Monday 8.2: Clean pulls, Back squat

Monday. Clean pull triples (up to 120kg). Every 90sec: 3 back squat (up to 140kg).

Happy day! After having this nagging pain in the wrist it finally seems it's getting somewhat better. My forearm is still feeling kinda weird but the gain is that I can bend my wrist already. That allowed me to go for back squats. Felt super about it!

Always interesting to see documents of Dan Bailey, even though it dates back 2 years ago

Oly.

• Clean pulls (5x80, 90, 3x100, 110, 120, 120, 120kg)

This was a lot of fun. Got a chance to get heavier clean-style action in the books. It was hard for me not to take it all the way to front rack as my hands finally felt like they could take it. But I decided to take this one smart. Triples after 100kg.

Strength.

• Every 90sec: 3 back squats (up to 140kg)

Feels like it's been an eternity since doing heavy squats last time. It probably hasn't and I have done pretty much lower body the past two weeks but heavy squats are always heavy squats. It was freaking awesome. It was pretty cool to go touch'n'go up to 125kg easily. Then tng @ 130kg for a double, then short pause on top before the final rep.

At 135kg the last two ones were rather tight, at least felt like it. Still, the first rep at 140kg was quite easy, second a good battle and on the third one I rushed it a bit and my spotter assisted me a little on the last rep.

Friday 24.7: Swim, Run + Clean emom & Bear complex

Friday. AM: Run 2k, swim 1k, run 2k. PM: Emom x 10min: Odd min, power clean, front squat, squat clean. Even min, pause at knee, pause at hips, then clean pull. Metcon, bear complex @ 40kg. Time, 11.30.

Different start to the day. Swimming in Italy was great and I got inspired to hit the Helsinki swimming stadium this morning. It's my last day on a holiday so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to go there. In the afternoon Toni invited me to visit his affiliate in Vantaa. It was all about barbell work.

Conditioning.

• Run 2.000m
• Swim 1.000m
• Run 2.000m

The stadium is a bit more than 2k away from our house. I took a back bag, put my stuff inside, and went running. Took 15 minutes to get there. That means it was a jog obviously. Went to study this place. It was a 50m pool with a bunch of lanes. I took the slow one because I'm definitely not a fish when you throw me in water. Never swam that much when I was a little kiddo so there are some lack of skills.

Swam for 500 meters at first, that's 10 pool lengths in total. Then a break, and another 500 meters. It was a good battle for me. Really felt it in my lats. It was all breast strokes through that kilometer. At times my right fingers started to tingle. Go figure. But it was a lot of fun, and it was a good morning workout for me!

Cleans.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Odd minutes, power clean, front squat (hold 2sec in bottom), squat clean (hold 2sec in bottom)
• Even minutes, halt at knee for 4sec, halt at hips for 4sec, then clean pull
• Barbell at 80kg

These workouts were 100% programmed by the affiliate itself. Had no word whatsoever in these. Toni invited me to join him, and I've never said no to a workout. This was good accessory style workout for clean. The difference to regular clean training was the obligatory pause in the bottom position. This was supposed to be 75% of 1RM so I figured 80kg would be fine. Toni went with the same weights.

Clean emom

Bear complex. Time, 11.30

• Without dropping the bar, complete the following sequence for 7 times. That constitutes 1 rep
• Power clean + front squat + push press + back squat + push press (=1 rep)
• Once you've completed the sequence for 7 reps, drop the bar. That is 1 round
• Repeat for a total of 5 rounds
• Time cap 14 minutes
• Time, 11.30 @ 40kg

This is a cruel workout. Forearms were killing me. Weight is light but not for long. It's that forearm burn that gets to me. Never has 40 kilos felt this cruel in my life. I just wanted to finish under the time cap. Realized after 3 rounds that there's plenty of time so I kept longer breaks before rounds 4 and 5. Normally this workout is not for time but they had to put a time cap so their daily schedule would stay in the plan.

Bear

Good workout, and got a high heart beat too! As we can see from the video, Toni still has some issues with counting reps hehe. He worked well with the barbell for the entire day for sure though!

Is he the next champ?

Tuesday 6.5: Clean and jerk, floor wipers, thrusters

Tuesday. Clean and jerk (max PR 105kg). Clean pulls 3x5 (110-120kg). Floor wipers 3x10reps (50-60kg). Metcon, 10rds of: 20sec on, 40sec off, thrusters (40kg). Result, 100 reps.

What a day! I was so done as the training session was over and still at home I was feeling sick. I had planned to go to Eltsu for clean and jerk, went to my home gym instead. All I had in mind was clean and jerk. Ended up there with Juuso for some olympic lifts, core work and deceptive workout.

Pauliina's new mobility tool =)

Strength.

• Clean and jerk 5x60kg, 5x70kg, 3x80kg, 2x85, 1x90, 1x95, 1x100, 1x105 PR
• Clean pulls 5-5-5 (110, 120, 120kg)

I warmed up my lower body properly before touching the barbell, then took some more hang cleans, jerks and front squats with lighter barbell. Started off by doing a set of 5 reps with 60kg and a hang squat clean at the end of those reps. Same with 70kg. At 80kg I did one squat clean and 3 split jerks. So that was not actually clean and jerk set but a sort of clean / jerk complex. After that I took only a double @ 85kg and then simply singles.

I've done some jerks with 90kg barbell and it feels comfortable nowadays. I guess that's pretty much the heaviest I've climbed at this gym because it's not possible to drop the weights. So it was a little intimidating trying to jerk the bar up. However, I felt good and confident, the bar wasn't that heavy so I kept pushing it.

Never has 100kg felt so light! I've taken it overhead only couple of times. Not sure but I'll guess maybe 2-3 times? At this point it was only natural to go try that record. The clean stayed a little too forward so my clean wasn't a perfect one. Usually my cleans tend to look similar, at least in my opinion. I either get the clean up and they look alike or then I'm not fast enough to drop under the bar. Anyway the bar was on my front rack and it was time for some real action. Took the dip and drive, hoped for the best and gave it a shot. Bar felt comfortable on the dip part. When I began to drive it up, the bar was like a ton of iron was on my shoulders. I put all my effort in the jerk and got it up. Stayed still for couple of seconds victorious with 105kg bar overhead.

After clean & jerks I took 3 sets of clean pulls. First set @ 110kg, and the last 2 sets @ 120kg. For sets of 5 reps they were heavy. Let's think about it. I've done couple of 100kg+ clean singles in my life so going for 110-120kg clean pulls must be heavy. My grip strength was a little challenging. This was the first times I tried hook grip. That's because my grip strength wan't there after 2 reps. Had to go for hook grip. And I must say it was a totally different thing. Grip was easy but my thumb was smashed. Maybe I gotta try this more. Maybe there's a point why everybody's using it  =)

Core.

• Floor wipers 3x10 (50, 60, 60kg)

This was something Juuso talked me into trying. Some core work. Have you ever tried? I haven't. With these weights it was more like a body control movement, balance, and coordination. We took sets of 10 reps. The idea is you're laying on your back, take the bar from rack just like you would be doing floor press. While holding the bar with straight hands. Then bring your legs to the bumper plates side to side. Start with left side and then right, alternating after each rep.

Workout.

• 20sec on, 40sec off, for 10 minutes
• Thrusters, 40kg

Something that was created on the spot. Turned out to be a sick one! One barbell, two men and a timer. We completed this together even though it was an individual workout. Juuso started at 0:00, worked for 20sec, then rested 40sec and started his second set at 1:00. My turn began at 0:30 and I worked for the same time domain, 20 sec on and 40sec off. I realized it takes about 2sec to complete a thruster.

This started to feel bad in 3-4 minutes. At 6 minutes it was horrible. At 8min I felt rhabdo is on its way. Well that was a joke, luckily it wasn't on its way. At 10min I was so smoked. Hard to describe. Had to knee down, then I tried to walk the pain away but the pain just wanted to stay in my body. It felt bad somewhere deep inside long after I came home.

Now I smile as I look back at the work put in earlier today. Lot of stuff was overhead, supportive core work was there too, and the grande finale was great!

Thursday 13.2: Clean and jerk ladder, clean pulls

Thursday. Clean & jerk ladder, 10 x 50, 60, 70, 80kg. Time 11.30. Clean pulls @ 80-100kg.

Time for oly lifts. Those are so vital movements that I need to be working on those. I want to be an all-around athlete and clean & jerk + snatch definitely are full body movements. So I completed an ascending ladder with c&j's and practiced some clean pulls in the end. It was a rare moment to have Tony the Pony training with me at the gym. He was doing deadlift triples plus a back-to-back Tabatas of push-ups, air squats and burpees. He's focusing a lot on deads, shoulder press and back squats currently due to the programming of his affiliate.

Metcon. Time 11.30. Compare to 29.7.2013

• Clean & jerk ladder
• 10 x 50, 60, 70, 80kg

I like these ladders. I've done couple of them, it's been thrusters and cleans before. This was the first time with clean & jerks. I've conducted them each time by completing 10 reps with 4 different weight sets, always climbing up with 10kg after every 10 reps. These can be very nasty ones. Grip strength, muscle endurance and metabolic conditioning. All play a crucial role. Plus it's also a good chance to work on the technique.

I completed the first 2 sets (50 and 60kg) unbroken. On the 70kg bar I did 3 reps on first attempt, then doubles till the end and one single in the end. I was able to take advantage of the barbell's motion. As I cleaned the bar and it landed on my shoulders I used momentum and jerked it up right away without stopping in-between. That's very important to find an effective tool on the clean & jerks.

At 80kg I did singles all the way. And at this stage I wasn't able to use momentum at all. It felt more like a heavier clean & jerk. Still, I power cleaned the bar up, no squat cleans at all. Then, I took another breath, inhaled, got a proper tension in my body, and push jerked the barbell overhead. Toni was giving some tips during the 80kg lifts about going down enough and jerking it properly, not pressing.

I definitely enjoy this type of ladders. I guess I must give the thruster and squat clean ladders another shot. I read the stories again from those posts and got inspirited to do them again.

Clean pulls.

• Weights between 80-100kg

I was pretty much done after the workout. Those pull-ups from Mary (150 reps) really feels in my body so I didn't want to complete another metcon or so. Still, wanted to do something and decided to do some clean pulls for strength / technique purposes. There could be more weight for sure because in pulls you should have more kilos on the barbell than on regular cleans. It was most difficult for grip strength. The video above is 5x100kg.

Sunday 5.1: Ring skills, clean/snatch technique, du's

Sunday. Ring skills. Technique, clean pulls & snatch pulls. Workout, emom for 20min. Odd min, 5 power clean, even min, 30du.

Lighter day, for a while. Concentrated in skills and technique. Ring mu progressions for some time, then pulls on cleans and snatches, trying to find a good spot for the "bounce". Finally I took a workout with light cleans and double unders, for technique and skills.

Ring skills. Ring muscle-up progressions

• 10 sets of 2 ring rows + 1 transition
• Ring mu attempts

I want to be better at muscle-ups, both bar and ring versions. Need to be working harder on those. More frequently and more progressions. Got to be doing pull-ups higher than normally: chest-to-bar's and belly-to-bar's. I can nail bar mu's always when I try them but I want to make them more effortless. Want the pull-up be so high I don't have to struggle on the transition stage. Same with the ring mu's, or actually even more. There have been some days I haven't got any reps even though I've tried them multiple times. Today was one of them.

That's why I'm gonna do more of progressions for full reps. I've checked Austin Malleolo's muscle-up drills video for couple of times and tried to absorb the tips he's given. I did 10 sets of a ring row slash transition complex It looks so easy when you look at someone else do it but when you hold the rings with a false grip it immediately feels heavier. The grip is not comfortable at all but is kind of mandatory, at least in the beginning. In case I would be able to pull myself higher, false grip would not be needed anymore. That's what I've learned.

These sets were very good drills to get better at ring mu's. Need to be doing more of these.

Recap

Technique. Numerous sets of:

• Clean pulls
• Snatch pulls
• 50kg barbell

Toni has been giving some tips for me on my oly lifts, or to be more specific, my pulls on clean and snatch. The spot where I bounce the bar from my thighs is somewhere on my mid-thighs which is way too low. Being able to locate the bar higher - "on the pocket" - would create more power on the pull and the bar would travel in a more vertical path upwards. It would also help to on the landing position as I wouldn't be jumping forward on the heavier weights.

So we've been trying to spot the bar higher when we have trained together. Today I put only 50kg on the bar and focused on completing better pulls. And once I was concentrating on this, I believe I was able to get it higher. But it needs lots of thought because otherwise I'll get back to my old habits of bouncing it from too low. I worked on both clean and snatch pulls.

Workout. For technique

• Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes
• Odd minutes, 5 power cleans, 50kg
• Even minutes, 30 double unders

This workout was light in nature. There were a good number of clean pulls and I wanted to get some full reps technique-wise too. No surprise that my focus was on pulling the bar from as high as possible. Toni I need you to give some thoughts on my performance on the pulls and power cleans.

Double unders were okay. Not perfect though but still okay. Couldn't go unbroken. As you see my first reps tend to suck compared to the ones from 5-rep on. My body bends too much in the first reps and I have to bend my knees too. After couple of jumps I get a hold on the movement and it feels much better. At that point I get a good confidence on the jumping too. Still need to be doing more work on the form.