Still good work, just need more confidence in the snatch.
Nothing wrong with a Power Snatch.
The weight in my opinion is a tad light so it doesn’t require you to catch it low. A lot of people forget the main purpose of dropping under the bar during olympic lifts is because we cannot generate enough/ force momentum to get the bar up to the catch position so we drop our body to ’ meet the bar’.
Thanks @hustlinghat93 @bigpappafrance
I’ll take that as a win then, maybe with practice my power snatches will become squat snatches. It may be “a bit light” but it’s as heavy as I can snatch without being absolutely terrified. The more scared I am the more I want to stay upright as my instincts tell me that being squatty is a compromised, unstable position in which to be underneath a flying object that could smash my skull. Ha.
7/13/2023
Bonus gym trip on the way to work today. Had to practice the “snatch balance”, which is an awful awful thing. I’m not at all comfortable with certain positions of the movement. So maybe that’s why I need to drill it.
So the bonus session included:
Snatch balance practice
A few actual snatches
Lots of overhead squats
BTN pressing
Strict pressing
Couple sets of curls
Leaned-forward side raises
And out of time.
7/14/2023
Start with the new warmup routine by @j4gga2
Empty bar, 4 rounds EMOM; then 65lb, 4 rounds EMOM:
-Power snatch from hip
-Drop into overhead squat
-At bottom, lower weight to shoulders, then strict press it back up while staying in the bottom
-Stand up to complete the overhead squat
-Lower the bar to hips and snatch from hips, focusing on dropping deep under the bar to “catch low”.
Comments on that in a sec.
Front Squat:
Worked up to a new PR, 3x205. Got it on video, will post below in a sec.
Push Press: 2x155, then attempted a couple singles with it. Nearly all reps ended up being grindy, not driving it far enough from the push. This didn’t go great. But after the FS PR my back wasn’t right so I didn’t expect too much.
SGDL: 3x3x225 with straps. Was fine as usual.
2 sets of curls with some rear/side raises.
Comments:
That warmup routine is cool. Thanks J4gga. It’s the “Sotts press” that kills me. With the bar on my shoulders I feel all torqued up the wrong way, like I have absolutely no leverage to lift it off myself. Without that part I could do this with 95lb or so I think. But certainly, if I can get comfortable in that most awkward of positions, regular snatching won’t be so scary!
The 205 FS triple made me feel good. My mid-back has a knot now which is hopefully nothing. But I’m making progress- and this is with no belt. Excited for what I can top out at on this FS challenge.
Nice, it didn’t look super difficult for you either!
I hope she’s on the mend!!! Extra hugs for her!!
Thank you! She is. At this point she’s just disappointed she can’t be her usual active self for a few days.
7/16 Sunday
No serious training this weekend. Plenty of walking. One quick session of leg extensions, leg curls, and bench press, light weights and lots of reps, just to feel good.
Band Pullaparts and curls too.
7/17/2023 Monday
The Jagga Snatch Complex, 4 rounds EMOM with just the bar, and 4 rounds EMOM with 65lb.
Front Squat: Up to a new PR, 2x210lb. I’ve come SO FAR on this in just a couple months.
Push Press: 1x155 was smooth, so I loaded 165 and failed. Tried it again and failed. Not sure what I did after that, I may have grabbed a decent rep or two at a lighter weight - probably should have - but that was frustrating. Right shoulder feels bad and that’s probably related.
But at the same time, I’m going to let that slide - just PRd the front squat, can’t expect too much success on one session, eh?
SGDL 3x3x225 as usual. I’m not trying to progress these, just pulling harder/more acceleration than last week.
Some full-range BTN presses.
Some biceps curls (used the 50lb DBs for a set of 8, cool).
Some leaning-forward side/Y raises.
7/19/2023 Wednesday
Olympic lift practice day.
The J4gga complex, 4 rounds EMOM with just bar, 4 rounds EMOM with 65lb.
Snatch:
Up to 115lb for a few singles.
Clean and Jerk: Up to 155lb for a few singles.
A few Jerk singles at 135lb.
Sots presses, no idea if that’s what these really were, like a full-range BTN with a little leg/hip drive to pick it up off my back.
Y raises. Curls.
Felt good today.
7/20 Thursday
Quick full body pump on the way in to work this morning. Just one or two easy sets of everything on machines.
Abs, back ext, leg curlz and ext, flyes, pulldowns, curls, tris, delts.
20 minutes and a good start to the day.
read this and thought you were working out in the car or on the train
then read this
and figured the gym must be on the way. LOL
It is haha!
7/21/2023 Friday
Warmup with 8 rounds of J4gga complex. The Sots press continues to feel awful and awkward. I have to totally relax everything in the bottom and re-orient my shoulders and hips before raising the bar, even the empty bar. @j4gga2 is that normal or is there something totally wrong with my posture/positioning that I can’t lower and raise with tension throughout?
Front Squat: Up to 2x210lb. Looking forward to doing these with a belt next week.
Backoff singles, 4 EMOM, 185-185-195-195.
Push Press: Up to a few singles at 155lb. Doing these smoothly and succesfully rather than trying to get triples and screwing up. Then a couple sets of 3x135 which felt great.
SGDL: 3x3x225 w straps again.
Couple sets of biceps curls and Y raises.
C&P the 80lb DB, once left and once right, for fun at the end.
Would def like to get back to 100lb on this sometime but at this point it’s chasing too many rabbits, I’m worn out by the time I get to DBs!
I’d consider that normal
Chances are the bottom position for you is a bit too hinged forward, which is forcing you to extend/tension hard to get the press
I’d suggest on working on staying as upright as possible at the bottom of the squat, which will make the press easier
Cool, i was thinking this is the case! Will work on identifying the right torso position and making it natural.
Try thinking “chest back” rather than “chest up” during your descent. That cue will naturally help you stack your ribcage over your pelvis, over your heels
7/24/2023 Monday
This was supposed to be a big day, first time I’ve worn my belt in this entire front-squat training block - or in months. But quickly realized that apart from the belt, it’s an “off day” - my body just not quite up for it. Specifically, my right shoulder. It’s visually different, has weird aches at weird angles, and is ruining everything!
Started with 8 minutes EMOM of the J4gga complex. Taking my medicine. It still sucks but is starting to feel more natural and more valuable. 4 EMOM with just the bar, 4 EMOM with 65LB.
Front Squat:
Worked up to 1x215. Then quite a few reps at 205 and I now can’t remember if I did doubles or singles! Either way I got enough reps in. But wasn’t feeling strong, despite the belt. That being said, on a good day and with a little more practice with the belt, I’m going to hit 225 very soon.
Push Press:
As mentioned, right shoulder is PISSED. So I kept it to 3x3x135lb, which went just fine.
SGDL:
3x3x225 which went fine of course. Straps.
Biceps curls: 2 sets with 50lb DBs.
Shoulders: 2 sets of 10 standing arnold presses each side, 25lbs, movement therapy for whatever’s going on in my shoulder.
Pullups- knocked out a set of six which was easy, save that nagging right elbow pain; and a set of lat pulldowns after that.
Waiter walk: 50LB overhead in one hand, walked a good distance, switch hands, walk back.
AS ALWAYS, I notice how many people are just at the gym to do cable or machine pump work, and that’s all they do. Some of them look good, some don’t. Meanwhile a dude next to me squatted way over 400LBs - 455 maybe? And looked pretty normal. Just an interesting reminder that we’re all here for different reasons, different goals, doing it differently, there’s no right or wrong.
7/25
Up at 4:00 for no particular reason. So I took a 2 mile walk, and did some joint therapy with light weights. My right shoulder has been angry so used light DBs do put both shoulders through a few different ranges of motion.
Probably should start bringing a band to the office and get more time under light tension. It’s hard to quantify exactly what my shoulder is doing but it just ain’t right.