Wednesday 20.7: Double Grace, Pair wod

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.

Sunday 17.4: Snatch, Heavy Grace + Metcon

Sunday. AM: Complex, hang snatch + snatch, build up to a heavy set (62kg). Heavy Grace @ 70kg. Time, 4.30. PM: Metcon, 4rds of: 10 thruster @ 40kg, 10 ring dip, 10 t2b, 10 burpee. Time, 10.45.

I really needed a rest day on Saturday. Body felt very tired after a busy week. It was action from morning to evening every day and I tried to struggle to get some good sessions in the schedule. Succeeded in that too but it took its taxes during the week. Today I felt great again after a relaxing day spent with the family.

Oly.

• Complex, hang snatch + snatch
• Build up to a heavy set (40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 62kg)

Couple of sets snatches to start the day. This was a rather short session so I took just a few sets and focused on those lifts. I'm happy on all of the lifts this time. Bar path was okay all the way. Everything over 60 kilos starts to get heavy pretty soon but today those were good. I took 62kg and left it there.

Grace. Time, 4.30

• 30 clean @ jerk @ 70kg

This is a benchmark workout that gets me nervous every freaking time! Somehow Grace and Fran are the most classical benchmarks for me. Every now and then this pops up in my program and then it's time to go. I walked around the gym for a while and tried to find excuses to postpone this one but couldn't find any =)

It was a little heavier workout than normally. Rx'd version is at 60kg but this was 70kg. That means it's gonna burn my shoulders and legs much more than normally in a way. On the other hand on the regular version I'm able to go faster which makes it more intense, thus resulting in probably even more pain in the above mentioned areas, plus the lungs.

My strategy was simple. Go singles all the way from the very beginning. Don't keep too much rest between reps, just grab the bar and put it overhead. First reps were quite easy but somewhere between 5-10 the reality hit me and I recognized it's gonna be an awkward ride to the finish line. And it kind of was.

It got heavy but somehow still manageable. My legs started to get fired up and shoulders too. My jerks were quite good though and the technique stayed right on the point. Steady work through the finish. I'll take this one with a pleasure. It's over 2min improvement compared to the previous 70kg Grace.

Grace @ 70kg

Metcon. Time, 10.45

• 4 rounds of:
• 10 thrusters @ 40kg
• 10 ring dips
• 10 toes-to-bar's
• 10 burpees

After couple of hours I returned to the gym as this metcon needed to be completed. I wanted to do this in the morning but didn't have enough time. Plus I was done after 30 clean and jerks. I kept the thrusters light in order to keep the intensity high. That means I was able to go unbroken on them all the way. It sky rocketed my breathing every time and on the last round my shoulders needed to work big time as they started to go numb.

There were three elements that pressured shoulders. Basically everything but the t2b's. Ring dips were the most challenging part. Those have always been challenging for me. First round was unbroken, then I had to start breaking them up. I guess my shoulders are tight and that has an effect on the dips. T2b's were unbroken. Usually burpees keep the breathing up (this was no exception either) but today they mostly shot my shoulders. It felt heavy to push myself up from the floor because of all the shoulder pressure in this workout. Good metcon.

Tuesday 30.7: Handstand, snatches, heavy Grace

Tuesday. Handstand skills. 10 x (2 hang squat snatches + 2 ohs). Heavy Grace (70kg). Time 7.12.

Another day in Eltsu, probably our favorite place to workout. Together with Toni we had plan to go for olympic lifts, we scheduled certain workouts especially for this venue. It's easier to drop weights here when you're doing snatches and / or clean & jerks. Can't do that in a regular gym. Some skills to start with, then snathces, and finally it was time for another benchmark workout, Grace.

Skills. Handstand skills. I'm thinking I managed rather well. Was trying to find stability in the inverted position and I'm simply feeling more and more confident being upside down. Even though I start to fall to some direction, I'm able to correct my form and get it back together. That's valuable. There was a time when I dropped from the position each and every time I started leaning too much to some direction. Handstanding / handstand walking feeling good nowadays.

Snatches.

• 10 x (2 hang squat snatches + 2 overhead squats)
• Weights between 30 & 45kg. One set at 35, about 5 @ 40, the rest @ 45kg

Not the best day of snatches for me. Had a few misses at 45kg. Somehow the bar stayed way too forward up there. And I noticed from the video that the bar path is somewhere else it should be. It's way too front of me. Should be much closer to my body and the path should be vertical. Have to keep on training more.

Heavy Grace. Time 7.12. Compare to 22.4.2013

• 30 clean & jerks, 70kg

Tough! Simply tough. Went after benchmark wod Grace. I've done it a few times, twice as rx'd and then as a pair wod with Toni we've done double Grace. Today was the first time I put on a heavier barbell than it should be as rx'd. The original weight is 60kg, decided to add 10kg to make it a bit tougher. Toni did the same workout with the original weights. We completed the workout simultaneously. Nice variation!

It was difficult to come up with a plan how to proceed with this one. Decided to go by feeling. It soon turned out to be a game of single reps. Take a look at the show below. I didn't count that last rep of mine because I don't think there was full extension in the top position so I repeated it. Toni's plan was to go in sets of 5 for as long as possible.

Toni's workouts.

• Skills. Inverted position, hspu
• Snatches. Same sets
• Grace rx'd. 30 reps clean & jerk, 60kg