Strength Cycle Week 7 part 2

Sleep:
1:10 - 9:15

Warmup:
Some hip openers ... not a whole lot else actually. It was already overheating from driving to the gym in a very warm car.

Deadlift:
warmup - at least 10 X 45#, 5 x 95# - was really trying to focus on form.

5-5-5
120-125(f)-125

21 x 80#

Shoulder Press
warmup: 10 x 20#

5-5-5
34-40-55(f rep 3)-52(f rep 5)

21 x 32# (1:45)

Comments:
You might notice that my deadlift weights went down about 15 pounds from last week. Well, I made a fascinating discovery today - actually 2 related discoveries: I have not been using my hamstrings (lately?) when I deadlift. And, my hamstrings are wimpy weak!

It was very clear to me from watching the videos we took last week that there was a serious error in my DL form, so I endeavored to correct it this week. And, thankfully, now that I know what feeling I am looking for, this is one exercise where I can actually tell the difference from good form and bad form just by how it feels in my body. When I do it right, my hamstrings are on fire, and my lower back does not feel the pressure of the lift. When I do it wrong, my hamstrings don't know the difference from simply standing up and my back does all the work.

Unfortunately, my hamstrings are weak, and they tire very quickly - I suspect I have been compensating for them for a long time, and they just aren't used to having to pull their own weight, and I knew I was in trouble when I BARELY made it through my first work set @ 120#. And that was supposed to be my easy set. After the first (very difficult) 5 reps, I tested one rep the wrong way - i.e. the way I usually do it, using my back more - and it came up off the floor with ease. Damn! So I wasn't just having a weak day. I had to choose between pursuing that PR that I'm supposed to be shooting for every week or fixing my form. It's hard because pursuing that new goal is a tempting thing, but ultimately - there really is no choice. Pursuing good form is the only way to go. So I decided to suck up my pride and take the weight reduction, and focus on doing them right.

Daniel and I had a slight disagreement about this. He talked about how Rip says you have "train on the verges" in order to progress. And on a certain level, I agree. If your form is perfect 100% of the time, you're probably not working hard enough. But, for me, that means you might have degraded form at the end of a set or a series of sets. But if you can't get your form perfect on the first 5 reps of an easy set, you don't have any business going heavier.

I also know I finally nailed the form because Max came up to me later and said that my DL looked fantastic, and a classmate, separately, commented to Daniel that my DL form looked outstanding. (Although if they had been standing in front of me instead of off to the side they would have seen my right knee collapsing in. It's better than it was but there is still work to be done.)

I'm a *little* annoyed that doing it right is harder than doing it wrong (for now). Using good form is supposed to make it easier ... right? But I've known for a while that my hamstrings are a weak link - in all sorts of movements from squats to cleans to ... well just about everything, and now that I know how to make them work hard in the DL, I'm planning to work DL as often as possible, and whip those weak little hammies into shape. I suspect that once I do that, I will see significant improvements in many areas.

The shoulder presses were ok. I failed at 55# after rep 2 - so I decided to try 52# and i ALMOST made it. Rep # 5 got about 1/3 of the way up, but I just couldn't lock it out.
With the set of 21, I decided to stick to 32#, but I decided to time it and see if I could do it faster than last week. I did it in 1:45 this week, and watching the video from last week it looks like it took me 2:21. That's nearly a 40 second improvement, and they were definitely easier this week than last - I made it to rep 14 or 15 before having to take a break, and I only had to rack the bar on my shoulers once at about rep 17. I would say that this set really was unbroken. Next week will be 35# *sigh*.

Strength Cycle Week 7, part 2

Deadlift x 5: 225 - 255 - 285 (pr)
Deadlift x 21: 215 (unbroken)
Press x 5: 75 - 85 - 97
Press x 21: 67 (failed rep 20)
Split jerk x 3: 95-115-120-125-130

I didn't have Rebecca there to yell at me for the deadlifts, so I think I had some degradation of form on the very heavy set. I really need to remember to bring chalk with me - my grip is failing even with mixed grip, just cause it's so damn heavy. The big set was not as unbroken as it's been previously - I had to stop a couple times to regrip and take a (single) breath.

I was pleased to get 97 on the presses, until I looked at last time and saw that's the weight I did then - damn! It was only hard on the last rep, so I think 100 is doable. I really didn't think I'd make it as far as I did on the big set - failing on the 20th rep just sucks.

The split jerks went well - they're much easier for me than regular push jerks. I got 3x130, which was my previous 1RM - and it was a very UGLY 1RM. I think I could definitely get 135 now, but I don't know about 140.

Snatches

I'm a little behind on posting - that seems to happen a lot over the weekend - so just the workout:

Warmup: Run 800m, 1 round CFWU, a lot of snatch form practice - really tried to work the 2nd pull mechanics - they're essentially the same as the clean, so it's very useful to try to get it down just right.

WOD:
Snatches
3-3-3-3-3-3

Results:
I don't actually know how many sets I did.

I started off @ 25# and worked slowly up to 35 and then back down to 30. I only got 1 set @ 35, and they were at least half-way just presses, so I went back down to 30 totry to fix the form.

I do not have the shoulder flexibility, not the bravery, or coordination to be able to successfully drop under the bar, so all of my snatches were muscle snatches.

A very full Friday, and not much on Saturday

Got in late last night (dinner with the CFEB crew at the warehome), so didn't get to blog Friday's workouts. It was a full day.

Morning:

• Sprint-8 on rower - 2,450m
  
• 20 minutes POSE practice on treadmill - 6MPH/1% grade
• Climbing: 10c(o), 10d(f), 10d(F+++), 11a(f+)

I held all my sprints below 1:32 pace on the rower, which is a first for me. I found that focusing on speeding up the return stroke as much as possible shaved a few seconds off my pace (but, of course, made it harder). The climbing was going well until I tried that 10d on the first pillar. 10d, my ass. That climb was at least an 11a. Super long, super pumpy, with nothing but tiny pinchers and a small, very awkward traverse over a roof. Hated that sonuvabitch. The 11a was slab and went pretty well until a move about 3/4 of the way up that I just could not figure out. Tor did it afterwards and I think maybe the problem was that my hips were too high (from the rope) to really make the move, so I need to try that again.

Evening:

Warmup: 3.5mile run halfway around Lake Merritt and back at medium/slow pace
"Danny"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
115/80 pound Push Press, 20 reps
30 Pull-ups (C2B)

2 rounds + 20 box jumps, 95# PP

There were 18 people in class, so Max divided it into 6-person heats and several of the regular members of what he calls "Team CFEB" were put in the last group. So, with 40 minutes to kill until our turn, Alex suggested a run around the lake, which five of us ended up doing. I was wearing my Pumas, which are historically not good for my ankle with running, but I resolved to keep a medium pace and really focus on my footwork to avoid heel-striking. It was moderately successful. We made it halfway around the lake and decided to come back the same way, since the other half of the lake is just kinda shitty. My calves and ankles are definitely feeling all the running today.

The workout itself was a good one. I lucked out and was able to do ring pullups for 52 of my 60 pullups, which meant MUCH happier shoulders and calluses. I touch the rings below my clavicle now, so I'm calling that chest-to-bar, but for whatever physiological reason they are much easier/more consistent for me on rings than they are on the bar.

Worried about my shoulder, I scaled the weight (again), and it was probably the right call - I was doing the push-presses in sets of 5-7, and my shoulder was definitely not happy about it. It's not as painful as it was at its height last week, but it's definitely the press motion that agitates it the most. I hope I'm able to do my presses tomorrow.

Today:
I woke up in the middle of the night last night, and by the tenth step away from the bed I had decided today would be a rest day. Really sore. This morning's class was supposed to be 3RM snatches, but I didn't do that. I just practiced form, mainly with the empty bar, trying to figure out how to receive the bar, and hung out in the sunshine on a beautiful day. Afterwards several of the harder core class members did the Ecuadorean Destroyer WOD, which simply never looked like a good idea to me. I'm not a fan of gratuitous high-volume painstorms. We watched them hack away at it for a while, then cut out for a delicious lunch at Picante with Alex & Rebecca.

Danny

Sleep:
11:10 - 7:40 wheeee! I think i still have some catching up to do - but this was a good start on making up for the last week's defecit.

AM Commentary:
I stepped on the scale at Ironworks for the first time in a week or two and - usually I do it nekkid, but this time I just took off my shoes - and it told me I am 130# - that's 5 pounds heavier than usual. Philosophically, I am ok with this - and even body comp wise - looking at myself in the mirror - I'm pretty ok with this. I am a little fluffier than I would like, but not embarassing. I'll still take my shirt off in a WOD if I want to :-p But, the real reason I bring this whole sticky issue up is that this MIGHT explain why my pull-ups have back-tracked so far. They were a tenuous thing at best, and adding a few extra pounds would explain why I'm having so much more trouble with these.

Daniel gave me some very good advice though (he's really good at that!) - just keep working them, and after the strength cycle - when I work the weight off - they'll be much much easier! That will be my mantra for not obsessing about a little weight gain. Also - I think some of the weight is just pre-period bloat which will hopefully be gone in a few days.

Warmup: walk around the block carrying "something heavy" - i chose a 14# medicine ball - ME

WOD:
"Danny"

Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps *subbed step-ups to 20" box
115/80 pound Push Press, 20 reps *45#
30 Pull-ups *jumping pullups

Results:
2 rounds + 30 pullups.

Round 1: 6:47
Round 2:
. . 2:06 - Box Step-ups
. . 2:46 - pullups
. . 3:54 - Push Press
Round 3:
. . 2:05 - Box Step-ups
. . 2:31 - Pullups

Cash Out:
2000m Row: 9:20

Comments:
Ether Max had this on the board wrong, or I just did it backwards - but I think I did pullups then push presses - I am sure I did for the last round.

In rounds 2 & 3 I did all the step ups leading with my right leg.


Food:
8:40 - 6oz black coffee
1:10 - cottage cheese, slivered almonds, cinnamon, coffee with milk.
3:50 - roasted chicken, sauteed broccoli
4:40 - 1 piece homemade jerky
7:45 - 16 oz milk, 2 pieces homemade jerkey.
8:45 - double cheeseburger from Giant Burger
9:20 - 1 beer

Strength Cycle, week 7 part 1

Back Squat x 5: 135 - 155 - 180(pr)
Back Squat x 21: 135(ow)
Bench Press x 5: 115 - 135 - 155(pr)
Bench Press x 21: 115

Ugh. The squats went OK, up until the big set. That hurt a lot. The bench felt really heavy, both the fives and the big set. I'm beginning to think that doing this at half weight last week may have been a bad idea - hopefully next week will feel back to normal.

Next week: 185/140, 160/120

Wow. Those numbers look big. Next week the failing might start.

Wrecked. Just a little.

Sleep:
11:10 - 7:10 ... i meant to get up at 6:45 so i could get to work early to leave early - but the alarm didn't penetrate the fog until 7:10. I guess my body was determined to get a full 8 hours. And I was only 15 minutes later to work than I intended.

Warm up:
500m row, ME, hip extensions, shoulder dislocates, good morning squats, various stretches for hammies, quads and adductors.

WOD:
Backsquat
Warmup: 10 x 45#
5-5-5
55-65-75 - f rep 5
21 x 60# (11, 7, 3) fail

Bench:
Warm up: 10 x 45#
5-5-5
50-60-72 (f rep 3) new 2rm PR? Definitely new 1rm :p
21 x 55# (10,6,5) fail

Comments:
Wow. Today just really did not go well. I think last weeks bad diet and bad sleep must have really done a number on me. I really struggled to do even half so well as I did the last time I did this 2 weeks ago.

I don't know why I feel so beat up - i JUST had a 50% week. But I really feel in need of another one. I've been pretty sore off and on since ... I dunno maybe last wednesday - definitely since Friday. Today my Trapeziuses are SORE - dunno whether it was the jerks or the cleans - probaly both, but I actually had a woman come up to me in the locker room today and ask me if I had an injury to my left shoulder because it wasn't moving when I walked.

And then there was today's performance - or lack thereof. I tried really hard to get thoroughly warmed up, by shoulders just wouldn't lossen up, and my hamstrings are just perpetually tight.

Daniel got video of my back squats - I might get around to posting it later - but essentially, I have the same damn problem with them that I have with my deadlifts - my hips rise faster than my torso putting me at a mechanical disadvantage. I'm not sure whether the weak link is my hamstrings or my core - probably a combination - but the first squats in a set are generally ok, and as I get more and more tired, I have a harder and harder time keeping my torso up when I try to get out of the hole.

I got 8 hours of sleep last night, and ate all the food I was supposed to today and yesterday ... but I guess the cumulative effect of several sleepless nights and early mornings was more than a day and a half of sleeping and eating could make up for. Well - i had a HUGE amount of food today, and I am heading to bed now to get as much sleep as I can. Rest little body! Get strong!

Food:
7:40 - 3 egg cheesy scramble, 2 slices turkey bacon. coffee w/ milk.
11:30 - 1.5 oz spicy cashews, 1 piece homemade turkey jerky - NOM.
12:45 - cottage cheese, etc.
1:30 - 1oz spicy cashews
3:30 - 1 serving green curry - tofu, asparagus, peas, spinach, cashews, etc.
6:45 - 1/2 piece homemade jerkey
7:30 - HUGE plate of roasted chicken w/ gravy, sauteed broccoli with slivered almonds, and spinach salad with walnuts, cranberries and feta. It was so huge that Daniel - who can hoover away a LOT - turned to me when he was about half way through and said" This is a lot of food" - in that dismayed "how am I going to eat all of this" sort of way (our plates each had about the same amount of food on them.). I can't believe I managed to eat the whole damn thing but by the end of Dollhouse, it had dissapeared.
9:15 - multiv, 2 glucosamine, 4 omega-3 (finally remembered!)

Cleans are my nemesis

Sleep:
12:15 - 7:30 - slept very soundly - only got up once.

Warmup:
ME, 1 round CF warmup

WOD:
155/105* pound Deadlift, 12 reps
155/105* pound Hang power clean, 9 reps
155/105* pound Push jerk, 6 reps
* subbed 55#

Results:
33:10

Round	Work	Rest
1	4:27	2:07
2	3:30	3:01
3	4:12	4:15
4	3:28	3:59
5	4:11

Comments:
I was sharing a bar, and we pretty much just switched off on rounds - which is why the rests are so hugely long. The first set is further skewed because I was having trouble with the cleans, so I let Ana jump in. In hindsight, it would have been interesting to wait until Ana was completely done to see how long it would have taken to go straight through. If I add up my work sets it comes out to 19:48. Obviously it would have come out something longer than that without the large rest breaks.

The hardest part of this workout for me (and it sounded like most people agreed with me) was the cleans. My best round was actually round 4, when i managed to get 7 before having to put the bar down. My form is truly funky with these, and there is just something in the mechanics that escapes me. Occasionally I get it right, and it just pops up - but most of the time, it's a real struggle. I think some serious work at either barbell SDHP or just practicing pull#2 of the clean - w/o worrying about getting my elbows around - might be helpful at drilling the order of operations into my body. My muscle memory is slow to pick things up, and needs lots of reinforement.

I was surprised that the push jerks were as hard as they were given that this is the weight I have been working my shoulder presses with - though since I haven't successfully gotten 5 in a row with them yet, i guess it shouldn't have been THAT shocking. Although I think I did fairly well with this weight in the FGB that we did not too long ago.

Food:
8:30 - 6oz black coffee
11:30 - cottage cheese, etc. Coffee with milk
1:30 - 2oz spicy cashews
3:30 - green curry
7:00 - 16oz milk
7:45 - Gordo's super carnitas burrito, 16oz milk
10:45 - 2 zma

DT, and hello Split Jerks

Max is convinced that the spooky amount of 155# overhead workouts lately is an indicator that they're going to feature in this year's games...but I don't know. I think we just find patterns in random groupings.

Five rounds for time of:
155/105 pound Deadlift, 12 reps
155/105 pound Hang power clean, 9 reps
155/105 pound Push jerk, 6 reps

20:44 at 105#

This one was a first for me, and I nearly took the AMRAP way out. My shoulder is feeling much better, but is still not at 100%, and I was worried about the push-jerks - so I was tempted to go with kettlebells and not do the jerks on the right side. But that's unbalanced, and I hate unbalanced workouts. So I went with the barbell and scaled it a bit low and took my time with it, which I think was the right call - at least my shoulder isn't angry with me now.

I started sharing the bar with James, which gave me ample rest while he did his rounds. But his back started tweaking in dangerous ways, so he pulled out after two rounds, leaving me with no excuse to not be working.

I experimented with split jerks today, which I've never really played with. I really like them. They feel far more stable, and shoulder flexibility on the drop doesn't really come into play. Alex told me I wasn't dropping very far after the first round, so I tried getting under the bar a bit more on subsequent rounds, with good results. They're a bit slower than regular jerks (you can't really chain them together so much), but I think I'm gonna stick with them for a little while to explore the possibilities.

Rockin' Recipe: Homemade Jerky

Crossposted at CrossFit East Bay.

I'm a big fan of jerky. Delicious, highly portable, packed with protein and naturally low-carb, what's not to love? Well, two things:

• It's expensive.
• Most commercial stuff uses low-quality meat and is packed with sugar and other crap.

With just a little effort, though, both these downsides are easily surmounted by the magic of JDIYDS (Just Do It Your Damn Self).

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs liquid smoke
• 2 Tbs soy sauce
• Favorite hot sauce (1/4 tsp - 1 Tbs, to taste)
• 1/3c Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbs onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 pound (sliced thin), or 1.5 pounds (ground) meat (beef, turkey, whatever)

There are many different recipes out there, this is just one that I've tried and liked. Don't be afraid to google around for something that appeals to you.

Equipment:

• Dehydrator preferred (oven works, too)
• Wax paper, rolling pin & scissors (if using ground meat)
  
• Jellyroll pan with wire rack inserts (if using oven)
  

Instructions:
Whisk together all the spices and liquids in a separate bowl, then mix with the meat (I use a food processor with the dull blade for this). If you are using sliced meat, put the meat and the marinade together in a ziploc bag and leave in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.

Spoon the meat mixture out onto a long sheet of wax paper.

Place another sheet of wax paper on top, and roll out evenly with the rolling pin. The thickness is up to you, but I wouldn't go thicker than 1/4" - the thicker you make it, the longer it will take to dry and the more you'll have to gnaw at it when it's done.

I use scissors to cut the paper into smaller squares, then flip the paper over the dehydrator racks and peel it away. I also score the meat mixture so it's easy to tear into strips when it's done. If you used the marinated/sliced meat method, just remove the slices from the marinade, shake off excess liquid, and place on the racks. If you're using an oven, you'll want to get some of those large jellyroll pans with wire-mesh cooling rack inserts from the local restaurant supply store. Arrange the jerky in a single layer on the rack, and be sure to have space between strips for better air circulation. If you get into doing this regularly, it would probably pay to get one of these fancypants jerky guns so you can skip the previous three steps.

Place in the dehydrator, put it on "meat" and then go do something else for four hours. If you're using an oven, bake it for four hours at 250 - if you have a convection oven, make sure the fans are on. If not, just leave the door open a crack while you're baking it.

1.5 pounds of meat will yield about 12 oz of jerky. That would cost $15 at Trader Joe's, but (depending on what you used) you could make this for well under $5.

A Note to Vegetarians:
When I was a veggie, I tried to make vegetarian jerky, and every attempt was a dismal failure, so I'm sorry I don't have a recipe for you here. Stay tuned for an article on making your own spiced nuts, and if you want to purchase veggie jerky, my favorite brand by far is Stonewall's Jerquee, available at Whole Foods or in bulk online.

Rest Day! Tax day. ugh.

Sleep:
11:25 - 7:30 - Hooray! had to get up a LOT to go to the bathroom, but it was still 8 hours of time in bed. And we were able to FINALLY take the cone off the kitty on Saturday night, so the cat door is once again open, and all is well in the world of the kitties. I do not anticipate any further night-time disturbances from them.

Food:
8:15 Cheesy scramble with veggie sausage, coffee with milk
8:30 vitamins
11:30 1oz spicy cashews - need to remember to bring some Jerkey!
1:15 cottage cheese, etc.
4:15 bbq chicken & a yam
8:00 chicken quesadilla with cheese and salsa and guacamole, spinach salad , 16oz milk

Oh, right.

Forgot about Social Climbing on Monday:

10b(o), 10d(f+), 11a(f+), 10c(f), 10c(f)

So, not a great night for staying on the wall, but I'm happy with it regardless. The 10d was a really fun technical climb with a lot of exposed stemming and big, open-hand holds. The crux (for me) came in a dihedral that required a drop-knee to a hold right behind your ass, and I had trouble folding up that small - took a few attempts to get my foot up on top of the hold. I'm pleased I managed the 11a with only two falls - it was just vertical, so no crazy overhangs, but there were a lot of "you gotta be kidding me" sloping tiny holds that required some decent pinch strength to pull up on. It required a great deal of concentration, and the gym was crowded, so it's not too surprising that my falls came from neighboring climbers getting a little too close for comfort. The two 10c's were pretty straight-forward, I was just really tired and making stupid mistakes that led to one take each.

Social Climbing

Sleep:
3:30 - 9 again. Even BIGGER OW. To top it off, the email(s) I sent with the report I had been working so hard to get done before Monday AM didn't even go out properly, so when I got up @ 9, I had to scramble around and try to get it out asap. So glad I made the effort and lost so much sleep :-|

Came in to work around noon and left @ 5.

Got some climbing - but nothing terribly ambitious; I was tired.

5.9 (blue(?) tape - far south wall) (c)
5.8 (white tape up the dihedral) (c)
10a (light green tape southern end of the east wall)(f)


To sum up the rest week - I fail at rest weeks. I think it probably would have been great if I had managed to keep to a good sleep schedule and good eating, but apparently I fall off both those wagons when i think I'm "resting" and that keeps me from recovering as much as I might otherwise. As it was, Ifelt pretty darn beat-up at the end of the week.

In which I discover Windows Movie Maker

Technically, today should be half-volume too. However, I have determined that half-volume strength workouts are just ridiculous, so I cut it short a day early.

Deadlift x 5: 225 - 250 - 280 (pr)
Deadlift x 21: 210 (unbroken)

Sadly, my shoulder is still too messed up to do presses - I made it to rep 7 of the 10-rep warmup and my shoulder was screaming at me. But enough typing! Today we took video:

I've never actually taken video of my deadlifts before. Three things stand out to me here:

1. My back is actually much straighter than I feared it was, even at heavy weight.
2. I tend to shoot my hips up too early before the weight leaves the ground, particularly on the first rep of every set.
3. When the weight gets heavy and I get tired, my shoulders round a bit more than I'd like. I'm not sure how much of this is solvable at high weights, but it doesn't look great.

Then it was on to 3RM cleans outside:

(props to Byers for the soundtrack idea)

Observations: Pretty spry on the 75 and 95, but as the weight goes up over 100 my receiving goes way downhill. It's clear from the bottom of the 75s that I'm tipping WAY forward at the bottom of the squat, and would never be able to hang on to that at heavy weight. More front squats are necessary, but then...I knew that. Also, fast elbows really help. One alarming thing is how hunched my upper back is on the first pull off the ground - that ain't good.

Strength stuff - it's definitely starting to get hard.

Sleep:
3:30am - 9:45 am great. big. ouch. stupid work project.

Warmup: easy 500m rowing, hip openers, pushups, situps, squats.

WOD:
Deadlift:
Warmup 10x45#, 5 x95#

5-5-5
115-130-140(f rep 5)

21 x 100# (f rep 18) - 1 LESS rep than last week.



Press:
warmup: 10 x 20

5-5-5
35-45-55 (f rep 4)
1 less rep than last week. since i have failed at this weight for several weeks, next week i should either switch to 3 x 5 or, change my target to 52#.

21 x 32#
Never had to put the bar down, but i did have to rack in on my shoulders a couple times. MUCH better than last week. Not sure whether to do this weight again next week until it's more like actually consecutive, or to up the weight since i "Technically" made it through. I'm sort of leaning towards option A, though Daniel suggested option B. I have to ruminate.



Comments:
I find the videos tremendously helpful. I can very clearly see why I ran out of deadlifts. I was lifting with my back, not my legs, and my back just decided it had had enough abuse. It's tricky, because i manage to lift with my back while keeping it fairly straight, so Daniel did not catch the form error, but looking at the video, it is very clear where the "power" is coming from, and it ain't my legs. I need to focus on keeping my torso more upright, and really solidifying that lower back arch. I am pretty sure that the culprits are my tight, weak hamstrings. I need to do a better job of stretching them out prior to these lifts. Open hips won't help much if my hamstrings are too tight to utilize the ROM.

My presses definitely got better after I got to watch the video of the first set to see what I was doing wrong.

We attended this week's FireBreathers class - where daniel did some good work on his cleans - i stalled out at 60# and realized that I have a huge amount of form work to do before I have a prayer of these getting any heavier. The ones that I got at 60# were just all wrong, form wise. I was also really tired, so I just sat and watched and videoed other people for most of the class.

Food:
Breakfast - cheesy scramble, turkey bacon, and coffee with milk
PWO - a little homemade jerkey, and 16 oz milk - minus about 2 ounces I spilled on myself :-p graceful.
Lunch - andronicos salami and cheddar sandwich on a wheat roll w/ homemade ice tea
Snack - about half of a ginormous (delicious!) grapefruit, and some home-made Jerkey
Dinner: 2 bbq chicken legs and a yam and salad with milk