Friday 10.4: Squats, 2 metcons + Ring mu's, 20min amrap

Friday. AM: Back squat triples (up to 125kg). Metcon, 5-4-3-2-1 of: bar mu's and front squat (90kg). Time, 4.20. Metcon, 5min amrap of: 3 power snatch (50kg), 6 hspu, 9 box. Result, 84 reps.

PM: Skills, ring muscle-ups. Metcon, 20min amrap of: 5 bench (bw), 10 pistols, 20 cal row, 30 du's. Result, 360 reps.

Had to wake up too early in the morning to get my daily doze of crossfit done. Well, okay I woke up at 8.00 and hit the gym at 9.00 but on a holiday it's too early =) My body wasn't fully prepared for strength work at that time as I've used to train in the afternoon normally. Got couple of metcons done during the day, and worked on my skills on muscle-ups. Right after morning session I drove to Klaukkala to play handyman with Kari. We built a fence to fill an empty space on the wall. Felt awesome to finish it as I don't have a huge confidence in building stuff. So that was my "third" session of the day I suppose.

Strength.

• Back squat triples (110, 120, 125, 125kg)

It was great to get some squats done after a while but my body sure wasn't at its best this early. Somehow I felt stiff all the way even though there was proper warm-up included before touching the barbell. It may have also somehow affected me that I was squatting outside the safety rack. Haven't done that with heavier weights so I can admit I was hesitant to put more weight on the barbell. My original plan was to hit 130+ loads.

Recap of squats

Metcon. Time, 4.20

• 5-4-3-2-1 of:
• Bar muscle-ups
• Front squat, 90kg, from rack

Even though back squat strength didn't go exactly as planned both metcons were okay. Mixing bar mucsle-ups and heavy front squats has been knocking in the back of my head since I saw something like this being done by Chris Spealler as it was "workout of the day" at crossfit.com some months ago. I just haven't had the possibility to do it anywhere before today. This new place has two places where I can do bar mu's and I'm definitely using those more in the future!

My hands are ripped in 3 different parts so I had to tape 'em up a lot, and used natural grips too in order to prevent more tears. This was also the reason I bitched out and took the barbell from rack instead of cleaning it from the floor. Good decision this time.

Starting the project

Went unbroken on both movements. I may have been a little too conservative on this one. Because I haven't done much muscle-ups in metcons it is still difficult to know how my body takes them. I could have kept shorter breaks before jumping on the pull-up bar or front racking the 90kg bar.

What I'm really proud of, is how my muscle-ups looked like. It was very balanced and strong hips were in play too. Very happy about this one! My breathing was well under control throughout the workout which means to say pace could have been a bit faster.

I believe I posted the first part of this earlier. Here's second and third too.

Metcon. Result, 84 reps (4 rounds + 3 box)

• 5min amrap of:
• 3 power snatch, 50kg
• 6 handstand push-ups
• 9 box

This was is stolen from Toni. He smashed it yesterday and once knowing what he got, it was easy to set a target and keep moving. For warming up I took couple of t'n'g reps at 40-45-50 kilos, and then it was time to hit it.

Done!

This was unbroken all the way. Very good combination of elements and burned the body in a wholehearted way. Not targeting anything specifically but just simply wore a man out. I believe there was potential hit finish that 5th round. Now I got stuck at 3 box jumps on the 5th round.

Snatch, hspu, box

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups

This was the first time I laid my hands on the rings at this place. Those rings are metallic so they haven't been tempting this far. Owner told they already have wooden ones but they just haven't had time to hang them yet. They are also working on building up blocks during the summer. Wall balls should be coming, as well as battle ropes and possibly a climbing rope. That's dope!

Anyway I jumped on the rings and took my first attempt. I was very surprised to fly over the rings. Took couple more singles and they were all as easy as they can be. I was amazed. What the heck has happened. Is the work really paying off? There was a small issue with these rings. The lock was so close to the rings and it was not adjustable that it scratched my triceps a lot. Hurt like hell. I still took the easiest triple in the end. Felt like I could have continued forever.

Metcon. Result, 360 reps (5 rounds + 20 cal row)

• 20min amrap of:
• 5 bench press, bodyweight (80kg)
• 10 pistol squats
• 20 calory row
• 30 double unders

Main workout of the evening was this long amrap. Bench press, whaaat? Time for the compulsory bench every quarter of the year. These were bodyweight presses at 80 kilos. This is not one of my strengths. I've benched a little over 100kg but after 90kg it starts to get heavy. In this one I did first 3-4 rounds unbroken, and then cut it to 3-2 reps.

Pistol squats were alternating leg after each repetition. Doing these in Nanos is always a bit more challenging but they went actually very well today. Got a good rhythm in every set and was able to do them unbroken without any breaks in between.

Rowing was mentally tough at times. It was only 20 calories which equalled 260 meters quite precisely each round. I changed the damper setting between 8 and 10, didn't see big differences. Maybe those calories came quicker with 10.

There were lots of space which is important in order to get a good confidence on double unders. I had one trip in one set at 26 reps. Other than that, all sets were good. It also felt like my body was pretty tight. Good long workout indeed!