Friday. Skills, bar muscle-ups. For fun, table tennis.
My hip flexors have been on fire for 2 full days. I mean it's some serious stuff. About half a year or one year ago they were inflamed and the feeling was pretty much the same. It hurts to lift my legs up so putting pants on is no fun. We had a recreational day at work organized by Toni and myself. It was a blast as we spent the day in Pirkkola. I had time to get some muscle-ups done before doing my part on the day.
Skills.
Muscle-ups (20 reps)
I had couple of minutes to do my thing before the rest of the crew arrived at the spot so it was no surprise I was hanging on the pull-up bar for a short skills session. Beforehand I was a bit nervous because I thought there wouldn't be a chance to improve my fitness at all by any means. "Fortunately" my hip flexors are destroyed so I didn't have to think I missed a workout session.
Luckily there was a quick time window anyway to do some muscle-ups. These felt good. Grip feels better when having gloves off but as my palms are not in perfect condition I decided to have gloves one on these sets.
Had no plan on hitting these reps. It turned out to be a triple in the beginning, then 4-5-4 reps. Last set was supposed to be 4 reps too to get to 20 total but I missed the last one so I took a single to finish the plan.
"Always learn and play new sports".
Ping Pong for 1h
Our recreational session took about 2 hours but my role was more like to guide people in their endeavors. It was a lot fun though! Afterwards we went to play table tennis for one hour and took a sauna to relax =) Great day of action, and good recovery for my hips. The weather was perfect for this kind of action!
We were about to hit the gym after work but luckily my woman was in the opinion that today could actually be an easy day or even a rest day. I loved that thought because my body has taken a lot of hit lately and is feeling beaten down. It hurts basically everywhere. Hip flexors, back, lats, triceps are all sore as hell and it didn't feel tempting to do a workout at all.
After eating and chilling at home I got a feeling it would be awesome to go outdoors for a little recovery run. It was very easy pace all the time. Pretty close to 5 kilometer run in the forest, just enjoying being out in the nature.
Here's Jason Khalipa doing unbroken Randy as an inspiration to the upcoming Crossfit Regionals.
Wednesday. AM: Strength, front squat 3-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1. Farmer's walk 10x20m @ 70-80kg. Accessory, 4rds of: 10 glute ham raises, 15 ghd sit-ups. PM: Skills session of bar muscle-ups (5x5) and handstand.
I had a day off of work so it meant only one thing. It's gonna be two-a-day. There were some errands to be taken care of but I found the time to get a good session in in the early afternoon. It was a squat session combined with some strongman elements and accessory movements. In the evening we went to get with Pauliina and I focused totally on skills. Good one!
Strength.
Front squat 3-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1
Triples @ 110kg
Doubles @ 120kg
Singles @ 125kg
This was tough. I took 60-90kg lifts from a dead stop in the bottom. Started from the hole, stood up and came back down. So it was totally vice versa than normal front squats. Without any bounce from the bottom it made it very difficult and a different type of stimulus. Probably a very good way to train I'd figure.
At 110kg it was triples, got them done in touch'n'go style and was very satisfied on these. Doubles at 120kg were a lot heavier. I took a breath on top before the second rep. And these were the slowest front squats ever. Definitely not even a slight bounce in the bottom. But form remained okay so I'll take 'em!
On the singles the first one was the heaviest. That startled me a bit but then I decided to man up and do the work as planned. Happy on how I got them done. These really got to me legs and they felt smashed already later in the day. Or was it because of farmer's walk, don't know but it feels good.
Front squat recap
Strongman.
10 x 20 meter farmer's walk
70-80kg per hand
I've done this movement once before. It was awesome that time. A lot lighter but it was intentional because it was a metcon spiced up with burpees. Today I went heavier and had 50kg extra weight on this handle that weighs either 20kg or 30kg. Don't know, I asked about it but didn't get a precise answer and haven't compared it to a normal barbell. Anyway, this was much different than the lighter load.
This is a full body workout to say the least. Legs are doing the work, core has to be very tight all the time. Posture has to be good and shoulders back. Grip needs to be strong. Don't know what part of the body this movement would not strengthen. Suits very well to crossfit. This is classic strongman stuff. You'll see farmer's walk in Rob Orlando's site all the time. And there is a reason for that.
This was 10 rounds of 20 meter carry. I didn't have a clock running for a purpose. Recovery was pretty much walking back and forth the grass mat. It was a good length. No need for too much recovery. Could go heavier on this one. It would be a good idea to have a training pal and do this alternating. We're gonna hit it one day with Jasper.
Farmer's walk
Accessory.
4 rounds of:
10 glute ham raises
15 ghd sit-ups
These legs are going to get stronger. Glute ham raises are one more tool to reach that goal. Farmer's walk and sled are also excellent ways to get there. These ghr's are brutal on hamstrings. I still need a resistance band to assist me do these. This was only the second time doing them. Hopefully soon I'll drop the band away and focus on doing them with bodyweight only. Once I got a set of ghr's done I changed sides and completed ghd sit-ups right after, then a pause before doing another round of this couplet.
Skills.
Bar muscle-ups 5x5
Handstand
Handstand walk
Strict weighted pull-ups
Couple of hours later I stepped in at the Box for a skills session. Muscle-ups were the first thing to focus on. Couple of sets of 5's. These felt easy in each session. And I got them done without stopping on top of the pull-up bar. My hands are ripped so had to use gloves to protect them.
It's been time since I was inverted for handstand so it seemed like a perfect decision to practice this demanding skill. I took a few sets of trying to stay as still as possible and then couple of sets to walking on my hands. In the end I put a weight vest on and did strict pull-ups as accessory movement.
Tuesday. Hero workout Chief, 5 sets of 3min amrap of: 3 power clean (60kg), 6 push-ups, 9 air squats. 1min rest between amraps. Result, 5rds each amrap.
Today I got a chance to train only in the evening. So I fueled up properly and hit the gym later. My body hurt from yesterday's session a lot. There were a lot of cleans on Monday and the weights were heavy so it definitely feels now. Pull-ups also makes my lats tight as hell so I was feeling quite hammered.
Okay, so they also have a rope here. Waiting for that to be installed on the ceiling
My warm-up consisted of traditional stuff but spiced up with some rowing / ghd sit-ups / burpee workout. I wanted to get my breathing go faster and get blood pumping in this body before touching a barbell for the first time. Normally 60kg cleans are like nothing but this torso was not as loose I'd like to so I was thinking how it might feel like.
When I finally began the workout it was tough already after the first amrap =) I really had to talk myself up to finish this one. I was in deep waters on the second amrap. My legs were burning so awfully that it made me sick. Power cleans started to torture my legs. Upper body felt fine with these even with a big number of pulling yesterday. That didn't bother but lower body was taking a big hit.
2nd round of Chief
Push-ups were the "easiest" part of Chief. Went unbroken with cleans and push-ups. It's been a while since doing this element in a workout. Those air squats were the toughest part of the entire wod. No idea how my legs were so jello on the second part of this workout. It looked okay on the video but the feeling was totally different =) It was a huge mental win to finish this workout rx'd and with 5 full rounds in each of the amraps.
Monday. Strength, every 45 seconds, 1-3 full cleans (up to 105kg), for 20 minutes. Metcon, 10 min amrap of: 5 hspu, 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups. Result, 173 reps.
Just perfect. I had forgotten what I was supposed to train today and it was a positive surprise as I looked at my notes. Lots of heavy cleans were waiting around the corner. There were also gonna be front squats and half a Mary, one tough benchmark workout. It got me sweating like a pig.
Strength.
Every 45 seconds, perform squat cleans for 20 minutes
3 sets of 3x70kg tng's
1 set of 2x80kg
2 sets of 1x85kg
3 sets of 1x90kg
2 sets of 1x95kg
Rest of the reps at 100-105kg
This was programmed to go on totally by feeling. What the weights were going to be would be a mystery. What was gonna be 100% sure was the time frame. Twenty minutes of emom like training is the longest I've ever done. At least for cleans. There might have been some sort of squat session where I have done reps every 90-120 seconds for about 20 minutes. This was the best emom wod for me. Got a chance to build up to heavy lifts, and there was a good volume of repetitions with heavier weights.
In the beginning I took couple of sets at 70-80 for triples and doubles. Then at 85kg it was all singles. Couple of sets with 85-95kg and then I got to real weights. Most of the reps were at 100-105kg, and most of these were at the highest weight. These felt great all the way from the first to last rep. It got tough towards the end but my mental game was strong today and I didn't let myself have any doubts.
There wasn't that much time reserved for this training session so I had to skip the front squat triples I had written down. Metcon was supposed to be just 10 minutes originally anyway, wasn't looking for that entire 20 minute amrap which Mary is in the rx'd version. That lady is tough. I've done it 2-3 times before, and last time hit exactly 10 rounds. That is a lot of volume on the pull-ups. 150 reps is not that easy for me.
Doing half of it was gonna suit great to be performed after today's heavy cleans. Hspu's were light, just 5 reps per round so those were easy and didn't put that much pressure on my shoulders. It was a totally different thing with the pistols and pull-ups. My legs were smashed due to cleans so it was a bit on the heavier side to do one-legged squats.
In my opinion this workout is all about controlling your breathing and of course about pull-ups. There's a lot of them so a game plan should exist. My plan today was to break them already in the first round. Don't remember anymore how they went exactly but it was most likely 2 or 3 first rounds were done in 2 sets. Then it was smaller sets. Definitely the toughest portion of this workout.
Sunday. Strength, overhead squat 3x10 (up to 70kg). Metcon, 1.000-750-500m row, 12-10-8 power snatch (50kg), 30-20-10 burpees. Time, 19.24.
After a relaxing weekend in Klaukkala with Pauliina's parents it was time to hit the gym again on Sunday evening. Overhead squats are doe sort of goat for me so these long sets are created intentionally to get more comfortable with a good load over my head in the squat. Rowing metcons are always tough. Add burpees to it and you have a good conditioning portion.
OHS.
Overhead squat 3x10 reps (60, 65, 8x70kg)
I took similar session about a week ago with overhead squats. Three high rep sets with ascending weight. That time sets were 40, 50, 60kg. This time I started with the heaviest load because I knew that is not my max. Completing sets of 10 reps have not been every day stuff for me so no matter how much the bar weighs it's gonna be a bit of a grind. I have probably not done 10x50kg earlier =) If there has been lots of reps, then it has probably been 40-45kg.
My plan is to do this for a progression to build up to heavier weights. I'll do this same combo for couple of times just to improve on my overhead squat. This is not a movement that would challenge my leg strength. It's more like the stability and strength in my shoulders that keep the bar steady. I got the first and second sets done as planned. They were tough but I got them. On the last set I had to let go of the bar after 8 reps. That was actually more than I hoped for. I was shooting for 10 reps but that was quite optimistic. Super happy with these anyway!
What I need to focus more on in the future is the full range of motion. There were definitely some questionable repetitions and I don't wanna see those. My mobility is on okay level. Not good but not bad either. With heavier weights it feels difficult to go rock bottom. That was the reason I asked my training partner to correct me on the depth on the last set. Thanks for the tips mister.
Recap
Metcon. Time, 19.24
1.000m row
12 power snatch, 50kg
30 burpee
750m row
10 power snatch, 50kg
20 burpee
500m row
8 power snatch, 50kg
10 burpee
This was a great conditioning workout. Damned it got me breathing heavy. Rowing was the first element I threw in the mix. That sucks every time. And when it does, you know it's gonna be a good wod. Snatch at 50kg is quite heavy for me. That is definitely one of my biggest weaknesses. No matter if it's power or squat snatch, they are not easy for me. That means I gotta practice them. That's why there were ohs and power snatches today. And burpees, our love / hate relationship continues =)
My rowing pace was 1.49 / 500m on average on the first thousand meters. For the two remaining rounds of 750 and 500 meters it was 1.51. It was intentionally moderate pace. By no means ca you say that fast. And it was a good decision. Had I rowed my ass off, it would have backfired big time on the snatches.
Total of 30 snatches. Kind of like Isabel with lots of twists. I wasn't looking for unbroken sets at all. Doing this many reps at 50kg would have been a killer. First set was 5-4-3 reps, second one 5-3-2, and the last 5-3 reps. I got them done with as good technique as I have right now so I'm stoked about that. These didn't let my breathing come down at all.
Hitting burpees in a workout is always a mental challenge and especially when you have big sets of them. First set was the nastiest of course with 30 reps in a row. What can I say about these. Suck it up and go. Hit chest to deck, and come back up. As easy as that. Very good workout!
Saturday. Macho Man, emom x 10min: 3 power clean, 3 front squat, 3 push jerk @
60kg. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 5 hang power clean (70kg), 10 t2b, 15 box, 20 medball slam. Result, 300 reps.
We went to workout with Jasper this Saturday. It was destined to be a great bro sesh for real. We both had our own barbell play in the beginning and then hit a hardcore metcon together. This took place early afternoon, maybe a little too early as I had to put the alarm clock wake me up :)
Macho Man.
Every minute on the minute x 10
3 power clean
3 front squat
3 push jerk
Barbell @ 60kg
This is a perfect workout. If you haven't done it, just do it. No need to think about it, just hit the wod and suck it up. This is a benchmark workout at competitorstraining.com. Rx'd version is 85kg :) Not gonna put the barbell at that loading. Jerks would bring a lot of problems. I take this as a good conditioning workout and a way to improve muscle endurance at semi heavy load.
It's 9 reps at 60 kilos and makes breathing go heavy. I got this unbroken every round / minute and it took me about 20 seconds. I tried to do it as fast as possible to give my body as much recovery as possible. Good strategy in my opinion. This gets mental at some point. It looked similar and took as much time in every minute but it gets heavier mentally. It definitely helped to have a great training partner to push me further.
Metcon. Result, 300 reps (6 rounds)
15min amrap of:
5 hang power clean, 70kg
10 toes-to-bar
15 box
20 medball slam, 6-9kg
I suggested immediately as we entered the Box that we'd throw down together for a metcon. Luckily Jazz was all in right away. We wrote this together on the spot. It was a freaking pain feast. Pure conditioning. Cleans got heavy because they were taken from hang position. At times it felt nasty to keep my grip on the barbell. All elements were unbroken and rather steady pace throughout the wod.
On t2b's I almost started doing them 6-4 just to release the tension in my forearms but then again I decided to just push through. I had one miss on the box jumps as I didn't stand up properly but other than that they were okay. Those ball slams are cruel in their own way. We almost left them out but luckily not! We had one ball at 9kg and one ball at 6kg. The weight on the ball didn't matter. It's more about the movement as you're going up and down all the time. We alternated the balls every other round. It sure eased to have a friend battle through this one side by side. It basically resulted in shorter transitions as I noticed Jasper fight through his reps on a steady basis. It's freaking awesome to have him train at this same place now!
I'll have videos of both the Macho Man and the metcon. I'll post them tomorrow because I don't have access to my computer today.
Friday. Strength, deadlift 4x8 (max 160kg). Benchmark workout Amanda, 9-7-5 of: mu's and squat snatch (40kg). Time, 11.55.
Friday pulls were ahead of me. No matter that it is May Day, I'll hit the Box anyway. That's my thang =) We slept late, ate a humongous breakfast and headed to the gym. Classic deadlift session was ahead of me. Then a big time workout called Amanda. Once I get that in the books rx'd, I'll party.
Warm-up workout.
Every minute on the minute x 10
Odd min, 15 kettlebell swing, 24kg
Even min, 10 overhead squat, 20kg
I find it a good way top get the entire body ready for what's up next by doing a little workout. Not every time do I have the time and chance to do it but when I have, it's gonna take place. The purpose is to get it light, just to prepare the entire body for the work ahead of me. Kettlebell swings are great
Warm-up
Friday pulls.
Deadlift 4x8 (130, 140, 150, 160kg)
Classic stuff. Pulling iron from the floor is great. Brutal strength. I worked for bigger sets today, 8's for 4 sets. These felt good all the way. My hamstrings and back were strong all the way. Like I've told before, it feels like the most challenging thing is that my fingers hurt like hell when I have a heavy barbell hanging on my hands.
I built up in these sets so that the last set was at 160kg. Could have probably gone heavier but this was a good one definitely. I still remember the day when I took 160kg for one rep max effort at Haaga gym. I had a bunch of good buddies with me and the adrenaline was pumping. End result was this weight up on my waist and I was smiling like a little kid on Christmas Eve. Got to be happy on the journey and gains. Picking up the same load today for 8 reps was no biggie.
Deads
Amanda. Time, 11.55
9-7-5 of:
Ring muscle-ups
Squat snatch, 40kg
I have a dream, and that dream involves me doing Amanda rx'd some beautiful day in the future. Doing 60kg snatches is not a minor thing so combining them with muscle-ups is gonna be awesome. Today I did this one as a scaled version. And I got to admit after looking at my snatches afterwards on video that some of them were power snatches. Especially on the first set of 9 reps where probably all of them were. In the following sets they were better for sure.
Before putting the clock running I took couple of sets of snatches just to make sure how deep is deep enough. There is no mirror at this place and I'm used to secure the depth of my snatches with an eye. This time I tried to get the feel by doing a set and then checking it on video. It got better. Then on the first round of the workout it was way too shallow, no doubt. On the round of 7's and 5's I'm decently happy with them. Not perfect but I'll take it for now.
In general, doing this benchmark was a big milestone to me. No matter it was a light version of it. Combining ring muscle-ups with practically anything is tough for me at the moment so I', happy over any workout with mu's in it. I've done much more metcons with muscle-ups included lately and that is freaking huge thing to me. It proves I have worked on my weaknesses and have gotten better and more all around athlete. And that if something, has been my ultimate goal as a crossfitter.
Today's session was quite short so I skipped strength and took a metcon instead. I've been thinking about putting clean and jerks more often in metcons too. It's cool to get 100kg up in the air for once but it's much more cool to knock multiple reps at semi heavy weight unbroken touch'n'go reps. That's what I'd like myself to see doing more often. That's also the reason why I thought of doing overhead squats for high rep sets in the near future.
Metcon. Time, 12.25
6 rounds of:
5 clean and jerk, 60kg
10 pull-ups
20m lunges
The truth is though, these are not as easy. It's kind of easier to do one heavy rep and then celebrate, than to keep the barbell moving. I've done sets of 10 reps in the past with 60kg c&j and those were disgusting. Okay that's easy money for some people but for me it was a battle.
5x60kg clean and jerk
Clean and jerks felt great anyway. Had no pain in my shoulders whatsoever. At times there's been a little soreness and I've tried to change up the width of my grip to ease the tension. These also felt pretty smooth and technically as sound as they are in my case. Kept the elbows straight on the way up, no early arm pull, then finishing it in one continuous movement from front rack to overhead. I was also satisfied on how the bar came down. The path was similar on the way down as it was on its way up.
Pull-ups felt tough today. It feels like I haven't done them a lot lately. To be honest it's probably around 200-300 reps this month which is not much. They feel heavier once I cut down the amount of them. Those were the reason why it took me some time to finish this metcon. I'll rephrase. The reason was that I took my breaks between stations because I wanted to do each element well. Lunges were a good variation to this metcon too.
Wednesday. Ohs singles (up to 85kg). Front squat singles (up to 130kg). Back squat singles (up to 140kg). Sled push 8x20m (up to 150kg). Accessory, 3rds of: 10 reverse hypers, 10 glute ham raises.
Originally this day was booked for back squats but yesterday I promised myself to give it a rest. My legs felt smashed yesterday after those squat cleans. However, last night squatting came back in to my mind and the plan came back alive. Decided to see how I feel like after waking up. Well, it turned out I did all possible forms of squats.
Back squat singles (110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140kg)
This wasn't like attacking new PR's but building up to a heavy single. Only on front squat I looked for a new record. I know it's close! Overhead squats went up to 85kg. I also looked for 90kg but couldn't quite hold it. Last 2 reps didn't go as low as the earlier squats. That is something worth putting focus that no matter the weight, the lifts look similar. Like they do in front and back squat.
Front squats felt great in every single rep. That last successful repetition at 130kg was smooth and not even that heavy. I had already put 135kg ready for next lift but then it came to my mind that it's actually my current PR so why not jump right into new one. Because the previous was okay I decided to skip 135kg and do 137.5kg instead. Maybe a mental breakdown =) I know anyway that I'm close to 140kg on this one. Got to do more squats and probably some accessories to strengthen my legs.
Back squats were the easiest of these. Well, can you say the easiest but anyway they felt good. I wanted to have a spotter on the last rep just in case but it was not such a big deal. It was a good spotter to psyche me up.
Squat recap
Sled.
8x20m sled push
As I just wrote I wanna strengthen my legs and lower body. Sled is a perfect tool for this objective. This is heavy shit. This grass matt is 20 meters but at times it can feel like a long distance. Pushing a sled is largely mental stuff. It's gonna hit lower body with a vengeance and once you hit a set the legs are going numb pretty soon. But it also feels so damned good. Today I got 8 sets of 20 meter trips done, and built it up so that most of the loads were at 150kg (plus the sled).
Accessory.
3 rounds of:
10 reverse hyper
10 glute ham raise
This was the first time doing these movements with the real machines. I've had some modifications earlier but they can not compare to this real stuff. These pretty much murdered my hamstrings. It didn't require much after all this squatting and sled pushing. I'm gonna have these included in my game plan on a steady basis because it's obviously gonna strengthen my lower body. Awesome elements!
Today was booked entirely for snatches. Focus was on getting the mechanics back to basics, working on good mobility and range of motion. It's been about ten days since last snatch session but it feels like an eternity. Lots of other training has taken place in between. After doing some snatches I took couple of cleans and finally realized I'm having some sort of workout going on. It came out of blue.
Lisää kuvateksti
Snatch.
Snatches from different positions (high hang, hang, floor)
Weights 30-50kg
Yesterday I took a few squat snatches with empty barbell and it felt great so I decided to change today's plans and hit snatches. Unfortunately it wasn't the best of snatch days but I'll take it with pleasure anyway. Snatches were taken from three different positions. High hang or pocket snatches, however you wanna call it. Then also hang snatches from mid-thigh and some snatches from floor also. But mostly from different hang positions.
I didn't make any notes about how many reps I took from different positions but it was 30, 40 and 50kg loads. That means to say it was light weight. At times it felt good and sometimes timing was off. The biggest problem was that the bar stayed too much in front which didn't allow perfect bar path on my way down. On the positive side I got below parallel on the majority of the reps. Couple of power snatches were included though.
Snatches
Clean.
30 squat clean (10x70, 10x80, 10x90kg)
After snatches were done I took some reps at 50 kilos, and maybe 60, don't quite remember. Then I started taking doubles @ 70kg. After taking couple of them I decided to add the stakes. Complete 30 reps of squat cleans in doubles. First 10 reps at 70kg, next 10 reps at 80kg, and final 10 reps at 90kg. Didn't time this but I moved with a purpose.
I freaking love cleans. The heavier the better. Felt great.
I woke up in to this day with a relaxing mind and had a peace in my mind as I thought about the upcoming training session. Then it hit me. It's gonna be ten sets of back squats, doup! That brought some anxiety but of course in a good way =) Decided also to do longer sets of overhead squats. Short metcon was predetermined but the accessory lunges were just a bonus round.
It was gonna be a tough day for this body. Ten sets are usually no joke. And triples tend to be more on the heavier side. And they were today as well. I was aiming to smash them at 130kg all the way. But on my way climbing up to that weight I took couple of lighter sets and counted them on anyway.
Got to say the last 3-4 sets were nasty. Especially the last rep. Damn. But I made it through all the sets without misses. I almost asked for a spotter in the last set but then decided to stop bitching and do the work. Actually the last one wasn't the worst, it was the last sets before that.
Squat recap
OHS.
Overhead squat 3x10 (40, 50, 60kg)
This was cool. I'd like to see where my max load would be on this movement for a high rep set like this. This was definitely not max. It felt great to do some empty bar squat snatches after squatting a lot because my hips were as open as they could possibly be. And it wasn't too bad for overhead squats either.
My elbows have been quite sore for the past two days so I didn't dare to go heavier on this one. These felt good anyway and no pain. I felt it in my elbows more in the back squats than overhead squats. It's also very beneficial to do pause squats on overhead squats. It will definitely make the bottom position of snatch / ohs a comfort zone.
Metcon. Result, 81 reps (5 rounds + 4 hspu)
7min amrap of:
7 burpee box jump
7 handstand push-ups
For conditioning this seemed perfect, and it actually was. It got tough because there were pushing motion in both movements. I reckoned I'll smash the handstand push-ups unbroken and then pace myself on the burpee box. I didn't not realize burpees would have an impact on the hspu's and that they would get much tougher.
Burpee box jumps were thus easier. They were a good conditioning part and no doubt my heart beat took big jumps up when I started the workout. My result was 3 reps shy of 6 full rounds. I remember it was probably 3 rounds unbroken on the hspu's, then it was 5-2 on the 4th round, and 4-3 on the 5th round. Last round I just tried to get as many as possible in the remaining time and was able to tho those 4 reps to finish at 81 total reps in 7 minute time frame. I felt success on this one.
Accessory.
8x12m lunges with 2x25 dumbbells
This is something I haven't done this far but realized it's a good accessory stuff on a day after killing legs anyway. Sled and / or farmer's walk would be other elements worth considering. Those are more like strongman tools.
These got a little spicy, and I felt it in my butt cheeks. Later I went outdoors for a short walk and noticed my right quad was inches away from cramping. Probably due to a lot of pressure on lower body today. Felt good about it!
Decided to play it safe and easy this Sunday. Last day of the week is pretty much an easier one anyway in my programming so this day was just as perfect as it could have been. Plus, this was somehow remarkable day too in a sense that I got a good friend of mine - Jasper - to start training here with me. New location for both of us, and since it's quite close to his place it was a good deal to start hanging here more often together.
Skills.
4 sets of ring muscle-ups
Result, 5+3+3+2 reps
I'm telling you that sandpaper I bought yesterday has made miracles. My hands have probably been this soft last time in year 1983. This is a no brainer if you're thinking about buying one. Just do it. Don't think it at all. For a crossfitter, hands seem to bring a lot of problems in the form of rips and tears. I'v had my share of them and have now taken a big step further in hand maintenance.
It was actually rather strange feeling when I jumped on the rings as I didn't feel those calluses at all. It was so soft that I actually felt it when holding on to the rings. Same will probably happen when having hands on a barbell. Looking forward to heavy pulls because it has always been kind of an issue as it hurts a lot in those calluses.
Felt good all the way on the muscle-ups. I felt smooth and efficient, comparing to my reps some weeks ago. It's great that my feet stay together nowadays, and I'm able to use hips much more than before. I still had some issues with my elbows today - especially the right one - so I kept the volume low in purpose.
First set was a shared PR of 5 reps. This was the second time hitting that number. Last time it was more of a battle. This time I didn't go further than that. On the second set I looked for 4 reps but got a miss on the last one. Then a tripled and a double.
Skills.
5 rounds not for time of:
50 double unders
20 ghd sit-ups
Totally a skills oriented workout. It's been some time since doing double unders. I think I've done those only once this month so it was about time. It wasn't as smooth as I had in my mind but still okay. Towards the end it got easier. It was easy to see this element has ben neglected lately.
On the ghd sit-ups I just focused to having a good flow and rhythm, tng reps without stopping at any point. Looking for that efficiency. It wasn't that challenging on the core. Originally I thought this movement would be a core killer but I have felt like at home every time I've been on it.
Recovery.
3 rounds of:
300m easy row
10 high box jumps, 70cm
This was as low intensity stuff as the previous parts of the training session. Row was easy pace, didn't even look at the pace or think about it, just kept moving and flushed my legs with it. Box jumps are a regular in my training but high box jumps are much more rare so I figured it would be good to practice them.
I don't know how people usually do these but at the moment it feels like it's better to do them in singles. Rebounding right away back to the top seems awkward. Maybe when getting used to this that might be the case but it feels right to jump down, reset and jump right back. Anyway, this was a good chill training day in good company!
This training day wasn't one of the best. There's not much to be told to the future. I felt tired after being at work yesterday evening and today for the entire day. Okay, that's normal to a lot of people but that messed up my routines. I tend to workout quite a lot so these kind of things have effect. How the body gets a chance to recover, sleep and eat.
Metcon. Time, 19.30
5 rounds of:
7 handstand push-ups
7 thrusters, 40kg
7 knees-to-elbows
7 deadlift, 110kg
7 burpee
7 kettlebell swing, 32kg
7 pull-ups
This was a version of a hero workout Seven. Awesome workout to say the least. But as much awesomely wrong choice for today. Body was simply not receptive of this one. Hspu's were probably the easiest part of the entire workout.
I had 40, 50 and 60kg barbells for thrusters in the warm-up and each of them hurt in my elbows. Decided to drop it down to 40kg so that would not become an issue. It was okay, not good but doable. K2e's felt very easy after doing t2b's and ghd sit-ups much more lately. Don't even remember when k2e's were in my metcons last time.
It was surprising how tough the deadlift felt. My back was taking the hit big time. Even though form remained solid all the way. It was just not my day of training. Burpees, kb swings and pull-ups all felt a bit more tiring than normally.
Sandpaper
Afterwards I felt a bit disappointed I didn't just go to a recovery walk with my baby as she suggested. Luckily she was still up for the challenge so I drove home, and we went to a walk in the woods late in the evening, and my mood got much better immediately. Just needed some relaxing time outdoors in the best company ever.
Earlier today I bought sandpaper for hand maintenance purposes. Got to say that has most likely been the wisest decision ever. That plus beeswax. These hands have never looked better. No more calluses, no more ripped hands please!
Friday. Back squat 7x5 across (125kg). Strongmanwod.com workout Grind, 20rds of: 20m farmer's walk, 5 burpees. Time, 15.52
Another morning training session. I've had these more lately. On my holiday they were mostly noon sessions which suit me best. Afternoon is second best option. Mornings are not in my wheelhouse but I'll take it if that's all there is available. No second thoughts over that. Today it was lots of squats. Friday pulls didn't happen because I had farmer's walk in my mind so this came instead of deadlifts.
Strength.
Back squat 7x5 across (125kg)
Lot of volume. This constituted over 4k of back squats which is quite a lot to me. It's usually a bit over 3k when going heavier. And these sets weren't that easy I must say. I had lots of confidence which almost backfired on the very first set. My plan was to hit 3 reps touch'n'go but I almost stayed in the bottom on the second rep =)
That brought me pretty quickly down to earth. Especially as there were 6 more full sets awaiting after getting even that first one in the books. You can probably see from the videos these weren't the lightest ones. But this was a mental win for sure. Super happy for hitting all these sets without misses.
Squats 7x5
The Grind. Time, 15.52
20 rounds of:
20m farmer's walk (40-50kg per hand)
5 burpee
Got to play with a new tool. I had squats and deads scheduled down for today and I had waited these for the entire week. Then yesterday I just realized they have these farmer's walk handles there and those might sub for deads pretty well. So I wanted to test out this little new piece of equipment, normally used more in the strongman scene. This workout was taken from Rob Orlando's strongmanwod.com, workout called the Grind. It was rx'd as bodyweight farmer's walk each hand for 400 meters. Every time you drop the weight, perform 5 burpees on the spot. Time cap 30 minutes.
We have 20 meter grass line which suited perfectly for this one. Making it 20 rounds would constitute 400 meters. After every turn complete 5 burpees, then head on for another round. Had no idea about the weights that should be put on this thing. Bodyweight might have been a lot considering this was the first time. Coach said just put 10's on each end and see how it feels like.
Start of the Grind
The weight was light and didn't tax my lower body in the way I was looking for. It was left unclear whether the empty bar was 20 or 30 kilos so the total load was 40-50kg per hand. This was supposed to be the alternative for deadlifts so the goal was to have some burn in my legs and back. Didn't happen this time, got to go heavier next time on farmer's walk. Might be a good idea to do this for strength. As heavy as possible load for 20 meters. Climb up every 20 meters. Sounds good.
But this definitely had my breathing go heavier. Especially when combined with burpees. Good metcon. It mostly felt in my hands, my grip, and fingers. It's like in deadlift, sometimes feels like my fingers are going to get cut off. Okay this wasn't as bad because the load wasn't that heavy but it reminded the feeling of that. Cool tool to play around. It's not the last time, that's for sure!
