Building callouses and chasing goals

And yet another really good session,Im really starting to feel confident in my lifting now. I also went out and buy myself a pair of lifting straps which I feel were long overdue,they really help with all this volume

Snatch Fak
Improved a lot on these since the disaster of last week, got all the reps in at the right weight
7x2 60, missed 2 reps along the way so did a 7th set to make up for it

Clean and Jerk
6x2 82
Clean has gone a little weak what with the lack of practice lately ,probably could have power cleaned these easier, Still got every rep ,Didnt miss a single one. Really happy with my clean and jerks. Although the split jerk is feeling harder than the power one at the moment aswell

Deficit Snatch Pull
3x5 80
Got 3 sets in and I got a tear in my hand, so decided to ditched the rest of the pulls because I have to train tomorrow and didnt want to make the tear worse

Bench Press
40x5
45x5 pr
50x4 pr
Was meant to do 5x5 but my shoulder was doing that thing it does where it doesnt lock out right when its too fatigued so left it at 50

And i'm going to be getting another week of this program

No hook,no footmovement,no contact snatch
4x3 40

Snatch
1x65
6x1 60
Was meant to get 6 singles at 65 but it wasnt going to happen
I think its just im getting fatigued and muscles are tightening up from all the heavy squats and jerk in the last 2 weeks of training

Jerk Dip+Jerk
4x2 85 ,85 is a new 2 rep max
1x85
Couldnt get anymore than that,the rerack was just way too hard to do and sucked all the energy out of me,I wish the gym had jerk blocks

Deficit Clean Pulls
5x5 105,this weight is getting routine

One arm row
3x10 25

Friday evening

Snatch Fak
6x1 65, These were really solid,kept my technique that ive been working on now,pulling close and staying over the bar longer.
I even managed to pause at the bottom here,which is something Im trying to drill into my snatch. Also there was very little twisting in the bottom position this time


Clean and jerk
6x1 85
These felt really heavy,especially the cleans,I missed 2 attempts on the cleans which is pretty unusual for me but I obviously retook them
Jerks were going forward on me but my recovery game was on point and saved all of them

Bench Press
40x5
45x5
50x4
50x5
50x2
Getting better at this each week

Didnt have time to do snatch pulls

Saturday Morning

No hookgrip,No footmovement,No contact Snatches
4x3 45
Getting much better at these

Snatch
6x1 65
Technique was feeling really on point same as last night

Push press
45x5
47.5x5
50x5
52.5x5
55x5

Pre-squat glute activation
Same as previously

Back squats
5x5 120 EASY!!!! 120 was a new 5 rep max by 5kg
Legs feel like they're going to fall off now though,Im thinking its the glute activation thats leading to the squat gains in the last 2 weeks


Attached image was me on friday, I was all like,"I drank a pile caffeine but Im not feeling it"....5 minutes later I'm bouncing round the place like a lunatic right in time for clean and jerks

Feeling really tired this week,im counting down the days until my deload
My speed is pretty much gone at the moment, and the muscles are just too tight for doing stuff,only 2 more sessions left this week though. And pr squats !

last nights session
Snatch Balance +Overhead Squat
(2,1)x4 70
(2,1)z1 75
These actually felt really good,and really easy. These were some of the best overhead squat ive ever done

Power Clean+Power Jerk
80x1
83x
75x1x4
The bar was forward,I was going backward. Couldnt stop the bar moving at all

Front squats
5x5 105 PR!
this matches my best 5x4(5 sets of 4). They felt strong even on a day like yesterday which means I think I have more in me if I was properly rested

Press in split
4x5 25
1x5 35 (5kg Pr)

Russian twist
3x20 15kg

Last session before the deload week was yesterday morning.
It was a pretty terrible session where I was just too beat up to train properly,was pretty much forced into an early deload

Nonono snatch
4x3 40 pretty sloppy and unbalanced

Snatch
3x1 60
2x1 65
Again sloppy here, technique and strength kinda went out the window

Push Press
40x5
45x5
48x3
45x2x5
Could barely get my arms over my head after fridays bench pressing

Back squats
worked up to 125x2
My back wasnt holding up well under it, There was a pretty serious amount of pain around my tailbone on the negative phase of the squat which was putting me in a bad position

5x3 100 was all I could manage,the weight felt routine but my back was liking it. Got my back cracked later on to remove a pile of compression there which instantly helped

Glute Ham Raises
3x10

Good session this evening,had a long day of college and was out last night so I wasnt sure how it would go but it was grand in the end

Drop Snatch
4x4 45
These are always kind of boring

Snatch
4x1 62.5
Was snatching well, technique is getting a lot better all the time now

Power Clean+Power Jerk
4x1 75
These were rough because my shoulder was really tight and sore after the pullups on monday so the jerks were quite painful,weight felt light though

Front Squat
New 4 rep max here and I did 5 sets of it, also have a video!!
5x4 107.5
They werent actually too bad,not sure what to think of my technique on it from watching the video,im not sure what it should look like

Ab Rollouts
So so difficult
2x10
1x5...just couldnt


Here's the front squat video,its the last set out of the 5 so I was really tired, any criticism of my form would be great if anyone reads this log and see's something that could be done better in my squat. Im a little worried about the arch in my back during the squat but theres no pain so I dont know...maybe its supposed to look like that

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

What arch in your back? Do you think you're too much in extension or what?

FWIW, to me it looks fine.

My back squats have been giving me a pain down near my tailbone as I start to reach paralell on the way down ,it could just be because ive been lifting heavy for a good few weeks in a row and im exhausted but I was worried it might have been from being in too much extension. from the back squat video(quality is too ba to upload) I got last week theres about the same amount of extension in this video of front squats as there is in my back squat so I was just wondering should the shape of my back be the way it is in this video?

More likely scenario is that its just that my hip flexors are too tight for back squats because I know someone who had a similar pain who said it was their hip flexibility that caused it

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Do your knees come in much/at all when you're back squatting?

It's also possible, like you said, that you need to work on your hip mobility.

A little bit but im actively trying to push them out all the time,they do move in a bit on 90%+ weights but thats about it, and its happens a bit more on the last or second last set

Friday evening
So the one of the russian national coaches and 1991 world champion came to our club training on friday evening, Ibrahim Samadov was his name.

Had an amazing session, and learned an absolute ton, My snatch improved immensely after just that one session and I got a load of things to think about and to try to implement in my jerk

Snatches were all at 50kg, repeatedly. I'd say I did close to 30-40 reps in total
mostly made up of 3 and 4 rep sets, and a 6 rep set at the end.
Was nearly dead after just the snatches

Then clean and jerks at 70,75 and 80kg
Did them as a clean and 2 jerks. Was moving really well by the end but was too fatigued to try to do everything he said to do. Decided i'd work on them on sunday when I was rested

Saturday
Got into the gym this morning feeling great and all fired up and left with a really good session

No contact snatches
3x3 40 really smooth

Snatch
4x1 62.5
2x1 65
1x1 67.5
1x1 70
xx75
Hit my percentages at 62.5kg, but felt really good so kept going, hit my current max of 70 easily, and came really close to 75, I think with even a tiny bit of preparation I could hit 75kg pretty solidly

Front squat +Jerk
4x1 80
Pretty damn easy,was feeling tired and front squats were sapping my energy

Push Press
40x5
45x5
50 2x5

Back Squats
Made a few more technical changes this week, legs were drained but I still got all the reps in
4x5 120

Last session with coach Samadov was yesterday evening.
Had a great sesion,hit 2 pr's,going on like 2 weeks now where i havent missed a snatch that wasnt a pr attempt. Have to say i'm feeling pretty good these days about it

Snatch warmup
Muscle snatches up to 45kg
Snatch groove pulls
Snatch high Pulls

Snatch

40x5
45x4
50x2x3
55x3
60x3
62.5x3
65x3 (5kg PR)

60x2x3
Snatch were feeling so fast and strong, legs were a bit dead though

Snatch Pulls
60 2x3
70 4x3

Back squats
80 2x4
90 2x4
100x4

100x10 has got to be some kind of PR

Seated Strict Presses
30 3x4
40x6 Basically here I had to push up as much as I could and a spotter lifted it with as much pressure as was needed to get the rep, which meant most of the weight was from the spot lol I dont think I got one full rep myself

Overall I really enjoyed those few sessions with him ,and I feel i've really benifitted from it. Will have an easy session on friday, then a mock comp/max out saturday

Monday Evening

So this session was pretty terrible, the gym was absolutely boiling and I was really tired, body is pretty messed up from fridays session and my college schedule ain't helping

Drop Snatch
3x3 40
1x3 45

Snatch
40x4
45x4
50x3
55x3
60x2
64x1
69x1
69 was meant to be for 3 singles but I only got 1, The snatches were technically good all the way along in the weights but they were just so slow that I didnt really have a hope of hitting the 69kg ones,now to try and get some speed into me again

Power Clean+Power Jerk
40x3
50x3
60x3
70x2
75x1
80x1x3
These actually went really well ,hit all the reps comfortably enough

Front Squats
These were horrible, they kicked my ass,I was struggling on easy weight,felt like I was going to be crushed
3x3 100
It was meant to be done at 115 but I failed the first rep at 115 so had to pull it back,As it was the 100's destroyed me

bluewolf wrote: »

Easy weight, he says :pac:

hope next one goes better

lol yeah,a year ago I never would have believed that I'd be describing 100kg as easy weight :P:D

Havent been very good for posting my session lately.
This week was Max out week, I still have one more session to do today though. The week started out rough but its improved as it went on, hit a few pr's this week, missed some lifts I should have gotten but in general it's been going well. Im feeling good for the national juniors on April 2nd

Monday
Most disappointing day of the week
Drop Snatches
3x3 40 boring
Snatch
40x4
45x3
50x2
55x2
60x1
65x1
70x1
75xx No misses until 75, but I really should have hit at least 75
Power Clean+ Power Jerk
60x2
70x1
75x1
80x1
85x1
90x1 (3 kg pr)
94x missed the power clean, probably would have gotten it on a second attempt,but coach said to leave it
Front Squat
To a 3 rep max:
Got 115 for 3 reps, 5kg pr
Thought about trying 120 but again coach said not to bother, Glad I didnt ,my back is still fried form these, front squats really fatigue my back,few people have told me a belt would probably help with that problem but I really dont want to so thats that

Tuesday
Lol horrible session today, was also pretty traumatising.
PowerSnatch + OverHead Squat
To max: Only hit 65, most of the the technical changes ive made to my snatch lately have been what gave me a pretty big power snatch so im not too mad about losing my power snatch numbers
Clean and Jerk
To max:
60x1
70x1
80x1
85x1
90x1
95x1
100xx
95 as usual was very easy so I went to try 100, caught the clean and the instant it landed on my shoulders I blacked out, vision gone and everything, just I jumped straight up and walked off the platform and passed out again,was all I could not to hit my face off the weight rack
Was really freaked out,

Thursday
Competition style session today
Went really well,happy with this session

Body Weight: 67.2kg

Snatch
Warmups: 40x3, 50x2, 60x1, 65x1, 70x1
Attempts: 70, 74, 77(1kg pr)
No misses ,felt really good

Clean and Jerk
Warmups: 60x2, 70x1, 80x1, 85x1
Attempts: 90, 94, 98x (3kg clean pr)
Went I stood the clean up I was gone faint again,didnt even know which way was up,still attempted the jerk but just ended up making myself really faint and nearly falling over. Was pretty depressed after this but I got over it. Coach said its just that Im forgetting to breathe out during the lift so there isnt enough oxegyn

Back Squat
To a 2 rep max, took me a while to be ready for these after the jerks, was still kinda disorientated when I was warming up. BUt I was squatting really well, technique was so on point this session
Warmups: 60x6, 80x5, 90x3, 100x3, 110x2, 120x1, 130x1,
2 rep max attmept: 135 nailed it!! Double Bodyweight finally!!!
Then 140x
Was hoping to finally squat the 3 plates but it wasnt to be today, was just too tired

Monday
My clock didnt go forward so I got the time wrong and didnt have enough time to do my session since the gym was closing early for the bank holiday, spent like a minute stretching and then ran through the session so things didnt work out as well as it should but im not worried ,i'll pull it off at the weekend. I'm really excited for the national juniors

Snatch
1x2 70
1x72
Considering the way the session was ,im really glad I managed to lift these.
Planning on opening on 72 at the weekend

Clean and Jerk
85x1
90x
Just wasnt ready to do it, was too rushed and shoulders werent warmed up enough

Front Squat
1x2 115
1x115