Good job.
Now try to get that glute tension when you’re bent over for the Kelso Shrugs. It will be good practice and maybe it’ll help your power clean.
2 Likes
Will do, thanks!
Every warmup session is 2 rounds of:
15 kb swings
15 fire hydrant/donkey kick thingys each side
Which is directly aimed at waking up my glutes. I hope its working! Tbh i feel zero glute involved in the power cleans.
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The cleans are like the swings, if you start the move by arching your lower back first, your out of position to drive with the hips at the top.
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I don’t quite understand this. I may or may not be starting with lower back arch… should I round my back, or try to keep it straight, or what’s the cue here?
The most important thing right now is that I don’t confuse things and mess you up.
That said, the right cue will be different depending on what’s going on.
Here’s a good one. Neutral spine, hips driving. This lady just needs to keep doing what she’s doing.
Here’s a bad one. Too much lower back. This lady need to arch less and keep it straighter. Maybe straight back is the cue. But for her, to get out of the arch and into a straighter position, it MIGHT be useful to use the “Round Your Back” cue. Like she’s soooo arched we need to go past what she thinks of as “straight,” into what she thinks is “rounded” because she’s so arched.
Another bad one. This lady is too rounded. She needs to get straighter. So maybe the cue is “Straight Back.” But maybe, just maybe “straight back” won’t work, and she needs the “arch your back” cue to end up straight.
2 Likes
The way I understood it- KB swing is an explosive hip hinge. The hip hinge is a movement where you simply push your butt back and then return to the starting position.
I realized that people may not have a good idea of how to do this after I attempted to coach my brother, so I suggest this drill-
I’ve never seen the wall tap drill done with a dowel and I don’t really see the point. Using the dowel to get your back position good for deadlifting is something I did a LOT of back when I learned how to deadlift and I think it’s very valuable for people who aren’t sure of their positions.
7/9 Saturday
1.1 mile walk
Light kelso shrugs
Deadlift warmups
10 rounds, 90 seconds each
-deadlift 315 1 rep
-5 burpees
Felt great. Not too heavy at all.
8 Likes
7/11/22 Monday
5/3/1 The Morning Star c1w2d1
Warmup: 2 rounds: 15 swings, 15 fire hydrants per leg.
10 long jumps.
Power Cleans: 10x1 EMOM 175lb These seemed heavier than last time
Superset 3x10 BPAs and 3x10 upright rows (bands)
Squat: 5x5 E2MOM 210lb Moved well. The 2-minute timing made them effortful though
Press: 10x5 EMOM 85lb Was going really fast, and that got difficult toward the end
Superset AB Wheel: 10x2 between Presses My ab wheel muscles are noticeably stronger
Bench press: 4x3 185lb, between BSS
BSS: 5x6/side. Bw.
A sweaty mess.
And when I was done, showered with basically no water pressure, and someone had shat themselves in one of the shower stalls. Fun way to start the day but I’m set up for a successful week!
Will figure out a plan for Wednesday… hitting the road tomorrow noon.
7 Likes
How are you finding Morningstar so far?
1 Like
Effing great.
No nonsense. Just enough flexibility to tailor to my preferences, but not enough to allow me to sabotage myself.
I’ve added a time factor (emoms) which makes it harder, possibly, but also gives me the chance to reduce that variable if needed.
4 Likes
7/13
Hotel gym.
30 minutes Emom, 50lb db
Minute 1: 10 goblet squats
Minute 2: 5 c&p left, 5 right
Minute 3: 5 c&p left, 5 right
Repeat.
Sweating like a dog!
Then 3 rounds
10 db bench press
10 rows/side
6 bss (bw)
8 Likes
7/14/2022 Thursday
Morning Star C1W2D2 a day late due to travelling.
Also due to travelling, I was in a major time crunch, skipped the warmups and jumps, and did minimal assistance work. Also due to traveling, I felt very depleted, and performance on power cleans proves it.
Power Cleans: Top set at 175lbs. Got 5 reps last week, same weight. This week, rep 4 sank me and I managed to lower it without completely losing my footing.
Squat: 10 singles at 265. Last week did these E70SOTS. After the power clean debacle I did these E90SOTS. Which was OK.
Press: 5x5x100lb this was fine.
Ab Rollouts: 5x4, SS with press
BPAs: 30 total between some sets.
3 rounds:
-10 kelso shrugs. 145lbs using smaller plates for positioning, and trying to hold for a beat at the top of the movement. Have I mentioned that I like these?
-6 BSS per side, BW.
5 Likes
7/16/22 Saturday.
Morning Star c1w2d3
Warmup (2x15: swings and donkeys)
Forgot to do the jumps
Power Cleans: 3x5 @ 140lb
BPAs in between, 30 total
Squats: 10x5x185, every 80 seconds
Press: 10x1x125, EMOM
Ss 10x3 ab wheel
BSS 3X6 BW
SS WGBP 3X5X135
7 Likes
7/18/22 Monday
Morning star C1W3D1
Warm up
2 rounds of 15 each: 50lb swings, left/right fire hydrant/donkey kicks.
10 long jumps.
Power Cleans: 10x1x175
BPAs and band upright rows, 3x10each, supersetted in.
Squat: 5x5x225, E2MOM These squats felt just right.
Press: 10x5x95, EMOM was the plan.
Ended up doing 10 sets, close to EMOM but tapering out toward the end, and only hitting 4 on some sets. I think the last set was 3. Will not be raising TM next go-round for press. Which is fine. TBH if I went slower than EMOM I could have gotten these but that’s really not the point.
Supersettted 5x5 Knee raises.
3 rounds:
7 BSS per side
2 pullups
Didn’t do the usual bench assistance work given how the pressing went.
6 Likes
A couple notes for the record, since I have time:
I’m sore.
Definitely still sore from 10x5 squats on Saturday, and only had 48hours break after that due to schedule being off; but today’s squats went very well so no harm done.
My forearms are sore. Power cleans truly seem to have become harder, rather than easier, during the past 3 weeks. As cool as it would be to raise the TM to 185 (a more aesthetic plate combination than 175, for any metric readers) next cycle, I think I’m going to keep it flat along with Press. If it feels too easy I can be more aggressive with the set timing or assistance work.
Squat TM will definitely go up, and in that department I’m willing to be less aggressive with the set timing if necessary.
I’m very happy to have selected this program. It’s very simple, the same 3 exercises in the same order every day, 3/week, and it’s a lot of work. Keeps me honest.
5 Likes
7/20 Wednesday
Morning star c1w3d2
Warmups (swings, donkeys)
10 long jumps
Power Cleans: top set of 175x5 (much better than last week!)
Squats: 5x2x265 E2MOM prescription is 10 total reps. This was a different stimulus from the 10x1 EMOM that I’ve been doing. It went well, reps were deep and solid
Press: 5x5x105 E2MOM
Leg raises and BPAs in between.
4 rounds:
Bench press 5x155
BSS 7 bw
Some kinda upright row shrug thingy
7 Likes
7/22 friday
Morning star c1w3d3
Warmup, throws,
Power Cleans 3x5x150
Bpas and band upright rows
Long break for family stuff and work stuff, including a mile walk, then resumed:
Squats 10x5x200, e75sots
10 rounds EMOM:
Press 125x1
Ab rolls, 4
Then 3x7 bss.
Cycle one done.
6 Likes
7/23 Saturday
Another mile walk.
Deadlifts, up to 370lb. Thats all the plates i have in my garage.
8 Likes
7/25/2022 Monday
The Morning Star C2W1D1
I love this program.
Warmup: 2 rounds of 15: swings, donkey kicks.
10 long jumps.
Power cleans: 5x2x175, EMOM RX is 10 total reps. Previous weeks I did 10x1 EMOM. So this is incremental improvement. Didn’t up the TM for this cycle.
Around this time I discovered that my lats are PAINFULLY sore, maybe from deadlifts?
Squats: 5x5x205, E90SOTS Previously did these E2MOM I think. Squats have been feeling great the last several sessions
Press: 10x5x85 EMOM
BPAs and BURs: 50 total during power cleans.
Ab wheel: 5x1 sortof from toes, during the first few rounds of Press. Couldn’t do a full rollout from toes, but got off my knees for a good portion of the movement. Will improve on this.
5 rounds:
-BSS: 30lb, 5/side.
-Bench press: Worked up to 1x195.
Don’t have to think much on this program. Which is awesome for me, especially now. Am 100% sure I’m making squat progress, which is THE goal. SO busy with life stuff right now…
10 Likes
7/27 Wednesday
The Morning Star C2W1D2
Warmup and jumps, the usual.
Power cleans: Top set of 175x5
SS BPAs between sets.
Squat: 10 singles of 275, going every 1:30.
Press: 5x5x95, going every 1:45 and
superset: 5x4 ab rollouts from knees.
4 rounds:
DB bench press 80s x 3, 90s x 2,2,3
DB rows 80x4, 90x3x4
BSS 5x5 with 30lb
Felt absolutely great. Happy with squat depth, energy levels, work capacity, everything else.
6 Likes