My legs are shaking. Lots of pressure on them the last two days. I had determined to do some more leg work today and I couldn't persuade myself out of it so I had to hit it as planned. Tomorrow was supposed to be back squat day but it's not gonna happen. Have to change the game plan. But today's workouts were great, both the strength part and the metcon which was actually taken from the main site, crossfit.com couple days ago. There was also something extra good happening at the gym as Pauliina tried some crossfit stuff in the form of burpees, box jumps and clean technique. That was spectacular!!!
Strength. Emom
- Every 30 seconds, perform 1 hang squat clean, for a total of 8 minutes
- Reps at: 1x70, 2x75, 6x80, 7x85kg
Even though those legs were sore already when walking at the gym I got them warmed up pretty well and they were able to take more hit in this strength section. I find squat cleans very useful and important movement for a number of reasons so I want to keep them on my programming constantly. My 1RM taken from floor is 112.5kg. And if you saw the post I put on during that last PR day you probably also noticed I pulled the bar as high on the failed 115kg attempt as I did on the lighter ones. So we figured with Joni who was training with me that day that maybe I should be doing high hang squat cleans with heavier loads so that I would be forced to get under the bar quickly. Because that was exactly the reason I didn't take it home on the 115kg attempt. Have to get under the bar more quickly. There is enough strength to pull the bar high enough.
That was the reason for today's high hang squat cleans. I did them emom style, one rep every 30 seconds. I didn't determine the loads beforehand but went by feeling. The first one was too light so I added 5kg more. Those 75's were too light as well so I went to 80kg. Took couple of them before making it to 85kg. I got them all done pretty well. I have once hang cleaned 90kg, but mostly it's been around 80kg. Considering that these weights were very good for me.
My hang cleans are mostly from pocket, i.e. from high hang position. Mostly when you say high hang, people tend to lower the bar to just above knees from where they take advantage of the second pull and the upward motion's momentum. For some reason I have always cleaned high hang reps from the pocket. I could probably clean more weight from low hang but this is the way I'm used to do my thang.
Metcon. Result 496 reps (11 rounds + 1 clean)
- 3 power clean, 70kg
- 6 ring dip
- 9 box jump, 61cm
- 27 double under
This was posted on the main site just couple of days ago, on the 16th of July. The difference was the cleans. It was rx'd at 84kg and they were to be cleaned as hang power cleans. Hmm, that's too heavy stuff for me so I scaled it to 70kg power cleans. That was proper weight indeed. It was a 20 min amrap so there was a lot of work ahead of me.
I know how my body works and what I'm capable of. It's much easier nowadays to pace myself and not burst out of the gates because I know pretty well how this human being operates. It's hard to say what part of the workout was toughest. Those power cleans started to weigh much more than just regular 70kg cleans. I did them touch'n'go every round unbroken so even though they weren't easy they certainly were nasty.
Luckily there were only 6 ring dips after the cleans. Otherwise I might have had to break them down at some point. Now I got them done 6 per set on one attempt all the way. There were no doubt at any point I wouldn't do them ub but I took a short breathing session after the cleans before jumping on the rings.
Box jumps seem to be my thing. I do them a lot. Jumping up and down causes breathing to go heavier and legs a bit soft but it's always manageable to do them. I think I mastered them well today every round.
Beforehand I was thinking about the double unders and how big the number of reps would turn out eventually. 27 reps is not bad for a couple of times but this was more than just couple of times. Total of 11+ rounds was my result and I'm more than happy to write that I got them unbroken on each round! Don't know if that's a great success story but it feels awesome to nail through the workout without having to stop at any station for any reason at any given point.
My round times were consistent and that is always my goal for a workout this long. 20 minutes of constant moving around is a long time. I had my breaks in the transitions between movements but when I started working I did everything unstoppable.
And hey, have you guys realized the Crossfit Games begin in 3 days!!! How sick is that. There's gonna be a rivalry we haven't seen before. There are so many candidates for those podium spots in both men and women that it's hard to understand. Rich Froning, the 3-time champion. Scott Panchik who was close to Rich in every workout at the Regionals. Jason Khalipa, a former champ and second place last year. Let's add couple of more names to the list: Ben Smith, Josh Bridges, Dan Bailey, Neal Maddox, Chris Spealler, and rookie Matt Fraser who crushed the Regionals. Plus of course our very own Jonne Koski, the bad ass from Finland who won the European Regionals this year. By the way, he's been mentored by The Champ, Mikko Salo.
On the women's side last year's champion, British Sam Briggs couldn't make it to the Games but 2-time champ Annie Thorisdottir from Iceland is making a comeback after skipping last year due to injury. Also Julie Foucher is making her comeback and is aiming to the podium. There are tons of ladies reaching for that number one spot: CLB a.k.a Camille Leblanc-Bazinet, Alessandra Pichelli, Talayna Fortunato, 7-time Games athlete Rebecca Voigt and naturally Valerie Voboril as well. Last year Garrett Fisher made it 5th as a rookie, how does his rookie sister Lauren Fisher make it? The set-up on both men and women is sick, I can't wait to see the fittest of fittest compete against each other!!!
Look at the pace of my burbees! Looks like I'm ready to fall asleep… :-D by body didn't feel like that though!
ReplyDeleteHehe don't think about it that way baby! You looked good in the process =) You knocked the burpees with good form and a solid pace. Those looked hundred times better than mine in the beginning!
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