Thursday 1.11: Bench press + ring skills + metcon

Thursday. Row 1k time 3.28, bench press 6x3 (max PR 80kg), ring skills, metcon 2 rounds of 50 hand release push-ups, 50 DUs and 50 sit-ups, time 7.54.

I took off by rowing 1k, I pushed myself to the edge, there might be some occasional seconds taken off but that's pretty much the limit. That speed is 1.44 / 500m. For 500m I have rowed 1.40 but never tried to keep that pace for 1.000m. That means 1k would be 3.20 if the pace would remain the same. Anyway, today's agenda was to go for bench press and bench press only, for strength. Additionally I wanted to utilize the rings and do some skills training there. Finally my metcon included push-ups, double unders and sit-ups. I wanted to make my triceps scream and succeeded in that! Pauliina is visiting home for a few days and today she joined me at the box. She did her own program and tried the rings as well.

Strength. 3-3-3-3-3-2 (60, 70, 75, 75, PR 77.5, PR 80kg). I did well today and I'm proud of it. I've tried bench press for a few times and my previous record is 75kg. I've never tried heavier weights. My goal today was to reach 80kg and luckily I got there. Starting from 60kg, moving up to 70 and 75kg. Pauliina said it came rather easily and had the opinion that more kilos should be added so why not? I added 2.5kg first and as it came up 3 times, I decided to round it up to 80kg. Two reps went ok but she had to assist me with the third one. It's nice to see I can lift more than my bodyweight (77kg). By the way, I've gained extra 1-2 kilos as I started my eating process a 1-2 weeks ago, nice! My energy consumption is huge so I must also eat huge loads. Three warm meals is minimum amount for me in a day, in addition to everything extra that goes down my system.

Ring skills. Those rings are simply awesome! I took some ring pull-ups with false grip, it feels a bit awkward to do them but definitely helps in doing muscle-ups, sometime in the future. Pauliina inspired me to do some inverted holds and "skin the cat" as well. Those ring are very helpful to play with. And you can really make some moves to make your abs and shoulders beg for mercy. Doing them also increases mobility, especially in the shoulder area.

Metcon. Hr push-ups, double unders and sit-ups, total of 300 reps. Time 7.54

• 2 rounds of
• 50 hand release push-ups
• 50 double unders
• 50 sit-ups

The purpose of this workout was to put my triceps and chest to the limits. Total of 300 reps, 50 hand release push-ups, double unders and old school sit-ups for two rounds. Clearly, push-ups were the toughest. On the first round I did 30 in a row, then I took 10 and 5+5. On the second round my push-ups were done in small bits, something like 10+10 and then fives till the end. My triceps were pushed to the stage of going numb so I couldn't do them more in a row.

My double unders were perfect, both times unbroken! C'mon, that seems to be the new trend. This is very promising, it's not long ago as I still had some problems with them. That encourages me to do all other skill type of exercises such as headstand, handstand, muscle-ups. Just keep on practicing and some day you'll master them! Sit-ups in this metcon went naturally unbroken as well. This workout was a good one and worked exactly as I wanted. My triceps and chest need to be worked on more in the future. This day was a good step towards that goal.