Saturday, October 19, 2013

Saturday 19.10: Back squats + muscle-ups, C2B's, bench

Saturday. AM: Back squats, work towards a heavy triple (max 135kg). Pistols and L-sit hold. PM: Skills, muscle-ups and C2B's. Strength, bench press 6x5 (max 85kg).

Two-a-day! Back squats in the morning with Pauliina and Hannu, I'm so glad I'm able to do them again. My left hip is still a bit sore but good warm-ups ease the mobility and I can do those squats normally. Huge thing for me. Morning session was short on time so the playing after the strength was quick as well: some core work. Couple of hours later I returned to action as Pauliina headed to town to see some friends. First skill work in the woods, then back at the Box to do bench. Great training day!


Pistol squat


Strength. Back squats, work towards a heavy triple (100, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135kg). This result was a great success! I've never lifted a triple by having 135kg in my back, boom. The recent squat sessions at 100kg have probably done good things to my strength level. The first weight at 100kg was light. The first heavy set was at 120kg. The next one @ 125kg was very heavy. This was the point where I beforehand thought might be my stop for today.

Should never think about that kind of things. Once I loaded 130kg on the bar, took it up on my back, the barbell felt lighter than 125kg. Got a huge boost of confidence and I knew all 3 reps would be doable. Got them up, it was a good battle and they came up. Had no other possibilities but to put more plates n the bar. Next stop, 135kg.

Hannu doing his metcon of 10-8-6-4-2, deads and bench!


Each rep was a mental game. Caught a breath and completed another rep. The third one was epic. It took an eternity to bring it up again from the hole. Felt like it was one minute of pure work =) Once you almost stop in the middle of the lift while coming up the line between going back down and give in or pressing your teeth together and forcing the bar up to where it belongs, is very thin. Pauliina and Hannu were both watching the last reps so that was a competition in itself to me. Had to use all strength that I had left in my tank. Super happy!!!


Recap of Saturday's training


Core work. Just a little fun in the end.

  • 3 rounds of:
  • 10 pistols, alternating
  • Accumulate 0:30 L-sit hold


Yep, pistols and L-sit. Sitting still in L-position for core work is sick, very tiring. Completing pistols with the oly shoes is way easier than with normal sneakers. Flat sole makes it more stable. I would have liked to continue this workout (to be honest, didn't want more L-sits) for longer but we had to run. Pistols are awesome, got to do more of them.

L-sit hold

Skills.

  • Muscle-ups, 20 reps
  • Chest-to-bar pull-ups, 6x5 reps

We went shopping, ate properly, took it easy and then couple of hours later I hopped in my car and drove to Pirkkola. Wanted to work on my bar muscle-ups. Far too rarely do I get the chance to practice them. Now I had no rush at all so 20 reps saw the daylight. Took them in singles all the way. Some of the reps were okay and I landed on the bar pretty neatly, considering my skill level. On some of them, I had to do a lot of work, the movement wasn't that explosive. More work ahead of me.

Also chest-to-bar pull-ups are something I need to keep on working constantly. Regular pull-ups are something I dare to call my strength. However, hitting chest on the bar is more challenging. I'm able to do them nowadays, that's a huge thing because there was a time when a single rep was too difficult. Took 6 sets of 5 highest pull-ups I'm capable of. Very satisfied to the hight of the reps. Take a look in the video.


Chalk it up and do some work!



Strength. Bench press 5-5-5-5-5 (80, 82.5, 85, 82.5, 80kg). Wanted to finish my upper body after muscle-ups and C2B's so my next target was at my home Box. Did 5 sets of bench with weights between 80 and 85kg. Last time I did bench 5's, it was almost the same, a little lighter. That 85kg was a great one. I'd like to have gone heavier but had no spotter. About a week ago I did triples, then the heaviest set was 92.5kg. These weights have increased, I'm able to do longer sets with bars that I was earlier doing 1-2 reps. Probably that one rep max has also increased.



Benching




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