Friday 3.6: Clean and jerk, Front squats

Friday. Emom x 8min: clean and jerk singles (75-80kg). Emom x 8min: 5 c&j (60kg). E2mom x 16min: front squat singles (120kg).

After yesterday's recovery day it was good to get my hands on the barbell again. Purely bar work today. Starting with clean and jerks and finishing it off with front squats.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 8 minutes
• 1 squat clean and jerk
• 1-4min: 75kg
• 5-8min: 80kg

Somehow push jerks have felt awesome lately but today split jerks felt a lot tighter in my shoulders. Don't know how that ends up being like that. Anyway, these didn't feel natural and smooth at any stage of the session. That's why I had to stay conservative on the weights too. Compare to Monday when I did 2 reps every minute at 80kg as power clean and push jerks without resting the bar in front rack at any point. 

Barbell cycling.

• Every minute on the minute x 8 minutes
• 5 touch'n'go clean and jerks @ 60kg

This weight should probably feel lighter after having just moved 20kg heavier load. It was the shoulders though. These were not as smooth as usual and the bar path was not identical within all reps. Can't be totally satisfied with that kind of activity. Still, I'll take this as it's always a good idea to focus on barbell cycling at moderate weights.

Strength.

• Every 2:00, for 16 minutes (8 sets)
• 1 front squat @ 120kg

Finally couple of heavier front squats. Took one rep every 2 minutes. This was rather heavy load but still doable. Point for this piece was to get my nervous system get used to loads closer to max levels.

Wednesday 1.6: Kettlebells in Kumpula

Wednesday. Kumpula. 5rds of: 15 kb swing (32kg), 12 kb snatch (24kg).

First of June, summer is officially here! However, May has been warm. It's been beautiful pretty much all the time, and Helsinki has blossomed nicely. Downtown has been crowded for couple of weeks. Today was been predicted by some sources to be the hottest day this spring / summer this far. Pauliina had a great idea of going to Kumpula outdoor swimming pool. This was the first time I went there. It turned out to be pretty cool stuff. To my surprise there was also a training place!

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 15 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
• 12 (6/6) kettlebell snatches @ 24kg

We sunbathed and hang around at the pool. At some point I went walking around to discover the training place. One friend gave a hint there might be some cool stuff to be played around with. It turned out there was pull-up stations, barbells, bumper weights and kettlebells of different loads.

At first I took a set of 10 strict pull-ups to get the mood on. It didn't take too long to find the kettlebells and come up with this workout. This was tough on the forearms if you think about it. Had to grip some sort of bell in both movements. Swings were unbroken, and the snatches were completed 6 per right hand, then 6 per left hand. Very good one!

Tuesday 31.5: Shoulder press, Hspu, Kb swing

Tuesday. Shoulder press e2mom x 30min. Emom x 18. 1st: 7-10 hspu, 2nd: 12 kb swing (32kg), 3rd: rest.

It would be an understatement to say my hip flexors are on fire. Had to be careful with today's training session not to burden those areas too much. That's how it turned out to be strict press and emom conditioning piece in the end.

Overhead.

• Every 2:00, for 30 minutes
• 0-10min: 3 shoulder press @ 60kg
• 10-20min: 4 shoulder press @ 55kg
• 20-30min: 5 shoulder press @ 50kg

The plan for this took shape during the session itself. Started with triples at 60kg. That started to get challenging but I wanted to continue pressing. Decided to take 5kg off the barbell and add one more rep. Continued this for another 10 minutes, and repeated the same protocol for the last third. My shoulder took hit on this one. It really fatigued them as planned!

Conditioning.

• Every minute on the minute x 18 minutes
• 1st min: 7-10 handstand push-ups
• 2nd min: 12 kettlebell swing @ 32kg
• 3rd min: rest

This turned out to be a very challenging portion. Especially because of those shoulder presses beforehand. I went down for the first set of handstand push-ups and was surprised how difficult those felt. My shoulders were shot already in the beginning =)

It was 7-10 reps per minute, changing a bit by the minute. It was just too much to hold on to 10 reps. Couldn't do them unbroken anyway, except the first round of 10 reps. Kb swings were much more easier to handle. I needed that extra minute recovery before going for next round of hspu's.

Monday 30.5: C&J, Wall ball, Snatch

Monday. Emom x 10min: 2 c&j @ 80kg. Metcon, 4rds of: 25 wb, 10 db snatch @ 25kg

Starting the week with clean and jerk action, in the form of heavier emom. Then a metcon that shot my shoulders. In the evening we went to Kaivopuisto. What a beautiful day it was! It was quality time to say the least strolling around the coast in south of Helsinki.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 2 clean and jerk @ 80kg

This was freaking great! I'm very proud of myself being able to complete this stuff. The big thing was to do these c&j's without resetting the barbell in front rack position. I'm not sure have I been able to do this kind of clean and jerks before at this weight. This got me sky high emotionally.

I was looking to go for 5 minutes but instead smashed it right into double the time. I've been trying to work on those fast transitions from front rack to overhead. It's nice to see 80kg is moving with the same bar path as 60-70kg bars.

Recap of clean and jerks

Metcon.

• 4 rounds of:
• 25 unbroken wall ball shots
• 10 dumbbell snatches @ 25kg, alternating

The purpose of this one was to do the wall balls unbroken. After those I moved right into snatches. Changed the hand after each rep. Tried to keep the transitions as short as possible from snatches to wall balls, with the thought in my head that I can't drop the ball once I lift it up. This definitely hurt my shoulders nicely.

Sunday 29.5: Power cleans, Pistols, Farmer's walk, Ghd

Sunday. Power clean 3-3-3-3-3 (up to 95kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 power clean @ 50kg, 20 pistols. Metcon, 4rds of: 40m farmer's walk @ 130kg, 25 ghd's.

Today's agenda was inspired by the ongoing crossfit regionals. Pistols and cleans were the main goal for today. Prior to that I decided to take triples on power cleans and hit some records there. In the end another brutal workout to seal the deal. I call that a great Sunday! During the day we spent quality time with my wife in Porvoo, what a beautiful city, especially during the summer time!

Oly.

• Power cleans 3-3-3-3-3 (80, 85, 90, 93, 95kg)

Didn't have this part in my mind early on but at at some point today I realized I need to warm-up anyway for the pistol / clean portion so why not take advantage it and rattle through some triples in the process. This time I built up to a heavy touch'n'go triple.

There is no doubt that those last two sets were personal records if I recorded max sets of something else than singles. Heavy power cleans are definitely not in my wheelhouse so I'll take this result victoriously and a smile on my face.

Metcon. Time, 9.00

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 power cleans @ 50kg
• 20 pistol squats, alternating

They did this for 4 rounds of 28 pistols and 15 power cleans. I modified it a notch, the volume stayed a little lower (118 --> 100 pistols and 60 --> 50 cleans). The reason was 28 pistols didn't something I'd be going through very fast. My legs are smoked from yesterday's strongman type of workout. Figured this would give me more intense end result.

This was brutal on lower body. Damned those pistol squats. I have them okay but when there's a good volume of those they are going to wear me down. More efficiency on those wouldn't be too bad of a thing. I did them 10-10 in every set.

This started with power cleans and so I did the first set unbroken. The following rounds were all singles. That was not predetermined by any means. In the beginning they were light, especially after the heavy clean triples. But then after the first round I started to save my legs for the pistols. Going unbroken would have taxed me a lot more than these singles. And thus I was able to keep going more effectively.

Metcon. Time, 12.20

• 4 rounds of:
• 2x20m farmer's walk @ 130kg
• 25 ghd sit-ups

My legs were cramping after the pistol metcon. Especially right quad was feeling miserable. Had to drink a lot and foam roll those quads to recover before the last event on this Sunday. I'll tell ya, those farmer's walks felt much more brutal after previous work being done today.

Ghd's were destined to be completed unbroken. Had to take a short break in the last set on top of the ghd machine as it felt like I'm not going to get up again otherwise =) This was a very good workout to smash core all the way.

Saturday 28.5: Thrusters, Sled pull, Front squats

Saturday. Emom x 20min: 5 thrusters (up to 60kg). Metcon, 10rds of: 15m sled pull with a rope, standing + 5 front squats @ 90kg.

This was a great session to say the least! I loved both of the workouts thrown at me. Okay I was the guy to write these conditioning pieces but anyway, you got the point. Rope pulls have always been awesome when I've tried them but they tend to stay in the background for quite a while before I remember to do them again. That just seems to be the pattern. I saw them at one year's Crossfit Games and that's where the idea came from.

Barbell conditioning.

• Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes: 5 thrusters
• 1-5min: 30kg
• 6-10min: 40kg
• 11-15min: 50kg
• 16-20min: 60kg

Starting light, almost like a warm-up kind of approach. Just mobilized joints in upper and lower body, then grabbed the barbell and went for it. Five reps per minute. Five minute per load, then add 10kg on the bar. Last sets at 60kg. Last 10 minutes the weight got be breathing.

This was tolerable but started to get uncomfortable for sure. Next barbell would have gotten me for sure, at least at some point. It felt awkward in both of my shoulders for the latter half of this workout but other than that this was great!

Metcon.

• 10 rounds of:
• 15m sled pull with a rope, standing @ 80kg
• 5 front squats @ 90kg

Something little different. This hurt more in my legs than upper body which surprised me somewhat. The distance on the grass matt is 20 meters so I'd estimate this was 15m travel pulling the 80kg sled with rope.

It was an entire body burn towards the end and breathing was heavy as well. Very good mixture of elements stirred up in this one.

Friday 27.5: Cleans, Pushing and Pulling

Friday. Emom x 12min: clean (up to 100kg). Metcon, 3x4min amraps, with 2min rest between amraps.

After taking two days recovery there was no chance in this world I would have skipped the gym. It turned out to be a clean session and then a combination of metcons that I got from one pal.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 12 minutes
• 1-3min: 90kg
• 4-6min: 95kg
• 7-9min: 98kg
• 10-12min: 100kg

My plan was to hit a longer session but the traffic was quite horrible and basically cut my training time a little. Went after cleans in the beginning without that much of a warm-up. That was probably the reason why the barbell felt a little heavier than normally. I was looking forward to building heavier but decided to stay around 100kg because I didn't feel that smooth in the movement.

Clean recap

Metcon.

• 4min amrap of:
• 6 push-ups
• 6 pull-ups
• Result, 8 rounds + 6 push-ups

2min rest

• 4min amrap of:
• 4 handstand push-ups
• 4 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• Result, 7 rounds sharp

2min rest

• 4min amrap of:
• 2 strict handstand push-ups
• 2 bar muscle-ups
• Result, 3 rounds + 2 hspu

This was  a good twisted idea by Miku. Three different 4min amraps of pushing and pulling. It got tougher considering the movements the further the clock ticked. Yes, the reps decreased simultaneously. First of these metcons was the toughest for lungs. Those were light kinda light movements so I was able to move faster. It was about 50 reps each elements.

Next round the pushing changed to handstand push-ups. Those went well too as it was okay to use kipping motion and thus utilize the entire body to move up and down the wall. I'm glad c2b pull-ups were just 4 reps per round. Got exactly 7 rounds at this second amrap.

The last one was miserable. The fact that strict movements are not in my wheelhouse was witnessed efficiently on this one. First round of this was okay. On the second round I got a no rep (actually two of those), and since then had to singles and rest between reps. Bar muscle-ups felt a lot tougher than what I'm used to but I got them unbroken still.

Breathing was heavy on the first and second metcon, and muscles burned due to keeping this body in constant movement. On the last piece breathing stabilized because I wasn't able to just go further. It was more just about hitting a wall and trying to copy with that. Thanks Miku for this combo!

Tuesday 24.5: Snatch, Wod, Accessory, Row

Tuesday. Emom x 15min: snatch (up to 65kg). Wod, 12min amrap: 5 deads (100kg), 10 s2o (2x20kg db's), 15 box. Result, 222 reps. Accessory, 5rds of: reverse hypers and curls. Cool down, 3k row.

Pauliina had girls gathering at our house so I needed to get out of the house for the evening. I had no troubles figuring out where to go. It was a crossfit session to come for sure. For some reason I had no plans whatsoever for this session at all, just went on by feeling. Turned out to be snatches, amrap, accessory and cool down.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 18 minutes
• Snatch
• 1-3min: 50kg
• 4-6min: 55kg
• 7-9min: 58kg
• 10-12min: 60kg
• 13-15min: 63kg
• 16-18min: 65kg

I took the warm-up easily, didn't rush at all, just kept pounding 40kg barbell up and down for a while. Then turned on the clock and completed one rep per minute. It was great to be able to climb up to 65kg again. Had no desire to build up to max of the day. Just needed to work on my technique. And there is something to be worked on for sure. But the lifts are getting better anyway. The bar is not going all over the place anymore. The lifts are starting to look more similar compared to each other.

Metcon. Result, 222 reps. 7 rounds + 7 db jerks

• 12min amrap of:
• 5 deadlift @ 100kg
• 10 shoulder-to-overhead @ 2x20kg dumbbells
• 15 box jump

Good metcon! Deadlifts have been away from my thoughts lately but it suited very well for this metcon. It could have been heavier but my palms were a bit sore so it didn't feel that good to hold a barbell. Deads were the easiest part of this workout.

Workout's idea was to keep moving constantly. The longest break was between deadlifts and dumbbells as I needed to complete those s2o's unbroken. No point in dropping the db's as it would be a waste of time picking them up from the floor again. Box jumps put breathing high as they regularly seem to do.

Accessory.

• 5 rounds of:
• 12 reverse hypers
• 8 bicep curls

Reverse hypers have been in the back of my head for a long time. Occasionally I get to do them and enjoy every time. Okay, I could do them more often but it's more of a time issue. Accessory portions are for days when there's no rush at all. This was good accessory piece. After all the work I rowed for 3k for cool down purpose.

Monday 23.5: Clean and jerk, Thrusters, Ghd

Monday. Emom x 10min: power clean & 3 jerk @ 70-73kg. Emom x 12: Odd min, 12 thrusters @ 40kg. Even min, 15 ghd.

Good quick session of olympic lifting and emom work to improve conditioning and also skills plus efficiency on those movements.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Power clean + 3 touch'n'go push jerks
• 1-5min: 70kg
• 6-10min: 73kg

This was great. Actually those jerks felt surprisingly easy. I had thought about doing them at 70 kilos for 10 minutes but then in the middle decided to add some weight. Conservatively but still a little jump. Got to try this with a little heavier too in the future.

Conditioning.

• Every minute on the minute x 12 minutes
• Odd minutes: 12 thrusters @ 40kg
• Even minutes: 15 ghd sit-ups

Second piece of action was good too. Went on with this couplet for total of 6 rounds each movement, 72 thrusters and 90 ghd's. Liked to get some volume in the bank. Both movements got breathing on the heavier side. Okay in the beginning it was easier on the breathing and it was definitely manageable throughout but it started to get heavier. Went unbroken on both, and tried to move fast all 12 minutes. Recovery was somewhere around 30+ seconds after each station.

Sunday 22.5: Pull-ups, Wb, Front squats

Sunday. Emom x 20. 1st, 15 pull-ups. 2nd, 15 wb. 3rd, 10 front squats @ 60kg. 4th, rest.

Today was a busy day even though it's Sunday. We had some errands to take care of and then there was ice hockey world championship's final day and teams are fighting for bronze, silver and gold medals. Finland was part of this dog fight but Canada took them out on the gold game. We went to to the gym for a short session with Pauliina.

Workout of the day.

• Every minute on the minute x 20 minutes
• 1st min: 15 pull-ups
• 2nd min: 15 wall ball shots
• 3rd min: 10 front squats @ 60kg
• 4th min: recovery

This was not supposed to be the toughest session of them all. At first I thought about having a recovery day in the form of just jogging for a while but once wife suggested some couples retreat at the box I started gathering my gear up and was ready to pump it up!

These were unbroken sets for sure. There was practically no warm-up prior to this one. No time for that. Just mobilized some joints and then hit it. Pull-ups started to become a factor and legs were on fire, especially on the last 2 rounds. Good one!

Saturday 21.5: Gymnastics, Row, Du's, Push-ups

Saturday. Gymnastics, 5 sets of strict hspu's. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 300m row, 30 du, 15 push-ups. Result, 6rds + 199m row.

We headed to breakfast early in the morning on Saturday as the weather was as beautiful as it gets. Found a nice café in Kumpula and got a chance to eat outdoors in the sunshine. Then some fitness needed to be improved just a little bit more this time too.

Gymnastics.

• Every 3:00, for 5 sets
• Set of strict handstand push-ups
• Result, 10, 8, 5, 5, 5 reps

This is something I have neglected for too long. It would definitely be beneficial to attack this weakness more often. Strict gymnastics movements. Whether it's handstand push-ups, pull-ups or muscle-ups. Ideally in a metcon it's naturally assisted with a kipping movement in order to utilize the entire body. But for strength purposes strict would be a good tool too.

It was one set every 3 minutes. Started with 10 reps, then 8 and the last sets were 5 reps per set. These tax my shoulders pretty good but also back and hammies are activated as I felt those muscles contract a lot and almost cramp at one set =)

Metcon. Result, 6 rounds + 199m row

• 15min amrap of:
• 300m row
• 30 double unders
• 15 push-ups

My plan was to take it rather easy this time. My body felt beaten up big time so I figured moving around a bit would be a good thing. It turned out pretty soon that it's not gonna be a walk in the park though. Somehow I turned the buttons on and went after it with a good mentality. I'm very happy I was able to dig deep and find the appropriate mental state.

It's been ages since doing double unders so I had no idea how they would turn out to. I foam rolled my shins good as I have found that's a good way to avoid the shin pain on the jumps. That was a good decision and maybe that's the reason why my du's rolled very nice. Had zero misses on those boom!

Push-ups were unbroken too. The round times also stayed consistent throughout the workout and I was able to keep the transitions rather quick as well. At least it felt like it. It's another thing what it looked like from outside hehe

Recap of handstand push-ups

Friday 20.5: Clean, Squat, Oh lunges, Hspu

Friday. Emom x 10: Hang clean + Clean @ 90kg. Emom x 10: 3 back squat @ 120kg. Emom x 15: 1st 10m oh lunges @ 50kg. 2nd 10 hspu. 3rd rest.

On Friday it was quite a bit of barbell work. Cleans, squats and overhead lunges. This hurt my body. Especially squats makes my butt cry today on Saturday.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Hang clean + clean @ 90kg

These were good all the way. Hang cleans started to feel heavier but it's good do notice they can be completed any day. Hips felt a bit tight but somehow they managed to do these.

Strength.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 3 back squat @ 120kg

This were brutal. I've one this once before with the same weight I suppose. For couple of minutes it was okay but for 10 minutes it felt nasty. One day after my hamstrings and glutes are sore as hell. I like it!

Workout.

• Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
• 1st minute: 10m overhead walking lunges @ 50kg
• 2nd minute: 10 handstand push-ups
• 3rd minute: rest

Squats took the best of my energy but after some recovery I took one metcon with overhead lunges and hspu's. Had to take advantage of the empty grass matt at the gym as it was almost empty during the day. Lunges were overhead version as it's something that is difficult to arrange on a regular training day because the gym might be crowded.

By the way those lunges sucked! They were as good piece of fitness as they were supposed to be but I mean they burned my shoulders. Or maybe it was the combination of oh lunges and handstand push-ups but my shoulders were devastated after this.

Thursday 19.5: Row, Ghd, Box, Snatch, Burpee

Thursday. Metcon, 3rds of: 30 cal row, 30 ghd, 30 box jump overs. Time, 14.10. Metcon, 8min amrap of db snatch (25kg) and burpees.

The playoffs started today in the Ice Hockey World Championships. Had to rush home after work to check Finland win Denmark. Got to say there seemed not to be a lot of feeling and will to win but on either team's mentality. Still, Finland won and moved on to compete against Germany or the comp host Russia. I found a chance to hit the gym after the game.

Metcon. Time, 14.10

• 3 rounds of:
• 30 cal row
• 30 ghd sit-ups
• 30 box jump overs

This was all about hip flexors. Every movement put pressure on those areas and it took a while after the metcon to recover. No idea of the row pace, I just looked at the calories and kept pulling. Ghd's were unbroken on the first round. On the second round I broke it to 18-12, and 12-10-8 on the last round. Core stayed good on these, it was all about the hip flexors. On the box overs I paced myself but never stopped moving.

Metcon. Result, 116 reps

• 8min amrap
• 2-2, 4-4, 6-6… of:
• Dumbbell snatches @ 25kg
• Burpees

My plan was to hit another metcon today so after recovering for a while I came up with this one. One training partner hit something with db snatches and burpees and it sounded good so I modified it to this one. This was a perfect conditioning piece. Got my breathing high and the overall fatigue hit me little by little.

Wednesday 18.5: Press, Squat, 15min amrap

Wednesday. Push press 5-4-3-2-1 (up to 85kg). E2mom for 10min: 1 pause squat + 2 squat @ 120kg. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 5 power cleans @ 80kg, 10 pull-ups, 15 wb. Result, 200 reps.

Damned, I wrote a post already and then it disappeared mystically. So this time I let the numbers speak by themselves without stories =) Got to say I'm happy on the push presses. Haven't pressed more than 85kg ever so got to take this with a smile on my face.

Overhead.

• Push press 5-4-3-2-1 (60, 70, 75, 80, 85kg)

Strength.

• Every 2:00, for 5 sets
• 1 pause squat + 2 squats @ 120kg

Metcon. Result, 200 reps (6 rounds + 5 wall balls)

• 15min amrap of:
• 5 power cleans @ 80kg
• 10 pull-ups
• 15 wall balls

Monday 16.5: Snatches and Cleans

Monday. Emom x 15min: Snatch (up to PR 72kg). Emom x 15min: 2 cleans (up to 100kg).

Did you watch the Crossfit Regionals during the weekend. It was great to get some competition action streamed at games.crossfit.com throughout the weekend from Friday to Sunday. Pacific, South and California regions threw down first. The events were as tough as they looked like beforehand. It was cool to see those guys attack them. It was a nice surprise that Josh Bridges smashed also the big weights in every event even though he's not a monster in size. Dan Bailey being left out from the Games was a bummer though. So many super athletes were competing for those 5 tickets to Carson that everybody can't go.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 16 minutes:
• 1 snatches (50, 50, 50, 55, 55, 55, 60, 60, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, PR 71, PR 72kg)
• Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes:
• 2 cleans (80, 80, 80, 85, 85, 85, 90, 90, 90, 95, 95, 95, 100, 100, 100kg)

My muscles felt good after the HC Triplet but somehow my body felt worn down in general. Probably due to the three workouts completed on Saturday. Decided to go by feeling on this one. No pressure, just take some lifts on the snatch if I could get my hip mobility on point. I took my time with the warm-up and started taking singles at light weights. It felt like I would definitely stay light all day.

However, it was emom and I decided to go up after every 3 minutes, starting at 50kg, then 55kg and finally 60kg. Those felt nice so I just added 2kg after each set every minute after the initial plan. That 64kg was something that startled me. It felt super good and I surprised myself by really dropping under the barbell. Yes, it might sound funny looking at my snatches =) But that was the feeling I had on that specific lift, and it boosted my confidence to ridiculous levels. So I just kept adding little plates on the bar until I got to 70kg.

Only once in my life have I got 70kg up, and that must have been something like 2 years ago. It's a threshold that has frightened me for too long. That should be a given on any training day in my opinion. My snatch is currently pathetic. Got that 70kg and was pumped over it! Decided to take it safe and add just 1kg on top of that to nail a personal record. That was ugly as hell so I added another kilo to get a better lift completed. Another Personal Record saw the daylight at 72kg boom!

Then it was time to get some cleans under my belt. Took doubles every minute for 15 minutes. Starting at 80kg, and going up 5kg after every 3 minutes. Last weight at 100kg. These were cool too.