Lol's New HST Log

Wed 04/09/13

After my week off, I was able to pay a visit to a Crossfit gym. They run an open session from 3-6pm so I went along for some of that. First time I've trained in an actual gym for years.

It was great to have so much more space for some O-lifting. My weight room at home is really tight for space.

General Warmup
Shoulder dislocates
Ring pull-ups
Lunges
Air squats
Nekid bar snatches

Snatch
5 x 30kg
3 x 40kg
3 x 50kg
2 x 60kg
2 x 60kg + 3 OHS

All reps from floor. Felt more confident getting down under the bar better today. Whether this was because of the extra space or because I was being watched, I don't know? Hands were feeling much better too.

Clean & Jerk
2 x 60kg
2 x 70kg
1 x 80kg
1 x 80kg
1 x 90kg
1 x 95kg
1 x 95kg
1 x 100kg - Jerk FF
1 x 100kg - much better jerk.

Standing up with the bar felt harder today which I put down to having a week off.

Notes
One of the coaches said he thought my form was pretty good for both lifts and he gave me a few tips and some things to work on too. He recommended I include snatch balance in my training to gain confidence dropping down quickly under a loaded bar. The only way I can do this is to clean & jerk the bar overhead then drop it down on to my traps before taking a snatch grip. I suspect I'll have to start light to get this set up movement drilled.
 
(I hope to be playing catchup with my log over the course of this week. I haven't been doing nothing!)

Sat 07/09/13

Finally arrived back home on Sat eve. Decided to do a light workout to get back into the swing of things.

Lateral Raises
30 x 5kg - one plate in each hand
20 x 5kg

Dips
20 x BW
15 x BW
15 x BW

Front Squat
10 x 40kg
10 x 70kg
10 x 70kg
10 x 70kg

Felt a bit of a twinge in my lower back on the left side during the penultimate set. Thought it might go away on the final set but it didn't.

Ring Pull-ups
5 x 10 x BW

Notes
Don't quite know what I did during squats? They were only light but something definitely wasn't right afterwards; my lower-back started to stiffen up pretty quickly so I went at it with a tennis ball rolling session immediately afterwards. There was a very tender area on the left side near the lowest lumbar vertebra. I probably should have iced the area but I didn't.
 
Mon 09/09/13

I've been doing a few tennis ball massage sessions for my lower back each day. There's a bit of inflammation on one of the nerves which is causing some sciatica type pain. It's not bad, just a nuisance and I don't want to aggravate it further. No squats tonight.

General Warmup
Shoulder dislocates
Lots of nekid bar stretches for hips and ankles in bottom position
Nekid bar muscle snatches

Hang Snatch (below knee)
3 x 30kg
3 x 40kg
3 x 50kg
3 x 60kg

No straps, wrist wraps or knee sleeves.

Working on pulling bar into hips once above knee. Very effective. However, back was tweaky so stopped there and did a bunch of stretching and tennis ball massaging.
 
Wed 11/09/13

Two days on and the back is improving a little each day.

General Warmup
Shoulder dislocates
Airs squats
Nekid bar muscle snatches & OHS's

Front Squat
10 x 40kg
10 x 60kg

Testing the waters. Seemed pretty good.

Hang Snatch
W-U: 5 x 20kg, 3 x 30kg, 3 x 40kg
3 x 50kg
3 x 60kg
2 x 60kg

OHS
10 x 60kg PR

Snatch
1 x 60kg
0 x 65kg - FF
1 x 65kg

Notes
Took everything carefully tonight. Back was a lot better. Light weights are still essential for my snatch form practice. Actually got a PR on my overhead squats, which could be down to improved balance in the hole, a more upright torso and a better/stronger shoulder position.
 
Fri 13/09/13

Lower-back still giving me some 'tweakiness' but Wednesday's session didn't have any negative effect.

General Warmup
C2 row: 1k in 3:47
Lateral raise: 30 x 5kg plate in each hand; from hands at sides to plates touching overhead.
Nekid bar muscle snatches

Snatch
W-U: 5 x 20kg, 3 x 30kg, 3 x 40kg, 3 x 50kg
2 x 60kg
2 x 60kg
1 x 65kg
1 x 65kg
1 x 65kg + 5 OHS
0 x 70kg FF

Just missed the 70kg lift. Trying hard not to power snatch once the load gets over 60kg.

Hang Cleans
5 x 70kg - just because I had the bar in my hands from the failed snatch.

Ring Pull-ups
16

Notes
Lower-back was ok so I'm feeling positive about squatting again soon.

I found out that my local Life Centre has now got two Olympic lifting platforms, with bars and bumper plates, so I will pay them a visit soon. You can stay there as long as you like once you've paid your £5 admission (7am -10pm), plus you get to use the sauna and showers. That's a good deal in my book. It seems I don't have to pay a membership fee which is ideal as I can go along when I fancy a change of scenery.
 
Sun 15/09/13

Short workout.

General Warmup
C2 row: 1k in 4:00
Lateral raise: 30 x 5kg plate in each hand; from hands at sides to plates touching overhead.
Nekid bar muscle snatches

Hang Snatch (from high-hang to just above floor)
W-U: 5 x 20kg, 5 x 30kg, 3 x 40kg
3 x 50kg
5 x 50kg
10 x 50kg - pretty tiring; all good reps


Single-arm Hang (from ring)
3 x 15 sec

Right, then left. Just wanted to see how my grip strength was doing. Didn't test it to failure but 15 seconds wasn't really easy either. Right definitely stronger than left.
 
Mon 16/09/13

General Warmup
C2 row: 2k in 8:00 @ 28 spm
Lateral raise: 20 x 5kg plate in each hand; from hands at sides to plates touching overhead.
Nekid bar muscle snatches

Hang Snatch (from high-hang)
W-U: 5 x 20kg, 5 x 30kg, 3 x 40kg
5 x 50kg
5 x 55kg
5 x 55kg
5 x 57.5kg
5 x 60kg
4 x 62.5kg - failed 5th rep to front

Ring Pull-ups
16+5,5,3,3

Myo-rep set. Back was tired from snatches. 16 reps was my max for today.

Notes
Pleased with hang snatch session. Only narrowly missed the 5th rep with 62.5kg which would have been a PR from the high-hang. I'm not using straps either. Hands are getting a bit beaten up.
 
Tue 17/09/13

General Warmup
C2 row: 1k in 3:59 @ 28 spm
Lateral raise: 20 x 5kg plate in each hand; from hands at sides to plates touching overhead.
Nekid bar muscle snatches

Hang Snatch (first rep from floor, rest from high-hang to below knee)
W-U: 5 x 20kg, 5 x 30kg, 5 x 40kg
3 x 50kg
3 x 55kg
3 x 55kg
3 x 55kg
9 x 55kg - just missed 10th rep, FF

No straps.

High-bar Back Squat
W-U: 5 x 40kg, 5 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg
15 x 100kg (220lb)

No belt or knee sleeves.

First squats since I tweaked my lower-back just over a week ago. Everything seems to be ok again. Decided one set of 15 was enough.

Ring Pull-ups
10, 10

Different form: hands held in pronated position the whole time and moved out to sides at top of movement; brief pause at the top of each rep. Imagine doing a pull-up where you could move your head through the bar. These feel great for a really tight contraction of entire back at the top.

Notes
I haven't been using knee sleeves for any of my O-lifts for a while now. I can move into the receiving position faster without them, plus I think it's good for my knees to toughen up with these relatively light loads.

I'm still working on my ankle and hip flexibility and it is beginning to pay off.
 
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Wed 18/09/13

General Warmup
C2 row: 1k in 3:54 @ 30 spm, damper on 3
Lateral raise: 30 x 5kg plate in each hand; from hands at sides to plates touching overhead.

For my rowing warmup, I've been changing the stroke rate a bit each session. I try to keep it consistent throughout a session.

Ring Pull-ups
5 x 10 x BW

Faster reps for the last set and then a 10 second hold at the top of the last rep.

Ring Dips
10 - attempted to fully lock elbows in support position (hands in fully supinated position). These were very hard.
9+1 - couldn't manage 10 straight reps.
10 - these were regular dips with hands finishing in parallel position.
7+1,1,1 - ditto. Also very hard, hence a few singles added to get all 10 reps.

Push-ups
5 - immediately after final set of ring dips
20 - nice metabolic burn set
 
Thu 19/09/13

General Warmup
C2 row: 1k in 3:55 @ 31 spm; damping factor 125.
Lateral raise: 30 x 5kg plate in each hand; from hands at sides to plates touching overhead.
Nekid bar muscle snatches

Snatch off High Blocks
3 x 40kg
3 x 45kg
3 x 50kg
3 x 55kg
3 x 55kg
3 x 57.5kg
3 x 60kg
3 x 60kg - last rep power snatched :-/
3 x 60kg
4 x 60kg - all good reps
0 x 62.5kg - failed to front
4 x 1 x 62.5kg (138lb) - short breather between reps

OHS
7 x 62.5kg (138lb) - immediately after final snatch

I definitely had few more reps in me but my shoulders were tired and there was a chance I might have to dump the bar if I carried on, so I stopped at a safe rep. It was too late to slam bars.

Front Squat
10 x 80kg (176lb) - final rep paused in hole
10 x 80kg

No belt or knee sleeves. All reps as deep as possible. Got a slight bounce off calves.

Parallel-grip Chins
2 x 10 x BW

Handstand Against Wall
60 seconds - upper-back noticeably fatigued from snatches

Notes
Definitely carrying some fatigue into this workout. This is my fifth session in a row this week and, although my volume hasn't been high, I could definitely tell that the bar felt heavier tonight. The frequency has been good for snatch practice though. I haven't used my high-blocks for a while so it was fun to get them out again. Speed pulling myself down under the bar was a bit of an issue but I got more good reps than bad ones.

Lower-back was ok after front squats so it seems to have settled down now. I'll start to push the load up next time.
 
Fri 20/09/13

Day-off from weights.

C2 Rower
2k in 7:37 @ Av. 25 SPM, 1:54.2 split
200m in 33.7 @ Av. 48 SPM, 585W, 1:24.4 split

The 200m sprint was a bit slow compared to my old times but then it was after a 2k. I intended to do a few of these 200m sprints, but after the first one I decided to get some food instead.
 
Sat 21/09/13

Short but sweet session this evening.

General Warmup
C2 row: 1k in 3:54 @ 29 spm; damping factor 125.
Lateral raise: 20 x 5kg plate in each hand; from hands at sides to plates touching overhead.
Nekid bar muscle snatches

Hang Cleans
5 x 40kg
5 x 60kg
5 x 70kg
5 x 80kg
3 x 85kg
3 x 90kg

No belt or knee sleeves. All good reps. No jerks as it was too late to slam the bar.

Notes
Not feeling strong tonight. My sleep has been rubbish recently which is not helping with my recovery and is making me feel less than inclined to do much lifting. Hopefully, I'll get back on track next week and start focussing on some proper load progression.
 
Sun 22/09/13

Carried on with what I should have done yesterday...

Warmup
C2 row: 1k in 3:54 @ 28 SPM

High-bar Back Squat
W-U: 10 x 60kg, 5 x 80kg, 3 x 100kg, 1 x 110kg
5 x 120kg

ATG. No Belt or knee sleeves.

Well, that wasn't exactly what I was intending! I got to 5 reps with 120kg and felt it was getting too hard too quickly. Instead of grinding on to 10 reps I decided to rack it and fight again another day.
 
Tue 29/10/13

Hullo to all you HST'ers! Hope you're all getting on well with your training.

I haven't been doing nothing over the past month; I just haven't gotten round to logging everything here. I started to think that it wasn't actually much use to anyone here in any case. My training is not about hypertrophy anymore. Due to my health situation it's much more to do with strength-based skills and making improvements and progress in the Olympic lifts. I'm rowing about 10k a week too.

I have finally found a weightlifting club that I am intending to join. I'm planning on training with the club once a week and then the rest of my training will continue to be at home using my own gear. I figure that should help me to keep pushing myself through the cold, dark autumn/winter/spring evenings! The club have competitions with other local clubs throughout the year so that's a good incentive for me to start competing.

I have made a few PR's for reps recently but am holding off on 1RM attempts until the end of the year.

21/10/13
Hang Snatch (from high-hang, above knee)
3 x 70kg - at the end of a fairly long snatch training session.

Strict Muscle-Up (ie. no body swing or kip)
2 x bodyweight - just missed third at transition.

I have reverted to squatting sleeveless and beltless for the time being. I'm still working on my hip and ankle flexibility in the hole: always aiming to get my hips to come further forward to allow for a more upright torso. My right knee is pretty good at the moment. I'm not back up to sets of 5 with 140kg yet but I should be there by the end of the year. I'm good for a rock-bottom set of 15 with 110kg.

I have to go in to hospital for a couple of minor procedures in a couple of weeks time but that shouldn't mess with my training too much.

Time for a C2 row now. Take care folks.
 
It's all applicable, Lol - at least from my perspective. It's very interesting to me to see how we all evolve in terms of workout approach, and I'd have to think it would benefit just about everyone here to see how you continue to train if you have the time to log.

One question - what are you doing your muscle ups on? Rings or a bar?
 
Hi Tim, thanks for stopping by. Good to see you're still finding time to add to your log. It's always an interesting one. :)

I'll think about making a weekly log and include any highlights and/or "lowlights" in my training for that week.

I'm using rings for my muscle-ups. I'm practicing a range of different ring skills which are mainly aimed at core strengthening. I'm hoping to get to handstand push-ups on rings at some point. Yet another goal to add to the list!
 
Sun 3/11/13

Four lifting sessions last week: Snatch on Sunday; back squat and ring skills + dips on Mon; hang snatch and front squat (work sets were with 100kg for sets of 5), more ring skills + chins on Thurs; C&J plus clean pulls on Sat afternoon. 3 x 1k rowing sessions during the week too.

Some of my Sat session:

Current B/W ~85kg (187lb).

Clean & Jerk
2 x 40kg
2 x 50kg
2 x 60kg
2 x 70kg
2 x 80kg
2 x 85kg
1 x 85kg (187lb)
2 x 1 x 90kg (198lb)

10 x 1 x 95kg (209lb) - all good reps; back was feeling pretty spent after these were done.

Decided to try a few extra reps:
5 x 1 x 100kg (220lb) - Final jerk good; the rest FF
Cleans were all fine but I was just a bit too fatigued to drive the bar straight up, which was annoying so I made sure I got the fifth rep.

1 x 105kg (231lb) - clean only
Right hand came out from under the bar at top; tried to pop the bar up and get it back under but it wasn't happening.

I'm doing these lifts with a bent bar. It's a pain but I have to put up with it for the time being.

Notes
The first C&J with 95kg felt heavy as heck. Then the second rep felt as light as a feather! Really weird. I had to check the weights to make sure it was correct.

Bar got bent then un-bent then bent again; worse than ever now. It seems to bend close to the sleeves. It'll probably snap soon. That's not a great prospect so I'm looking into a replacement (again).
 
You are a machine. I wish I could be as consistent.

You better get that bar replaced before it gets too much worse. It would be scary for something catastrophic to happen with it while in the middle of one of those olympic lifts you like to do. I could see potentially going very bad.
 
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