Lol's New HST Log

Lol said:
Heck! Traps are fried from the cleans; tris fried from the weighted-dips; lats and rear-delts fried from the ring pull-ups. Interestingly, pecs not noticeably sore at all, even though they were pumped like crazy following the dips. Evidently, the strain on pecs from pelicans and ring flyes was over and above what they experienced from the weighted-dips; but, of course, the dips were not in 5RM territory.
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There is nothing like flyes and such to stretch the pecs. And in my experience, a good stretch is often one of the causes of DOMS. Actually, I often like to throw in some flyes after dips, as dips tend to be more emphasis on triceps, and my main goal is larger pecs, as my triceps seem to grow no matter what.
 
Sat 17/08/13

I can't believe how fast this month is going by. My training has sucked for ages now. I need to get a proper program sorted so I can actually make some real progress. It looks like that won't really happen until September what with one thing and another.

My lats were still sore. Shoulders improving. Thought I'd give them a bit of a rest and do some heavy (for me) pulls.

Deads
W-U: 5 x 70kg (154lb), 5 x 100kg (220lb), 5 x 120kg (264lb), 3 x 150kg (330lb) - regular grip, no hook
1 x 170kg (375lb) - hook grip
1 x 190kg (419lb) - hook grip, belted
5 x 1 x 170kg (375lb) - straps

No shoes throughout. The 190kg was a pig to get moving but once I got it to my knees it was easy to stand up with. Think I need to work on some deficit deads rather than rack pulls as my lockout wasn't my weak link.

After the 190kg lift, I decided to do Max-stim style singles with 170kg seeing that the first rep following my 190kg attempt was twice as hard as the one before it!

Shrugs
10 x 170kg

Did these at the top of my final deadlift.

Finished up with some shoulder rehab exercises and some stretching: plenty of sets of different shoulder rotations and raises with a 5kg plate in each hand.

Notes
I don't like being weak. Got to claw back some strength with a bit more of a concerted effort.
 
I don't think anyone would call you "weak"! Your are incredibly strong all around. I might call you "unfocused" though. Lets see, you are training for Olympic lifting, powerlifting, gymnastics and bodybuilding all at the same time! Unless you are some 20 year old with incredible athletic genetics and a fulltime training schedule, that's a tall order! You are just going to wear yourself out and get injured trying to do all that while having a fulltime job and getting up in age.
I mean this in a constructive, respectful way... You should probably focus on a certain aspect of training and set some realistic, concrete goals and stick on that path. It seems like too much to try to train to be a superhero like you have been!

Since your main passion seems to be oly lifting, Just focus on the Olympic lifts with a little bit of assistance work. But trying to train for all that you do all at once, is just going to frustrate you!

Anyway, just my observation. You are an amazing individual with great abilities and an iron willpower. If you get focused, I bet you could accomplish some serious feats in oly lifting, or whatever you decide to put your mind to.
 
Thanks for your thoughts, Sci. Much appreciated. (And NTB: you'll be there much sooner than you think.) I said 'weak' to give myself a kick up the pants. I guess I was just a little peeved after my deads session yesterday. I got a 200kg lift back in Feb and I really haven't done any consistent heavy stuff to improve on that.

I have most certainly been unfocussed. This year has seen me having to be away from home much more often than I had expected and so I haven't gotten around to the training plan I had intended to follow from the start of the year. Then there's my ongoing battle with shoulder health; one or the other always seems to give me some trouble. Bad shoulders mess almost everything up. Even squats become unpleasant (are they ever pleasant?); but I think I now have a plan of action in place to do the best I can for that issue, so I guess that's progress.

When I think about this year, it's pretty obvious I've been going through some kind of mid-life training crisis: much of the gymnastic stuff is what I would have liked to have a go at earlier in life but never did. Same for the O-lifting. In having a go at both of these, it became apparent that my mobility/flexibility sucked so I've been doing a fair amount of work on that too. And it all takes time and effort.

I had a look at my goals for this year the other day (seeing that so many of you guys are achieving yours, which is fantastic) and realised that I have a lot of work to do to achieve any of my important ones before the end of the year.

=========================
Lifting Goals for 2013
=========================
Front Squat: 160kg (353lb)
Back Squat: 180kg (397lb) x 5
Clean & Jerk: 110kg (242lb)
Snatch: >85kg (187lb) or bodyweight
Chins: bw+40kg (88lb) x 5

I'm not going to set goals for deads and bench as I won't be working them often enough, but I will test them every couple of months to make sure they are not dropping off—I don't want that to happen.

=========================
Other Goals
=========================
Get some rings and learn to do ring muscle-ups!
Get back to doing some levers if my expanding legs will allow it.
Do some longer distance rows out to sea (longest to date is about 10 miles).
A 2 minute handstand against wall.
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So far, I have learnt to do ring muscle-ups and my front and back levers have improved (can't hold one yet though). My C&J is not too far away from 110kg. I should get that. My snatch, on the other hand, hasn't improved nearly as much; my technique still sucks. The squat goals seemed doable when I set them but now seem rather ambitious, based on the fact that I'm now squatting deeper than I ever have before. I'm slowly clawing back strength at the new depth but it's a slow process.

Anyway, I'm thinking of a general plan that will look something like this:

Mon - O-lifting[Snatch], HST[legs, chest]
Tue - Off
Wed - O-lifting[C&J], HST[legs, back]
Thu - O-lifting[Snatch], HST[chest, shoulders]
Fri - O-lifting[Snatch], HST[legs, back]
Sat - O-lifting[Snatch, C&J working up to max single]
Sun - Off or Cardio[C2 rower] and/or HST[shoulders]

I'll add some gymnastic stuff in as I feel able. It's incredibly challenging and good fun.

Hopefully, I'll be able to manage this and make some progress. As I type this, I'm thinking that Monday will be front squat day, Wednesday will be deadlift day and Friday will be back squat day. I may end up deadlifting once every two weeks depending on how my lower back copes.

Any thoughts always welcome.
 
This is a 'hybrid' program I stole some years ago from a guy at CF. Each day starts with a gymnastic movement progression (handstand, front lever), followed by an ol, followed by a compound lift. Then the assistance lifts are optional, ie in this case, you could program your HST style lifts. This is the basis of it:

Mon - HS CJ BS HST
Tue - FL SN OHS HST
Wed - HS CJ FS DL Weighted pullups
Thu - Off
Fri - FL SN Press BS HST
Sat - optional (c2?)
Sun - Off

He claimed to have had great success following this setup and it was all the rage over at the CF boards. He also did a little write up about it in regards to sets and reps and full and hang postitions.

If your goals are more ol oriented, I'd look over at catalystathletics.com. It's a very good ol site with lots of information and programs.
 
Thanks for your thoughts, TTLO. That's very helpful. I like the idea of using a gymnastic/balance movement as part of my warmup; then some O-lift practice, followed by some hypertrophy work.

i'll check out Catalyst A. Is that Dan McCauley's lot? I've got some Pendlay templates and will probably incorporate some O-lift training ideas from those.
 
I couldn't log in to the site at the beginning of the week and then I haven't had a chance to update my log over the last couple of days so it's about five workouts behind. I've been a bit pushed for training time this week so my workouts haven't gone according to my new game plan. This is what I'm going to be doing:

Sun - Cardio on C2 rower or some other form of active rest.
Mon - O-lifting[snatch], HST[legs: FS, chest: dips]
Tue - Off or catch-up*/rehab/stretching
Wed - O-lifting[C&J], HST[legs: HBBS, back: rows/chins/pull-ups]
Thu - Off or catch-up*/rehab/stretching
Fri - O-lifting[snatch], HST[high-pulls, deads]
Sat - O-lifting[snatch and/or C&J, working up to max single], HST[shoulders: press/push-press]

*By catch-up I mean that if I've missed anything from the previous day I'll use an off-day to do it.

I've decided that I will do some of the gymnastic stuff as and when I fancy it. It's not a priority. It's more for the fun of it. Some of the gymnastic moves take a ton of effort and are very fatiguing for core muscles and shoulders which is not a good idea before O-lift training.
 
Mon 19/08/13

AM.
Lateral Raise
20 x 2.5kg Holding plate in each hand
10 x 3.75
10 x 5kg
15 x 5kg
15 x 5kg

PM.
General Warmup
Shoulder dislocates
Nekid bar muscle snatches

Hang Snatch (from below knee)
WU: 5 x 20kg, 3 x30kg, 3 x 40kg
3 x 50kg Straps
3 x 50kg
3 x 52.5kg
3 x 55kg
3 x 57.5kg
4 x 60kg
2 x 62.5kg

20 x 40kg
Finished up with a high-rep met-set. No pause between reps. That was a real blast.

Dips
W-U: 20 x BW, 10 x BW+20kg
10 x BW+30kg (66lb)
10 x BW+30kg (66lb)
12 x BW+30kg (66lb)

Handstand Against Wall
65 Seconds

Notes
I'm going to be doing some lateral raises each day to get some blood pumping round my beaten up old shoulders. Today was my first session. Started light and even that had my left shoulder complaining until it warmed up after a few sets.
 
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Tue 20/08/13

Really pushed for time...

Lateral Raise
15 x 5kg Holding plate in each hand
15 x 5kg
15 x 5kg

Front Squat
W-U: 10 x 60kg
5 x 80kg
5 x 90kg
5 x 90kg
No knee sleeves; no belt. All reps performed as fast as possible.
 
Wed 21/08/13

General Warmup
Shoulder dislocates
Nekid bar muscle snatches
Air squats

Snatch Complex
(Lift to high hang, then back to floor, then snatch, then OHS)
1 x 40kg
1 x 40kg
1 x 50kg + 2 OHS
1 x 50kg + 2 OHS
1 x 55kg + 5 OHS

Ring Pull-ups
17+8,2 x BW - myo-rep style set

Lateral Raise
20 x 5kg - holding plate in each hand
20 x 5kg
 
Thu 22/08/13

General Warmup
Shoulder dislocates
Nekid bar muscle snatches
Air squats
Lateral Raise - 2 x 20 x 5kg

Hang Snatch
10 x 20kg
5 x 30kg
5 x 40kg
5 x 50kg
3 x 55kg
5 x 60kg
1 x 65kg + 3HP
2 x 65kg
1 x 70kg - 2nd rep failed to front

Notes
Decided to focus on snatch practice for the rest of this week. A double with 70kg would have been a PR.
 
Fri 23/08/13

Pushed for time again...

General Warmup
Shoulder dislocates
Nekid bar muscle snatches

Snatch
5 x 30kg
3 x 40kg
3 x 50kg
1 x 55kg
1 x 55kg

Hang Snatch
3 x 55kg
3 x 55kg
5 x 50kg
5 x 50kg

These were all from below knee. Working on positions and getting under bar.
 
Sat 24/08/2013

General Warmup
Shoulder dislocates
Nekid bar muscle snatches
Lateral Raise - 2 x 20 x 5kg

Hang Snatch from high-hang
5 x 30kg
5 x 40kg
3 x 45kg
3 x 50kg - straps from here
3 x 55kg
3 x 57.5kg
3 x 60kg
3 x 60kg
3 x 60kg
3 x 62.5kg
2 x 65kg - third rep FB, so stopped there as too late to slam bars

Some OHS's thrown in for good measure and some reps paused in the hole.

High Pull
5 x 70kg Snatch-grip; straps
5 x 80kg
5 x 85kg

Pulled as high as possible to just below chin level. Remarkably tiring.

Snatch-grip Deadlift
5 x 100kg
5 x 110kg - slight twinge in right forearm so stopped there.

High-bar Back Squat
W-U: 10 x 70kg
10 x 100kg
10 x 100kg (220lb)

No belt; O-shoes. As fast as possible. Lots of quad/ham fatigue from snatch and deads so these were real burners.
 
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Can you describe which muscles should be 'most' involved for High Pulls? I've always liked the look of that exercise.
 
AlexAustralia said:
Can you describe which muscles should be 'most' involved for High Pulls? I've always liked the look of that exercise.
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That's quite a tough question to answer. With a snatch grip you are having to start the lift that much lower than a regular deadlift (my grip is ~2 inches in from the collars) so quads are having to work harder and longer than for a regular deadlift. But then the whole of the posterior chain works hard to get the bar above knee level. Then the second pull kicks in with knee-rebend and violent hip extension accompanied by delts and traps and calves all firing hard to get the bar up as high as possible. Then the negative is demanding for all the same muscles; and so fatigue builds quickly, even in a set of 5 reps.

The muscles that often feel like they've been most involved are the traps but I think that is just a consequence of them firing hard at the end of the movement. Similar to deads, I get an overall feeling of tiredness but with a little extra fatigue in the delts and traps plus I'm generally more gassed even with relatively light loads. I did snatch-grip high-pulls with 110kg for sets of 5 a couple of nights ago and they were crazy hard compared to deads with 110kg.

Not sure if that's helped any?
 
Mon 26/08/13

Had to train late. Didn't feel like doing much.

Lateral Raise
20 x 5kg Holding plate in each hand
20 x 5kg

Front Squat
W-U: 10 x 40kg, 5 x 70kg, 5 x 90kg
5 x 100kg (220lb)
5 x 100kg
8 x 100kg
5 x 100kg

Knee sleeves; O-shoes; belted. All reps performed as fast as possible.

Ring Pull-ups
19(PR)+7,5,3 x bw - Myo-rep style

Tried for 20 reps but failed half-way up. I'll get 20 soon.
 
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Tue 27/08/13

Lateral Raise
20 x 5kg

Deadlift
10 x 100kg (220lb)
As warmup for...

Snatch-grip High Pull
5 x 100kg
5 x 110kg (242lb)
5 x 110kg

Pulled as high as possible to somewhere around mid to upper-chest. Last 2 reps of each set were very challenging. All reps lowered under control to floor.

Ring Dips
17+7

I'm fairly sure 17 ring dips is a PR. Waited a short time and then knocked out another seven. These were warmups for...

Pelican (Stage 1)
3, 2, 3, 3

Pelican, Stage 1, is performed with feet on a block. These are brutal so shoulders need to be really warmed up before attempting them. Triples were hard enough for my first try at Stage 1.

Push-ups
25
For a much needed shoulder warm-down.

Notes
Pelicans were performed in my hall, over a tiled floor, so I had to be a bit careful not to do a faceplant, hence only two reps on my second set. I'm hoping to work up to sets of 5 for these before moving on to Stage 2.
 
Wed 28/08/13

This was my last w/o before going away for a week. Started out with a few hang-snatches before moving on to a C&J session. I thought I would go for one-rep/minute, starting with bodyweight (85kg).

General Warmup
Shoulder dislocates
Air squats
Lunges

Hang Snatch
5 x 20kg
5 x 30kg
3 x 40kg
1 x 50kg
1 x 50kg

Not great form and hands really sore so decided to move on to C&J's...

C&J
W-U: 60,60,70,70,80kg
One rep/min:
10 x 1 x 85kg (187lb)
5 x 1 x 90kg (198lb)
5 x 1 x 95kg (209lb)
Final reps with ~2 min rest interval...
1 x 100kg (220lb)
1 x 100kg
1 x 100kg - Press out
1 x 100kg - FF
Shoulders tired so switched to cleaning only...

Clean
2 x 100kg (PR)
Seemed like a good place to stop.

Parallel-grip Chins
10 x BW
7 x BW+20kg (44lb)
6 x BW+20kg (44lb)
5 x BW+20kg (44lb) + 10 partials
5 x BW+20kg (44lb) + 5 partials + 5 negs
3 x BW + 4 negs

Ring Pull-ups
8+1,1 - back totally fried!

Notes
C&J session went quite well. Intended to keep load at 85kg for all 20 reps but after 10 reps I felt like my jerk form was improving so upping the load seemed like the right thing to do. Getting a PR double at the end of the session was a nice way to finish. Interesting how a minute's rest between reps felt like loads of time initially but like no time at all for the final 5 reps with 95kg. Next time I try this, I'll switch to 90kg after 5 reps and see how I get on from there.

Back at it in a week.
 
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