Mini-kettlebell session followed by O-lift session

Saturday May 16, 2009

I had a new Kettlebell client this morning and did a short Kettlebell warm-up so that I would be sharp for my demonstrations. This was then followed by a fairly taxing Olympic lifting session at the club. Again, I continued to squat all snatches and cleans.

Early Morning warmup:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

32kg x 2 x 10/10 One-hand swings
32kg x 1 x 20 Two-hand swings
32kg x 1 x 1 TGU Left

Late Afternoon Olympic Lifting session:

Snatch (kg):
20 x 3 x 5 Snatch, Snatch-balance, OHS
30 x 4 x 4 Snatch + Snatch-balance
40 x 2 x 4 Snatch + Snatch-balance
45 x 2 x 4 Snatch + Snatch-balance
50 x 1 x 3 Snatch + 2xSnatch-balance
50 x 3 x 2 Snatch + Snatch-balance (1 miss)

Cleans (kg):
40 x 1 x 3
50 x 1 x 2
55 x 1 x 2
65 x 1 x 2
65 x 1 x 2
70 x 1 x 2
75 x 1 x 2
80 x 3 x 2

The 32kg one-hand swings really kicked my butt and got the blood flowing quickly. It wasn't too long ago that I could knock off ten sets of these with minimal rest but that was before focusing on the O-lifts .. something had to give.

Wow, Coach Fuller said jokingly "Hey, that actually looked athletic!" after completing one of squat snatches with 45kg. We both laughed and then he explained the back-handed compliment was referring to how smooth and explosive this particular rep was. Squatting all the lifts for the last week together with yesterdays OHS is really working my legs. Although I got through my three working sets of cleans for doubles with 85% (80kg), they were very challenging recovering from the squat. Except on the first rep when Coach Fuller corrected me, all subsequent clean catches where done with my elbows high .. this makes a huge difference in terms of comfort. Also, Coach was also on my case to minimize the rest between the two reps of each set for which I complied. Lastly, another positive trend is that my squat receiving stance, although fairly wide, is now within a normal squat stance width range.

When I completed the cleans, I noticed that template called for front squats as well. I had to pass on these as I was to fatigued to do them. When I got home I rested but still was too tired to do them. I will do them tomorrow morning.

On a side note I am really enjoying a re-read of Olympic lifting primer e-book, More Power, by Randy Hauer, RKC Team Leader. One of the tidbits I can't wait to try is the notion of "spreading the bar apart" as one performs the descending part of an Overhead Squat. I noticed that when my OHS got heavy, I had to really push up with my shoulders to get a stable base before dropping. I am very anxious to see if intentionally "spreading the bar" produces a similar effect and improves the feeling of stability.