BW+ C&J PR

Sunday March 8, 2009

Feeling very rested and very little soreness, after doing my front squats at home, I decided to lift at the club today .. I usually take Sunday off.

Morning basement dungeon assistance lifts:

Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)

Russian Strength Routine Barbell Front Squats (lbs):
135 x 1 x 3
160 x 1 x 3
180 x 5 x 3 @ 80%
180 x 1 x 5

Late morning Olympic lifting session:

Clean-grip Snatches (kg):
20 x 2 x 5 Hang Snatch
20 x 2 x 5 OH Squat
32 x 1 x 6 Snatch + 5xOH Squat
35 x 1 x 1 Wide grip snatch
35 x 1 x 5 OH Squat
40 x 2 x 2 Snatch
40 x 2 x 5 OH Squat
45 x 1 x 2 Snatch
45 x 1 x 3 OH Squat (PR)
45 x 1 x 3 Snatch Pull

Clean and Jerk (kg)
50 x 1 x 3 2xHang-Power-Clean-and-Jerk + C&J
55 x 1 x 3 Hang-Power-Clean-and-Jerk + 2xC&J
60 x 1 x 3 Hang-Power-Clean-and-Jerk + 2xC&J
65 x 1 x 3 Power-Clean-and-Jerk
70 x 1 x 3 Power-Clean-and-Jerk
75 x 1 x 2 Power-Clean-and-Jerk
80 x 1 x 1 Power-Clean-and-Jerk
85 x 1 x 1 Power-Clean and missed Jerk
85 x 1 x 1 Power-Clean-and-Jerk (PR)
85 x 2 x 1 Squat-Clean-and-Jerk (PR)

Tactical Grip Pull-ups:
BW x 5 x 4

I did test a normal wide-grip snatch today with 35kg and although it was a solid lift, it did cause pain in my left thumb. As a result, worked again on clean-grip (close-grip) snatches .. which are extremely difficult for me. One of the experienced lifter, John Feinman, was very helpful in correcting my pull off the floor .. instead of extending my knees backward I was extending to the sides. Also instead of leading with my head and shoulders, he corrected that by having me lead with my hips on the 2nd pull. Clean-grip OH squats are considerably more demanding than snatch-grip ones as there is much more flexibility required in the shoulder girdle and hips. As a result I was very pleased to do a triple with 45kg.

Of late I have been very extremely fortunate that Coach Matthew Delaney, a very serious 77kg lifter himself, (I watched him snatch 110kg for a PR a few weeks ago .. pretty amazing!), has been able to provide some coaching to me resulting in nice improvements to pull off the floor and my jerk. I've had the privilege of watching Coach Delaney train quite a few of his clients over the last five months .. and have watched all of them make tremendous strides in their strength and conditioning in a very short time. In particular, when he works the Olympic lifts with his clients, I always try to listen and pick up as much as possible from his coaching cues.

The key coaching cues he has recently given me for my jerk are:

• make the dip much shorter
• do not pause at the bottom of dip (I had been napping there!)
  
• quickly reverse direction at the dip bottom and use my hips on the drive upward much more explosively

I had a psychological barrier to shortening the dip for awhile before finally I stopped thinking about it and just did it and whoah!! what a huge difference!

After working up to solid double power clean and jerk with 75kg (93% 1RM) , a PR for a double, I knew I had to go heavier while feeling so good. I then power-clean and jerked 80kg for a PR (a few weeks ago I squat cleaned and jerked it). Not wanting to stop I first missed the jerk with 85kg when I waited too long after sloppy power clean. I tried again with a much better power clean and with Coach Delaney's coaxing this time it went right up with it for a PR. I then tried squat clean and jerking it and did two more singles with it. This is a nice PR as it represents the first time I performed a C&J over my BW (83kg). Again a big thanks to Coach Delaney for his help!



============================================================
===================================================================

Diet and Nutrition:

Goal: 182 lbs by April 2009

Sunday March 8 2009

Current: 183 3/4 lbs

Yesterday, I completely let things slide when we were up north enjoying the great warm weather. Below is list of the crimes committed:

• fried Buffalo chicken wings with blue-cheese dressing
• extra crispy sweet potato fries,
  
• one small hotdog ($.25 each .. a specialty up in Newburyport)
  
• one large chocolate champaign truffle
• half a Duncan Doughnut triple chocolate muffin