Clean & Jerk

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 2 Day 4

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting.

The first 3 days of the week beat me up. I’ve never done so many heavy reps of the lifts in a week, let alone a 3 day period. Needed the rest day yesterday and got a massage. Woke up feeling even more sore today, but seemed to loosen up a bit shoveling snow. Out in the garage by myself in the afternoon.

Warm-up

5:00 Air Dyne
PVC Pass-thrus
45# Snatch Positions

I should have done more to warm-up the shoulders, because they were so tight for the jerks.

Power Snatch to Mats

5x2x65#

Power Clean to Mats

5x2x125#

I actually kind of like having to get on to the mats. Helps landing with a flat stable foot.

Snatch

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
5x1x155#

Kind of a meh day with my feel. Lost stability in the hole on the 4th 155# lift after a second or two down there and bailed on it.

2×125#
2×150#
2×175#
3x1x190#
3x1x205#

The first two jerks felt horrible because my shoulders were so tight. I forgot to increase the load after the first 190# single, so just went with 3 of each instead of the prescribed 5 singles at 205#.

I started focusing on a point in front of me on both lifts (when I remembered). I have a problem of throwing my head back, especially in the snatch, and my neck has been more sore than normal the last two weeks due to the volume of reps.

Good Mornings

6×135#
6×155#
6×175#
6×195#

I like the seated version better. Last set was pretty ugly.

Not the greatest lifting day, but got the work done. This week is really hitting me hard. One more day, then rest, and hopefully a lighter week 3.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 2 Day 3

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Got everything done in the morning.

Warm-up

Handstand practice
45# Snatch positions
2 Snatches (65#)
5 Snatch Presses (65#)

Tried some free-standing handstands without much success, so I kicked up to the wall and then worked on taking my feet off the wall for a few seconds at a time.

Snatch

20131212-101529

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
1×155#
1×165#
3x1x170#

I missed 170# on the first set, so went again and missed again. I need to learn to just move on. An attempt is an attempt. I made the lift on the next two sets.

Jerk Footwork (Demo Video)

Was supposed to do these before the snatches, but I didn’t realize I skipped them until halfway through my sets. So I did some before the C&J, and mixed some in between sets.

Clean & Jerk

2×125#
2×150#
2×175#
1×190#
1×200#
1×215#
3x1x225#

Jerks were feeling really weak today. My wrists were already getting pretty sore yesterday from all of the jerk volume. I missed the clean on my last set of the day. Just pooped right out!

Front Squat

2×185#
2×215#
2×250#
2×265#
2x2x280#

I wasn’t real confident about squatting after the other lifts, but they actually felt ok after getting into a set or two. I had to dump the last rep of the day, but I got the first rep of the set. I’ll take it.

Gymnastics

10:00 EMOM

3 Strict Pull-ups
3 Strict Ring Dips

Felt good to get some of these in.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

5 Wall Climbs
10 Broad Jumps (5’+)
15 Sit-ups

My goal was to keep moving. The wall climbs weren’t nearly as bad as I was expecting with shoulders as dead as they were. Finished in 12:15.

Looking forward to some rest. Won’t lift next until Saturday afternoon and I’m getting a much-needed massage tomorrow.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 2 Day 2

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting.

Thought I’d be feeling terrible after all of the 90% work yesterday, but I feel pretty good. In at 10am to lift.

Warm-up

I did a variety of stuff with an empty 45# bar, including muscle snatches, bottom squat snatch presses, snatch presses, and shoulder presses.

Split Press

4×120#
4×125#
4×130#
2x4x135#

Didn’t feel the strongest, but an overall improvement in load from last week.

Snatch

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
5x1x155#

This was the first lift at 155#. My bar path is improving. Still gets away too much after meeting the hips.

2013-12-11-snatch-155-bar_path

Clean & Jerk

2×125#
2×150#
2×175#
1×190#
5x1x205#

This was the first lift at 205#. Finally starting to come in from the start instead of the first move of the bar being away from the body and then in.

2013-12-11-clean-n-jerk-bar path

Clean Deadlift

5x2x235#

Felt pretty good with the lifts. Could tell I was a little fatigued, but not too bad. Back to 90% lifts tomorrow!

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 2 Day 1

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting.

I definitely needed a rest day yesterday when I saw what was programmed for the start of week 2 and I’m glad I took it even though I’m now a day behind in the program due to the CrossFit competition on Saturday. Oh well. I went out in the garage by myself today around 4pm.

Warm-up

45# Snatch Positions

Didn’t feel like spending a lot of time warming up since I could do that with the muscle moves.

Muscle Snatch

5×65#
3x3x85#
2x3x95#

Muscle Clean

5×95#
5x2x125#

Snatch

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
1×155#
1×165#
3x1x170#

Clean & Jerk

2×125#
2×150#
2×175#
1×190#
1×200#
1×215#
3x1x225#

Back Squat

2×205#
2×240#
2×270#
2×290#
2x2x305#

Felt good to redeem myself after not being able to get 290# up once on Sunday with the whole squat fiasco. The second rep on each set with 305# was a fight.

I sure am not used to doing all 3 of those lifts with multiple reps at 90%. I think I’ll be feeling this for a few days, but I hope not because I have to do the same thing on day 3!

After a 2 Month Hiatus

My legs are sore from the 2 days in a row of front squats and my low back is real spicy from a combination of things yesterday. Brent convinced me to do the 10am class today with him. I haven’t been to a class at Survival Fitness in 2 months!

Warm-up

10 Rounds of Tabata Choice

Partner WOD

1 person working at a time

100 C&J (115#)
100 DU
100 Back Squats (115#)
100 Burpees
100 Hang Power Cleans (115#)
200 Bulgarian Split Squats (100 each leg)

Record time, rest 5:00, and continue to bonus rounds.

1:00 MAX HSPU
1:00 MAX Deadlifts (115#)

Rest 1:00

1:00 MAX C2B Pull-ups
1:00 MAX Bench Dips

For each rep completed in the bonus rounds, subtract a second from the recorded time.

We finished the 100s in 33:18. I did 18 HSPU, Brent did 46 deadlifts, I did 19 C2B, and Brent did 51 dips, so our score time would be 31:04. I like these partner workouts with the rest because it turns them into intervals and you push hard for each other. My wind held up pretty good, so my training must be working at keeping my conditioning at an acceptable level.

Barbells for Boobs

2013-989-crossfit-barbells-for-boobs Went out to 989 CrossFit this morning for the Barbells for Boobs event. It was a partner workout that Kevin and I paired up for.

“Helen” meets “Grace”

3 Rounds
- 400m Run
- 21 KBS (53#)
- 12 Pull-ups
30 C&J (135#)

Both team members run together, but split up the rest however you want. I did the first round of KBS and then the 2nd and 3rd rounds of pull-ups. Kevin obviously did the opposite movements in those rounds. I think I went 7-6-4, all touch-n-go on my C&J. The 400m runs had to be a little short because the top team did their first run in a minute. We finished in 9:26, tied for 2nd place, but a full minute behind the first place team, who destroyed the runs. In a 1 round Rowling tiebreaker, I did 106m against the other teams 105m, so we officially took 3rd place. It was a really fun event, especially since it was for such a great cause.

I jumped on the rower for 5 minutes to cool down.

Three’s Company

Over to Kevin’s garage to train with him and Alex tonight.

Warm-up

5:00 Air Dyne

OLY

Blocks at the knee:
- 2 x 2 Snatch Deadlifts + 2 Power Snatches @ 95#
- 2 Snatch Deadlifts + 2 Power Snatches @ 115#
- 2 Snatch Deadlifts + 2 Power Snatches @ 135#
2 Power Snatches @ 145#
EMOM 5:00 – Power Snatch @ 155#
EMOM 5:00 – Power Snatch @ 165#
EMOM 3:00 – Power Snatch @ 170#

The EMOMs were a little longer because there were 3 of us rotating through each lift. I missed the 2nd one at 170, even though it was OH just fine.

Strength

Pendlay Rows

7 @ 170#
8 @ 185#
8 @ 200#

3 Rounds, paced with 3 of us going

5 Strict HSPU
5 Kipping HSPU
5 C&J @ 135#

The HSPU were on 55# competition plates with an AbMat, so a bit of a deficit. Wanted to get the feel for some touch-n-go C&J for Barbells for Boobs on Saturday.

Back Squats

5 x 3 @ 255# for speed

Conga-line style, so very little rest between sets.

It’s pretty nice having the three of us being so close in a lot of lifts, makes it really easy to cycle through stuff without changing plates all the time. Kevin and Alex were done for the day after this.

Conditioning

5 Rounds

30s Row
1:30 Rest

Would have done 10 if it wasn’t already approaching 2 hours for the session.

For the first 2 intervals I was doing a few short fast pulls to get the erg going. Then for the last 3 I went back to a full pull to start. I think I know which one I’ll be sticking with. Is that consistency or what?

3 Hours Bro

Over to Kevin’s garage for a 3 hour training session tonight.

Warm-up

3:00 Air Dyne

OLY

3 Position Halting Clean Deadlift

2 x 3 @ 135#
3 @ 155#

High Hang Cleans (Power Position, no dip)

5 x 2 @ 135#

These two position pieces really helped my feel. My cleans have felt pretty terrible lately. Even my setup position is feeling better after forcing myself to stay over the bar, but get in a more upright position.

Warmed up the shoulders with 5 x 45# shoulder press, 5 x 45# BTN press, and 5 x 45# split jerks.

Power Clean & Jerk

2 @ 135#
5 x 1 @ 155#
5 x 1 @ 185#

Tried not to go 100% on the jerks because they felt terrible when I did and I don’t need to at these weights. Also worked on slowing down the first pull and pushing the knees out instead of having them cave in on me after the bar gets by them.

Push Presses

3 @ 155#
3 @ 165#
3 @ 175#
3 @ 185#
3 @ 190#
3 @ 195#
3 @ 200#
3 @ 205#

That’s a 20# PR on my 3RM and just 10# under the max I set about 5 weeks ago.

Gymnastics

Alternating Tabata (4 each)

Hollow Rocks
Pull-ups

Did 16-13-12-10 on the pull-ups. Didn’t drop from the bar in the first 2 rounds.

WOD

3 Rounds, Follow the leader style

500m Row
21 KBS (53#)

So we got some rest after completing the KBS each round. Pulled about a 1:46 pace for each 500 and all of the swings were unbroken.

15 Minutes of Air Dyne

10am with Matt again. Went to bed early, but still slept late. Not sure what’s up with my sleep lately. Legs are sore from squats.

Warm-up

3:00 Air Dyne
45# C&J Position Work

OLY

C&J Complex

Power Clean
Clean
Split Jerk

Did 95/115/135/155/185/205/205.

E30S 5:00

Power Clean & Split Jerk (165#)

Felt pretty solid. Good to get in some work on the split jerk.

DB Floor Press

10 x 35# DBs
10 x 40# DBs
10 x 45# DBs
10 x 60# DBs
10 x 60# DBs

A lot of cracking in my shoulders.

Conditioning

15:00 on the Air Dyne

30s at 80-90%
30s at 50%

I tried to keep a 23 mph pace during the high intensity intervals. Finished with 216 calories, including the last 30s or recovery. What a burn! Damn near fell down the curb on the way out of the gym.

4th GLBRT

Today we competed in the 4th Great Lakes Bay Regional Throwdown {GLBRT}, which was held at Survival Fitness Bay City. We won the 3rd a few months ago, so were hoping for another good finish.

Event 1: “XL Karen”

10:00 Cap
200 wall balls for time.
Women 16# 9′ target. Men’s 20# 11′.
1 person working at a time.
5 burpees EMOM (whole team).

I think we finished in 7:53 to tie for first place.

Event 2: “Grace and Isabel’s Big Day”

10:00 Cap
Part 1:
30 Box Overs (24/20)
Part 2:
“Grace” (135/95)
Part 3:
“Isabel” (135/95)
Part 4:
30 T2B

One Athlete working at a time. There is no requirement on how many reps each athlete needs to complete. There will be two bars provided for the WOD.

We crushed this one and even though I didn’t think I was going to be able to do touch-n-go snatches, I got 2 without trouble in the warm-up and was excited! I was able to get sets of 4-3-3 I think in the workout. We took first and finished around 4:30 I think.

Event 3: “Fran Fran go Fran”

10:00 Cap
63-45-27
Thrusters(95/65)
Pull ups

– One person working at a time.
– Each teammate must complete a thruster and a pull-up in each round.

Not our greatest, but we still took 5th with a time of 7:33-ish. Put us in a tie for first heading into the final event, which was for the top 6 teams.

Event 4

Must choose one person for each part, each teammate must be used.
Part 1:
3:00 AMRAP
Max Air squats
Rest 1:00

Part 2:
3:00 AMRAP
Air Dyne calories
Rest 1:00

Part 3:
3:00
Max deadlift
Rest 1:00

Part 4:
3 min AMRAP
Meters rowed

Score = squats + calories + pounds + meters.

– To make the dead lift more fair, we will subtract the dead lifters body weight from their final dead lift. They will be weighed on spot.
– Teammates CAN help the dead lifter load the bar.

I really liked our chances going into this one. We brought home the belt with 1st place in this event for the overall win! The crowd really got me going and I ended up setting a 15# PR on my deadlift with a pull of 515#.