Thursday 9.10: Squats, Burpee and T2b

Thursday. Strength, Smolov back squat 4x9 (117.5kg). Metcon, 10 to 1, down by 1's of: burpees and t2b. Time 6.30

Time to get back in action with the squats. That extra day of squat rest made miracles to my legs, they felt great, like I hadn't squatted in ages. They were fresh as... hmm I don't know but they were ready for action! After squats they were hammered and I was about to hit just a short workout. It ended up being burpees and t2b's and it was intense.

I found Toni at the gym in the morning

Strength.

• Smolov, back squat 4x9 (117.5kg)

By the program yesterday was supposed to be this day. My right knee hurt a little yesterday so I didn't wanna take any chances that time. Today however, everything felt fine and I needed to get these in my system. The barbell felt great on my back rack and after a good long warm-up I walked toward the bar and started doing pause squats and speed squats with light weight, just to get my hips opened even better.

This is one of the last sessions of this Smolov stuff before I get a pause of heavy squatting. Today's agenda was 9's for 4 sets, weight 2.5 kilos shy of 120kg. Not light for me. First reps were okay each set but the last 2 reps were a battle of minds. The video below is the first set. I'd say it was alright for about 3-4 reps, then the next 2-3 reps were more challenging and the last 2-3 required my last piece of strength each time. It was roar-time, couldn't keep my mouth shut.

Squat 9x117.5kg

Metcon. Time 6.30

• 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of:
• Burpee
• Toes-to-bar

After having done the strength part my lower body was smashed and I had to think about for a while what would be my next move. Didn't have a feeling to grab a barbell, and burpees are always a pleasure so it went towards burpees and t2b's. The only negative thing in this workout was that my hip flexors were burning already before the workout and it only emphasized during it. Both moves put pressure down there.

Starting from 10 reps each, coming down by 1's down to 1 rep, totaling 55 burpees and toes-to-bar. It was quite fast workout. I did all burpees unbroken and with a steady pace from the beginning to the end. I thought burpees would be the tougher movement. Actually, I even thought about adding the number of t2b's in some way to get more of them. Luckily I didn't. They started to get to my hip flexors and core a lot and I had to break them after 3 rounds. From the round of 7's I did them mostly in 2 sets till the end. The recovery was just dropping down and getting back up, I didn't stay to catch a breath, just needed to release the tension for a while.

Below you'll see most of the round times on the metcon. Got it a little faster each round as it was supposed to be of course. It was a good rally!

Word by Ben Smith