From Urkel to Stefan with Olympic Lifting!

Training Training Logs
21

[quote]isdatnutty wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

“The goal is to keep the goal, the goal”

I feel this is something both myself and OP find to be an issue on occasions.

In this particular case, I think conditioning will help anyone, and I can’t think of a much better way for an olympic lifter than kB work or rowing.[/quote]

For sure man! I always have to remind myself of this now. But yes you are right. My conditioning is HORRIBLE. So I’m going to attack that a bit without affecting my lifting for sure!
[/quote]
I think kB work with hip hinges will be a killer for an Olympic lifter, plus hit your conditioning pretty hard.

22

THURSDAY 8/27/15

Snatch
65x2
65x2
65x2
65x2
65x2
65x2
70x2
70x2

C&J
115x1
115x1
115x1
115x1
115x1
115x1
115x1
115x1

Back Squat → Lifetime PR!
135x5
145x5
155x5
165x5
175x5

Overhead Press
120x5
120x5
120x4

BB Row
135x10
135x10
135x10

TRUNK WORK:
Front Rack Holds (Basically a standing plank with weight)
245x20sec
245x20sec
245x20sec
245x30sec (Back Squat Hold)

Good Morning
45x10
45x10
45x10

COMMENTS:
First of all today was a HUGE step for me personally. In the past I would have talked myself out of working out today for so many reasons. I ended up walking for 3 miles because I was like man I’m going to wake up in the AM and just lift on Friday this week. BUT once I got home and started stretching on my platform, the bug just hit me. And I said fuck it, if you want to be great, you have to attack the days you don’t want to lift as well. I’ve never lifted super late like 830. My workouts take me 2 hrs now and I lifted from 830PM-1030PM and ate at 11PM. I was super proud of myself for pushing through and setting some PRs along the way!!!

-Snatch: 65lbs felt SO heavy in the beginning. As I got more into the reps I felt comfortable. I did 70x2 for my last 2 sets just to get my body primed for Monday’s session.

-C&J: Today was the first day I had to drop to 8x1 just as the original program suggests. No way I coulda done 8x2 with this weight with good form the whole time. Foot positioning was MUCH better today. Technique still needs work, but I"m getting more and more comfortable with the C&J.

-Back Squat: HIT A LIFETIME PR! I’ve never done more than 165x5 before and that was when I messed up my back 2 years ago. I was able to do 175x5 as my top set. My lower back FELT fine and I could tell my glutes and hips are firing as best they can! I was so excited! I think I’m going to ramp up for back squats instead of straight sets because my lower back is so fatigued after Snatches and C&J I think it would be smart to do this long term.

-OHP: This was a straight GRINDER! First 3 reps of all sets looked crisp and then last 2 were grinders. I can’t believe I couldn’t get 5 reps on my last set. The bar was stuck right around my forehead area. Oh well, I’ll get it next Friday!

-Rows: These felt GOOD today. Much more controled. I can tell my back is getting stronger now that with everything I keep telling myself strict form strict form!

-Trunk Work: Today I decided to Front Rack Holds and Good Mornings. The front rack holds always fry my abs and I just look at it as a standing plank. Good mornings I just use the bar to get my back firing and to build flexibility. I’ll only start adding weight when I can get parallel to the ground.

Overall I’m SUPER happy with today’s workout. Can’t wait to lift again Monday and keep smashing records. I definitely will take it easy the next 3 days and get some good recovery in.

23

[quote]isdatnutty wrote:
-Trunk Work: Today I decided to Front Rack Holds and Good Mornings. The front rack holds always fry my abs and I just look at it as a standing plank. Good mornings I just use the bar to get my back firing and to build flexibility. I’ll only start adding weight when I can get parallel to the ground.
[/quote]

Excellent work man, soon be two wheels on the bar, always a good milestone to hit.

Think I’ll try these front rack holds today, core work is something I suck at so these could be killer for me.

24

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

Excellent work man, soon be two wheels on the bar, always a good milestone to hit.

Think I’ll try these front rack holds today, core work is something I suck at so these could be killer for me.[/quote]

Thanks man. I can’t wait to get to 2 plates. That’ll be a huge milestone for me personally. It’ll mean I’ve finally put in my time the right way. I might even cry haha.

Yeah man my core is weak, so they hit mine pretty well. I don’t get sore from them, but my I can tell my core is firing like crazy when I hold them up. I should probably try to go more like 30 seconds with max weight. That’ll probably do just fine. Your also going to feel your upper back working hard.

25

FRIDAY 8/28/15

Recovery Day. Just stretched out a bit and walked. Finished watching the whole series of The Fall on Netflix. It’s pretty good if you like that serial killer type shows.

26

[quote]isdatnutty wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

Excellent work man, soon be two wheels on the bar, always a good milestone to hit.

Think I’ll try these front rack holds today, core work is something I suck at so these could be killer for me.[/quote]

Thanks man. I can’t wait to get to 2 plates. That’ll be a huge milestone for me personally. It’ll mean I’ve finally put in my time the right way. I might even cry haha.

Yeah man my core is weak, so they hit mine pretty well. I don’t get sore from them, but my I can tell my core is firing like crazy when I hold them up. I should probably try to go more like 30 seconds with max weight. That’ll probably do just fine. Your also going to feel your upper back working hard.
[/quote]

You would have to do something pretty drastic to get sore with these, there’s no eccentric component.

Tried these today and it was definitely high on my list of stuff that sucks. I think this definitely counts as “life sucks” training.

27

[quote]dagill2 wrote:

You would have to do something pretty drastic to get sore with these, there’s no eccentric component.

Tried these today and it was definitely high on my list of stuff that sucks. I think this definitely counts as “life sucks” training.[/quote]

Hahaha! Yeah man it’s definitely not fun at all! But your others lifts will thank you for it!

28

Any other full body stretching “routines” anyone knows of? Just curious. I’m hopeful I can be flexible enough to do the splits within a year. Mobility helps so much in Oly lifting. No foam rollers needed at all!

29

SATURDAY 8/29/15

Recovery Day!

15 Min Hot Tub
20 Min Light Swimming
10 Min Hot Tub
15 Min Steam Room
5 Min Cold/Hot Shower
20 Min Stretching Session

CHEAT MEAL!

30

SUNDAY 8/30/15

RECOVERY DAY

10 Min Therapy Pool
15 Min Hot Tub
15 Min Swimming
10 Min Hot Tub
10 Min Steam Room
20 Min Stretching Session

FEELS SO GOOD!

So I realized I won’t be able to do AM workouts because the dropping of the barbell wakes up everyone living in my house lol. So I’ll have to stick with the PM workouts. I just need to still get up early and go for a 30 min walk and actually study for some certification stuff in the AMs.

31

[quote]isdatnutty wrote:
Any other full body stretching “routines” anyone knows of? Just curious. I’m hopeful I can be flexible enough to do the splits within a year. Mobility helps so much in Oly lifting. No foam rollers needed at all![/quote]

Pavel Tsatsouline is pretty well respected in this field, and I believe Al Kavadlo has a book on this as well. Both authors I personally have plenty of respect for.

32

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
Pavel Tsatsouline is pretty well respected in this field, and I believe Al Kavadlo has a book on this as well. Both authors I personally have plenty of respect for.[/quote]

Thanks man, I’ll check both of those guys out!

33

MONDAY 8/31/15

Snatch
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2

Clean & Jerk
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1

Back Squat
135x5
145x5
155x5
175x5
180x5–> NEW PR!

Overhead Press → LIFETIME PR!
125x3
125x3
125x3
125x3
125x3

Barbell Row
135x12
135x12
135x10 → Got too fatigued!

Good Morning
45x20

COMMENTS:

Today’s workout was awesome! Everything felt crisp and was able to add weight to all my lifts. I’m going to stick with this Snatch/C&J weight for a session or two because not every rep was clean.

I’m so glad my back squat is going up. I think after doing 16 sets of Snatches/Cleans it REALLY warms up my lower body, so when I back squat I tend to have pretty decent form.

OHP and BS I hit lifetime PRs! I weigh ~160 and I OHP 125 for reps. I think that’s pretty damn impressive for someone who doesn’t do ANY sort of other pressing.

Today my sister came over with her boyfriend and they told us the news that they are engaged, so that ended my trunk work session super quick. It’s all good though, today was a GREAT workout overall.

I’m so curious to know what my #'s will be like 9 weeks from now when I’m done with my 12 weeks of this program!

34

TUESDAY 9/1/15

CONDITIONING/RECOVERY DAY!

AM:
KB Swings 5x25 (35lbs)

PM:
Swim 20 min + 20 min Stretch Session

35

WEDNESDAY 9/2/15

Snatch
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2

Clean & Jerk
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1
120x1

Front Squat
135x5
145x5
155x5
155x5
155x5

I just wasn’t feeling it today at ALL!

36

Yesterday’s workout was the first time I had a bad workout in a long time. I literally felt so uncoordinated and lethargic the whole time. After my Front Squats, I just shut it down because everything was sloppy from beginning to end. I’m guessing everyone has a bad workout here and there. It was just odd because I’ve been eating well and recovering just fine.

My snatches were slow, my cleans were not crisp and I wasn’t keeping my rack position so the bar was slipping down. I hurt my left wrist a little bit. It’s all good, I’ll recover today and then hit it hard again tomorrow.

37

Went away for Labor Day weekend, so didn’t get to workout Monday. But it’s OK, I’ll pick right back up Wednesday and continue on!

38

FRIDAY 9/4/15

I’m going to start listing only the working sets I do.

Snatch
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2
70x2

Clean & Jerk
120x1
125x1
125x1
125x1
125x1
125x1
125x1
125x1

Back Squat
165x5
175x5
185x5

Barbell Row
135x10
135x10
135x10

Ab Work: Planks

COMMENTS: Hit a PR in BS and in C&J!!! Body is feeling super good now. I’m glad I had a session like today after having a bad session on Wednesday. I’m going to have to buy rubber mats soon since the weight is getting heavy enough that I should drop it instead of lowering it down.

39

WEDNESDAY 9/9/15

Snatch
75x2
75x2
75x2
75x2
75x2
75x2
75x2
75x2

Clean & Jerk
125x1
125x1
125x1
125x1
125x1
125x1
125x1
125x1

Back Squat
180x5
185x5
190x5

Overhead Press
125x3
125x3
125x3
125x3
125x3

Barbell Row
135x10
135x10
135x10

Trunk Work

COMMENTS: See below

40

WEDNESDAY 9/9/15 COMMENTS

Today was an overall good workout. I finally bought 10lb bumper plates so with the snatches I finally was able to pull from the floor and not from a floating postion:

SNATCHES: I need to attack and focus. The second I lose focus my back doesn’t stay as tight. I can tell I’m getting faster, but at the same time I feel my drop is slow on the snatches. I’m going to up the weight +5lbs for the next session and see how it goes.

C&J: These felt GREAT! Everything overall with these were solid. I felt today I was pressing a bit more than dropping under the bar, but I’ll correct that for sure.

BACK SQUATS: New PR hitting 190x5. That made me feel good. But towards the end I felt like I was SEMI-morning squatting. I’m weak everywhere still, so I’m not going to worry about attacking my quads at this point. I’m going to keep squatting. Once I’m done with this specific block, the next 12 weeks block I’ll probably do a bit more front squatting.

OVERHEAD PRESS: Nothing crazy here. My first set was heavy as hell, but after that everything felt good. Next session I can up the weight +5lbs for sure and see how I do.

BARBELL ROWS: Nothing crazy here either, reps look ALOT cleaner than they ever have. Starting next week I’ll be adding +5lbs to this as well.

TRUNK WORK: You know I need to start taking this more seriously. I’m SO tired by this point that I don’t want to do anything. I need to attack this session as well!

OVERALL, felt good and I slept like a baby!