Fast lifting session. I eliminated a few sets to help keep me fresh for tomorrow’s training with my Weightlifting coach. If I feel good tomorrow morning I may try for a 100 kg clean and jerk or higher. Maybe I’ll try for a 70 kg snatch or higher as well.
Went to my first coached weightlifting session today. The coach had me doing cleans for almost 2 hours to work on my form which sucked. I need to improve on hip drive from the low position, keeping the bar closer than I thought, and improving the angle of my catch as well as the timing of my high pull and coordinating this with my jump. Great work today and I learned a bunch which I will continue to work on this week until hopefully next Saturday my coach will give me the thumbs up to use some real weight. It seems I was using too much arm to power up the clean and now I am learning to use more leg drive. It’s on mutha-****
[quote]gorillavanilla wrote:
Went to my first coached weightlifting session today. The coach had me doing cleans for almost 2 hours to work on my form which sucked. I need to improve on hip drive from the low position, keeping the bar closer than I thought, and improving the angle of my catch as well as the timing of my high pull and coordinating this with my jump. Great work today and I learned a bunch which I will continue to work on this week until hopefully next Saturday my coach will give me the thumbs up to use some real weight. It seems I was using too much arm to power up the clean and now I am learning to use more leg drive. It’s on mutha-****[/quote]
Yes it is ultra critical you can move the bar properly before you start to load up on too much weight.
Stick with it. The more progress you show with moving the bar/ light weights the sooner your coach will move you on to moderate weights. It sure as hell won’t be better with heavy weights for you at this moment.
Thanks Koing. It just kills me that I shouldn’t use more weight. I guess I have been muscling up heavy weight but due to improper form I’m giving away kilos that could be added to my lifts. I’m impatient to move on yet I know I have to practice, listen, and practice more.
[quote]gorillavanilla wrote:
Thanks Koing. It just kills me that I shouldn’t use more weight. I guess I have been muscling up heavy weight but due to improper form I’m giving away kilos that could be added to my lifts. I’m impatient to move on yet I know I have to practice, listen, and practice more.[/quote]
Yes it is a bit of a pain, but think of it like this. WHEN you can move the bar an light weights PROPERLY your coach will up the weight for you. BUT if your not good with light weights what is the point going to heavy weights? You will just lift it with BAD FORM which will really bite you in the ass later on!
My coach is at a high school gym about 25 minutes away from the house. I am really focussing this week on my form so when I go back next Saturday I blow the coach away with excellent performance. I am taking notes on California Strength videos to improve my procedure in both lifts.
It’s kind of a long term goal but I think it would be groovy and kind of dreamy to compete on an international stage in Europe someday not too far away in weightlifting and powerlifting.
Lifting today went very fast and I am working on technique for the snatch and clean and jerk which is more taxing lifting due to the methodical step by step practice.
Clean and Jerk:
1x135; 1x145;1x155;1x165;1x175 lbs;1x205 lbs(wasn’t satisfied with last lift so will do it again Wednesday)
Bach Squat:
135x5; 225x3;315x1;405x1;500x1
Fat Gripz Close Grip Bench:
135x5;185x3; 210 lbs x2x3
Standing Presses:
3x5x135 lbs
400 Meter Loaded Carry w/35 lbs each hand
25 Standing Crunches w/60 lbs
One hour and 15 minutes lift time was intense. I will try to pare down to 1 hour as soon as possilbe. Getting my form for the snatch and clean and Jerk is challenging.
@Koing- I am not able to see the coach more often due to my work schedule and family. I’m lucky to get to see him on Saturdays.
Yesterday’s lifting was intense and I’ve been so busy now is the first I have had to post. In fact I just got back from a 2 hour massage to work out some the accumulated stress from yesterday.
Warm Ups:
25 Goblet Squats w/50 lbs T-Bar(Built a T-Bar(Kettlebell) with parts from Home Depot(Hungarian Core Blaster))
100 Swings w/50 lbs T-Bar
Clean and Jerks:
1x145; 1x155; 1x165; 1x175; 1x205 lbs
Back Squats:
135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 405x1; 515x1
Fat Gripz Bench Press:
135x5; 185x3; 215x3
Standing Presses:
140 x3x5
400 Meter Loaded Carry w/35 lbs each hand
25 Standing Crunches w/60 lbs
This was a devastating lifting session that lasted about an hour and 20 minutes. I have to increase my stretching and foam rolling along with lacrosse ball rolling on the feet and under the hamstrings. Therapy is crucial.
Yesterday’s training went well with my weightlifting coach. Probably did about 20 sets of cleans for 4 reps with varying weigh. Then I did front squats up to a light 180 for 2 sets of 3 and finally back squats up to 405 lbs for 3 reps (No wraps, no belt, ATG). It was an intense day and my entire body was wrecked due to the accumulation of work and lifting this past week.
Just a note I would make looking at your training. I noticed you generally do the bar work for the snatch then work up in weight slowly, but on the clean and jerk you just start from a heavy weight.
I wouldn’t underestimate how technically challenging the jerk can be. It seems to be one of those easy to learn, difficult to master exercises. So when people start lifting they can generally jerk whatever they can clean, but for a lot of people the clean increases at a faster rate than the jerk and very quickly the jerk lags behind if adequate time isn’t spent on it. So don’t skimp out of the clean and jerk technical work
In case you couldn’t tell the jerk is the bane of my life, I wish it was just a snatch and clean competition
Good advice Ox Man. I’ve been spending more time with technique on my clean and jerk. I have to do multiple sets of cleans to warm up my wrists before I can use any weight. Had a bad motorcycle accident about 23 years ago that permanently damaged my wrists but that isn’t stopping me.
