First time putting all the plates on the barbell for modest weight pulls from the ground. Then some skills as I did 100 pistol squats before hitting the last piece with my wife. She told we'd do lunges and push-ups.
It felt great to get a little heavier barbell on my hands. It's been a notch lighter since I stopped training at my previous gym. There's a little transition before we move to our new home. Then I will get back in action for real. Next week we'll go for a holiday. Until then, I'll keep doing crossfit at our current home.
Gymnastics.
Pistol squats, alternating 5x20 reps
Pauliina worked on her deadlifts whereas I practiced sets of unbroken pistol squats, alternating between legs after each rep. Haven't been front or back squatting lately, and it felt like these pistol squats were heavy, a little heavier by each set.
We have been walking around in the nature quite a lot. Yesterday we wandered in Seurasaari to watch the sunset. Below there are couple of pictures along the trip.
Accessory.
4 rounds of:
30 walking lunges, bodyweight
25 push-ups
Not a timed workout. It was cool to do this side by side with Pauliina, each rep was completed at the same time. Synchronized movements as a team =)
Friday. Squat clean 4x5 @ 80kg. Accessory, 5rds of: 5 bar mu, 10m walking lunges, back rack @ 60kg.
It's been couple of days of hectic life as we have been arranging our upcoming renovation and moving from home to to another place. At the same time the in-laws are moving as well so we've been doing this thing together. I have still found time to workout. It's just been difficult to find time to write them down. It has also been the most important time of the year for crossfitters as the Crossfit Games took place and came to an end on Sunday!
Antti working on some box jumps
Barbell cycling.
Squat clean 4x5 @ 80kg
Touch'n'go
Huh, this was quite heavy in the morning. Body felt a little stiff even though Thursday was a rest day. Figured that doing these tng would benefit me in the long run. The weight was perfect for this morning. I worked with the rings for muscle-ups for couple of tries but those sucked. Couldn't get one. That was a freak show. The straps are meters long that go all the way to the ceiling. I have always worked with short straps that go about one meter over the rings to the ceiling.
It felt great to do the swing at Kehä, especially the back swing as the rings were high enough and there was no risk of feet hitting the ground. Then on the other hand I didn't have the skills to do the transition with these longer straps. It felt awkward all the way.
Accessory.
5 rounds of:
5 bar muscle-ups
10m lunges, back rack @ 60kg
I wanted to regain my confidence on the muscle-ups and went to smash them on the pull-up bar =) Couple of unbroken reps, then right onto lunges with a 60kg barbell on my back. After lunges I took my rest before completing another set. Those lunges felt good too. Haven't done lunges with 60kg or more that many time.
Sunday. Metcon, 10min amrap: 10 pull-ups, 30 lunges. Result, 8rds. Emom x 10min: odd min 8 hspu, even min 6 front squat @ 60kg.
Sunday evening action. It has been quite a task to find a good spot to go and hit a training session. They have also been quite short so I'll jump quite soon to work without that much warm-up. That's why the first part was pure bodyweight stuff, and finally some barbell work too.
Metcon. Result, 320 reps
10min amrap of:
10 pull-ups
30 walking lunges
Went unbroken on the pull-ups each round. Lunges were bodyweight only, 15 meters down and 15 meters back the grass matt. It was a good starter. I can tell I've been carrying a little baby around all the time. Didn't realize it before this session but when I jumped on the pull-up bar my forearms felt a bit funny. Like they were a little inflamed or something =)
Even though the little girl weighs like 3+ kilos it's a static hold which brings some burden on the arms. Doesn't matter though, I'd carry this little gal wherever she wants to. Anyway, this workout got to my forearms nicely, and the lunges burned my legs and butt.
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Odd minutes, 6 front squats @ 60kg
Even minutes, 8 handstand push-ups
My body has felt more tired lately. Maybe it's because of not working out properly or the lack of sleep and recovery. I feel it only when I put the timer on and start working. I can still push through the dark waters but I feel it taxing my body a notch more. Went unbroken on both elements.
Tuesday. AM. Death by ring dips. Result, 87 reps. Ring push-ups, emom x 20. Total of 160 reps. PM. Pair wod 20min amrap, other one does lunges 30mx30kg. In the meanwhile the other one does 10 burpees + amrap of db snatches @ 25kg
Rings.
Death by ring dips. Result, 87 reps (12 rounds + 9 reps on the 13th round)
Every minute on the minute x 20min: ring push-ups
2 sets of: 10-10-9-9-8-8-7-7-6-6
Started the day after breakfast with a stroll with the family. Then right onto playing with the rings. Death by ring dips was interesting. Got very tough at around 10 reps. I believe they were unbroken until that set. On the 11th round I needed to break it. Couldn't finish the 13th round anymore, 9 reps completed there.
Ring push-ups emom wod wasn't that much of a conditioning piece. Just needed to burn my chest, triceps and shoulders a bit more. Worked perfectly. Took 10 reps for the first 2 minutes, then dropped one rep for the next 2 rounds and so on. After the round of 6's, I started it all over again. That means it was a 20min emom workout.
Pair wod.
20min amrap
The other one completes back rack lunges constantly for 30 meters @ 30kg
In the meanwhile the other one does 10 burpees + an amrap of dumbbell snatches @ 25kg
It was super cool to get my friend Antti throw down with me in the evening. Women went for a walk with the babies and we got ourselves some bro-sesh. It was pretty much the first touch for Antti with crossfit. Sure he knows what it's all about but it was freaking cool to get him to try it out. And he beast modes through the workout all the way!
The idea was that one of us was doing lunges for the entire 20 minutes. Every time the other was doing lunges, the other one did 10 burpees and as many snatches as possible in the remaining time that the other guy was still doing the lunges. The movements hurt legs, butt and lungs. Very good combo and nice to get a training partner. Plus Kari was cheering us up and giving check point times in the middle of the workout. Great training day!
Monday. Back squats 5x10 @ 90kg. Skills, 3rds of: 14 pistols, 20 ghd. Accessory, 400m walking lunges with weight vest.
Bradshaw destroyed my forearms the other day. My best guess is that my right forearm is in a bit of an inflammation mode right now. That has an effect on the things I was able to practice today. I was pumped up to do a bunch of stuff but turned up smart and listened to my body. Today was purely lower body oriented session due to circumstances.
Strength.
Back squats 5x10 reps @ 90kg
Touch'n'go style
This was a bit different action. Lots of reps with lighter weight. The thing was that breaks were not allowed on these sets. Just take it on your back, and pump it up and down for 10 reps. Weights was alright for today, last reps were nastier on the sets, especially the 4th and 5th set. This could have been heavier though but for now I'll take it. These weren't a walk in the park by any means.
Recap
Skills.
3 rounds of:
14 pistol squats, alternating
20 ghd sit-ups
Holy hip flexors. Both movements burdened those areas and they didn't get much recovery in the process. Changed the leg after every rep. Completed those without breaks but paced myself every round. Ghd's unbroken.
Accessory.
20x20m walking lunges (400m)
Wear a vest
I've done this before in the past. In the beginning this goes on nicely. After couple of rounds it gets tough. Legs burn a lot. Towards the end it just gets worse. The latter part is miserable. But it's definitely going to be good in the long run. In the evening my legs cramped continuously so the leg work for today was definitely on point.
Wednesday. Metcon, 5rds of: 3 mu + 50 lunges. Metcon, 5rds of: 12 kb swing + 250m row. Time, 7.54.
I realized on my way to the gym that I had zero plans of what to practice today. That was kind of odd but "luckily" the traffic was jammed and I had plenty of time to think about the workouts. First one was more skills based and the second one was a great conditioning piece.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
3 ring muscle-ups
50 walking lunges
It struck me suddenly that muscle-ups need to be performed today. I looked at my hands and they looked alright. Ready for action. Without that much warm-up I jumped on the rings and started moving. Mental pre-game was on point today and it helped tremendously with the muscle-ups.
Took one set of mu's, and went lunging for 50 reps. Repeated this for a total of 5 sets. It was a very positive thing that the rings felt great today. Those sets didn't feel like they would be any kind of issue at all. The video below is the last set.
Metcon. Time, 7.54
5 rounds of:
12 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
250m row
This was more intense. Kept the transitions as short as possible all the time. It's important to take the first pull on the rower right away and not hang around to adjust the foot handles before that. There's plenty of time to adjust those after you get the "boat" moving.
Kettlebell was 2 pood version and I programmed it at 12 reps in order for me being able to grab it right after the rower. Had it been 15-20 swings I would have taken a short break before swinging it.
Tuesday. Clean singles, build up (result 112kg). Every 15sec, for 5min: 1 clean @ 90kg. Emom x 18min. 1st: 15 db press @ 2x20kg, 2nd: 30 lunges, 3rd: 15 box.
Went to the gym today with a plan to hit some olympic lifts in the form of cleans. Pulling strength and explosiveness were on the agenda. Some variation with the cleans. Had to change my plans on the fly as I had Barbara on my mind. Had some nagging issues in the body so I modified the metcon in the end totally.
Every 15 seconds, for 5 minutes (20 reps), perform 1 squat clean @ 90kg
Studied some stories I heard Rich Froning tell about some of his lifting sessions with the guys. First go heavy, then do a notch lighter load for higher reps, for time. First I built up to a heavy single which I haven't done in a while. Took multiple fast singles at 60, 70, 80kg's before starting to do just one single per weight.
The game changed pretty soon probably somewhere at 105kg. Before that I felt quick and explosive, especially out of the hole. On the way up the bar felt easy, smooth and light. That's not a surprise to anyone that there's a lot of mental game in olympic lifts, as well as in pretty much every aspect of fitness. Let it be crossfit or something else.
Anyway, I realized on the video that there's plenty of space and time to go under the barbell also on the heavier cleans. The bar traveled much higher than it is needed in order for me to get a chance to drop under the bar. Still, that 112kg bar was the heaviest I was able to clean today. It gets mental at some point. There is no logical reason for not putting more weight on the bar. Something prevents from going under the bar though =)
95kg + 110kg
Conditioning.
Every minute on the minute x 18 minutes
1st minute: 15 push presses with 2x20kg dumbbells
2nd minute: 30 walking lunges
3rd minute: 15 box jumps
This was a good finisher. The combination of lunges and box jumps got to my lower body quite nicely. Went up and down the green matt for 30 lunges. That took me something like 40 seconds I'd guess. Left me some recovery to walk back to the box, shake my legs couple of times and then start jumping around.
The third element in this one was push presses with dumbbells in both hands at the same time. Got through with 20kg db's. On the first round I completed 12 reps as I figured that would be cool number of reps. However, on the second round I jumped to 15 reps and finished with that. Plus did the 3 extra reps that were missing on the first round. These presses were physically the most demanding part of the workout. Shoulders were gone but I still got them unbroken every round. Stopped on top and locked elbows correctly before getting another rep done.
Thursday. Emom x 10: Snatch complex (up to 55kg). Metcon, 8rds of: 12 s2o @ 50kg, 40m walking lunges, 500m row. Time, 38min.
On Thursday agenda was snatch work in the beginning and then a long metcon for conditioning purposes. That one was easier on the lungs but burned my legs big time.
Oly.
Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
Power snatch + Hang snatch + Snatch balance
1-5min: 50kg
6-10min: 55kg
Metcon. Time, 38 minutes
8 rounds of:
12 shoulder-to-overhead @ 50kg
40m walking lunges
500m row
After sparring with couple of friends I ended up doing a longer conditioning piece. This was kind of gnarly. Mostly due to the lunges. Those bastards shot my legs. Basically each movement put pressure in the lower body, and it felt after the 38 minutes were done. S2o's were unbroken, so were the lunges. Okay, it's 20 meters one way, and then back down. Rowing was easy pace, at 1:55.
It was very difficult for me to come up with pleasing training plans. Exceptionally there were not a plan when entering the gym and it had to be created on the spot. Had tons of ideas which finally turned out to be the following.
Metcon. Result, 399 reps
20min amrap of:
7 handstand push-ups
7 push jerks @ 50kg
21 box jumps
21 walking lunges
In the beginning this felt like okay, I'm gonna dominate this. Pretty soon I realized that was too cocky. The movements were paired intentionally so that two shoulder-demolishers needed to be completed together and the lower body smashes also right after the other.
It worked just like I thought. Shoulders got fired up on the hspu/jerk combo. Jerks also gave pressure to legs so doing box / lunges right after really got tricky. It was a great workout and kept my breathing high and sweating like a pig.
Conditioning.
For 30 total minutes:
1st min: 10 unbroken ring dips
2nd min: bike
3rd min: bike
Needed to get my head around again after recovering for a while I wrote this one. It meant there were 10 ring dips that needed to be completed unbroken. At least that was the initial plan. At some point I wondered how many rounds I could do without having to drop down from the rings. I'm very happy all 10 rounds got through as planned as this is not my best strength. The next two rounds were written to build engine and endurance on the bike. It worked perfectly as a combo.
We went to Tallinn with my wife for a short trip to spend some quality time. It was an overnight journey to get a quick getaway from the day to day routines. This was third time in a month I visited Tallinn in the past month =) The two previous trips have been work related.
Loredo. Time, 24.12
6 rounds of:
24 squats
24 push-ups
24 lunges
2min crosstrainer (rx'd version is 400m run)
The hotel had a pretty cool spa at the highest floor. The view was beautiful from there. It was also very relaxing to spend time there, just hang around in the pool, jacuzzi and turkish steam sauna. At some point I sneaked to the very small gym in the hotel and did a modified version of hero workout Loredo. Subbed that 400m run to 2min of crosstrainer. Got to say crosstrainer is not something I'd normally jump into but this time it worked perfectly and burned my quads big time.
I was able to go unbroken in every part of the workout, and that was the first time doing so. I'm very pleased on the way I performed! Legs were on fire early on but still I found energy to push through. Round times were consistent each round
Friday. Wod, 10min amrap of: 20 squats, 15 ghd, 12 jerks (2x15kg db's). Result, 273 reps. Cleans up to 100kg. Wod, 4rds of: 12 kb swing (32kg), 25 lunges, 250m row. Wear a 10kg vest. Time, 11.25.
Today was somewhat an easier day. It wasn't supposed to be but I didn't come up with a perfect plan so this is what it turned out to =) The latter metcon beat my legs though. Cleans in the middle were lighter ones.
Metcon. Result, 273 reps (5 rounds + 3 jerks)
10min amrap of:
20 air squats
15 ghd sit-ups
12 shoulder-to-overhead, 2x15kg dumbbells
First piece was basically no warm-up needed type of wod. Bodyweight plus some lighter dumbbells. Focus was on keeping my body moving constantly, and not stop to breathe. Still, this didn't get me gassed that bad. Legs got their share on the workout. I did the s2o's as push jerks all the way so those got to lower body nicely too.
Cleans.
Singles 60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 100kg
These were light ones. I was spotting one guy on the bench occasionally and didn't have a timer running so this turned out to be a little sloppy piece but I'm happy the lifts were good anyway. Below is the last one at 100kg's
Metcon. Time, 11.25
4 rounds of:
12 kettlebell swings, 32kg
25 walking lunges
250m row
Wear a 10kg weight vest
After the last round was completed I realized the set-up sucked quite a bit of my time. It took me 15+ seconds to walk from rower to the kettlebell. Yes I know, sounds like I should have brought the bell next to the rower. The idea didn't even cross my mind :) On the other hand, maybe that was a good thing so I got my legs recovered a bit on the walks.
Having that vest on also on the kb swings and rowing definitely had its effect. Swings felt kind of funny, and I'm still wondering if I was wearing it the right way or should the front side be on my back. Anyway, lunges were nasty. Definitely liked those in some twisted way.
Thursday. Back squats 5x5 @ 135kg. Accessory, 5rds of: 5 bar mu, 12 reverse lunges @ 50kg
Getting heavier and heavier on the squats. Another grind day by having a barbell on my back. Then skills and more leg burn afterwards. Didn't time that one at all. It was more like accessory work even though the recovery time wasn't too long.
Strength.
Back squats 5x5 @ 135kg
Last days of this progression that I wrote by myself. It's been 5's all the way. Different amount of sets every time but the main point is that I'll keep adding weights on the bar and keep the volume up. It's been mentally tough at times and especially the last couple of squat sessions have built a lot of personality so to say. These sets were challenging sets but I managed to finish them, very happy!
Accessory.
5 rounds of:
5 bar muscle-ups
12 reverse lunges @ 50kg
This was not a timed workout. I did the muscle-ups and immediately walked to the bar, back racked it and took 12 reverse lunges. Then sat down for a while, went back to chalk my hands and hit another set. It was great to get muscle-ups done, it was simply awesome. I had a miss on the third round. Then got my head around the game again and finished the following repetitions smoothly.
Lunges burned my legs more than I anticipated in the beginning. Last reps of each set were heavy but I refused to pause at any moment. The bar was rather light anyway so I decided to push forward.
Yesterday my bro planted the idea of this first workout in my head, and I couldn't push it away. Sounded like a perfect metcon to me. This was an efficient session as it took me about 35 minutes to finish this after I started the first metcon.
Metcon. Time, 12.00
500m row
15 shoulder-to-overhead @ 60kg
500m row
20 shoulder-to-overhead @ 50kg
500m row
25 shoulder-to-overhead @ 40kg
This was excellent. The only bad thing was that it took some extra time in vain as I changed the plates on the barbell. That ate a bunch of the entire workout. But the combo of rowing and jerks was pretty cool. And it probably made it even more mental as the reps grew every round, even though the weights decreased. Don't know. Both ways would have rocked. Like this or then 15 reps @ 60kg every round.
I went unbroken on the 60kg jerks. Then 15-5 on the next round, and 18-7 on the last one. It just felt like my shoulders were getting numb on those two latter rounds. I really enjoyed this kind of pain on the jerks in a metcon.
Accessory.
5 sets of 20m walking lunges @ 50kg, back rack
This was more like muscle endurance / strength piece in the end. Weight was good. Next time I might go heavier on this kind of stuff. First 10 meters were fine. The last meters burned my legs big time. I'm very happy on today's performance by all means. Lunges for accessory are knocking at the back of my head quite often but there isn't enough time to get these finishers done.
Sunday. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 5 bar mu, 20m walking lunges (40kg). Result, 167 reps. Accessory, every 3:00, for 24min, alternating between: 20m sled push (165kg), 40m farmer's walk (115-125kg). Strongman Sunday mixed with skills. That was the goal for today. My hands have healed pretty well from last muscle-up session and luckily they held on well today on those bar mu's too. Hitting a skills workout in the beginning, and then strongman elements in the latter piece.
Metcon.
15min amrap of:
5 bar muscle-ups
20m walking lunges, 40kg, back rack
These are both excellent movements. The barbell was light for back rack lunges. That was no surprise but the main ingredient of this workout was definitely the muscle-ups. Lunges paired up greatly. I was able to do the lunges unbroken, and would not have accepted it in any other way. They still got me breathing heavier and burned legs on the last meters for sure. They also gave my upper body that much needed rest between muscle-up sets.
I'm very happy on the performance on the pull-up bar. It was 5's all the way, unbroken each set, c'mon! Got through 7 sets of muscle-ups finally. It was only 8m short of full 7 rounds for result in the 15 minute time frame. Mu's got challenging somewhere in the middle of the workout. Okay, they were not a walk in the park at any point but still I was confident throughout the metcon.
This was a good call. Had both elements in my notes but hadn't closed how to chase them. Decided to go heavy and alternate between these two every 3 minutes. Didn't do any movement specific warm-ups. Instead, just piled the plates on each other and started to move the sled. The weight on the first leg of the sled came as a surprise. It weighed a ton. But I got it moving and continued to keep the legs churning.
Bought parallettes today, boom!
Farmer's walk was the "easier" part of these two. Maybe only because I'm more familiar with it. For the first two sets the cases were loaded with 2x20kg plates. Then for the latter sets I added 2.5kg on each end.
My body really felt this one hours after it was done. Somehow my quads were shaking and felt weak afterwards. That made me smile inside. The work was definitely put in. Got to keep these elements in the program in the future too. I'm positive these are giving a positive effect on overall fitness.
Saturday. AM. Nasty Girls. Time, 13.16 (PR). Cashout, 3rds of: 1min row, 1min bike. PM. 5rds of: 12 lunges (2x25kg db's), 10 front squat (2x25kg db's). Accessory, 4x15 bent over row (2x25kg db's).
We spent the weekend in the countryside so I didn't have possibility to write about Saturday's training sessions. It was a two-a-day. In the morning we hit it with Pauliina. There was a benchmark workout called Nasty Girls. In the evening we went outside with Kari for another session. Awesome Saturday!
Nasty Girls. Time, 13.16 (PR)
3 rounds of:
50 air squats
7 ring muscle-ups
10 hang power cleans @ 60kg
This was the second time I've done this benchmark workout. These muscle-up wods are always a bit horrifying in advance. Those are not my strength and they tore my palms big time each and every time. There probably hasn't been even one session without rips. Okay that may be exaggeration but it's close anyway.
But the fact is that today's muscle-ups rocked my world. I was proud of myself in the middle of the workout. On the first round my plan was to go 4-3 reps which was a bit optimistic. However, as I started to do them my focus was on keeping a hollow body, tightly together, with a good back swing and lots of patience on the front swing before pulling myself up and over the rings. These must have been one of the best (if not even the best) muscle-ups I have performed. It's a pity I don't have video material as I'd really like to analyze that.
So first round was 4-3 even though it felt like I had something in me to go even unbroken. That would have been a pr so that would have probably been the most stupid thing to do in a workout like this =) Once mu's are gone, it's difficult to get them back. Second round was 3-2-2 and the last one maybe a double or two and then singles. Still the technique was good on these ones all the way.
Air squats were unbroken on the first round, and then I kept a short pause after 30 reps on latter rounds. Cleans were unbroken each round, those were the easiest part of this workout.
Cashout.
3 rounds of:
1min row
1min bike
This might be quite an awesome workout to continue for 20-40 minutes. At least something similar. Don't have a SkiErg which would make it even better. This time there was no time to work more on this couplet.
Legs.
5 rounds of:
12 walking lunges @ 2x25 dumbbells
10 front squats @ 2x25kg dumbbells
I had bought 25kg dumbbells from Germany and this was the first time I got my hands on them. Those little babies were great! And the weather was perfect too so the combination was simply just too good not to hit another session. This focused purely on those db's.
My legs were on fire. Doing this on snow made it interesting as I slipped every now and then as the snow started to pack and turn firm. That made it slippery as ice. This was not a timed wod.
Accessory.
4 x 15 bent over row @ 2x25kg dumbbells
Just needed to get something else done with these guys. Bent over rows don't appear very often in my training but it's still a good movement. Today I decided to give it a shot as Pauliina suggested it =) Had to take them for 15 reps as the weight was not heavy for that purpose. I did these with two dumbbells at the same time
Friday. Oly lifts emom: sdhp's and hang snatches. Wod, 5rds of: 40m farmer's walk @ 113kg, 40m lunges, 10 t2b. Cashout, 200m walking lunges wearing a weight vest. L-sit pull-ups, 4 sets.
Friday night training session. As I entered the gym, the owner told right away that he's ordering jerk blocks from Rogue. That was sick news! I've been drawling over those for a year now. Hopefully someday I'm able to put some weight overhead because those will definitely make a difference for jerks.
Oly.
Every 30 seconds: 1 sumo deadlift high-pull @ 80kg, for 10 minutes
Every minute on the minute: 3 high hang power snatch @ 40kg, for 10 minutes
Two different emom style workouts. There was a 3min break between these. Damn I'd like to do cleans. Sumo deadlift high-pulls are my substitute for those. There aren't many bar movements I can smash right now so I went heavy on the sdhp's. Never have I gone over 60kg before today.
It was a positive thing I was able to do power snatches. Can't put real weight on the bar though but the movement was okay this time. Focus was on extending my hips properly and being powerful. Towards the end it got better.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
40m farmer's walk @ 113kg
40m walking lunges, bodyweight
10 toes-to-bar
Great one. That farmer's walk was a nice piece to throw in the mix. That's definitely not too light. Haven't gone beyond this weight on this movement either before. That's obviously an entire body movement
Bodyweight burned quads big time, especially right after the farmer's walk. That was purely bodyweight stuff but it was definitely sufficient. T2b's were there to bring more pressure on the core. Great workout. Didn't time this at all but worked with same determination as normally.
Cashout.
200m walking lunges
Wear a 9kg vest
Went back and forth that 20m length of grass matt, wearing a vest that weighs 9-10 kilos. Went unbroken for each leg of the distance, then shook my legs before continuing the journey. This was bad ass on lower body.
Gymnastics.
4 sets of:
L-sit pull-ups
Result: 10, 10, 9, 5 reps
In the end I decided to do this old fella I haven't said hi to in ages. L-sit pull-ups, max sets for for 4 sets. First two were 10 reps each, third was close but on the 4th set my arms were so pumped that I could only go for 5. These were no-reps by a long shot but I'll take it. Didn't come to a dead hang in the bottom position. I'm still happy to being able to do these sets nicely.
Thursday. Emom x 15min: 1st min 5 deads (150kg), 2nd min 10 hspu, 3rd min 30 du. Right into 15min amrap of walking lunges with 20kg vest. Result, 287m.
Thursday's program was supposed to be meathead oriented. Deads and bench. It turned out both bench racks were taken so I skipped that and changed plans on the fly. Original plan was 12min emom of deads and bench, then 10min amrap of lighter deads, hspu's and du's. This was pretty similar.
Metcon.
Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes:
1st min: 5 deadlifts @ 150kg
2nd min: 10 handstand push-ups
3rd min: 30 double unders
This was a nice combo. It's been some time since previous deadlifts. Those made my back sore for days and for some reason it has not been on my program since. Today the 150kg pulls felt great. Light weight. There are two rips in my fingers so I stayed at this point to prevent them get torn even more.
Hspu's were good too. I thought about 12 reps also at some point. I've been missing these guys. Prior to double unders I have been foam rolling my shins lately. It has improved my du's tremendously. The difference has been huge compared to not foam rolling the shins. It even felt like "how have I ever stumbled on these jumps". Felt very natural and like I could have continued to jump forever. This metcon brought my breathing up during the 15 minutes.
Last round of the emom wod
Lunges. Result, 287 meters
15 minute amrap of:
Walking lunges with 20kg weight vest
Didn't have any break in between. Just put the weight vest on and started walking down and back the 20m grass matt. Went unbroken for ever 20m leg, then took couple of breaths and continued back. This felt awful already after 40 meters. My quads were burning big time. I'm not quite sure how heavy the vest is. Either 20kg or 30kg.
Another outdoor workout in the morning. Then in the evening we went to the gym together with Pauliina for some quality family time. I needed to get part of that overhead strength progression in the books.
Metcon.
4 rounds of:
15 shoulder-to-overhead, 45kg
40 walking lunges
Practically without any warm-up I took the barbell up and started moving. Of course shoulders felt a bit stiff in the beginning but got better after round one. Legs felt tired in the process because they never got a rest period.
Lunges naturally made my legs work and because I did s2o's as push jerks my legs were doing small "squats" all the time. It wasn't a biggie in the beginning but got spicy pretty soon. Legs felt heavier in the jerks than the shoulders. I was able to maintain a good and consistent pace throughout the workout.
Overhead.
Push press 3x6 @ 73kg
This happened hours later. After couple of days without real weights I felt like I needed to focus on the warm-up. That sealed the deal and prepared my body for the strength work nicely. These sets were kinda towards the heavier side but still they were manageable. Felt like they were right on point.
Metcon.
5 rounds of:
10 hang power clean @ 60kg
15 ghd sit-ups
Just before the last set of push presses we agreed with Pauliina we're gonna leave in 15 minutes. This was a quick session in other words. At first I thought this strength piece is enough. That was the only thing in my mind when entering the gym.
Then on the other hand there was 10 minutes of spare time so I took some weight off the barbell and carried it to the weightlifting platform. After one minute of doing the last press set I began the metcon. Plan was to work until my time is up and we are ready to leave. It turned out that 5 rounds was sufficient. It took probably something like 7-8 minutes I'd say.
I actually don't have a cell phone right now which I always use as a timer so I haven't timed my metcons in the past week or so. It has been pretty awesome in a sense that it hasn't taken that much time to start the metcons. Usually I prepare myself more than lately because I want to have a good time. Now I just start working and it does not affect the pacing at all. I work as if it was a regular metcon.
Christmas training. We left home the day before Christmas to spend it together with the family. We visited my pops earlier and then drove to Klaukkala to cool down with Pauliina's parents for the past couple of days. Didn't concentrate in writing the blog this time, hopefully you guys survived =)
Thursday.
Rest day
My upper body was jammed from all the training in the week so it was perfect to have a day off at Christmas Eve. It was a "busy" day anyway with all the traditions taking place. It was a spectacular day as the entire rest of the week spending it in the best company.
Friday.
Metcon,
5 rounds of:
3 rope climbs
450m run
It was going to be lots of outdoor activities while being in Klaukkala. I had pretty much every fitness equipment with me in the trunk of the car. Agenda was totally open. I just went by feeling. Friday was a good shoulder burn in the rope climbs. It was awesome to go for them after a long break. Felt great. Kari ran with me on the run. Had to save some gas for the rope climbs.
Saturday.
Every minute on the minute x 10min: 10 thrusters (40kg)
Metcon, 4 rounds of:
16 overhead walking lunges, 40kg
400m run
This was a two-part training session. It was nice to have Kari and Pauliina train with me outdoors at the yard. There were a lot of lunges completed with the trio. My first piece was thrusters at 40kg. Ten reps per set. Didn't have a timer running at all. It was something like one set per 60 or max 90 seconds. It also got to my shoulders finally, and they got nasty.
Right after that I took a metcon with the same barbell, lunging with it overhead. Went 8 steps down, and 8 steps back. Kept the bar overhead all the time. It was strange to turn around having a bar overhead. With this weight it was okay but having more weight might have felt exotic. Running and lunging made my legs burn and breathing go heavy.
Sunday.
Metcon, 5 rounds of:
20 walking lunges, 45kg barbell in back rack
20 kettlebell snatches, 16kg (10/10 per hand)
Wear a 9kg vest
On Sunday I got a chance to go two-a-day. We got snow on the ground on Saturday. It was pretty freaking awesome to train outdoors in this kind of weather. It was sunny, bright and the air was crispy. Great to breath heavily. My butt and quads were sore from training but I guess today made it's last effect on my lower body to break down. In a good way. I like it when it hurts.
I went to 45kg, put the barbell in my back, and lunged for 20 steps / meters. This was a bit longer distance than I'd normally lunge. It was a bit torturing on my butt and legs. The idea was of course to go unbroken, and I did. Kettlebell was light as that was probably the only thing I didn't have with me on this trip. Kari had this one so I wanted to borrow that one for the workout.
It suited well for this metcon. One-hand snatches, 10 with right hand, then 10 reps with left hand. Total of 5 rounds. This really hurt in my legs and made my breathing go heavy. I liked it a lot. There was a mental side of the wod too with the longer distance of the lunges.
Evening session.
Push press 1x8 (73kg). Did 10 reps
Front squat doubles, 7x2 across @ 120kg
Power clean, 5x3 @ 80kg
In the evening we drove home and I went to the gym because there was some work to be done. Purely a barbell session. I had my overhead progress going on and it was time for that final set of 8's today. One set of 8 reps @ 73kg. And there was the permission of going more than 8 reps if possible. Warm-up was 10x40, 5x50, 3x60, 2x70, 1x80kg. That 80kg press was probably the easiest I've done in the past couple of weeks. Then dropped down the only working set. Got 10 reps on that one which pleased me tremendously.
Even though my lower body and especially quads were killing me I wanted to get real squats done. My back prevented to squat in the past week so I missed them a lot. Did some doubles in front squat. Not super heavy. Felt heavier than they looked. Quite solid sets. In the end couple of sets of light power clean triples. Just to get a good touch on the movement.
