Finally… Instead of a wall of text we have a wall of vids 
micro-band and x-band walks (aiming - fairly unsuccessfully - to externally rotate the hips and move from the hips rather than the lumbar spine)
snatch
(same old, same old problems of hips rising too soon, not extending properly, yelling with too high a pitch, and jumping forwards for the catch)
jerk
needed to commit to getting a bit lower under those last two. didn’t quite lock out.
Hmm yeah singles do take awhile. I was still surprised how a 15 minute vid of my snatching was actually an hour’s work. I have the opposite of jumping backwards instead of forwards, interesting…but either way I can see how both ways pull the bar out of the correct trajectory.
But just my little opinion, you looked like you were failing on the last two, not because of technique but because you just looked a bit frustrated before even doing the first pull. I’ve been told myself I just need to back away from the bar.
Hi Alexus,
Thanks for the video of the X-band walks. When you do your x-band walks your knees have some bend to them, while I usually do them with completely straight legs. Am I mean to be bending at the knee a bit aswell?
Nice snatching. I would like to learn olympic lifting, although I dont think I have the time and money to pay some one to learn atm.
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Damn those other little gluteals.
I’m told the medius is a contributor to my patello femoral syndrome. I’ve been hammering the pesky buggers for a while, but it hasn’t made much difference.
What is the minimus responsible for abduction?, external rotation? IDK.
4 hours in the gym? they don’t make much money out of you! You’re the sort of gym member they don’t want.
whoa whoa! I love that gym!
Xband walks–I’ve wondered how to do those. Thanks for the videoS!
x2 I finally saw what those look like, you look good doing em, Im not sure how I would fare!
minimal - i heard that some coaches draw a chalk line on the floor just in front of their lifters toes and get their lifters to aim to jump themselves back for the catch. could be wrong, but i think the idea of the ‘catapult’ method is to slingshot yourself backwards. i’m certainly not jumping backwards, and i’m not totally convinced that i want to, but i want to try and stop myself jumping forwards. does your coach think that your jumping backwards is a problem??
bird - i’m not sure about straight vs bent knee. i’ll do them with a straight knee next time and see how i find it. i’m aiming for my hips to externally rotate (like my avatar) for oly lifting so i guess i’d sort of been aiming to be in about a quarter squat with my legs a bit externally rotated for the band walks. but i’m not at all sure it is optimal to even try and do things that way.
brett - i think both the little glutes do the same-ish things. there are a couple t nation articles on the glutes… both seem involved in stabilizing the hip and rotation of the femur. they certainly don’t make money out of me! especially since i’m there most days and have been known to bend the odd bar (from accidentally dropping it funny from overhead with tiny metal plates). i do yell at people who don’t put their weights away, though
dasher - i love my gym, too. it is the first gym i’ve ever joined but i have gone along to a couple of other gyms so really do appreciate it. it has a more standard commercial part next door with machine weights etc. the heavy weights room is a pretty cool training environment, though. 2 squat racks, 2 sets of uprights, a platform, bumpers, chin up bars, dip bars, dumbbells up to around 60kg, 2 benches and 1 incline… the club owns more bumpers and a men’s and women’s oly bar, too (kept locked away). i think i’m the only person using the women’s oly bar (competition eleiko bar) so i’m very lucky indeed to have that there are a decent bunch of guys who regularly train, too. and some pretty cool older guys who have been strength training since before i was born
i will miss it.
nadia - i’m just making things up…
matty - give them a go
TRAINING (yesterday)
day off. had work shift from 7.30am-5pm and feet and lumbar spine were totally wrecked after that and my other shifts that week.
TRAINING (today)
eva rolling
one armed snatch
just dicking around with the 10kg preloaded trying to do a proper squat snatch. had sneakers on (rather than oly shoes) so squat was a bit problematic. got one once lolz.
for the mental deload more than anything
saw some dude the other day using a resistance band to assist hip internal / external rotation by hooking it to the dip bars and his leg. played around with this…
took my time with the bar and worked up to a couple nice ones @35kg. lumbar region feeling fatigued so didn’t push things at all
on the dip bars. then on the roman chair as my wrists / arms got fatigued. this felt WONDERFUL.
Video of spinal decompression please.
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X-band walks :
I’ve always done them with knees bent, but reviewing how it is demonstrated in Cressey and Robertson’s Assess and Correct, it is done straighter.
The important thing is to stay tall and tight. And lead with the heels.
Im a vid junkie thanks for giving me my fill. My bumpers should be here today, but dont be looking for any of those vids any time soon, just trying to settle in and get my groove going.
bird - lol. think leg raises but forget about the leg raise part. it is basically just trying to hang from something so gravity can do its thing on my spine. feels wonderful after about one minute. i know some people hang upside down but i think that would freak me out. wish i was strong enough to hold myself up there for longer.
phil - i will try them with straighter legs. when i was hunting through youtube i don’t think i saw anyone else do them the way i did. maybe there is a reason for that…
upscale - yay bumpers! you gonna take up oly lifting??
TRAINING
-Rolling
Drew a chalk line on the floor that I wasn’t supposed to jump in front of. Apparently I’m not finishing the pull properly when I jump forwards. Worked up to a couple @37.5kg. Some of them felt pretty good.
Worked up to 40kg but couldn’t lock that out properly. Had to clean them first because the uprights were taken. Need to practice these much much more… I can overhead squat with a clean grip 30kg okay so you would think I could get under it properly for a squat jerk, but my body won’t seem to let me…
4x5.
Taking the next two days off work since I spent all weekend moving rooms because my wing is being painted. Plan on getting back into squats properly next week. 2x back squat and 1x front squat every. bloody. week. so there :-p
Hi Alexus,
Thanks for the explanation. I will give them a go when Im close to a chin up bar next. Although any excuse to see you in a video is a good one. 
Squatting 3 times a week will be interesting. Im going to introduce a front squat day once soccer season is over, although I havent done many front squats before and will take alot of practice to get the technique right I assume. Front squats works well with higher reps, is that right?
Have fun on your days off. They dont come often enough. Go out for breakfast, take a long walk, smell the flowers, read a book.
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[quote]theBird wrote:
Im going to introduce a front squat day once soccer season is over, although I havent done many front squats before and will take alot of practice to get the technique right I assume. Front squats works well with higher reps, is that right?
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YES, do this!! I think front squats also have a better cross over into soccer too, same with Oly lifting more generally - so I’d say get on them front squats ASAP! They’re also nice for the booty 
(and yes to high reps, I just rock the 5x5 template - but that’s just me. Anything under 3 reps is boring for me. I’m a conditioning junkie).
Lex! Looking good girlie. I’m glad to see you’re still working the Oly.
I like the idea of drawing a line on the floor and my coach used to endorse the catapult method. He would even tell me to look upwards when I jumped (not directly at the ceiling of course, but to allow your head to follow your body).
Great stuff in here! Keep it up!
Hey Lex. No my coach wasn’t too worried about my jumping back as I don’t do it every time, but I really have to focus not to. And then of course I forget to focus on other things & I keep looking down, so he told me its a minor thing. Yikes, good luck with moving your stuff around. When are you off to Kiwi-land again?
Maschy, its funn you mentioned FS good for the booty, I didn’t realise that until I started doing them.
I SQUATTED 60kg!!! OMFG I am so happy right now My throat is a lot hoarse from the screaming :-/
Rolling
Snatch
Hip flexors not feeling particularly good today. Short. Not activating properly. Played around with up to 35kg. Chalk on the floor really is helping. Apparently if I jump forwards I’m not finishing the pull and if I’m jumping backwards I’m over-pulling. Need to remind myself to look up to the ceiling / wall rather than down at my feet once I’ve caught it!
Up to 30kg. Experimenting with properly squatting under it. Chalk helpful again since if I jump forwards I guess that means I didn’t drive the bar straight up.
Nearly bailed right there… But figured I should at least try some squats.
It has been a while :-/
20kg 2x5
25kg 1x5
30kg 1x5
35kg 2x5
Bit creaky to warm-up. All warm-ups done with micro-band.
Decided to stop pissing around with my 1kg weight increases (due to do 38.5kg today) and finally! put the bumpers on (40kg).
40kg 3x5
Felt easy… Thought I’d see how much I could do…
45kg single
50kg single
55kg single
60kg needed to slam it down on the rack. made a hell of a noise.
loaded up 65kg and walked it out. felt very heavy.
60kg figured it was just as disruptive for me to yell than to dump it so yell I did. OMFG I got it!!!
I used to think I’d call 60kg bodyweight… But that seems a bit off now. I’m more like 63.5ish kg… So not quite bodyweight but pretty darned close.
YAY for squatting your body weight(almost)!!! You did it!!!
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