Monday 25.8: Ring mu's, Presses, and Metcon

Monday. Skills, ring muscle-ups (PR 3 reps). Strength, 7 sets of bar complex of: 2 push press + 2 push jerk (70-80kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 10 hspu, 20 power snatch (40kg), 30 box. Time 14.24.

It was great to get back in action after a bit of a slack in the weekend. Don't remember when I would have had 2 recovery days in 3 days. But it might have done good to this body, I definitely hope so. At least I got PR in ring muscle-ups! Strength part consisted of overhead work with a barbell. Finally my metcon was continuous high-rep stuff with couple of movements. Those hurt the body in different nature than low-rep stuff. I also got some good tips from one co-worker regarding mobility on my upper body as I'd like to see my shoulders get more flexible, especially for overhead squat / squat snatch positions.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups (PR 3-2-2-2 reps)

C'mon, I finally got 3 unbroken reps on the rings!!! This is something that's been in my sight for some time but I haven't been able to nail it this far. Entering the gym I was a little nervous about doing muscle-ups because it seems it's been a while since last ring mu session. I've been knocking those bar muscle-ups with good success though.

I grabbed the rings, took a good swing and flew up over the rings. That was easy. I got confident right away and decided to go for more. I've been watching those Grid League professional matches and those muscle-ups in some event looked so easy and effortless that I thought why wouldn't they look as easy when I go after them. With this in mind I dropped down and did another continuous swing and put all in to get over the rings. Check, why not go for the third one. And I got that, what a relief! It felt simply great to get that third one in the books.

As it felt so good I decided to try multiples in the following sets too. I went on by feeling and took a double on the next set. Same with the rest of the sets. This was clearly the best ring muscle-up session ever in my crossfit career. Might sound lame for you guys who can do multiple ring mu's just like that, but for me this was success and boosted my confidence a lot. I realized the same small things that led to my bar muscle-ups proceed to next level brought me to this point. I had the same patience as with bar mu's. Hopefully I get a chance to work on bar mu's as I need to find a pull-up bar with plenty of space. Can't do them at my regular gym. Those bar mu's clearly transfer to some benefits on rings as well.

Strength.

• Bar complex of:
• 2 push press + 2 push jerk
• Sets at 70, 80, 75, 75, 75, 75, 75kg

This was classic overhead strength. I wasn't sure what weights would suit for me. That's because of the push jerk. It's kind of awkward that my push press is actually a little better than push jerk. I remember pressing 90kg overhead but push jerk max is maybe at around 85kg, and a little shaky version for sure. Can't find perfect technique for that movement. So this was both strength and technique training at the same time. Then, on the other hand my split jerk is at 105kg, taken from floor as c&j. There are big differences depending on the way the bar is lifted overhead.

Anyway, I decided to do 7 sets of this complex. First one at 70kg, there was extra room to add the stakes so I put 10kg more weight on the bar. That felt a bit wobbly on the jerks so I dropped it to 75kg and finished the remaining sets with that load. Those felt good all the way. Maybe I could have done this with push press / split jerk combo to make it with heavier loads but on the other hand, it was good to practice on that push jerk technique simultaneously. On lighter weights (around 60kg) it feels great but on heavier sets it's more challenging technique-wise.

Metcon. Time 14.24

• 3 rounds of:
• 10 handstand push-ups
• 20 power snatch (40kg)
• 30 box jumps, 61cm

I wrote having in mind that I need to get those workouts done too where yo have to do more linked reps in a row. Don't know if you can ever call anything "traditional" workout because I try to mic it all the time but normally if I have these movements in a workout, the amount of reps is lower on each of them. This time I added the repetitions to amounts that I knew would be challenging to push through unbroken.

On hspu's the first round was easy, the workout had just began so it was obvious to go unbroken. On the second one I did 5-5, intentionally. I could have pushed them unbroken but that would have eaten the energy of my shoulders. Last round was 6-4. On power snatches I used hook grip which turned out to be a wise decision to save forearms. I'm in the learning stage of hook grip. Sometimes I use that, on some cases not. Took the clean PR last week with hook grip but it's mostly a feeling thing. At the moment there's it's not that black and white. This time it felt natural to go for hook grip. First round was 8-6-6, second 6-5-5-4, last one 6-6-4-4, pretty consistent and my form stayed solid all the way, didn't compromise that at any moment. Felt proud of that.

This is match number 3, I'm kind of hooked on this league!

Box jumps after burning my legs a bit on the snatches felt bad. Got the first round unbroken, then on the second and third round I took some rest periods on top of the box. Plus I had 2 missed reps that I usually don't have at all. The fatigue hit my legs and coordination was more difficult than normally.

This was a great workout and the entire training session actually! Felt super to get those unbroken ring mu's in the beginning and shoulders are always worth training for. I also enjoyed the nature of the metcon. This was a good start to the week.