Today's session was quite short so I skipped strength and took a metcon instead. I've been thinking about putting clean and jerks more often in metcons too. It's cool to get 100kg up in the air for once but it's much more cool to knock multiple reps at semi heavy weight unbroken touch'n'go reps. That's what I'd like myself to see doing more often. That's also the reason why I thought of doing overhead squats for high rep sets in the near future.
Metcon. Time, 12.25
6 rounds of:
5 clean and jerk, 60kg
10 pull-ups
20m lunges
The truth is though, these are not as easy. It's kind of easier to do one heavy rep and then celebrate, than to keep the barbell moving. I've done sets of 10 reps in the past with 60kg c&j and those were disgusting. Okay that's easy money for some people but for me it was a battle.
5x60kg clean and jerk
Clean and jerks felt great anyway. Had no pain in my shoulders whatsoever. At times there's been a little soreness and I've tried to change up the width of my grip to ease the tension. These also felt pretty smooth and technically as sound as they are in my case. Kept the elbows straight on the way up, no early arm pull, then finishing it in one continuous movement from front rack to overhead. I was also satisfied on how the bar came down. The path was similar on the way down as it was on its way up.
Pull-ups felt tough today. It feels like I haven't done them a lot lately. To be honest it's probably around 200-300 reps this month which is not much. They feel heavier once I cut down the amount of them. Those were the reason why it took me some time to finish this metcon. I'll rephrase. The reason was that I took my breaks between stations because I wanted to do each element well. Lunges were a good variation to this metcon too.
Wednesday. Ohs singles (up to 85kg). Front squat singles (up to 130kg). Back squat singles (up to 140kg). Sled push 8x20m (up to 150kg). Accessory, 3rds of: 10 reverse hypers, 10 glute ham raises.
Originally this day was booked for back squats but yesterday I promised myself to give it a rest. My legs felt smashed yesterday after those squat cleans. However, last night squatting came back in to my mind and the plan came back alive. Decided to see how I feel like after waking up. Well, it turned out I did all possible forms of squats.
Back squat singles (110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140kg)
This wasn't like attacking new PR's but building up to a heavy single. Only on front squat I looked for a new record. I know it's close! Overhead squats went up to 85kg. I also looked for 90kg but couldn't quite hold it. Last 2 reps didn't go as low as the earlier squats. That is something worth putting focus that no matter the weight, the lifts look similar. Like they do in front and back squat.
Front squats felt great in every single rep. That last successful repetition at 130kg was smooth and not even that heavy. I had already put 135kg ready for next lift but then it came to my mind that it's actually my current PR so why not jump right into new one. Because the previous was okay I decided to skip 135kg and do 137.5kg instead. Maybe a mental breakdown =) I know anyway that I'm close to 140kg on this one. Got to do more squats and probably some accessories to strengthen my legs.
Back squats were the easiest of these. Well, can you say the easiest but anyway they felt good. I wanted to have a spotter on the last rep just in case but it was not such a big deal. It was a good spotter to psyche me up.
Squat recap
Sled.
8x20m sled push
As I just wrote I wanna strengthen my legs and lower body. Sled is a perfect tool for this objective. This is heavy shit. This grass matt is 20 meters but at times it can feel like a long distance. Pushing a sled is largely mental stuff. It's gonna hit lower body with a vengeance and once you hit a set the legs are going numb pretty soon. But it also feels so damned good. Today I got 8 sets of 20 meter trips done, and built it up so that most of the loads were at 150kg (plus the sled).
Accessory.
3 rounds of:
10 reverse hyper
10 glute ham raise
This was the first time doing these movements with the real machines. I've had some modifications earlier but they can not compare to this real stuff. These pretty much murdered my hamstrings. It didn't require much after all this squatting and sled pushing. I'm gonna have these included in my game plan on a steady basis because it's obviously gonna strengthen my lower body. Awesome elements!
Today was booked entirely for snatches. Focus was on getting the mechanics back to basics, working on good mobility and range of motion. It's been about ten days since last snatch session but it feels like an eternity. Lots of other training has taken place in between. After doing some snatches I took couple of cleans and finally realized I'm having some sort of workout going on. It came out of blue.
Lisää kuvateksti
Snatch.
Snatches from different positions (high hang, hang, floor)
Weights 30-50kg
Yesterday I took a few squat snatches with empty barbell and it felt great so I decided to change today's plans and hit snatches. Unfortunately it wasn't the best of snatch days but I'll take it with pleasure anyway. Snatches were taken from three different positions. High hang or pocket snatches, however you wanna call it. Then also hang snatches from mid-thigh and some snatches from floor also. But mostly from different hang positions.
I didn't make any notes about how many reps I took from different positions but it was 30, 40 and 50kg loads. That means to say it was light weight. At times it felt good and sometimes timing was off. The biggest problem was that the bar stayed too much in front which didn't allow perfect bar path on my way down. On the positive side I got below parallel on the majority of the reps. Couple of power snatches were included though.
Snatches
Clean.
30 squat clean (10x70, 10x80, 10x90kg)
After snatches were done I took some reps at 50 kilos, and maybe 60, don't quite remember. Then I started taking doubles @ 70kg. After taking couple of them I decided to add the stakes. Complete 30 reps of squat cleans in doubles. First 10 reps at 70kg, next 10 reps at 80kg, and final 10 reps at 90kg. Didn't time this but I moved with a purpose.
I freaking love cleans. The heavier the better. Felt great.
I woke up in to this day with a relaxing mind and had a peace in my mind as I thought about the upcoming training session. Then it hit me. It's gonna be ten sets of back squats, doup! That brought some anxiety but of course in a good way =) Decided also to do longer sets of overhead squats. Short metcon was predetermined but the accessory lunges were just a bonus round.
It was gonna be a tough day for this body. Ten sets are usually no joke. And triples tend to be more on the heavier side. And they were today as well. I was aiming to smash them at 130kg all the way. But on my way climbing up to that weight I took couple of lighter sets and counted them on anyway.
Got to say the last 3-4 sets were nasty. Especially the last rep. Damn. But I made it through all the sets without misses. I almost asked for a spotter in the last set but then decided to stop bitching and do the work. Actually the last one wasn't the worst, it was the last sets before that.
Squat recap
OHS.
Overhead squat 3x10 (40, 50, 60kg)
This was cool. I'd like to see where my max load would be on this movement for a high rep set like this. This was definitely not max. It felt great to do some empty bar squat snatches after squatting a lot because my hips were as open as they could possibly be. And it wasn't too bad for overhead squats either.
My elbows have been quite sore for the past two days so I didn't dare to go heavier on this one. These felt good anyway and no pain. I felt it in my elbows more in the back squats than overhead squats. It's also very beneficial to do pause squats on overhead squats. It will definitely make the bottom position of snatch / ohs a comfort zone.
Metcon. Result, 81 reps (5 rounds + 4 hspu)
7min amrap of:
7 burpee box jump
7 handstand push-ups
For conditioning this seemed perfect, and it actually was. It got tough because there were pushing motion in both movements. I reckoned I'll smash the handstand push-ups unbroken and then pace myself on the burpee box. I didn't not realize burpees would have an impact on the hspu's and that they would get much tougher.
Burpee box jumps were thus easier. They were a good conditioning part and no doubt my heart beat took big jumps up when I started the workout. My result was 3 reps shy of 6 full rounds. I remember it was probably 3 rounds unbroken on the hspu's, then it was 5-2 on the 4th round, and 4-3 on the 5th round. Last round I just tried to get as many as possible in the remaining time and was able to tho those 4 reps to finish at 81 total reps in 7 minute time frame. I felt success on this one.
Accessory.
8x12m lunges with 2x25 dumbbells
This is something I haven't done this far but realized it's a good accessory stuff on a day after killing legs anyway. Sled and / or farmer's walk would be other elements worth considering. Those are more like strongman tools.
These got a little spicy, and I felt it in my butt cheeks. Later I went outdoors for a short walk and noticed my right quad was inches away from cramping. Probably due to a lot of pressure on lower body today. Felt good about it!
Decided to play it safe and easy this Sunday. Last day of the week is pretty much an easier one anyway in my programming so this day was just as perfect as it could have been. Plus, this was somehow remarkable day too in a sense that I got a good friend of mine - Jasper - to start training here with me. New location for both of us, and since it's quite close to his place it was a good deal to start hanging here more often together.
Skills.
4 sets of ring muscle-ups
Result, 5+3+3+2 reps
I'm telling you that sandpaper I bought yesterday has made miracles. My hands have probably been this soft last time in year 1983. This is a no brainer if you're thinking about buying one. Just do it. Don't think it at all. For a crossfitter, hands seem to bring a lot of problems in the form of rips and tears. I'v had my share of them and have now taken a big step further in hand maintenance.
It was actually rather strange feeling when I jumped on the rings as I didn't feel those calluses at all. It was so soft that I actually felt it when holding on to the rings. Same will probably happen when having hands on a barbell. Looking forward to heavy pulls because it has always been kind of an issue as it hurts a lot in those calluses.
Felt good all the way on the muscle-ups. I felt smooth and efficient, comparing to my reps some weeks ago. It's great that my feet stay together nowadays, and I'm able to use hips much more than before. I still had some issues with my elbows today - especially the right one - so I kept the volume low in purpose.
First set was a shared PR of 5 reps. This was the second time hitting that number. Last time it was more of a battle. This time I didn't go further than that. On the second set I looked for 4 reps but got a miss on the last one. Then a tripled and a double.
Skills.
5 rounds not for time of:
50 double unders
20 ghd sit-ups
Totally a skills oriented workout. It's been some time since doing double unders. I think I've done those only once this month so it was about time. It wasn't as smooth as I had in my mind but still okay. Towards the end it got easier. It was easy to see this element has ben neglected lately.
On the ghd sit-ups I just focused to having a good flow and rhythm, tng reps without stopping at any point. Looking for that efficiency. It wasn't that challenging on the core. Originally I thought this movement would be a core killer but I have felt like at home every time I've been on it.
Recovery.
3 rounds of:
300m easy row
10 high box jumps, 70cm
This was as low intensity stuff as the previous parts of the training session. Row was easy pace, didn't even look at the pace or think about it, just kept moving and flushed my legs with it. Box jumps are a regular in my training but high box jumps are much more rare so I figured it would be good to practice them.
I don't know how people usually do these but at the moment it feels like it's better to do them in singles. Rebounding right away back to the top seems awkward. Maybe when getting used to this that might be the case but it feels right to jump down, reset and jump right back. Anyway, this was a good chill training day in good company!
This training day wasn't one of the best. There's not much to be told to the future. I felt tired after being at work yesterday evening and today for the entire day. Okay, that's normal to a lot of people but that messed up my routines. I tend to workout quite a lot so these kind of things have effect. How the body gets a chance to recover, sleep and eat.
Metcon. Time, 19.30
5 rounds of:
7 handstand push-ups
7 thrusters, 40kg
7 knees-to-elbows
7 deadlift, 110kg
7 burpee
7 kettlebell swing, 32kg
7 pull-ups
This was a version of a hero workout Seven. Awesome workout to say the least. But as much awesomely wrong choice for today. Body was simply not receptive of this one. Hspu's were probably the easiest part of the entire workout.
I had 40, 50 and 60kg barbells for thrusters in the warm-up and each of them hurt in my elbows. Decided to drop it down to 40kg so that would not become an issue. It was okay, not good but doable. K2e's felt very easy after doing t2b's and ghd sit-ups much more lately. Don't even remember when k2e's were in my metcons last time.
It was surprising how tough the deadlift felt. My back was taking the hit big time. Even though form remained solid all the way. It was just not my day of training. Burpees, kb swings and pull-ups all felt a bit more tiring than normally.
Sandpaper
Afterwards I felt a bit disappointed I didn't just go to a recovery walk with my baby as she suggested. Luckily she was still up for the challenge so I drove home, and we went to a walk in the woods late in the evening, and my mood got much better immediately. Just needed some relaxing time outdoors in the best company ever.
Earlier today I bought sandpaper for hand maintenance purposes. Got to say that has most likely been the wisest decision ever. That plus beeswax. These hands have never looked better. No more calluses, no more ripped hands please!
Friday. Back squat 7x5 across (125kg). Strongmanwod.com workout Grind, 20rds of: 20m farmer's walk, 5 burpees. Time, 15.52
Another morning training session. I've had these more lately. On my holiday they were mostly noon sessions which suit me best. Afternoon is second best option. Mornings are not in my wheelhouse but I'll take it if that's all there is available. No second thoughts over that. Today it was lots of squats. Friday pulls didn't happen because I had farmer's walk in my mind so this came instead of deadlifts.
Strength.
Back squat 7x5 across (125kg)
Lot of volume. This constituted over 4k of back squats which is quite a lot to me. It's usually a bit over 3k when going heavier. And these sets weren't that easy I must say. I had lots of confidence which almost backfired on the very first set. My plan was to hit 3 reps touch'n'go but I almost stayed in the bottom on the second rep =)
That brought me pretty quickly down to earth. Especially as there were 6 more full sets awaiting after getting even that first one in the books. You can probably see from the videos these weren't the lightest ones. But this was a mental win for sure. Super happy for hitting all these sets without misses.
Squats 7x5
The Grind. Time, 15.52
20 rounds of:
20m farmer's walk (40-50kg per hand)
5 burpee
Got to play with a new tool. I had squats and deads scheduled down for today and I had waited these for the entire week. Then yesterday I just realized they have these farmer's walk handles there and those might sub for deads pretty well. So I wanted to test out this little new piece of equipment, normally used more in the strongman scene. This workout was taken from Rob Orlando's strongmanwod.com, workout called the Grind. It was rx'd as bodyweight farmer's walk each hand for 400 meters. Every time you drop the weight, perform 5 burpees on the spot. Time cap 30 minutes.
We have 20 meter grass line which suited perfectly for this one. Making it 20 rounds would constitute 400 meters. After every turn complete 5 burpees, then head on for another round. Had no idea about the weights that should be put on this thing. Bodyweight might have been a lot considering this was the first time. Coach said just put 10's on each end and see how it feels like.
Start of the Grind
The weight was light and didn't tax my lower body in the way I was looking for. It was left unclear whether the empty bar was 20 or 30 kilos so the total load was 40-50kg per hand. This was supposed to be the alternative for deadlifts so the goal was to have some burn in my legs and back. Didn't happen this time, got to go heavier next time on farmer's walk. Might be a good idea to do this for strength. As heavy as possible load for 20 meters. Climb up every 20 meters. Sounds good.
But this definitely had my breathing go heavier. Especially when combined with burpees. Good metcon. It mostly felt in my hands, my grip, and fingers. It's like in deadlift, sometimes feels like my fingers are going to get cut off. Okay this wasn't as bad because the load wasn't that heavy but it reminded the feeling of that. Cool tool to play around. It's not the last time, that's for sure!
Thursday. Emom x 10: odd min 10 hspu, even min 15 t2b. Emom x 9, ladder of squat cleans (up to 105kg). Workout, 3rnft: 6 bar mu, 12 ohs (40kg).
This time I took some easy skills which turned out to be not so easy after all. Good one. Then heavier squat cleans to get some more strength and explosiveness in this body, focusing on speed and powerful hip extension. Last piece was also skill based work, consisting of muscle-ups (this time on a pull-up bar) and light overhead squats.
Skills.
Every minute on the minute x 10 min
Odd minutes, 10 handstand push-ups
Even minutes, 15 toes-to-bar
This was supposed to be a good warm-up, not super heavy, just get heart rate up, work these skills, and work on efficient mechanics. And okay, it wasn't that heavy. Hspu's were easier than t2b's. I went unbroken on hspu's and focus was to do them efficiently, quickly and in touch'n'go style. Only the last 2 reps of the 50 total reps I had to pause in the bottom position before finishing them.
T2b's were a bit tougher. Maybe last 2 sets of these were a bit challenging but there was still no doubt I would finish then unbroken too. It brought pressure on my core and grip and I felt my forearms were tingling for a while after this workout.
Strength.
Every minute on the minute x 9 minutes
Squat cleans
1-3min: 3 x 85kg
4-6min: 2 x 95kg
7-9min: 1 x 105kg
Heavy cleans are something I would never get enough of. I simply love 'em! And it's not a bad choice at all, ever. And preferably squat cleans. For metcons power cleans are usually the ones that wins the coin toss but for strength it's usually squat cleans.
This was a great emom workout. I took all reps in singles. Dropped the bar, and picked it right up. At first it was triples, then doubles and finally singles, increasing load after every 3 minutes. It took me something like 15 seconds to finish those triples, and probably about the same time on the doubles.
Singles @ 105kg felt good too. Got to admit though that it was a bit intimidating to jump 10kg up after 95kg. I usually don't do this kind of jumps at heavy weights. I prefer smaller steps. And in an emom workout like this where all sets were kind of challenging I had to mentally step up and tell myself to drop under the bar without doubts. This went perfectly! It's a pity I didn't get a chance to take them on camera.
Workout.
3 rounds not for time of:
6 bar muscle-ups
12 overhead squat, 40kg
I was thinking about making this a metcon of 12-9-6-3 of the same movements but to be honest my body didn't feel like it's gonna take it well. Plus all the pull-up bars were taken (for the first time ever) so I wasn't sure how I would get my hands on those muscle-up stations. This didn't bother me at all this time, it was kind of a relief actually =)
Anyway, I wanted to do bar muscle-ups so it was a 3-rounder. First 2 rounds were unbroken on the mu's, and the last set was 4-1-1. There was big gains on this one as I did only good looking reps. Very proud of those. It's paying off as I've been knocking lots of mu's this month. I believe there's been a total of about 140 reps already. All because of this new training place.
On overhead squats I wanted to move without hasting too much, focusing on going deep and keeping my weight on heels. No idea how it looked like but at least it was stable action. All sets were unbroken of course as there weren't that many reps for this weight.
Wednesday. Technique, clean and jerk 1+3 (max 80kg). Strength, 4x4 @ 110kg. Metcon, 20 burpee mu's. Time 8.00
This was the first time I took advantage of the coach's eye at the gym. Just realized there's a guy ready to give you tips if you're in need of one. Not bad. I asked for his opinion on clean and jerk. Then some leg strength, and finally something I'm proud of: burpee muscle-ups for time.
Oly.
Clean and jerk complex (1+3 reps)
60, 70, 75, 80kg
Okay, I would have liked to go heavier too. For some unknown reason my elbows sometimes get sore on jerks. Cleans are always okay but jerks bring some pain in my elbows. Anyway, cleans felt great today, no doubt. And it felt like technique was pretty good.
On the jerks the coach videotaped the lifts on his camera, and used some application to indicate the bar path clearly. It showed the bar path goes directly upwards vertically. After the jerk has been done I tend to push the bar a little more back for some reason. Weights remained light for this session.
75kg
Strength.
Front squat 4x4, across (110kg)
I also got some tips for this portion. Took 4 sets of 4 reps at the same load, 110kg is not tremendously heavy but still something that needs concentration. Rest was quite short between sets. Coach noticed I' not activating my butt cheeks enough on front squat. And that is definitely true, I'm not gonna argue with that one. Same thing happens with back squat. So I guess it's safe to say my squats are more quad dominant. I tried to address this issue by slowing down the part where I go down, and then push the hips further on my way up. Felt like the tips helped already on this first time.
80kg
Metcon. Time, 8.00
20 burpee muscle-ups on rings
Another big milestone reached with rings. Some sort of benchmark workout is 30 burpee muscle-ups, and I'm gonna do that one day. At this point 30 reps of muscle-ups is a number I have not yet completed in one training session. It's coming though. This month has been a triumphant of muscle-up development for me.
There's been incredible results seen on this movement, on both bar and ring versions. And I'm definitely taking the joy out of every workout I'm able to hit. Gonna make it rain when I have the possibility. This took me exactly 8 minutes of time. My plan was to take these in sets of 3 reps, then walk out to get more chalk in my hands before taking another set of 3 reps. This continued up to 18 reps, then a double of course. I didn't rush at any point because I had no idea how my body would feel like after doing this movement combo. Felt good in the end!
Tuesday. Thrusters 3-3-3-3-3-3-3 (max 75kg). Death by row calories. Result, 21 rds + 20 cal. Evening: 8km recovery walk.
Schedules had their impact on today's workouts so I had to improvise a bit. Had something else in mind but this turned out to be a great training session too! Thrusters for strength and brutal rowing workout for metabolic conditioning. Afterwards we went to walk around Töölönlahti with Pauliina in a great weather. Okay, it's not as sunny as in California but this is good considering we're in Finland =) Spring is obviously coming and there are lots of signs of it in the nature. Great time of the year!
Got this idea from crossfit.com where I saw that probably yesterday. Semi-heavy thrusters have been in my mind lately for some reason so that was the last sign to seal the deal. If I had to move to a deserted island and there would be only one movement I was able to do there, it would be thrusters. At least it has been =) I would also like to take my rings there and squats would be awesome. Okay, maybe it's too difficult of a question for me to answer.
Couple of mallards chilling
Weights today on this movement weren't that heavy. This is light weight for squat but usually my shoulders start to whine at some point that it's getting heavy. Now that wasn't the case, shoulders felt fine all the way in every single set. For some reason my elbows didn't like these that much, felt a little nagging pain in both of them so I stayed moderate with the loads. This was a good reminder of going heavier with thrusters too every now and then. Somehow hero workout Seven just came to my mind right now. Better put that one on the list! There you have 60kg thrusters.
If you want to have mind blowing metcons there are 3 perfect sites for that. Pat Sherwood shares his affiliates - Crossfit Linchpin - workouts on Instagram on a daily basis. Second one is Crossfit Mayhem, owned by the one and only Rich Froning Jr. Third one is competitorstraining.com, hosted by Ben Bergeron. All 3 sites are awesome. It doesn't matter which workout you steal from these gentlemen, it's gonna be a tough mental battle, and every single wod will make you suffer. 100% guarantee.
This was Pat's creation. Actually this was only part of it. It was supposed to be death by db cleans right after death by row. Luckily I got a txt message that I need to go. Saved by the bell! Had time to do that sequence for only the first minute.
Rasmus Andersen was 6th in the CF Open
"Death by" refers to a workout method where you complete 1 rep on the first minute, 2 reps on the second minute, 3 reps on the third minute and so on, until you can not complete the required repetitions in the time window you are given, which is one minute. So the amount of work gets bigger every minute thus leaving you less time to recover. That is an equation that will kill you at some point and you have to stop because the time ran out.
It always feels light in the beginning and this especially was extremely light. Think about it, 1-5 calories is nothing, it is pretty much as many strokes as calories. At least in my case it was. I had the damper setting at 10 all the time. It took some time for the workout to really begin. Somewhere around hmm maybe 13 calories I noticed I'm breathing heavier. Not quite sure at what point this turned nasty but I'm telling you that at some point in the last minutes it was very disgusting. It got very mental. I hoped to finish the round of 20 cals but got all the way to almost 22 calories. Missed 2 calories from getting that round full too.
Recovery.
Walk 8 kilometers
In the evening we went for a low intensity walk. Just enjoying the spring and nature. Weather was warm and birds were singing. Quality time in my perspective. It was cool to witness people were doing sports in the park like it was summer already. They were doing at least air squats, push-ups and lunges, good job people!
Monday. Warm-up, 10min emom. Odd min 15 kb swing (24kg), even min 4 TGU (10kg db). Back squat 5x7 (110-120kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 10 walking lunges (40kg), 15 ball slam, 20 box. Time, 9.35.
Evening was scheduled for work so it was morning training or no training. It was a mental battle. Early morning workouts are not my thing. I'd rather go do my thing at noon and/or after work. It wasn't far from being just a light workout outdoors but man am I glad I got my shit together and drove to OPCenter for a good session!
Warm-up.
Every minute on the minute x 10
Odd minutes, 15 kettlebell swing, 24kg
Even minutes, 2/2 turkish get-ups, 10kg dumbbell
After basic warm-up, foam rolling, stretching and mobility I took a kettlebell and light dumbbell to get my heart rate up a bit and get joints loosened up. The tool for this was kettlebell swings and turkish get-ups. Kettlebell was light and so was the dumbbell for Tgu's. This was on purpose. No need to put a lot of effort on this one strength wise. The goal for this was to open up my shoulders, back and the entire posterior chain, and get a good sweat. Mission accomplished.
Turkish get-ups are something I do maybe once every 6 months =) There's no certain reason to this, it's just not part of the basic elements in my tool box. As I did it today I realized it's actually a pretty good movement. Especially to activate shoulders. Very good.
Strength.
Back squat 5x7 (110, 115, 120, 120, 120kg)
Wasn't looking forward to this one. I knew it's gonna be rough. What's wrong with me. Last time it was 4x8, now 5x7. These long sets are brutal. These all were supposed to be at 115kg, kind of a progression is in my mind. Building up the sets. First set was anyway 110kg, then I added to 115kg. It came up okay so I decided to climb up a bit more. The last 3 sets were @ 120kg so actually this was heavier than it was supposed to be originally.
My goal was to do the sets as fast as possible. I really crawled in to that dark place in these sets. I have usually done heavier sets in singles. Then pause on the top, inhale and do another rep. This time I did couple of reps in a row touch'n'go (3-5 reps), then a pause before continuing. Doing them this style really put my legs numb for a while after each set. Felt horrible. But I'm proud of this session.
Back squats
Metcon. Time, 9.35
4 rounds of:
10 overhead walking lunges, 40kg barbell
15 ball slams, 9kg ball
20 box jump
Lunges are super! The gym was pretty much empty so I had plenty of space to do overhead walking lunges for 10 meters / 10 steps. After that it was supposed to be 15 pull-ups but my lats are sore from last couple of days pulling so I changed this on the fly to ball slams. Don't know where that idea came from! But it was awesome. The heaviest ball was 9kg so obviously not that heavy but it sure worked well! Box jumps are always great.
Round times remained solid for all 4 rounds (2.12, 2.32, 2.31, 2.18), good good. It could always be faster but at least it was not 100% in the beginning and 60% in the end. That's something I don't want to see in my workouts.
These were all unbroken sets no matter the movement. It would be awesome to get my hands on a really heavy medball. No idea how it would feel like but doing medball-to-shoulder's would be freaking sick! I'd do that kind of workout any day.
Sunday. Benchmark workout 'Nasty Girls', 3rds of: 50 squat, 7 mu's, 10 hang power clean (60kg). Time, 13.45. Cool down, 10min easy row.
What a day! This is something I'm very proud of. Having good surroundings, perfect training facilities result in progress. That seems to be inevitable. There was a time when I felt intimidated when I saw rings hanging from the ceiling. Never knew if I'm gonna be able to make a muscle-up or not. Depending on the day. Not anymore. That is in the past. Today's workout was Nasty Girls.
Nasty Girls. Time, 13.45
3 rounds of:
50 air squat
7 ring muscle-ups
10 hang power clean, 60kg
The only ring muscle-up related workout I have ever done is Nate. That has been done twice but the first one was with false grip mu's and they probably wouldn't count as reps in a competition with arms bent in the bottom position. It's been a while since I've done false grip mu's and I'm not gonna go back there. That is not the path for me to link muscle-ups together.
Earlier this workout has been very tempting but thinking about the reality of my skills I haven't dared to go after this one. I have thought that once I can complete Nasty Girls and Amanda benchmark workouts rx'd, there is nothing I dream of as a crossfitter. Or let's say I have accomplished everything I have wanted to accomplish. Of course hunger grows on the course of training but these milestones are big time news for me.
So it was air squats to get some burn in hamstrings and quads, then muscle-ups, and the third element was hang power cleans @ 60kg. I did squats unbroken. It was a bit surprising they didn't get to me that bad. I was prepared for a good burn and 2-3 sets to finish it. Noup, this was one set and felt good. Of course it felt in my legs but it was tolerable.
10x60kg
Muscle-ups were absolutely the thing in this workout and the one where I can squeeze some time away the next time I do this because it's all about efficiency on the mu's. My max set is 5 reps so it was obvious I'm not going unbroken on these, yet. It was 3-2-2 on the first set. Second and third set were similar: 2-2-1-1-1. I'm very proud of how I got these through. It's a different thing to do doubles and triples when fresh compared to when doing them in the middle of a metcon.
Cleans were only 60kg so that can not be considered heavy by any means. I rationalized cleans are not gonna be the difference maker so what would I gain by doing them unbroken. That's the reason why they were 6-4 in the first two rounds, and the last one was an easy unbroken set of 10 reps. Didn't want to burn my body by ego-ing them in one set in the first 2 rounds. It's hard to describe how happy I was by completing this workout. Huge thing for me. Amanda is most likely going to be next muscle-up benchmark workout. Maybe not rx'd but a lighter one.
Cool down.
Row for 10 minutes / 2.500 meters
This was easy pace rowing for some time after Nasty Girls. Purpose was more like to flush the legs. Damper setting was at 8 in the beginning but pretty soon I put it at 5 which is very low for me normally. I just wanted to row easily for a while without thinking anything, just recovering.
Saturday. 3-position snatches (max 50kg). Metcon, 30min amrap of: 400m row, 2rds of Cindy. Result, 8rds + 100m row.
Home sweet home. I went back to the old gym because there was a lot of seminars and lectures at the new place so I suppose there's gonna be tons of people and no room for workout. Today's agenda was snatches and then a steal from Pat Sherwood. Long workout as I like to have one on weekends. It was a killer one huh huh.
Snatch.
3-position snatches
High hang
Mid-thigh
Floor
Weights @ 40, 45, 50, 50, 50, 50kg
There was plenty of time today to whatever so I got a chance to do snatch work and then a long workout afterwards. There are many ways to practice snatches. This time it was a 3-position snatch drill. That means 3 snatches without letting go of the barbell between reps. Starting from the pocket, 2nd lift was from mid-thigh and the 3rd one from the floor.
I felt pretty good about these snatches. As you see, there's a lot of technical issues still. And there is probably be those for a long time but the development is what I'm interested in. This movement has gone to a better direction this year. Why is that? Because I've practiced it. Surprise surprise. And mobility seems to get better all the time.
On some of the reps I had issues getting below parallel but mostly that didn't cause any problems. Warm-up was long and thus it enabled better mobility and better movement mechanics. It was very encouraging that the weight itself wasn't heavy. Felt quite comfortable in general today with this movement. Purpose was not to go as heavy as possible.
Snatches
Metcton. Result, 8 rounds + 100m row
30min amrap of:
400m row
2 rounds of Cindy (1 round is 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats)
I saw this at Pat Sherwood's Insta page and first instinct was that this doesn't look that bad. Then after 5 seconds I also realized hey c'mon this is Pat's page. These are never easy. Thinking about it up closely rowing / running makes each workout suck big time. This was actually originally running instead of rowing but there was no possibility for that today. Didn't wanna run on a treadmill.
Cindy is a 20min amrap of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats. Pat has ingeniously added rounds of Cindy on workouts from time to time. There is some twist that those bodyweight reps bring to a workout. The purpose of this workout was not go all out from the very first second. It was gonna be a long one, and a miserable one.
This got ugly at around 10 minutes. Got to say I was in deep waters at this point. Luckily there was one training partner to talk me up. Small words in correct place can have a huge influence. I decided to ignore the voices in my head, close my eyes and keep moving forward. After some time the workout was over. This was mentally challenging wod for sure.
Rowing wasn't even the worst part. My guess was that it's gonna be as miserable as it can get. Somehow it was the bodyweight work between row sets. I suppose running outdoors could have been even nastier. Go figure. It was something between 3-4 minutes per round. Rowing was 1.50+ pretty much all the time. Unbroken on Cindy's. There was a total of 3.300m row, 80 pull-ups, 160 push-ups and 240 squats.
Friday. Strength, back squat 4x8 across (105kg). Deadlift, 5x5, climbing (max 180kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 5 power clean (60kg), 10 hspu, 15 box. Time, 9.55. Cashout, 50 pull-ups.
Last fall I didn't used to do deadlifts pretty much at all. The reason was I squatted a lot, and I felt heavy deadlifts didn't suit that equation. My body was wrecked after each deadlift session which didn't allow me to squat. This year I've taken deadlifts back in action and I've loved every session! Today was Friday pulls again, and this was a greatly anticipated training session. Back squats, pull-ups and metcon were included as well.
Posterior chain.
Back squat 4x8 across (105kg)
Deadlift 5x5 climbing (120, 140, 160, 170, 180kg)
Squats were 70% of max squat, smashing 4 sets of 8 reps with the same load. These were not supposed to be "I'm seeing starts after each set" type of work but still high rep sets are always a bit uncomfortable. This reminded me a bit of Smolov that I did somewhere around September - November 2014. That was a lot of squatting. Almost makes me go back to that system to get more strength in my legs. That was 4x9's, 5x7's, 7x5's and 10x3's, every week the loads got bigger and bigger.
My strategy was to nail as many reps as possible in touch'n'go style in each set to finish it faster. Basically it was either 4 or 5 reps in a row, then a pause at the top between the remaining reps. This felt good. It put a good kind of pressure on my lower body. This is what these trunks need.
Friday pulls match very well after squats. Posterior chain is already activated so just grab the bar and pull. Preferably heavy. Today it was all 5's, climbing up after each set. This was a good session. My hamstrings and back felt strong. Friday has lately been the day when deadlifts come in to play. It's been heavy doubles, triples, emoms, and high rep sets too. Hero wod Zimmerman was also an interesting one earlier this spring.
Today's focus was building up to a heavy set of 5 reps. This heavy pulling is kinda awkward. My hammies and back can take the load. My hands are the ones that start bailing on me. Feels like my fingers and palms are taking the biggest hit. It's like the bar is cutting my fingers off like a sharp steel. Better keep those calluses off on days like this. Otherwise there's gonna be a big tear or two. Guess I have these sissy palms =) But the weight felt great!
Back squats
Metcon. Time, 9.55
5 rounds of:
5 power clean, 60kg
10 handstand push-up
15 box
Great wod! My body was already smashed on the strength part so maybe my pacing wasn't a full hundred percent effort but this body kept moving consistently, and I'm happy on my performance. Power cleans were light as such but it felt heavier after all the work being done. I was wondering between 60 and 70 kilos, this was definitely better this time.
Handstand push-ups went unbroken for first 4 rounds. On the last one I tried to hurry myself on the wall after cleans and that kind of backfired. Had to come off the wall after 5 reps, and then doubles and a singles to the end. Shoulders were mostly hurt on this workout. They just lost the power. Box jumps felt good. They kept the intensity and heart beat high throughout the 10 minutes that this workout continued.
Deadlifts
Cashout.
50 pull-ups
Was supposed to do pull-ups today in the metcon but after deadlifts it didn't feel tempting to grab anything. But I got a bad conscious so before heading to shower I did 50 pull-ups in emom in emom style, 10 reps every minute, for 5 minutes, totaling 50 reps.
Today I wanted to test out couple of muscle-ups just to see if the previous mu training session was a fluke or success. Then lots of different type of cleans, either as complex or as emom workout. Then I took some tng clean and jerks combined with c2b's, and finally handstand training. Cleans got heavy but other than that the day was a lighter one.
Skills.
Muscle-ups (PR 5 reps)
My confidence was high when walking to the gym. Short warm-up but I was so hesitant that I needed to get my hands pretty quickly on those rings. Just a double to get used to this movement, then it was time to put my phone on Pauliina's hand and I told asked her to take a short clip because I'm gonna hit a PR right now.
For me this was no surprise. It was the end result of working towards this goal. This thing took another step further when I bought Rogue rings. Since then, I've had the possibility to practice muscle-ups. Okay, we had the same rings at the old gym but there was an issue. The roof was too low in that place which means that my form was not able to be as it should be. When bringing the rings outdoors to a tree branch I was able to hang the rings high enough which means I had to jump on to the rings.
This new place is gonna seal the deal. I'm gonna keep having muscle-ups in my training sessions frequently. Plus, here it's also possible to do bar muscle-ups which is 100% going to have a positive side effect on ring mu's too. On this particular record breaking set the ring straps got stuck around my left foot, and I had to stop the momentum for a while to get the strap loose. After the 4th rep the "natural grip" got ripped off my hands which made the last rep a little challenging. I'll take this for now!
Last 2 days my legs have been sore as hell. Don't know if it was the sled work or those 100 thrusters on Tuesday. The reality anyway was that I needed to get some heavier cleans and squats in my system for sure after yesterday's rest day.
This was a fun little complex. Emom workouts are the best. I really like that timer putting some pressure on recovery. Had no issues with these cleans this time. My hands were a bit wider this time too even though it was only cleans, not jerk. This might be a good call because I was able to bring the barbell higher before bouncing it up from the hips. Felt good.
After having done this for 10 minutes this part of the workout was over. After looking at couple of the reps on video I wanted to get more reps done. Decided to make 5 quick sets of the same sequence, clean + squat combo @ 100kg. Enjoyed every single rep of these.
Complex
Cleans.
3 rounds of:
1 minute of squat clean singles @ 90kg
2 minute break
Result, 6 reps per minute
More cleans baby. I've done more power cleans lately so I took a good doze of squat cleans today. No doubt my legs were tired after this. And this also got my breathing heavy as well. Last reps of each set got challenging for sure. There might have been time for 7th rep in some sets but I was definitely done after 6 reps. I noticed the further the set / minute went, the lower the bar came to my hips which is not a good thing. It was a fatigued man's way to get that barbell on my front rack.
Extra work.
Clean and jerks (40-60kg)
Chest-to-bar pull-ups
There was a metcon in my mind but there was no way I was gonna hit it after this one. Toni just did a 3 round workout of 400m running, 10 c&j @ 60kg and 10 c2b's which would obviously be some sort of sprint. A moderate length wod at max.
Instead I just did clean and jerk sets to work on efficient mechanics. Good break between c&j's and pull-ups. C2b's were sets of 10's. Nothing super heavy.
Skills.
Handstand
In the end I took couple of sets handstand. It went quite decently. I think I'll have to take some clips in order to witness that myself. There has been nice development that I have been able to hold my stance still for longer times than before. I mean without moving my hands at all. Just balancing the entire body by holding the core tight and pressing my fingers strongly or gently towards the ground depending which way my body is leaning.
My program said I was supposed to go and do snatches and a metcon consisting of overhead squats in ascending weight ladder mixed with pull-ups. Those would have been great, no doubt! Training session in the morning, and then to work afterwards. Allright, I woke up, was tired as a bear in the winter time. Ate breakfast and watched some TV at the same time.
My legs hurt from that sled pull / push thing from Monday. These legs were as stiff as they could be, and my calf was still in a bit of a cramp. At that moment I realized I'm not going to make any gains by forcing myself to the gym. And I wanted this calf to recover so it wouldn't prolong in vain.
I looked out of the window and saw there's a perfect spring weather. There was no other option but to put a coat on and go enjoy the nature. I just went for a long walk in the woods, and inhaled the upcoming spring in to my lungs. This was a very relaxing moment for me. No need to rush anywhere, I had plenty of time before having to drive to work for the evening. It was mentally calming, and hopefully it will also bring those gainzz in this body too!
Tuesday. Clean and jerk 1+3 (up to 70kg). Every 30 sec for 10min: 1 power clean @ 90kg. Metcon, 10 rds of: 10 thrusters (40kg), 10 ghd sit-ups. Time, 14.30.
This Tuesday was booked pretty much for clean and jerk action. My hands were a bit ripped so I had my doubts but was anyway eager to hit it. Hands caused no prob but during the warm-up my left calf started giving me trouble. Don't know why but all of a sudden it went cramping without any reason. Same happened yesterday evening with my quads. I guess that sled pull / push has its effect =)
Complex.
1 clean + 3 jerk (40, 50, 60, 70kg)
This felt very good until this point. Bar was light and technique was about there but I simply had to stop it because my left leg didn't tolerate this stuff. Squat cleans put too much pressure there too so that was out of question. Shoulders were fine with these jerks and I really wanted to go after heavier weights.
My grip was a bit wider on cleans as well as on the jerks. This is the current trend. Thus, I'm able to get the bar higher on my thighs before the last pull, and then again my shoulders like it more on the jerks too.
Clean.
Every 30 seconds for 10 min (20 reps total):
1 power clean @ 90kg
This had to be called on the spot because I wanted some heavier barbell action. I would have preferred squat cleans but this was great too! This weight is decent stuff for me. Wanted it to be challenging so I took a single every 30 seconds. This got spicy towards the end. No problems in any of the lifts but they still got clearly heavier in the last 3 minutes.
Got to say this place is awesome with weightlifting platforms. I can concentrate in lifting and not worrying about how to bring it back down. Just do the work. It's obviously beneficial in having the skills to bring the barbell back to front rack, and I've done that a lot in the past. Practically for about 3 years now so that's no biggie. I feel comfortable in doing that.
Metcon. Time, 14.30
10 rounds of:
10 thrusters, 40kg
10 ghd sit-ups
The goal for today was to get my shoulders strong. And I wanted them to suffer. As jerks didn't seem to work this time because there's a lot of explosive movement when legs hit the floor so thrusters were the key to this solution. This came like a lightning from the sky. Thrusters and ghd's. Not bad I must admit.
Weight on the thrusters was modest at 40kg and 10 reps at a time was something that I was able to push through unbroken. Then walk right to ghd's and complete those 10 reps just about immediately. Once the core element was completed, I walked back to the bar, grabbed it and did the work.
This formula stayed the same for all 10 rounds. Only at rounds 5 and 8 I took a sip of water before laying my hands on the barbell for next round. This was mentally pretty well played in my opinion. It felt bad after the middle point but I chose to ignore that. Round times were solid, 1:20 something all the time. I'm happy on the training day even though clean and jerks were out of question. This was a good substitute for sure!
Monday. Back squat 10x3 (120-123kg). Sled push / pull, 20m every 2:00, for 20min. Today was reserved for building stronger legs. First up back squats, quite a number of sets of triples. Then a newcomer in my training. Sled pull / Sled push. That was cool and was definitely a good leg burner. I went back to work today after spending 2 weeks on a holiday. It was a weird feeling, the past weeks felt like a month as I was able to have a great day rhythm. Waking up, training, eaten, sleeping, training more and spending quality time with my family. Now it's gonna be a different style of rhythm.
Don't know why but it feels like I haven't squatted much lately. As I scroll back my blog it looks like there's been squatting quite frequently. On Saturday morning I put down on my calendar that there must be lots of squats this Monday. So I stuck with that plan and took 10 sets of triples.
It felt heavier than they ought to be. And also felt tougher than they looked like on video. First sets were at 120kg, and after 4 sets I climbed up to 123kg. This was kind of a bitch version of me. Should have not listened to my brain and gone heavier. The weights came up decently anyway. Squats usually feel heavy at some point but once you just add weights they still come up.
Recap of squats
Sled.
Every 2:00, perform 20m of:
Sled push, 110kg (for first 5 rounds)
Sled pull, 110kg (for last 5 rounds)
This was great! Haven't done this stuff previously. Just once I've pushed this sled from one end to the other but as a training method it has not been there. In Klaukkala we have built up a sled on our own with Kari and that works perfectly during the summer time. There's a chance to pull that sled for 50-100m in length at once, and the loading is lighter, somewhere around 30-60kg. It's different style of stimulus. Usually it's running and the distance is longer.
Here the max distance is 20 meters so the loading must be a lot heavier. This was the first time so it's still an experiment. Soon I'll find out what a good loading is for me to different purposes. For this kind of speed action this weight was okay. I had 110kg plus the sled itself. For the first 5 x 20 meters I pushed the sled as in the video. There are also straps that you can hold to and pull the sled. This was kind of interval work so that I pushed / pulled the sled for 20 meters, then recovered, and repeated one length of the grass every 2 minutes.
Sled push, 110kg
Load could have been heavier. Especially in the beginning it felt a little too light. Towards the end it burned my legs pretty good. Especially after the sprint was over. It was worst something like 3-5 seconds after each interval. This could be a real strength portion too. Putting a big load on, and pushing it with as much as I have in the tank. Then it would probably be more like walk instead of running.
This training day was perfect. No doubt. Nate's been in my thoughts for quite some time since I've been working on muscle-ups and it was posted on two different sites in the near past. So it was only right to do this one after all this practice. I did muscle-ups at this new gym earlier this week but both of my triceps are bruised up, they're really blue right now, because the locks were not adjustable and scratched my arms a lot. Today they had changed the rings to wooden ones with adjustable locks. Worked great.
At first I got to say that these "natural grips" are awesome. My hands tend to tear up pretty easily and they were already torn in different parts of fingers and palms. So I was a little worried how they would handle the workout. I taped up properly and put on natural grips to save hands. Only got one more tear in my left palm due to this =) Fortunately I have beeswax to take care of these hands. That is some miracle wax I'm telling you. It has taken hand protection to next level as a crossfitter. An absolute must!
Back to the workout. So it was 2 muscle-ups, 4 hspu's and 8 swings with a 2-pood bell. Looking at it on paper with my eyes thinking about my own body, it's obvious that this one is about the muscle-ups and how much pain can be tolerated. Handstand push-ups shouldn't be an issue because of just 4 reps per round. Also 8 swings doesn't sound that bad. But it's a mystery how my body accepts the fact there is a double mu quite often.
Hspu's were the easiest part of this workout. It had a nasty twist because it was just part of this triplet. Each element in this wod was a bit tougher than they normally are. Got these unbroken anyway without issues.
It's been a while since swinging a bell. This frightened me a bit when I thought about mixing it with muscle-ups and hspu's. It wasn't a surprise this is going to be taxing for shoulders in general as they didn't get much rest in any of the elements. My strategy was to do muscle-ups, then pretty quickly jump on to hspu's, and after a short break put my hands on the kettlebell and complete those 8 demanded repetitions. Then it was time to breath, mark the round up on my timer and take a sip of water if needed and chalk up before getting back on the rings.
But those muscle-ups. They were freaking awesome! The fact that I've been practicing them much more this year and also that I have found a way to practice them in places where I can hang my own rings high enough has helped tremendously. Since I bought my Rogue Rings at home, I've had a chance to look for places like tree branches and stairways under which I can perform muscle-ups. This has been "the thing" for me. At my normal gym the rings are too low and I have to keep my legs bent which means to say I can not utilize the tension in my body.
This is 8th round
On Friday I tried mu's at this new place and they were the easiest I have ever done. So my confidence was high entering the gym. And it stayed high throughout the workout. I just took one double before the workout and hit it. And went unbroken each god damn set during those 20 minutes! That was sick. Total of 13 doubles (plus that one warm-up set) equals to 28 muscle-ups in one training session. Couldn't be any happier!
