Sunday 1.11: Pull-ups, Burpee, Kb

Sunday. Gymnastics, unbroken pull-up sets of: 30-25-20-15-10-5, rest as needed between sets. Wod, 5rnft of: 10 burpee, 7/7 kb jerk (24kg).

On Sunday I went to the gym in the evening. I've felt kind of tired all weekend but I'm very happy I pushed myself to the gym in the evening. We had some errands to be done so only time slot was later in the day.

Gymnastics.

• 30-25-20-15-10-5 of:
• Unbroken sets of pull-ups
• Rest as needed between sets

Lots of pull-ups. My pal Toni did a good bunch of pull-ups couple of days ago so that inspired me to hit big sets too. Well big, that's kind of relative. I saw Nathan Bramblett hit a 5min emom of 30 unbroken pull-ups… That's from another planet. Yes, I can hit 30+ pull-ups (max set is 41 in the history) but it needs some time to recover before the next set.

Below you can see the set of 20 reps. All these sets were doable, even though the last reps felt tough. And that's how it was supposed to be. Had they been too easy, I would have walked away a bit disappointed.

20 pull-ups

Wod.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 burpee
• 7 right hand kettlebell jerk, 24kg
• 7 left hand kettlebell jerk, 24kg

Later on I threw my chest to the floor, knocked couple of burpees, then saw a kettlebell next to me in the process, and decided to jerk it in the air. It formed to burpee / kb shoulder-to-overhead. Seven jerks per hand, then change from right to left hand, and repeat. I was pretty well gassed after this one.

Monday is a rest day. I was supposed to hit it for cleans, front squats for barbell work. Then rowing and light hang cleans for conditioning but it turned out that we were home only in the late evening, and there was practically no time anymore to workout. That didn't bother me this time at all. Somehow I'm pleased to this full rest day. Hopefully tomorrow's a better energy level.

Saturday 31.10: Muscle-ups and Snatches

Saturday. Metcon, 5-4-3-2-1 of: bar mu and hang snatch (50kg). Technique, 5x5 hang power snatch (40kg). Skills, bar mu's.

My plans included muscle-ups and snatches. No actual strength work as separate stuff. Rings were first priority but somehow my back felt tight, probably due to all the cleans this week. Yesterday was good volume with them. I thought bar mu's would roll better so I changed them on the fly.

Metcon. Time, 4.54

• 5-4-3-2-1 of:
• Bar muscle-up
• Hang squat snatch, 50kg

This is obviously supposed to be a quick one. Yes, I went unbroken on both movements and got it without misses. I was not the most confident with snatches as my warm-up didn't go exactly as I planned. I took hang snatches at 40kg, then 50kg. Those were fine. Then jumped to 55kg and took 2 fails. The first one stayed in front and the second one was a poor attempt, and I didn't go under the bar. More like a snatch high pull =) For some reason there's a huge difference between my clean and snatch. The bar just feels a ton heavier when my grip is wider.

Anyway, I knew I'm gonna do the muscle-ups in a row each round, especially by catching some breath in the transitions. However, on the snatches I wasn't that cocky. So it was a positive signal to hit the first round of 5 reps unbroken. That boosted the self talk in my head and I got the remaining rounds unbroken too. Couldn't grab the barbell right away after dropping down from the mu's. And vice versa. Main goal was to go unbroken. Don't know, maybe I could have gone faster. Not much today but maybe a little. It was difficult to know my body and how it would hold on with this kind of combination.

Technique.

• 5x5 hang power snatch, 40kg

The metcon was top priority for sure but I wanted to work on speed with snatch afterwards. It's pretty sick how heavy the bar feels like doing snatches. It's always been like that. Even though I kept the bar close. That was my goal in these power snatches.

Skills.

• Bar muscle-ups (sets of 3-5-5-5 reps)

Skills in the end, couple of sets. I thought about doing triples for a total of 15 reps but after first set I decided to do 5's. Felt good about these muscle-ups in every single set. Considering the longest streak of mu's I've done in the history of crossfit (10 reps) today's sets felt pretty good. Maybe there is more in the tank than the record says.

Friday 30.10: Clean, Squat, Long metcon

Friday. Build up to a heavy triple of hang squat clean (result, 100kg). Then, 6x3 @ 85kg. Back squat 3x3 @ 130kg. Metcon, 2k row, then 10rds of: 7 c2b, 7 hspu, 20 air squat. Time, 24.50.

Had a lot of time to be spent at the gym this Friday. Quality time at its best. It turned up to be a quad and hamstring slaughter. My legs were murdered big time after the session. I took inspiration from some Froning's video clip for the cleans. Then added some back squats, and a long metcon to seal the deal.

Oly.

• Hang squat clean, build up to a heavy triple (40, 60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 100kg), then:
• Hang squat clean, 6x3 @ 85kg

My right hamstring is still tense and not feeling normal. That's the reason why I don't want to pull anything heavy from the ground. No deadlifts at all until it's perfect. These were not heavy for pulling to the power position so that was no issues. It felt great to pull from the hang position.

The cleans felt heavy at 95 kilos. The feeling was that I had to hurry to get under the barbell. The loads in cleans are not heavy considering my squats so I've never had to battle to be able to stand up from the hole. But the issue is whether I'm getting under the bar or not. Do I have the balls to drop under, and the required speed to get there.

Watching the 95kg lifts on camera I realized there's a possibility to hit 100kg benchmark for a triple. That felt super. No doubt. Once I get it around my head that I have the speed to get under the load it's possible to go heavier.

After finding a heavy triple it was time to work on the speed at 85 kilos for a bunch of triples. These were good ones, and I focused on keeping my arms straight and bringing the barbell as high as possible to the hips. I played with the video so there are some slow motions too.

Strength.

• Back squat 3x3 @ 130kg

These felt much heavier than they should. Maybe my legs had already taken that much in the cleans but these had to be battled through. Three sets were all I needed for today. There was a long metcon still waiting to be completed.

Metcon. Time, 24.50

• 2.000m row, then
• 10 rounds of:
• 7 chest-to-bar pull-up
• 7 handstand push-up
• 20 air squat

Beforehand I thought both c2b's and hspu's might be nasty in the last rounds but then again the toughest of these three was definitely the squats. Squats on squats on squats. They were sore as hell after the workout. Went unbroken on every movement.

Rowing was done at 7.30, then the 10 rounds were somewhere around 1.40 per round. C2b's were manageable. Not like I would jump right away on the pull-up bar because I didn't wanna drop down at any stage.

Hspu's were the ones I was most confident during the workout. Just knocked them through, no panic with them. Air squats were unbroken too but I had to pace them from the very first round. I realized making them fast would have brought problems. Those were not fast but they were done unbroken with a steady pace. Only in the last round I hurried to finish it faster. Great workout huh huh!

Thursday 29.10: Overhead, Bench, Clean, Ghd

Thursday. Shoulder press x 10 @ 50kg. Push press x 10 @ 60kg. Push jerk x 10 @ 70kg. Bench, 3x10 (up to 80kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 20 ghd, 20 hang power clean (40kg).

Great time, as it always is when Jasper hits the gym with me. We did pretty much the same elements in this session. He worked on his pull-ups while I tried to master overhead strength. Then we got some bench press done, and finally a good metcon to burn the forearms big time.

Overhead.

• Shoulder press 1x10 @ 50kg
• Push press 1x10 @ 60kg
• Push jerk 1x10 @ 70kg

It was cool to hit longer sets of overhead strength. More like muscle endurance. The entire idea was to go touch'n'go in each set. No stopping to breath at any moment. I mean on the front rack position. Actually I don't think I stopped overhead either. But had I took a pause that would have been allowed. In my head.

There weren't that proper warm-ups before I took the first set so shoulder presses felt a bit stiff on the shoulders but went smoothly anyway. Probably the first time I've ever done 50kg for this many reps. That was actually pretty cool to realize. Push presses were maybe the easiest part of these three.

Last set of push jerks felt awkward for 2 reps but then I got a good hold and great rhythm for each rep. That made it possible to keep the barbell bouncing touch'n'go rep by rep. I've done more of longer sets at decent weights in metcons in the past weeks so I was looking this from the bright side already beforehand. All sets went as planned.

Bench.

• Bench press 3x10 reps (70, 75, 80kg)
• Last set was only 8 reps though

We moved directly to different type of press strength. Bench was ahead of us. Jasper is a monster with this movement, and is a mile ahead of me. I took 10x20, and 5x60kg to get used to this element, then started pumping the sets. We went alternating each set, Jazz just took a notch heavier sets.

First set was easy, no prob. Second set was okay up to somewhere at 7-8 reps, then I had to push more but it was still something that I was able to manhandle. I knew the last set was going to be tough if it was 80kg but I stood up to the challenge. It was alright to 6 reps, the next one was heavy, the 8th of course heavier so at this point I was just hoping for good things to happen but the wall came just like that on the 9th rep.

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 20 ghd sit-ups
• 20 hang power clean, 40kg

Stole this one from Rich Froning's "What's Rich Doing?" clip that I posted earlier this week. The difference was he made it with 60kg. Got 3 rounds of cleans unbroken. Then had to divide it to 13-7 and 14-6 on the last round. My forearms were shot. Actually they were gone after about 2 rounds. It was a good fight after that. Even though the barbell was only 40kg it started to weigh a lot. But mostly it was that I started to lose my grip. Just couldn't feel my hands anymore.

I dare to say ghd's are strong for me. Those went smoothly, and unbroken each round. On the last round I had to huff and puff a bit more but it was obvious to go without breaks on this movement. Very good combo to mix these two. And it was cool to throw in a high rep cleans in a metcon. Different kind of stimulus. This entire day was more of a muscle endurance type of training.

Wednesday 28.10: C&J, Squat, Metcon

Wednesday. Emom x 15min: clean and jerk (up to 90kg). Front squat 5x5 (across, 110kg). Front squat singles 6x1 (up to 130kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 400m row, 12 hspu, 21 box. Time, 9.07.

What a fabulous morning workout. Don't know why but lately I've learned to enjoy these early morning sessions and body has been rather fresh. Warm-up needs to be lengthy but then I get this body moving pretty well, and get good success on the sessions. Today was a lot of barbell work, then all out metcon to finish it.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 15min
• Clean and jerk singles
• 1-3min: 70kg
• 4-6min: 75kg
• 7-9min: 80kg
• 10-12min: 85kg
• 13-15min: 90kg

Classic stuff, clean and jerk. Singles, one rep per minute. Starting at 70kg, then adding 5kg after every 3 minutes. Focus was on each and every single jerk. Cleans were easy, jerk is not as light for me. There's a clear difference. I wonder how there are people who can jerk whatever they can clean. That's a big difference in my case =)

Lifts felt pretty good this time. On the video I noticed my legs didn't do enough work on the jerk. Front and back leg didn't go far enough. That means I need to push the barbell higher than I think is ideal (at least in my head). Anyway, it was great to complete the reps rather solidly and without misses.

Squats.

• Front squat 5-5-5-5-5 (across, 110kg)
• Front squat 1-1-1-1-1-1 (120, 122, 124, 126, 128, 130kg)

Front squat is the king. These were quite quick reps. That was the point. Idea was as fast as possible. Not long breaks to catch a breath on top. Weight was tolerable in that sense that I was able to keep moving. The last 2 reps of each set burned my legs. And it definitely eased to rack the barbell in my upper body too. It brought tension in my arms and shoulders.

After completing those 5's I took some extra singles. These were not planned beforehand. Just felt the urge to go heavier also. Singles, starting from 120kg, adding 2kg per rep. Goal was to go up to 130kg, and it went nicely. It's been time since doing heavier front squats.

Metcon. Time, 9.07

• 3 rounds of:
• 400m row
• 12 handstand push-up
• 21 box jump

This was genius, smart and brutal. It was a 3-rounder which made it possible to go faster from the beginning. I tried to go fast on the row too, and not pace it out just in case. Actually it was sub 1.40 on the first round, and it made me think if it is too hard or just the perfect one. Don't know but I'm happy that I started it this way. Next rounds were more like closer to 1.45 pace.

Plan was definitely to go unbroken on each element for sure. Had some of them not been so, it would have been a disappointment and disaster. Hspu's were good too. Last round was tough on the last reps. But I believe one more round would have gone in the same manner too.

Box jumps were surprisingly challenging. They just burned my thighs and hamstrings big time. Huh, it was always good to about 12-14 reps, then the flames came up my legs. This was a very good high heart beat metcon.

Tuesday 27.10: Ohs, Burpee, Du

Tuesday. Wod, 5rds of: 10 ohs (50kg), 15 burpee, 50 du.

Today was kind of a day where I didn't have strict plans whatsoever. On the way to the gym something like this started developing in my head. There were also row, c2b and sled somehow vaguely at some point but this is what it turned out to be. Weakness party =)

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 overhead squat, 50kg
• 15 burpee
• 50 double under

Well, burpees are not a weakness of mine but overhead squats have never been in my wheelhouse, and double unders have been at least questionable in the past months. Plan at this workout was to go unbroken. Ambitious goal regarding the double unders. Burpees would definitely be as "unbroken" as they can ever be. Just pace them properly, don't stop and keep moving. As simple as that.

Overhead squats were not that light but I felt confident in hitting the sets without dropping the barbell at any moment. The last two sets started to get a bit shaky but I got them. This pleased me a lot. It's not normal to go this "heavy" with ohs. It actually is not that heavy but I haven't done many workouts traditionally over 40kg. Lately I've tried to go heavier (50-60kg) with ohs wods.

Biggest takeaway of the day was confidence with double unders. In the past crossfit career I gained a good level of skills. Then I kind of forgot to practice them so little by little I realized the skills went away too. In the past months I started focusing more on du's to get the good rhythm back.

Currently jump rope is obeying my commands pretty well. Today I went ub on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th round. First round was good for 48 reps =) and last one was actually the only one with a miss in the middle (at 34 reps). This felt freaking awesome. It felt very natural. Just started to burn my shoulders

Monday 26.10: Snatch, Squat, Hspu, Sdhp

Monday. Emom x 10min: 2 high hang snatch (up to 55kg). Emom x 10min: 2 back squat (120kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 10 hspu, 10 sdhp (50kg).

Went to the gym today with a tight hour time slot. That was very tight taking into consideration my plans included snatch, squats and a metcon. After warm-up I put the clock running for the first emom, and it accidentally kept running after snatches. In the end I realized it was 37 minutes and all the work had been done. That was fast and efficient.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10min
• 1-2min: 40kg
• 3-4min: 45kg
• 5-6min: 50kg
• 7-8min: 55kg
• 9-10min: 60kg

Felt pretty good to snatch today. Originally plan was to pull from the ground but then again, that includes loading the hamstrings and posterior chain tight on the first pull. That was out of question. Squatting is okay though. This is a bit strange that I have some small pain when right hamstring is under tension because of that sprained leg on the sprints on Sunday one week ago.

These were doubles up to 55 kilos, and the last lifts at 60kg were singles. I'm pretty happy considering there has been some pause from previous snatches. I had plenty of energy to snatch more but it was time to move on.

Squats.

• Every minute on the minute x 10min
• 2 back squat @ 120kg

Heavier squats were not going to happen because of the time constraints. I decided on a weight that I knew was going to be doable without much movement specific warm-up. Took couple of reps before this weight, then hit a double in touch'n'go style every minute. No pause in between. Felt actually awesome to squat. This weight was good for this session. Could have been a bit heavier but I'm happy with this one for sure.

Metcon.

• 4 rounds of:
• 10 handstand push-up
• 10 sumo deadlift high pull, 50kg

This has been on my phone's notes for maybe two weeks. I've been waiting for the right time to hit it. Actually it was 12min amrap in the beginning but I just decided to hit it today as I had mentally prepared for it even though I had to kind of rush it through. After squats I just loaded the barbell at 50kg, and threw myself against the wall for hspu's.

Both elements were completed unbroken. I reckoned handstand push-ups would be so but the sumo deadlift high pulls were a positive surprise. It was kind of difficult to know how they would feel like as I've done only 35-40kg sdhp's this far. They had this movement in the Regionals in 2015 at 60kg, total of 50 reps, in the long chipper workout. That looked really cool, and the athletes looked like they are getting crushed mentally and physically with this movement. Since then, it's been knocking in the back of my head. Very good workout, and my shoulders definitely took the biggest hit in this.

Sunday 25.10: Mu's, Clean, 21-15-9 + Run

Sunday. AM: Skills, muscle-ups emom x 8min. Emom x 12min: clean doubles. Metcon, 21-15-9 of: s2o (60kg), row for cal, ghd's. Time, 10.02. PM: Run 5k with vest.

This was a great session. Some skills to kick it off (okay those could have gone a bit better but I'll take it for now), then a good bunch of cleans in different styles. Finally a 10min session of barbell and bodyweight. In the evening I went for a 5k run.

Skills.

• Every minute on the minute x 8min:
• Ring muscle-ups, doubles and singles

In my head this was planned to be an 8min emom of 2-3 reps per minute of muscle-ups. Maybe triples in the beginning and then doubles in the latter half. Something like that, not a strict plan. I took couple of videos but there were other people on the background so I didn't put that in the recap.

It was more like doubles for the first half, and singles in the latter half. Tried to do a triple in the beginning but it didn't feel that good. It's been some time since muscle-upping last time. I took slow-mo analysis and it looks like I was rushing it a bit. Legs bent too easily when pulling up. And hips didn't take a violent extension so there was an obvious reason why it felt heavier than it used to be. But the take away was to be happy of performing mu's after a longer break.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 12min:
• Odd min, power clean + squat clean
• Even min, 2 x hang squat clean
• 1-4min: 80kg
• 5-8min: 85kg
• 9-12min: 90kg

This is something I've been looking for! Cleans. There is a loving relationship with cleans and me. I could clean all day, every day. When pulling from the ground it still felt tight in right hamstring so I tried to be careful in those. Hang cleans didn't have any issues.

Weights started at 80kg, then 5 more kilos after every 4 minutes. That means there was three different loads during those 12 minutes. Not super heavy but for today there were great. Once I get my shit together I'll go heavier. Today I felt like my technique was pretty good, and the reps looked pretty much alike. There are some instant replays included in the video below to see there's plenty of shoulder shrug and patience in bringing the barbell to hips.

Metcon. Time, 10.02

• 21-15-9 of:
• Shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
• Row for calories
• Ghd sit-ups

Had the same feeling for a while as yesterday. Why would I do a workout with this many jerks in a row. Then again, I thought that might be a fun variance. That's the reason this ended up in my notes anyway. Usually there's just a couple of reps unbroken in a conditioning piece but completing 21 reps in a row is another story.

If it was just for the 21 reps I might have it in me to push through unbroken. But in a workout like this, it would have been absurd for me to do it. Or would it? Don't know but I thought this was a better strategy. It might have been a good idea to just push it and thinking about a happy place at the same time.

Anyway, the first round was 13-4-4, second one 10-5, and the last one was unbroken for 9 repetitions. Rowing and ghd's were unbroken. There was a lot of walking around the gym during the transitions. Had it been less people I would have moved the rower close to the weightlifting platform. Ghd's were originally box jumps but those boxes had mysteriously disappeared during the weekend. Hopefully they make a comeback soon =)

Run.

• Run 5km with a weight vest

My plan was to just get outdoors and catch some fresh air but it somehow twisted into a 5 kilometer run with a 9kg vest. It was surprisingly fun to run. That's usually not my forte but this time it felt smooth and effortless. Kind of awkward that when I put some weight on, it feels lighter =) Anyway, this was more like a recovery run. It was a 10km/h pace for 5k.

Saturday 24.10: Squat, Cupper

Saturday. Back squat 5x3 @ 130kg. Chipper, 50 wb, 40 pull-up, 30 cal row, 20 power clean (60kg), 10 burpee, 20 clean, 30 cal row, 40 pull-up, 50 wb. Time, 21.13.

This was exceptional day as I went to work for the day, and then hit the gym in the late afternoon. My leg has recovered well, and after a week of being careful I finally had the chance of doing heavier squats. Felt super! Don't know how I came up with the chipper but that killed me.

Strength.

• Back squat 5x3 @ 130kg

Built up to this weight by doing sets at empty bar, 60kg, 90kg, 100kg, 110, and 120kg. Different kinds of sets. From 10 to 1 rep. My plan was to hit the triples with as little recovery on top as possible. And rest was determined at 2:00 between each set. This plan worked well. Last 2 sets were tough as I would have liked to get an extra 30 seconds of rest.

It would have also helped to stay on top and breath for a while before going back down. That made the last rep a good battle. You can see the first 2 sets and last set on the video recap below. The rest of the movements I captured on the video just for fun. They were not taken from the chipper itself.

Squatting felt great. This is such a basic movement that a man should do all the time. I've been missing this one. It seems like it's been ages since last squat session. This weight was perfect for today.

Chipper.

• 50 wall ball, 9kg
• 40 pull-up
• 30 calorie row
• 20 power clean, 60kg
• 10 burpee
• 20 power clean, 60kg
• 30 calorie row
• 40 pull-up
• 50 wall ball, 9kg

This was straight from hell. Don't know why I actually did this. But I had decided that beforehand and stuck to that plan. Pull-ups were the ones that freaked me out. It wasn't a surprise they would start to suck because of the volume. Not that bad if it was in sets of 10-15 reps per round but chippers are cruel as you have to do a good bunch of reps in a row.

Wall balls are maybe a little too low compared to the rx'd height. Id' like to throw the ball a notch higher. But this is the only place where I can move the ball. It still works very well even despite this deficiency. Burned my shoulders big time. Especially on the way down, as the last movement. On my way up I did 25-15-10. Didn't wanna gas out as it was the first element. This was obviously gonna be a long one so making a mistake on the first minute would have catastrophic consequences. On the way down the wb's were 20 at first, then 11 reps and then I decided to keep moving no matter what. Finished the last 19 reps in a row.

Pull-ups were 15-10-5-5-5 on the way up, and 10-10-6-6-4-4 in the last minutes. Damn they got tough! Okay, 80 reps is definitely doable, not a new thing by any means but completing 40 repetitions before being able to move forward made the difference.

Rowing at this point was not a sprint, on neither times. I just tried to think about a happy place and grind on. Power cleans were in sets of 5 reps all the way. It was basically 40 reps in sets of 5. There was just a bunch of burpees in the middle. Those were fine, such a short amount of them anyway. This was a great workout. Challenging but it was awesome to fight through it. It took some time but I was pretty much a dead man after the wod. I still did 20 pull-ups after getting myself back in the game to reach a total of 100 reps in total.

Friday 23.10: Overhead strength, Thruster, K2e, Row

Friday. Overhead singles. Metcon, 5rds of: 10 thruster (40kg), 15 k2e, 20 cal row. Time, 13.20

Morning gym. It actually felt pretty good from the get-go. Strength portion was progression that started about a week ago. Various styles of overhead press or jerk. My right hammy is still recovering so I didn't go all the way to split jerks. Metcon was a great one.

Overhead.

• Shoulder press 1-1-1 (63kg)
• Push press 1-1-1 (73kg)
• Push jerk 1-1-1 (83kg)

Last time the weights were 60-70-80-90 kilos. Today I added 3kg to each movement. Shoulder presses were okay. I took 'em on video and realized on the second rep that I push the barbell too much in front in the beginning. So I tried to fix that for the final rep. It felt better.

Push presses were the easiest one. For some reason they felt shaky in the beginning but got better each rep. Push jerks are the ones I have the most issues. That seems to be some kind of mobility issue. I feel tight when having a close grip with barbell overhead. If I'm doing split jerks, that doesn't bother but in this kind of power position it feels a bit awkward. I think 85kg is the ultimate heaviest I've ever push jerked so these were pretty close.

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 thruster, 40kg
• 15 knees-to-elbows
• 20 cal row

Thrusters are the king. I used to think if there was only one movement you were able to do for the rest of your life, it would be thruster. So today it was 10 reps to start the round, then knees-to-elbows. An element I don't remember when was the last time. Must have been a year or so. Toes-to-bar is the more classical way to do pretty much the same thing. That didn't feel good in my leg so I subbed it to this one.

Got these unbroken in every round. Last 2 rounds were more of a battle but something I was able to push through. It was more dependent of grip strength. It started to get slippery at times but I was able to re-grip at the right times.

Overhead strength

Rowing was 20 calories, that equalled to something like 270 meters if I looked it correctly on the first round. Don't know why but completing 300 meters feels easier than 20 calories. There is something with the calories that mess with my head. One calorie is about the same as one stroke. This was a good workout. My strategy was to go unbroken on the movements and took the recovery between stations. You can see the first 10 minutes of the wod in the video below.

First 10min

Thursday 22.10: Front squat, Push-ups, Sled

Thursday. Wod, 8rds of: 6 front squat (80kg), 20 push-up. Time, 13.23. Pair workout, sled pulls, sitting.

We had a blast of a session with Jasper! My main workout of the day was something close to Gator, a benchmark workout that I've done once in the past. That was a good one. This was not the exact version as rings were taken so this one got modified a bit in the process. In the end we played around with a sled. Good upper body work! It's strange how I still can not extend my right hamstring to full extension but bending the leg is fine. That means squats have no problems at all but there are plenty of stuff that needs to be taken carefully still.

Metcon. Time, 13.23

• 8 rounds of:
• 6 front squat, 80kg
• 20 push-up

Jasper did his thing with pull-ups, kettlebell etc. while I did this workout. Plan was to hit ring push-ups but there was someone else doing her thing so I decided not to disturb and concentrate to regular push-ups. Worked very well. Those are always a good choice, can't do enough push-ups, such a fundamental movement.

It's funny how it's easy to squat even though I still have pain in my leg after it sprained last Sunday. Now I realize it wasn't that bad after all. Luckily! It was awesome to put at least some weight on the barbell and squat. I'm waiting to put real weights on.

One set of squats

This was a good load for this kind of workout. Knocked the front squats unbroken, touch'n'go in the beginning. At least from mid-workout on, there was one inhale on top before 5th and 6th rep. But basically in a row.

Accessory.

• Sled pull, sitting on the ground
• Alternating after every 10 meters with a partner
• Weights: 50, 80, 107kg (+ sled)

I threw in an idea of doing something together and Jasper finished that thought by deciding to work together with the sled. This time it wasn't the classical sled push but to sit down, and pull the sled with a 10m rope. We didn't keep any pause. The grass matt is 20 meters long so Jazz started, pulled for 10m, and the moment he stopped, I continued to pull the other 10 meters.

After 20m we change the course, and continued to other direction. First sled was for 50 kilos, then 80kg, and finally a bit over 100kg. Most of the sets were at 100+ kilos. I'm very satisfied on the load we were able to move. We talked it would be a killer of a session to do sled pushes or sled pulls with a harness for lower body work, and then finish it with this kind of pulls, sitting or standing on one spot. Really good accessory strength work with good intensity too.

Wednesday 21.10: Ohs, Pull-ups, Wall ball, Kettlebell

Wednesday. Intervals, 10rds of: 5 ohs + 10 pull-ups. Wod, 3rds of: 30 wb (9kg), 20 kb swing (28kg). Pair wod, 150 wb. Time, 4.50.

Bit of a lengthier session to finish Wednesday. My pal Jasper hit the gym too so it was a blast. We did some individual stuff in the beginning and crowned the session with team Karen. We realized there is a spot where we can throw wall ball around. That was pretty spectacular.

Intervals.

• 10 rounds of:
• 5 overhead squat (40, 50, 60, 63, 65, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60kg)
• 10 pull-ups
• Rest

Yesterday was a turning point. Got some very light back squats in the system so my confidence of going for overhead squats was high. This couplet was completed in interval style with break after every round. Couple of overhead squats with changing weights, then barbell down and complete 10 pull-ups.

I started with 40kg bar, then climbed up to 65kg and the last five sets were completed at 60kg. This was actually pretty cool to smash some ohs at this weight without any issues. Okay, it's quite far away from my max load but considering I usually do ohs in metcons at somewhere around 40-45kg this was good. I had Nanos for shoes which made it a bit challenging I'd think, but then again they are the best overall shoes I've had the pleasure of having so actually it wasn't all that bad. I love those shoes. Very stabile ones.

Wod.

• 3 rounds of:
• 30 unbroken wall ball shots
• 20 kettlebell swing, 28kg

The thing was to go unbroken. No other options. There were recovery between movements but the goal was to get a good burn on shoulders by knocking the repetitions without dropping the ball / bell before the required amount of work was done.

Pair wod. Time, 4.50

• 150 wall ball shots
• Alternating after every 15 reps

I was already about to leave but one idea came to my mind. That was Karen with a partner. We did 15 reps, then changed roles. Point was to keep the ball moving, with a good flow all the time. Those 15 reps could have actually been 20 reps per round per person. That way our shoulders might have been more shot and breathing heavier. While Jasper was doing his thing, there was enough time to recover for the next round.

Tuesday 20.10: Shoulder press, Squat, Gymnastics

Tuesday. Shoulder press 7x5 (across, 50kg). Workout, 5rds of: 10 shoulder press (40kg), 10 back squat (40kg). Workout, 6rds of: 6 strict pull-ups, 10 back squat (40kg). Gymnastics, ring dips and iron cross progression.

My right hamstring that got sprained on Sunday is clearly getting better. At least the pain is not as constant as it was yesterday. In the morning as I woke up the feeling was promising. Hopefully this trend continues in the near future as it's a bit difficult to pump the upper body every single day =) Today was mostly about strict presses, gymnastics and light squats. In squats my leg feel fine which makes it a bit strange. Pain comes when I have to keep my leg straight as the hamstring is under tension in a stretched position.

These were my vague plans before coming to the gym

Overhead strength.

• Shoulder press 7x5 (across @ 50kg)

After warm-up I pretty quickly got to the first working set. First 3 sets felt a bit awkward in my shoulders. By going further shoulders loosened up as they got warm. Last sets felt a lot better in this sense. For some reason I have learned to like shoulder presses.

For a long time my opinion was that it's better to do heavier loads by push pressing or jerking the barbell up instead of shoulder press. And I don't say that still is my view on the subject as heavier loads overhead bring heavier tension on the shoulders. But shoulder presses have their own share in the mix too.

Workout.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 shoulder press, 40kg
• 10 back squat, 40kg

By just pressing the bar sweat was non-existing. I had enough of it after 7 sets of strict presses for strength so I took a bit off the barbell, added reps, and combined presses with squats. I had tried air squats and light squats so I felt confident of hitting those without pain in the leg.

This turned out to be tough on the shoulders. First 2 rounds were unbroken, then I had to cut them in two pieces, 6-4 reps for the remaining rounds. Surprisingly heavy but considering there was no actual rest period determined. I did the presses, then dropped the bar in my back and completed the squats right away. Then racked the bar and shook my shoulder and tried to recover them before next set. Squats were light but I would definitely not go heavier at this stage.

Workout.

• 6 rounds of:
• 6 strict pull-up
• 10 back squat, 40kg

This was as fun as the previous workout. Okay strict pull-ups are not fun, ever. There is something in them that I don't like =) Maybe that is exactly the reason those should be in the program. Because I tried to complete this with a good rhythm in order to break a good sweat. I live for sweating like a pig. The past days have been tough in this sense. It's been more or less traditional gym-going, and not as much crossfit with high intensity.

Gymnastics.

• 50 ring dip
• Iron cross progression

In the end I did couple of sets ring dips, total of 50 reps, in sets of 10 reps. Mostly they were done normally but some of them I did with slower pace, with the idea of putting focus on controlling the movement up and down. One set was slow-mo on the way down, then a short pause before coming up from the hole with speed. Got to say that set was a bit tougher.

We have one former gymnast who used to be on Finnish national team for years. He came around when I did those dips, and we started to fool around. It ended up with doing couple reps of iron cross on the rings. That was pretty sick feeling. He placed a rubber band between the rings, and pointed the rings sideways to get more support on the forearms. It was surprisingly easy under the instruction of this guy.

Monday 19.10: Bench, Dips, Dumbbells

Monday. Bench emom x 10min: 3 reps @ 80kg. Workout, 5rds of: 10 ring dip + 10 light tall clean (2x12.5kg db's). Workout, 5rds of: 10 bent over row (25-30kg db's) + 10 strict press (2x17.5kg db's).

It sucks to have my leg out of order. I have to ignore lower body work for a while. No squats for a week I anticipate. Hopefully just a week, not month(s). Time will tell but I ain't looking for a month of just bench and presses. Today this was exactly the game plan. It was okay for a change but this is not something I'd do on a daily basis =)

Strength.

• Bench press, 10x60, 5x70, 5x80, 5x85, 4x90kg, then:
• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes:
• 3 reps @ 80kg

Started the session with benching for couple of sets. It was a bit difficult to get a good warm-up and sweat on with being cautious of lower body all the time. Bench is a pretty good movement, I've realized it lately but it doesn't bring an old school sweat easily. After taking couple of sets I decided to drop down a bit and add the intensity to by making it an emom workout.

This weight was quite good for this type of emom. Actually it might have been the first time doing bench on the minute style. Worked well.

Workout.

• 5 rounds not for time of:
• 10 ring dip
• 10 tall clean, 2 x 12.5kg dumbbells

Ring dips were a no-brainer. What to couplet it with was a more difficult question. It turned out to be very light cleans with dumbbells. Heavy db's would have been preferred but at this point you probably know why that didn't happen. Ring dips were the beef on this wod. Went unbroken on them, and focused on full range of motion, and continuous movement and rhythm. Dips felt very good.

Workout.

• 5 rounds not for time of:
• 10 bent over row, 25-30kg dumbbell
• 10 strict press, 2 x 17.5kg dumbbells

Rows are something I do like never. I have overlooked this movement a lot. After trying it out today, I can see there is a point why it might be a good accessory element in fitness. Not replacing anything but at the end of a good training session some bent over rows with dumbbells or barbell are probably not a bad idea if there's plenty of time to play around.

So this was the first time doing these and the weights were moderate. Maybe I'll give it another shot some day. Today I took a short pause on top of the movement, and focused on good control both ways, up and down. Strict presses were the partner for rows. Counter movement. Shoulder press / Strict press for 10 reps at the same dumbbells. These started to get heavy towards the end of each set. Still, they were manageable.

Sunday 18.10: Active recovery

Sunday. Outdoor activities.

This was pretty much a rest day. We went walking outdoors with the crew, then played around a little with our fitness at the track. At first it was just fooling around, then it got serious. Pauliina and Kari timed my 100m sprint at 13.79. With two different clocks the time was identical =) Sick that they got the same time.

Running felt much lighter than normally and there was air below my feet. I decided to give it another shot and that's when came a reminder that you should never put all-in efforts without proper warm-up. Even though we had been outdoors for an hour muscles and joints were not fully activated. So my right hamstring sprained and had to limb for the last 20 meters of the sprint. This is a huge disappointment. Time will tell how serious this actually is but at the moment it hurts.