john-rock replied to your post: Good days, bad days
I’ve still never figured out the hook grip. I tried it a couple times and it never felt right, so I forgot about it. I hear you on good and bad days. I’ve been having more bad ones now that I’m losing weight. It’s not fun.
A trainer recently asked me if I used the hook grip and I said no. Not because I did not want to, but had never really been pushed to do it. He looked at me and said “You really have to.” So, I have been using it.
Funny thing is that the first week or two my thumbs really hurt from it. I can see why people tape their thumbs so much now. For the past 5 weeks I have been forcing myself to do it.
About a week or so ago I was doing some cleans and for some strange reason it just hit me that I had been using the hook grip without thinking about it. Just to see what it would feel like, I used a regular grip. Maybe it is mental, maybe not, but for whatever reason, it did not feel as stable as hooking. It was a good test for me and since then I have never questioned it.
Weekly Training Log: 130513 - 130519
MONDAY - 130513
Rest day. Did some yard work to stay moving and extra mobility at night.
TUESDAY - 130514
Power snatch + snatch
4 sets @ 95#
7 sets @ 115#
Clean pull
5x4 @ 185#
Jerk
2x5 @ 215#
Back squat
5x2 @ 275#
4x3 @ 295#
Conditioning: Pool - 20x50m w/15” ri at a moderate pace. 24:17.
WEDNESDAY - 130515
Power snatch
5 @ 65% | 120#
4x2 @ 70% | 130#
3 @ 75% | 135#
Snatch grip deadlift
5 @ 105% | 225#
4x5 @ 150% | 275#
2-position power clean (floor & hang)
2 sets @ 75% | 175#
2 sets @ 80% | 185#
Front squat
4x3 @ 80% | 260#
4x2 @ 85% | 275#
Push press
7x5 @ 65% | 135#
Conditioning: Pool - 5x100m rest to recover. I was not trying to go all out for the full 100, but held a decent pace. Buddy said we were around a 1:35-1:37 average on these. Felt good to stretch out after all the volume from earlier in the morning.
THURSDAY - 130516
Rest day. For mobility I did a very light 10 minutes on the elliptical followed by 10 minutes of stretching, foam rolling, lacrosse ball, etc.
FRIDAY - 130517
Snatch push press
5x5 @ 75% | 135#
Snatch pull
5x5 @ 95% | 185#
Back squat
5x2 @ 75% | 295#
5x2 @ 80% | 315#
2-position snatch (power & below the knee w/2 sec pause)
5x1 @ 115#
5x1 @ 125#
Conditioning: Pool - 50m slow warm-up; 1/2 mile; 50m cool down. I am pretty sure I swam an extra 50 in the middle and lost count, despite using the poker chips to try and track laps. I am going to scratch the time I got and test this again using the Garmin.
SATURDAY - 130518
RDL @ 50% of 1RM back squat
3x4 | 195#
3x4 | 225#
2x4 | 275#
Jerk (off the blocks)
3x135; 2x165; 2x185; 1x205; 1x215; 1x225
Various snatch complex work with light weight. Working on a snatch into a hang snatch. Had something entirely different on the schedule today but my knee was hurting and my whole body was just tight. Really threw me off because of my good day yesterday.
SUNDAY - 130519
Took more time to warm-up (1.5 miles on the airdyne, push presses, air squats, good mornings, etc.) which helped.
Snatch push press
3x5 @ 135#
3x5 @ 165#
Snatch pull
5x5 @ 185#
Front squats
6x4 @ 225#
Conditioning: 4 minute AMRAP of 8 OHS (95#) and 8 pull-ups. Rest 3 minutes. 4 minute AMRAP of 10 wall balls (30#) and 10 GHD situps. Rest 3 minutes. 400m walk with 95# barbell in the back rack. 4 rounds even in the first AMRAP and 3 rounds + 7 wall balls in the second. That 30# wall ball sure was different! I thought the walk around the building would be easier than it was given how light the barbell was. Found myself picking up the pace just to get done with it and get the barbell off my back!
Summary
Overall, a pretty good week. Had a struggle on Saturday but you can’t expect every day to be rainbows and PRs. Still good to test my conditioning and feel confident about it while at the same time pushing the strength work. Week 4 of the strength cycle is over. 8 more to go.
GPOY, cleans from a couple weeks ago. I was at 235 here.
The stars aligned
Ever have one of those days in the gym that felt like everything was off? 175lbs felt like 275? I have had some of those recently. I try and shake it off and stick to the program.
This morning the stars must have aligned. While the weight didn’t feel light, it didn’t feel heavy either. I worked around 80-85% of my 1RM on the lifts I had on tap this morning and it all just felt good. Back squats were toward the end of the schedule and I normally don’t look forward to working on those for some reason. I had 5 sets of doubles at 80% and 5 sets of doubles at 85% but it all felt so good. Especially when one of the guys came over and said “Uh, Jason… Your bar is bending.”
When you have tough days that you grind through, days like today are just amazing.
Somehow, I ended up in the CoreFit CrossFit Games Sweepstakes - Final Round where the winner gets an all expenses paid trip to the 2013 CrossFit Games in California.
I just need the most votes on my photo. It would be extremely awesome for all you Tumblr folks out there to hit this page up with a vote for yours truly. Promise to bring you back something cool if I win.
EDIT: Fixed the link
Power clean + jerk work at about 75% of my 1RM from the other day. I want to start using some videos to see where I need to improve. I think I am doing well with regards to the bar path. As the weight goes up I seem to have trouble dropping into the split. Not sure if it is my left knee that I am worried about or what. I failed a 245lb jerk a few times and I really believe that if I was more aggressive with the split I could nail it.
Just wasn’t my morning…
Week 3 of the oly strength cycle and every Tuesday since starting I have felt absolutely worn out. Granted, Saturday & Sunday are high volume training days, and the general volume overall has increased, but for some reason Tuesday is rough. Even after a full day of rest on Mondays. Part of me struggles with reducing volume and another part struggles with sucking it up and moving through it.
This morning, the front squats felt heavy. Really heavy. I never went above 85% of my 1RM and it felt like I was trying to lift the entire gym. It got into my head to the point where the last set at 85% I almost didn’t want to sink all the way.
The last lift was a 2-position clean (floor & hang) and I was working at decent weight. Nothing too heavy but for this movement, challenging to me. The biggest trouble for me is hanging onto the bar in transition from the clean to the hang clean. On my first rep at 175# I failed the clean. It was like a slap in the face because that is a weight that I can always hit. No clue why I failed. Shook it off and tried to keep pushing. The final set was 2 sets of the 2-position clean at 185lbs. I hit the first one, though it didn’t feel good catching that on my thigh.
On the second one, my grip gave way and I let the bar go. I tried to move my knees and legs out of the way. I only got out of the way just enough for the bar to hit my thighs, knees, and then slide down my shins and bounce back up. So glad I had lifting socks on or this would have looked a lot worse.
Like I said. Just wasn’t my morning.
Weekly Training Log: 130429 - 130505
MONDAY - 130429
And on this day, absolutely nothing was done. Rest day.
TUESDAY - 130430
Woke up with a lot of pain, so rather than push it at CrossFit, I opted to sleep in. Since I can hit the pool pain free, that is what I did at lunch. 10x100m (rest to recover) and I went as hard as I could on the 100s. best time was 1:33 and slowest was 1:39. While I took longer breaks in between 100s than I normally do, and while this kicked my butt, it felt really good and I saw my best times on the 100 yet.
WEDNESDAY - 130501
3 position clean
2 sets @ 70% | 165#
2 sets @ 75% | 175#
Snatch Deadlift
7x2 @ 100% 1RM Snatch | 185#
5x3 @ 100% 1RM Snatch | 185#
Front squat
6x1 @ 65% | 205#
5x1 @ 70% | 215#
5x1 @ 75% | 220#
3x2 @ 80% | 225#
Push press
5x5 @ 135#
Conditioning (Pool): 2x500m @ 70-80% of max effort pace w/2 min rest. Averaged about 10 minutes per 500.
THURSDAY - 130502
Rest day.
FRIDAY - 130503
Back Squat
5 @ 225#
5 @ 275#
5 @ 275#
5 @ 305#
Conditioning: 4RFT of 6 deadlifts (225#), 9 burpee pull-ups, 15 walking lunges with 45# overhead. Despite a back up at the pull-up rig, this went really good for me. Felt the knee in the lunges but everything else was good. I was actually at 235# on deads and didn’t realize it under after the WOD but it didn’t slow me down. 9:54 @ RX+.
Cash-Out: 5 minute partner snatch duel. We used 115# which was a little on the heavy side for my partner. So he did 3 to my 5. 7 rounds total.
SATURDAY - 130504
Snatch Push Press
5x5 @ 75% | 135#
Snatch Pull
5x5 @ 100% | 185#
Clean & Jerk
3 @ 70% | 165#
2 @ 75% | 175#
1 @ 80% | 185#
1 @ 85% | 205#
1 @ 80% | 185#
1 @ 75% | 175#
Jerk (From the high blocks)
2x185, 2x205, 1x215, 1x225, multiple fails at 245. I was frustrated because I thought I was at 235 instead of 245. Took a shot at this about 4 times, with the last time about an inch or two from sticking it. 245 was my max a while back so even though I didn’t hit it, it felt really good to be working close to my 1RM.
Bench Press
4x3 @ 185#
2x2 @ 225#
ME @ 135#: 26 reps, 2-3 min. rest then ME @ 135#: 19 reps
Skill: Practiced DUs. Used my buddies rope and will most likely order one because it was that awesome.
SUNDAY - 130505
Warm-up:
Row 5K
Clean Pulls
5x5 @ 205#
Push Press
2x5 push press @ 135#
3x5 push press @ 155#
Back Squat
5 @ 65% | 225#
5 @ 70% | 245#
4 @ 75% | 255#
3x2 @ 80% | 295#
Conditioning: EMOTM for 16 minutes. On odd minutes: 6 KB swings (88#) and on even minutes: 10 burpees. At minute 10 I thought I wanted to stop. Well, not thought. I really wanted to stop. But I also thought that at that point, that was where the real workout was. Only a few more rounds to go and shortening it up to 12 minutes would have bothered me all day. I would have felt like I took the easy way out. Glad I finished it.
Summary
Woke up sore as crap on Monday. Stuff hurt that I didn’t know could hurt. I had a 5” long bruise at the top of my leg from catching the barbell. My hands hurt from focusing on the hook grip. Tuesday was much of the same, but a little better. I slept in to not push things. Wednesday I was still feeling it, but went in and lifted. Everything was extremely heavy when it normally isn’t. The 3 position work is volumes harder than I thought. As the week went on I felt like I could push a little more, though I opted to do a regular WOD with the class rather than the strength cycle work. Probably going to have to do that from time to time. Overall, felt like a good week.
GPOY, snatch edition.
It will never cease to amaze me at just how technical picking something off the ground can actually be.
Weekly Training Log: 130422 - 130428
MONDAY - 130422
And on Mondays, we rest. And it was good.
TUESDAY - 130423
Day one of a 12 week oly/strength cycle. I have wanted to try something like this for quite a while now. More than stoked to give it a shot. The overall program will have to be modified to fit time constraints. As much as I want to, I can’t work out 3 hours at a time. I also want to make sure I have conditioning included. The first day is light so it is a good intro into the cycle.
Also, I am planning on logging the entire cycle here to include the percentages dictated by the plan as well as the actual weights that I used right after. I think it will be interesting to see the results.
Power snatch + OHS (Based on 185# 1RM)
2 sets @ 50% | 95#
2 sets @ 65% | 115#
3 sets @ 70% | 135#
Jerk (Based on 215 1RM)
3 sets of 2 @ 70% | 165#
3 sets of 3 @ 75% | 170#
Back Squat (Based on 395 1RM & scaled)
8 @ 60% | 225#
8 @ 65% | 235#
6 @ 70% | 255#
6 @ 75% | 275#
GHD: 3x15
WEDNESDAY - 130424
Skill: 3x10 Sotts press w/PVC.
Hang power clean
1x5 @ 135 warm-up
1x5 @ 165
3x5 @ 185
Hang snatch high pull
4x3 @ 65% of 1RM | 115#
Conditioning: 400m shuttle run, 2 power cleans (155#), 300m shuttle run, 4 power cleans, 200m shuttle run, 6 power cleans, 100m shuttle run, 8 power cleans. I have not tested any running and since I was feeling decent I gave it a shot. I was not fast and it took the first 300m to really get warmed up, but after that I felt good. I kept a decent pace on the run and made up ground on the cleans going unbroken through every round. 7:55 @ RX.
Pool (Lunch): 1000m @ 75% - 80%. Nothing fast, just a paced swim to log the distance. 20:32.
THURSDAY - 130425
Rest day.
FRIDAY - 130426
Clean & Jerk
5x1 @ 80% | 185#
Front Squat
5x2 @ 50% | 165#
5x2 @ 50% | 185#
Emphasis here was speed.
Snatch
5x1 @ 80% | 95#
I did a lot more than just 5 singles. I worked at this weight for at least 20 minutes hitting single after single. Focusing on the setup, hookgrip, hip contact, and speed. The trainer came over and gave me some advice about how wide my grip was that changed my world. Amazing how simple it was but how profound a difference I saw. I felt so much faster and stronger.
SATURDAY - 130427
Muscle/Power Snatch
5x1 | 95# warm-up
5x1 @ 60% | 110#
4x1 @ 65% | 115#
4x2 @ 70% | 135#
3-Position Clean (Hang, knee, floor)
3 sets @ 65% | 165#
3 sets @ 70% | 185#
Working on the full clean was great and something I really needed. Validated by the trainer coming over and saying they looked good.
Snatch Shrug
8x3 @ 105% | 205#
Push Press
5x5 @ 75% | 165#
Conditioning: This was a partner WOD that I didn’t want to do. I had planned a 5K row for conditioning and just as we started getting ready, a buddy asked me to do the WOD with him because his partner bailed. I flat out said I didn’t want to do it. He said, “just do the weights and I will do the other stuff.” It actually worked out pretty well because he cruised through the body weight stuff and I cruised through the barbell movements.
Basically, you had 20 minutes to work. While one partner works the other rests. They listed several exercises on the board and assigned a point value to each movement. You got to pick the movements you wanted to do in the 20 minutes. Team with the most points wins.
My partner did a lot of body weight stuff. The kid is 12 years younger than me and hella strong. I stuck with barbell movements and didn’t want to do anything that was less than 5 points a rep. He absolutely killed the HSPUs (He did 104 of them), sit-ups, air squats, DUs, and snuck in a 400m run as well as 10 power cleans. I ended up doing a total of 119 power cleans, 30 front squats, and a 100m run. I was able to go unbroken on the cleans until about half way through when I had to start breaking them into 5s and then singles because my grip started to give way from the lifting earlier. We finished second overall.
SUNDAY - 130428
Bottom position barbell stretch
2 minutes @ 95#
1 minute @ 135#
Clean & Jerk
3x1 @ 70% | 165#
2x1 @ 75% | 175#
2x2 @ 80% | 185#
1x1 @ 75% | 175#
1x1 @ 80% | 185#
3-Position Power Snatch
2 sets @ 50% | 95#
2 sets @ 65% | 120#
3 sets @ 70% | 130#
Conditioning: 10 min AMRAP of:
3 deadlifts @ 365#
250m row
5 rounds + 71 meters (1:47/500 average)
Summary
Overall, this week kicked my tail. Getting up Sunday, I felt the full weight of the added strength volume, most notably the shrugs and pull practice. My back and traps were extremely tight and sore. Saturday was easily one the highest volume training days I have had in a while. So it shouldn’t have been a shock that Sunday was as hard as it was.
I also did not do as many “conditioning” days as I normally would. Ideally I would have been in the pool 2 more days, but because of some schedule conflicts during lunch and a field trip with my oldest on Friday (which I wouldn’t trade for anything anyway) I didn’t get in the water. The great thing is that despite lifting more and feeling like my conditioning would suffer, whenever I test it I am still able to move so that is a plus.
Nutrition changes have been awesome. What initially I thought might not really do much good has had a positive impact in the gym.
I have never looked forward to a rest day as much as I am looking forward to tomorrow.
Post-WOD. Ain’t even mad.
1.5 hours of strength followed by a pretty intense 20 minute metcon. Got home and felt like I was going to crash. 2 pork chops, 4 eggs, 4 almond butter pancakes, guac, and half a gallon of water later, I feel better again.
Not a normal meal, but as I am focusing on taking in enough calories to support the lifting and exercising I am doing, I believe that I have not been taking in enough. The hardest part of eating for performance is making that mind set change from eating to lose weight, which I have done for about 2 years now.
