Sunday 31.1: Row, Farmer's walk, Sled, Sdhp

Sunday. Strongman Sunday, 3rds of: 500m row, 40m farmer's walk @ 113kg, 500m row, 40m sled pull @ 110kg (plus sled), 500m row, 15 sdhp @ 60kg. Time, 38.16.

Late evening session. I got inspired by two other crossfitters at the gym. They had a long pair workout which they had stolen from the legend himself - Mikko Salo. I went to explore Mikko's instagram for a good half an hour and tried to absorb every piece of wisdom he had revealed to fellow crossfitters. Then I brainstormed with myself and came up with this gem =)

Workout.

• 3 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 40m farmer's walk @ 113kg
• 500m row
• 40m sled pull @ 110kg (+sled)
• 500m row
• 15 sumo deadlift high-pulls @ 60kg

This was exactly what I was looking for. The stimulus was right on point. Lots of rowing mixed up with strongman elements. Haven't done much farmer's walk or sled work lately. Sumo deadlift high-pulls have been in the program for a reason in the past two weeks because that's pretty much the only thing with barbell that doesn't bother my wrist.

Got to say this was something close to genius. Rowing pace was something between 1:50 - 1:58 so nothing serious but still I had to keep pulling to keep the boat moving. Lots of these elements burdened lower body so rowing was a good add-on to that.

Farmer's walk after a day of deadlifting was interesting. I was able to maintain an upright torso so that didn't stress lower back that much. I like this movement for some reason.

Sled pulls are close to a nightmare. Damn they burn quads big time. First leg of the 40 meters is okay but the comeback is awful. These are far away from comfort zone.

Last strength element was the sumo deadlift high-pulls. I've done them in the recent history couple of times. Before that it was probably something like once a year pace. Now I've done them with 50kg barbell. Today I jumped up to 60kg, and felt okay with that weight. The bar path is a little off from ideal as it escapes a little too far from my shins but at least the barbell moves pretty well up and down.

Saturday 30.1: Deads, Emom

Saturday. Deads 5x5 (max 180kg). Emom x 20. 1st, 18 cal row. 2nd, 12 pistols. 3rd, 12 pull-ups. 4th, 16 ball slam.

Nice session. Loved to pull heavier after a long time. Then longer metcon. Went to the countryside afterwards to spend the weekend.

Pulls.

• Deadlift 5x5 (140, 150, 160, 170, 180kg)

Felt like these went very well. It's been a long time since last time. Especially the heavier pulls. Last set at 180kg. That is the heaviest deadlift set for 5 reps but there's more in the tank for sure. I'll post videos tomorrow.

Metcon.

• Emom x 20min
• 1st, 18 cal row 
• 2nd, 12 pistol squats
• 3rd, 12 pull-ups 
• 4th, 16 ball slams

This was surprisingly hard to finish with respect. There's been rather much pistols lately. Rowing also burned legs a lot. And those ball slams. It's all about squatting and towards the end my arms felt it too. I slam the ball to the ground with all I got every time to get the most out of this movement. Pull-ups were unbroken.

Friday 29.1: Row, Sdhp, Box, Kb, Ghd

Friday. 30sec on, 30sec off, for 10min: row. Wod, 10min amrap: 10 sdhp @ 50kg, 20 box overs. Wod, 5rds of 12 kb swing @ 32kg, 12 ghd.

Efficient session. Three-piece wod to finish the working week. I'm telling you guys I'm missing some old school barbell cycling. Once I get my body healed up 100% I'm gonna smash cleans big time. I've been dreaming of getting a bar on my front rack for some time now.

Workout.

• 0:00 - 10:00
• 30sec on, 30sec off, row for max distance

• 10:00 - 15:00
• Rest

• 15:00 - 25:00
• Amrap of:
• 10 sumo deadlift high-pulls @ 50kg
• 20 box jump overs
• Result, 199 reps (6 rounds + 9 box)

• 25:00 - 33:00
• Rest

• 33:00 - 39:27
• 5 rounds of:
• 12 kettlebell swing @ 32kg
• 12 ghd sit-ups

Clock was running constantly. The plan was to keep 5min breaks between wods but the latter recovery period stretched a bit as I was re-evaluating the movements. This was a great combination of action. There could be some cleans / snatches in the mix as well as hspu's, burpees and ring dips if my wrist would allow it. I really like this kind of effective sessions!

On the rowing my butt got numb towards the end and legs were smoked! Pace was around 1:35 throughout. A little faster in the beginning, maybe 1:32, and at slowest it was 1:37. I checked the distance after 10 minutes were over but I already forgot it.

On the second part the plan was to go unbroken on both movements. I could have broken the sdhp's early on and shortened the transitions. Don't know what would have been the best version but the goal of the workout was met today. Only in the last round I broke the reps as clock was winding down.

Box jumps seem to be my thing. I can keep going even with a heavy heart rate. Legs got tired though during the course of this workout for sure.

After these two workouts my legs were pretty much done so having kettlebell swings in the last piece got me thinking what can I pair it up with. Turned out to be ghd's. This was a nice core workout indeed. Took me slightly over 6 minutes to finish finish it.

Wednesday 27.1: Pistols, Pull-ups, Snatch

Wednesday. Metcon, 15min amrap: 10 pistols, 10 pull-ups, 10 db snatch @ 30kg. Result, 214 reps.

This was a one-metcon day and it was definitely enough for me. Wrist is still nagging so I still need to select what elements can be done. It was a positive thing that dumbbell snatches were okay!

Metcon.

• 15min as many repetitions as possible of:
• 10 pistol squats
• 10 pull-ups
• 10 dumbbell snatches @ 30kg, alternating after each rep

Pistol squats are always a good choice. Last time when there were pistols in my metcon couple of days ago those rolled pretty nicely. That encouraged me to throw them into today's wod as well. Pistols were alright, heavy but went unbroken with them in sets of 10 reps per round.

This was third day in a row of pull-ups. Okay, the volume hasn't been huge in the previous days. This is a movement that you can never do too much and these don't bother my wrist at all so why not do them a bit more now. These were unbroken too.

But those dumbbell snatches. Don't know why I picked up a 30k db… Okay 10 reps at lighter weight would have forced me to do more pistols and pull-ups. That would have changed the nature of the workout. On the other hand I'm very happy with being able to move this heavy 1-arm db snatch. In the first rounds I did these unbroken, and at some point started to do them in 6 reps, then a pause, and finish the last 4 reps.

I believe those snatches wore me out big time. The effect didn't focus in one place at all but it was a general fatigue that those brought. They gassed me pretty well and it wasn't a very tempting idea to start pistol squatting right away. Transitions in this wod started to get longer towards the end. Very good metcon.

Tuesday 26.1: Row, Ghd, Pull-ups, Deads, Box

Tuesday. Chipper, 500m row, 40 ghd, 30 pull-ups, 40 ghd, 500m row. Time, 9.17. Metcon, 21-15-9 of: deads (100kg), box. Time, 3.20. Accessory, double kb front rack squats.

Tuesday's have lately been reserved mostly for conditioning pieces. It was a two part session. Both were awesome metcons for sure. The latter was a classic stuff, old school version of pulls and box jumps.

Chipper.

• 500m row
• 40 ghd sit-ups
• 30 pull-ups
• 40 ghd sit-ups
• 500m row

Row, core and pull-ups, that was the name of the game. And the "thing" was definitely the ghd sit-ups. Rowing pace was at around 1:45 on both in the beginning and in the end. Ghd's were 26-14 on the first time. Could have done them unbroken but the possible gains didn't top the possible risks in my head. So I took a short break and finished the last reps. Nice to see that this was easy set.

Ghd's made me breathe but pull-ups were alright. I went 20 unbroken to start them, then dropped and finished them in 4-3-3 reps with small breaks between. They got surprisingly hard towards the last reps. The real thing in this workout was the second part of ghd sit-ups. It wasn't ok to fight for similar sets as in the first round. Instead, I went 4x10. Core and hip flexors felt the burden. After those rowing felt a bit awkward but after couple of strokes I got a good hold of it and was able to get to a good pace.

Kb squats

Metcon. Compare to 28.5.2013. Time 3.20

• 21-15-9 of:
• Deadlift @ 100kg
• Box jumps

It felt like I'm not ready for the second workout very soon. After walking around and chit chatting a while I got my head back in the game and took some warm-up lifts on the pulls. Just 130kg's for a triple but that helped to get oriented towards the work load ahead.

This is classical workout that seems to repeat in different competitions. It's been at least in some year's Crossfit Regionals, and I've done this myself before too. Pulls were unbroken on the first round, that was a nice surprise. Okay, it should be ub but it's been a while since deadlifting a barbell in general and for longer sets especially. I thought it might get more spicy but that was good. Box jumps felt sticky as my legs were jello already before this workout =)

On the second round of deads I went 9-6 and the last round was unbroken. Box jumps were steady pace sets each round. I'm happy on the way I was able to go through this one. It felt horrible in my legs. Lower body has been in a good test in the last week or more and it's gonna continue as it's not possible to push or jerk weights or even bodyweight currently. That's why I need to pay attention to the programming now, and it's natural that legs are going to get the most attention.

Accessory.

• Double kettlebell front rack squats
• 5 reps @ 2x16kg
• 5 reps @ 2x24kg
• 5 reps @ 2x28kg
• 5 reps @ 2x28kg
• 5 reps @ 2x28kg
• 5 reps @ 2x28kg
• 10 reps @ 2x28kg

Something new and fun to finish the session.

Monday 25.1: Squats, Bulgarian squats, Pull-ups, Box

Monday. Back squats 4x8 @ 120kg. Bulgarian split squats 4x10 (both legs) @ 2x16kg dh's. Wod, 3-6-9-12-15 of: pull-ups and box.

Another leg smash day. Good volume of squats or at least longer sets of back squatting. Then new accessory stuff. In the end I took a short metcon to get heart rate up.

Strength.

• Back squats 4x8 @ 120kg

Now as my wrist is out of order it's only natural to squat more. Back squats are always a good call. Everything starts with legs and there is room for these guys to get stronger. I went for long sets at 120kg. Couple of sets there. No doubt this kind of sets are a bit of a mental game but the weight was tolerable so there was no doubt of hitting them without issues. It was just a question of how much it would hurt and how quickly I would be able to complete each set.

Accessory.

• Bulgarian split squats @ 2x16kg dumbbells
• 4x10 with both legs

Yep, this is something I haven't done in the past. There is no doubt this is one annoying movement but it's also very efficient one. Probably works nicely after squats. Got to try them a couple of times and make some conclusions then with better knowledge. I also need to study how they should be done correctly. The way I do them on the video is most likely not the best version of them =)

Old school from 2013

Wod.

• 3-6-9-12-15 of:
• Pull-ups
• Box jumps

Quick one. Went unbroken with everything but the last set of pull-ups. My body was quickly worn out after starting the workout. Last round was 10-5. This was an intense one in the end. Nothing serious though.

Sunday 24.1: Row, Pistols, Sdhp, Sled

Sunday. Metcon, 1.000m row, 50 pistols, 50 sdhp. Sled pull, 3x40m @ 110kg, rest as needed.

Today we went to the gym together with Pauliina. Quality time with the family I would say. Plan was to ride to the sun with jerks but my wrist hurts more than it has this far. Got to be careful with that one so I changed plans and did things that don't put lots of pressure on that area.

Metcon.

• 1.000m row
• 50 pistol squats
• 50 sumo deadlift high-pulls @ 50kg

Great one! Huh, this was not a pleasant idea to jump on to. The row was a good warm-up. I saw there no point in rowing my ass off and getting out of breath before the pistols. That would gassed me out of the game. The pace was a little faster than 1:50 / 500m. I guess the time was 3.38 at 1.000m.

Got to admit that 50 pistol squats in a row made me hesitate a bit. Decided to complete them in sets of 10 reps, alternating after every rep. They went better than I anticipated. Very pleased on them. Maybe couple of shady ones there that I'm not entirely pleased with but in general I'm very happy.

Last element sumo deadlift high-pulls. These were supposed to be 70kg hang power cleans but there was no chance I was getting a barbell on my front rack. Wrist doesn't allow that to happen. This was a perfect sub for cleans. Doing high-rep workout with sdhp's has been tickling me for a long time so this suited very well. Got them done in 10-10-5-5-5-5-5-5. Check the video for pistols and sumo's.

Sled.

• Sled pull backwards
• 3x40m @ 110kg (plus sled)
• Rest as needed between sets

This was a killer in the end. It's now been pretty much 10 days in a row doing squats or burning legs in some form. The purpose of this workout in the end was to get strong mentally. I'm telling you my quads were burning big time. Especially on the way back. The grass matt is 20 meters so I went back and forth. The way back was a murder on the mid-way. I took something like 3min rest between efforts. My quads were hard as rock after each set. They were close to cramping most of the time.

Saturday 23.1: Lunges, Squat, Kb, Bodyweight, Accessory

Saturday. Metcon, 10min amrap of: 10-15 kb oh lunges (2x16kg), 10-15 push-ups, 10-15 t2b. Metcon, 3rds of: 5 back squat @ 125kg + max set of hspu's. Accessory, 4rds of: 15 back rack lunges @ 50-60kg + ghd accessories.

It was a busy day on Saturday and I really got to the gym only at around 7-8pm. That was kind of a weird feeling getting there that late. Anyway, the session was a success even though my wrist is killing me. Have to think about the movements a lot now in order not to stress it too much.

Metcon. Result, 5rds

• 10min amrap of:
• 10-15 kettlebell overhead lunges @ 2x16kg bells
• 10-15 push-ups
• 10-15 toes-to-bar

This was my warm-up metcon. Every time I have programmed one with the same ideology they still make me feel heavy. I started by doing 15 reps each movement and then after 2 rounds changed it to 10 reps on every element. It was probably the first time doing overhead lunges with two kettlebells. At least with this weight. Spectacular movement for sure! It would be nice to try heavier too if I found some bells for that purpose.

It came as a surprise how much that static pressure burned my shoulders. Or maybe that was not the surprise part but doing push-ups right after turned out much more challenging than normally. And the amount of reps was very modest on that one. T2b's went nicely but had to drop the amount there too to get them ub.

Wod.

• 3 rounds of:
• 5 back squat @ 125kg
• Max set of handstand push-ups (15-11-11 reps)
• Rest 2min between sets

Decided to mix heavier squats with gymnastics movement. Very good combo. Never have I done this type of stuff. Pretty much like a strength set and bodyweight moves right away. I thought about doing 10 hspu's on each set, then at some point I figured 12 reps. It turned out I went for max set on each round. First was 15 reps, then 11 on the last 2 rounds.

Accessory.

• 4 rounds of:
• 15 back rack walking lunges @ 50-60kg (2 sets each)
• Ghd accessories, 10 reps with weights + 10 reps bodyweight
• Rest as needed between sets

Lunges are great. Rarely do I get a chance to walk straight forward with a barbell on my back at the gym. There are always people doing their work. During the weekends the probability to get an empty grass matt. Lunges felt good. The second element of this accessory stuff is easier to show in video. Take a look at the clip above. I did bunch of reps with a barbell, then dropped it and finished with 10 bodyweight reps.

Friday 22.1: Snatch, Squat, Deads, Hspu

Friday. Emom x 10min: 2 hang snatch (50kg). Back squats 5x5 (120kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 7 hspu (110kg), 10 hspu, 30 air squats.

My plan was to get a long session at the gym after a rest day. Got to be honest to myself that this wasn't the best of sessions. My wrist has been sore this week without any good reason and it's been bugging me, today as well.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 1 snatch pull + 2 hang snatch

Wrist prevented me to go heavier on these. Maybe timing was a bit off anyway but I'll take this. The weight itself wasn't too bad and I played with it in the end with couple more reps for fun. I just wanted to work on this movement.

Strength.

• Back squat 5x5 @ 120kg

I really like this one. Squats are the best. Today I kept it light though. But squats should be part of almost daily program. If I had enough time I'd go for squats more often. My back felt tight on the snatches and transferred to the squats too.

Old school

Metcon.

• 3 rounds of:
• 7 deadlift @ 110kg
• 10 handstand push-ups
• 30 air squats

The combination of these elements is excellent. Great burn for the posterior chain. My back was too tight for getting the best of this for real. Squats started to make the back feel very uncomfortable. As I said in the beginning, this session was not the one I'll be telling stories about to my grand children sometime in the future but it was definitely fun to hit it once again.

Wednesday 20.1: 40min running clock

Wednesday. 0-10min: 30 air squat, 10 t2b, 10 double kb jerk (2x16kg). 10-20min: build up to heavy c&j. 20-30min: 10 burpee, 25 du. 30-40min: row.

I'll try to get this type of workout done rather ofter. Goal is on a weekly basis. Let's see how this adjustment is going to take place. Effective and lots of work done in short period of time. How I structured this one is that the first is founded on bodyweight elements, maybe some weights thrown in too. But it's something you can go after soon after entering the gym and right after just short warm-ups.

Workout.

• With a running clock for 40 minutes, complete the following:

• 0:00-10:00min, 10min amrap of:
• 30 air squats
• 10 toes-to-bar
• 10 double kettlebell shoulder-to-overhead @ 2x16kg
• Result, 280 reps (5 rounds + 30 air squats)

• 10-20min:
• Build up to a heavy clean and jerk
• Result, 95kg

• 20-30min:
• 10 burpees
• 25 double unders
• 267 reps (7 rounds + 12 du's)

• 30-40min:
• Row
• Distance, 2.550m

Even though the first one is bodyweight it doesn't mean it's easy. Especially my legs took a good beating there on the air squats. Went ub on those anyway, just paced myself on those last rounds. T2b's unbroken too, somehow my grip started to slip a bit but 10 reps should be okay any day. Damned that last element was great. Jerks from shoulders with two kettlebells at the same time. It's a pity these 16 kilo bells are the only ones that we seem to have 2 units.

It's a bit different thing to do strength piece after metcon. This is most likely beneficial to mix things up in this way. It's been ages since doing heavy clean and jerks so it was cool to get that barbell overhead. Timings were a bit off  but I'm happy to get 95kg i the air. That was the last one I tried.

I thought this would be a nightmare at this point of the workout. For some reason I felt very comfortable on this one. And the biggest takeaway is that double unders are going perfectly. Once I remember to foam roll my shins prior to du's. Today there were no misses in any of the rounds, ub all the way. This metcon took the best of me so the last 10 min row was easy pace. Still, my legs were cramping most of the time. That proved me this session was a success.

Tuesday 19.1: Row, Pull-ups, Hspu, Cleans

Tuesday. Metcon, 3rds of: 500m row, 15 pull-ups, 15 hspu. Time, 11.50. Metcon, 10min amrap of: 4 squat clean (80kg), 20 cal row. Result, 91 cal row.

Agenda was to skip strength pieces from today's program and concentrate purely in conditioning. Two different metcons with mostly bodyweight elements but I also threw in some cleans to get some barbell work done too.

Metcon. Time, 11.50

• 3 rounds of:
• 500m row
• 15 pull-ups
• 15 handstand push-ups

On the warm-up main focus was on opening my hips and getting shoulders mobile with the help of resistance band. That's a daily thing I do. Tying a knot on the pull-up bar and looking for the painful points. Works every time. Gets my joints much more prepared for the workouts ahead.

At first I wasn't too sure about the amount of reps on the hspu's. 15 sounds like a lot in a row. Then on the other hand, usually when I've done sets of 10 reps they have mostly gone unbroken. That's why I had a good confidence on going after these 15's.

It turned out that I got 2/3 rounds done ub. I'm very pleased on that. Because when the wall hits you on the hspu's it's gone then. The last round was 10-3-2. Very happy. Pull-ups were probably something alike. I'm not sure if it was 2 rounds unbroken, but the last round was 8-4-3. Rowing stayed somewhere around 1:50. At first it was 1:45, then couple of seconds slower.

Metcon. Result, 91 calories on the rower

• 10min amrap of:
• 4 squat clean @ 80kg
• 20 cal row

The first workout took a good piece of my energy reserves and even though the first workout should not have burnt my legs that bad they still felt short of power when I began the second piece. It was 4 x singles to get the cleans done. I was able to do them practically without breaks in between reps. It took something between 10-20 seconds to finish those reps. I have no idea what the pace was on the Concept2 but it kept my breathing heavy anyways.

Monday 18.1: Cleans, Squats, Burpees, Accessories

Monday. Emom x 10min. Odd, 3 power clean. Even, 3 hang squat clean. Front squat 3x5. Metcon, 5rds of: 7 back squat (70kg), 12 burpee. Time, 6.00. Accessory, 3rds of: 10 reverse lunges, 10 reverse hypers.

Efficient but a rather lengthy session. Oly lifts, squats, metcon and some accessories. Everything I'd like to squeeze in one session of crossfit. Still, it got fit in one hour.

Reverse hypers

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Odd min, 3 power clean
• Even min, 3 hang squat clean
• Sets at 80, 85, 85, 90, 90kg

Started quite soon after entering the gym. Original goal was to go at 90kg all the way but I took the first as "warm-ups". I really didn't take that much preparation before these lifts. These went pretty well. I'm happy that those 90kg power cleans were unbroken without dropping the bar between reps. That was kind of a mystery how it would turn out to be.

Strength.

• Front squat 3x5 (110, 115, 120kg)

This felt heavier right after the cleans. Especially now as I try to do the pieces with less rest time in between. I actually wasn't able to get the last rep on the set of 120kg done. That was a bummer but I decided to forget it and move on.

Metcon. Time 6.00

• 5 rounds of:
• 7 back squats @ 70kg
• 12 burpees

Huh, this was a quick and intense one. Burpees are the real deal in here. Okay, also squats are challenging as the entire body is pumped up from the burpees. The last 2 reps on squats burned my hamstrings nicely but the thing was absolutely the burpees. I'm happy on the way I was able to keep moving.

Accessory.

• 3 rounds of:
• 10 reverse lunges (60, 70, 80kg)
• 10 reverse hypers (0, 20, 30kg)

The purpose was just to get more strength stuff done. Lunges are perfect for that. I have never gone this heavy on these. Mostly something like 50-60 kilos. Right after every round of lunges I went to do reverse hypers which is a killer movement for hamstrings and butt cheeks, the entire posterior chain to be correct. Started with that empty machine and added some weight on the following sets. This is rather new stuff for me.

Sunday 17.1: C&J, T2b, Squat, Jerk

Sunday. At 0:00: Wod, 9min amrap, 3-3, 6-6, 9-9… of: c&j @ 60kg and t2b. At 20:00: Back squat 5x3 @ 130kg. At 40:00: Wod, 3rds of: 2min amrap of push @ 60kg, 2min rest.

Saturday was a rest day. We had a date night with wife and no room for crossfit to kickstart Saturday. Today it was compensated with a great training session. Even though I was not on a tight schedule I decided to keep it effective. With a running clock all this work got done in 50 minutes, with about 10-15 minutes of warm-ups before the first metcon.

Metcon. At 0:00. Result, 82 reps (8 t2b's on the round of 15's)

• 9min amrap
• 3-3, 6-6, 9-9 of:
• Clean and jerk @ 60kg
• Toes-to-bar

Ugly stuff if you ask me. Whenever there's lots of clean and jerks involved with semi-heavy loads, it's gonna be nasty. In the beginning it's not gonna wear you down but the further you go, the more c&j's you gotta perform in a row, and that's the ugly part. At least for me.

Plan was to do all barbell movements in triples, no matter what round was on. And t2b's just by feeling, they were not the main piece here. That strategy stuck till the end nicely. This really got to my shoulders and legs. Maybe legs even more on the push jerks.

First metcon

Strength. At 20:00

• Back squat 5x3 @ 130kg (last set for 5 reps)

It kind of felt like I'm ready to go home after the first metcon. 9 minutes of pain felt bad enough. Had to walk the pain away for a while, then started warming up for the squats that stood in my calendar. It's a funny feeling when 60kg back squats are so heavy that I decided to do just a triple instead of the 5 reps that were in my mind…

Ultimate goal was 130kg that was looming in my eyes on the horizon. Luckily that wasn't too far away. Normally it wouldn't be that bad but after the first piece it felt unreal. It was great to go for back squats anyway. Total of 5 sets of triples, except the last set witnessed 2 extra reps just for the fun of it.

Squats and jerks

Metcon. At 40:00. Result, 61 reps (24, 18, 19 reps)

• 3 rounds of:
• 2min amrap of push jerk @ 60kg
• 2min rest

Squats made me feel like at least now it's time to wrap it up and go home. And not the barbell for a second more. I'm very pleased I still tried what 60kg jerks would feel like with 2 reps. Surprisingly good so it was time for this last piece of action. Two minutes of as many push jerks as possible. I took the bar from rack @ 60kg.

This is something I remember Mikko Salo doing a lot in the past. That's where I've picked this one. It's a good workout which I like to take in every now and then. It builds up muscle endurance with this classic 60kg load that I see more beneficial for crossfit than heavy singles for example.

Wife made the best lunch ever for us

My shoulders were shot pretty soon when this began. Went on totally by feeling. It was 10 reps on the first set, then smaller ones. Something between 3-6 the entire time on each set. Damned my shoulders were gone after the last amrap. Video above is from the first amrap.

Friday 15.1: Snatches

Friday. Emom x 15min: snatches (up to 65kg).

Very quick session to end the work week. Took 15 minutes of warm-up to prepare hips, lats and shoulders for the work looming ahead. My mind and body was ready for more work but schedule was tight.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
• 1 snatch per minute
• 3x45, 3x50, 3x55, 3x60, 3x65kg

I played around with empty barbell and 40kg for some time to get a good rhythm and looked for the bar path. Took high pulls, tall snatches and pull-unders like Milko Tokola did in the post I put on the blog yesterday.

65kg. Sorry for the camera angle =)

Today these snatches felt mostly very good. I was anxious to hit more snatches or with shorter frequency but kept my mind anyway. It was probably a good choice so I got a chance to focus on every lift properly. This went on without misses up to the last rep. There I missed that 65kg lift once, then tried to take it up after 10 sec pause but that failed too. Took a short break and got the final lift in the books.

Thursday 14.1: Deads, Hspu, Du, Lunges

Thursday. Emom x 15min: 1st min 5 deads (150kg), 2nd min 10 hspu, 3rd min 30 du. Right into 15min amrap of walking lunges with 20kg vest. Result, 287m.

Thursday's program was supposed to be meathead oriented. Deads and bench. It turned out both bench racks were taken so I skipped that and changed plans on the fly. Original plan was 12min emom of deads and bench, then 10min amrap of lighter deads, hspu's and du's. This was pretty similar.

Metcon.

• Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes:
• 1st min: 5 deadlifts @ 150kg
• 2nd min: 10 handstand push-ups
• 3rd min: 30 double unders

This was a nice combo. It's been some time since previous deadlifts. Those made my back sore for days and for some reason it has not been on my program since. Today the 150kg pulls felt great. Light weight. There are two rips in my fingers so I stayed at this point to prevent them get torn even more.

Hspu's were good too. I thought about 12 reps also at some point. I've been missing these guys. Prior to double unders I have been foam rolling my shins lately. It has improved my du's tremendously. The difference has been huge compared to not foam rolling the shins. It even felt like "how have I ever stumbled on these jumps". Felt very natural and like I could have continued to jump forever. This metcon brought my breathing up during the 15 minutes.

Last round of the emom wod

Lunges. Result, 287 meters

• 15 minute amrap of:
• Walking lunges with 20kg weight vest

Didn't have any break in between. Just put the weight vest on and started walking down and back the 20m grass matt. Went unbroken for ever 20m leg, then took couple of breaths and continued back. This felt awful already after 40 meters. My quads were burning big time. I'm not quite sure how heavy the vest is. Either 20kg or 30kg.

Wednesday 13.1: Amraps and Snatch

Wednesday. With a running clock for 30 minutes. 0-10min: 10min amrap of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 kb swing (24kg), 20 squat. 10-20min: build up to a heavy snatch single. 20-30min: 10min amrap of 5 power clean (70kg), 10 dips, 15 box.

Today was a tight schedule day. There wasn't much time to hang around so I wrote this workout in a bit different way, taking these circumstances into account. I've been trying to squeeze some time off of my sessions lately and succeeded in it pretty nicely too.

Workout.

• 0:00 - 10:00, 10min amrap of:
• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 kettlebell swings @ 24kg
• 20 air squats
• Result, 280 reps (5 rounds + 15 kb swings)

• 10:00 - 20:00
• Build up to a heavy single
• Snatch
• Result: 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 63, 65kg

• 20:00 - 30:00, 10min amrap of:
• 5 power cleans @ 70kg
• 10 dips
• 15 box jumps
• Result, 95 reps (5 rounds + 5 cleans)

Practically without any warm-up I started working for this wod. Just opened some hips for 2-3 minutes before tapping the timer on. I would never do that in a workout with heavy weights or if top of the notch mobility was needed (like I even had it =D). However, the idea was that the first piece is mostly bodyweight stuff which is easy to begin with.

It was something that reminded benchmark workout Cindy. Upgraded it with kettlebell swings, 1.5pood bell. 10 minute amrap of these four elements. It took something like 1.30min on the first round, then 1:40 - 1:55 on the following rounds. Unbroken on each movement. Got 20 air squats shy of 6 full rounds.

It was awkward to move to the weightlifting platform right after metcon. Even though I have done crossfit for 3 years, this type of arrangement was not familiar to me. It was nice to see that even though I didn't do warm-up specifically, going for squat snatches after this metcon my hips and shoulders were well prepared, open and ready for action. Didn't feel tight at all, from anywhere in my body.

I didn't pay that much attention to the clock, just climbed up little by little doing singles from the very beginning. First lift felt somehow off but then I got them rolling well. Maybe the first lift felt funny after having my heart rate up still. Had one miss on the heaviest load at 65kg. I shook my hands and took another shot at it, and got it up. This was a good result for me.

As funny as it was to go after snatch singles after metcon, it was as funny to start another metcon right after the last snatch. I just changed my shoes back to Nano's, changed the plates to 70kg and started pulling. Went unbroken on each element in this one too. This was physically more demanding than the first metcon. Cleans made me breath heavy, dips burned my shoulders, chest and triceps. And box jumps are always a good one to burn legs and lungs. This was a good 30min workout!

Tuesday 12.1: Intervals of Row and Burpees

Tuesday. 1min of, 1min off, for 20min: row. Emom x 6min: 10 burpee max speed.

Today's agenda was intervals or speed work, however you wanna say that. This hurt. My legs were sore from Monday's cleans, front squats and thrusters. That was a lot of squats with a barbell on front rack, and it definitely feels in my lower body.

Intervals.

• 1min on, 1min off, for 20 minutes
• Max effort row

Rowing is a nice element for intervals as the body is prepared for work quite soon. Didn't need that much warm-up before I was able to sit down on that Concept2 and go after those strokes. I kept the damper setting at 8 which is the normal setting for me. My usual go to choice. When going for very short intervals I might go for 9-10 but other than that I keep it at around 8. This was a total of 10 minutes of rowing at fast speed so it was a no-brainer choice.

First minutes went nicely but somewhere at 4th interval I realized it's gonna be painful to finish this one. I suppose this was stolen from the great Aussie - Khan Porter - who posted it on Instagram. He suggested it might be a fun one. It was, smashed my legs good time.

Bodyweight.

• Every minute on the minute x 6 minutes
• Burpees, max effort

Took some rest to recover, then hit my chest to deck for some burpees. Ten burpees per minute. As such it might not be that bad but the goal was to go as fast as possible in every single set. All out effort. These took me about 20 seconds to finish. Having my legs killed didn't help that much. It still felt great to get a good heart rate instantly. Six minutes was enough of this agony.

Monday 11.1: Cleans, Squats, Thrusters, Ghd

Monday. Every 90sec: 3 hang squat clean (up to 95kg). Every 90sec: 3 front squats (up to 125kg). Wod, 8rds of: 10 thrusters (40kg), 12 ghd.

Went for another efficient session. I was done for three pieces of action in one hour, including warm-ups. This is nice variation to long sessions at the gym. Oly lifts, squats and conditioning, good combination.

Oly.

• Every 90 seconds, perform 3 hang squat clean (60, 70, 80, 85, 90, 95, 95, 90kg)

It was time to add up from single emoms I've been doing lately. This was an unbroken set of a triple clean at hang position. Felt good on the timing, and my legs felt strong. Had no problems with them at all. I was a little skeptical on the pull so that prevented me on putting more weight on the barbell. However, as I look at the video below I realize there was plenty of room still.

90kg

Strength.

• Every 90 seconds, perform 3 front squats (100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125kg, 2reps @ 130kg)

Started working towards these pretty soon after the cleans. Some reps at empty bar, then 60kg and 90kg. At that point clock was at 16 minutes as I began the first set at 100kg. Went touch'n'go up to 110kg, then took a short pause on top of the reps.

I'm very happy on these actually. 125kg felt awesome for a double, the third was a grind. On the 130kg the first was somehow light but the second was a good battle and there was no chance for a third rep.

First piece done at 11 minutes, squats at 25 minutes and finally the metcon at 42min

Metcon.

• 8 rounds of:
• 10 thrusters @ 40kg
• 12 ghd sit-ups

This was an intense one and solid pace on each round. Went unbroken on both of the movements. Right after thrusters I walked to the ghd and completed the needed reps. Then walked back to the platform, took a breath and started working.

I believe the clock was somewhere at 31 minutes as I started working on the first round. Didn't take any round times but it felt like the pace was similar for each round. On the last 2 rounds I felt my shoulders burn in a nice way. Other than that this was mostly a good conditioning piece.

Sunday 10.1: Mu's, Press, Emom

Sunday. Emom x 10min: mu's 2-3 reps. Push press 1x6 @ 78kg. Emom x 15min: 1st 5 c&j @ 60kg, 2nd 8-10 burpee box, 3rd 12 pull-ups.

The past two days have been pretty awesome in the field of crossfit. After couple of easier days I've got a chance to hit it at the gym for real. Both of these days have been very efficient. Yesterday the session took me 43 minutes in total after warm-up. Today it was 42 minutes. Somehow after this kind of intense sessions I leave the gym with a happy face as it feels like things happened efficiently. Not that I would like to spend the entire day at the gym if it was possible =)

Gymnastics.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Muscle-ups, 2-3 reps per minute
• Total of: 24 reps

Damned it was fun to go after muscle-ups! It's been a while since doing these last time. It's always a bit of a nervous situation to walk to the rings and start working. It wouldn't if I mastered them but that's not the case. I was a bit conservative in the beginning and took doubles. Actually the first was a triple but then couple of doubles before finishing it with triples again. I counted a total of 24 reps which makes it 4 triples and 6 doubles. Felt good on these. Obviously I ripped my left palm as the tendency seems to be on mu's.

Overhead.

• Push press 1x6 @ 78kg

This is the part of the progression I've been doing the past 6 weeks to put some beef on my shoulders. Started warming up with an empty barbell right after muscle-ups. Little by little crawled up to 80kg for a single. Then dropped to 78kg for a max set. It says 6 reps but there was a permission to go further. It was a good battle to complete the 7th rep too. See the video for that set.

Recap

Conditioning.

• Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
• 1st minute: 5 clean and jerk @ 60kg
• 2nd minute: 8-10 burpee box jumps
• 3rd minute: 12 pull-ups

Some emom rotation on couple of elements. Those clean and jerks were a great piece of this workout. It would definitely be beneficial to mix c&j's in workouts more often. They are a great way to cause fatigue on entire body.

 I changed between 8 to 10 reps on the burpee box jumps, and 12 pull-ups on the third minute. I actually started at 10 pull-ups, changed it on the second round and finished the last round with 14 reps.

Saturday 9.1: Clean, Squats, Jerk, Box, Ghd

Saturday. Emom x 10min (up to 110kg). Emom x 10min (up to 138kg). Metcon, 6rds of: 5 jerk (60kg), 10 box, 15 ghd. Time, 9.50.

We took a cruise to Stockholm, Sweden the past couple of days so there were two absolute rest days, on Thursday and Friday. I was pumped up to get to the gym today! Needed to get some oly and squats done. Right after I jumped to a metcon of s2o's, box jumps and core work. It was an intense session, took me 43 minutes to finish the whole stuff (plus warm-up). Plan was to keep the clock running from the first cleans to the end of the metcon.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Clean singles (80, 90, 95, 100, 100, 105, 105, 108, 108, 110kg)

It was great to get my hands on a barbell for some real lifting. Started at light weight, climbing up every minute. Took singles pretty much all the way. 60-70kg triples were done just before the first singles. These felt goo all the way. Tried to get my feet in the air on the 80-90kg lifts in the beginning.

Strength.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Back squat singles (100, 110, 120, 125, 130, 130, 130, 133, 133, 135kg)

It took me 4 minutes to get the squat rack ready to go and work the weights up to 100kg. Took some lighter reps prior to that. Then it was singles for the next 10 minutes. Heaviest weight stayed at 135kg this time.

Metcon. Time, 9.50

• 6 rounds of:
• 5 shoulder-to-overhead @ 60kg
• 10 box
• 15 ghd sit-ups

This was a lot of fun. Was able to keep moving constantly on each round. This got done right before 10 minutes. Jerks felt kind of funny in the beginning as I didn't warm-up on having a barbell overhead before this workout. This weight is not that serious so I can keep moving it anyway. It started to feel better and more natural by the round.

Box jumps went smoothly. Ghd's got surprisingly spicy towards the end. Maybe somewhere about 4th round I felt the burn. But I do have a rather strong core so those didn't slow me down. I'm happy on being able to keep the pace up.

Wednesday 6.1: Press, Squat, Pull-ups

Wednesday. Push press 2x6 @ 75kg. Emom x 10min. Odd, back squats. Even, pull-ups.

Yesterday was a rest day. Simply wasn't time to hit it. Woke up somewhere after 6.00 and was on the move sometime after. Regular working day, had to run for errands and arrived home just minutes before Finland was about to challenge Russia in U20 Ice Hockey's World Championship Final. And the good news is Finland rocked it and was crowned as the Champ!!! What a game, c'mon!

Overhead.

• Push press 2x6 @ 75kg

The weather is still cold as f*ck. Over 20 minus degrees is not my thing. This cold crawls deep in my bones and I feel frozen all the time. At the gym it's also colder than normally and my body doesn't react too well for that. I was able to push through the push presses without misses even though they felt heavier. I didn't break a sweat during these which felt awkward.

Emom.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Odd min, back squats (6-10 reps @ 60-90kg)
• Even min, 15 pull-ups

This was not very structured workout. I just started working after the presses. Took couple of squats with empty bar, then put 60kg and tapped the timer on. Went for 10x60kg on the first minute, then 8x70, 6x80, 6x85, 6x90kg on the following minutes. On the even minutes it was pull-ups, 15 reps each round. I'd say normally after rest day my body is well prepared for action but in this weather I didn't get it going at any point. The good outcome of this session was the progress of presses and good bunch of pull-ups.

Monday 4.1: Cleans, Front squat, Row, Burpees

Monday. Clean emom x 20min (up to 105kg). Front squat 10x2 @ 110kg. Metcon, 5rds of: 6 front squat (70kg), 12 burpee, 250m row.

This was a difficult day as Finland was playing ice hockey against Sweden in the U20 Championship tournament at the same time as I was supposed to go for a workout session. Luckily they had a television at the gym so I could sneak to get a peek every now and then between pieces. Good bunch of work got done today.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute: cleans
• 1-3min: 3 x 80kg
• 4-6min: 2 x 85kg
• 7-9min: 1 x 90kg
• 10-12min: 1 x 95kg
• 13-15min: 1 x 100kg
• 16-20min: 1 x 105kg

It's been freezing the past couple of days in Finland. It was -15 degrees in the morning. It's like you freeze up in seconds when walking outside. It was also cold at the gym and I never got properly warmed up until the metcon was in turn. Usually couple of squat cleans make some magic but today I felt okay on the cleans but stiff in the front squats.

This was emom work, going up 5kg after every 3 minutes. Triples and doubles in the beginning, then singles from 90kg's on. In the end it was supposed to end at 18 minutes but I completed some extra reps at 105kg. Felt pretty good on the cleans. But I still felt like my legs were not fully opened up at any point. The squats felt heavier than normally.

Cleans and squats

Strength.

• Front squat 10x2 @ 110kg

That's the reason I had to keep the squats also lighter than I thought. These looked a lot smoother than they felt. No doubt of hitting the weights but my hips simply didn't cooperate on these. They felt cold all the way.

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 6 front squats @ 70kg
• 12 burpees
• 250m row

Plan was to get those legs and hips loosen up by all means necessary =) Finally they started to feel better on the metcon. By going for lots of semi-heavy metcon weights on the front squats sealed the deal. The combination of this triplet was good. I was able to maintain a steady pace. That pleased me a lot. Strategy was to walk from the rower and start squatting right away.

Front squats were the nastiest portion of this wod. Loved to throw down for burpees. Feels like it's been some time since doing lots of burpees. That is one heck of a movement. Thrusters and burpees are something you can throw in any workout and it's gonna be great.

Sunday 3.1: Jerk, Lunges + Push press, Cleans, Ghd's

Sunday. AM. Metcon, 4rds of: 15 s2o (45kg), 40 lunges. PM. Push press 3x6. Metcon, 5rds of: 10 hang power clean (60kg), 15 ghd.

Another outdoor workout in the morning. Then in the evening we went to the gym together with Pauliina for some quality family time. I needed to get part of that overhead strength progression in the books.

Metcon.

• 4 rounds of:
• 15 shoulder-to-overhead, 45kg
• 40 walking lunges

Practically without any warm-up I took the barbell up and started moving. Of course shoulders felt a bit stiff in the beginning but got better after round one. Legs felt tired in the process because they never got a rest period.

Lunges naturally made my legs work and because I did s2o's as push jerks my legs were doing small "squats" all the time. It wasn't a biggie in the beginning but got spicy pretty soon. Legs felt heavier in the jerks than the shoulders. I was able to maintain a good and consistent pace throughout the workout.

Overhead.

• Push press 3x6 @ 73kg

This happened hours later. After couple of days without real weights I felt like I needed to focus on the warm-up. That sealed the deal and prepared my body for the strength work nicely. These sets were kinda towards the heavier side but still they were manageable. Felt like they were right on point.

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 10 hang power clean @ 60kg
• 15 ghd sit-ups

Just before the last set of push presses we agreed with Pauliina we're gonna leave in 15 minutes. This was a quick session in other words. At first I thought this strength piece is enough. That was the only thing in my mind when entering the gym.

Then on the other hand there was 10 minutes of spare time so I took some weight off the barbell and carried it to the weightlifting platform. After one minute of doing the last press set I began the metcon. Plan was to work until my time is up and we are ready to leave. It turned out that 5 rounds was sufficient. It took probably something like 7-8 minutes I'd say.

I actually don't have a cell phone right now which I always use as a timer so I haven't timed my metcons in the past week or so. It has been pretty awesome in a sense that it hasn't taken that much time to start the metcons. Usually I prepare myself more than lately because I want to have a good time. Now I just start working and it does not affect the pacing at all. I work as if it was a regular metcon.

Friday - Saturday 1-2.1: Outdoor metcons

Friday - Saturday. Metcon, 21-15-9 of: sandbag cleans, sandbag lunges, wall balls. Rope climbs. One mile run with sandbag. Karen.

We spent the past couple of days in the countryside so it was quite obvious it's gonna be more or less outdoor metcons all the way. Had one rest day on the New Year's Eve but then I tried to find some time for rather quick workouts. Weather was snowy and suited very well for training outside.

Metcon.

• 21-15-9 of:
• Sandbag cleans
• Sandbag lunges
• Wall ball shots

This was an intense one for sure. It was the first time I played around with a new sandbag I got from Toni and couple of colleagues as a farewell present as I changed workplace recently. I went to the store and bought sandpit sand and filled it up with Kari. It says it can be added up to 28kg but it simply wasn't possible. The little bags inside are full and it possibly weighs only about 20 kilos.

Getting it a bit heavier would be great. However, it's definitely not an issue. There are plenty of ways to use this tool. It also helps that there are handles on different sides of the bag. That enables various grips and tosses around. Doing ground-to-shoulder's a good bunch in a row puts breathing heavier. This was a very quick workout. Everything unbroken and without pauses. On the lunges I had the bag on my back. That brought a good pressure on my arms and made my forearms burn somewhat.

Skills.

• Rope climbs

Later on we went to goof around with the rope. It's always a hassle to get the rope up on the tree branch so we have been thinking how to get it up and down on the branch without climbing ladders. We finally seemed to get it through. In the middle of the process I took couple of reps rope climbs for fun.

Run.

• 1 mile sandbag run

This happened on Saturday morning. We were going shopping but I negotiated 15 extra minutes in order to do a metcon. Had no time to think about it so I just grabbed the sandbag and hit it right away without warm-up.

I went back and forth a 200 meter leg of the road. Dropped the bag after every 200 meters because holding it in back rack position started to make my forearms go numb. This was a fun little piece to start the day.

Karen.

• 150 wall ball shots

In the evening I also had something like 8 minutes spare time left for a workout =) There was Finland's ice hockey game just about to start against Canada. And what a game it was! Under 20 year old world championship game playoffs are going on and this is huge. It was a great game but before it started I grabbed my wall ball and started throwing it against the wall.

I went 20-20-20-20-20-20-15-15 reps to finish Karen. It was more of an emom training. I took 15 breaths in between sets. Didn't have a timer on as I didn't have in any of the workouts. With that said, I worked like the timer was pushing me. No difference there.