Monday 1.7: Complex and a rowing metcon

Monday. Strength: 10 x (hang squat clean + full squat clean + 2 push press @70kg). Metcon, 2k row. Every 250m perform 5 strict shoulder press + 5 diamond push-ups. Wear a 9kg vest. Time 13.36

I love cleans! It was time for another complex type of workout, combining cleans and push presses. It was perfect. And the metcon to follow, huh, exactly what I wanted. And it gets better. I had Pauliina and Tony the Pony with me, couldn't be better.

Strength.

• 10 x (hang squat clean + full squat clean + 2 push press)
• 70kg on the barbell each set

Was wondering the weights for a second and then realized 70kg would suit well for my purposes. I wanted to have 2-position squat cleans: from hang and from ground. I can clean 95kg from the ground but haven't probably done cleaned more than 70-75kg from hang position. And there were also 2 push presses to be done after the cleans. So I got my head around 70kg and completed all sets with the same weight.

It was good to have Tony with me to coach. We did our strength parts alternating so that we were able to give feedback to each other. That was valuable. My elbows weren't in perfect position in the first 2 sets. After that Toni pointed out the importance of the elbows shooting straight ahead. The weight was not that heavy that it would force me in having them in the right position so it was crucial to have a coach saying that out loud. Thanks for that man.

Barbell flew up pretty nicely in my opinion. That 70kg isn't that bad and it was awesome to realize it was also easy on the hang squats as well. The push press was the toughest part strength-wise. However, I had no doubts in any of the lifts. The weight was simply perfect for today. Could have been 75kg but no point in going further from that in this type of workout. It was about one set per 1.5min throughout the workout.

Metcon. Time 13.36

• 2.000m row
• Every 250m, perform the following:
• 5 strict dumbbell presses, 2 x 17.5kg
• 5 diamond push-ups

This was nice. Rowing pace was around 1.40 / 500m in the beginning and the latter kilometer was around 1.45 / 500m. I usually go with the damper setting of 8 and today was no exception. 250m is a short sprint, only about 20 strokes so you can put more effort there. Those presses and diamond push-ups started to eat some of the strength which caused the pace to slow down a bit. Still, that was not the bottleneck, it was more like the transition times between movements.

Had 2 x 17.5kg dumbbells with the strict shoulder presses. Those went unbroken as well as the diamond push-ups. Those concentrate more pressure in the triceps. Having 9kg vest on from the beginning makes it a bit tougher on every aspect of it. In the beginning it felt awkward to row with a weighted vest but I got used to it pretty quickly.

Enjoyed this workout and this entire training session a lot. These were all good wods, first the barbell complex and then some wet-shirt metcon wearing a vest. Loved it!

Toni's workouts.

• Back squats (80, 90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115kg)
• Metcon. 4.5 rounds of: 10 box (61cm), 10 dumbbell snatch (20kg). Time 5.45

Pony did some old school strength to strengthen his posterior chain. He did some beautiful squats, good depth on the reps, good form in general, and good breathing technique as well. Highest set was 115kg. Then it was time to move on to his metcon, consisting of box jumps and db snatches. He completed those snatches changing hand after 5 reps: first 5 left, then 5 right hand. I put there 4.5 rounds because he was supposed to do 5 rounds but for some sick reason he forgot to complete the last set of snatches =) Well, he punished himself after he relayed it and did the 10 missing reps with 25kg. Fair enough.

Second part of Dan Bailey's short documentary

Thursday 25.4: Clean and jerks, metcon

Thursday. 7 x (power clean + hang squat clean + 2 jerks). Metcon. 3-6-9-12, hang squat clean (60kg), T2B.

Thursday's focus was purely on clean & jerks and metabolic conditioning. First I did different types of c&j strength training and finished with a metcon that reminded CF Open 13.4, consisting of two movements: clean & jerk and toes-to-bar. Toni enjoyed a day off.

Strength. 7 x (2-position clean + 2 jerks). Sets of 60, 65, 70, 70, 72.5, 72.5, 75kg.

• 1 power clean from ground + 1 hang squat clean + 2 jerks

Conducted this in a bit different style this time. 4 reps per set, that is first grabbing the barbell from ground and performing a power clean, then a hang squat clean and finishing it with 2 jerks. I did split jerks for practice purposes up to 65kg, then switched it back to regular push jerks that I'm more comfortable with. I have to keep on doing those split jerks with lighter weights to get used to the movement. I like to mix it up with the cleans and do all kinds of versions; from ground, from hang, as power and squat cleans, keep it varying.

I had no problems with power cleans in any of the sets. The weights were light for that purpose. However, the hang squat clean was as heavy as I wanted it to be. This was the first time I got over 70kg up as hang squat clean. I took that set up twice, then added 2.5kg and took the set up also twice. The last attempt was at 75kg. Managed to power clean the bar easily but the hang squat clean didn't come up so I took 2 power cleans from ground and finally jerked it to the ceiling.

The reasoning for this type of strength training is to have different types of cleans and jerks in program. It also strengthens grip strength as you have to hold on to the barbell for a longer period of time. One more feature is that the second clean - performed as hang clean - is more difficult as you've already put effort in the first clean.

Metcon.

• 3-6-9-12
• Hang squat clean, 60kg
• Toes-to-bar

Resting practically not at all after this, I continued pretty quickly to the metcon at hand. Four rounds with increasing amount of reps, adding 3 reps per round. In CF Open the c&j was not defined as hang squat versions, any kind of clean & jerk was allowed. At the time I thought this workout looks nice and decided to modify it a bit. I didn't define a time cap but upgraded the difficulty of the first movement.

Toes-to-bar was the rest period of this workout, no doubt about it, unbroken each round, not bad. There were a total of 30 reps both movements so it was kind of doing hang squat Grace and adding 30 T2B's in the middle of it =) I did c&j unbroken in rounds of 3's and 6's, then on the next round had to break it.

My heart was bouncing like a madman at the end of the workout. Adding those hang and squat elements to the first movement had its own spice in the entity. It was tough and I liked it!

Hero workout that's already on my calendar

Thursday 31.1: Cleans

Thursday. 5-4-3-2-1: 2-position cleans (from ground + hang clean), 60kg, for quality.

I had ambitious goal to go for cleans. It's been a while since I last time did them, same with clean & jerks and presses. Hammer on 2nd January was previous day including cleans. All because of my elbows that have been taken too much hit. For a long time I thought it's because of crossfit but lately I've noticed it screams more because of my floorball training. Anyway, this week has been different. I was able to do Barbara on Monday, including 100 pull-ups during the workout, snatches have felt good and today I was able to do cleans nicely. It felt good!!!

Ab wheels, Toni

Cleans. For quality.

• 5-4-3-2-1
• 2-position cleans (from ground + hang clean), 60kg

2-position cleans (from ground + hang clean)

It felt so good to do cleans. I have always enjoyed the movement a lot. It's demanding, explosive and strong movement and I'm "all in" with my heart with the cleans. Hope I can do them consistently in the future. Can't wait to do clean & jerks, probably the most demanding and rewarding movement of them all!

Before I started my workout I took a few sets with 60kg and lighter weights and tried out regular cleans, hang cleans and squat cleans, a bit of a mixture of various cleans. It was natural, the tracks and form felt like they should be, and considering how long it's been since previous cleans, I can do nothing but be proud of my upper body this time. Intentionally I stayed at 60kg today not to stress my elbows too much.

My workout was 2-position cleans, which means holding on to the bar continuously and completing a set of two cleans, the first one from ground and the second from knee level as hang clean. Thus, two cleans build up to one rep. My rounds were 5-4-3-2-1. As thinking about the total amount of repetitions, it's 10-8-6-4-2. Each round hold on to the bar without loosing your grip on the bar

I liked this one. It was tough on my pressing power but I made it through. I believe there was one rep that didn't go as I planned so I had to retry it. Other than that, I went by the plan. Looking forward already for the next clean day!

Cashout. To the end I took 50 push-ups + 50 sit-ups as fast as possible, just for fun.

Toni's workout. Time 9.01

• 3 rounds of
• 10 power cleans, 60kg
• 20 push-ups
• 30 double unders

His main ingredient was also cleans. Ten reps each round, adding push-ups and double unders to the play. Total time 9.01. Below you'll see his last round of cleans.

Toni's last round of cleans

Toni's cashout. Handstand training + ab wheel + 50 air squats.

Wednesday 10.10: Pair wod, double Grace!

Wednesday. Pair workout: double Grace (50kg). Time 5.50. Technique for 2-position clean, hang snatch high pull, snatch and overhead squats.

Double Grace .Today’s goal was something very much different compared to traditional training. We took good warm-up with Toni - who was my partner today - in a workout that we completed together as a team. I’ve been thinking and pondering what kind of pair wods we could do and in which kind of workouts we would be in equal level with Toni. Please throw some ideas if you have some in the comments section below. One idea that I have in mind is the other one rowing and the other one holding a plate overhead during the row. At some point change roles on a fly, repeat for 2-3 rounds. This time we did something else anyway. Classic material, Grace was ahead of us.

• On September 7^th, I did individual Grace with 50kg for 5.40.
• Toni’s time on the same day with 40kg was 4.09.
• Today our combined time with 50kg was 5.50.

Now, about 12 hours after the workout, I'm still smiling as I think what happened in the morning. However, I'm wondering about the time we completed the double Grace in. If I think about our performances and times in September and today, some thoughts come to my mind.

First of all, the weights felt so much lighter now. That difference was remarkable. How about the time? First reaction was that damned our time was fast for 60 reps! Then, our "individual times" in this workout were about 5.20. I began at 00.00 and was done with 30 reps at 5.20. Toni had about the same time, he just started about half a minute later.

How about the strategy? The planning ahead was from another planet compared to previous Grace. That time I just started doing the reps as fast as I could. And the result was that I managed quite well up to 15 reps but from then on the workout was a nightmare. This didn't happen this time because of doing 5 reps at a time and then rest while the other guy did his 5 reps. Okay, breathing got heavy today as well but not intolerable. And I was able to keep my technique similar throughout the workout, even as tired. Last time the last third of it was purely struggling, not cool. This time both of us completed all sets unbroken.

So now I'm thinking what happened if we did this individually. Would we have the patience to take it wisely and keep short pauses or would we be too eager and ambitious which would have definitely hit us back at some point. And how long pauses should we keep if the bar didn't feel that heavy? I don't know the answers but my head is full of these thoughts. Would it be a good idea to do for example 6 reps, step back for 20 seconds and repeat for 5 rounds. Could I go like that till the end with the same pace or would fatigue hit me big time? And finally, I should definitely go for heavier weights next time. You'll see the last round of our double Grace below.

As a summary, we both improved our performance clearly. Next time heavier weights. We were both extremely satisfied with this workout and will definitely go for it together and as individuals again. Pair wod was definitely worth trying for and I think we will try to be creative and do other type of metcons together as well. Clean & jerk is one of the favorites for both of us.

I was full of energy after Grace and wanted to do other workouts as well. However, my upper body really felt the burden of it so it was out of question to do anything heavy. I learned some technical issues for 2-position clean, hang snatch high pull as well as normal snatch, some overhead squats too. I haven't really snatched at all so I'm learning it little by little. That hang snatch high pull really made its purpose, I got closer to doing them all the way. I also took some snatches with the bar and mysteriously it didn't feel that difficult. I've had some issues with this movement so I have been avoiding it for some time. Now it's about time to start learning this movement seriously, as well as overhead squats.

Joni was also with us at the gym, he did:

• 5 rounds of
• 20 back squats (50kg)
• 10 burpees

In the evening, I had my floorball training for 2 hours. Our coach was clearly not satisfied with our performance in Monday's game and made us do a bit different type of training this time. Definitely not only floorball, there was actually quite a number of shuttle runs, abdominal movements, push-ups, sit-ups, back extensions etc. I liked it! Tomorrow I will travel to Stockholm to see Pauliina, I'll be back on Monday. We are anyway going to train hard at Pauliina's local gym so I'll keep you informed what's happening in Sweden :)