Monday 29.7: Thruster ladder, hspu, box

Monday. Thruster ladder, 10 x 40, 50, 60 & 70kg for time. Time 6.15. Metcon, 5 rds of: 1min amrap of hspu, 1min amrap of box jumps. Result 26 hspu, 100 box.

Wanted to put something tough on the table after a rest day and after watching the Games during the weekend. Name of the game was thrusters. I've done thruster ladder once in February, repeated today together with Toni. Then a metcon together with him as well, hspu's and box jumps. This training day was hard on every meter and I loved it!

Battle going on

Thruster ladder. Time 6.15. Compare to 25.2.2013

• 10 reps of 40, 50, 60 & 70kg

I had similar strategy today when I took off. Go unbroken with the 40 & 50kg sets. I did, no problems. It took about one and a half minutes to finish them. I did them quicker because there was shorter transition time compared to last time. Toni advised to not to take the 10kg plates off but to just add 5kg plates when moving on to 50kg. That was a clear time saver. Once I was ready with 10 unbroken 50kg thrusters, I took all weight off and changed them to 20kg weights.

Barbell still felt good at 60kg. I was aiming for 6 reps and all of a sudden started to think whether I would try to smash it unbroken all the way. Decided to stick with the plan anyway and dropped to catch a breath after 6 reps. Good call I think, would have been tough to get it and the consequences might have been bad, there was 70kg set waiting for me.

On the 70kg I decided to by feeling. Hit 4 reps for starters, then a triple and another triple. The barbell was clearly lighter than last time. I just watched the videos of 60 / 70kg thrusters from February and it looked agonizing. Today it felt "comfortable" :)

My breathing was heavy for sure but there was strength in me that was able to move the weight in a more classy way. Our set up for the ladder was totally different than it has ever been. We placed two barbells to face each other and decided to go at the same time. That was a fun feature 'cause we are usually doing the work by ourselves, or simultaneously but then it's usually different workouts. This is mostly because of the circumstances at the gym, there's simply not enough space to go at the same time.

I was able to cut off 3 minutes and 15 seconds from my last time. Couldn't be happier!

Metcon. Result 26 hspu, 100 box

• For 10min with a running clock
• 1 min amrap of handstand push-ups (10, 5, 4, 4, 3reps)
• 1min amrap of box jumps, 61cm (22, 18, 20, 20, 20reps)

This was the workout we did after some rest time. For 10 minutes, we alternated 2 movements, hspu's and box jumps. I started with hspu's and Toni went after box jumps. After one minute amrap we changed parts. Continued for 10 minutes so there were 5 rounds for both movements. I really got my cardio share today, box jumps sealed the deal and my shoulder strength was non-existing in the end. I started the handstand push-ups with strict style but quickly changed into kipping mode. Completed 10 reps on the first set, current shared PR, felt good, even after all those thrusters.

Just got this one through mail, the champ's book, awesome!

Toni's workout.

• Same workouts.
• Time on the thrusters, 14.58
• Metcon, 11 hspu (5, 3, 0, 2, 1 reps). Box jumps 66 (15, 15, 12, 12, 12 reps)

Toni almost fell on one rep with the box jumps so he kind of tried to get his shit together on the third set of handstand push-ups. He used a foam roll to scale the hspu's. On the thrusters he went nicely on 40 and 50kg, he completed the 60kg in sets of 2 and 3 reps. The heaviest reps were done in singles.

Wanted to give you some insight of the guy behind the last three wins in the Crossfit Games, 2011-2013. Rich Froning Jr. is The Man, no doubt he has earned his trophies the past years.

The last workout, 12th out of 12 events

The champ

Froning's highlights at the 2013 Games

And now we know the answer in how to beat Rich Froning. You don't…

Would have loved to see our very own champ from 2009 - Mikko Salo - challenge him! But he suffered an injury just a week prior to the Games