Snatch

Seated Hip
Joint Mobility
Foam Roll
Olift Mobility

Snatch (lbs)
95x2
125x1
145x1
165x1
185x1
195xF
195x1
205xFx5-multiple failures all lost to the front, except the 5th one was lost behind.

I not hitting 90% of previous PRs. I believe this is due to cutting back the frequency of "practicing" heavy snatches. The less I do them, the harder they will be. However, I made the decision a week or so ago to back away from the lifts and squat, pull and do more GPP work. I have no meets in the immediate future and need to build a base of strength and mobility and technique. Now is the time to do this.

Looking back, I had a very good late winter. Meet total 220, finally hit 100kg snatch. I have to remember that followed from playing around with my "Wiry" Strong and 5/3/1, then focusing on the lifts hard for a few weeks before the meet.

I have said it before and I will say it again. To do the lifts heavy, you have to do the lifts heavy. You can not do heavy lifts and other stuff too. Now, I am choosing to do other stuff, build the base, develop technique and consistency, and lay the base for the next peak. A peak has to be surrounded by valleys, otherwise it is a plateau.

Get-ups!

Seated hip stretch
Foam Roll
Joint Mobility
Olift mobility

Olift Drills
Jerk, 45lbs 3x3
-Focusing on keeping the elbow up before the jerk. I need to work on my jerk more. Right now, that is the weakest link.

5min TGU 53lbs KB
-I think the GU is probably the best exercise to develop isometric strength endurance in the upper body. When this is the goal, time under tension, not actual reps done is the stimulus for adaptation.

Seated Hip Stretch

Morning GPP

GPP stuff before work...

Mobility Stuff...
Seated Hip Stretch
Foam Roll
Joint Mobility
Olift mobility

Strength Skill Stuff....
Snatch Drills w/bar only:
Snatch from Hip a few sets of a couple reps
Snatch Pull, H Snatch a few times
-just wanted to work on firing the hips then shrugging/elbows up/wrist turn over/torso thru. I am thinking I am receiving the bar with too upright of a torso, this is causing some instability in the catch, with the bar moving both forward and backwards. This makes sense, as I need to remember the torso in the catch for the snatch is more inclined then the catch for the clean (where it is as upright as possible).

Endurance Stuff....
53lbs KB Swings (hardstyle)
20/min x 5min: 100 total swings
-first time doing this many swings with the 53lber in awhile. I did about 30s work, 30s rest. This was the right amount of time to keep the mental focus needed for hardstyle swings. I could do 100swings nonstop, but my mind would wonder, I would fire my glutes and hams less, I would lose tension in my torso and the entire point of doing this exercise would be lost. KB Swings are an excellent tool to develop endurance in the posterior chain and torso when done correctly. When done incorrectly, they offer little unique value.

More mobility stuff...
Seated hip stretch

What is GPP? Strength, mobility, endurance.
Foam Roll

Back Squats

Seated Hip Stretch
Foam Roll
Joint Mobility
Olift mobility

Snatchx1x3 w/45lbs bar-worked on getting thru

Squat (lbs)
45x5
160x3
210x1
250x1
280x1
300x1
310x3-Goal Set

Jerk-worked on loose grip, elbows up, bar on shoulders, lats flared
45x3
135x3
185x2

24 DH Pull-ups, unbroken.

Clean and Jerk

Seated Hip Stretch
Foam Roll
Joint Mobility
Olift mobility

Clean and Jerk(lbs)
135x1
185x1
215x1
235x1
255x1
255xF-missed jerk
255x1
255x1
255xF-had to pressout jerk

-Goal was to do 255lbs 3x without a miss. These all felt pretty forced, had to pressout the last one. Will try this one again next time.

3min (10) TGU 53lbs bell

Seated hip stretch

Later....

DH pull-ups throughout the day:
Breathing ladders..5,4,3,2,1-2x
20 Unbroken
15 Unbroken
10 Unbroken.

Here is how you increase your push-ups/pull-up/etc numbers: do 1 set of reps until you start to slow do. Stop. Rest at least 2min, do another set. Rest 2min, repeat. The goal is always to do more reps on the first set. When I was in the Army, I knew if I could do 60 push-ups without slowing down, I would always hit at least 90 in the 2min. This is how to develop muscular endurance. Note, circuit training/METCONs will not develop endurance as well as the above method. Again, this is where most CFers miss out.

DH Pull-ups

Quick DH Pull-up breathing ladder

7,6...1

Felt strong on all sets. After stopping these for about 3weeks, they went down. Endurance is a transient adaptation.

Will blog these too to see if days I do DH impact olifts.

GPP Stuff

GPP Stuff
Seated hip stretch
Joint Mobility
Olift Mobility

DH Pull-up breathing ladders
5,4,3,2,1x2-Harder then it should have been

KB Swings 45lbs bell
75@25/min pace

Foam Roll
Seated hip stretch

Hit the wall last week, took an easy week this one. DH were harder then they should have been. Need to get back into the groove of KB Swings.

At this point, I think the longer circuits made famous by CF are pretty useless as a developer of conditioning, though they may have a function at displaying conditioning. I think the load at most are insignificant to develop strength and the rep scheme is insignificant to develop endurance.

Right now, for endurance, I think the KB swing combined with high rep calisthenics is the way to go. Build strength with heavy barbell lifts, then develop conditioning with calisthenics, finally, on occasion, display this force by kicking everyone Else's ass in CF metcons. Pretty basic, but it would work. Too bad it would not sell. I do not think people would pay $150-$200/month to be told today we will squat to a heavy 5rep set, then do 4 rounds of push-ups with a minute between rounds.

Snatch Clean and Jerk

16 April 2011

Seated hip
Foam Roll
Joint Mobility
Olift mobility

In lbs
Snatch
95x1
135x1
165x1
185x1-Wanted to try to "jump" faster up to working sets
195xF-forward
195xF-forward
185x1
195xF-forward
195x1
205xFx2-just felt heavy

Clean and Jerk
185x1
215x1
235x1
255xF-missed clean, was beat and shut it down.

Have had an off week or so. I started playing soccer on Sundays, so that is a factor, rough week at work, 2 all night shifts, so add that in. Also, been trying to do 2 lifts a session, instead of my old 1 lift a day.

Considering changing up to less olift, more slow lifts to maintain until after soccer.

In todays weightlifting world, people just olift. But, back in the old days, Tommy Kono talks about bodybuilding, or Tommy Shuggs talks about doing the slow lifts to build strength, then focus on the olifts 6weeks out. Maybe it is time to go back to squat, press, pull for awhile, at least until after soccer, and build the base of strength.

Snatch, Clean and Jerk

Mobility Work (10min)

Seated Hip Stretch
Joint Mobility
Foam Roll
Olift mobility

In lbs

Snatch (20mins):
95x1
135x1
165x1
185xF
185x1
195xF
195xF
185xF
185x1
195xF
195x1
205xF
205x1

Tried to wave these up to 2misses, then drop back down. I did at total of 10 attempts at >80% 1RM (220)

C&J (tried power jerk) (10min)
185x1
215x1
235xFx2-could not hold the power jerk, it was a bit forward

Power jerk is something new to me. It is gaining momemtum, as is the squat jerk. The split jerk is a carry over from the days of split clean and split snatch. The split allows for the bar to be a little more forward as it is easy to shift the balance. Will still play with the power jerk some.

Also new format, 20min Snatch going heavy. 10min C&J going lighter focusing on techinque. Still trying to find the perfect 2 days a week, 45min total WL program for the masters lifter.

Walking

20min fasted walk before work.

What is fitness?

I believe fitness is the ability to accomplish a task. I think the ideal of IWCABTAMD is a marketing ploy. I believe it is actually impossible to be balanced in the 10 physical fitness skills. I believe the ideal of being balanced across the energy pathways shows a complete lack of understanding of cellular physiology.

General training develops strength, endurance and mobility. These three qualities form the base from which specific training will develop power, speed, accuracy, agility, balance, and coordination a specific task. Power, speed, accuracy, agility, balance and coordination are skill specific.

My training is based on these two parts: General training to develop strength, endurance and mobility and specific training to improve performance (increase power, speed, agility, accuracy, balance and coordination) in a specific sport, weightlifting and soccer depending on the time of the year.

Circuit/METCON

Seated hip stretch
Joint mobility
Foam Roll
Olift mobility

Olift Drills:
3-position snatch w/PVC
-1 was slightly forward, rest felt pretty crisp

4 Rounds, not for time:
Run 200M
8 DH Pull-ups
25 Push-ups

Seated hip stretch

I have not run in awhile, so I kept the distance short, 200M, focused on running an "unbroken" pace. Pull-ups and push-ups unbroken.

The purpose of the circuit was to train muscular endurance on the legs(200M run), and upper body. I wanted the load (reps/distance) of each round to be unbroken to train endurance. The load was specific to me. I think I could have pushed the DH to 9, maybe even 10 round. Push-ups were spot on.

If I just chose some arbitrary reps/distance/rounds to look like a tough Seal, or destroy myself, the rounds would be broken, I would have paced the runs and the point of the circuit (develop muscular endurance) would be moot. Specific training yields specific results.

Back Squat

Seated hip stretch
Joint Mobility
Foam Roll
Olift mobility

3 Pos Snatch
45
95
125-These all felt good and crisp, should have stopped
145xF, missed the first, then hit it from the hang, knee, missed from shin, bar to floor, tried to just snatch it, missed forward, then snatched it. Again, feeling this out, but no need for me to try 145 today.

Back Squat-WL shoes, WL belt, A2A
135x5
185x3
225x1
255x1
275x1
295x5-Goal Set

Seated hip stretch.

Main goal today was back squat, 295 (85% of 345, current 1RM) for 5 reps. I did that. I wanted to work some olift technique, so I did the 3 position snatch to work out the second, then first pull. Again, I knew I should have shut it down after 125.

Worked all night, little sleep. Plus, played soccer yesterday. Will see how the quads hold up.

Press

Seated hip stretch
Foam Roll
Joint Mobility
Olift warm-up

Press (cleaned from floor)
95x1
125x1
145x1
165x1
175x1
180x1
185x1
190x1(PR, BW 185)

Seated hip stretch
Foam Roll
Joint Mobility
Olift mobility

C&J (lbs)
135x1
185x1
215x1x3(about 80%)

Deadlift/Pull (WL shoes, hook grip, done like a clean)
225x1
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
435x1 (old PR)
445x1 (PR)-Fought this one hard, a little hitch at the knees.
-Have done DLs about 5 times in last 5months

Circuit
-Hip Extensions:30-20-10
-DH Pull-ups 20(19-1)-10(8-2)-5(4-1)
All over the place and adjusted on the fly. Too many breaks in pull-ups. A better circuit would have been 4 Rounds 20 hip extensions, 10 DH pull-ups

There was little global stimulus to this circuit and no metabolic conditioning effect. The break in DH caued it. Again, adding skips, maybe 100 per round would give the metabolic effect.

Seated Hip Stretch
Foam roll