Year 2013

Year 2013. Great year!

What can I say? The past year has been an awesome one! I have been honored to share it with my loved one, that's already more than I can ask for. I've been injure-free and have therefore been able to train throughout the year constantly. And I've been working hard. Day by day, from one training session to another, striving to be better athlete, more well-rounded crossfitter and simply focused on becoming more versatile in all possible forms of fitness.

And the development has been great. My strength level has increased more than I could have thought of. My metabolic condition has increased, that can be seen through benchmark workouts' improved times. I've learned new skills this year as well.

I'm extremely happy I have a stubborn big brother who saw some potential in his little bro. He talked me into this sport for quite some time before I tried the first workouts. Without him I'd still probably be playing floorball as a goalie or coaching little ones. Not a bad option either but considering the change in my fitness level, I prefer this one. And I'm getting the same chills I got when I was playing floorball actively.

Not to mention Toni as well. He didn't have much of a sports background, and look at him now. He's a stallion, straight from Vantaa. I had the privilege of training with him for about 5-6 months in the start of year 2013. In the summer time he joined Crossfit Vantaa and has stepped his game up ever since. Neither of us would be doing crossfit without my big bro - Sipa.

My strength level has increased a lot. The max loads of all movements have gone higher, some more than the others. Here is my starting point for the year, then an arrow to show the current level, and the figure in brackets shows the goal I had set for myself in the start of year 2013. For ohs and strict press I hadn't set any goals.

• Back squat, 135 --> 140kg (goal 150kg)
• Bench press, 87.5 --> 102.5kg (goal 100kg)
• Clean, 80 --> 102.5kg (goal 90kg)
• Clean & jerk, 80 --> 100kg (goal 90kg)
• Deadlift, 170 --> 200kg (goal 190kg)
• Front squat, 120 --> 130kg (goal 130kg)
• Overhead squat, 70kg (no goal set)
• Strict press, 65 --> 75kg (no goal set)
• Snatch, 62.5kg (goal 60kg)

Take into consideration I had not touched a barbell before summer 2012. I'd done lots of cardio type of training due to my earlier sports history, interval training and circuit training to keep my core in good shape. But barbells were something I knew nothing about. Biggest difference happened in my upper body strength. My legs have definitely become stronger and the reps I did before this year were not actually reps at all, the depth of squats was simply not there. I'm gonna reach that 150kg this year and more, I'm looking forward to breaking those numbers. Anyway, as you see pretty much all goals were reached.

I took some focus points in the summer and autumn time. I worked on my clean, presses / jerks and handstand push-ups. They proved to work well and my improvements in technique and strength became obvious. There's still lots to do, no doubt about it but we're on a right path.

Got some new skills as well. Pistol squats, bar muscle-ups and ring muscle-ups are now manageable. And my favorite - handstand - is not a goat anymore. I'll have to keep on focusing more on that in the future as well to master it even better.

I want to thank my baby who is extremely supportive and without her it would be impossible to workout this much as I'm currently able to. Pauliina has also changed the way I eat which is a tremendous part of training too. I'm eating very clean nowadays, not stuffing any garbage in my mouth at all. She's very health-conscious and has brainwashed me in to thinking alike. That has a great impact on my training obviously.

As I'm thinking about the upcoming year, I don't want to specify my goals too much. I'm gonna get get stronger and I have locked some numbers where I want to get at with oly lifts and weightlifting movements. And pull-ups / handstand push-ups are something I want to get more unbroken reps than currently. I'm gonna focus on skills as well: muscle-ups on both pull-up bar and rings plus my favorite; handstand.

You'll see me hitting PR's on strength and bodyweight movements as well. We're trying to workout together with my brother once a week. Hopefully we'll manage the time tables because those training sessions are productive! I'm glad you guys are following my crossfit blog so actively and I'll promise to keep it as active in the upcoming year as well =)

Take a look at the year 2013 in a recap video =)

My baby <3