Front Squats Need WORK!

Yesterday's workout 11/17/11

A1: Muscle Snatch 70% x 5; 75% x 3 x 2; 78% x 3

B1: Clean & Jerk 70% x 3 x 3; 75% x 2 x 3

C1: Halting Clean Deadlift 108% x 4 x 5

D1: Front Squat 85% x 4 x 5

 

Muscle snatch was strong. I muscle snatched 145 for a triple. I don't even think it's near my true max for that. If only my third pull was as legit...

 

Didn't have any trouble with the C/J's. Light weight but quite a bit of volume. I was pretty fatigued after this set.

 

Clean deadlifts at 245. Barbell had good speed and felt light coming off the floor. I could probably clean it if I was sure to finish my pull.

 

Finally the front squats. They sucked. My legs and glutes were already really sore going into today's workout and the previous exercises definitely didn't help. Started off with 220# and got 4 but it was slow. Went for a 2nd set and failed on the 4th rep because I got stuck in the bottom. Dropped it down to 205# for the 3rd, 4th and 5th set. Missed my last rep on the 5th set because I got stuck in the middle and couldn't get up. Fatigue? Weakness probably considering it was 15# lower than what I should have been squatting. Not really sure what is going on with the front squat.

 

Bledsoe asked me if I was getting stronger. I told him I guess I am but now I really don't think I am. I'm struggling with squats and I haven't really lifted anything over 87% in my olympic lifts so I have no way to tell. I guess I will just have to trust the programming and wait and see. But I definitely forsee another Starting Strength type cycle with lots of back and front squatting in my near future....

Note to self: Never take 4+ days off again...

Well I came back from New Orleans on Sunday. It was a blast to say the least. Probably the most fun I've had in about 5 months. It consisted of some of my fraternity brothers from college and  it was borderline Animal House from all of us. Before I left on Friday I got some training in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The workouts were written pretty light. I don't think I lifted anything above 75%. I think that may have been intentional to give my body a slight rest. But I didnt train at all Fri, Sat, Sun, Monday and combined with the heavy partying my workout on Tuesday was a complete bust. I missed alot of snatches and just felt weak.



Tuesday 11/16/11
A1: Mid-Thigh Snatch (blocks) 70% x 3 x 4 (missed most of these and didn't do them from the blocks)

B1: Jerk 78% x 3 x 3; 81% x 3 x 2 (felt solid)

C1: Hex Bar Jump 100% of clean x 3 x 5 (solid, strong pulls)

D1: Back Squat 86% x 4 x 5 (didn't have too much trouble, struggled with the 3rd or 4th rep on the 3rd, 4th sets but still felt pretty good)

Chris Moore was observing my back squatting and told me that I have good speed out of the bottom but I get stuck in the middle because I have weak glutes. He suggested RDLs or Good mornings. They haven't really been prescribed but I think I'm going to start doing some RDLs on sundays workout.

 

 

Wednesday was alot better:

A1: Clean off blocks (above knee) 70% x 3 x 4 (solid)

B1: Clean High Pull 84% x 3 x 5 (solid)

C1: Snatch Balance 75% x 3 x 2; 80% x 3 x 3 (missed 5 reps at 80%, 150# is pretty boss for me considering how bad I am at snatch balance)

D1: Push Press 85% x 4 x 4 (no trouble)

My snatch balances improved from before. Two weeks ago and last week I was really struggling with them. I couldn't even hit 70%. Maybe I was just tired but this week faired alot better. I nailed the 75% (140) and got 4 out of 9 reps at 150. I've never been really good at Snatch balances but I am quite happy my progress at them (before I could only do about 115#).

Today is front squat day and I'm sore as hell as a result of heavy lifting after taking a break. Gonna have to really man up this afternoon.

It's that time of year again

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I've been pretty busy at school working on a new project at work and training pretty hard at the gym so I'm just exhausted. Also I've come down with some kind of bug and I've been sick for about a week. I still trained all last week though I can tell my performance is weaker due to my body not being at 100%. I didn't train yesterday but I plan on doing a hybrid of today's usual and Saturday's workout just to get something in. I also go out of town this weekend for Brett's bachelor party in New Orleans so I definitely need to get alot of training in before the party begins.

Saw something pretty interesting the other day. It was called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It was a documentary about a guy going on a vegetable juice fast for 60 days. The guy had some kind of rare auto-immune skin disease and was obese.  He did a road trip around the US and drank only vegetable/fruit juice made from his juicer. He lost a ton of weight and managed to completly wean himself off of his medication (prednisone). It was actually pretty incredible and it kind of makes me want to get a juicer. Guess I'll have to ask the parents (er Santa) for one for Christmas because the juicers cost quite a bit of money.

Going along with that...Mike McGoldrick from my gym started doing a Neera cleanse/fast that I am thinking about trying when i start cutting weight for a meet. I think it consists of lemon juice, water, some kind of palm syrup? and cayenne pepper. Apparently James Fitzgerald of OPT recommended it and seeing McG's results I am pretty convinced it work. McG went from 200# to 186.5# doing just the 5 day fast. I didn't see a before picture but his after picture was more than enough to convice me.

Here is his blog. Crazy

Flow so hard...Catch up time

Failing at keeping up with posts again... Here are the workouts up to today's

Saturday Oct 22 2011

A1: 3-Pos Snatch (floor, knee, mid-thigh) - 70% x 3 x 2; 75% x 3 x 3
B1: Snatch Pull - 93% x 5 x 3
C1: Snatch Push Press - 75% x 5 x 5
D1: Back Squat - 65% x 5; 70% x 5; 75% x 4; 80% x 3 x 2

Monday Oct 24 2011

Snatch - 70% x 3; 75% x 2; 80% x 1; 85% x 1; 80% x 1; 75% x 1
Clean & jerk - 70% x 3; 75% x 2; 80% x 1; 85% x 1; 80% x 1; 75% x 1

Tuesday Oct 25 2011

A1: Power Snatch + 2 Snatch - 75% x 4 sets
B1: Jerk off Blocks - 78% x 3 x 5
C1: Trap Bar Jumps - 96% 5 x 5 (% of clean)
D1: Back Squat - 75% x 5; 80% x 5 x 3; 83% x 3

I'm missing less snatches thus...I'm getting better! My snatch technique is so much better now. I had a friend at the gym tape one of my snatches the other day and I was fired up when I reviewed it. I'm getting some really good explosiveness and extension. Also this was at 85% so it was a decently heavy weight. Only thing that I could have improved upon would be to catch it at the bottom. I tried to squat after I had caught the bar but I didn't go too deep.

While I need to work on my weaknesses (third pull, catching at the bottom) I've got to utilize my strengths. I have a very explosive and strong pull and so if I don't need to get under as much (i.e. down to the bottom) I don't think I should force it. I think what I should do is to try to pull that bar as high and as hard as I possibly can and jump as high as I possibly can. Then getting under the bar won't be as difficult.

Here is the video

Dammit Halloween

A1: Muscle Snatch - 65% x 5; 70% x 4; 75% x 3 x 2

B1: 3-Pos Clean (floor, knee, mid-thigh) - 70% x 2 sets; 75% x 3 sets

C1: Snatch Deadlift -100% x 5 x 3

D1: Front Squat - 65% x 6; 70% x 5; 75% x 5; 80% x 3 x 2

 

Muscle snatched 140 for a triple today. Previous 1RM was 135. Boom! Snatch and clean pulls have always been strong though. I need to get a stronger squat and a faster 3rd pull still. Snatch deadlift was to mid-thigh and I didnt do all the reps. Still just taking it slowly with deadlifts but did the Rx'd weight of 100% of my 1RM snatch. Front squats were a little challenging but I still managed to do a triple of 215.

 

Not really physically tired but mentally exhausted. Lab and school have been a little stressful lately. Didn't do so hot on my tests last week so I'm gonna have to study better next time.

 

I also haven't been eating very well lately. Lots of halloween candy because its just sitting at my house and I have no urge control. And I've lost weight...I'm down to about 178 right now from 181. I don't have the money to stock up on food for the rest of this month (lots of whole milk will have to do) but next month I'm going to try to eat way more and not go out at all so I can pay for it (minus NOLA bachleor party of course). Alright gotta get my 8 hours.

Woah long time

Damn I have failed at keeping this blog updated. Well considering I forgot what the other workouts were like they will just have to be lost to the history books. Just know this...that first week was rough. 5 straight days of lifting. I was really beat up the first 3 days but after that I felt really good. I'm missing reps here and there (especially with snatching) but I am making good progress I feel. I am now pretty comfortable catching snatches at the bottom or at least riding them down. Though often times I miss because I'm not solid and tight in the shoulders. More snatch balances and snatch-grip push presses should help. I also didn't do much in terms of snatch deadlifts or pulls. I just don't feel comfortable yet about my back lifting heavy weight with a snatch grip. I have plenty of time and don't want to get injured right off the bat again.

Well here was today's workout. The gym website was down and so I did something from Catalyst's strength development cycle. Turns out it's pretty much the same as hugefication with small differences.

A1: Power Clean + 2 Clean - 70% x 2 sets; 75% x 3 sets

B1: Snatch Balance - 65% x 3 x 2 (1 miss); 70% x 3; 75% x 3 x 2

D1: Push Press - 78% (140#) x 5 x 5

E1: Abmat Situps - 15 x 4

 

Did abmat situps instead of toes to bar/knees to elbows because they just make my back round too much and I didn't like it. Also didnt do any clean high pulls because I wasnt sure how much weight to use since the website was down. I'll just make it up next week :/

Ripptoes ain't got shit on Hugification

Today's glorious workout:

A1: Power Clean + 2 Clean - 65% (140#) x 3 x 2; 70% (150#) x 3 x 3

B1: Clean High-Pull - 70% (150#) x 5 x 3; 75% (160#) x 5 x 2

C1: Snatch Balance - 60% (110#) x 3 x 2; 65% (120) x 3; 70% (130) x 3 x 2

D1: Push Press x 5 x 5 (135#)

 

It's only day 2 and I'm completely wrecked. My legs feel as heavy as iron and as stiff as woodden boards. Nevertheless, I'm getting good work done. The workouts are really long and quite challenging. They really do wear you down and just make you want to eat and pass the hell out. As I type I'm having trouble concentrating because I'm just completely drained. And I thought Ripptoe's program was tough... This program is by far the most challenging but I know it will pay off with increased strength and power in my lifts.

 

Speaking of eating...apparently I'm not eating enough protein. I saw a post by the guys at 70's Big and he posted an article quoting a bodybuilder with a phD saying that competitive athletes that do alot of strength work (i.e. Olympic weightlifters) need to be getting about 1.2-1.6 g per lb of bodyweight. First of all, I think this number is quite excessive and just plain out of sight for a person on a grad school budget. I would have to eat about 216 - 288g of protein per day to hit that number. I simply can't afford or stomach that much. I have previously read that athletes need about 0.8-1g/lb, a more conservative value. However, looking at my dietary consumption, I don't think I even get that. I eat pretty clean but I definitely could use some more protein. This probably explains why I'm so sore and recovery is taking longer.

 

So being the broke ass grad school student I am, something is going to have to get sacrificed in order for me to spend more on the food. Well looks like I won't be going out ever....again. I already don't go out too much anymore. But cutting out the 1-2 times a month I have been doing , I figure I can save about 70-80 bucks a month. Gonna be tricky with my friend's bachelor party and wedding but I'm gonna try to make due. Probably for the best anyways. Since I can't seem to drink 2 beers without being hungover the next day. Epic Fail.

 

Ok falling asleep....squats in the morning....

First day of the new program

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” - Bruce Lee

Today's workout:

A1: Power Snatch + 2 Snatch - 65% (120#) x 2 sets; 70% (130#) x 3 sets

B1: Jerk off Blocks - 70% (150#) x 3 x 2; 75% (160#) x 3 x 3

C1: Trap Bar Jumps - 90% x 7 x 2; 90% (195#) x 5 x 3 (% of clean)

D1: Back Squat - 60% (170#)  x 8; 65% (185#) x 8; 70% x 6 (forgot to do this set); 75% (210#) x 6 x 2

This was Day 1 of the Hugification Project. Started it a day later because I was sick on Monday. My allergies have been going haywire these past couple of days. The workout was good. Very long though. Took me about 1.5 hours not timing rest periods. I think I am going to start being more dilligent about timing my rests. No more than 2 minutes between sets for oly lifts/auxillary work and no more than 3 minutes for squats.

Missed 1 of the snatches at the 65% but thats why it's practice. Practice the lifts a million times till its like clockwork. Rest of the snatches were good though and caught them at the bottom. Also forgot to do a set of squats. All the numbers on the sheet made me dyslexic and I missed seeing it. Oh well.It progresses next week at higher weight/less volume so I can just make it up then. Also I didn't have time to do the 2nd workout (yes this was a 2 a-day workout). Just didn't have time/energy after getting owned by my two tests and sickness. It's hard to train like an athlete when you have school and a job :/

The Comeback

I'm somewhat happy and somewhat displeased at this morning's training. The workout:

Snatch - comfortable heavy single in 3 attempts. 175# (X), 175, 185
Clean and Jerk - comfortable heavy single in 3 attempts. 205#, 215#, 230# (X)
Back squat 1RM -  280#

First, the snatching went really well. Warmups felt solid and I am finally getting to where I am pulling under the bar and catching it low. And no more blasting...the hips it was all brush! I think 185 was still a power snatch but probably a little bit above parallel. Pulling under and catching low definitely saves the pulling strength and feels much faster. I'm only going to catch this way. No more power snatching unless its prescribed.

Clean and jerk was another story. My technique honestly is not as good as my snatch technique probably because I don't work on the clean as much as I should. That needs to change. I'm not as fast at pulling under and pretty slow overhead. Got 215 easy and went for 230 but failed hard on the clean. Pulled way too early and didnt even get close to full extension. I think I should probably do some position cleans to work on this.

Squat was kind of disappointing. Really was looking to make a 300# squat. 275# felt super easy and got greedy and went for 295. Could not get up for the life of me and failed 2 attempts. I probably jumped up too quickly in the weight. Then I decided to go back down to 280#. Successfully squated it but it literally took 10 seconds to get out of the bottom. For the hell of it, tried 285# and had to dump it. So while not 300, its still a very good PR. Also its about 5% higher than my previous 1RM-relative-to-bodyweight (Previous best was 250 @ 170#)

I'm probably being overly critical. A 181kg total and a 280# back squat only 8 weeks after coming back from injury. Not too shabby....

Looking forward to seeing what I can do 10 weeks from now.

Got Damn Sexual Tyrannosaur!

Today's workout was pretty light and easy.

Snatch 1x5 @ 135#
Clean and Jerk 1x5 @ 165#

Missed 1 of my snatches due to lack of focus and not sticking it. But all the other attempts were pretty decent. Still power snatching everything. One thing I also need to work on is footwork. While oly lifting my feet tend to go out pretty wide. While I am capable of squatting pretty wide, its probably not ideal as it creates alot of torque on the knees and the hole is pretty hard to get out of. Plus I don't front squat/back squat normally with my feet that wide apart. Looks like I will be looking like a crazy person doing footwork drills in the middle of lab or on campus. But if you wanna get better gotta make some sacrifices! Clean and jerks were fast and solid. My overhead is feeling alot faster. The true test will be saturday when I attempt some heavy singles.

Let me just say I am frigging pumped about Saturday's lifting. Today I finally got my body composition measurements done. Turns out all that squatting has indeed put some nice mass on my bones.

Long story short I put on 9 solid pounds of muscle and only 2 lbs of fat. At 180.7 lbs, I'm sitting at about 12.6% body fat. It's a little more than previous and the 10% or lower that I'd like, but I will absolutely take 9 lbs of lean body mass. Hopefully all that new muscle will be able to lift some hefty barbell.

So it's looking like I will be shooting for the 85 kg weightclass (up from 77). Bledsoe thinks (and I agree) that I will be more competitive at that class. So now I am hoping to put on a few more lbs... possibly up to 185-187.  I think with the new program I am starting (the The Hugification Project as Bledsoe has so aptly named it) I will hit that in about 10 weeks. 

I just hope I don't need to buy new pants to fit my soon-to-be-massive legs :)

What was that? An exhibition? We need emotional content!

Day 2 of deload. Did an interval metcon:

5 rounds:
3 Heavy Power Snatch 135,140,145,150,155
10 Pullups (Kipping)
25 Double unders
Rest 5 min

I enjoyed this interval. My power snatches felt solid and fast. I only missed 1 rep on the last round (155#). Had it overhead and locked but just hesitated on my drive up, lost balance and dropped it. Took about 2 minutes for each round.

 One thing however... I HAVE TO STOP BANGING THE BAR ON MY HIPS! Not just for technique purposes but that crap hurts. My waist line is seriously tender right now. I'm really not sure how to fix this also. I read an article by Greg Everett at Catalyst Athletics (great site and definitely read his book about Olympic weighlifting) and he basically said there were two schools on bar contact: Bang and Brush. Right now I'm definitely banging. Most of the best lifters brush and I believe that this is this best for comfort reasons and it prevents the bar from coming out too far from the body. But everytime I try to "brush" I lose aggressiveness and speed. I definitely feel alot faster and more powerful with the "bang". I guess I will just have to get more practice in order to make the adjustment to brush.

Rock Me Amadeus

So random post title I know but today I basically sat around and watched the movie Amadeus and I was reminded of that epic 80's song "Rock me Amadeus" by Falco. What an epic song and an epic group name. I'm thinking I will definitely have to add that song to my squatting playlist.

Training today was kind of mediocre. I was not really pleased with it.

Snatch 1x5 @ 80%
Clean and Jerk 1x 5 @ 80%

For the snatches I used 150# with no problems. For C&J I  did 3 @ 200# felt really slow and missed 2 attempts so I dropped the weight down to 185# and did 2 there. I probably should have just done 185 but I got greedy. Bledsoe said my technique was solid just still need to work on my building speed and strength.  Hopefully the rest of the week will fair better. I really want to go into this new program with some strong numbers.

This next week is going to be pretty rough school wise. I've got a test in Immunology on Monday and I have no clue what is going on in that class. Been bad about skipping the 9am but I have all the class notes. I also have another test on Wed in Adv Biomaterials. So yea this weekend is going to be full of cramming knowledge. So it looks like this weekend will be a quiet one again. That's ok because I need to save some money for my friend Brett's bachelor party and wedding. Training's definitely gonna be hurting after those weekends.

Oh and just so you have this stuck in your heads for the next few days

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Okay, first I know I said I would try to keep this updated once a day (especially on the workout days) but truth be told I am incredibly lazy on the weekends. Generally I just don't feel like doing anything on the weekends aside from traning, eating and sleeping. I used to be big "going-outer" but now I rarely go to the bars. Too expensive and just plain boring.

Anyways, good things happened this weekend in terms of training. Saturday I ended my strength cycle with a strong 260# back squat for 3x5. Let me just say, I am really pleased about my squat progression. Coming off my injury I started off barely able to squat 135#. With Mark Ripptoe's Starting Strength barbell program I took my 5 rep back squat to 10# above my pre-inury 1RM of 250#. I'd say that's pretty awesome progress. Did some shoulder presses at 150# but didn't make the requisite 15 reps across 3 sets. But I don't really care too much about my presses as long as my squat is going up. Stronger hips and posterior chain makes for a better weightlifter anyhow.

I took Sunday off to prepare myself for this deload week I'm starting on Tuesday. On Saturday I am going to max out my squat to get a base for the new program I will be starting. I also plan on doing a heavy single on my clean and jerk and my snatch. I say heavy single because I'm still not comfortable going max effort on my oly lifts just for fear of injury (especically with the snatch). Basically I'll just do it by feel. If I feel I'm not staying tight or my back is getting irritated im calling it. Can't afford to have another serious injury.

Overall this cycle has been great. I've put on alot of strength and muscle mass and I feel really confident about my lifts. I am really looking forward to seeing some big progress on my total.

Gonna leave with a video of me power cleaning 195# from the ground. This was the heaviest lift I've done from the floor since my injury. Really pleased about the speed and explosiveness. Now if only I could get better at pulling under the bar....

MAH FIRST POST!

So as the title says this is my first post on this thing. I've tried blogging before but I am not very dilligent about it but this time I am absolutely going to do my best to post to this at least once a day if not more.

Some things about me:

I am 25 years old and currently in grad school working on a Ph.D in Biomedical Engineering.

About a year ago I started doing crossfit . I lost a ton of weight and got kinda strong.

With crossfit I was introduced to the Olympic lifts. I was instantly hooked. There is something about lifting a weight-loaded barbell from the ground to overhead that is just so cool and powerful feeling.

Anyways, to weightlift I had to get a whole lot stronger because I was quite weaksauce.

So with weightlfiting training and coaching at Faction Strength and Conditioning, in a mere 6 months I managed to take my snatch from 105# to 190# and my clean and jerk from 135# to 235#  before injuring my L5-S1 disc in June 2011 :(

I spent about 10 weeks doing absolutely nothing. But slowly and surely I managed to build my strength back up and now I am about to begin training in order to compete in my FIRST EVER  set of weightlifting meets so I can qualify for the National University Championships in April 2012 (That's right I've never competed before...ever).

It will be an interesting journey as I also have to start finishing up my research for my degree. And that is taking ALOT of my time. But I'm confident I can do it.

I wanted to make this blog to serve as a record of my training and to help keep me focused on my goals. This blog will probably be mostly workout logs but I will likely have a few posts on some of my nutrtion, progress and life in general.