Monday. Snatch 5x3 @ 50kg. Back squat (up to 5x130kg). Metcon, 5rnft of: 14 db snatch (25kg), 20 push-ups.
Got a chance to go to the gym in the evening. I wanna fix my snatch so I'm anticipating more of that work in the future. Today it was technique stuff, and then squats for strength. In the end I broke a good sweat with db snatches and old school push-ups.
Oly.
Snatch 5x3 @ 50kg
At the end of these snatches I was a very happy man. Something happened in my brains and I really feel like these were one of the best snatches I have ever been able to do. The thing was I pulled the bar with patience and was able to bring it up to my hips before popping it up with hip extension and pulling with traps. Felt very good!
Snatch
Strength.
Back squat 3x100, 4x115, 4x130, 4x130, 4x130, 5x130kg
Huh, somehow the barbell felt very heavy on the 130kg sets. Before that it was like air. Usually I climb up with just small jumps so 15kg is pretty big one for me (115kg -> 130kg). I did those 115kg reps tng style but then 130's were singles, rest on top before knocking another rep. Challenging sets mentally but I overcame those. Told myself this is baby weight considering the loads just couple of weeks ago so that gave me mental strength to push on.
Metcon.
5 rounds not for time of:
14 dumbbell snatch, 25kg, alternating
20 push-ups
I was pretty much done after the squats but wanted to get something in my system anyway. I didn't bother about the timer but I looked from the clock on the wall that I did these pretty much emom style. Odd minutes were snatches and even minutes were push-ups. On the last minute I didn't hold on to that pace anymore. Good workout to finish the session!
Sunday. Metcon, 20 power clean (80kg), 300m row, 20 power clean (70kg), 300m row, 20 power clean (60kg), 300m row. Time, 12.20.
We spent the day in downtown Helsinki again because it's still summery. We were supposed to walk there but the weather changed in a second. Anyway, I went to the gym in the evening for a bad ass metcon. Short and intense. In the beginning I took power clean singles up to 100kg.
One year ago I did this same version with the modification that there were also 50kg and 40kg cleans involved. This time it was shorter and much more intense. My game plan was also different because it was a shorter one. Last time I did 80kg cleans as singles from the very beginning. This time I got a triple and then doubles up to 11 reps. From then on it was singles up to 20 reps. This must have cut some time off the final time compared to last time.
On the 70's it was 5-5-4-4-3 reps. Got to say it was contradictory feeling. As the bar got 10kg lighter it felt a lot lighter. It was an incredible change every round. Then on the other hand, as the bar was not that heavy anymore, you are supposed to move it faster and for bigger sets.
Recap of cleans
The last round was at 60 kilos. Same thing as with the previous round. It was much easier to move the barbell around because 10 kilos had been cut off the weight. Forearms were about to burst out of pain and numbness at this point though. Rowing was okay the entire time. I did it 1:45 pace in the beginning and then closer to 1:50 in the second round. It was about 1:40-1:42 in the last set of rowing.
This means to say I went faster on the Concept2 than last time, and also the cleans seemed to go quicker. Especially the 80kg cleans. I'm happy about how well I was able to push myself on this one.
Saturday. 20 burpee mu's for time. Time, 9.27. Partner wod, 15min amrap of lunges, pull-ups and db thrusters (2x15kg). Result, 5 rds + 3 thruster.
We had a nice day with my wife in the city. Just walked around and enjoyed Helsinki. Weather was beautiful so we just hang around and spent some quality time. In the evening we went to the gym to take care of our fitness. It was one gymnastics metcon to kick off the session and then another one
It's not many times that I've done muscle-ups in a workout so each and every one of these is a pleasure. I've done this once before couple of months ago. This was fun from the very beginning. Because I really haven't done that many muscle-up workouts it's always difficult to know how to pace myself.
Didn't have any idea how much it took me last time I did this one so there was nothing to compare the time to. I tapped the round times after every 5 reps. First reps took me 1:35, reps 6-10 were done in 3:09 so that was a lot slower one. Third portion was 2:31 and the last 5 reps were completed in 2:11.
To my eyes that means I gave too much slack in the process. Really difficult to know at this point how fast / slow one must go with this movement. I don't wanna burn myself on this because then it takes time to recover. The muscle-ups started to feel better towards the end because I really tried to keep good tension in the entire body on the swing.
Partner wod. Result, 5 rounds + 3 thruster
15min amrap
One athlete must do 2x20m walking lunges, bodyweight, all the time
Once the other one does lunges, the other does:
10 pull-ups and the rest of time dumbbell thrusters (2x15kg db's)
This was fun, to throw down with my baby. The point was that the other one was doing lunges all the time. Pauliina started the lunges so in the mean while I did 10 pull-ups and then dumbbell thrusters (2x15kg db's) as an amrap for the remaining time while she was lunging. When she finished those, we changed the lunge game, and it was her time to do the couplet.
Recap of partner wod
Pull-ups were the easiest part of this one, could have probably added a bit. But on the other hand, the purpose was to get dirty with the thrusters. And those got ugly towards the end of each set. The dumbbells were 15kg's each so it wasn't super heavy but the ultimate point was to do plenty of them during the time frame. Got to say this goal was reached pretty well.
Got 20 thrusters on the first round, 15 reps on the next 2 rounds. Fourth round was 12 and the last full round was 15 again. Only had time for 3 additional reps when the buzzer called it quits. This was quality time at its best doing partner wod with my wife.
Friday. Emom x 9-10min: 5 c&j @ 60kg. Deadlift 3x10 (max 140kg). Partner wod, 16min amrap. One athlete rows 500m constantly, the other performs 20 burpee, 15 s2o (70kg), 10 pistols.
We had some after work party taking place this Friday. Okay not a huge all night celebration but some sauna, table tennis, food, and bowling. We still had time to hit the gym with my main man Toni. It was a tight schedule so we decided to keep the training session intense from the very beginning. We had lots of work ahead of us so there was no room for slack time. And it definitely was a fast pace session.
Barbell conditioning.
Every minute on the minute x 9-10 minutes:
5 clean and jerk @ 60kg
It was great to have some quality time with Toni. It's always cool to have a partner throw down with you so I had lots of energy and body was fresh so it didn't take long before I had a barbell in front of me with 60kg load. Clean and jerks, emom style at the classic weight.
In the beginning the load felt good, and the bar moved fast. In this endorphin boost it was like nothing. The enthusiasm faded away little by little and the bar got heavier =) In the end I'm not quite sure if it was a total of 9 or 10 minutes. Anyway, a good bunch of reps with this benchmark weight load. I'm happy how smoothly the barbell listened to my commands.
Emoms
Friday pulls.
Deadlift 3x10 reps (120, 130, 140kg)
We had to move pretty quickly to pull from the ground. Toni had some predetermined program for this as 3x8 at a certain percentage work. I needed to get high rep sets in the system. Hadn't thought of the weights at all. To be honest, I was quite devastated after clean and jerks. It got very intense in the end so lots of energy was consumed there.
Still, these deads felt great. But the weights were not huge. I just took the first set at 120kg. That was kind of light so I kept adding 10kg for each set, last one standing at 140kg. I have tried 20-rep max maybe a year ago, and I remember pulling 130kg on that one. Maybe 10's would be ideal at around 150kg when being fresh.
Partner workout. Result, 3 rounds + 20 burpees
16min amrap of:
20 burpee
15 shoulder-to-overhead, 70kg
10 pistol squat
One athlete must row for 500m constantly
Toni had a master plan to finish the session. It looked like a lot of fun on paper. And it was. But we had a little brainfart with the reps. It turned out that Toni did almost all the burpees, and I did jerks and pistols were distributed evenly. The idea was that either of us would have to sit on the rower all the time, changing turns after every 500 meters. The other one is completing the amrap as such. And when we changed on the rower, the other one continued right where the other one stayed on the amrap.
So Toni started, and did 20 burpees. You probably know it's not very nice to do jerks right after a good number of burpees. So he basically did a double and a single, then it was time to change roles. I finished them and got the pistols done all except one. On the next round it was basically the same ideology. Toni did all the burpees, and 3 jerks. I got to the same situation, had 6 pistols when Toni shouted he has 50 meters left. He clearly was eager to smash some pistol squats so I let him finish it.
On the third round he got through all burpees but one, so I had all the jerks to myself. Doing 15 jerks isn't that light anymore so my time was basically consumed there. Toni got the pistols to himself and once again the burpees. He did 79 burpees, I had 1. He did 6 jerks, I did 39 reps. Pistols were 15/15 for both. Good workout but we could have changed the number of reps, to maybe smaller pieces. Then those would have divided more evenly among us. Most likely at least. Now Toni got a good conditioning piece with rowing and burpees. I got a good jerk workout and muscles burned a lot in the upper body. Different kind of stimulus for both of us.
Thursday. Emom x 10min, odd min 12 kb swing, even min 15 ghd. OHS singles, build up (up to 80kg). Rowing Nancy, time 14.30 (PR).
Today's workout of the day was great. Nancy is one tough lady! I've had a date with her couple of times before and she's mean every time. Prior to that wod I did some overhead squat singles. Didn't quite go the way I planned but it was cool to do those after a long break.
Warm-up.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Odd minutes, 12 kettlebell swing, 24kg
Even minutes, 15 ghd sit-ups
After my regular warm-up routines I did a short workout in emom style to activate the entire body. Legs, core and shoulders all got their share and I felt ready after this one. Kettlebell was the heaviest I found from the place, and it was light for sure. Didn't matter, this was only for warm-up purposes. Ghd's felt also light all the way. Still, this was a good way to get pumped up.
There were basically just couple of reps on overhead squats as they were singles and my max lift is at 90kg. That means to say the limit comes pretty quickly. I haven't had heavy stuff over my head in a while and that really felt like it too. I wasn't that confident pressing the barbell up in the sky. However, once I got it there, the descent and ascend from the bottom felt pretty solid up to 80kg.
On the 85kg I somehow didn't find the path down there. Tried it twice in that same lift but it got desperate. Hopefully my elbows stay good now as they are healed so I could do presses and jerks much more. That would create confidence in having the bar overhead.
Uuh, this is a perfect workout. I've done normal Nancy maybe twice before and rowing Nancy once last year. You have a link couple of rows above to that blog post. This was almost a half a minute PR on the benchmark workout. I was definitely not super confident of hitting a new record but I decided to give it a shot. Plan was to row modestly, and then complete the overhead squats unbroken each round. I've been able to do that before so that game me confidence. On the other hand, I also remember they being very nasty so that was not a confidence booster =)
After the first round my legs were burning so that brought some thoughts in my head that maybe this is not going to that easy after all (like I ever even thought of that). I decided to put those thoughts somewhere else and keep grinding. Rowing was something like sub 1:50 for some time, and towards the end it was about 1:50 on average.
Ohs were unbroken every round and I'm very proud of that. Shoulders were great but my legs were in flames for most of the workout. They got so jammed up in the middle of the workout that I had to beat them with my hands to get some blood flowing and to flush them. Don't know if that made any difference but it was great to go unbroken. This time I also had 43kg on the bar. Okay, that's just a tiny addition to the weight but still, it's nice to get this done in shorter time domain with slightly heavier bar =)
Wednesday. Hang snatch 7x3 @ 40kg. Emom x 10min: 1 hang squat snatch (50kg). Metcon, 13min amrap of, 2-4-6-8… of: hang power clean (60kg), front squat (60kg), hspu. Result, 146 reps.
I went to work at noon so I had a good two hours of training time ahead of me early in the morning. Got to say mornings are not my favorite time for real. Nothing was sore, felt good all the way but somehow I felt much more stiff and fatigue than normally. Especially weights were heavier than normally.
Technique.
Hang snatch 7x3 @ 40kg
That was also the reason why I just couldn't put more weight on the bar. Felt a bit off with even this one =) It took a lot of time to get at least somewhat comfortable with the barbell. As you can see from the video below it wasn't very smooth. It was also difficult to get below parallel. I've noticed that when I widen my feet on the land, my hips can't get low enough. But those legs go wide naturally so I'll try to keep them closer together, with about the same width as in the clean. All my squats (front, back and overhead) have a narrow stance so that's what I'm targeting on this one too.
Snatches
Snatch.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
1 hang snatch (3x45, 7x50kg)
After throwing that barbell in the air for some time I eventually started feeling better with it. I'm not saying it looked any better but it got lighter in the course of action. That encouraged me to throw in another snatch workout. Emom style singles from hang position. Purpose was to go squat snatch but that didn't actualize in the way I was looking for. But there were decent ones too. Got to just keep on snatching more!
First part of the metcon
Metcon. Result, 146 reps (6 front squat on the round of 14's)
13min amrap, 2-4-6-8… of:
Hang power clean, 60kg
Front squat, 60kg
Handstand push-up
This was one qualification event in a Finnish throwdown called Karjalan Kovin, one of the biggest competitions in Finland. It caught my eye when I first saw that one so today it finally ended up on my program. 13 minutes of bar work and hspu's. Idea was to start with 2 reps of each, then 4, then 6, always adding 2 more reps after each round, until the time cap gets you.
Hard to say which element was the toughest, each had their thing in the mix. I broke the cleans the most. Rounds of 2-4-6 were unbroken and combined immediately with the squats. Round of 8's was basically also unbroken. I did 7 reps, and put the bar down because I wanted to recover for the squats. Round of 10's started to beat me up good time. It was 6-3 before the final single and front squats. 12's was 6-5, and then the last power clean before hitting the squats.
Second part of the metcon
Squats really burned my legs. That was no surprise. It was pretty obvious it's gonna hurt a lot. 60kg barbell is going to feel a lot more at certain point. They also brought flames on my lower back. That was probably the most painful thing in this one, and prevented me to drop ass to grass. I went unbroken with the squats up to the round of 10's. At 12's I did 8-4, and then moved on to the hspu's. They were 8-1-1-2. I lost some balance there so it cut to smaller pieces in the end. Other than that they rolled well and were probably the "easiest" part of this. Very good and holistic workout! And tough.
Tuesday. Front squat, build up to a heavy single (PR 138kg). Metcon, 15min amrap of: 12 pull-ups, 300m row, 12 box. Result, 5 rds + 300m row.
Damned it was a tough day at work. We had the longest seminar ever, and had to sit for almost the entire day, for 8 hours. That doesn't do good to human beings. After foam rolling and mobilizing the body I felt okay to get going with heavier front squats. This has been in the back of my head for 3 days now so it was great to get a chance to go for them.
Strength.
Front squat, build up to a heavy single (100, 110, 120, 130, 135, PR 138kg)
Plan was simply to build up, and see how far away I could get today. I reckoned a new record might be available because of all the Smolov squats lately. There were couple of reps at 60 and 80kg, then just singles from 100 kilos on. Those were light up to 120kg. My posture stayed good on these reps and back was in an upright position.
The first heavier one was at 130kg but I felt like that the form looked similar in this one too. Elbows were pointing to the right direction too. Pretty solid lift in my opinion. The next one was my old 1RM at 135kg. I believe I've made that lift 2-3 times in my life but never more than that. There my elbows dropped a little right when I started the ascend from the bottom. That was a tight lift but once I got pass that certain point it was just about standing up. The bottom position, and the turn of direction is the toughest moment.
Before the last rep I did the same thing as when I updated the records on back squat. Piled up 20kg more weight on the bar, stood up with it and counted for 5+ seconds just to feel the weight on my front rack. Psychological game. The descend was slow as hell but at least controlled. That might have eaten up some of the energy but the turnaround back up was alright. In the middle of the ascend my elbows started bailing out and dropping too much. Thus, the lift wasn't as beautiful as I'd like to see but hey, PR is a PR and I'll take it with pleasure!
Squat recap
Metcon. Result, 5 rounds + 300m row
15min amrap of:
12 pull-ups
300m row
12 box
Pauliina hit this one with me. It's been a lot of fun doing same workouts with my wife. And I got to say she's been kicking some ass big time! Rower was a walking distance away from the pull-up rack / box so I used that for recovery. The main inspiration for this one was pull-ups. And I wanted to get heart rate up so rowing and box jumps were great buddies to accompany pull-ups.
I'm happy that I've been able to put pull-ups in my program consistently without any problems. There's been a good bunch of those already in the past month. Those were unbroken today in each of the 6 rounds. That totaled 72 reps. Rowing was 1:45 pace in the beginning and towards the end it was closer to 1:48 pace. The elements were put to this order so that right after rowing you got to go box jumping and burn your legs. Then upper body gets a little rest so I could knock down the pull-ups unbroken. This was a good workout for sure.
Simply didn't have any energy today. Plus I wanna give a little recovery for my elbows. I suppose they are a bit inflamed. Yesterday was a good one with all the focus on lower body. That means to say my legs are beaten up right now. So there were couple of reasons why to stay at home this Monday.
Sunday. Emom x 21min. 1st min: 30 du, 2nd min: 10 pistols, 3rd min: 12 ghd. Emom x 15min: 20m lunges with a 10kg vest.
Today we went to the beach to enjoy the hot summer day. It was a great weekend in general. Lots of relaxation and good times with the family. We also went to see a friend who just got their firstborn couple of days ago. He was such an adorable little kiddo =) In the evening I went to the gym. Got to keep my elbows relaxed now, they are sore as hell.
Bodyweight.
Every minute on the minute x 21 minutes
1st min: 30 double unders
2nd min: 10 pistol squats (5/5)
3rd min: 12 ghd sit-ups
Story in short. Double unders sucked big time. Couldn't find the rhythm at any moment. One set was unbroken, the rest were troubled. Pistol squats went straight, 5 left and then 5 right. Ghd's were easy. Tried also ones with medball to get more resistance. Those felt awkward. Not heavy but the motion was somehow strange and it didn't feel good in my lower back so I did only one set with that ball.
Accessory.
Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
20m walking lunges with a 10kg vest
I still wanted to get something done, and weighted lunges came to mind. I had a barbell in my back for a test drive but that put too much stress on my elbows so I came up with the vest. 10kg extra weight. The grass matt is 20 meters long so I walked it back and forth for 15 minutes. That was a great quad burner.
It turned out to be a rather surprise workout. My plan was to hit front squats but we went to Klaukkala so that meant an outdoor workout at its best
Metcon.
15min amrap of:
2 rope climb
Sled pull
The distance of the sled pull was about 40 meters one way so it totalled 80 meters. First piece was a decline and coming back was an incline. That means to say the latger piece of the sled pull was much tougher. Plus of course legs got more tired on the comeback. Don't know how much the sled weighed. We put all the plates Kari has. I guess that's pretty much 40+ kilos. And the sled is 20-30kg itself.
First round
It's been time since I had my hands on the rope. This is one of the rare places where I have found a good spot to place the rope hang. There's a perfect tree branch at a good height, something like 5 meters. This climbing thing felt much better than I had hopes for. That means I didn't have to recover that much begween the climbs. Felt like I had a good rhythm going on there. Sled was a lot worse on the body. It totally murdered my legs. Especially on the incline. Got a very good workout out of this!
Friday. Back squat, build up to a heavy single (PR 152kg). Deadlift, build up to a heavy single (200kg). Intervals, every 4:00, perform all out sprint of: 10 deads (110kg), 20 box, 2x20m shuttle sled push (55kg + sled).
At the end of hard core squatting in the Smolov phase, it was only natural to try one rep max for back squat. Today was the day. Turned out I got the prize I was looking for in the form of a personal record kaboom! Then couple of heavier deadlifts, and tough interval action which burned my legs bit time.
Strength.
Back squat, build up to a heavy single (110, 120, 130, 140, 145, 150, PR 152kg)
Deadlift, build up to a heavy single (140, 170, 190, 200kg)
My back was still a bit tight from all the heavy squatting lately. Legs were great, and hips felt also awesome, and ready to pump it. My mobility in the beginning was longer and more extensive for a reason. I wanted to nail these. There was classical foam rolling, dynamic stretching and rubber band work to get joints ready for bigger loads.
Took 60 / 90kg lifts for couple of reps, then purely singles starting from 110kg, and then went up in 10kg jumps up to 140kg. That was the first weight that felt kinda heavy. The previous ones were easy ones. Up to 145kg I took them casually, and with confidence.
From then on I did a lot of mental work. Plus I did something awkward. I put 150kg on the barbell, and then added 10kg plates on both ends of it to make it 170kg. Stepped up with it to make it feel heavy on my back. Held it for couple of seconds, and dropped it back on the rack. Then removed the 10's and went after 150kg. Of course not right away because I wanted to the legs to feel fresh. I've only lifted 150kg once in my entire life so getting that up was almost like a record breaking lift for me.
The reason behind visiting 170kg was psychological. After that 150kg felt much lighter in my back. Turned out to be a good idea. Got 150kg but it was heavy though. This was my goal of the day. I'm pretty sure I would not have gotten this load up before Smolov. Maybe 145kg but not 150kg.
I actually told one fellow trainer at the gym I got what I was looking for but I'm hungry for more. For a while I was wondering how the heck am I going to get that but then the same strategy came down as with the previous lift. Those 10kg plates appeared at the end of the barbell. Stepped up with 172kg, and held it for couple of seconds before re-racking the bar.
Lots of inner talk of being able to make it, then stepping to get the bar on my back. Huffing and puffing, get down, and grind it all the way up. Celebrate afterwards. I'm very happy of making this new PR of 152kg real.
After squats I took couple of heavier deadlift singles. There wasn't really much deadlift reps to be done today. I guess it was 5x60, 4x100kg, and then just singles leading up to 200kg. On the last two I felt like I wasn't able to maintain such a form as I'd like to. Especially the last one so I didn't put more weight on the bar. It's still awesome to hit 200kg any given training day.
Squats and deads
Intervals.
Every 4:00, perform all out sets of the following:
10 deadlift, 110kg
20 box jump
2x20m shuttle sled push (55kg + sled)
Damned this was cruel. It was not classic emom stuff. The main purpose was to go hard on every single set. Not pace it out and save energy. No. Do every set as quick as possible, and rest for the remaining time. Once 4 minutes are full, go for another set.
The sled killed me. Deadlifts and box jumps unbroken of course. That was the purpose. Deads were light but it was perfect weight for this one at least today. Box jumps were surprisingly consuming in the end. But that sled… Huh, what a piece of equipment. It was intentionally light, just 55kg plates on top of what the sled weighs itself. I did not respect this one as much as it deserved. It was just pure evilness. My legs recovered on the first break but towards the end they were tired when starting the rounds 3 and 4. This was freaking great workout!
Thursday. Skills day: Ring mu's, Bar mu's, Handstand walk.
This was intentionally a lighter day, and I concentrated purely on developing my skill base. Good bunch of muscle-ups and then handstand walk to crown the session. It was awesome to witness my lovely wife hit some bad ass crossfit metcon.
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
Bar muscle-up
Handstand walk
I took couple of sets of ring mu triples. These felt alright. Had one miss but other than that everything was good. My focus was to keep tension in the body throughout the motion. Both up and down. At the moment I'm happy on the form. In the evening I watched one of Carl Paoli's video clips where he teaches how to do muscle-ups with ease and I got to say it looks a bit lighter than my versions =) Well, that was no surprise but still I'm happy with these.
It was basically 15 reps on both elements. That was the most I dared to do. Don't know what's up with my palms but with a big volume they tend to tear up. So this was the max I wanted to do. There was more energy that could have been used for more muscle-ups but this was a sensible call. Bar mu's were much easier as they always are.
My gym has the best possible platform for training handstand and handstand walk. The grass matt is 20 meters long so that's plenty for me, and there's almost always enough space to practice this specific skill. I took couple of reps / attempts here, and occasionally was able to walk pretty decent distances. 10 meter was the longest streak.
Wednesday. Emom x 8min: 2 hang squat snatch @ 50k. Intervals, every 2:00, for 14min, perform 5 s2o (50kg), 10 pull-ups, 15 box.
Today was actually planned to be a clean day but I took those extra cleans yesterday with a great end result so this left some room for snatches. It was an emom workout ahead of me, then quick intervals to get heart beat up and feel miserable (of course in a good way) =)
Snatch.
Every minute on the minute x 8 minutes
2 hang squat snatch @ 50kg
It's been some time since snatching last time. Probably didn't do any of them during Smolov, at least not squat snatches. I'm looking to have better hip mobility for snatches in the future due to all the squatting lately. Today I didn't get these on camera. There were tons of people at the gym and I didn't dare to tape this emom with all the people at the weightlifting platforms.
I feel like hang snatches are better on the spot compared to pulling from the ground. The timing is better and I can hit the barbell on my hips rather than my thighs. Which usually happens when pulling all the way from the floor. These hang snatches were from above knee.
These were decent lifts. I believe I jumped a little too much in front and my legs went a bit too wide on catching the bar but other than that they were quite okay. One missed lift on the last or second last set. That's because the bar stayed front too much. The weight was not the issue though. I took a double right after that. Good to have some snatches in the books! I'm planning to hit these maybe twice a week in the future. I just need more practice on these.
Intervals. Each set was 54-55 seconds
Every 2:00, perform the following sequence:
5 shoulder-to-overhead, 50kg
10 pull-ups
15 box jumps
Put all in effort on each interval, then rest for remainder of the 2 minutes
Great one! The weight should have easily been 60kg but elbows are not in full condition. Had to take it light. All the sets took me 54-55 seconds to complete. The idea was to put 100% effort ton each set. No need to shake hands or legs between movements because it was going to be a short interval. Rip through the jerks, then get rid of the barbell and hop on to the pull-up bar. Finally a good bunch of box jumps. Everything was naturally going to be unbroken. Otherwise the programming would have been a little off.
Rounds 3-7
My plan was to hit this for 10 minutes, that is 5 rounds. This started to kick in at about round 3, and I decided at the 4th round to continue up to a total of 7 rounds. Jerks were the easiest part of this one. Their purpose was just to fatigue the shoulder at least a bit so the pull-ups wouldn't be as easy. 60kg would have been a great weight for this. Combination of jerks at that weight plus pull-ups are a nasty combination, and always worth training for. My legs were on fire at the end of the intervals. These intervals where you have a pre-determined rest period are great.
Tuesday. Clean and jerk (max 85kg). Clean singles (PR 116kg). Emom x 21min: 1st min 30 du, 2nd min 12 t2b, 3rd min 12 burpee.
I was eager to hit some clean and jerks. Those overhead movements are cool, and I'd like to do those often. Having a barbell overhead is somehow brutal and manly stuff, and gives me a lot of pleasure. I've had this nagging pain in my elbows for a long time. It's on and off kind of thing. It pops up every now and then, and it might also be away for a good time. That's not cool. Anyway, this day turned out to be a success after all.
Toni brought me a souvenir from a throwdown he went to see during the weekend: Voodoo Floss. Hopefully this brings some release on the elbows. Thanks man!
My plan was to hit couple of singles, just to get the jerks going. And then see how 90kg+ lifts would feel like. I've been missing having barbell overhead for a heavy load. I took just singles, even with the lighter weights too. Then finished it off with 5-6 reps at 85 kilos. At this point my elbows didn't wanna take it anymore so I changed it to squat cleans.
I was definitely not aiming for max weight. Originally =) I took the 85kg bar, took it up, and put it down. Added 5kg and took another shot right away. Right after the rep, I added 5 more kilos, and took the clean. Repeated this routine up to 100kg. Basically without breaks.
112kg
It's awesome to be able to put three big plates on the barbell on the cleans. From then on, the game is on. That's not baby weight for me anymore. Having blue, yellow and green plates mean it's 110kg load. After that one I added 2kg after each rep. I figured doing 112kg would satisfy me enough. But it came up pretty well, and this was the first time I thought about hitting a record.
That felt tight so I just put 114kg on the bar. That rep's timing was a little off and I had to step it front a bit when standing up. At this point there was no turning back so it was 116kg next on the bar. Started pulling. Felt heavy but the bar came up well, and I found time to drop under the bar. Once it was on the front rack, there was no doubt of hitting the lift successfully. My legs can carry this kind of loads easily. It's more like a mental thing whether I dare to go under the bar or not. This time mental game was on the spot.
116kg
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 21 minutes
1st min: 30 double under
2nd min: 12 toes-to-bar
3rd min: 12 burpee
My mind was happy after this one, and I almost left the gym without a metcon. Scribbled this one at the spot. Double unders were a no-brainer. I need to keep practicing them. T2b's are always a good choice. And burpees of course. These elements are just perfect. Couldn't imagine a situation where I would look back at a workout with these, and think they didn't serve good for their purpose.
But how about the number of reps. That took me some time. Starting point with the du's was to have then mostly unbroken. On the first round I took 40 reps but had some misses so on the next round it was 30 reps and I stuck to that one till the end. Mostly unbroken, couple of misses including. But the biggest takeaway is that they felt great compared to the latest du sessions.
T2b's were unbroken. It took a toll on my grip and core in the end so the 12 rep sets were also a good choice for today. Burpees were the ugliest of these elements. Really made me breath towards the end. This was a good combination of movement, and finished the training session well.
Monday. Emom x 5min: 8 hspu. Rowing Helen. Time, 9.55.
Day after Smolov. Great. My legs are quite tired to be honest but I loved to hit a regular training session. Some bodyweight skills in the beginning, and then a benchmark workout as a rowing version. That worked well for this Monday. Plus I had Pauliina with me doing Helen. That was pretty sick! She kicked Helen's butt big time.
Gymnastics.
Every minute on the minute x 5min:
8 handstand push-up
I love this this movement. Great bodyweight element to work on shoulders, triceps and actually the entire body is tense during the reps. Got to be, otherwise it's not going to work well. This was emom style stuff. Complete 8 reps in a minute, then rest for the remainder of the minute. It got spicy pretty soon because of the short recovery, and this was the best I got this time. These are good portions to start a training session in my opinion. Doesn't take much time, and you still get a good bunch of reps in the bank.
It turned out I've done this once earlier about a year ago. Venue was different, a bit of a different set-up with more walking to be done around the gym. This place also had only 20kg bell. Okay another option would have been 28kg. Rx'd Helen is 400m run, 21 kb swing at 1.5 pood (=24kg), and 12 pull-ups. That I have done once, as one of the very first crossfit workouts ever, in 2012. Took my breath away big time then.
Today it did also. Maybe a bit of holding back a little. At least breathing-wise. My forearms were were shot from this combination. As rowing version there are three elements where grip is at stake. Rowing, and pull-ups are pulling movements and then kb swings need grip strength as well. The further the workout goes, more challenging the situation with the forearms go.
I completed this workout today in a similar way as last time. The only difference was probably the transitions. Rowing seemed to be the same pace. Sub 1:45 in the first round, and then sub 1:50 on the latter two rounds. Swings were unbroken, pull-ups were broken, don't quite remember the sets but it must have been the transition stages between stations that took my time.
Yesterday was pretty much a rest day. We spent the weekend in Klaukkala with the in-laws. Great quality time with the family. There was some yard work to be done, real life crossfit, and some games that we played, but other than that it was all eating and chilling. Recovery at its best. Sunday evening I went to the gym for the final day of Smolov squat program.
Smolov.
Back squat 10x3 (138kg)
I did mental prep for days leading up to this day. This is very close to my one rep max of back squat. How happy am I for this stuff to be over! Really, it was brutal, and every session was heavy in its own way. Sunday triples were the heaviest of each day but they were also the shortest sets.
It's been 4-time squatting for weeks now. It has also forced me to think a bit more of the metcons in a sense that I needed to step back on the volume of metcons during this Smolov thing. I've been missing some bad ass metcons, and I think I have good ones in reserve for the upcoming weeks.
There are some takeaways from Smolov. I was mentally strong. Big thing. These sets were not easy. Another thing is that strength crawled in to this body somehow because my legs took this burden well. My legs felt fresh throughout the game and had no issues whatsoever with lower body. Lower back felt the burden in the long run but legs were fine.
Squats 10x3
I was somewhat surprised of not hitting ass to grass in every rep as that was the key gain last year when I did Smolov. That is something that needs to be thought thoroughly. Still, it feels like mobility took a big leap forward this time too. Didn't feel tight or pain in the hips at any time. Very loose actually, felt very good about that. Maybe it was my back that wasn't mobile enough. In front squats it feels way easier to go all the way down because it's easier to keep the back straight all the time.
We only had one hour to do our workouts. And for the past weeks Friday's have been 7x5 squats with ascending weights. It takes some time to hit heavier sets so this was all I had time for. Warm-up takes close to half an hour before the first set is on my back, and warm-up is something I don't feel good skipping. It is number one prevention of injuries so warm-up is crucial.
Smolov.
Back squat 7x5 (130kg)
Damn it was great to move this load for multiple sets! It was a scary thought to do 7 sets of 5 reps @ 130 kilos. I prepped myself for the entire day and reminded every now and then that I can do this stuff. I've done sets at 130-140kg so this is not gonna be an issue. Easy money. Some uptalk to get my head around this session.
Warm-up was lengthy, and when I got to the barbell finally I took sets at 60, 90, 110, and 120kg's. After these my body was ready for the real deal at 130kg. On every set I took my time between reps, not rushing it through because I really didn't wanna see any misses. First sets were okay, heavy from the very first but manageable. In the latter sets it felt like I had to give my legs even more recovery between reps.
I'm very happy on being able to smash this session through. Next squat session is gonna be brutal. The week ends in triples, and heavier than ever. They are downright scary at this point. Got to get a good mental boost before entering the gym =)
Thursday. Power snatch 3-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1 (max 60kg). Metcon, 12min amrap of: 30 du, 10 ghd, 10 burpee. Result, 330 reps.
Day between squats. This was more like a go by feeling kinda day. Haven't done snatches that much lately so it was about time. On the metcon the main ingredient was double unders. I feel like they have gone a step back, and at the same time I'm looking enviously Pauliina completing them with great form so it got me some inspiration to hit them.
Snatch.
Power snatch 3-3-3-2-2-2-1-1-1 (triples at 50kg, doubles at 55kg, singles at 60kg)
I determined the weights beforehand. Triple snatches at 50 kilos, doubles at 55kg and finally singles at 60kg. It's been ages since doing power snatches in some other way than in metcons. This was not a timed portion, not emom, just completed a set, walked a bit, and continued further.
There's a lot to be done in my technique. I can hit light weight up to the hips but when something is on the barbell, I tend not to have the required patience. On the first pull everything is okay but then after knees I don't bring the bar high enough. Pretty classic stuff.
Triples and doubles were alright. I did them touch'n'go style and was confident on the weights. Okay, they are light weight after all but I haven't snatched in a while and this has never been a strength of mine. Singles at 60kg felt heavy. By heavy I mean it's not easy to get it overhead because the bar doesn't hit correct spots and the explosiveness lacks in the movement. But these weights don't bring any stress to the body because 60kg is not a lot of weight, no matter how you measure it. So it always kind of feels like a light day when doing snatches.
Metcon. Result, 330 reps
12min amrap of:
30 double unders
10 ghd sit-ups
10 burpees
This was a little fun conditioning part at the end of the session. Didn't wanna touch barbell as tomorrow's another good grind of squats. Just keeping the body moving on the days off. As I wrote, double unders are something that needs to get back in good shape. Today they felt good. Even though I had couple of misses, I felt my form was better and it felt much more natural.
Ghd's were the easiest part of this one but they kept my heart beat high. Burpees are always great. I enjoyed them a lot. They were kinda miserable but I liked them a lot. It's a good movement. There's not really a reason to stop. You can always complete one more burpee. Just hit it. Good mental movement. Managed to complete 6 full rounds plus 30 du's on top of that. Had the du's went better, there was time to complete the 7th round.
Wednesday. Back squat 5x7 (125kg). Gymnastics, 5rnft: 15 pull-ups, 10 ring dips.
More squats, 5x7 in the program. I had a great training partner with me at the gym - Jasper. He smashed some overhead strength this time. He's written us a great long chipper which we'll hit some day. Today we didn't have enough time. Need to match the schedules in the upcoming days / weeks. After strength I did some skills based gymnastics work.
Smolov.
Back squat 5x7 (125kg)
These long sets are painful. Actually my legs took these sets well but for some reason my palms are all white after every set. It's like the blood is not circulating well in to my arms. I showed my hands at the end of one set in the recap video. That means to say my hands are tingling. Why that happens is the width of my hands in the squat. Nowadays I keep them at the same width as in cleans. That creates a better and more stabile platform for the barbell to stay in the back rack position.
There is a possibility my mobility in upper body is not the best so that brings some issues. If it was perfect, blood would flow vividly, and it wouldn't bother my arms at all. Anyway, my point is the longer the sets, the more painful it gets. That's why these 7's are tough.
I'm happy on the way I was able to perform on ever set. There was no doubt of hitting the sets. Except in the morning as I realized this session is all about grinding hard. However, on the warm-up barbell felt light. I went up to 130 kilos for singles before starting the first set. Each set took an eternity, and some grunting was heard but I was determined to complete the sets.
Squats
Gymnastics.
5 rounds not for time of:
15 unbroken pull-ups
10 ring dips
Not an actual metcon this time. Timer was not on so it was "for quality". Only thing I had in mind was to do lots of pull-ups. It turned out to be 15 pull-ups, and I really wanted to do them unbroken. That's why I wrote in my notes already beforehand that they should be completed ub. I took my time to recover between sets properly. Rest periods were quite identical between each set.
On the ring dips I didn't have that clear plan. Just needed to hit some volume. Not huge but a good number still. Ten reps. First round was unbroken. I'm not sure if the second one was too. But third and fourth round were 5-3-2. My upper body was destroyed. Before last round I chatted with a fellow partner for some time which gave me more rest so I knocked the last set unbroken for 10 reps. This was good skills based workout in the end.
Tuesday. Every 30sec: 1 power clean, for 10min (max 95kg). Metcon, 20min amrap of: 20 cal row, 20 hang power clean (40kg), 15 hspu. Result, 3rds + 50 cal row.
I was waiting this training day eagerly. No squats today. But that was not the reason for me being anxious. I watched the Matt Fraser document that I've posted here as well. Got an inspiration from there so it's been tingling me for some time. Took some power cleans prior to that.
Strength.
Every 30 seconds, perform 1 power clean
0:00 - 1:00: 80kg
1:00 - 4:00: 85kg
4:00 - 8:00: 90kg
8:00 - 10.00: 95kg
Agenda was to just lift. Hadn't planned on the weights at all, just went by feeling. My legs are a bit tired from all the squatting but still the weights came up pretty well. Actually, I felt confident on the cleans, had no issues whatsoever. Breathing was easy throughout the 10 minutes which indicates the weights were easy to handle too.
My max power clean is 103kg so the heaviest ones were not that far away from that milestone. I thought 85kg would be pretty okay but it turned out to be too light. 90-95kg's were perfect for today's session.
Yes, I know the camera is somewhere it shouldn't but hopefully you get the idea =)
Metcon. Result, 3 rounds + 50 cal row
20min amrap of:
50 cal row
20 hang power clean (40kg)
15 handstand push-ups
This was rough stuff. Rowing was definitely the toughest part of this one. The combination of rowing and another pulling movement - cleans - was a sick combo. My forearms were numb at some point of the workout. Simply didn't have energy to hold on to the rower's handle. Almost.
It was a different type of approach to the cleans. Lots of them in one set with a light weight. It felt almost like cheating to have the barbell at 40 kilos only. It was light indeed. But it's kind of funny that it started to burn my forearms. For 2 rounds I went unbroken on the cleans. On the third round I fought the reps between 10-15, then had to drop it as I practically didn't feel my arms anymore.
Hspu's were good too. Okay, had to shake a bit after the cleans to get the feeling back on hands but then jumped agains the wall to knock some repetitions. First round was 10-5, second one was 7-4-4, and the third one was 8-4-3 reps.
There was a lot of conditioning to take place in this one. Rowing was challenging. It was exactly the combo of cleans and rowing that made it difficult. Hspu's was a smart move to throw in this one. Breathing was heavy throughout the workout for sure. This is something I recommend you guys to test out.
Two heavy Smolov weeks are in the books and the third one just kicked off. That naturally means more squats. After squatting my butt off I went for overhead squats and toes-to-bar as a couplet. The gym was crowded. It really looks like everybody wants to hit it on the first day of the week. And maybe it can be seen that the holiday's are pretty much behind us and people are ready to grind.
Smolov.
Back squat 4x9 (118kg)
Two weeks have gone by with this squat fiesta. The barbell has obeyed me this far. Every day has been heavy but still I've been able to move it around. When I first did these 4x9's the weight was 103, and last week it was 113kg. So today it was 15kg more than the first time. It's cool to see how it still comes up properly.
There's no chance of doing these reps touch'n'go style. Haven't even tried that. Maybe 2-3 reps but that would eat the energy of my legs so better do them as singles, reset at the top and then squat again. My fingers were tingling at the end of the sets. Maybe the blood isn't flowing as well after a long set because they are tightly around the bar.
Squats
Metcon. Result, 112 reps (7 rounds)
8min amrap of:
8 overhead squat, 40kg
8 toes-to-bar
Legs are taking this squat mafia thing well but my elbows have been painful for about two weeks now. It doesn't seem to go away easily. It's a bit of a dull thing as I'd like to do presses and jerks a lot alongside Smolov. At first I was about to skip the entire metcon because of this but then decided to stop bitching, and do the work.
This was in my notes reserved for a rainy day. It worked perfectly for today's agenda. It was a quick and intense work. Went unbroken on both movements. The time was consumed in the transitions. Couldn't jump right into the next station. Okay, I could have but I wanted to go unbroken all the way. In the beginning this was emom style but then pace slowed down a little and ended up reaching a total of 7 rounds. I was happy over this. Had no idea how far I would go but this was good.
Sunday. AM: recovery at the swimming stadium. PM: Back squat 10x3 (133kg). Metcon, 8min amrap of: 300m row, 12 ghd. Result, 4rds + 300m row. Cool down, 3k row.
In the morning we went to the Helsinki swimming stadium to relax, sunbathe and some recovery swim lapses. In the evening I went to work at the gym. It wasn't going to be an easy day. Lots of squat sets, heavy ones. Afterwards a very intense workout, and some easy rowing to flush my legs, and get them ready for the upcoming week.
Smolov.
Back squat 10x3 (133kg)
Honestly, this was a bit frightening day. I was nervous about the squats for the entire weekend as it was obvious it's going to be heavy. I did my mental game and went to the gym with a strong mind anyway. These squats were destined to come up as planned.
Ten sets of squats is always a bit more mental than doing 4 long sets. It feels like those sets are never ending. I took proper recovery between sets so these took me quite precisely 37 minutes. One set about every four minutes.
These were quite heavy from the very beginning but I managed to push them through in a similar way each set. Towards the end the sounds from my mouth got a little louder which means to say they were heavier. I'm happy this squat session is over =)
Squats
Metcon. Result, 4 rounds + 300m row
8min amrap of:
300m row
12 ghd sit-ups
I created this workout only after the squats. It was magnificent! This was a short metcon on purpose so I would be able to give my everything on the rower. No pacing, just do the strokes and get to the ghd's as fast as possible. For once, I was able to put the elements of the workout close together so there wouldn't be extra walking around the gym. This saved time for sure. Short transitions.
Rowing pace was 1.35 - 1.38 each round. That was enough to make my legs hurt. Breathing was naturally also heavy all the time. Ghd's were unbroken, and easier of the two elements. But it also got tough in the end. Not because of my core but because my legs were getting tired and those are needed in the ghd's too. Felt like hip flexors were on fire. This really made my gasp for air after the metcon was over.
Coold down.
3.000m row
Because the metcon was so intense, I figured it's beneficial to flush legs after the torture. There was no plan whatsoever, just kept pulling with easy pace. It was 2:00 pace all the time. No need to speed up. This was just a recovery row. At some point I decided to row for 2k but it felt so good that I kept going for an extra kilometer. Good training session!
Saturday. Skills, Bar muscle-ups, Ring muscle-ups, handstand.
Today was nothing scheduled on my program so it was more like a play day. Worked on some skills and just had fun fooling around. Pauliina was doing push presses so it was awesome to be there to support her.
Haven't done my homework on the muscle-ups lately. It feels like an eternity since I've done those previously. I had planned on doing only ring mu's but the rings were taken in the beginning so I jumped on the pull-up bar and started ripping it. Took only one set for 10 reps. That was a bit tight in the end but surely some more reps might be in the tank. At home I realized that happens to be my PR number. I've taken it once last fall.
Recap
Ring mu's were doubles every minute for 5 minutes. Felt good on those too. Handstand (walk) is something I could put more effort now as the surroundings are perfect. That grass matt is awesome for training being inverted because it's so flat.
