Monday, 8/18/08

During the warm-ups, I did empty bar OHS, starting wide and moving in to clean grip. I also did behind-the-back presses, sliding the bar as far down my back as possible.

Hang Snatch, x2:
45/65/70/80/88/90/95/100

Snatch Pulls, x3:
155/155/155/165

Tuesday, 8/19/08

Birthday Workout

My Birthday Present

Shoulder Press, 5×5:
95/115/135/135/155

Clean Deadlift, x3
205/205

Snatch Deadlift from deficit, x3
205/205

Deadlift, x 3
275/295/325 (70%)/325/325

Wednesday, 8/20/08

Rest Day

Thursday, 8/21/08

Warm-up included 45# OHS starting wide and ending with clean grip.

Snatch, 2 position:
45/45/65/70/75/88/95/100/105/111/115/125f/

Behind the Neck Jerk x 3
124/125/125/125

Overhead Squat, x 3
125/125/125/125

Clean & Jerk, 2 position x 2:
115/115/125/135/155

Ab-Mat sit-ups:
3×35

Val's Birthday Gift to MarkFu

Friday, 8/22/08

100 Air Squats (100)
100 Push-ups (40/20/15/11/14). Wow, been a while. Push-ups are rusty!
100 Sit-ups (50/50)

Kettlebell Swings, 32 kg w/2″ rope: 10
Kettlebell Swings, 32 kg w/1.5″ rope: 10
Kettlebell Swings, 32 kg 2H: 5×10
Kettlebell Swings, 32 k 1H: 5×10

Saturday, 8/23/08

Took some training with a trainer who used to be the strength and conditioning coach at Newport Harbor High School.

Snatch: 65×3/88×3/111×2/131×1 f/111×2/
The problem is my second pull isn’t there and there is no hip pop.
Cleans: 111×2. Same problem, no hip pop.

Clean Deadlifts; 2×5 @ 155#

Front Squats: 45×10/88×5/111×5/131×5/; 155×3/175×3/185×3/195×3/165×3/175×3/175×3

Sunday, 8/24/08

Rest Day

Yesterday was MarkFu’s birthday and Val came through with a surprise gift, due to arrive tomorrow. They are the Nike Romaleos weightlifting shoe-Nike’s first shoe for this sport. If you have been watching any of the Olympic weightlifting on nbcolympics, you will see virtually every athlete wearing Adidas, which have been the de facto standard for years. By no means are they the only shoes out there. I have a pair of Do-Wins which are very good and friends of mine have shoes made by VS. Clearly, weightlifting shoes are sport specific, so you aren’t going out for a run in them, nor should you lift in running shoes either.

I am looking forward to getting the Romaleos and trying them out, but a couple things make me scratch my head at Nike’s first entry into the sport. Take a look at the video which features the shoe’s designer.

Ok, did you catch that? Has anyone seen the video of the lifter that put 1,000 pounds over his head? Then there is the part where he explains “splitting into the snatch” while showing the lifter completing a jerk from the clean and jerk. Ok, Nike, I know this is your first shoe in this sport, but you need to understand the sport and the terminology before you put this video out. Print marketing fares no better as they proclaim with this shoe you will “dominate the deadlift”. Um, no, actually you won’t. Better get a pair of Chucks for that. This isn’t nit-picking, so fix it, Nike!

Nevertheless, I am anxious to try out the shoes, which just became available to the public after only the American, Chinese and Ukrainian Olympic teams had custom versions of the Romaleos to train and compete in. At the very least, they sure look cool!

Thanks, Val!

This week, most of the world’s attention has been focused on US swimmer, Michael Phelps, who is poised to break Mark Spitz’ gold medal performance of 36 years ago and will go down as one of, if not the greatest Olympian of all time.

The United States has had very modest expectations for their prospects in Olympic weightlifting and even that took a blow a day before the opening ceremonies when Casey Burgener was disallowed to compete for the third men’s spot. Melanie Roach, one of three US women placed sixth in her weight category and set an American record in the process. Kendrick Farris notched an 8th place finish, breaking two US records in the process. Both lifters were impressive and have to be pleased with their showings.

Marty “The Purposeful Primitive” Gallagher has a new book and weekly column over at Dragondoor. The book is a must-read and his first column reads like it is too. No fluff. I like that.

“Stupid is as stupid does” according to Forrest Gump and if you are a gym regular, you see a lot of potentially dangerous and stupid things in the gym, which makes a great case for having your own garage gym. I wonder when, after “arm day” or “leg day” there will be a “brain day”. While not technically a muscle, when you use it and work it, it “grow”s as does the muscle.

I had a good week with my training with a solid kettlebell and sandbag day and the usual logging in of snatch lifts. I haven’t been too active with deadlifts and less so with squats so I did 5×5’s of each after some Oly work. But none was like MarkFu’s Big Lift. It was one for the ages. Speaking of age, I am about to move the ticker forward by a year to, <drumroll>, 53; the prime of my athletic life!

Sunday capped off my training with some barbell cleans in the gym and then went outside to do some “dinosaur training” by cleaning and pressing an 80# rock while on my knees! Great core work since I can use my hips or legs. I posted some pictures. Take a look. Fun stuff!

Monday, 8/11/08

In 20 minutes, count rounds of:
5 overhead squats, 45#
10 GHD sit-ups
10 hip extensions

Total: 14 rounds

Tuesday, 8/12/09

Warmed up with a short jog and into some light kettlebell stuff.

With a 20 kg kettlebell,

2×50 Figure 8’s, 2×15 Goblet Squats, 2×20 Overhead Squats,

2 Hands Anyhow with a 16 and 24 kg bell

Kettlebell Swings, 32 kg, 2H: 4×20

Kettlebell Swings, 32 kg, 1: 4×20

100# Sandbag Zercher Squats: 5×5

Wednesday, 8/13/08

Rest Day

Thursday, 8/14/08

Burgener warm-ups x 3

Hang Snatch:
65×3/75×3/80×3/ 2 position: 90×2/90×2/95×2/100×2/105×3

Back Squat. 5×5
135/185/225/245/235

Deadlift, 5×5
225/275/315/335/315

Hungarian Core Blaster
78×10/78×10/103×10/103×10/1003×10/103×10

AbMat sit-ups
4×30

Friday, 8/15/08

Rest Day

Saturday, 8/16/08

BB Snatch, x 2:

65/65/70/75/80/88/95/95/100/

Single + 3 OHS

105/105

Sunday, 8/17/08

Warmed up by doing empty bar overhead squats starting wide and finishing with a clean grip. 6×3.

Squat clean + 3 front squats: 88

Squat Clean + 3 Presses: 88/95/115

Squat Clean singles + 3 Push Presses: 135/135/145/159/159/164 (97% 1RM)

Now for the fun stuff…

I found a rock at the back of the gym and decided to kneel in front of it and clean and press it. I cleaned it 5x and on each clean pressed it 3-5 times. Great core training as there is no hip and leg play. I got tight and lifted. After that, I walked it about 75 meters and put my new implement on the scale where it weighed in at 80#.

Are you tired of all the ads for “male enhancement” and ED (erectile dysfunction) products that pop up everywhere on tv (and in this blog’s comments spam)? Now that the NFL season is upon upon us, we will soon be subjected to another onslaught of these ads. What are these people thinking? When it’s football season, we don’t care about ED, we want to see the opposing quarterback sacked and the defensive line stiffen up and our own team rise to the occasion.

The little blue pill that started it all, Viagra, may have another use and that is in the athletic arena. Yes, that’s right, performance enhancement on the playing field.

Some studies have shown improvement in cardiac output of Italian cyclists riding at altitude. The improved blood flow that helps a guy’s hydraulics may actually translate into benefits that improve athletic performance. You can read the article from EliteFTS, by Kristin A. Yukness and raise your own issues with its athletic use potential.

Apparently a lot of athletes are and have been using Viagra and claiming benefits, including drug user in-denial, pitcher Roger Clemens. Never mind that the science does not fully support the alleged performance enhancing claims. When did that stop anybody? The whole supplement industry is rife with fraudulent nutritional and ergogenic claims for their products. Why can’t can’t Viagra get on that bandwagon?

Even if I wasn’t opposed to trying it, no way I’m taking that pill and walking into my gym. Not gonna happen!

Just remember the disclaimer about the possibility of a 4 hour woody!

***UPDATE*** More on this story at the International Herald Tribune article, “Does Viagra Give Athletes An Advantage?”

Well, actually by my count, there is more stupidity than that, but Mark Sisson of Mark Sisson’s Daily Apple listed his “10 Unnecessary, Worthless and Dangerous Exercises”. I say, “Good start”.

One of the things I notice most often is that many trainers working with their clients are allowing and not correcting poor form. You pay these people to coach and train you properly. One successful and respected trainer I know says he has given up trying to get some of clients to heed his good advice on good form. Who is to fault, especially if the client gets injured while using crappy form? If your trainer or coach is trying to correct your poor form, listen to him! If your trainer isn’t paying attention to your form, tell him or find someone better. Watching these summer games is a good lesson on paying close attention to technique and coaching.

There are many foolish things going on in the box to be sure. How many can you think of?

This blog doesn’t get a lot of comments but I would like to hear your observations answering the question,  “What do you find most annoying in the gym or facility you train in?

Let me start…how about guys who hog a squat rack to do bicep curls?

Here is video of that huge lift…

Janos Baranyai of Hungary dislocated his elbow at the Beijing Olympic Weightlifting competition. He was on is 3rd lift with 148 kg (325.6 lbs). That had to hurt!

The Purposeful Primitive himself, Marty Gallagher is now writing a weekly column called “Marty Gallagher’s Primitive Synergy-Iron, Mind, Cardio and Nutrition”. It will appear at the Dragondoor site every Tuesday.

Marty’s first installment is The Purposefully Primitive Manifesto-Who we are-Why we do the things we do in the way that we do them.

In the article, Marty breaks down the four disciplines of resistance training, brain training, cardiovascular training and nutrition.

From the article, here is his template of the four disciplines:

Resistance subdivision
1.    use free weights
2.    trigger hypertrophy
3.    feed and rest battered muscle
4.    exceed capacity in some way

Cardiovascular subdivision
1.    monitor frequency
2.    monitor duration
3.    monitor session intensity
4.    use a periodized cardio game plan

Brain Train subdivision
1.    willpower is finite
2.    enthusiasm is self-sustaining mental fuel
3.    master instantaneous pre-lift psyche-up techniques
4.    master sustained psyche for long term adherence

Performance Nutrition subdivision
1.    lean protein & fiber carbs are the backbone
2.    eat wholesome, tasty, nutritious foods in ample amounts
3.    detoxify the chemically poisoned body
4.    coordinate performance nutrition with exercise to oxidize bodyfat

It looks like we are going to get some great information from Marty if his first article is any indication. Marty is among other things, a professional writer, so you will find well-written material from him. By the way, his new book, “The Purposeful Primitive” is excellent and available from Dragondoor and Amazon to name two sources.

MarkFu Casts a Long Shadow!

Monday, 8/4/08

Snatch , 85% x 1 x 5:
65×2/70×2/75×2/88×2/95pc/95/
103/103/103/103/103f/103

Clean + Push Press, 85% x 1 x 5:
PF, 95×3/115×3/115×2/
115/139/141/141/141/141.

Tuesday, 8/5/08

Rest Day

Wednesday, 8/6/08

Kettlebell warm-ups included deadlifts, high pulls, goblet squats, sumo deadlift high pulls with 20, 24 and 32 kilo bells.

20 kg snatch: 10/20/30

24 kg. snatch: 10/20/30

20 kg. clean and press: 10/20

24 kg. clean and press: 10/20/20

32 kg. two hand swings: 10/20/30.

Thursday, 8/7/08

I don’t know that I would call this a de-load week, but it is definitely a back-off week. After 3 sets of Burgeners to warm-up,

Snatch, 2 position @ 60-70%: 65/72/72/72 + 3 overhead squats/88/88/88/ all three of those included 3 overhead squats.

Squat Cleans, 2 position @ <60 & 70% + 3 front squats: 97/97/97/120/120/120.

GHD Sit-ups: 20/20/20.

Back Extensions: 20/20/20.

Friday 8/8/08

Running hill repeats on Back Bay loop. There were two hills, a large one with an asphalt surface and the other hill and the rest of the terrain was dirt. 6 laps, 12 uphill runs with light jogging and walking for recovery. No timing, distance or heart rate were measured. Hot and high humidity were the order of the day.

Saturday, 8/9/08

BB Snatch x 3, squat and power:
65/65/88/88/88/88/88/ most of them sucked ass. A few decent ones snuck through.

Cleans x 3, power and squat:
88/95/115/135/155/155

One-handed BB snatch, x 3 each side:
45/65/70/75

Sunday, 8/10/08

Ruck run on the beach at the river jetty in Newport to the first breakwater and back in 20 minutes with a 40# weighted vest. An additional 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after were run in the soft sand. Beautiful day, nice breeze and cool, good music and sweat!

Kite Surfer