Today was a grind to get through, a great lifting session but still a grind. After two days off (unplanned) I was really hoping for a great session. I had a necessary session that was full of weights moving and bars slamming.
Goal was to get to 150 and was hoping to get a few sets in at that weight. I was not feeling the best coming off the ground and was very low on energy so decided to cal it there.
Power Clean 3x2
125 3x2
Shoulder work to help with over head stability in jerk. I have been having some issues with my Teres Minor. Bluegrass Club lift tomorrow night!
Coming off a great week of training last week I was hoping for a great day of Snatches. I have been struggling to connect my snatch. Pulling too early, Cutting the pull off, Looping the bar, Over pulling, and Being soft in the hole. You name it i have done it. I am focusing on staying back on my heels, allowing the bar to flow up my hip and creating momentum that will allow the bar to fly past my head.
Training is a day to day process, some days are great, some days are awful. As long as I can keep my head up, My shoes on, Knees sleeves full a sweat, and hand chalked I will be on my way to my goals.
Training Today:
Snatch Pull + Snatch 6x1+1
Bar work
50 2x1+1
70 2x1+1
80 x1+1
90 x1+1 100 x1+1 Miss Behind 100 x1+1 Miss In front
Could not find my rhythm at 100k today 105 x1+1 110 x1+1 110 x1+1 115 x1+1
Hang Snatch - Below Knee
3x2
95 k 3x2
All Solid
Everyday is a challenge when things are not going great!
Today makes the day that I finally met a goal! I can now officially mark of my list: Clean 170kg. Today is also the day that I turn 27. It has been a great birthday. Wife made me a fantastic breakfast, Trained for 2.5 Hours, Hit a PR, and now going to be around friends and family to celebrate.
Training today consisted of Clean and Jerk (Jerk was taken out due to shoulders being a little upset).
Clean and Jerk:
Bar x10
50k x1
70 x1
90 x1
100x1
110 x1
120 x1 (Shoulders started to act up)
120 x1 Moved Faster under the jerk
130 x1 Hit the jerk decided
It was a long training session but full of PR's. A few of my Teammates hit a few PR's or at the least had a great lift as well. Dan Worked on moving under the bar faster, and saw some marked improvements in that. Coach Ben is tapering for the Arnold Classic next weekend. Chad blew up 250kg Box Squat today! (Wish I could Squat like Chad). All in all it was a great week of training and a fantastic training session today to top it all off.
Bluegrass barbell team lift #1! great training session tonight. It is always a great lifting session when success is in the air. Like I said . Great things will be happening this year. Day 3 of the new program was a great lift. Cleans from the hang and power cleans from the floor.I finally got my new knee sleeves in! very excited that m Tommy Kono Knee Sleeves came in and got to test the waters today with them. If you are a serious lifters i now know why every lifter should have some. It was heaven surrounding my knees during the lift.
Cleans - hang below knee 6x1
Bar work to begin.
50 4x1
70 3x1
80 x1
90x1
100 x1
110 x1 120x1 130x1 135 x1 140 x1 145 x1 150 x1
Power Clean - Floor 3x2
124 3x2
Below are some videos from the training session. 140/145/150 clean.
Today training consisted of all power jerks! Light day only 1 movement trained but the goal was quality. Got the chance to make it to bluegrass barbell today to jerk off the boxes today. Life is so much better when you can drop weight to giant wooden boxes. Day two of the program was Power Jerks for max 2. I had a good feeling going into the training session and I was right. I was extremely sore coming into today's session. Yesterday was a rough session and it came haunt me all day. Breakdown:
Power Jerks
Bar work
50 x2
50x5 press to warm the shoulders up a bit more!
70x2
80x2
90x2
100x2
110x2
120x2
130x2
135 x2
140x2
145x1 press out so I stopped.
Was very happy with how the training session went today. Tom was doing some split jerks with me and we was blowing them up. All around great short session for me and bluegrass.
Today marks the beginning of a new phase. Got my program from Coach Ben Carter! Today was a huge training session and I am feeling it! Warm up consisted of some 4" PVC pipe Rolling/ Hip Mobility/ T-Spine Mobility/ Ankle mobility. Grabbed a bar and became one with my bar!
2 Snatch Pull + Snatch
Warm up
50/ 70/80 x 2+1
6x2+1
90 2+1 Solid
95 2+1
100 2+1 Miss in front Rushed the Pull
100 2+1 perfect Stayed on the Heels
105 2+1
110 2+1 Shaky in the hole.
3x3 Hang Snatch Below Knee
89k 3x3
First 2 were perfect each set hand a hard time stabilizing the 3rd snatch each set.
May have to do with a lack of conditioning.
Front Squat
3x3 150k
This squat session today felt very heavy! Hit all three sets but my legs felt as if i ran a marathon.
Jerk Front Dip Drives
3x3 165
I though that squat felt heavy but 165 felt like 195 today. Struggled through the jerk drives. Tried to stay back on my heels and tight down and back up.
Tomorrow will be a lighter day and looking forward to it.
Every once in a while a lifter needs their confidence boosted! Today was one of those days! I had envisioned a 120 snatch today. Testing the waters to see where I was when it comes to max outs. I started warming up and felt great I have noticed that I am not exactly where I want to be. Pulling from the floor I am having a tendency of rushing into the pull.
Snatch
50 5x1
70 3x1
80x1
90x1
100x1
110x1
112x1
115 4x1
Now is when the confidence booster came I to play! I grabbed the some pulling blocks to but the bar where I knew I could succeed. With the bar now elevated right at me knees I grabbed my straps gripped the bar and applied some force.
Snatch - block at knee
70x1
90x1
100x1
110x1
115x1
120 (3x1) missed 1 on front 1 behind 1 perfect.
130 3x1 all attempts for fun and wanted to see where I was. I came very close on a couple of attempts just couldn't commit to getting my head through. Soon 130 will be mine again and I will keep pressing on!
Thanks to justin for my post training session massage! Back is feeling great now!
This has been a very intense week for training. A lot of attempts at 90-95% on both lifts. My shoulders are in shambles as of today. What makes this sport amazing in my eyes is there is always a way to get training in. I have been struggling with maintaining my shoulders healthy for many years. It has been a problem when I have high volumes of overhead stability. The issue with that is; I need to perfect my jerk that is the limiting factor in my competitions but cant work in it as much with pain. I can only train through so much pain before it really gets to me. With that being said I was able to get Pulls in. I am able to get almost the same benefits out of pulls as I do the true lifts.
My goal was to stay in the upper range of my snatch. I wanted to get the majority of my pulls in at 90-100% of my old Snatch 1RM. I was feeling great moving the bar. I was really focusing on trying to keep my chest over the bar, keeping my feet flat as the bar transitioned to my hips. From that position extending the hips and getting as tall as possible. I had a few reps at 120 that felt as if i had a superman pull (Jon North Term). Really trying to load the hips as the bar transitions into the 2nd pull to forcefully move it vertically. I have been missing a lot of my lifts in front which is telling me that I need to finish my pulls and not be in such a rush to get under the bar. Making strides everyday in training. Long road ahead of me, I plan o being in this iron game for many years to come and I can only get better from here.
Shout out to a fellow team member Chase McDaniel who hit a Clean and Jerk PR! Link Below Chase Clean and Jerk PR 110k
Training today was a very rough and tiring day! Double session today snatch in the morning session clean and jerk in the evening.
Snatch
The goal for snatch today was 2 waves that went 85/90/95 x1.
Opening up I had great warm up reps. Working my way up to 85% I knew I was going to have a great day! Then bam hit a wall like a crash test dummy.
105 hit
110 hit
117 miss
110 hit
115 miss
110 miss
112 hit
115 hit
117 miss 5 in a row! I did not want to give up on this weight. I know if I stopped I would have a hard time mentally getting over the weight! Got angry and ripped the bar off the floor, finished the pull, drove my body into the bottom and finally hit it!
117 hit!
Clean and jerk PM session
For my evening session I was able to go train with my Coach at Bluegrass Barbell. I was looking forward to this session all day. My goal was to work up to my opener 152. After warming up I knew my bicep tendon was not going to let me perform to the best of my ability. I also found out that I need to work more on my jerk. My coach pointed out that I am having a hard time staying in the correct line when driving though the jerk. Lifts started out well.
90 clean jerk
100 clean jerk
110 clean
120 clean jerk
130 ran jerk
135 clean jerk
140 clean jerk
145 clean missed jerk
130 clean jerk
135 clean jerk
140 clean jerk
Power cleans floor
100 3x1
110 3x1
120 2x1
130 2x1
I wanted to get the most out of this double session so that is why I added in the power cleans at the end. I was physically feeling great in my lower body but I couldn't handle any more over head stability. Tomorrow is going to be a great off day and full of recovery and hopefully a massage!
This weeks training is a Higher volume/ Higher Intensity training week. My goal is to get around 20 reps of Snatch and Clean and Jerk over 90%. It is also going to be a big week of squatting. Toady's lift was a grinder it took about 2hrs to finally get though. Had some waves today, Waved Heave press and Back Squat.
Heave Press: Did not go how I wanted it to go. I have been having some issues with my bottom position in the squat when i get over 80%. I decide it was time to switch it up and work on my weaknesses for a little. Here is how that turned out.
Worked up too 80% of snatch Max
105 x1
110 x1
117 x1Miss
122 x1Miss
110 x1Miss
117 x1Make
122 x1 Make
After watching some footage I had a hard time keeping the weight in my heels. Missed in front on way too may reps. I had planned on this exercise helping me and it turned out to be more frustrating than anything.
Back Squat
160 x3
170 x3
175 x3
165 x3
172 x2
180 x3 (2 Make Missed Last rep)
Back squat was a long session in itself. I had 6 sets and it felt like I was Squatting for days. I had a very had time keeping my mind in the squatting workout. I decided to put my big boy pants on and put a goal in my head for the day. This week is going to be full of ups and down but as long as I can keep my mind on the prize (Nationals).
I went and spoke at the NSCA KY state Conference today with fellow Performance Specialist Eric Hammer. We discussed Power Development for athletes and it went awesome.
Today was all about moving some light weight and recovering. This is a recovery week for me in preparation for a very intense week next week. High levels of volume with high levels of load.
Lift:
Snatch/ Clean jerk 3x1 80%
Snatch
50 x1
70 x1
80 x1
90x1
100x1
105 4x1 (Missed one in Front) Youtube
I decided to do 1 extra single in snatch because I missed one in front from not being patient. My last attempt was much better.
Clean and Power Jerk/Jerk
I started out doing Clean + Power Jerk. Worked all the way up to 132 (80%) with that.
Clean and Power Jerk :
90 x1
100 x1
110 x1
120 x1
132 x1
Clean and Jerk
132 2x1 Youtube
I have come to realize that almost all Lifters are very messy when they are training I took this Picture below. I figured out that it is just easier to have the weights close by but it takes forever to clean up at the end of a training session. Talk about great GPP work.
This has been an up and down week. Only got to train twice this week but I am now an official member of Bluegrass Barbell Lifting Club with Coach Ben Carter. I am very excited for the future for me and my club. We have a lot of new lifters who keep getting better everyday they step on the platform. Coach Carter is doing a great job with his team and I am very excited to be a part of it. Stay tuned for training updates and videos from myself and my fellow teammates. (Videos on Blog)
Training day number two for the week. I was more or less forced into taking a recovery week from an overall frequency standpoint. With that in mind i wanted to get the most of my training day.
Snatch Pulls and Clean Pulls followed by BN Split Jerk.
I was hoping for a good day of training so I could be in a better mood. It turned out to be a great day of training. Hitting a 3k Pr in the BN Split Jerk. I had 170 just could not hold the lock out. In a week or so that 170 will be a thing of the past.
Today was the first training day of the week for me... Not planned that way...
Sometimes work and life get in the way of the true fun things we get to do... Like training for Olympic lifting. I have been preparing for a talk I am giving on Saturday at the NSCA Kentucky state conference on Power development on athletes.
Training today consisted of snatches!
Warm up was pretty normal- bar work turn the posterior chain on an move weight!
Snatch
The plan was 3x1 @ 90% (117)
What happened was ... Misses all over the place!!
50 x5
70x3
80x1
90x1
Then out of nowhere I could not hit a snatch to save my life. I missed behind &in front 100x1 (2 misses in a row)
Took a moment gathered my self stopped yelling at the bar and attempted 110. Boom perfect snatch nice bottom position, locked out perfect, and blew the squat up. Now time to attempt 117(3x1).
Attempt 1- missed in front, I could just tell that my body was not going to move the weight today.
I decided to drop down to 110 to finish my attempts out I wanted to get 3 singles in to finish the day off. Well I ended up only hitting 1 snatch out of 3 at 110. Today was just not my day. Hopefully tomorrow goest I better and I find a way too move some weight and move it correctly!
Until next time - go lift heavy!
It has been a very busy last couple of days. I did not have time on Wednesday or Thursday to post. So quick recap of Wednesday training.
Snatch Hand below knee max x2.
Ended Up hitting 110k x2 and was feeling a little froggy! So I decided to "Jump" to 120 for a double.
Attempt #1 - Missed first attempt is front- thought about it too much.
Attempt #2 - Hit first snatch like a boss, second rep had to take a few breaths before I approached the below knee position. The weight felt heavy in my hands which transferred to my head! I missed the second rep slightly in front. Very happy with hitting the first attempt but still disappointed in rep 2.
Thursday - Off - extremely sore in the traps/posterior capsule of shoulders.
Friday
Snatch Pulls from Box @ Knee
4x4 - 80/90/100/110
2x2 130/130
3x1 140/140/150
Snatch Pulls felt great coming off the box, bar path was exactly what i was looking for. I had a great "Pop" coming off the hip and great vertical transfer. I surprised myself with the 140/150 sets it was feeling so good I didn't want to stop myself. I was joking with my buddy (Chad) before we began lifting and said I would Pull 140. I was very excited to pull that and It felt great.
Paused Front Squats 2 Sec @ Bottom
70 x3
100x2
120x2
140x2
145x2
150x2
160x2 "Go" call (1/1)
Squats were not as exciting for me today, I had a hard time really staying tight in the bottom position. I tried going for that double at 160 but I ended up getting straight "Pitted" on my second rep. A little frustrated about squats but I have not done a Front Squat Session in depth in a while so I cant get too upset. It can only get better from here is what I keep telling myself. I will pause Squat 190 before I know it.
Big shout out today for my buddy Chad Workman; he hit an all-time best squat today 200k x5RM (Video Below)
