I warmed up a little and then did a standing overhead press with 135# for 15 reps. It felt ok.
I then did the exact same snatch progression that I did yesterday but with shorter rest period.
I feel compelled to do the snatch.
Warmed up and then hit a rep pr on the touch and go deadlift
315# for 40 reps - I felt good up to rep 38 then fought through to pull 40. I rested at the top for about a half a second on rep 39. I get winded a little walking up a flight of stairs so this is kind of rediculous for me to do real high reps and survive.
I started to carb up some last night at IHOP with some pancakes and I ate fruit all day today so when the time came to give it a shot I felt, so so. But I had plenty of gas in the take. High hips are a must for me when I pull for reps. Also, going easy on the touch so my elbows and shoulder don’t get too beat up is helping to keep me going as well.
I’m sure where I am going with the reps at this point. My hamstring feels ok so maybe I’ll go heavier in the near future, or not.
Same snatch progression starting at 135#. I am working on a deeper catch which is causing even the light weight sets to feel like more work, which they are. Still not heavy but definitely burning more gas. The high rep deads are causing my ass and legs to test the elasticity of my draws.
Nothing fancy here,
Yesterday I walked the dog for about ten minutes then did 135# for 14 reps in standing ohp, one clean fourteen presses. Then I proceeded to get jiggy with some chin-ups holding onto the bottom of a step that leads up to the deck on the back of my house. Grip and angle of pull and lack of doing these and my fat ass made these more difficult than they should have been. No where to go but up with the reps.
Today, I walked the dog then did hang power snatches in this fashion,
5-3-1 135#-140#-145#
5-3-1 140#-145#-150#
5-3-1 145#-150#-155#
I still need to squat alot more on the catch but it’s coming along sort of at times. I didn’t rest long enough b/w sets either but the weight is light so no troubles. I am getting snappier with these and felt no pain in the legs (knee, hamstring) so thats good.
On Sunday,
Inspired by the NFL combine I benched 225# for 15 reps. Not terrible for not lifting much the past few years. I’ll do it again this week and then try for 20 reps next Sunday. I did some bb rows with 225#, I got 10 reps with that, just feeling it out. Then I squatted 225# for 5x5, high bar as low as I could go. I felt it necessary to begin squatting wearing jeans. They ripped out from the left rear pocket to just below the backside of the knee. I didn’t really like them anyway.
I walked the dog then did one set of 16 reps with 135# in a standing overhead press, I just took it from a rack today instead of cleaning it. I doubt that made a difference.
Then I did the snatch. (snicker)
I warmed up a little and benched 225# for 18 reps.
I should be able to hit 20 reps at the end of this week, I think. I did 15 reps the other day and picked up three more today so 20 should come easy next time. I may stay with reps and go for 30 by April if I don’t hurt something.
Deadlift:
Sucked a fat one today, that is all.
I need to drop about twenty five pounds of bodyweight for a life insurance physical so I guess I’ll dedicate myself to that for the next few weeks and kind of put the strength increase efforts on hold for now. Atkins induction phase here I come.
For the next few weeks I am going to replace deadlifts with more frequent powerclean work.
Edit: ok so I did 405# x 18 in the touch and go deadlift and it felt heavy. That is why I only did 18 reps. I am now punishing myself by doing powercleans in sets of three with 225#. I catch these with no knee bend so it’s a full length pull. I have not done these since I pulled my hamstring last fall they should get prettier as time goes on.
I am kind of beating the crap out of myself right now,
Hip snatch
5-3-1 135#-140#-145#
5-3-1 140#-145#-150#
5- 145#
I absolutely was not feeling this today. No spring in the legs and I wasn’t dropping under the weight at all.
standing overhead press, one clean and then 16 reps of 135#. this kind of surprised me given the fact that I did the hip snatch first.
Other than an immediate goal of mega weight loss I have no goals other than to stay healthy. I see a stated goal coming on the horizon and it will involve an athletic endeavor.
Today:
I am recovering from a nice cold that I caught from the wife and my weight is down about five pounds since the middle of last week. I actually felt decent today.
First I did a little warm-up and then did a set of 15 reps at 135# in the ohp next I did the hip snatch in this fashion=
5-3-1 135#-140#-145#
5-3-1 140#-145#-150#
5-3-1 145#-150#-155#
The pull is the easy part, trying to catch the weight in a good position is a challenge. I need to loosen up better beforehand.
Tomorrow I either bench 225# for reps or squat or both.
Tuesday:
All I did today was bench 225# for 16 reps. Yes that’s going the wrong way. I’ve dropped eight pounds in the the last week and still am fighting a cold, the two are probably related, so I’ll take the 16 reps for now. I then did some barbell rows with the same weight.
This is important for all readers to know: I had diarrhea the last two days, but my weight only dropped about about on pound from Monday to Tuesday so I don’t think it was too bad.
The bright side is that I only need to drop seventeen more pounds of bodyweight. I’m hoping to lose another eight or more pounds in the next week, that will be fun. It will be all diet for now but if I need to add more activity to put me where I need to be, I will.
I missed a few days of posting.
Last week I did some more overhead press, bench press, hip snatch, and squats. The squats were high bar, deep 5x5 with 245#. I’m still testing the body. I tend not to react well to squats anymore.
I took friday and saturday off, today I did some close grip bench for a couple of sets in rep range up to twenty. I was using 185# up to 205# nothing real heavy but I was feeling the burn(that’s from the 80’s)
I’m doing hip/whip snatches right now in the 5-3-1 5-3-1 5-3-1 fashion. I started at 145# my last single will be at 165#.
There is a video of a guy doing this on youtube with 345# and I am attempting to emulate the style of keeping the bar in the crease and getting the shoulders well over the bar for leverage. This works great until my form breaks down and I start to pull with bent elbows, when there straight the bar literally whips overhead. Damn, I wish I knew about these when I competed.
If I don’t hurt myself soon I swear that I will state a hopefully interesting goal. hoka hey (Lakota battle cry)
I’m sitting here wondering to myself if I could still turn on the explosiveness I had once, with a little work of course. I did run a 5.44 fully automated time in the forty last fall after almost a year of being a squishy 253 pound couch potato so I think maybe I could do something if I got some strength back too. I’m thinking discus throwing, that way I could still have strength goals to keep it interesting. we shall see.
[quote]bluejay wrote:
I’m sitting here wondering to myself if I could still turn on the explosiveness I had once, with a little work of course. I did run a 5.44 fully automated time in the forty last fall after almost a year of being a squishy 253 pound couch potato so I think maybe I could do something if I got some strength back too. I’m thinking discus throwing, that way I could still have strength goals to keep it interesting. we shall see.[/quote]
Sounds cool, good luck i’ll be following
Yesterday I did some standing overhead press. It was a little light.
115# x20 reps
125# x20 reps
that was all.
Today:
I did a few higher reps warm up sets on the barbell bench press and then did this (24" grip which about shoulder width)
225# x 18 reps
225# x 17 reps I went a little slow the first set and didn’t really feel a groove so to speak.
Then I did two sets of bb rows with 225# the first to ten the second to twelve. I didn’t pull too hard the position aggravates my bad hamstring so I decided not to get crazy. I can deadlift for high reps with 405# and not feel a thing but standing bent over with 225# hurts, whatever.
I tried to run up my stairs yesterday and that hurt too. I may need to resign myself to the pasture.
I started eating some carbs again at the end of last week, I had to. The strength decrease is too much. I’ll try to add in some additional work, jump rope shouldn’t hurt me.
Previously I stated that I may throw a discus, I used to throw shotput in college if that makes more sense to state that as a goal.
today:
Warmed up to 16 reps of 135# in a standing ohp, no legs.
three sets of high pulls to the chest in a whip/hip snatch fashion, with a top set of 225# then
hip snatch in the 5-3-1 repeat repeat fashion, starting with 150# ending at 170# for a single.
The weight is light enough that I can work form some. It seems that finding the right degree of bend at the waist is crucial for keeping the elbows locked. Its coming along.
today I warmed up and then
265# x 5 x 5 on a high bar deep squat, feet a little inside shoulder width.
This didn’t hurt so thats a good sign. I plan to go up ten pounds a week for the next few weeks, get to 315 pounds then reassess. I go down slooow, this helps me stay upright. yay, squatting is fun and the sun is shining.
tonight
I walked the dog, did some arm swingy things, and 3 x 20 ankle hops? then proceeded to hip snatches
5-3-1 155#-160#-165#
5-3-1 160#-165#-170#
5-3-1 165#-170#-175#
These were ok, my form falls apart a little on the five rep sets, but it probably isn’t great to start with. Fortunately the weight is light enough to learn something. I’ll use the same weights one time next week then drop back to a 145# starting weight the following week and then in four weeks work up to a 180# single for the last set. This should help me to concentrate on tech work.
Bodyweight is holding steady at 250#, 70% sprints are coming soon.
Sunday I warmed up to two sets of close grip bench press with 205#
1x20
1x16
I may have had a rep or two left in me on the first set but it seemed kind of hard. The second set I might have had one left but maybe not.
I then proceeded to some bent over rows with the same weight, with higher reps for one set. Lastly, I did a round of front, side, rear dumbbell raises to 20 reps each.
I’m starting to lose interest in higher reps but I’m going to try to stay with them for at least another month before I make an adjustment to sets, reps, and exercise selection. When I do switch it will be suttle at best. Instead of up to 20 reps I’m thinking up to 15 reps for a while. I’m trying to get better acclimated to lifting than I usually do which should help me to avoid some of the nagging crap that can happen with my shoulders.
Today,
I did standing ohp today. After a little warm-up and dog walking, not code for anything, I got 15 reps with 135#. It felt heavy today but I think that in a couple of days, so long as I feel good, I should hit 17 reps. Anything overhead is not my strong point, its the long skinny arms I guess.
Tomorrow I snatch.
The ground where I live is pure mud so I will not throw anything for maybe a week until the soil firms up a little.