Saturday 12.10: Deadlift, ring dips, t2b

Saturday. Skills, ring muscle-up progressions. Strength, deadlift emom, 5 reps @ 130kg, for 10min. Metcon, 5 rds of: 10 ring dips, 10 t2b.

This Saturday I took it a notch easier. I was looking eagerly to continue to work on my squat strength but I've had some hip issues for a couple of days. My left hip is sore continuously and it's difficult to complete even air squats so it probably wasn't a surprise I had to skip front squats today. Instead, worked on my hammies and posterior chain with deadlifts. Started the session with ring skill play and finished it with some movements I need to keep on working.

Skills. Ring muscle-ups. It's difficult for me, no doubt about it. False grip is beyond my comprehension. I can do false grip reps if I jump from the ground and land on the deep dip position. But once I have to do a "real" muscle-up, starting with my feet off the ground, can't simply hold on to the rings strongly enough. I have to take a regular grip and then it's much more difficult to get up there. Guess I have to keep on working on my bar muscle-ups so that my explosiveness and speed up there is fierce enough and only then start working on ring muscle-ups.

Recap of the training day

Strength. Emom deads.

• Deadlift, every minute on the minute, 5 reps @ 130kg, for 10 min

Haven't been doing deadlifts at all this month, did some great numbers in early autumn. This has been intentional as I'd like to squat more now to build up my strength base and doing deadlifts seems to be controversial with squats. It's difficult to do a lot of both of them. My back would be devastated if I tried to combine both of them aggressively in my program. Today was supposed to be a squat day but that left hip is sore as hell. Got to let it rest and work on other movements. Hopefully it will get back in action soon.

Metcon. For completion

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 ring dips
• 10 toes-to-bar

Not for time, wanted to nail those ring dips unbroken. Focused on doing the movements as efficiently as I can and without breaks. Those ring dips are not one of my strengths, that's why I wanted to do them today. I still got them through without having to drop down from the rings.

All in all, this was clearly an easier day. I realized today afterwards that the last 6 days of training have actually been quite rough. Have done Fight Gone Don, Diane and Hammer, plus I met my brother for a hardcore training session on Tuesday. So no wonder I felt a bit tired as I woke up in the morning.

Pony and 60kg snatch

Friday 11.10: Bench, row, run

Friday. Bench press 3-3-3-3-3 (max 92.5kg). Metcon, 5 rounds, effective time of: 2min row, 2min run.

Friday for bench strength and cardio endurance. It's probably been something like 3 weeks since last bench session so it was about time. I don't consider bench being the most important of the strength movements but still it is worth doing every once in a while.

Strength. Bench press 3-3-3-3-3 (80, 85, 90, 92.5, 90kg). I was strong today. Take into consideration that I believe I have never lifted 3 reps at a weight that starts with number 9. Today I did 3 sets, the heaviest being 92.5kg. After that set I understood I couldn't upgrade it to 95kg which I was looking forward to. Wanted to get full 3 reps in each set. Decided to round it back to 90kg. Pauliina was spotting me on the last sets and said the last set was too light. I might agree on that one. Should have kept it at 92.5kg. Had to put in a lot of work though.

Metcon.

• 5 rounds, effective time of:
• 2min row (approximately 600m)
• 2min run (approximately 435m)

Been thinking about this type of action for some time. I'd love to have a skierg at my disposal. When Pauliina was living in Stockholm and we used to go to the local gym, they had skierg in there. The machine is freaking awesome. It gets to your breathing, legs, triceps and shoulders. I don't think there's a place that it leaves in peace when you're in action.

Anyway, today I did this workout for 20 minutes. With 20 minutes I mean total work time was 20 min, effective time. Then there was also the transition times between the two stations. Rowing took me for about 600 meters on average in that time period and on the treadmill (yes, I had to use a treadmill…) I set the pace at 13 km/h. On the last round it was 16km/h. Had no idea how fast that is, I just set it and kept on moving my legs.

Both movements made my breathing go heavy. Of course it started to burn my legs a bit too. The burden always starts to feel when I row 3k, no doubt about it. Running was actually pretty cool stuff in a metcon, even if it was on a treadmill. However, the pace was difficult to set as this machine is a strange thing to me. Now as I think about it, running 435m on average is a bit too short distance. Should have probably been somewhere around 500 meters, I guess? Not an expert on running though.

This video below is something I was talking with one of my training colleagues yesterday. He was giving similar tips as Dan Bailey is talking about in the video.

Thursday 10.10: Hero wod Hammer

Thursday. Hero workout Hammer. Time 18.45.

What a training day. Having done clean & jerks on Tuesday and burning my shoulders, I was thinking about whether they would be recovered enough for today. Decided to hit it! No need for any other support training in addition to the workout of the day. Did mobility in the end and sat in sauna for some time, tried to get a grip of life before going home.

Autumn is beautiful in Finland

Hammer. Time 18.45. Compare to 27.5.2013.

• 5 rounds:
• 5 power cleans, 60kg
• 10 front squats, 60kg
• 5 push jerks, 60kg
• 20 pull-ups
• 90sec rest

There's a lot of repetitions with the barbell and on the pull-up bar. This type of bar action is something I believe I must get better at. Muscle endurance with a bar that's 60kg is classic weight on benchmark workouts and in crossfit in general. I can move the bar rather quickly for some time. It's another thing to keep on going without going tired. My pace stayed ok for 2-3 rounds after which it got slower, and I had to start breaking the reps.

On the first round I did went unbroken throughout the whole round. Of course it got my breathing go fast but it was still manageable. 90sec rest was enough to recover for the next round. On the second round I still went unbroken on the bar complex, front squats were slower this time but unbroken still. On the pull-ups I cut intentionally not to smoke myself too early. Dropped after 10 reps, then did either 10 reps or 5+5. After the second round the nature of the game was clear. It's gonna be serious. Breathing was heavy, forearms were burning and grip strength was soon to be gone.

On the third round I had no other option but to start strategizing on the barbell work on the fly. Did 4 power cleans, took a break, completed the last power clean to move on to 10 front squats and then 5 jerks in a row. The pull-ups were so much tougher on this round. On the last 3 rounds I did them 8 reps, then 4+3+3+2. Can you believe it, it was way tougher than pull-ups are normally. Having no grip strength it was difficult to keep on moving on the pull-up bar. Once I dropped from the bar, I tried to keep the break very short. On the 60kg barbell work, my breaks were longer, though.

On the fourth and fifth round my performance was identical on the strength work. 4 power cleans, break, cleaned the bar back, did 10 front squats, dropped the bar, break, then finished with 5 push jerks. Those breaks tended to be longer than I wanted but they were compulsory. Simply couldn't catch a breath and my muscles were burning. Finally the workout ended, as they usually do =) Time was 18.45, including those 6min rest periods between rounds. That's a PR by half a minute.

The 2 first rounds were fine, had no problems. Third one was the turning point. I was done in 9 minutes and my pace was rather good. However, the last 2 rounds were grueling and painful. This proved to me that I must do more barbell complexes with semi heavy weights. A 60kg bar must move quickly and for a long time.

Those pull-ups made the workout much more challenging compared to moving only the barbell. I did 5 rounds of Hammer in January, alternating with Tony, and my round times were pretty consistent, changing from 1.11 to 1.57. However, there were no pull-ups at all in these rounds. That type of workouts might be the future for me.

Wednesday 9.10: bodyweight, plyometric work

Wednesday. Bodyweight movements, plyometric movements.

My body is crashed from yesterday's workouts with my bro. Heard that he's suffering from some muscle pain as well, no surprise. So today I took it much easier and concentrated in playing with rings and then mostly did plyometric training to improve on my explosiveness. Also some elbow levers saw daylight.

Elbow lever

Skills training of the day.

• Rings: inverted hold
• Muscle-up progressions (jumps from ground, swings)
• Bar muscle-up (all 1 of them =D)
• Elbow levers
• Plyometric jumps (high box jumps and jumping from knees to squat position), about 70 reps
• Jumps from knees-to-ground to feet-to-ground, 3 x 10 reps

Most of my time I focused in high box jumps. I took 5 reps on each of the hight levels. Added a bumper plate after each set. Finally there were 8 plates on the Rogue box. Could have added more, there was still some gap to be filled. It started to feel a bit intimidating and the plates were running out as I stocked them on the box so I stayed at 8 plates. Took a few sets with that highest stack.

These plyometric workouts are supposedly increasing explosiveness in hips and thus improve on pretty much all possible movements there are in the weightlifting scene. These type of training sessions are rare but fun. In a day like this when my body feels it's been shocked by earlier days' workouts I'm able to squeeze these in. Maybe the body could benefit the most if it was fresh but I felt this was a good decision.

Then some elbow levers or what ever you wanna call them. I held my both elbows at the hip, tried to stabilize my body by leaning on them, aiming to find a steady straight core. Not an easy job, must say! It's very challenging and taxing movement and it's not many seconds I can hold on to this position. I also sometimes work on this movement on the floor by leaning only one elbow on the hip, the other one is free of my body. Even tougher.

And then in the end some sets of this type of jumps, also same goal as with the high box jumps: creating explosiveness on the hips. Starting position is on your knees, end position is landing on your feet as quickly as possible.

I'm glad I went to the gym and did something light work, hoping my body is well prepared for tomorrow's workout.

Tuesday 8.10: Clean and jerks, metcon with bro

Tuesday. Freestyling with clean & jerk + split jerk (PR 95kg, split jerk PR 100kg). Pair wod with bro: 5 rounds of: 300m run, 5 clean & jerks (60kg), max effort double unders while the other partner runs.

Training day with my older brother! These days tend to be heavy in nature. My shoulders were smoked after we left the building. So was Sipa's. In other words: great training!!! We did some sort of clean & jerk complex, single clean & jerks and split jerks. Finished the training with a pair wod, running, c&j and double unders.

PR BABY!!!

Strength. Going by feeling

• Started with 2 cleans + 3 jerks (including warm-up: 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 85, 90kg), then
• Clean & jerk (PR 95kg, failed on 100kg), then
• Split jerk from rack (PR 100kg)

We started by doing a complex of 2 squat cleans + 2 push / split jerks. The goal was to go as heavy as possible doing this type of complex. Other option would have been simple and old school singles. But we wanted something different. After the barbell got too heavy, I decided to do singles. End result was that I completed 2 personal records: clean & jerk with 95kg and 100kg jerk.

It was light in the beginning for sure. Tried to do warm-up with bear walk and by using resistance band. Then some barbell work and I started working towards clean & jerks. Started with light weight, moving up together with my brother. 2 hang squat cleans up to 70kg, then 2 jerks. On 80kg I did a hang squat clean but the second rep failed so I repeated it from ground. Went up to 85kg, completed it and decided to go for 90kg. I dropped the bar after the first clean but finished it till the end with 2 split jerks.

Next stop, 95kg. Clean, failed, what? Why would I fail on a clean at 95kg? This wasn't the best of my clean days. That was clear to me already earlier on. My technique wasn't as explosive as it needs to be. I was able to pull the bar at a decent hight but I wasn't going under it fast enough. I still got good results which is of course encouraging. Took the 95kg again and completed it nicely.

Tried to clean 100kg once but as it failed I decided to put the bar on the rack and jerk it from there. I was confident enough to get the bar up. As you see from the video my legs are not doing the job they were created for, not going under the bar as fiercely as would be smart. But that's the way it is when you're handling weights that are on the limits of your strength. This was definitely somewhere around there and the main point is that I got the hundred kilos up in the sky!!!

Pair wod.

• Partner 1: 300m run
• Partner 2: complete 5 clean & jerks (60kg), then max effort double unders while partner 1 runs 300m
• Result. 300 double unders (60 each round)

As if our shoulders weren't smashed already, we created a pair wod on the go with Sipa. The other one runs for 300m (back and forth 150m), and the other one has that time to complete 5 clean & jerks with 60kg and the remaining time as many reps as possible of double unders.

My double unders were good today. Completed 60 reps each round, total of 300 reps in the workout. I did 20 reps on average per set. Completing double unders after having ran for 300m and completing 5 unbroken c&j's right after it was a bit challenging. It would have been nice to breath every once in a while… =) Good breather!

We both completed the clean & jerks unbroken. Both of our shoulders were in pain already before the workout so you can probably imagine the feelings in the middle of the workout. Still, I'm glad we nailed it unbroken. Had to take a pause before starting the double unders.

My brother did similar training with me. As I arrived, he was holding 70kg overhead and he was squatting like there was a feather above him. He soon went to 80kg (current PR) and finally did 85kg, a new PR. Looked good! He also tried to go for 90kg but he failed to lock out the bar overhead. Great results bro!

All in all, this was a great training day! And these days with Sipa tend to bring in quite a burden on the body. Enjoyed every minute of it!

Monday 7.10: Diane, rowing metcon

Monday. Benchmark workout Diane. Time 9.47. Metcon, 4 rounds of: 500m row, 25 push-ups. Time 12.02

I've been training handstand push-ups like a maniac lately. Wanted to put myself to test and see has all the training paid off or have I worked in vain. Could there be a better benchmark workout as Diane? Lots of hspu's and especially, lots of reps in a row. Huge test. I had a break and took another metcon of rowing and push-ups.

Diane. Time 9.47.

• 21-15-9
• Deadlift, 102.5kg
• Handstand push-ups

Yeah baby! Compare to previous Diane, done in June. In 4 months my time was cut from 16.02 to 9.47, that's way over 6 minutes, c'mon!!! Those endless amounts of hspu's in the past couple of months have really been worth it. Especially in September I did over 300 reps.

Had some doubts about my strategy. I knew my hspu's are much stronger nowadays and I should be able to nail multiple reps in a row. However, I also know that once shoulders / triceps go fatigue, it's difficult to get them recovered. So I couldn't decided on my tactic on this one and decided to go by feeling. Listen to my body and hope it gets me where I needed to get.

Deadlift was light weight stuff and thus didn't create any probs. 102.5kg should fly up and it did. It got breathing go heavier so that was the downside of it. But my muscles were able to move the barbell like it should move. I think of this workout like it's 45 hspu's with short break in between sets.

The result is made on the hspu's. I did 10 reps on the first attempt, then 5+3+3. It took me 3.20 to finish the first round. On the second round I believe I did 6+4+3+2, or something alike. At least 6 reps on the first try. Time was about 6.20 as I was done with the round of 15's. The last round was something like 4+2+2+1.

Don't know, maybe I could have pushed a little more on the hspu's. I was afraid of them putting my shoulders in unbearable flames that is hard to overcome. So I believe I was holding back a little on the rounds of 21's and 15's. In the final round I was all in. Of course my shoulders were feeling it definitely from the beginning to the end but the muscle pain was tolerable. It got me thinking whether I could have pushed it a bit more. Anyway, I was super happy on the result!!!

Hannu on push press

Metcon. Time 12.02

• 4 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 25 push-ups

Did another metcon to get all my juice flowing in the body. Rowing and push-ups. Thought I've never done this type of workout. Until I checked my Diane from March. I happened to complete identical workout with 2 rounds, today I did 4 rounds: 2k row and 100 push-ups. Those push-ups aren't really my thing, I'm not that strong in the movement and I had to break each set. Guess those hspu's also had their influence. On the row I went at approximately 1.50 pace all the way. This workout was not all in type of action, more like "for completion". Liked the program anyway, good combination of 2 simple movements. Definitely worth doing another time.

Tomorrow I'm gonna go workout with my bro, hopefully. He had a slight incident today with the barbells as weights dropped on his foot so hopefully he's in shape tomorrow.

I had a friend today at the gym, Hannu, doing strength training. He had a good attitude, completing 3 different emom trainings. That's a tough one. Think about it: push press emom for 10 min, back squat emom for 10min and finishing with 10 min emom with thrusters. That's a lot of reps for strength! You'll see a video of him doing presses up there.

Sunday 6.10: Front squats, Fight Gone Don

Sunday. Front squat triples (max 120kg). Metcon, Fight Gone Don. Result 232 reps.

What a day. At least I felt like work has been done! Front squat strength training succeeded well and I created by myself. It took my breath away and was one of the toughest workouts I've ever done. Got to fuel up and eat well to fasten up the recovery process. Gonna chill out in the evening and get some energy back in store.

Strength. Front squat 3-3-3-3-3-1 (100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125kg). It was cool to front squat after some time. Classic strength triples, starting at 100kg and adding 5kg till max set. Had no idea how far I could go nowadays. Current one rep max is at 130kg. Hundred kilos wasn't bad at all but I had no expectations, just tried to stay positive and optimistic that I'm gonna stay with the triples in the next set as well. As I was at 110kg the barbell started to feel much heavier but I realized there's a good chance to get 120kg up 3 times. And I got, that was great! Wanted to take a single attempt of 125kg and it was a good one. Stopped there and continued to the wod.

Front squat strength

Fight Gone Don. Result 232 reps

• 3 rounds of:
• 1min, hang power snatch, 40kg
• 1min, box jumps, 61cm
• 1min, pull-ups
• 1min, thrusters, 40kg
• 1min burpees
• 1min rest

I was smoked! One of the sickest things got to say. At least for me this put me in the border lines of consciousness. I remember having similar feeling when doing Filthy Fifty for the previous time. The cruelty of the workout was clear after the first round. 1min break, and then complete another round, 1min rest and final round is ahead of you. Hard to say what was the most challenging movement, it was more like the combo of all the movements. Each of them made my breathing go heavy and there was no movement that would have been easier than the others.

Strength wise on the snatches my result was the lousiest. Box jumps and thrusters were quite consistent. Take a look at the numbers each round below. Burpees at the end of each round was pure hell. Guess the burpees have never felt as heavy =) Just 1-2 weeks ago I did a metcon with 150 burpees but these 41 reps were way tougher!

Results per round.

• Snatches, 13 + 8 + 8 reps
• Box, 24, 20, 18 reps
• Pull-ups, 25, 20, 15 reps
• Thrusters, 15, 15, 10 reps
• Burpees, 16, 10, 15 reps

Snatches felt good in the first round as I started the whole workout. I was rather fresh, the front squats felt in my legs but my upper body was ok. Then, on the second round the bar was clearly heavier, it was like some one had added some weight on the barbell. Third round didn't make it any easier.

Box jumps took on my legs and they started to burn early on. Maybe those front squats had their share on the burn. Anyway, the numbers didn't drop dramatically. On the pull-ups my strategy was not to go all in on the first round. I did sets of 10, 10 and 5 on the first round. Probably 10 and 10 on the second and 5's in the last round. My forearms were burning during the entire workout.

After pull-ups it wasn't the most pleasant idea to grab the bar and complete thrusters. Like there were other options, I took the bar and started moving. Did 10 reps each round on the first attempt. On the first and second I did an additional 5 reps. I'm a bit disappointed I didn't do the same on the last round. Would have had time for that. The burpees were challenging. I remember hearing Graham Holmberg say in some video that there's no excuse ever not to keep on going with the burpees. You can always drop down, hit the chest to the ground, and come back up. You can always do it. Just do it. The second round seemed to be the toughest. In the last round I had nothing to hold back anymore so I got to same numbers as in the first round.

Recap of the workout

The feeling afterwards… Indescribable. Felt so awful, had troubles breathing and sight was blurry. It took some time to recover from that feeling. Got home and prepared some good food with Pauliina and stuffed it inside of me to get back on track. It was a great weekend and a relaxing one. Enjoyed it!

Salmon, sweet potatoes and salad, yammy!!!

Saturday 5.10: Rest day

Saturday. Rest day.

Did practically no sports today at all. Wanted to go for it, a lot, later in the afternoon. I was thinking about doing some skills training for bar muscle-ups and handstand training but my love persuaded me to go for autumn walk in the forest and enjoy the weather instead. Not a bad choice after all =)

I'll chill today and get ready for Sunday's workouts. Looking forward to get back in action!

Toni's workout.

• Squat snatch strength: 5x30, 5x35, 5x40, 3x45, 1x50, 1x55, 1x60 failed, 1x60kg

Metcon. Result 6 rounds + 4 t2b

• 16min amrap of:
• 6 toes-to-bar
• 8 burpees
• 10 wall ball (8kg)
• 12 kettlebell swing, russian style (i.e. eye level), 24kg

Friday 5.10: Hspu, c2b, box

Friday. Emom training for strict handstand push-ups, chest-to-bar pull-ups and box jumps. Each set for 10 minutes.

On Friday I had just a little time to squeeze some time to work out. We were going to meet some friends in the evening and then a stand-up show to catch on later in the evening. So I wrote myself a workout with 3 x 10 min emom training. Lots of mobility was included in the metcon too.

Metcon. Strict hspu, C2B and box.

• Every minute on the minute, 4 strict handstand push-ups, rest of the minute hip flexor mobility
• Every minute on the minute, 6 chest-to-bar pull-ups, rest of the minute squat mobility
• Every minute on the minute, 10 box jumps (61cm), rest of the minute upper body mobility
• Each movement for 10 minutes, 1 min rest between those 10min sets

This was pure inspiration from Jason Khalipa's training video I posted yesterday. Check it out. On the first set I did 4 strict hspu's and hip flexor mobility for the rest of the minute, that was around half a minute. It served my hips good! The number of reps was perfect for me, couldn't have been better. In the beginning I would have been able to complete more reps but the last minutes were tough. The last 2 minutes were extremely challenging and I felt like the last rep on both of those sets were a real battle. But I got them!

Thought chest-to-bar pull-ups would have been easier. My forearms were burning in the end. I was first thinking about doing them without that much of a kip but the reality kicked in pretty soon. Had to start using more powerful kipping technique. Somehow I couldn't get a perfect rhythm going on at the gym as I felt like the wall was such close. It's not a problem at all but now as I was doing c2b's I felt like I need more kip than normally. Did squat mobility to accompany the pull-ups. Just sitting in the bottom position and finding good flexibility.

The box jumps were easy. Did 10 reps each minute, totaling 100 reps and utilized resistance band for upper body mobility for about a half a minute after the reps. This was a nice way to combine skills movements and mobility in a same session effectively. Not a hard core metcon but good amount of reps for each movement and lots of mobility. Total of 40 strict hspu's, 60 c2b's and 100 boxes.

Thursday 3.10: Emom Oly's

Thursday. Emom, snatches, 5 reps @ 50kg, for 6min. Emom, clean & jerk, 6 reps @ 60kg, for 5min.

Felt like I was prepared for the session I had planned earlier: every minute on the minute training for olympic lifts. Concentrating purely on bar work, doing high rep workouts in rather short time domain. Session was a bit shorter, mobilizing my joints in the beginning to get warmed up, then snatches and clean & jerks.

Strength. Oly lifts

• Every minute on the minute:
• Power snatch, 5 reps @ 50kg, for 6 minutes (total 30 reps)
• 5min rest
• Clean & jerk, 6 reps @ 60kg, for 5 minutes (total 30 reps)

It was perfect this time. In some vague way you could say I did 2 benchmark workouts: Isabel first, followed by Grace. Well, the times were clearly slower than if going all in with the girls. Still, it required mental toughness to finish the sets unbroken, with good pace and style. I wanted these type of workouts where you have to move semi-heavy barbell quickly and for good amount of reps.

On the snatches the bar felt heavier compared to clean & jerks. Snatch obviously ain't one of my strengths. Lately I have been focusing on the bar path from thighs to overhead. I believe it's coming up way closer than earlier, which is nothing but a good thing. I'm able to pull back my upper body to let some room for the bar to travel upwards in a vertical line. There's a lot to do still, and the work will never end but I think I've developed in this sense. The reps started to get heavy in the middle and the last 1-2 reps on last 2-3 sets were challenging. Had to bend my knees a bit more on those reps.

Clean & jerks were easier. Mostly it put more pressure on my grip strength and lung capacity. It took 20 seconds to complete those 6 reps. That means to say I did the workout in 4.20 by resting 30-40 sec between sets. That creates a lot of positive thoughts for future as I think about how well I could do with benchmark workout Grace. My current PR is 3.48, done back in April. It might be time to repeat the workout some day this year. Don't get me wrong, of course it hurt like hell after the emom training, especially as there were 30 snatches plus those 30 c&j's. Good training session, me likey!

Wednesday 2.10: Eccentric squats, metcon

Wednesday. Eccentric squats 5x8. Metcon, 10 to 1, down by 1's: wall climb, t2b, box jump.

Do those squats man. Did it in a different way, eccentric squats was the name of the thing today. 5 sets to make legs burn and finish the training with pure pain on the metcon. Haven't done wall climbs in a long time and today I did 55 of them, accompanied with toes-to-bar's and box jumps. Good training session!

Strength. Eccentric squats 5x8 (60, 80, 90, 100, 100kg). There's one beast that I follow in Instagram: Kendrick J. Farris, go check it out. You won't be disappointed. The guy is a freaking beast, US olympic weight lifter. His loads are incredible and technique is perfect. From him I got the inspiration to do this type of squats, goal is to increase overall strength on hamstrings and give different type of stimulation to legs.

On eccentric squats the point is to lower yourself with slow pace, hit the bottom and bounce back up with good speed. That means you have to use strength all the time when going down. That's why I thought the weights would be smaller. Had no idea of how this would compare to regular weights. Did higher rep sets, 8 reps per set.

Mr. Farris

I actually liked the type of squats I did today. Going down with slow pace made me focus on my stance and knees a lot. Had plenty of time to think how to push my knees out properly to find a hole to sit on. the depth of the squats was definitely good, it felt very comfortable to do those squats.

I started with light weights because as I wrote earlier, had no idea how much weight I could carry in these slow motion squats. Added to 80kg, then 90, finally did 2 sets with 100kg. That actually felt like a good measure, could have done all sets around 100kg. And it felt me feel good that I was squatting 8 reps each set, especially with this type of squat that is more consuming than regular squat.

Metcon. For completion

• 10 to 1, down by 1's
• Wall climb
• Toes-to-bar
• Box jump, 61cm

Total of 55 reps each movement. Starting at 10 reps, decreasing the number of reps each round, going down by 1 rep each round. That means 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 each movement. The 'thing' was obviously the wall climbs. Those were horrible after first round =) T2B's and box jumps were pretty much the rest period, just go through them and focus on wall climbs.

The movement standard says your chest have to hit ground on the bottom position and chest must touch the wall on the other end. Don't have any idea how many reps I did each round, I only remember they were tough, a lot of work had to be done. Ny triceps and shoulders were in agony. And it felt like it's not gonna end like ever.

Didn't have a clock running. No reason for that, only a sign of laziness. I was already on the ground, my chest on the floor and decided to start the wall climbs. Then I thought what the heck, no need for the clock running. Went through the workout in as quickly as possible though. Didn't give myself any slack. This one was a rough one. Beforehand I thought it wouldn't be as challenging as it turned out to be. Great one, have to say.

Tuesday 1.10: Bar complex

Tuesday. Bar complex: power clean, squat clean, 2 front squats, 2 jerks. Start @ 40kg, add 5kg, till failure. Then start over.

Okay, first day of October and it's time for barbell work. Decision: do a bar complex, with increasing weights. Good workout in my opinion. This was the second time I did it. Compare the workout to what I did back in March. This was all I did for today. Definitely enough!

Bar complex.

• 1 power clean
• 1 squat clean
• 2 front squats
• 2 jerks
• Start @ 40kg, add 5kg, continue till failure. Then, start over.
• Result. 1st round: 85kg. 2nd set: 1 jerk @ 85kg

The first rounds were good warm-up and preparation for the heavier rounds. Did the usual routines on the foam roll, dynamic stretching and some barbell warm-up before putting the 40kg on. It was very light in the beginning so I was able to start the workout quite quickly. Altogether there were a lot of sets and reps in the complex.

The complex consisted of 6 movements, 2 different cleans, 2 squats and to 2 shoulder-to-overhead movements. That equals 1 set. The idea was to start easy, then increase the load with 5kg after every 6 reps. Increase the load for as long as you can. Once you can't get the bar up anymore, start again @ 40kg and repeat the whole thing and go till failure again. It's a good goal to try hit the same numbers on the second round.

On the first set I got 85kg done, all 6 reps. It was tough but I was confident in hitting the reps perfectly. Used push jerk up to 75kg. Then split jerk for 80 and 85kg. The toughest part of the movements was definitely the jerks. Especially as that was the last part of the complex. Cleans were not bad, front squats made legs more fatigue and also made breathing go heavier. Completing 2 heavy reps was something that forced me to really focus on the jerks. Last 2 sets (80 & 85kg) were heavy. The last was so heavy that I decided to start all over again @ 40kg.

1st set @ 80kg

On the second round the 40kg felt so light that I pulled the barbell to my mouth =) Well, I was able to modify the pulling strength according to the weights. No surprise the bar started to feel heavier earlier than on the first round. So here was the mental aspect in play as well. Was able to reach almost the same figures as in the first round. Only the last jerk was a missed rep. That went under my skin for a minute but I got over it.

I'm actually proud of how well I performed today and how big weights I was able to move compared to earlier similar type of workouts. For example that complex I did in March, the weights were around 10-15kg heavier this time. That's a lot. C'mon!

Monday 30.9: Handstand push-ups, row

Monday. Strength, 5 sets of max effort: handstand push-ups (max PR 15). Metcon, 5 rounds of: 1min row max effort, 1min rest. Distance 1.609m.

I was taking it a bit easier today with concentrating in bodyweight strength and then short rowing workout. I've found a good way to program my workouts so that I don't have to keep total rest days that much and still my body feels fresh all the time. August was a rough month with barbell work taking place pretty much every day. That was seen in the total weights lifted during the month (over 100.000kg) and my body was too tired in the end. In September I decided to take it easier with the barbell, focus on bodyweight movements much more than earlier and it seems to pay off. Finding a balance between the two is an issue to to fight constantly.

Toni's PR stuff

Strength. Total 54 reps

• 5 sets of max effort: 
• Handstand push-ups
• Results PR 15, 10, 11, 9, 9 reps

Building strength base in August and pressing / jerking a lot with heavy bars has strengthened my shoulders. In September I've done numerous reps of handstand push-ups and my technique has developed a lot. Today I did 5 sets of max reps hspu's. The first set was clearly the end result of a lot of work. Did 15 reps which is new PR by 3 reps.

Back in summer I remember doing 30 reps as a metcon. It took me an eternity and about 7 sets to finish it. Today I had 36 reps after 3 sets. And after 5 sets my result was 54 reps. Some development has occurred. This time I did all reps with kipping. Got to work on my strict hspu's as well. Especially in strength sessions like this one. In a metcon, reps for time, it's only smart to do kipping because it's more efficient. However, today I wanted to do a personal record =)

Metcon. Distance 1.609m

• 5 rounds of:
• 1min row, max effort
• 1min rest

Some cardio work in the end. Iw was able to keep the pace under 1.40 all the time. It was around 1.34-1.38 / 500m. Kept the damper setting around 8. Could have continued for longer than 5 rounds but today's agenda was not to keep it on high volume. After rowing I concentrated in mobility, resistance band and lacrosse ball to release soft tissues. Tomorrow I'll get back to action with barbells. Let's see what's in program =)

In the mean while you guys can shake a little haha

Sunday 29.9: Hiking & kettlebell metcon

Sunday. Hiking for 1 hour. Metcon, 5 rounds of: 15 kb swings (32kg), 10 pull-ups, 20 lunges.

Spent the weekend in the country side and went hiking for one hour after breakfast with Pauliina, Kari and Maija. There's a hill nearby that we climbed up and down in autumn weather. Breathing went up and down as well. It was a good leg-opener since my legs were smashed from previous days' workouts. Once we got back to the house, we did a metcon with Kari.

Hiking. Hard to say what the altitude was between ground level and top of the hill. Anyway, the scenery as astonishing once we landed at the highest point of Tornimäki. It's a place where my in-laws take trips more frequently and where Pauliina used to hang out as a kiddo. This was my first trip up there. Once I've done a workout at the roots of the hill in August. That was a tough combo of uphill running and kettlebell swings.

Metcon. For completion

• 5 rounds of:
• 15 kettlebell swings, 32kg
• 10 pull-ups
• 20 lunges

Working through these movements and rounds with solid pace, not paying attention to the clock though. Worked together with Kari who did his own metcon at the same time. He was doing kb swings as well, combined with kb high-pulls and air squats, couple of lunges might have been there too. I'm proud he's doing his metcons consistently. Once we were at the hill, he was running back and forth as the rest of us were too slow for him =) He wanted to have his heart beat up from the beginning to the end. Plus he did rather long metcon when we came back to the house. That's a good work ethic!

I did the movements unbroken. Grip strength always seems to be the "thing" with kb swings for me. It starts to tingle the forearms a lot and I have to concentrate a lot to hold on the bell. On the pull-ups I was focusing on doing the reps without a kip. Also did probably 3 sets palms facing me, usually don't do them at all. Lunges were "rest".

Pull-up rack

Some evidence from Sunday's workout

Saturday 28.9: Squats, row, thrusters + skills

Saturday. AM. Back squats, emom, 2 reps @ 100-115kg, for 12min. Metcon, 3 rounds of: 500m row, 15 thrusters (60kg). PM. Pull-up clinic. Handstand skills.

Today meant hard work. In the morning we went to traditional gym for back squats and row/thruster metcon. Those thrusters were heavy. Then we drove to Klaukkala to spend the weekend there. In the afternoon we couldn't leave Kari's new purchase alone: the pull-up bar. It was freaking awesome and we spent a lot of time playing with it. Did some handstand later on as well.

Strength.

• Every minute on the minute
• 2 reps back squat, for 12min
• 3@100, 3@105, 3@110, 3@115kg

Recap of the squats

Squats went well. I started with 100kg and increased 5kg after every 3 minutes. My legs hurt a little bit because of yesterday's training so I did 2 reps per minute. Had no troubles in doing those reps. I believe this was exactly what I needed. My metcon was supposed to be heavy so this was just perfect.


Metcon.

• 3 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 15 thrusters, 60kg
• Time 14.28

Those thrusters were heavy and nasty! Took rowing quite easily because it was obvious that wouldn't make any difference in the final time. Instead, it was the heavy thrusters - 45 of them - that made it difficult. In the first round I did 9+6, on the second round 7+5+3, same in the final round. It didn't burn my legs but it was all about shoulders. They were in fire after each set of 15 reps. Plus my breathing was heavy as well, surprise.

Pull-up clinic. Worked on my pull-up technique with father-in-law. We were getting better at our technique, worked on kipping, strict and chest-to-bar pull-ups. Used both grips, palms facing in and out. I'd estimate having done about 50 reps in total. We also did some pure kipping swinging without any pull-ups plus knees-to-elbows. Then some mobility in the end with the help of resistance band.
After been done with the pull-ups, the whole gang - me, pauliina and her parents went to see the new playground / sports area the city had constructed recently. Found a perfect place to practice handstand so I did a few attempts. We also found some cool toys to play with, no matter what the age was :)