Completing the last of four sessions for the week

Sunday June 28, 2009

Morning basement dungeon session:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Front Squat (kg):
50 x 1 x 5
60 x 1 x 5
70 x 1 x 3
80 x 1 x 3
90 x 1 x 3
95 x 5 x 2

RDL (kg):
70 x 1 x 5
75 x 1 x 5
80 x 1 x 5
85 x 1 x 2
70 x 1 x 5

Walking Lunges (kg)
20 x 1 x 5/5
30 x 1 x 5/5
40 x 1 x 5/5

The front squats were extremely challenging probably due to the heavy back squats I did yesterday. I felt the RDL's went very well as I continue to use very light weights compared to my powerlift style deadlift PR (140kg). When I finished these, there was very little left in the tank for walking lunges thus only three sets with light weight. This ended the forth session of the week .. still no OH work but some modest gains in strength.

A modest increase in slow strength .. a back squat PR

Saturday June 27, 2009

Before taking up Olympic lifting last October, I had never back squatted in my life. The only squatting I had ever done were the RKC Hardstyle kettlebell front squats and that was only since two winters ago (note the photo at the top right of me being evaluated on my technique for double 24kg repetition .. stance is a bit too wide; a problem I'm still working on correcting). Since the publication of Enter the Kettlebell, the defacto standard publication by Chief Instructor Pavel Tsatsouline for learning RKC Hardstyle kettlebell lifting technique, the kettlebell front squat, not discussed in the ETK, has since been elevated to one of the six fundamental lifts taught at the RKC instructor certification.

And thank goodness for that! This gave me a minimal base of leg strength that without with, would have made my Olympic lifting journey even more difficult if not impossible. Having said that, now eight months into training the Olympic lifts, my legs are a lot stronger than when I started. However, although this is a good start, I still have much ground to make up if I want to compete with elite master lifters in my weight class (85k) and age range (55-60).

As mentioned previously, Olympic lifters use three types of squats as assistance lifts to build strength for the snatch and clean and jerk:

• Front Squat
• Back Squat
• Overhead Squat

The front squat has the biggest carry over to the recovery phase of the squat clean as the concentric part of the front squat is precisely a squat clean recover. The back squat has general carry over to both competition lift but primarily in the building strength for the effective first pull and second pulls. The Overhead squat is to the squat snatch as the front squat is to the clean, its concentric phase matches the recovery phase of the squat snatch .. I was making considerable progress with these and its sister assistance exercise the "snatch balance" before my injury.

With a probable anterior capsule injury to my right shoulder as suggested by Coach Carl Valle of Excel Sport and Fitness, track coach extraordinaire, the healing process take can take a significant time. Unlike other muscle injuries of the shoulder, this is injury to the anterior section of the thick tissue (ligament) the surrounds the humorous (see here). Very limited blood flows through this region .. there are not a lot ways to open it up to allow healing. With all OH work on hold for at least a few more weeks I have continued to focus on:

• cleans (various hang positions, power, squat)
  
• front and back squats
• pulls
• RDLs, lunges, pistols

For squats I had been focusing primarily more on front squats, training them two to three times more frequently than back squats. On Thursday I had a front squat volume PR with four doubles with 100kg. Today called for back squats, and I purposely left some reps in the tank to test on 1RM which I had last done back in January for two singles with 230 lbs (104 kg) recorded here. I remember these were very wide stance racked lower on the back than a high back stance used for training Olympic lifts. Today I added 32lbs for a new PR of 264 lbs (120 kg). I also came fairly close but missed with 275 lbs (125 kg). As stated earlier, to put things in perspective, Chris Dariotis , 85kg class, age 55-60, 2008 world champion , who recently set the US clean and jerk record of 131 kg, probably back squats over 180 kg (396 lbs) based on the squat numbers of comparable lifters. I am both humbled and inspired by these incredible feats of strength.

Afternoon Olympic weightlifting session at the club:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch Pulls (kg):
40 x 2 x 4
50 x 1 x 6
60 x 2 x 4
65 x 2 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
75 x 1 x 3
75 x 1 x 2
80 x 1 x 1
85 x 2 x 1
70 x 2 x 2

Back Squats (kg):
70 x 1 x 4
90 x 1 x 3
100 x 2 x 3
105 x 1 x 3
110 x 1 x 1
115 x 1 x 1
120 x 1 x 1 (PR)
125 x 1 x 1 miss

Super-set:
A: BW x 1 x 20/20 Single leg hip dips
B: BW x 1 x 5/5 Milk crate height box pistols
Total: 3

My snatch pulls have improved over the last few weeks. This is due to two important factors:

• "Loose arms". I now interpret this as almost letting the bar hang free fall. I use my legs entirely to get the bar to the 2nd pull position.
  
• "Staying flat footed as long as possible". Easy to say but prematurely getting on my toes has been a problem as this is no power pushing from the there.

The 80kg pulls were to my sternum meaning that this is potentially snatch-able once I improve my 3rd pull and recovery phases.

A Satisfying Session

Thursday June 25, 2009

Although my right shoulder continues to warrant avoidance of pain-inducing OH work, my session last night was still very satisfying. Because of the shoulder range-of-motion limitation, I have been focusing on cleans all types (high-hang, medium-hang, power and squat), snatch and clean pulls, Romanian dead-lifts and squats.

On a separate note, when I got home I was able to listen to rebroadcast of last-nights RKC Kettlebell Secrets with guest speaker Jeff O'Conner, Senior RKC, discuss why the RKC Hardstyle kettlebell swing and Turkish Getup are fundamental to providing a solid base of movement to build all other sports activity on. He even went on to say that the kettlebell snatch, clean, press, front squat are icing on the cake and although useful, the basic two-hand swing and TGU could comprise the majority of GPP strength and conditioning training session. I was fortunate to have Jeff at my RKC Certification. Truly, one of the nicest, no-BS, transparent persons I have ever met in my life, his is also one extremely impressive athlete .. a two time 275lb class North American Strongman is some pretty serious accomplishment. Once this shoulder heals I intend to get back to at least one session a week of swings and TGU both of which nicely complement my Olympic training sessions.

Evening session at the club:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Cleans (kg): [Target 5 x 1 @ 90%]
20 x 1 x 10
40 x 1 x 5
50 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3
65 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
80 x 2 x 2
85 x 1 x 2
90 x 5 x 1
90 x 1 x 1 no-lift
70 x 1 x 1

Front Squats (lb): [Target 4 x 2 @ 93%]
135 x 1 x 4
165 x 1 x 2
195 x 1 x 2
210 x 1 x 2
220 x 4 x 2 PR

Hip-Dips and Milk-Crate Box Pistols:
BW x 3 x 20/20 Hip-dips
BW x 2 x 1/1 Milk-Crate Box Pistols

I was pleased to exceed the five singles with 90% by achieving this with 94%. Although I struggled with a double for front squats with 210, various recruited spotters help motivate me to gut out four sets of doubles with 100kg (220lb). I had once previously done one double with 100 but never four so this is a real volume PR. Also its a real confidence builder as the idea of cleaning 100kg in a few months seems very reasonable.

The last assistance exercise called for box pistols. I tried first with a milk crate level box and I could not get low enough or maintain my balance. Coach Matt Delaney once again came to the rescue with a great much easier exercise, the hip-dip, to help work the hip flexors. Basically I stood on two-foot box with one leg hanging over the side. Then by staying tall, I tilted the outside hip downward while staying as upright as possible with minimal knee bend. At first I keep falling off but the third set they were more comfortable. I then surprised myself when I went back to the box pistols and did two sets of alternating singles with each leg.

Still working through a shoulder issue

It turns out that all the high hang power snatch work I did back on Sunday, June 14th was too much too soon .. all the OH work was too much and the following Monday morning my shoulder was extremely sore; I knew I had to back off. Since then, I have only been doing cleans, pulls and front squats. This still makes for a very challenging session but one that does not let me train the complete lifts. I tested my shoulder last night with a single bar only snatch and it was still too painful to consider any more OH work. I did speak with one of the very seasoned National Level lifters at the club with a history of shoulder issues and he advised me to proceed with caution .. some shoulder injuries can take months to recover from.


I've had three sessions since eliminating OH work which are summarized below.

Saturday June 20, 2009

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Cleans (kg):
20 x 2 x 5 High-hand Power Clean (HHPC)
40 x 2 x 5 HHPC
50 x 1 x 5 HHPC
60 x 1 x 4 PC
70 x 4 x 3 PC

With almost a complete week off, this was all I could handle.

Sunday June 21, 2009

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Cleans (kg):
20 x 3 x 5 HHPC
50 x 1 x 6 HHPC + HHC
55 x 1 x 3 HHC
60 x 1 x 3 HHC
70 x 1 x 3 2xPC + C
75 x 1 x 3 C + 2xPC
80 x 1 x 3 PC
85 x 1 x 3 PC
90 x 2 x 1 both no lifts

Front Squat (kg)
70 x 1 x 5
75 x 1 x 3
80 x 6 x 3

I was unable to do 90kg today whereas 10 days ago I was doing multiple sets of doubles with it. This is the nature of down time .. not to worry, I will be back doing it again.

Tuesday June 23, 2009

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch pulls (kg)
20 x 4 x 5
50 x 1 x 4
50 x 1 x 6
50 x 1 x 4
60 x 2 x 3
70 x 2 x 3
80 x 2 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
90 x 1 x 3 1st pull only

Power Cleans (kg)
50 x 1 x 5
50 x 2 x 5
60 x 4 x 3
70 x 1 x 3

Front Squats (kg)
70 x 1 x 3
80 x 1 x 3
85 x 5 x 3

The snatch pulls went surprisingly well. Pulls up to 70kg were sternum level. The 80kg were a bit lower but still held form. With 90kg I only did the first pull, focusing on letting arm just hang.

Coach Matt Delaney worked with my on a new stance with my power cleans that indeed gave me a much more powerful pull but did throw off other parts of the lift. Here is what he had me do:

• Start with my feet much closer together almost frog like.
• Start with my hips much lower.
• Start with the bar out a further out from my shins.
• Keep my chest over the bar until I was ready to explode through pushing through my heels.

Even with all the difficulty, I really liked this approach. I never went higher than 70 kgs but am willing to drop even lower to hone this new stance and integrate into the complete lift.

My front squats with 85kg were very challenging and I had to really focus on not bringing my knees inward when recovering. Its hard to believe that only a week ago I did six sets of triples with 90kg. Again, time off to heal shows up in a temporary loss of some strength.

Finishing up a solid week of training

Thursday June 11, 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at the Club:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Hang Snatch (kg):
20 x 3 x 5
40 x 1 x 7
50 x 1 x 4
50 x 3 x 3
55 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3 1-good, 2-no-lift
50 x 1 x 3
55 x 1 x 3
55 x 3 x 3
40 x 4 x 3

Front Squat (kg):
60 x 1 x 5
80 x 1 x 3
90 x 1 x 2
95 x 5 x 2

National level 105kg class lifterYasha Kahn worked with me quite a while with my hang snatch. He has a novel way of teaching by starting very high in the hip crease and working down a few inches at time while always repeating the movement at the higher marks. This effectively teaches how to pull completely vertical while getting in to the triple extension prior to jumping. Although I struggled terribly in doing these even with 40kg, I know this is going to payoff in the future.

The front squats went very well until on the third set when Yasha asked to borrow the 10kg plates for a set, I over enthusiastically yanked one off, forgetting that there was a small metal 2.5 kg plate on as well. The 2.5kg plate landed right across the toes of my left foot. At first I thought I broke a toe but it was just a bruise and I was able to finish my last two sets of front squats. Embarrassing as it was, fortunately, although a little sore, my foot will be okay.


Saturday June 13, 2009

Friday evening I was given a deep right shoulder massage. In the morning it was sore but a good sore. As a result, I decided to avoid all over-head work at the club to let it recover.

Cleans (kg):
20 x 1 x 5
40 x 1 x 6
50 x 1 x 4
60 x 1 x 4
70 x 1 x 2
80 x 2 x 2
90 x 8 x 2 11-good, 5-no-lift

Front Squat (kg):
70 x 1 x 5
80 x 1 x 4
90 x 5 x 3
90 x 1 x 3 1-no-lift

This is the first time I went very heavy on my cleans. Having Jason Edmonds as much stronger training partner (he recently has clean and jerked 100kg) was a big help in inspiring me to go directly from two sets of easy double with 80kg right 90kg. Although I missed my first attempt, I was very determined to stick with it and it paid off as I made 11 of the 16 total attempts .. two of them were solid power cleans as well. Most of my misses were due to improper form off the floor .. either my shoulder and chest were not over the bar long enough or I tried to pull with my arms instead of my legs. In all I'm very encouraged. I attribute lots of front squats with this weight in giving me the confidence to get under it. I also used identical setups all my cleans and this helped me relax.


Having also done heavy front squats for triples, my legs are going to be very fatigued so I am going to lay off training until Tuesday .. it will be good for my shoulder as well.

Sunday June 14, 2009

I was fortunate that prior to going to bed, my s.o. was gracious in giving a upper body massage focusing on my sore right shoulder. As a result, I had the best nights sleep in over two weeks as my shoulder had been waking me up sometimes not being able to get back to sleep for several hours. Rather than doing a full club session, instead I opted to focus in basement dungeon on light to moderate hang and power snatches. Prior to this starting this, I used my broom stick and practiced jumping in the power/triple extension position with broom stick in the crease of hips and upper torso .. this is the maximum position for jumping with leg power. I practiced keeping my arms completing loose as I jumped. Of course the stick flow over my head as I received it in the normal position.

I then proceeded first with the bar then gradually heavy weights by alternating with the high-hang power-snatch followed by a from the floor power-snatch. Once I completed my 50kg set, I finished with five sets of triples of 56kg power snatches. I had to drop a several inches lower to receive these but I was still above parallel.

Morning basement dungeon Olympic lifting session:

High-hang power snatch and power snatch(kg):
20 x 2 x 5 HHPS
30 x 1 x 6 3(HHPS + PS)
40 x 1 x 6 3(HHPS + PS)
45 x 1 x 6 3(HHPS + PS)
50 x 2 x 6 3(HHPS + PS)
56 x 5 x 3 PS
20 x 1 x 5 HHPS

Ketttlebell TGU Shoulder Rehab and 90kg C&J PR

Although I am still nursing a sore right shoulder, I was able to get in some solid training mindful of not over doing excessive overhead work. Fortunately it has gotten to the point where I am able to do light to moderate Kettlebell TGU work .. this morning's session the heaviest yet. The benefits of increased shoulder health for both pre-hab and re-hab are well known to the RKC community.

To my delight, I ended this evenings with Clean & Jerk PR of 90kg. I can still remember vividly when just a few months ago 80kg seemed just out of my reach. Its clear that the few last months of

• focus on technique with lighter weights
  
• building strength by going heavy with assistance lifts
  

is bearing fruits of my labor.

Saturday June 6, 2009

Early afternoon Olympic lifting session:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch Pull (kg):
40 x 1 x 5
50 x 1 x 4
60 x 1 x 5
70 x 1 x 4

Cleans (kg)
60 x 3
65 x 3
70 x 1 x 2 Clean + C&J
75 x 1 x 2 C&J
80 x 1 x 2 C&J
85 x 1 x 1 C&J press-out
85 x 1 x 1 C&J
90 x 1 x 1 Miss
90 x 1 x 1 Power Clean
90 x 1 x 2 1Miss + Power Clean & J press-out
72 x 1 x 2 Clean
77 x 1 x 1 Clean
82 x 1 x 1 Clean, Jerk miss
70 x 1 x 2 C&J

Front Squat (kg):
50 x 1 x 4
60 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
80 x 6 x 3

This was the first time I had jerked in a few weeks and it felt okay. I had to go lighter on my front squats as my legs were still tired from all the 90kg clean singles I had done on Tuesday.

Sunday June 7, 2009

Early afternoon Olympic lifting session:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg)
20 x 3 x 5 OHS, Hang-snatch, snatch-balance
40 x 2 x 4 Hang-snatch
50 x 1 x 3 Hang-snatch + 2 snatch
50 x 1 x 3 Hang-snatch
50 x 1 x 3 Snatch
55 x 1 x 3 Hang-snatch + 2 snatch 1-miss
50 x 2 x 3 Snatch
55 x 1 x 2 Snatch
60 x 1 x 2 Snatch, 1-miss
60 x 6 x 1 Snatch, 2-miss

RDL (kg)
50 x 3 x 5
60 x 1 x 5
70 x 1 x 5

Monday June 8, 2009

Snatch Pull of High Block (kg)
50 x 2 x 5
60 x 2 x 5
70 x 1 x 3
80 x 1 x 3
90 x 2 x 3

Snatch Pull from the floor (kg)
90 x 1 x 3

Without overdoing it, I was able to do a fair number of snatches. My form is a little off but I still managed a few singles with 60kg.

Tuesday June 9, 2009

Morning Warm up:

Kettlebell Turkish Get Ups
16kg x 1 x 1/1
24kg x 1 x 1/1
24kg x 1 x 2/2

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at the Club:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Clean & Jerk (kg)
20 x 4 x 5 OHS, Snatch, Hang-Clean and Jerk
60 x 1 x 3
65 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
75 x 5 x 3 (85%)
80 x 1 x 2
85 x 1 x 1
90 x 1 x 1 PR

Back Squat (kg)
70 x 1 x 5
90 x 1 x 3
100 x 5 x 3
105 x 1 x 3

Snatch Pulls off the High Blocks (kg)
70 x 1 x 5
90 x 1 x 5
100 x 2 x 5

Clean Pulls off the High Blocks (kg)
100 x 1 x 5
120 x 2 x 5

One of the best sessions I ever had. My clean and jerks all the way up to 85kg were the best they have been. The five sets of triples with 75kg left me soaked .. triples with over 80% are known to be real killers. I was able to focus on pulling flat footed or equivalently staying on my heels as long as possible. My clean with 90kg was caught a little low but I was able to recover, relax and got a very smooth jerk. I credit this to working my back left foot during the split so that the toe is pointed inward with the heel outward. This squares up the hips making it easier to support the weight.

Progress with squat cleans

Tuesday June 2, 2009

With my right shoulder still bothering me I trained in basement dungeon earlier today and avoided all OH movements.

Early afternoon basement Olympic assistance lift session:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch-grip deadlifts (kg):
40 x 1 x 3
50 x 1 x 2
60 x 1 x 2
70 x 1 x 2
80 x 1 x 2

Cleans (kg):
50 x 1 x 3
55 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3
65 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
75 x 1 x 3
80 x 1 x 2
85 x 1 x 2 1 miss
72 x 1 x 1
77 x 1 x 1
87 x 1 x 1
90 x 1 x 1 miss
90 x 5 x 1
92 x 1 x 1
70 x 1 x 3

Front squats (kg):
70 x 1 x 3
80 x 1 x 3
90 x 5 x 3

I have been watching some dart-fish videos of the men's national championship last year and have been inspired by how these elite lifters stay way over the bar with there snatches as they pull from the floor. Hence my focus on the snatch-grip deadlifts.

For the cleans, the five singles with 90kg were the most solid I've done with that weight. Interestingly, after working up to single with 85kg which resulted with splayed legs, I dropped back down 72 and worked back up to 90kg. I missed my first 90kg attempt as I didn't get under the bar quite fast enough even though the height of my 2nd pull was more than adequate. Following that, I really focused on a slow pull off the floor and staying as vertical as possible, then extending and dropping under the bar as fast as possible and it worked. I probably did not pull the bar to the height of the 1st attempt but it wasn't necessary as I had enought time to still get under the bar. I then repeated this for four more singles before adding two addtional kilos and nailing it as well. I had never done this many cleans with this weight so ended conservatively with a crisp set of triples with 70kg focusing on recovering from the deep squat as quickly as possible.

I was very pleased that I had enough left for five sets of triple front squats with 90kg. This weight is getting more and more comfortable thus increasing the chances of a c&j with it.

Relearning to Pull

Sunday May 31, 2009

The lifting session today went very well. At the end we worked on snatch pulls both from the hang and floor. It turns out that this important skill has to be totally mastered in order to properly handle heavier weights. Although I have made some progress, I have to work harder on:

• Using my legs to get my hips moving first .. I use my arms too much
• Stay on heels as long as possible while fully extending .. I get off my heels onto my toes before extending too early.
• The extension should be completely vertical .. most of the time the bar is out in front or I am leaning back pulling with my arms.
  

The last few sets Coach Fuller had me hold onto the bar after the pull instead of just dropping it. It idea was to get a feel of extending completely vertically. If I was pulling either forward or backward, holding onto the bar exaggerated it. When I did it correctly for a rep or two the bar just hung directly downward after the pull. Its still a hit or miss .. we agreed to focus on this the next few sessions.

Early afternoon Olympic lifting session:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):
20 x 2 x 5 hang-snatch, snatch-balance
40 x 3 x 2
40 x 1 x 5 snatch + 3 snatch-balance
45 x 1 x 2
50 x 1 x 2
55 x 1 x 2
60 x 1 x 2
65 x 1 x 2 1 miss
65 x 1 x 1 miss
60 x 1 x 1 miss

Cleans (kg):
60 x 1 x 3
65 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
75 x 6 x 3

Snatch Pulls:
60 x 5 x 3
65 x 3 x 3

The cleans felt very heavy. When I finished my first set of triples with 75kg, it didn't seem possible I would be able to complete five more sets but I did. The key was a more powerful pull and quicker whipping of my elbows. Coach Fuller had me focus on recovering from the clean as quickly as possible. Also instead of immediately ditching the bar, I repositioned my feet and got set as if I was going to jerk it. Then I dropped the bar. The idea hear is get used to the feel of the bar after after the clean recovery.