Friday 12.10: Shoulder / Push press + Karen

Friday. Shoulder press 4x4 (max 50kg), push press 4x4 (max 65kg). Karen (5kg ball), time 5.01. Handstand skills 15 minutes.

Second day of training in Sweden. This day concentrated in my shoulder area. After warming up by rowing and skierg machine, squats with pvc pipe etc. I focused on presses. I started by shoulder presses and continued with push presses. After a pause, I did workout called Karen, 150 wall balls for time. At the end I trained skills by attempting to find stability in hanstand. I can say my shoulders were burning after the training.

Pauliina tightening the core

Strength. Shoulder press 4x4 (40+50+50+50kg) and push press 4x4 (50+55+60+65kg). First, sets of 4 reps by shoulder press, stiff legged, purely lifting the bar with hands only. Old school strength for shoulders. Fifty kilos is the max that I've every tried in shoulder press. This time I got that 50kg up several times. In the last two rounds I was able to do three reps each time instead of the planned four reps. I think my rest times were a bit too short anyway, so fatigue maybe hit me too early as I was on top of my max load anyway. Still, 10 reps with shared pr-result is not bad.

I continued it instantly with push presses so it was more like a 8x4 set of presses, just changed the style halfway. I took one set of 50kg first, then added extra 5kg after each set. Some of the reps were a mental game to push it up. Luckily Pauliina was next to me encouraging "you didn't come all the way to Sweden to do half reps, push it!" That really helped, thanks baby! In the last set, 65kg, I took three reps, that was tough after the first rep already. I was very pleased to be able to push my limits a little further.

Kettlebell, 32kg

Karen. Karen consists of 150 wall ball shots up to 3m in height for time. My time was 5.01. The ball should be 20lbs (9kg). Unfortunately the gym had only 5kg ball so I had to use that instead. First time doing this workout so I had no idea what the strategy should be. That's why I took sets of 35+35+40+40 reps. Afterwards I realized there should not have been as many breaks. Could've have probably done it in two or max three sets. However, in so many workouts it hits you badly if you rush in the beginning so I figured it's wise to have a break anyway after 35 reps. It would be awesome do this with the original weight. In my opinion, at least this time and this weigth, the movement seemed easier compared to those thrusters that I've done with 15kg plate to substitute wall ball movement. I might change my opinion once I get a hold of a 9kg wall ball :)

Karen going on

Handstand skills. At the end I took 15 minutes training for handstand skills. There were a couple attempts where I was able to stabilize for a few seconds. The biggest problem was that I didn't feel comfortable swinging my legs strong enough to the sky. That's why my legs dropped to the same direction I had just started from. Good that I took this practice, better keep on continuing enhancing my skills.

Pauliina pressuring her abdominals

Pauliina concentrated today mostly in metabolic condition and abdominal workouts. Toni reported from home base that he went to the gym second time to do deadlifts, knees to elbows and pull-ups. I heard there was some sort of personal record broken as well. You better tell it Toni!