Sunday 31.7: Mu, Deads, Oh lunges

Sunday. Skills, emom x 6min: ring mu's. Deads 5x10 @ 130kg (no tng allowed). Accessory, oh double kb lunges @ 2x16kg, 4 x 18m.

For too long has it been break since pulling from the ground. First I had my payback on the rings as last time I did those at CF Kehä, I got none which was mind blowing. Those long straps got to me somehow. Today it was important to get some done. THen longer sets of pulling and finally some accessory play.

Skills.

• Every minute on the minute x 6 minutes
• 1-3 reps per minute

Yeah, it was a great feeling to get myself over the rings again. Took a triple in the beginning, then doubles and singles on the remaining minutes. My left hand almost tore up so I left it at just couple of minutes. This was a good one to restore confidence.

Pulls.

• Deadlift 5x10 reps @ 130kg
• No bounce allowed at the floor, no adjust of the grip

Different type of pulls. Usually I go touch'n'go all the way and the barbell is a lot lighter once I have got one rep completed. The following reps are relatively easier for me. Usually the only restricting element is how much my fingers and palms are ready to take the hit. Not so much the back and hamstrings. Kind of funny but that's how it is.

So this time I worked on the starting position and got to say it burned the entire posterior chain much more than normally. Really liked that one. I can nail 3x190kg or 5x180kg touch'n'go and those are not that bad but doing 10x130kg with a dead stop on the floor feels more in my back and hammies. Hands took these well too as the bar was only at 130kg.

Accessory.

• Double kettlebell overhead walking lunges
• 4 x 18m sets, rest as needed between sets

This was a bit shorter session so there wasn't time to attack a metcon with rage. I went after this right after the deadlifts. These were the heaviest kettlebells I found at the same weight. Last time I did 2x16kg upstairs but it was for 10 meters. Now it was about double so I figured the weight might work alright. First one was easy, the following were heavier. Shoulders on the second one, shoulders and legs on the last two sets.

Friday 24.6: Gymnastics, Sled

Friday. Skills, muscle-ups. Wod, 15min amrap: 20m sled pull, standing @ 80kg, 20m sled push @ 110kg.

Finns have been celebrating Midsummer this weekend. The sun will never go down during the night and it's light all day. Usually people go to their summer cottages and celebrate this festivity with friends or family, grill some food and enjoy their time. We went to Klaukkala but in the morning I went to the gym to do strongman style workout. It's a bummer that I videotaped the workouts but accidentally deleted everything from my camera during the weekend =)

Gymnastics.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 2 muscle-ups

Metcon. Result, 8 rounds + 10m sled pull

• 15min amrap of:
• 20m sled pull, standing @ 80kg
• 20m sled push @ 110kg

Wednesday 15.6: Mu, Lunges, Kb, Row

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.

Saturday 4.6: Amanda, Clean triples

Saturday. Benchmark workout Amanda. Time, 15.20. Squat clean triples, build up to a heavy set (100kg).

This day was remarkable in my crossfit career. First time being able to do benchmark workout Amanda rx'd. Wasn't pretty to be honest but was able to do it anyway with real weights. Afterwards I went to build to to a heavy set of squat clean triple.

Amanda. Time, 15.20. Compare to 1.5.2015

• 9-7-5 of:
• Ring muscle-ups
• Snatch @ 60kg

I've done this once before with 40kg barbell. It's a totally different game to add 20 kilos on the barbell. Ring muscle-ups went pretty nicely today. For no reason it's been some time since hopping on the rings. It was cool to see I still got it. Had to break them obviously in several sets during the workout.

In the warm-up I took one rep at 60kg snatch, then started the clock on Amanda. The feeling after having 9 muscle-ups fatigue shoulders a bit and then trying to stabilize the barbell overhead in the bottom position was unreal. Hard to even describe how it felt but it simply felt unnatural. I lost the first one in front, and the second attempt went too far back. By the way, that was the first snatch that went through in my life. They always stay in front if I miss them.

Third attempt was caught but it looked ugly as hell. Same with the fourth. Then little by little I started to get it under control. Last reps on the round of 9's were decent. Rounds of 7's and 5's were already smoother. It felt better and better in the course of the workout. It was almost a pity the workout ended. I liked the snatch part towards the end.

I'm very happy I was able to complete this workout. It's been in the back of my head that some day I want to complete it rx'd. These are written to be squat snatches and some of them definitely were not but I'll take it anyway. 60kg snatch is not self-evident for me, especially in a metcon. Sometimes in a snatch session it feels heavy so doing 21 reps of those in metcon is great.

Oly.

• Build up to a heavy set of squat clean triple
• Sets at 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100kg

It was different to do these sets after metcon. Usually I do strength and barbell cycling before and then hit a workout afterwards. It was a good change in methodology. These weren't the lightest of cleans I've done but still they rolled quite okay.

Doing them touch'n'go style is more taxing than 3 x quick singles so I'm happy with this. On the last rep of the 100kg set I lost the tightness in my body so had to reset the bar and take the last rep as a single.

Sunday 10.4: CF Open 14.4, Strongman

Sunday. CF Open 14.4. Result, 184 reps. Accessory, 5rds of: 40m farmer's walk (135kg), handstand.

Old school benchmark which I have somehow been able to avoid this far. It was about time to attack it. After couple of minutes rest it was time for accessory work in the form of strongman meets skills. Farmer's walk set for 40 meters and handstand practice between carries. It's been months since being in freestand handstand.

CF Open 14.4. Result, 184 reps (4 muscle-ups)

• 14min amrap of:
• 60 cal row
• 50 toes-to-bar's
• 40 wall ball shots
• 30 power cleans
• 20 ring muscle-ups

The thing that got me terrified on this workout as I was thinking about was basically the power cleans and muscle-ups. Everything prior to that is just basic conditioning, and I kind of think that's in okay shape in my part.

Rowing was kind of a cool ride and I kept a smooth breathing throughout that stage. It was quite accurately 800 meters of rowing with a 1.48 pace. It's rare to complete a big bunch of t2b's in a row so I decided to go by feeling on this one. Took 10 reps to begin with, then 5's from then on.

Wall balls were the easiest part of this workout, took them in two sets, 25 at first and then 15 to reach a total of 40 repetitions. Those power cleans at this stage of the workout with a rather good heart beat was interesting. The bar felt good in my hands all the time and the weight wasn't too heavy. But it just gets heart beat a lot heavier. Took these in singles for all 30 reps. First a 10 rep stint, then 5's till the end. My heart was racing pretty wildly after these.

Got to admit my body wasn't eager to jump on the rings after working for 12 minutes of rowing, t2b's, wb's and cleans. Damn it felt heavy to get myself on top of the rings. Got a double at first attempt, then two singles. They look easier than they felt and this got me thinking should I have forced myself to jump on the rings earlier with less recovery.

CF Open 14.4

Strongman / Skills.

• 5 rounds of:
• 40m farmer's walk @ 135kg
• Handstand

Strongman meets skills. Very different type of elements. There were 2x25kg bumper plates on each handle so that means the total weight was 135kg for the farmer's walk. This was not a timed workout, more of an accessory work. It's been months since doing handstand so it was fun to get upside down and attack this skill. It was a good combination of movements.

Strongman / Skills

Saturday 5.3: Mu's, Snatch, Cleans

Saturday. Skills, mu's and burpees. Emom x 10: snatch (mostly 50kg). Emom x 12min: power clean (up to 95kg)

Saturday wasn't the most glorious of days as I attended grandpa's funeral. It was couple hours drive away so it was a road trip ahead with my bro. Emotional day for sure. It was a warm-hearted family gathering for sure. Anyway, I needed to get to the gym early in the morning to get my mind on something else.

Saturday's set-up

Skills.

• 10 ring muscle-ups
• 30 burpees

Hands were pretty sore which made gripping basically anything awkward but I wanted to get some muscle-up action done. The big take away was that I got to finally take the mu training on video and analyze it on the technique. I found out that my gut feeling of getting the back swing a lot better is true. It's been poor in the history but now it's much more fierce. I'm very pleased on that! Another key issue is keeping the legs together, another win.

What I'd like to see get done in the future better is that my body would create a more hollow body position and not that many angles. That would create a good tension in the body and elevate the body over the rings more easily. This concerns the swing on both back and front positions. Finished these ring muscle-ups with 30 burpees in a row to get heart rate up.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Snatch (mostly 50kg)

Light weight. Definitely felt a morning training. Body was stiff all the way and really didn't get loosened up at any moment of the session. I took 40kg and 45kg reps in the beginning, then finished with 50kg singles to the end. First snatches at 50kg fell forward which made me correct the position with footing when coming up. I consider those pretty much a failed lift. Towards the end I got the bar path corrected and those felt alright. Then on the video I realized they were power snatches even though I thought I was sitting below parallel. That morning stiffness shows there =)

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 12 minutes
• Power clean (80, 80, 80, 85, 85, 85, 90, 90, 90, 95, 95, 95kg)

Had some extra time so I loaded the bar up to 80kg and took some singles. First at every 30 seconds, then from 85kg on it was singles every 60 seconds. Was supposed to end at 90kg but I decided to add it to 95kg anyway. Those were not the cutest ones but the rest of these power cleans were about on point.

Saturday 20.2: Nasty Girls + Db's

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

Sunday 10.1: Mu's, Press, Emom

Sunday. Emom x 10min: mu's 2-3 reps. Push press 1x6 @ 78kg. Emom x 15min: 1st 5 c&j @ 60kg, 2nd 8-10 burpee box, 3rd 12 pull-ups.

The past two days have been pretty awesome in the field of crossfit. After couple of easier days I've got a chance to hit it at the gym for real. Both of these days have been very efficient. Yesterday the session took me 43 minutes in total after warm-up. Today it was 42 minutes. Somehow after this kind of intense sessions I leave the gym with a happy face as it feels like things happened efficiently. Not that I would like to spend the entire day at the gym if it was possible =)

Gymnastics.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Muscle-ups, 2-3 reps per minute
• Total of: 24 reps

Damned it was fun to go after muscle-ups! It's been a while since doing these last time. It's always a bit of a nervous situation to walk to the rings and start working. It wouldn't if I mastered them but that's not the case. I was a bit conservative in the beginning and took doubles. Actually the first was a triple but then couple of doubles before finishing it with triples again. I counted a total of 24 reps which makes it 4 triples and 6 doubles. Felt good on these. Obviously I ripped my left palm as the tendency seems to be on mu's.

Overhead.

• Push press 1x6 @ 78kg

This is the part of the progression I've been doing the past 6 weeks to put some beef on my shoulders. Started warming up with an empty barbell right after muscle-ups. Little by little crawled up to 80kg for a single. Then dropped to 78kg for a max set. It says 6 reps but there was a permission to go further. It was a good battle to complete the 7th rep too. See the video for that set.

Recap

Conditioning.

• Every minute on the minute x 15 minutes
• 1st minute: 5 clean and jerk @ 60kg
• 2nd minute: 8-10 burpee box jumps
• 3rd minute: 12 pull-ups

Some emom rotation on couple of elements. Those clean and jerks were a great piece of this workout. It would definitely be beneficial to mix c&j's in workouts more often. They are a great way to cause fatigue on entire body.

 I changed between 8 to 10 reps on the burpee box jumps, and 12 pull-ups on the third minute. I actually started at 10 pull-ups, changed it on the second round and finished the last round with 14 reps.

Monday 28.12: Pull-ups, Hspu, Clean, T2b + MU's metcon

Monday. AM. Bodyweight emom x 20min. Odd min, 10 pull-ups. Even min, 10 hspu. Emom x 10min. Odd min, 3 squat clean (80kg). Even min, 12 t2b. PM. Metcon, 15min amrap of: 2 mu's, 6 push jerk (60kg), 14 box. Result, 162 reps.

It was an early morning workout to kickstart the day. As I'm on a holiday right now my program looks pretty similar each day. I drive my lovely wife to work, then head to the gym right after that at 9.00 in the morning at latest. Then a good warm-up takes place and about 2h session is ahead of me. There's no rush at all. At 11.00 I go back home, eat, relax and take a nap. That's a life changer. I feel alive again after sleeping for a while. Then another session in the afternoon and then get Pauliina back home. Then more food inside of me and recovery for the next day in the best company.

Bodyweight.

• Every minute on the minute x 20 minutes
• Odd min, 10 pull-ups
• Even min, 10 handstand pull-ups

I needed a lot of warm-up to get to this point that I was able to move my body properly. Felt very stiff in the morning. Did rowing for 1k and mobilized a lot, played around with a light barbell for a while before hopping on the pull-up bar.

This was supposed to be a 10 minute emom workout but once I started moving my body woke up nicely and both pull-ups and handstand push-ups started feeling good. It felt only suitable to keep on going and it turned out to be a 20min workout in the end. Pull-ups were too easy. That was a very positive thing now as I think about it.

Hspu's got tougher through the end. Last 2-3 sets were clearly heavier. I'm still very happy on that I was able to complete 100 reps of both pull-ups and hspu's. On pull-ups that's a good volume but for the handstand push-ups it's huge. No matter in what kind of sets it's being done, 100 hspu's is a lot for me.

Oly / Core.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Odd min, 3 squat clean @ 80kg
• Even min, 12 toes-to-bar

There was quite a proper time of recovery between the emoms. Had to make sure my body's ready for the second piece. Considering my legs were done already when I woke up today I didn't know how they would react on the cleans. Taking that into consideration this felt great. Went down in 3 x singles each minute. Not an actual break in between. Just dropped the bar and took it up again.

T2b's were surprisingly hard. Well there wasn't a chance I wouldn't do them unbroken but going for maybe additional 2 rounds it would have probably got challenging. Had to adjust my grip and core was also feeling it. Good workout.

Some accessory work in the rmoning. Bicep curls 5x10 reps

Metcon. Result, 162 reps (7 rounds + 6 jerk)

• 15min amrap of:
• 2 ring muscle-ups
• 6 push jerks @ 60kg
• 14 box jumps

After nap time this was ahead of me. Wanted to have muscle-ups in the game. I thought about what's going to match nicely with this movement. Needed to have some barbell movement. Squats were out of question because my legs are so sore. Shoulder-to-overhead's seemed like a good idea, and they were. Box jumps sealed the deal.

This went very well. In the warm-up jerks felt heavy but then I stopped listening to my head and put the timer on. This weight is not super heavy for sure. Went unbroken on the muscle-ups. That was my goal, and the reasoning behind writing only 2 reps per round. Had I put 3 reps per round they most likely would not have been ub all the way. Actually jerks and box jumps were unbroken too. Just as planned.

Round times were consistent. About 2 minutes per round. First one was 90 seconds, the rest of them about 120 seconds. I finished the 7th round at 11.59, and got enough time to still go after muscle-ups and jerks. As I dropped the barbell overhead clock turned 15:00.

Saturday 19.12: Winter War Event 3

Saturday. Winter War, Event 3. Result, 142 reps

Saturday's training session was an easier one. Only one metcon. My back felt as stiff as it could be after those heavier deadlifts on Friday. Even though they felt good when I did them, the following days are often the moments when I feel like something had been pulled from the ground. Another reason for taking it easier was schedule. We were going to celebrate one family member's 70 year birthday party. It was a blast, these people are great!

Winter War, Event 3. Result, 142 reps

• 10min amrap of:
• 20 cal row
• 15 wall ball
• 10 box jump overs
• 2/4/6/8… muscle-ups, ascending ladder

Winter War is a throwdown which aims to find the fittest in Finland. There are a total of 4 qualification events of which the 32 fittest will be called to the competition in February. The events are:

Event 1.

• 8min amrap:
• 10 thruster, 50kg
• 10 thruster, 60kg
• 10 thruster, 70kg
• 10 thruster, 80kg…

Event 2.

• 4min amrap:
• 1 chest-to-bar pull-up
• 1 toes-to-bar

Event 3.

• 10min amrap of:
• 20 cal row
• 15 wall ball
• 10 box jump overs
• 2/4/6/8… muscle-ups, ascending ladder

Event 4. "Barbell Hell"

• 50 deadlift, 60kg
• 50 bar over hops
• 50 hand power clean, 60kg
• 50 bar over hops
• 50 front squat, 60kg
• 50 bar over hops
• 50 shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg

I did that first one some time ago. It was a repeat workout from 3 years ago. The only difference was that it started at 40kg then, and I went after the 2012 version. Now it was time for that third event. It looked like a nice one with some muscle-ups in the mix too. Those are always a bit challenging to think how to pace myself because one muscle-ups are gone, it's quite miserable situation =)

Today muscle-ups were not bad at all. To be honest this workout was all about muscle-ups. Row, wall balls and box jumps were small reps which made it easy to cruise through them. My plan was to take it easy on those though because I reckoned gassing myself out on those would make mu's so much more difficult.

First set was unbroken. Muscle-ups were put here in an ascending ladder, going up by 2 reps per round. On the round of 4's I got 3 in a row, and then a single to finish the round. I made a costly mistake there. I tried to jump on the rings to get the last rep done and couldn't get a grip on the rings. They started to swing back and forth which took some time to get them settled. One more muscle-up was completed on the round of 6's. All the muscle-ups were relatively easier than I thought.

It's not common to have mu's in a metcon for me so these are always good ones. Looking back at the workout I could have gone faster. Usually I know how fast I can go but mu's are still difficult to assess. Maybe that's a good reminder of putting them in metcons more often. That's how I would know better how much my body can tolerate of this skills element, strength and conditioning together.

Sunday 22.11: Mu's, Jerk, Snatch, Fran

Sunday. Intervals, 3 rds of: muscle-ups and push jerks. Emom x 10min: 3 power snatch @ 50kg. Fran, 21-15-9 of: thruster (43kg), pull-ups. Not for time.

What a great session. Loved this work being put in today. Okay, I felt somewhat tired in the morning from upper body but it woke up finally. It was great to get some muscle-ups done after hands being ripped for a while. Today it didn't bother any more. Then snatches and Fran with easier pace.

Intervals.

• 3 rounds of muscle-ups and push jerks @ 60kg
• 1st round: 3 mu's + 6 jerks
• 2nd round: 2 mu's + 6 jerks
• 3rd round: 3 mu's + 10 jerks
• 2min rest between sets

Awesome to combine these two movements. I've been a bit hesitant to mix muscle-ups with other elements because those aren't too strong in my case. I once did mu's and rowing intervals as a couple and I remember being entirely worn out after couple of sets. Getting tired doesn't matter at all, that's the entire purpose. But the thing is I still don't know how my body reacts to this kind of intervals including muscle-ups, and once they are gone, they really are gone. I can't recover that fast from those. So it's always like I have to play it safe with ring mu's.

Today I thought about doing a triple on the rings, then hitting 6 jerks with a barbell. This was the case on the first set. On the second one I missed the third rep but decided it's more advantageous to move on rather than try for another single on the rings. On the jerks I got the same amount of reps completed.

On the last round I got that much needed triple done and it felt good. That left me with a good feeling, and I decided not to be grumpy about the missed muscle-up on the second set. Still, the bar was not that heavy after all so I did a total of 10 jerks on the last set. Didn't wanna get ripped hands again so this was enough for this portion of the workout.

Sunday recap

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 3 power snatch @ 50kg

I've done more squat snatches, singles and doubles lately. I took couple of singles up to 60kg prior to this one to get used to heavier snatches. These triples felt heavy in the beginning. Probably because I haven't used to do power snatches. Those got better through every round. At some point I thought about adding weight on the bar. Then again, I stayed at 50kg and tried to focus on bringing the bar up as high as possible before the last pull. Working on positions.

This is world record lift, over 3 x bodyweight…

Fran. Not for time but "for quality". Compare to 22.11.2014

• 21-15-9 of:
• Thrusters, 43kg
• Pull-ups

For the third piece of conditioning I only had notes for thrusters and pull-ups. Got to say my shoulders were burned at this point. Never at any point was I shooting for a record breaking effort on this benchmark workout. Instead, I took my time with the transitions and the only goal was to go unbroken, and get a good heavy breathing going on. Goal achieved.

Shoulders were shot already after the first set of thrusters. That kind of set the tone of the workout. Usually the second round - round of 15's - is the nastiest, and takes the most out of a human being physically and mentally. This time I was saved of the long burn which is classic stuff after Fran. Those breaks between movements made the difference. But Fran is always Fran. Nasty lady to say the least. I just realized it's been exactly a year from doing Fran for the last time =)

Thursday 12.11: Muscle-ups, Bench, Squat

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.

Metcon. Time, 9.20. Compare to 22.11.2013

• 50 bench press for time @ 70kg
• 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

Sunday 25.10: Mu's, Clean, 21-15-9 + Run

Sunday. AM: Skills, muscle-ups emom x 8min. Emom x 12min: clean doubles. Metcon, 21-15-9 of: s2o (60kg), row for cal, ghd's. Time, 10.02. PM: Run 5k with vest.

This was a great session. Some skills to kick it off (okay those could have gone a bit better but I'll take it for now), then a good bunch of cleans in different styles. Finally a 10min session of barbell and bodyweight. In the evening I went for a 5k run.

Skills.

• Every minute on the minute x 8min:
• Ring muscle-ups, doubles and singles

In my head this was planned to be an 8min emom of 2-3 reps per minute of muscle-ups. Maybe triples in the beginning and then doubles in the latter half. Something like that, not a strict plan. I took couple of videos but there were other people on the background so I didn't put that in the recap.

It was more like doubles for the first half, and singles in the latter half. Tried to do a triple in the beginning but it didn't feel that good. It's been some time since muscle-upping last time. I took slow-mo analysis and it looks like I was rushing it a bit. Legs bent too easily when pulling up. And hips didn't take a violent extension so there was an obvious reason why it felt heavier than it used to be. But the take away was to be happy of performing mu's after a longer break.

Oly.

• Every minute on the minute x 12min:
• Odd min, power clean + squat clean
• Even min, 2 x hang squat clean
• 1-4min: 80kg
• 5-8min: 85kg
• 9-12min: 90kg

This is something I've been looking for! Cleans. There is a loving relationship with cleans and me. I could clean all day, every day. When pulling from the ground it still felt tight in right hamstring so I tried to be careful in those. Hang cleans didn't have any issues.

Weights started at 80kg, then 5 more kilos after every 4 minutes. That means there was three different loads during those 12 minutes. Not super heavy but for today there were great. Once I get my shit together I'll go heavier. Today I felt like my technique was pretty good, and the reps looked pretty much alike. There are some instant replays included in the video below to see there's plenty of shoulder shrug and patience in bringing the barbell to hips.

Metcon. Time, 10.02

• 21-15-9 of:
• Shoulder-to-overhead, 60kg
• Row for calories
• Ghd sit-ups

Had the same feeling for a while as yesterday. Why would I do a workout with this many jerks in a row. Then again, I thought that might be a fun variance. That's the reason this ended up in my notes anyway. Usually there's just a couple of reps unbroken in a conditioning piece but completing 21 reps in a row is another story.

If it was just for the 21 reps I might have it in me to push through unbroken. But in a workout like this, it would have been absurd for me to do it. Or would it? Don't know but I thought this was a better strategy. It might have been a good idea to just push it and thinking about a happy place at the same time.

Anyway, the first round was 13-4-4, second one 10-5, and the last one was unbroken for 9 repetitions. Rowing and ghd's were unbroken. There was a lot of walking around the gym during the transitions. Had it been less people I would have moved the rower close to the weightlifting platform. Ghd's were originally box jumps but those boxes had mysteriously disappeared during the weekend. Hopefully they make a comeback soon =)

Run.

• Run 5km with a weight vest

My plan was to just get outdoors and catch some fresh air but it somehow twisted into a 5 kilometer run with a 9kg vest. It was surprisingly fun to run. That's usually not my forte but this time it felt smooth and effortless. Kind of awkward that when I put some weight on, it feels lighter =) Anyway, this was more like a recovery run. It was a 10km/h pace for 5k.

Saturday 26.9: Mu's, Hspu, Kb, Du's

Saturday. Metcon, 10rds of: 2 mu, 4 hspu, 8 kb swing (28kg). Time, 14.14. Skills, du's.

Didn't have time to write this post yesterday as we went to celebrate birthdays to the town with family. What a night, good times! At Saturday noon we went to the gym with Pauliina and Jasper. We hadn't even matched our schedules with Jazz but he entered the space when we were going through our warm-ups. Muscle-ups were the name of the game.

1.000g ribs for evening snack

Metcon. Time 14.14. Compare to 12.4.2015

• 10 rounds of:
• 2 ring muscle-up
• 4 handstand push-up
• 8 kettlebell swing, 28kg

My back was sore as hell from the deadlifts on Thursday. That was the reason I thought about postponing this Nate-type workout to later days. I took couple of swing with the bell and it felt alright so I decided to take a shot at it.

This workout is definitely all about muscle-ups normally. Hspu's are at a certain level so completing 4 reps per round is not that bad. Those were the easiest part of the workout. It's always exciting to do muscle-ups, especially in a metcon. It's totally different to do mu's fresh compared to when you're tired from all the workload.

Today those muscle-ups went great. Had no issues with them in any of the rounds. Surely, they needed to be addressed with severity. I didn't just jump on the rings right away after swings and knocked them through. My plan was to do each round as fast as possible. 2 mu's, then straight at the wall for hspu's, and then couple of meters walk to the kettlebell, and started swinging right away. After kb's I took a break to release the tension in my shoulders because I was going to do all the mu's unbroken. No other option in this one.

I'm very happy on how the muscle-ups went. Solid reps. They got a lot tougher towards the end, no doubt. Hspu's were easy in the beginning, then the latter half got to breathing and kept the intensity high. Kettlebell swings were nightmarish. Normally I would consider them a lot lighter than they were this time.

The pain in my back was infernal. It was okay for couple of rounds but somewhere around 4th round it got bad. Round by round it was nastier, and I'm telling you I could not have continued for another round. Lower back was burning, and it took 10 minutes after workout to get rid of the pain. It didn't matter if I was walking or bending my back or anything else, it hurt. I'm very happy on how I performed on this workout. Plan was strict and I stuck to it. Getting through 10 rounds at 14 minutes creates faith to knock a PR on benchmark workout Nate when doing an amrap of 20 minutes of the same rep scheme!

Skills.

• Double unders

Got to practice this one. I'm not on the level of skills I used to be, so I'll make a comeback to dominating double unders. There was a time I went through 100 unbroken reps and then little by little cut off the training of du's so currently there are too much tripping over the jump rope. We went you go I go style with Pauliina who has created some sick skills on the jump rope! Very proud of my wife's ability to learn new skills just like that.

Sunday 20.9: Mu's, Handstand, Sled pull

Sunday. Skills, muscle-ups (15 reps). Workout, 10rnft of: 15m sled pull, 5m handstand walk.

Empty gym in the Sunday evening. Two guys spent some time there but other than that, I was there all by myself. This was more skills oriented session with muscle-ups and handstand walk included. New element was also brought up in the form of sled pull, standing. I might have once done it before.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups
• Total of 15 repetitions

It's been some time since previous muscle-up session. This one always gets a little butterflies in the stomach as I don't know how they will go. But when I jump on the rings, something good usually happens. They are not yet at the level that I would be comfortable throwing them into metcons but maybe it could be a good idea to mix them up in conditioning pieces too.

On the first set I was looking to make a triple but failed on the last rep for some reason. The following sets were triples then up to 14 reps. That's the reason why I took one single at the end of the session to compensate the first set that stayed a little shy.

Workout.

• 10 rounds not for time of:
• 15m sled pull, standing (55-80kg sled)
• 5m handstand walk

Wanted to get something totally different to close the week. Handstand was anyway going to be in the workout of the day so I threw in some sled pulls as a couplet. This was not for time. Haven't probably ever done handstand walks in a metcon, and this was also more like for quality. But I didn't give too much slack to myself. Especially after the handstand my plan was to shake it off, walk to the rope and start pulling.

After sled I took more break because my skills in handstand are not perfect and I needed that break in order to cover some distance on the handstand. In the beginning it was much tougher but got easier the more I practiced. This was a fun workout, variety to a traditional crossfit workout even though the elements were not new.

Thursday 20.8: Skills day

Thursday. Skills day: Ring mu's, Bar mu's, Handstand walk.

This was intentionally a lighter day, and I concentrated purely on developing my skill base. Good bunch of muscle-ups and then handstand walk to crown the session. It was awesome to witness my lovely wife hit some bad ass crossfit metcon.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups
• Bar muscle-up
• Handstand walk

I took couple of sets of ring mu triples. These felt alright. Had one miss but other than that everything was good. My focus was to keep tension in the body throughout the motion. Both up and down. At the moment I'm happy on the form. In the evening I watched one of Carl Paoli's video clips where he teaches how to do muscle-ups with ease and I got to say it looks a bit lighter than my versions =) Well, that was no surprise but still I'm happy with these.

It was basically 15 reps on both elements. That was the most I dared to do. Don't know what's up with my palms but with a  big volume they tend to tear up. So this was the max I wanted to do. There was more energy that could have been used for more muscle-ups but this was a sensible call. Bar mu's were much easier as they always are.

My gym has the best possible platform for training handstand and handstand walk. The grass matt is 20 meters long so that's plenty for me, and there's almost always enough space to practice this specific skill. I took couple of reps / attempts here, and occasionally was able to walk pretty decent distances. 10 meter was the longest streak.

Saturday 8.8: Muscle-ups, Handstand

Saturday. Skills, Bar muscle-ups, Ring muscle-ups, handstand.

Today was nothing scheduled on my program so it was more like a play day. Worked on some skills and just had fun fooling around. Pauliina was doing push presses so it was awesome to be there to support her.

Skills.

• Bar muscle-ups (10 reps). Compare to 18.9.2014
• Ring muscle-ups (emom x 5min: 2 reps)
• Handstand
• Handstand walk

Haven't done my homework on the muscle-ups lately. It feels like an eternity since I've done those previously. I had planned on doing only ring mu's but the rings were taken in the beginning so I jumped on the pull-up bar and started ripping it. Took only one set for 10 reps. That was a bit tight in the end but surely some more reps might be in the tank. At home I realized that happens to be my PR number. I've taken it once last fall.

Recap

Ring mu's were doubles every minute for 5 minutes. Felt good on those too. Handstand (walk) is something I could put more effort now as the surroundings are perfect. That grass matt is awesome for training being inverted because it's so flat.

Tuesday 28.7: Snatch emom, Mu's, Clean, Du's, Ghd

Tuesday. Snatch emom x 10min: snatch + hang snatch (40kg). Metcon, 10 mu's, then 5rds of: 7 hang power clean (60kg), 30 du's, 12 ghd. Time, 13.34.

I was in no rush at all this Tuesday but on the other hand my posterior chain was a bit cranked up from yesterday's session so this was not the toughest one. Metcon was good, snatches were light.

Snatch.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• 1 snatch + 1 hang snatch @ 40kg

There was simply no way of building up to heavier sets. I played around with this weight for some time. Even though I warmed up for quite some time it didn't let me go heavy. I had emom work in my mind anyway, had just thought about putting something between 50 and 60 kilos on the bar.

Metcon. Time, 13.34

• 10 ring muscle-ups, then 5 rounds of:
• 7 hang power clean, 60kg
• 30 double under
• 12 ghd sit-ups

This was a good metcon. Muscle-ups took an eternity because I took them mostly in singles. First was a double, then maybe another double and the rest were definitely singles. No misses, not even close but somehow the pulling power wasn't explosive so I did only singles.

After 10 reps had been completed, it was time to hit the 5-rounder. Went unbroken each round on every element of the workout. Cleans were obviously the strength-element in this one, double unders the cardio and skills piece, and ghd's were putting core to test. There was distances between the stations so once I got to any of the station, I started working right away.

The walk was the recovery in this one. I'm especially happy about the double unders. I've had some issues on couple of sessions because those haven't been visible that much in my sessions in the past months. Today those felt very good all the way.

Tuesday 21.7: Overhead, 15min amrap + Mu's, Ring dips, Ball slams

Tuesday. AM: Complex, 7 sets of: power clean + push press + push jerk + split jerk (max 80kg). Metcon, 6rds of: 5 jerk (60kg), 15 box, 300m row. Time, 15.50. PM: Mu's, gymnastics emom x 10. Odd, 10 dips. Even, 15 ball slam.

Sleeping made a lot of good! Morning workout was already good, and my body felt even better after eating post workout and taking a nap. Felt a little jammed when going to bed but when I woke up a bit later, I felt super! Sleep definitely makes a big difference. Morning was about overhead strength and conditioning. Evening was a lighter session with muscle-ups and emom bodyweight work.

Overhead.

• 7 sets of the following complex of:
• 1 power clean
• 1 push press
• 1 push jerk
• 1 split jerk
• Sets: 70, 75, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80kg

At first this was supposed to be from rack but then again I decided to take work on my power clean in the process. Because why not. Plus I would have the chance to drop the weights at the lifting platform. Win-win. This was a lot of fun in my opinion. I'm still getting used to barbell work and weights in general so I didn't go super heavy. Well, it got heavier towards the end but there was no doubt of hitting these weights.

I though push presses might be the toughest part of this, at 80 kilos I mean. But that went well, and it was more like the split jerk. Even though it was the easiest way to get the bar overhead but it was also the last rep so there was some more work to be done.

Recap

Metcon. Time, 15.50

• 6 rounds of:
• 5 push jerk, 60kg
• 15 box
• 300m row

I wrote this as a 15min amrap. At that point I had 55 meters rowed on the last set of 300 meters so I added up the antes and finished the 6th round at 15.50. Concept2 was a bit further down the gym so there was some walking back and forth between rower and jerk / box. This was obviously unbroken on the jerk and box jumps. I was on the verge of putting 70kg on the bar. That would have made a big difference on the jerks for sure. Now as I look at it afterwards, it would have been fun to see if it was unbroken with that weight too.

Box jumps kept the breathing high throughout the workout, and rowing is always nasty in metcons. Pace was somewhere sub 1.50. There was time to pull it madly back and forth. However, the gains were not that great because of the short distance, and I tried to save some of the energy to those two other elements.

The last set I went a lot faster than the first 5 rounds. It was sub 1.40 through those 300 meters. It was a nice finisher to fully gas myself.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups

I've been missing you guys. Ring muscle-ups. What a sick movement. I was a bit anxious about hitting these because it's such a technical movement. But luckily the level is okay nowadays, and I have certainty of hitting the reps when I attack them. They are not big sets but I'll get them. Today I did a total of about 20 reps in about one minute "intervals". So basically this was some art of emom work.

Workout.

• Every minute on the minute x 10min:
• Odd min, 10 ring dips
• Even min, 15 ball slam

My plan was not to hit a metcon but I wanted to do something. Ring dips a weakness of mine so it's always beneficial to knock a couple of them. Ball slams got my heart rate up which felt good. This was mostly upper body work.

Can ou believe the Crossfit Games are here?!? This is an early Christmas to every crossfitter. Masters and Teens begin today, and individuals tomorrow on Wednesday. Here's a sneak peak to ya'll

My prediction of the winners are here:

Men:
1. Matt Fraser
2. Scott Panchik
3. Ben Smith
4. Dan Bailey
5. Noah Olsen


Women:
1. Kara Webb
2. Annie Thorisdottir
3. Emily Bridgers
4. Camille Leblanc-Bazinet
5. Sara Sigmundsdottir

Monday 22.6: Muscle-ups, Row

Monday. Ring mu's 20 reps. Bar mu's 20 reps. Metcon, 2.000m row, c2b's.

Today's session was going to be weightless. Time seemed perfect for muscle-ups, and so it was. I was pumped to get back on the rings after having a break on them for a while. Not only ring mu's but also bar muscle-ups afterwards. Like my pulling strength wasn't shot already I had planned for 50 c2b's at the end for time. 2k row being the twist prior to those pull-ups.

Skills.

• Ring muscle-ups 20 reps (4-4-2-4-4-2 reps)
• Bar muscle-ups 20 reps (8-6-6 reps)

I enjoyed every single rep on the rings. Good warm-up, then jumped on the rings and started working. Plan was to hit couple of sets, check how it feels like and also pay attention to my hands that tend to be sensitive in this kind of challenges. They were okay on the ring muscle-ups. Didn't have any protection, no tapes, no natural grips because my hands were in good condition prior to this session.

I took a set of 4 reps and decided to hang on to that rep scheme in the following sets too. Got it on the second. Unfortunately I only got the third session on tape which was the worst I had during the day. Or let's say the first 2 reps of that set were good, and felt smooth but on the third rep I had my left hand loose and not tight against my body so I missed that rep. Better have it tight every single time.

What I'm happy about is the fact that my feet stayed together and body was much tighter than before. Swing is bigger than it used to be and overall it feels like the package is tighter. Naturally there's lot of edges to be smoothened but I'm happy on the development!

Third set

It also seemed like a good idea to work on bar muscle-ups afterwards. I took the first set for 8 reps, walked around the gym and repeated it for 2 more sets of 6 reps each. These felt in my core. Much more compared to t2b's or ghd's. Now it feels like something was really done with core =)

On the downside I got a bruise on to the middle of my left palm. Can you imagine, a small bruise. Well, I thought that doesn't mind. My metcon was waiting for me so I sat down for couple of minutes, and prepared myself mentally for that one.

Metcon.

• 2.000m row
• 50 chest-to-bar pull-ups

This was not going to be fun. That was my first instinct. Rowing and pull-ups are not friends with each other. Lots of pulling. When I started crossfitting I remember there was one event at the national cf games which consisted of these two elements. It was amrap of c2b's in 8 minutes. You just had to row 2k first before getting to the pull-ups. Nasty one. Should you row hard to leave enough time for c2b's. Or should you take it a notch slower and save energy to the other element.

My plan was to row at about 1.50 because I wanted to dominate the c2b's. Well, dominate is a bit of a strong expression. I wanted to do good on them. That's more appropriate. That blister that had formed on my hand explodes somewhere between 10-15 c2b's, and blood was running on my palm. Didn't want to risk the upcoming week of training so this metcon had to wait for better hand condition. Decided to stop it at 15 reps. That sucked but my muscle-ups rocked well today and I'll take those gains back home with me!