Wednesday 8.4: Snatch, T2b, High box + Running

Wednesday. AM: High hang snatches (up to 60kg). Metcon, 10min amrap of: 10 t2b, 10 db snatch (25kg), 10 high box (70cm). Result, 172 reps. PM: Running 4x400m. Total 7km running for recovery.

Being on a vacation is like living a dream. I get a chance to workout twice a day, eat and sleep well and still arrange things that needs to be arranged in life. I'm definitely taking advantage of this holiday! At noon I went to the gym to work on my snatches, then back home to eat. Later the same day I went running in the woods and ended up at Eltsu track for some intervals.

Snatches.

• High hang snatches
• 5 x 40, 40, 45kg
• 3 x 50kg
• 1 x 55, 57.5, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60kg

This time I decided to take these snatches from the pocket instead of floor. This way I get the touching point between barbell and hips to the correct place. From the floor it's not that obvious for me. I just realized today that on those days that I don't have hours to workout and there are snatches on the agenda, I need to focus purely on snatches. What I mean by this is I have to take such a long warm-up leading up to squat snatches that it's definitely worth sacrificing all the time on that.

If I skip the half an hour warm-up my shoulders and hips are not open enough and it feels like I'm forcing those extreme positions. Doing snatch balances with both a broomstick and empty 20kg barbell are a game changer. Those have really made my life better.

So it was time to do squat snatches. And it's really comforting to know it's okay to drop the barbell in case you miss it. It allows you to take more risks. I started to build up from 40kg, took two sets and the third 5-rep set as at 45kg. From then on I dropped the reps and added weight. Finished with 60kg singles. There's obviously tons of issues to be fixed on my snatch. Haven't really squat snatched before last fall because my mobility wasn't there. Now it's getting much better and there's a possibility to go deep.

Recap

Metcon. Result, 172 reps (5 rounds + 2 box)

• 10min amrap of:
• 10 toes-to-bar
• 10 dumbbell snatch, 5 right / 5 left (25kg dumbbell)
• 10 high box jump, 70cm

There were overhead squats and t2b's marked up in my calendar but that wasn't going to happen. I was done with that barbell for this day. Instead, I picked up a 25kg dumbbell and rolled a box so it stood at 70 centimeters.

This was intensive workout once again. Not that long - 10 minutes - so I was able to keep moving between the stations. There were 75 ghd sit-ups yesterday but my core felt good so I dared to put more t2b's in this one. Those went unbroken and they should have, even though they started to feel uncomfortable deep inside later in the wod because of those ghd's.

This dumbbells is pretty much the heaviest I've used for db snatches. Usually it's around 20-25kg. This time I did 5 reps with right hand, then 5 reps with left hand. One option would be to change after each hand. No biggie, but these were tough but okay.

Box jumps were the ones that wore be the most. Haven't done that much high box jumps. That's obvious because I haven't seen a high box before. Only randomly I've had the opportunity to do these 70cm jumps. Can't do them t'n'g style. They are singles but I'm going back up right away.

Running.

• 4x400m
• Total of 7km running

After eating, relaxing and foam rolling for 2-3 hours I put on my jogging pants on and headed outdoors.  It was a great weather for sure. Windy but sun was shining and birds were singing. My destination was in Eltsu track and field, the legendary training place. This is the practice place when Helsinki hosts World / Europe Championships in Athletics.

It's about 2km distance from my place to here so that was my warm-up. Some stretching and lunges, hip openers and I was ready to go. Took only 4 sets of 400m running. Basically because I've been busting my butt off this week and feel a bit sore from everywhere. Plus I hate running =) Don't even know why I bothered coming here. I guess because I wanna be a better all-around athlete. If I was about to compete, I'd be running more, much much more.

The point is I suck at it. I've ran so much in my past life that I've ran my share. When my floorball career was going on, it was part of a daily routine, on some days it was shorter, some days longer distances. Summer times were all about running to create a good basic conditioning. My pace today on those intervals was around 1:33 / 400m. That means to say it wasn't the fastest pace on planet earth. Still, it felt good to get these legs moving! Afterwards I did couple of rounds with different pacing, and ran home.