Monday 13.1: Back squats, ohs, metcon

Monday. Back squats with a pause (max 110kg). Overhead squats with a 10sec pause (max 60kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 15 burpees, 20 front squats (60kg), 25 box. Time 13.00.

Squats! Awesome, I decided to try squats with a pause also on back squats, it was the first time. Previously I've done front squats and ohs with a pause, and it was as phenomenal with back squats too, must say. The metcon was brutal, simply brutal…

View from our hotel window last Saturday, not bad, scenery over Tampere

Skills.

• Ring row transitions.

I'm taking some muscle-up progressions into warm-up section for some skills training just become better with the rings. Today I didn't move to actual ring muscle-ups, just worked on ring rows and the transition stage from pull to the dip. It was a good one. Maybe tomorrow I'll hit some more mu training.

Strength. Squats

• Back squats with a pause 5x5 (80, 100, 105, 110, 110kg)
• Overhead squats with a 10sec pause 5x1 (50, 55, 60, 60, 60kg)

These are great! Don't get me wrong, you got to do regular squats too but these are newcomers in my training program and I want to keep it versatile so that my body don't get used to repeating same movement patterns every time. And putting "ass to grass" definitely improves mobility in the hips. Stopping in the hole activates muscles in a different way once you try to dig yourself up from there. It's a totally different movement to keep body on a movement all the time than staying and stopping in the bottom position.

I took sets of 5 on back squats. The first set was clearly lighter and concentrated in getting better prepared for the upcoming sets. THe 4th set was @ 110kg and seemed to be a bit tough so I took the last set at the same weight. They came up nicely. Had to catch a breath in the middle but legs held well. The weights are clearly different compared to regular squats.

This was the second time in a week as I was hitting overhead squats with a 10 second pause in the bottom position. Last time I took the heaviest reps @ 50kg. Today I wanted to upgrade that and worked to 60kg barbell. It was very well managed and I guess I must go heavier next time. The hardest thing seemed to be bringing the bar down without dropping it. Haha, no but it was a great exercise for the catch for the squat snatch. This will definitely bring confidence in the catch and bottom position. Take a look at the videos of both squat versions.

Metcon. Time 13.00

• 3 rounds of:
• 15 burpees
• 20 front squats, 60kg
• 25 box jumps, 61cm

Killer! The workout was a leg-burner. No rest or lighter part for lower body at any stage. I understood that before jumping onto the workout so I decided to have a break after the movements. It was only 3 rounds but gassing myself in the beginning would have been a disaster. It was tough even without rushing it so it turned out to be a good idea.

I got the idea for this workout from my brother who had done something similar. The box jumps were probably the most challenging part of it. Surprisingly the burpees were the "easiest" of them. Doing this kind of metcon after squats is a tough decision. But hey, you got to be prepared for anything at any given moment so why not go for it!