Friday. Metcon, 5rds of: 150m run, 10 sunbed jump-overs, 150m run, 50 du. Finally, 100m swim.
We spent pretty much the entire Thursday at a South Coast Plaza mall about an hour from our place at Redondo Beach. The place was a big one and easily offered several hours of entertainment for us. I was looking to find new metcon shoes and was very close to finding a pair but they lacked my size, doup. On Friday we hung around in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica all day (and night) long. Got a short time period in the morning to squeeze in a workout by the pool.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
150m run
10 sunbed jump-overs
150m run
50 double unders
I simply love workoing outdoors. Okay, I miss my barbells a lot but this is a great substitute. Bodyweight stuff by the pool. The area is vast so there's plenty of room to play around. I ran the 50m distance 3 times per round, then jumped over sunbeds (have to be creative here), ran 150m again and then completed 150 double unders to reach one full round. Repeated for a total of 5 rounds.
This turned out to be great. A good metcon indeed. Each element got my heart rate up, it was the first time in a while my heart did this much work. It felt good and bad at the same time. The weather had its effect for sure. It's 30+ degrees all the time. Forecast told there was nearly 40º yesterday. It's practically like hanging in a sauna all the time. But we're enjoying every second of it because this is something rare to us.
After workout I jumpes to the pool for a cool down. I swam for 100 meters to recover better
Third day in California and we're both loving it! Lots of things to be done. We wandered in Beverly Hills, Hollywood and Mulholland Drive in the northern part of the city. Distances are huge, difficult to explain that. A small town finnish guy has trouble understanding it. Even though I've been all around the world, this is undoubtly the biggest place ever. Today we were taking control over the beaches. Manhattan beach, Venice beach and Santa Monica have been seen now. Awesome places!
Skills.
Handstand
In the morning we were hanging at the beaches where I had a good chance to work on my handstand skills. I took quite a lot of attempts on this one. In the beginning it felt a bit awkward as sand is not that solid ground. I actually took some handstand in the very morning at the pool as we went to just check the pool out. There was lots of solid ground available. Anyway, handstand at the beach was a lot of fun!
After our day trip it was time to hit a workout on my own. I got some spare time for crossfit. Decided to utilize the pool because it's a rarity. The pool was 20m in length, so I swam the pool for 4 times in a row, then compeleted 20 squats and 15 push-ups at the same time. I decided to add some reps after each round. It turned out be a great workout. Totalling 125 push-ups, 200 squats, and 400m swimming in which I suck by the way :)
Long day was ahead of us. Sleep is something I haven't seen in a while. We woke up 4am Monday morning, ate breakfast and headed to the airport with Pauliina. We flew to London, stayed there for about 2 hours and continued to Los Angeles. The latter flight was something between 10-11 hours. That's a lot of sitting around. Because of the time difference I somehow reasoned not to sleep in the airplane but concentrated more on movies, games and my lady.
The long journey was rewarding as we finally entered US soil and warm Californian breeze welcomed us to enjoy our stay.
I felt like crap as I woke up. It aches in probably every cell I have in my body. Some places hurt more than others. My upper back is sore, hamstrings and butt cheeks are sensitive too. It feels like there's not much strength within me. If I had to do 60kg clean & jerks it would be a nightmare. Yesterday was a great experience and spectacular workouts.
I took it easy today, just wanted to get my blood flow and get the juice moving in my body. Didn't touch the bar at all nor did I do any bodyweight movements. Just used some cardio machines, rowing, treadmill and stuff like that. Easyyyyy.
Active recovery.
1km row
1km crosstrainer
1km cycling
1km running
1km crosstrainer
Mobility
Recap
Tomorrow morning we are traveling to the States with Pauliina. Destination California! First time ever for me traveling there. I've been to Florida twice and last year we visited New York with Pauliina. I love traveling to USA, it's my kind of place, there's something that suites us both.
We are going to Los Angeles first, then Las Vegas and finally San Francisco, for a total of 2 weeks. It's gonna be spectacular, no doubt! This is a holiday for sure so I'm not gonna stress about sports that much. But even though we are at the other end of the world we are definitely going to take care of our fitness somehow. Stay tuned.
Saturday. HC Triplet IV. Three Events, pair workouts. Paired up with Toni against Sipa and Jake.
Awesome!!! What a day! On the other hand, can't call it a surprise. These Triplet throw downs are simply the best crossfit time ever. Having a blast with my training partners. Today was the first time ever we had company with Toni in these Triplets. Sipa and Jake tagged along so it was only natural to do these workouts as pair workouts, teaming up with Toni against Sipa and Jake. It was a tight one!
The gang
Event 1. Toni & Don 22.39. Sipa & Jake 23.05
200 double unders cash in
400m run
40 kettlebell clean & jerks, 32kg
400m run
60 burpees
400m run
80 sit-ups
400m run
100 walking lunges, 25kg sandbag
200 double unders cash out
All these workouts were different style of events. The first one was something like a chipper. One athlete was allowed to work at a time except for the run part. Both were required to run at the same time for the entire 400 meters. On all movements one guy was allowed to move body or weights at a time. The reps were ascending from 40 to 100 reps, changing the element after each run. The workout began and ended with 200 double unders.
I'm very happy on the way Toni was dominating all of these events. There was a time in the past where most of the reps would have fallen for me to complete. But today we are in a situation where this stud has developed tremendously and we were able to complete most of the reps evenly. I think I did a little more burpees and sit-ups but other than that we made the reps fifty fifty.
Recap, Event 1, Sipa & Jake
Our strategy was simple. We got to keep moving all the time, no rest at any time of the workout. Once the other one wears down it's time for the other guy to step in. On the c&j's we had planned on making it in 4 sets of 10 reps but if it starts to burn too much, it's okay to drop it and let the other one perform. We didn't want to see those moments where you try to gasp for air and the kettlebell is not moving at all. Those sets were somewhat challenging but we were able to manhandle them nicely!
On burpees our plan was to do first sets as 5's and then singles, alternating after every rep. On couple of occasions I took couple of extra reps to let Toni rest for a few seconds. We were both moving efficiently and there was no need to stop and breath. Either of us was moving all the time.
Recap, Event 1, Toni & Don
On sit-ups I believe we went through it mostly in sets of 20 reps. That wasn't the most taxing element in this one. I tried to do them as fast as possible with some rage in my mind. This was something I didn't wanna slow down.
Lunges were definitely a pain in the ass, literally =) 100 lunges, which we divided something like 20's. It most definitely burned my lower body. Toni didn't seem to bother at all about this movement, the guy was enjoying his time!
In the end it was time to hit another set of 200 double unders. We had some misses in both ends of the workout on du's but mostly it was okay performance. I believe these were the only one where we could have done better? It was a solid effort all the way from beginning to the end. Running was decent in all rounds. I'm telling you it sucked big time right after burpees! Huh it felt like we were on a slow recovery jog. But then after sit-ups it felt light. The element performed affected a lot.
Sipa and Jake probably ran a little faster. On the other hand we nailed the kettlebell jerks in 4 sets whereas they had about 7 sets. That made a difference to our advantage plus we did Sandy lunges in less sets so we saved some time in the transition. We got this one with about 30sec shorter time.
Event 2. Toni & Don 35.16, Sipa & Jake 30.34
21-15-9-15-21 of:
Wall ball, 10kg / partner in squat hold
Pull-ups / partner holds wall ball overhead, 9kg
Kettlebell swings, 32kg / partner pull-up bar dead hang
On paper this seemed like "the thing". As nasty as it gets. Traditional 21-15-9 rep scheme with a twist as you have to climb back with 15 and 21 reps in the end. Another twist was that while the other athlete is completing the required reps, the other one has a role as well. He has to stay in a static hold position. Either sit in a squat, hold a wall ball overhead, or dead hang from pull-up bar. We had 2 wall balls with us, Jake has a 10kg ball and Sipa 9kg. Those are both home made from a basket ball filled with sand.
Recap, Event 2, Sipa & Jake
Recap, Event 2, Toni & Don
The static hold was the surprise element at least to me. Haven't done anything like that. It really made a difference here. Especially on the pull-up bar dead hang. And think about the order of the elements. Both had to complete all 81 reps of all 3 movements, that is 81 wall balls, 81 pull-ups and 81 kb swings. In addition they had to do those static holds while the other one was doing his share. Lots of work.
Toni started this one with 21 wall balls, I was in squat. After Toni did his reps, we changed positions. After my 21 wb's, Toni jumped on the pull-up bar and did 21 of them while I held the wb overhead. And then changed again. This was the name of the game. Imagine doing pull-ups and then stay up there for static hold as Toni moved on to kettlebell swings. That wasn't cool.
Jake and Sipa beat the crap out of us on this one. Guess there was about 4-5min difference. The difference was made mainly on the pull-up bar. We were evenly good on wall balls, all 4 of us. Even though it felt difficult in the beginning to hit the target with good enough accuracy, it started to feel better and better towards the end. Everybody had misses, it was different to throw the ball on this target compared to a wall.
There was a good amount of reps to be done and those static holds had their influence, no doubt. Because we took some time on the pull-up bar, I got some extra recovery time so I felt pretty good during the workout. Forearms were definitely tingling because all the work but it was manageable. And palms were quite sensitive after the workout. We were afraid how it would affect the last event. They were sore as hell, same on the legs, it felt horrible. These 2 workouts had been taxing! The first one was 20+min and this was about 35min so no wonder we were aching in pretty much all body parts.
Event 3. Toni & Don 4rds + 32 kb snatch. Sipa & Jake 3rds + 17 t2b
20min amrap of:
50 air squats
40 kettlebell snatches, 24kg
30 toes-to-bar
20 goblet squat, 32kg kettlebell
My favorite! We had a good rhythm and fast heart beat from the very beginning. All 4 movements guaranteed heart rate was sky rocketing and muscles hurt. But it was the last event and we had a good vibe going on all the time. We nailed this one. No extra pauses, just kept moving continuously. The only strategy we had was on the t2b's and snatches. We had decided Toni would do 5's and I'd do 10's. We managed to follow that rep scheme for 3 full rounds, on the 4th round we both did something like 4's and 8's.
On snatches we decided to try complete them in 10's for as long as possible. Other than that it was more like "go by feeling", complete as many reps as you can, don't gas yourself but don't give slack either. That worked very well. We did goblet squats in 2 sets all the time, we did something between 8-12 in every round. On the squats I have no idea what happened or how many we did in any of the sets =) We just listened to the judge count the reps and talked during the workout. "You go!"
It was a surprise how well we moved, ourselves and the weights. We were in a zone. Must say I had a great training partner! This day was something like a perfect training day come true. Something I'd like to do if I had a bachelor party some day =)
Entire Event 3, Toni & Don
We were able to top Sipa's / Jake's time on the first one, then on the second one we were beaten roughly. On the third one we made a comeback and got a little over 1 round better result. I'm very happy overall on my personal performance and above all our team's effort. Don't know what we could have strategized better on these events. Double unders could have been better, that I can say out loud. Other than that we kept the motors running constantly. It's pretty obvious Toni's engine has also taken some big steps as he was also able to keep on moving without stopping to gasp. That was some sick action mate!
And probs to Sipa and Jake too. That was some beast mode crossfitting in every workout. You guys had a good and clear strategy as well in each of the 3 cruel events and you stuck to it. It was a pleasure witness your incredible work capacity. There was something cool in the atmosphere during the day. Thanks to Toni, Sipa and Jake for making this day possible. It was definitely a great training day!!!
This was practically a day off. We went to the gym with Pauliina so she could her workouts. I had no intention to get my heart beat up or put my body to test its limits. I rowed for some time to get blood flowing, then concentrated purely on mobilizing my lower body first, then back and finally the rest of the body.
It was definitely better than a day off. This way I got to activate my body and preparing it up for tomorrow's taxing training with Toni, Sipa and Jake.
The Regionals are on their way, you can follow this competition at games.crossfit.com. There's a link where you can choose which region to follow.
Easy day. HC Triplet is coming, just two days to go to year's most demanding event. It's a team event this time and we are pumped to get a chance to workout with each other. I took it clearly easier today, not working with max effort, working on some weaknesses and skills.
Ben Smith on DT, several years ago =)
Workout.
4 rounds not for time:
20 ring dips
500m row
Ring dips are definitely a weakness for me. However, today they felt good and efficient. I took 2x10 in each of the 4 rounds. I found a good rhythm on the dips all the way. This workout was not a timed one, it was a good relaxing recovery type of workout. Even though there were 80 reps I don't think this will burn my body too much.
On the rowing I took it very easy. Something like 1.50-1.55, mostly for recovery purposes too. I jumped on the rowing right away though. Chilling out on this one.
Skills.
Unbroken sets of double unders
10-20-30-20-10-20-30-20-10-20-30-20-10
I would have liked to work more on the ring dips but I didn't want them to burn me too much. Taking it light today by all means. In the end I took some skill work with double unders. Sets of 10, 20 and 30 reps, ascending / descending ladder. Total of 250 reps. However, I had one miss at some set of 20 reps so it turned out to be 265 reps instead. There's a flight simulator where you start with 5 reps, add 5 reps after each set until you reach 50 unbroken du's. Then climb back down from there until you're back at 5 unbroken reps.
Today was the day Don's Crossfit blog reached its 100.000th hit over its life span. I started publishing my workouts in July 2011. Since then I've posted my workouts pretty much on a daily basis and aim to be as transparent as possible with my results, times and weights. Lots of development has taken place. Those of you guys that have stuck from the beginning have probably noticed that.
Before I started crossfit / this blog I had barely touched a barbell in my life. My metabolic condition was in pretty good condition that time because of my earlier career in sports. In general, my fitness has stepped up the game tremendously. I'm happy so many of you guys read this blog and hopefully get some inspiration of the workouts.
The story continues, no doubt. This is a lifestyle, not just a hobby. Next big thing will HC Triplet on the coming Saturday. Entourage include me and Toni as one team and then my brother Sipa and his training partner Jake as another team. We'll be chasing each other in teams of 2. There will be 3 pair workouts during the day. I'm very satisfied with the workouts we were able to come up with. They will definitely be good tests of fitness, mental and physical strength as well as metabolic condition. All aspects crossfit demands of athletes.
Wednesday. Skills, handstand. Technique, behind the neck presses 3x6. Run, 3x800m, rest 3:00 between sets.
Day in Eltsu. Indoors for handstand and barbell work, then I went outdoors to hit the track for some sprints. My running isn't in place yet, gotta do more work to get back to full speed. Today I did 800m runs. In the end I did one rounds of hero workout Brenton: 30m bear crawl, 30m standing broad-jump. Complete 5 burpees after every 3 broad-jumps. Actually it should have been 3 burpees after 5 jumps but I remembered it incorrectly. I got a good perception of the workout.
Skills.
Handstand
It was cold as hell outdoors so I went indoors to work on this specific skill. Took couple of sets to get activated on my shoulders. I had big ambitious to go after overhead squats and this seemed like a good preparation for that. My right knee was a little sore after yesterday's training session so I skipped everything related to squatting below parallel.
Barbell.
Behind the neck presses 3x6 (50, 60, 65kg)
Took the barbell from ground
I'd like to practice presses and jerks behind neck. It would be perfect to have blocks from where to take it to back rack and do jerk singles. Then drop the bar back to blocks and repeat. This way I could do for example heavy triples, all from behind neck. Now I'm a little intimated to dropping the bar back to my back rack starting position. I've never dropped over 60kg back to where it started.
Today I took 3 sets of 6 reps from behind the neck, the heaviest being 65kg. The weight was light but I didn't dare to go further. It felt quite good to drop it but because I haven't done much of them so I stayed at 65kg. Definitely worth trying for heavier. Little by little.
"Biggest Loser" Bob doing Grace
Track.
3x800m
Rest 3:00 between sets
It was time to get back outdoors. I've ran some of those 400m sprints in the spring time. Today I doubled the distance and completed 3 sets with 3min rest between sets. My running pace isn't quite there yet but hey, that's what's crossfit is all about. When you spot a weakness, you practice that one and conquer it over time. That's my plan!
What a day! I was so done as the training session was over and still at home I was feeling sick. I had planned to go to Eltsu for clean and jerk, went to my home gym instead. All I had in mind was clean and jerk. Ended up there with Juuso for some olympic lifts, core work and deceptive workout.
I warmed up my lower body properly before touching the barbell, then took some more hang cleans, jerks and front squats with lighter barbell. Started off by doing a set of 5 reps with 60kg and a hang squat clean at the end of those reps. Same with 70kg. At 80kg I did one squat clean and 3 split jerks. So that was not actually clean and jerk set but a sort of clean / jerk complex. After that I took only a double @ 85kg and then simply singles.
I've done some jerks with 90kg barbell and it feels comfortable nowadays. I guess that's pretty much the heaviest I've climbed at this gym because it's not possible to drop the weights. So it was a little intimidating trying to jerk the bar up. However, I felt good and confident, the bar wasn't that heavy so I kept pushing it.
Never has 100kg felt so light! I've taken it overhead only couple of times. Not sure but I'll guess maybe 2-3 times? At this point it was only natural to go try that record. The clean stayed a little too forward so my clean wasn't a perfect one. Usually my cleans tend to look similar, at least in my opinion. I either get the clean up and they look alike or then I'm not fast enough to drop under the bar. Anyway the bar was on my front rack and it was time for some real action. Took the dip and drive, hoped for the best and gave it a shot. Bar felt comfortable on the dip part. When I began to drive it up, the bar was like a ton of iron was on my shoulders. I put all my effort in the jerk and got it up. Stayed still for couple of seconds victorious with 105kg bar overhead.
After clean & jerks I took 3 sets of clean pulls. First set @ 110kg, and the last 2 sets @ 120kg. For sets of 5 reps they were heavy. Let's think about it. I've done couple of 100kg+ clean singles in my life so going for 110-120kg clean pulls must be heavy. My grip strength was a little challenging. This was the first times I tried hook grip. That's because my grip strength wan't there after 2 reps. Had to go for hook grip. And I must say it was a totally different thing. Grip was easy but my thumb was smashed. Maybe I gotta try this more. Maybe there's a point why everybody's using it =)
Core.
Floor wipers 3x10 (50, 60, 60kg)
This was something Juuso talked me into trying. Some core work. Have you ever tried? I haven't. With these weights it was more like a body control movement, balance, and coordination. We took sets of 10 reps. The idea is you're laying on your back, take the bar from rack just like you would be doing floor press. While holding the bar with straight hands. Then bring your legs to the bumper plates side to side. Start with left side and then right, alternating after each rep.
Workout.
20sec on, 40sec off, for 10 minutes
Thrusters, 40kg
Something that was created on the spot. Turned out to be a sick one! One barbell, two men and a timer. We completed this together even though it was an individual workout. Juuso started at 0:00, worked for 20sec, then rested 40sec and started his second set at 1:00. My turn began at 0:30 and I worked for the same time domain, 20 sec on and 40sec off. I realized it takes about 2sec to complete a thruster.
This started to feel bad in 3-4 minutes. At 6 minutes it was horrible. At 8min I felt rhabdo is on its way. Well that was a joke, luckily it wasn't on its way. At 10min I was so smoked. Hard to describe. Had to knee down, then I tried to walk the pain away but the pain just wanted to stay in my body. It felt bad somewhere deep inside long after I came home.
Now I smile as I look back at the work put in earlier today. Lot of stuff was overhead, supportive core work was there too, and the grande finale was great!
Monday. Gymnastics: Skills, ring muscle-ups. For quality, 5rds of: 5 strict push-ups, 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups. More skills, weighted pistols squats, one-arm overhead squats, one-arm overhead pistol squats.
Wanted to take it a little easier today so I went through a different style training session. Started off with ring muscle-ups, then some more bodyweight stuff by working on my strict hspu's, lots of pistols and a good bunch of pull-ups.
New fruit & nut bar in test
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
It felt as good as it always does =) Had no problems getting up there, that seems to be the trend now. I'm very happy over this topic. Haven't used much false grip lately because I wanna get rid of that. It's there in my skills tool bag just in case if I need it but mostly I try to go without false grip.
Workout. For quality
5 rounds of:
5 strict handstand push-ups
10 pistol squats
15 pull-ups
This is important stuff. Haven't done many strict hspu's and it was a good reminder when I looked at the Regionals workouts that these need to be worked as well. It was said in one of the Update Shows that there are teams that have said they didn't practice strict hspu's at all in the past year. I bet these guys will face some problems in those tough workouts.
So I did 5 strict hspu's per round. They are clearly tougher than kipping version. Then pistol squats. On some rounds I went alternating leg after each rep. On some rounds I did 5 reps left leg, then switched to right leg. I tried to do these as slow and controlled as possible to teach my body the correct path up and down. I felt very confident on the movement. This is my thing. I remember not being able to complete one single rep when I started crossfit. By crossfitting my mobility, strength, balance and coordination has improved so much that this movement is not challenging anymore.
Pull-ups I did unbroken. That was the goal and I had no doubts of not reaching that. I tried to keep my legs together, looking to engage good kip movement in my hip.
Skills.
One-arm overhead squats, 10kg kettlebell
Weighted pistol squats, 10kg kettlebell in front rack position
Weighted pistol squats, 10kg kettlebell in one-arm overhead squat position
In the end I played with my mobility, and skills. I'm not sure I have ever been able to complete a 1-arm overhead squat with a kettlebell. At least to parallel. It felt magnificent! Something has happened and my mobility has improved. The weight itself was light, the main focus was on body movement.
After having done couple of tens of pistol squats, I took a kettlebell in front rack position and did some weighted pistols. It was naturally heavier but similar movement, no problem. But the last thing was over the top: pistols squats while having a kettlebell in 1-arm overhead squat position. That was sick. Never thought I'd make it but there I was, had to sit in the very bottom, stay there for a second or two as a pause squat and then get back up.
This was the first crossfit video I ever saw. Ben Smith doing thrusters and c2b's
Shoulder burn, check! Old school session of press strength, getting those shoulders stronger. Then I remembered a workout Mikko Salo said he used to do a lot back in the days to build up strength in his shoulders. I went after that one for a good reason. And finally some rowing sprints to build up the engine.
80kg
Strength.
Push press 7x3 (70, 75, 77.5, 80, 80, 80, 80kg)
I actually like to put stuff overhead a lot. Presses or jerks, don't mind, as long as it gets heavy and puts my shoulders to test. Today it was time to do push presses instead of push / split jerks. I've done them probably more because I have wanted to work on my technique. Plus you get a chance to overload the barbell compared to shoulder / push press.
Didn't want to max out on this one, just took several triples with weights that are manageable. I don't know where my max is but at least I did 90kg press some times ago in an overhead complex workout. That press was accompanied with 3 more split jerks. So completing triples at 80kg is not maxing out. It was a good session though, it started to feel on my shoulders and I didn't take the presses for granted. There was lots of push presses ahead of me anyway so I stayed at 80kg on the last sets.
I remember Mikko Salo explaining his training methods in one video and revealing this workout was something he used to do a lot couple of years ago to build up his strength. And he definitely is strong on shoulders!
I took some weight off the barbell and left it at 60kg, that should be a weight I'm able to move for several reps. Having too much stuff on the barbell would be of no use at all and having it too light would be waste of time. Afterwards thinking, 60kg was perfect to me. This was the 3rd time me doing this one. First time was with 50kg and last time was @ 60kg. I was able to top me score with the previous one by 10 reps, that's good progress on this one for me.
First round of the amrap workout
On the first round I created a strategy on the fly and copied that to the remaining amraps as well. I took as many reps as possible on the first attempt, then put the bar down, took another shot at it at around 45 seconds and then for the third time when there was something like 35 seconds left in the clock. In some rounds I took the last attempt with 10 seconds left in the clock. I'm very happy on the balanced performance on this one. That is something I always look after in my training. I'd like to see myself perform like Rich Froning himself. He never rushes. Steady pace from the beginning to the end, with quite even round times in workouts. And in the end he comes by those guys that were gassing in the beginning. There was only 1 rep difference in these three sets.
Cardio.
8x250m row
Some engine work in the end. For a total of 8 sets of short sprints, 250m each. I took 'em about in every 2 minutes, didn't mind that much about the timer though. My first split - which you can witness below - was the fastest. I wanted to see how quickly I could smash that. It was about 44 seconds, it was sub 1.30 all the way, about 1.27-1.29. Definitely the fastest I've ever rowed.
My legs were very sore when I entered the gym so i didn't wanna burn them more that much. The first 4 sets I went at around 1.30 pace, the latter half of the workout I took it easier, with probably 1.35 pace. This is a short distance to row, it takes about 20 strokes to get there. Rowing is a king movement to build a strong motor, no doubt! I like to do these intervals with varying distances, short, long and intermediate.
April stats.
If I had to describe April it would be a benchmark month. Lots of benchmark and hero workouts compared to regular month. I just fired up to test my limits on couple of them. Some old and some new ones. I had one week of holiday from work and had the possibility to train in Liikuntamylly and Eltsu too, those moments stay warm in my heart.
Lot of new benchmark girls and hero workouts were done in April. I've done Nancy once before and PR'd about 3 minutes of my time. It was also Lynne's second appearance and another PR was made. First time I did Isabel with 50kg, previous attempt was at 40kg about a year ago. The other workouts: hero workouts Small, Nate, Holleyman and JJ were newcomers, tough ones each and every one of them.
Small was pretty much a cardio workout, long 45min session of running, rowing, box jumps and burpees. Nate was all about ring muscle-ups, skill-oriented workout accompanied with hspu's and kb swings. My first mu workout ever. Holleyman was all about heavy cleans. JJ, also heavy cleans coupled with deficit hspu's.
Strength. 99.000kg
Back squat 17.000
Front squat 12.000
OHS 5.100
Clean 20.000
Jerk / Press 6.900
C&J 3.500
Snatch 6.100
Thrusters 1.200
Deads 12.700
Bench 4.600
KB 9.600
Quite familiar numbers. It's about 100k per month that I lift from ground on a monthly basis. It varies to where I focus on each month but the total amount of kilos hovers around 100.000kg. My legs have made some work, total of 30.000+ kilos in back / front / overhead squat. Clean is my ultimate favorite and I guess it shows in the numbers. Having numerous reps, light and heavy have improved my technique over the course of time tremendously. I still remember my first cleans when I started crossfit. It's hilarious to take a look at those videos nowadays =) Kettlebell was a little more activated compared to previous months. That's because I worked outdoors more.
Skills.
Pistols 60
MU 49
DU's 900
Hspu 335
Handstand practise sessions 2
What stands out is the amount of muscle-ups I've eagerly trained lately. Have to maintain the skill and develop it to a more efficient movement. There was also a good number of hspu's during the month, I'd like to see over 300 rep numbers on a regular basis.
Bodyweight
Squats 100
Dips 100
Push-ups 285
Burpees 445
Pull-ups 500
T2B 225
WB 150
501 Box
Kind of funny there was exactly 500 pull-ups in April, I'll take that amount. Also good set of burpees to build an engine. I believe high-rep box jumps have come to stay in my programming. I find so many upsides on that movement. Should have done more dips, that's a weakness.
Cardio. 36.800m
Rowing 16.400
Running 11.400
Cycling 9.000
I started the month with a 10k interval row and the tone stayed for the rest of the month. The end result was almost double the regular amount. I usually have around 20k rowing / running.
PR's.
Front squat 132.5kg
Overhead squat 80kg
Deadlift 210kg
Couple of strength PR's were seen too. It's been a while since I've updated front squat records. Overhead squat is considered a weakness so I'm very happy to being able to nail 80kg as 1RM. Deadlift seems to be some sort of strength for me. It was time to hit a third record of 200+ kilos.
