this same sequence was at 110kg so this was a different thing obviously. This time I didn't try to rush through the first reps tng but instead did them in "singles" all the way.

This turned out to be a good strategy and I was able to pace these through without problems. Surely, some of the reps were challenging but there was never a doubt in my mind about completing the sets. Felt happy about this session.

Squats

Metcon. Time, 10.55

• 4 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 10 handstand push-ups

It took some time before it was wise to jump on the concept2 after squats. Rower and hspu station are at the other sides of the gym so there was some walking between these two but other than that I went directly on the wall for hspu's. Went unbroken on them, felt great. Breathing was quite high during the metcon because of the rowing.

Pace was sub 1:50 for 500m. My forearms were tingling when holding on the rower's handle. Don't know why. That was a bit weird. Well, it didn't matter on this one. This combination of movements is great. I believe it's good to have rowing to increase heart rate, handstand push-ups to burn shoulders and improve those skills. There was also an option of increasing the amount of hspu's per round or making it a descending ladder by starting at a big set of hspu's but today's point in the metcon was to keep moving constantly. Times were not changing dramatically between rounds so I felt good about this one.

Tuesday 4.8: Pull-ups, Cleans, Box

Tuesday. Metcon, 5rds of: 15 pull-ups, 2 power clean (80kg), 20 box. Time, 12.00.

This time I decided not to do any strength portion to kick the session off. Metcon usually comes only after some barbell work. I'll have to take it back a notch because of this excessive back squatting in order to get the most out of it. Today's session included only one metcon. That was enough.

Metcon. Time, 12.00

• 5 rounds of:
• 15 pull-up
• 2 power clean, 80kg
• 20 box jump

The reasoning behind this was to get more volume on the pull-ups. As I wrote couple of days ago, I feel like there is lots of work to be done at the pull-up bar. Plus, even though I felt like my strategy worked on the "2007" I didn't like the fact I cut pull-ups to small pieces. Didn't feel good in my head.

That's why my focus today was to get these rounds unbroken, and that's exactly what I did. 15 reps ain't that much. Should be able to do that. Especially when you don't have to do huge amount of work with upper body at the same time. Cleans and box jumps made my legs jello and heart beat high but left enough energy to go through the pull-ups with style.

Cleans were singles, short breath in between. Box jumps were unbroken. Round times were something like sub 2min on the first one, then the 4 remaining were more or less around 2:30. I'm happy on the consistency on this one. This was a good metcon for real. After the workout my legs felt like a ton, so I'm wondering how it's gonna be like tomorrow for another bad ass Smolov day.

Monday 3.8: Back squat, Ghd's

Monday. Squat 4x9 (113kg). Accessory, 100 ghd's.

It is surprising how good my legs feel after one week of Smolov squat program. They are not sore at all, not a bit. Okay, I had a thought that legs wouldn't get too painful but they are probably gonna get tired in the course of these upcoming weeks. That's also the reason why there are going to be days when metcons are not accompanying the strength part. I'll try to do some accessory work after squats.

Smolov.

• Back squat 4x9 (113kg)

Long sets are quite brutal in their own nature. These are all tough but the length of the sets really makes a difference. Short sets (3's and 5's) are heavier for every single rep, and these longer ones (7's and 9's) are brutal as they start to get heavy in the middle of the set. So it's more mental than anything else. Just hold on and do the work.

Today's sets were alright, I'm waiting eagerly (not) to next Monday's 4x9 (118kg). It's gonna be tough. From here on the sets are going to be heavy. Got to do mental prep-work prior to the training session.

9x113kg

Core.

• 4x25 ghd sit-ups
• 0:30 rest between sets

Elbows are a bit sore still, for about a week now. That means to say pressing is off limits. We didn't have that much time anyway today so it was couple of minutes time slot, and we had to go. Toni talked about ghd's at work earlier today, and suggested I'd do 100 reps. That thought popped in to my mind so I went after it. It was basically 60 seconds of work, and 30 seconds of rest, for 4 rounds. In the first round I did 27 reps, the remaining rounds were 25 reps. Unbroken for first 3 rounds. On the last one my core was smashed, and I had to pause for a second on top for maybe 3 times.

Sunday 2.8: Back squats

Sunday. Back squat 10x3 (123kg).

It was a long day at the wedding yesterday, and we got to bed only at 3 am. So naturally we slept late and I went to the gym in the evening after sleeping a whole lot, also napping. Today's agenda was purely squatting. End of Smolov's first week.

Smolov.

• Back squat 10x3 (123kg)

That means to say it was 10 sets of triples. It says the weight should be 122.5kg so I rounded it up a bit.  The weight was something I was still able to manhandle. They felt a bit heavier than they looked like. I wasn't going to make this a long session so my plan was to hit one set every 3:00. That gave enough time to recover from each set. This first week was okay on Smolov, now it's getting much tougher from here on.

Sunday squats

Saturday 1.8: Pull-ups, Row

Saturday. Skills, 100 pull-ups. Cashout, row 3k.

Today is a beautiful day. Our friends are getting married and the weather is as beautiful as the bride. I had the possibility to go to the gym in the morning before getting ready for their big day. I wanted to punish myself on the pull-up bar. Earlier this week I was a bit frustrated with that movement in the "2007" workout so this was my answer to develop this skill-based movement. Some easy rowing in the end.

Easy paced row

Skills.

• Different types of pull-ups, not for time
• 10 strict
• 12 chest-to-bar
• 15-15-15-15-18 pull-ups

Didn't quite have a strict plan. My plan was to do lots of pull-ups in different styles. It started with sets of strict and chest-to-bar versions. Then I took regular pull-ups for as long as I got 100 repetitions completed. It was basically 15's for 5 sets. On the last one I realized I needed 18 to get a total of 100 reps done.

These felt good. I'd like to have the pull-up bar higher from the ground so that I would have to jump to reach it. This bar is a bit too low which means I need to bend my legs a lot, and thus not being able to utilize my entire body that much on the kip. Towards the end I tried to keep my legs better together gymnastics style. As I look at those regular pull-ups on video afterwards, it looks like they are quite high pulls. Close to c2b's.

Recap of pull-ups

Cashout.

• 3.000m row

The purpose of this one was to just flush legs. Definitely not a high intensity workout, mostly low heart rate conditioning stuff. Had the damper setting at 7, and rowed at around 2:00 pace for 500 meters. I didn't even have the monitor visible to me. I turned the monitor pointing to the ceiling, and just enjoyed my time on the concept2. Now I'll get ready for this Saturday's wedding!

Friday 31.7: Squats, Hspu, Du's

Friday. Smolov 7x5 (115kg). Metcon, 20-16-12-8-4 hspu, 100-80-60-40-20 du's. Time, 15.25.

Otherwise I was feeling good for a good training session but a little nagging pain in both elbows. Nothing bit but it derives from yesterday's from clean and jerks. Today was another Smolov session, then a tough combination for shoulders in the form of hspu's and du's. It was great to hook up with Jasper for this session.

Jazz doing push-ups, t2b's and jump rope metcon

Smolov.

• Back squat 7x5 reps (115kg)

I did some mental work prior to opening the gym door and I saw myself doing light squats. At the end of the day these went as I had imagined them to go. The weight wasn't that bad. It's gonna get heavier, this is the lightest week, getting heavier by the week.

I believe my last set was the best. Don't have that one on the video unfortunately. There was another guy squatting next to me with a beautiful technique and I got inspired by him to put my best effort. The thing was to stay properly on my heels to reach an upright torso. My flutes were squeezed on every single rep and the package was tight. Felt very good to finish strong.

Smolov

Metcon. Time, 15.25

• 20-16-12-8-4 handstand push-ups
• 100-80-60-40-20 double unders

Last time I played around with double unders, they felt very natural and we were working as one nit with the jump rope. Today they sucked big time. It was like I was in the verge of learning how to do double unders for the first time. Don't know the reason for that but they definitely took majority of the time on this one.

Breathing was good all the time. It was the du's that failed, and the shoulder burn was real. This combo is putting a lot of stress on shoulders so no wonder they were getting fatigued. Hspu's were pretty okay all the way. I knew this is heavy on shoulders because they have no rest at all in this workout. These were mostly completed in 3 sets (13-4-3, 8-4-4, 6-3-3, 5-3, 4).

Thursday 30.7: Clean and jerk, T2b, Box

Thursday. Clean and jerk emom x 10min (max 80kg). Metcon, 10min amrap of: 10 t2b, 10 box. Result, 184 reps.

Nice, those squats really make a difference. They are not sore but they feel a bit tired. This was not a surprise and this is actually just the beginning. Hoping to get good gains out of this thing. Today's agenda was clean and jerk, every minute on the minute work. In the end bodyweight metcon.

Clean and jerk.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 1-3min: 3 reps @ 70kg
• 4min: 2 reps @ 80kg
• 5-10min: 1 rep @ 80kg

Started it off with 3 reps at 70 kilos, then after 3 minutes I put 10 more kilos on the barbell. Thought about completing doubles for a while but the bar felt heavy'ish so I decided to keep it at this weight and not force it. My elbows came a bit sore on these jerks so I didn't push it to 'heavy' jerks.

This is the recovery from the squat position

Pretty good and solid work. First squat cleans were a bit off but towards the end it felt better and better by the rep. When I look at the reps now couple of hours later, they look a lot easier than they felt. I'm kinda happy those look rather solid no matter what happens in my head.

Metcon. Result, 184 reps (9 rounds + 4 toes-to-bar)

• 10 min amrap of:
• 10 toes-to-bar
• 10 box jump

Decided to do something where those elbows would not be stressed that much. The combo of t2b's and boxes were known to be tough on the hip flexors and core but I took the risk. Toes-to-bar's slowed after either round 4 or 5. Until then I went unbroken, then had to break it. First to 6-4, then 6-2-2. And finally something like 4-3-3 and 4-2-2-2. Box jumps were a lot easier.

My core was on a test on the t2b's, that's why I wasn't able to keep the same pace for the entire 10 minutes. At first it looked like it's gonna be almost like emom work. My round times were sub one minute but the last rounds were 70-80 seconds.

Wednesday 29.7: Squats, "2007"

Wednesday. Back squat 5x7 (110kg). Metcon, 1.000m row, then 5rds of: 7 jerk (60kg), 15 pull-ups. Time, 13.51.

Another squat day for this week. My hamstring are pretty tight from Monday's session. Not only because of squats but mostly due to Diane. Lots of quick deadlifts and probably with rather straight legs so that created a good tension in the hammies. Feels good =) Anyway, more squats, then jerks and pull-ups for metcon.

First round includes rowing

Smolov.

• Back squat 5x7 (110kg)

This time the reps came down, sets and weights went up. This weight was very manageable. Definitely felt nasty but I had a good feeling on smashing these sets. My plan was to hit couple of touch'n'go reps, then pause, get more breath, inhale and continue the set. It turned out to be 4 reps in a row, then singles to finish it. Got a good burn on my legs every set.

Another thing I want to focus on these sets is to hit the bottom of my deepest squat in every rep. I still remember how good this Smolov program made to my mobility when I went through it about a year ago. It really opened up my hips. Being under a shitload of weight every other day and letting the body drop naturally to its lowest point really forced the hips to open up. That's what I'm looking as one of the biggest benefits of this program.

Metcon. Time, 13.51. Compare to 14.10.2014

• 1.000m row, then
• 5 rounds of:
• 7 push jerk, 60kg
• 15 pull-ups

Okay, I had a lot of mixed feelings. I've done this one once before and remember it was quite a burner on upper body. Actually I remember that being one bad misery of a workout hehe. I approached this workout with calmness. Because this was gonna hurt I probably took a notch down in vain. Should have attacked it with anger.

My time this time was slower than last time. Okay, my pull-ups are not on the same level as they were previously. Those were the biggest difference for sure. Last time I didn't have the rowing element there. that obviously took couple of minutes.

I went unbroken on the jerks. Those were not the thing. Last 2 reps on the latest sets burned my legs but shoulders stayed fine all the way. On pull-ups I was way too conservative. I had a plan. Usually I go by feeling, on about 98% of the workouts. Today I decided to play it 5-5-5 with short breaks. I followed this one from the very first set (I think), and jumped quite fast back on the pull-up bar. That was the whole idea. There's no point in resting too much and do 5's.

I guess the time was anyway consumed in the transitions and in the latest rounds on the pull-up bar breaks. I felt good after the workout but disappointed when I realized what I had hit last time. My muscles were sore post-wod but breathing was rather well under control. This is a great workout, and I'm sure gonna repeat it some day just to get my revenge. That time I'm gonna give it my all. Plus, I'm gonna have better pull-ups then!

Tuesday 28.7: Snatch emom, Mu's, Clean, Du's, Ghd

Tuesday. Snatch emom x 10min: snatch + hang snatch (40kg). Metcon, 10 mu's, then 5rds of: 7 hang power clean (60kg), 30 du's, 12 ghd. Time, 13.34.

I was in no rush at all this Tuesday but on the other hand my posterior chain was a bit cranked up from yesterday's session so this was not the toughest one. Metcon was good, snatches were light.

Snatch.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 1 snatch + 1 hang snatch @ 40kg

There was simply no way of building up to heavier sets. I played around with this weight for some time. Even though I warmed up for quite some time it didn't let me go heavy. I had emom work in my mind anyway, had just thought about putting something between 50 and 60 kilos on the bar.

Metcon. Time, 13.34

• 10 ring muscle-ups, then 5 rounds of:
• 7 hang power clean, 60kg
• 30 double under
• 12 ghd sit-ups

This was a good metcon. Muscle-ups took an eternity because I took them mostly in singles. First was a double, then maybe another double and the rest were definitely singles. No misses, not even close but somehow the pulling power wasn't explosive so I did only singles.

After 10 reps had been completed, it was time to hit the 5-rounder. Went unbroken each round on every element of the workout. Cleans were obviously the strength-element in this one, double unders the cardio and skills piece, and ghd's were putting core to test. There was distances between the stations so once I got to any of the station, I started working right away.

The walk was the recovery in this one. I'm especially happy about the double unders. I've had some issues on couple of sessions because those haven't been visible that much in my sessions in the past months. Today those felt very good all the way.

Monday 27.7: Squats, Diane

Monday. Back squat 4x9 (103kg). Diane, time 6.40 (PR).

I started the week with squats, and a benchmark workout Diane. Both went pretty well. This was the beginning of Smolov squats. I'll do them for couple of weeks and concentrate on getting my legs stronger. Diane felt like a perfect ending to this session as I've thought about completing this workout for quite some time.

Smolov.

• Back squat 4x9 (103kg)

This first session was a total of 4 sets of 9 repetitions. Mentally this was easier because about 100k is not that bad. On the other hand, these long sets are bad ass. I tried to knock a few off tng style, then catch a breath, and finish the reps. Good start to getting legs stronger.

Squats

Diane. Time, 6.40 (PR). Compare to 20.2.2014

• 21-15-9 of:
• Deadlit, 103kg
• Handstand push-ups

The first ever Diane I did was back in 2013, and the time was 17.47. There's been good progression on these skills, and I'm happy to report a new record on this wod at 6.40. This one is definitely all about the hspu's for me.

Diane

At some point during the workout it was a bit frustrating as I thought there's not gonna be a new record. After I went home and checked the previous time, it was a great moment to realize I had remembered the previous PR time incorrectly. This time I was happy about it because it meant that I got through this faster than ever before. Even with breaking the deads into pieces. Okay, the breaks were not long so it was mostly because I was able to move faster on the hspu's.

Sunday 26.7: Clean and jerk, Mu's, Thrusters

Sunday. Clean and jerk (max 95kg). Skills, bar mu's. Emom x 5min: 10 thruster (40kg).

Saturday was a pure rest day. It was a tough week with a lot of training so it was welcomed. On the other hand I felt good during the weekend and there was eagerness to hit it but we were spending the weekend at Pauliina's parents and this time I put crossfit aside. Okay, I watched a bit of the Crossfit Games but other than that it was easy weekend. Sunday evening I went to do some work to the gym.

Strength.

• Clean and jerk singles (60, 70, 80, 85, 90, 95kg, fail at 100kg)

I just wanted to get couple of heavier reps done on clean and jerk. Haven't done it in a while so it was nice to build up. Felt pretty good up to those successful lifts, then wall hit me at 100 kilos. The previous one - 95kg - felt good so it was a small difference this time. Couldn't quite drop under the bar at 100kg so I wasn't able to lock my elbows.

Jerks

Skills.

• Bar muscle-ups

Working on my technique on this movement. Aiming to bring my legs behind the vertical line of the pull-up bar. Feels very tight in my shoulders when I do it like this.

Thruster.

• Every minute on the minute x 5 minutes
• 10 thruster, 40kg

That shoulder tightness also felt in thrusters, and it is kind of normal feeling on thrusters in general. So I want to believe thrusters made good impact on those. This was a good cashout at the end of the session. Easy session in general but a good way to finish the week.

Friday 24.7: Swim, Run + Clean emom & Bear complex

Friday. AM: Run 2k, swim 1k, run 2k. PM: Emom x 10min: Odd min, power clean, front squat, squat clean. Even min, pause at knee, pause at hips, then clean pull. Metcon, bear complex @ 40kg. Time, 11.30.

Different start to the day. Swimming in Italy was great and I got inspired to hit the Helsinki swimming stadium this morning. It's my last day on a holiday so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to go there. In the afternoon Toni invited me to visit his affiliate in Vantaa. It was all about barbell work.

Conditioning.

• Run 2.000m
• Swim 1.000m
• Run 2.000m

The stadium is a bit more than 2k away from our house. I took a back bag, put my stuff inside, and went running. Took 15 minutes to get there. That means it was a jog obviously. Went to study this place. It was a 50m pool with a bunch of lanes. I took the slow one because I'm definitely not a fish when you throw me in water. Never swam that much when I was a little kiddo so there are some lack of skills.

Swam for 500 meters at first, that's 10 pool lengths in total. Then a break, and another 500 meters. It was a good battle for me. Really felt it in my lats. It was all breast strokes through that kilometer. At times my right fingers started to tingle. Go figure. But it was a lot of fun, and it was a good morning workout for me!

Cleans.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Odd minutes, power clean, front squat (hold 2sec in bottom), squat clean (hold 2sec in bottom)
• Even minutes, halt at knee for 4sec, halt at hips for 4sec, then clean pull
• Barbell at 80kg

These workouts were 100% programmed by the affiliate itself. Had no word whatsoever in these. Toni invited me to join him, and I've never said no to a workout. This was good accessory style workout for clean. The difference to regular clean training was the obligatory pause in the bottom position. This was supposed to be 75% of 1RM so I figured 80kg would be fine. Toni went with the same weights.

Clean emom

Bear complex. Time, 11.30

• Without dropping the bar, complete the following sequence for 7 times. That constitutes 1 rep
• Power clean + front squat + push press + back squat + push press (=1 rep)
• Once you've completed the sequence for 7 reps, drop the bar. That is 1 round
• Repeat for a total of 5 rounds
• Time cap 14 minutes
• Time, 11.30 @ 40kg

This is a cruel workout. Forearms were killing me. Weight is light but not for long. It's that forearm burn that gets to me. Never has 40 kilos felt this cruel in my life. I just wanted to finish under the time cap. Realized after 3 rounds that there's plenty of time so I kept longer breaks before rounds 4 and 5. Normally this workout is not for time but they had to put a time cap so their daily schedule would stay in the plan.

Bear

Good workout, and got a high heart beat too! As we can see from the video, Toni still has some issues with counting reps hehe. He worked well with the barbell for the entire day for sure though!

Is he the next champ?

Thursday 23.7: Run, Wb, Pull-ups, Handstand + CF Open 11.2

Thursday. AM: Metcon, 3rds of: 400m run, 30 wb, 12 pull-ups. Time, 13.29. Skills, handstand. PM: CF Open 11.2. Result, 357 reps. Emom x 10min: 8 reverse lunges (50kg).

In the morning I drove to a place where I have been about two years ago with my bro. Kauniainen sports track. They have a pull-up bar right next to the track so I went there with some action in my mind. Took also some handstand training. In the afternoon it was time for another session. Found a new Open workout which needed to be tested. Good one.

Metcon. Time, 13.29

• 3 rounds of:
• 400m run
• 30 wall ball, 9kg
• 12 pull-ups

As I just wrote yesterday, running is not in my wheelhouse, don't like the element that much but it's always worth it. During my floorball years I ran a lot, and had good endurance on that one. Never the fastest but a good conditioning on running. Currently it's not as good for sure. Only because I haven't ran that much. It took my breath away today.

Doing wall balls after running for one lap was not the easiest of jobs. Wb's are my thing but they were tough throughout the workout. Didn't warm-up properly so the first round was as tough as the rest. I went 20-10 each round.

Pull-ups were unbroken. It was the easiest element of this one. Mainly due to the number of reps. My fingers were sore from all the work being done this week and it didn't feel good to even touch the pull-up bar. But once I went up there, it was no biggie after all. Good rather short workout after all.

Wall ball station was that white wall on the left

Skills.

• Handstand

After getting my breath back I practiced on my handstand skills. The field was as flat as it can be which made it a perfect platform from being inverted. It turned out to be quite a good session on handstand. This was definitely some sort of PR in handstand walk. I got a 10m distance performed on walking on my hands. It felt like 100 meters though. Felt great!

Morning workouts

CF Open 11.2. Result, 357 reps (9 rounds + 12 box jump)

• 15min amrap of:
• 9 deadlift, 70kg
• 12 push-up
• 15 box

When we were in Italy Toni sent me a message that he'd done this one so it stuck in the back of my head. It looked like a good workout, and I had never seen this one before. Today felt like a perfect timing to hit this one. Took some heavier deadlifts beforehand just to get used to pulling from ground. 70kg barbell turned out to be very light.

The only thing I had in mind was Toni's result when I entered this one. Somehow I knew it's gonna hurt. It's light work so it's basically about engine. No reason to break the sets. For a second I thought push-ups might become an issue but luckily I got them unbroken too. For sure they got heavier but I was determined to finish them with glory.

Box jumps were probably the most challenging element. My hip flexors have been pretty much on fire the entire week because of the training volume so it was no surprise. My plan was to walk slowly from the push-up station to the box, shake my legs during the way, and once I arrived at the box, started jumping right away. I was able to keep a very steady pace throughout those 15 minutes. Didn't gas out at ay moment, peaceful pace from the beginning to the end. It was definitely a perfect metcon in a sense that heart rate and heart beat was high towards the end.

Accessory.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 8 reverse lunges, 50kg

Stole also this one from my man Toni. A little fun accessory action at the end of the session. Mostly this got to hip flexors. Weight wasn't super heavy. The movement itself was a bit awkward in the beginning. Haven't done much reverse lunges but after 2 sets I felt comfortable with these. Got a good sweat on this one too.