This video gives me hope!
WEDNESDAY 9/11/15
Snatch
80x1
80x1
80x1
80x1
80x1
80x1
80x1
80x1
Clean & Jerk
130x1
130x1
130x1
130x1
130x1
130x1
130x1
130x1
Front Squat
155x5
160x5
165x5
I got so busy with some typical life stuff I missed 2 days of lifting.
UPDATE
So I went to talk to an Olympic lifting coach for 2 hours today and go over my programming, technique, nutrition, and other things. This is what I left with:
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I need to focus on gaining strength & flexibility first and foremost. It doesn’t matter if I can do a C&J with 135lbs with perfect form if I’m trying to be competitive.
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For a self taught lifter I’m doing A LOT right, but of course there certain things I’m doing wrong as well.
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Technique matters a lot. So I can’t worry about putting up #'s in the lifts until I can consistently get into an Oly gym with a coach watching me. At least until my technique is decent enough to work on my own for an extended period of time.
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I’m eating good enough to fuel my workouts, but not well enough to lose fat off my body.
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I need to hammer my core each day I train.
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I need to start conditioning on my off days or after workouts. It flat out sucks.
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Don’t worry about a weight class right now.
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Either I need to start stretching 2-3 time for faster improvement or try to hit up yoga for 1 hr on my off days.
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So the Dan John program I am doing is a good program, but I’m not going to get the COMPLETE benefit of it at the current strength levels I am at. The coach suggest for a 12 week period I should just focus on STRENGTH, FLEXIBILITY, and TECHNIQUE on the Olympic lifts. This means for the snatch to not do more than 95lbs and for the C&J not to do more than 135lbs for 12 weeks. So we figured for 12 weeks we could do a SS type template and just do my Oly practice on my off days that way I can do light Oly lifts/technique work with conditioning 3-4 days out of the week.
MONDAY
BS 3x5
Press 3x5
BB Row 4x8
Abs 5xF
Chin Ups 50 Total reps
WEDNESDAY
FS 3x5
DL 3x5
Dips 5xF
Abs 5xF
Good Morning 4x10
FRIDAY
BS 3x5
Press 3x5
BB Row 4x8
Abs 5xF
RDL 4x10
TUESDAY/THURSDAY/SATURDAY
Snatch Work
C&J Work
Conditioning
I know what my ultimate goal is, and that’s to be a competitive national level lifter. But in order to do this, I have to take the proper steps and not jump the gun.
So…
In 12 weeks I should be at/close to a 255 lb back squat and hopefully a 225 FS. At that point I’ll have the leg strength to work my way up to a 225lb C&J.
I forgot to mention.
I signed up for a whole day seminar on Olympic lifting with 2012 Bronze Medalist Christine Girard. It’s only going to be 14 athletes total so it will be full hands on. Half the day is snatch and the other half is C&J. This will be SUPER beneficial to have an Olympian watching everything I do. I think I’ll learn more in this one day then I would in months trying to do stuff myself.
I don’t know why my photos are not uploading correctly, but oh well.
WEDNESDAY 9/23
Snatch-Lots of misses today. I have to remember to really extend and DROP under.
90x2
90x2
90x2
90x2
C&J-Didn’t do enough warmups. The recovery from squat felt hard, but jerk felt stable.
135x1
135x1
135x1
135x1
Front Squat- These felt ridiculous heavy and unbalanced today. I think it’s me using the mirror for so long and now I’m not. It’s ok. I’m starting with 135 FS and Back squats this week and going to build up properly. At 12 weeks I should be at ~250lbs.
135x5
135x5
135x5
Deadlift- I forgot how draining these can be! My deadlift to squat ratio is SO out of wack, I know it’s just my form that’s holding me back with squats. I will be ramping up to a top set with these.
225x5
245x5
275x4
Leg Raises- First time doing these correctly in forever. I was so gassed at this point these were hard. I’ll push through to do 5 sets next week for sure.
10
10
10
Chin-Ups- I did 25 total reps. Just gonna get back into the groove for 2-3 weeks before I start aiming for a total.
OVERALL great workout. It felt good and reestablished for the millionth time why at my stage sticking to the basics is the best approach. I think not improving in the squat has held me back forever. It’s time to make it an absolute priority in my training.
[quote]isdatnutty wrote:
I forgot to mention.
I signed up for a whole day seminar on Olympic lifting with 2012 Bronze Medalist Christine Girard. It’s only going to be 14 athletes total so it will be full hands on. Half the day is snatch and the other half is C&J. This will be SUPER beneficial to have an Olympian watching everything I do. I think I’ll learn more in this one day then I would in months trying to do stuff myself.[/quote]
Agreed, that’s a fantastic step to make, you seem to have a good grip on what’s necessary to achieve your goal.
That set ups pretty cool man, I can’t emphasise the benefits of a home gym enough.
Good work
[quote]dagill2 wrote:
Agreed, that’s a fantastic step to make, you seem to have a good grip on what’s necessary to achieve your goal.
That set ups pretty cool man, I can’t emphasise the benefits of a home gym enough.
Good work[/quote]
Thanks man appreciate it! Oh yeah brotha, I use to hate waiting for the squat rack at the gym. Much easier to just do my own thing lol.
MONDAY 9/28/15
All working sets!
Snatch → Warmed up and just went up to a 95lb for a single.
C&J–> Did 5x1 with 135lbs. I feel like the lighter weights of the Oly lifts really get my body primed to do the other lifts.
Back Squat → It feels good to be starting closer to the beginning and really hammering my form. I could tell today that my quads are weak. I was coming up on my toes on 3 total reps. It’s all good though I’m staying tight and really focusing on trying to be vertical!
155x5
155x5
155x5
Overhead Press → So I realized after my 2nd working set that I actually put on 125 lol. Messed up my last set but that’s ok. After the last set, I actually did 2 more sets at 115 and 95 lbs.
115x5
125x4
120x3
BB Row → I’m doing these a hybrid between a bent over row and a Pendlay Row. I’ll setup like a pendlay but keep rowing for 2-3 reps without it touching the ground. I like this a bit better.
135x8
135x8
135x8
135x8
Abs → I did situps with my legs held down and my arms behind my head. I REALLY focused on contracting my abs and DAMN I could feel them going. I think since I’ll be doing these 3x a week, a 3x20 and then add weight is the way to go.
1x20
1x20
1x20
Chin Ups → I was EXHAUSTED after the abs. I could barely talk lol.
5
5
It’s been a few weeks since I posted in here. But I’ll update this training log ASAP.
So a lot of life changes have happened in the past 2 weeks.
I decided I’m moving to Denver. Hopefully I can find a job sooner than later.
I have a great girlfriend now. I haven’t been in a serious relationship in 7 years so everything feels weird lol.
I went to an Olympic training seminar with an Olympic champion that changed my opinion on a lot of things.
I have also simplified my life, which in essence is having a trickling down effect on everything else.
Olympic Training Seminar with Christine Girard 2012 Bronze Medalist.
This was my first seminar and it was AWESOME! It was only 14 athletes so it was a really hands on seminar.
So just some background on Christine. She won Bronze in 2012. She was 3kg away from placing on the podium at the 2008 Olympics. After 2008 she had fall out with her coach and decided for 4 years to COACH HERSELF into the Olympics to win. She set a WR in training and obviously placed in 2012. It took her 18 years to go from starting to winning a medal. A tremendous feat and it was incredibly inspirational to hear her share her story. It just goes to show how much work, blood, sweat and tears it takes to be great at something. It hit me the hardest when I realized to get to where I wanna be in life, it’s going to take YEARS maybe even over a decade to get there. Not in lifting, but my life goals in general.
First half of the day was ALL Snatch work and the 2nd half of the day was all C&J work. My focus for the day was all technique and not about PRing.
Snatch - She fixed my starting position which essence fixed the rest of my lift. I could tell how much crisper everything felt. I REALLY need to get more flexible. It’s limiting me currently as well as strength. Doing hip snatches really helped me get that “pop” in my lift that I was missing training myself.
C&J - She fixed my starting position which helped fix my clean portion. My jerk needed some work, but she kept telling me how impressed she was how I improved over the course of just a few hours. My jerk went from being OK to not really stable to actually being really stable by opening up my foot position more.
I got to talk to her about nutrition and programming and learned a few things. As a beginner I really need to focus on technique, strength, and mobility. Those 3 things are going to be the most crucial to how good I get at this sport besides the obvious like nutrition, recovery, determination, etc.
My low squat numbers lets her know I really need to focus on squats for a while. No one is going to care how great my technique on my C&J at 135lbs because that is not going to help win anything. So technique is always pushed, but I need leg strength to stand up from heavy cleans/snatches.
So after talking to her I decided for 6 months I’m going to do something I’ve never been able to do before. That is to stick to a basic program and REALLY push it to the max. My squat #'s are pathetic. If I can get my squat numbers up, everything else will follow. So after talking to her this is what I’ll be running starting this week and 6 months out.
MONDAY
Snatch 5x2
C&J 5x1
Core Work
TUESDAY
Back Squat 3x5
Press 3x5
BB Row 4x8
Snatch Pull 3x3
THURSDAY
Snatch 5x2
C&J 5x1
Core Work
FRIDAY
Front Squat 3x5
OHP @ 50% of Tuesday 4x10
BB Row 4x8
Clean Pull 3x3
I’m going to keep it SIMPLE as hell and PUSH PUSH PUSH to get through this progression. I’ve never been able to squat even 200lbs. I realize I need big squat numbers to EVEN have the strength to do the lifts in the #'s I want.