Alexus' Adventure in Wonderland

Training
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Hey lexy,

Once you get settled with a job and place to live, you should invest in a squat rack.
Thats what Im saving for. Any maybe some adjustable dumbells aswell. That way you can lift every day. I dont like the idea of 2 hour workouts. This year I have learnt sometimes a quick workout is a good workout.

NZ sounds cold. I find it hard to workout in winter due to the coldness. Looks like I will be moving north after xmas, which means warmer weather and less squeaky sore joints!

Are you near wellington? If so you should go watch the “wellington phoenix”.

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Think she’s in Christchurch? Or maybe I’m getting mixed up with someone else?? Or maybe just because I wanna go diving in Flea Bay again.

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Hey, I was just thinking… I tend to see you post throughout T-Nation and you are knowledgable about most things, but I have never read much about your nutrition??

Dont even try and get away with it. I want a full 48 hour food log in your next post. And I hope you have given up smoking?

Uncle birdy.

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haha birdie. I brought some protein powder yesterday, as it happens.
My nutrition has been pretty sucky. One of the people I’m staying with is vegetarian. She does try and have protein, though, because she is really (really really) into running. Concerned to maintain her upper body strength (getting into bodyweight stuffs but really reluctant to use weights). She was a bit upset when I pointed out beans weren’t all that high in protein… But I put her onto cottage cheese (the texture of the stuff in NZ is much more palatable than the stuff in Oz).

yesterday –

date and walnut loaf
protein shake (with a couple spoons greek yoghurt, 1/2 cup milk, banana)
steak and cheese pie…
steak and cheese pie…
apple danish…
iced coffee (no cream)
mushroom and coconut risotto (brocolli and cauli on the side)

today –

date and walnut loaf
apple

so you see my nutrition is far from sorted… it is pretty hard with the shared cooking situation…

i don’t think i’ll be able to afford (or have the space for) a home gym anytime soon…

the gym accepted my graceful exit (converting a 2 year membership into a 1 month casual)
which frees me to train with the oly lifters.
they really are terrific. i have a coach :slight_smile:
they are really good to me and are accepting of my working in etc (even when that involves taking 100kg off the bar so i can work in lolz).
will aim to make it out 3x a week (even that is financially pushing it)
cool bunch of people. some working powercleans for sport… some learning… some pretty serious. a few went up to nationals earlier this year. club comp coming up in december.

yesterday –

snatches - he’s got people doing doubles. nobody goes to max but the weight certainly starts to feel like max after a few sets. think the idea is to get a decent volume of quality reps. everyone seems pretty impressed how smooth my snatches are looking which makes me real happy :slight_smile:

sntach pulls - not quite sure… 5kg more than my best snatch. pull to shrug.

cleans - he’s got me catching them at parallel (which i was dubious about) but sometimes the thing to do is something different, i guess. apparently it is my sticking point on the stand up. when i get low under for the catch i’m not hitting a tight bottom position. he reckons catching them at parallel will get me stronger and as my front squat improves i’ll be alright to catch them lower.

jerks - power jerks. he cringes a little when i get low under them… probably because i’m obviously pretty weak there

high bar back squats - just started with the bar. trouble finding a comfortable resting place.

okay about wellington really. just a bit depressed about finding a job / flat. i’ll be alright.

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Glad the gym business is sorted out. Everything else will fall in to place soon I’m sure. Hang in there.

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Date and walnut loaf? Apple danish? Pie? NO, NO, NO!!!

Im going to have to sort you out a new diet. For starters look at my new thread “what theBird actually eats” in the solid meals section of the V-diet forum. That might get you some new ideas.

Time to get anabolic kiwi!! Im talking eggs, chicken, milk, steak, eggs, bacon, eggs etc.

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Of course they are impressed with your snatch, I mean your snatching! Ya work really hard for 'em! I’m glad the gym situation worked itself out. We all like a happy productive Lex around here.

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birdie - i’m staying with a friend and his partner and his partner is vegetarian and sticks to organic food and has a social conscience about the fish and is really into shared cooking. they are helping me out in a number of respects so i think the least i can do is not bring meat / non-organic stuff / very much fish into the house.

i’ve found a protein powder that seems fairly wondrous. high in protein low in carbs and much more soluble than my other one… enjoying the flavor at the moment (vanilla), too, so aiming for 3 shakes a day. organic eggs are freaky expensive so i’m steering clear… but maybe i’ll fork out for some free range non-organic ones and cook them when she isn’t around. lolz. i don’t know.

applied for a qualitative policy advisor job and they want me to do some quantitative / qualitative reasoning test. qualitative should be sweet but i’m having to cram percentages … fingers crossed i get a job and can find an awesome flat and afford some decent food!!

TRAINING (yesterday)

  • not enough EVA foam / ball rolling (need to do this in my own time as coach wants me to get into it quickly when i arrive whatever time that happens to be.

  • cleans and power-jerks. doubles. then was meant to do 4 singles @40kg (pretty ambitious). got stuck in the hole for the first 2. then was allowed to power clean them to get the power-jerk done. stood up the last 2 cleans but didn’t quite catch the jerks locked out. he reckons it is about confidence. i think i need to be more determined / aggressive to not get stuck on the cleans and then to really commit to leg driving it hard as i can for the jerk.

  • clean pulls (pull to shrug). worked up to triples @ 55kg.

  • high bar back squats. did 5x5@20kg last time (first time i’ve ever really done high bar back squats). did 3x5@20kg this time then 2x5@30kg to finish. felt so much easier than front squatting it! apparently the bar will feel more comfortable on my back eventually. coach kinda spotted me for the last couple sets and it felt fine. cool.

then coach left so i had a wander to see what toys there were…

bosu ball lolz. practiced balancing on it like a wobble board. wobble i did. there is a skateboard thing on a pipe. it says ‘the 60 second balance challenge’ so i played on that, too (strung a powerband in the rack for something to assist). found what i thought was a GHR but now i think it was a back extension… tried a couple pole assisted GHR’s (haven’t done these since my move) and got prompt cramping and hamstrings threatening to tear. must get into these a bit more regularly… some 20kg loaded 60 second planks… couple chin-ups…

think the idea is snatch, clean, jerk, squat on sat. snatch, snatch pull, squat on mon. clean and jerk, clean pull, squat on wed. i think they are snatch / clean pulls… pull to shrug anyway. most people are using straps but i need to practice using them… not terribly co-ordinated.

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sounds like you are getting settled
congrats on your new gym and coach sounds good
and congrats on your squat pr.

good work lexi

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Great that you found a new Oly coach already! It will be interesting to see how the coaching styles vary. There’s always a takeaway from the different coaching philosophies.

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thanks guys :slight_smile:

TRAINING (yesterday)

  • Snatch

allowed to do singles :slight_smile:
5x1@37.5kg. One miss (didn’t yell enough / finish the pull)

  • Powerclean

allowed to do singles :slight_smile:
(think he might be wanting to see what I can do a bit)
work to max :slight_smile:
got one @50kg (=PR).
missed 55kg a couple times. not enough height then started not finishing the pull.
not sure he believes in 2.5kg increments…

  • snatch pulls (not sure what these are called. pull to shrug. think the idea is to make the first pull feel easy)
    3x3@50kg

  • high bar back squats.
    20kg 2x5 (warm-up)
    5x5@30kg. feeling much easier than front squats. found a comfortable position for the bar.

  • bench.
    just because I felt like it.
    20kg 1x5
    25kg 1x5
    30kg 1x5
    35kg 1x5
    32.5kg 2x5

done.

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going through gym withdrawal today :frowning:
looked online… but places are charging, like, $25 for a one off visit.
i might need to live near my new gym so i can train more. then i’ll have a commute to the city…

one of the people i’m staying with has a stack of 2x4 wood in the yard. he is making a picnic table. not very good to grip… but managed to do some overhead squats and some snatches and some one armed snatches with a bit. found a corner so i could stack 'em and get 'em on my back for some back squats. managed 3 for sets of 8 but a bit light and the fence looked like it was going to give out. lol at me. i’ll try and take a vid next time. their yard really would be the perfect place for an outdoor platform… harbor views and all.

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Lexy,
You really just need to find a gym!
So I am assuming you are not likely to stay at your current locattion at the moment? I think a home gym for you is ideal, once you find a more permanent place. All that you need is a squat rack, and some weights and bar to start off with. I think you will make your money back in a year.

By the way, once my groin gets better(probably 3 weeks to go), Im going to learn a couple of olympic lifts. Any particular moves you reccommend? Im thinking the “clean and jerk”. Next year I am going to to do a 2 days split, and thinking I will add a olympic move to one or each of those days.

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Well done on your PR!
For the record, I prefer to live near a gym and commute to work. A while back I had a corporate membership to a gym near work and that was fine too but being able to walk around the corner on weekends and train is much easier.

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yeah… i need to get out to petone since i have a coach out there… i’m starting to think i might be better off living in petone and commuting to the city rather than living in the city and commuting to petone. damn the coach for being in petone rather than wellington proper. have sort of looked into taking a second membership somewhere in the city… expensive, though, and i don’t have a job as yet… i would like to have a bar and bumpers and eventually a squat rack at home. still looking for a flat, though…

TRAINING

a bit hard for me to figure / remember since i’m just doing as i’m told. will try and take along a notebook and write things down.

arrived super-early so did lots of rolling and wanted to try 40kg snatch…

  • Snatch. bar warm-up. forgot my training plates so did a couple @35kg. one at 37.5kg. 40kg - miss behind (pulled it too hard!). 40kg - miss forwards because i was unsteady in the stand up. 40kg - got it! =PB! it is feeling much lighter to pull - probably because of all the pull to shrug work he has me doing.

  • one armed power snatches. worked up to 20kg for each hand (left hand PR!). not quite flexible enough for a squat snatch. played around though.

coach turned up and i told him i got 40 :slight_smile: but that meant i didn’t get to do more snatches :frowning:

  • Snatch pull to shrug. worked up to 4x3@55kg with straps.

-Push jerk. 3x3@35kg. he said he doesn’t think i need to worry about split jerking so that is good.

  • High bar back squat.
    20kg 2x5
    30kg 1x3
    35kg 4x3
    40kg 1x3
    45kg 1x3

easy! fine about him spotting me (he is a nice grandfatherly type). he kinda fooled me by being like ‘just do one triple’ and then ‘just one more’ and then ‘just one more with 5kg’ etc. felt fine, though.

playing

  • GHR. can do them on the lat pull down. just one set with lots of assistance as it will take a while to work back up for these. crampy hamstrings.

  • Trap bar deadlift. as explosive as possible. 1x5@40kg, 1x5@50kg 1x4 - failed 5th rep @60kg. did the rep that was owed.

I love Olympic Lifting :slight_smile:

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Glad you are having a good time with the lifting. Sounds like you are making some progress despite the disruption.

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Ah that 40kg snatch! Yeah I 3rd that living near the gym would be better, work to live instead living to work. Maybe you could just kayak across to Wellington :-p

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I got so behind in reading along…

I started with the high bar squat, went to low and it felt so light, but it does tend to send me forward more(low). This week I had high bar, nice switch up I suppose.

Your on a high with the Oly lifting, enjoy!

Nice on the snatch!

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GLad you’re happy in the gym!

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cal - thanks. I am making progress!! not sure if it is because I’m training a bit less frequently, because I’m doing more doubles / triples, because I’m more balanced between snatch / clean / jerk (instead of focusing on snatch, because I’m throwing in a few different exercises. probably some combo of all of the above. i’m getting stronger though, RAWR!!!

minimal - would be a bit of a kayak!! i’m starting to think living in Petone might well be best. think it might be a bit cheaper than wellington, too (since i wanted to live in the city) and i might even be able to get myself a waterfront view!

upscale - the more you sit your ass back (as you do with a lower bar placement) the more you will need some degree of forward lean in order to keep yourself upright and not falling back on your ass. so long as you hold your lumbar arch and your shoulders come up at the same time as your hips the forward lean is totally fine. inevitable in fact. i find i’m stronger with a low bar placement, too. apparently because it utilized the glutes / hammies more effectively and they are the bigger muscle groups (compared to quads).

nadia - thanks. so happy :slight_smile: coaching really is making all the difference in the world.

TRAINING (yesterday)

wanted to do snatches, but it was clean and jerk day, apparently.

– Power Clean (since I’m stronger at that than full clean) and (power / push) Jerk –

triples @15, 20 and 3x3@25kg to warm-up.
doubles @35kg and 3x2@40kg.

little bit soft on the lockout of the second rep @40kg. still… it really is good for a single now (used to be a 1RM effort).

need to work on jumping my feet around appropriately. narrower for the pull, then wider to catch the powerclean. narrow up for the jerk then wider to catch the jerk. when i jump my feet appropriately (perhaps when i drive it hard enough for me to be able to jump my feet appropriately) things feel smooth and strong. takes some courage to trust the arms and drive the bar hard for the jerk when you start to get tired.

– Clean Pull to Shrug (straps) –

55kg 1x3
65kg 3x3 (first time at this weight)

not bad. trying to keep hips down through the pull and get the bar gaining momentum. really feeling the weight wanting to swing back towards me with it being heavier than me for these now.

– High Bar Back Squats –

15kg 1x5
20kg 1x5
30kg 1x5
35kg 1x3
40kg 1x3
45kg 1x3

50kg 2x3 (most I’ve high bar back squatted for a triple. felt like work - but nowhere near close to a 3RM!!)

these really do feel much more comfortable than front squatting. i can really drive my hips up whereas i can’t quite manage it for front squats since my femurs need to rotate in a way they don’t like because of my lack of ankle dorsiflexion.

i remember when 60kg was one hell of an effort for a low bar back squat (just breaking parallel) before my move. can’t quite believe how 50kg for a triple now is feeling comparatively easy. still… i guess adding 10kg to the bar isn’t exactly trivial at these weights. pretty sure i got much stronger, though :slight_smile:

assistance (I choose my own basically)

GHR on the lat pulldown with a stick. 5x5. tried these a little a couple days ago and astounded at the hammie cramping. guess you need to do these regularly!

done!!

snatches on saturday, pretty sure. yay!!