nice job. you sure don’t look 5 3 175. How tall is your friend molly?
Techno-Funny! I kind of wish I forgot I knew how. I have just been conveniently forgetting.
Betty-HeeHee! Mind in gutter.
Alexus-Thanks. It definitely helped with the confidence to actually pursue training people while in PT school. I have been secretely afraid that I wouldn’t get any clients.
Lula-Maybe we can trade services one day.
GWHH-It’s legit. A nurse once weighed me and was convinced the scale was broken at the Dr.'s office. According to the very accurate BMI, I’m morbidly obese. Molly is pretty tall. I think she is 5’11". We make quite the pair at the gym.
yes, snatches are fun to talk about, huh? 
aww, don’t worry.
I think I’m in the overweight category now…yay.
keep up the great work
[quote]GWHH wrote:
nice job. you sure don’t look 5 3 175. How tall is your friend molly?[/quote]
This is what I was thinking. You must be pretty damn solid.
Hip opening yoga for me at home tonight. I’ll write down what I do and maybe find some examples on youtube & send it over to you. The best thing I’ve learned about yoga is that many poses can be modified, some instructors skip that part. There are no perfectly formed poses that fits everyone, just proper alignment, that’s my 2 cents anyway.
Just like with any lifting, there are little cues like ‘hugging your muscles to your bone’ that protect joints. And for some poses keeping your foot flexed to protect your knees, etc. Anyway I’ll do some homework and you might find one or two things useful.
Sorry I am so late saying hi, so hi! There is a whole lotta strength and beauty in this here log.
I myself have a delicate knee and am especially struck by the intelligent way you go about training in light of the physical realities of your body. Yoga isn’t for me either…I’ve gotten way more injuries doing yoga than lifting so you are right to be cautious with that.
Iron- Thanks! I wonder if they still have guess your weight booths at fairs. I think I could win a large stuffed animal.
Techno-That would be super awesome. Thanks so much. Any little tips would help. I already do a few things, but I think I could use a few more.
A small note of self improvement to note: I touched the ceiling last night!!!I know it’s a little ridiculous but every once in a while I do a vertical jump in my house to see if I can touch the ceiling. I have always missed by about an inch. Well last night I hit the ceiling with the whole top part of my fingers, so I think I could have reached an extra inch past the ceiling. YEAH for olympic lifting. I really think my overall athleticism is improving. I’m enjoying celebrating the small things in life.
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
Sorry I am so late saying hi, so hi! There is a whole lotta strength and beauty in this here log.
I myself have a delicate knee and am especially struck by the intelligent way you go about training in light of the physical realities of your body. Yoga isn’t for me either…I’ve gotten way more injuries doing yoga than lifting so you are right to be cautious with that.[/quote]
I just missed your post! I have been lurking in your log a bit and was just about to go and say hi as well. Thanks so much for your kind words. I think people assume that yoga is inherantly safe, and lifting is inherantly dangerous. However, I’ve discovered that both need to be done with care when dealing with injury!!!
woo hoo the oly lifting is working!! congrats on your jump!!
i’ve found something similar. except in my case i didn’t think i could jump at all (i couldn’t before oly lifting) but now i can! i should find something i can only just touch or can’t quite touch and try and measure progress…
pfft about ‘morbid obesity’. i’m pretty darned sure that you have lower levels of bodyfat than me and i’m on the lower end of normal weight (which i am not at all proud of).
i’m sure everyone has anxieties about whether they will get any clients… thing is, that you actually know your shit, though, and so that has to work out well for you at the end of the day.
i’d love to do similar training to you with respect to the work thing. i don’t think it is financially feasible for me, though. unless i can get a boring job and study part time along the way or something. need to look more into whatever it is that i want to do exactly. not sure what qualifications i need to get (but am certainly attracted to doing some decent courses in anatomy, physiology, nutrition, bio-mechanics of movement, etc etc).
Yay for celebrating the small achievements, that’s great.
Uh I went through my yoga poses and while doing them, I was thinking to myself if I had any knee problems would I do these poses, the majority of them were no I wouldn’t. So I only have 3 to recommend, you can do them while just lazying at home, you probably have seen them before anyway. The Happy Baby, Easy Inversion & the Reclining Bound Angle Pose (keep your ankle and knee in line to protect them). They are easy but even my tight hip flexors get a bit cranky from them.
Techno-Thanks for the yoga tips! I will look them up and try them!
Alexus-Yeah I kind of wish I would have done a true before measurement. It would have been cool to know exactly how much my vertical jump improved. You should definitely measure it. I think I will start a once a month measurement as a good way to measure progress besides weight on the bar.
Last night’s workout was fun. I got my new shoes from Risto sports. They were awesome and had incredibly quick service. I ordered them on Monday and they came on Thursday. The shoes fit great too.
Things that changed with new shoes (Next week I’ll put a picture up of the oly shoes I was lifting in next to my new ones):
-I could drop under the bar. This could be because the shoes I was wearing were SO big and humungous that I could get my feet off the ground properly.
-It was easier to find my foot balance.
-After landing the snatch I would be a little off balance, landing on my toes. We collectively decided that this was because they were smaller landing base than the other shoes.
Quick warm-up
Stick work
Snatch fix its with bar
Hang Snatch:
1x3xbar
5x2x30kg We just worked here to get used to the new shoes. But it was quite evident that the 40kg is waiting for me next snatch workout! Everything was on, especially the drop (this has been my sticking point). I just need to learn to drive my knees out in the new shoes so I don’t land on my toes.
Back squat: 3x5x115lbs We adjusted my feet a bit which helped prevent knee cave. If I take my right foot back and twisted out more, it lines up my hips forward. This is unique to how my femur and hip socket line up. Mike had shown this to me once, but I didn’t quite understand what he was getting at then. For whatever reason, last night it clicked a little better when Ford (the Oly coach) explained it. Sometimes you just need to hear something twice before it clicks.
Seated good mornings: 3x10x35lbs
Band pull aparts: 3x10xmini band
Pallof press: 3x25 seconds
I’m off to go camping for the Holiday weekend! Happy 4th to all the US PW women and happy Canada day to all our northern compadres!!!
This video was taken on Tuesday of my 50kg hang clean. I thought I’d post it as a homage to the red boat oly shoes (with five finger vibrams on underneath).
yeah for camping trip!
new shoes sounds Le Awesome 
The backpacking trip was a success. I was thoroughly pooped when we got home and am still a bit physically and mentally tired.
I have a mini shoe review from the trip. A day before we left, I bought a pair of the new Merrel Barefoot Pace gloves. I needed a new minimalist shoe since my vibrams KSOs were literally falling off my feet. As much as I loved the KSOs, I wanted to get a shoe that was a bit more multifunctional. Paying $100 for a shoe I just wear to the gym, just didn’t seem reasonable, especially because I spend half the time in the olympic shoes.
I tried on the Merrells and liked them a lot. The toe box was super roomy, which is a must for me. Also, I could still feel the ground quite well. There was a little more padding than the KSOs, but it seemed like a small price to pay for the ability to where them more often.
However, I was still wavering a bit, thinking I could just super glue my KSOs and save the money. More importantly, I needed a shoe for hiking/water stuff for the trip. I could not justify buying two pairs of shoes in one day. So, I tried on some Chacos for hiking and water, since everybody outdoorsy seems to love them. The shoe felt so bulky compared to what I’m used to wearing, and I am just not a fan of my toes being exposed when hiking.
At this point I got to thinking, maybe I could just wear the Merrells hiking. If you are at all familiar with backpacking, you will know that it was kind of a crazy move. Most hikers wear a sturdy rugged shoe. I was going out there in a glorified slipper. I figured since I spend most hours in minimal shoes anyway that I could do it. So I bought them!!!
HUGE Success. My feet did great on the rocky terrain with a heavy pack. I could feel every rock under my feet, but I like that. My feet and calves were a bit sore, but worked sore, not pain sore. I didn’t get one blister, which is ridiculous for me. I seem to always get blisters. I’ve went on to wear the shoes to work and to the gym. So far these are the most multifunctional shoes I have ever owned. I have no doubt that I will get my money’s worth out of them.
Yesterday’s workout was lame! I was still pretty tired and knew that I’d be snatching today. So I didn’t want to expend too much energy.
Warm-up
Roll
Pushpresses: 5x3x75lbs
pull-ups: 3x5
push-ups: 3x10
Inverted rows: 3x6 (so so tired)
I was exhausted by the end and I really hadn’t done much, so it was a sign to go home and rest!
I’ve always worn my 3 season high top hiking boots and I always got blisters despite the expensive socks. I need to check out your Merrels.
wow 2 pairs of new shoes
glad that they both seem to be working well for you. i’m sure you will adapt to them for oly lifting in no time. when i got the heel on my shoes raised i no longer needed to snatch standing my heels on plates (accident waiting to happen) and the feeling of floaty freedom with my feet actually being able to leave the ground was quite liberating. but then i needed to re-figure my catch stance. guess you are getting something of that with light feet. you are doing well indeed if you only need to hear things twice before they click. i’m very dense when it comes to learning new motor skills.
i will look into the chackos… no blisters is a very good recommendation for me, indeed. but why don’t you wear your kso’s outside the gym??
Main-Yes for sure try them out, especially if you’re into minimalist shoes!
Alexus-I’m definitely digging the oly shoes and the merrell barefoot shoes (not chacos. I decided against those). I don’t wear the KSOs out and about because they are not very flattering. THey look like black aqua socks. Plus, I’m usually running late and they take just a bit longer to put on then other shoes. Not to mention, they are even more of a pain to wear with (toe) socks. Depending on the weather and how my feet feel, I like the option of socks. The Merrells are super cute and highly functional, so they win in my book.
Yesterday I met the Oly coach at a private gym that he shares with other trainers. It’s not fully equiped, but it does the trick. There happened to be a woman there working with PAGEANT clients!!! What a scene. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. They were strutting around in bikinis and gowns working on their “walk and wave”. Then afterward, one of the girls was going through the lifting routine that was set out for her. It was awful and she pretty much did all of the exercises wrong. She looked no older than 18, so of course she looked great with a perfect mid-section regardless.
So as girls were strutting around in their bikinis, I was working on my cleans.
Warm-up
fixits with stick and bar
2x3xbar
2x2x30kg
1x2x40kg
3x1x50kg
Important note: The coach and I cleared up a MAJOR cueing communication error here. He had been telling me to curl up my toes for proper foot balance since day one. So I had been curling my toes into a ball although it went against what I knew for squatting and deadlifting and it hurt my feet. I was even afraid it was going to gnarl up my feet. Well yesterday, after one of the lifts he said, “did you curl up your toes?” and I said “YES they are curled super tight under my feet.” At this point he got real wide eyed and demonstrated with his hand that he wanted my toes pulled (curled) up! We had a good laugh over it. He started laughing really hard and said no wonder you complained that it was painful. Needless to say, my lifts improved a bit. However, I still had to consciously NOT curl my toes, because it has become so engrained in my set-up.
3x0x60kg I got it up but just couldn’t get under it fast enough! It will be there soon enough.
Heavy pulls:
3x1 (short rest)80kg
Front squat set-up step-ups: 3x8xbar
Fall outs: 3x8
Done!
Backpacking trip sounds awesome!!! I’d love to do more of that but none of my friends are really into it so it’s tough to find company to go with. Glad the shoes worked out too—you’ve got me interested in the merrels, I think I could definitely get on board with that. (although we’re talking about shoe type and what it does to feet in class and my teacher basically thinks the minimalist shoes are the devil!)
Training sounds interesting with the beauty pageants! Something to keep you amused, at the very least! And great workout—excited to hear about a 60kg success very soon
Yay for joining the Merrell club. Mine are also Pace Gloves. I like them a lot. I mainly bought them to wear to school because my head would probably frown at Vibrams.
It’s funny - I take a much smaller size in the Merrells than I do in most other shoes - I’m a UK 7.5 (US 10) in Nikes but only a 6 (US 8.5) in the Merrells (which is the same as the Vibrams, actually). As you say, the toe box is still roomy. They do press on my instep slightly but I think they’ll ease up as they wear in. It’s mostly because I’m in them for my entire working day, most of which is spent on my feet.
Good job on the clean.