Week started with bodyweight gymnastics stuff and another metcon consisting of barbell work and rowing. Lots of sweating and breathing.
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
1st min: 15 pull-ups
2nd min: 10 handstand push-ups
3rd min: 15 box jumps
These were destined to be unbroken. Pull-ups went very well and didn't have any issues on those. It was surprising that handstand push-ups felt a bit awkward in the beginning. Had couple of no-reps that I had to compensate. Feet came off the wall and I lost my balance. That was not cool. Shoulders took them quite well though. I realized my hand position was a bit off on the first sets. That's why there were some issues. Corrected it and the last sets went nicely. Box jumps kept breathing a notch faster.
Metcon.
10 rounds of:
3 bench press @ 80kg
250m row
Plan was to do heavy power cleans and rowing. Cleans would have probably been at 90kg. However, all three platforms were taken as well as all squat racks. Only one bench station was free so I figured why not. Turned out to be 3 bench at semi-heavy weight and rowing with a faster pace. This was a good wod.
Another benchmark workout in the books for this weekend. Yesterday I met with Amanda for the first time and today another lady came to see me at the gym. Linda is a workout I've done once before. That time it was a fair match as the weights were too heavy for me. Today I got a clear personal record on this one.
It's 3.5 years since meeting with Linda last time. I have gained quite a lot of muscle and strength since then. Back then my maxes were 165kg / 87.5kg / 75kg. Now they are 210kg / 108kg / 117kg so obviously the "three bars of death" were lighter as well. I also weigh a bit more (maybe 84kg compared to 79kg back in 2012) so the weights ought to be a little heavier.
However, I wanted to compare the work to the first time I hit this one so I kept them at 80kg. Bench at 84-85kg would have also brought lots of issues in this type of workout for me. Out of these three movements bench is definitely the weakest of them. I have never been a "bencher" by any means. Took my first bench presses after I started crossfitting, and only take them occasionally.
Deadlifts were unbroken each round. Felt rather smooth on them. My left hand was a bit sore on the palm so I had some doubts about how it would feel like during the wod but it was just fine. Cleans were singles all the way. Reckoned I would be able to keep pace better on them. Bar was light anyway so just drop and pick it up again. Worked well. Another focus area was to start cleaning right after bench.
The thing in this workout was definitely the bench, again =) Bench is my goat for sure. Doing moderate load sets with bigger volume screams for trouble. I'm still happy on how well they went. It's just that comparing them to deads and cleans they were the toughest without a doubt. Went 5-3-2 in the first round, then 3-3-3 on the second. On the round of 8's had to break it more. Plan was to do a triple to start with in every set, and succeeded in it as well. All the way up to the round of 5's (3-2).
Let's see how my body feels after this. Last time it took me almost a week to recover =) I have strong confidence that it was due to the heavy volume considering I had just started crossfit about half a year ago. Now my body feels just fine, hopefully tomorrow as well. Couple of years crossfitting in between must have made miracles to body adaptation and recovery.
Yesterday's work got to me, at least to some point. Body feels surprisingly good considering we ramped up the volume pretty big time. It was by far the heaviest Triplet physically this far. Something we would not have been able to complete like that before. My body cramped up in the evening. Both forearms and lats seized me in the evening when I tried to get my butt off the couch =) Woke up three times during the night to the toilet as I had drunk liters of water during the day. I was also hungry during the night and sneaked to the fridge at some point.
Decided to take it easy today. Went to the gym and did mobility for some time, and then went benching. Definitely didn't wanna go to real heavy weights. Just simply built up to a nice triple at 90kg. Body is okay, it's just generally a bit beaten all over the place.
90kg
My left shin and ankle have burn marks from the rope climbs. It was good to get some strength piece in for today. I'm sure this made my recovery better and smoother compared to if I had done nothing instead.
Thursday. Deadlift 5x8 (up to 150kg). Wod, 1-10 bench @ 70kg and pull-ups.
Meathead day. Went to the gym very late in the evening but was anxious to get some pulling done. Then I stole the idea for the metcon from one training partner Lauri who just finished something like this one week ago.
Strength.
Deadlift 5x8 (130, 140, 150, 150, 150kg)
It's literally been months since I've pulled from the ground seriously. Maybe deads have been part of metcons but big weights have been non-existing. There's no real reason for that. Maybe it's because my palms tend to get really sore on deadlifts. It's never an issue of hamstrings nor back giving up. It's always about the hands. I get rips and tears from the barbell for some reason.
Metcon. For quality
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 reps of:
Bench press @ 70kg
Strict pull-ups
The previous day was 75 pull-ups but this time I did them strict with supinated grip. That's a rarity for me basically. Thought it would be a good idea to throw them in the mix too every now and then. I got the pull-ups completed unbroken all but the damned last rep =)
My thoughts were optimistic that bench might be ub as well but that did not happen. I recall it was on the 8th round that I had to complete them 5-3 and then the last two rounds were cut too.
Thursday was a busy day all the way from morning to midnight but somehow I found a slot to hit the gym. This week's been running back and forth all the time so I practically don't have time to right that much about the training.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 14 minutes
Odd min, power clean + hang squat clean @ 90kg
Even min, squat clean + 2 front squat @ 90kg
Different type of complex of cleans. Felt pretty good on these. Barbell was heavy'ish though.
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
1st min, 7 power clean @ 60kg
2nd min, 10 handstand push-ups
3rd min, 15 box jumps
Most difficult part of this piece was the end of hspu's. Maybe another set could have been nailed but then it might have gone more challenging. Cleans got my breathing heavy, so were the box jumps. In the beginning no big deal but after some rounds it was a different game.
Accessory.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Odd min, 5 bench press @ 70kg
Even min, 12 reverse hypers @ 50kg
Easy end to this session. Main focus on the reverse hypers. Should have probably gone heavier. It's just kind of a new movement so I didn't dare to.
Went to the gym early in the morning. As I anticipated my legs were smoked. Did some technique work in the beginning and then a longer metcon with modest pacing. In the afternoon only bench presses, short session.
Yeah, messy notes but it reminded me what to do next in the metcon =)
Oly.
Clean
Snatch
There were barely weight on the barbell. It was either an empty or 40kg barbell all the way. This was mostly concentrating on pause cleans at different phases of the bar path. I believe there is something to this drill that might make a big difference in the long run. Probably the most significant thing with which I have got gains on the snatch technique has been to cut the movement in pieces and do high pulls too.
Metcon.
3 rounds of:
5 bar muscle-ups
10 power cleans, 60kg
15 burpees
20 kettlebell swings, 24kg
25 ghd sit-ups
30 double unders
400m row
Long workout. It took something like 8-9 minutes per round to complete. In the first round my body didn't react too well for the muscle-ups. Those felt heavier than normally. On the second and third round I got them rocking much better.
Power cleans were quick singles in every round. Very smooth in my opinion. However, they got me breathing heavily, especially after jumping right on to 15 burpees. That was a nice combination. I paced myself on those, didn't rush at all but kept the body moving all the time.
Swings were unbroken, the weight was only 24kg so that was kind of no-brainer. Ghd's were quite easy. Yesterday I found out that the happiness to good double unders is to foam roll shins before the jump rope action. Today I did the same trick and du's worked well. Had one miss in one of the sets but I'm very happy on the du's!
Rowing was modest pace all the way. Also the transitions were not the fastest. The purpose of this workout was to keep heart rate under control from the very beginning. Good workout.
Strength.
Bench press 5x3 @ 90kg (first set 5 reps)
After eating twice and sleeping in between I went to the gym again to do bench for strength. After a lengthy warm-up I climbed up to 90kg at which I did 5 sets. The first was 5 reps, the rest were triples. All across @ 90 kilos.
Today was a very early training session in the morning. I was surprised how fresh I felt at that time. Okay, body feels a bit hammered but I wasn't tired at all and that was a great signal of having enough time to recover and sleep on holidays. Upper body strength to start with, and then a notch longer workout with easier heart rate.
Strength.
Bench press 6x5 @ 80kg
The effect of all the presses and jerks yesterday were obvious today. I felt it in my shoulders for sure. That's why bench presses were heavier than they usually are. I stayed at relatively light weight in all sets, across 80kg in all sets. No prob in these sets though.
Gymnastics.
Weighted dips 7x3 @ 20kg
Last set as many reps as possible. Result, 7 reps
This has been non-existing for a long time. I figured it suits well with the bench. There was a set of bodyweight dips for a number of reps, then triples at 10kg and 15kg before doing the first working set. Ended up doing 7 sets at this fixed load.
One set of dips
On the last rep I allowed myself to enjoy the moment and do as many reps as possible to finish the dips. My shoulders were shot at this point but still I was able to do 7 reps. Felt good about it.
Metcon. Time, 25.50
4 rounds of:
1.000m row
20 push-ups
10 right hand kettlebell overhead lunges, 16kg
10 left hand kettlebell overhead lunges, 16kg
This workout's purpose was to go steadily with a bit lower heart rate. Rowing was at 1:55 throughout the wod. Push-ups were unbroken. Kettlebell lunges with holding the single kb overhead is something new I wanted to try out. One training pal threw in the idea of overhead lunges so I modified it to this version.
Short recap of metcon
Had no idea what weight might work for its purpose. I grabbed the first kettlebell and started walking with it. It was 16kg all the way. I also tried 2x16kg but that felt a bit difficult considering my shoulder mobility. Got to try them out later on too. I guess those might make a positive impact.
In the end I realized the weight of the kettlebell was too light. These didn't burn as much I had anticipated. Shoulders were strong in this one. Nice little metcon to finish the session.
Wednesday. Emom x 12min. Odd min, 3 deads (150kg). Even min, 3 bench (90kg). Metcon, 3rds of: 21 box, 18 wb, 15 kb swing (24kg), 12 burpee. Time, 9.40
It's been a while since previous meathead day but Thursday's are reserved for both deadlifts and bench press for the barbell work. Conditioning has more variations but I'd like to pull heavy and press once a week. My hands have been ripped for some time and deadlifts have been off limits always on those days that I've planned to do heavy pulls. Metcon was a great one!
Strength.
Every minute on the minute x 12 minutes
Odd minutes, 3 deadlift @ 150kg
Even minutes, 3 bench press @ 90kg
Okay the weights were moderate on the deadlifts. That's because I haven't done deadlifts in a while so going high on the loads might make my back to get jammed up for days. Easier way to start them at 150kg. The weight itself is light. Back felt great and stayed flat all the way. My legs are extremely beaten up due to yesterday's long squat sets and weighed lunges in the metcon. Doesn't feel good to sit down at all right now =)
So it was also obvious that hamstrings were lit up when I was warming up to these weights. I was able to move this weight quite easily. Don't know what's wrong with my hands but deadlifts usually "hurts" most in my fingers / palms. Legs and back are good, fingers are the ones preventing me to lift heavy always.
Bench was relatively heavier. Deads were something like +70% and bench was somewhere over 80%. First 4 sets were good. The last 2 sets were heavy for sure. This was a good way to combine two strength elements in one strength piece. I saw Crossfit Mayhem combine bench and back squats together, triples and fives in emom style or one set every 90 seconds. I liked that. This time I mixed deads and bench but squats could be a good partner for couplet as well.
Metcon. Time, 9.40
3 rounds of:
21 box
18 wall ball
15 kettlebell swing, 24kg
12 burpee
Perfect. Simply perfect. As you look at the movements you probably realized too that there is really no reason to stop in the workout. At least no reason to break down the movements. The number of reps per set are tolerable and you can push through no matter what. This put lungs to test nicely, and it was an unbroken workout.
Don't know, maybe there was room to shorten the transitions. Hard to say but at least at this beaten up condition I'm very happy on the way I was able to keep moving for the entire time. Great piece of conditioning for sure!
Thursday. Skills, muscle-ups 7x3. Metcon, 50 bench for time @ 70kg. Every time you rack the bar, complete 30 air squats on the spot. Time, 9.20.
Plan was a bit loose this Thursday. I had plenty of stuff in my head as my car's engine started. It turned out to be muscle-ups for starters. Then building up to a heavy single on the bench press, and finishing the session with bench related metcon. My hand ripped so there was no chance for deadlifts which was supposed to be on the agenda as well.
Skills.
Muscle-ups, 7 sets of triples
Got to admit I wasn't approaching the rings with huge confidence. Reason for this was there's been time since doing ring mu's last time, and I remember they didn't go too well that time. With this in mind it was a hugely positive surprise to knock the triples without any issues. To be honest, these were probably the easiest sets of muscle-ups I've done in my life. At least in the top performances. Now as I think about it afterwards, it might have been a good idea to smash a new record of consecutive repetitions but I stuck to my plan of triples.
Didn't have a timer rolling but it was basically some walking around the gym, chalking hands and getting back to rings. I felt after every set there is room for more work. Usually triples are not this easy, and it might feel like a huge battle to get 3 reps in one set =) Don't know why this was from another planet but at least my kip was patient. I kept my get together, let the body swing fiercely backwards on the way down, and then I didn't rush the pull on the way up.
On the last set I decided to go for more reps. It turned out to be 4 reps in total after which I felt my hand ripped so I came down. Feeling was true as I just witnessed one of the biggest rips I've had ever. This is at least the size of my thumb nail. Anyway, this was a huge thing to boost confidence on the rings. Total of 22 reps.
Every time you rack the barbell, complete 30 air squats on the spot
Bench was 10-8-7-6-6-5-4-4 reps
Plan was to build up to a heavy single before starting the workout, just to fool the body by doing heavier reps first. Then the weight on the actual metcon wouldn't feel that tough. I decided to go with 70kg which I thought would be something like 7-9 sets. This was just a gut feeling. Warm-up sets were 6x50, 6x70, 3x80, 1x90, 1x95, 1x100kg.
Well I put the sets above in the bullet point and it went pretty much the way I thought and planned. My goal was not to look for the most ideal time but more like keep moving all the time. Not recover too much after air squats to get maybe a bigger set of bench done, vice versa. Go back on the bench, grab the barbell and do as many as you can. Don't know if I could have completed 50 reps with fewer sets. I wanted to get my heart rate up and make this feel on the lungs too, not just chest / triceps / upper body.
Actually what hurt the most in this one were my quads. Went unbroken on the air squats, deep ones, and with good rhythm. They never got a good recovery so completing 210 reps in sets of 30 really burned my legs. This was a good workout, and
We had a training session ahead of us with Jasper. Agenda was pretty open and free but the thought was about doing deadlift, bench and a conditioning piece. Thursday is usually a classic meathead day strength-wise and today was exactly that.
Strength.
Bench press 5-5-5-5-5 (80, 90, 90, 90, 90kg)
We actually started with deadlifts. Barbell was light, back and legs felt great but my hands couldn't take the burden. My palms and fingers seem to be the part which determine whether pulls are going to be good or bad in any given day. Today it felt like my fingers will get cut off. Hurt like hell. Already at 130kg it felt painful on the fingers and palms. 150kg was nightmarish.
I took sets at 60, 100, 130, 150, 150, 130kg for different amount of reps but I don't count this as a strength portion at all. It was a disappointment that I wasn't able to pull heavy. Jasper did his part of the real as planned.
Bench was kind of lame after those deads but little by little I got excited about this movement and got good sets in the books at 90kg. Warm-up was 10x60, 5x70kg.
Pair wod.
2 rounds of:
40 shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
50 toes-to-bar
60 burpee
Just before we started our metcon I realized I'm in a bit of a rush so it was time to put the clock on and start working. Plan was to do the jerks by changing after every 5 reps, and we stuck to that on the first round. On the second one I did a bit more of the work as I did these as push jerks, and Jazz went with push presses. T2b's were the easiest part of this for me, and I used it more as recovery.
Beforehand we thought burpees would be a walk in the park as we planned to do them in sets of 6 reps, then change. This was not the case though. Yes, we went in sets of 6 reps all the way but they were surprisingly hard on the second round. And the jerks right after these burpees were not tempting but still doable. I felt good on this workout but it surely brought a lot of tension on shoulders. Nice burned with a training buddy.
Thursday. Shoulder press x 10 @ 50kg. Push press x 10 @ 60kg. Push jerk x 10 @ 70kg. Bench, 3x10 (up to 80kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 20 ghd, 20 hang power clean (40kg).
Great time, as it always is when Jasper hits the gym with me. We did pretty much the same elements in this session. He worked on his pull-ups while I tried to master overhead strength. Then we got some bench press done, and finally a good metcon to burn the forearms big time.
Overhead.
Shoulder press 1x10 @ 50kg
Push press 1x10 @ 60kg
Push jerk 1x10 @ 70kg
It was cool to hit longer sets of overhead strength. More like muscle endurance. The entire idea was to go touch'n'go in each set. No stopping to breath at any moment. I mean on the front rack position. Actually I don't think I stopped overhead either. But had I took a pause that would have been allowed. In my head.
There weren't that proper warm-ups before I took the first set so shoulder presses felt a bit stiff on the shoulders but went smoothly anyway. Probably the first time I've ever done 50kg for this many reps. That was actually pretty cool to realize. Push presses were maybe the easiest part of these three.
Last set of push jerks felt awkward for 2 reps but then I got a good hold and great rhythm for each rep. That made it possible to keep the barbell bouncing touch'n'go rep by rep. I've done more of longer sets at decent weights in metcons in the past weeks so I was looking this from the bright side already beforehand. All sets went as planned.
Bench.
Bench press 3x10 reps (70, 75, 80kg)
Last set was only 8 reps though
We moved directly to different type of press strength. Bench was ahead of us. Jasper is a monster with this movement, and is a mile ahead of me. I took 10x20, and 5x60kg to get used to this element, then started pumping the sets. We went alternating each set, Jazz just took a notch heavier sets.
First set was easy, no prob. Second set was okay up to somewhere at 7-8 reps, then I had to push more but it was still something that I was able to manhandle. I knew the last set was going to be tough if it was 80kg but I stood up to the challenge. It was alright to 6 reps, the next one was heavy, the 8th of course heavier so at this point I was just hoping for good things to happen but the wall came just like that on the 9th rep.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
20 ghd sit-ups
20 hang power clean, 40kg
Stole this one from Rich Froning's "What's Rich Doing?" clip that I posted earlier this week. The difference was he made it with 60kg. Got 3 rounds of cleans unbroken. Then had to divide it to 13-7 and 14-6 on the last round. My forearms were shot. Actually they were gone after about 2 rounds. It was a good fight after that. Even though the barbell was only 40kg it started to weigh a lot. But mostly it was that I started to lose my grip. Just couldn't feel my hands anymore.
I dare to say ghd's are strong for me. Those went smoothly, and unbroken each round. On the last round I had to huff and puff a bit more but it was obvious to go without breaks on this movement. Very good combo to mix these two. And it was cool to throw in a high rep cleans in a metcon. Different kind of stimulus. This entire day was more of a muscle endurance type of training.
Monday. Bench emom x 10min: 3 reps @ 80kg. Workout, 5rds of: 10 ring dip + 10 light tall clean (2x12.5kg db's). Workout, 5rds of: 10 bent over row (25-30kg db's) + 10 strict press (2x17.5kg db's).
It sucks to have my leg out of order. I have to ignore lower body work for a while. No squats for a week I anticipate. Hopefully just a week, not month(s). Time will tell but I ain't looking for a month of just bench and presses. Today this was exactly the game plan. It was okay for a change but this is not something I'd do on a daily basis =)
Started the session with benching for couple of sets. It was a bit difficult to get a good warm-up and sweat on with being cautious of lower body all the time. Bench is a pretty good movement, I've realized it lately but it doesn't bring an old school sweat easily. After taking couple of sets I decided to drop down a bit and add the intensity to by making it an emom workout.
This weight was quite good for this type of emom. Actually it might have been the first time doing bench on the minute style. Worked well.
Workout.
5 rounds not for time of:
10 ring dip
10 tall clean, 2 x 12.5kg dumbbells
Ring dips were a no-brainer. What to couplet it with was a more difficult question. It turned out to be very light cleans with dumbbells. Heavy db's would have been preferred but at this point you probably know why that didn't happen. Ring dips were the beef on this wod. Went unbroken on them, and focused on full range of motion, and continuous movement and rhythm. Dips felt very good.
Workout.
5 rounds not for time of:
10 bent over row, 25-30kg dumbbell
10 strict press, 2 x 17.5kg dumbbells
Rows are something I do like never. I have overlooked this movement a lot. After trying it out today, I can see there is a point why it might be a good accessory element in fitness. Not replacing anything but at the end of a good training session some bent over rows with dumbbells or barbell are probably not a bad idea if there's plenty of time to play around.
So this was the first time doing these and the weights were moderate. Maybe I'll give it another shot some day. Today I took a short pause on top of the movement, and focused on good control both ways, up and down. Strict presses were the partner for rows. Counter movement. Shoulder press / Strict press for 10 reps at the same dumbbells. These started to get heavy towards the end of each set. Still, they were manageable.
Thursday. Deadlift trap bar triples (up to 215kg). Bench singles (up to PR 108kg). Metcon, 5rds of: 10 bench (80kg), 500m row. Time, 19.50.
Thursday is currently that day when I pull from the ground and do bench. Those are the two main elements of this day. Today was a lot of success. In all possible ways. Got heavy pulls under my belt and received a personal record on the press. Metcon was heavier bench than I've ever done so there was a good volume too and heavy breathing on the rower.
Pulls.
Trap bar deadlift
3x115, 145, 165, 185, 195
2x205
3x205, 215
My goal today was to give different type of stimulus to my body compared to conventional deadlifts. Trap bar is somewhat different than normal pulls from the ground. The centre of mass is right at the feet whereas in conventional deadlifts it tends to be a bit in front. If you look at it from the side, the grip is right where the feet is whereas in conventional deads the bar has to be a bit in front, slightly contacting the shins. This allows the athlete to put more pressure on legs.
And this really made my feet shake after each set. Back felt fine, and I believe the angle of my back was pretty straight, so I can look at these lifts with slight pride. There are two sides to this barbell. I started with having to go deeper in the start position so the distance pulled was longer. Went up to 3x195kg this way, and a double at 205kg. This is pretty sick as my 1RM is 210kg on conventional deadlift. After this, I flipped the bar over so the distance was shortened a bit. Then continued to pull triples at 205 and 215kg. It was awesome to hold this heavy barbell standing tall.
My point here was basically to prepare for the metcon. Doing heavier reps in the beginning, and then drop down to 80kg is a good tactic because then the barbell feels a lot lighter compared to when climbing upwards. First reps at 80kg felt semi-heavy but after going 100+ it felt light when I dropped down to 80kg.
Anyway, I took singles at 85kg and onwards. Thought about doing couple of singles and if it feels good, I might try to break the record because last time the PR was not the extreme max. Today I witnessed that to myself by taking 108kg up for a new record.
Metcon. Time, 19.50
5 rounds of:
10 bench press, 80kg
500m row
Combining rowing with any strength element as a couplet is tough. Try going deads plus row, and you're gonna be smashed. Or clean and jerks huh. Today it was bench and row. Okay I put the bench at 80kg which forced me to break the sets, except the first one which was unbroken. Then it was mostly 6-4 or 6-2-2, or something like that.
Rowing was 1.45-1.50 each round. My breathing went high on the rower but then dropped down on the bench. The reason for this was breaking the sets. Had I done this with 70kg I most likely would have done it unbroken. However, the goal of this workout was to familiarize myself with heavier barbell with good volume so this succeeded well. All in all, I feel like this metcon and the entire session was great.
Thursday. Deadlift 6x3 (up to 190kg). Bench 8x3 (up to 100kg).
This was a great day. I mean already before we opened the gym door it was a spectacular day at work. This carried on to the the training session as well. Deadlifts are scheduled to be on the agenda on a weekly basis, same as the bench. There wasn't time for a metcon. That would have included deads, ghd's and rowing.
My notes said 6x3 at 180kg. However, as I was building it up to heavy triples the warm-up sets were at 100, 130 and 150 kilos. Decided to start counting my sets from 170kg on. Two sets at each weight. Those weights felt very good so I kept adding stuff on the barbell up to 190kg. Felt like my back and legs are pretty strong. I wouldn't like to use chalk at all because it dries by hands a lot and results on rips often but on heavy deadlifts that seems to be compulsory. It helped tremendously to chalk up.
I haven't done 190kg for a triple ever before. Maybe a double but not a triple. 5x180kg has been witnessed twice, and lately the pulls have felt good so this was no surprise. Probably could have pulled even more.
Bench was another element of today's session. One day I understood this is a weakness of mine so I'll throw in this one about once every week. Definitely not going to stress about it but at the moment it feels like a good idea. To be honest, it's not that isolated movement that I have considered it to be so it will most likely be beneficial to overall fitness.
My 1RM is 102.5, dating back to stone ages. But I have done it probably once every 3 months =) In the past two weeks I've been able to climb up to 5x94kg and 3x96kg. Today these were upgraded to 3x100kg for a 3RM. That was a distant dream which came real life today. My plan was not to take a single rep at all but Pauliina refused to accept it, and so she talked me into trying that. Probably one of the easiest PR's I've ever done. Usually those are a lot of grind but this one was quite comfortable. Feels good to getting stronger in the entire body.
Thursday. Deads 6x5 (up to 170kg). Bench 6x5 (up to 94kg).
Thursday was a pure strength day. Getting posterior chain stronger with classic 5-rep sets. I've renewed my thoughts about bench press, and at the moment it feels like a smart idea to incorporate that into my program. Definitely not the main focus but at least I'll add more of this element to my training. It is a weakness and I don't like to have those.
Strength.
Deadlift 6x5 (150, 150, 160, 160, 170, 170kg)
Bench press 6x5 (70, 80, 85, 90, 92, 94kg)
Currently I'm planning on doing pulls from the ground on Thursday's. It seems to suit my weekly schedule well. My program is very flexible but for now it's put on this day but there will be changes constantly. I'm sure of it. Don't wanna be stuck on routines. This is not a routine, it's some sort of plan how to improve my overall fitness level.
Deadlifts today felt very good. Weights were something I was able to manhandle. Form stayed good throughout the session. I had Pauliina to coach me from the side, and I passed her coaching eye. That was success =) This was a 5-rep set, two sets at 150kg, then another double set at 160kg, and finally at 170kg. I felt strong on these loads. This is most challenging on the grip, hammies and back were fine. Chalk helped a lot this time.
Don't know where I got the inspiration to work on bench. It was probably the barbell shrugged podcast where the guys were discussing the benefits of benching. I realized this is a goat of mine, and it's not a cool thought. I'm gonna improve it, and make it more common lift in the strength element selection.
I benched twice last week, both at narrow grip. By narrow I mean it's the same width as when I pull from the ground or squat. Basically every time I have my hands on a barbell, I grab it from the same spot. Of course snatch / ohs is wider. Narrow feels much more natural for me. Way more steady and stabile. I'm able to produce more power in the press like this.
Deads and press
Today's weights were big PR's for me. I don't keep record on 3RM's or 5RM's but this was definitely a record. I might have pressed 5x90kg but I doubt it a lot. It's more likely 3x90kg. So hitting that easily, and climbing all the way up to 5x94kg was absurd. Haven't benched in ages but it has come up a lot is kind of cool. Even though it's just bench =)
Saturday. OHS, 10 sec eccentric, 10 sec pause (up to 65kg). Close grip bench press triples (up to 96kg).
There was no there option but to focus on barbell work. I wasn't going to get my heart beat up because my throat was more sore in the morning than it has been in the past couple of days. Other than that I feel great. Went to the gym at noon with mobility stuff in my mind. It turned out to be overhead squats and bench presses.
OHS.
Overhead squat
10 second eccentric phase, 10 second pause at the bottom
40, 50, 60, 60, 65, 60kg
The reason behind this is mobility for snatch. This was way different than normal overhead squat. It was a slow motion movement. 10 seconds to lower my butt to the ground, then 10 seconds to hold at the bottom position. Idea is to see improvements in mobility in the long run. The weights were not super heavy at all. Mostly it felt in my wrists as it took 20 seconds per set to hold on to the bar. I felt relieved when I dropped the barbell.
Recap
Bench.
Close grip bench press triples
70, 80, 85, 90, 92, 94, 96kg
Bench never gets my heart rate up and it's kind of an easy element so it suited perfectly for today. Normally bench grip width is wider but this time I narrowed it to the same width as when cleaning or jerking. That feels much more natural anyway for me, now I realized that fact.
This felt ridiculously good. There is no doubt this is some sort of PR for me. I have never pressed these weights for a triple. And even the last set felt like there's more in the tank. Didn't have a spotter so I didn't dare to go heavier anymore. This was a huge positive surprise for me. In the end I took some box jump overs just for fun. But not too much to keep heart rate down.
Thursday. Metcon, 10-8-6-4-2 of: deadlift (150kg), bench (70kg). Time, 6.20.
Throat is a bit sore so I took it light this Thursday. I had another metcon in my back pocket consisting of rowing and double unders which would couplet as a great conditioning piece but that will be postponed to another session. Today was about push and pull with a barbell.
Metcon. Time, 6.20
10-8-6-4-2 of:
Deadlift, 150kg
Bench press, 70kg
This was a quick one. Couple of minutes. I wasn't rushing through both movements. Took my time. Wanted to complete them unbroken. The deadlift was rather heavy anyway so I didn't wanna compromise my form on this one. Straight back is the key in pulling heavy from the ground. That definitely put my hamstrings on a good burn.
The weight was perfect for deads. Back took these well. It mostly put pressure on my legs. Grip stayed strong on every round because I chalked my hands before every set but it also hurt like hell on my hands at the end of the workout.
Bench is something I haven't done in ages. And probably am not going to do as strength because I'm always bored to death when doing so. But in metcons bench is okay element. I have nothing against it to be honest. However, it's a bit different compared to for example cleans where you can approach the bar, then start gripping and ripping it. On bench I feel like I need to get my form good before lifting the bar from the rack. That takes some time.
Workout
This workout was a good one. I used to do this sometimes when I began my crossfit journey in 2012, with different weights though. It wasn't a big gasser. Had to slow down because I really wanted to go unbroken.
The weather is freaking summery in here! And I love it. We were gonna go to the gym in the morning but instead it turned out to be a one and a half hour walk in the parks, forest and almost downtown Helsinki. Awesome quality time with my baby. On our way back we took a shortcut through Eltsu and "accidentally" stopped there to do some bodyweight training. There were a lot of people so we got inspired to do cartwheels and handstand. In the evening I went to the Box and worked on my pull-ups in various ways. It's a bummer I have to be cautious of my hip flexors. It would be great to lift heavy and do proper metcons already!
Playing around.
Cartwheels
Handstand
For some reason I have thought for the last couple of months that it would be awesome to master a simple movement like cartwheel. But those have always looked pathetic and there hasn't been a gymnastics coach training with me so it's not something I would start practicing on my own. Now that I had Pauliina with me in a place like this it felt right to take couple of attempts. We actually played here quite a long time as we both felt like we progressed a bit. This is something gals seem to be better at, I guess they just know how to control their body better =)
After playing around with cartwheels I also took some handstand hold for fun. There were a lot of people in Eltsu improving their fitness. And mother's day was seen in the picture too. Lots of families were walking outdoors in a beautiful and sunny Finland.
Pull-ups.
Weighted pull-ups
3x10, 10, 150, 17.5, 20, 22.5, 20kg
5x17.5, 15kg
6x10kg
I got a chance to have a training session with Jasper, at least for a while. Our schedules didn't quite match but it was great to have couple of fist pumps and hit a workout. He had to go and I stayed to work on my pull-ups in different styles. Starting with pull-ups with some extra weight. Mostly triples, built up to a heavy set which turned out to be 22.5kg. Then I dropped down with more reps. Pull-ups are great but to be honest doing weighted versions of them for strength is kind of boring. Feels like a meathead.
Pull-up complex.
Every minute on the minute for 9 minutes
1-3min: 4 bar muscle-ups
4-6min: 7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
7-9min: 10 pull-ups
This was much more fun! And I got a little heartbeat up at the same time. I could do muscle-ups all day every day! I'm so very happy those are rocking pretty well nowadays. Both bar and ring mu's. Mu's are also something I can do without having to stress how hip flexors are doing. Of course hip work is in the play but this movement is not the one putting too much pressure in there.
First 3 minutes were all about muscle-ups, next 3 minutes were c2b pull-ups and last 3 minutes were normal pull-ups. I increased the number of reps after each movement because it got easier towards the end. My lats were on fire on the regular pull-ups. I mean they hurt like hell. I had to go foam roll my lats and stretch them out for quite a bit after the workout. This made good to my body!
Bench.
Bench press 3x10 (60, 70, 75kg)
This is rare. What I really wanted to do was a bad ass metcon but I just couldn't figure out what I would do without using my legs that much so instead, it turned out to be a bench session in the end. Three sets of 10 reps, climbing. Last set was 75kg.
Bench sets
Then I took couple of heavier singles but my upper body was smashed at this point already. Hopefully tomorrow morning I wake up with fully healed legs so I can start doing some real work!
Friday. AM: Back squat triples (up to 125kg). Metcon, 5-4-3-2-1 of: bar mu's and front squat (90kg). Time, 4.20. Metcon, 5min amrap of: 3 power snatch (50kg), 6 hspu, 9 box. Result, 84 reps.
Had to wake up too early in the morning to get my daily doze of crossfit done. Well, okay I woke up at 8.00 and hit the gym at 9.00 but on a holiday it's too early =) My body wasn't fully prepared for strength work at that time as I've used to train in the afternoon normally. Got couple of metcons done during the day, and worked on my skills on muscle-ups. Right after morning session I drove to Klaukkala to play handyman with Kari. We built a fence to fill an empty space on the wall. Felt awesome to finish it as I don't have a huge confidence in building stuff. So that was my "third" session of the day I suppose.
Strength.
Back squat triples (110, 120, 125, 125kg)
It was great to get some squats done after a while but my body sure wasn't at its best this early. Somehow I felt stiff all the way even though there was proper warm-up included before touching the barbell. It may have also somehow affected me that I was squatting outside the safety rack. Haven't done that with heavier weights so I can admit I was hesitant to put more weight on the barbell. My original plan was to hit 130+ loads.
Recap of squats
Metcon. Time, 4.20
5-4-3-2-1 of:
Bar muscle-ups
Front squat, 90kg, from rack
Even though back squat strength didn't go exactly as planned both metcons were okay. Mixing bar mucsle-ups and heavy front squats has been knocking in the back of my head since I saw something like this being done by Chris Spealler as it was "workout of the day" at crossfit.com some months ago. I just haven't had the possibility to do it anywhere before today. This new place has two places where I can do bar mu's and I'm definitely using those more in the future!
My hands are ripped in 3 different parts so I had to tape 'em up a lot, and used natural grips too in order to prevent more tears. This was also the reason I bitched out and took the barbell from rack instead of cleaning it from the floor. Good decision this time.
Starting the project
Went unbroken on both movements. I may have been a little too conservative on this one. Because I haven't done much muscle-ups in metcons it is still difficult to know how my body takes them. I could have kept shorter breaks before jumping on the pull-up bar or front racking the 90kg bar.
What I'm really proud of, is how my muscle-ups looked like. It was very balanced and strong hips were in play too. Very happy about this one! My breathing was well under control throughout the workout which means to say pace could have been a bit faster.
I believe I posted the first part of this earlier. Here's second and third too.
Metcon. Result, 84 reps (4 rounds + 3 box)
5min amrap of:
3 power snatch, 50kg
6 handstand push-ups
9 box
This was is stolen from Toni. He smashed it yesterday and once knowing what he got, it was easy to set a target and keep moving. For warming up I took couple of t'n'g reps at 40-45-50 kilos, and then it was time to hit it.
Done!
This was unbroken all the way. Very good combination of elements and burned the body in a wholehearted way. Not targeting anything specifically but just simply wore a man out. I believe there was potential hit finish that 5th round. Now I got stuck at 3 box jumps on the 5th round.
Snatch, hspu, box
Skills.
Ring muscle-ups
This was the first time I laid my hands on the rings at this place. Those rings are metallic so they haven't been tempting this far. Owner told they already have wooden ones but they just haven't had time to hang them yet. They are also working on building up blocks during the summer. Wall balls should be coming, as well as battle ropes and possibly a climbing rope. That's dope!
Anyway I jumped on the rings and took my first attempt. I was very surprised to fly over the rings. Took couple more singles and they were all as easy as they can be. I was amazed. What the heck has happened. Is the work really paying off? There was a small issue with these rings. The lock was so close to the rings and it was not adjustable that it scratched my triceps a lot. Hurt like hell. I still took the easiest triple in the end. Felt like I could have continued forever.
Metcon. Result, 360 reps (5 rounds + 20 cal row)
20min amrap of:
5 bench press, bodyweight (80kg)
10 pistol squats
20 calory row
30 double unders
Main workout of the evening was this long amrap. Bench press, whaaat? Time for the compulsory bench every quarter of the year. These were bodyweight presses at 80 kilos. This is not one of my strengths. I've benched a little over 100kg but after 90kg it starts to get heavy. In this one I did first 3-4 rounds unbroken, and then cut it to 3-2 reps.
Pistol squats were alternating leg after each repetition. Doing these in Nanos is always a bit more challenging but they went actually very well today. Got a good rhythm in every set and was able to do them unbroken without any breaks in between.
Rowing was mentally tough at times. It was only 20 calories which equalled 260 meters quite precisely each round. I changed the damper setting between 8 and 10, didn't see big differences. Maybe those calories came quicker with 10.
There were lots of space which is important in order to get a good confidence on double unders. I had one trip in one set at 26 reps. Other than that, all sets were good. It also felt like my body was pretty tight. Good long workout indeed!
Wednesday. Strength, bench press 5x5 (80kg). Metcon, 20min amrap of: 5 bench (70kg), 10 t2b, 30 du, 400m run. Result, 5rds + 30 du. Row sets for about 4.100m.
I went to the gym early in the morning. My back is still sore from deadlifting. I'd like to see my body recover from heavy pulling quicker. Gotta get my body used to that. Wanted to squat today but that wasn't about to happen. Instead it was bench. Every time it surprises me how boring movement that is. Didn't even break a sweat. So I took couple of metcons afterwards. Good ones.
Strength.
Bench press 5x5 (80, 82.5, 80, 80, 80kg)
This really didn't bring me any ups or downs. Just did the job. The movement felt a bit strange after having don't done it in months. I took a little more narrow grip as it felt more natural.
Recap
Metcon. Result, 5 rounds + 30 double unders.
20min amrap of:
5 bench press, 70kg
10 toes-to-bar
30 double unders
400m run
This was a good breather. My body wasn't too fresh so the first round was a bit sticky. Actually my round times got faster towards the end. It was 400m run shy of 6 full rounds. This wasn't maybe 100% effort but still I got blood flowing pretty well in my body. Everything unbroken except the first round's double unders as I stumbled in the jump rope two times. That was kind of embarrassing. No excuses, my legs, hands and core wouldn't cooperate.
Row.
5:00 row, 2:30 rest
4:00 row, 2:00 rest
3:00 row, 1:30 rest
2:00 row, 1:00 rest
1:00 row
This was taken from Ben Bergeron. Good idea in this one. Okay, my legs were about to go cramp in the first set of 5 min rowing. That's the reason why my pace wasn't that fast, it was more like 1:50-1:55 for the most parts. In the beginning it was naturally faster but it never dropped below 1:55 anyway. This would probably be an awesome workout with fresh body. I recommend pretty much all rowing sessions to everyone =)
