Fishing, along with billiards, bowling and cheerleading are considered sports by ESPN. Who knew? Weightlifting, came in ranked at #44, just ahead of sprint swimming and behind middle distance track and field. What was ranked as the #1 sport and how are they all ranked?
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The 2008 NAO was held last weekend, December 5-7  in beautiful Chandler, Arizona. I would have liked to attended that event. Maybe I would have learned something useful to make my own lifts work better! From all accounts, the event was a success! Read the rest of this entry

Here is what it should like, featuring Aimee Anaya.

Now that’s how get extension! Catalyst Athletics has this to say about extension:

“In order to remain balanced, the athlete must be leaned back slightly at the top of the extension of the snatch (this can often be avoided in the clean with compensatory movements elsewhere). Note that this does not mean the hips are pushed forward–as much as possible, the body is extended straight and in its entirely leaned back.”

So, that is my Oly lift project, full extension.

•Speaking of the snatch, Mike Covert reports a new PR @ 145 lbs with a body weight around 175 lbs. Nice job, Mike!

•Our gym is getting inundated with bodybuilder photo shoots. I guess if it helps pay the bills, fine, just stay away from the big boy toys, Mirror Muscle Man!

•Scott and his freaks have taken a hiatus from their strongman stuff to do an Olympic lifting cycle, now that I have two sets of my bumper plates residing over at the gym. Like their other lifting,  technique doesn’t seem to matter as much as how much weight gets on the bar. To their credit, a couple of the guys can clean and jerk heavy.

•Having learned chocolate milk makes for a good recovery drink, I don’t have to waste money on Muscle Milk. Chocolate milk is a good “treat” for a heavy lifting session. “Who wants Ovaltine?”

•Medicine balls do work better when you have someone throwing them back to you!

•As the weekend draws to a close, Bucky won and the Packers put on a show, especially at the end of the game and came away victorious. Both teams are undefeated! The Cowboys are in the house next Sunday. Should be a great game!

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

Monday, 6/9/08

Warmed up with 3 rounds of Burgeners
Snatch: 65×3/75×3/88×1
Clean & Jerk: 95/115/125
Front Squat: 135×2/185×2

Snatch, 85% 1RM x 1 x4: 98/98/98/98/
Clean and Jerk. 85% x 1 x 4: 139/139/139/139/
Front Squat, 85% x 2 x 3: 205/205/205/

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Tuesday, 6/10/08

Burgeners x 3

Muscle Snatch: 65×3/75×3/85×3/85×3/88×2 x3

Power Snatch + Overhead Squat: 95×1 x5

Cleans: 95/115/140

Power Clean & Jerk, 80%, 139×1 x4 3 Rounds for time: •400 meter run •20 kettlebell swings, 24 kg. •20 sit-ups •20 back extensions

Now for some metcon…

3 rounds for time…

• run 400 meters
• 20 kettlebell swings
• 20 sit-ups
• 20 back extensions

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Wednesday, 6/11/08

Rest Day

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Thursday, 6/12/08

Warm-ups, Burgeners x 3.
Snatch, 65×3/75×3/.

Snatch, 80% (85#) x 1 x 5
Clean & Jerk, 80% (130) x 1 x 5

3 rounds,
•20 x 24 kg Kettlebell Snatch
•400 meter run

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Friday, 6/13/08

70# Sandbag Workout

Stair Climbs

•Zercher Carries: 3 x 3
•Over the Shoulder, L: 3 x 3
•Over the Shoulder, R: 3 x 3
•On the Back: 3 x 3

Back Squats: 3 x 10

Side Throws: 16

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Saturday, 6/14/08

Rest Day

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Sunday, 6/15/08

Trained over at Steve Belanger’s Old School Barbell Club and did some kettlebell deadlifts and swings. Steve is an accomplished kettlebell RKC and today he trained Valerie and provided more useful tips and ideas for me. His new website is Kettlebells and Beyond and his forte is functional barbell, kettlebell and clubbell training as well as all that cool old school stuff.

KB Deadlifts, 48 kg: 6/10

KB Swings, 3×6, 3×10

Hungarian Core Blaster Swings, 120#: 3×10

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Monday, 5/12/08

Muscle Snatch + Behind-the-Neck Press + Overhead Squat, 4×3
45/65/95/105

Clean + 3 Presses
110/110/115/125

Clean & Jerk, (from the hang)
110/110/115/125/145/155 pc/155/160pr

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Tuesday, 5/13/08

Burgener w/up x 3

Muscle Snatch + Behind the neck presses + Overhead Squats, x 3
45/65

Hang Squat Cleans + 3 Push Presses, x 4
65/95/115/140

3×30X sit-ups.

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Wednesday, 5/14/08

Takin’ a break

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Thursday, 5/15/0

More Oly lifting. Warmed with Burgeners

Hang Power Snatch + Behind the Neck Presses + Overhead Squats, x 3
45/65/90/90.

Overhead Squats,
90×3/90×3/90×3/100×3/110×3/120×3/140×2/150/160pr.

Kettlebell Snatch, 20 kg.
3×40

Sit-ups
2×40

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Friday, 5/16/08

Big Oly Lift training session with Danny Henry.

After warm-ups, the first thing Danny taught me was the correct way to dump the bar. I even did that incorrectly, but now I know. I did a lot of muscle snatches, overhead squats and RDLs and all the training was done from the hang position. He had me do a lot of power snatches and full snatches. Danny found that I get the full snatches better than the power snatch and the same held with the cleans we did later. I did not count reps or weights, but while the weights were not that heavy, there were a shit load of reps. Sets were usually 3×3 or 5×3. It seems on this day, my biggest problem was starting the third pull too soon, before even getting close to my navel. Danny said my legs and hips were strong and I can move the bar quickly, but too soon and too far away from my body. I did some overhead squats and liked them, though he pointed out my flexibility issues and some weakness at the left scapular area.

After the skill lifts, he took at look at my front squats (didn’t like ‘em) and helped me make the corrections so that it would match the corresponding part of the clean. Next, he had me do a bunch of strict overhead presses and taught me to keep tight and keep the elbows out in front of the bar and to keep tension on the lats. He also corrected my head position to keep it neutral and not looking up above parallel. I did 6×5 of the presses.

By the time I finished these, I was totally spent, but we played around with kettlebells, including a game of “catch”. Being the coach he is, Danny corrected some things he saw while swinging and snatching 24 and 35 kilo Fedorenko kettlebells. I was so smoked, there was no possible way to have a semblance of decent form; that was long gone.

This workout lasted about 2 hours! I more than got my money worth and I expect tomorrow will be recovery.

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Saturday, 5/17/08

I was wiped out from yesterday so this most definitely was all about recovery.

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Sunday, 5/18/08

Went for a beautiful, scenic skate around Back Bay.

Er, scratch that. Due to time constraints, I started off with a 200 meter run and then alternated 3 more 200 meter runs with 3 x 20, 32 kg kettlebell swings. It was hot, sweaty and ugly, but done in 15 minutes. (More accurately, I was done in 15 minutes)!

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I like powerlifting and other barbell and kettlebell lifting, but here are the Top Ten Reasons I Like the Olympic Lifts:

10. The lifts use the entire body in one fluid motion. There is no isolation aspect about them.

9. They look cool, (when they are done correctly)!

8. The names of the lifts themselves are double entendres. You can use the words now in polite company.

7. You don’t look like a bodybuilder or a powerlifter, but you do look damn strong.

6. The speed, power and explosiveness generated transfer well into many sports and activities.

5, People in the gym don’t quite know what to make of you. One guy recently asked me, “Why are you doing high school lifts?”

4. They are very technical and therefore a challenge to learn and master.

3. You pretty much have free access to the proper equipment, at least in my gym, because you don’t have to compete with others on “chest day” or “leg day”.

2. Chicks dig you. (Ok, I made that up, but that’s Curry’s motivation for snatching “a wheel”).

1. When the lift is completed, you get to drop the loaded barbell from over your head and let it bounce around and make a lot of noise. Even a light load is loud.

Go ahead, use the Comments below to add to the list.

Since taking up Crossfit a couple of years ago at age 50, one of the things I got re-introduced to was Olympic weightlifting, which are the snatch and the clean and jerk. I had an interest in them way back in my early high school years and on occasion, on Saturdays, I went to the Eagles’ Club in Milwaukee with my dad and had a chance to do a rudimentary form of the C & J (a nice way to say no form at all) with dedicated lifters. There was just no opportunity to go any further with the lifts. Our high school gym consisted of a chrome multi-station Universal machine, one of the early progenitors of The Rise of the Machines in gyms all across America.

I have received a small amount of group instruction time from Mike Burgener in a Crossfit certification, but the only hands-on, eyes-on training came with the instruction of Stephane Rochet, now the strength and conditioning coach at University of San Diego. That was good fundamental training from Stephane that furthered my interest in learning the lifts.

More recently at my gym, two other guys share my interest in the lifts,  Jon Curry and Mike Covert. Jon and I train and share a goal of doing a good looking 135 lb snatch while Mike has great athleticism and ability with a knack for good technique. It is a lot of fun to train with these guys, but I have been wanting to get coached for a while at this.

Last weekend, after Val’s Santa Monica race, we went to Gold’s Gym and met Danny Henry as he was coaching a lifter. After a brief conversation and a phone call this week, I trained with Danny for the first time Thursday afternoon at Gold’s.

Danny took me through some warm-ups while talking about the lifts in general. Danny is a very enthusiastic student of the weight game and definitely was excited at the prospect of training me. (He must like the challenge of training a stubborn, over-the-hill wannabee weightlifter)!! As we progressed through various drills from the muscle snatch, front squats, RDL, bar positioning, etc., I was impressed by his attention to detail. He would make sure tell me what worked and what didn’t after each lift and explain what needs to happen. I could tell he was forming a baseline for me. That baseline will continue next week as he will put me through sub-maximal lifts to better see where I am in all this and how he will structure my training.

My first session went for 90 minutes and his fee was very reasonable considering what training can go for in southern California. I definitely got value for my money which is nice for a change when I consider what I spent and what I got out of a weekend certification not all that long ago.

Monday, 4/28/08

I warmed up with Burgeners, Snatch Lands, Snatch Balances, Dislocates, overhead squats and slam balls.

Barbell Snatch: 45×3/45×3/45×3 w/Overhead squat w/each rep. 65×3/65×3.
Barbell Snatch, (work set),78% of my 1RM. 90×1/120×1x4

Clean and Jerk:90/90/110/110/
Clean and jerk (work set) 78% of 1RM, 120×1x4

Clean Pulls, 100% of 1RM clean, 175×2x4

Back Squats, 135×5/225×3/245×3/275×2

The back squats were coming apart at the seams. Not hydrated enough and not enough sleep over the last few days.

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Tuesday, 4/30/08

Squat Cleans:

90×2/90×3/90×3/110×3/140×3/150×2/155×2/155×3

Kettlebell Swings, 32 kg.

15×10

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Wednesday, 4/30/08

Rest

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Thursday, 5/1/08

Power Snatch:

45×3/45×3/65×3/75×3/90×3/90×3/90×3/90×2/90/90

Squat Cleans + Front Squat:
90×3/110×3/110×3/110×3/110×3.

Kettlebell Swings, 24 kg.
30/15

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Friday, 3/2/08

Rest

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Saturday, 3/3/08

Crossfit Warm-up

Burgener Warm-ups

BB Snatch:
45×3/45×3/65×3/75×3/90/90/90/90/90.

Clean & Jerk:
90×3/100/110/120/125/135/150pr/155f/

Kettlebell Swings, 32 kg:
3/20

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Sunday, 3/4/08

Cheesy 20 minute run chasing down the racers to beat them to the finish line by taking as many shortcuts as possible. That’s it!

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This is not the name of new cleaning chemical or piece of equipment for cleaning your driveway, but a highly effective progression lift for the Olympic-style clean and jerk. Check out what my friend Mehdi has written about this great lift, one that many consider one of the Top 5 strength and power lifts to do.

It was time to knock out a few sets of these and did just that after practicing my movements with a stick and then an empty bar for the Burgener’s.

Six sets of Power Cleans, at 3 reps each:

95/115/135/155/165/135 and proceeded into 3 sets of 3
Clean & Jerks

145/145/135