Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays. During Christmas time I had the opportunity to hit it almost every day, only Eve was a rest day. On that day I focused purely on celebrating this festivity. Couple of rather spicy ones took place.

Thursday 22.12

Every 10:00, perform one wod

• 21-15-9 of:
• Wall ball
• Burpee

• 21-15-9 of:
• Hang power clean @ 40kg
• Push-up

• 21-15-9 of:
• Shoulder-to-overhead @ 40kg
• Air squat

• Times: 4:15, 3:30, 2:51

This looks easy on paper. However, my feeling could not be further away from it. I wanted to have intense work being done. After the first piece it felt like it´s enough for the day hehe. My body was sore as I woke up in the morning, especially my arms / triceps. So doing pushing in a fast pace mode made them almost numb. It took me a little over 4 minutes to complete. Went unbroken all the time and with as little as possible transitions. Burpees probably slowed down somewhat during the process.

Both elements were also unbroken on the second piece, on both cleans and push-ups. Push-ups were the more difficult part of this one. Had to take short pauses on top at times in order to finish it ub.

The third one´s jerks went nicely even as the last reps of the sets felt challenging. Not that it was a heavy barbell. It was light indeed. But my body was shaking because of the intensity. Arms and shoulders were burning, and legs were on fire. Air squats felt very nasty at this point. I didn´t give slack to my body on this one so it hurt.

Friday 23.12

• Overhead complex, 5 sets of:
• 2 push press
• 2 push jerk
• 2 split jerk
• Barbell @ 70kg

It felt great to put the barbell to the sky. Barbell cycling in a combination of three different press/jerk styles. My warm-up was basically same routine at 40 and 60 kilos, then on to the work. This was good. On some sets I went touch´n´go from first to last rep, on some sets I paused on the front rack before another lift.

Wod

• 20min amrap of:
• 10 pull-up
• 7 front squat @ 70kg
• Run up and down the street (ca. 400m)
• Result, 5 rounds + 200m run

Last time I wrote I haven´t been doing pull-ups in months. Then I did 50 in an accessory style, and it hurt in my lats for a couple of days. This time I went more ambitious with the number of reps per set. Positively surprised that pull-ups were not an issue at all in this metcon.

After jumping down from the pull-up bar, I went for squats. Unbroken each set, tng. Right on to running back and forth the street in front of our house. This was a great workout. Felt like a steady pace all the way. Truth can also be that running slowed down a notch. Result was 200 meters shy of 6 full rounds.

Saturday 24.12

Rest day. There´s a lot of action taking place on Christmas Eve so there´s always a lack of time to do any training. Plus I had decided beforehand that I´ll focus on spending time with family.

Sunday 25.12

• Front squat 5x5 @ 110kg

Just came up with the idea of throwing 110kg on the barbell, and complete 5 sets of 5´s. These went great in my opinion. Had no problems with them. It was super to realize afterwards that the last time I did front squat 5´s, the last set was a tight 110kg. And today I completed 5 sets at the same weight.

• Wod, 8min amrap
• 2-2, 4-4, 6-6… of:
• Overhead squat @ 40kg
• Toes-to-bar
• Result, round of 12 reps + 8 t2b

There´s a little walking back and forth between stations. In the beginning I could have saved some time with the spots being closer but in the latter rounds this wasn´t an issue anymore. Ohs was unbroken all the way. Broke the t2b´s on the round of 12´s (into 8+4). Last round was also tough on the toes-to-bar. I finished the round of 14´s after the 8min time domain was full.

Accessory

• 3x20 unbroken sets of hang power clean @ 40kg
• Recovery run in the end

My father-in-law Kari was there to train with me. He went running and deadlifting, plus he threw some kettlebells around. I decided to do some accessory stuff. It turned out to be high rep cleans with light weight. These hurt in my grip.

Monday 26.12

• Oly
• Clean and jerk, unbroken sets of:
• 5 reps @ 60kg
• 4 reps @ 70kg
• 3 reps @ 75kg
• 2 reps @ 80kg
• 1 rep @ 85kg

I´m very happy jerks are getting back to where they used to be, and how they looked like. This were touch´n´go sets all the way. Except that last single at 85kg where I paused on the front rack before the jerk.

Oly

• 4x5 hang squat clean @ 80kg

Smooth stuff.

• Wod, 12min amrap of:
• 4 deadlift @ 130kg
• 8 handstand push-up
• 12 pistol squat
• Result, 6 rounds + 4 deads

Nasty mofo! None of these elements were easy. Okay, deadlifts were not super heavy but I just haven´t gone heavy so these were something to focus on. Hspu´s were probably the one I felt most confident about. Pistols were a misery but still doable. It was funny how it felt I´ll crash on the ground if I try to complete the first rep. But once I started lowering myself, they felt just fine anyway. That´s kinda cool to understand that you can do the work no matter how it feels like.

Week 50: Klaukkala & Munkka

Week 50. Mostly working at home this past week. Working towards heavy breathing and some strength too through squats. Mostly muscle endurance and mental game. On Monday I worked in Munkka where we used to live couple of months this past fall.

Tuesday 13.12

• Wod, 3rds of:
• 2min amrap push jerk @ 60kg
• 2min rest
• Result, 25-23-23 reps

This is a classic workout in my head. I stole this years ago from the legend himself, Mikko Salo, and have worked through this for couple of times. Great one! First round was 10-5-5-5, the latter ones were 10-5-5-3 reps. This was the best I've performed in this workout.

Wednesday 14.12

• Wod, 10 rounds of:
• 15 cal row
• 10 clean and jerk @ 40kg

Nasty one. I had man flu on Monday this week and my lungs were not yet in full capacity this day so I completed the first part of this in a decent manner at 9.05, then took a break and finished the workout more easily.

Friday 16.12

• Every 90 seconds, for 15 minutes
• 5 touch'n'go clean and jerks @ 60kg

Very good one. As always when you throw c&j in the game. Got them done smoothly. Muscle endurance getting better with semi-heavy weights.

• Workout
• 5 rounds of:
• 5 back squat @ 120kg
• 10 handstand push-ups

This was quite different. Heavy-ish back squats. Could be seen as a pure strength element. But throw in 10 hspu's after every set to create a different stimulus in the body. Went through unbroken each set. I took a break (rest as needed) between rounds.

Saturday 17.12

• Wod, 15min amrap of:
• 5 power snatch @ 50kg
• 10 burpee
• 15 toes-to-bar

My butt cheeks hurt after Friday's squats. Completed a morning metcon in the park before heading to Helsinki for Christmas errands. Snatches ain't my forté so this got tough. Even though there were a limited amount of them per round. Since I haven't done much t2b's I needed to break them more than before. Good workout to say the least!

• Accessory
• 50 pull-ups

In the end I did some pull-ups. It's been 2-3 months since doing them the last time. I've used a poor pull-up bar as an excuse but I can't lie to myself anymore. The pull-up bar that I have at home is thinner than what you're used to at a crossfit box, and it's located under a roof eave. That makes it impossible to do muscle-ups but it's okay to do pull-ups / t2b's anyway. Did these in small sets and still my lats hurt a lot the following days :)

Sunday 18.12

• Oly, hang squat cleans
• 3x50, 60, 80, 85, 90kg
• 6x80kg

Antti came to workout with me which was great! Having a partner share the suffer works every time. We did some cleans to start with, then he did Fran for the first time in his life while I fought through the following.

• Wod, 6rds of:
• 10 thrusters @ 50kg
• 10 pistol squats
• 10 kettlebell swings @ 32kg

Tough. Lower body got smashed. It took me days to recover my quads from this one. Got the thrusters unbroken each round. Pistol squats were completed alternating leg after each rep. Overall this was quite horrible. But I'm kinda proud of this one

Monday 19.12

• Wod, 6rds of:
• 30 dumbbell snatch @ 25kg
• 600m run

Went to old hoods and threw down in an outdoor workout in a park. Had taken a dumbbell from home with me, and that came in to use nicely in this workout. As simple as it gets, db snatches and running in the park. Back and forth for about 25 minutes.

• Cool down
• 1 mile run
• 30 dips
• 1min run

Had no hurry this time as my girls were meeting some friends in the city. So I decided to go for more like a jog, then couple of sets of dips at the beach, and finally jogging back to the in-laws' place where we had dinner in the evening.

Wednesday 21.12

• 5 rounds of:
• 20 thrusters @ 40kg
• 20 cal row

On Tuesday schedules didn't allow a training session to commence. On Wednesday we had some crossfit friends at the house but due to one guy's man flu we weren't able to go for a pair workout. Instead, I went after this one in the evening solo. Gross. Lungs hurt. Still, there were was something beautiful. Three rounds were unbroken, the last two ones were 14-6 reps.

Week 49: Partner wods, Single wods, LinnaMasters

Week 49. This past week I got friends accompany me in some of the workouts. I also went to see one throwdown in Hämeenlinna with Toni where my brother was competing in the Masters category 40-45 years. I'm training outdoors so nowadays the weather plays a bigger role than before. It's currently around minus 10 celsius degrees and we have a little snow in the ground. The winter is about to arrive for real.

Tuesday 6.12

• Wod, 20min partner wod with Pauliina
• 2min row
• 2min hang clean and jerk @ 2x15kg dumbbells
• The other one rows, while the other one clean and jerks. Change roles every 2min

• Accessory, core work

• Accessory
• 10 sets of:
• 12 walking lunges with 60kg barbell on back rack

It was awesome to hit it with my wife. Other one was rowing all the time, in 2 minute intervals. While the other one rowed, the other one did as many reps as possible of clean and jerks with a dumbbell, from hang position every rep. There was naturally also a 2 minute time window for this piece. So there was basically 10 x 2 min time slots, 5 for each movement. I believe we both had approximately 20 reps c&j every time. Took a shot at lungs and shoulders on this one.

Afterwards I went to the park with a barbell and performed lunges until my ass cramped. This was perfect to finish the day, and my posterior chain. The following days felt in my flutes for sure.

Wednesday 7.12

• Every 30 seconds, 1 squat clean, for 15 minutes
• 1-5min: 80kg
• 6-10min: 85kg
• 11-15min: 90kg

• Every 2:00, for 12 minutes (6 sets)
• 10 thrusters @ 50kg

Some barbell action for Wednesday. The first part got surprisingly spicy towards the end. I needed to lower the bar gently every time, no chance to drop the barbell. Got them done nicely though. The latter part was written to get a touch of high-rep / heavier thrusters. Usually they tend to be at 40 kilos. Or if they are heavier the volume stays lower. This was a lot of fun, and it was good to witness the bar moved well.

Thursday 8.12

• Wod, 30min amrap of:
• 500m row
• Run up and down the street (ca. 400m)
• Time, 28.50 after 6 rounds

Running is always a good option. So it rowing. Why not combine them. At the gym I used to go before, this wasn't possible because of the premises. At home it's more than possible. Okay, don't know what that means but it sure was a good combination. This was a bit longer than a "normal" workout which means to say I didn't start with an all in pace from the beginning. Still, this started to feel nasty. Was supposed to go for a 30 minute amrap. As I finished the 6th round a little shy of 29 minutes our daughter woke up, started crying and it was my time to step up being a dad :)

Friday 9.12

• Hang power clean 5x5 @ 70kg

• Wod with Antti
• 2min amrap, 2min rest, for 20 minutes
• 10 deadlift @ 100kg / 70kg
• 15 wall balls
• As many reps of burpees as possible in the remaining time
• Result, 16, 16, 16, 16, 18 burpees

Antti came to a workout session. We started with power clean 5's from hang position, alternating between sets. There weren't much recovery between sets. We just changed the weights and then it was time to go again.

The latter part threw me off guard. Didn't realize how it would feel like. It was painful. 2min amraps of deads, wb's and quite a bunch of burpees. Those burpees killed me. On the first round I got 16 reps, and then just tried to stick with that number. It felt worse and worse by the round. But mental game was strong and I got them done. On the last round I did 2 extra ones.

Saturday 10.12

• Rest day. LinnaMasters throwdown in Hämeenlinna

Bro was competing in the 40-45 category and I was some sort of coach for him on the competition. We talked strategies for each event. First one was a modified hero wod DT, 3 rounds @ 50, 2 rounds @ 60kg, and 1 round @ 70kg. Second event was 3-3, 6-6.. of overhead squats and t2b's in a 6min amrap. Last one was 9 min amrap of 30 cal row, 20 thrusters @ 50kg and 10 c2b's. Sipa made it to the 6th place overall, a great performance, proud of you bro!

Sunday 11.12

• Wod, 6min amrap
• 2-2, 4-4, 6-6… of:
• Thrusters @ 50kg
• Toes-to-bar's
• Result, round of 12's finished

• Wod, 15min amrap of:
• 5 snatch @ 25kg dumbbell, right hand
• 5 snatch @ 25kg dumbbell, left hand
• 10 clean and jerk @ 25kg dumbbell, alternating after each rep
• Run in the park (ca. 400m)
• Result, 4 rounds + 10 snatch

• Accessory
• 4 rounds not for time of:
• 8 curls right into 12 shoulder press @ 15kg dumbbell, right hand
• 8 curls right into 12 shoulder press @ 15kg dumbbell, left hand

These two workouts were quite bad ass. It was great that thrusters are working well for me right now. 50kg bar is not that bad. I went unbroken on all but the last round (round of 12's). I believe t2b's needed to be broken up at the round of 10's.

The latter metcon was done the in the park. Snatches and clean and jerks with a single 25kg dumbbell. Those 20 reps in the beginning of each round made breathing go heavy and legs go jello. It was not cool to start running right after.

In the end I did some accessory stuff with a 15kg dumbbell.

Weks 42-48: Klaukkala

Weeks 42-48. Lots of work has been put in. We moved to Klaukkala with Pauliina and our "newborn" baby. She's over 5 months now. She's kept us busy for sure. Everything has been great with her though but I can just see there's a lack of time for basically anything. Somehow I have sneaked workouts with the help of my lovely wife.

The training facility at our home is awesome. I put my hand in my pocket, picked up some money and went shopping at Rogue. Ended up purchasing a strongman element Yoke 2.0 with an additional pull-up bar and it also works as a squat rack simultaneously. There's a total of about 200kg weights, big plates for 170kg and fractional plates for 25kg. I also bought gym mat, total of 10 meters so I was able to use that as a platform at the garage gym to make the "floor" more balanced. That can also be utilized if I train at the park or the driveway.

It's been a blast throwing down outdoors every single time I get a chance to train. It's probably been something around 5-6 times a week. Volume has come down a lot as usually my sessions consist of either strength or conditioning piece. Whereas previously it was 2-3 pieces per session. Body feels fresh all the time which is a bit awkward. That also leaves me a feeling that I could smash my body a lot more. Currently I'm just happy to workout this volume. Maybe in the future there is a possibility to add volume but this is the case now.

Sessions have been versatile as this is crossfit anyhow. It's great to go outdoors when it's minus 5 celsius degrees. Just put more clothes on and your fine. I just have to wear winter gloves all the time. Maybe not ideal for barbell cycling haha. The grip has been a bit funny. Somehow I have already gotten used to it though.

Here are some wods I've done.

Wod, for time

• 1.000m row
• 50 db snatch @ 25kg

Strongman

• Yoke carry, up and down the park

Wod, for time

• 4 rounds of:
• 15 kb swing @ 32kg
• 10 t2b
• 20 medball squat clean

Wod, for time

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 hang power clean
• Run up and down the street (ca. 400m)

Wod, for time

• 10 back squat @ 70kg
• 20-16-12-8-4 db snacth @ 25kg between squats

Wod, for time

• 3 rounds of:
• 30 shoulder-to-overhead @ 40kg
• Run up and down the street (ca. 400m)

Wod, for time

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 overhead squats @ 40kg
• 20 db snacth @ 25kg

Pair workout

• Yoke carry 60m (1 athlete carries the Yoke all the time). Simultaneously a chipper:
• 50 back squat @ 60kg
• 50 t2b
• 50 hang power clean @ 60kg
• 50 medball clean
• 50 db snatch @ 25kg

Wod, for time

• 5 rounds of:
• 15 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
• 20 sandbag squats
• 300m run

Intervals

• Every 3:00, for 8 sets
• 250m row + 8 burpees, full force

Wod, for time

• 10 squat clean @ 40kg
• 10 squat clean @ 50kg
• 10 squat clean @ 60kg
• 10 squat clean @ 70kg

Wod, for time

• 8min amrap of:
• 2-2, 4-4, 6-6…
• Db snatch @ 25kg
• Burpees

Wod, for time

• 15min amrap of:
• 7 shoulder-to-overhead @ 60kg
• Run up and down the street (ca. 400m)

Wod, for time

• 5 rounds of:
• 5 power clean @ 70kg
• 12 toes-to-bar's

Wod

• 20 thrusters @ 40kg
• 15 thrusters @ 50kg
• 10 thrusters @ 60kg
• 5 thrusters @ 70kg

Wod, for time

• 3 rounds of:
• 1.200m run
• 25 burpees

Emom x 21min

• 1st min, 15 kb swing @ 32kg
• 2nd min, 12 goblet squats @ 32kg
• 3rd min, 9 shoulder-to-overhead @ 50kg

Wod, for time

• 14min amrap of:
• 20 wall ball
• 10 toes-to-bar
• 5 hang power clean @ 70kg

Wod, for time

• 5 rounds of:
• 5 clean and jerks @ 60kg
• 15 sandbag squats
• Run in the park (ca. 400m)

Wod, for time

• 15min amrap of:
• 10 hang power snatch @ 30kg
• 20 wall balls

Wod, for time

• 5 rounds of:
• 7 handstand push-ups
• 14 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
• Run up and down the street (ca. 400m)

Additional work relating to barbell cycling, strength work, sled pull, bodyweight work, accessories with dumbbells, oly lifts, bar complexes, interval work. It's been fun!

Weeks 40-41

Weeks 40-41. Couple of workouts have been completed

Ou, it looks like I had a draft of a post ready to be published. Only 2 months late though :) Life has been busy lately. These were workouts I did when still living in Munkkiniemi, Helsinki. Don't have any pictures right now to liven the post.



Monday.

• 4.8km run and 60 toes-to-bar's

Tuesday.

• Pair workout with Toni
• 80 thrusters @ 50kg
• 80 pull-ups
• 80 squat cleans @ 50kg
• 80 burpee box jumps
• 80 cal air bike

Wednesday.

• 5 rounds of:
• 5 deadlifts @ 110kg
• 10 handstand push-ups
• 40 abs

Sunday.

1. Push jerks @ 60kg (10-10-8-8-8 reps)

2. Workout,

• 15min amrap of:
• 10 back squat @ 60kg
• Run in the park

Monday.

• Workout of running and toes-to-bar's

Wednesday.

• 10 hang power cleans @ 70kg
• 20 pistol squats
• 8 hang power cleans @ 70kg
• 20 pistol squats
• 6 hang power cleans @ 70kg
• 20 pistol squats
• 4 hang power cleans @ 70kg
• 20 pistol squats
• 2 hang power cleans @ 70kg
• 20 pistol squats

Sunday 2.10: Squat cleans, Step-ups

Sunday. Emom x 10 min: 3 hang squat cleans @ 80kg. Accessory, 5 sets of: 12 step-ups @ 60kg

Barbell work all the way. First squat cleans, then accessory stuff to strengthen lower body.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes:
• 3 hang squat cleans @ 80kg

Found a steady spot at our current house so I was able to knock down couple of sets of squat cleans. My traps were sore from yesterday's cleans but it sure felt awesome to get hands on a bit heavier barbell. My neck and left shoulder have been sore for the past 3 weeks. I have never had any issues sleeping in various beds but this time the first bed on our journey was the worst I've ever had. Since then my left shoulder has felt a bit numb and neck is sore. Got to take that into account when writing my wods.

Accessory.

• 5 sets of:
• 12 (6/6) step-ups @ 60kg

It would have been nice to throw that barbell overhead but I didn't dare. Same reason kept the weight moderate on the step-ups but it was a good choice to get more burden for the legs. Went 6 reps on the left leg and then 6 reps on the right leg.