Slowing re-introducing Overhead lifts

Starting a week and a half ago, I slowly began introducing the full overhead lifts back into my training. I took a very conservative approach and so far my shoulder has responded favorably.

Below is a summary of the training through Thursday July 9th.

Tuesday June 30, 2009

Evening Olympic weightlifting session at Excel Sport and Fitness:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Cleans(kg):
50 x 1 x 4
50 x 1 x 2 Clean and jerk
60 x 1 x 4 Hang-clean + 3xClean
70 x 2 x 2
80 x 1 x 2
85 x 4 x 2

Snatch pulls (kg):
50 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
75 x 2 x 3

I finally decided to test my jerk with a double with 50kg. I did feel a slight twinge but nothing I beyond all the other slight tweaks and twinges that come and go during every training session. I stopped with just this double as I didn't want to push my luck the first day of testing OH work. The snatch pulls I followed with went very well .. these account for the greatest gain in technique since injuring my shoulder.

Thursday July 2, 2009

Evening Olympic weightlifting session at Excel Sport and Fitness:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Cleans(kg):
60 x 2 x 4
60x 1 x 2 Clean and jerk
70 x 2 x 2
80 x 4 x 2

RDL (kg):
60 x 1 x 5
80 x 1 x 3
90 x 6 x 3 (volume PR)

This time I went 10 kilos higher and again the shoulder felt okay however the jerks themselves were not very explosive. The RDLs were a nice volume PR having never done six sets of triples with 90 kg. My form has improved significantly as can be attested to by the lack of lower back soreness the next day as the back must remain set throughout the three reps .. the bar never touches the floor.

Tuesday July 7, 2009

Evening Olympic weightlifting session at Excel Sport and Fitness:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):
20 x 2 x 5
30 x 1 x 4
40 x 1 x 3
40 x 1 x 4
45 x 2 x 2
50 x 2 x 2
55 x 2 x 2
50 x 1 x 2
55 x 1 x 1

I hadn't trained for four days wanting to give my shoulder some extra rest. Once I arrived at the gym and saw the snatch template I decided to see what happened. It turns out that the snatches were actually easier on my shoulders than the jerks. I didn't go too crazy on the volume and never went more than 55kg.

The idea of competing in Northern CA on Saturday during my stay there seemed like a possibility whereas just a day before it was out of the question.

Thursday July 9, 2009

Last afternoon Olympic weightlifting session at Myles-Ahead:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):
40 x 2 x 3
45 x 2 x 2
50 x 2 x 2

Clean and Jerk (kg):
50 x 1 x 2
60 x 1 x 2
70 x 1 x 2
80 x 1 x 2

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

Ahhh .. back in sunny dry beautiful northern California. With a ton of lab work to integrate waiting for me in my company's Petaluma facility and my desire to compete in "The Redwood Empire Olympic Weightlifting Championships" a few months prior, I had planned this trip not knowing I would probably have to be volunteer instead of competing due to my shoulder injury.

When I got the Myles-Ahead training studio in Rohnert Park, I explained to co-owner and Olympic lifter extraordinaire, Freddie Myles, I explained my situation of slowly recovering from an aggravated shoulder and that I had a successful low weight snatch session on Tuesday back east, the first snatches performed in over a month, that I would like to train as if I was going to participate on Saturday. I asked him to suggest a rep and set scheme and we would see how it went.

I was very pleased that with only the slightest twinge in one of the clean and jerks, this session left me with enough confidence to compete in the Saturday meet. The snatches were quick and explosive ; the two single 80kg c&j were the heaviest I had done in over six weeks. Freddie of course was extremely helpful with his suggested corrections. I followed the lifts with a few front squats and we both agreed to wait until the warmups on Saturday to see what I would open with. I was starting to get very, very excited about competing and seeing all my new friends.