Wednesday. Double Grace with Toni @ 80kg. Time, 8.30. Pair wod, 300m run, 30 power snatch @ 60kg, 300m run, 30 c&j @ 60kg, 300m run, 30 deads @ 60kg, 300m run, 40m front rack lunges. Time, 16.20.
What a day! We moved some barbell around with a purpose in the morning with Toni. Double Heavy Grace was in the program to start the day, and then another metcon with quite a bunch of barbell action, with running between movements. Then we spent the day with Pauliina and our little girl in the city of Helsinki.
Double Heavy Grace. Time, 8.30
60 clean and jerk @ 80kg
You go, I go, with Toni
This sounded like a good idea yesterday evening. Today as I woke up it sounded monstrous. And it kind of was to be honest. As we built up to this weight it started to feel like it's doable. The first lifts felt heavy as shit but time corrected this and it started to feel more comfortable. Or at least manageable.
It's pretty mind blowing that we were actually able to smash 80kg barbell like this for so many reps. And without having to slow down tremendously. We are freaking pumped to hit double Grace at 80kg. Great job Toni! This weight seemed to be perfect for a pair work.
Doubel Grace
Wod. Time, 16.20
300m run
30 power snatch @ 60kg
300m run
30 clean and jerk @ 60kg
300m run
30 deadlift @ 60kg
300m run
40 front rack lunges @ 60kg
Divide the barbell movements as you wish, run together as a team
After the first piece shoulders were shot but after warming up a little bit for this one they were in full action again. It was an awkward feeling that the barbell felt light'ish on the first snatches (as it was 20kg less than just before) but the movement was different so it needed some work to get used to it.
Metcon's parts
Great workout to say the least. Only thing I would have changed was the deadlifts. They were too easy and light so the breathing that was through the roof came down a notch. Had there been front squats it would have been a different ball game. Let's make the order like this: snatch --> front squat --> c&j --> lunges = horrible.
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 7th, 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 :)
