[quote]i’ll try… thanks for not writing me off or ranting at me for such a stupid noob mistake :-/
[/quote]
Never that Doll.
Nadia’s comment is point on, if you wait for something to feel easy, you might never add weight. Progressive overload doesn’t apply to when a weight feels heavy, just progressing any way you can, which can include level of difficulty, but also sets and reps, weight, etc.
You’ll get it hon, bump up the weight when you can safely do so, and you might surprise yourself.
[quote]alexus wrote:
(missing by losing balance rather than by being a chicken which is progress)
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absolutely!!
You’re putting up great numbers Alexus! I’m going to have to pick up my game! You caught a 32.5k snatch. UGH! I can’t wait to get to that.
I also agree with Nadia. And I’ll add that the O lifts are awkward and the movement requires weight to it - If that makes sense. Altho, I was just told by this guy at my gym that if you can snatch an unloaded bar, then you can snatch anything. So I guess there’s something to say about technique too.
If it helps, I do 2 days of Oly practice, 1 day of upper body that includes back squatting, and 1 lower day that includes Oly technique, front squats and then some lower body accessory work. I also do pilates 1x a week for abz. You’ll figure out what works best for you. But you’re doing great in the mean time! Keep it up!
debra - thanks! you are doing good, too 
eating a lot of tinned salmon / tuna and nuts (cheap)… also a lot of dairy which is good for protein / calcium, i guess, though i’m starting to think it may be bad from the perspective of joint / skin inflammation. need a job in order to get more serious. need more vegetables… need a decent quality protein powder… i’d like to try the v diet or something along those lines. Bet I would recover better if I fueled my training better… Doing the best I can with what I know and can afford at the moment, though. Hope to pick up my game on that real soon.
I guess I want both, Nadia. I want a perfect squat. I also want to squat a crap load of weight. I think people are right about just putting the weight up and never mind how you feel about it. If I fail, I fail. That is what the safeties are for. The only thing that made 20kg feel easy was adding weight even when it didn’t feel like I could do it with more weight. Thanks Nikki.
Masch - I only tried 32.5kg because you said you did 35kg! I thought ‘hmm… I probably can’t do 35kg but maybe possibly 32.5kg…’ Anyway, technique has turned to crap again so back to the bar for me. Sigh… Really is a process of progress then regression etc.
WEDNESDAY:
FRONT SQUAT:
warmup: 20kg 1x6, 25kg 1x3,
30kg 6x6.
First time doing that set / rep scheme at that weight. It felt hard, but I got it done.
P(OWERSNATCH) / S(NATCH):
bar warmup (15kg).
25kg
P, P, P;
P, P, S,
27.5kg
P, P, S (lost tension in the hole but got it up anyway)
P, P, S
S, SX (people walking close in front of me. couldn’t get mental focus. came down hard - freaked out because it was the women’s bar)
P, P
25kg
P, P, P
SQUAT CLEAN:
35kg 2x1
37.5kg 2x1
40kg miss x2
37.5kg 1
38.5kg 2x1 (most i’ve stood up keeping good tension in the hole. sneaky 0.5kg plates heh)
JERK:
35kg 5x3. Pretty crappy. Need to work technique with the bar (get foot placement sorted out).
THURSDAY (NO HEAVY LIFTING DAY!!!)
EVA / SOFTBALL ROLLING: 40 minutes. Quads and adductors needed a lot of TLC
LEG RAISES: From dip bars. 3x5, 3x10. Alternating sets with:
STANDING QUAD STRETCH: Just aiming to get quad comfortably vertical and
FLAT BACKED HAMSTRING STRETCHES
Had some quad cramping (bad leg) to start with. Stretching helped considerably. Each set of leg raises felt smoother and easier than the last. Not feeling core activation so will keep doing these and see how things pan out… Felt fine for my hip.
BENT ARM PLANK: 2.00.
FRONT LOADED PLATE SQUAT (5kg plate) 1x5
Remembered these were better than air squats with respect to getting good abdominal activation and really keeping the movement smooth and tight. Felt a bit bad about squatting… But think that these will help me get a perfect air squat which should hopefully carry over to my other squats. Mobility / activation drill. Yes??
PLANK: 2.00
FRONT LOADED PLATE SQUAT 1x5
PLANK: 1.30 PUSSY!!!
FRONT LOADED PLATE SQUAT 1x5
Ab roll out things on swiss ball for ab activation…
Back bridge on ball for glute activation / flexor stretch
BACK EXTENSIONS: (superman / starfish things on swiss ball) 3x10
Holy glute power batman!!! These were FUN!!! My trouble with glute activation only seems to apply to activation when my quads are flexed or extended from being in line with my body.
CHIN UPS: 10x1.
I don’t consider these to be from a dead hang because I start off from standing on a stepper (arms fully extended to grip the bar). On a couple of the reps I didn’t reset my grip and only waited a couple seconds before the next rep. Getting stronger with these in the sense of needing less rest time. Am aiming to progress to kicking the step away - but happy enough to lose the load briefly between reps until I get to x5. Progress heh
Stupid question: Women’s bar?
mens olympic lifting bar: 20kg (cheap versions are the bars you usually find in gyms for bench pressing, squatting etc)
womens olympic lifting bar: 15kg
the women’s bar also has a smaller circumference - I have trouble adjusting to how the grip feels different between the regular and women’s bar.
apparently it is only weightlifting that uses the womens bar… powerlifting just uses the mens(?) / standard (?) bar.
that circumference difference would really mess with me! for the plate squats do you mean just holding a plate in front?
as you can see I’m on a renaissance mission to steal your training formulas…i won’t lie!
also i agree with Masch-- i had the worst time snatching just a regular bar with plates it way easier…maybe someday I’ll be able to do just the bar; 
need that momentum to get those things swinging.
My gym could do with a women’s bar. To be honest, I find the standard Oly bar too heavy for doing snatches and OHS (I still have my training wheels on). Unfortunately, there are no longer, lighter bars - there are some fixed weight bars of differing weights but they are too narrow.
Slower / more controlled version of this (5kg plate instead of ball):
It is a good drill for activating abs and really sitting down hard into glutes / flexors (has featured in a T nation article or two). Apparently because a little front loading reduces the need to balance so you are better able to focus on activation. Hopefully will have carryover to regular squatting and won’t impact on heavy squat recovery. This is actually how I learned to squat (once this was reasonable progressed to front squatting barbells).
Apparently women’s bars are considered sports specific (for oly lifting) rather than something you are likely to find around gyms. Training bars are also made - lightest I’ve found is 10kg - but I guess they are only common for oly lifting, again. It really does make it harder to learn when you don’t have the proper setup. Not impossible… Just harder.
Nice! The plate loaded front squats are good! I agree.
And just a reminder, I did try 35k, but it as a mess! and I didnt catch a single one of them. HAH! So give yourself more credit girl!
And good work on the back ext, squat clean and the chinups! Yay for progress!
The point was that you TRIED and survived to tell the tale. That was inspiring to me. Yay for progress, indeed.
Found this. Cool stuff on powerlifting vs olympic lifting squats. Front loaded plate squat on page 1 and a cool demo of prying on page 2.
hey thanks!! I think the plate squats would really benefit me and getting flexy again! hurray!
Great training the last couple of days.
Working through that 6x6 is very admirable.
And those chins are amazing!
Never knew there were different bars for men/women Oly lifting. Hmm.
OMFG about 7 of these were training in my gym today. NOM!!! They weren’t quite hitting depth on their squats but they had nice asses. I mean lumbar curves. They were giving each other little taps on their asses between reps. I mean lumbar curves. To help them reset, I guess. Whatever. I approve
They were actually fairly friendly in a respectful way. A couple asked me if I was training for powerlifting lol. They pretty much took over the gym space but managed to not crowd me or disrupt my line of vision. Nice for me to see that I’m not really a weirdo about that. It is possible to be respectful of others training spaces even when the gym is crowded. I think I will be a bit more assertive with other people now.
BACK SQUAT:
warm up 20kg 1x4, 25kg 1x4. standing quad stretch / quad rolling.
work sets: 6x6 32.5kg. that is a 2.5kg increase from last time. i’ll take it. hard, but not impossible. weight goes up next time.
(P)OWERSNATCH / (S)NATCH PRACTICE
bar warm up position work
25kg P, P, S
27.5kg P, P, S
30kg P, S, P
32.5kg P, P, S
30kg S, P, P
27kg 3x (Px2)
okay. took a fair while. people tell me that a single counts as a whole set. anything at 30kg is a single rather than a triple then. that might be making my training take too long… bit stuffed after this. will think about focusing on either cleans or snatches but not both in a single training session… not sure.
(P)OWERCLEAN / (C)LEAN PRACTICE:
27.5kg C
30kg C
35kg C
37.5kg C, C
40kg P, P, CX - lost balance back in catch, CX - felt too heavy to stand up, C - didn’t ride it ALL the way down, CX - wuss.
40kg is too heavy for me to stand up, basically. will keep progressing my squats and hopefully that will change.
Glad you had a little eye candy to sweeten up your training today! Looks like you are working very hard, but smart. I can’t wait to see you get that 40kg. Work it girl, work it!
Are those Maurie (spelling is wrong i think) warrior footballers? Polynesian yummies?
i’m a curious,wide eyed, uneducated American so please excuse me if this sounds crash and bad, but I’ve wondered about that whole culture–in Australia—> what’s the spliff?
I thought as i was buying my honeydew melons today, I wonder if food prices are higher in Australia? What is the popular culture like? what is the COOL culture like? And please tell me they don’t have Emo’s and Alt’s there.
I suppose i could look it up…but I have yet to do so.
oh yeah! and what do you think of new zealanders?
i’ll stop.
@Alexus - got to say I’m a bit envious, yum. There’s quite a lot of Aussies and Kiwis who train at my gym, which is just as well as most of the white English guys don’t have great bodies. I do wonder why that is - I’d blame the beer but that seems to be pretty popular down under too.
@Sindie - Think you mean Maori, heh. Not all the NZ rugby team are Maoris of course - but they all do the Haka (a Maori dance) before each match (as do some other NZ sports teams).
Rugby players!!! So very, very NOM!
Look at you go Alexus! You’re killing it! Great work
how motivating