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!
Tuesday. Hero workout Gator, 8rds of: 5 front squat (85kg), 26 ring push-ups. Time, 19.28.
I knew beforehand that this training day is gonna be a shorter one so I planned for one metcon and one metcon only. So it was supposed to be rather quick session. After checking out couple of hero workouts, I ended up choosing this one: Gator. Squats sounded good and ring push-ups was a great counter element.
Gator. Time, 19.28
8 rounds of:
5 front squat, 85kg (from ground)
26 ring push-ups
Had no idea how long this might take. I googled "crossfit Gator" and ended up at mainsite's workout, dating back to August 2011. After browsing those comments I reckoned it's gonna be finished somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. I also thought those round times would start to get longer and longer because there was insane amount of ring push-ups. So needless to say it was a pleasant surprise I got this one sub 20min and that those rounds didn't collapse towards the end.
This is 185lbs rx'd which equals to 84kg, and I thought the barbell is supposed to be taken from the floor as it usually is unless otherwise told. That weight is okay for me, no problem. My traps are sore from yesterday's cleans, much more sore than normally. That's naturally because of the volume. Still, it felt good to get the bar from the floor. Those front squats felt good, and I got them unbroken. Had to push through somewhat but there was no doubt I would do them unbroken every round.
Mat Fraser
The amount of push-ups on the rings was intimidating at first. It was a reason why I hesitated to take this workout at all. I'm happy I did it. Went as deep as it's possible on the rings and managed to get a total os 208 reps in the books. Decided to go by feeling from the first round on. First round was maybe 16-10, next 2 rounds were completed in 3 sets, something like 10-8-8 or 10-9-7. Next 2-3 rounds were over in 4 sets, I remember them being 8-7-6-5.
For 4 rounds my times got slower each round as probably my rest periods took an extra second here and there, which totaled a little longer round. Then I realized I'm already mid-workout and started to speed it up a notch. From then on my rounds got faster every time. I'm very happy of being able to pace it up. Got some sort of mental boost of confidence and knocked the push-ups in 3 sets for the last rounds, about 11-9-6.
This was a good workout for sure! Mostly it put a lot of burden on upper body for me. Squats definitely felt but those were not the thing. It was absolutely the chest and shoulder work. Breathing was well under control all the time because I had to break down the sets on the rings.
Wednesday. C&J complex, emom x 8min: 2+2 (70-75kg). Workout, for quality, 5rds of: 5 front squat (90kg), 15 unbroken hspu. Workout, for quality, 5rds of: 15 t2b, 15 ring push-ups.
I really missed barbell work. Last proper session was last Saturday when we hit a clean and jerk complex together with Toni. It was great to have some action on. After bar work it was some some accessory stuff, not real metcons as I was taking it easy with my breathing. Didn't want to breathe heavy 'cause my throat is a bit sore still. But I got some good work done!
One more from yesterday
Barbell.
Clean and jerk, every minute on the minute, for 8 minutes
2 power clean + 2 push jerk (4x70kg, 4x75kg)
The weights were light all the time. You don't know how much eagerness I had in tank. I was ready to max out =) But I'm proud of being able to hold back and take it easy. Better listen to the body and not push it when there's no point in it at all. I went touch'n'go in every set. It took me 10 seconds to finish each set. This pushed me mentally further as there was so much time to recover. It was very difficult not to add weight or reps. Originally I had thought about doing this with 80kg (2+2reps). Funny how 75kg power clean felt like it was 50kg.
The man
Workout. For quality
5 rounds of:
5 front squat, 90kg
15 unbroken handstand push-ups
It's about time to get some squats done. The last couple of days they have been non-existing. I'm waiting to hit it hard. Today I got lightweight reps done, sets of 5 reps. In between some handstand push-ups. Initially I thought about doing 10 reps per set but that was too easy on the first round so I just kept on knocking more. After first round my plan got modified to 15 unbroken hspu's. That was a bit ambitious but I was mentally int he right zone and knew I'm close to hit it through all 5 rounds.
However, this definitely needed some breaks between sets. As I wrote, I didn't wanna burden my heart and lungs too much so I took my breaks between squats and hspu's. Main goal was to do the work unbroken, then rest. Completing 75 handstand push-ups is not easy for me. That's a lot of reps.
Workout. For quality
5 rounds of:
15 toes-to-bar
15 ring push-ups
Maybe it was time to go home but my system needed some more work. This was created on the fly. T2b's and push-ups on rings. These were also unbroken each round. I tried to use more swing on the t2b's and those felt great. Even though the number of reps wasn't huge, they started to burn towards the end. Push-ups are something I don't do practically at all so I figured those might come in handy. Gotta do some reps for example this way. Cashout type of work.
By the way, this is maybe day three on my new decision of doing muscle-ups on every session. And I've followed that principle. Today I took bar and ring versions. Hopefully I have the patience to carry this on plus that it would translate to better technique on ring mu's.
Friday. Strength, back squat triples (max 135kg). Pair workout with Toni, 5rds of: 20 shoulder-to-overhead (50kg), 30 pull-ups, 40 ring push-ups. Time, 20.30.
We went to the gym early this afternoon. I had the privilege of working out with Toni, great man and a great athlete. We don't have the opportunities to train that much together so every time I see him work with a barbell, his technique seems to have improved since last time. Today I was admiring his push jerks and split jerks in a similar way, great speed! I got my squats in the beginning, then I talked Toni into throwing down for a pair workout.
Strength.
Back squat, 3x100, 112.5, 127.5, 135, 135, 135, 135kg
Today I had planned on climbing up to heavy weights. Due to this damned wrist I have put a lot of work on lower body this week and yesterday there were plenty of pistol squats and rowing to get these legs smashed. Maybe that's why they weren't that fresh for extreme squatting. In the end, I'm very satisfied to this squat session! The only thing I was left thinking was that my last set was supposed to be hard core: 142.5kg (95%). We talked it over with Toni that maybe it's better to push it through with 135 anyway.
First sets were light and good warm-up sets. First real set was 127.5kg. However, that brought no problems at all but I felt the next set might be rough. And it was. I got a total of 4 sets at 135kg for triples which is 90% of my one rep max. Those were expectably heavy and Toni had to assist the last rep in either the first or second set, probably the first. My legs were chicken legs at that point and I realized it was some mental weakness. One pal was talking positive things to me about the loads I was able to lift so I decided to put some more aggression on the barbell. This resulted in getting the remaining sets done on my own. They were heavy but I got them!
Pair workout. Time, 20.30
5 rounds of:
20 shoulder-to-overhead, 50kg
30 pull-ups
40 ring push-ups
Toni had thought about concentrating only on light barbell work for technical purposes. I'm hoping this guy's back will heal soon so he can start lifting heavy bars again. He was easy to persuade for a pair workout. He had his back problems and I have my wrist issues so we talked it over for some time before we reached a consensus of what we are able to complete =)
This turned out to be shoulder-to-overhead with 50kg, pull-ups and push-ups on rings. I was very optimistic on push presses but still it was scary at the same time. I haven't pushed anything in about two weeks now. I tried it with empty bar and it felt painless. Then I threw 40kg on the bar just to see whether the weights would bring more pressure. It didn't. That feeling was awesome, so we decided to adjust the barbell at 50kg and go for some push jerks.
We agreed on the reps so that we both did 10 reps of jerks in the beginning. Later on in the workout it changed to 5's as our shoulders and triceps were burning too much. As you probably know, the pull-up station is close to a wall and it was too much for Toni to handle as he has used to do strong kipping pull-ups at Crossfit Vantaa where they have a great rig and plenty of room. That was a bit more difficult for that reason so we divided the reps so that Toni did 5's and I did 10's as this was my home turf. I went unbroken in the pull-ups which means to say there were 10x10 reps of pull-ups.
Push-ups are too painful but Toni suggested we'd try out them on the rings. That was a smart decision. In the first round we completed 20 reps in a row, then on the following rounds it was 10's, and a bit smaller sets in the last 1-2 rounds.
Originally we thought about this for 20min amrap but as the 5th round was so close to end we changed our minds in the last round to go a little further. We ended up doing 5 full rounds for time, at 20:30. It was a great feeling to train with Toni!
Friday. Cleans, 1 rep every 30 seconds @ 85kg for 10min. Hero wod Chief. Result 72 cleans, 144 push-ups, 207 squats.
Was looking forward to try this new workout, how it feels like to go for rather heavy single cleans with only short rest periods. There was also a hero wod looming in the horizon, the Chief. I've done it once and I remembered it was a handful. Toni was supposed to do it side be side but had some timetable issues and left home to complete it at his back yard.
Cleans.
1 rep every 30 seconds @ 85kg for 10 minutes
Total of 20 reps
Enjoyed this one a lot. I remember seeing Chris Spealler who I've seen completing similar type of workouts. Not same, but similar. I felt good with the weight, could have added weight which surprised me positively. I thought the bar would start to come a challenge but I manhandled it all the way. It felt like each lift was similar, no wiggling or shaking at any stage. Felt simply awesome.
This one is a lot of work. It's one of the rare workouts where I've had to lay on the floor after time is done. Today I took it a bit easier but was stilled gassed. It's a 19min workout including the rests. 5 sets of 3 mini workouts, 3min amraps followed by 1min rest and recovery period.
On the first round I got through 5 rounds in 2:30. I didn't feel like a beast so I needed to save some energy. Saved too much I think. Had I gone all in, there would have been enough time to squeeze almost one round more. On the second round I also had about 15-20sec left on the clock. The third round was tough, barely made it through 5 rounds in 3mins.
The middle of the workout was the toughest mentally. On the fourth round my transitions were slower and stopped occasionally to catch a breath. That third 3min amrap had its consequences and I felt more gassed in the beginning of 4th cycle already in the beginning. Thus, got a result of only 4 rounds. There was also some time left on the clock when finishing it.
The last round on pretty much every workout is always easier than the round before. It's time for that final sprint. Almost made it to 5 rounds, missing only the air squats. The most challenging movement in Chief is the squats. Sounds awkward but that's how it's been both times I've done it. All cleans and push-ups unbroken. From some point on I had to finish squats in 2 sets, taking 2 inhales in the middle of it. I'm having trouble understanding why it happens with such a little amount of reps but that's how it was. Comparing to the February's performance, today my squats were perfect. I don't like to watch that past video because of the those over the parallel squats. Today I felt great about them!
Have no excuses, should have pushed harder from the beginning to reach an ideal result. I was reaching for 5 rounds each cycle and recover the rest of the time, no matter how much is left on the clock. Seemed a good idea in the beginning but turned out not to be =) There was a lot of reps on this workout anyway. Total of 72 cleans (4.320kg), 144 push-ups and 207 air squats.
Results of Chief. Total of 72 cleans, 144 push-ups and 207 squats
1st cycle: 5 rounds
2nd cycle: 5 rounds
3rd cycle: 5 rounds
4th cycle: 4 rounds
5th cycle: 4 rounds + 6 push-ups
Toni's workout.
Hero wod Chief
Result. 5, 4, 3, 3, 3 rounds.
He completed them at the back yard of his house. Tell us some feelings Pony!
Pony joined at the Box to work out. My body has taken some hit due to lot of barbell work with heavy weights. I wanted to take it lighter so I left the barbells for Toni this time. Instead, I mostly used rings for today's workout as well as bodyweight. Toni copied the training, in addition he did push press before the metcon.
Before the workout I warmed up with the rings, doing inverted holds for few sets as well as handstand holds against wall. Also some sets of ring rows and L-sit holds with the rings. To kick the training on the first thing we have done with Toni for the last maybe 4 times is that we take a double under battle. Alternating with Toni, 5x20 unbroken sets of DU's so that once the other one quits, the other one starts.
Metcon. Mostly rings
3 rounds of:
1min deficit push-ups
1min ring rows
1min ring push-ups
1min rest
This looks easy but was a killer! Short workout but my upper body was smashed after it was over. Triceps were simply burning. Definitely the most difficult part was the deficit push-ups. We put 2x20kg plates to place our hands on and the idea is to make the chest hit the floor to make it a little tougher movement. First ring rows were easy but after the wall hits you, it's difficult to get back on track right away. Ring push-ups not as painful as the deficit ones.
Rowing. 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off for 20 minutes. Distance rowed: 3.377 meters.
That first metcon didn't make me gasp for air so I strongly wanted another one to give something for my heart as well. I've done this type of rowing for a few times and it gives me the satisfaction every time. I was able to do strong strokes from the very beginning. My pace was constantly under 1.40/500m, at best it was 1.31, probably on average I'd say it was around 1.38-1.39. Happy with this one, even though my ass also goes numb in this workout =)
Toni's workouts. Push press as strength and metcon for dessert.
Push press EMOM. 1 rep each minute with increasing load after every 5 minutes.
For first 5 minutes, 2x60kg
For the following 5 minutes, 1x65kg
For the following 5 minutes, 1x70kg
For the following 5 minutes, 1x80kg
The point was to add 5kg after every 5 minutes but Toni accidentally jumped 10kg after 70kg directly to 80kg. Well, no wonder, he is known for his skills to count weights on the barbell, right Toni? ;) Maybe that last leap was lethal in this workout as he managed to finish the 5 sets with some failed reps at 80kg but was not able to increase load after that. Toni's Metcon.
Friday. Skills oriented day. Plenty of different movements.
It's been quite a week after Barbara, Isabel, squats and cleans so today's goal was to take it a bit easier. Well, my shoulders and hands got to test today anyway as I was like a little boy when playing with the rings. They were my focus area but I also did other skills training.
Ring skills.
Invert hold
Skin the cat
Levers
Ice cream makers
Ring push-ups
It's simply fun! Play with the rings. Probably should play a little more to someday master the muscle-up as well. I took a few sets of inverted holds, skin the cat, levers and one set of ice cream makers. To the end 3x15 ring push-ups.
Other skills.
Double unders
Chest-to-bar pull-ups
Handstand hold
Handstand push-ups (max PR 6 reps)
One-handed push-ups
Pistols
It was awesome to see I was able to hit my chest to the bar with pull-ups. It's been hard previously. I thought it would be more difficult but it actually touched the bar. Yeah baby, it inspired me to practice them more in the future. Handstand was another area where I wanted to put effort today. I wanted to break that old record of handstand push-ups so I added one rep to the old PR. Took some other sets as well. A newcomer was one-handed push-ups, positively surprised that I got them on the first try =)
Take a look at one of my training partner's show of one-handed push-ups.
Tuesday. Metcon of dumbbell snatches and ring push-ups.
This morning training consisted of a metcon. Simple and beautiful. Toni took clean & jerk strength training in the beginning and then continued with a 12min amrap. In the evening I continued with Pauliina for a 1h walk in the crispy winter Helsinki and for dessert some Tabata training =)
Ring push-ups, Toni
Metcon.
5 rounds of
10 dumbbell snatches, right arm, 15kg
10 dumbbell snatches, left arm, 15kg
10 ring push-ups
Actually, it was the first time I did dumbbell or kettlebell snatches and I felt it immediately, got to do this more, just add some weights. I would have liked to do these squat versions but I realized my mobility was an issue, same as with regular bar snatches. My hands either tempt to lean too forward or then I have troubles going deep enough. Better take snatches with low weights in to my warm-up selection to get my body used to this type of movement.
Back to the metcon. There were a total of 50 reps each, 10 reps per round. It was a good set of repetitions to go unbroken. I'd like to see how the game would change if I had 20-25kg db's instead. Everything went unbroken without breaks throughout the workout, I also minimized the transitions between movements. I didn't put my clock running. It's very beneficial to work with kb's and db's as it's totally different compared to barbell work, the weights tend to wiggle more in this version.
Tabata. One hour brisk walk for warming up and then continued with Pauliina for Tabata training. We took sets of the following:
Air squats
V-ups
Push-ups
It was awesome to walk around Helsinki's beautiful surroundings in a good wintery weather! Thanks honey for the quality time =) After the walk, put the sauna on, do three sets of Tabata training, squats, mid core through V-ups and finally push-ups. I didn't push through like a maniac, squats were around 16 reps per round, V-ups between 10-14 reps and push-ups 12 reps per round. The point of Tabata training is to do 8 x (20sec work, 10sec rest per round) for each movement. First 8 sets of squats, then abs, finally push-ups. It's rewarding to have a sauna afterwards, c'mon!
Friday. Shoulder press 5-5-3 (max 60kg). Front squat 5-5-5-2-1 (max PR 125kg). Metcon of walking lunges and ring push-ups.
I wasn't sure what to do when I entered the Box today. I've been squatting and deadlifting for quite a while and haven't been able to do much work with my cleans, jerks and snatches. At least not as much as I'd like to and there's a reason for that. Today I decided to give it a shot with shoulder press, then continued to PR my front squat, yammy! Then a short metcon in the end. Toni did something new in his category, snatches with weights, not only technical training this time. Plus a short workout for quality.
I entered my training with shoulder press, going up to 60kg. Then I understood my elbows are not not in their best shape and changed to front squat. Elbows were in the verge of getting hammered with pain so I stopped early and prevented further damages. Huh, front squats were easy today! My mid core is rather strong and I'm able to maintain good form with heavier weights as well. I began with 80kg, next 100, added 10kg and was still lifting 5-rep sets. Soon I was ready for my old record (120kg), which I took up twice today. I was mentally forced to add plates to the bar, 125kg, down and up, new PR, c'mon! I was tempted to go for 130kg but it was not a stable attempt and failed. I'm extremely happy with my lifts today.
Front squat 125kg, PR
Metcon. For cooling down, for quality.
3 rounds of
20 walking lunges, 2x25kg dumbbells
10 ring push-ups
This was a quick play to the end. Lunges and ring push-ups. For some reason I haven't done ring push-ups nor regular push-ups for a while. They are awesome and should be in programming constantly. In autumn I did them way more. This little fun wasn't tough, okay holding the grip was difficult with the dumbbells but other than that, it wasn't bad.
Ring push-ups
Toni's workouts. Snatches 5-5-5 (30, 35, PR 40kg). He also did some tens of different type of push-ups, dips and pull-ups.
Toni's snatches
Today's main focus for Toni was snatches. He hasn't done them with a bar that has plates on it. By far it's been purely technique training so it was about time to hit it. And hey, his squat snatches look very natural. The mobility he has been able to create is something I envy. For future development, he should create more speed through hip explosiveness. Otherwise it's difficult to add weights. Anyway, I'm sure he's gonna lift 50+ weights soon.
Monday. Deadlift 5x1 (max PR 170kg). Metcon 5 rounds of deadlift (120kg), 10 burpees. Time 4.19.
Today we had a quick one together with Toni. Deadlift singles for both of us and then metcons. I stuck with deadlifts and burpees. Toni wanted to do Tabata workouts. A new PR was accomplished as well.
Tabata squats
Strength. 5x1 (130, 140, 150, 160, PR 170kg). My main focus today was on the deadlift centered metcon. For starters I wanted to do heavy deadlift singles, 5 attempts, loading the barbell up to 170kg, my new personal record! It wasn't beautiful, that's for sure, but it came up. I wasn't able to utilize my legs properly so it was all about my back muscles to pull the bar up. Still, I'm very satisfied with the weights. I'm not sure I like to post this rep but I've promised to keep this blog as transparent as possible :)
Deadlift, 170kg, PR
Metcon. Time 4.19.
5 rounds of
5 deadlift, 120kg
10 burpees
I thought this would have been worse metcon than it actually was. I had thoughts beforehand that I'm gonna be gassed after two rounds but it was easier. 120kg isn't that heavy anyway so it was all about burpees. How fast can you do them and how quickly after burpees you can grab the bar as they have just made you breath heavily? Today I believe my strategy was good and my breaks weren't that long. I also learned something new with the burpees. I was able to go down faster than normally and I believe that had effects on the pace of my metcon. I'm happy with the time for now.
Burpees
Toni's workouts. Deadlift singles and tabata workouts.
Deadlift singles, 130, 140, 150, 150kg
Tabata ring push-ups. 8+8+8+8+7+7+6+5. Total of 57 reps. Result 5 reps
Tabata sit-ups. 13+11+10+10+10+10+10+10. Total of 84 reps. Result 10 reps.
Tabata squats. 19+15+16+15+15+15+15+14. Total of 124 reps. Result 14 reps.
Tuesday. Deadlift, Every Minute On the Minute (EMOM), 5x120kg. Double under training.
Monday's workout was a bit hasty so today I was smarter and came to the gym way in advance. Yesterdays' squats took their taxes, I guess my front squats put too much pressure on both of my elbows because they were in great pain already in the evening. Then I had my floorball training in the evening as well which didn't ease the pain =) Today my plan was to do a hero wod but there were huge number of push-ups involved so I had to skip it and concentrate in quality training for deadlifts.
Going for pull-ups
Deadlift EMOM. Every minute on the minute, 5 x 120kg deadlift.
I spoke Toni and my brother to do this workout some months ago but I realized I haven't done it myself at all. Do 5 reps of 120kg deadlift every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. I did these unbroken and fast so I had about 45 seconds rest each minute after completing those 5 reps. This wasn't that rough a workout after all, even though there were 6k kilos pounced around. I don't know how it would have turned out if there were more weights involved. It's anyway a good and quick workout to be done.
After chilling for a while I took some double unders and for fun I tried if I could go for 100 reps in a row. I was happy to witness I reached that 100 rep-club at first try =) Okey, I don't know what the point of this was but still, it was fun to do so many doubles just like that. We also found a way to do modified GHD sit-ups, take a look at the photos. Well, okay, it's not the same but something like it.
Modified GHD's
Toni's birthday workouts. 28th birthday wod, time 7.09. Compare to my birthday wod 4th November.
28 ring push-ups
28 double unders
28 knees-to-elbows
28 double unders
28 lunges, 20kg bar in front rack position
28 double unders
Toni has his birthday today so he continued the birthday wod "tradition" which I started two months ago. He turned 28 so wod included 28 reps of some movements. First set of ring push-ups unbroken, same with the double unders. K2E was too difficult, it was something like 5 in the first attempt, then sets of 2 reps until the end. This movement should have been replaced with something else to get the full benefits of the workout. Lunges unbroken as well. Second and third set of doubles went well but not unbroken, maybe in 2-3 attempts.
Saturday. HC Triplet II. Three workouts. Time 23.56 & 171 reps. Toni 38.31 min & 104 reps.
Check out previous HC Triplet to get the idea thoroughly. Three workouts, each one need mental game to be finished with glory. We have both been waiting for this day for two weeks, I've been nervous about it for quite a while and yesterday we both were so anxious it was difficult to go to sleep :) Our preparations were good, we had a video camera, lots of snacks between workouts and recovery drinks. We completed the workouts in turns. Toni started, I followed after he finished. First two events took place outdoors at Pirkkola outdoor sports center and the last one at our box. Our equipment consisted of 20kg kettlebell, 25kg homemade sandbag, jump ropes and Rogue rings. The day was freaking awesome!!!
Toni has given his everything for event 2
Event 1. Time 10.51, Toni's time 15.35.
20 kettlebell swings (american swings)
10x20m shuttle run
30 burpees
10x20m shuttle run
40 squats
10x20m shuttle run
50 double unders
10x20m shuttle run
60m bear crawl
10x20m shuttle run
There were 5 sprints of 10x20m shuttle runs. In between sprints there were mostly bodyweight movements except for kb swings. This time we did kb swings American style compared to Russian style. The difference is that American swings require the kb to go all the way overhead where as Russians go above eye level. The constant turning in the sprints made it more difficult than just running for 200 meters, it brings more stress to legs.
Bear crawl
That kettlebell was like air as we both were swinging it, I guess our strength levels have increased so that this weight is clearly lighter than before. I'd really like to have a heavier one. After completing 30 burpees heart beat naturally got higher and brought issues to respiration for the rest of the workout. I went unbroken all movements but double unders. I stumbled once and I had to take another break voluntarily before finishing it in three parts. That final bear crawl was hard! I thought it would be easier but once I got it going it was difficult indeed. My heart was beating heavily and I was happy it wasn't for longer distance. This event's purpose was to put breathing and overall conditioning to real test and it worked just perfectly for that objective!
Doubles
Toni, I really need you to unravel what your feelings were during this workout!
I'll have to check Toni's time from the videos afterwards as my timer started messing around.. Our new tool, homemade sandbag received mixed feelings, I believe we both love and hate it now :) Walking lunges with that "Sandy" at my neck got to my hamstrings badly. We calculated the distance of 30 meters, on the other end of it one had to do clean & jerks with kettlebell, alternating hands after each rep, 7 reps with both hands. On the other end there was a pull-up bar where 10 reps had to be done. Do sandbag lunges to reach the kettlebell station and sprint back to pull-ups with the sandbag. Total of 150m sandbag lunges, 150m sandbag sprint, 70 clean & jerks (35 each hand) and 50 pull-ups.
Sandbag lunges
I did this workout unbroken which cheers me up a lot. 50 pull-ups during that workout isn't that easy so this was spectacular! The sandbag lunges were the most difficult move for me during this workout and probably during the whole Triplet, Sandy got nasty on the third round. At some points the jerk felt heavy but once I remembered to use legs as well to push it to the sky, it eased the movement. Pull-ups were heavy but I got a good hip drive throughout the workout so I managed to get it unbroken in all rounds. Three movements which brought at least some burden to legs really hit my hamstrings and groin. My groin cramped, same happened after the workout as we took our gear and headed to our cars. My left calf cramped a few times. It was easy to drive with my clutch leg cramping, not… :)
Toni, I believe this event 2 was the most difficult for you as well, tell us what happened! The lunges were pure nightmare in the middle of the workout.
Event 3. Result 9 rounds + 9 ring push-ups. Toni's result 5 rounds + 5 box jumps
12 min amrap
9 ring push-ups
6 box jumps
3 wall climbs
Final event! We changed some clothing and headed to the box. The third and final workout was waiting for us. Some arrangements were done, we created a stage for the athletes to perform their last workout of the day. 12 minutes, as many reps as possible. One round consisted of 9 ring push-ups, 6 box jumps (approximately 45-50cm), 3 wall climbs. Toni started again and I followed after he was done with the Triplet.
Box jumps
I had no strategy for this third event before it started but quite soon realized what to do. For two rounds I went unbroken, then I figured out that ring push-ups would turn out to a problem if I tried hitting them unbroken all rounds. That's why I broke it in 5+4 push-ups. From the video I noticed my form looks kind of odd. My bottom is too low and makes my back arch too much. My upper torso goes up and down as it should and elbows / shoulders hit 90 degree angle in line with each other. They are definitely counted but I'll pay attention to my form and keep my booty higher and core straight next time I do push-ups / ring push-ups.
Box jumps were pretty much the rest period for me in this workout. We have been waiting for that official Rogue plyobox of 24 inches (64cm). Wall climbs were naturally the most difficult one. It brings such a huge load to shoulders and triceps. And right after that doing ring push-ups was cruel. My triceps were in flames during the workout. That was that hindered me for going after higher amount of reps. But hey, I'm very happy for completing 90 ring push-ups, 54 box jumps and 27 wall climbs in 12 minutes.
Wall climbs
Toni, you got total of 5 rounds, 9 ring push-ups and 5 box jumps. How do you feel about this workout. Tell us how it went on your behalf.
This day was definitely hard, throughout the body. First of all, metabolic conditioning, secondly hamstrings and legs in general, finally shoulders and triceps also got their share. Heavy breathing throughout the day. I noticed same effects on Toni, he fought bravely through the day. The name of the day was not HC Triplet in vain. It really deserved the hard core extra name. My body needs to get rest this evening. Tomorrow it's game day and I will be ready for it!
I will be playing with the videos for some time before adding them in to the Youtube channel and some of them in this blog as well. I'll keep you informed
Wednesday. 1k row, time 3.22. Strength clean & jerk (max PR 70kg, clean PR 75kg), pair wods consisting of farmer's walk, dumbbell thrusters and step-ups, twice. Floorball in the evening.
This day was simply phenomenal! A lot of work was done and some personal records were broken. We took off with Toni by rowing our PR's, then we had strength training. I had clean & jerk on my list, Toni concentrated in push press. Then we took a pair wod, we loved it and felt we have more juice so we took another workout after that. In the evening I had my floorball practice. Between sessions we went to buy a regular sand bag with Toni and turned it into a "crossfit sand bag" =)
Row. Time 3.22, improving previous record with 4 seconds. In such a short distance, I have a feeling this was pretty awesome. I didn't have this in mind but as it felt light from the very beginning, I put some more power in the rows and it just slid through. I usually have my damper setting at 8, today as well. I have counted that some time ago I took 9 strokes to reach 100 meters, then it came down to 9, nowadays it's 7-8 strokes. I use a lot of leg power and I pull the handle quite far away and higher than I used to, that means the pull is more fierce and longer. Toni also id his personal record as he reached the momentum after seeing the digits on my clock. He was pulling it like a maniac and finally reached 3.27, that's pure force man!
PR
Strength. Clean & jerk 3-3-3 (60, 65, 70, 75 failed / PR 75kg clean succeeded). I took clean & jerks, sets of 3 reps starting from 60kg. My max for clean is 70kg and I managed to take three reps of c&j today so I was extremely happy. In addition I decided to go for 75kg and got the clean nicely. I used all my juice in that move and I couldn't get it going anymore, I dropped the bar after that. I tried it once more after some rest but it was impossible. I'm glad I got 75kg clean up, 5kg improvement, nice!
Clean & jerk, 70kg
Toni did push presses, 3-3-3-3-2 (60, 65, 70, 72.5k, 75kg). Take a look at his video to witness the last set.
Push press, 75kg, Toni
Metcon. Time 8.13. Use 25kg dumbbells for farmer's walk and 15kg dumbbells for db thrusters. Both me and Toni had farmer's walk on the agenda, my other movements were 60kg step-ups and 15kg db thrusters. Toni's movements were farmer's walk, ring push-ups and 15kg db thrusters, the number of reps are marked after the movement.
90m farmer's walk, (Ring push-ups, 14 reps)
Step-ups, 13 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk, (dumbbell thrusters, 10 reps)
Dumbbell thrusters, 18 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk (ring push-ups, 17 reps)
Step-ups 14 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk (dumbbell thrusters, 10 reps)
Dumbbell thrusters 14 reps (90m farmer's walk)
I hope you guys understand what this workout was all about =) We liked it, a lot! The main idea is that the 25kg dumbbells play the main role in this pair workout. The other one carries them continuously with farmer's walk style. While the other one farmer walks, the other does as many reps as possible during that time. If the one with the 25kg dumbbells, drops the db's, the other one has to stop as well. We did this workout at the gym so that 90 meters was a shuttle walk, 6x15m. My performance is listed first in the bullets above, Toni's movements are in the brackets. You still following? =)
Farmer's walk
I got all sets unbroken except the last two rounds of farmer's walk. My hands were getting numb and I lost my grip on the dumbbells. It was also challenging to grab the dumbbells for db thrusters right after that. This was an awesome workout and got to the whole body exactly as I wanted. It was also great to get this walk on the workout as the gym was empty and we had the possibility to add this one to the wod. The most difficult was definitely the walk. Last time when I did step-ups, I wrote that more reps or more kilos should be added. This time I added reps but still I have the feeling I wanted to be more exhausted after them. Thus, I will add more weights next time. Thrusters were tough but manageable. Let's say I didn't mind Toni dropped his 25kg dumbbells in farmer's walk so I had to drop mine as well.
DB thrusters
Second metcon. Exactly the same, time 8.23. Time difference +9 seconds.
90m farmer's walk, (Ring push-ups, 23 reps)
Step-ups, 12 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk, (dumbbell thrusters, 10 reps)
Dumbbell thrusters, 16 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk (ring push-ups, 13 reps)
Step-ups 12 reps (90m farmer's walk)
90m farmer's walk (dumbbell thrusters, 9 reps)
Dumbbell thrusters 17 reps (90m farmer's walk)
You know, we had an awesome feeling after the first workout and we kinda wanted something more. We thought of going for another similar type of workout but Toni threw the idea up to go for exactly the same workout and see how much of a difference will there be. Now it would be a matter of metabolic condition and also very much a mental game!
Our time was 9 seconds slower on the second metcon, not bad =) How about the number of reps between metcons?
Don
360m -> 360m farmer's walk
27 -> 24 step-ups
32 -> 33 dumbbell thrusters
Toni
360m -> 360m farmer's walk
31 -> 36 ring push-ups
20 -> 19 dumbbell thrusters
Not a huge difference, we can conclude that we managed to keep up the pace with both speed and number of repetitions between metcons. After a long day of work it was a notification that got us smiling greatly =) Finally in the evening I had my floorball practice.
Wednesday. 1k row, shoulder press 5-5-5-2. Mobility. Floorball training in the evening.
My plan was to do some fierce training in the morning. However, I felt it already in the warm-up and rowing that today my body is not gonna make any magic today. I did some training and finally ended up screening Toni's workouts and encouraging him.
Ring push-ups
Strength. Shoulder press 5-5-5-2 (50, 50, 50, 55kg). On the third set of 50kg press my left elbow got sore. On the fourth one (55kg) I felt my juice was gone and the pain increased, only two reps came up. I had high hopes for today so this was definitely a disappointment for me. I still pushed forward with push press for 55kg and 60kg, 3 reps for both of them. Then I called it off. My strength training was over. I only did some mobility for the next half an hour. After one hour it got better, and now in the evening it's all good, luckily =) We had team practice in the evening for 2 hours, I took some burpees, sit-ups, squats, lunges and back extensions before the training.
20 walking lunges, 20kg bar in front rack position, alternating legs
15 ring push-ups
10 pull-ups
First round of Toni's metcon
He started pull-ups as assisted versions with a rubber band but after 7-8 reps he tossed it away and did the remaining ones without it. That's awesome Toni, 40 pull-ups, that's a lot, probably more than you've ever done! Ring push-ups went unbroken in the first round, and 3x5 in the remaining rounds. Walking lunges seemed to be the easiest of these three moves.
Friday. Front squats 5x3 (max 107.5kg PR),
metcon consisting of back / front / overhead squats plus pull-ups, ring dips and
ring push-ups.
Toni's workouts did their purpose
All focus on squats. My start for this day
wasn’t the best possible. I was quite tired when I woke up, my fridge was empty
and it was difficult to find a proper breakfast and I didn’t stretch yesterday
evening so my hips were a bit jammed. I somehow started my engines, headed to gym and
found out that my warm-up had to be different this time as the rowing machine
was taken. Maybe not the best possible starting point as I seem to be a slave of my habits. Anyway, I continued
through, got myself together, concentrated in doing reps in good form, Toni and
Joni soon joined me and we made history. Personal record in front squats,
awesome!
Strength. Front squat 5x3 (90+100+102.5+105+
PR 107.5kg)
All of my front squat warm-ups were smooth and it felt good from the very beginning. I had decided to take some reps with lighter weights and start doing heavier from 90kg. It was feather light with 90 so I put 10 more kilos. From there one I added 2.5kg each round, finally taking my personal record with 107.5kg. And I consider my form stayed good, I went deep enough and it wasn't the max I could have gone today. I took all three reps clean and nice. I'm proud of this one =)
Metcon. Squats, pull-ups, ring dips and
ring push-ups
30 back squats (60kg)
Max pull-ups (15)
20 front squats (50kg)
Max ring dips (10)
10 overhead squats (40kg)
Max ring push-ups (20)
My legs were smashed from the workout and actually my upper body was quite tired as well. I pushed through this workout but my result wasn't that good. I could have done better some other time, definitely. The idea was to do 30 back squats (60kg), then do as many pull-ups as possible, I managed to for 15 reps. Then I took 10kg off and took 20 front squats. Then I did max reps of ring dips, only 10 reps as my result. Finally 10 overhead squats with 40kg was supposed to be done. I took one rep, after which it came unbearable. I dropped the bar at the second rep, no count. I tried it third time, same result. I just couldn't keep the bar even steady over my head so it was impossible to do those overhead squats. I skipped that one and finally took 20 ring push-ups. I was disappointed I couldn't finish the overhead squats at all. On Wednesday it wasn't a problem at all to do ohs with same kilos. Today it was the burden my legs had taken before and upper body fatigue that wrote my destiny. Still, I was all smile during the day because my strength training went so damned good!
Toni's workouts. Deadlift (105kg), bench press (65kg): 10-8-6-4-2. Time 5.50
Tabata double unders
Tabata hand release push-ups
Toni did the same workout I did Monday, only the kilos were different. He took 105kg deadlift and 65kg bench press. 10 reps of deadlift, 10 presses, 8 reps of deadlift, 8 presses etc. His time 5.50. Deadlifts went ok for the first round, then his form kind of betrayed him and back arched, sets went broken, it was a bit of a struggle. However, his bench presses looked good and easy. He really pushed them well, all sets unbroken, without problems. I think there could have been more kilos on the bar and he still could have taken it up unbroken.
He wrapped the day with two Tabata style workouts: double unders and hand release push-ups.
Tabata double unders 10+10+5+1+10+5+15+5 = 61 reps in total. Result 1 reps
Tabata hand release push-ups 7+7+6+4+4+4+4+2 = 38 reps in total. Result 2 reps
Toni concentrating in deadlift technique
Joni took a set consisting of thrusters and burpees. Time was somewhere around 12 min. You will see both Toni's and Joni's workouts from today at my Youtube channel, the link is on the upper right corner of the page. I thought Joni had 40kg at the barbell but from the video it looks like there's little plates at the end as well so I figure it's 42.5kg.
Wednesday. Weighted dips 5x5 (max 30kg) and weighted ring dips 4x5 (15kg).
Toni doing dips
Strength. Yesterday the amount of heavy deadlifts really nailed my back. Today was scheduled to be a clean strength training but that was out of question. I took some reps with 40 and 50kg but the stiffness in my lower back hindered me to go further. My backup plan was weighted dips as strength training so I immediately switched plans and went for dips. Toni took some clean training for starters, then joined me to do dips, rather new stuff for him. He took clean sets of 5 reps with 40+50+60kg, then 3 reps with 65kg. My dip sets were as follows:
Dips 5x5 (10+15+20+25+30kg)
Ring dips 4x5 (0+0+10+15kg)
First I took regular dips for sets of 5 reps. Starting with lighter weights and going up to 30kg. All other sets were 5 but I was powered out at the 30kg and managed to go for 2 reps only. I still call this a good dip day, especially as I also did ring dips in addition to regular ones. I took a 5-10min break in between, then did some ring dips, much more difficult movement which forces you to have a good body control, otherwise you will swing back and forth all the time. Whatever you do with the rings, keep your hands close to your body, that's the way you'll survive from too much wiggling.
I took ring dips with body weight first but because it felt so good and natural, I decided to add kilos. Finally I took 15kg set of 5 reps. The last reps were quite a battle after all that dip action during the morning as you can see from the picture. I really fell in love with the rings instantly and I recommend all you guys to purchase ones. I'm happy my employer agreed to get those to the "box". Soon they will be attached to the roof for a specific bar, both ordered from Rogue Fitness Europe. Then it's time to start practicing muscle-ups!
Ring dips, 15kg
Ring push-ups: 20+20+15
For final climax I did ring push-ups. Again, the hands must be kept close to the body because otherwise the position is going to be very weak. By doing push-ups with rings, it enables a good range of motion as you can hit your chest through your hands close to the rings and then naturally push yourself all the way to an elbows-locked position. Good and tough movement. It would be awesome to have a weighted vest to use in this type of training as well.
Toni also did regular dips and ring push-ups. You will see videos of him performing as well in my Youtube channel. He will definitely go for ring dips in the future too but first he will learn the regular dips perfectly, then go to the next level. He did ring push-ups well as you can witness from the clips. He's gonna be resting for two days now because of a mini vacation with some buddies. Let's see what I will do in the following days, I have some open questions in the air about tomorrow. At least on Friday my brother is going to practice with me, can't wait!
Monday. Ring skills for 15 minutes, strength training for back squats 3x5 (max 115kg) and finally a metcon consisting of squats and ring movements. Time 6.30. This was the first time I arrived to the gym this early, at 7.00. My work begins at 9.00 so I had plenty of time to do crossfit.
Ring skills. After good and rather all-around warm-up I adjusted the newly arrived Rogue rings to a pull-up bar. They have awaited in the original delivery box to be installed to the ceiling but today I wanted to enhance my skills with the rings. I took 15 minutes for this purpose. First, just basic hold positions. Then ring dips in sets of five or ten reps. Finally push-ups in sets of ten reps. They were very handy and they really got my shoulders and breast burning. I was very content with doing skills training with the rings. Awesome tool to improve strength level for upper body.
Strength. Back squat 3x5 (100+105+110+ 2 reps for 115kg). Some days my legs feel a bit more stiff and on some days they are more flexible. In some cases it’s more difficult to squat deep and on some days it’s not a problem at all. In general my hip mobility is not awesome which makes me do rather lot of work to hit the bottom position properly. My ultimate bottom position is not far more than 90 degrees. So it really makes a difference how good my warm-up has been prior to the strength training and how well I force myself deep enough. Today was a good day in that sense. I took sets of 5 reps with 100, 105, and 110kg. I also tried it with 115kg but managed to do only 2 reps. That is my current PR, dating to September 18th. So I must be satisfied with the results. It felt good all the time during the workout and I was doing better with the knee / hip angle as I went down in all repetitions.
Wod. Time 6.30. I definitely wanted to put more stress for my legs. I decided to go for all different kinds of squat types and mix it around with ring movements.
30 back squat (50kg)
20 push-ups
20 front squats (50kg)
10 ring dips
10 overhead squats (20kg)
1min ring hold
This was a good one, 60 squats with weights (back, front and overhead), with ring push-ups and dips. I was able to do the moves unbroken except the dips (7+3) and the one minute stable ring hold felt difficult. Especially as I’m not familiar with them so it felt difficult at this stage and had to divided to two or three sets. I stayed up for 40 seconds first, then I’m not sure, I may have taken it in three parts.
Toni did back squat as well, with sets of 5 reps of 80+80+90kg. Afterwards he did a metcon, which comprised of rowing, squats, single unders and burpees. Time 10.19.
500m row
30 overhead squats (with pvc pipe)
500m row
80 Single unders
500m row
30 burpees
In the evening we had a game number two as the season continues at the home stadium. I was supposed to have a game off today but was called on duty as a back-up goalie. Anyway, I started as a back-up but I was put in in the middle of the second period. Final score was a tie.
