105kg rack jerk

The sessions detailed below correspond to 80% periodization. Its actually a little lighter as I took five days to recover from last Saturday's 100kg c&j PR.

Today I completely surprised myself with 5kg improvement on my rack jerk (off jerk boxes) with a new PR of 105kg. Witnesses and in particular, Coach Denis Reno, said it was good lift with no press-out. Honestly I don't remember how it got overhead.

Six months ago the jerk was my worst lift. Since building and utilizing the jerk boxes, all of the Olympic weightlifters at the Excel Sport and Fitness club have greatly benefited from them. The benefits derive from there being no energy wasted with negatives to re-rack. All that is needed to re-rack successive reps is a concentric quarter squat. Although there are some lifters who have no problem doing negatives off squat racks, they reek havoc on my elbows and wrists.

The gentlemen pictured standing besides a set of jerk boxes above is a recent photo I found of Olympian Mike Karchut, a phenomenal 82kg lifter and American record holder, who represented the US in the 1972 Summer Olympics. Many lifters of his generation and later claimed his lifting technique was a thing of beauty to watch and inspired them to take up this great sport.

Monday, January 11 2010

Evening Back Squat Session in Basement Dungeon

Back Squat (kg):

50 x 1 x 5

70 x 1 x 4

80 x 1 x 3

85 x 1 x 3

These were murder .. Saturday's heavy c&j session has left me depleted.

Tuesday, January 12 2010

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40 x 1 x 3

50 x 1 x 3

50 x 1 x 2

55 x 1 x 2

60 x 1 x 2 2-NoLift

60 x 1 x 2 1-NoLift

60 x 1 x 2 2-NoLift

60 x 3 x 2

Snatch Lift-Off (kg)

70 x 2 x 4

80 x 3 x 3

BNPP (kg)

50 x 1 x 3

70 x 1 x 3

80 x 1 x 3 2-NoLift

50 x 1 x 3

60 x 1 x 3

70 x 1 x 3

80 x 1 x 3 2-NoLift

75 x 1 x 3

80 x 1 x 3

81 x 1 x 3 1-NoLift

Concentric Front Squat from the Hole (lbs)

95 x 4

135 x 2

185 x 1

205 x 1

Thursday, January 14 2010

Afternoon Olympic Lifting Session in Basement Dungeon

Snatch Liftoff (kg):

50 x 1 x 2

Snatch (kg):

50 x 1 x 3

Clean and Jerk (kg):

50 x 1 x 2

70 x 1 x 2

80 x 1 x 2

Back Squat (kg):

60 x 1 x 5

82.6 x 1 x 5

94 x 4 x 5

100 x 1 x 5

Push Press (kg):

50 x 1 x 3

60 x 1 x 3

Saturday, January 16 2010

Afternoon Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sport

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Clean and Jerk (kg):

50 x 1 x 3

60 x 1 x 3

70 x 1 x 3

80 x 5 x 3

Back Squat (kg):

60 x 1 x 5

90 x 1 x 2

100 x 1 x 2

110 x 1 x 2

113 x 5 x 2

100 x 1 x 6

A volume PR with five sets of triples with 80kg c&j. Also this is the first time I've doubled back-squated 113. They were very difficult but I know this is how I will get stronger.

Sunday, January 17 2010

Afternoon Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sport

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40, 50, 60 x 2

65 x 3 1-Nolift

65 x 2

70 x 3 2-Nolift

Rack Jerks off Jerk B0xes (kg):

50,60,70,80,90 x 2

100 x 1

105 x 1 PR

Walking Lunges (lbs)

45, 95 OH

135, 145

Since the beginning of the year I have been adding in a fourth session each week. These tend to be much lighter with a focus on the jerk, push press, push jerk work. Also as my work sets are getting relatively heavier, I tend to do far less reps and sets with lighter weights to save my energy for the work sets. This has been working as my technique although needing more improvement is stable enough to continue progressing.

I posted my snatch video on goheavy and received some good feedback. Mainly that my hips are coming up a bit fast so they need to start a little higher. Its believed that this causes me to jump backward to compensate with my upper torso.

Richard Maloon another master lifter at the club pointed out that when I miss a snatch it correlates to the bar being far in front on my feet during the 1st pull. I did try to correct for this towards the end of my snatches but there was not enough time to really determine its effectiveness.

I spoke with Coach Denis Reno and he believes that if I can get my chest and shoulders over the bar from the beginning and for as long as possible during the 2nd pull as well, most of my issues will correct automatically .. he is also a big believer in starting with the bar as close as possible. Its only been the last three weeks that I have made an effort to keep my chest and shoulders over the bar and I believe I'm seeing good results .. more consistency is required though.

100kg Clean and Jerk Video

Today I achieved a goal of a 100kg clean and jerk set back in March of 2009. Back then I was out in Northern California struggling to make an 87 clean and jerk, when Myles Ahead owner and coach Freddie Myles suggested the 100kg goal as reachable by the end of the year (although it seemed ridiculous to me at the time).

Yes I admit that the jerk needs quite a bit of polishing but in all I was very pleased to get this big fella from the ground to overhead. (Hehe, it seems like just yesterday when 100kg was my deadlift 1RM.) The video below (courtesy of Coach Matt Delaney who captured this with his iPhone) is of my third attempt. For the first atttempt I just rushed the lift and missed the clean. The second attempt I relaxed and made a good clean, however I was a little forward on the jerk and had to made a few steps forward to stabilize it and then abruptly ditch it as there was a racked barbell on the squat rack right in front of my platform. Prior to the third, the squat bar was moved allowing me to convert the lift as I again was a little forward on my dip and needed a few step forward to stabilize. Also, g iven the poor positioning of my left foot on the split, its actually amazing I made the jerk at all.

Saturday, January 9 2010

Noon Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Clean and Jerk (kg):

40 x 1 x 2

60 x 1 x 2

70 x 1 x 2

80 x 1 x 2

90 x 1 x 2

95 x 1 x 1

100 x 1 x 1 N0Clean

100 x 1 x 1 NoJerk

100 x 1 x 1 PR!

Front Squat (lbs):

135 x 1 x 2

185 x 1 x 2

205 x 1 x 2

225 x 1 x 2

230 x 1 x 2

245 x 1 x 1 NoLift

Concentric Front Squat from Sticking Point (a little above parallel):

135 x 1 x 2

155 x 1 x 1

185 x 1 x 1

205 x 1 x 1

For the c&j the original goal was to work up doubles with 92 or 93. However after c0mpleting my double with 90, Coach Ben Fuller felt they looked solid and suggested we go right to heavy singles. The jerk with 95 was the best of the day by far. When both Ben and Coach Delaney suggested this was a great time to go for 100, I went along knowing without their prodding I probably would have never attempted it.

Following the front squats, I asked Ben about what was next and he was adamant about not doing anymore, going home and taking off Sunday as well. He suggested some light back squats on Monday and nothing more as he felt my CNS was fried and needed some additional rest. Well tonight I'm feeling it now .. good call Ben!

Snatch Video

The video posted below courtesy of Rick Maloon was taken last Tuesday where he captured a part of a progressive snatch session with one hang snatch followed by two full snatches.



Thursday, January 7 2010

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Clean and Jerk (kg):
50 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
75 x 1 x 3
77 x 1 x 3
79 x 1 x 3
80 x 1 x 3
82 x 1 x 2 1-NoLift

Clean Pulls (kg):
80 x 5 x 3

Push Press (kg):
50 x 1 x 3
60 x 1 x 3
70 x 1 x 3
80 x 2 x 3
70 x 1 x 3

Triple c&j are murder. I was stuck in the hole and could not recover from the last clean of the last set with 82kg which I guess means I was using ideal weights. The rest of the session was light as Coach Fuller wants to go heavy on Saturday.

Coach Fuller help me determine my Front Squat sticking point. Its a bit above parallel and corresponds to pin 17 in Excel clubs power rack. On Saturday, my plan is to work a few heavy singles after the session.

Happy New Year!

So what did I do News Year Eve? Along with two other liked minded iron-junkies, I trained the Olympic lifts at Excel Sport and Fitness and left 2009 feeling strong and powerful. This was the second session since having to take a ten day break of all lifting to tend to a peculiar injury.

I developed at first a tingling/numbing sensation in the fingers of my right hand while lifting about a month ago. I tried to train through it but it became progressively worse as tingling was replaced with a mild burning sensation all the way through the second finger joint. I was concerned that this could be a serious injury and my fears were only re-enforced when I did some googling about it. At that point I saw my primary care physician who advised to take time off for a week or so and see if it calmed down. For the first few day of resting, it actually got worse but eventually eight days later it subsided significantly.

Asking around I found out that a fellow master lifter had the same injury occur back when he lifted for his college team. He took some time and worked around the injury avoiding any lifts that would exacerbate it. With in a month it subsided. Another friend of mine, a competitive natural body builder, also had developed it. He believed it was calcium deposits that eventually broke up and he apparently trained through it. In all cases, the injury was very localized .. no other numbness of pain in any other part of the body.

Trying to determine what triggered mine, I realized I had recently been focusing on curling my wrists under during the first and second pull. I'm sure this was a factor as I have abandoned exaggerating this and just focused more on keeping my chest over the bar. The numbness is very mild now and will continue training and monitoring my hands.

Below is my training log for the last day of training before taking the ten days off followed by four subsequent sessions.

Thursday, December 19 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40 x 2 x 3

50 x 2 x 2

55 x 2 x 2

60 x 1 x 2 1x

60 x 2 x 2

70 x 2 x 1 2x

60 x 1 x 1

60 x 1 x 2 1x

60 x 2 x 1

RDL (kg):

60 x 1 x 5

70 x 1 x 5

80 x 1 x 5

90 x 2 x 5

100 x 1 x 3

My fingers were really bothering me this session and realized I had to see my physician and most probably discontinue training. I missed 60kg snatch several times as became more and more concerned with the numbness in my fingers.

Tuesday, December 28 2009

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40 x 1 x 4

50 x 4 x 2

55 x 2 x 2 1-NoLift

60 x 1 x 2 1-NoLift

60 x 1 x 2 2-NoLift

Clean (kg):

50 x 1 x 2

60 x 1 x 3

70 x 1 x 2

80 x 1 x 2

85 x 2 x 2

90 x 3 x 1

This was my first day back after a ten days off. The snatches were way off but I surprised myself with the cleans, however the three singles with 90kg were tough recovering from the squat under.

Thursday December 31, 2009 New Years Eve

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40 x 1 x 3 3Pos

40 x 1 x 3

50 x 1 x 3

55 x 1 x 2

60 x 1 x 2

65 x 1 x 5 2-NoLift

70 x 2 x 1

75 x 2 x 1 2-NoLift

75 x 1 x 1

77 x 3 x 1 3-NoLift

70 x 1 x 1 NoLift

C&J (kg):

40 x 1 x 2

60 x 1 x 2

70 x 1 x 2

80 x 1 x 2

90 x 4 x 2 PR

Clean Grip Deadlift (kg):

100 x 3 x 2

120 x 2 x 2

105 x 1 x 2

100 x 1 x 2

OHS (kg):

40 x 5

50 x 5

60 x 2

Concentric Front Squat from the hole (lbs)

135 x 2 x 3

155 x 2 x 3

A great way to end the New Year. I was pleased to hit a 75kg snatch for the 2nd time. This time only 3 attempts were necessary as opposed to needing six for the first time. Even more pleasing was the four sets of double c&j with 90kg. I've never even done a one double with 90kg before.

This was the first time I did the concentric from squats. This is where a power rack is extremely useful in setting the height to the lowest position of my front squat .. from the hole. Even 60-70kg is extremely tough to do these.

Saturday, January 2 2010

Afternoon Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40 x 1 x 3

50 x 1 x 3

60 x 1 x 3

63 x 3 x 3 2-NoLift

Front Squat (lbs):

135 x 3

155 x 2

185 x 2

205 x 2

215 x 2

225 x 3 x 1 1-NoLift

185 x 3

Concentric Front Squat from the hole (lbs)

135 x 1 x 3

155 x 2 x 3

Sunday, January 3 2010

Afternoon Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg):

40 x 2 x 3

50 x 1 x 3

60 x 1 x 2

70 x 1 x 1

Rack Jerks from Jerk Boxes (kg):

50 x 1 x 3

70 x 1 x 3

90 x 1 x 2

Lowered the boxes so that lift starts with a slightly below parallel concentric front squat

90 x 1 x 1 NoLift

80 x 1 x 1

90 x 2 x 1

95 x 1 x 1

98 x 1 x 1

100 x 3 x 1 3-NoLift

Concentric Front Squat from the hole (lbs)

135 x 1 x 3

155 x 1 x 2

This is the first time in several months I did back to back sessions. This one was very light. I was pleased to make my first attempt with 70kg snatch as these are now becoming much more consistent.

Although a little disappointed that I missed my three jerk singles with 100kg, I realized I have yet to fully get my leg strength back from the ten day layoff.

Tuesday, January 5 2010

Evening Olympic Lifting Session at Excel Fitness and Sports

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Snatch (kg): One hang snatch followed by two full snatches:

40 x 1 x 3

45 x 1 x 3

50 x 1 x 3

55 x 1 x 3

60 x 3 x 3

65 x 1 x 1 Hang snatch PR

70 x 1 x 3 Hang snatch PR, 1-NoLift

70 x 1 x 3 1-NoLift

65 x 1 x 3 1-NoLift

Snatch Pull (kg):

70 x 4 x 4

Front Squat (kg):

50 x 1 x 5

70 x 1 x 5

80 x 1 x 5

90 x 4 x 5 PR

90 x 1 x 3 1-NoLift

This was a great session. The hang snatches with 70kg felt very strong representing a 10kg increase on my hang snatch. The key is really getting my chest over the bar. This forces my hips back creating great leverage. I will not be surprised if a 75kg hang snatch is not far off.

The four sets of five reps of front squats with 90kg is a huge improvement. The last time I did a single set of five with that weight, it left me completely spent forcing me to drop down to 80kg where I couldn't finish a set of five. I believe the improvement is due to two reasons:

• I have been focusing on keeping an tight arched back in the hole and on the way up
• I have been doing a few sets of double of from the hole concentric front squats with very slow negatives with light weights (60-70kg). I got idea this from Dan John's From the Ground Up who swears its a fantastic way to work on front squat sticking points as long as its not overdone.