Snatch practice

2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2 of the complex: 1 Squat Snatch, 1 Overhead Squat @ 50% of 1RM

Did all twelve sets at 65#. Took forever.

Grace (scaled)

A: Work up to a 1RM in the Snatch

B: "Grace"
30 reps for time G2O/H - 135/95
6 minute time limit

1RM full snatch: 95 (been stuck here a while)
Grace: 5:55, scaled to 115#

The weight felt way heavier than expected, and the first few reps were full of "are you SURE those bumpers say 35?" Once I knuckled down and kept knocking them out, though, it got...well, tolerable I guess, if not easy.

3 hours in the gym

Another marathon Wednesday in which I did not manage my time well

Warmup workout:

20 double-unders
10 KB swings (1.5P)
20 double-unders
9 KB swings
...
20 double-unders
1 KB swing

11:10RX

I was able to get about half the double-under rounds as a single set, which is gratifying. At least one skill seems to have come together. I credit the new rope.

Workout workout:

High-hang snatch x 3: 75-75-75-80-85
Squat snatch x 1: 90 - 95 - 100 (PR)
High-hang clean x 3: 95-95-100-105-110
Squat clean & jerk: 115-125-135 (PR)

Jim and I have started doing triplets from the high hang on both the snatch and the clean. I'm REALLY liking these. They put all the focus on the final pull and the dive, which I find to be the hardest part. I've noticed that they present a temptation that must be avoided: using hip thrust to send the bar out in front of me and then diving under to catch it. I have to work hard to focus on pulling the bar UP with high elbows and not OUT.

Another side effect seems to be that it has introduced a jump forward in my snatch. Here's a video of me doing a full squat-snatch at 100#, something I never could have done 10 weeks ago. The video reveals a lot of problem, but the biggest one I see is the forward bar path and jumping WAY forward to catch it. Must fix that!



The cleans were OK - my back is still a bit sore and complained about the heavy weight, but I did at least GET a 135# squat clean, which (combined with the 95# snatch) was my goal for this cycle. My back was rounded all to hell on the recovery, though, so I'm not really counting it until I can get it prettier.

Finished up with some muscle-up practice, which was a miserable failure, and some stretching.

Oly Cycle Week 5 Day 2

Warmup: 2 rounds of 10 wall squats & 75 sec active squat holds. Burgener warmup.

Technique:
Snatch x 1: 70-75-80-85-85
Clean & Jerk x 1: 95-100-105-110-115

The weight is getting heavy enough on the snatch that I can no longer just keep going up and maintain good form. Once I get over 80/85, I start power-snatching and riding the weight down, which is unacceptable. So now I'm going until I start doing that, and staying at that weight trying to convince my body to get underneath it and catch it.

The clean and jerks are better, but I'm still have trouble with jumping forward on the clean. I've taken to doing my cleans with my toes on a line in the floor, as a disincentive to jump and a means of measuring my fault. Gita and Polly tell me it's due to early arm pull and not coming to full extension, leaving the bar in front of me in space where I have to jump forward to get under it.

Strength:
Overhead squat x 5: 95(3)-95(4)-95(5)
Ring Dip x 5: 5(2)-5(3)-5(4)

Unsurprising that I should start failing the OHS at 95# - I have a mental block about that weight, for some reason. The ring dips continue to be extremely difficult, even with just five pounds. With both movements, my reps went up due to feeling more comfortable with the weight.

Flex: various static holds, PNF hamstring with strap. Ball rolling.

Oly Cycle Week 5 Day 1

Warmup: 2 rounds of 10 wall squats & 1:10 minute active squat holds. Burgener warmup.

Technique:
Snatch x 1: 70-75-80-85-85
Clean x 1: 95-100-105-110-115

Strength:
Front squat x 5: 115-115-115
Press x 5: 97-97-97

Flex: Stretches and ball rolling

Still sore from Cindy on Friday and a weekend of snowboarding. Worked on Kelly Starrett's leg turnout on the front squats, which I think made my form better, but hurt like a sonuvabitch.

2-3-2010 oly #7/8

I missed monday's workout - which would have been #7.

1000m of rowing (4:40 or so)
2 rounds, 10 wall squats followed by a 65 sec squat hold. The first one was impossible - i actuall held the second one an extra 5 seconds - i found a position that seemed to work well ...

Andrea introduced us to a new torturous squat warmup. Take a dowel and place it behind your head, then take your hands and put them on the back of your head. The dowel will be pinned between your elbows and your kneck, keeping you very upright. Now squat. The idea, of course, is to maintain an upright position. Daniel tried a few wall squats this way. I tried it, but pretty much ended up looking at the floor. I did a little foam rolling on my thoracic spine, and was able to get slightly more upright, but yikes. CLEARLY something to be worked on. Yay. Thanks Andrea :-p

Snatch skill practice - 15# bar. still kind of hit and miss.

Clean &jerk skill practice
several x 30#
3 x 40#
1 x 50#
1 x 60# - i didn't have much trouble diving under the bar to catch this - but standing up wias HARD (and ugly) and the jerk was more of a press, too. But this is still an acheivement. I've never been able to dive under heavy weights. Now I just need to get my front squat numbers up. And it's time to start seriously working on the jerk.

Ohs 5-5-5
25#(f rep #5)-25#(f r2)-20#-25(f r2, f r1)-20#
20# was easy, 25# was near impossible. very frustrating.

Dips red band aprox 7" tail both sides
5 - 5 - 5

Daniel said I needed to work on my ROM - I'm not going deep enough.

Oly Cycle Week 4 Day 2

Warmup: 2 rounds of 10 wall squats & 65 sec active squat holds. Burgener warmup.
Consecutive double-under practice (36!)

Technique:
Snatch x 1: 65-70-75-80-85
Clean & Jerk x 1: 90-95-100-105-110

Strength:
Overhead squat x 5: 90-90-90
Ring Dip x 5: 5(2)-5(3)-5(3)

Flex: various static holds, PNF hamstring with strap. Ball rolling.

Oly Cycle Week 4 Day 1

Warmup: 2 rounds of 10 wall squats & 1 minute active squat holds. Burgener warmup.

Technique:
Snatch x 1: 65-70-75-80-85
Clean x 1: 90-95-100-105-110

Strength:
Front squat x 5: 110-110-110
Press x 5: 95(2)-95-95

Flex: just a little ball rolling

Mondays are going to be a bit tricky this month, as I have to be back at the Aurora at 7:30, which means doing the workout before class, leading class and rushing to work ASAP. I left work at 4, and had enough time to get through most of the workout - though I didn't get as much time to stretch as I would have liked.

The lifts went fairly well. At higher weights I'm power-snatching and riding down to the bottom of the squat, which I'm working on fixing but is primarily, I think, due to a lack of comfort at the bottom. My focus on the cleans is the lie-back at full extension on the second pull - I'm not getting the bar far enough back, and am jumping forward to get under it. I think today went better than last week, but didn't have anyone else there to provide feedback. On the jerks, I'm trying not to let my torso dip forward, but just do the short oompah-loompah thing Gita told me to do.

Oly Cycle Week 3 Day 2

Warmup: 2 rounds of 10 wall squats & 55 sec active squat holds. Burgener warmup.
Consecutive double-under practice (29! Big PR)

Technique:
Snatch x 1: 60-65-70-75-80
Clean x 1: 85-90-95-100-105

Strength:
Overhead squat x 5: 85-85-85
Ring Dip x 5: BW-BW-BW
Alternated with 5 depth jumps.

Flex: various static holds, PNF hamstring with strap. Ball rolling.

1-27-2010 oly cycle #6

750m of rowing
2 rounds, 10 wall squats followed by a 55 sec squat hold. (the squat hold is getting HARD)

Snatch skill practice - 15# bar

Clean& jerk skill practice
several x 30#
2 x 40#
1 x 50#

Ohs 20-20-20

Dips red band aprox 7" tail both sides
4+1 - 5 - 5

Pistols 5 each leg after each set of dips
L sit to a weight stack of 4 thinner 45# plates + 2 25# plates
R same + 1 more 25# plate

Tonight was something of a banner night. My wall squats are improving (a tiny bit, i still have to cheat and cheat hard to get to the bottom position), I was finally able to (on a semi-regular basis) actually link together the full ROM for both squat snatches and squat cleans. More consistently with the cleans.

My flexibility (or lack thereof) in my hips, calves and shoulders is still the limiting factor in my snatch, and I think it is why I can't land them more often - and when I do I am terribly pitched forward - but getting there at all is a pretty good achievement.

My limited ability to stand up with an upright back with any significant amount of weight is the limiting factor in my clean. My quads WILL get stronger dammit.

Tonight, getting the bar up off the floor and diving under it (particularly with the cleans) actually felt right for the first time ever.

Yay progress!

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Oly Cycle Week 3 Day 1

Warmup: 2 rounds of 10 wall squats & 50 sec active squat holds. Burgener warmup.

Technique:
Snatch x 1: 60-65-70-75(f)-75
Clean x 1: nope

Strength:
Front squat x 5: 105-105-105
alternated with 5 depth jumps

Press x 5: 90-90-90

Flex: various static holds, PNF hamstring with strap.

Was NOT feeling it tonight. Whether it was residual soreness from snowboarding or just insufficient warmup, everything felt tight and slow, and I was coming forward onto my toes receiving the snatches. Gita suggested that continuing to do skill work while "not feeling it" only reinforced bad motor patterns, so we never even bothered with the cleans, and just tried to get through the strength stuff. Not a satisfying workout.

1-25-2010 - oly cycle # 5

2 rounds 10 wall squats, 50 sec squat hold, burgener warmup

Snatch skill practice.

3 rounds (not for time):
5 Front squats: 33-43-48
5 Box jumps: 2 kraborg 45#, 2 25#, 1 15# (about 15-16")



Press 5-5-5
43-48*-48
 *might have failed after 4, might have gotten all 5 - i lost count.


Muscles were pretty worked from snow boarding. I tweaked something in my left thigh right around the end of my snatch practice, so I didn't really go through clean & jerk practice today.  And I really only did 2 sets of front squats - the set @ 33# was just a warmup.  However, even though didn't finish most of the exercises, there was clear improvement of form for most of them.

My wall squats were better - I didn't have to do them with a kettlebell - I was even able to get 1/2 to 2/3 of the way down with my hands behind my head, but I did have to grip onto the base of the wood on the wall in order to stay upright in the bottom position, however, it allowed me to correctly work the full bottom ROM, so I don't feel too badly about cheating.

I think the height of the box jumps is about right.  I made about 60% of them on the first try.  (Box jumps and front squats do not go well together).

It wasn't the best workout ever there was a lot of dnf-ing - but I don't feel like it was a waste of time, either.

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1-20-2010 - Oly Cycle #4

Missed most of the warm up. stupid work.  Did  a few wall squats and a 45 second squat hold.

Worked on snatch technique - did hang power snatches and and full squat snatch balances with the 15# bar.  I can do each of these movements fairy well - but the instant I try to link the pull and the drop things get all wonky, so I'm working on them separately for now.

Worked on clean technique - mostly worked tall cleans with 33# bar to work on diving under the bar while staying upright.  I tried a 45# tall clean and ended up on my butt.  I managed a few 40#.  I did a couple jerk reps at the end.  I am less worried about working on these than the cleans.

OHS 5-5-5
15-15-15

really need an alumalight(sp?) barso i can go up in weight without jumping from 15 to 30#\

Ring dips 5-5-5
first set was with the green band - too easy.
second set was with my new tiny red band and I managed 5 across - barely
3rd set was 1, then 2 then 2 (with the little red band)

Oly Cycle Week 2 Day 2

Warmup: 2 rounds of 10 wall squats & 35 sec active squat holds. Burgener warmup.

Technique:
Snatch x 1: 55-60-65-70-75
Clean x 1: 80-85-90-95-100

Strength:
Overhead squat x 5: 80-80-80
Ring Dip x 5: BW(5!) - BW(4+1) - BW(4+1)

Flex: various static holds, PNF hamstring with strap.

Oly Cycle Week 2 Day 1

Warmup: 2 rounds of 10 wall squats & 40 sec active squat holds. Burgener warmup.

Technique:
Snatch x 1: 55-60-65-70-75
Clean x 1: 80-85-90-95-100

Strength:
Front squat x 5: 100-100-100
Press x 5: 85-85-85

Flex: various static holds, PNF hamstring with strap.

1-18-2010

Warm up - wall squats, 40 second squat hold.

Squat snatch practice. 15# bar - some ohs, some snatch balance

Squat clean and jerk practice 33# bar - tall clean & jerks

Front squat 3 x 5
40-40-40

Press 3 x 5
40-45-45

My squat form is improving. I feel like I am much more vertical in the bottom position than I used to be.  And I think I am quite a bit better tha, but the sad truth is that i still have a LONG way to go.  I had someone take some video of me doing what I felt were pretty vertical tall cleans, but when I watched the video, I was astonished at how rounded my back was.  Damn.  More wall squats, I guess. Yuck.
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Oly Cycle Week 1 Day 2

Warmup: 2 rounds of 10 wall squats & 35 sec active squat holds. Burgener warmup.

Technique:
Snatch x 1: 50-55-60-65-70
Clean x 1: 75-80-85-90-95

Strength:
Overhead squat x 5: 75-75-75
Ring Dip x 5: BW(3+2) - BW(3+2) - BW(3+2)

Flex: various static holds, PNF hamstring with strap.

1-11-2010

Warm up 2 rounds: 10 wall squats, 1 30 second squat hold

Burgener warmup w/dowel 10 reps each movement

Snatch practice - mostly 15# bar
Clean practice - mostly 15 & 30# bar. (terrible)

Front squats 3x5
50-50-45

Press 3x5
30-40-50(fail rep 3)-45


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Oly Benchmarks

WOD:
Olympic Total

Total of best of three attempts in the Snatch and best of three attempts in the Clean and Jerk.

Post total to comments.

Results:

Snatch:
35-45-50(f) matched my snatch PR

Clean & Jerk:
55-60-65(f) got 65 on a 4th attempt - matched my clean PR
Total:
105

Neither lift was particularly good form. Although I think the 65# clean was probably the best form I've had yet thanks to some coaching from Polly.

Olympic Total

Best of three, Snatch and Clean & Jerk

Snatch: 100-105-110(pr)
Clean & Jerk: 135-140-145(pr)
Oly total: 255

Only 5 pound PRs, but my progress in the Oly lifts is so glacial that I'm happy with them. I tried 115 snatch afterwards with no success, but the 145 Clean & Jerk actually felt pretty solid.