Our daughter has a dance hobby and usually my wife takes her to the venue. This time it was my turn and as there is no possibility to watch her dance but only wait outside. And because of the korona virus I'm not eager to wait in a hallway with other parents I decided to take advantage of the situation and head to the close by track for a recovery run. This was slow pace running for something like 3-4 kilometers so I can't tell it was a wod but just easy jogging to get some fluids running in my body
Monday. Emom x 10: Du's and L-sit hold. Wod, 4 rounds of: 400m run, 30 du, 15 burpees. Time, 14.20
The feeling this Monday Morning was surreal on my body. Lower body was hit by a truck due to big volume squats two days ago. Upper body and arms / forearms were also destroyed because of yesterday's efforts. So it was a blast to hit this one :) I thought where does it not hurt? Core can take some beathing and I can also jump around with a rope.
Workout.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Odd, 40 double unders
0:20 L-sit hold
I am very happy on the late progression of double unders. I'm feeling confident on those and can go for unbroken sets of 30-40 without having second thoughts.There are thing to fix in my technique for sure but those are not easy to overcome after 8 years of doing du's in a certain way. So I went unbroken on these and then hit L-sit holds every other minute. In my opinion these two worked well together. Yes, those holds started to become very unpleasant but I sold it to myself that this is the way it should be like.
Workout. Time, 14.20
4 rounds of:
400m run
30 double unders
15 burpees
I wasn't ready to quit after the first session. Even though it was a hasty session and the schedule tight I still had time for another piece this Monday. I needed to get more double unders in my system so it turned out to be like this. Running was steady, Du's were unbroken and I paced myself on the burpees. I was left with a good feeling about this workout.
Saturday. Emom x 12 of clean variations. Intervals, every 3:00 for 18min: 15 pull-ups, 6 front squat @ 80kg
Like I wasn't already walking stiff-legged from yesterday's squat sesh. But those legs worked so I crawled myself to the gym and started developing this idea in my head about cleans and interval training. Intervals usually mean a lot of heavy breathing and burned legs
Barbell cycling.
Every minute on the minute x 12 minutes
Odd, 4 hang power clean @ 80kg
Even, 4 hang squat clean @ 80kg
Somehow I reckoned 80kg barbell would be heavy on this one. But I was able to manhandle this weight all the way. Actually I felt very "comfortable" with that loading. I mean I had no issues with that Rogue's Ohio barbell. Even those squat cleans moved nicely all the way.
Intervals.
Every 3:00, for 18 minutes (6 sets) of:
15 pull-ups
6 front squats @80kg
These short intervals were awful. Of course when I write this type of intervals, the goal is to move with a purpose, fast and without recovery times. So I jumped on the pull-up bar, went for 15 reps and jogged to the barbell which laid on the ground. Had to squat clean that one for the first squat and then pumped it up to a total of 6 front squats. These took me 40 - 45 seconds to complete every round. It stayed consistent even though the feeling grew nastier by the round
My mental image was seeing Mat Fraser running from pull-up bar to a 50kg barbell for thrusters on Friendly Fran at this year's Crossfit Games. Yep, I think it might look a bit different but that was my motivation for this one.
My wife went to a summer cabin with a bunch of friends on Friday so I was with all the kids at home. At this point that is a bit too challenging combination to hit a workout at the same time. After they went to bed I was done for the day myself too :) So I did my squats the next day as twins went for a nap, and went outdoors with the oldest daughter.
Strength.
Back squats 7 x 10 @ 95kg
This was the fourth round of this squat cycle. I began this same 7x10 system from 80kg, then have added 5kg per week. This far I have had no issues on these squats. The volume is high but this has been a clear system and there's a purpose behind this. I had some issues with my knee so I haven't put a heavy load on a barbell in the past months. And because I haven't been able to squat during the summer I needed to start lighter not to stress my left knee. This cycle has felt great, and my lower body has been hit my a truck for maybe two days afterwards. And it has been awesome mentally to squat a lot
Thursday. Wod, 10 rounds of: 10 hang power clean @ 40kg, 10 front squat
Wednesday was a recovery day and it probably would not have beena bad idea to have another one on Thursday. My energy levels were at zero and my work day was so tight that it eas difficult to find a lunch break. So I went outdoors in the evening. My warm-up didn't give any ideas so I just took a light barbell and wanted to move.
Intervals.
10 rounds of:
10 hang power clean @ 40kg
10 front squat @ 40kg
30sec work, 60sec rest
There was basically no plan as I started moving. It was created in seconds after I put the timer on and had my hands on the bar. I completed 20 reps with the bar, then put it down. Took a glimse on the clock which said it was a 30 second round. I took a minute of recovery, and repeated this for a total of 10 rounds. Even though the barbell was light it started to burn my legs little by little.
Monday. Wod of rowing and burpee box jumps. Time, 17.10
Yep, it's been a rowing fiesta that just continues to keep on going strong. It's been long time since utilising my box jump station so it was awesome to put that in to use. It was a busy start to the week so this workout made it a lot better. Even though it ate a bit of my soul and left me on my knees afterwards.
Workout. Time, 17.10
50 cal row
25 burpee box jumps
40 cal row
20 burpee box jumps
30 cal row
15 burpee box jumps
20 cal row
10 burpee box jumps
10 cal row
5 burpee box jumps
It would be great to know my pacing on the rowing but to be honest I have no idea whatsoever, not on any of the rounds. It has usually been somewhere around 1.50 - 1.55 during workouts. I kind of like this kind of programming in workouts. Big chunk of action in the beginning and then you slice something away every round. It's mentally much more rewarding to do the reps compared to if it was rising or there were identical reps each round but they were big sets.
Burpee box jumps are divine. Nasty mofo for real. I don't know what strategy you need on these, just keep moving. Pace yourself and try to control the breathing. I noticed my legs were hot as hell on pretty much every set towards the end. These were even more challenging than I dared to think beforehand. But as always, you just push through and continue to chip down the reps.
Sunday. Buy-in 1.000m row, then 10 rounds of: 30 du and 15 pull-ups. Time, 16.34
As if I didn't get enough of rowing yesterday I needed some more. The real point behind that 1k row to start the workout was to get my heart rate up and body better prepped for the workout. We went to the Woods in the morning with family. We love to jump in the car and head to one of the neraby forests to wander around. Lots of things to awe with the kids.
Workout. Time, 16.34
Buy in with 1.000m row, then 10 rounds of:
30 double unders
15 pull-ups
So okay, the 1k row was the real warm-up with 1.55 / 500m pace. Plus it of course may have brought some tension in the forearms prior to the pull-ups. Yes only 1k distance but I'm thinking going for 150 pull-ups so it would be ideal to have fresh forearms to start with.
I'm happy on how those double unders are going nowadays. Went unbroken as I have gone mostly in the past weeks / months. On the pull-ups I could have gone ub for some rounds but my goal was to optimize this so after first round I changed the plan. Might sound funny but I did 12 + 3 reps every round after that. Why not complete 10 + 5 or split it in half? That's mental stuff to me. I knew I could keep going for 12 reps every round and then I'd have only 3 reps left to complete. Leaving 5 or more reps for the second attempt would lead to bigger recovery periods for me. Now it was easier mentally to drop, turn and complete the remaining reps.
Yesterday was third Friday squat progression in a row. I'm starting to get a little proud of myself for keeping up with that system. My legs have been smashed every time so it's a little bit of a mystery why I jumped on to this workout the following day. Well, it's good to kill those legs entirely every now and then.
Amrap 30. Result, 5 rounds + 250m row
1.000m row
30 wall ball shots
That pace on the Concept 2 was systematically between 1:55 - 1:57 through all 5 rounds. My logic was to maintain a pace which I could keep for a longer period of time without having to start gasping for air. Surely it burned my legs and lungs in the long run but it was manageable. This totalled 5.250 meters during half an hour workout.
Wall balls are something i feel rather comfortable with. Well, okay to be honest that word does not describe it well but I mean to say I can keep throwing that ball up in the air and not stop and lean my elbows on my knees all the time. Thirty reps is still a lot to be thrown unbroken so I did those 20 + 10 reps every round.
My round times were very close to each other, 5.45 - 5.50 every round so the purpose of the workout was reached.
This was the third Friday in a row going for this squat progression. I'm kind of happy I have been able to smash those squats consistently.
Strength.
Back squats
7x10 @ 90kg
I began these squats with 7x10 @ 80kg, then adding 5kg per week so it's been 85kg last week and 90kg today. I thought my body would become used to hitting high rep squat sets and my butt, hamstrings and quads would not be out of order for days after that. But little did I know. Lower body has been smashed for two days afterwards, after each of these three sessions. I have kept some pace on these squats so that the recovery time is not several minutes. These have been rather quick squat sessions. I have climbed to somewhere around 120kg prior to first work set. It has felt great this far to squat with a purpose.
Thursday. Barbell cycling and gymnastics. Pair workout.
It was a blast to get to visit Crossfit Kehä. It's not that common that I get to train there. Of course the surroundings are perfect and that also means that I'm getting Toni as a training partner. Having either him or my brother to throw down means it's gonna be a lot of fun.
Workout.
Every 2:00, alternating between A and B
A
3 power clean
3 front squat
3 push jerk @ 50, 55, 60, 65, 70kg
B
12 handstand push-ups
12 pull-ups
Okay, afterwards it could have been rougher. This was something Toni copy pasted from some program he was following. That barbell cycling piece was maybe too light. Even though that 70kg barbell felt like too shaky in my hands when having it overhead. That stability was not there. And it was only 70kg. Because it only took like 15 seconds to perform, there was too much recovery time after that. So it might have suited better having more reps with something like 60kg barbell.
It was a cool trick to mix barbell cycling and gymnastics though. The bodyweight stuff was more taxing so that was kind of interesting.
Pair workout. Time, 8-9 minutes
50 deadlift @ 50kg
50 power clean @ 50kg
50 push jerk @ 50kg
Every minute on the minute, starting at 0:00, both perform 4 burpees
We completed this together with Toni. We did those deadlifts quite fast as the barbell was only 50kg. I could have continued those to sunset. Changing to power cleans was a different thing. We did mostly 5-rep sets on those. On the jerks it was also mostly 5's all the way. At some point we had to cut them down. Normally probably not but there was a twist that both of us had to complete 4 burpees every minute. That definitely had an effect and the body just wore down little by little. Shoulders got fatigue so after doing burpees and sets of 5 jerks it occasinally had to be broken to triples towards the end of the minute. This took us something north of 8 minutes in total.
This has become a weekly routine. Okay, not a routine as we do not have a fixed time but this far we have usually found a time once a week to hit one conditioning session. These sessions have been very close each and every time. I don't believe we would continue to hit it if either of us would be dominating the field all day long.
Monday. Workout, 10 rounds of: 8/8 db snatch, 8 burpees. Time, 14.50
Some might say the last two previous days had been somewhat grip intensive training sessions. Completing sets of 50 kb swings on Saturday and then Fran type intervals on Sunday. My forearms were still feeling good even though I was a bit tired overall. I went to hit this workout in the evening as my daughter joined me in the gym as she did her drawings in the same time.
Workout. Time, 14.50
10 rounds of:
8 snatch @ 25kg dumbbell, right hand
8 snatch @ 25kg dumbbell, left hand
8 burpees
Those round times were remarkably identical when compared with each other. I started doing this without any plan on the time frame. It turned out it took me about 90 seconds to finish one round. From then on I just wanted to hold on to that pace for another 9 rounds. I'm very pleased I was able to maintain this plan throughout the workout.This was basically dependant mostly on mental game. It wasn't too physical on strength. Mostly the breathing aspect was the thing that determined whether to hang on to the pace or not.
Sunday. Intervals, starting at every 4:00 for 6 sets, complete 15 thrusters @ 40kg and 15 pull-ups
Yes, it looks something like Fran type of action. And it was. The combination of thrusters and pull-ups is always intriguing. But still so damn nasty. I have promised myself I will not do benchmark workout Fran anymore, like ever. My goals are different nowadays. I'm working out because I like to, and just to keep in shape.
Intervals.
Every 4:00, for a total of 6 sets, complete:
15 thrusters @40kg
15 pull-ups
There is some walking between these two stations but it was sub one minute to complete one set of an interval. I'm very happy that those thrusters were well under control throughout all those 6 sets. My breathing was calm and cool but as I walked to the pull-up bar the idea of jumping up there was not great so I had to force myself to go further. Pull-ups got tough towards the end but I got through these unbroken which was of course the only natural purpose of this workout.
Okay, my butt hurt from Friday's squat session but it was still somehow tempting to grab a kettlebell and swing it around. Put more pressure on the posterior chain.
Wod. Time, 20.26
3 rounds of:
1.000m row
50 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
This turned out to be (not a surprise though) grip intensive workout. Rowing was somewhere around 1.55/500m pace which has become somewhat a standard in my workouts. Especially when going for longer distances like this.
The real beef on this one was still those kettlebell swings. I completed every round with 3 sets. First grab was always 22-23 reps. Second set was 15-17 reps and so the last was 10-12 reps. As I estimated, the thing was definitely grip strength. Breathing stayed under control throughout the workout. I'd say it was well managed.
