Thursday 28.5: Mu's, Bear Complex, Sled, Farmer's walk

Thursday. Skills, ring mu's. Complex with a partner, 10min amrap of: 1 rounds of Bear Complex @ 60kg. Result, 30 rounds. Sled push, every 2:00, perform 20m distance (up to 185kg). Farmer's walk 4x20m (up to 2x80kg).

Training with Toni. That's quality time. My main man. We started this thing called crossfit together 3 years ago and trained for the first year or so at the same gym on a daily basis. Then he changed the place to a crossfit affiliate which was definitely a good move for him. The development took a leap further. Every now and then we get a change to hit it together. The daily crossfit speculation still continues every day =) Today I got him to visit my gym for more like a strongman type session.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups (total 12 reps)

I took couple of sets muscle-ups on the rings and actually on the pull-up bar as well. These were okay today. Not the best I've had but still good. It was triples and doubles to get a total of 12 reps. Had no specific plan for these, just wanted to get some reps on and get some feedback from Toni as he has a coach's eye. Toni did some emom clean and jerk work at the same time.

Recap of the day

Complex.

• 1 round of Bear Complex (power clean + front squat + jerk + back squat + jerk)
• You go, I go, for 10 minutes @ 60kg

This type of complexes are very good for muscle endurance. You get lots of reps, and get fatigued in the process. Very valuable tool to improve the general physical preparedness, GPP. We had couple of options for barbell complex, there were some DT and Hammer type intervals on the table as well. Finally it turned out to be Bear Complex singles in a "you go, I go" style, meaning one guy does one set, drops the bar and hands the turn to the other guy.

Bar was 60 kilos so it wasn't that heavy. We anticipated it might turn heavier in the process. I felt good for the entire 10 minutes. That was a positive surprise that I could have continued forever. Heavier bar might have worked well too. Got to say though that this kind of complexes are awesome when done with a partner. Haven't done bear complex in a while. Originally this would mean doing multiple sets without dropping the bar in between. That is 7 reps without letting the barbell fall to the ground.

Partner workout

Sled.

• Every 2:00, perform 20m sled push
• Weights 80, 95, 110, 120, 135, 150, 160, 175, 185kg

This was sick. We did 20 meter "sprints" every 2 minutes. Toni pushed it down the turf, and I pushed it right back. Have no idea how much the sled weighs but we started with about 80kg on the sled as plates. From then on we kept adding 10-15kg to the load. This was supposed to be for death. Let's build it up so that at some point you can't push the sled anymore. We ended up having 185kg (plus the sled) for load and there decided to stop after that set.

It would have been the last set for me most likely. Not that there would been any room for more plates either. Maybe 10-15kg more would have been able to be there. Toni pushed this like a pro even though it was kind of a new element. This really burned the legs and it felt like someone hit the quads with a baseball bat.

Farmer's walk.

• 4 x 20m (60, 60, 60, 80kg per hand)

We were done after the sled. But once we didn't have to rush anywhere so we played around with the farmer's walk for couple of rounds. Nothing serious but the load was pretty good for us anyway. Really had to focus for these walks. There was 2x60kg for most of the sets, and the heaviest was 2x80kg load for 20 meters.

Farmer's walk

Wednesday 27.5: Snatch, Clean and jerk, Ghd, Sled pull

Wednesday. Every 45sec: perform 1 squat snatch for 20min. Emom x 10min: 2 c&j (70-82kg). Metcon, 8 rds of: 5 c&j (60kg), 15 ghd's. Time, 12.28. Sled pull, seated.

Had lots of time to be spent at the gym so I took advantage of this rare moment big time. Started off with snatches, working on that technique with emom type training. Then hit it about the same way for clean and jerks. That was awesome too. Metcon consisted of c&j's too which is something I should have there more often. The last part was inspired by last year's Crossfit Games where they had similar strongman type movement, combined with deficit hspu's.

Snatch.

• Every 45 seconds: perform 1 squat snatch (40-60kg)

This was a great way to get more reps under my belt on snatches. And the focus was on getting below parallel. I have traditionally been quite hasty on getting the barbell off the ground so I tried to get it slower from the ground. One more thing I was putting effort was not to bounce from the bottom but stay there for a while in the receiving position.

My mobility isn't where I want it to be on the snatch so this is important stuff for me. The jumps on weights were 40-45-50-52-55-57-60kg. It was mostly something like 3 minutes per weight. I thought I was doing work for about 20 minutes but then in the end it was something like 22-23 minutes.

Snatch recap

Clean and jerk.

• Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes
• 2 clean and jerks
• 1-2min: 70kg
• 3-4min: 75kg
• 5-6min: 77kg
• 7-8min: 80kg
• 9-10min: 82kg

This was somehow freaking awesome. Clean and jerks have been missing lately. At least that's my first gut feeling. So I did doubles every minute. And these were not just normal clean and jerks. The rule was not to stop at the front rack position. I was supposed to jerk the barbell overhead with one continuous movement. And I got them done as planned. This was great news because I have not done c&j's this way over 70kg. At least not over 75kg, that's guaranteed.

So going all the way to 82 kilos was big news for me. I did the first sets unbroken but then starting at 75kg it was quick singles. There is not a single thing I would look back and thing I would have liked to do any other way. This left me with a smile on my face.

Clean and jerk emom

Metcon. Time, 12.28

• 8 rounds of:
• 5 clean and jerk, 60kg
• 15 ghd sit-ups

I had decided to do c&j's at 60 kilos for a metcon for a couplet but the pair had not been precisely written down. There were couple of options, and ghd's were one of them from the very beginning. So it was 12 min amrap of 5 c&j's and 15 ghd's. At 12 minutes my last set of ghd sit-ups were ongoing so I decided to finish them, and the clock finally stood at 12.28 after performing the 120th ghd. On the video below you'll only see the clean and jerks, sorry for not capturing the ghd's on the clip (plus not editing those parts I wasn't performing on the platform).

Jerks felt good and doing just 5 reps at a time was something I was able to do unbroken each round. Had there been something closer to 10 reps it would have brought issues. Ghd's were unbroken too, and the round times were quite solid, it was about 90 seconds per round. Not big differences between rounds.

Metcon

Ropes.

• Sled pull, seated, for 4x20m

At this stage I was pretty much done but after walking around the gym for a while, I saw the rope laying on the floor and it reminded me of one of the coaches talking good things about pulling the sled with a rope, seating on the ground. The load was light this time, I just wanted to get my hands on this thing for the first time. I had 25kg plate for half of the time, and 25+15kg's for the latter part.

Tuesday 26.5: Front squat, Mu's, Pistols, Box

Tuesday. Front squat emom x 9min (up to 130kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 4 bar mu's, 12 pistols, 24 box. Time, 12.28.

Time to put legs to work. It feels like an eternity since squatting for real the last time. Okay, it was last week's Thursday so there is a seed of truth in there. It's unforgivable not to squat for a week. However, there were some issues with this body so I'll forgive myself this time. I had written hero workout Klepto as one option and another one was a row / lunges kind of combo to kill legs but it turned out to be different kind of lower body smash in the end.

Squats.

• Every minute on the minute for 9 minutes:
• 1-3min: 3 front squat @ 100kg
• 4-6min: 2 front squat @ 110kg
• 7min: 1 front squat @ 120kg
• 8min: 1 front squat @ 125kg
• 9min: 1 front squat @ 130kg

It felt good to do front squats after doing much more back squats for strength lately. Front squats have been there mostly in the form of squat cleans or then in metcons with lighter weights. So hitting it heavier was awesome. I knew there isn't plenty of time to be spent at the gym so I had to do it emom style if I wanted to have time for a good metcon.

For the first weight I did touch'n'go style not stopping on the top. At 110kg I took one extra breath before going back down for the second rep. After having done doubles it was time for singles. Originally I thought about doing them at 120 kilos but then again it felt good so I decided to add some weight. Couple of singles up to 130kg.

Metcon. Time, 12.28

• 5 rounds of:
• 4 bar muscle-ups
• 12 pistol squats, alternating legs (6/6)
• 24 box jumps

During the second round I started doubting the reasoning behind this one =) My legs were killing me big time! It was a good change of stimulus, hitting legs in 2/3 elements and then some muscle-ups between them. Haven't been doing pistol squats in a while so they felt more challenging, maybe because of the lack of them.

Box jumps didn't make it any easier. Boxes are okay for me and I like them a lot. But the number of them was rather high and you combine it with pistol squats, and my legs were jello during the workout. And afterwards at home they felt like someone had hammered them for an hour. It's odd how quickly they got sore. I'm waiting eagerly how they feel like tomorrow. Muscle-ups were the rest period if I had to name one. Unbroken each round.

Monday 25.5: Clean, T2b, Burpee

Monday. Workout, 10 x 60, 70, 80kg squat clean. Time, 5.40. Metcon, 10 rds of: 1 power clean (90kg), 10 t2b, 8 burpee. Time, 15.15.

Yesterday was a tough day as I didn't get a chance to hit a workout. I was anxious how this day would turn out like. The night was not pleasant to say the least and once I woke up in the morning, my neck was still out of order. Pauliina gave me some magic pill to get going, and it helped. After work day I jumped on my car and was destined to hit a good workout.

Ladder. Time, 5.40

• Squat cleans
• 10 x 60, 70, 80kg

It was kind of a mystery how cleans would feel like when having the neck a bit sore. It was getting better throughout the day, and by the time I tapped 3-2-1-go I had zero pain anymore. This was a short ladder for time. Just complete 10 reps of each weight, then add 10 kilos on the barbell. And the point was to do them as squat cleans.

I took the 60's in 6-4. Could have done 'em unbroken but I thought that might have a fatal influence later on the workout. Okay, I probably should have pushed it some more. The set of 70's was a triple to start with, and then maybe singles. Last set was purely singles.

The barbell wasn't that heavy at any time, even with the 80kg bar. Nor that it should be. This is far away from my max loads so it should have been a conditioning workout. It was mostly my lower back that was on fire in this one. Breathing was rather high too of course but that back was the one that prevented me doing faster. Very good workout in my opinion!

Metcon. Time, 15.15

• 10 rounds of:
• 1 power clean, 90kg
• 10 toes-to-bar
• 8 burpee

Recovered my back for a good time after the cleans, and decided not to touch a barbell in the metcon. Originally I had kb swings, push jerks and ghd's planned for a 15min amrap. That may have been to rough on the neck so it turned out to be a combination of heavy power clean, t2b's and burpees. And felt good all the way.

The power cleans felt veery good every single time I touched the bar. That wasn't light. Especially in a workout. My max power clean is 103kg so this ought to be quite heavy. I took my time every round with this single lift. Wanted it to look good and consistent through all 10 rounds.

Toes-to-bar's were unbroken for a number of rounds. Somewhere probably at around 5 rounds I started breaking it in two sets. Either 6-4 or 7-3. Just to release the tension of the hip flexors for a while. Then drop down right away after t2b's and recover after that before heading to the bar. I reckoned the clean was the toughest movement for strength so it's smarter to have some recovery between burpees and clean, and otherwise just keep moving.

Sunday 24.5: Recovery

Sunday. Recovery

My neck is killing me. The weird thing is I didn't even do anything to deserve it. Just walked around the gym and I heard my neck crack. It's been very unpleasant since then. There was no chance I was going to train today. Just went for a 5km walk in the evening to flush my legs.

This guy is really making things happen in the East Regionals!

Saturday 23.5: Clean emom, Row, Push-ups

Saturday. Clean emom x 10min: 5 hang power clean (60kg). Metcon, 5 rnft of: 500m row, 20 push-ups. PM: Recovery walk and stair running.

This day is a special one. Pauliina's friends arrived in the morning and picked up my future wife for her bachelorette's party =) That looked like a lot of fun right out the gate. That left me a lot of time to improve my fitness. So after driving this entourage to downtown Helsinki I went to my gym OP Center and hit a workout. Something awkward happened yesterday during the day and it has been feeling a bit funny in my core, on the left side. I have no words to describe it. Anyway, that led me to taking this day easier. There was also a kettlebell throwdown going on at the gym so I went to check it out. That looked really brutal. In the evening I went outdoors to enjoy the nature.

Emom.

• Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes
• 5 hang power clean, 60kg

Yesterday evening was bad. As I tightened my core it hurt a lot on the left side. So I was on the verge of stepping back from training today. But I found myself at the gym and after activating this body it was all good and didn't feel that bad. Still, I didn't risk by loading up the bar to a heavy version. Instead, it was only 60 kilos and I took it as an emom workout to break a good sweat. Cleans brought no issues to my torso and it was actually a good barbell work for technique purposes. I focused on every single lift and tried to make the contact point as high on my thighs as possible. At the end of the cleans I tweaked my neck or something, now core is better but my neck hurts. What a screwup.

Workout.

• 5 rounds for time of:
• 500m row
• 20 unbroken push-ups

I took 50 push-ups after the cleans, then headed to see the kettlebell action upstairs. I've never witnessed this kind of events and had no idea what to expect. There was one organizer introducing me to this sport and told it's usually about snatches and/or clean and jerks of some kind. Some variance is still in play but the elements are familiar.

The event that I went to look was a 10 minute amrap of push jerks with 2 x 32kg (2 pood) bells. Okay, sounds brutal but let's add a twist. You are not allowed to drop the kb's to the ground at any point. Once you bring 'em down, your game is over. That's just simply mean and brutal =) Lots of mental game going on here. The best result was 70 reps but they told me some guy had jerked 110 reps in the past. That's a lot of jerking if you ask me!

Afterwards I went back down for a workout. I didn't time it but that didn't slow me down anyway, at least not much. I took 500 meter rows, and then 20 unbroken push-ups between rowing. Rowing was somewhere sub 1:50 pace. Push-ups felt great. Those usually are not in my wheelhouse but I felt very good on those this time.

Glimpse from the kb comp

Revovery.

• 6km walk
• 10 rds of stairs up and down

The weather was freaking sick. It was sunny and the sky was clear blue. For a Finn that is unbelievable. We don't have that much sun during the year so we tend to enjoy every single day when we have a summery weather =) I watched the Crossfit Regionals at the balcony for an hour or two, ate and recovered, then decided to hit it outdoors. It was mostly a fast pace walk for couple of kilometers. Once I got to almost Töölönlahti, I looked back and noticed the sky in the horizon was looming dark. It was obvious it's gonna rain big time soon. It changes rapidly.

So it took only minutes to get soaking wet but that's no biggie, I had sports wear anyway and I saw there was a stairway in the middle of the woods. That looked tempting and it turned out to a workout of 10 rounds of up and down the stairs. It was a total of 85 stairs up and 85 back down. It took about 9 minutes of constant moving. Strategy was not to stop nor slow down at any point. And the point was to step on every stair so it was small steps running on the ball of the foot. Good way to get blood flowing a bit faster and get some burn in the legs.

Friday 22.5: Skills, Deadlift, Metcon

Friday. Skills, ring mu's 3x3, bar mu's 3x6. Strength, deadlift 5-5-5-5-5 (across, 160kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 6 front squat (60kg), 9 burpee, 12 ghd, 250m row. Time, 14.24.

Yeah baby, it was a good training session to say the least. Classic stuff, skills, strength and conditioning. Good combination of work. In addition there was some real life crossfit being done as one person asked me to push her car at the gas station because the car wouldn't start anymore. Another case occurred as the kettlebell competition team asked me to assist them in moving one of the weightlifting platforms to another spot as they have a throwdown tomorrow at the gym. Now I know those platforms are heavy!

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups 3-3-3
• Bar muscle-ups 6-6-6

More muscle-ups to get more efficient on them. These were good sets, and no doubt of hitting them. The last bar mu set was kinda heavy though. My calluses had not been taken care in a couple of days so that backfired right on my face. I anticipated some problems with the deadlifts and that was the case finally. Got some tears so I need to take care of these hands tonight.

Friday pulls.

• Deadlift 5-5-5-5-5 (across, 160kg)

Classic deadlift session for a Friday. It was all 5's. I built up by having a 70kg bar, then 110kg and finally 140 kilos before going up to the working weight. Sets were identical across the board, at 160kg. The weight itself wasn't too bad. I believe my max set for 5 reps has been 180kg, that's the most I've tried. But my palms and fingers are always taking the most of the damage, as I've written before.

It once again felt like my fingers will get cut off. I had to place the bar more on the fingers because otherwise my calluses would have gotten ripped off. I was still very happy on completing all these 5 sets with this weight without any bigger issues.

Metcon. Time, 14.24

• 5 rounds of:
• 6 front squat (60kg)
• 9 burpee
• 12 ghd sit-ups
• 250m row

That was pretty much all I wanted to have a grip on. Grip was shot so I decided to take elements where I could keep a good pace on throughout the workout and not having to hang from anywhere. Otherwise toes-to-bar would have been in place. Reps and movements were good for the purpose I was looking for. Engine.

There was a little walking around at the gym to get from one place to another. That was my recovery time and it was enough to keep a steady pace. Round times were about 2:48, 2:54, 3:03, 3:00, and 2:37 so that means to say it was pretty similar in all rounds and on the last one I was able to speed it up a bit to make it the fastest round.

All elements were decent, none of them were gross. Front squats were surprisingly burning on the legs, and maybe the combo of them and burpees was the toughest part of this workout but still manageable. On my walk to the ghd there was plenty of time to get the breathing down a bit so I could hop on it right away. Rowing was somewhere at 1.46-1.47 on average.

Thursday 21.5: Squat, Clean, C2b

Thursday. Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (across, 130kg). Metcon, 10min amrap of: 10 c2b, 1-2-3… squat clean (80kg). Result, 86 reps.

We had some wedding planning to do after work day so it went late in the evening before I got my things together and headed to the gym. It was squat time and the metcon was a nice twisted combo of c2b's and cleans.

Strength.

• Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (across, 130kg)

Unfortunately I don't have time to go through the emotions over this training session that much. These were tough but I'm happy on completing each set at 130kg for triples. Take a look at the squats.

Metcon. Result, 86 reps (6 rounds + 5 c2b)

• 10 min amrap of:
• 10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 1-2-3-4… ladder of squat clean, 80kg

It was 10 chest-to-bar's every single round and then squat cleans in a ladder style method. Starting from single lift, then a double, triple on the third round and so on. For as long as possible in 10 minutes. I got 6 full rounds and 5 c2b's on the 7th round. That means 65 c2b and 21 cleans.

Wednesday 20.5: Presses, Run, Pull-ups, Burpees

Wednesday. Push press 3-3-3-3-3 (max 78kg). Split jerk technique. Metcon, 15min amrap of shuttle run, pull-ups, burpees.

Morning workout. Overhead work to start with. Push presses, and some technique for jerks. Conditioning consisting of running, pull-ups and burpees. Great combo to end the session and then head to work.

Overhead.

• Push press 3-3-3-3-3 (70, 73, 75, 78, last set 2x80kg)
• Split jerk technique

Lately I've had a fixation of getting my shoulders stronger. Not to get them bigger or to being able to press / jerk more weight but to be better and more efficient on metcons. That's what I want at the end of the day. To be able to move faster and more effortless. One rep maxes are cute but I prefer dark place metcons. To being better at them you need strength. Barbells become lighter and bodyweight movements become easier with more strength.

I'm very happy my shoulders and elbows are feeling okay and I've been able to put weight overhead in the past days. Today's heaviest completed triple was at 78kg. The second rep at 80kg was a battle and it was obvious a third one would have failed as a push press. Prior to doing presses and also afterwards I worked on my split jerk's foot work. Aiming to shoot me legs out front and back enough.

Metcon. Result, 6 full rounds + 12 x 20m run

• 15min amrap of:
• 2 rounds of
• 5x20m shuttle run
• 10 pull-ups
• 10 burpee
• 2 rounds of
• 10x20m shuttle run
• 10 pull-ups
• 10 burpee
• 2 rounds of
• 15x20m shuttle run
• 10 pull-ups
• 10 burpee
• 2 rounds of
• 20x20m shuttle run
• 10 pull-ups
• 10 burpee...

This metcon was kick ass material. Haven't been running at all in this new place at all. Now I realized it's possible to do shuttle runs on that 20 meter grass mat back and forth. It was like running increasing distances and doing pull-ups and burpees between running. Two rounds of running 100 meters, then running 200 meters, then 300m and finally 400m if I had time. After every running set there was a fixed number of pull-ups and burpees, 10 reps of both movements.

So there was a total of about 1.5km running, 60 pull-ups and 60 burpees if I counted right. Got pull-ups and burpees unbroken, and on the sprints I decided to keep moving with the same pace on every turn. After sprints I walked to the pull-up bar and after burpees I walked to the start line of the running. Other than that I kept moving all the time. And felt good about this.

Tuesday 19.5: Snatch balance, Snatch, Thrusters, Du

Tuesday. Snatch balance 5x3 (up to 70kg). Snatch work (up to 50kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 12 thruster (40kg), 50 du. Time, 10.49

It was time to concentrate on snatches. In my images it went better than the reality actually was. It was still great to have them in the program again. I did snatch balance prior to actual snatches. The metcon in the end was a killer on my shoulders once again.

Snatch balance.

• 3x40, 50, 60, 65, 70kg
• 1x75kg

This went pretty well. There were tons of people at the gym so I didn't dare to take videos. But they went well and I felt confident putting that weight overhead and squat at the same time. Tried to do it as explosively as possible. Had one miss, the first rep at 50kg where I pushed the bar too much in front and dropped. The weight was light though so I cleaned it and took a triple right away.

Seventy kilos for a triple pleased me a lot. I also took a single at 75kg, and missed the second at 75kg due to pushing it too much in front again. I decided to stop there because there were squat snatches waiting for me.

Snatch.

• Hang snatch
• 3x40, 40, 45kg
• 2x50, 50, 50kg
• 1-1-1-1 @ 50kg

Okay these could have been more beautiful. I thought my hips would be as open as possible after doing heavier snatch balances but still they felt, not stiff but not completely receptive either. I took these light. Mostly because it felt like I don't have enough in the tank for these. Some reps were okay, and some were a lot off of the tracks. The last single was the best, and of course not caught on video. I was very happy on receiving the barbell in the bottom position. That was different to most of these where I caught it around parallel.

Snatches

Metcon. Time, 10.49

• 5 rounds of:
• 12 thruster, 40kg
• 50 double unders

It was no surprise this wasn't fun =) I've been thinking about thrusters for a while but still haven't put them in a workout much lately. Thrusters were the better part of this workout though. How sick is that? I sucked at the double unders today. Lots of misses and they wore me down big time. My shoulders got tired during this workout, and those du's didn't help at all. This was a great workout. I just hoped the double unders had gone better. I lost a lot of time and energy there.

Monday 18.5: Squats, Row, C2b, Hspu

Monday. Back squat 5-5-5 (max 130kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 20 cal row, 12 c2b, 8 hspu.

Back squats it is! Boom it can't be a bad training day when you have them in your schedule. It was gonna be rather heavy 5's so they made me a bit anxious as they usually do. Metcon was another inspiration from Atlantic and South Regionals, scaled to my level of fitness. Great one!

Strength.

• Back squat 5-5-5 (125, 128, 130kg)

My approach for climbing up to the working sets is usually different to what happened today. Let's take today's workout as an example. I would normally do warm-up sets of something like 5x60, 5x90, 3x100, 2x110, 1-2x120kg, or 5x60, 5x90, 3x110, 1x120, 1x125kg. I'd say either of those combinations would be quite traditional when doing sets of 5's at weights around 125kg. Some of those reps at 60-90kg sets would be pause squats just to loosed up a little bit more.

Today I felt good and mobile on my hips so I made a conscious decision of cutting the sets to 5x60, 3x90, 1x110kg. This time it worked perfectly. Jumping 15kg before the first working set is unheard of for me. I like to make the jumps rather small to avoid surprises.

The sets felt good in all three weights. I had in mind to knock them at around 125kg so it was a positive feeling to being able to climb up after each set. It was great and I think the heaviest set of 5 reps I've ever lifted is 135 kilos.

5x125kg

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 20 calories row
• 12 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 8 handstand push-ups

Watching the Crossfit Regionals was a blast last weekend. The workouts were great and interesting, and it was a huge dog fight in both mens' and women's side. My favorite Noah Olsen dominated the competition and Emily Bridgers took the podium on the Atlantic Region. On the other region - The South - Camille Leblanc Bazinet took the first spot as the defending Crossfit Games champion. Roy Gamboa was legit all the way and pretty much led the competition throughout the weekend on the mens, never finishing outside the Top 10.

One of the workouts was 5 rounds for time of 25 cal row, 16 c2b and 9 strict hspu. That sounded just perfect because I wanted to have pull-ups. Better to have 'em c2b if possible. I decided to scale this one a bit just make it being able to keep moving constantly.

5x128kg

This workout was awesome. Clearly the most challenging part was the c2b's for me. Rowing is just "keep moving", and handstand push-ups were a lot easier than I thought. My upper body was a bit numb always after c2b's and I thought hspu's would be tough. But when I threw myself upside down against the wall, they were easy and unbroken each round. C2b's were 6-7 reps every time at first, then 1-2 sets to finish it. First round was 7-5, the following were mostly 6-3-3. I messed up the timer in the end so I have no idea how long this one took to complete. But it was consistent =)

Sunday 17.5: Battle ropes, Push press, Long metcon

Sunday. Battle ropes. Emom x 10min: 2 push press (max 80kg). Chipper, 2k row, 50 ohs (40kg), 50 t2b, 50 s2o (40kg), 50 burpee box jump. Time, 28min

Once again, the signs are that the summer is around the corner. It was awesome to wake up to this kind of weather so there was simply no option but to put eat a huge breakfast at our balcony in the sun, digest it for a while and head outdoors for a long walk in the nature. That is our thing. In the evening Jasper joined me for a good training session at OPCenter.

Battle ropes. They acquired these battle ropes at the gym some time ago. I haven't touched them before. Only once last spring when we visited California with Pauliina there was one hotel that had them. That San Francisco hotel had insane gym. Really made a difference compared to other hotel gyms around there.

Jasper suggested these so we took turns learning how to make them move efficiently. This was basically our warm-up after some mobility. You don't have to do this for long in order to activate entire body and to break a good sweat. You have different styles I guess, doing small or big moves, we tried both and they had different stimulus. Good conditioning element!

Strength.

• Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes
• 2 push press (2x70, 2x73, 2x75, 2x78, 2x80kg)

Lately I haven't had any issues with my shoulder that hindered me from doing overhead strength for some weeks. This portion of the training session felt very good. We did them simultaneously with Jazz so that he started at 0:00 and I started my share at 0:30, taking a double every minute on the minute. This way we got a chance to observe the other's moves and give coaching tips during the presses.

I started at 70kg, and built up after every 2 minutes. It felt good all the time so I kept putting weight on the bar. My friend did the same, adding load after every 2 minutes. It was great to see him smash the weights too. Last set was something I needed to focus a lot on but it came up nicely.

Presses

Metcon. Time 28min

• 2.000m row
• 50 overhead squat, 40kg
• 50 toes-to-bar
• 50 shoulder-to-overhead
• 50 burpee box jump

Another inspiration from the Crossfit Regionals. Yesterday evening I already put the lights off and was about to put my head to the pillow. Then this hit me. Had to pick up my phone again and open my training notes. This is what I came up with. This somehow remotely reminds of the workout where they ran, did ohs, ghd sit-ups and a bunch of other stuff.

Chippers are the worst to me. Doing a bunch of work on one single movement without having the goal line in sight. As Jasper said at some point of the workout "why do you do this kind of shit?". I think that was a legit question for sure. That time I thought the same question myself. It was a dark moment.

It definitely helped to have a training partner do the same workout, and it pushed me further as well. Two kilometer row to start with. No point in putting all in on that one because what you gain compared to what it might do to your body is not worth it in my opinion.

Overhead squats were 10-8, and then mostly 6 rep sets.  Toes-to-bar's were 10-10-10, and 5's to the end. I felt yesterday's 120 ghd's in my core before this so that brought its own twist in a funny way. S2o's were pretty much the same as ohs. I remember they were 10-8-7, and then 5's all the way.

At this point my shoulders were killing me. So it was great to throw down, and push myself up from there. Hmm, let me think again, it wasn't. Breathing was at its max pretty soon after couple of burpee box jumps, and stayed there for the rest of the wod. I thought pushing it for a big set in the beginning, and then go by feeling. My mind changed after 7 reps, these felt horrible. I took 10 reps, and then had to do them in sets of 5 reps till the end. The feeling was a bit hopeless to say the least. We both seemed to share the same feeling. What a great workout for conditioning, pure crossfit!

Saturday 16.5: Rope climbs, Outdoor metcon

Saturday. Walk 8km. Skills, 10 rope climbs. Time, 5.41. Metcon, 3rds of: 15 thrusters, 2 uphill sprints, 15 ohs, 2 uphill sprints.

Damned my body is smashed. We were gonna hit the gym but decided to go for a recovery walk instead. Good decision. It's not like I have sore muscles somewhere specific but I feel like a truck has ran over me. So Pauliina didn't have to persuade me too long to skip the gym. Didn't have any good plans for a workout either. We went for a speedy walk for 8km around Töölönlahti and the central park of Helsinki. There was a huge buzz in downtown and around the olympic stadium because today was Helsinki City Run, that is a half marathon. Lots of people and lots of action!

Recovery.

• 8 kilometer fast walk

This really feels good, we've done this same session for a number of times. The idea is to walk fast so that we're all sweaty when we get back home. Last time my butt was sore for days haha. Almost worse than lunges. After the walk I got inspiration to do a workout outdoors. I wasn't ready to move weights around but bodyweight action sounded good.

Skills. Time, 5.41

• 10 rope climbs

It's been some time since climbing a rope. I bought this one from Rogue earlier this year and have found couple of places to hang it from. Well, okay this place and another in Klaukkala at the in-laws. Great places for this purpose. It's a bit of a hassle to go to this place and carry the rope around. I'd definitely climb more if I had a place right outside of my place or if they had one at the gym. Freaking awesome element of fitness!

This movement is legit. Very good and holistic move to make the entire body feel tired. It shows that I haven't done that much of this movement. The pace how quickly I move up the rope is like a slow motion video compared to these pros at the Regionals who are doing Tommy V workout. I only did 10 reps and it took me couple of minutes. Those guys finished 45 thrusters and a bunch of ropes in almost the same time. That means to say there's a lot of effectiveness to be gapped out. There are different styles how to grab the rope with legs. I'm still using this slower style because I'm new to the movement and I feel like I need to have the most steady grip there is possible.

Rope climbs

Metcon.

• 15 thrusters with stones
• 2 uphill sprints
• 15 overhead squats with a tree branch
• 2 uphill sprints

Luckily I saw there was a long tree branch laying around in the ground. Plus there were lots of stones that caught my attention too. It felt appropriate to get a workout done in the nature. I really look up to Blair Morrison and his "Anywherefit" blog where he posts workouts he does, mostly outdoors and very constantly varied functional movements. Very inspirational stuff!

This was a very good metcon. What else would you need than a tree branch, stones, walls, obstacles and alike. If you're creative, the nature will provide you good tools. There's something I get out of these type of workouts.

My legs were burning a lot, mostly due to those sprints up the hill. It was 2 sprints and then some squatting in between the runs. Great wod!

Nature's workout

Friday 15.5: Front squat, Deadlift, Metcon + Mu's, Chipper

Friday. AM: Front squat triples every 90 sec (up to 110kg). Deadlift triples (up to 180kg). Metcon, 7rds of: 6 hspu, 12 burpee, 24 du's. Time, 13.13. PM: Ring mu's 5x3 reps. Metcon, Chipper-style workout. Time, 13.33

Yesterday was a national day off of work and I continued that trend with my own holiday today as well. So it was only natural to do a double workout as I headed to the Box at noon and another session in the afternoon. My body didn't quite like the barbell work but bodyweight action was right on point. Friday was a good combination of strength, skills and conditioning!

Squat.

• Every 90 sec, perform a front squat triple
• 60, 70, 80, 90, 1000, 105, 110kg

Before taking on this workout I warmed up properly and then took a short metcon combining 24kg kettlebell swings and ghd sit-ups, forming a total of 60 swings and 40 ghd's. The idea was to activate the entire body and get some sweat on. Mission accomplished.

These felt heavy even though they don't look like it. I guess my legs are hammered from previous days' cleans and squats. This squat workout went on totally by feeling but the point was to do a triple every 1.5min. I stopped at 110kg even though there heavier barbells would have definitely found their way up. I was more eager to pull from the ground.

Squats

Friday pulls.

• Deadlift triples (110, 140, 160, 180kg)
• Deadlift single @ 200kg

My body wasn't fully prepared for heavy barbell work for sure. I felt it in both squats and deadlifts. My hands and fingers feel sensitive from all the work put in lately. I've done a ton of hand maintenance but still they are sore and there are small cuts here and there. I took triples with bigger jumps than what I'm used to.

Those were all okay, and it was good to have a heavier bar in my hands despite all the above written. sat triple was at 180kg, no biggie. I was looking to do a triple also at 200kg and the weight was alright but I felt my back wasn't lined up as straight as I'd like it to be so I stopped after a single. Don't want to do such compromises with heavy deadlifts.

Deads

Metcon. Time, 13.13

• 7 rounds of:
• 6 handstand push-ups
• 12 burpee
• 24 double unders

This was great! Absolutely the best part of the training session. Bodyweight movements and shoulders were taking big hits on this one. Practically each movement put a lot of pressure on shoulders so they were on fire for most of the time. Round times stayed quite consistent too. First 2 rounds were faster (1:29 and 1:41) but then it stabilized to around 2 minutes per round. This was supposed to be a 12min amrap but I wanted to finish that 7th round too so it went a little beyond.

I got hspu's unbroken even though I realized on the second round it's gonna be tough. It was only 6 reps and should not be a problem but combine that with burpees where you have a pushing motion and finally double unders which seem to tax mostly shoulders. At least in my case. Shoulders are always getting tired the first in this movement. I stumbled on the rope on both of the first 2 rounds but then it was unbroken till the end.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups 5x3 reps

In the late afternoon session it was supposed to be an easier session. I had tons of plans over things I'd like to practice. Muscle-ups are something I have gotten about 1000% better lately and I want to keep the progress on. That's the reason why you will see lots of mu's done on both rings and pull-up bar. This was not a timed portion. I took a triple, walked around the gym and came back to finish another triple. Total of 15 reps.

I felt very good on these. Only the last rep was a bit of a battle as I didn't land over the rings perfectly. But I asked my "gymnastics coach" Pauliina (a.k.a my future wife) what they look like and if she had something to correct and this time she stayed silent. That was a good sign =)

Metcon. Time, 13.33

• 40 ghd sit-ups
• 30 box
• 20 ring dips
• 10 bar muscle-ups
• 20 ring dips
• 30 box
• 40 ghd sit-ups

I did some ghd's in the morning but that didn't matter, it suited very well for this workout. Combination of ghd's and box was quite nasty. Ghd's were probably the easiest part of this workout but it put some pressure on the hip flexors too. I had some issues with them for 1-2 weeks just recently so I've been alert in listening to my body.

Ghd's were 20-10-10 on the first time and actually probably the same on the last one. My plan on the last station was to do it in maybe 4 sets because the combination of ghd's and box jumps was a high pressure situation on the hip flexors but then again it felt okay to hit it 3 sets so that's what I did. It took 1:30 on the first round and 1:53 on the latter one but remember there was transition before starting the movement for the last time.

Box jumps were tolerable. This number of repetitions was fine for the chipper. I was able to keep moving without having to stop and breath. Had one miss on the second time I was jumping around. Ring dips and bar muscle-ups were by far the most difficult part of this one. There were just 20 dips and they were alright on my way down but coming back was miserable =) Muscle-ups were 2-3-3-2 which means to say they were tough. Originally I had thought of knocking them away in 2 sets but those ring dips ate my strength, and it was hard to get them done for the second time.

This chipper style workout was pretty much perfect to finish this Friday. Now it's time to focus on the Regionals. Head on to games.crossfit.com to witness the Atlantic and South Regionals live action!!!

Thursday 14.5: Clean, Squat, Metcon

Thursday. Emom, clean singles (up to 110kg). Emom, back squat singles (up to 140kg). Metcon, 4rds of: 7 squat clean (60kg), 14 box, 7 c2b, 200m row. Time, 13.30.

Got a chance to do a workout in the evening before Finland's ice hockey game. It was gonna be short and intense. I still wanted to have barbell work included. Squats were a must but cleans were a good bonus. Metcon was created on the spot, and worked perfectly.

Cleans.

• Every minute on the minute x 7 min
• 1 clean (80, 85, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110kg)

Yes, I did heavy cleans yesterday. And it felt so good that I wanted to see how it would feel one day after. No problem, cleans were good today as well. It was only singles, one rep per minute. This was short part, just couple of minutes / reps and max was 110kg. I tried something new with my cleans today. I don't usually lift my legs from the floor at all. This time in some of the reps my feet got up which made the "go under the bar" part faster.

In the last rep you probably notice here that I dropped as deep as my hips allow. It wasn't that intentional. It felt like I lost control of the drop a bit but was able to save it anyway with tightening the core.

Cleans

Squats.

• Every minute on the minute x 9 min
• 1 back squat (100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140kg)

It's been a while since back squatting so the purpose of this was to get used to getting a heavy barbell on my back. I went up to 140kg which felt heavy. Actually all the other loads felt okay but at 135kg it felt heavy as a ton, and the wall hit me at 140kg.

These stories are awesome

It was quite surprising to have it so suddenly slap me in the face. I felt very comfortable up to 130 kilos. One rep every minute but it didn't come an issue of having such a short recovery between reps. That was okay. The lighter reps were probably too light. It would have been a better workout to have one rep per minute at around 120-130kg for couple of minutes.

Squats

Metcon. Time, 13.30

• 4 rounds of:
• 7 squat clean, 60kg
• 14 box jump
• 7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 200m row

Squat cleans are great but in a workout they are miserable. They suck big time! =) For first 3 rounds I went unbroken with them but my mind told me to drop the bar already on the second round. Instead, I fought for a little more, and decided to do 4-3 only on the last round.

Having legs jello after cleans it was cool to go and do the box jumps. Hmm, okay maybe not so cool. It surely made them fatigue fast. This was designed so that there were two elements burning legs, and then giving recovery for them and do pull-ups instead. There weren't that big a number of c2b's so they were unbroken each round.

Rowing is always a good one to make breathing go heavy or stay heavy. It was a short sprint so I kept the pace rather fast. Most of the time in this metcon felt like it was used in the transitions. I was gassed midway to the wod and it really was a dark place at times. Worst part was definitely the combination of cleans and box jumps.

First round of the workout

The Crossfit Regionals are starting tomorrow!!! How awesome is that. There are Ben Smith and Noah Olsen on the men's side, and Emily Bridgers and Sam Briggs on women's side. It's gonna be a big fight for the regionals podium between these athletes.

Wednesday 13.5: Clean and jerk, Cleans, Bar mu's

Wednesday. Clean and jerk triples (up to 90kg). Every 45sec: 1 full clean @ 100kg, for 10min. Skills, 4x6 bar mu's.

Morning workout. Finally doing some clean and jerks for real. I took my time with these lifts, and then finished the barbell work with heavy cleans in emom style. There was no time for metcon so I took a quick change of plans and did bar muscle-ups instead.

Oly.

• Clean and jerk
• 3x40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 85, 90kg
• 3 singles @ 95kg (last one failed)

It was great to be back in business. The reason why I have not jerked much lately is that my elbows got sore on those quite easily so it was kind of a turn off. Now they are fully healed so I was eager to put weight overhead! I was thinking about just taking singles but it turned out to be triples. Not t'n'g as I dropped the weight after each rep.

Well okay, the first sets were done in one smooth movement but at 70kg I took the triples in single lifts. Lifts up to 80 kilos were power clean and jerks, and then the following reps were squat cleans, and then a split jerk.

Cleans were light today and those should be considering the weights. Hundred kilos for a single shouldn't be an issue but jerking that weight is a big deal. There aren't many times I have put that overhead.

Jerks were okay up to 90kg. Heavy but manageable. Afterwards I realized from video that my back leg is not ideally positioned and front leg is not going front enough. You could look at it from another angle so that I'm not pushing myself under the bar enough. It's more like pressing the barbell up instead of pushing myself down against the bar. Lots of technical issues that would bring big gains if I get them corrected.

C&J's

Cleans.

• Every 45 seconds: 1 full clean @ 100kg, for 10 minutes

One rep every 45 seconds. When I put the clock on my plan was to do one rep every 60 seconds but I didn't have enough patience so I took the second reps at 0:45. Last rep was taken at 9:45 so that means to say there was a total of 13 lifts.

I'm very happy every rep of these 13 ones felt similar and pretty much looked similar too. At least not huge differences between reps. Big thing at these loads. That's exactly what I'm looking for in all movements. No matter if it's bodyweight or barbell. It's a different thing if they look consistent throughout every training session but at least that's what I strive for.

Skills.

• 4x6 unbroken bar muscle-ups

Clock was running and I had to leave. Metcon was out of question but that didn't prevent me to do something quickly. Pull-up bar is always a good choice. I jumped on it and took a set of bar mu's. Dropped down and walked a bit, chalked my hands and got back up there. Repeated it for 4 sets of 6 reps. I'm very happy this is turning from a huge weakness to decent level muscle-ups! Very, very happy!

Tuesday 12.5: Row intervals, Burpees

Tuesday. Row 8x500m with 90sec rest. Emom x 8min: 10 burpee.

Today was a busy day. Normal day at work, then straight to watch a theater with Toni and our ladies, and finally Finland is attacking Russia on ice. It's gonna be a good game! I decided to sneak to the old gym by leaving work a bit earlier to find some time to workout. Classic row intervals and some burpees to finish the session.

Intervals.

• Row 8 x 500m
• 90 second rest between sets

This is and has always been a good wod. Intervals - no matter if it's running or rowing - with rest between sets. Running has been 400m sprints and rowing either 400m or 500m. Rest should be within 1-2 minutes.

There was no time for proper warm-up so I practically sat on the rower, put iPod on my ears, clock running, and started pulling after 3-2-1-go. Pace was consistent at 1.40-1.42 throughout each and every set. This got uncomfortable at some point but the start of each set was okay. That means to say the 90 sec recovery was enough to get back in life. The last 200 meters of each interval were tougher than the beginning. No surprise there =)

Bodyweight.

• Every minute on the minute for 8 minutes
• 10 burpee

Wasn't done with training after rowing. There wasn't much time though so I shook my legs and arms, and started moving around in the form of burpees. This was emom work, and I stuck at 10 burpees. Not much, I know, but at this stage it was perfect. I've practiced my shoulders and upper body more in the past days so I felt this in my shoulders for sure. It took only about 20+ seconds for each minute so there was enough time to recover before the next set.

Monday 11.5: Hspu emom, Ohs, Press, Randy

Monday. Gymnastics, emom x 6min: 8 hspu. Ohs 3x10 (max 50kg). Snatch grip push press 5x5 (max 80kg). Hero workout Randy. Time, 6.08

Today Finland played ice hockey in the world championships so we had to rush home after work to see the full game. Luckily we won in the penalty shots finally! After the game I drove to the gym late in the evening and got a good piece of work done. Still a bit lighter work but the workout in the end was a real deal.

Gymnastics.

• Every minute on the minute x 6min
• 8 handstand push-ups

These workout sessions are still focusing more on upper body. Hspu's are always a good choice. And what is a better way to do it than emom workouts. Those demand a lot from muscle endurance. This was a short one but I got a good doze of hspu's done in rather short time, total to 48 reps. Didn't do much warm-up, just basically threw myself upside down and started ripping hspu's. Last sets were more demanding naturally, and I had to break them a little.

Hspu's

OHS.

• Overhead squats 3x10 reps (40, 50, 50kg)

I figured my legs can already take some hit and overhead squats are a lighter way to test them out. It wasn't yet time to front / back squat but ohs was fine. Sets were longer and lighter. Just wanted to get a feel on the barbell again.

I'm wondering if it's ankle mobility or what but my form is leaning quite a lot forward and I'd like to see myself more on my heels. This transfers directly to squat snatch and the issue there is that if I miss a lift it's because the bar stays too much in front. got to work on my ankles. I'll start sitting on them in the evenings. Hopefully that will help.

Overhead.

• Snatch grip push press 5x5 (50, 60, 70, 75, 80kg)

This was great. Another movement that will strengthen the overhead position and will most probably transfer directly to full snatch. Having confidence holding a heavy weight overhead makes it easier to sit in the bottom position with the same load overhead.

I took 5's and basically built up to a heavy 5-rep set. I had not planned on doing these but this was the part that felt very good. There is a rumor we're gonna have blocks at the gym once the handyman finds time to build them. I'm definitely going to take advantage of them on heavy singles and doubles for overhead strength. It's good to have the chance to drop the weights on the blocks. Okay, this builds confidence too when you have to drop them in your back but it's more safe to drop them on the blocks.

California Strength's training

Randy. Time, 6.08

• 75 power snatch, 35kg

Yeah, sounds easy. Light weight for couple of reps, no biggie. Hmm, let me think again… It wasn't that easy for sure! I feel like an amateur doing this in 10's and 5's, especially after seeing Jason Khalipa rip this through unbroken haha =) The big boys are on a bit different level. Regionals athletes are probably gonna crush this in about 3 minutes which is only half of my time.

First two sets were 10's, and the rest of them were 5's. I could not imagine how this should be done because I haven't done 35kg snatches that much, and especially not for this many reps. There is one Open workout where you mix 35kg power snatches and doubles unders. That was the reference point how I could think of this beforehand.

I decided to go by feeling anyway. I figured there's no point in gassing out in the beginning and then suffer for the rest of the workout. Snatch is obviously one of my weaknesses and it was exposed in this workout. Efficiency is not the best but I got the work done decently. This was a very good metcon, no doubt!

Sunday 10.5: Bodyweight, Pull-up complex, Bench

Sunday. Weighted pull-ups, 10 sets. Emom x 9min, 1-3min: 4 bar mu's, 4-6min: 7 c2b, 7-9min: 10 pull-ups. Bench 3x10 (max 75kg).

The weather is freaking summery in here! And I love it. We were gonna go to the gym in the morning but instead it turned out to be a one and a half hour walk in the parks, forest and almost downtown Helsinki. Awesome quality time with my baby. On our way back we took a shortcut through Eltsu and "accidentally" stopped there to do some bodyweight training. There were a lot of people so we got inspired to do cartwheels and handstand. In the evening I went to the Box and worked on my pull-ups in various ways. It's a bummer I have to be cautious of my hip flexors. It would be great to lift heavy and do proper metcons already!

Playing around.

• Cartwheels
• Handstand

For some reason I have thought for the last couple of months that it would be awesome to master a simple movement like cartwheel. But those have always looked pathetic and there hasn't been a gymnastics coach training with me so it's not something I would start practicing on my own. Now that I had Pauliina with me in a place like this it felt right to take couple of attempts. We actually played here quite a long time as we both felt like we progressed a bit. This is something gals seem to be better at, I guess they just know how to control their body better =)

After playing around with cartwheels I also took some handstand hold for fun. There were a lot of people in Eltsu improving their fitness. And mother's day was seen in the picture too. Lots of families were walking outdoors in a beautiful and sunny Finland.

Pull-ups.

• Weighted pull-ups
• 3x10, 10, 150, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 20kg
• 5x17.5, 15kg
• 6x10kg

I got a chance to have a training session with Jasper, at least for a while. Our schedules didn't quite match but it was great to have couple of fist pumps and hit a workout. He had to go and I stayed to work on my pull-ups in different styles. Starting with pull-ups with some extra weight. Mostly triples, built up to a heavy set which turned out to be 22.5kg. Then I dropped down with more reps. Pull-ups are great but to be honest doing weighted versions of them for strength is kind of boring. Feels like a meathead.

Pull-up complex.

• Every minute on the minute for 9 minutes
• 1-3min: 4 bar muscle-ups
• 4-6min: 7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
• 7-9min: 10 pull-ups

This was much more fun! And I got a little heartbeat up at the same time. I could do muscle-ups all day every day! I'm so very happy those are rocking pretty well nowadays. Both bar and ring mu's. Mu's are also something I can do without having to stress how hip flexors are doing. Of course hip work is in the play but this movement is not the one putting too much pressure in there.

First 3 minutes were all about muscle-ups, next 3 minutes were c2b pull-ups and last 3 minutes were normal pull-ups. I increased the number of reps after each movement because it got easier towards the end. My lats were on fire on the regular pull-ups. I mean they hurt like hell. I had to go foam roll my lats and stretch them out for quite a bit after the workout. This made good to my body!

Bench.

• Bench press 3x10 (60, 70, 75kg)

This is rare. What I really wanted to do was a bad ass metcon but I just couldn't figure out what I would do without using my legs that much so instead, it turned out to be a bench session in the end. Three sets of 10 reps, climbing. Last set was 75kg.

Bench sets

Then I took couple of heavier singles but my upper body was smashed at this point already. Hopefully tomorrow morning I wake up with fully healed legs so I can start doing some real work!

Saturday 9.5: Mu's, Press, Hspu, Hang clean

Saturday. Gymnastics, emom x 10min: 2 mu's. Strength, strict press (up to 3x62kg). Metcon, 8min amrap of: 8 hspu, 8 hang power clean (50kg). Result, 97 reps.

Finally back in action! Okay I still had to take a magic pill for these hip flexors and that's also the reason why I took it a bit easier on the legs but it sure made good to enter the gym and start working out. Muscle-ups need to be honed a lot, so today was an emom training. Then some strict presses and metcon of hspu's and cleans.

Gymnastics.

• Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes:
• 2 ring muscle-ups

This felt good for real. Doing muscle-ups is not intimidating anymore. It doesn't matter if it's ring or bar mu's, I'm feeling confident and strong. Of course they are not perfect and the unbroken sets are not huge but as I look in the rear mirror I'm very proud how these have turned out. Today's goal was to increase the endurance of muscle-ups. Doing a unbroken set of 2 reps every minute for 10 minutes.

Yes, I can do a double, no problem but I haven't really tested how it feels doing them every minute for a certain period of time. This could be a good progression to build up the number of repetitions per set. Go figure. I'm also happy my feet are much more together than they used to be back in the days. Thus, it feels more controlled.

Muscle-ups

Strength.

• Shoulder press
• 5x40, 5x50, 5x55, 3x60, 3x62, 3x62kg

Putting stuff overhead is awesome. I'd prefer a bit of a heavier barbell but I saved my hip flexors by doing these presses as strict or shoulder press, how you wanna call it. Couple of 5's and then triples for a heavy load. This was a good result for me doing a triple at +60kg. Don't know what my max triple would be but I guess this was the first time doing 3 reps at over 60 kilos. Press is not one of my strengths I suppose.

You'll see the lifts below in the video recap

Press recap

Metcon. Result, 97 reps (6 rounds + 1 hspu)

• 8min amrap of:
• 8 handstand push-ups
• 8 hang power clean, 50kg

I had to think about for a while before coming up with taxing movements that would let my lower body chill in the same time. Hspu's were self evident already yesterday but I didn't think this beforehand that much because I had to kind of look how my body would feel like and what movements it would allow me to do. Eventually cleans paired up with hspu's and definitely as hang power cleans. Weight was light but it was actually good for this metcon because those handstand push-ups started to wear my shoulders down.

I got hspu's unbroken for couple of rounds, then had to start breaking them down after 4-5 reps. Shoulders really felt the damage on this one, very good burn up there. Cleans weren't that bad but I like the fact it was 50kg instead of a heavier bar. The length of the workout wasn't that long so if the bar was 60kg or more it would have slowed me down quite a bit and the purpose of this wod was to go faster.

Metcon

The workouts have been released for the upcoming Crossfit Regionals. It's gonna be a spectacular weekend of working out among the fittest of the fittest. Some day it would be awesome to be on the spot cheering for our idols!