Tuesday, April 15, 2008

80kg body weight and 200 24kg snatches

Last nights sleep was very restful. Weight: 176 lbs = 80kg Fantastic! I just made my medium term weight goal. This last week I eliminated stress induced snacks and this made a difference. I had been eating up to 6 handfuls of roasted almonds for an afternoon snack which was way too much. I also monitored portion sizes more carefully, including when going out to restaurants and requesting doggy bags rather then pigging out.

Both my elbows were a little sore this morning but this nothing unusual .. I did a lot of Z drills for relief, had breakfast and proceeded to have an early morning workout, the 1st such one in a half of year:

Sumo DL Linear PTTP Cycle: (lbs)
Day 2: 150 x 5, 140 x 5, 1 x 155

I decided to wear my Chuck Taylors and even the small sole height made it tougher. For the 1st set of 5 with 150 I had difficulty maintaining tension and used my lower back too much. The last 3 reps of the 2nd set I got into a groove and was able to push off from the floor. The last set of a single with 155 was to make sure my success was due to the groove and not the lower weight .. it was the groove, the 155 single was solid. Haha, I just realized I need to go back to elementary school and re-learn percentages. My second set should have been with 135 or 90% of the weight of my 1st set. The remainder of this cycle will therefore be (Day:1st-set/2nd-set):

3:155 /140, 4:160 /145, 5:165/150, 6:170/155, 7:175/160,8:180/160, 9:185/165,10:190/170

I was feeling very good and decided to take a crack at Aaron's suggestion to shoot for 200 24kg snatch reps. Last time I did timed snatches with the 24kg, I did 5/5 every 90 secs for 10 sets. This time I decided to rest more each set and see how many sets I could do:

24kg Snatch
10 x 5/5 @ 1set/2min
4 mins rest
10 x 5/5 @ 1set/2min
Total: 200 reps in 44 min
50000 Snatch Race Total: 405 + 200 = 605 pts

I was doing them very slowly first left, then right. More than half of them were right in the groove. I was moving my awareness between:
1) using the lawn mower "J" pull to get the bell up
2) slightly corkscrewing the bell on the way down
3) bending at the hips to so that my back was almost parallel to the ground
4) pushing the bell between my legs and catching it with my hips
5) snapping my hips and locking my knees on the concentric
6) keeping the bell in the palm of my hand

I was very happy with this result. Also I'm no longer in last place in the 50000 snatch place which is real surprise.

At lunch, my co-worker and I alternated sets and ladders with the Power Wheel:

Power Wheel:
BW 2 x 20 yards Crawl out and back
BW 1 x 1,2,3 On knees Roll-out, 5 sec holds and back ladder
BW 1 x 1,2 On knees Roll-out, 7 sec holds and back ladder

This was a lot for one day and tomorrow I have committed to a day of only Z drills.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates

Morning Snack:
1 small handful of roasted almonds
1 Whey Protein shake with 4 oz Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of roasted veggies, u-waved sweet potato and Green Gram Curry
1 large orange
2 Dates

Afternoon snack:
4 dates
3 small handful of roasted almonds
4 oz Kefir

Dinner:
1 bowl of Cilantro pan-fried salmon, Shrimp with Veggies and white rice
1 small piece of pie
1 scoop of ice cream
1 banana

6 comments:

Aaron Friday said...

Well I'll be damned. You made your weight goal and then tacked on an awesome volume PR with 24kg snatches.

A BIG contrats to you, Franklin! Everything you're doing is just outstanding.

Colin said...

I couldn't believe it when I read that title - that's MY goal!! :)

Awesome stuff Franklin!!!

Franklin said...

Aaron,

Its pretty obvious you have decided to take me on as an unofficial hard-style apprentice. I have humbly accepted this position and have done my best to diligently abide by your sound advice.

Here are three items that immediately come to mind that have been greatly impacted by your insightful training recommendations:

1) beginning a dead-lifting program
3) increasing my pull-up RM
2) ratcheting up my snatch volume
4) giving serious consideration to entering a future TSC

Thanks so much for the support!

Franklin said...

Colin,

If a banged up (ahem) "middle aged" man like me can do it (I turn 55 in Sep) then YOU certainly can!

Thanks!!

Gabi said...

Congrats, you are making great progress!
Good luck with your PTTP-cycle, I'm looking forward to hearing more about it. Might start one later this year myself.

Franklin said...

Thanks, Gabi!

One of the expected benefits of doing my DLs right before my snatches, is it makes the 24kg feel light when 1st picking it up. This is a huge psychological boast.

As for starting PTTP, I think it would be great for you after you get through your RKC Cert .. and I'll be looking for a detailed report on your blog!