Vanity Log: how much in a year?

[mrthingyx]

I love your passion for Olympic lifting

Would say that doing a lot of oly lifts has increased your proprioception, balance, coordination etc more so than powerlifting/bodybuilding type lifts?

Not consciously, no. However, it requires me to be more mobile, flexible and with bigger traps than powerlifters and bodybuilders.

From a theoretical standpoint, the emphasis on technique in Olympic lifting would mean that coordination, balance, proprioception would have to improve by default, as they are very tough to get right, but I can't say "Oh, yes - I can do x/y/z because I snatch and clean..." if that makes sense?

 

[mrthingyx]

Dat oly lifting body

No pex, gunz... or calves.

 

[mrthingyx]

Have you tried benching recently?

I am always astonished by how much good oly lifters can bench. It shows haw important good shoulders are.

...

This guy is such a ****

First caveat: I am not a good Oly lifter.

Secondly, this is the reason I can going hell for leather with overhead pressing, because I am currently not great at it (managed 5 and 4 reps of 30kg single arm standing today, though)...

Finally, no, I haven't tried barbell benching for a while... Enjoying uber range Dumbell pumpz far too much. Even then, I might just be able to shift 90kg...

 

[mrthingyx]

First proper training day in the home gym. Rubber matting arrived on Friday, so was prepared for some fun...

SNATCH from floor 5*3

40-60-60-70(2f)-70-(1ff)

Bring on the PAIN! Yes, that felt good. Still pretty slow, but getting better. Give me a week and 80kg will be back up there.


POWERCLEAN from floor 5*2

70-90-100-100-100

Powerclean from the floor, you say? I'm not really squatting to catch these (I probably should), so they aren't full cleans. Speed is still an issue, but I now have my guesstimate 1RM (almost made 105kg before the last set), so I have a working range to practice in for the 85/80% work.


FRONT SQUAT (clean, then three squats) 3*3

90-90-100

That felt really heavy. 100kg was pretty tough, but after the 'big' reps on cleans, they were pretty hard. Overall, very happy.


KLOKOV TRAP TRAINING 2*5

40-60

For the lolz, just to see what this would do. For those that haven't seen his Profile Enhancing Videos For Make Benefit Klokov Bank Balance From US CrossFit Demos series of Youtube trolling, they're essentially an SLDL with a snatch pull. Sound weird? Felt even more strange... however, the trap and upper back burn is just epic.


GOOD MORNINGS 2*5

40-60

Seeing how these felt... I think I need to get a better movement for these as they're a bit meh at the moment...


Overall? Very happy. Loving the new gym and definitely very relieved to be able to drop the weights!

Much more speed is needed to bring my lifts up to a level I'm remotely happy with, but I'm glad to see my lift-specific strength is still within at least the same ballpark as it used to be.

Onwards and upwards!

 

[mrthingyx]

Topless with music cranked up? In.

Ahem. Yes.

Bar was sliding all over the place for the front squats, mind - have a horrendous barbell rash just below my throat where it started slipping.

 

[mrthingyx]

No vids of Teddies?

I'm out.

I have none.

Can do back/trap/quad teddies, but that's pretty much it.

 

[mrthingyx]

Looks like the home gym is going to do you good matey, one day I may have one if we get our own place with some space

You've never expressed these sentiments before... if only you'd asked.

It's funny - having my own gym is awesome from the "hmm... I fancy trying this out" perspective, but it's also dangerous because there isn't the "event" of going to the gym to workout. Because it's at home.

So summoning the motivation to lift big could be a problem. Not a the moment, because it's still too fricking awesome.

 

[mrthingyx]

Poverty session today: miss-timed my training so only had 45 minutes in the Boneyard...

CLEAN FIRST PULL DEADLIFT 5-5-5-5-3

70(WU)-140-140-140-140-150

Finding range again. First two working sets were HARD (better warm up required! ). Last three were comparatively easy... 150kg feels like a good starting place for these at 3 reps...

DUMBELL BENCH 6-6-6-4

37.5-40-40-40

Last set of 40kg killed me - couldn't shift the dumbells off my chest.


Will probably go back into the gym later this afternoon for my pull-ups, rows and roll-outs. I feel deprived.

Still, a nice 'active rest' day.

 

[mrthingyx]

80% day

Home gym. With new squat stands!

Quads were sore from yesterday's first pulling, suggesting my hamstrings weren't pulling properly. So concentrating on that first pull today as part of the cleans.

Warm-ups...

MOBILITY/STRETCHING: only thing I had that was roller-shaped was a rolling pin. Exquisite agony!

SNATCH+CLEAN BALANCE: first thing in the morning? A bit slow, but getting a lot faster towards the end.


SNATCH (1 from floor, then 2 hanging) 5*3

40(WU)-60-60-60-60-60

Numbers based on 2RM of 70kg. Nice and fast by this point. The last two sets I probably should have squatted more for the catch, but it was still a legal lift. Shirtless for the working sets.

However, third set in, and the metal ends to my shorts' tie cord (no idea why they're metal) caught between the bar and my pubis bone. Cue much shouting and cursing.


CLEAN (1 from floor, then 2 hanging) 5*3

60(WU)-85-85-85-85-85

Numbers based on 3RM of 100kg.CNS was starting to fritz by the end of these: clearly I only have so much mileage in my 'high gain' electrical signalling. These reps were all fine, however, but really need to concentrate on keeping my core tight throughout the lift (I seem to slack off a bit for some reps, making a deep catch somewhat compromising).


FRONT SQUAT (1 second pause) 5*3

60(WU)-95-95-95-95-95

Eurgh. These were unpleasant! Really horrid on my core and put a huge emphasis in correct pattern. Love it.


I might look at dropping the reps on the Olympic stuff from 3 to 2: this might not sound a lot, but across 5 sets, the CNS fatigue builds up, meaning the end of the workout isn't quite so quick.

I'll be doing some OHP today at work, just because I can (didn't have time at home).

In other news, I really, really, really, really love having my own gym.

 

[mrthingyx]

Agreed to meet up with one of the coaches for a hypertrophyz session today, so figured I'd get in early to sneak in some cheeky squats...

PAUSED HIGH BAR (errr... not sure of the count) 4*3

60(WU)-90-90-100-100

These were interesting. The idea is to:

a) Crank my core strength up and really stabilise my lumbar... with the aim of pausing my front squats;
b) Powahz!!! out the hole (I know 'pin' squats are probably better for this, but you don't get (a) from this).

Lovely quad, ham and glute burn. Last rep of the fourth set felt like my head was going to pop off.

90kg set (from side)...

100kg set (from back)...

Then the coach turned up...

BARBELL OHP ss/w NARROW GRIP CHINS 4*10 (90sec rests)

**** me!

TRICEP PUSHDOWNS ss/w 21s 4*10 (21 for the.. errr... 21s. With 90sec rests)

Oh, ****. My poor arms...

BANDED PUSHUPS ss/w LATERAL SIDE RAISES 4*10 (90 sec rests).

Painful, fiery muscle death.

Immense pump. Immense pain. Showering afterwards was horrific.


Overall, the squats were good fun, and I can see how these would be very helpful in future. I'm slowly building my squatting up to pretty much every day (eventually), but we'll see how this all goes.

The superset routine was just hilarious. Being used to CNS fatigue, this was an entirely new experience for me (haven't had this for around 18 months).

 

[mrthingyx]

DOMS, you gonna feels them.

I know... It will be awesome.

 

[mrthingyx]

Gah. Wasted Olympic lifting session, today: And I was really looking forward to it because it would have been the first day with chalk!

The bruise on my pubis (*hehe*) was really painful, and so couldn't really snatch properly: I wasn't extending through my hips, meaning power was down, and that set the tone for the whole morning.

SNATCH (1 from floor, 2 from below knee)

40-70-75(1ff)

I widened my grip slightly to give the bruise some clearance, but the hesitation was still there. I also ripped off the skin next to one of my callouses, meaning gripping the bar was pretty impossible.

So that wrote of cleans, too!


PAUSED FRONT SQUATS 3-3-3 (5 or 8 count... can't remember)

60-80-90

90kg was haaaaaaaaaaaaaaard. Not sure if it was fatigue from yesterday, but my upper back was not happy about this. Clearly more work is needed.

FRONT SQUATS 3-3-3-3

90-90-100-110 (2f)

Yeah. Really need to get my back sorted for these. I think it's actually a hip position thing, as much as anything else. Sitting bolt upright in front rack isn't something I can really do very easily without some more knee work.


Overall, I'll see how long my bruising keeps me away from snatching, as well as how badly my hand compromises my cleaning. Either way, I know where I'm going with my front squatting, so this is going to be all kinds of fun.

Will do some military pressing in the work gym today, just because I can. And I think I need to, too...

 

[mrthingyx]

It's pretty much all I do, three days a week, now I have my own gym.

Aside from attempting snatches and cleans. It's just awesome for quadzillas.

I'm probably going to be working some more variants (i.e. low bar back squats) in to Tuesdays and Thursdays with the objective of going nuts with the weekly volume, but that is all sleep dependent at the moment.

 

[mrthingyx]

I reckon we'll both end up ****ed!

Yes!

(in the non literal sense )

No!

In all seriousness, I'd love to make a bro-down at some point and get properly shown up.

 

[mrthingyx]

Home workout on Sunday evening, and forgot to log...

Remedial snatch work, today, as figured my pubis had at least some recovery, and that straps would account for the shredded palm. Sort of.

The idea was to really concentrate on preventing me rocking onto my toes and make sure I'm getting all the heel drive I can. The flip side to this is a much better setup position to jump back under the bar.

So... many reps of just bar with a grip around an inch wider than normal.

End result is much better. I'll try and get a video at some point so those of you that care about technique can actually see what I'm doing. Essentially, I think I've managed to stop the rock forward. This does have some interesting results:

- Psychologically massive cut in drive power at the top end: that whole massive squeeze through the bar feels like it's been cut in half! However, the interesting by-product of this is a similar psychological increase in drive torque at the bottom end. Effectively meaning that the loss of power at the top being accounted for by a big shunt at the bottom... We shall see. Also feels like better hip extension, too!

- Much faster under the bar. I can't emphasise this enough: speed under the bar was more than enough to make the whole exercise worth it. Being in a better end position (feels more like I'm standing up, rather than mid-Michael Jackson dance pose) means I can get under the bar much quicker and in a better position. Score!

We'll see if I can carry this on. I couldn't test this on cleans as another one of my callouses started to go (even with straps... )

HANG SNATCH LOTS

(Position 3) BAR*5*2, 40*3*2
(Position 2) BAR*5, 40*3, 50*3, 60*2, 65*1 (callous started going...)

Lots of snatch.

Position 3: from standing up in snatch grip, chest up and out, shoulders back, and giving the knees a 5 degree bend. From here, explode into hip drive and shrug bar hard.

Position 2: after '3', keeping hip angle constant, pushing bum back as far as it will go until bar goes past the knees. This is to load the hamstrings. And it does!


FRONT SQUATS 5-3-3-3-3-3

60-80-90-100-105-80

Did something stupid with my hips today, meaning the drive out the hole was REALLY hard. I think they were too far forward. Ironically, this actually means I also rocked forward. Big quad pump.


Overall, thrilled to feel like I'm getting some traction in my snatch (call it Olympic drive). Not so thrilled with gash front squatting, but I think I've cracked it. We shall see today, or... whenever... whatever.

Probably do some overhead squatting (if my palms will take it) and some jerks today. If I get time.

 

[mrthingyx]

Poverty workout this afternoon...

OVERHEAD SQUATS 5-5-5

BAR-40-50

Rusty as, and they hurt my wrist. I think I'll have to put a set in my routine somewhere just to get the movement right, and set myself up for snatching nicely. For a few sessions, at least, while my snatch comes back.


FRONT SQUATS 5-3-3-3-3

60-90-105-105-105

Just because. Movement felt a lot better today: hips were much better controlled. Practically bounced through the 90kg set.


PUSH JERK 3-3-3

70-80-90

Pushed for time, so had to squeeze these in. It's nice to re-discover the movement and get it working correctly. The irony being what I can push-jerk, icecold can push-press and I suspect he and Deception could probably strict OHP it, too.


Done. Home time, now...

 

[mrthingyx]

Surprise workout this evening! One of the benefits of having a home gym...

FIRST PULL DEADLIFT 5*5

110-140-140-140-140

Urgh. Hard at first, but got a lot easier as the sets went by... 3rd set of 140s were full deadlifts just to see if I could still do them.


BANDED PUSH-UPS ss/w BORs 3*8

Black band equivalent from MP with 90kg BORs.

Oddly easy. Can't remember 90kg being this easy on a barbell...


REMEDIAL HANG CLEANS 3*3

60-60

Low weight, but just to get the movement right as with snatches on Saturday... First set and my brain was left staring blankly at what I was trying to do. Second and third were much better. Still working out how to get videos in my dungeon, but...

OHP 4*5

55-55-55-55

No drama. Clearly my shoulders like punishment, particularly after the jerks yesterday.


Overall, pretty cool. Found out that I need 260kg as a 94kg lifter to rate at a BWL comp, so will see how we go. All-time PBs are still 80kg off that at least... So need a lot of work!

 

[mrthingyx]

260 is well beyond my capabilties at the minute, might keep that in mind as a target for down the line though

Like the training!

At best, I could snatch 80kg and clean&jerk 105kg, so a loooooooooong way to go.

Hopefully be back at those levels in the next couple of weeks and then on from there. Not sure how I'm going to get to my 300kg aspirational total for this year, however! Always knew it was crazy, but I'd at least like to crack something respectable by the end of the year...

Forgive my naivety... is that an olympic lift total?

Yes - total for Snatch and Clean&Jerk.


TODAY'S WORKOUT...

I was planning on working out at home for Olympic work, but I had a meeting at 09:30am... which was then cancelled.

So I only had around 45 minutes after my mobility work (yes, I do it every session).

FRONT SQUATS @80% (95kg) 5(WU)-4-4-4-4-4

These are getting quite fun now I've ironed out the pattern. Last two sets were tough, but otherwise all good.

Wanted to get some DBSS or back squatting in, but realised I was short on time...

RING DIPS ss/w WG CHINS 4*5

+10kg for all.

Last rep of the last set of dips was only a half rep - I held it for around 4 seconds just to punish myself, but couldn't get full extension. Still, I'm up to 10kg, so I'm quite happy.

Chinups were painful! But awesome.


Will probably do some Olympic work tonight depending on how much time I have... it's hypertrophy tomorrow, and Olympic lifting isn't really suited to that.

 

[mrthingyx]

nice front squats... looks like I've got some way to go

Doubtful. I've been front squatting the same weight for around a year.

Anyway, today was hypertrophyz with the coach. I got in late so didn't have time for some test-inducing DBSS or SLDLs and I'd planned, so...

BENCH ss/w NEUTRAL GRIP CHINS 4*10

BENCH: 60-60-65-70
NGC: BW-*

Having not benched for around two/three months, I had no idea how this was going to go. Probably should have started at 70kg and just screamed through the sets. Chins were painful - poor brachialis hasn't been hit that hard in a looooooooong time.


STANDING OHP ss/w CLOSE GRIP PULLDOWN 4*10

OHP: 40-*
CGPD: 10-11-12-12 (whatever that means)

OHP was hard. CGPD weren't too bad, but my back takes over when my arms lose their skillz.


LATERAL RAISES ss/w 21s 4*10

RAISES: 8-8-8-10 + punishment set (10*14, 6*12, 4*10)

Realised at the end of the lat raises we'd ducked out on 2kg from last week, so went for the punishment set. This was truly horrendous: my brain was confused by the fact that 4kg was nearly impossible for my shoulders to lift. 21s were miserable: arms were so sore by this point it was unreal.


Massive pump. Really sore. Thoroughly entertaining.

 

[mrthingyx]

Had a failed attempt to find a new front squat 1RM on Saturday night (I live in the middle of nowhere, so that's as lively as it gets... ), and could barely shift 110kg.

This goes to show how important sleep, nutrition and hydration is when lifting: I got around 99% of my daily calories in from around 5pm onwards and was dehydrated, meaning lifting was haaaaaaaaaaard.

Today's training...

HANG SNATCH @ 85% 5-3-3-3

40-65-65-65

Really trying to focus on my newly adjusted technique. This has also convinced me my bar has teeth, not knurling.

Now in HD...

POWER CLEAN FROM HIP @85% 3-3-3-3

65-90-90-90

Drilling technique again. Heels. Always heels. Seemed to go up without too much drama.

One of the 90kg sets...

FRONT SQUAT @ 85% +2.5kg 5-3-3-3-3

60-90-107.5-107.5 (2+1)-107.5

Phwoar! 107.5kg for triples was HARD!


Short workout today, but it was pretty sweet to get some decent numbers, even if the volume was down. Technique on the cleans is still a bit lumpy, but I'll get it there - I need to iron out the second pull before I start from the floor (possibly not the best way of doing it, but I'm re-working the pattern almost in its entirety, so I'm trying to undo 18 months of sub-optimal neural pathways... ).

I'll be in the work gym tomorrow working on jerking, inspired by the OcUK Strongman overhead challenge...