I'm in need of a rest day. So I'll take it. No reason to push it for no reason. I'll step back for a full recovery day and hit it again tomorrow. Previous days' workouts really shattered my body and it feels like it hurts pretty much everywhere. Below Josh Bridges - one of the serious threats to Rich Froning - talks about the mental game in competition.
And hey, it was that time of the week we'll see another Crossfit Open event to be released! It was 14.4, a chipper as it was widely speculated beforehand. And finally those muscle-ups popped up =) Those guys nailed the workout. Take a look at the announcement below.
Thursday. Skills, Ring mu's. Strength, front squats 5-5-5-5-5 (100-110kg).
My body was a bit hammered after yesterday's Barbara workout. It feels pretty much all over my body. That's why I took it easier today, no metcon at all. Some ring skills to start with and then front squats that I haven't taken in a while. That was more than enough for today.
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
False grip
Non false grip
This progress has been great. I'm very happy I'm able to get ring muscle-ups without using false grip. Let's be honest, those muscle-ups where I haven't used false grip are the first REPS I've been able to do, ever. False grip reps have been pretty much no-reps because the elbows are not locked out in the starting position. Whereas in normal grip my elbows are locked out in the beginning, I just utilize a proper kip and swing to get over the rings.
And it feels awesome to get up there! I took couple of false grip reps and then practiced on this "normal" reps. I'm gonna keep on practicing this skill for sure. I made a promise in the end of last year that I'll focus more on rings the upcoming year and I've fulfilled that promise to myself. Still, I'm not where I wanna be so more work is ahead of me!
How cool is this one? Let's see if we can build something alike with Kari =)
Strength.
Front squats 5-5-5-5-5 (100, 105, 110, 110, 110kg)
Now my back is in good shape after 14.3 so it's okay to squat again =) It took a couple of days to recover. I decided to do front squats instead of back squats. I'm gonna get back to squat rhythm and work on getting my legs and engine stronger.
As I wrote in the beginning, my legs and entire body was shocked after yesterday so I didn't max out today. I took 5's with loads between 100 and 110kg. It was a moderate weight for me. Had to concentrate to get the weights up with style but it was something I was able to manhandle. It's not light weight for me at all, I'd call it moderate. Max hovers around 130kg.
We learned from Dave Durante and his stall bars tips in the beginning and in the end of the training session with Pauliina. I got to say it really stretched the hamstrings and popped up the tension in upper back, especially when we pushed the head properly between shoulders. Take a look at his tips on Instagram right here.
How close is that? What is this Toni? You better get that next time!
Wednesday. Benchmark workout Barbara, 5 rounds of: 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 50 air squats, 3min rest between rounds. Time 32.51 (including rest).
I thought it would be a good time to go purely at bodyweight for a while. This benchmark workout has been on my mind for about a week so I decided to hit it. The memory I have from previous time I did this one is that it took me 3 days to recover. That was a good starting point =)
It felt horrible! After 3 rounds of this workout it felt very challenging. My strategy was totally different today compared to the first Barbara I did. Maybe today's version was not the best one I suppose. At least as I compare the total time. Last time I did first rounds unbroken on the pull-ups and then as many reps as possible later in the workout. This time I intentionally broke it already on the first round. I did something like 13+7. I thought breaking the sets in the beginning would save my upper body and then it would be easier to work on the push-ups. That's because they are my goat, a weakness I haven't put enough focus on to get them rolling well.
Breaking the sets didn't help at all. Maybe I should have just gone through the sets unbroken for couple of rounds. I know I could have done it. My body was a little smashed and tired in the beginning but I still believe I could've done it. The push-ups were tough already in the beginning. In the later rounds it was a little pathetic how challenging they turned out for me. I tend to do push-ups with very narrow grip.
Sit-ups were the easiest part of the workout. No doubt. I completed them unbroken each round, the last 2 rounds were a bit tough but it was manageable all the time. It felt like a vacation after having done pull-ups and push-ups.
It turned out my legs were tired because I had to break the squats each round. I remember having nailed the squats unbroken last time, at least in the beginning. Now they felt like lead all the way. My legs barely carried me after the workout. In fact, they were so weak I thought I might fall any minute, and my calves and thighs were cramping.
Crossfit Games Update, Malleolo dominated 14.3
Sit-ups were the easiest, then pull-ups. Squats smashed my legs but the most difficult part was push-ups. I think I'll just add the movement to my metcon routines. Got to be better at them. I checked what I wrote last time on Barbara. It seems the sit-ups brought some issues then, but not today. Push-ups were toughest then as well. And squats were easier back then. On the pull-ups I had a different strategy.
This lady is a bad ass. There was a total of 700 reps, 100 pull-ups, 150 push-ups, 200 sit-ups and 250 squats. Hopefully I'll be able to recover faster than last time. That would be recommendable! My pal Toni was thinking about going after Barbara soon too. I'd like to hear how he nails this.
Tuesday. Olympic lift strength, 8 working sets of 2 clean + 1 jerk. Metcon, emom, odd min: 7 power clean (60kg) + 7 box, even min: 7 t2b + 7 wall ball.
It was time for oly lifting today. I was thinking about making snatch part of it today as well but leaned finally towards c&j type of action for strength and cleans in the metcon. I went pretty high on the strength, not max but heavy-ish anyway. The metcon was from compwod, a hint from my bro. I had plenty of time for mobility after the session. Mobility and sauna, that was a good relaxation.
Strength.
8 working sets of:
2 squat cleans + 1 split jerk
Weights 80, 85, 90, 90, 92.5, 92.5, 90, 90kg
I had clean & jerk in my plans but I wanted to do something a little different. I ended up with a complex of 2 squat cleans and then finished it with a split jerk. My goal was to work on my jerk technique also with a little more fatigued body after the 2 cleans.
It went pretty well in my opinion this time. I took some reps with 40kg, then sets with 60kg and 70kg before completing the sets between 80-92.5kg. The cleans brought no problems whatsoever. The jerks were tougher than the cleans. But I kept the weights at a level I know I can nail any day. My original plan was to hit couple of sets with 90kg. It turned out I managed to do several of them. Took 2 sets with a little heavier as well.
After I had the bar cleaned to front rack position, I took a deep breath, kept the tension inside and carried out the "dip and drive" stage and was able to lock out my elbows right away. Then just bringing the feet together for a full rep. It was a good strength workout.
My brother told me about this workout that he saw at compwod. He said it was one that can eat a man alive. Now I know why. It was tough towards the end. Not otherwise but the power cleans began to come heavy. I was able to complete all movements unbroken each round. It took about half a minute to get these reps done per minute, I didn't look at the timer that precisely but it was around 30 seconds.
The odd minutes were clearly tougher than even minutes. I don't have access to a wall ball at the gym so I've replaced that my grabbing a 10 or 15kg bumper plate and completed a similar movement patter as with a wall ball. Plus I did the movement upwards in a fierce way as if I was throwing the weight up on the wall.
It was a different type of workout as there was this spare time after you had completed the needed reps, no matter if it was odd or even minutes. That definitely helped. Compare if I had done 7 rounds of these 4 different elements, 7 reps per round. It would have been awful. As this was already nasty in the end.
C'MON!!! Great ring skills day! There was a clear success story created at the gym in the afternoon. I skipped strength for today. This is exactly the reason why I have diminished the amount of deadlifting in the past months. I can feel the aftermath in my lower back for a couple of days so it prevents me to go heavy on back squats. I had 100kg on back squat today, took a triple and felt like there's no good reason to continue. I racked the bar and started my metcon.
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
5 singles, false grip
2 unbroken reps, no false-grip
This was an unbelievable feeling. I took singles with false grip to get a good feeling on the rings and boost my confidence level up in the sky. After having done 5 single reps without misses Pauliina talked me into practicing ring muscle-ups without false grip. The difference is huge for me. Traditionally I don't use that big a kip when doing muscle-ups but going without false grip it's impossible. I'll have to do a huge kip, the biggest possible.
I took a good grip on the rings with the rings locked in the center of my palms, took a deep breath, locked my elbows straight and let go of my feet on the floor. Just do as big kipping movement as possible and try to do the transition at the correct time and as fiercely as possible. I succeeded on each part as well as I could have. Once I was up there I decided why not try another rep in a row. It was so close last time when I was practicing this with my bro.
So I took another breath inside, created a good tension in my body, dropped from the dip position and followed another big kipping movement. I was able to make another explosive transition and landed in the deep dip position, just another dip and I had just gotten 2 unbroken ring muscle-ups for the first time in my life! I tried for a third one but this one it stayed a little short. This training session was very encouraging indeed!
Metcon.
4 rounds of:
8 push press, 52.5kg
16 pull-ups
24 box, 61cm
I had written this one during the weekend but just modified it today by adding more reps per round. Instead of classical 5/10/15 reps I decided to hit a bigger volume per round. It turned out to be rather good combination of movements. The first two movements smoked my upper body and the big number of box jumps in a row got to my legs.
The push presses were pretty light in weight but there was a reason for that. First of all, there were 8 reps ahead of me every round, plus there were 16 pull-ups looming just around the corner. My goal was to go unbroken, each movement, each round. And I got them as planned. I realized the couplet of push press and pull-ups would turn out cruel if the bar was heavier than this. It was heavy enough for upper body anyway.
The pull-ups were challenging on the third and fourth round. But manageable anyway, I had to concentrate properly on the last 5 reps on these last rounds. My goal was also to go without breaking the set on the box jumps. I believe it's beneficial to practice on box jumps also for longer sets than 10-15 repetitions. It's a totally different thing to complete 15, 24 or 30 reps. It has more long-term effects when you bounce more of them in a row. My legs were jello after each set but the first.
After having finished the workout, I jumped off the box and my legs simply couldn't hold me. Had to drop to my knees for 3 seconds before getting back up and walk the pain away. I never go lying on my back after a workout, no matter how heavy it is. It's a principle. And I've noticed the pain goes away quicker when you force yourself to walk and shake it off. This metcon worked for its purpose, definitely!
Sunday. Active recovery. Push press 5x8 (across 50kg). Building a sled
We spent the day at the in-laws at Klaukkala. It was a great weekend. After having done the CF Open 14.3, we went back home to eat, then packed our car and headed to the countryside. The evening was a relaxing one but there was some work to be done Sunday.
First of all, Kari had picked up a barbell and weights from the post office that he'd bought online earlier. The package included a 7.5kg bar and 50kg of total weight. They already have a self-made pull-up bar from last summer.
Out of blue Kari had the idea of building up a sled. What a great idea! I've been longing for that since I started crossfit a little less than 2 years ago. So he didn't have to persuade me for too long. Luckily he had some extra wooden material that we were able to utilize for our purposes.
We had a short planning session and then started sawing the planks to correct measurements. It took some time from two guys that are not timbers but the end result was cool! It really looked like a sled =) We just need some straps from which to pull the sled and some angle irons to strengthen the box.
Anyway, it seems that the perfect training area just got better! Plus it's pretty awesome to workout as a family together there. Every time we go there, it's about spending time with the family of course. But there's an upside to it. We get a chance to workout together. That's priceless.
Today I didn't have a specific workout. Just did lots of bear complex stuff with the new bar. Power cleans, front squats, push presses, back squats, and push presses from behind the neck. We also practiced perfect deadlift techniques with the gang =)
In the end I did 5 sets of 8 rep push presses behind the neck. That was deliberate because I haven't done much of presses / jerks behind the neck. I found it very natural actually. I've been a bit afraid of dropping the bar to the back rack position but it was very smooth. Great weekend indeed!
It's been a grueling week of training, going for twice a day. That was a tough week I got to say. But I'm addicted to crossfit and love the journey continuously. Today I decided to take it easier and complete only one workout. I decided it better be a good one. What a better way than do the crossfit open workout?
CF Open 14.3. Result 133 reps (3 reps @ 145kg)
8 min amrap of:
10 deads, 60kg
15 box
15 deads, 85kg
15 box
20 deads, 102.5kg
15 box
25 deads, 125kg
15 box
30 deads, 145kg
15 box
35 deads, 165kg
15 box
Thank you Dave Castro for the workout. It was genius. I've done 21-15-9 workouts with deadlifts and box jumps with weights differing between 100 and 130kg. They have always been quick ones and all in effort has been needed from the very beginning.
60kg
60kg
This workout's nature was different because it was after all 8 minutes of work. The weights are light in the beginning but it's a good warm-up and preparation for bigger weights. The number of box jumps remain the same throughout the metcon, 15 reps between deadlift sets.
I decided to break the sets early on not to burn my posterior chain too much. That would not be a smart thing to do if you realized you have nothing in tank and it's only in the middle of the workout. So I dropped the bad already on the second set (80kg) after 10 reps. Box jumps I did unbroken all the way.
85kg
On the 102.5kg deads it was 7+7+6 reps and I started to understand why people have said the bar is going to get heavy. It was surprisingly tough on the 102.5kg lifts. Same reason for breaking the sets. When I do something like Diane or anything else with 21-15-9 and about 100kg I go unbroken because the number of total reps isn't that bad. But in this one it was a totally different thing.
102.5kg
Set of 125kg. Not a heavy weight, right? Well, it felt like it was 140kg at this point of the game. I took 5+5+4+4+4+3 reps to get through it. I was thinking about 5's all the way but on the third attempt I realized it's too ambitious so I had to drop it at 14 reps. I was glad the set was over after pumping up and down for a while.
125kg
After I had changed the plates to 145kg I checked the clock and saw there's about 12 seconds left in the workout. I knew I had to just grab the bar and take couple of additional reps at this weight.
145kg
I'm happy with the way I was able to work on this workout. I would have liked to finish more reps at 145kg. That started to become as heavy as I wanted it to be. It would have been awesome to nail all those heavy lifts just for the fun of it =)
Friday. AM: Strength, overhead squats 6x3 (max 70kg). PM: Outdoor metcon, 15min amrap of: 20m sandbag (20kg) lunges, 15 burpees, 7 t2b. Result, 6rds + 6 burpees. Had to modify in the middle of the workout.
We headed to the gym early in the morning with Pauliina for some strength work. It was about time to replace those overhead squats I missed Tuesday when we were working out with my bro at Liikuntamylly. OHS had been banging in the back of my head since then so I had to do couple of sets. In the afternoon I squeezed in a metcon at our backyard.
Strength.
Overhead squats
3-3-3-3-3-2 (50, 60, 62.5, 65, 67.5, 70kg)
Talk about a weakness. Here it is. Squat snatch and overhead squats are not that comfortable movements. I always feel like there are mobility issues restricting me to lower myself perfectly. That's naturally just an excuse, I should be working those weak spots and make both movements my "thing". I would like to have a little more narrow grip. Currently I'm having my hands in the very end of the barbell. If the grip is more towards a jerk grip, I can't get low enough. The thing is that I believe my body leans a little too much forward and I can't hold my weight on the heels. This is something I need to be working on.
70kh ohs
This is kind of a complex movement, even though you can do it with a slow pace. Compare to squat snatch where you have to explode under the bar. I was able to handle the weights today pretty well no matter the technical issues. Plus I was able to hit the depth on the squats well. On the last set's 3rd rep my right elbows just gave away and bent on my way up. Result was the bar started coming down and I had to throw it forward. That kind of bugged me as it was so close to nail the sets with success.
Recap of overhead squats
Played a little in the end with overhead squats at 40kg and double unders. Not a workout, not for time, just wanted couple of longer sets overhead squats. I took sets of 15 reps. I changed my "metcon sneakers" on and it was a totally different thing to do overhead squats with. Oly lifting shoes are so much stable in all squats. On my sneakers it felt like the form was twisting more than normally.
Metcon. Result 6 rounds + 6 reps
15min amrap of:
20m sandy lunges
15 burpees
7 toes-to-bar
After eating and chilling I walked my lady to the train station as she was out to see a friend. That was a perfect time slot for me to throw in another metcon as I only did strength in the morning. I was thinking about the gear I have in the cellar and what movements to combine in the workout. The answer was Sandy, our beloved 20kg sandbag that we created together with Toni for "HC Triplet II - In the Woods". It was nasty then, and it still has her moments.
My goal in this one was to have my lungs make some work, get the breathing heavy and you've reached your goal. Burpees is another great tool for that purpose. Plus I wanted it to last for a little longer, 15 minutes was what I ended up with. Having only lunges and burpees would have been a little boring so I added t2b's to get something extra in the game.
Backyard workout
This was a good one, I really enjoyed working through it. In general, working outdoors is great. I get the kicks out of it, every time, no matter the weather. But, today the weather was just beautiful at the same time. Sun has been shining nicely throughout the week, couldn't have asked for a better one for this holiday week. Wind was blowing roughly today, but the buildings were protecting a lot so it didn't bother at all, it was a slight cool breeze.
I did those t2b's on the kids' swing. On the 4th round the little people came to play at their swing so naturally I left the t2b's alone and concentrated in solely lunges and burpees. The result was 3 normal rounds and then 3 rounds without toes-to-bar plus lunges and 6 burpees on the 7th round. So there were a total of 7 round of lunges and 96 burpees, and 21 t2b.
Now it's time to chill for this Friday evening, eat some more and let this body recover. By the way, Crossfit Open 14.3 seemed like a great workout. Take a look!
Thursday. AM: Skills, handstand. Strength, split jerks from rack (max 90kg), metcon: 15-12-9-6-3 hspu, box, power clean, 200m run between rounds. Time 16.05. PM: Metcon, 10 to 1, down by 1's, bench at bodyweight, 10 pull-ups between bench. Time 20.45.
Got to utilize this opportunity to workout at Liikuntamylly. I think I could live there… Just eat between workouts and hit it again =) If I had Pauliina with me and occasional other training partners I probably would do it on holidays. I attacked the place early in the morning, thinking it would be quiet. How wrong was I. The place was crowded! But it was mostly elderly people and kids being instructed in a huge group so even though there were tons of people there weren't many peoples working with barbells this time. In the afternoon I went to pick Pauliina from work and did a workout there as well.
Skills.
Handstand
This place is ideal for handstand so I'm more than happy to practice my skills for warm-up before the actual workout. It's been awesome to have this opportunity so I can maintain my skills and add them up in the spring and summer time. La casa de in-laws is another spot where I like to work on this one too. It's about 20 seconds or so that I can hold on being inverted, no matter if it's staying steadily at the spot or moving forward, handstand walking.
After 20 seconds my shoulders get fatigue and I got to drop down from the position. I'm still very happy with the progress I've made in the past, especially as not having the possibility to work on this specific skill constantly. There's naturally work to be done. I should focus on having my legs together in a beautiful line together with the rest of my torso. It's a little too C-shaped to my taste. I just don't understand how you could push your head right under your shoulders. Seems unnatural. But that is probably a thing I could work with a partner, holding me steady and me forcing to get the ideal position.
Take a look at this place
Strength.
Split jerk from rack
3x60, 3x70, 3x80, 3x85, 3x90, 1x90, 3x80kg
Focus today: heavy-ish split jerk triples from rack. I wanted to hit at least 90kg. I could have worked clean & jerks too but I wanted to save energy for the actual jerks so I took 'em from rack. I wanted my feet to work well on these, landing in similar position no matter the weight. A good lunge, not just a little movement there but a proper step further.
There's still work to be done with the feet. I like the fact there isn't such a huge difference between the sets but i'd like to see my front feet supporting the weight overhead in a better and stronger manner. It would definitely be a more stable form in that way.
Anyways, the weights were moving up nicely. On the last rep of the set of 80kg I hit the bar in my face. That didn't make the lift any easier =) It was awesome to throw some weights around in the morning, I enjoyed every minute of it.
Recap of handstand and strength work
Metcon. Time 16.05
15-12-9-6-3
Handstand push-ups
Box jump, about 60cm
Power clean, 60kg
200m run between rounds
Wanted to do something that's beyond my regular options. Running, barbell work and bodyweight stuff. That's a good combo. I'd like to incorporate running into my workouts and this is the place where it can take place. This workout was tough. Total of 45 reps of 3 different movements with 1k running in smaller sets between rounds.
I didn't think about the strategy at all before the workout. Once I threw myself against the wall for the first time, it felt good to complete the handstand push-ups and I decided to give it a shot and try to go unbroken. That was great that I was able to do them ub every round. I'm very happy about it.
This rock tape thing really rocked! Thanks Toni for the tip
Box jumps were the same height as earlier this week that you saw on video. I believe it's the same hight as standard box, about 60cm. It felt actually a little higher. I had one miss on the boxes, I wasn't able to reach full lockout on top of the box so I did one "extra" rep. Other than that the box jumps went as planned, at a steady pace.
Power cleans weren't that easy. Well, I didn't think so but they got to me big time. They were the toughest part of this metcon. Even though it was only 60kg I had to cut them from early on. I remember having done 15 power cleans once in a row and it burned my forearms so badly. On the first round I did 3x5, on the round of 12's it was 2x6, on the round of 9's I did 6+3 and the rest went unbroken. I'm telling you the running part wasn't a pleasure after all that work. I felt like my running wasn't the fastest on this planet. It still was a cool element to have as part of this one. I really liked the programming of this one.
Rich Froning's bench workout. I remember seeing him done this unbroken on Crossfit Mayhem's youtube channel some time ago. I'm not a big fan of bench but once in a while it's worth doing it. I prefer it within a metcon though like this one. Total of 55 bench at bodyweight (I'm currently at around 82kg) in a descending ladder plus 10 pull-ups after each bench set.
The pull-ups were no big deal, I got them unbroken every round without any issues. It was the bench that really sucked. That's a whole lot of benching for me. On the first round I did 'em probably 7+3, then for the following couple of rounds it was probably 3 sets. Usually something like 4 reps at first try. From 6 and down it was either 2 sets and the last 3 ones went unbroken.
There's a 10m distance between the bench rack and pull-up bar so there was a lot of walking in the workout. I felt like I had done my share of training for today after this workout. It's been awesome to train in the morning and in the afternoon for the second time.
Wednesday. AM: Sports, badminton for 1 hour. Strength, pause back squats 3's / 5's. Metcon, 12min amrap of: 15 burpees, 20 one-arm kb swings (16kg), 20 air squats. Result, 5rds + 4 burpees. PM: Recovery run for 30min.
"Regularly learn and play new sports" - Greg Glassman, founder of Crossfit. Okay, so as Pauliina suggested to go and play badminton in the morning, I was in. We played for one hour, then headed to the local gym for dessert. It was a good warm-up to play badminton. It's been couple of years since I've played it last time. Then, it was time for pause squats and a metcon. In the evening I went for a recovery run to flush legs and get them better ready for tomorrow.
Strength.
Pause back squats
3x80, 5x100, 5x110, 3x120, 3x120, 5x110kg
The place didn't have a safety rack so I had to be careful with the weights. I have never learned how to drop the weight backwards if it gets too heavy. And I'm used to squat the heaviest weights inside the rack with safety bars so it's kind of intimidating to squat without that mental safety of the rack.
110kg
I like these pause squats a lot. I wanted to do regular squats with heavier weights for the last couple of weeks so I skipped pause squats for a while. It was a cool comeback of the pause squats and they made me happy. I've learned to love the squat in all possible forms.
I did sets from 80kg to 120kg. The heaviest sets - 120kg - I did in triples, all others in 5's. I would have liked to try 5 reps in the heaviest sets too. Plus it would have been awesome to try a little heavier, 125 or even 130kg for singles or doubles. This type of squat is totally different and tends to be very cruel as you have to start your way up from a still position in the bottom.
120kg
Metcon. Result, 279 reps (5 rounds + 4 burpees)
12 min amrap of:
15 burpees
20 one-arm kettlebell swings, 16kg, alternating
20 air squats
Originally we had planned to go to our home gym with familiar surroundings and certain possibilities for metcons. As we were in a bit different place I had to created a metcon out of blue after the squats. I looked around for weights and equipment, realized the only thing I liked to use was a kettlebell. Unfortunately 16kg was the heaviest one.
No prob, I thought one-handed kb swings to eye level would have been great. And it was pretty cool. Didn't burn the muscles that much but boosted the breathing as I wished. My goal on the metcon was simply get my breathing up and keep going. Classic cardio stuff. And it worked well for it's purpose.
The burpees were a positive surprise, I was able to keep on moving continuously, from the beginning to the end. Round times also indicated this, there wasn't much differentiation between the rounds. I caught my breath after burpees, and grabbed the kettlebell. It was a nice movement, I did 'em "russian style", that is a little over eye level. So that I could see my face in the mirror below the bell. As I said, the weight itself wasn't much, it could have been heavier but the movement itself was easier to handle than regular 32kg kb swings. That's because normally my forearms burn as hell but now the tension eased every time I changed hands.
Air squats can also be tricky in a workout. Such a simple and innocent movement as air squat. But once you keep on doing them high-rep amounts the legs start to get in fire, and the motion gets a little slower. I focused on full range of motion throughout the workout. A good bounce in the bottom and extending my entire torso in the upright position.
It was a good metabolic condition workout. I'm happy I was able to create this one just like that and it turned out to answer to my needs perfectly. At first I felt I don't have the energy at all but after the first set of burpees I was back in the game and after first round my entire body was ready to rock.
Second day of my holiday and it's feeling in my body. I guess usually when people are on holiday they're taking it easier and charging batteries. For me, it's quite the opposite. There are no schedule-related problems and I can more easily find time to workout. So I met with my bro at Liikuntamylly in the morning for couple of pair workouts, and in the evening we went to "home gym" with Pauliina for some rowing intervals and mobility.
Metcon. Pair wod
5 rounds of:
10 burpee broad jump
200m run
2 bar muscle-ups
My brother has been following competitorswod.com programming for about couple of months now and he usually does metcons before strength. So we went by that plan today as well. After warming up a little - indeed, just a little - we started doing work. There was a newcomer movement: burpee broad jump, which basically means you first complete a burpee, then do a broad jump. As simple as that but it gives an extra twist to the movement. Try and you know.
While Sipa was running, I was doing burpees. As he was finished, we changed roles. I went running and he completed the burpee jumps. After both had done both athletes, we did the unbroken bar muscle-ups in turns. First I did 2, then Sipa did 2, and then we headed for another round.
Maybe the burpee broad jumps were the nastiest of the 3 elements. Burpees themselves are not the funniest movements. Add "explosive" broad jump in to the mix and it's even less fun. Somewhere in the process it still turns into fun… It burns but feels good.
Overhead squats.
5x40, 3x50, 3x60, 1x65kg
We had plans to hit heavier weights on overhead squats. I had plans of hitting 60+ weights on 5 sets for triples or something like that. However, we both had some elbow issues that bothered the barbell work. I didn't wanna risk anything and cut the squats after 65kg. I had a slight technical error in the last set, the bar leaned forward and I lost the barbell. The bar itself didn't weigh that much in any of the set. Sipa nailed 8 reps @ 70kg. Good job bro!
Metcon. Pair wod
5 rounds of:
5 deadlift, 100kg
20 wall ball, 5kg, 5m
15 box jump, 60cm
This was created on the spot. We were thinking about smashing some ohs and squat snatch for strength but this was definitely a better idea. First we thought of doing a simple bodyweight metcon but then we threw in a lightweight deadlift in to play. And I'm glad we did, to have some strength element there too. It was intentionally light. There's only 5kg wall balls at the place so we had to settle for that. It would have been awesome to have rx'd wall ball (9kg). Instead, we threw the ball to about 5m instead of the traditional 3m distance. The box felt like it was about the same as Rogue's box (61cm).
Bought some rock tape today
This workout was a good fun metcon in the end. I wished the wall ball was heavier. Other than that, the entire point was to keep the guys moving, the weights were not the thing. More focus on metabolic condition. And it served pretty well.
Cardio.
Row intervals
10 rounds of:
300m row easy, sub 1.55 pace
300m row sprint, about 1.45 pace
1m rest
After eating, having a nap (love the holiday that allows this!) and letting body absorb the recovery, we put the training cloths on again and headed to our home gym. My workout consisted purely on rowing. I saw this on Garrett Fisher's Instagram, he did it with his sister, and wrote it was "terrible". Now I know why. It was a 6km interval work. Naturally he rowed a bit faster, 5 seconds in both "easy" and the "sprint" part.
It took a total of about half an hour, including rest
I really believe doing row intervals are a great way to build up the engine within you. It's cruel, that's for sure but the pros overcome the nasty feeling during the workout. Plus I'm fast in recovering from these intervals. It's not that much the breathing in rowing that makes me sick, it's more of the burn in my legs. I'm able to handle the heavy breathing. Rowing intervals should be a compulsory thing every week.
In the end of the training session I did lots of mobility, used foam roll, lacrosse ball and resistance band plus traditional stretching. Felt very good to do some body maintenance. More foam rolling ahead of me in the evening.
Here's Toni's CF Open 14.2, result was 71 reps, good job man!
Monday. AM: Skills, handstand. Strength, clean & jerk (max PR 102.5kg). Bar complex, 3 sets of: 1 squat clean, 3 split jerk (across @ 80kg). Metcon, 10 rds of: 5 back squat (60kg), 30 du. Time 9.50. PM: Playing outdoors.
First day of my holiday and straight to Liikuntamylly. It was a tough day there, lots of action going on. Skills, strength, technique and metcon to crown the training day. Personal record also saw the daylight. Could have I asked for more. Don't think so! In the evening we went for a walk with Pauliina and I had the chance to play a little in the woods.
Skills.
Handstand
Handstand walk
It's been some time since I was walking with my hands last time. It felt pretty good and natural. I'm very happy about it. I was afraid in the autumn what would happen to my newly learned skills during the winter time as it's difficult to find a place where to practice this particular skill set. Last spring / summer I did quite a lot of handstand outdoors on grass but having the ground filled with snow it's a bit different thing. Below you'll see how it went today.
Handstand skills
Strength.
Clean & Jerk, max out
5x60, 3x70, 2x80, 1x90, 1x95, 1x100, 1x102.5kg PR
My upper body was tight from last two days of training. Somehow it was stiff already yesterday evening and not any better as I woke up today. I tried to loosen it up by hanging from a pull-up bar at home. My goal today was to try some max efforts on clean & jerks. That's because Liikuntamylly is a place where you dare to push the limits. You can drop the barbell if you fail to lift it. Bringing 100k nicely to the front rack isn't a simple thing when you're at the limits. So it's safer to just drop it. That's why I tend to go to max when training at Liikuntamylly.
Did some traditional bar warm-up, good mornings, clean pulls, power cleans, front squats, push press, back squat and press behind the neck. The usual stuff. Then some more of cleans to get ready. Couple of clean & jerks with 40kg as well. Then I started working towards the heavier sets. The 60kg set I went in touch'n'go style, then I took singles all the way to the end. The clean part wasn't much of a thing. It was more of the jerk part that made this movement more challenging. It started to become a little wobbling at around 95kg. I'm not entirely satisfied in my technique on the 100+ weights but I'm definitely happy I got them up and a new record was born!
Barbell work recap
Complex.
3 working sets of:
1 squat clean + 3 split jerk
Across @ 80kg
This was supposed to concentrate more on jerk technique than anything else. My elbows started to become a bit sore - actually they came sore already on the c&j's - so instead of completing 5 sets I had to stop after 3 sets. Didn't want to risk anything. The pain wasn't feeling good. The weight itself was not heavy but I wasn't right on it with my technique today. I was pushing the bar too much forward, not straight upwards. Plus the feet work, not the most beautiful lunge I have seen. Still, the load itself was moving easily and that's always a positive sign! There was a time when 80kg was my max load shoulder-to-overhead so in these moments it's important to cherish those moments =)
Metcon round times
Metcon. Time 9.50
10 rounds of:
5 back squats, 60kg, from rack
30 double unders
After letting my elbows recover for a while I came up with a metcon where elbows wouldn't play the main role. Back squats and double unders. That turned out to be a great combo for a metcon. Main goal of this metcon was indeed to work on the metabolic conditioning. Keep that body moving no matter how you feel. Just bare with it and focus on the next rep.
And I was able to complete that task. As you see from the round times it was a solid effort from the beginning to the end. Naturally the back squat wasn't that heavy, it wasn't the purpose of it. It was supposed to fatigue my legs a bit and let the double unders finish the man. I got the double unders unbroken if you don't count the very first set where I had a miss after 2 reps =) After that it was a smooth sail at the sea.
Metcon, all but the last about 10 du's
Plus I believe my form was quite good on the double unders. Somehow I might be able to make it more economical, not to burn myself that much. Maybe circulating the rope a little faster so I wouldn't have to do that much work with my legs. I don't know, I feel pretty good about it. If you have tips, feel free to give 'em. I'll absorb it.
Anyways, this was a good workout where I got to keep breathing under control throughout the workout. It was about 50+ seconds per round. I walked to my timer between rounds just to tap on the clock and see how my round times look like afterwards. There I lost couple of seconds per round but that's a small thing.
It was an awesome training session at Liikuntamylly, no doubt! First of all, handstand skills, one of my favorites! Then PR in clean & jerk + some bar complex work. And the metcon was the cherry over the cake, my kind of training day.
Constant variety.
Wall climbs, 15 reps
We went to the woods for a recovery walk. Somehow we ended up at this wooden wall that I've had one encounter before. Even though it's not that high you still have to do surprisingly lot of work to get over it. At least it gets to the breathing in no time. Entire body is in tension when doing work. But most of all, this was fun! It was something like 15+ reps on the wall.
