I'm on a vacation for about 2 weeks now and it brings me possibilities to workout in the morning and maybe twice a day occasionally if my body is receptive to it. Today I went to the cave I used to workout in the summer time more often. The place is spectacular! And offers possibilities to work on olympic lifts as you can drop the bar. It's important in certain lifts: clean & jerks, squat snatch and overhead squats. Crucial. It offers the possibility to go beyond comfort zone and create development.
Skills. Handstand.
Yeah baby! It's been too long time since last time I had the possibility to do handstand skills training. I was afraid what has happened to my skills as I haven't kept it up lately. There's no possibility at my gym to do handstand, there's not enough space. So I basically have been training outdoors in the spring and summer time. Now the weather in Finland is not tempting so it's just been off my programming.
However, it felt good from the very beginning! I believe some sort of record was done too. I stayed inverted for about 20 seconds. On my first attempt I had too much eagerness and that turned out to me going too much forward and losing balance. On the second attempt it felt surprisingly natural and I was able to maintain body control quite well. I took a few attempts and felt the burden in my shoulders. This small doze of handstand was perfect for today. Hopefully I'll find a way to practice it in the winter time as well, somehow.
Strength. Front squats 5-5-5-5-5 (100, 100, 105, 105, 105kg). Regularly I haven't done squats here because I've benchmarked this place for oly lifts. But today I had the burning desire to do front squats and I couldn't fight it away. So 5x5 front squats were done. Didn't have a mirror there so I had no idea how deep I was going. Just hoping it was beyond parallel. From the video I checked it was ass to grass, that was a nice surprise haha.
No wonder the weight felt like a some work was being done. It's been a while since doing 5's in front squat so this was a good variation to the selection of different types of squat training. I felt confident with the weights being handled. Still, I didn't want to add more plates in the barbell. It didn't felt awesome in my knees for some reason. Even though I believe my form was good and knees were pointing out. Go figure.
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| 55kg |
Technique. Hang squat snatch.
After hanging around there for a while it started to feel cold. The temperature there is quite low and you better keep on doing work if you wanna stay warm. I was feeling a bit stiff after taking a short rest after squats. I simply grabbed the empty barbell and took a few reps hang snatches as power and squat versions plus overhead squats. Got my blood flowing again and decided to add something at the end of the barbell.
I repeated the same ritual with 30kg and it felt natural as well. From then on I realized there's no other option but to keep on adding stuff on the bar. Next step at 40kg, still felt good. There was one guy coaching another athlete and he offered to take some video of my performance. I politely said no thanks no need to but if you have time to check my lifts and give some tips, it would be appreciated a lot. These kinds of possibilities come rare to me as I usually train alone. Don't have a coach normally. It would be awesome to have one though.
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| 40kg |
I once went to Toni's crossfit affiliate and the coach gave valuable tips on my jerk. Today the guy was telling me I was maybe pulling too early with my arms. That is true, it happens with both snatch and clean. What he gave props on was the line of the back and lumbar curve. Felt good hearing some feedback from an outsider. And I kept on adding weight. I took all snatches from pocket. Some of them power but main focus was on squat snatches.
I was able to go at 55kg which is a weight I've never taken as squat snatch! Today I tried it 3-4 times and all successful ones, boom! I might have regained my snatch confidence. But I definitely need a place where I know dropping bars is okay. That's because it's some sort of fear of dropping the bar and knowing it's not okay, that results in some twisted thoughts in my head and me not pulling as fiercely. For example in this place I don't have to think about anything else than lifting that damned bar =)
Recap!
20-rep benchmark. This is something new I'll try to bring to the table. High-rep benchmarks. Got to go unbroken. Today was my first test. This was the second training session of the day. I had enough time to recover, rest and eat in between sessions. After the session we'll head to the in-laws to celebrate Christmas for a couple of days so it's gonna be bodyweight and kettlebells while we're away from home.
I started this benchmark scheme with bench press. Had no idea what would be a weight I would certainly bring home for 20 reps. I figured 60 is too light and 70 might be a little too heavy. I put 65kg on the bar and started working. And got it for a total of 20 reps. I'll take that for now!
Row intervals. Distance 2.400m.
- 5 rounds of:
- 1:40 on, 0:20 off
Some engine work in the end. It averaged 480m for each round (1:40). Towards the end the fun part was over and it was all work. Some day I might hit this one for a longer period of time. This was a good ending to the training day!
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