Saturday. This was a day dedicated to kettlebells. Together with Pauliina we drove to my in-laws to Klaukkala for a delicious lunch. They have made an order for me to guide a kettlebell training session for 30 minutes. So before attacking the tremendous lunch table we took some training with kettlebells.
4 rounds of:
20 kb swings
20 kb clean & jerk (10 with left, 10 with right hand)
20 "rainbows" (10 each way)
I went for 30 kb swings myself cause I couldn't do right hand jerks at all, that shoulder is still not perfect. After kettlebell training, I took 100 sit-ups and 100 squats. This was way easier day than normally and these last days have not been that heavy anyway. Hopefully my body takes full utilization of this period and is fully pumped up to take the next step. I haven't had much rest in September so I really hope this short period is beneficial. There's been two rest days in total this month. It hasn't been a problem, this is exactly what my goal was. I wrote earlier that I'm going to make my body demand to practice every day (or two training sessions...).
The strength crossfit has, is that it's possible to practice this much because of the versatile training methods. If you're training the same way all the time, the problems occur. If you keep on mixing the movements and exercises continuously, you shouldn't get injured and you should be witnessing development. However, keep in mind that you should be upgrading the training loads little by little. I've been blessed to have the possibility to train well for a couple of years - due to floorball team training - especially for my stamina and overall condition.
The reason why I have soreness in my shoulder derives from too much eagerness with handstand skills training. I went three days in a row for handstand holds, handstand push-ups or something alike. There was simply too much burden for my joints, considering that I haven't done that movement much before and once I was inverted and holding 76 kilos, that was just too much. Now I know it and will not make similar mistakes in the future =)
Doing absolutely nothing, I wonder when was a similar day. Today I will let my body have a rest day I think it deserves. Gonna meet some friends and do some barbeque food, nice!
Thursday. I took it easier today. However, I joined Toni for the morning training. My babe got back home from Stockholm so I'll concentrate more on her for a few days =) We went for a one hour walk and she did some training so I took some active recovery on both times, with Toni and with Pauliina.
Toni had a rough morning. I drove to his place in Korso, in the middle of the local forest there's a jogging track where his workout took place. It was a sprint type of workout spiced with double unders, squats, push-ups, abs and lunges. Total of 1.000m running. Time 20.21.
200m sprint
50 double unders
200m sprint
50 squats
200m sprint
50 push-ups
200m sprint
50 sit-ups
200m sprint
50 lunges
The guy was burnt! The 200m sprint was a 100m shuttle run, 100m forward, turn around and run back. The last 30-40m of the distance was uphill which accumulated some heavy breathing for him. The order of the movements probably made it a bit more difficult for Toni because he spent some minutes on the double unders. That's why fatigue hit him hard already in the beginning. Normally this guy does squats and and push-ups faster than today so I figure this was the reason. He had some troubles in squats after 15 reps. This may have lead to longer time in the reps. On the other hand, if he went in different order and saved doubles for the last, it may have taken longer with DUs but the total time would have been shorter. Figure it out, this is just speculation =) Anyway, this was the longest wod he's ever done and I'm telling you, he left his heart at the battle field. His doggy, Muffi was with us at the training (see first picture) =)
Once he was running his sprints, I went for 10 toes-to-bars and 5 or 10 knees-to-elbows , depending on the round. There was a total of about 100 reps in total during the morning session. Naturally double under training was included, as always.
I went to pick up my babe from the airport after the training. In the evening we took a one hour walk during which Pauliina wanted to go for some pull-up training and dribble with the monkey bars.
She did awesome! I also took some L-holds in the bar and tested some kipping technique. At the end of the walk I realized there's a perfect place for box jumps with 60cm at my home's front yard. For some reason I haven't payed any attention to it. I was forced to take some jumps =)
Wednesday. Previous rest day was on Thursday and there has been quite a number of workouts since then so this morning was definitely going to be free from strength training. My legs are nicely jammed because of yesterday’s back squats and running for Griff, then again my upper body is relaxed and ready to go for it but my elbows / right shoulder is not in perfect condition so I wasn’t about to give too much burden for them. That’s why I wanted to concentrate today in metabolic conditioning, a.k.a metcon type of training.
DU skills. This is just a pleasure =) I like them, a lot. And once I’ve understood how they should be completed, it’s not an issue anymore. This morning I took sets of 10-20 mostly, once I went to 30reps. It’s so awesome to notice that I can do so many of them in such a short period of time. I feel awkward writing about double unders pretty much every day but I’m just so pumped up about witnessing the development =)
After double unders I did all kinds of movements without clear idea what to do. I just wanted to get my heart racing without giving too much pressure on my legs. I was so eager to do Angie, I’ve had that in mind for some time and since it was yesterday’s workout at the main site, I really wanted to go for it.
100 pull-ups
100 push-ups
100 sit-ups
100 squats
Still, I listened to myself and told that there is no point in doing 100 pull-ups with a slightly sore elbow and shoulder. It would have been the most stupid decision to go for Angie. So I wanted to practice for my burpees as I have kind of forgotten to do them in September, not on purpose but there's just so much other movements to be practiced. I’ve learned some technical issues for burpees from gymnasticswod.com, the way Carl Paoli talks and demonstrates burpees has really given me more skills to do them more efficiently, faster and without exhausting as much as before. I highly recommend visiting the site. Today I got Toni to make 4 rounds of burpees and sit-ups with me, not for time but for quality.
20 burpees
25 sit-ups
20 burpees
25 sit-ups
30 burpees
30 sit-ups
30 burpees
30 sit-ups
There were at least 100 reps for both movements, I had some sit-ups prior to this workout. All in all, this was a good way to practice for burpees. For starters we took some of them in slow motion to get the technique in place and think about all those steps and how to do them most efficiently. For the actual workout, I went as fast as I could for both burpees and sit-ups and I was happy to see I didn’t have similar problems for burpees as for let’s say two months ago with my old style. My keeping my legs together, I can generate more power and explosiveness from my hip and use some sort of kipping technique. I realized I don’t have to use as much energy and power to do one rep. And once the repetitions go larger, each saving in energy is highly valuable.
Toni went for the same burpee / sit-up workout after his strength training. There was also clear improvement in his burpees, we are in the verge of good development in some skills related movements for him, both double unders and burpees. For starters this fellow went for cleans as strength training, 5 reps for 55kg + 60kg, then 3 reps for 65kg and 70kg, 1 rep for his new PR 75kg, increase of 5kg to previous personal record, well done. Once you get the explosiveness, you’ll easily go for 80+, no doubt about it!
In the evening I’ll concentrate on floorball, team practice for 1.5 hours, and stop some quality shots =)
Tuesday. Strength back squat (max 115kg, PR) + DU skills + Hero wod Griff
Two training sessions. Morning concentrated in strength and skills. Evening training was all about running, hero wod Griff was ahead. I prepared myself yesterday evening for this morning’s training. As I opened my eyes today, I realized there’s some job to be done. As I entered the gym at 07.20 I sat on the rowing machine and began warming-up. Lunges, squats, overhead squats, some hip openers, ab wheel and finally some bear complex with 20kg bar. Bear complex movements include clean, front squat, push press, back squat, push press from the back position. Good warm-up. My schedule pointed out that this morning is dedicated to cleans, push presses and shoulder presses. At 40kg I felt this day will not go as planned. The soreness in my elbows showed first signs from which I understood I have to listen to my body and make sudden changes in plans. Result: move to back squats.
Strength. Back squats 5x5 (100+105+110+ PR 115kg).
Damned it was a good decision to go for back squats! I went for lighter weights for a while to get my hips and hamstrings get used to the movement. Once I took sets of 60+80+90 kilos for some time I moved forward. At the beginning I was disappointed that I couldn’t go all the way with cleans and presses but then I slapped myself in the face and did some mental work. I was not about to come to the gym this early in vain. “Go on and do what you came here for!” Ok, I did. Thanks for Toni and Pasi for backing me up in squats. It felt good all the way and I had good confidence in lifting the bar with all those plates at it. My previous PR was 110kg, I’ve reached those kilos only once so today’s sets were terrific for me. 5 reps for 100, 105 and 110kg. For 115kg I went for three times, fourth was a struggle and my training partners helped the rest of the lift. It felt awesome!
Skills. It’s rolling, and it’s rolling good =) Fantastic day! To the end I took 10x10 double unders and I mean genuine double unders, no single unders in between. Compared to the video I posted previously, the difference is that I can hold my ground and I’m not moving back and forth around the gym. My knees are still bent a lot but that doesn’t bother me at the moment, I'll fix that later. The main point is that I get doubles fast and continuously, I’m confident with the jump rope. It’s part of my daily warm-up to sacrifice 10min to jump rope training. And today I decided to do 100 DUs at the end. Not a bad way to finish the training. Here's my max performance (22 reps) which I did after those hundred reps. You can hear Toni's heavy breathing at the end, he's really giving his everything in his wod =)
Toni went for back squats as well. His max rep was 100kg, he did two reps for the maxes. His PR stands for 105kg. He also did a wod, time 12.48, consisting of 5 rounds of:
20 double unders
20 sit-ups
Simple and good workout. Similar like my yesterday’s workout with burpees and sit-ups. Good traditional movements and you still get your heart racing with huge velocity =) It was nice to see Toni progressing with double unders, managing 100 DUs in rather short period of time. It’s awesome to see his development.
Hero wod Griff. Time 11.01
After work, another training was looming ahead. The only thing I had confirmed was that I would go to Pirkkola's track field. I had a few options what to do and finally decided to go for hero wod named Griff.
Run 800m
Run 400m backwards
Run 800m
Run 400m backwards
I spent quite a lot of time in Pirkkola the past summer when I started crossfit. For the past 1-2 months I've done most of the workouts at a gym or near my home outdoors. So driving to the familiar track field was like driving home. It's difficult to include all possible elements of training in crossfit. You should be able to maintain and develop your strength, speed, stamina, mobility and skills. Even though I consider training a lot, it's still a struggle when I plan my training and how to include all possible movements continuously. I've heard the same from other crossfitters. That's one of the reasons why I've taken DUs as part of my warm-up. Maybe in the future I can take something like burpees and handstand holds as part of my warm-up. It's a good way to keep up with some movements. Anyway, today's warm-up in the evening included 1.2km run, hip openers, lunges, squats, 50 double unders, overhead squats etc.
Even though I prepped my body well for the workout, the morning's squat training was clearly seen from the very beginning of Griff. My time for the first round was 1.35, after two rounds it was 3.13 and midway 5.24. That means the latter half was 5.37. Not a huge difference during the workout but my pace from the very beginning should be faster if there wasn't squat training loading the burden. This probably wasn't the smartest planning, that I can tell =) Anyway, backwards running really brought fire to my calves, after 300m the pressure was high. Very tough day for my legs, I had to give them ice cold shower for five minutes when I got home, they were in such a pain. Now, I feel awesome as I look back at the day and what kind of achievements I reached: back squat PR, 150 DU just like that, and a hero wod is never a piece of cake.
Hey, what do you think of this guy? I talked for some time with him about training and crossfitting and sports in general. He was at Pirkkola for the 54th year in a row! He's 73 years old and has been going there for over 50 years with his pals, this time with only his wife anyway. Every year they take test results for 100m sprint, 1.000m run, shot put, hammer throw, long jump and discus throw :) How awesome is that?!? Think about it, he's been there over half a century, this guy really has some athlete blood running through his veins. RESPECT!
Monday. A lot of hurdle walkovers, hurdle jumps + wod: 5 rounds of burpees and sit-ups.
My gym was supposed to be closed for three days (Mon-Wed) for renovation so I had other plans for today's practice. However, the renovation was postponed to Thu-Fri but I still decided to go for the original plan. I headed to Eläintarhan kenttä, also known as Eltsu, track field in Helsinki where Finnish athletes have set more world records than anywhere else, total of 14 WRs. The place is phenomenal, I went there a couple of times last summer, the training possibilities are just perfect.
Hurdles. The reason why I went there was because I wanted to increase my elasticity in my hip flexors. I don't know the exact english terms but the main point is that I don't want to feel that stiffness around my upper legs. I need them to stretch more so that for example when I squat my hip area doesn't restrict the movement. That's the reason why I wanted to do some hurdle training. Awesome training for mobility! Anyway, for starters I ran 1.2km, took some warm-up and then moved to 10 min double unders skills training. I have my jump rope with me where ever I go. Then to hurdles
24x8 reps, hurdle walkovers
14x8 reps, hurdle jumps
24 reps, Jump over a hurdle and sprint 10m
My body thanks me for this decision. I was close to drive back to the gym and do some heavy back squats in the evening. I'm happy I went for different kind of training today and maybe got some good results for elasticity. I do stretching pretty much every evening at home but this type of training really gives mobility a different kind of meaning. There were a lot of reps. I lined up 8 hurdles after each other so that I could walk over 8 hurdles in a row, then walk back and repeat the 8 step walk. I took them in different style of steps.
After 24x8 (about 200 reps) I gave some space between the hurdles and began to jump over them in sets of 8 jumps, then walk back and repeat it, over and over again. I really felt the efficiency of this training after some jumping. My joints were much more loose, in a positive way. The further I went, the easier it became. At the end, the stiffness was totally gone. Total of about 100+ jumps.
The grande finale was to jump over one hurdle and take a 10m sprint, then roll back to start line, total of 24 reps of jump & sprint. This was a good variation to my daily routine. I believe this type of training would highly increase my mobility and quickness in running. Here's one random video from youtube to give some light in the issue =)
Wod. 5 rounds of:
15 burpees
20 sit-ups
Because by heart I'm a crossfitter, I was forced to take a short workout to the end =) 15 burpees and 20 sit-ups for five rounds. I've been ignoring burpees (as well as thrusters) for some time so it was about time to go for them! I watched Carl Paoli from www.gymnasticswod.com do some burpees a while ago and tried to listen his advice on the matter. At least I was faster than normally, didn't gas out that fast and was able to maintain my legs together and thus a good posture all the way through the workout. There was a total of 75 burpees and 100 sit-ups, good quick workout.
Sunday. Double under skills training, strength training for cleans (PR 67.5kg), wod 7min amrap of 7 kettlebell clean & jerk, left hand, 7 kettlebell clean & jerk, right hand and 7 K2E. My result was 119 reps.
Skills. We went to the gym with Toni and after a 5 minute rowing and kettlebell warm-up we continued to practice skills for double unders. This day was a breakthrough for both of us, huge one! Toni finally got the double unders rolling with 2-3 single unders in between. This has been quite an issue this far. Very good job Toni! I've been doing doubles by having one single under always in between. I haven't even trained not to have a single between doubles. Today we took 15-20 minutes of hard core jump rope training and dribbled all kinds of jumping to get totally familiarised with this skill. At some point I figured out what DUs are all about. All of a sudden I managed to do 10 double unders in a row, that is without singles in between, c'mon! My posture and foot work technique wasn't obviously awesome but this was extremely huge step for both of us =)
Strength. Clean 6x5 (55+55+60+62.5+65+ PR67.5kg)
At fiftyfive the bar didn't weigh that much at all. Today was good day for clean training. I took some cleans with lighter weigths for sure but my sets started from 55kg. Sixty kg came up nicely as well so I figured we are close to making a persona record today. My previous PR was 2 reps with 65kg. Today I took 5 reps with the same weight. That was my goal but as it was going so nicely I had to take it a bit further. 2 reps with 67.5kg, PR.
Toni went for front squats, previous PR for him was at 80kg, today he added 2.5kg and managed to do his best this far, PR 82.5kg. He went for 3 reps in previous sets but for 80kg and 82.5kg he took 2 reps.
Wod. 7 min amrap. 7 K2E short of total 6 rounds.
7 KB Clean & jerk, left hand
7 KB Clean & jerk, right hand
7 K2E
I decided to gor for 7 min amrap (as many reps as possible) for clean & jerk with my 20kg kettlebell. That means for 7 minutes you have to do these three movements for as many repetitions as you are able. The result is the number of movements in total. You can not move to the next movement before you have done the previous. First clean & jerk 7 times with left hand, the kb touching the ground each time. Then 7 C&j for right hand, then move to 7 knees-to-elbows. Then another round, continue for 7 minutes. I got 5 total rounds and managed to do 7 kb clean & jerks with both hands. Only those K2Es were short of 6 total rounds. Left hand jerks went unbroken each time. For right hand jerks, I had to take a short pause in rounds 4 and 5, in the last round I pushed through like a raging bull for the final sprint. K2Es went unbroken every round. Good workout, total of 42 reps for left hand, 42 reps for right hand, 35 K2Es.
Toni's wod included 5 rounds of the following. Time 10.57
10 front squat (50kg)
20 sit-ups
He had some wrist issues with front squats, he is not that familiar with front squats, I believe this was his second time doing them. I also remember that similar pain in wrists as they didn't bend as they should. Nowadays I don't have that problem at all. The sit-ups were a killer, according to Toni, the abs went numb he said =) I think this was an awesome day of training for both of us. Toni went forward with double unders and front squats, also abs got their share. It hit me like a lightning how the DUs should be done, and I also got PR result for cleans. Now I'll go and take a long recovering walk at the sea front in Helsinki as the weather is extremely beautiful. Have a nice Sunday!
Saturday. Deadlift 3x3 (max 137.5kg), hip thrusters 3x8 (max 80kg), good morning 3x8 (max 60kg). Wod. 4 rounds of 30 box, 15 K2E, 30 DU. Time 9.44.
One game, strength training concentrating on back muscles and hip plus a metcon. Tough day, just the way I like it. We had three games today as a small tournament, it was part of the rivalry for the Finnish Cup Champion. I played the last game of the day. We had one tie and one win before the last game so we needed to beat our competitor to move to the next round. The result 6-0, can't be more than proud of the team and how well we played and definitely earned the spot in the next round. In addition to my shoutout, I also got one assist and denied one penalty shot at the end of the game, not bad.
Strength. Deadlift 3x3 (130+135+137.5kg), hip thrusters 3x8 (60+60+80kg), good morning 3x8 (50+55+60kg).
Yesterday I was wondering weather to go for front squats or deadlifts and finally decided for squatting. So today it was obvious that I would compensate that decision for my body. I had already a good "warm-up" and sweat on because of the game and therefore I took on rather quickly the strength training. I did some 80 / 100 / 120kg weights up first and then moved on to test my back some more with heavier weights. I took 130+ weights as my 3-rep sets. I was happy with the result. My aim was not to go for personal records this time (140kg) but I was close.
After deadlifts I wanted some more strength training before a metcon and my calendar showed I should go after hip thrusters. Never done them before, only looked some videos on youtube. They should create power and explosiveness to hip area, crucial for deadlifts at least. I took 3 sets of 8 reps, first 60 kilos twice and finally 80kg. It really felt this was the first time doing them, it wasn't that stable and solid. But at least the weights came up =)
I also took good morning as last strength training, 3x8, adding kilos in each set. Starting from 50, going up with 55 and 60kg. I'm going to add this once in a while to my deadlift training days. It's a good variation to keep the body fresh.
Wod. Box jumps, knees-to-elbows and double unders. Time 9.44. Four rounds for time of:
30 box
15 K2E
30 DU
Felt like a heart attack was about to come my way. Good workout! Combination of box jumps and double unders are a killer. A mand gets gassed rather quickly, the third round was tough, hard to catch a breath and you don't want to take a pause once you're fighting the clock. I went unbroken for two rounds for all the movements. For box jumps I recall stumbling two times during the workout and for K2Es I had to go 10+5 for the last two rounds. DUs didn't go unbroken in any round, usually in three sets. It was tough, exhausting workout and I really enjoyed it. The abs also got their part of the workout with the knees touching elbows (okey, some of them touched only triceps). I recommend. Once you do it, post your time, I'm interested to see where I stand among you guys.
Toni suggested this workout to be done next week. It also caught my attention, probably going after it
Five rounds for time of:
15 walking lunge steps, carrying a 95 lbs barbell (43kg) in the front rack position
C'mon! The feeling wasn't the best in the afternoon. My right shoulder is close to be inflamed and there is also a slight chance of flu crawling in so I wasn't sure if I should go to the gym. Then, a couple of my colleagues went to the gym so I had no other option but to accompany them =) I think my shoulder and elbows were damaged earlier this week because of training three days in a row of handstand skills / handstand push-ups. It's not that familiar movement to me so it wasn't very wise to overload my body with that kind of burden. Anyway, I decided to focus purely on my legs today with front squat strength training. In addition I dribbled with the jump rope and some knees-to-elbows but skipped a wod for today.
Strength. 5x5 (90+95+100+100+ PR 102.5kg).
I just love front squats. My package stays in control, so to say. I can keep a good posture and my elbows pointed forward, I'm able to maintain strong middle section and squats go all the way down. This is the movement, which in my opinion is rolling the best and easiest for me at the moment. My previous 3-rep PR was 95kg. Today I took 5-rep sets but when I went to hundred kilos and up I lifted 3 reps in each set: 3x100kg, 3x100kg, 2x102.5kg. That last 102.5kg rep didn't come all the way up so my training partner had to give his helping hand. It was extremely close. I'm so happy that I went to the gym and I immediately felt much better with my flu and shoulder issues. I would have liked to take a wod as well but hey, that would have been stupid =)
Today's training also gives hope to my back squat training. I've understood that it's not normal to have such a small difference with front and back squat maxes. Max for front squat is 102.5kg and 110kg for back squats. Only 7.5kg difference is awkward. I'm optimistic that there is good potential in my back squats, I just have to start adding weights there.
People walk through the doors and ask: "where are all the machines?" -We are the machines
Thursday. For me, this day was taking it easy and preparing for the upcoming. Toni instead hit the gym and did some deadlifting. Agenda was to do deadlift, max weight was 130kg and he did a wod after strength training. 3 rounds of:
20 burpees
20 kettlebell swings
40 single unders
Toni's had 2 rest days in the past two weeks so the guy was quite exhausted after the workout. For some technique training for burpees from gymnasticwod's videos, introduced by Carl Paoli
Wednesday. Strength back squat 5x5 (max 105kg). Wod back squat + DU + K2E
I did some mental work yesterday as I had skipped my squat training on Monday because my body wasn’t that receptive then. It has been knocking on the back of my head that I must do that back squat training this week at some point. On Monday I skipped it totally and went for a wod instead. I prepared myself in the evening and went to bed earlier and woke up fresh today so that my body would be better equipped with to do back squats as strength training. Good breakfast, head to the gym, warm-up longer than normally, 20+ minutes. After some squats with lighter weights I knew this day would be a good day for squatting =)
Strength. 5x5 (90+90+95+100+105kg)
And it felt good! For starters I took some sets of 40 / 50 / 60 / 80kg sets to get my legs familiar with weight lifting. Then for sets of 5 repetitions: 90 + 90 + 95, adding it to 100 and finally 105kg. I really felt I could have gone for more but I saved it for later. Why? Because I don't think it would have been wise to go after heavier kilos because there had already been quite a bunch of reps and back squats were included in my wod as well. All in all there were about 80 squats with various weights today... I concentrated in going deep enough and my legs were flexible, that was promising. Next time I’m planning to add some kilos and try to remember proper planning and warm-up, that was the key to success for today's morning training.
Wod. Back squats, double unders and knees-to-elbows . I didn’t time this wod. 5 rounds of:
6 back squats (50kg)
20 DU
10 K2E
Yep, could have gone for 30 DUs and 15 K2E per round. The back squat was obviouslyrather light. The purpose was, after all, just to give some pressure for the legs but not too much because there were quite a number of reps. Still, I could have had it around 60-70kg. I’m so proud that my double unders are going so well at the moment, 100 reps and it wasn’t any kind of an issue =) How about knees-to-elbows? I had that swinging problem some time ago, which is gone nowadays. I found the rhythm one day and I can keep the movement continuous. I’m hoping to find that same logicality for toes-to-bar. Anyway, the movement itself wasn’t a problem, but in the last round or two rounds my grip began to slip a bit. I made them unbroken but I remember having some slipping there.
Toni decided to go after cleans, max about 70kg. After that he did a workout consisting of thrusters (45kg) and rowing, with the amount of reps and distance getting smaller by each round. Kind of a modified version of the crossfit.com's workout of the day.
20 thrusters
500m row
10 thrusters
400m row
5 thrusters
300m row
Combination of thrusters and rowing can really make a man hunt after proper breathing, and Toni was no exception =)
Tuesday. Clean & jerk 5x3 (max 60kg). Wod. 10 rounds of 20 DU, 20 box jumps.
Main focus on upper body strength this morning. Clean & jerk, 5x3 and an additional workout. Toni did a shoulder-related wod, I went for legs and cardio. There was a reason for that. For some reason my left elbow was sore after the strength training, and has actually been slightly sore for a few days. Not bad but still I decided not to give any more pressure to it.
Strength. 5x3 (50+50+55+55+60). Toni went up to 65kg
I wrote 1-2 weeks back that I'm probably going to stick with these weights for a while. I'm sure I'm able to scale it upwards in a while but for today these weights were good. The last 60kg was a tough one since that's also my PR in push press. It was a battle but a battle worth fighting. I'm satisfied. Toni took it a step further by going to 65kg.
Wod. The idea was to take a Mikko Salo type of workout. In one interview he said his favorite once was to go with push press, 2 min amrap, 2 min rest, total of three rounds. That sound tough, I personally once went with 1 min amraps. Toni did this workout today with 40kg bar, a total of 65 reps in three rounds, I don't remember the reps per each round precisely, they were something like 26 + 24 + 15. Correct me if I'm wrong Toni!
In a second I was supposed to go for a different type of wod which would not give too much pressure on my elbow. So I decided to concentrate on legs.
Ten rounds of
20 x double unders
20 x box jumps
My double unders are in quite a good shape, about half (or more) of those 10 sets went unbroken, not bad. Probably my next step is to start practising doing them without that extra single under between doubles. Also box jumps went unbroken. I didn't time this workout at all.
Today's workout at crossfit.com is amazing, hero wod 7. Seven rounds for time of:
7 HSPU
7 Thruster (135lbs = 60kg)
7 K2E
7 Deadlift (245lbs = 110kg)
7 Burpess
7 Kettlebell (2 pood = 32kg)
7 Pull-ups
Huh, 49 reps of each, total of 343 reps, pretty tough one if you ask me =) I'll better try that some day, have to scale the thrusters though, as well as KB 'cause I ain't got that heavy kettlebell
Monday. Handstand skills, handstand push-ups, knees-to-elbows (K2E), double unders. Mostly skills oriented day with a spice of shoulder pressure. My plan was to go with back squats as strength training but once I was warming up my legs and groin area felt really stiff. I still decided to for it and went squatting with lighter weights for starters. Already 60kg felt rather heavy and my joints still didn’t feel flexible so I decided to skip strength training for today. No point in forcing one to some heavy squatting if the body is not that receptive. So I decided to go for my new favorite, handstand related exercises. I went ten rounds as follows:
Handstand skills
10 K2E
Handstand skills
10 K2E
Handstand skills
10 K2E
Handstand skills
10 K2E
10 handstand push-ups
10 K2E
10 handstand push-ups
10 K2E
10 handstand push-ups
10 K2E
10 handstand push-ups
10 K2E
10 handstand push-ups
10 K2E
10 handstand push-ups
10 K2E
I started by just playing with it, trying to focus on that still and steady position with my legs pointed straight, first against the ceiling, having the wall next to me as assistance. My strategy was to swing my legs against the wall, or more like “kiss the wall”, not slam my legs against it. Then try to find that position where my legs are not leaning against the wall but being carried totally by my hands and shoulders. Little by little I’m getting there, it’s easier to find that stable balance the more I practice. However, there is still a long way to go until I can go handstand walking or hold the handstand balance for ages =)
Each round, after some 1-2 minute handstand practicing I went for 10 reps of knees-to-elbows, known as K2E. Then back to handstand skills. Four rounds like this, then I decided to give some extra pressure for my shoulders by introducing 10 reps of handstand push-ups (HSPU) each round. So the remaining 6 rounds I went 10 HSPU + 10 K2E. The last reps really got to my shoulders in a nice way. I didn’t time this wod, it was all about doing them with quality and concentration. Total of 60 HSPUs and 100 K2Es.
I just felt out of juice in the morning, so I’m somewhat disappointed that my legs didn’t work as I had planned but the good thing is that I was able to substitute the workout to upper body exercise. There is a 1.5h team training in the evening so I’ll put on my goalie gear and play some floorball.
Toni went for squats, purely strength training. He came up with max rep of 105kg, which is his split personal record from two weeks ago. He also tried 110kg but this was not the day for a new PR. Maybe next time =)
Sunday. Yesterday was a rough day of workouts so today was supposed to be more skills oriented, some sort of a rest day. Highlighting the "was supposed to"... The schedule turned out to be as follows:
10 rounds of row 30 seconds, rest 30 seconds (1.748m)
Skills training: handstand, 20 min
10 rounds of row 30 seconds, rest 30 seconds (1.729m)
Skills training: double unders, 10 min
Technique training: snatch and overhead squats
Rowing. I took off with the traditional rowing warm-up, combined to pvc pipe and different kinds of squats. After some 15 minutes of preparing my body for another workout, I started the rowing interval excercise. The idea is to row 30 seconds as fast as you can, then rest 30 seconds, repeat 9 times to reach total of 10 rounds. The distance is your result. I had to beat my CF idol's (read my bro's) result so I switched to bigger gear and started bouncing as a maniac. Result 1.748m and a win. He's still way ahead of me in strength so I'll have to improve there. Well okay, he's result was something like 1.720m so we were quite even on this one ;)
Handstand. I want to master the handstand skill, as well as handstand push-ups and handstand walk so I took a 20 min session of practising handstand skills, I used a wall for my assistance. Being inverted is not normal for a person so it takes time to get used to the upside down position. For some reason I sometimes realize I'm holding my breath while being inverted, don't know why but I'll have to get rid of that awkward habit. I also took a 5 min handstand training earlier today as I was walkin with my dog at the park. It really gives pressure to your shoulders so mine were burning after 20 minutes.
Rowing. I wanted to know how well could I maintain the speed if I went again with the same row wod, so I took 10 rounds of 30/30 work/rest interval training for the second time. Result was 1.729 meters so pretty much the same as first time. I'm happy I could maintain the speed. My ass began to go numb when rowing so I didn't want to take a third similar workout =)
Double unders. There has clearly been a solid development with double unders so I want to keep training that skill on a regular basis. Currenty I get them going relatively well but I'm using more energy than I'm supposed to. That's because my knees bend too much, legs should be rather straight when jumping but I haven't been able to do them the correct way this far. That's why I attempted that style and managed to gain few double unders "the correct way". Furthermore, my style is still that double-single-double-single style. I always take an extra single under between double unders. However, today I managed to do four double unders in a row without any single unders in between, I was surprised myself as well =)
Snatch / OHS. At the end I had a good feeling about two quite unfamiliar movements to me: snatch and overhead squats (OHS). I took some 5-10 minutes to practice those with a pvc pipe and then with a bar (20kg). Especially the OHS seems difficult as I'm having trouble hitting 90 degrees with bar held over my head. I'm sure I just need more reps.
Saturday. HC Triplet, 3 wods. Time 19.10 & 1.938 stairs. Toni's time 26.45 & 1.208 stairs.
This day was a different one than normally. The purpose was to have that near death experience at the end of the day. Together with Toni we headed to Malminkartano, Helsinki to an outdoor location, which is known for its perfect jogging surroundings and what makes it unique is that it's the highest point in the city of Helsinki, approximately 90 meters above sea level. The view of from the top gives an outstanding 360 degrees panorama view in all directions. It's amazing once you get to the top. We had planned to perform three workouts at the spot with short rest periods. Once the other one performs, the other one does the workout. I think the day was a success.
First workout. Kettlebell swings, kettlebell clean & jerk, sprint. Time 8.44, Toni 12.27.
10 KB swing
6 KB clean & jerk
600m run
20 KB swing
12 KB clean & jerk
400m run
30 KB swing
18 KB clean & jerk
200m run
Total of 1.200m run, 60 KB swings and 36 KB clean & jerk. Kettlebell was 20kg in all movements. Run was a shuttle run. We measured a 100m distance, which we went back and forth as long as it was needed, i.e for the first round there were 6 x 100m sprints. This wod was kind of an awkward as the feeling got better towards the end of the workout. That's because the sprints went shorter. Swings with this 20kg kb aren't that bad for me, they haven't gassed me in any of the workouts that I have performed by far. The clean & jerk movement was somehow tougher with the left hand. It was clear for both of us that our right hands were stronger and some extra work was needed from legs / hips when jerking the kb with left hand. I considered this workout a good start for the day.
All sets went unbroken, total time was 8.44. It's hard to estimate how hard I ran, it felt that there was some heavy breathing so I don't know how much could have been improved. I had that slight thought in my head that if I run with the best I have, it's going to prevent me doing my best in the following 2 wods so I feel I saved some energy in running due to that. Toni said in some video that he thought the most difficult thing was the kb swings. He figured the same that his right hand was clearly stronger. Afterwards we realised it was all about how the left hand was positioned, it wasn't pointed out the correct way, especially as fatigue was crawling in. Toni went swings in 5-10 sets at the latter half of the workout, until that he went unbroken. To my eyes it seemed that he had the power to go unbroken with the clean & jerks as well but he had some short rest periods in between.
Second workout. 6 rounds, sprints spiced up with extra work for mostly legs. Time 10.26, Toni 14.18
100m sprint
50 squats
100m sprint
50 double under
100m sprint
50 lunges
100m sprint
25 burpees
100m sprint
50 double unders
100m sprint
50 squats
Tough one! There were a total of six rounds, 6 x 100m shuttle run and always in between there were some work to be done: squats, double unders (Toni went single unders but doubled the amount), lunges, burpees, double unders and squats. A lot of work for legs. Once I was finished, so were my legs... I tried to keep up a good running speed as the distance wasn't that long. I have no idea how fast or slow I kept sprinting. The amount of work to be done was quite perfect. Squats went good, lunges too, I managed the 25 burpees well. Because there was a tough pressure on cardio, my concentration wasn't the best in double unders, which caused me stumble a little bit too much. First 10 went good both times but then it was something on 5-10 on average per attempt. When I'm not burdened with fatigue, I can go 20-30 DUs in a row. So having that into consideration, jump rope took too much time.
Toni went unbroken most of the movements except single unders. The reason why he went slower on the other movements, is that he does them with little more consideration; short pause before moving forward, it just takes a bit more time with each rep. I figure it's all about more reps, more reps and more reps. Once you do more squats for example, you find out a technique that is most suitable for you, how to get a rhytm that suits you and how can you utilise your hand swings in that. Or for burpees, it's very much a skill related movement in which I have a lot to do still. Toni fought through the workout bravely!
Third workout. 10 min stair ascent. Stairs 1.938, Toni 1.208.
Huh, looking at the stairs from the bottom of 426 steps, the feeling is that it's a never ending path. I went up and down the first round in 4 minutes and more. At the second round my calves began to get the cramping feelings but still I figured this is all about psychology, how well can a man keep his head together and force his body to go further. "Just because your muscles start to hurt, it doesn't mean you have to quit", I remember reading from somewhere. It also gave me some boost as Toni shouted to me all the time. At the end of the workout he said there was an american basketball coach training four of his guys running up and down the same stairs. He said the guys were finalised after few minutes of running. Their coach referred to me running, that "hey guys, c'mon, that guy is doing a 10 minute amrap so shut up and go!" Haha, felt good! Total of two rounds up & down, and 234 steps up on the third round.
Once Toni was about to go his uphill stair run, all of a sudden the sky stormed and a hail occurred from nowhere. There was some sort of a Rocky - atmosphere as everyone else started running to shelters to avoid the rain and Toni was all pumped up to start his final workout of the day! Only "Eye of the tiger" was missing =) He went a total of 1.208 steps, one round up and down, then 356 to the second round, missing only 70 steps from finalising two ascents.
The conclusion of the day. Awesome!!! Three wods in a day with short rest periods was exactly what we craved for. The burden for the legs was extensive, and there was a lot of running outdoors which we haven't been doing much lately. The focus has been in strength training with wods including at the gym. The cardio type of training has been substituted pretty much to rowing and workouts that give pressure to our hearts. But one must not forget old school running, short and medium distances. We were very satisfied to the workouts and the pain given to our bodies. I am happy to my performance, only double under stumbling at some points was frustrating, other than that, the workouts went smoothly and everything went unbroken. I felt strong today. You'll find more videos from the day at youtube.com, then go for the channel "tommilamppu".
Toni, throw in your comments of the day, should we have another similar session in the future as well?
