Friday 17.1: Ring mu's, snatch complex, metcon of snatch, pull-ups

Friday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Snatch complex: 1 squat snatch, 1 snatch balance, 1 snatch press, 2 overhead squats. Metcon, 10-8-6-4-2 power snatch (50kg), 30-25-20-15-10 pull-ups. Time about 13.40

Yes, I got those ring muscle-ups in my program again. That turned out to be a great decision. This is my style of programming. If I have enough time to workout, I'd rather make it like this: first skills, then barbell / strength work and finish it off with a metcon. Sometimes maybe even some technique work before metcon. Love it! Today's barbell work was all about snatches and the metabolic workout itself in the end continued with snatches, added with pull-ups. Tough.

Pauliina: sunset

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups (5 reps)

Last 2 times I performed well with muscle-ups. Before that I had a downslide for couple of training sessions. Now I'm back on track! The video I posted yesterday is simply great. Hopefully Toni is also getting his first muscle-up too. He's promised it to himself for this January. Otherwise he'll punish himself with 10k row. I believe 2k is the longest he's done this far. Hopefully we're going to here positive news after this weekend!

I took some ring row to transitions in the beginning, took couple of chest-to-bar pull-ups and was ready to go. My first attempt failed and I was like what the f..k! Decided to get my head back in the game and not get down from the first setback. Went back on the rings and managed to complete the ugliest muscle-up ever =) But I got there and that was the most important thing! My second rep was as ugly as the first one.

Ring muscle-up

At that point I decided to step up my game and understood there must better use of my hips in the transition. That turned out to be the key and the last 3 reps were much cooler versions of ring mu's. You'll see the last rep in the video.

Snatch complex.

• 1 squat snatch
• 1 snatch balance
• 1 snatch press
• 2 overhead squats

I've decided to work on my snatch technique, and especially squat version of it. In overhead squats I can go ass-to-grass but in squat snatches I feel like the path on my way down is on different tracks and I can go only at 90 degrees. It would be crucial to bounce my butt all the way to the bottom. As you can see from some of the squat snatches I tend to lean a bit forward and that hinders me to travel down correctly.

Snatch balance is a movement I've done just a couple of times and mostly with cold bar only. Going to 40-50kg forces me to push the bar upwards, even though snatch balance's idea is to just drop down as quickly as possible and not push at all. I can still do it with lighter weights but those last sets were too heavy for completing the movement as it should. Anyway, the complex was cool.

Metcon. Time 13.40

• 10-8-6-4-2, power snatch, 50kg
• 30-25-20-15-10, pull-ups

This was tough stuff. It was 30 power snatches and 100 pull-ups, and as a combo it ripped my palms as there was some sort of bar in my hands for the entire time. It took 13.40 to finish it. Those power snatches turned out to be challenging when high-rep pull-up scheme was mixing it up simultaneously. I did the set of 10 reps in 6+4. On the round of 8 reps, I might have done doubles. From then on it was mostly doubles and singles.

On the pull-ups I decided not to pursue the sets unbroken. That would have demolished my forearms and grip strength. So I went 20+10 in the first one, then 15+10, on the round of 20 I did 10+5+5, then 10+5 and the last set was unbroken.

Big boys attacking Cindy XXX, main site's wod some days ago

This was tough for me. Yes, it took on my breathing but mostly it crushed my forearms. At times it felt like my left forearm was so numb I couldn't have any grip on the bar for the snatches. I decided to hit this metcon yesterday evening. It sounded like a good plan in the evening but after the snatch complex I was looking at my notes like whaaaaaat… Decided to hit it anyway and it was a good one, it definitely was a metcon worth doing!

Our backyard today

Thursday 16.1: Back squat ladder, metcon of deads and burpees

Thursday. Back squat ladder. Emom, 2 reps. Start @ 60kg, add 5kg per minute. After 100kg, add 2.5kg per minute. Continue till failure. Result 130kg. Metcon, 5rds of: 5 deads (120kg), 10 burpees. Time 3.15

Squat ladder, awesome! There's a strong side of mental game included in this one. There was a good number of reps with the clock running all the time. Afterwards I took a short metcon with deadlifts and burpees. Something classical from the past.

Time!

Strength. Back squats. Result 2x130kg. Compare to 22.9.2013

• Every minute on the minute, 2 reps per minute
• Start @ 60kg, add 5kg per minute up to 100kg
• Then add 2.5kg per minute
• Continue till failure

I've done this once before, last September. Got a little better this time. Had 130kg in my mind before entering this one so I'll take it for now. It was light up to something a little over 100kg. At that time I started to feel the burden on my shoulders. Every minute the load got heavier and it started to become also a mental game for big part.

On the last minutes I felt like the recovery time simply wasn't enough. I started the round of 130kg maybe something like 10 seconds already on the minute so the recovery time got shorter and the reps grew heavier. I tried the 132.5kg weight but that was where the stop came my way. My spotters helped me up with the load. So my result was 2x130kg.

Burpee station =)

Metcon. Time 3.15. Compare to 31.12.2012

• 5 rounds of:
• 5 deadlifts, 120kg
• 10 burpees

This is something classic from the early steps of Toni's and my crossfit training. Toni especially used to do this type of workouts on a weekly basis. Total of 5 rounds of 5 reps of some strength movement, combined with 10 burpees. It's been ages since I've done this at least once that I remember of. It was the last year of 2012 and my time has gotten a little over one minute faster. In a workout this short I consider that good.

Great analysis on muscle-ups!

This was a quickie, felt like I was able to keep moving without breaks. It's a rough combination to bounce up and down on the burpees, then pull some stuff from the floor. It's only 5 rounds so you know you'll have to go all in from the very beginning. I could not have gone any faster today. Felt like this was the best I had in my tank. I'm very happy on the result.

The first round just flew by, on the second I started to feel the heavy breathing. Third one was nasty, fourth was painful and the last was just hoping the metcon to end. Finally it ended at 3.15. Got to say these short ones are bad ass stuff. I', usually doing my metcons at around 10-20 minutes and the nature is naturally totally different. There you can't go 100% from the beginning because if you do you will get gassed and slow down too much. But in a metcon like this, you'll have to go hard from the first second because otherwise you'll just be too slow.

Wednesday 15.1: Overhead complex, split jerks, rowing

Wednesday. Strength, shoulder-to-overhead bar complex, 1 push press, 1 push jerk, 1 split jerk. Work to a heavy load, max 85kg. Split jerk, 10x1 from rack. Row for 12min, distance 3.200m.

Originally I had planned to concentrate in rowing today. Had nothing else in program. Then little by little as the days grew closer to this particular Wednesday I started to think I might squeeze in some barbell work before rowing. Maybe couple of jerks or something like that. It turned out to heavy loads of various shoulder-to-overhead movements. And I simply loved it!

Complex.

• Shoulder-to-overhead
• 1 push press
• 1 push jerk
• 1 split jerk
• Start @ 40kg, build up to heavy load. Loads 40, 50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85kg

This was great. I got the idea from last week's 1 shoulder press + 3 push press + 5 push jerk combo if you still remember that one. These both were very good workouts for press strength. I don't remember having done push presses with this heavy bars in a long time. It's probably been push jerks or split jerks instead.

75kg

I did foam rolling, stretching and light bar work to get ready for the workout. Those lighter bars were good ones to get the joints ready for heavier loads. I had thought about working towards a heavy max load of this combination. The heaviest I climbed up was 85kg. Don't know how 90kg would have been. The 85kg was heavy and it was the only one where I had to stop the continuous movement after the push jerk, before completing the split jerk. All other sets went with one rather smooth movement.

I think I have never push pressed more than 87.5kg. I remember having done that weight in Liikuntamylly at the time when I didn't know how to split jerk. I got the 85kg up pretty nicely today.

85kg

Strength.

• Split jerk 10x1 across (90kg all sets)

This was very cool stuff. It was valuable practice for bringing the bar down at chest even with 90kg on the bar. I feel comfortable in bringing it down because that's the way I'll have to do it every time at my home box. No dropping mister.

I had pre-determined the weights couple of days ago, 10 sets @ 90kg. It started nicely as I failed to reach full extension on the first attempt =) It was purely a flaw in technique so I kept on moving that same weight for the following sets. I did 10 successful reps after the first failed one.

90kg

I could still be working on getting faster under the bar. I need more practice on the movement. I feel good on this move even though I took my first split jerks this summer. So it's quite a new thing but still I believe it's going on pretty well.


Rowing.

• For 12min
• Distance 3.205m

I kind of did this in freestyle mode. Had no specific goal in mind when I started my strokes. I just started working, tried to keep a steady pace all the time with a mindset that I'm gonna go for couple of km's. This is probably the furthest I've rowed in one continuous set. I've done intervals for even 5-6km but without stopping in between, I think 2km is the longest distance I've rowed. Might be wrong but that's what I remember.

90kg, last set

Usually when I row, I tend to look at the screen where you see your pace and distance all the time. This time I turned the screen to face the ceiling in order not to focus too much on those numbers. It was a good decision. I put some music on my ears from my iPod and enjoyed the moment. I didn't go all-in at any moment, this was actually quite relaxed version of rowing this time. I turned the screen to face me at around 10min. It was close to 3.000m and then I decided to continue rowing to 12 minutes, which is the "cooper's test" I've used to done multiple times at school and when I was playing floorball. Cooper's test is 12min max effort of running. I usually got to run for about 3.000m. So this was the rowing version of it. However, as I said this was not the 100% effort. I felt good after rowing and recovered quickly in all means.

Here you see some rowing tips from the second fittest man on earth

Tuesday 14.1: Ring mu's, snatch, clean, metcon

Tuesday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Snatch 10x2. Power cleans, 4 rds of: 30sec on, 90sec off. Metcon, 8min amrap of: 8 db snatch, left hand (22.5kg), 8 pull-ups, 8 db snatch, right hand (22.5kg), 8t2b. Result 4rds + 8 snatch (136 reps)

Today's main focus was on snatches. I had my full concentration on them. For starters I took some ring mu's as skills training, then 10 sets of squat snatches. Then I took a workout, kind of benchmark stuff, max effort of power cleans in short intervals. That burnt my forearms and the metcon was thus a painful experience.

Got my new Rogue shorts in the mail today!

Skills

• Ring rows to transition
• Ring muscle-ups

I believe it's important to work on that transition stage of the ring muscle-ups. I've decided to do some of them always before trying actual muscle-ups. Today I worked on the transition for some time, then did 2 mu's on rings. The number of my reps is low but I'm happy I'm able to do them anyway! Some day I realize I can do lots of them but until then I'm happy for every single one I can handle.

Snatch.

• Squat snatch 10x2
• Weights 40, 45, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50kg

I've had some issues with training my squat snatches. I'm way better in power cleans but lately I've been progressing with squat versions too. My focus today was on the bar path and on the stance in the landing position. I think my legs moved from their original place during the pulls because I was not able to hit my ass to grass. It was about 90 degrees. Some reps were above and some below parallel. There were some okay reps and some of them were clearly power snatches. Got to work more on my snatches. Keep on working man.

Workout. Power cleans

• 4 rounds of:
• 30 sec on, 90sec off, max effort power cleans, 60kg
• Result 13, 12, 10, 10 reps

This type of workout can be applied to other movements as well. Clean, clean & jerks, snatches, presses, jerks. This was a good test! It burnt my forearms for sure. They were of no use after the workout. On the first round I got 13 unbroken reps. The next one was 12 reps and 10 reps on the last 2 rounds. The last 2 rounds caused some numbness on my forearms, it actually didn't feel nice at all. On the last reps it felt like I'm loosing my grip totally. That's why I had to knee more than regularly on power cleans.

It must be quite an experience doing this with clean & jerks. Got to try some day. I'm pretty happy on the results. I'm just wondering how the toughest bad asses can nail Grace (30 clean & jerks @ 60kg) in less than 90 seconds…

Metcon. Result 4 rounds + 8 db snatch (136 reps)

• 8min amrap of:
• 8 dumbbell snatch, left hand, 22.5kg
• 8 pull-ups
• 8 dumbbell snatch, right hand, 22.5kg
• 8 toes-to-bar

As you can probably understand this requires a lot from grip strength. You have to hold on to some sort of bar at all given moments. Snatches, pull-ups and t2b's all means you have to have a strong hold all the time. That's why this workout turned out to be a killer in its nature. I should have thought something in between in order to being able to keep body moving constantly. Now I had to give some rest on my forearms at times.

I did 4 full rounds and 8 db snatches with left hand. There was 2 seconds left on the clock so my result was 136 reps. I don't remember a time when 8 pull-ups on the first round would have felt this hard =) It felt like my left hand was loosing it on the pull-ups because I had just finished snatches with that hand. Well at least I got to do work so I'll have to stay positive on the metcon too.

Last part of "Behind the Games 2013"

It was a great training session. Ring muscle-ups, 50kg squat snatches, power clean test and a short metcon. Felt good! And I got my new shorts from Rogue. Toni ordered similar ones with red text. I think I'm addicted to Rogue's stuff.

Monday 13.1: Back squats, ohs, metcon

Monday. Back squats with a pause (max 110kg). Overhead squats with a 10sec pause (max 60kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 15 burpees, 20 front squats (60kg), 25 box. Time 13.00.

Squats! Awesome, I decided to try squats with a pause also on back squats, it was the first time. Previously I've done front squats and ohs with a pause, and it was as phenomenal with back squats too, must say. The metcon was brutal, simply brutal…

View from our hotel window last Saturday, not bad, scenery over Tampere

Skills.

• Ring row transitions.

I'm taking some muscle-up progressions into warm-up section for some skills training just become better with the rings. Today I didn't move to actual ring muscle-ups, just worked on ring rows and the transition stage from pull to the dip. It was a good one. Maybe tomorrow I'll hit some more mu training.

Strength. Squats

• Back squats with a pause 5x5 (80, 100, 105, 110, 110kg)
• Overhead squats with a 10sec pause 5x1 (50, 55, 60, 60, 60kg)

These are great! Don't get me wrong, you got to do regular squats too but these are newcomers in my training program and I want to keep it versatile so that my body don't get used to repeating same movement patterns every time. And putting "ass to grass" definitely improves mobility in the hips. Stopping in the hole activates muscles in a different way once you try to dig yourself up from there. It's a totally different movement to keep body on a movement all the time than staying and stopping in the bottom position.

I took sets of 5 on back squats. The first set was clearly lighter and concentrated in getting better prepared for the upcoming sets. THe 4th set was @ 110kg and seemed to be a bit tough so I took the last set at the same weight. They came up nicely. Had to catch a breath in the middle but legs held well. The weights are clearly different compared to regular squats.

This was the second time in a week as I was hitting overhead squats with a 10 second pause in the bottom position. Last time I took the heaviest reps @ 50kg. Today I wanted to upgrade that and worked to 60kg barbell. It was very well managed and I guess I must go heavier next time. The hardest thing seemed to be bringing the bar down without dropping it. Haha, no but it was a great exercise for the catch for the squat snatch. This will definitely bring confidence in the catch and bottom position. Take a look at the videos of both squat versions.

Metcon. Time 13.00

• 3 rounds of:
• 15 burpees
• 20 front squats, 60kg
• 25 box jumps, 61cm

Killer! The workout was a leg-burner. No rest or lighter part for lower body at any stage. I understood that before jumping onto the workout so I decided to have a break after the movements. It was only 3 rounds but gassing myself in the beginning would have been a disaster. It was tough even without rushing it so it turned out to be a good idea.

I got the idea for this workout from my brother who had done something similar. The box jumps were probably the most challenging part of it. Surprisingly the burpees were the "easiest" of them. Doing this kind of metcon after squats is a tough decision. But hey, you got to be prepared for anything at any given moment so why not go for it!

Sunday 12.1: Hspu, burpee, du

Sunday. 50 hspu (PR 18). Workout, 5 rds of: 10 burpee, 20 du. Corework, 50 ab wheel.

We spent the weekend away from home. Today we drove back, and once we parked our car at the home drive way, it was about 10 minutes and I was back on road and headed to the gym. Maybe not the most ideal preparedness for today's workouts but I kept it light and it served my goals well.

Hspu's.

• 50 handstand push-ups
• Sets of 18, 12, 10 and 10 reps

I had only one clear goal for today. Complete a personal record of consecutive reps on handstand push-ups. Previous one was 15 reps and I was looking to crush that one. Goal achieved, 18 is the new number. My warm-up today was pretty lousy, I did some foam rolling, stayed inverted about 20 seconds and took one hspu to get myself ready. This time it was enough to get my body moving. I'm happy I was able to go over reps without having the perfect feeling of preparedness. It started to become heavy after 10 reps. I believe I did 13 reps, then took a break and fought it through slowly to the end.

Recap

Workout. Not timed

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 burpees
• 20 double unders

Sunday was not a barbell Sunday. Kept it at bodyweight and worked light for a not-timed workout to get some blood flowing in my veins. 50 burpees and 100 doubles, just a little short metcon. It was a quick one, couple of minutes to finish it. I had a solid pace, you'll see it from the video what pace I was going through. Not full throttle, goal was just to keep body doing work steadily.

Core.

• 50 ab wheel

I started to feel the burpees in my shoulders after those hspu's. They were surprisingly demanding at some point. Finished the session with some core work. These also pressured my shoulders as well as core. Haven't done them in ages. It was fun.

Saturday 11.1: Rest day

Saturday. Rest day.

Today is a day off from training. Wouldn't need it but this day is focused on family time. We're hopping on the car with Pauliina and driving a little north to see my mom for a while. Then we're spending the weekend at Tampere. Some "couple's time" with my loved one.

It's been a great week of training and my body has got what it's craved for. Now it's time to step back and chill out. Take a look at the third part of the "behind the scenes 2013" of last year's Crossfit Games.

Friday 10.1: Front squats and ohs with pause, metcon

Friday. Ring skills, emom for 10min (ring rows, 1-arm extensions). Strength, front squats with a pause 4x3 (across 105kg), overhead squats with a pause 5x1 (across 50kg). Metcon, 21-15-9, overhead squats (50kg), narrow grip pull-ups. Time 6.07

Lately I've been eagerly waiting for upcoming squat days! It's important to learn to love 'em. It all starts from the legs. Have them strong and you're able to move easier. You'll have the capabilities to keep on moving when your legs are strong. Add good metabolic condition and you're a beast. That's what my goal is. I have the goal of making my legs stronger than they currently are. Some skills in the beginning, then pause squats and finally a metcon of ohs and pull-ups.

Front squat 105kg

Ring skills. Every minute on the minute, for 10min

• For 5min: 5 ring rows, rest of minute mobility
• For 5min: 3/3 one-arm extensions

Took some classic warm-up with foam roll and mobility that seem to work for me. Next I played with the rings to get prepared for the workouts. Did some ring rows and then rest of the minute I stretched my shoulders for the upcoming overhead squats. After 5 minutes I changed it to 1arm extensions with the clock running all the time. I used the rest of the time edging my squat snatch with pvc pipe. I believe these 1-arm extensions will help in keeping the balance with the rings and will develop the grip comfortable in the long run too.

Part II of the "Behind the scenes 2013"

Strength. Squat day

• Front squats, 4x3 (across 105kg), 3 second pause
• Overhead squats 5x1 (across 50kg), 10 second pause

I did front squats with a pause about a week ago. They were great! From that day I've been waiting to get them on my schedule again. And today it happened. Front squats with pause, this time triples and all sets across, @ 105kg. Felt good with the load. The third set was the toughest, it felt a bit awkward on my right ankle for some reason. Other than that, it felt good all the way. I'm definitely doing paused squats more in the future. Starting from a static sit from the bottom, you need to be strong to get out of the hole. I believe this will increase my leg strength.

Must admit this is something I copy pasted from Chad Vaughn. He's been doing overhead squats with a long pause. This should help in feeling natural in the squat snatches. And especially on the "big lifts" where this should bring stability because you learn to be at your home in the bottom position. I thought I couldn't do it with much more than 30kg =) I took some sets with empty bar, then 30kg and 40kg. Those felt so natural that I decided to put 50kg. In addition I did snatch balances (probably for the first time in my life) and snatch presses before going all the way down.

Squats

I felt awkwardly good in the bottom position. Because I feel very natural in the deep bottom position in front squat but not that natural in overhead squat. However, today it felt extremely good and I had no problems staying there for eternity. The weight did feel light even though there was 50kg on the bar. And coming back up from there was easy. Shortly, this was great workout!!!

Ohs 50kg

Metcon. Time 6.07

• 21-15-9
• Overhead squats
• Pull-ups

The combination was kind of cruel. I realized it after the first round. I did both movements unbroken but took my time to get my hands and shoulders some recovery time in the transition. I wanted to do them without breaks and I definitely needed the recovery for my shoulders. The overhead squat was nasty. It started to feel on both my shoulders and my legs. On the pull-ups I took very narrow grip compared to regular width. It was good variation and definitely worked for me.

Thursday 9.1: Muscle-ups, bench, rowing metcon

Thursday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Strength, bench press (max 100kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 500m row, 15 ring dips, 50 du's. Time 16.52.

I had waited this day like a kid waits for his candy day. Why is that? Muscle-ups! That's an awesome movement for starters. Secondly, I've have some problems with the movement lately so I was anxious to get some practicing done. Bench press was the strength part and finished the training session with a metcon with rowing, dips and du's. Good combo.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups

Yeah baby! I was slightly afraid of this one because the previous training sessions with ring mu's included, had not gone as planned. It was frustrating not to get any successful reps done. So I had quite a lot of pressure to get myself pulled up there. There are two options: either stay in that low-zone or do something about it. Decided to go for the latter option.

I watched tons of videos and did mental training. I saw myself go up there with such ease in my head that I was confident of hitting some reps today. I did some progressions in the beginning. From ring row to transition, that's a good one. It felt good so I adjusted the rings high enough and took my first attempt. And I got it! Maybe it wasn't as smooth as I hoped for. This far I've done something between 1-3 single reps every time I've been able to do these. The encouraging thing was that today I got 5 ring muscle-ups!!! That's great for me. Singles of course at this stage. But still, I felt superb. Stayed there, didn't try to go any further this time.

Strength.

• Bench press, 5x60, 5x80, 4x90, 1x95, 1x100, failed @ 105kg, 4x90, 4x90kg

My plan was to do couple of sets with heavier loads. My max is at 102.5kg so I took some warm-up with lighter weights. At 90kg I got 4 reps and the last one and then decided to take some singles. Once the bar was moving pretty well I decided to try reach 105kg. The 100kg came up surprisingly well that I thought there might be a chance to nail it. Well I got it a little up from the chest but it turned out to be a static hold so my spotter came to help. I took some weight off the barbell and did 2 more sets @ 90kg. it was nice to hit some heavier stuff on bench too. You need to have a spotter though.

Metcon. Time 16.52

• 4 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 15 ring dips
• 50 double unders

I wanted to row. Ring dips came along because there were muscle-ups and bench done already so I wanted to put more pressure on those muscles. Doubles are always a good option to get some heart beating and practice skills at the same time. This is a workout where you don't make wonders with rowing your brains out. I kept the pace at around 1.45-1.50 each round.

On the ring dips I went unbroken on the first round. The second round was probably 10+5 and the last 2 rounds were somewhere around 7-8 reps on first attempt and then smaller sets to finish it. On double unders I was able to maintain a good form all the way. Second and last round went unbroken. Actually first round was the only one where I made mistakes, I believe I finished it in 3 attempts. On the 3rd round I had to stop after 35 reps as it felt like my shoulders were burning so roughly.

It took me a total of almost 17 minutes. I liked the composition of this workout. 2k rowing, double unders to add the heart beat and then a weakness of mine, the ring dips. It was good kick-ass stuff and I had to walk the pain off after the workout.

My calves were killing me and I must say the lacrosse ball is my new best friend. I've found a way to utilize it in easing the pain I have there. As simple as it gets, just place the ball under the calf, create enough pressure over it with the calf and find the tight spots. I've had issues with my calves for years and it seems this little ball is making big differences. Love it!

Some warm-up tips from California Strength

Wednesday 8.1: Clean and jerk combos, 15min amrap

Wednesday. Clean and jerk complexes @ 60-70kg. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 5hspu, 10 burpees, 15 burpees. Result 6rds + 5hspu.

It was a rare moment to get Toni at the gym to workout with me and Pauliina. We didn't plan this that well beforehand so it was more like a "go with the flow" type of training. Only thing I had in mind was the amrap of bodyweight movements. Didn't want to go heavy on the barbell work so it turned out to be more like a technique training and preparing for the metcon.

Bar complexes.

• Bear complex: power clean, front squat, push press, back squat, push press behind the neck
• Bar complex: hang power clean, hang squat clean, power clean, squat clean, couple jerks

Bear complex is awesome. Got to try that one out someday. I've done it once very long time ago, don't even remember when it took place. I took it with at max 50kg, couple of sets anyway, nothing serious this time.

Then I put on 60kg on the bar - still not heavy - and started doing bar complex, i.e. performing multiple bar movements without adjusting grip at ground at any moment. The idea was to do 4 different types of cleans, then finish the set with a couple of jerks. On the cleans I used the following sequence. First 2 hang cleans, the first as power clean and the second as squat clean. The last 2 cleans were from the floor, the first one as power clean and the last one as squat clean.

Recap

On the jerks I did couple of push jerks, that is feet landing side by side together. Most of them were split jerks, that is kind of a semi-lunge with bar overhead on straight arms. I wanted to do different types of cleans and jerks with semi-light weight. All reps were @ 60kg except the last which was 70kg. I felt comfortable doing this barbell work. Most of the reps were pretty solid, few flaws in technique though.


Metcon. Result 6 rounds + 5 hspu

• 15min amrap of:
• 5 handstand push-ups
• 10 burpees
• 15 box jumps, 61cm

This was something sick I was able to come up with couple of days ago. The combo turned out to be a little harsh. Hspu's, burpees and box. Once you've done handstand push-ups it's always a delight to go for burpees. After them the upper body is worn out. And you've been jumping on the burpees. So it's cool to start jumping on the Rogue box after that.

The combination of these movements was tougher than they look on paper. I realized it today in a hard way. My round times turned slower by the round. I went unbroken each round. First round was about 1:30 and the last full round was almost exactly 1min slower. It was the transitions between elements that took me more time every round.

I still loved the workout. It made me cry in the very beginning, in a good way if you know what I mean. Good and painful 15 minutes of my life, worth suffering it through. Made my engine a little bit better and more efficient once again. Love the metcons! That's why I do strength training; to become more enhanced in the metcons. To being able to keep on moving no matter what movements are thrown upon me. Love crossfit!

This lift is awesome in both technique and strength

Tuesday 7.1: Back squats

Tuesday. Back squats 1-10-1-20-1-30.

Squat day! Legs, that's where everything starts from. Don't skip a leg day. Today was hard day for lower body. Different type of squat programming than normally. Never done this kind of single versus high-rep combination. But it paid off. Heavy singles mixed with heaviest loads at 10, 20 and 30 reps. No need to go for a metcon after this.

Strength.

• Back squats 1-10-1-20-1-30 (130, 100, 130, 90, 130, 80kg)

Definition of the workout by competitorswod: "This is six sets of back squats. One single followed by a set of 10, then another single and so on. Goal is to do the singles across and generally get yolked:"

Well, I got yolked! It was tough as hell and I literally had to lean on the rack for a while after the sets of 20 and 30 reps. I had pre-determined the weights according to my best knowledge of my current squat strength and endurance. I'm very happy I was able to hold on to those weights and didn't have to scale at any stage. And each set was as tough as it should have been. Maybe only the set of 10 reps brought some thoughts in to my head. I could have done it a bit heavier, 10 reps @ 100kg is doable any day. Don't know what effects it would have brought though on the remaining reps of the workout.

The singles weren't as tough as I thought they would be. I reckoned them to be very challenging, especially the last 2 ones. I had my baby to spot me just in case but there was no need for that. I was able to mentally prepare well enough so that I got the lifts up nicely.

Definitely the toughest sets were the sets of 20 x 90kg and 30 x 80kg. On the 90's I did 10 reps, took some more breath and fought through. It was disgusting after 15 reps, as it should be =) Had it been easier, it would not have been a good weight. I understood this was supposed to make you see the stars.

Mikko Salo's training, always so inspiring

The last set was the lightest but after all that squatting beforehand, it was the toughest. Can you imagine, only 80kg. the first 10 reps were okay. The difference to 130kg was so great that it felt light for a while. But then I took 5 reps, stopped at the top, took a couple of reps, stopped at the top, then just doubles or singles. I was done after 22 reps but somehow found the juice to keep on going. It felt awful in my legs after the last rep. Freaking awesome squat day!!!

Have to do some serious foam rolling, utilize my lacrosse ball and do lots of stretching in the evening if I wish to walk tomorrow. Go try this one! By the way, workout of the day in competitorswod included Filthy Fifty after this squat training…

Monday 6.1: Overhead complex and a twisted Cindy

Monday. Overhead barbell complex. 5 working sets of: 1 shoulder press, 3 push press, 5 push jerk @ 60kg. Metcon, twisted Cindy. 20min amrap of: 1 c&j (60kg), 1rd of Cindy, 2c&j, 1rd of Cindy, 3c&j, 1rd of Cindy… Result. 341 reps.

What a training day! My shoulders are so messed up from busting my ass off at the gym. Got to give my pal Joni some credit from bringing the metcon in to my knowledge he had seen somewhere. I don't know if I like that he tipped it to me or not. It was a rough one! Plus there were some serious presses and jerks done prior to the metcon so it had its own flavor in the mix too. Took me some time to recover for sure.

Overhead complex. Presses / jerks.

• 5 working sets of:
• 1 shoulder press + 3 push press + 5 push jerks
• Barbell at 60kg in each set

This was something new and definitely worked to increase strength and muscle endurance. The weight was good for 5 sets. I wanted the weight to be across, i.e. same weight in all working sets. Took warm-up sets with 40 and 50kg. Shoulder press was the limiting factor for which it would have been difficult trying to add kilos on the barbell. I can shoulder press 75kg for a single but doing 65-70kg after couple of sets would have been very challenging. Plus there was a total of 9 reps per set so 60kg turned out to be great this time.

It was also cool to mix these three different style of shoulder-to-overhead movements into each other and practice on the various lifts together. About a year ago we used to have lots of press days with Toni where we worked on our shoulder strength, starting at shoulder press and once the bar went heavier we transitioned it to push press. Those were great workouts too.

The last set was quite tough and it took some minutes to recover and get ready for the upcoming metcon. Could not have moved directly to it because the work load for shoulders was burdening. Got to try this one another time as well.

Recap of overhead complex

Twisted Cindy. Result 341 reps.

• 20min amrap of:
• 1 clean & jerk (60kg) + 1 round of Cindy (5pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats)
• 2 clean & jerks + 1 round of Cindy
• 3 clean & jerks + 1 round of Cindy…

Gee, thanks Joni =) He just mentioned it by accident one day and it stayed in my mind to haunt. Kind of a Cindy but you'll have to complete 1 clean & jerk on the first round, then 2 reps on the second, always increasing 1 more c&j after every round of pull-ups, push-ups and squats. Cindy is one classical benchmark workout to test one's fitness. Tough test indeed.

Those clean & jerks were absolutely the hardest part of this one. I got to 9 full rounds of the workout and on the last round I completed 10 c&j's, 5 pull-ups and 1 push-up. Damned they were tough. For a long time after the workout I felt like my shoulders were on fire. I went unbroken with bodyweight movements from the beginning to the end but had to cut the c&j's after 6 rounds.

I realized the nature of this workout already after 3-4 rounds. It was a lots of work. And once it was a long workout I decided before the workout not to rush and gas myself out. Because the first rounds might be easy and you could rattle them through quickly but it would definitely get back at you after a short while. So I took my time with the transition before grabbing the bar for clean & jerks.

For first 6 rounds I got the c&j's unbroken, the 7th round was 5+2, 8th round was 5+3 and the 9th was 6+3. On the last round I got 4+3+3 reps. It was bad when I had to let go of the bar. It's not easy to go for another rep right away. That's why I tried to do it unbroken for as long as possible.

Good workout indeed and perfect training session. This took my breath away and was definitely one of the toughest in a while!

Sunday 5.1: Ring skills, clean/snatch technique, du's

Sunday. Ring skills. Technique, clean pulls & snatch pulls. Workout, emom for 20min. Odd min, 5 power clean, even min, 30du.

Lighter day, for a while. Concentrated in skills and technique. Ring mu progressions for some time, then pulls on cleans and snatches, trying to find a good spot for the "bounce". Finally I took a workout with light cleans and double unders, for technique and skills.

Ring skills. Ring muscle-up progressions

• 10 sets of 2 ring rows + 1 transition
• Ring mu attempts

I want to be better at muscle-ups, both bar and ring versions. Need to be working harder on those. More frequently and more progressions. Got to be doing pull-ups higher than normally: chest-to-bar's and belly-to-bar's. I can nail bar mu's always when I try them but I want to make them more effortless. Want the pull-up be so high I don't have to struggle on the transition stage. Same with the ring mu's, or actually even more. There have been some days I haven't got any reps even though I've tried them multiple times. Today was one of them.

That's why I'm gonna do more of progressions for full reps. I've checked Austin Malleolo's muscle-up drills video for couple of times and tried to absorb the tips he's given. I did 10 sets of a ring row slash transition complex It looks so easy when you look at someone else do it but when you hold the rings with a false grip it immediately feels heavier. The grip is not comfortable at all but is kind of mandatory, at least in the beginning. In case I would be able to pull myself higher, false grip would not be needed anymore. That's what I've learned.

These sets were very good drills to get better at ring mu's. Need to be doing more of these.

Recap

Technique. Numerous sets of:

• Clean pulls
• Snatch pulls
• 50kg barbell

Toni has been giving some tips for me on my oly lifts, or to be more specific, my pulls on clean and snatch. The spot where I bounce the bar from my thighs is somewhere on my mid-thighs which is way too low. Being able to locate the bar higher - "on the pocket" - would create more power on the pull and the bar would travel in a more vertical path upwards. It would also help to on the landing position as I wouldn't be jumping forward on the heavier weights.

So we've been trying to spot the bar higher when we have trained together. Today I put only 50kg on the bar and focused on completing better pulls. And once I was concentrating on this, I believe I was able to get it higher. But it needs lots of thought because otherwise I'll get back to my old habits of bouncing it from too low. I worked on both clean and snatch pulls.

Workout. For technique

• Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes
• Odd minutes, 5 power cleans, 50kg
• Even minutes, 30 double unders

This workout was light in nature. There were a good number of clean pulls and I wanted to get some full reps technique-wise too. No surprise that my focus was on pulling the bar from as high as possible. Toni I need you to give some thoughts on my performance on the pulls and power cleans.

Double unders were okay. Not perfect though but still okay. Couldn't go unbroken. As you see my first reps tend to suck compared to the ones from 5-rep on. My body bends too much in the first reps and I have to bend my knees too. After couple of jumps I get a hold on the movement and it feels much better. At that point I get a good confidence on the jumping too. Still need to be doing more work on the form.

Saturday 4.1: Two metcons

Saturday. Metcon, 10rds of: 5 deads (125kg), 13 push-ups, 9 box. Time 13.58. Metcon, 10 to 1, down by 1's, T2B and burpees. Time 6. 52

Concentrated purely on metabolic condition today. No strength training at all. Yesterday was leaning towards a bit of a rough day with clean & jerk strength in the morning and front squats in the evening so it feels all over my body. I had only one metcon in mind today but it turned out to 2 different ones during the session.

Metcon. Time 13.58

• 10 rounds of:
• 5 deadlifts, 125kg
• 13 push-ups
• 9 box jumps, 61cm

There's a hero workout called McGhee, which is a 30min amrap of the same movements: deads, push-ups and box jumps. I had it in my mind for a couple of days and it must have been a treat to go after. But there's a downside of the workout. I realized there must a huge number of rounds completed in 30min time cap. I checked some people's results in the internet yesterday and understood that the result would be near 100 deadlifts with 125kg if performed well. And that would probably result in having back ache for a couple of days because that would be something like 10.000kg deadlifting in one session.

So I decided yesterday to modify this workout to be a 10-rounder, same movements and amount of reps. It was a good one, definitely, good combination of movements. I remember having done something similar in the past, I mean the same movement combination. Deads and box crush the legs and breathing, and push-ups take care of upper body.

I did all movements unbroken each round. It was the time in the transitions that took some time. Still, my round times stayed pretty solid for 10 rounds. First round was about a minute, and the slowest one was about 1:30. I'm not that happy with the form of my back in the deadlifts. It was a bit too hasty performance there and the form is not perfect. The weight itself isn't that bad so I was not forced to pay attention to the technique.

Push-ups went ub as well, that was great news. I thought there might be some issues in the last rounds. The last reps were tough from mid workout on but still manageable. Usually in metcons I don't have more than 10 push-ups per round. It would probably be smart to have more to develop muscle endurance there as well.

Part of the 10 rounder

Box jumps rolled smoothly in my opinion. Solid effort and performance. They sure made me breath heavily and it took some time to recover before grabbing the bar from the floor to start the next round. This was a good workout in my opinion and it would have been a nightmare to continue this for 16 minutes more. Don't even want to think about what the feelings would have been after a 30min amrap. That definitely is a hero workout! It would have been interesting though to see my result…

Metcon. Time 6.52

• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
• Toes-to-bar
• Burpees

Something little nice in the end. 55 reps of both movements. This is something I created on the fly. First I was thinking old school: 5 rounds of 10 reps for both elements but then this was a bit different. Decreasing amount of reps, starting from 10, going down by 1's. Went unbroken on both but the t2b's were tough. For some reason I had some issues already on the round of 9's. It really put pressure on my abs to get them without breaking it down. Burpees were easier one on this one.

It felt like I put my heart and lungs to work today. Heavy breathing from the start to finish. Two workouts with similar intensions, different movements but the main idea stayed the same. Keep on moving mister. Had my "Rogue - Engine" shirt on me for a good reason =) It was good to have it like this 'cause there were some heavy barbell work done earlier this week.

Friday 3.1: Muscle-ups, clean and jerk, handstand + Front squats

Friday. AM: Skills, muscle-ups. Strength, clean & jerk. Skills, handstand. PM: Front squats (max 130kg).

Yeah, another day at Liikuntamylly. This time I got the best of the best at the scene: my bro and Toni. Some muscle-up training for starters and then clean & jerk for me and Toni. Sipa nailed overhead squat PR of 90kg, not bad!!! In the end we played around some more skills. I focused on handstand, Sipa did a short metcon of running and mu's. Toni did some running and pull-ups.

Skills. Muscle-ups

These were bar muscle-ups this time. It was actually an awesome spot for bar muscle-ups. I haven't even realized there's a proper pull-up bar but Toni spotted it yesterday so we took advantage of it today. Sipa practiced on some ring mu's, Toni went after chest-to-bars and I was working on my bar mu's. Did about 10 reps in total. Also tried ring mu's but my transition phase was non-existing this time. It was encouraging to see I was able to get those mu's nicely.

Strength.Clean & jerk.

• 5x60, 3x70, 3x80, 2x90, 1x95, 1x100kg, attempt of 105kg failed

No certain agenda here. We started with light stuff and little by little we increased the loads till we reached our maxes of the day. Not feeling very fresh on the shoulders when I woke up to this day so reaching these numbers felt good. 100kg is my current PR and I was able to get there today as well. I also wanted to try out 105kg on the clean. It was a small technical error there, that kind of bummed me out. I received the bar in a proper position but then my left leg bailed on me, the bar felt forward and I had to drop it. Got to say it was close and it's definitely reachable.

Skills. Handstand.

There was no desire to hit a metcon so we fooled around with some skills training in the end too. Toni did some running and pull-ups, I just worked on my handstand again. Tried to balance myself, walk straight and also walk around an object laid on the ground. That was something I haven't tried earlier, Sipa gave a tip to try it out. That was kind of cool

Strength. In the afternoon

• Front squats with a pause. 5x70, 5x90, 5x100, 5x105, 4x110
• Front squats, 1x120, 1x125, 1x130kg

Had something like rowing intervals in mind when I thought about this afternoon's workout. For some reason today I got an idea of squatting and I couldn't push that thought aside so front squats it was! Wanted to do them with a pause in the bottom position. Seems very useful movement. It's totally different than making a regular squat. Stop in the hole, chill out for 1-3 seconds and come back up. Today I did about 2 sec pauses.

Front squats with a pause, 100kg

I climbed up to 110kg with pause squats. That was more than I thought I could carry a load by stopping in the bottom, and felt good! The fifth rep of the 110kg was too much to handle, I couldn't hold the bar in the front rack position anymore and while I was sitting in the hole, my elbows started to lose it, lean too much down and even though I tried to come back up I was forced to drop the bar.

Front squat, 130kg

After having done a few sets with a pause, I decided to try a little heavier singles. I took 3 of them: 120, 125 and my current PR of 130kg. Must say that this was way smoother than the one I've done earlier. It was very nice to do heavier front squats after a while.

Recap of training day