I really enjoy reading about your training. You remind me of all the cool stuff I need to be doing. Like grip work, and agility stuff and anerobic conditioning–a half mile is brutal distance–straddling the speed/endurance line. Nice training.
Phew-that looks like an exhausting day. I like that you felt you had to justify your visits to a crossfit gym. I checked the local one out here and felt that I had to do the same thing! Mine turned out to be meh– glad to hear the one by you is legit.
Fingers crossed for lots of VAM sightings this weekend (:
VAM sightings - gotta remeber this 
I’m here for the positivity!
I have no idea if cheerleaders are actually cheery but I think you would fit in with cheerleaders if that’s what they’re like.
I need more VAMs sitings. I saw one yesterday at the gym, but I think he was too young, although he was very friendly.
Thursday left me with some DOMS in my hamstrings. Generally, I do not get DOMS, so it’s a big deal when I do.
Yesterday morning I had to squeak my workout in before work. This led to a shorter warmup than usual, and only working towards my target number of sets instead of using the full 12 minute segments. Despite the fact that I often spout optimism and positivity, the little PMS rage bitch inside of me leaked through a bit today during lifting. I’m pretty sure I had a scowl on my face the whole time I was lifting. It was one of those days where all I wanted to do was blast the music loud, lift, and get the fuck out of there.
I was definitely peeved when some guy was using the squat rack to do quarter squats when I moved onto my front squat sets. I appreciate that he was making the effort to work his legs, but the quarter squats aren’t really the way to do it. He lost more points by using the pussy pad.
Quick warmup–50 double unders, run/backpedal, shuffles, cariocas, spiderman pushups, lateral lunges
Agility shuttle work–12 minutes
3 sets of:
4 X 45# DB power snatches (2 ea arm)
repeated broad jumps (3) for distance
crab alternating touches
4 sets of:
3 X 135# front squats (power cleaned bar to rack position before first front squat)
10 X 60# DB bent over rows (5 ea arm)
Y, T, Ls
4 sets of:
4 X 115# close grip bench press
2 X med ball throws for max distance
20 X stability ball leg curls
…And my shoulders decided they wanted in on yesterday’s raging. They were finicky during the lift and are a little crunchy now. Not good. I think the bench pressing and DB snatches weren’t good for it. I thought DB snatches would be easier on them than BB jerks, but both seem to cause problems. Bench pressing is out as well–I tried to focus on keep my elbows tucked, but probably flared up on some reps.
Until I’m able to clear up my shoulder mobility issues, I’ll be limiting overhead pressing and most benching movements. Lots of closed-chain work (ie. pushups & pushup variations) in my future.
I’m gonna try to get some video of my lift today–should be fun.
the crossfit gym you found sounds cool. doesn’t surprise me that the quality of a crossfit chain depends heavily on the particular people they have acting as coaches there. nice to hear you want to get more into oly lifting. your mobility stuff sounds interesting. think i need to get a bit serious about my shoulders. have been getting a little crunchy lately.
Crossfit gyms definitely seem to HEAVILY depend on the quality of coaching staff. The popularity of crossfit has made it that almost any bumpkin can lay down some cash, attend a certification or two, and open a crossfit gym. What sets the gyms apart is the quality. Mind you, that’s with any gym. People won’t flock to a gym forever once they realize you’re running a crap program. The better product will almost always win out in the end.
For me, there is certain qualities that I believe good coaches should have. These are all qualities that I feel I will need to develop, refine, and be aware of in order to experience some type of success.
Some of these qualities are:
-Coaches should have a sound structure to the design of their programs, instead of throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.
-Coaches should preach and teach proper form. As well, they should be able to adjust how they cue based on their individual clients.
-Coaches should be adept at breaking down their ideas, programs, and knowledge of lifting and the science behind it to those who have little background in the field, as well as being able to discuss concepts in great detail with other coaches in the field.
-Coaches should be strong communicators, be very approachable, and be effective at listening to their clients (listening to both verbal and non-verbal communication).
-Coaches should be active, life-long learners. Trying new things, looking at what others are doing, staying up to date on research, and improving on their weaknesses.
-Going off that last point, coaches should be very aware of their own weaknesses, and work to bring them up.
-Coaches have to enjoy teaching. Not only do they teach technique and form in the weight room, they also teach life skills: mental grit and toughness, pushing past your supposed limits, developing a strong work ethic, as well as teaching how to make healthy life choices.
-Even though coaches are required to push their clients, they also have to make their clients enjoy their time at the gym. Encouraging client interactions, and communicating and getting to know clients will go a long way in building gym atmosphere.
Alexus–I love olympic lifting! I am definitely working towards competing at some point or another. The major thing that stands in my way is my shoulder mobility. Jerks become tough when you can’t fully extend your arms overhead without overextending through the thoracic spine. As well, having tight pec minors makes it difficult to push the bar overhead in a straight line–instead it often comes forwards, which is very tough to drop under.
That being said, I would like to compete sometime in the fall. I will be back in the States in the fall, so as long as I’m able to compete there (seeing as I’m Canadian), I’ll definitely try to make it a go. Maybe I just won’t mention the whole Canadian dealy.
cholulalula, main, and charlie–Gotta love the VAMs! Definitely had a sighting at the gym recently (which is a very rare occurrence). Made my day.
Nadia–Thanks! It’s good to hear if I’m serving as a reminder to others. I like how logs are not only a way to keep track of our shit, it also allows others to look into all sorts of training. Even though I don’t post in other people’s logs often, I definitely still lurk to see how others train and the progress they make!
Yesterday’s workout was fun. I love my warmup and acceleration work before the actual lift. Once again, I added various med ball throws to the accelerations. My shoulders was still tweaky, so I removed the clean complex and replaced it with just overhead squats. Yes, it seems odd to overhead squat if I’m trying to avoid stuff that irritates my shoulders, but overhead squats don’t bother me at all if I don’t jerk the weight into position. As you can see in the video, I am able to overhead squat the bar off the pins and go from there, which does not cause me any issues.
12 minutes of warmup–jump rope, hurdle over/unders, run/back pedals, cariocas, shuffles, yoga pushups, spiderman pushups, lateral lunges, med ball throws
15 minutes: Skips, broad jumps, single-leg broad jumps, med ball throws into accelerations (front scoop toss, chest pass, chest pass starting from floor, rotational throws)
4 sets of:
4 X overhead squats (95#, 95#, 105#, 105#)
6 X 40# turkish getups
bear reaches
4 sets of:
24 X 95# reverse lunges
supinated pull ups to failure (9, 5, 4, 5)
5 X 25# DB curl into pushup (subbed in place of curl + OH press)
4 sets of:
pushups to failure (23, 15, 21, 12)
15 X 45# DB swings
6 X strict inverted rows
Things I noticed from the vid:
-my knees still take on a slightly valgus knee angle in repeated broad jumps. This knee angle is only present when landing and then springing into another jump. In some of the jumps, the knee angle is so extreme that my knees look very close to knocking together. Not good. To my knowledge, I only see this valgus angle in repeated jumps, and not really other movements, so perhaps it has something to do with my jumping technique?
The sequencing of the broad jumps in the youtube video is actually off–the time with the most knock-kneed-ness was my first rep of repeated broad jumps, which means that the valgus angle decreased a bit in the following reps.
-my pushup form was interesting. It was actually better in the middle of the sets, as I’d actually begin to lockout at the top. I didn’t know that I actually do not lockout on a lot of the reps. Switching from vibrams to nike frees (between the 2nd and 3rd set) actually seemed to help.
-med balls are hella fun! 
-overhead squat depth seems good, which makes me happy.
nice overhead squats 
have you tried slow and gentle shoulder dislocates with a broomstick? i’ve been working on trying to bring my grip closer together on them over time in the hope i might be able to squat-jerk one day (toe troubles with split jerking). don’t have the flexibility to overhead squat with a clean grip at the moment and if i widen my grip in the rack my disappearing delts make holding the bar problematic.
i read somewhere (on T Nation) that women often need to be taught to cue their knees out when they jump (or squat) or they do tend to collapse inwards. something to do with the q angle or something. might just be a matter of cuing… or i’ve heard that putting a resistance band around them can help remind you to push them out hard against the band if cuing doesn’t work to start with.
you are really very athletic! so nice to watch.
Gonna make this a shorter post than the last one–mammoth posts can be hard to stick with, especially because I can’t/don’t know how to throw pictures in. Pictures, even if they are completely unrelated, help me get through readings.
I’ve been incredibly sluggish and lethargic this week. Pretty sure it has something to do with it being close to the start of my favourite time of every month sarcasm. Every once and awhile it makes me feel like this, and it blows major donkey dick.
Yesterday’s lift was a clusterfuck for the most part. Cleans were supposed to be at 135#, but my body sure as hell wasn’t up for it. Two my frustration, the first two sets of cleans ended up being more clean pulls before I dropped the weight to 115# for the third set. I kind of don’t like working with strict percentages because sometimes, you just have days where shit just doesn’t work. Most of the lift just felt disjointed, and my head never was in it.
Before my lift, during the afternoon, I decided to test my standing broad jump and one-legged broad jump. On the concrete driveway. <–Not exactly smart. My broad jump topped out at 83 inches (~210 cm), and both right and left legs were better than 50 inches. Not bad–I’ll be keeping an eye on these numbers to see if they increase/decrease as training goes on. Hopefully next time I’ll decided to test on a better surface!
06/28
Warmups–15 minutes
Movement work–skips, one-legged skips, broad jumps, single leg hops, fly ins <–I really liked fly ins
3 sets of:
1 + 1 + 1 X 150# clean pulls
6 X DB curl and press (20, 20, 25)
back bridges
3 sets of:
1 + 1 + 1 X power cleans (135# fail, 135# fail, 115#)
lateral plate pinch holds for time
reclined hold
4 sets of:
med ball throws for distance X 4
6 sec X dynamic rows (65# BB)
10 X 50# DB swings
If it’s any consolation, I went against my own word and found that I was able to overhead press without any pain, clicking, or crunchiness. The other positive was at least I went to the gym and slogged my way through it.
Due to my body feeling so crappy yesterday, I gave myself a chance to let my body and mind recoup outside of the gym. It was just one of those times where I knew I needed it. Instead, I went to drop-in hockey, enjoyed the 30+ C weather, and visited with some relatives that are in town for the time being. The hockey was of fairly low quality, so it wasn’t too serious. Just gave me a feel for the ice again, which is always great. Nothing better than feeling my blades crisply cutting into the ice and pucks thudding against my gear.
[quote]juniormint wrote:
I gave myself a chance to let my body and mind recoup outside of the gym. It was just one of those times where I knew I needed it.
[/quote]
sounds very smart. and I love how you worded your ice time. almost makes me want to jump in.
So I was gonna head to bed, but the thunder is gonna keep me up anyways, so I might as well get a post in. Started my second summer job today, and picked up an evening shift at my smoothie job, so I worked about 12 hours today (if you count the nap I took in the middle of a training lecture). When I heard they needed an extra worker for the night at my smoothie job, I gladly accepted the shift on one condition: they allow me to start 30 minutes later so I could go and get a lift in.
I’m feeling much better today, but am dealing with some hockey-related DOMs. Specifically in the groin (adductors) and obliques. The obliques is definitely a new one, but I did expect the adductor DOMs. If I haven’t been on the ice for awhile, my adductors certainly feel it. Luckily, this DOMs didn’t seem to have a negative effect on my workout at all.
15 minutes of warmup/movement work:
Run/backpedals
Hurdle over/unders
Yoga pushups
Spiderman lunges
Shuffles
Cariocas
Box jumps
Broad jumps
5-10-5s
4 sets of:
4 X 200# back squat
8 X 15# DB bent over raise
plank holds
3 sets of:
4 X 115# incline bench
side plank holds
4 sets of:
5 X 65# DB rows
8 X 85# BB good mornings
bear reaches
overhand plate pinches for time
Everything just felt good. Back squats with 200# felt really light, compared to what 195# had felt like last week–same with 115# incline bench. Last week I struggled to hit the same weight for two reps for each set, so this made me happy. I’m just gonna try and ride the good vibes for now.
I do like how you described your pick up game too
as for training - nice work
I should start using a timer or something with mobility work
if I fell slow or creaky I just do more more more
next thing I know Im in the gym too long.
nice work
Once again, enjoyed the great weather we’ve having around here right now. It went from rain, rain, and more rain to 4-5 straight nice days in a row, so I might as well enjoy the heat while it lasts.
This morning, I went to the crossfit gym before work. It was a testing day today, which was alright by me.
The first test was lying spinal rotation range of motion. I failed this test, so apparently my lower back flexibility blows. Although, too much lower back–lumbar–flexibility doesn’t seem to be a really good thing. Still, some increase in this area wouldn’t be terrible for me.
The second test was a kneeling overhead med ball throw for distance with a 4 lb med ball. We only had 3 attempts, and a struggled to get it down in those attempts. Regardless, I ended up with my best throw being 21’8".
The third test was to find a 1RM for weighted chin ups and close grip bench press. I ended up PRing in both with a max close grip bench of 145# (failing out at 150#) and max weighted deadhang chin up of 52.5#. The close grip bench press was at or just above bodyweight, which was pretty cool. Close grip bench press doesn’t bother my jacked up shoulders at all–only poor-form bench presses with gratuitous amounts of elbow flare.
A new personal goal that I would eventually like to hit is to do a weighted chin up with 1/2 my bodyweight. Right now, I’m about 20 lbs off that. It’s not something I’ll focus all my training on, I just think it would be a pretty sweet number to hit eventually.
After my smoothie job shift today, I did a little movement workout in my backyard. The intensity wasn’t bad–it wasn’t supposed to be conditioning, I just felt restless and needed to do something to burn off some of my extra energy.
A.
Bear crawls forwards 10 yds
Bear crawls backwards 10 yds
Lateral bear crawls 10 yds and back
Duck walks 10 yds and back
4x
B.
Lateral lunges 10 yds and back
Spiderman lunges 10 yds
Hurdle unders 10 yds
3x
C.
Kneeling popup into lateral hop 10 yds and back
5 explosive pushups
4x
D.
Kneel to stand X 20, up as fast as possible
One-legged skater squats X 20 (10 each leg)
3x
E.
10 yd walking lunges
5 pushups
10x
Hip mobility for 5-10 min before the mosquitoes chased me inside.
Looks like a lot of work, but again, the intensity seemed much lower than my lifting sessions. The whole thing probably took me no longer than 40 minutes.
Also, if anyone is wondering why most of the stuff is in 10 yd increments, it turns out that the lawn in the backyard is almost exactly 10 yd long. Just so you know
Good job on the PRs.
Bear crawls are hard!
nice close grip bench and very jelly on the pullups. Go get that extra 20lbs!
Kmcnyc–a tip for mobility work: if you listen to your ipod while you lift, make a playlist of songs for mobility, flexibility, or warmup time. I have a playlist I use for all my workouts, with a specific song signifying the first or last three minutes of a 15 minute period. It gives you a set period to work on mobility in, which really helps keeping things short, but still effective.
Here’s an example of the music from one such block I use:
Lil Wayne–6 Foot 7
POD–School of Hard Knocks
Lupe Fiasco–The Show Goes On
Billy Talent–River Below
Got a solid lift in today. I like morning lifts on weekends because the gym usually is quite empty, which allows me to focus and plow ahead in my workout.
3 sets of:
2 X 115# push jerk
3 repeated broad jumps
20 X crab alternating touches
4 sets of:
3 X BB front squat (145#, 145#, 155#)
6 X 45# DB bent over rows
Y, T, Ls
1 X 175# front squat (just because I felt like trying it)
3 sets of:
4 X 115# close grip bench
2 X max distance med ball throws
20 X single leg slideboard leg curl
20 X swiss ball leg curl
holy shit - nice work on the front squats
Charlie Horse suggested I take a look in and here and all I can say is…
WOW
Those are some impressive workouts!
That is a big front squat. Your workouts look pretty badass, I’ll agree.
Front squats! Weighted chins! You are killin’ it in here. I really love your focus on getting strong and honing your athletic skills.