Tuesday 30.9: Bar mu's, Wall balls, Box

Tuesday. Skills, emom x 7min: 3 bar mu's. Emom x 8min: 15 wall ball (9kg). Cashout, 50 box jumps (70cm).

It was only perfect that I had to drive Pauliina to her friend so they could do last minute adjustments on her friend's upcoming wedding party for next weekend. Due to schedules I couldn't hit the gym and was "forced" to do the workout outdoors. I enjoyed every minute of it and got a chance to practice on my skills and play with wall ball too! I headed to Pirkkola to check it out, and to take care of my fitness.

Skills.

• Every minute on the minute, for 7 minutes:
• 3 bar muscle-ups

This is something I rarely do anywhere else than outdoors. And mostly in Pirkkola or then at the forest near my home, these two are classic bar muscle-up stations for me. Yesterday I did one rep at the gym but there's not that much space for a big kip so that muscle-up yesterday wasn't the most beautiful I've done because I wasn't able to utilize my lower body that effectively.

This Tuesday I did this skills practice in emom style which was a good decision in my opinion. I took one triple before I put the clock and camera running so you'll see only 6 sets below. All sets felt similar and my body was took it well, very receptive to this movement, and it obeyed what I tried to tell it to do. My technique has taken a huge leap forward the past summer, and it has stayed good since then, at least way better than what it used to be. For my standards this is good right now.

Bar muscle-ups

Workout.

• Every minute on the minute, for 8 minutes:
• 15 wall ball, 9kg

It's been a while since I've thrown wall ball around. Got to say it's a very good tool to improve fitness. As simple as it can get but still very effective to burn shoulders, legs and lungs. Today I did 15 reps per minute, then recover for the rest of the minute, after full 60 seconds, repeat the reps per min. Totaling 8 minutes, or 120 wall balls.

It's very simple movement in general. Of course you've got to pay attention to hitting the standard depth, same with keeping the torso in an upright position. But basically it's a matter of squatting with the ball, then throwing it to the targeted height. This beam is great as there is marked the heights gradually, there's a 3m target so I'm always throwing a little higher than that. I guess the traditional number is 3.05m, not sure though. That's what I've used always =)

I did these wall balls in emom style, knocking 15 reps per minute, for a total of 8 minutes (120 reps). I had no plan for this when starting to throw the ball. After first 2-3 sets I thought I'd go for 6 minutes. At 5min it changed to 8 min. I was tough for the rounds 6-8 for sure, it started to burn my shoulders, not legs. There were couple of misses included in these sets, even though that's something I always try to avoid.

Wall balls

Cashout.

• 50 box jumps, 70cm

I went running for a while, then found a podium where all 3 spots were at different heights. The highest version being somewhat more challenging than the regular box jumps at the gym. I would estimate it at about 70cm. It was a good choice to slow down on the training session today with box jumps and get this body already prepared for tomorrow. These box jumps were not too heavy. I hopped on my car and went eating and recovering.

Monday 29.9: Squats, Hspu, T2b

Monday. Strength, Smolov squats 10x3 (122.5kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 hspu, 15 t2b.

Squats, squats, squats. Haha it really feels like I'm having a barbell in back rack position all the time. No biggie, I'm enjoying it. Today it was time for lots of sets, barbell getting heavier little by little. It took me long time to finish those squats, as my warm-up was very good prior to the squats as well. Metcon consisted of shoulder burn and heavy breathing.

Strength.

• Smolov, back squats 10x3 (across 122.5kg)

Lots of sets this time, triples at 122.5kg. The number of reps was familiar, no prob but the weights were rather heavy considering there were 10 sets of them. I've done 10x3 occasionally but there probably haven't been that big of a load. I was confident on the load from the very beginning. Somehow I was calm and sure it's gonna be okay, just get the bar on your back and do the compulsory work.

First sets were rather easy, from about 4th set on the mood started to change and it wasn't that much fun anymore. Sets through 5-7 were the toughest. From then on the end was looming so it was mentally easier to do the required work. Every set was closer to finishing the whole thing. I got all sets done nicely, no problem. They were much tougher than previous training sessions, that was obviously because of heavier weights.

Blair Morrison's "Lullaby"

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 handstand push-ups
• 15 toes-to-bar

Squats took me lot of time to complete and once again I hadn't planned a metcon beforehand because I wanted to listen to my body after the strength session. It felt surprisingly good so I wanted to hit a metcon, and put some pressure on my body, heart and lungs. Hspu's were the first ingredient in the mix. Soon t2b's came into play as well. My legs were too jello for box jumps, and my calluses prevented me from pull-ups. Putting tape on my hands allowed me to do t2b's anyway.

For a reason unknown to myself I didn't have a clock running but I completed this workout in a similar way as if there was a timer pushing me. I got 3 rounds of handstand push-ups unbroken, then on the 4th round it was 7-3 and last rounds 6-2-2 with short recovery. I liked the way I was able to perform these today. I didn't have that much rest between movements so there was a possibility that my shoulders would have burned more quickly. But they didn't, they survived pretty well!

Ben Smith in 2012

Also got toes-to-bar's unbroken for first 3 rounds, then 4th and 5th rounds were 10-5 on both ones. Those felt more in my hip flexors rather than core. I didn't wanna push it too much on those t2b's because there's a lot of squats ahead of me and I really need my hip flexors!

The workout was good in nature, simple and efficient. It doesn't always have to be complex. This was pure crossfit. Intense stuff.

Sunday 28.9: Squats, Clean technique

Sunday. Strength, Smolov squats 7x5 (across 115kg). Clean technique.

I got back from Vierumäki yesterday evening to spend the night at home, so we slept until 10.00am, ate well and went to the gym with my beautiful fiancé. It was time for another squat session, it's getting more brutal all the time. There's not much rest between squat sessions, tomorrow's another session, cool haha. It was awesome to have my big bro join as at the training session. Sipa worked on his snatch and then hit a bad ass workout afterwards. The rest of the day was spent at the in-laws as we celebrated Pauliina's mother's birthday. I'd call this a good Sunday!

My bro

Strength.

• Smolov, back squat 7x5 (across 115kg)

Another session of having weight in back rack position and going up and down. Reps per set came down, number of sets came up, same with the load. Total of 7 sets at 115kg. I haven't had problems with the sets this far. At times they have felt a bit more nasty but really it's been weights I have been able to manhandle.

And I'm really happy I've been able to squat with a good depth from the day I started to put my butt way below parallel. I'm feeling confident with squatting now. The volume is gonna be huge compared to a regular month in September and it's gonna continue high in October as well. This might have a positive side effect on technique too as there will be so much repetition.

To my eye this form is what I'm looking for currently. Obviously there will be someone finding flaws in it but right now I'm happy with this. And my main coach Toni has approved it, the only thing he's looking for is a wider stance but that hurts in my hips so I'll stick with this narrow style which feels great.

Recap

Barbell.

• Clean technique

My brother had some good tips on my starting position for clean. I was open minded as he came to the gym and showed it real time. Basically he made me go lower, more heels-oriented, and shoulder blades more tightly together. For some reason this resulted the barbell hitting my quads higher which obviously is a great thing. The bar also felt it came up a little easier.

I only took about 20 reps with 40-60kg weights so let's not be hasty and make presumptions too quickly. I'm gonna work on this technique and once hitting the timings better it should result in heavier barbells.

My brother hit a workout written by Ben Bergeron, taken from competitorstraining.com. Looked awful as he was doing it. The workout stood:

• 30 thruster, 50kg
• 30 pull-up
• 30 power clean, 50kg
• 30 burpee
• 30 push jerk, 50kg
• 30 box

Saturday 27.9: Vierumäki, Handstand, Oly lifts

Saturday. Training day at Vierumäki. 1: "Amazing race", 2: Handstand, 3: Clean and jerk

This Saturday was freaking awesome! We got a prize for winning a competition at work and we were given the opportunity to travel to Vierumäki leisure centre for a spectacular day. First, there was "Amazing Race" style competition, playful action before I took a short handstand training session. And finally we went to do clean & jerks with Toni. After eating we had a possibility to watch Finland's national weightlifting team hit their training camp. Beautiful lifts I got to say!

Amazing Race.

• Race win

I had no idea what's about to happen. The only thing the program agency had told us was to wear sports clothes and be ready to move outdoors. We got some instructions and were sent of to the first task. They were all some how sporty stuff but the real thing was that we had to run around this area a lot. We were sweating a lot, and because it was a competition we ran like animals with my team. That finally turned out to be one of our strengths too and we ran by Toni's team for example. This was a little too much for him to handle ;) The trash talk had began. Well, we rocked the competition and finished it in sub 50 minutes whereas normally people go through the course in about 90 minutes. I have no idea how much we ran but Toni's guess was around 5km.

Skills.

• Handstand

Because we finished the workout about half an hour quicker than the rest of the crew I had time to work on my handstand. I found a perfect place for this purpose. My first attempt was record breaking effort. For some reason it felt extremely good being upside down. I had stayed there for a while as I heard someone shout "is that difficult" and answered back yes. "Then how come you're still staying there". I don't know it myself. Once I came down I realized there was a little kiddo with his momma and the kid was interested how long I've practiced handstand.

The video below was second set, and the only one I got on my phone's camera. Couldn't stay still but anyway all efforts were alright and especially since I haven't done handstand in ages. It's a cool skill to handle and it would be nice to have more time and opportunities to go after it.

Barbell.

• Clean and jerk, 1x60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100f, 90, 95kg
• Clean technique, 5x60, 5x60, 5x60, 3x80kg

More about this session tomorrow =) Here's the video for starters

Friday 25.9: Squats, Snatch, Box jump overs

Friday. Strengthm Smolov squats 5x7 (110kg). Metcon, 7min amrap, 2-2, 4-4, 6-6… of: power snatch (40kg), box jump overs. Result, 89 reps.

What else would a man do on Friday night than squat. Got the barbell on my back rack and started working. Metcon of snatches and box action was ahead of me afterwards. It's been difficult to think about those metcons because I don't want them to be too heavy and I wouldn't wanna burn my legs that much. My lower body needs to be ready for squats because there's gonna be squatting at least every other day. This far the metcons have rocked, today as well!

Strength.

• Smolov, back squat 5x7 (across 110kg)

Last squat session was 2 days ago but my legs were perfectly recovered, no problems whatsoever. Wednesday's session was tougher because my legs hurt already before the squats. Today these squats felt light even though they were heavier in weights (102.5 -> 110kg). I followed the program exactly as it stood, 5 sets of 7 reps at 110kg. It's getting heavier by the session, number of sets will increase and number of reps decrease while the load gets heavier each time. After four sessions it's gonna start back from 4x9 and then go through the same sequence as this week (4x9, 5x7, 7x5, 10x3). Take a look at the last session from today below.

Squats, 110kg

Metcon. Result, 89 reps (5 snatch on the round of 14's)

• 7min amrap
• 2-2, 4-4, 6-6… of:
• Power snatch, 40kg
• Box jump overs

This past week my metcons have mostly been created right at the gym, not that much pre-planning. I love programming my workouts way before, one of my greatest pleasures :) I also love box jumps but have neglected them because the high amount of squats lately. I guess that's been too cautious, I'm gonna have them back gradually.

Today's workout was a 7min amrap of 2 movements, starting from 2 reps each, climbing up 2 reps per round. Power snathes were light in nature, only 40kg because I wanted this workout to be more like a metabolic stuff, keeping the man moving, not worrying about the weights that much. Box jumps over the box is a great movement! I've done 'em couple of times and have enjoyed it every time. These two fit perfectly together.

Go and give it a shot, the combination is great. My effort today in the metcon was not 100%, but I believe I moved well and quite effectively. We're traveling to Vierumäki leisure centre together with Toni and our teams from work. There are some scheduled program and we're also hoping to make it to watch Finland's national weightlifting team hit their practice. And it would be awesome to get some olympic lift training done with Toni as well. At least the surroundings are as good as they can get!

Thursday 24.9: Press, Hspu, Du's

Thursday. Light barbell, push press 5-5-5-5 (max 70kg). Metcon, 10 to 1, down by 1's of: hspu. 30 du between sets. Time, 12.40.

Today's effort on my behalf was a bit lighter and it felt good just like that. My friend Jouni who is in the middle of a big time life changing turnaround came to the gym third day in a row. He's just started crossfit and I guess it has bitten him in the butt just like it did for me and Toni about 2 years ago. I suppose the 2-year brainwash has made its effect on this man =) Anyway, it's been great to witness this big guy hitting wods with serious attitude. Today was no exception on his behalf. First time going through back squat for strength and then a classical metcon of rowing and burpees. I'm proud of this fella!

New jump rope in action

Barbell.

• Push press 5-5-5-5 (50, 60, 70, 60kg)

Jouni was the star of the day on barbell work. I was giving my best to coach him on back squat and between sets I took couple of sets of push press 5's, just to get them activated. The weights were light at all times, today I wasn't looking to work pure strength on this movement. Those presses felt good and my shoulders worked solidly all the way. Plus this was a good warm-up for the upcoming metcon which was clearly shoulder / lungs oriented.

Metcon. Time, 12.40

• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of: handstand push-ups
• 30 double unders between hspu's

I'm happy on this metcon, which I came up with on the scene. I figured hspu's got to be part of the metcon today. Plus I had just yesterday evening adjusted my "new" jump rope to correct length. New rope is a bit deceiving because I bought it in the summer of 2013. It's been in the package since then because my first real cf jump rope has served me well! Now it's gone a little broken so I wanted to try this one out. The handles are way bigger than in my old one so I had my doubts how well I would adjust to that one. It turned out to be perfect in all possible ways. It felt very natural from the very first jump.

It was actually very natural all the time and I got through those sets of 30 double unders unbroken every round and didn't even doubt about getting them done ub. It was kind of obvious. I'm definitely using this one in the future as well. The metcon was constructed so that in the first round I did 10 hspu's, then dropped one rep after each round. 30 du's between sets, the number of du reps remained the same, totaling 300 du's, and 55 hspu's.

I got handstand push-ups almost unbroken each round. I dropped from the wall probably on the rounds of 8 and 7 hspu's. That was due to balance problems that were resulted because of tired shoulders. Those were on fire and that caused me to shake a little bit and then dropped down. I jumped right back though. The burn got worse by the round, and didn't really ease at any point because both movements got to my shoulders big time.

I wouldn't know which movement was tougher on shoulders, it was more like the combination of them. I was just blessed to have that transition between movement to get some recovery between stations. This was excellent workout and good intense action al the way. My round times were around 1:20-1:30  until the middle of the workout after which it started to drop gradually. Last rounds were around one minute, each round a bit quicker than the previous one.

Wednesday 24.9: Squats, Elizabeth

Wednesday. Smolov squat 4x9 (102.5kg). Metcon, Elizabeth, 21-15-9 of: power clean (60kg) and ring dips, not for time.

Today it began, hard core squatting. It was something like 2+ weeks since I started this Smolov back squat program and now it's taking me to another level. There's gonna be squatting at least every other day. Phew, I'm anticipating tough stuff ahead of me! Those squats got me so I took Elizabeth without the time pressure, just worked through the movements.

Strength.

• Smolov squats 4x9 (across 102.5kg)

Alright, doing 9's is something I've practically never done. There are going to be sets like this every Wednesday, 4x9 is the thing in the middle of the week. The only difference is that the weights are going up every week. I'm looking forward to getting stronger legs in the long run. That should transfer to pretty much everything. All strength derives from legs and the engine is also better when legs are strong as hell.

The weight today was moderate. Not that heavy but doing sets of 9 reps got to me. I had no doubt in my mind about finishing these sets but they definitely burned my lower body. Had to take a good rest between sets in order to recover enough. I went ass-to-grass as my new style tends to be. Another thing I've changed lately is the width of my grip. Traditionally I've had a wide grip but currently it's a lot more narrow. Got this tip from Chad Vaughn's video clip that I posted on this blog couple of days ago. I'll give it a shot. At least now it feels good and solid.

Squats

Metcon. Elizabeth, not for time

• 21-15-9 of:
• Power clean, 60kg
• Ring dip

My legs were dead after those squat sets. I really didn't have any energy left at that moment. I figured something needs to be done and Toni texted me he's going to hit benchmark workout Elizabeth in the afternoon so I decided to give it a shot. This was a little different as my focus was not in smashing my records and go all out from the beginning. This was more like "for quality" type of workout.

I took all cleans as singles, focusing on trying to get the contact point on my quads a little higher than normally. Thus, getting a better bounce with the help of my lower body. I could have knocked these in bigger sets but that was not on focus. Had there been clock running, I would have definitely done cleans in 2-3 sets every round.

On the ring dips I felt strong. That is clearly a upper body movement and my tired legs didn't bother in this movement. Got first round 15-6 and second 10-5. Last round went unbroken. This is probably the best I've ever done in a 21-15-9 workout with ring dips. For some reason I found a good rhythm and just kept going. Okay, let's take into consideration that I did this one with ease, not with pedal to the metal. Checked it from the video, it took about 7:40 to finish the reps. Good feeling.

Elizabeth

Tuesday 23.9: Clean and jerk complex, Db thrusters, Pull-ups

Tuesday. Strength, clean and jerk complex: 1 hang squat clean + 3 split jerk (max 95kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 double db thrusters (2x17.5kg), 10 pull-ups. Time, 5.07.

Great training day for sure. I'd been waiting for this one because Toni and Jouni both came to the gym with me. That combination can result in nothing less than awesomeness. Jouni continued to smash deadlifts, Toni did some Wendler style - push presses. Both guys handled some serious metcons afterwards. My focus was on oly lifts on strength part and a short metcon in the end.

Strength. Clean and jerk complex

• 1 hang squat clean + 3 split jerk (65, 75, 85, 95kg)
• 1 hang squat clean + 1 split jerk (100kg)

It's been almost a week since pushing weights overhead so it's probably no surprise I missed this a lot. Decided to go for jerks and take the barbell without a rack to work on my hang squat technique at the same time. The weight on cleans from hang position is no biggie nowadays. Thanks to my main man Toni for the tips he gave me 2-3 weeks ago. Since then it's been on a whole other level.

So I took all cleans from hang position and went down to squat clean each rep. Having this kind of barbell complex is a great way to work on clean and jerk, and especially on the weaker one of them. My clean is way better than the jerk so it's better do this way. Okay it doing 3 cleans and 1 jerk would get my body fatigue before the jerk but I'm sure that would not benefit me as much. The jerk wouldn't be the case at all if it was just one, even after couple of cleans. Today's style is a better one to develop the jerk.

After finishing the last set at 95kg for a triple jerk I decided to get one 3-digit lift in my system so I piled 100kg on the bar and took a single. This was from hang position too and it felt great. This jerk felt better than the last one on 95kg. Probably no surprise there because 3 reps at almost max weight is heavy stuff.

There's something beautiful in this one

Metcon. Time, 5.07

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 double dumbbell thrusters, 2x17.5kg
• 10 pull-ups

I had to improvise this one on the fly. I hadn't planned to do anything serious today but the plan changed during the day. Toni was doing push presses which inspired me to hit those clean and jerks. Then both of these guys hit tough metcons so I had to start thinking about one too. It ended up being a shortie of thrusters and pull-ups. My legs were kind of stiff from yesterday's training session, don't know quite sure why but because of this I thought about giving a break to lower body. Well, in that case thrusters are not a safe bet =)

Anyway, they got in this metcon, combined with pull-ups, 5-rounder of 10 reps each. It took me about a minute to get through one round. I didn't rush it at any point of the workout. Just worked through with dedication but not all out effort.

Monday 22.9: Amrap of 20min, barbell technique

Monday. Metcon, 20min amrap of: 5 hspu, 10 (5/5) db snatch 25kg, 15 t2b, 200m run. Result, 7rds + 1 snatch. Mobility. Technique, clean and overhead squat.

I'm very happy on the way I was able to recover from weekend. It was strenuous on my body but little by little it got better and started feeling stronger. Today I felt great to get back to work, barbells were mostly left alone. The metcon was a long amrap of bodyweight and dumbbells. Great one. Mobility was in turn next and finally some cleans with light weight and overhead squats with pvc pipe.

Metcon. Result, 7 rounds + 1 db snatch

• 20min amrap of:
• 5 handstand push-ups
• 10 (5 right / 5 left) dumbbell snatch, 25kg
• 15 toes-to-bar
• 200m run (on a treadmill)

Goal for today: get the lungs to work, breath heavy and keep going, leave heavy barbells alone, suck it up and move, no excuses. Result, succeeded. The movements suited perfectly together, and the rep-scheme was almost too. The only thing I would change now afterwards is the number of t2b's. Just a little less per round would have made me go unbroken all the way, and that would have resulted in even heavier breathing.

Handstand push-ups were light, I knocked them quickly touch'n'go style all the time, could have had something like 6-7 reps and it would have still been okay. I felt strong on these. Snatches weren't that nice. The dumbbell was 25kg, which is pretty much the heaviest I've used as db snatch. Single lifts at this weight feel great. It's a different game though, when you have 10 of them in a row. First 5 reps with right hand, then switch to left hand and repeat 5 reps. These started to feel hard toward the end but I stayed consistent with them.

Toughest movement of these was t2b. In the beginning it was a walk in the park. Second round, as easy. Third round, I started to anticipate the upcoming. Fourth round, this was a grind. On the fifth round I broke it to 10-5. This short break between hopping back on the pull-up bar gave some rest and got my breathing down. From this point on I believe my breathing was well in control because there was this compulsory break before being able to continue t2b's. It was simply too big of a burn in my hip flexors and core to continue.

I forced myself to jump on the treadmill right after finishing toes-to-bar. On some rounds I took a zip of water, and then went on. Pace on the run was 16km/h. That suited well. On one round later in the workout I felt tired and put on 12 km/h. That felt too slow so I took it back up to 16, and kept it there. Round times were pretty consistent throughout the workout. It was the t2b's that slowed me a little because I had to drop down from the pull-up bar from 5th round on. Everything except those 3 last rounds were unbroken with all movements and I strongly feel my pace remained the same. It felt a little worse by the round - as it should - but mental game was in the house today.

Mobility and technique.

• Mobility drills
• Power clean
• Overhead squat

The workout got me so it took some time to just chill out and recover. I focused on mobility by using resistance band. Opened up my hip flexors as they got tight during the metcon. They were under a lot of pressure, basically every movement except hspu's put lots of heat on hip flexors. After some more stretching I felt my legs were back in the game and it was time to work on my clean technique. Just light weight, working on getting the bar as high on my thighs as possible. I tried not to rush it from the ground and carefully hit the contact point high on my quads. Lastly, it was time for classic overhead squat mobility drills, this time with pvc pipe. Agenda was keeping a good posture, chest up, armpits forward and knees out.

Sunday 21.9: Squats, Power clean, Box, Pull-ups

Sunday. Strength, Smolov squat 1x5 (122.5kg). Metcon, 6rds of: 3 power clean (80kg), 10 box, 10 pull-ups. Time 9.31

I'm telling ya my body felt crashed in the morning! God damned it was beaten up. Unfortunately I underestimated the importance of mobility and stretching for upper body. Hero workout JT really was a hero workout. It was a little deceiving as it didn't get to my lungs that much. But my muscles were sore as hell. This day would have been a perfect rest day for sure. Luckily Pauliina suggested we'd go explore the woods and nature instead of hitting the gym early in the morning. We slept like little babies until noon and I really needed that. The work week was long and during weekdays I don't get that much sleep anyway so it's vital in the weekend to get something back.

Strength.

• Smolov squats, 1x5 (122.5kg)

This was the last "easy" set of back squatting in this cycle. On Wednesday it's gonna be real stuff. Lots of volume for legs. Today it was only one single set of 5 reps with 122.5kg. I took warm-up with 60 and 100kg, couple of pause squats and explosive squats, to really get body prepared for this "set of the day".

My lovely fiancé <3

I'm a little scare of squatting 4 times a week for 3 weeks. That means 12 high-volume back squat sessions in 20 days. That would probably be okay, just need to do lots of mobility too but I need to do classic crossfit at the same time. Just need to listen to my body carefully not to overload the system. Because I got to be ready to have that bar on my back and do some serious work.

Squats of the day

Metcon. Time 9.31

• 6 rounds of:
• 3 power clean, 80kg
• 10 box
• 10 pull-ups

At first my initial feeling was to hit a 20 min amrap but then again I realized my body is indeed quite tired. Okay it felt much better than in the morning. That long walk and play in the woods made its work for recovery. In the morning I simply wouldn't have been ready to train but in the evening I was eager to get some training done! I'm happy for these quick recovery abilities. Anyway, I reckoned I'd better keep it shorter still.

Took some power cleans from ground and from hang and they felt fine all the way with 60-70kg so 80kg felt a good choice and I'm very happy on this decision. I took them all as singles, and at times I dropped the bar because there were no other souls at the gym. Cleans felt good all the way.

I still tend to bend my arms too early. There's this movement pattern that I've learned in the past and it's pretty damned hard to get rid of it. Hang cleans might have made it a little better but still this technical improvement would make a huge difference in the effectiveness of my lifts. Better technique smells like heavier lifts and PR's. But it's not that easy to correct. I'm working on it though.

100kg

Box jumps have been non-existing lately. I've been careful not to burden my legs too much so that's the sole reason why these haven't been part of my metcons. I figured it can't be that serious to have them involved too so they got in today. No problem with boxes. They're one of my strengths.

Pull-ups, the number of them wasn't big but the combination of them and power cleans somehow got to me and they didn't feel that light towards the end. There were no problems to knock them unbroken anyway. I would have done them ub for at least 10 rounds, I'm sure of it.

This workout was good, definitely so. And the reps were good too, wouldn't have changed it in anyway. With a fresh body I would have made it either 10 rounder or then a 20 min amrap. It would have constituted a lot of box and pull-ups, 100+ in total.

Metcon

Mobility.

• Overhead squat
• Stretching, mobility

In the end I took mobility drills, below is one of them. This one is designed for overhead squats. I need to get my armpits shown forward instead of downwards. We worked on this positioning with Toni. My stance is wider than in normal front / back squat and I'm really pushing it to get my arms / shoulders in good position. This is not easy for me. But I need to stop bitching about it and start improving it! =)

OHS mobility

Saturday 20.9: Rings, Hero wod JT, Burpees

Saturday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Hero workout JT, 21-15-9 of: hspu, ring dips, push-ups. Time, 12.11. Cashout, 50 burpees for time. Time 2.13.

This was a long work week, I went to work today as well. But afterwards Pauliina came to our gym and we hit a workout together, and started the weekend through this kind of quality time. No weights today at all. First ring skills, then hero wod JT, and finished the training session with 50 burpees. This was Pauliina's idea. She hit it first, and then talked me over. Thanks for that, it was a good finisher.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups (2-1-1-1)

I've done some sort of muscle-ups 4 times in the past week. That's frequent for me. I usually do them once or twice a week. Ideally I would do bar muscle-ups twice a week and rings maybe once. I would also mix bar mu's into metcons if I had proper equipment for that. That would be great! For the past week I wanted to add more of them in to my programming.

Bar muscle-ups are rolling very nicely currently, and I'm a little proud of myself to say the truth. I'd like to see this transfer to ring muscle-ups too. It's much more complex movement and I tend to get fatigue on rings quickly. I don't do false grip practically at all anymore because I want to practice on strong swing and kipping. Hmm, that brings me to a question should I get back to false grip and complete more reps to get my body used to ring muscle-ups. Don't know but I'd like to see myself banging 10-20 reps in a session those times when I sacrifice time for ring muscle-ups.

Recap of rings

JT. Time 12.11

• 21-15-9 of:
• Handstand push-ups
• Ring dips
• Push-ups

Because of my life's first strength program - Smolov squat program - I have neglected quite a number of movements that burn legs. Then again, that's been the reason why I've looked for workouts that put more pressure on upper body. Benchmark wod JT seemed perfect for these purposes. A lot of pressing. Think about it, 3 press movements, you're pushing your body to some direction. No real recovery time except the time you decide to rest.

In this workout at least I needed rest. This wasn't bad on breathing nor metabolic conditioning but more on muscle endurance. My upper body / shoulders were smoked after first round. I had to have a strategy for this workout. Gassing too early would have been a disaster so I took 15-6 on hspu's, then broke ring dips to 7-7-7, same with push-ups.

Round of 15's took me longer than the first round. Hspu's were 5-4-3-3, ring dips 5-5-5. At that time the burn started to get fierce and I couldn't speed it up even a bit. These sets were perfect for me. It was tough but doable. Last round on hspu's was 4-3-2, ring dips were 5-2-2 and push-ups 4-3-2. On last round I tried to minimize the recovery between sets. This was a good workout for upper body strength and endurance. I liked it a lot. It was tough, got to say.

Recap of JT

Cashout. Time 2.13

• 50 burpees

Because JT didn't get to my lungs practically at all, I needed to get something to get heart beat up. Pauliina did 50 burpees for time at the same time with my JT, and she started persuading me to hit the same workout. That sounded like a good short and intense workout. The only thing I was thinking about beforehand was the numbness in my shoulders / chest. How would those burpees hit me?

Well, it definitely had an effect but not that bad anyway. It was a bit slower than with fresh body but I'm pretty happy on the pace I was able to keep. And my body was moving constantly for the entire workout. Thanks Pauliina for this tip, it was a good finish to this effective training session!

Burpees

Friday 19.9: Squats, Row, T2b

Friday. Strength, squats 1x3 (125kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 300m row, 15 t2b. Not for time.

After work I went home and fell asleep after 5 minutes. Pauliina woke me up after a power nap and we headed back to gym. Smolov squat program said it's time to do one triple set, nothing else this time for legs. Took an easy workout after squats. It's been rather tough training week so it was good to take it easier for Friday's sake.

Strength.

• Smolov squats, 1x3 (125kg)

Calm before the storm. Soon it's about to get serious. This system started with multiple back-to-back days of squatting, then it's been easier. On Sunday there's gonna be more squats but the real thing begins next week. Then it's squats 4 times a week of couple of weeks. Hopefully this is gonna make a difference in the long run. Today's load was supposed to be 122.5kg but I accidentally put 125kg on the bar.

Recap

Metcon. Not for time

• 5 rounds of:
• 300m row
• 15 toes-to-bar

I didn't time this one at all. Just started working, and aimed to keep a study pace anyway. The rowing part was definitely all out effort, the pace was about 1:50 / 500m so it would be considered a slow pace for this kind of distance. The goal of this workout was not get smoked but just keep the body moving.

T2b's I did unbroken every round. I feel this movement could be considered some sort of strength for me. I can knock a good number of them in a row usually. Towards the end it started to get heavier but I decided to push through and got it.

This is just sick

Thursday 18.9: Bar muscle-ups, Bench, Dips

Thursday. Skills, bar muscle-ups (25 reps). Strength, close grip bench (max 87.5kg). Ring dips.

I had been waiting for this day for several days. It was like Christmas in September. What would be that much fun. To drive to Pirkkola and practice on bar muscle-ups! How little can make a crossfitter happy about =) I took a trip there right after work, did a quick skills workout, then went home to pick up my baby, and headed to the gym for another quick session.

Skills.

• Bar muscle-ups, 25 reps (PR 10, 5, 5, 5 reps)

Pirkkola is the place to be for this skill practice. It's my favorite outdoor training place. You can practically do anything you want out there. We've hit couple of HC Triplets there too with Toni. This pull-up bar is perfect for my purposes. There are plenty of room both sides of the bar and I can utilize a big kip. At the gym it would be more like a strict muscle-up if I had the skills for that.

I took a short warm-up for my shoulders, then couple of strict chest-to-bar pull-ups and toes-to-bar before jumping on the bar and started ripping it. I've done something like 5 reps at max before this day. One time I've been able to do 9 reps in a row with every rep being ugly, landing over the bar with a twist, right side first. Since Pauliina started coaching my muscle-ups I've jumped to next level and currently those mu's look like they should. The movement is evenly balanced and I'm able to use my hips better than before.

The first reps felt so good that I decided to go after a new record. PR was ahead of me. Finally got 10 reps and was happy at that point. I didn't max out totally, there might have been some room still. Took a break and repeated for 5 reps. Actually I took 3 x 5 reps with rest between sets. This totaled 25 reps which is more than I've ever done in one training day. Plus all of these - I mean every single one - were good reps today! That was more than I was ever hoping to complete. I'm super stoked on this!

PR

Strength.

• Close grip bench press, 5x60, 70kg, 3x80, 82.5, 85, 87.5kg, 5x80kg
• Ring dips 10xbw, 10x10kg, 7x15kg

Couple of hours later I found myself hanging out at the gym indoors doing bench and dips. This was a quick session because of schedule issues. We spent about half an hour at the gym with Pauliina. A lot shorter warm-up than normal was compulsory but I got ready enough for bench. It's been weeks / months since last bench session. Took 'em this time with close grip. The point being giving more pressure on arms / triceps, and thus focusing on translating the benefits to olympic lifts.

Same focus was on weighted ring dips. There's would be a point getting my arms stronger, that would definitely make my overhead strength more legit. I got inspired by Austin Malleolo, Games level athlete who talked about this just currently. Don't worry, I'm not gonna start meatheading frequently but there might be a point in that. Dips are something I have increased gradually to my training but bench is a rarity.

Recap

This training day was all about bar muscle-ups. I've been waiting eagerly to find a good place to knock a bunch of them and hoping my form has stayed good. Luckily the trend continues. And, I'd like to see this develop also technique on ring muscle-ups too! Should be able to go for multiple reps on rings too.

Wednesday 17.9: Squats, Push press, 21-15-9

Wednesday. Strength, Smolov squats (2x122.5kg). Strength, push press 3-3-3-3-3 (max 85kg). Metcon, 21-15-9 of: pull-ups and power snatch (40kg). Time, 7.14. Overhead squat technique and mobility for 1h.

Today I was in no hurry at all. It extended to a good 2h+ session. Lots of things happened. First of all, I got back to squats, the Smolov program let be put the barbell in my back for some doubles. After that overhead strength was ahead of me. Metcon was a killer for forearms, even with hook grip on snatches. I spent at least 45min for the cool down, continuing improving overhead squat form and then mobility stuff in the very end.

Strength.

• Back squat (Smolov) 2-2 (across 122.5kg)
• Push press 3-3-3-3-3 (70, 75, 80, 85, 85kg)

I've been missing squats for a while now. This Smolov training cycle began with 3 days of squatting in a row, since then it's been easier. There are couple of days still left to go until some serious ass squatting takes place. Then it's gonna be 4 times a week of back squats. Today was only 2 doubles at 122.5kg. Naturally there were some lighter weights to get prepared, did them at 60 and 100kg. Some pause squats and speed squat, with full range of motion. These doubles felt light today. I've tried to let my legs recover in my training lately, exactly because people tell this Smolov thing is tough stuff. This far it's been easy but soon things are gonna change.

It was quickly over, as I didn't even keep that big a rest between squat sets. I quickly changed weights and took over the rack. First warm-up sets at 60kg I took from ground but first set at 70kg from rack. At this point I was properly ready for the overhead work and it didn't feel tight anywhere in my body. All of these sets felt a good weight to push around. Still, after every set I felt there's room to add kilos. The last station was at 85kg which was very good weight for me for a triple. Happened to push it up for 2 sets. that was great!

I believe my max push press for a single is 90kg this far so having a triple this close to max is success. Actually the last set of 85kg was even better than the first one.

Haha, Milko Tokola on fire

Metcon. Time 7.14

• 21-15-9 of:
• Pull-ups
• Power snatch, 40kg

I saw one monster completing a workout of 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 with these same movements, snatches at 50kg. That sounded attempting but would have been way too heavy for me and the intensity would have sucked big time. This scaled modification suited well for today. Of course I had hook grip on the snatches but this one killed my forearms nevertheless. Towards the end it was difficult to hold on to either of the bars. Two pull-movements sealed the deal.

Got the first set of pull-ups unbroken, not sure how the second set went, unbroken or then 10-5, really just don't remember. Third set was miserable. At this point grip strength was gone. It was 5-2-2 on the round of 9's. Snatches went 7-7-7 on first round, 8-4-3 on the second and 4-3-2 on the last set. I tried to keep the recovery short. That's how it felt but don't know how it looked like =)

SF @ LA

Technique.

• Overhead squats
• Mobility

I had decided to take it easy after the actual workout session. My back was sore the entire day. Like I had done some serious back workouts. But I didn't. So I was wondering why the heck is it sore. In the warm-up I realized we worked a lot on overhead positioning and form with Toni yesterday. My tight felt very tight then and that's the reason why this happened. It definitely didn't bother my training today but it was funny to witness these two are linked together.

I wanted to continue working on this weakness. Got to get the form good before I'll add more load. Working simply on a pvc pipe will make good on my mobility. I took a lot of sets without weight, and each rep felt in my back. It's very tight and needs to get loosened up for better mobility. Plus I was able to keep the armpits facing forward. That is the biggest gain I got from working the form with Toni, and still being able to go below parallel. There were also a lot of different mobility drills involved in the end.

Working on ohs mobility

Tuesday 16.9: Rings, bar technique, 15min amrap

Tuesday. Skills, ring muscle-ups. Bar technique, overhead squats (max 60kg) and hang power cleans (max 70kg). Metcon, 15min amrap of: 250m row, 10 hang power clean (60kg), 10 bar-facing-burpees. Result, 5rds + 5 cleans.

It was a party day: Toni came to my home gym. He landed from his ivory tower among normal people and gave presence to the gym where it all began and where he built a strong base before joining Crossfit Vantaa affiliate. This was a great day of training and lots of positive things happened. Agenda included muscle-ups, technique training with light weight barbells and then breath-taking metcon in the end.

The end

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups

My goal was to hit this emom-style so that 2 reps would be done for 4-5 minutes. Every minute 2 reps and then recovery for the rest of the minute. On the first minute those mu's were easy. Probably easier than they've ever been. Don't know what that was but anyway they felt good. This would have been a great chance to hit more consecutive reps.

Second set's first rep was easy as well but the second one was more challenging. My wrist didn't land in a perfect position once I got over the rings. On third minute I got a fail. What was this. Don't know but that was a bummer. I took one more rep just to remind muscle memory what this move is all about. So this skills-part totaled 5 reps.

Scaling dot.com's workout. Pat's the man

Barbell.

• Overhead squats
• Hang power clean

I've had huge flaws in my overhead squat technique. And I've realized it only recently. The issue is I haven't found a form where my armpits would shoot forward, currently they've pointed downwards to the floor. That creates wrong kind of rotation to the shoulders and the weight is not carried correctly with muscles. Another thing is squat stance on ohs, it's quite narrow for this squat and thus maybe not that stabile. Third issue is my chest which should be more upward. All these three elements have brought problems and I haven't been proud of this movement.

Today we worked on each of these issues. For some reason when I hit a workout with Toni, things happen. Last time he corrected my hang power clean just like that and today after we had done some adjustments I got below parallel in wider stance with my armpits facing forward. Thanks coach! Now I gotta keep on repeating these movement patterns to improve muscle memory.

I took random sets with both overhead squat and hang power clean. Ohs went up to 60kg and hang power cleans up to 5x70kg. The purpose of this barbell work was definitely not heavy weight but technique.

Guys hitting/missing some pretty big ass weights

Metcon. Result, 5 rounds + 5 cleans

• 250m row
• 10 hang power clean, 60kg
• 10 bar-facing burpees

This was a "fun" workout in the end. We wrote this on the spot together with Toni. I wanted to have rowing and hang cleans. Toni threw in bar-facing-burpees and funnily we both had same reps in mind. These are awkward moments where we have similar thoughts concerning our workouts. And clothes… We very often tend to have similar shirts at work. Today it was kind of exaggeration. Note, we didn't call each other in the morning and match the shirts!

Okay, back to the workout. Rowing was very light in the beginning for some unknown reason. I kept the pace at around 1:45 for first 3 rounds. Couldn't find a reason to pace it up because the distance was short and there wasn't much ground to make. For the last 2 rounds the pace dropped to around 1.52-1.54. Had I pulled with more strength, that would have brought fatigue faster. No point because extra second or two dropped from time would have been taken back (and more) in catching my breath before taking a grip on the barbell.

All cleans were done unbroken. That was success. Hook grip is the key here. I remember doing a workout back in the days which included 30 power cleans from floor with 50kg. That was some sort of qualification event for Finland's national Crossfit Games, the Winter War. At least I recall it was part of this throwdown. In that workout my grip was smoked and I used open grip back then. That brings me to an idea of repeating that workout and see what's the difference with this small adjustment. Anyway, I got the cleans today unbroken, they definitely started to burn me towards the end but there were really any doubts of making all sets in a row.

Bar-facing-burpees… Huh, that's not a walk in the park. 10 reps per set, totaling 50 reps in this amrap. My technique and efficiency has improved on this one a lot and I can do them faster than before. Big thing is to utilize a good hip extension when coming from the floor. You got to land your feet close to the bar and hop over it in one continuous movement. Then it's all about pacing yourself and having a steady movement back and forth around the bar. This is so much tougher than regular burpees. The jump over the barbell makes it painful. It gets to your lungs big time.

This was definitely a good metcon, a good burner. Round times stayed solid. They were around 2:32-2:55 throughout the workout. I got 5 full rounds, and on the 6th one finished rowing and 5 cleans. This totals 1.250m rowing, 55 cleans and 50 bar-facing-burpees.

Monday 15.9: Clean and jerk, Light Grace, 5-rounder

Monday. Barbell, light clean & jerk work 5-5-5-5 (max 70kg). Metcon, "Light Grace", 30 clean and jerk (50kg). Time 1.54. Metcon, 5rds of: 5 hspu, 30 du, 200m run. Time 8.54.

Sunday's workout session was deep but it felt no influence on this training day. I felt good opening the gym door. Decided to hit an awkward workout - benchmark workout Grace - but with light weight. That was actually a genius workout. After getting a grip of life again I did another quite short workout of bodyweight movements. Pauliina also did 2 circuit style workouts. She's rocking it!

Barbell.

• Clean and jerk, touch'n'go
• 5-5-5-5 (40, 50, 60, 70kg)

The purpose of this was only to get myself prepared for Grace. I was thinking about doing heavy Grace originally with 70kg. Then again, two points. Firstly, I'm doing these Smolov squats and I don't wanna do too heavy workouts that would burn my legs totally. Secondly, Pauliina gave a good tip yesterday as she said I haven't done too many short and intense workouts. That means workouts that last less than 5min. Something like Fran. There's a seed of truth to that statement. Don't know the reason.

So I took couple of sets clean and jerk with light weight. Did all sets t'n'g style, meaning I didn't stop at any point of the movement, not on the floor, not on the front rack position. Just kept the barbell moving all the time. Felt good on these clean and jerks.

Another one was played last night, NY @ DC

Light Grace. Time 1.54

• 30 clean & jerk, 50kg

Anyway, it seemed like a perfect day to go for Grace with a lighter version. All out from the very beginning. Just go. I took 15 reps at first attempt, then lowered the bar, took a breath and finished it off with 3 sets of 5 reps. Couldn't drop the barbell this time, there were a lot of people at the gym.

It was great to do this benchmark workout with this weight because I was able to have the barbell moving almost all the time. At least this was fast and intense. And even though the load was lighter than rx'd version it started to burn me from everywhere. That's because there weren't much rest included. My forearms and upper body in general was done after the workout. It also had its effect on my legs too.

Metcon. Time 8.54

• 5 rounds of:
• 5 handstand push-ups
• 30 double unders
• 200m run (on a treadmill)

For some reason I liked the idea of running (even on a treadmill) last weekend. Took another shot at it today. I'd like to combine running any day on a metcon but treadmill has been out of context. Haven't considered a good piece of a workout. But now as I've done it, I don't see any good reason why not have it in the future too. This workout was supposed to be intense too.

Hspu's were easy, and unbroken. Double unders were great for 4 rounds. I tried to keep the transition much shorter than normally. Right after finishing the double unders, I clicked the treadmill on before even getting on it. My round times were within seconds on rounds 2-4 (1:45 - 1:47). First round is always quicker because of transitions. On the last round I messed around with the jump rope that lost me some time.

These two workouts were great. Awesome reminders to keep short metcons in the stock too. Long, and short, heavy and light, all kinds of workouts.

Sunday 14.9: Rings, Snatch, Metcon

Sunday. Skills, rings. Strength, emom x 8, power snatch x 2 per min (55-57.5kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 1min hang snatch (40kg), 1min box, 1min push press (40kg), 1min row for cals, 1min rest. Result, 228 reps.

After being weak and a human wreck yesterday I was looking to make a strong comeback this Sunday. Rest day definitely made good as my body was extremely tired. I slept like a baby and we woke up rather late today. Huge breakfast of avocados, smoothie and eggs was plumbed down the throat and after letting it settle for a while we headed to the gym for a good training session with Pauliina.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups (3-1-1 reps)

Decided to try some ring muscle-ups in the beginning of this session. Haven't done these or bar mu's either in a while. It feels like an eternity since last time, no idea when it took place in real life. I'm always a bit nervous when trying ring muscle-ups. Bar versions are working well currently but these rings are intimidating. It was a positive surprise to get 3 reps done unbroken in my first attempt! That is current PR and this was only second time I've got this many done in a row. Took some singles after that too.

Rings

Barbell.

• Every minute on the minute, for 8 minutes
• 2 power snatch (2min x 55kg, 6min x 57.5kg)

Last time when I did snatches it was Toni and Jouni beside me giving tips on technique and something on the starting position. I had positive memories of that session and it inspired me to get my hands on barbell today for some snatches. I did them as 2 power snatches per minute. Started at 55kg and after 2 minutes I went up by a huge leap of 2.5kg. Stayed there for the rest of the workout. Total of 8 minutes of work, 16 snatches, of which 12 were at 57.5kg.

I'll take those with pleasure. It hasn't been self-evident in the past to get these weights up so it feels great to make those lifts without problems. This type of success builds confidence, that's for sure.

Snatches

Metcon. Result, 228 reps

• 3 rounds of:
• 1min hang power snatch, 40kg (20, 17, 17 reps)
• 1min box jumps, 61cm (20, 20, 20 reps)
• 1min push press, 40kg (20, 20, 20 reps)
• 1min row for calories (18, 18, 18 cals)
• 1min rest

Had something like Fight Gone Bad in my mind when I was writing the workouts for the upcoming week yesterday evening. The gym at our place has no room for throwing wall ball around so that had to be left outside of the workout. Had it with me but there was no use for that. I talked Pauliina into making this metcon with me, she just switched the movements but worked her ass off for this one. I'm very proud of her finishing it with style!

The movements for my workout turned out to snatch, box, press, and row. There were 4 stations, each for 1min time, for max reps each time. Every calorie on the rower is considered a rep. This totaled 228 reps in 12min working time. Barbell was 40kg for snatch and press.

This was as nasty as it should be. If you've ever done FGB you know what this resembles. Okay, here were 4 stations compared to FGB's 5 stations which makes it even more miserable. However, I was done after the workout, it got me. I was still able to hold the pace throughout the workout. Actually snatches were the only movement on which my numbers dropped compared to the first round (20-17-17 reps). Other than that all other stations got identical numbers each round.

All movements kept heart beat up, and it really didn't come back at any point. That 1min rest period was warm-heartedly welcomed to get pulse back down. I've done something like this before, different movements though. Take a look at this one. Anyway, I'm very happy on the consistent pace over the course of this workout. There's nothing like a motor that keeps running to keep a smile on my face.

Workout of the day