Monday 27.10: Squats and Christine

Monday. Strength, back squat 6x4 (130kg). Benchmark workout Christine, 3rds of: 500m row, 12 deadlift (bodyweight), 21 box. Time, 9.58 (PR).

Working out with Jouni. He was giving wall balls, burpees and lunges some hard time and my focus was on getting legs stronger plus knocking one benchmark workout called Christine. She's a bad ass lady and get to the very core of posterior chain and heavy breathing. Awesomeness!

Strength.

• Back squat 6x4 (125, 130, 130, 130, 130, 130kg)

This time I had decided on the reps beforehand and that was a smart move =) The bar felt heavy-ish on the 125kg but I still decided to push it through a little heavier load. Most sets were at 130kg. Warm-up sets took place at 60, 90, and 115kg, couple of pause squats and regular squats at these weights. The working sets were good for today, I got every rep done with style without compromising form or anything else.

But simultaneously, the last reps were definitely tough! I wanted to have more reps at these heavier weights. Smolov squat strength program has brought a huge load of confidence on bigger loads, there's no doubt about that. Guess I'll take some front squats next time because it's been a while since previous time.

Looks like a great workout!

Christine. Time, 9.58. Compare to 21.12.2013

• 3 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 12 deadlift, bodyweight (80kg)
• 21 box

She's great! This was the third time going after this one. As you can see, all three stations bring a lot of burden on lower body / posterior chain. I remembered this should hover around 10 minutes so it's something you got to attack rather fiercely but can't get too jumpy in the beginning because otherwise legs are gonna call it off too soon and the rest of the wod is miserable.

On the rowing I went something like sub 1:50, which is not fast but getting too quick on this one would have probably brought issues on the other 2 elements. Winning 5 seconds here would have probably been lost somewhere else. At least that was my reasoning this time. Plus I tried to pull more with my hands compared to normal case where I try to put more stress on strong pull with my legs. This strategy I chose today was based on saving my legs for deads and box. Worked well.

Deadlifts were obviously unbroken, the load was such a light version and the number wasn't huge. I would have been disappointed if this wasn't the case. For the first time in a metcon I used clean grip (with hook grip) on deadlifts, it felt only natural to grab the barbell with this style. I'm hoping this will bring good things on cleans and snatches in the long run. Even though the barbell was loaded at bodyweight (80kg), of course it started to get the hamstrings heated up.

Box jumps after rowing and deadlifts is not that awesome =) First reps were the toughest, then my body got accustomed to the movement. Nailed all jumps unbroken, with a steady pace, not stopping at any point. My focus in general was to have a solid pace in all three stations and not get fatigued over time. I kept telling myself this is only about 10 minutes, so keep on going.

I'm very pleased on how this workout turned out. First round was about 3:14, second was 3:27 and the last 3:18. That means to say it was a steady ride all the way. This is exactly what I'm looking for in every workout. Good intensity with the engine rolling continuously. Plus I was ably to force myself to take the first stroke on the rower on second and third round as quickly as possible. There's no point in stopping and catching breath. Better take that first pull no matter what the pace is, this enables you to get the boat rolling and you save time.