Friday 4.7: Back squats, Hero wod Bell

Friday. Strength, back squats 3x8 (max 115kg). Hero wod Bell, 3rds of: 21 deads (85kg), 15 pull-ups, 9 front squats (85kg). Time 11.20.

Friday was reserved for some serious leg capacity work. Starting it with squats, high-rep strength sets and then I happened to check out crossfit.com main page and saw the workout of the day which got my attention right away. Seemed to suit well for today's training purposes. In the evening I went to Helsinki for a cruise with my colleagues. Helsinki was very beautiful and lively in downtown. Plus the archipelago seen from the boat was beyond words.

Strength. Squats

• Back squats 8-8-8 (105, 110, 115kg)

I had several options for today's squats, I was thinking between front and back squats, thought about doubles, triples and something else. Then I checked my notes in the phone and realized I had already marked there 3x8 so that's what it was gonna be! I took some pause squats and speed squats with lighter weights to activate my lower body. There was some serious mobility prior to touching the barbell.

I had no idea what kind of weights could be possible for 8 reps. So I piled it up to 105kg and started moving. It's a different thing to do triples or 5's than 8 reps. This weight was manageable though. I jumped up with 5kg steps. Next stop at 110kg. Still, I felt there was energy left so couple of minutes later there was 115kg on the bar. That was clearly tougher but it was not the limit, that's for sure. For today's purposes it felt great anyway.

Squats, 115kg

Metcon. Time 11.20

• 3 rounds of:
• 21 deadlift, 85kg
• 15 pull-ups
• 9 front squat, 85kg (from ground)

Had thought about redoing one of the Regionals events where they had handstand push-ups, front squats and burpees. But pull-ups would have been warmly welcomed too. So after ending up at crossfit.com I saw the workout of the day - Bell - and it seemed to suit perfectly for my intentions. The bar was light for deadlifts but heavy for front squats. The idea was to use the same barbell and thus it's only natural to grab it from the floor also for the squats.

My strategy was to go by feeling. Had no idea how this would suit my system. On the deadlifts I decided not to pursue them unbroken to save my grip for pull-ups. I took them 14-7 on first round and surprisingly it got much tougher on the remaining 2 rounds so I did them 10-6-5. That was kind of startling.

Pull-ups were the easiest part of this workout. Did them unbroken on the first and then 9-6 and 10-5 on the later rounds, not that long break between attempts. But those front squats… Uuh, they were nasty! I had to bear in mind that there was only now barbell at my disposal so I had to clean it before doing those actual reps of front squatting. Didn't wanna do too may extra cleans so I decided to suffer it through whatever it takes to get the squats unbroken. And I did, it was definitely unpleasant.

I believe the first round was 2+ minutes and as the total time was 11.20 you probably see the big picture. It got evil towards the end. But it was a very good workout indeed! I can warmly suggest this workout to anyone.