Saturday 15.2: Heavy cleans, metcon of power cleans, burpees, du's

Saturday. Every minute on the minute, 2 squat cleans @ 90-95kg, for 10min. Metcon, 10 to 1, down by 1's, power clean (60kg), burpees. 20 double unders after each round. Time 14.57.

Heavy day. Heavy squat cleans to start with, then a metcon with power cleans, burpees and double unders. Breathing was heavy for sure in that one. I loved the training day! And I was able to move the bar well. There was no easy piece in this entity for me.

Strength.

• Every minute on the minute:
• 2 squat cleans, for 10 minutes
• 5min @ 90kg, 5min @ 95kg

My initial plan was to do 10 sets of doubles at around 90kg. I thought it would be tough enough. However, once I took my first 2 reps I decided to add the stakes and make it an emom training. That means I reduced my recovery time to about 45 seconds. That made it tougher of course. It was a perfect decision.

Cleans, 90-95kg, 2 reps every minute, for 10min

I was very surprised how light the bar felt. After having done emom for 5 minutes I decided to add it to 95kg, and finish the remaining 5 minutes with heavier set-up. And I didn't have any issues with the weight at all. That was sick. Felt like I could have gone for 100kg as well. I understand I'm able to nail those 90-95kg singles but doing 2 singles in a row was great for me at these weights.

I simply love cleans. I put a lot of effort in working my strength and technique last autumn and it started to pay off pretty soon. That was the time I fell in love with the movement. That time I was not happy with the weights I was able to move so I started to do them about 3 times a week. It was a clear dedication to improve on cleans. That was also when I started doing squat cleans  instead of power cleans. It was one of the best decisions this far.

Metcon. Time 14.57

• 10 to 1, down by 1's:
• Power cleans, 60kg
• Burpees
• 20 double unders after each round

Cleans and bodyweight movements make up a good combination for a metcon. This was a high-rep movement workout with 55 power cleans and burpees. Because of the number of reps, I decided to adjust it to 60kg on the barbell. I started with 10 reps of both cleans and burpees, then 9 reps both, 8 reps both, coming down by 1's all the way to 1 rep. After each round I took 20 double unders so there were a total of 200 double unders.

I think I got this performed well. Beforehand I thought cleans would be the toughest movement, and it probably was. I had no strategy on this one, just started to move the bar and felt by feeling. I did the first set unbroken, on the round of 9's I did 6+3 and on the round of 8's it was 5+3. From then on I did all rounds unbroken.

Burpees went unbroken all the way and were easier than I thought. Burpee is a king movement. When made in large amounts it taxes the entire body. Doing 55 reps isn't a large amount, usually it still sucks in a metcon like this when it's part of a metcon with a rep-scheme like this. I was able to keep moving even though it started to feel uncomfortable at some point.

Double unders were also easy today. Got them unbroken each round and at least I felt like my form stayed okay. It felt very natural to do the reps. It was like I didn't have to think about the jump rope or jumping at all, the rope was somehow like an extension of my arms, it just felt natural.

Recap of metcon

Friday 14.2: Deficit hspu's, rowing

Friday. Deficit hspu's. Rowing intervals, 10 x 250m with 0:30sec rest.

It was an easier day. I concentrated in working my skills. Handstand push-ups but with an elevation, I put couple of plates under my arms to make the distance longer and thus tougher on the body. Not a real hardcore metcon but still I wanted to get some blood flowing in my system so I took rowing intervals. This day was program-free, had something in my mind but hadn't closed any workouts before I entered the gym. I wanted it to be lighter one.

Handstand push-ups. Deficit hspu's

• Sets of 3 reps
• Starting with 1 plate deficit, adding 1 more plate after each set
• After completing a set with 5 plates, complete the same set-scheme in reverse order
• That is 1-2-3-4-5-5-4-3-2-1 plates
• In the end complete max effort of regular handstand push-ups

I've done deficit hspu's couple of times. But I guess it's been mostly 2 plates, maybe once 3 plates under both arms. Never have I gone deeper than that. Because this was a freerolling session I decided to carry some more plates and go for it. These were fun to do. I had no goals on these hspu's, just wanted to know how it feels like to do them with a tougher set-up.

4 plates deficit

I was positively surprised how easy it was to nail those. I took triples by starting with 1 plate elevation, then added 1 more plate after each set. Max hight was 5 plates under arms, I took 2 sets with 5 plates and then climbed down in a pyramid style. In the end I took the plates off and went after max reps of normal handstand push-ups. Result was 12 reps. Not bad after all those tougher reps. I mean considering my PR is 15 reps.

5 plates deficit

Intervals.

• Rowing 10 x 250m row
• 0:30 sec rest between sets
• Pace around 1:40 - 1:41

Finished the session with rowing intervals. I saw Chris Spealler and Garrett Fisher doing 250m intervals with half a minute break between sets, and I remember thinking why not. I didn't go all in on the sprints. Most importantly I wanted to keep it stable, the first set was 1:40 and I wanted to stick to that number. It was around there all the time.

My goal for today was taking it easier so that every day wouldn't that rough. That's the reason why I didn't touch a barbell at all and concentrated in skills and some light heart beat action. I believe I reached that goal as I wished for.

Thursday 13.2: Clean and jerk ladder, clean pulls

Thursday. Clean & jerk ladder, 10 x 50, 60, 70, 80kg. Time 11.30. Clean pulls @ 80-100kg.

Time for oly lifts. Those are so vital movements that I need to be working on those. I want to be an all-around athlete and clean & jerk + snatch definitely are full body movements. So I completed an ascending ladder with c&j's and practiced some clean pulls in the end. It was a rare moment to have Tony the Pony training with me at the gym. He was doing deadlift triples plus a back-to-back Tabatas of push-ups, air squats and burpees. He's focusing a lot on deads, shoulder press and back squats currently due to the programming of his affiliate.

Metcon. Time 11.30. Compare to 29.7.2013

• Clean & jerk ladder
• 10 x 50, 60, 70, 80kg

I like these ladders. I've done couple of them, it's been thrusters and cleans before. This was the first time with clean & jerks. I've conducted them each time by completing 10 reps with 4 different weight sets, always climbing up with 10kg after every 10 reps. These can be very nasty ones. Grip strength, muscle endurance and metabolic conditioning. All play a crucial role. Plus it's also a good chance to work on the technique.

I completed the first 2 sets (50 and 60kg) unbroken. On the 70kg bar I did 3 reps on first attempt, then doubles till the end and one single in the end. I was able to take advantage of the barbell's motion. As I cleaned the bar and it landed on my shoulders I used momentum and jerked it up right away without stopping in-between. That's very important to find an effective tool on the clean & jerks.

At 80kg I did singles all the way. And at this stage I wasn't able to use momentum at all. It felt more like a heavier clean & jerk. Still, I power cleaned the bar up, no squat cleans at all. Then, I took another breath, inhaled, got a proper tension in my body, and push jerked the barbell overhead. Toni was giving some tips during the 80kg lifts about going down enough and jerking it properly, not pressing.

I definitely enjoy this type of ladders. I guess I must give the thruster and squat clean ladders another shot. I read the stories again from those posts and got inspirited to do them again.

Clean pulls.

• Weights between 80-100kg

I was pretty much done after the workout. Those pull-ups from Mary (150 reps) really feels in my body so I didn't want to complete another metcon or so. Still, wanted to do something and decided to do some clean pulls for strength / technique purposes. There could be more weight for sure because in pulls you should have more kilos on the barbell than on regular cleans. It was most difficult for grip strength. The video above is 5x100kg.

Wednesday 12.2: Paused front squats, row 3k

Wednesday. Front squats with a pause 5-3-3-3-3 across (100kg). Technique, ohs and snatch balance. Row for 3k. Time 11.12.

Mobility, front squats and rowing. That's it. Sounds and looks easy but felt good and horrible at the same time. Got good strength work for lower body and rowing for 3k finally smashed my legs. Good session.

Strength.

• Front squats with a pause 5-3-3-3-3
• All sets @ 100kg

My calendar notes only told me it's time to squat. Front squats with a pause. But I hadn't defined the amount of reps or sets in advance, somewhere around 100kg is ok when doing it with a stop in the bottom position. I took sets of 5's with 60kg and 80kg for warm-up, then climbed to 100kg.

Took the first set for 5 reps. It was somehow painful in my left knee so the rest of the sets I took for 3 reps. I paid more attention to my form on the remaining sets. You'll see the first set on the video. Those 3 rep-sets were good for me today. I got them to drill in my leg muscles thoroughly and the strength part worked for its purpose.

First set, 5x100kg

Metcon. Time 11.12

• Row 3k

I finessed my legs by rowing for 3 kilometers. Rowing is such an entire-body-burner. But foremost it's a movement that makes legs burn and of course it demands a lot from the cardiovascular system. I always feel like my legs are the ones that suffer the most. Breathing is heavy, no doubt, but it's manageable all the time and I recover quite soon after I stop rowing. But those legs feel horrible for a while.

3.000m = Time 11.12

Today I had no stress on the rowing, didn't think that much about the time and I actually didn't have any idea what my pace was during the row. I turned the screen to face the ceiling not to see the digits at all. I glanced at it at 1.5km, then turned it away again. At 2.4km I happened to take another look and from then on I kept it visible and started pacing myself up. For the last about 500m I put my heart in and finished the 3.000m wod at 11.12.

Tuesday 11.2: Mary

Tuesday. Benchmark workout Mary, 20min amrap of: 5 hspu, 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups. Result. 10 rounds (300 reps).

We are celebrating an anniversary today with Pauliina. Have had amazing 2 years with my baby and I love this woman for life, that's for sure! Before going home I had a short time window available to sneak in at the gym and go for a benchmark workout called Mary. I've done it before and I love it every time.

Something was waiting for me at home <3

Mary. Result 10 rounds (300 reps). Compare to 4.9.2013

• 20min amrap of:
• 5 handstand push-ups
• 10 pistol squat, alternating
• 15 pull-ups

This went perfectly! I topped my PR with 28 reps, it was 9 rounds + 2 hspu last time. Now I got to exactly 10 rounds. Had something like 5-6 seconds left after I had done my last pull-up so I just didn't have time to go for another hspu. I'll take those 10 rounds with a big smile on my face. Total of 50 hspu, 100 pistols and 150 pull-ups.

All of the movements are challenging in their own ways. Handstand push-ups were the easiest ones this time. I had no issues with them whatsoever on any of the rounds. Hammered them through unbroken with a kipping style all the time.

Another commentary clip from Greg Everett and Catalyst Athletics

Pistol squats were tough all the way. I was able to keep going with them but it definitely consumed my energy tank and burnt my legs and breathing. I did the pistols without stopping in-between for a break, at least not more than 2 seconds. Not unbroken just like that but still with more like a continuous movement.

Pull-ups, uuh… The number of reps was huge. Probably more than I've ever done in a workout, total of 150 reps. And they definitely felt in my wings. I completed the first 3 or 4 rounds unbroken. From then on I intentionally dropped that strategy because it got to be so taxing. I did 10 reps, walked a certain circle and jumped back on the pull-up bar and finished the 5 reps. I was able to hold on this game plan for the rest of the workout. On average my rounds were exactly 2min.

I had some problems in the locker room afterwards. Had troubles bringing my hands up in the shower to put shampoo in my hair =) My upper body was extremely tensed because of the mount of reps in Mary. That brought me to think about something. It never gets easier even though you get better. You're just able to complete more reps in a given time frame, or you can nail a workout to the finish line in a shorter time domain. That's kind of cool about crossfit. We all know the feeling after Fran or Grace. It doesn't matter if it takes 2 minutes, 10 minutes or something in-between. The feeling is universal. Even among the fittest of the fittest, the Games athletes.

I respect Blair Morrison's training philosophy a lot. He has some awesome workouts

In a long amrap metcon like this, it is actually a bit intimidating to do so many reps. Thinking about the number of pull-ups in this workout was sick, at least for me. Okay, I remember a time when I first did 100 pull-ups, and my upper back was sore for 3 days. Currently 100 reps is not an issue anymore but 150 reps is already quite a number. If I perform better next time, is it going to be something around 165-180? That makes me crap my pants just for the thought of it… Anyways, I feel great and I rocked this one today! Plus, I love my baby!

Monday 10.2: Snatch, Clean and jerk complex

Monday. Hang squat snatch, 2 reps emom, for 16min (40-50kg). Clean and jerk complex at light weight, 5 sets of: 1 power clean, 3 front squat, 1 push jerk, 1 split jerk. All sets @ 60kg.

I started the week with more like a technique training. Not that heavy stuff on the barbell this time. Sunday was already quite heavy on the squats and the metcon in the end really feels in my upper body. That's also one reason to keep it lighter today.

Snatch.

• Hang squat snatch
• 2 reps every minute on the minute
• For 16 minutes
• 7x40, 3x45, 3x47.5, 3x50kg

I felt the snatches were a success today! Each attempt that I had went to parallel or beyond on the squat depth. I've noticed that sometimes when I do squat snatches I have troubles landing my feet in correct position which makes it difficult to go deep. My toes tend to point too wide compared to my normal overhead squat position.

Today I concentrated in the landing and was able to find a form in which it was possible to go down enough on each rep. I took only 2 rep per minute so it was able to focus on the technique. I was thinking about the weights hovering around 40-45kg. I began doing those sets at 40kg and as I felt confident enough I added moderately 5kg on the bar. Took a couple more sets and went to 47.5kg. I took 2 or 3 sets at this weight and finished the emom workout with 50kg. I didn't make notes during the session so I go by memory afterwards. Anyway, it was great! And I could have done heavier sets, this felt good!

Rob Orlando doing a modified Kalsu, one of the toughest workouts

Bar complex.

• 5 sets of:
• 1 power clean
• 3 front squat
• 1 push jerk
• 1 split jerk

My left elbow was a bit sore for some reason and upper body had taken some hit yesterday also so it felt natural to stay @ 60kg. I did a total of 5 sets, all with the same weight. It was pretty solid all the way. The bar felt as light as it should have felt. On a heavier day this could be something like 80kg. The shoulder-to-overhead movements would be the toughest one.

One set of clean & jerk complex

Sunday 9.2: Mu's, back squat triples, tough metcon

Sunday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Strength, 5x3 across @ 130kg. Metcon, 15-12-9, thrusters (50kg), pull-ups, ring dips, burpees. Time 12.00.

I had been waiting for this day anxiously. Rest day behind me and lots of energy to be used. Two things I'll look forward every time I have the possibility to do so: ring skills and squats. Those are also two challenging things for me. I celebrate each ring muscle-up I get currently. I don't take them for granted. Squats are something I've forced myself to love. My legs have gotten stronger and it's been transformed also to deadlifts and pretty much all movements. As they say: you wanna get better at something, make your legs stronger. It all begins there.

Working on weaknesses

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups

Last time I tried these at Liikuntamylly last Friday, I couldn't get any reps done. I knew my body was way too tired to reach the reps. It's still such a taxing movement to me that I need to concentrate properly and the body needs to be receptive to it.

It also seems that I need to do some ring rows to transition movements before attempting any rep. My doing couple those plus a couple of chest-to-bar pull-ups I think the real muscles get activated and I'm better ready for the real deal. Today I got 2 successful reps before getting 2 misses. As I said, I'll celebrate each and every ring muscle-up I', able to perform =) I understood it was time to move on to back squats.

Strength.

• Back squats 3-3-3-3-3 across
• All sets @ 130kg

I had pre-determined the weights already at home 2 days ago. I was hoping to get 120-130 triples for a total of 5 sets. As I started to put weights on the barbell I realized it's very comfortable and the weight is not heavy this time. I took some warm-up sets @ 60, 80, 100kg, then climbed up to 120 and took a triple. Still, I felt like it's time to go heavier so I added 10 more kilos and completed 5 sets @ 130kg.

This is worth celebrating, I don't remember doing this heavy sets, probably like ever. Total of 5 sets, all at 130kg or higher. I've done a triple with 135kg but I don't think multiple sets of triples have taken place at these weights. Rest day probably made it a bit easier but all in all I'm very happy those weights are coming up. There was a time couple of months ago I didn't do many sets at over 100kg, it was more like doing higher reps at lower weights. I've figured it lately because of Pauliina that I need to go heavier in order reach new numbers in squats. I genuinely believe I should be able to squat 2 x bodyweight at some point.

Recap

Metcon. Time 12.00

• 15-12-9
• Thrusters, 50kg
• Pull-ups
• Ring dips
• Burpees

This workout sucked! In it's own gentle way. Thrusters took my strength away and it was very challenging to keep going. It's not an issue for me to get a breath but my strength simply ran out. I wanted to go unbroken for as long as possible but today it wasn't possible all the way. On the thrusters I did the first and last round unbroken, on the second round I did 8+4 reps.

Pull-ups were the easiest ones on this one. Sure it felt a little bad after doing heavy thrusters but it was manageable all the time. Ring dips were the worst. Thrusters were the most all-around energy-sucker but on the ring dips I felt like my power vanished from my shoulders and triceps. Had to cut them to pieces already in the first round. It looks in the video like I hadn't gone low enough but there's a mirror in the gym in front of the rings. I took a glance on every rep that I see my elbow over the shoulder to reach full range of motion. Well, go figure, it was tough anyway.

Number of burpees wasn't bad but the combination of dips and burpees is a killer for the upper body. On the burpees I just tried to think of nothing and just keep on going. Went unbroken on them. The metcon was a good gasser. I wasn't able to keep moving all the time. My goal in pretty much all metcons is to force myself to keep going without having to rest too much. Today the thrusters and ring dips were too much to handle and I had to take breaks to recover some strength in my body.

The training day was great in general. Got some ring mu's to in the beginning, did some heavy triples at back squat and the metcon was one good nightmare. Loved it!

Saturday 8.2: Rest day

Saturday. Rest day.

Day off. This Saturday is reserved for eating, taking a walk with my love, watching the Olympic Games and some movies, basically relaxing. I believe it's an earned rest day.

Yesterday evening we went to eat at Hard Rock Cafe together with Pauliina and enjoyed an outstanding stand up show afterwards.

It was awesome to find a new Mikko Salo's training video, brought to us by Rogue. Take a look at the part II of Mikko going "in the woods". Here's two other short youtube clips. Have a nice weekend!!!

Friday 7.2: Muscle-ups, half Murphy

Friday. Skills, muscle-ups. Metcon, half Murphy: 800m run, 10 rounds of Cindy, 800m run. For completion.

Last day of holiday so it was definitely a drive to Liikuntamylly once more. It was an easier day for a reason. I wasn't ready to hit another tough day with heavy barbells. So I stayed at skills and a metcon of running and bodyweight movements. It was a good decision, that's for sure.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups
• Bar muscle-ups

I was prepared to work on the rings longer than normally and hit several reps. One thing I've noticed though. When my body is tired, I find it difficult to get any reps done on the rings. Bar mu's, no problem, but ring mu's are very challenging. Today was one of those days. The only reason I didn't take a rest day, is because I had the possibility to come to Liikuntamylly. It's a rarity so I definitely ain't gonna skip it! And I'm glad I came. It was just too much for my body on the rings. I took a couple of misses and then focused on the bar muscle-ups.

Metcon. For completion

• 800m run
• 50 pull-ups
• 100 push-ups
• 150 squats
• 800m run
• You can partition the movements as you wish

I took it without any stress today and completed a bodyweight metcon. Murphy is a her workout, 1 mile run, 20 rounds of Cindy followed by another 1 mile run. That's rough. I decided to make it a half Murphy, cutting the number of reps and meters to half. 800m run on both ends of the workout and then 10 rounds of Cindy. In Murphy you can partition the 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 squats as you like. I've understood people traditionally run them through as a 20-round Cindy, a.k.a. 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats per round, a total of 20 rounds.

This metcon felt better than I thought. I wasn't so gassed and it didn't feel as bad as I thought it might. That was a great surprise. I did this for completion, not for time, didn't have a timer running, no idea how much it took.

Recap

It has been an awesome week. My holiday weeks tend to be the best training days as the opportunities are endless and I get to work on my oly lifts in places that are normally out of reach. I saw a PR in Grace earlier this week. I was also able to practice on my handstand skills and bar muscle-ups. It was also cool to mix running into my workouts, in metcons and as intervals, love it! In other words, I worked on my weaknesses.

Thursday 6.2: Handstand, clean and jerk, du's

Thursday. Skills, handstand walk. Strength, clean & jerk 10x1 @ 80kg across. Skills, double unders.

Another training day. This time @ Eltsu, underground tunnel was the venue. I used to come here in the summer time more frequently. In the winter time it's mostly reserved for sports teams so it's more challenging to find a free spot in the evening. As I'm on holiday this week I had the change to go there in at noon when it's free training time for everybody. There were only senior citizens working out. It was actually pretty cool that the youngest athlete there was around 70 years and these mamas and papas were taking sprints and long jumping =) By the way, my car was on repair so it took me half an hour to walk to Eltsu (good warm-up) and another 30min to walk back home for recovery.

Skills.

• Handstand walk

This place is destined for handstand training and handstand walking so I definitely took the opportunity and practiced on my skills. My handstand skills jumped a mile forward last summer so it's vital I can maintain those skills. In the spring and summer time I'm gonna work on this element more as the weather allows to work outdoors. It hasn't been self-evident that I can practice handstand because I don't have the place where to do it regularly. It's a bit difficult to do it on a snowy ground outdoors =)

Strength. Clean & jerk

• 3x60kg
• 2x70kg
• 10x1 @ 80kg

My ambitious plans were to go 90kg or heavier on the singles today but I realized already in the morning that I'm not in a condition required to go that heavy. It's been a heavy week of training as I had planned and it's taken its toll on my body. It was a little tired so I stayed lower on the weights and tried to work on the technique.

As you see from the video, the technique definitely wasn't at its best shape. I was too slow on going under the bar, jerked the bar too much forward instead of straight upwards plus I didn't drop under the bar enough on the jerk either. More work ahead of me. It's kind of awesome that you'll never get ready in this sport and there's tons to work on. So at least the spark to be better stays bright for me and motivates me to train harder!

The bar was heavier than normally today so I left the real heavy weights alone today and concentrated in trying to move the 80kg bar. I'm happy I was able to still move it as I wanted even though there were some technical issues to be fixed.

Recap

Skills.

• Double unders

No metcon for me today. Skills and strength was enough. Haven't jumped double unders in a while so I took my jump rope and did couple of sets double unders. My focus was on keeping my torso straight, kind of like having the same form as when on top of a box jump. That's the goal I'm aiming for every time I grab the jump rope. I tend to bend my body a little on the core but today I got pretty decent reps.



I follow Catalyst Athletics regularly on their Youtube channel. They also have great articles by Greg Everett, the team's coach. This is the first commentary by him on a recap video. Enjoy!

Wednesday 5.2: Heavy squats, squat/box metcon + sprints

Wednesday. AM: Heavy back squat doubles 10x2. Metcon, 7min amrap of: 3-3, 6-6, 9-9 etc, front squat (60kg) an box jumps. Result, round of 15's + 7 front squat (97 reps). PM: Sprints 6x400m, with 90sec rest.

Making those legs stronger! Back squat doubles for strength and a leg burner as a metcon. I'll bet I feel this one later on. My hip flexors felt hammered already after the training session. Wanted those squats to feel heavy and put more pressure on hammies and quads with a tough metcon that I got inspired by last Saturday's Winter War.

130kg

Strength. Squats

• Back squats 10x2
• 1x120, 2x125, 7x130kg

This was actually very good style of doing squats. Haven't done heavy doubles like this in a very long time or ever. Have to be creative on these strength workouts. I'm not the guy who gets inspired by doing 5x5 every time I hit the gym. I get bored on those. This was a good way of hitting the heavy weights instead of pounding lighter ones for longer sets.

I only had in mind to do 10 sets of doubles around 120-130kg and leave the rest of it open. I took the first set and realized it was tough but manageable. More would come up if I just added something on the barbell. I took it mildly and added only 5kg. Did 2 sets of which both felt heavy. Still, I understood it's only mental, just add another 5kg and do your work.

Only 2 sets to go

Managed to do the remaining 7 sets @ 130kg. That was good news to me. It's rare to get as many reps done with a weight like that. For me 130kg is already a good stuff. Have to concentrate to get the bar up. Max load is only about 10kg higher. After a total of 5-6 sets it got very tough, especially the second rep. I'm proud I was still able to finish it without any misses or decreasing the weight.

Metcon. Result

• 7min amrap of:
• 3-3, 6-6, 9-9…
• Front squat, 60kg
• Box jump, 61cm

Nice one. They did a similar type of workout in the Winter War, with two changes. It was a 5min amrap and front squats were thrusters, same weight though. It looked good so I wanted to try this type of rep scheme and tease my lower body and lungs. Tomorrow I had planned to push some weight in the air so I didn't take thrusters or anything shoulder-to-overhead movement on this one. No surprise it was a nasty combo with both movements pressuring legs.

It was easy in the beginning but I knew it's deceptive. No surprise because the reps would get bigger each round. I understood this so I took it easier in the beginning as well. Maybe could have speeded it up a bit more in the beginning. It might have slapped me in the face later on though. I did this workout unbroken up to the round of 9's. Box jumps were ub all the way but I had to cut the squats on the round of 12's to 6+6, and on the round of 15's to 3x5reps.

These moves made me suffer in their own special way. Box jumps made thighs burn whereas squats just hurt the muscles in a different way. Very good workout if you ask me! Today was all about legs and conditioning. I had planned to go for some sort of run in the evening too.


Sprints.

• 6x400m run
• 90sec rest between sprints
• 1km recovery run
• 5 wall climbs

I ran for a while, opened up my hips to get ready for some running intervals. I didn't record the times on the sprints and the rest time was also counted manually. I tried to count the rest precisely after first stint. It was a walk between two landmarks in the woods, and I kept walking between those landmarks between each set. I aimed for 90 seconds every time. I had my clock with me and timed only the last 400m sprint. It took me about 1.22. The distance was also manually measured as I was running in the in the middle of the woods, instead of a track.

My "track"

I was pondering between just completing a recovery run or doing intervals. Couldn't resist doing a little faster sprints. Didn't go with 100% effort because I already smoked my legs in the morning. It's gonna be a training day tomorrow as well. I went jogging for another kilometer or so and spotted a perfect wooden wall in the kids' playground. Had to stop and do couple of wall climb overs. Don't know what you should call them but I guess they called it wall burpees in the Games last year.

Don't know what happened to the colors on this one...

Tuesday 4.2: Mu's, ohs, snatch, metcon

Tuesday. Skills, muscle-ups. Strength, overhead squats. Snatch clinic, squat snatch from hang position. Metcon, 10 bar mu, 400m run, 20 c2b, 400m run, 30 pull-ups, 400m run. Time 11.45.

Time to wake up and go to work. I mean real work! It was Liikuntamylly training session ahead of me as the alarm clock woke me up. Muscle-up skills to begin with, overhead squats for strength and squat snatch as technique training. Naturally a metcon took place in the end of the session. Felt great after leaving the place. My butt cheeks are so sore from yesterday's lunges in the evening. Probably Sunday's heavy pause squats also have an effect. It took some time to get my legs ready for today's ohs and snatch.

65kg ohs

Skills. Mu's.

• Ring muscle-ups
• Bar muscle-ups

I had planned to do 5 ring muscle-ups, followed by 10 bar muscle-ups. The only part that sucked in today's performance was the ring mu's. Got only 1 successful rep. Yeah, I took 3 more ones but they failed, one after another. Some mental stuff because I can't find a reason behind that.

Ring mu

Okay, 1 ring mu and then 10 bar mu's. Decided to do them in singles and focus on my technique. Don't if it was so beautiful but at least I got there pretty quickly. Didn't have to stay and crank my way up there. I felt good with the bar mu's. I kept just a short break after each rep, to keep a good pace on them. Probably about a rep every 30 seconds. That's where I tried to keep it. There were more muscle-ups coming later on in the session.

Muscle-ups

Strength. Overhead squats

• 5 x 40, 50, 60, 65kg
• 2 x 70kg
• 4 x 70kg

Got to use the opportunity of Liikuntamylly to work on my overhead squats and squat snatches. The possibility to drop the weight if needed is tremendous. Especially in the higher loads it's already a mental thing that you know it's safe to drop the bar when needed. And it's not that cool to bring a 70kg bar back to hips from overhead position. I gotta drop it.

Ohs 70kg

I did well on the ohs today. There was another crossfitter to workout, Petteri, who gave me some tips last time I saw him at Liikuntamylly in the Christmas time and since then I've worked more on pause squats in all possible squat forms; back, front and overhead squats. He was talking about the depth of the squats, it got stuck around my head. "Go as deep as possible" where his words. Not only to parallel but further down the hole. Ass to grass every time. He said he rarely does anything else than pause squats on the front squats. There's something to think about.

Recap

I tried to go deeper on the weights and I suppose I managed pretty well up to around 60kg, I actually stayed in the bottom for a second or two before coming up, as a quick pause squat. From there on I stayed at 90 degrees as there was probably some sort of self defense mechanism putting breaks on not to go deeper than parallel. I'm very happy to the way I got these ohs's today. My one rep max is at 75kg. So going for a double and then 4 reps at 70kg felt very pleasing to say the least.

Snatch clinic.

• Hang squat snatch
• 5 x 30, 40, 45kg
• 10 x 1 @ 50kg

This is something I always look forward when going to Liikuntamylly. We worked on snatch technique  together with Toni the last couple of times we went there and he had an eye of a coach. Thanks again for those tips mister. I did lots of snatch balance and snatch presses, even tried some sots press (which btw seems impossible with my mobility) before adding weight on the bar. That snatch balance in particular is a king move. Teaches you some explosiveness. Petteri was also giving tips on the form and the shoulder positions, thanks for those cues!

40kg snatch

I felt much more confident on the squat snatches today than normally. I did them all from hang position, as hip snatches if I can call them as such. The starting point of the bar is at the pocket, not from mid-thigh. The technique definitely needs to be worked on. It's still quite rough on my way down. My feet land wider than on my overhead squats.

50kg pull on the snatch

More repetition to edge it out. I was happy to being able to rock 50kg snatches from pocket without missing any rep.

Metcon. Time 11.45

• 10 bar muscle-ups
• 400m run
• 20 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 400m run
• 30 pull-ups
• 400m run

When you're at Liikuntamylly, it's almost compulsory to run. There's a 200m inside track. Main focus was on the pull-up bar action. There was a total of 1.2km run, always 400m between pulling myself up on the rack. First muscle-ups, then c2b's and finally basic pull-ups. Pull-ups seem to be some sort of strength, I suppose. But chest-to-bar's and bar muscle-ups are definitely not. I need a bigger kip on the c2b's than on normal pull-ups and at my regular gym the pull-up bar is close to a wall. I can definitely do c2b's there but because of the wall's near proximity I find it difficult to do consecutive reps. So I kind of have to do them as singles. Not drop from the pull-up bar but still it's very ineffective. And I want to emphasize, it's not the wall's reason, it's my own technique that sucks there.

Bar mu

So having a pull-up bar like this, with nothing even close to it, it's perfect to rock some mu's and c2b's. Didn't want to miss that opportunity. And they went pretty well. I had done already 10 muscle-ups earlier so having 10 more reps ahead of me was a bit intimidating. Plus I've never done any rep in a metcon this far. I started with a double, then did singles to finish the 10 reps. On the c2b's I did 10 in a row, then a 5, thought about doing another set of 5 but it turned out to 2+3.

Pull-ups were naturally much easier. Those c2b's made my wings burn. I nailed 15 reps in the beginning and then maybe 10+5 to reach a total of 30 reps.

Monday 3.2: Handstand, Grace + Sandy

Monday. AM: Working out at Liikuntamylly. Skills, handstand. Couple of clean & jerks (60-80kg). Benchmark workout Grace. Time 2.50. PM: Sandy action.

I'm on a holiday this week. Didn't use much of my leave last summer so I've had the possibility to take some time off of work and focus on training. That gives me a possibility to train at these magnificent places in the morning times. After a Super Bowl night, after sleeping all 3 hours I gave Pauliina a ride to work and went directly to Liikuntamylly, my favorite place as an athlete. It was time to take a nap and do another workout in the evening with a sandbag at our backyard.

Skills.

• Handstand

This skills movement is sick, I love it. When you give me the possibility to do it, I'll do it. It felt like my body was very tired in the morning but once I got to go inverted it was getting better. First I did some handstand hold, trying got stay as firm and balanced, having my legs together pointing in the air. Then I practiced the handstand walk. It went okay. Was able to stay still pretty well and move forward as planned.

Grace. Time 2.50

• Benchmark workout
• 30 clean & jerks, 60kg

This workout is something sacred for me. Grace and Fran, 2 of the most classic and prestigious workouts that come to my mind when you talk about benchmark workouts in crossfit. They both make me nervous like nothing else. They are cruel workouts. Quick ones, it should always be an all-in effort from the very first rep. There's short amount of repetitions and no excuses to keep rest periods. I've been working my ass off to get strength in my shoulders in order for this 60kg weight to being something I'd be able to manhandle every time I touch the barbell.

Both of these benchmarks should be repeated once in a while in order to see whether development has taken place. This test of an athlete's muscle endurance is brutal and it got me nervous for a reason. Still, I was able to smash this one. I was hoping to get a PR from my previous time of 3.48. But never in my dreams did I see this time coming, a new record with a time of 2.50! That was sick, I'm on cloud number 9 right now for the performance I was able to do =)

I didn't quite know what kind of tactic to use on this one. Thought 6 sets of 5 reps would make it nicely if I'd do one set per 30 seconds for as long as possible. That would make it to 3:00 exactly. However, on the first set I already changed my strategy on the fly and completed 6 reps. On my 10sec break I thought to change it to 5 sets of 6 reps. On the second set I felt like I had unbalanced grip so I dropped the bar after 3 reps, readjusted and took another 3 reps. I was at 12 reps.

After another 10sec break I was looking to get another 6 reps. No way man. I took 3 reps in a row, break and another 2 reps, total of 17 reps. From there on I decided to throw those strategies in to trash bin and as Jason Khalipa says it: "throw balls to the wall". Just close your mindset and give your everything. The bar felt very heavy after 19 reps and that might be seen from my face also from the video. Each rep hurt in my shoulders and legs. Grace has never felt this bad on my thighs, they were burning in a smilier was as my shoulders.

It was a totally different ball game to complete Grace here in Liikuntamylly where you can drop bar compared to my home gym. You save tons of energy by dropping the bar instead of bringing it down gently. Of course you can go faster by doing touch'n'go reps but once you're hammered already, you simply can't do multiple reps. Afterwards, I realized it was a good strategy drop the bar after 20 reps every time I got a rep and grab the bar right away.

I was super stoked after I saw the time after the 30th rep. Probably my best performance every, the improvement was such great compared to last Grace. This one took all my energy and I was left with nothing in the tank. I hung around in Liikuntamylly for a while and stretched before going home for a lunch and a nap.

Sandy-metcon.

• 4 rounds of:
• 20 walking lunges with a sandbag, 25kg
• 20 strict press with a sandbag, 25kg

I thought another metcon is about to happen. Thought about what elements to utilize at our backyard. I have some stuff in the storage: kettlebells, weighted vest and self-made sandbag. Decided to go with the sandbag, a.k.a. Sandy.

Didn't want it to be an extremely long one so while I was warming up I came up with a simple workout: 10 walking lunges, then turn and complete the same steps back to starting point. Followed by 20 strict press with the sandbag. Those presses killed my shoulders! Even though the weight wasn't heavy, the odd object element might have made a difference.

I went unbroken on the strict presses for 2 rounds. On the last 2 rounds it was 15+5 and 12+8. Lunges went ub all rounds. It was a good evening workout to get some body fluids flowing. Now I'm gonna just eat for the rest of the evening and get ready for tomorrow's workouts. I'm eager to hear how Toni demolishes Crossfit Total at his Box today!

Sunday 2.2: Pause squats, metcon of hspu, box

Sunday. Back squats with a pause (max 120kg). Metcon, 10-8-6-4-2 hspu, 20-18-16-14-12 box. Time 5.07. Warm-up, 1min amrap test of air squats. Result 61reps.

This was a good training day. This has been an easy week compared to normal training weeks and today was the first time I did a little longer sets with a barbell. The squats were heavy, considering they were done with a pause. And in the end was the first real metcon I've done since Monday. The metcon felt great! I've missed those. Next week I'm back to normal programming.

Warm-up. Result 61 reps

• 1min amrap of air squats

Pauliina saw this test somewhere, it's some sort of test published my Finnish military forces so we both tried it out with my baby. The standards were normal, full range of motion. Got to 60 reps, 1 per second. Pretty normal pace as I think about Tabata workouts. I've done about 20 per 20 seconds regularly. It was a good warm-up for a squat day. Of course I did the classic foam rolling, and resistance band things I always do to get some mobility done for pre-workout. Pauliina also smashed the workout with 53 reps.

Strength.

• Back squats with a pause
• 5 x 80, 100, 110kg
• 3 x 120kg

Usually my pause squats have been either front squats or overhead squats. Back squats were cool too. Gonna do them occasionally. Wanna create strength from becoming out of the hole. The weights in paused squats traditionally have to be lighter because there's more and longer tension focused on the legs. You simply can't perform similar weights on the bar as with regular squats. I want my legs to become stronger, so I'll hit these paused squats on a regular basis together with normal squats.

Pause squats with 120kg

I believe I haven't gone this heavy at all on this type of squats? Completed 110kg for a total of 5 reps and a triple with 120kg. That felt very good. The last reps of 110kg were challenging so every rep done at 120kg was a success.

Metcon. Time 5.07

• 10-8-6-4-2, handstand push-ups
• 20-18-16-14-12, box jumps, 61cm

This metcon was created in a second. Wanted to get my breathing going and I haven't done handstand push-ups in a couple of days so it was easy to come up with a good combination of hspu's and box. Pauliina was suggesting to do higher box jumps as an inspiration from yesterday's Winter War. Great idea honey, gonna do them some day, just add couple of plate on top of a 61cm Rogue box.

A total of 30 hspu's and 80 box jumps. I was able to do this one unbroken without stopping to breath. Tried to keep the transition quite quick too. Had no idea how long it would take to finish this one so I started moderately and quickly understood it's gonna be a short one. This mostly burnt my legs.

Hspu's were not bad. Got to bounce them unbroken without much problems. Just jumped on the wall and decided to keep the body moving. The descending ladder made it easier. Had it been the other way around, from 2 to 10 it might have been tougher. Don't know, but I felt great for manhandling the movement.

Metcon, hspu's and box

Box jumps were tougher on the muscles. Had those squats prior to the workout so my legs were on fire in the end. As the number of hspu's were getting smaller it felt like this was all about box jumps. Still, was able to complete them nicely. Didn't stop at any point. All in all this workout went as planned and I'm feeling great!

Winter War. Yesterday we drove to Tampere to witness the Winter War, Finland's version of the Crossfit Games. It was freaking awesome! The atmosphere was spectacular and the athletes were real crossfitters. A total of 9 events of which the rowing 2-part event, something something similar to the  last year's Games, a little shorter version though.

Mikko Aronpää, a great Games athlete, took the Finnish title for the third year in a row, 3-peat as they called Rich Froning =) It was a close call this year, as last year's second Mikko Ojala, an unaffiliated guy, huge monster, was a runner up before the last event.

In fact Ojala dominated the final but Aronpää still barely won because of his steady performance through all the workouts during the day, point difference being only 4 points (583p vs. 579p)

Ladder of thrusters and high box jumps

The ladies' winner was Saara Laaksonen, from Crossfit Turku. This year she got the gold medal after being second last year. She dominated the the final event and thus the entire competition. She had a total of 611 points whereas the second took 541 points. No doubt who was the fittest woman in Finland.

Aronpää and Ojala

 I was checking the throwdown with Pauliina, Sipa and his training partner Jake. Toni was also in the scene. In fact he spent the entire weekend enjoying the atmosphere.

Athlete from Toni's box

Saara Laaksonen

Couple of videos in the end of the snatch ladder. Weights between 60 and 120kg, with a 1min work rotation.

Aronpää manhandling 80kg in the red shirt

Aronpää taking 110kg up in the middle, and Ojala 115kg on the left