Monday 26.1: Gymnastics and Cleans

Monday. Gymnastics, 3rds of: max effort c2b, max effort hspu. Strength, hang squat cleans (max 95kg). Emom x 12min: 1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean @ 90kg.

I had lots of plans for this training session. Had no need to rush at all, planned to take my quality time and work through a lot of things. After getting mobile I started the gymnastics part and was pretty much ready to leave after that. It was a big forearm burner =) But then I got my sh*t together and was able to pull off a great clean session also.

Gymnastics.

• 3 rounds of:
• Max effort of chest-to-bar pull-ups (22, 16, 16 reps)
• Max effort of handstand push-ups (25, 17, 16 reps)

I really like these gymnastics starts on training sessions to kick things off. Those have been emom style versions this far but now I decided to step my game up and try some max rep efforts as I wrote that I planned couple of days ago. This was way more taxing to do big sets of pull-ups and hspu's. My lats, forearms and triceps were burning and finally went numb after these sets =)

The name of the game was pretty much clear after the first set already. After second I was done and the third one was just brutal feeling. It took me about 12 minutes to complete this 3-rounder. Not that it was for time, definitely not, but I wanted to have some decency on the time frame. After this I went to warm up with an empty barbell and it felt difficult to hold on.

By the way, I ended up doing a PR on handstand push-ups (25 reps on the first attempt), which pleases me a lot! And actually it has to be a PR on those c2b's as well. That was not the definite max out version of those pull-ups. It was wearing a lot and I did those without stopping at any point. Had I stopped and tried to do singles one by one I could have knocked a little more. But that was mentally disturbing so I just took what I got "unbroken" and was satisfied with that.

Cleans.

• Hang squat clean triples (40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 92.5, 95kg)

After recovering enough and getting my forearms back in the game I started working towards heavier set of hang squat cleans. I built it up from light weights. Actually I did 3 hang power cleans + 3 hang squat cleans up to 60kg, then went to hang cleans only.

The most difficult thing in these sets seemed to be how to have my hook grip on the entire time. I had no issues getting under the bar quickly enough. I'm very happy about this fact. When I clean I catch the bar with open hand, a.k.a. not with hook grip. So once the bar comes down from front rack position I need to catch it mid-air and that seems to be a thing I need to work on. It's a prerequisite to being able to catch the bar with a proper hook grip so another rep is starting from the same position as the first one.

This was my original plan for today

Clean emom.

• Every minute on the minute x 12 minutes
• 1 power clean + 1 hang squat clean @ 90kg

I also wanted to get the timer running and do some work with a good sweat. And this was the answer this time. 90kg power clean is not easy for me. That was much tougher on me than the hang clean. But it was definitely a great way to practice that. And all reps were similar, and that's the most important thing to me. It can not be a surprise how they look like. There needs to be consistency. It felt great to move that 90kg power clean, that's for sure.

Meathead.

• Pendlay row 5x5 (60, 70, 80, 80, 70kg)

Tried also something I thought I'd never do. My training pal who does traditional gym work was talking this movement up a lot so I figured lets give it a shot. Took couple of sets and it really activated the entire back. Okay, maybe not my thing but it was worth trying =)