Throwing Heavy Stuff Far

Training Over 35 Lifter
501

Thanks again eveyone for your support. It has helped me through the times when the training seemed too hard and to no point. I did not achieve the goal I set for myself, but I did learn a few useful things in the process.

By posting the video of my lifts, I got useful feedback from a few of the more knowledgable people here and learned some things about ol technique that will help me in the future. The training that I undertook over the past 12 weeks turned out to not be very effective, with strength levels staying constant or declining slightly. It seems I do better with significant time being spent on high rep, low intensity lifts, rather than what I did for the last 12 weeks, with many singles at high intensity. The Russian squat routine was not very effective for me either. It seems that even when I was younger, the Russian squat routine gave similar results–I followed it well until the weights started to increase, then had trouble keeping up with the plan. The supercompensation scheme I had been following is what seems to give me the best results, although from past experience, after 3-4 cycles, this also seems to break down.

I still have the goal of breaking the world recond at least in the snatch. To do this I think I need to improve my basic strength levels in squat and deadlift. Every time I have snatched 115+ in the past, I have also squated 160+ and snatch grip deadlifted 130+ with relative ease. So although my training now is shifting towards maximizing throwing distances, I will also be focusing on getting squat and deadlift weights up.

Here are the throwing goals for this season:

Shot: 16m
Discus: 50m
Hammer: 50m
Weight: 18.5m
Javelin: don’t break it, and don’t trip over the darn thing when I leave the runway.

502

Carl

Good insight. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

503

Carl
congrats on your meet results…
and this is always such a technical read.
thank you
kmc

504

So it’s Carl Darby North American Masters Champion…is THAT what we have to call him now??? Fine with me. Great job man, seriously. Now I can look forward to reading about ANOTHER sport which I now nothing about, and watching videos I couldn’t dream of re-creating. Should be fun.

505

Ladies call him tree-top lover. Men just call him sir.

506

[quote]sfp wrote:
Ladies call him tree-top lover. Men just call him sir.[/quote]

I mean it… probie period has a month left.

507

[quote]skidmark wrote:
I mean it… probie period has a month left. [/quote]

Wow. Didn’t think you’d be looking. You’re everywhere!

Seriously, Carl, please keep posting. For true amateurs like myself, your log is a real treasure trove.

508

Took a week off from lifting, managed to get two throwing sessions in last week.

A typical shot session involves 30 throws, 5 standing throws, 5 half spins and 20 full spins. Only the last few are full effort throws. If things are going right, The full effort throws actually do go farthest. My main focus technique-wise right now is balance and lower body position.

Hammer sessions consist of 20-35 throws with the main focus right now being footwork and balance. My farthest throws are typically between the 10th and 15th of the session. By then fatigue starts setting in, and full effort throws are usually a disaster.

4/8
Shot: 30 throws, best at ~14.90m
Hammer: 31 throws all over 42.5m, best of 47m

4/12
Shot: 30 throws, best at ~15.10, all of the full throws except for 2 were >14m
Hammer: 35 throws, best of 44m lost the balance and rhythm after 15 throws, so slowed down and worked on getting my left heel down.
Sprints: 5x50m
Repeated standing jumps 1x7 to ~16.5m

509

4/13

Snatch: 60/3, 67.5/3, (75/3)3
Squats: 70/5, 85/5, (100/5)3
Bench: 60/5, 67.5/5, (75/5)3
Snatch High Pulls: (85/5)3

Its amazing how much conditioning I can lose in 1 week. The weights were easy, but a couple times I felt like puking. Managed to keep it all in.

510

Those sound like monster throws…
nice High pulls

conditioning for me is also the first to go,
that and mobility/flexibility.

nice throws

kmc

511

[quote]Carl Darby wrote:
4/13

Snatch: 60/3, 67.5/3, (75/3)3
Squats: 70/5, 85/5, (100/5)3
Bench: 60/5, 67.5/5, (75/5)3
Snatch High Pulls: (85/5)3

Its amazing how much conditioning I can lose in 1 week. The weights were easy, but a couple times I felt like puking. Managed to keep it all in.[/quote]

Carl if I am not wrong you do your workouts in the weightroom during your lunch hour (have no idea on US school lunch times but guess around an hour)I have been sitting here reading this and what has amazed me almost as much as that at 52 you can actually hit a squat snatch bottom position, is that you do your workouts in that time frame.

I know every bodybuilder on the web has a tight 30-60sec rest period before pumping out their next set, but the guys I have watched for the last 20+ years almost all have around 3 minutes maybe a little less, and they are curling for crying out loud.

When I first trained at Burwood two weeks ago, I got into a rotation with a couple of guys, when I had finished my power snatches, power cleans a couple of sets of pulls, and some power jerks, I was shocked it was only an hour, probably explained why my T -shirt could be wrung out. Thing was everybody was training at that pace.

So originally I thought you were just racing through your workout in a limited time frame, but now I wonder if this pace is the current norm, ( I miss my 3-5 minute rest perios, it was the only time in the week I could just do nothing but relax - and think)

Also are you going to be doing more power snatches, and power cleans now ???

… will you be going to the US T & F Masters Nats ???

512

Terry, I get two hours for lunch at my school, so its not so much a time limitation as it is I like working fast. I try to take no more than 2 minutes between sets, this stretches out to 3 or sometimes even 5 minutes when the loads get heavy. I don’t know if this is the standard nowdays, but one reason I like it is two minutes is typically what you get at competitions between attempts.

I don’t think I’ll be doing many power versions of the lifts. It messes with my technique too much for what extra benefit it affords. I am throwing in a bunch of jumping exercises and sprints, possibly at the expense of some of the heavier squats–if time or energy doesn’t allow both, I’ll go with jumping stuff rather than the heavy squats.

I plan on going to either masters nationals, or the national senior games, I haven’t decided which one yet.

513

4/14

Cleans: 60/3, 75/3, (90/3)3
Jerks: 60/3, 75/3, (90/3)3
Front Squats: 70/5, 82.5/5, (95/5)3
Push Presses: 50/5, 57.5/5, (62.5/5)3
Clean Dead Lifts: (112.5/5)3
Jump Squats: (30/6)3

No urge to puke today. Everything felt fast and solid. Excellent timing on the cleans and jerks. Jumps squats, like sprints and other jumping exercise, really get the endorphins flowing. I felt wonderful for a few hours after this session, then crashed and didn’t feel like moving much for the rest of the evening.

514

I LOVE jump squats!

sounds like you had a good workout,
I must be in sync with your timing I was going to ask about accessory work

You do mostly skill work, I was wondering if you ever do or did periods of drop or balance snatches, OH squats OH press,
and this workout you did some non- skill work.

I am asking because I wan to relearn the olifts and do some olifts in my programming
kmc

515

kmc, I used to do OH squats many years ago but have never done heavy drop snatches. Every time I get to maximum weights in snatch, I think I probably should have been doing some though. In my next OL oriented cycles, I’m pretty sure I’ll be including them. It might make it easier to keep the heavy weights close and really commit to getting under them if I’m more confident about being able to catch them.

516

[quote]Carl Darby wrote:
kmc, I used to do OH squats many years ago but have never done heavy drop snatches. Every time I get to maximum weights in snatch, I think I probably should have been doing some though. In my next OL oriented cycles, I’m pretty sure I’ll be including them. It might make it easier to keep the heavy weights close and really commit to getting under them if I’m more confident about being able to catch them.[/quote]

It’s really to bad that most people have zero idea what it takes to go to the top of the game. I hope you’re able to work out a solution to your delema. I have been in similar situations and will be again I’m sure.

I find myself analyzing information from others and determining what aspects will be benifical for me. I have no idea if I’m on or off the money for weeks on end. I do try to keep my mind open and question anything that doesn’t show me progress. It doesn’t matter who gave me the advice. I know from experience that no two individuals respond the same way to any given stimulas. I will throw out what doesn’t work without hesitation.

I have to believe in my ability to feel the changes, with my bodies responce to any given stimulas. It is a fine line but it’s the difference from succeeding and not.

Not knowing your sport well enough to advise you. I can only show support with understanding from similar experiences. Once again I wish you success on your quest and a fast solution the your delema. Stay strong and focused!

517

As always, great lifting Carl. If you haven’t already found it theres an all O-lifting thread over on the ‘Training Logs’ forum. A guy that goes by Koing. ‘Olympic lift numbers / log’ is the name of his thread. Some good stuff you may enjoy reading.

518

[quote]streamline wrote:
…
I do try to keep my mind open and question anything that doesn’t show me progress. It doesn’t matter who gave me the advice.
…
[/quote]

Streamline, I especially agree with this part of what you wrote. As usual, what you have to say is right on the money. Thanks for your input.

Eco, I read that thread from time to time, even post once in a while. I kind of made myself persona nongrata with my last post there, lambasting one of the regular posters to get off his ass and start moving some heavy weights. Had to apologize profusely to maintain my sense of integrity. Koing is posting there again after a long hiatus. He is very knowlegable about olympic lifting.

519

4/16

Snatch: 60/3, 67.5/3, (75/3)3
Squats: 70/5, 85/5, (100/5)3
Bench: 60/5, 67.5/5, (75/5)3
Snatch Dead Lifts: (95/5)3
Step up with a jump thingies: (BW/6)3

Not quite as sharp as Tuesday, but much better than Monday. The step up thingies start off like step ups, but with a jump and leg switch at the top, minimal time at the bottom.

520

4/17

Clean and Jerk: 60/3, 75/3, (90/3)3
Front Squats: 70/5, 82.5/5, (95/5)3
Push Presses: 50/5, 57.5/5, (62.5/5)3
Clean High Pulls: (100/5)3
Box Jumps: 20in box, (BW+20lbs/6)3

Throwing tomorrow, my 12 year old daughter is going to have her first hammer throwing session. I don’t know who’s more excited.