Hey Alexus
I liked the squat vid and the snatch vid very strong looking core, weighted planks ftw!
Just to chime in on the front squat. You look great to me.
As for imbalances and being asymmetrical (LOL Ass - symmetry). I was talking about this to the manager of my gym and she said “You aren’t special. Everyone has nearly the same imbalances you do.”
So, sorry to inform you of your unspecialness, Lex!
Good for trying a super hard program. Keep giving it your all.
Those vids were a thing of beauty! I don’t know enough about the technicalities of snatch and front squatting. But they looked good to me. Looks like your flexibility has vastly increased since the early days. Great, great stuff!
chiming in on the vids - nice front squats!
thanks for the encouragement and support 
i’ve lost my paper log 
hopefully someone will hand it in to reception at the gym but i’m not terribly optimistic since it hasn’t been handed in already. fortunately i transfer pretty much everything into this log so i haven’t lost the only record i had of my training.
managed to get in early today. i feel much more productive when i don’t know the other people in the room and i can just focus on my training. one day i’ll learn to balance focus on others and focus on myself but things seem a bit too hard with that right now.
eva / softball / drainpipe rolling.
stick work.
bar work. (i find hitting the positions harder with the stick than the bar since it is so light lol)
tried ‘chest up’ cue. i think it works much better than my ‘hips down’ cue. thanks for that, andy
also thinking to try and keep the midline of my body close to the bar (instead of letting my butt move back away from the bar)
need to do MUCH more of this.
worked up to a couple of good snatches at 35kg.
it really does seem to be about my putting in the time to get things feeling right. so tempting for me to think ‘good enough’ and put the weight up. when i do that then things seem to turn to shit, though, so need to be more patient with myself.
FRONT SQUAT
RSR day whatever of week whatever (need to transfer the info from here to a new paper log. made sure i was doing the right thing, though)
warm-up:
15kg 2x5
20kg 2x5
25kg 1x5
30kg 1x3
work sets:
36kg (same as the vid) 6x5.
I actually enjoyed these
feel bad-ass (even though it is only 36kg).
cleaned 35kg (need to practice those a bit more).
20kg elbow planks 3x60 seconds.
I don’t know what you mean ONLY 36kg. That’s awesome and it’s even better that it’s with an Oly grip. Every rep of every set of front squats is hell for me. I stick through it, but I don’t like it. You have quite the mental fortitude.
[quote]As for imbalances and being asymmetrical (LOL Ass - symmetry). I was talking about this to the manager of my gym and she said “You aren’t special. Everyone has nearly the same imbalances you do.”
[/quote]
Yeeeeaaaahhh it’s common but my left thigh is bigger than my right by like, an inch I believe. It sucks.
Still trying to fix it too.
I like the chest up or lead with the chest too! I think it’s so interesting how the wording of a cue can completely fix my form! Good work! It’s always nice when you finish feeling like a baddass.
thanks nikki. that is weird about your thigh. i should check my body for a-symmetries. bet i’ve got some.
sbmart - yeah ‘chest up’ really does seem to be helping me it is amazing how some cues work sometimes but not othertimes and some cues really don’t seem to work at all. kinda cool, too, how imagining doing something impossible sometimes (like reaching your non-existent scorpian tail behind you) can work as cues.
TRAINING
usual warm-up but i couldn’t find the drain pipe. turns out someone hid it in the fire hose cupboard. i’ll look there next time… still don’t know who owns it but various people seem to be making use of it.
SNATCH
trying to increase weight slowly to work form. think i’m getting a bit better with leading from the chest. ended up having three misses at 40kg because i couldn’t find the second set of 0.5kg plates. feeling SMASHED. realized that what i should be doing is recovering from yesterdays squats in preparation for tomorrows.
my hands are a mess. they have been really tender over the past few days and my grip gets fussy on 35kg and over. been fussing a bit about my wrists, too (need to roll them back to catch the bar over my traps properly). they feel weak and unstable, basically, so i’ve been binding the crap out of them with heavy duty powerlifting wraps (legal for Oly Lifting, though most seem to prefer sofer wraps).
I think I need to hook my thumb under my fingers more (half way down my middle thumb joint so my fingers are gripping my thumb rather than the bar - except my pinkie). Been hooking it fairly low down (only hooking the end joint of my thumb under the first two fingers) but then it either skins my hand rolling back towards my wrist for the catch or else it is too far away from my wrist - so is in a very unstable position with my wrist rolled back, basically.
not sure if any of that makes much sense… upshot is that i need to grip it differently and i’m getting a whole bunch of new blisters / ripping them as my hands get used to the new grip. it also just feels really uncomfortable and weird.
stick assisted GHR 5x5. feel the glute pump, baby!
INVERTED ROWS
3x5 (higher than i usually set it)
2x5 (where i normally set it)
1x5 (lower than usual) - only the last of these was soft / didn’t get my chest to the bar. i got stronger on these! without even training them! maybe i’m using my lats more with Oly Lifting than i had supposed!
1x5 (last 3 of these were total shit but working the muscles…)
6x6 squats tomorrow :-/ that is the highest volume day (sets of 6) and then next week the volume gets lighter again but the weight goes starts to go up. i’m gonna go grocery shopping now to prepare. wish me luck!
Hi Alexus, you’re so good about posting your videos! I just noticed we are about the same height, although I’ve got probably a bit more weight on me than you, ok maybe not probably but it sounds better.
I’m feeling your pain about the hands, wrists and imbalances. Especially now, my last session I got up to 25kg on the hang snatch, which I was very happy, only to be told by their physio that I’ll have to take the weight down until my left wrist is more stable. And no more wraps for me either to help compensate.
Also I have to do twice as many single leg exercises on my right leg, as my right hip is very unstable, so no working on my full squat yet either. But one thing at a time I guess. I’m hoping to get my full program today so keep an eye out on a log for me soon(ish).
I hope the “chest up” helps me. While I FINALLY learned how to keep my hips down during my DL, during a max lift, I lose that. Maybe really thinking about keeping the chest up will help more than hips down. It’s like… “keep hips down”. Well what does that mean? You know what you want but not how to get there.
Very interesting.
Awesome work on the interted rows.
I hate when I can’t find the fractional plates. On the days I don’t need them, they’re laying on the floor in plain sight. When I do need them, they’re nowhere on the property.
Have fun with 6x6 today.
Hey lovey!! Just catching up on all your hard work! Looking good.
That RSR is killer! And don’t say “only” - any squats, when done correctly, are freaking hard!
Seriously, the “chest up” cue was super, duper helpful for me too (thanks to Andy!). Not only does it help set up my arch, but it also allows me to go from the first pull into the second much more smoothly. In fact, I found that keeping the chest up was the perfect way to set up for the second pull - and essentially, you maintain your “chest up” until the second extension.
The other thing that helped a lot for me in my set up was once I got my arch to remember to retract my lats (again, another awesome cue from Andy!). I found that kept everything nice and tight, as well as helped keep the chest up.
Agreed on the front squats - they looked great! No offense, but damn! I feel sorry for you tall peeps. HAHA! For once being a shorty works to my advantage 
Snatches are coming along too! You’re making amazing progress, girlie. Keep it up!
Just wanted to say “Good luck” for the 6x6. You’ll do great! Remember, failure is not an option. (easy for me to say).
Look on the positive side, after this one you’ll be dropping a set each workout (not the 6x2’s obviously) which is always nice to know when you’re feeling shattered.
I missed your videos! I went back and peaked. You have lovely front squats.
I’ll just post my training now then come back later (have some stuff I need to do…)
found my log book! someone did hand it in
got my period took painkillers. planned to see how my squat warm-up felt and only do the 6x6 if things didn’t feel too cranky.
eva / softball rolling warm-up.
snatch warm-up drills just up to 25kg. it helps me limber up, basically.
some dude wanted to work in behind me to use the landmine in the corner. i said that was okay (since i was just planning on doing some light mobility snatch work).
then he set it up taking up quite a bit of space (unnecessary - he could have rolled it back towards the wall) and went to do lat pull-downs for a good 5 minutes. making it hard for me since it is a bit tricky to get the bar to stop rolling around on the floor and i was moving it out the way between sets thinking he was going to come back and actually use the land mine. then his brofriend arrives and they proceed to dick around in the corner putting weight on it etc.
the last thing i need is for people to be fucking around in the corner not being mindful of me because they think i’m just doing slow first pulls… then i snatch it, lose it backwards, and crack them in the head with the bar.
they could have used the other fucking corner (don’t even need to work in with the guys using dumbbells on the benches since you know they are going to stay put on their benches.
so i said ‘if there something wrong with the other corner?’ and moved… one of the gym guys said ‘you should be on the platform’ and i was like ‘i just want a little corner of space so i can do my thing without having to negotiate people. isn’t that obvious? i don’t understand what the problem is’.
don’t fuck with me when i’m gonna try 6x6 and i’ve got my period. fuckwads.
6x6 @ 36kg.
did them. movement felt surprisingly smooth and comfortable. they felt smooth and didn’t come close to fail.
quite happy about that. probably wasn’t being fair to the guy since he asked to work in and we just had different conceptions of what that meant… i do need to learn to be more appropriately assertive… but for now the strategy is to: 1) get better at going earlier in the morning / later in the evening when there aren’t very many people around. 2) blast my i-pod and say ‘can’t hear you’ when people try and talk to me. or ‘no’ when people ask to work in. yes, thats right, i’m going to be about 40 minutes with this training space and no you can’t work in because you’ll cry if i smash you in the head with the bar and i don’t trust you to keep out of my way.
I’d tell them yes but that the bar will be flying around and they may get hit if they are to close and you lose control of the bar. That way they understand the dangers and then do your thing and if they get hit…?
I also see nothing wrong with shoving their things out of the way so you can do your thing, if they are doing something somewhere else. Working in means trying not to get in the way of the other person.
Maybe just a better explanation of what you are doing when they ask to work in so they know how to stay out of your way.
Gym etiquette can be so complicated. lol
[quote]Charlie Horse wrote:
I’d tell them yes but that the bar will be flying around and they may get hit if they are to close and you lose control of the bar. That way they understand the dangers and then do your thing and if they get hit…?
[/quote]
… then it is their own damned fault.
well… fuck. i never thought of that. of course it is obviously the thing to say now that you have suggested it. thanks. well done, charlie
Idiots in your space - Defend and deflect. Wax on, wax off. Start bringing nunchucks. Stop using deodorant.
I’m thinking about your wrist wraps. Gregron mentioned it. Mine is still a little sore, and I keep tweaking it. 5x5 assisted GHRs are no joke. Those things are brutally hard. GLUTES!!
Yay to you for working through your period! I like to think of that as the reason why women are tougher than men when it comes down to it. Theree’s nothing while as mentally draining as adding cramps and nausea to a workout. Awesome work.
i have a lot to catch up on!! hurray 
Nice! Way to go on being assertive and good job on the 6x6! Sounds like a pretty good training sesh to me