Thursday 10.10: Hero wod Hammer

Thursday. Hero workout Hammer. Time 18.45.

What a training day. Having done clean & jerks on Tuesday and burning my shoulders, I was thinking about whether they would be recovered enough for today. Decided to hit it! No need for any other support training in addition to the workout of the day. Did mobility in the end and sat in sauna for some time, tried to get a grip of life before going home.

Autumn is beautiful in Finland

Hammer. Time 18.45. Compare to 27.5.2013.

• 5 rounds:
• 5 power cleans, 60kg
• 10 front squats, 60kg
• 5 push jerks, 60kg
• 20 pull-ups
• 90sec rest

There's a lot of repetitions with the barbell and on the pull-up bar. This type of bar action is something I believe I must get better at. Muscle endurance with a bar that's 60kg is classic weight on benchmark workouts and in crossfit in general. I can move the bar rather quickly for some time. It's another thing to keep on going without going tired. My pace stayed ok for 2-3 rounds after which it got slower, and I had to start breaking the reps.

On the first round I did went unbroken throughout the whole round. Of course it got my breathing go fast but it was still manageable. 90sec rest was enough to recover for the next round. On the second round I still went unbroken on the bar complex, front squats were slower this time but unbroken still. On the pull-ups I cut intentionally not to smoke myself too early. Dropped after 10 reps, then did either 10 reps or 5+5. After the second round the nature of the game was clear. It's gonna be serious. Breathing was heavy, forearms were burning and grip strength was soon to be gone.

On the third round I had no other option but to start strategizing on the barbell work on the fly. Did 4 power cleans, took a break, completed the last power clean to move on to 10 front squats and then 5 jerks in a row. The pull-ups were so much tougher on this round. On the last 3 rounds I did them 8 reps, then 4+3+3+2. Can you believe it, it was way tougher than pull-ups are normally. Having no grip strength it was difficult to keep on moving on the pull-up bar. Once I dropped from the bar, I tried to keep the break very short. On the 60kg barbell work, my breaks were longer, though.

On the fourth and fifth round my performance was identical on the strength work. 4 power cleans, break, cleaned the bar back, did 10 front squats, dropped the bar, break, then finished with 5 push jerks. Those breaks tended to be longer than I wanted but they were compulsory. Simply couldn't catch a breath and my muscles were burning. Finally the workout ended, as they usually do =) Time was 18.45, including those 6min rest periods between rounds. That's a PR by half a minute.

The 2 first rounds were fine, had no problems. Third one was the turning point. I was done in 9 minutes and my pace was rather good. However, the last 2 rounds were grueling and painful. This proved to me that I must do more barbell complexes with semi heavy weights. A 60kg bar must move quickly and for a long time.

Those pull-ups made the workout much more challenging compared to moving only the barbell. I did 5 rounds of Hammer in January, alternating with Tony, and my round times were pretty consistent, changing from 1.11 to 1.57. However, there were no pull-ups at all in these rounds. That type of workouts might be the future for me.