Monday 4.5: Cleans, Half a Mary

Monday. Strength, every 45 seconds, 1-3 full cleans (up to 105kg), for 20 minutes. Metcon, 10 min amrap of: 5 hspu, 10 pistols, 15 pull-ups. Result, 173 reps.

Just perfect. I had forgotten what I was supposed to train today and it was a positive surprise as I looked at my notes. Lots of heavy cleans were waiting around the corner. There were also gonna be front squats and half a Mary, one tough benchmark workout. It got me sweating like a pig.

Strength.

• Every 45 seconds, perform squat cleans for 20 minutes
• 3 sets of 3x70kg tng's
• 1 set of 2x80kg
• 2 sets of 1x85kg
• 3 sets of 1x90kg
• 2 sets of 1x95kg
• Rest of the reps at 100-105kg

This was programmed to go on totally by feeling. What the weights were going to be would be a mystery. What was gonna be 100% sure was the time frame. Twenty minutes of emom like training is the longest I've ever done. At least for cleans. There might have been some sort of squat session where I have done reps every 90-120 seconds for about 20 minutes. This was the best emom wod for me. Got a chance to build up to heavy lifts, and there was a good volume of repetitions with heavier weights.

In the beginning I took couple of sets at 70-80 for triples and doubles. Then at 85kg it was all singles. Couple of sets with 85-95kg and then I got to real weights. Most of the reps were at 100-105kg, and most of these were at the highest weight. These felt great all the way from the first to last rep. It got tough towards the end but my mental game was strong today and I didn't let myself have any doubts.

Metcon. Result, 173 reps (7 pull-ups short of 6 rounds). Compare to 11.2.2014

• 10min amrap of:
• 5 handstand push-ups
• 10 pistol squats, alternating
• 15 pull-ups

There wasn't that much time reserved for this training session so I had to skip the front squat triples I had written down. Metcon was supposed to be just 10 minutes originally anyway, wasn't looking for that entire 20 minute amrap which Mary is in the rx'd version. That lady is tough. I've done it 2-3 times before, and last time hit exactly 10 rounds. That is a lot of volume on the pull-ups. 150 reps is not that easy for me.

Doing half of it was gonna suit great to be performed after today's heavy cleans. Hspu's were light, just 5 reps per round so those were easy and didn't put that much pressure on my shoulders. It was a totally different thing with the pistols and pull-ups. My legs were smashed due to cleans so it was a bit on the heavier side to do one-legged squats.

In my opinion this workout is all about controlling your breathing and of course about pull-ups. There's a lot of them so a game plan should exist. My plan today was to break them already in the first round. Don't remember anymore how they went exactly but it was most likely 2 or 3 first rounds were done in 2 sets. Then it was smaller sets. Definitely the toughest portion of this workout.