Vanity Log: how much in a year?

Strong pull ups!

Looking at the videos, you move a lot better with the oly shoes on. Even then, you could do with having your knees come a little bit further forward or your stance a little wider to allow your hips to be closer to your heals.
 
Yes, videoing workouts is an interesting tool... thanks for the spot. I'm actually more surprised at the TRX roll-outs as they were lower than I expected. :cool:

The really noticeable thing about the Oly shoes is how they make the movement 'feel' - much less tension felt in the ankle/knee as a result. Mind you, I could be trying to justify the expense. :D
 
Oh. My. Goodness.

My traps are on FIRE!!! :eek:

Got a good 8hrs kip last night, too, so body has clearly decided to start repairing itself in an efficient manner. Teach me to 'drop-set' hang snatches. :D
 
DAY TWO (two nights of 7.5/8hrs sleep and decent eating and I was AMPED for this!):

- Hang clean (4x3): (70-80-85-90... SCORE!) Despite having traps that were still sore, I was determined to crack at least 80kgs today, but got there and figured that I wasn't having to squat to catch the bar, so I'd head for 90kgs. No straps were available, so grabbed the barbell in a hook grip and BOOM!, up it went! 3 times in quick succession, too! I was so thrilled, I sent a text to my old SnC coach (yes, I am lame)! So, only 100kg to go before being competitive at my weight! :D

- Trap bar deadlift (5-4-3-3): (120-150-150-150) These weren't getting away from me like last week. 150kg shot up very nicely. :) Add to that the ph34r having 3 plates on the trap bar instills in other lesser beings (25/25/15), and it's all good. :) My glutes are in ruins now, however. :D

- Barbell rows (5-4-3): (90-90-90) Strict form. Good.

- Bench press (5-4-3): (90-90-95... SCORE!) Sleep works! The last 95kg went up very slowly, so will be using 90kg as working sets from this point!

- Weighted side plank (3x45s): Meh.

All in all, am very happy with this session! Had a chat with the coach who suggested at least 8hrs of sleep a night on the back of my apparent fatigue on Monday and although I didn't get that, I got a lot more than usual and felt completely different today, ready to punch the bar in the ******* chin. Oh, yes.

No videos as there were laydeez in the gym, but hey-ho.
 
DAY THREE (good sleep! Much ampage! No caffeine... :( ):

- Jerk (4x3): (70-80-90-70) The first two rets were fine and felt awesome, and even got some bounce at the top (:eek:). The 90kg sets highlighted the problems in my technique (video here), where I don't get under the bar quick enough and I don't get lockout on my right arm. The third 90 was a failure and had to bail. :D I then dropped back to 70kg to get my technique back in line.

- Back squat (5-4-3-3): (70kg WU, 110-120-125-125 and then 125x2) Nice to have big working sets. The weights felt heavy, but it wasn't the massive strain to get them up. However, I noticed on the last set (video here) problems with squat depth (only to parallel) and my core bracing slacked off. Not happy, so I cranked out another set at below parallel with proper bracing to make myself feel better. :)

- Semi-straight leg deadlift (5-4-3): (70-90-90) Don't really like these for some reason. Was using FatGripz to get some juicy forearm burn.

- Chin ups (5-4-3): (20-25-25) Last set was a struggle, but my shirt sleeves are now nice and tight. :)

- Banded pushup (5-4-3): Black pullum band, not very interesting.

- Dragon flags (2x5): Rushed for time at this point, but the second set was more candle sticking/half-flags.

Overall, this has FELT like an awesome workout: no part of my body is free from that nice background heat.

Workouts feel so much better after a decent night's sleep and a good period of eating - I'm really not looking forward to the 'cut' coming in February/March time! I think I'm just going to wind up eating BCAAs and glutamine. :)
 
First five are generally ok. After that, the 'down' bit is fine, but I really struggle with the 'up'... hence the candlesticking on the second set. :(
 
Yea the up part is max effort. I used to just do the negative part then reset and do a another rep.
 
I train with the founder of Core Cambridge, the current SnC coach for Cambridge University Rugby and Rowing Clubs.

He mocked me for lifting like a maggot, so I told him I would double my lifts in a year. So once he stopped laughing, he wrote this up for me to help with brute strength. :)

My ultimate goal is to be worthy of going to at least one Weightlifting competition in my lifetime and not be last, hence the otherwise bizarre inclusion of Olympic lifts in the programme.

I'm due for a training review second week of December, so will probably refocus on Olympic lifts... With beach weights "to strengthen my tendons." ;) :D
 
DAY ONE (feeling good, but the gym was busy... therefore no videos. And my shorts fell victim to my glutes of doom)...

- Hang snatch (4x3): (50-60-60-60) First 2.5 sets were effectively warm-ups, getting the movement right at my previous failure weight, and the last 1.5 sets, the bar went up and over! Very happy. Only 100kg to go on this...

- Front squat (5-4-3-3): (100-100-100-105) As with back squats, dropping the weight from max to a bit below to get the overall strength up without frying my CNS. Last set was tough, but spent most of my time trying not to laugh as my shorts went BANG! and ripped down the back. :D

- DBSS (5-4-3-3): (14-16-20-20) No coccyx pain, so just loading up the weights. The last set started to get difficult, but it's just a case of ramping the weight up to where it used to be.

- Pull ups (5-4-3): (20-16-15) I know, the wrong way, but just how it worked out. :) First set was broken in to 3 and then 2, but still got them all in without a break of more than 20 seconds.

- Barbell military press (5-4-3): (55-55-55) Strangely weak, with the last set being riven with body English.

- Attempted standing barbell rollout (3x6)... BAILED: No time. :( At least I can do these at home (using my son's ride-on toy. :D).

My lats are killing me today, as are my traps, hamstrings, quads and glutes. That must be good. I think.

Not going to be anywhere near my joke targets for Christmas, but hey-ho! :D
 
DAY TWO (early morning session, but...):

- Hang clean (4x3): (40WU-70-90-[100, 90, 90F]-70*7?) Interesting one today. Wasn't sure how the early morning session would affect explosive POWAH!, and it turns out not much. Managed 100kg which I was very happy about, but I'm pretty much at the limit, now: that single really took it out of me, so was reduced to a drop set (video here).

- Trap bar deadlift (5-4-3-3): (120-160-160-160) Steadily increasing the weight and getting some comparative volume in at those weights. Pretty happy with this.

- Single leg squats (5-4-3-3): BAILED because my legs were fried.

- Barbell rows (5-4-3): (80-90-90) Really concentrated on form and was very strict, with torso just about horizontal and no Kroc shouldering. :)

- Bench press (5-4-3): (90-95-[95, 90, 90]) Went in for an early set of 95 to see if I could manage two sets of 4'n'3, but no - the last rep of 95 was HARD, so tried again with the last set and decided it was safer to drop down to 90.

- Weighted side plank (3x45s): Ran out of time, so will do these at home.

Overall, happy with the session: broke three figures with a power clean, and trap bar work is increasing nicely. :)

I'm shattered now, however. Must have been a good one! :D
 
DAY THREE (son was up at 4am this morning:with a coughing fit, so was going to see how I felt this morning)...

- Push-press/jerk (4x3): (WU[BAR]-70-80-80) Wasn't feeling this today; bar was coming up a bit slowly and I wasn't locking out fast enough. Rear leg was drifting aimlessly, too, which wasn't cool.

- Back squat (5-4-3-3): (WU@70-110-130 [SCORE!]-[135{1RM SCORE!}, 130,130]-130) 110 felt good, so headed north. 130 felt heavy as sin but went up quite easily (mind playing tricks), so headed for 135... this, again, seemed to go up quite easily, so headed down for another rep... and didn't come back up! :D Dropped the weight back to 130 for working sets. Either way, preeeeeetty happy with that! :)

- Semi-straight leg deadlift (5-4-3-3): BAILED as was knackered.

- Chin ups (5-4-3): (20-20-20) Fine - a bit slow, but happy to be consistently weighting these.

- Banded pushup (5-4-3): Pullum black band - not very interesting.

- Dragon flags (3x6): Back was in trouble due to badly catching Wednesday's 100kg hang clean, and couldn't get my core tight enough for these to not aggravate it (yes, I'm conscious that I managed some PBs on back squats, but hey), so did some extended planks (elbows out far in front) and mixed these up with alternating single legs.

Overall, a bit disappointed with the jerking, but happy with the back squats. It seems my squat technique (both front and back) is finally settling down and so my body appears happy to crank up the weight without too much issue.

Onwards and upwards.

No videos due to lycra-clan gym bunnies. I appreciate some of you may suggest this would have been the opportune moment for 'technique analysis' but that's not me, I'm afraid. :D
 
DAY ONE:

- Hang snatch (4x3): (60-60-60-70) Making sure I could get the drive and pull through this. 60kg went up and over without any problem, but 70 felt pretty heavy in the pull. Good for getting used to the weight, however. :)

- Front squat (5-4-3-3): (100x3, 70, 90,70). Shot to hell. Hips felt sore and tired, couldn't get any drive out of even just below parallel. Filmed the session to find out why and... hips were coming too far forward, meaning the adductors were taking the strain. Not good. Not good at all. Not sure how this happened, either. :(

- Reverse lung (5-4-3-3): BAILED due to time restrictions - was too busy trying to fix my front squat form.

- Pull ups (5-4-3): (10-15-15) Fine - last set was a grind, but still managed it.

- Barbell military press (5-4-3): (50-50-50) Didn't feel too strong, but these were ok. Probably need to increase the load more and be a bit more adventurous.

- Attempted standing barbell rollout (3x6): BAILED because of time. :( Will do these at home.

All in all, a pretty bad session. The front squat issue knocked me off my rhythm quite badly and meant I spent far too much time trying to correct it at the expense of other exercises.

Will post the front squat video as a warning if needs be, but otherwise nothing particularly interesting this session!
 
If only you had a scoop of craze you'd reduce rest times and have enough time to do the whole workout :p
 
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