Friday 6.12: Independence day wod

Friday. Finnish Independence Day workout. Strength, clean & jerk 8x2. Metcon, For 20minutes, 1.917m row, then amrap for the rest of the time: 4 squat cleans (60kg), 8 ring dips, 12 air squats, 16 double unders. Result. 6 rounds + 8 ring dips.

Today we are celebrating Finland's independency, we came autonomous 6.12.1917 so our beautiful country is 96 year old today. In four years it's gonna be quite a party I predict. In honor of the year we got our independency, I took a metcon with rowing 1.917meters, followed by a amrap type of workout. I started the training session with clean & jerk strength work.

Strength. Clean & jerk 8x2 (2x70kg, 6x80kg). It's been a week without presses or jerks so it was about time! Last time I did them, it was last Sunday with Toni. It was a great, record breaking day. Today I was going for doubles, no interest in hitting the heaviest weights. I was doing these on about every 90 seconds. Not every minute on the minute, a little slower. Went for 8 sets, mostly @ 80kg, the first two sets at 70kg anyway. The 80kg sets I did in split jerks.

Independence Day wod. Result 6 rounds + 8 ring dips

• 20 min amrap.
• First 1.917m row, then
• For the remaining time:
• 4 squat cleans, 60kg
• 8 ring dips
• 12 air squats
• 16 double unders

Work time exactly 20 minutes. Start off with rowing 1.917 meters, then for the rest of the 20 minutes, you have an amrap of four different movements: squat cleans, ring dips, squats and double unders. My result today after the row was 6 total rounds plus 4 squat cleans + 8 ring dips.

Let's break this workout in pieces. Rowing about 2k is never fun, or actually it is fun but it's mental stuff. My strategy was not to rush and thus gas out but I wanted to keep a steady pace. It took me 7.08 to finish the rowing. The reason for the distance (1.917 meters) has probably already come clear: Finland's independency year.

The squat cleans were not tough considering the weight, that's a light weight nowadays for me. However, I'm not saying it was a walk in the park because it made my breathing go faster and I took a couple of inhales before entering the rings.

Got the ring dips unbroken for every round but the last. I performed well in my opinion with this movement. I'm gonna increase the amount of ring dips in my training. Got to remember that. I've made the promise maybe earlier as well but for some reason I always forget this movement, without a reason. In the last round today I was in a hurry to finish the reps so I couldn't rest practically at all after squat cleans and had to jump on the rings right away.

After rings it was time for squats. Yesterday my ass and hammies were still sore, today they were feeling alright. I intentionally kept the number of each movement rather low so that it would be able to keep a good pace throughout the workout. I still had to stop at times to get a grip on myself.

Double unders. Went perfectly, straight body, unbroken, good posture. I did about 1.500 reps last month and regained a good form on the double unders. Some time ago I felt like my knees were bending way too much and thus it consumed too much energy. Currently I'm able to perform way better, much straighter and less consuming, my confidence has increased a lot doing them.

Clean & jerk double @ 80kg. Guess this was my 6th set

Today was a good training day. My body felt tired for some reason, I have lots of eagerness to hit the gym and workout. Still, at the same time I feel a bit fatigued, maybe it's the time of the year. It's the darkest time there will ever be in Finland. The sun sets at 2-3 pm so you practically don't see the sun at all during weekdays, only in the weekends. When you go to work, it's dark and when you come back from work, it's like a night again =) It's getting better after snow lands on the ground. Looking forward to that! In the mean while, just suck it up and lift heavy shit often!