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Kill With Power; Die!! Die!!
Topic Started: Jun 5 2005, 07:37 PM (10,148 Views)
Matt Frost
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Fuckin' SLAYER!!
Week Three, Day Two

Thursday 01.05.06

Kept it short and sweet tonight, as I had a PR deadlift attempt on the schedule.

Squat snatches have been problematic for me the last couple weeks, but two things helped my confidence. The first was my workout from Tuesday night. I figure, if I can pull the snatches the way I pulled my cleans, I'll do well. The second was the drop snatch and overhead squat work I've been doing. No squat snatch I had on the plan was heavier than what I did Saturday with the drop/overhead exercise.

Squat Snatch:

warmup bar x 5, 40kg x 3
47.5 x 2
57.5 x 2
65 x 1
67.5 x 1
72.5 x 1
75 x 1
72.5 x miss
72.5 x 1

All in all, these were the best full snatches I've done in weeks. The miss was because I was a little distracted, I got out of my groove. I came back a minute later and smoked it. So, what has the problem been? Was it all in my head? Did one bad workout make me lose confidence? Yes and no. It was more of a combination of doing something the wrong way, having it reflect in my lifts (missed attempts and ugly lifts), and then compounding it by continuing to do the wrong thing but doing it harder. It was never a problem of strength. Two weeks ago, lack of a proper warmup doomed my outing, and last week, trying to rush under the bar left the weight crashing down on my shoulder girdle, causing me discomfort and pain in my shoulder. Also, a general lack of tightness at the top made me miss a few attempts and made me work harder for the lifts I managed to save.

Tonight, I stripped it all back. I finished my pulls, I stayed tight. And I set myself up for some continued improvement. Yoda thinks the weight is too light for me. Once I am up in my 90% range is where I am able to really crank on the pull and get the dive-under and lock that I need. After tonight- and hitting a 75k that felt, well, as easy as it should have felt, I am inclined to agree. I'm going to have to start making heavier attempts soon, and yes, I'll miss a few- but I'll make a few too.

I skipped pulls to save energy for the deadlift.

Deadlift:

warmup 70kg x 3, 120kg x 3
137.5 x 2
160 x 2
182.5 x 1
192.5 x 1
205 x 1
230 x 1 for a PR!

While it wasn't quite the PR I was looking for, I'll take it! 506 lbs = 6 lbs on my best hook-grip DL. And, it wouldn't have passed in a PL meet because I hitched it, but I'm not deadlifting it for a PL meet so I'll take it! Grip felt damn strong, even after the hitch. Did manage to split a callous on my thumb but not to the point of bleeding.

What I learned: Not to base the next cycle using the same percentage table I use for back squats. There were too many small jumps and if I had conserved my energy and made fewer, but larger jumps, I may have hit the 237.5 I was looking for tonight. Still, I was only a mere 7.5 kilos off my mark, and doing it with just a belt and hook grip, I am satisfied with it- for now.

I am going to start supplementing again. I've neglected it for a while but my joints are starting to feel banged up from 4 days a week of explosive lifting. Starting again with glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM, as well as continuing to take Omega 3-6-9 blend. I'm going to add some protein to the mix, either a powder or an RTD shake, at least once per day, beginning next week. Eating has been decent the last couple days- still getting my fruit & veggie serving (one each, but they're BIG servings), and making sure I am not overdoing it when I have meals.

I had a moment of clarity today when I got stressed out at work. I had a salad waiting for me on my desk (grilled chicken caesar) and I was pissed off for some reason or another, and before you know it, a slice of pizza was in my hand. I kept thinking, I know how good this will taste and it will make me feel better. I'm a total chick like that. And then it hit me. I have a salad on the table. I don't need this piece of pizza. It's not going to put me in a better mood. I put the slice back and went and ate my damned salad. And what do you know? My mood improved because I kept my resolve and didn't cave to my first base instinct.

Strength is rewarding.

That's all for now.
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Caber McJock
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I agree
Nice PR dude, congrats on the Pizza avoidance!

I swear sometimes pizza is evil. I think about pizza as much as I think about sex. Maybe the problem is with me.
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Frozenkilt
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That goes without saying.

Nice PR, Matt. 500 is going to become a regular thing for you.

- Sean
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Matt Frost
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It's even harder when you work in a pizza place, Jeff!!

I'm getting comfortable with 500, that's the third time I've made it, and the second without straps. And it's nice to know that even though for the most part I haven't been event training, that my strength hasn't diminished.
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NickGiammarresi
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Matt, i replyed on the anvil to your post. so if you dont read that one....most likely ill be competing as a fitter midlleweigth 260-265....just don feel all that comfortable i was down deited down wise to 242 but i looked terrible..now ive been sick for 3 weeks on and off an this week has been really rough i went from 255 to 245 no appetite....im going back to the doctor tommorrow its really rough to trying to manage your insulin when you can eat anything..... most likely stress from work i guess ( hope)

if all goes well ill aprils contest( even though t that yoke sucks!) or Bens contest ( bad ass in upstate NY)

then some HG games in the summer...
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Matt Frost
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Hey Nick, that's good, man. I will likely do the contest- it's pretty heavy and challenging, but that's why it's called STRONGman, right?

Good luck recovering. How's the groin, healed up yet?

Saturday and Sunday, training recap:

Would have gotten to this sooner but I was so busy. Here's a summary of what happened:

Saturday:

Started with power snatches and I didn't do so hot. I was having some timing issues and I was getting no shrug at higher weights. I missed 85kg and then went back down and hit a couple at 70-75kg, but there was no way I was going to reset myself that far in, so I moved on.

Next up was the drop snatch/overhead squat combination. These went rather well.

40kg x 5+5
50kg x 4+4
60kg x 3+3
70kg x 2+2

I felt really stretched after that last double so I moved to jump squats:

80kg x 5
90kg x 5
100kg x 3

Wow, I love these, love love love these. I was still getting decent air with 100kg on my back! Could have done two more reps, but I didn't want to wear myself out for Sunday....

Sunday:

Clean and Jerk was the big thing of the day. I had a test- my old 120kg nemesis was my last attempt. This time, it was a full clean and a jerk, not a power clean. But first I had to work up to it.

70 x 2+2
80 x 2+2
92.5 x 1+1
97.5 x 1+1
102.5 x 1+1
110 x 1+1
120 x 1+1
125 x miss
125 x miss

I didn't have much of a doubt that I would get it, but even still, I had a few butterflies. It seemed like all eyes were on me. In a flash, I felt myself being spiked into a squat position, but I held. I waited for the weight to roll out of my grip like it has in attempts past. Nope, it's staying put. Now I gotta stand up... there. No problem. The jerk was just a formality, though it did look very good or so I was told. I tried for 125 twice, but I had shot the proverbial wad. Would have been nice to nail it, but now I just have a new target.

Bench press was up next and I didn't do well, I was trying for 137.5kg but I only made it up to 130 before I failed. Again, I think I doomed myself with too many small jumps. Still, no big deal, I got the lift that really counted.

After that, I did some abs and some rotations, and also some light leg extensions to help get some blood in the knees, followed by a brisk 10 minutes on the elliptical walker.

April 1 is the Stronger Than All 2 contest. I am leaning towards doing it, but I am going to wait until next week to decide for certain. The events are:

Chain Yoke, 100' distance, 650 pounds. I've done 675 on a regular yoke but this one will have sides that can swing independently (not to mention right into my walking path).

Six Inch Medley: Clean and press six consecutively heavier plate-loaded Inch dumbbells (2.5" handle). My weights would be 90/100/110/120/130/140. Has to be cleaned in one motion and then locked out overhead.

Axle Deadlift for reps, 585 lbs. This sits a little higher than a barbell, it's on tires like the axle clean & press would be. Straps are allowed, which doesn't make much sense, but if it helps, fine by me.

Log Clean & Press for reps: 275 lbs. clean and press each rep. My best set of 5 was done with 260, so this is something I should do well in given 13 more weeks to train it.

Carry & Drag medley: Duck walk 400lb. implement 50', load a 300lb. keg to a platform, and then drag 700 lb a distance of 50'. This looks like fun!

Doable, but grip, core strength, and DL ability are going to have to be my focus if I am going to do well.
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Matt Frost
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Week Four, Day One- Tuesday 01.10.06

I arrived at the gym fairly early, only to discover that my Rehband knee sleeves were not in my gym bag. Not cool. See, this is what happens when you wash your gear, you forget shit at home. Oh well, I should be OK, just gotta make sure I prehab enough.

And I did just that, even throwing in some leg extensions and several sets of bar warmups.

Power Clean/Power Jerk:

warmups 40kg x 3+3, 60kg x 3+3
72.5 x 2+2
85 x 2+2
95 x 1+1
102.5 x 1+1
102.5 x 1+1
102.5 x 1+1

The last three felt hard as hell. Probably some residual fatigue from Sunday, I just wasn't getting a good pull on the bar. Still, they were all good lifts.

Clean Pulls:

102.5 x 5
115 x 4
130 x 3
130 x 3
130 x 3

The first set at 130 made me mad because I felt like I was pussing out, so the next two sets I cranked up the intensity. Less form, more power. Now THAT got my blood going again, and it set the tone for the rest of my workout.

Front Squat:

60kg x 5
100 x 5
140 x 3
160 x 1
170 x 1

Went completely off the reservation for these. I was working with the Nowacks and I just said, fuck the plan, a bunch of small jumps... just decided to go heavy as I could. No belt, no wraps. Kirk gave me a slight nudge on the last one. I got stuck just past parallel on the way up, and he helped me by forcing me through the sticking point. I still had jump on the bar once I was standing upright, but dammit, that sticking point... it's pissing me off. I can't claim this as my raw front squat PR, but it was DAMN close to being just that. I need to find a way to get past that sticking point.

Rolling Thunder Work:

Now this is where the training begins for the April 1 contest. I am thinking of gripwork twice a week. Tonight I did two cable exercises with the Rolling Thunder handle, and then some actual Rolling Thunder DL's. So here's what transpired:

*all weight on the RT work in pounds*

Reverse Cable Curl:

reps per hand unless noted

40 x 10
50 x 10R/8L
40 x 10

50 proved to be too difficult to do with proper form so I scaled back on the last set.

Reverse Cable Flyes:

reps per hand

30 x 10
40 x 10
50 x 10

Actually think these were too light- should have begun at 40.

Rolling Thunder DL:

I'd say that the handle, loading pin, and carabiner weigh about 5 pounds, so...

50 x 5R/5L
75 x 5R/5L
95 x 3R/3L
140 x 1R/1L
150 x 1R/missed left hand attempt.

Not a bad start, but it's a long way from merely deadlifting 150 pounds on a Rolling Thunder to cleaning a 140-lb 2.5" handle dumbbell. But it's a start, and one I intend to see through to a finish.

My forearms = toast tomorrow, though. That's why I am typing all this now, I won't be able to touch a keyboard for two days.
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Frozenkilt
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Quote:
 
See, this is what happens when you wash your gear, you forget shit at home.


I heard that.

- Sean
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Matt Frost
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Yeah, from now on, people are just going to have to suffer. I don't go to the gym to cuddle. A little stank never killed anyone.
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Matt Frost
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I know, I know. Late again with the training report. Truth is, I've been so busy and frankly burned out on training. I've stuck with it long enough to know that it's just temporary burnout, and I will be back, better than ever on Thursday.

Last week I had a bad workout, I mean, it was bad. Thursday night I started off well with snatches, and even worked up to a PR attempt of 92.5 kg. I missed it three times, but came very close on the first two attempts. But after that- nothing. No energy, no pop, no oomph in my workout. I tried drop snatches and my body just did not want to cooperate. I recognized then that it was more than tiredness or fatigue, I was overtrained.

It bothers me when I become aware of that because there is always this nagging voice in my mind that is challenging my manhood, but fortunately for me, I've never been that much of a steakhead that I would allow machismo to push me into doing something when I know better. I simply did some hypers and some stretching and called it a night.

Originally, I was going to take Saturday off, but I wanted to test my mettle on some of the events that April has going for Stronger Than All 2. I got together with Craig on Saturday and this is how it went.

Log Clean & Press:

After warming up with some light clean & presses on a barbell, we moved over to the log. We do not have the lovely Williams Strength 12" log since Reggie moved back to Idaho, so we're back to the 8" Mastiff log. This log weighs 180 empty and I had not touched it in almost a year.

180 x 1 clean, 5 presses
180 x 5 cleans, 5 presses
200 x 5 cleans, 5 presses
220 x 3 cleans, 3 presses
250 x 2 cleans, 2 presses
275 x 2 cleans, 1 press, missed the second press attempt.
180 x 1 clean, 1 press, 1 push press, 1 split jerk.

I should be clear, the "presses" I do when I log C&P for reps are power jerks, really. And, for not touching that log in so long, I was happy. I didn't breathe properly and it cost me that second lockout at 275. That is going to be a beast at the contest on a 12" log, but I've done 260 for 5 cleans and 5 presses before... so who knows.

DB Clean & Press:

These were one-armed DB clean & presses. While we don't have 2.5" handles on our DB's, they are a little thicker than your normal DB handle. I warmed up with 60, 70, and 80 lbs. before making the jump to 100.

100 x 1L, 1R
110 x 1L, 1R
120 x 1R
130 x miss
130 x 1R

Yeesh. This event is going to be... tough. Oddly, I had an easier time with my clean with my left (off) hand. When it landed on my shoulder it was in the perfect position to press with. Yet, I just didn't feel confident to attempt 120+ with my off hand. The 130- first attempt, got the clean, but lost the press. Steve Pulcinella said he was just waiting for rotator cuffs to start tearing. The second time I got the press, locked it, but had a hard time controlling it down. I need a lot of work on this- and to think, this isn't even with a 2.5" handle!

3" Axle High-Pulls:

Before Kirk and Kevin brought in a 2" axle, Iron Sport had a fat bar that was about 3". It only weighs about 30 lbs- it's quite hollow, but it suited us well. Craig and I were originally going to do these single-armed, but beyond adding the 10kg bumpers, this was just not happening. In order to get some overload we had to do them two-handed.

bar x 10
85 x 5
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 4
200 x 3

Within the second set Craig said to me that I had to stop trying to do Olympic cleans. My hip pop was making me lose my grip. I had to pull from the floor straight up, almost like an explosive upright row. That got the bar higher, but even still, from 175 on there was very little control on the descent. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about that, but I do have to apply that technique to the dumbbell cleans because I won't be able to bang a 2/5" dumbbell and clean it the way I clean a barbell.

For old time's sake I continental-cleaned the 3" bar with 200 on it and strict-pressed it, and Craig hit a nice Karlsen clean and a press, then we called it a day.

I knew doing this would be good, since it wasn't the same kind of training I've been doing for the last two months I wouldn't have instant fatigue. Still, I was very sore the next day. And the day after. And even today. So, I took tonight off against my ego's wishes. Tomorrow is a sports massage and then Thursday I'll be back in the gym with a lighter workout. I have Total Night to focus on and that's 4 weeks away.
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Matt Frost
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Thursday, 01.19.06

Now that's a good workout.

I don't really have a training cycle I am on right now, the one I was on ended last week, and I haven't decided if I am going to do the same one again. I did like the results I got from it, though, as both my C&J and Snatch went up and my form has vastly improved.

I am also facing a decision, and I think I've already made up my mind. I'm going to continue with Oly lifting and put Strongman on the back burner. This means I am not going to compete in Stronger Than All 2, though I will go and support Craig and I am sure that they will need help spotting and loading. And I am not completely abandoning Strongman, but I just don't think that two months of focus is enough time to substantially improve the Oly lifts to the point where they will have noticeable carryover to the events.

Also, I've grown to love Oly lifting. A lot. There's so much more to it than meets the eye. Where once I viewed it as a means to an end, now I see it more of an end itself. I want to improve, to get better, to get stronger with the lifts, and the only way I can do that is if I dedicate my training to it entirely. I really want to give myself a full year of Oly training and see where I am.

Tonight's training... didn't keep it really light like I wanted to. I had my new bumpers and I had to break them in.

Power Snatch:

warmups bar x 5, 40kg x 3, 40kg x 3
50kg x 3
60kg x 3
70kg x 2
75kg x 2
82.5kg x 1
87.5kg x 1
92.5kg x 2 misses.

Not bad. Form was good, no wide leg splits. The 87.5 is my second best snatch, half a kilo better than I did in the meet in December and 2.5 kilos under my PR. No complaints here.

Clean & Jerk:

warmups 50kg x 3+3, 60kg x 3+3
70kg x 3+3
80kg x 2+3
90kg x 2+2
95kg x 1+2
100kg x 1+2
105kg x 1+1

These were full cleans and mostly split jerks, but I moved to power jerks on the last couple sets because I just didn't feel stable up top with my splits today. Went a little heavier than I had planned, just because I didn't feel like being a wuss.

Jump Squats:

70kg x 5
70kg x 5

And that was that.

I don't like taking time off like I did, it felt difficult to find my groove on the C&J even though it was only 5 days. I should have just trained light all week instead. Oh well, live and learn.

One of my immediate goals is to either find a program designed for a SHW lifter or find someone to write me one. I can only guess as to what to do, and I don't really want to waste time on trial and error. I need a voice of experience. Jen was telling me tonight that a program written for an 82kg lifter isn't going to be the same for someone like me. So, that's going to be the first thing I do in the next week or so. And I need a new pair of lifting shoes, because the ones I have are starting to wear badly on the heels and I think it's causing me some minor knee discomfort.


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Llamapower
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Not The Mama
Good luck with the Oly lifting. :)

If you do decide to go back to strongman contests in a year or two I'm betting the oly lifting will help you massively, so its a win-win I think.

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Frozenkilt
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Matt,

drop me an email sometime if you want to talk olifting programs. I've got a few of them laying around, from a pretty basic linear progression type to a WSB type template I wrote down a few years back. Might give you some ideas.

- Sean
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Matt Frost
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I'll do that, Sean. Always looking for some fresh input.

Colin, I do see the potential for solid crossover. I think of guys like Bergmanis and Marunde, who both started in Oly lifting, and who are now doing well in Strongman. I keep thinking, damn, I'm still pretty new at all of this. It still hasn't yet been 3 years since I picked up a weight, and next month it will be two years since I joined Iron Sport. Right now we have a great Oly crew at Iron Sport. And I think, should I get burned out or bored, I can always say, fuck it, and start loading stones or take the yoke for a few runs.
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Frozenkilt
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Just think Russian, not Bulgarian. Focusing on the olifts does NOT have to mean to the exclusion of everything else.

- Sean
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Matt Frost
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That's a good outlook. I think I have way too much ADD to just train the O-lifts and assistance with no variation. But, again, I have some research to do yet.
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Matt Frost
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Saturday, 01.21.06

First note of the day- callous tears hurt no matter how much you tape them. That being said, I began warming up and I felt pretty durned good. Shared the platform with Jen Jasper for the first half of the workout.

Power Cleans:

warmups bar x 5, 40 x 5, 50 x 3
60 x 3
70 x 3
80 x 2
90 x 2
100 x 1
110 x 1
117.5 x miss
122.5 x miss
122.5 x 1 for a PR!! Then, just to make it a full PR, a power jerk!!!

Hot damn, I love days like this.

It's strange because though I was doing well, I didn't feel particularly strong or on my game, I just told Yoda (my coach, Jim Capista) that I was going to go as high as I could go with power cleans. So on 117.5, when I missed it, I figured, OK, here's the wall today. I asked Yoda if I should try the 117.5 again or go for the PR of 122.5, and we decided to bet the farm. Well, the first attempt was all hip and no whip. I pulled the bar high enough but I just didn't get my elbows around fast enough. Jen and Yoda said I should try again, and I agreed, so, I took a brief rest and then got back on the platform. This time, though, I just trusted in my body to do the right thing, and sure enough, it did. The bar went up, I dipped under, ended up riding it down into a squat clean but I came up with it no problem. It felt very solid. The jerk was just icing on the cake.

After some rest I stripped the bar down to 40 kilos and started to work on my snatches. I wanted to do hang snatches, but at this point, the callous tears on both of my thumbs were making the hook grip extremely painful. I re-taped, and still, very uncomfortable. One tear is on my inner right thumb just before the middle knuckle, and the other is on the inner left right at the seam of where my thumb meets the palm of my hand. That one was hard to tape unless I used half a roll. So, out came the sTarps.

Now, this is reason #23 why I need to be on an actual training plan, because when I wing it, I come up with the zany idea of doing snatch work after heavy cleans. So, I did 40kg x 5 and then 50kg x 2 before I re-taped and strapped. I stepped back up, strapped to the bar, and stood. Shrugged, dropped into the snatch, stood. Jen told me not to bend my arms, I'd let them loose for just a second. OK. Next attempt- shrugged, bent my arms more than I did last time. The bar goes out of control and I dump it- or so I thought, because I am still attached to the bar!! I stumble back, almost fall off the platform. If there hadn't been a plate tree behind me I would have fell right onto the guy bench pressing behind me! Finally, the sTarps come loose and the bar disengages, falling to the platform, and I need to go change my shorts. Needless to say, the snatch session ended right then and there. Jen suggested 3-stage snatch pulls, so after a rest, that is what I did.

Three-stage Snatch Pulls:

These worked like this: One pull from the dead hang, one from the knees, and one from the floor. That constitutes one rep.

50 x 3
60 x 3

Of course, it doesn't seem like a lot, but there's three pulls for every one rep, and if you do them without much pause in between, it will wind you out. Well, maybe not you, but me, yeah, it was practically cardio. But, I liked the exercise. Trouble is, it's not where I need the most work on my snatch. I can pull 110 to my chin from the floor for sets of 3, it's going under and locking that weight out that has eluded me.

Snatch-grip RDL's:

100 x 5
110 x 5
120 x 5

Something easy to finish off the workout. I had wanted to try testing my snatch DL, but not with the way the skin was peeling off of my thumbs. Instead, the first pull I kept form as if I were going to snatch the weight. I stayed tight at 120kg, which is good enough for training purposes for where my best snatch is currently at.

Today, good training- hit a C&J PR for the second time in 2 weeks and almost killed myself and three others by blowing a snatch and being stuck to the bar. Yeah, I won't be going overhead with the sTarps anymore.

Tomorrow, day off. Next session is Tuesday and hopefully I will have some kind of plan in mind.
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Frozenkilt
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Nice work, Matt. Getting the technique down for the C&J is going to help strongman down the road, man.

Drop me an email slangfor@telus.net and I'll pass along a few programs so you can take a look at them and decide what you like and what you don't. I could even give a decent synopsis of what I'm doing right now, although it's pretty far removed from strict olift training.

- Sean
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GRAFTER
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congrats on the powerclean PB.
im gonna start to concentrate on these alot more now.
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Matt Frost
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Sean, you will have mail shortly.

Grafter, thanks, but it didn't end up being a power clean since I rode it into a front squat. Still, they do help no matter which sport (strongman, O-lifting, powerlifting) you train for.
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NickGiammarresi
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being that i suck at chins an pullups ( getting 4 reps out of chins is gay) put your heels on a flat bench set the bar at arms lenth on a smith machine ( lying down) an pull you body to the bar
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Matt Frost
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Tuesday, 01.24.06

Seeing as I had no set regimen, Yoda suggested I just have fun. Usually that's not a good idea, because I tend to think too much about what I am going to do, load up on volume, end up cutting half of it and feeling lackluster about my workout. Tonight, however, was different.

Snatch:

After warmups and dislocations, I proceeded with some full squat snatches, which has been problematic for me as of late.

warmup bar x 5
40kg x 3
50 x miss behind, 2, miss out front.
50 x 3
55 x 3
60 x 2
65 x 2
70 x 1
70 x 1
70 x 1

It didn't start off pretty, that's for sure. I thought after my misses, here we go again. Plus I had some back pain because I don't think I warmed up that area enough. After my last 50kg set I scooted over to the platform, as the lifters there wrapped up. I did a set of pressups and stretches and got my back loosened up, then I started finding my groove. By the time I hit the 70kg singles, I was owning them. Best full snatches I've hit in a long time, and only 10kg off of my full snatch PR.

Rest Period 15 minutes. Ate a protein bar and drank some water, watched a few other lifters, then got back on track.

Clean & Jerk:

warmups 50kg x 3+3, 3+3
70 x 2+3
82.5 x 2+2
95 x 1+2
102.5 x 1+1
110 x 1+1
117.5 x missed clean
117.5 x 1+1
125 x missed clean
125 x missed clean
125 x missed clean
125 x 1+1 NAILED IT!! NAILED IT!! NAILED IT!! FUCK YEAH!!! PR!!!!

The first miss at 117.5 didn't faze me too much. I simply didn't whip the elbows fast enough, and though I racked the weight, it jammed my wrists slightly and I let the bar go. 125kg... first attempt, rolled right out of my grip, though I had it on my collarbone. Second try, lost my grip before I racked it, still managed to rack it but it fell forward catching my forearms on the way down. Ouch!! Third try, Rutter came in and watched. Close but no cigar, bar was still not staying put, though I was getting under it without difficulty. The fourth time was the charm. Rutter said I had it in me, so I rested, came back, and destroyed it. The jerk was a little wobbly at the top, but I steadied it, held it, and lowered it. Another one for the books. That's the third time in 16 days I've PR'ed in the Clean & Jerk. Happy? You bet. But, before I get greedy, it's time for a few weeks of solid technique work with new percentages of my new PR, and upping my clean pulls so that I am regularly pulling @135-150 kilos. Going to have to start doing more jerk work independent of my cleans now, too.

Back Squat:

What's a good way to reward a PR? Squatting!

bar x 5
60kg x 3
120 x 3
140 x 3
160 x 2
182.5 x 2

And my legs had nothing left. Walking to the locker room was a challenge. Getting out of my car after an hour ride back from the gym was excruciating. Tomorrow I get a sports massage and work 13 hours, but all I will be thinking about is the next PR... that 130 kilo clean, the 100 kilo snatch. Working the whole lifts, breaking them into parts and working them independently, becoming more explosive in the squats... I won't even be thinking about work, I'll be thinking about Thursday night when I get to wrap my hands around that Eleiko bar once again.
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StrohPA
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Fresh out of jail
Well done on your pr's! 130 race is on brother!

-Craig
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Matt Frost
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Fuckin' SLAYER!!
Bring it, wildman!!
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Matt Frost
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Fuckin' SLAYER!!
Thursday, 01.26.06

Snatches are infuriating sometimes.

There's no other way to put it. For some reason, last night, the pieces just weren't there. Maybe I was fatigued from Tuesday, but I didn't want to use that as an excuse. I didn't think I was going that heavy. And looking back it wasn't a terrible snatch workout.

So what is it?

Impatience.

And that is exactly what you cannot have in Olympic lifting.

Last night, I wanted more than I was capable of. It's not a bad thing to want that, but if you allow your ego to start fucking with you, if you let frustration into your mind, it will only make things worse. This is true for any kind of training, but especially in Olympic lifting. You need a clear mind. You need focus and the ability to self-analyze. Anger does not serve you at all, it causes you to make more mistakes.

The thing is, this is a lesson I will have to learn many times on this road, because I am, by nature, an impatient person. I hate waiting. I hate being held back. I want what I want and I want it now, including the goddamned oompa-loompa. But, a barbell can't be bossed around. It can't be bribed or reasoned with. It just sits there and lets you figure it all out.

Snatches:

warmup bar x 5
40 x 3
50 x 3
60 x 3
65 x 2
70 x 1, missed 2nd
70 x 1, missed 2nd
70 x 1, missed 2nd

The idea was, since I singled 70 kilos Tuesday, I would double it. As you can see, that went far. I don't know why I was missing it because I was getting frustrated instead of trying to find out what the problem was.

Snatch Balance:

40 x 3
50 x 3
60 x 2
70 x miss
70 x miss

Well, now I was really upset, because this is a weight I've doubled in this exercise before. So, I moved from the rack back to the platform and dropped the weight. 60 kilos on the bar, cleaned, pressed, and set on my back, and hit it for a double. Same thing with 65 kilos, then again with 70 kilos. Vindicated, I moved on.

Front Squat:

70 x 3
100 x 3
120 x 3
140 x 2
160 x 2 for a raw PR double.

Thought about trying 170 but I just said, OK, knock it off. Leave on a good note.

And that is where I am at.
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