Wednesday 1.6: Kettlebells in Kumpula

Wednesday. Kumpula. 5rds of: 15 kb swing (32kg), 12 kb snatch (24kg).

First of June, summer is officially here! However, May has been warm. It's been beautiful pretty much all the time, and Helsinki has blossomed nicely. Downtown has been crowded for couple of weeks. Today was been predicted by some sources to be the hottest day this spring / summer this far. Pauliina had a great idea of going to Kumpula outdoor swimming pool. This was the first time I went there. It turned out to be pretty cool stuff. To my surprise there was also a training place!

Metcon.

• 5 rounds of:
• 15 kettlebell swings @ 32kg
• 12 (6/6) kettlebell snatches @ 24kg

We sunbathed and hang around at the pool. At some point I went walking around to discover the training place. One friend gave a hint there might be some cool stuff to be played around with. It turned out there was pull-up stations, barbells, bumper weights and kettlebells of different loads.

At first I took a set of 10 strict pull-ups to get the mood on. It didn't take too long to find the kettlebells and come up with this workout. This was tough on the forearms if you think about it. Had to grip some sort of bell in both movements. Swings were unbroken, and the snatches were completed 6 per right hand, then 6 per left hand. Very good one!

Sunday 9.8: Squat, Row, Ghd

Sunday. AM: recovery at the swimming stadium. PM: Back squat 10x3 (133kg). Metcon, 8min amrap of: 300m row, 12 ghd. Result, 4rds + 300m row. Cool down, 3k row.

In the morning we went to the Helsinki swimming stadium to relax, sunbathe and some recovery swim lapses. In the evening I went to work at the gym. It wasn't going to be an easy day. Lots of squat sets, heavy ones. Afterwards a very intense workout, and some easy rowing to flush my legs, and get them ready for the upcoming week.

Smolov.

• Back squat 10x3 (133kg)

Honestly, this was a bit frightening day. I was nervous about the squats for the entire weekend as it was obvious it's going to be heavy. I did my mental game and went to the gym with a strong mind anyway. These squats were destined to come up as planned.

Ten sets of squats is always a bit more mental than doing 4 long sets. It feels like those sets are never ending. I took proper recovery between sets so these took me quite precisely 37 minutes. One set about every four minutes.

These were quite heavy from the very beginning but I managed to push them through in a similar way each set. Towards the end the sounds from my mouth got a little louder which means to say they were heavier. I'm happy this squat session is over =)

Squats

Metcon. Result, 4 rounds + 300m row

• 8min amrap of:
• 300m row
• 12 ghd sit-ups

I created this workout only after the squats. It was magnificent! This was a short metcon on purpose so I would be able to give my everything on the rower. No pacing, just do the strokes and get to the ghd's as fast as possible. For once, I was able to put the elements of the workout close together so there wouldn't be extra walking around the gym. This saved time for sure. Short transitions.

Rowing pace was 1.35 - 1.38 each round. That was enough to make my legs hurt. Breathing was naturally also heavy all the time. Ghd's were unbroken, and easier of the two elements. But it also got tough in the end. Not because of my core but because my legs were getting tired and those are needed in the ghd's too. Felt like hip flexors were on fire. This really made my gasp for air after the metcon was over.

Coold down.

• 3.000m row

Because the metcon was so intense, I figured it's beneficial to flush legs after the torture. There was no plan whatsoever, just kept pulling with easy pace. It was 2:00 pace all the time. No need to speed up. This was just a recovery row. At some point I decided to row for 2k but it felt so good that I kept going for an extra kilometer. Good training session!

Friday 24.7: Swim, Run + Clean emom & Bear complex

Friday. AM: Run 2k, swim 1k, run 2k. PM: Emom x 10min: Odd min, power clean, front squat, squat clean. Even min, pause at knee, pause at hips, then clean pull. Metcon, bear complex @ 40kg. Time, 11.30.

Different start to the day. Swimming in Italy was great and I got inspired to hit the Helsinki swimming stadium this morning. It's my last day on a holiday so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to go there. In the afternoon Toni invited me to visit his affiliate in Vantaa. It was all about barbell work.

Conditioning.

• Run 2.000m
• Swim 1.000m
• Run 2.000m

The stadium is a bit more than 2k away from our house. I took a back bag, put my stuff inside, and went running. Took 15 minutes to get there. That means it was a jog obviously. Went to study this place. It was a 50m pool with a bunch of lanes. I took the slow one because I'm definitely not a fish when you throw me in water. Never swam that much when I was a little kiddo so there are some lack of skills.

Swam for 500 meters at first, that's 10 pool lengths in total. Then a break, and another 500 meters. It was a good battle for me. Really felt it in my lats. It was all breast strokes through that kilometer. At times my right fingers started to tingle. Go figure. But it was a lot of fun, and it was a good morning workout for me!

Cleans.

• Every minute on the minute x 10 minutes
• Odd minutes, power clean, front squat (hold 2sec in bottom), squat clean (hold 2sec in bottom)
• Even minutes, halt at knee for 4sec, halt at hips for 4sec, then clean pull
• Barbell at 80kg

These workouts were 100% programmed by the affiliate itself. Had no word whatsoever in these. Toni invited me to join him, and I've never said no to a workout. This was good accessory style workout for clean. The difference to regular clean training was the obligatory pause in the bottom position. This was supposed to be 75% of 1RM so I figured 80kg would be fine. Toni went with the same weights.

Clean emom

Bear complex. Time, 11.30

• Without dropping the bar, complete the following sequence for 7 times. That constitutes 1 rep
• Power clean + front squat + push press + back squat + push press (=1 rep)
• Once you've completed the sequence for 7 reps, drop the bar. That is 1 round
• Repeat for a total of 5 rounds
• Time cap 14 minutes
• Time, 11.30 @ 40kg

This is a cruel workout. Forearms were killing me. Weight is light but not for long. It's that forearm burn that gets to me. Never has 40 kilos felt this cruel in my life. I just wanted to finish under the time cap. Realized after 3 rounds that there's plenty of time so I kept longer breaks before rounds 4 and 5. Normally this workout is not for time but they had to put a time cap so their daily schedule would stay in the plan.

Bear

Good workout, and got a high heart beat too! As we can see from the video, Toni still has some issues with counting reps hehe. He worked well with the barbell for the entire day for sure though!

Is he the next champ?

Monday 3.6: Back squats, Bear Complex

Monday. Back squats 3x5 (max 120kg). Bear complex (max 50kg).

I started my training week with back squat strength and then a bear complex, which surprised me totally. Definitely a tough workout. Toni did some strength as well in western Finland at a local gym.

Strength. Back squats 5-5-5 (100, 110, 120kg). God damned it was tough, whaaaat!?! I felt good entering this training session but for some reason I didn't have the strength needed for this one. I have been thinking the whole day what it was, what's the reason 120kg back squat felt heavy but haven't found the reason yet. Yesterday was a rest day so should have been ready to pump it up! Well, I'm not gonna think about it too much because there are awesome training days ahead of me.

Back squat, 120kg

Bear complex. Result 40, 45, 50, 50, 40kg

• 5 rounds of 7 sets of:
• Power clean
• Front squat
• Push press
• Back squat
• Push press

Completing the sequence of power cleaning the barbell from ground -> front squatting -> push pressing and landing the barbell in back rack position -> back squatting and finally push pressing the barbell and landing it to front rack position, is considered as 1 rep. The athlete must complete 7 reps (35 movements) before he's allowed to drop the bar and lose grip on it. After completing those 7 reps, he's allowed to rest and then add weights. This is not a timed workout. The result is the heaviest successful 7 rep combination. The 7-rep combo is repeated for a total of 5 rounds (175 reps in total). Today my result was 50kg, didn't try to go higher.

So a total of 5 rounds to be completed. I started with 40kg and as I understood the toughness of the workout I only added 5kg for the next round. On the 3rd and 4th round I kept 50kg on the barbell and didn't try to go further. I could have done some sets with heavier volume but I don't know about the entire 7 reps. I wanted to close this workout as it's meant to be done so I stayed with 50kg. I also haven't been dropping weights to my back from the push press lockout and I wasn't that comfortable dropping it there.

Bear complex definitely put a lot of pressure on the forearms. The tension was huge. The movements themselves weren't hard as you think about the kilos in play. Squats were easy, power clean too. The "toughest" part strength-wise was the push press but hey, it was only 50kg. However, having to keep a grip on the bar continuously was strenuous. I liked the feeling of it.

Round of 50kg bear complex

Toni's workouts. Morning swim, evening strength training.

• Swimming 6 x 25m for breakfast
• Back squat 3-3-3-3-3 (80, 90, 100, 100, 100kg)
• Clean & jerk 5-5-5-5-5-5 (60kg all sets)

Rob O, key to success: constant variety