ALexus: I’m so stoked for you. Now the skys the limit as far as chinning goes. As many as you want are yours. Congrats. And it’s only January. You need an amended goal.
Aha! Being able to do chin ups for the first time is one of the best feelings in the world! Now, you can try to do 2, then 3, then 4, and so on.
Just read up on your training - it’s so cool to see everyone in here doing all different things inbetween their heavy lifting.
Thanks guys 
Woke up early this morning in a crappy mood (need a job pretty urgently, am under-experienced for most jobs, and the rejections are getting me down). Decided to focus on something I can do (but still can’t quite believe). Will get back to job hunting over the weekend… Something very different for me:
Circuit Style (1-2 minutes rest between sets)
CHIN UP (more or less cheating going on)
5x1
PUSH UP
2x5
BARBELL PRESS (20kg then 25kg for later sets with a bit of push-pressing)
2x5
INVERTED ROW
2x5
Whole thing x5
This was meant to be fairly easy giving me something to do while waiting to recover from the chin-up attempts (wanted to crank volume on those).
Also did some:
BACK SQUATS:
20kg 2x5
25kg 1x5 - feeling good
30kg 1x5 - also feeling good
Need to cue: Keep knees out! Pretty smooth and deep, though. Surprised at how easy 30kg felt (compared to front squatting it).
Got home, ate, and promptly fell into a comatose sleep. Thats actually pretty hard (and different) work for me. The plan was to go back and train powercleans / squat cleans / front squats in the evening - but feeling pretty wrecked. Will eat, watch tv, and sleep some more instead.
No heavy lifting tomorrow. Bodybalance. Maybe the odd chin-up. Maybe same deal with back squats, but that is it. Want to have a good oly lifting training week next week.
Phew.
the first chins are epic - good job. and good luck on the job search. I was there 2 years ago and it took me a good couple of months. Stay patient and focused.
You didn’t need to do powercleans and front squats and whatnot, that’s a lot of work!
Good luck with the job search
yeah, trying not to let the job search get me down nimain… need something very soon, though, gotta eat. was surprised how much that took it out of me nikki. i suppose i shouldn’t be so surprised that trying for 20 of what i could just do 1 of would get me, though (though probably a bit less than half of those weren’t from a dead-hang admittedly)
bodybalance - sucked. regular instructor is having a couple months off so we had another one. the instructor made that class for me, basically, so not going to go to that again until she is back. will need to do my own stretching / mobility.
walking around today with a severe case of ILS due to DOMS in lats. also biceps, triceps, and my abs are bloody killing me, too. haven’t felt this beat up in a long while… did some back squatting (repeat of yesterday) and some cleans up to 35kg. light technique work tomorrow… and some more chins so don’t get DOMS like this from them again…
My gym has a “bodybalance” class - it’s a mixture of Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates done to New Age music. Nice if you like that sort of thing but I found it a bit airy fairy for me. I don’t mind yoga, usually, but I’ve found I get more out of stretching myself, which is what I’m really after - not relaxation.
Chins will give your abs a hard time. I remember doing some horrible Crossfit workout where you had to do 100 chins. Obviously I couldn’t so I used the assisted chin and dip machine and holy Jesus, my abs the next day…
Don’t be afraid to rest too. I promise that chinup is yours! You won’t lose it if you take a day off. If I do too many pullups I can feel my elbow start to nag… be careful not to overdo okay?
yeah… i’m a little embarrassed to say that I did / enjoyed BodyBalance. I’m sure it’s relationship to Yoga, Tai Chi, and Pilates is similar to the relationship between BodyPump and weightlifting / powerlifting :-/ It really was the instructor, though. I will keep Saturday for serious mobility / flexibility day and use some of the amazing resources that there are out there.
The chin was (sorta) mine I’m doing a blend of starting from a dead hang and needing to swing my legs up fairly high and kind of shuffle the weight between my biceps to get past my sticking point… And starting with the weight on my tip toes and getting up in a stricter fashion. Trying to do the ‘pack shoulders, pull elbows down with lats’ thing as best as I can. I’m sure it will get easier the more I practice (though will be very careful to keep an eye on any sign of nagging elbow).
Have done my circuit(like thing with lots more rest) twice more now (every second day). Still a little DOMS from it but nothing like that first time. Trying to hit my lower body hard in between. So yesterday:
FRONT SQUAT: 20kg 1x6, 25kg 1x6, 30kg 5x6.
SQUAT CLEAN: 35kg 10x1. Bumpers on the women’s bar woo hoo! Riding the bar down more than pulling myself under (since it is a reasonably light powerclean for me). Pretty hard to stand up (not sure that I could get a double) but getting easier with practice. I like this idea of sticking with 35kg (close to my standing it up max) and repeating it until it becomes easier (like what I’m doing with the chin-ups). Mostly because… I’m a bit lazy for doubles, even, I think…
PRESSING: I’m trying to get the hang of leg drive (progression from strict press) on my way to jerking (getting under what I’ve driven up). My strict press actually seems to have gotten weaker… But I’m doing more before I’m pressing these days, so I suppose something has to give. 25kg 1x6, 30kg 3x5 (to failure).
BACK SQUAT: ATG. Takes a couple sets with the bar to get my hip flexors stretched enough for ATG with good lumbar curve. Feeling it in them a bit so not in any hurry to add weight (I heard that tendons and ligaments adapt slower than muscles and I don’t want an injury at this point). 20kg 3x5, 25kg 1x5, 30kg 1x5.
PLANK: Bailed. Been doing that a lot lately. This is me holding myself accountable for not having done it.
Circuit today… Hopefully get some feedback on my squat cleaning and leg drive pressing tomorrow.
you work those chins!! oh my —job…job search…i feel for you in a thousand ways :{ i hope you get some word sooon!
Don’t sweat the doubles on cleans. To me they feel more like conditioning than anything else, and except for giving me confidence, don’t really seem to help enough to make them worthwhile.
Nice work on the squatting.
And thanks for your long arm comment. It reminded me that long ago I had started working on widening my grip on jerks to compensate. Was able to get a cm wider yesterday without compromising my stability in the rack, and the jerks were a lot more solid than usual.
You’re killing everything alexus!
Great work on the chins, and the lower body work.
I’d love to see some vids of your Oly lifting efforts.
I used to train Oly C&J. But that’s probably not in the cards for me with my shoulder. So I live vicariously. Hint.
Thanks Brute. Hope things go well for you on the job front, too. Glad my comment helped, Carl, even though I wasn’t thinking about it in relation to jerking at all. Thanks for your encouragement, Nikki, means a lot. I didn’t think I had anything to take vids with but suppose my laptop has the capacity, spsnap. I’ll try and figure something out and post some vids. I know that I get a lot out of seeing what other people are up to.
YESTERDAY:
FRONT SQUAT: 20kg 1x6, 25kg 1x6, 30kg 5x6. Feels hard. Might be about ready to add 2.5kg to the 3rd set, though.
SQUAT CLEAN: 35kg 10x1. Took a bit to get going with these. Okay. Felt heavier than last time.
PUSH PRESS: 35kg miss, single. Just to see if I could heh heh. 25kg 2x5, 27.5kg 1x5, 30kg 1x2 fail bail on set. 25kg 1x5.
DEADLIFT: 50kg 1x5, 60kg 1x5, 65kg 1x5, 70kg 1x3 fail, 1x3. Not sure why I failed. Felt heavy today.
One chin-up (just showing off)
PLANKS: 2x 2.00
Later on my shoulder started really aching. Realized that I’ve pulled it a bit by hanging from the pull-up bar with loose arms before packing my shoulder. I really need to remember to pack my arms and legs into the joints before doing mobility or weighted movement. Will be very careful with it now.
TODAY:
Rest. Realize I haven’t had a day off since the 1st.
Monthly friend back again. So time to deload for a few days. Should have started it a couple days ago (but I’m only just keeping track of it so hopefully I’ll know when to start that for next month). If I’d have timed the deload properly I probably wouldn’t have hurt my shoulder 
I just realized I got two of my goals from when I started this log. I got a chin-up. I also got a 35kg squat clean. I jerked it before Christmas, too (but that wasn’t pretty). Not on the same day… But I guess that counts as cleaning and jerking it lol.
Alexus: Congrats on 2 goals met! HOpe that shoulder feels better soon.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
I’d love to see some vids of your Oly lifting efforts.
I used to train Oly C&J. But that’s probably not in the cards for me with my shoulder. So I live vicariously. Hint.[/quote]
x2!!
Great going on the goals! Now enjoy your deload!
Great job on the chin-ups!
Hopefully the deload does your shoulder some good.
I’m not sure if you are still reading Dinab but this is starting to make more sense to me now:
3rd figure, you can see the bump and extension. This is why I don’t like calling it a second pull, you are not pulling the weight up, rather “falling” under the bar into your catch position. Keep playing with it. Another good tip I got is not to keep all the weight on your heels, rather use mid-foot.
There is a discussion on page 11 of the Pendlay forum (the long thread) of the catapult technique. I need to read it more carefully and have a think… But I think (as part of that?) shrugging was frowned upon. There is this tricky thing of needing to get the bar high - and needing to get yourself low. I read something somewhere about there being two kinds of lifters - those that err on spending too long getting the bar up high (so don’t get under quick enough) and those that dive under the bar too soon (and don’t get the bar high enough first). All my powercleaning… Focusing on getting the bar up high… I’m probably not developing the ideal technique for being able to get myself under it quickly. I have been experimenting with my weight more in the mid-foot and I think that is really helping
I’m trying to enjoy my deload - but it isn’t really in my nature :-/ No chins, though, and my shoulder and elbow (which also started to hurt) feel 100% better already.
YESTERDAY: (auto-regulating deload and felt fine to do the following)
FRONT SQUAT: 20kg 1x5, 25kg 1x5, 30kg 1x5, 35kg 2x3
SQUAT CLEAN: 35kg 10x1. Need to focus on keeping my core tight (chest up) and driving up with glutes. Really liked the smooth transition to this exercise with the last set of front squats being at the same weight.
BACK SQUAT: 20kg 1x5, 25kg 1x5, 30kg 5x5. Pausing at the bottom then exploding up. Except for a couple near the end which were a bit lackluster. Once more then ready to put the weight up, I think. The bar feels a bit uncomfortable on my back, but I guess you get used to it. I guess chins will help build my back up lol.
SNATCH / POWERSNATCH: Up to 27.5kg. Felt pretty good. 1 very ugly powersnatch at 30kg.
PLANK: 3x 2:00. Yay me. Damn I hate those.
TODAY:
BodyBalance: Was really very good. Realized part way through today that last week was probably the first time she had ever run the class, and that of course it would take her some time to find her stride and develop her own style. I was also upset because someone took my preferred location - but where I ended up is actually better.
Faffing around with the bar… Trying to sort out my snatches which have gone to hell. Not at all confident to get myself under, which is reasonable enough since I’m not pulling it reliably straight (pulling a little forwards or backwards).
Go easy tomorrow (will try and take a vid of my cleaning)… Then hope to be back with a vengance next week.