I remember trying to deadlift with olympic shoes… it was very awkward and I couldnt move very much weight. Glad you can finally move back to conventional though… keep it up man.
Thanks man. They helped me a lot last week, but this week was kind of par for the course. My problem is positioning…being inflexible hurts my ability to get into position. I’ll give it a week or two before I make any real judgements.
Saturday
Oly Front Squat
225x5, 255x5, 285x5 (PR for 5)
That lasted long. Went back to oly grip on the 2nd set and just couldn’t justify the other grip. 285 was pretty easy, but since I’m squatting Monday it’s good that I didn’t try 6 or 7. Sticking with no belt or knee sleeves.
GHR
BWx12,16
Smith Shoulder Press
185x5, 225x5, 245x5, 265x4
The weights aren’t really what I wrote since it’s in the Smith machine, but it’s easier to write that way. Touched the bar to my nose every time. That’s a little high for my liking, but at this point partials are better than nothing. Shoulder felt good.
Lat Raises
20x12, 25x15, 30x12,11
Prone Horiz Abd
5x10,12
This workout got pushed back a day after I got shit-canned on Thursday. Shoulder felt better than normal. All the stretches and horiz abd seem to be helping.
Sunday
BB Row
275x10, 315x8, 355x8 (PR)
Forgot to do the backdown set with reverse grip…oh well.
Shrug
405, 425x10
Meadows Row
45x10, 90x10, 135x10, 145x8
Easier to just write the weight.
Conc Curl
30x10, 35x10
Face Pull
130x12, 160x12, 190x9
Heavier than I usually go…grip was failing.
Good day. It seems like my back was weakened a lot by sumo dls. I did shrugs with the bar starting from below the shin, and the initial pull felt heavy compared to my DL weights. It’s probably time to start pulling from that height somewhere in my workouts.
Monday
Squat
350x3, 385x3, 420x4 (PR)
No doubt in my mind on that last set. The first two felt light, so I was getting 4 on the third no matter what.
Squat strength feels like it’s shooting up, hopefully this is a sign that my post-bball season surge is in the works.
Squat Clean
185xsome reps
225x2
245x1,fail on 2nd
245x2
Fell on my ass on the 2nd rep at 245, which was hilarious, then recovered fine for the last set. It’s incredible how unbalanced you feel at the bottom position of the catch…crazy olympic lifters.
GHR
BWx8, +25x8, +45x7
Legs felt very strong today. Can’t wait to hit 455 for reps. Cleans are improving.
Tuesday
HS Seated Bench
1PPSx10, 2PPSx10, 3PPSx8, 4PPSx8
Paused NGB
275x3, 295x3, 315x3, 330x2
I’ll switch this with the HS bench next week. Pre-exhaust doesn’t seem necessary. Felt like I was hitting too close to my face, I’ll work on that next time.
OH Tri Bar Ext
70x10, 120x10, 130x10, 140x8, 150x7
Felt strong today. 5 were good on that last set, but around 6 the weight kind of rolled against my arms and made the last 2 reps suspect.
Split Jerk
135xseveral sets of 2
155x2
185x1
205x1
These are great. No shoulder pain at all. Stupidly I did them in the power cage, and I won’t make that mistake again. I felt extremely restricted and obviously didn’t want to dump the weight if I failed. To the olympic platform next time.
Prone Horiz Abd
5x8, 10x8
Thursday
Clean and Jerk
135x3 (no jerk)
185x2 (no jerk)
185x1
205x1
225x1 (vid)
245x1
I doubt 245 would have counted, but at least I got it over my head.
Conv DL
405x2, 425x2, 455x1, 475x2
Somehow I think it benefits me to do something before DL. Back felt good, couldn’t go quite as heavy as I should have because I obviously had less energy, but reps were good. Shooting for a double at 480/485 next time.
NG Pullup
BWx8, +25x8, +55x8
Really good reps here.
Lat Pulldown FP
150x10, 180x9
Prone Horiz Abd
5x10,14
Really enjoyed this workout. I’m considering pulling from my shins occasionally as a DL replacement, but I’ll auto-regulate that in all likelihood.
Saturday
Oly Front Squat
265x3, 295x3, 315x2
No belt or knee sleeves. Back was wrecked from DL, so I think it contributed to my fatigue.
NG Bench
275x3, 295x3, 315x3, 335x3
Felt good enough to bench, so I did. Went back to false-grip, and it felt really good. Didn’t really pause these, though.
Lat Raises
20x15, 30x12,14
Paused some on the last set, but I did so to burn them up a little more.
Split Jerk
135x2, 185x2,2
Back Hyper-ext
BWx10, +20x10,12
Back was swollen like crazy after this. Seem to work better than reverse hypers.
Prone Horiz Abd
5x8, 10x8
Good lift. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can do conventional DL. That was the best I’ve ever felt in the moment when I did them, and the last two days my back has still felt terrible. Back to Semi-sumo I guess.
Sunday
BB Row
275x10, 315x8, 365x5 (PR)
BB Shrug
405x10, 435x8
HS Low Row
3PPSx8, 3+25x6, 4PPSx6
Face-pull
150x12, 170x12, 190x10
Conc Curl
30x10, 35x10, 40x8
Pullup
BWx12
Good workout…totally burned out by the time I got to pullups. Back is feeling off still, though. Feels like the disc I herniated is bulging or something. I’ll probably take it easy on back lifts this week.
Monday
Squat
350x3, 385x3, 425x1
Took it easy today. Wanted to ease into stuff with my back feeling weird, and the weight felt a little heavier than normal. It was an easy single though.
Clean
199x1
221x1
231x1
241x1
251x1
261xfail
Booted the catch on 261, 251 felt easy. Still a PR. Almost broke my thumb, though. Caught it too far forward on my right hand, and I felt a quick pressure, which is why I dumped it. I’ll probably be sore/achy in my hand for a few days, but nothing too bad.
Should be back to normal on squat next week. I was at a different gym, hence the weird numbers on cleans.
Wednesday
NG Bench
275x3, 295x3, 315x3,4
I just had to bench twice in a week. Shoulder felt off, though it was the best on the last set. Not encouraging…it’s been burning all night since.
HS Seated Bench
3PPSx10, 4PPSx8, 4+10x6, 4+25x6, 5PPSx4
No pain here, though. That makes me happy. Unfortunately the freaking thing was maxed out at 5 plates.
OH Tri Bar Press
70x10, 120x10, 130x12
This hurt my hand, so I didn’t go as heavy and just upped the reps.
Prone Horiz Abd
5x10,15
Positives: no real pain in my hand. It felt bad yesterday but healed up pretty well by today. Negatives: Shoulder just doesn’t want to cooperate. I heard impingement described thusly: “on an x-ray it looks like chopped meat.” Yay.
Thursday
Power Snatch
115x2, 135x1,1, 145x1,1
Didn’t have my olympic shoes today, so I couldn’t even attempt to get under the bar. These things are hard.
Sumo DL
405x1, 425x1, 455x1, 475x2
Moved the bar slightly farther away, back felt good. Form was really good through 455, but kind of broke down on 475. I might alternate between speed pulls and heavy pulls to try to get my form nailed down again.
NG Pullup
BWx8, +25x8, +55x6, +90x3
Wide FP on Lat Pulldown
150x10, 180x10, 195x10
Pinwheel Curls
40, 50, 60x8, 65x7
These are OK and a nice break from concentration curls, but I don’t know what all the fuss is about. Stayed pretty strict.
As always, we’ll see how my back feels tomorrow. Feels good now at least.
Friday
Clean
185x1
205x1,
225x1
235x1
245xfail,1
255x1 (PR)
265xfail
Gotta love being able to fail a lift but still come back and nail it with 10 more pounds. Form felt improved, need to take another video. Got buried in the hole on 265…not used to going true ATG, but I should get this next week. Adjusted my technique so that my thumb was never in a position to get hurt. I wanted to C and J, but the first jerk I attempted caused some serious pain in my hand.
Oly Front Squat
295x5 (PR)
Had to work after that. Great lift. ATG is like a whole new world for me.
Saturday: Did some snatches, got to 145 again but the technique was still terrible.
Sunday
BB Row
275x10, 315x10, 335x9, 315x10 (reverse grip)
HS Low Row
2PPSx8, 3PPSx8, 4PPSx8
Face-pull
150,170,190x12
Conc Curl
35, 40, 45x10
Snatch
Bar work, 95x5 singles
First full snatch! Should carry over now that I have the movement pattern down in my mind.
Monday
Squat
350x2
385x2
405x2
425x2
440x2 (weight/rep PR)
Felt like doing some doubles since I felt pretty good. Reps felt deep, probably more than normal because of all the cleans I’ve been doing. I like doubles, so I might stick with this for a few weeks.
Clean
185x0,1
205x1
225x1
235x1
245x0,1
Had to leave for class after 245. Still trying to find the right hand placement. On the last single at 245 I found a really good setup and nailed the rep easily. I had a bad catch on the rep before, which is why I dumped it. Should be able to get much heavier on Friday when I do these again. Also still didn’t feel comfortable enough to attempt the jerk.
My traps are fried from all of these olympic movements. At least in my case I don’t think I’ll ever do a shrug again.
I don’t know why edits are so hard to get through on this site. I tried to immediately change “snatched” to “snatches” the other day, it showed as going through, then it had changed back today. This is causing a flare-up in my ADD.
Tuesday
Power Snatch
95x5 singles and a miss or two
115x3 singles
125x2 singles
135x2 singles
145x2 singles
155x1
Technique was better, but only a few were full snatches. Got much more explosion off of the floor, though, so a definite improvement.
Medium grip Bench
275x5, 295x5, 315x6
Not bad at all. I flared the elbows for these sets. Technique improved as I went along, and reps 5/6 at 315 were probably the best. I think I’ll decline 1-2 weeks then bench once to keep my shoulder from acting up. Pinky was on the ring.
HS Seated Bench
3PPSx8, 4PPSx8, 5PPSx2.5
Died on that last set…triceps were fried.
OH Tri Bar Ext
70x15, 120x15
Keeping reps high since this hurts my hand still.
Prone Horiz Abd
5x10,15
Good day…had to foam roll and stretch the bejesus out of my hamstring, though.
Wednesday
Power Snatch
95x1x4
115x1x2
135x1x3
145x1x2
155x1x3
Getting pretty good at throwing the weight over my head…unfortunately it still isn’t even close to a snatch.
Sumo DL
405x2
Shouldn’t have even tried this…way too fatigued. In other news, doing a sumo DL in oly shoes is very awkward.
Clean
185x1
205x1x2
225x1x3
235x1x1 (1 miss)
245x1x3
Inexplicably after some good warmups I managed to power clean 245 on the first rep. The third was the worst technique of all time…I stumbled forward and barely survived that one. Obviously fatigue raped my technique here.
Normally I take Wednesday off, but today I had to get this lift in as I’m going to Miami through Sunday for a wedding. No guarantee I can find a gym that allows oly lifting or DLing, so today was the only option. I think this made 8 days straight, though, and I felt it. I welcome the coming rest and debauchery in South Beach.
Monday
Clean
225x2
245x0,1 (with a jerk on the second attempt)
255x1
265x0,0
255 was nice and easy, but my technique went to shit at 265. On the first attempt the bar got away from my body. On the second, my thumb randomly stayed looped under the bar on the catch and that kept the weight forward.
Power Snatch
115x2
135x1,1
145x1,1
155x1,1
Need more shoulder flexibility or I’ll never do a real snatch. I might try a wider grip, but I’m already pretty wide.
Oly Front Squat
275x2, 295x2, 305x1
Had to stop at 305 because my hand started to hurt pretty bad, so I wasn’t even close to a max effort set.
All in all, not bad for the first day back after 4 days of drinking/partying in Miami. That was the easiest 255 I’ve cleaned, but I really had no explosion today. I need to eat eat eat for the next week…didn’t get nearly enough food down there. I’ll squat/decline tomorrow.
Tuesday
Squat
350x2, 385x2, 405x2, 425x2, 445x1 (PR)
Pretty good considering I didn’t feel great. The weight felt surprisingly light on my back…should get 2 at this next week or maybe even 450.
Decline
275x6, 295x6, 315x8
Felt good…kept the medium grip.
HS Seated Bench
3PPSx8, 4PPSx8, 4x10
HS Shoulder Press
2PPSx10, 2+25x10, 3PPSx6
Prone Horiz Abd
5x10, 10x9
Very happy with this workout. Shoulder felt good, though I’ll see if that holds up in the coming weeks. Played around with 135 on incline and it felt better than flat, so might try that at some point.