muscle snatch

Starting Over

I shouldn’t have spoken so soon yesterday, because as the day went on, my legs started to get sore from squatting Monday. Chest and shoulders are sore today.

Went over to Kevin’s new gym, CrossFit Intuition, to help him with some stuff, so figured I’d get in my first lifting session there.

Did a 5:00 squat hold and some very basic stretching to warm-up.

Muscle Snatches

3×65#
3×75#
3×85#
3×95#

Snatches

2×95#
2×115#
2×125#
2×135#
1×145#
1×155#
1×165#
1×175#
1×185#

First time in about 3 months that I dropped into a squat with weight overhead. Felt solid and no issues with my shoulder. Only 15# shy of my max snatch, so I’ll take it! Concentrating on leg strength for over 2 months sure has paid off.

I was using the new Rogue 28MM Olympic Weightlifting Bar for the first time and it felt really good.

Things to work on:

Chest more upright in setup.
Don’t lead with the ass.
Keep feet planted during the pull.
Stop the early arm pull.
Don’t cave in knees during the pull.
Keep the bar closer.

Back Squats

5×135#
3×185#
3×225#
3×265#
3×285#
10x3x305#

Final day of the 2nd week of Smolov. Was supposed to be 310# but Kevin didn’t have any change plates at the gym yet. Good thing though, because I don’t think I would have made it all the way with that extra 5#. I nearly failed the final rep on the 10th set.

Did another 5:00 squat hold right after. Today is day 30! I’m glad my little squat hold challenge is over. I’ll post a recap in the next day or two.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 8 Day 4

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Is this program over yet? So ready to be done and get back to CrossFit.

Out in the garage by myself a bit after 12 today. I’m scaling back the day 4 and 5 so that I can go for a clean and jerk PR on Monday, then snatch on Thursday.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation

3x3x95#

Snatch

2×100#
2×120#
2×140#
1×150#
5x1x160#

Failed at 150# so jumped right back on and got it. I can’t remember the last time I failed with 150#! Failed at the first 160#, but made the next 4. I was trying to think about some tips the coach Drew gave me after I posted my snatch PR attempt video from the other day. Wrong time in the program to be making changes. Will stick with what I got for the next week.

Clean & Jerk

2×135#
2×155#
2×185#
3x1x205#

Wasn’t feeling very fresh, so decided to cut these short.

Back Squat

4×205#
4×245#
3x4x265#

Lightened these up, but switched to 4s instead of doubles. All we’ve done in the entire program is doubles, which I don’t understand. My squat has not improved in 8 weeks and probably even has gone done. Lame!

Skill/Conditioning

10:00 EMOM

30 DU (Unbroken, but only 1 attempt for an unbroken set. If miss, still get 30 total)

*5 Burpee penalty for each round not done unbroken, to be finished after the 10 minutes are over.

I missed in rounds 7, 9, and 10. Did the 15 burpees in 33 seconds.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 8 Day 2

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Trained solo at 10:30 out in the garage.

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation

Muscle Snatch

3x3x95#

Snatch

2×100#
2×120#
2×140#
1×150#
5x1x160

Rushed the 3rd rep of 160# and missed it.

Clean & Jerk

2×135#
2×155#
2×180#
1×190#
5x1x205#

Jerks felt solid today and I was still concentrating on vertical drive out of the dip.

Clean Deadlift

5x2x285#

Felt strong with these today. Seemed like I was holding my back in a better position.

Good Mornings

5×135#
5×145#
5×155#
2x5x165#

Conditioning

15:00 Air Dyne (AD2) @ 55-60%

For me, that’s staying around 60-65rpm. Knocked out exactly 300 calories.

Finished up with Crossover Symmetry Plyo.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 7 Day 3

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Lifted at Kevin’s at 5 with him and Alex.

I registered for the 2014 CrossFit Games Open. Did you?

Warm-up

Crossover Symmetry Activation
45# Snatch Positions

Muscle Snatch

3×75#
3×85#
3×95#
3×105#
3×110#

Snatch

2×100#
2×120#
2×140#
1×150#
1×160#
4x1x170#

Like night and day compared to yesterday. Made everything.

Clean & Jerk

2×135#
2×155#
2×180#
1×190#
1×205#
4x1x215#

Had Kevin watch a lift at the end. I’m going forward out of my dip instead of straight up.

Back Squat

2×205#
2×240#
2×270#
3x2x290#

Gymnastics

5:00 EMOM

5 Strict HSPU

5:00 EMOM (no rest)

3 Strict HSPU

Even though the programming was for 3 the whole way, I was going to do 5 reps for all 10 rounds, but my shoulders were a little fried after lifts. I held a handstand hold for the remainder of the last minute, which was over 50s worth.

Conditioning

Buy-in: 500m Row
6 Rounds
- 5 Pull-ups
- 10 Over the Box Jumps (27″)

Used some of Kevin’s blocks and 27″ was as close as we could get to 24″. I could use the extra work though. 🙂 Did the row in 1:51 and finished everything in 6:37. I’m not sure why, but I was expecting it to take longer. The programming had burpees instead of the box jumps, but I did burpees on Monday, so made the switch. My box jumps could have been cycled faster, but I felt pretty good on that one.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 6 Day 2

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Lifted with Alex at 4:30 again. Feel pretty good today after the first 90% day based on new PRs yesterday.

Warm-up

Band stretching
45# Snatch Position Work

Muscle Snatch

2×75#
2×85#
2×95#
2x2x105#

Power Snatch Below the Knee

2×105#
2×120#
2×140#
1×150#
5x1x160#

Power Clean Below the Knee

2×135#
2×155#
2×180#
1×190#
5x1x205#

GHR

2x5x15#
3x5x25#

Conditioning

10:00 EMOM

Odds: 15s Air Dyne (AD2)
Evens: 30 DU

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 5 Day 5

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

Was actually feeling pretty good today. Lifted with Alex at 3:30 again. My body lied to me…

Warm-up

4x 20-30s Handstand Hold
PVC pass-thrus
Band pulls
45# Snatch Positions

Muscle Snatch

3×75#
3×85#
3×95#
2x3x105#

Snatch

2×105#
2×120#
2×140#
1×150#
1×160# (F)
2x1x170# (M-F)
2x1x165# (F-M)

Felt terrible. I haven’t had that many misses in a day this entire challenge, other than PR day. Did 2 broad jumps for distance after each of the last 4 singles.

Clean & Jerk

2×135#
2×155#
2×180#
2x1x190#

The C&J felt a little better than the snatches, but still pretty weak. We packed it in early and skipped the back squats and good mornings.

Conditioning

4 Rounds

10 T2B
10 Ball Slams (15#)

I attempted to do the conditioning after Alex left, but I even had to change that on the fly. It was supposed to be two 4 minute AMRAPs of the above movements with a 2 minute rest in between. After 3 sets of 5 T2B I was pretty much doing singles! Finished 4 rounds in 4:45.

Time to rest up for the beginning of week 6 on Monday.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 5 Day 1

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

I finally finished up the garage gym. The other side of the garage is pretty much all tore down too, but won’t work on that until spring when we can use the saws outside. I’ll get a page up on this site explaining every piece of equipment I have, but you can click through that link above to see more pictures than this.

Out in the garage around 6:45pm by myself to lift. I’m really glad this garage project is over because it’s been affecting my fatigue levels for the last week and a half. No warm-up today, right into the muscle snatches to get warm. I’ve been moving weights and shit around the garage all day, so felt warm enough.

Muscle Snatch

3×75#
3×85#
3×95#
3×105#
3×110#

Snatch

2×100#
2×120#
2×140#
1×150#
1×160#
4x1x170#

The 170# lifts were soft. Last attempt was forward and I was almost able to pull it back in while in the hole, but failed.

Clean & Jerk

2×135#
2×155#
2×180#
1×190#
1×205#
4x1x215#

Felt good on the cleans. Even the jerks felt good up until 190#.

Front Squat

2×135#
2×215#
2×255#
3x2x265#

Legs felt pretty weak. What is it with my front squats lately?

GHR

5×10#
5×15#
5×20#
5×25#
5×25#

Moving on up again! Definitely hit the limit with 25#.

I’m going to start adding in a bit of my own conditioning programming because on Saturday I could feel my engine was running on fumes. Going to have to be smart about it though and not have it impact the lifting. If I kept efforts short I should be ok.

Conditioning

Tabata Burpees
8 Rounds

20s Burpees
10s Rest

I wanted to pick a number that would give me some rest during the first 20 seconds and then shoot to get that number each round. I picked 7, which took me 16 or 17 seconds every round. Perfect choice! This was a nice burn and would be great to do every week.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 4 Day 4

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Over to Kevin’s at 3 to lift.

Warm-up

PVC pass-thrus
Scap work
45# Snatch Positions

Muscle Snatch

3×75#
2x3x85#
2x3x95#

Clean & Jerk

2×125#
2×150#
2×175#
1×190#
5x1x200#

Was only supposed to be cleans. Whoops. Makes up a little for skipping Tuesday, which had jerks from blocks, I guess.

Front Squat

2×185#
2×220#
2×250#
2×265#
2x2x280#

Skipped these yesterday, so got them in today. I failed on the final rep of the day again with this front squat series. Ugh!!

Took off, but got the sit-ups done when I got home.

Sit-ups

100-50-25 with 2:00 rest between sets.

My times were 3:12, 1:38, and 0:46. The AbMat was sliding back on me really bad on top of the puzzle mats, which slowed me down. Not too far off my 3:02 record though. The programming had 3 MAX effort sets, but that would destroy me for a week, so I modified. I’m usually sore for days from 150 sit-ups, so this 175 is going to be bad enough.

Tomorrow is a lot of work, so I think I might split it up into two sessions.

60 Day Lifting Challenge – Week 2 Day 5

I’m doing the 60 Day Lifting Challenge from Columbus Weightlifting. Hit up the garage gym around noon.

Warm-up

5:00 Jump Rope and DU
45# Snatch Positions

First try using my new 9’4″ Rx Jump Rope (1″ shorter than I’ve been using since this summer) and I nailed 100 unbroken DU! Finally hit the century mark! 🙂 Reeled off a set of 73 the next try.

Muscle Snatch

2×75#
2x2x85#
3x2x95#
2×105#

Muscle Clean

3×105#
2x3x125#
3x3x135#

Power Snatch from above the knee (Demo Video)

2×95#
2×115#
2×135#
1×145#
1×155#

These felt really good! I’ve never tried 155# from a hang position before and it was easy. I think I might have done 145# from blocks with the bar starting at the knees, but not a power snatch.

Power Clean from above the knee (Demo Video)

2×125#
2×150#
2×175#
1×190#
1×205#

Not as good as the snatches, at least in terms of feel.

Back Squat

2×205#
2×240#
2×270#
2×290#
2x2x305#

Grinder in those last two sets. Doesn’t look as bad on video as it felt when doing the reps.

GHR

4x with only bodyweight
2×4 holding 5# plate
4x holding 10# plate
4x holding 15# plate

Either I finally figured out how to do GHRs or my hamstrings have gotten significantly stronger in the last two weeks from all of the lifting. I could barely do 5 reps without holding any weight before.

Took a quick shower and headed over to Survival Fitness for open gym.

Conditioning

Warmed up on bench press with:

10×45#
5×95#
3×135#

Then jumped into this workout:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Bench Press (165#)
4 C2B Pull-ups

Going unbroken for the set of 10 was a mistake. I think I went 5-4, 3-3-2, 4-3, 3-3, 3-2, 2-2, 3, 2, and 1 on the rest of the bench press sets. Managed to do all sets of C2B unbroken which was the goal. Would have been doubtful to do had I chosen 5 reps instead of 4. Took me 10:47 to finish because of so many breaks in the bench press. This wasn’t part of the 60 Day Challenge programming, but since there no jerks today, I was feeling good, and tomorrow is a rest day I added in the extra work.

12 Rounds

20s Row for calories
10s Active rest (keep the flywheel moving)

As you can see below I screwed up on the 4th work interval, so made so to go for 13 total intervals. Didn’t feel like I pushed hard enough, but that was a solid 3 hours of work.

The program called for “Establish Max Height Box Jump” but I have a mental block that prevents me from making an attempt once I get to a certain height. So I tested my vertical jump instead. On concrete, with no step it was 24″ and taking a step into it with one foot I could get 26″. I wish I could remember what it was back in high school.

Week 2 is in the books, so that’s about 25% done with the challenge. Can’t wait to see what the programming for week 3 looks like.

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!