I returned home from California on Friday, the 24th, feeling tired from the long day of traveling. When I was out there towards the end of my stay, I caught a nasty chest cold with fever. I was still coughing but the fever had been gone for about two days. The following Saturday I went to the club to determine the extent of the degradation having last lifted Monday at Myles-Ahead in CA. However, unless I keeled over, I was still intent on competing on Sunday in Fairfield, CT for the Sacred Heart University Olympic Weightlifting Competition. Also, I felt the platform experience would be worth it regardless of how much I lifted.
I woke up Saturday morning feeling tired and still coughing. After coffee and breakfast I felt better and headed up the club. My plan was to work up to some heavy snatch singles and a few light clean and jerks. I started very light with a long bar-only warmup. I then moved on to light hang snatches, some snatch balances and squat snatch drops. I even PR-ed on a 45kg muscle snatch and 55kg hang power snatch. At that point, my Tee shirt was completely soaked, so much so that I had to change it. I started doing some full squat snatches and worked up to a few 60kg singles. When I missed badly with an attempt at 65kg, I didn't panic knowing I was still recovering. Instead I completed the session with a few c&j stopping at 70kg single.
Normally the day before a meet, the lifts should be very light but in this case, not lifting since Monday, I had to push a bit so I wouldn't' be too shocked from the heavier weights when I got the competition platform.
I didn't sleep very much at all Saturday night as the weather turned unexpectedly very hot and my upstairs bedroom was steaming. Also, I was dry hacking again. Once more coffee and a solid breakfast got be feeling much better. I made it to the weigh-in on time, weighing in at 82.68kg just .02 kg less than my last meet. I also introduced myself to jovial meet director Gary Valentine and was able to extend a warm greeting from Paul Marini, one heck of a nice guy and fellow master lifter that I had met at Myles-Ahead. Paul had trained in Gary's three car garage a decade or so previously and they remained good friends. Gary of course remembered Paul and gave me a huge smile and big hug for him.
Unfortunately, Coach Fuller was a no-show and as I found out later that evening, his car was still in the shop. To his credit, he had sent an email the previous day containing both his suggested openers/warmups together with a warning about his car problems and the possibility of not making it to the meet.
Furthermore, I got so completely involved watching the women lifters compete (there were some spectacular lifts), that when they announced the combined the 77 and 85 weight classes (no lighter men's classes in this competition) I didn't realize I would be called so soon .. for some knucklehead reason I thought they would do all the 77s first.
With only a couple of lifters before me to start this session off, when they called my name for a 64kg opener (I had planned to adjust this depending on how my warmups went), I had just gotten my lifting shoes one and had finished a few bar warm-ups and one 40kg power snatch when the one minute timer started .. hardly enough to get these ole-bones moving and build a little confidence.
I went out and badly missed my first two attempts. On the first attempt, I almost dropped the bar on my head before ditching it. For the second one, the pull was very weak .. the 64kg also felt more like 90kg .. ugh! Denis Reno, the meet announcer, who knows me will from the Excel club, asked where was my coach was .. I replied "you're looking at him" and proceeded to explain what happened. He cut me short, smiled and said no problem, and with the two minute clock running, told me to just relax and gave me some cues (none of which I remember). With the only one at this weight and feeling extreme pressure, by a some miracle granted to me by the weightlifting gods, I made my third attempt with a big pull, wide stanced, mini-squat power snatch .. VERY ugly but legal (three white lights) and a meet PR nonetheless. I will pay MUCH more attention next time!
With plenty of advance notice for the c&j, and a well timed set of warmups this time ending with a decent 80kg, I opened with 83kg which I made easily. I then hit a meet and overall PR with 87kg. Continuing to follow the template we discussed, I went with a third attempt at 90kg which resulted in a messy clean (I pulled it very high and didn't squat under it enough) and came close but the missed jerk.
In all, a reasonable showing especially in light of how poorly things started off. I do know now that 70/90 is around the corner with proper trainiing and a focus on good technique.
Finally, having had the great coaching and lifting experience at Myles-Ahead that even with the issues of a bad cold and less than optimal day-of-the-meet handling, I was still able leverage off it and perform under pressure.
On Monday morning I was still hacking away and getting very concerned. The news about a possible swine flu epidemic didn't cheer me up either. As a result, I called my doctors office and got the nurse. After explaining my symptoms, she insisted I get over right away and see one of the other doctors available. When I got there, they asked to wait outside the main waiting room and gave me a face mask to wear. When I finally saw the physician and was examined, he insisted I get a chest xray and gave me a subscription for a powerful antibiotic to take for ten days. He explained that he felt I was beyond the influenza stage since I didn't have a fever but he could hear fluid in my lungs and was concerned that I had pneumonia. I was very surprised at that diagnosis but went along and got my xray shortly afterwards. I did ask the doctor that if I did have pneumonia could I still exercise. He said only if I felt well enough.
The next day the nurse from doctor's office called and explained that the radiologist had discovered a small dark spot on the bottom of my right lung indicative of pneumonia. She told me to continue with the antibiotics and that should clear everything up. I was feeling very upbeat and my cough had almost completely subsided. As a result, I decided to attend the Tuesday evening Olympic lifting session at the club. This turned out to be a mistake as I did way too much and that evening I had a relapse of a bad case of night sweats. In the morning I was hacking again .. no more lifting until I get a lot more rest.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Myles Ahead -- Northern CA Olympic Lifting at its Finest
Before I left for CA for my two week business, I went to the USA Weightlifting site and located Myles Ahead about 5 minutes from the hotel I'm staying in at Rohnert Park. I was fortunate, that on very short notice and even with a full schedule of clientele, they were able to accommodate me at the Mon, Wed, Fri at 8am and Sat at 9am sessions.
Well, to put it mildly I struck real California Gold while training at their modest facility. Owners for the last five years, Freddie and Niki Myles, in addition to not only being nationally ranked lifters (Freddie: Ranked 6th @94kg and Niki: Ranked 2nd @ 53kg), their approach to coaching is unsurpassed. They seem to have this uncanny ability to offer just the right amount of coaching cues and suggestions that are almost always immediately understandable and implementable. Also, I took to the opportunity to talk to as many of the other patrons I could and it was unanimous that everyone was making measurable progress and loved their training. To get a little flavor of what its like training at Myles-Ahead, checkout the following online article here.
Oh, and they have a large selection of kettlebells at their facility .. a good deal of their clients are trained to use kettlebells to assist them in establishing a solid base of strength and conditioning.
Below are a sample of some of the coaching cues and suggestions that Freddie and Niki provided me that were especially effective:
Snatch (kg):
30 x 1 x 3 Hang-snatch
35 x 1 x 3 Hang-snatch
40 x 1 x 3 Hang-snatch
46 x 4 x 2 Hang-snatch
40 x 1 x 2 Power-snatch
50 x 1 x 2 Power-snatch
55 x 6 x 1 Power-snatch
Off-the-rack Clean-grip Push-Press (kg):
50 x 1 x 3
55 x 1 x 3
60 x 4 x 3
OHS (Overhead Squat) (kg):
20 x 1 x 3
40 x 1 x 3
50 x 1 x 3
55 x 1 x 3
I was a little nervous my first day but managed to get through okay.
Thursday April 16, Redwood Club:
24kg x 1 x 2/2 TGU
24kg x 5 x 10/10 One-hand swings
Russian Strength Routine Back Squats (lbs):
135 x 1 x 5
155 x 1 x 2
185 x 1 x 2
205 x 5 x 2
205 x 1 x 5
The Redwood Club is the fitness club my company offers free membership to all its employees. Like a traditional fitness club, they have a ton of Nautilus equipment and treadmills. Fortunately, they also have a power rack and barbells. Thus just like back east, I was able to get my back squat work out of the way prior to my Olympic lifting sessions.
Friday April 17, Morning Session at Myles-Ahead:
Clean & Jerk (kg):
20 x 1 x 4 Hang-C&J
40 x 1 x 4 C&J
50 x 1 x 2 C&J
60 x 1 x 2 C&J
70 x 1 x 2 C&J
75 x 1 x 2 C&J
78 x 4 x 2 C&J
80 x 2 x 1 C&J
Clean Pull (kg):
90 x 5 x 3
Muscle Snatch (kg)
32 x 1 x 3
40 x 3 x 3
40 x 1 x 5
Back-squat Snatch Balance
20 x 1 x 5
Here is where I started implementing a few of the suggestions above. As a result my jerks started to get crisper almost immediately. Also, once Freddie explained the main purpose of the muscle snatch was to enforce the whipping motion of the arms, these finally made sense. At first I was rebending my knees slightly but when Freddie suggested flexing my quads during the pull I started performing them correctly.
Saturday April 18, Morning Session at Myles-Ahead:
Snatch (kg):
20 x 1 x 5
30 x 2 x 3
40 x 1 x 3
45 x 1 x 2
50 x 1 x 2
55 x 1 x 2 1 miss
60 x 1 x 2
63 x 1 x 1
63 x 1 x 1
65 x 1 x 1
67 x 1 x 1 Press-out
67 x 1 x 1 PR
69 x 2 x 1 2 misses
Clean & Jerk (kg):
40 x 1 x 2 Hang-C&J
50 x 1 x 2 Hang-C&J
55 x 1 x 2 Hang-C&J
60 x 1 x 2 C&J
65 x 1 x 1 C&J
70 x 1 x 1 C&J
75 x 1 x 1 C&J
80 x 1 x 1 C&J
83 x 1 x 1 C&J
86 x 1 x 1 C&J PR
88 x 1 x 1 Poor clean with Press-out
What can I say .. I PR-ed in both the competition lifts on the same day. I have never done that before .. hats off to Niki and Freddie!! The 67kg snatch in particular was performed with much better form than my previous PR with 65kg.
Sunday April 19, Redwood Club:
24kg x 2 x 2/2 TGU
24kg x 5 x 10/10 One-hand swings
Russian Strength Routine Front Squats (lbs):
135 x 1 x 5
155 x 1 x 2
180 x 5 x 2
180 x 1 x 4
As before, getting the front squats out of way. While at the club, one of the members, a strong as hell carpenter my age named Jeff was very intrigued with my 24kg kettlebell (which as we later discovered, that he could press easily for multiple reps each arm). Before long I had him doing TGU's with a 20lb dumbbell. Because of a number of flexibility issues I did not have enough time to work through his problems with swings. Also it would have been easier if I had a lighter bell .. I sometimes forgot how long it took me to comfortable with the 24kg bell.
Monday April 20, Morning Session at Myles-Ahead:
Snatch (kg):
20 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
20 x 1 x 5 OHS
20 x 1 x 5 Snatch Balance
30 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
35 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
40 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
45 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
50 x 3 x 2 Hang-Power-Snatch PR
50 x 1 x 2 Power-Snatch
Clean & Jerk (kg):
40 x 1 x 2 Hang-Power Clean
40 x 1 x 2 Hang-Power C&J
50 x 1 x 2 Hang-Power C&J
55 x 1 x 2 Power C&J
60 x 4 x 2 Power C&J
Clean Pulls (kg):
90 x 1 x 2
95 x 2 x 2
100 x 2 x 2
This session I felt completely at home at Myles-Ahead .. at the same time I already a bit sad that Wednesday will be my last before heading back east. After a correction regarding my narrowing catch stance, my hang-power snatches were very crisp and well-timed. I may have be able to go heavier but I wanted to stick to the template especially as this is a de-loading week. My jerks were the best they have ever been, both crisp and quick. Finally, this was the first time I had strong fully extended clean pulls with 100kg. The key here was coming off the floor slowly while fighting to keep vertical. I'm convinced I'll be cleaning 100kg withing another month or too.
Well, to put it mildly I struck real California Gold while training at their modest facility. Owners for the last five years, Freddie and Niki Myles, in addition to not only being nationally ranked lifters (Freddie: Ranked 6th @94kg and Niki: Ranked 2nd @ 53kg), their approach to coaching is unsurpassed. They seem to have this uncanny ability to offer just the right amount of coaching cues and suggestions that are almost always immediately understandable and implementable. Also, I took to the opportunity to talk to as many of the other patrons I could and it was unanimous that everyone was making measurable progress and loved their training. To get a little flavor of what its like training at Myles-Ahead, checkout the following online article here.
Oh, and they have a large selection of kettlebells at their facility .. a good deal of their clients are trained to use kettlebells to assist them in establishing a solid base of strength and conditioning.
Below are a sample of some of the coaching cues and suggestions that Freddie and Niki provided me that were especially effective:
- Prior to lift off, a repositioning of the hands on the bar so that the knees are just inside the arms. In the case of my snatch grip prior to this correction, my arms were in front of my knees.
- Whip the bar with the arms after the pull during the snatch catch .. in done with enough speed, the bar will spin in the receiving position. This made a huge difference in performing muscle snatches and then later setting a PR on my hang-power-snatches.
- Synchronize the snatch catch with the repositioning of the feet for the squat.
- Synchronize the whipping of the arms during the clean with the repositioning of the feet for the squat.
- Choke up on the bar prior to the jerk. This was very uncomfortable at first but just after three sessions of jerking this way, its very natural now.
- Synchronize the arm lock out of the jerk with the landing of both feet during the split jerk. To this requires a very quick push under the bar .. these really improved over the course of several sessions.
- Come off the floor slower and smoothly to keep the hips down. Whenever I would try to rip the bar off the floor, I would inevitably raise my hips and loose all power on the pull.
- Avoid separation of the bar and body during the dip of the jerk. I had a tendency to rush the dip causing separation and loss of power.
- To deal with too wide squat receiving stance, put some tape on the platform to mark the outer boundaries of the correct receiving stance. My stance improved as the week went to the point were for the first time I felt I could control it. When I get back to Excel, I will definitely try the tape if I go back to bad habits.
Snatch (kg):
30 x 1 x 3 Hang-snatch
35 x 1 x 3 Hang-snatch
40 x 1 x 3 Hang-snatch
46 x 4 x 2 Hang-snatch
40 x 1 x 2 Power-snatch
50 x 1 x 2 Power-snatch
55 x 6 x 1 Power-snatch
Off-the-rack Clean-grip Push-Press (kg):
50 x 1 x 3
55 x 1 x 3
60 x 4 x 3
OHS (Overhead Squat) (kg):
20 x 1 x 3
40 x 1 x 3
50 x 1 x 3
55 x 1 x 3
I was a little nervous my first day but managed to get through okay.
Thursday April 16, Redwood Club:
24kg x 1 x 2/2 TGU
24kg x 5 x 10/10 One-hand swings
Russian Strength Routine Back Squats (lbs):
135 x 1 x 5
155 x 1 x 2
185 x 1 x 2
205 x 5 x 2
205 x 1 x 5
The Redwood Club is the fitness club my company offers free membership to all its employees. Like a traditional fitness club, they have a ton of Nautilus equipment and treadmills. Fortunately, they also have a power rack and barbells. Thus just like back east, I was able to get my back squat work out of the way prior to my Olympic lifting sessions.
Friday April 17, Morning Session at Myles-Ahead:
Clean & Jerk (kg):
20 x 1 x 4 Hang-C&J
40 x 1 x 4 C&J
50 x 1 x 2 C&J
60 x 1 x 2 C&J
70 x 1 x 2 C&J
75 x 1 x 2 C&J
78 x 4 x 2 C&J
80 x 2 x 1 C&J
Clean Pull (kg):
90 x 5 x 3
Muscle Snatch (kg)
32 x 1 x 3
40 x 3 x 3
40 x 1 x 5
Back-squat Snatch Balance
20 x 1 x 5
Here is where I started implementing a few of the suggestions above. As a result my jerks started to get crisper almost immediately. Also, once Freddie explained the main purpose of the muscle snatch was to enforce the whipping motion of the arms, these finally made sense. At first I was rebending my knees slightly but when Freddie suggested flexing my quads during the pull I started performing them correctly.
Saturday April 18, Morning Session at Myles-Ahead:
Snatch (kg):
20 x 1 x 5
30 x 2 x 3
40 x 1 x 3
45 x 1 x 2
50 x 1 x 2
55 x 1 x 2 1 miss
60 x 1 x 2
63 x 1 x 1
63 x 1 x 1
65 x 1 x 1
67 x 1 x 1 Press-out
67 x 1 x 1 PR
69 x 2 x 1 2 misses
Clean & Jerk (kg):
40 x 1 x 2 Hang-C&J
50 x 1 x 2 Hang-C&J
55 x 1 x 2 Hang-C&J
60 x 1 x 2 C&J
65 x 1 x 1 C&J
70 x 1 x 1 C&J
75 x 1 x 1 C&J
80 x 1 x 1 C&J
83 x 1 x 1 C&J
86 x 1 x 1 C&J PR
88 x 1 x 1 Poor clean with Press-out
What can I say .. I PR-ed in both the competition lifts on the same day. I have never done that before .. hats off to Niki and Freddie!! The 67kg snatch in particular was performed with much better form than my previous PR with 65kg.
Sunday April 19, Redwood Club:
24kg x 2 x 2/2 TGU
24kg x 5 x 10/10 One-hand swings
Russian Strength Routine Front Squats (lbs):
135 x 1 x 5
155 x 1 x 2
180 x 5 x 2
180 x 1 x 4
As before, getting the front squats out of way. While at the club, one of the members, a strong as hell carpenter my age named Jeff was very intrigued with my 24kg kettlebell (which as we later discovered, that he could press easily for multiple reps each arm). Before long I had him doing TGU's with a 20lb dumbbell. Because of a number of flexibility issues I did not have enough time to work through his problems with swings. Also it would have been easier if I had a lighter bell .. I sometimes forgot how long it took me to comfortable with the 24kg bell.
Monday April 20, Morning Session at Myles-Ahead:
Snatch (kg):
20 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
20 x 1 x 5 OHS
20 x 1 x 5 Snatch Balance
30 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
35 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
40 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
45 x 1 x 5 Hang-Power-Snatch
50 x 3 x 2 Hang-Power-Snatch PR
50 x 1 x 2 Power-Snatch
Clean & Jerk (kg):
40 x 1 x 2 Hang-Power Clean
40 x 1 x 2 Hang-Power C&J
50 x 1 x 2 Hang-Power C&J
55 x 1 x 2 Power C&J
60 x 4 x 2 Power C&J
Clean Pulls (kg):
90 x 1 x 2
95 x 2 x 2
100 x 2 x 2
This session I felt completely at home at Myles-Ahead .. at the same time I already a bit sad that Wednesday will be my last before heading back east. After a correction regarding my narrowing catch stance, my hang-power snatches were very crisp and well-timed. I may have be able to go heavier but I wanted to stick to the template especially as this is a de-loading week. My jerks were the best they have ever been, both crisp and quick. Finally, this was the first time I had strong fully extended clean pulls with 100kg. The key here was coming off the floor slowly while fighting to keep vertical. I'm convinced I'll be cleaning 100kg withing another month or too.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Kettlebells in California
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
I'm in Petaluma, CA for a few weeks for engineering integration work. I keep a 24kg kettlebell in the Petaluma office to allow me to continue to train when I'm out here a two to three times a year.
Morning Kettlebell session:
Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility
24kg x 1 x 1/1 TGU
24kg x 5 x 10/10 One-hand swings, each set at the top of minute
24kg MaxVo2 Snatch 15 secs work, 15 secs rest @ 8 reps per set:
Total sets: 12 + 4 = 16
Total snatches: 128
The first session of 12 MaxVO2 sets was an improvement of two over last Monday. However it left me totally drained and I could barely follow up with another session of four sets.
Total Volume: 12100 lb
I'm in Petaluma, CA for a few weeks for engineering integration work. I keep a 24kg kettlebell in the Petaluma office to allow me to continue to train when I'm out here a two to three times a year.
Morning Kettlebell session:
Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility
24kg x 1 x 1/1 TGU
24kg x 5 x 10/10 One-hand swings, each set at the top of minute
24kg MaxVo2 Snatch 15 secs work, 15 secs rest @ 8 reps per set:
Total sets: 12 + 4 = 16
Total snatches: 128
The first session of 12 MaxVO2 sets was an improvement of two over last Monday. However it left me totally drained and I could barely follow up with another session of four sets.
Total Volume: 12100 lb
Stance back-sliding
Saturday, April 12, 2009
I have been doing a lot of yard work lately and this has impacted my lifting. In particular, my right golfers elbow is sore and my lower back is aching.
Evening Olympic Lifting Session:
Clean & Jerk (kg):
20 x 1 x 5 Hand-Clean and Jerk
50 x 1 x 2
50 x 1 x 4
60 x 1 x 2
70 x 1 x 2
80 x 1 x 2 1 jerk miss
85 x 1 x 2 1 clean miss and no jerks
80 x 1 x 2
80 x 1 x 2
Russian Strength Routine for Front Squats (kg)
70 x 1 x 6
82 x 6 x 6
As soon as I got to 80kg in my cleans, I started splaying into a too wide of a squat stance. My back was a little sore so I was compensating. Fortunately the front squats went well in the sense that I completed them .. however they were murder.
Total Volume: 9990 lbs
I have been doing a lot of yard work lately and this has impacted my lifting. In particular, my right golfers elbow is sore and my lower back is aching.
Evening Olympic Lifting Session:
Clean & Jerk (kg):
20 x 1 x 5 Hand-Clean and Jerk
50 x 1 x 2
50 x 1 x 4
60 x 1 x 2
70 x 1 x 2
80 x 1 x 2 1 jerk miss
85 x 1 x 2 1 clean miss and no jerks
80 x 1 x 2
80 x 1 x 2
Russian Strength Routine for Front Squats (kg)
70 x 1 x 6
82 x 6 x 6
As soon as I got to 80kg in my cleans, I started splaying into a too wide of a squat stance. My back was a little sore so I was compensating. Fortunately the front squats went well in the sense that I completed them .. however they were murder.
Total Volume: 9990 lbs
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Pushing (i.e., push-pressing) forward
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
I knew tonight was going to be a "just get through" session as compared to one where PRs are set easily. Yesterdays kettlebell MaxVO2 session came at a price which was a slightly sore lower back and general fatigue .. a poor nights sleep didn't help either
Evening Olympic Lifting Session:
Snatch (kg):
20 x 2 x 5 5x Hang-Sn + Sn-Balance
40 x 1 x 3 Sn
40 x 1 x 5 OH-squat
40 x 1 x 3 Sn
45 x 1 x 3 Sn
50 x 2 x 2 Sn
55 x 5 x 2 Sn
60 x 1 x 2 Sn (1 miss)
60 x 1 x 1 Sn (miss)
Off the rack Push-Press (kg)
60 x 1 x 2
60 x 1 x 3
65 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 1 Miss
70 x 1 x 2
75 x 1 x 1 PR
I worked extremely hard to bring in my snatch catch stance in the same way I had success with my clean stance. This was much more difficult as my left leg insisting on dropping back almost every rep. The template called for doubles with 90% which would have been 59kg, instead I knew that staying with 55kg (85% of 65kg) was warranted. I did try 60kg for double and then after missing badly with the last single I knew it was time to move on to something else.
For my push-presses, I decided to start much heavier with 60kg instead of the 45kg I started with last Tuesday. For first three sets were tough but once I got my clean rack more stable they got easier. I had to ditch my first rep with 70kg as I pushed it in front of me instead of behind my ears .. this is why bumper plates are indispensable for this type of situation. I followed the miss with a double matching last weeks PR and then proceeded to brake that with a 75kg single that went up easily .. next time I will go for 80kg.
I knew tonight was going to be a "just get through" session as compared to one where PRs are set easily. Yesterdays kettlebell MaxVO2 session came at a price which was a slightly sore lower back and general fatigue .. a poor nights sleep didn't help either
Evening Olympic Lifting Session:
Snatch (kg):
20 x 2 x 5 5x Hang-Sn + Sn-Balance
40 x 1 x 3 Sn
40 x 1 x 5 OH-squat
40 x 1 x 3 Sn
45 x 1 x 3 Sn
50 x 2 x 2 Sn
55 x 5 x 2 Sn
60 x 1 x 2 Sn (1 miss)
60 x 1 x 1 Sn (miss)
Off the rack Push-Press (kg)
60 x 1 x 2
60 x 1 x 3
65 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 1 Miss
70 x 1 x 2
75 x 1 x 1 PR
I worked extremely hard to bring in my snatch catch stance in the same way I had success with my clean stance. This was much more difficult as my left leg insisting on dropping back almost every rep. The template called for doubles with 90% which would have been 59kg, instead I knew that staying with 55kg (85% of 65kg) was warranted. I did try 60kg for double and then after missing badly with the last single I knew it was time to move on to something else.
For my push-presses, I decided to start much heavier with 60kg instead of the 45kg I started with last Tuesday. For first three sets were tough but once I got my clean rack more stable they got easier. I had to ditch my first rep with 70kg as I pushed it in front of me instead of behind my ears .. this is why bumper plates are indispensable for this type of situation. I followed the miss with a double matching last weeks PR and then proceeded to brake that with a 75kg single that went up easily .. next time I will go for 80kg.
Monday, April 6, 2009
More Max with Max
Monday, April 6, 2009
I sure dislike missing a week of Kettlebell training however when my trainee Max called last week to cancel due to wrist injury I was relieved as I needed the rest from a grueling week of O-lifts.
Although feeling a little tired today, I was all business when Max showed up at noon for one of my challenging sessions. I think Max would agree we achieved "challenging" considering he tossed his cookies after his second session of the Kenneth Jay, Master RKC, MaxVO2 Snatches. Like a true Viking Warrior, he took a few swigs of water and and then finished with a very strong third session.
Early afternoon Kettlebell session:
Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility
32kg x 1 x 1/1 TGU
32kg x 1 x 2/2 TGU
Double 24kg x 5 x 10 Two-hand swings, each set at the top of minute
32kg x 1 x 10/10 One-hand swings
24kg MaxVo2 Snatch 15 secs work, 15 secs rest @ 8 reps per set:
Total sets: 10 + 8 + 6 = 24
Total snatches: 192
The Max Vo2 was a little easier as I now know I won't die even if I feel like it. Max used a 6rep/set format and did sessions: 12, 10 and 8 for a total of 30 sets or 180 snatches. He loves the protocol and is improving at a very fast pace.
Total Volume: 17200 lb
I sure dislike missing a week of Kettlebell training however when my trainee Max called last week to cancel due to wrist injury I was relieved as I needed the rest from a grueling week of O-lifts.
Although feeling a little tired today, I was all business when Max showed up at noon for one of my challenging sessions. I think Max would agree we achieved "challenging" considering he tossed his cookies after his second session of the Kenneth Jay, Master RKC, MaxVO2 Snatches. Like a true Viking Warrior, he took a few swigs of water and and then finished with a very strong third session.
Early afternoon Kettlebell session:
Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility
32kg x 1 x 1/1 TGU
32kg x 1 x 2/2 TGU
Double 24kg x 5 x 10 Two-hand swings, each set at the top of minute
32kg x 1 x 10/10 One-hand swings
24kg MaxVo2 Snatch 15 secs work, 15 secs rest @ 8 reps per set:
Total sets: 10 + 8 + 6 = 24
Total snatches: 192
The Max Vo2 was a little easier as I now know I won't die even if I feel like it. Max used a 6rep/set format and did sessions: 12, 10 and 8 for a total of 30 sets or 180 snatches. He loves the protocol and is improving at a very fast pace.
Total Volume: 17200 lb
Friday, April 3, 2009
Back Squats and a Clean PR
Friday April 3, 2009
Morning Basement Assistance Lifts:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
RSR Back Squat (lbs): 6x6@80%
160 x 1 x 6
185 x 1 x 6
205 x 6 x 6
I felt very strong through these and did the last six sets in under thirteen minutes. For the first time since heavy squatting, I broke a good sweat enough to warrant a quick shower. Also for first time, my entire body got an unexpected pumped up feeling that lasted the entire day. I now understand first hand why back squats may be the king of the strength lifts.
Total Volume: 9450 lbs
Saturday April 4, 2009
I woke up a little sore in my left hip flexor. After breakfast I got out my long wooden dowel and did numerous repetitions of shoulder dislocates, OH-squats and snatches to get some fluid working through the hip and shoulder joints. Since reading a blog post and video demonstration at Pierini Fitness for the shoulder dislocates, my left shoulder has been the most stable ever considering all the OH Olympic and assistance I've been doing. By 10:30 am I was feeling much better and drove out to the club for my session.
Early afternoon Olympic Lifting session:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
C&J (kg): 3x2@85%, 2x2@90%, 3x1@95%
20 x 2 x 5 Hang-clean and power-jerk
40 x 1 x 4 Clean and power-jerk
50 x 1 x 4 Clean and power-jerk
60 x 1 x 2 C&J
65 x 1 x 2 C&J
70 x 1 x 2 C&J
75 x 3 x 2 C&J
78 x 1 x 2 C&J
82 x 1 x 1 C&J
90 x 1 x 1 Clean and Jerk with press-out
92 x 1 x 1 Clean (PR) and missed jerk
95 x 1 x 1 Clean miss
95 x 1 x 1 Clean (PR) and no jerk attempt
I am very fortunate that I shortly after I started, Jason Edmonds, another master lifter (over 35), also joined the club to learn Olympic lifting. Jason probably the hardest working individual at the club and his weekly PRs are always inspirational. We almost always lift together on the same platform which has created a great camaraderie. Jason's clean form of late has been exceptional .. he has integrated a very strong pull together with a quick drop into full squat and recover. Although he demonstrated good technique early on with the lighter weights, he is now doing this consistently with much heavier weights. Because of his body type, 6'3", 210lbs, with huge shoulders and chest, his feet move only slightly, usually inward, when dropping under the clean for the squat.
In my case, as the weight gets heavier, I invariably start getting gun shy about having to squat under it and consequently splay my legs wider to help get me lower. Unfortunately there is very little power in doing this and as a result my clean recover is extremely labored.
Jason, having watched me struggle with the clean recovery with the moderate weights up to 75kg, offered up his support and encouragement by commenting that my struggle was probably due to the heavy back squats I did yesterday. Perhaps a part of it was true, but I knew deep inside that I couldn't blame heavy squats for my poor technique.
Finally when it was my turn to do some doubles with 90% (78kg) and after watching Jason with beautiful form for so many C&J reps with heavier weights, I decided I was going to keep my stance from going out any further than my normal front squat width .. even if it meant falling on my butt.
Holy Ned! Not only did I not fall on my butt, I keep a much shorter stance and I had so much more power when recovering from my squat clean. As a result, my jerk was so much easier as I had considerably more energy left over from the clean. At that point I realized, that I had finally leveraged off of the heavy front squat assistance work I had been doing over the last few months. Not surprising as new my squat clean stance was pretty close to what I have been front squatting with.
Jason immediately commented that the clean was much stronger and better looking than the ones I did before with 15kg less. I did another one the same way with 78 kg and then a single with 95% (82kg). With his encouragement, he urged me to give 90kg a shot. I had splayed clean a few weeks ago and I was determined not to do that again. I was shocked when did it with the shortened stance and I recovered fairly easily from it. I had so much energy left that I jerked it with a small press-out with my weak left arm.
Coach Fuller saw the attempt and was very pleased. He suggested I try 92kg and again the clean went very well. This time the jerk failed completely but I wasn't too concerned .. my jerk has always lagged my clean. Coach Fuller suggested one more clean attempt with 95kg. I failed the first time by not getting under it quickly. I then rested, tried again and this time nailed it. I did have to grind it out but that's okay .. my stance, although a little wider than the previous cleans, was fine.
I had nothing left for the other lifts specified in today's template and called it a day. I left with a great feeling of accomplishment .. perhaps a 100kg C&J is not as far off in the future as I had previously thought.
Total Volume: 4460 lbs
Morning Basement Assistance Lifts:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
RSR Back Squat (lbs): 6x6@80%
160 x 1 x 6
185 x 1 x 6
205 x 6 x 6
I felt very strong through these and did the last six sets in under thirteen minutes. For the first time since heavy squatting, I broke a good sweat enough to warrant a quick shower. Also for first time, my entire body got an unexpected pumped up feeling that lasted the entire day. I now understand first hand why back squats may be the king of the strength lifts.
Total Volume: 9450 lbs
Saturday April 4, 2009
I woke up a little sore in my left hip flexor. After breakfast I got out my long wooden dowel and did numerous repetitions of shoulder dislocates, OH-squats and snatches to get some fluid working through the hip and shoulder joints. Since reading a blog post and video demonstration at Pierini Fitness for the shoulder dislocates, my left shoulder has been the most stable ever considering all the OH Olympic and assistance I've been doing. By 10:30 am I was feeling much better and drove out to the club for my session.
Early afternoon Olympic Lifting session:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
C&J (kg): 3x2@85%, 2x2@90%, 3x1@95%
20 x 2 x 5 Hang-clean and power-jerk
40 x 1 x 4 Clean and power-jerk
50 x 1 x 4 Clean and power-jerk
60 x 1 x 2 C&J
65 x 1 x 2 C&J
70 x 1 x 2 C&J
75 x 3 x 2 C&J
78 x 1 x 2 C&J
82 x 1 x 1 C&J
90 x 1 x 1 Clean and Jerk with press-out
92 x 1 x 1 Clean (PR) and missed jerk
95 x 1 x 1 Clean miss
95 x 1 x 1 Clean (PR) and no jerk attempt
I am very fortunate that I shortly after I started, Jason Edmonds, another master lifter (over 35), also joined the club to learn Olympic lifting. Jason probably the hardest working individual at the club and his weekly PRs are always inspirational. We almost always lift together on the same platform which has created a great camaraderie. Jason's clean form of late has been exceptional .. he has integrated a very strong pull together with a quick drop into full squat and recover. Although he demonstrated good technique early on with the lighter weights, he is now doing this consistently with much heavier weights. Because of his body type, 6'3", 210lbs, with huge shoulders and chest, his feet move only slightly, usually inward, when dropping under the clean for the squat.
In my case, as the weight gets heavier, I invariably start getting gun shy about having to squat under it and consequently splay my legs wider to help get me lower. Unfortunately there is very little power in doing this and as a result my clean recover is extremely labored.
Jason, having watched me struggle with the clean recovery with the moderate weights up to 75kg, offered up his support and encouragement by commenting that my struggle was probably due to the heavy back squats I did yesterday. Perhaps a part of it was true, but I knew deep inside that I couldn't blame heavy squats for my poor technique.
Finally when it was my turn to do some doubles with 90% (78kg) and after watching Jason with beautiful form for so many C&J reps with heavier weights, I decided I was going to keep my stance from going out any further than my normal front squat width .. even if it meant falling on my butt.
Holy Ned! Not only did I not fall on my butt, I keep a much shorter stance and I had so much more power when recovering from my squat clean. As a result, my jerk was so much easier as I had considerably more energy left over from the clean. At that point I realized, that I had finally leveraged off of the heavy front squat assistance work I had been doing over the last few months. Not surprising as new my squat clean stance was pretty close to what I have been front squatting with.
Jason immediately commented that the clean was much stronger and better looking than the ones I did before with 15kg less. I did another one the same way with 78 kg and then a single with 95% (82kg). With his encouragement, he urged me to give 90kg a shot. I had splayed clean a few weeks ago and I was determined not to do that again. I was shocked when did it with the shortened stance and I recovered fairly easily from it. I had so much energy left that I jerked it with a small press-out with my weak left arm.
Coach Fuller saw the attempt and was very pleased. He suggested I try 92kg and again the clean went very well. This time the jerk failed completely but I wasn't too concerned .. my jerk has always lagged my clean. Coach Fuller suggested one more clean attempt with 95kg. I failed the first time by not getting under it quickly. I then rested, tried again and this time nailed it. I did have to grind it out but that's okay .. my stance, although a little wider than the previous cleans, was fine.
I had nothing left for the other lifts specified in today's template and called it a day. I left with a great feeling of accomplishment .. perhaps a 100kg C&J is not as far off in the future as I had previously thought.
Total Volume: 4460 lbs
Thursday, April 2, 2009
A solid week of incremental progress
Another very busy week at work. Here is quick summary of the weeks training so far:
Tuesday March 31, 2009
My lower back is about the same but now I also have a little soreness in my left hip flexor. This is another one of these intermittent issues I periodically deal with. This evening, Coach Fuller showed me a great hip flexor stretch and its seems to have stablized.
Evening Olympic Lifting Session:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
Hang Clean (kg): 3x3@70%
20 x 1 x 5 Hang-Clean
40 x 1 x 3 Hang-Clean
50 x 1 x 3 Hang-Clean
60 x 1 x 3 Hang-Clean
65 x 1 x 3 Hang-Clean
70 x 4 x 3 Hang-Clean
C&J (kg): 4x3@80%
72 x 4 x 3 C&J
RSR Back Squat (lbs): 6x2@80%
160 x 1 x 2
185 x 1 x 2
205 x 5 x 2
205 x 1 x 6
Power Clean (kg):
81 x 3 x 1
84 x 2 x 1
I miss calculated on the hang-cleans and did closer to 80% of my 1RM clean (90kg). The heavy power cleans I did following the back squats were marginal form wise but fun. The triple C&Js with 72kg following the hang cleans were very tough. I maintained good form throughout but it did take a huge focus and effort.
Total Volume: 9900 lbs
Wednesday April 1, 2009
Morning Basement Assistance Lifts:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
RSR Front Squat (lbs): 6x2@80%
140 x 1 x 2
160 x 1 x 2
180 x 5 x 2
180 x 1 x 6
Total Volume: 3480 lbs
Thursday April 2, 2009
Although I slept for almost 10 hours, I woke up sore. Fortunately as the day wore on most of it subsided.
Evening Olympic Lifting Session:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
Snatch (kg): 5 x 2 @90%+
20 x 1 x 10 5xHang-snatch + 5xSnatch-balance
20 x 2 x 5 OH-squat
40 x 1 x 4 Snatch
40 x 1 x 5 OH-squat
40 x 2 x 1 Snatch-balance
45 x 1 x 2 Snatch
50 x 1 x 2 Snatch
55 x 1 x 2 Snatch
60 x 1 x 2 Snatch
65 x 1 x 2 Snatch 1 Miss + 1poor form
60 x 5 x 2 Snatch
Snatch Pulls (kg) 3 x 2 @100%+
65 x 2 x 3
70 x 2 x 3
Off the Rack Overhead Squat (kg)
50 x 1 x 3
55 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3
65 x 1 x 3 PR
70 x 1 x 1 PR
75 x 1 x 1 PR
Tactical overhand thumb-less grip pull-ups:
BW x 4 x 4
BW x 1 x 6
BW x 1 x 4
I made a mistake of jumping to 65kg snatch after only one set of doubles with 60kg. Its been over two months since I've been able to match my 65kg PR. I missed the first one badly, and although I made the second attempt my form was horrible .. it probably wasn't even a legal lift .. not probably, I'm sure it wasn't a legal lift. Coach Fuller correctly intervened and had me drop back down to sets of 60kg snatches to work on making them smoother and getting me to quickly drop under into a squat. The good news is that my thumb injury is almost completely healed and it never presented a problem. Also, I hadn't snatched heavy in over five weeks since the injury so I was pleased that 60kg snatches are getting easier.
My OH squats have really improved as today I PR-ed multiple times for gain of 15kg over my previous 1RM OH squat. I made sure I paused deep in the hole on every rep. I'm seriously considering doing an RSR cycle with OH-squats as soon as I finish my front and back squat RSR cycles.
To get into the OH-squat starting position from the off the rack, at least for me, requires a snatch grip behind the neck push-press to begin the 1st rep. As a result, I had a 15kg gain over my previous 1RM of this too.
Total Volume: 7400 lbs
Tuesday March 31, 2009
My lower back is about the same but now I also have a little soreness in my left hip flexor. This is another one of these intermittent issues I periodically deal with. This evening, Coach Fuller showed me a great hip flexor stretch and its seems to have stablized.
Evening Olympic Lifting Session:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
Hang Clean (kg): 3x3@70%
20 x 1 x 5 Hang-Clean
40 x 1 x 3 Hang-Clean
50 x 1 x 3 Hang-Clean
60 x 1 x 3 Hang-Clean
65 x 1 x 3 Hang-Clean
70 x 4 x 3 Hang-Clean
C&J (kg): 4x3@80%
72 x 4 x 3 C&J
RSR Back Squat (lbs): 6x2@80%
160 x 1 x 2
185 x 1 x 2
205 x 5 x 2
205 x 1 x 6
Power Clean (kg):
81 x 3 x 1
84 x 2 x 1
I miss calculated on the hang-cleans and did closer to 80% of my 1RM clean (90kg). The heavy power cleans I did following the back squats were marginal form wise but fun. The triple C&Js with 72kg following the hang cleans were very tough. I maintained good form throughout but it did take a huge focus and effort.
Total Volume: 9900 lbs
Wednesday April 1, 2009
Morning Basement Assistance Lifts:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
RSR Front Squat (lbs): 6x2@80%
140 x 1 x 2
160 x 1 x 2
180 x 5 x 2
180 x 1 x 6
Total Volume: 3480 lbs
Thursday April 2, 2009
Although I slept for almost 10 hours, I woke up sore. Fortunately as the day wore on most of it subsided.
Evening Olympic Lifting Session:
Z-Health: Neural Warm-up Level 2 (Dynamic Joint Mobility Drills)
Snatch (kg): 5 x 2 @90%+
20 x 1 x 10 5xHang-snatch + 5xSnatch-balance
20 x 2 x 5 OH-squat
40 x 1 x 4 Snatch
40 x 1 x 5 OH-squat
40 x 2 x 1 Snatch-balance
45 x 1 x 2 Snatch
50 x 1 x 2 Snatch
55 x 1 x 2 Snatch
60 x 1 x 2 Snatch
65 x 1 x 2 Snatch 1 Miss + 1poor form
60 x 5 x 2 Snatch
Snatch Pulls (kg) 3 x 2 @100%+
65 x 2 x 3
70 x 2 x 3
Off the Rack Overhead Squat (kg)
50 x 1 x 3
55 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3
65 x 1 x 3 PR
70 x 1 x 1 PR
75 x 1 x 1 PR
Tactical overhand thumb-less grip pull-ups:
BW x 4 x 4
BW x 1 x 6
BW x 1 x 4
I made a mistake of jumping to 65kg snatch after only one set of doubles with 60kg. Its been over two months since I've been able to match my 65kg PR. I missed the first one badly, and although I made the second attempt my form was horrible .. it probably wasn't even a legal lift .. not probably, I'm sure it wasn't a legal lift. Coach Fuller correctly intervened and had me drop back down to sets of 60kg snatches to work on making them smoother and getting me to quickly drop under into a squat. The good news is that my thumb injury is almost completely healed and it never presented a problem. Also, I hadn't snatched heavy in over five weeks since the injury so I was pleased that 60kg snatches are getting easier.
My OH squats have really improved as today I PR-ed multiple times for gain of 15kg over my previous 1RM OH squat. I made sure I paused deep in the hole on every rep. I'm seriously considering doing an RSR cycle with OH-squats as soon as I finish my front and back squat RSR cycles.
To get into the OH-squat starting position from the off the rack, at least for me, requires a snatch grip behind the neck push-press to begin the 1st rep. As a result, I had a 15kg gain over my previous 1RM of this too.
Total Volume: 7400 lbs
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