Monday, 10/27/08

Sandbag Ladder Combo, 3 rounds, up to 5 reps; 60#

Burpee >pushup>squat clean + Clean and Press
2 minute rest between rounds.
3 rounds was more than enough for me. That was tough.

Tuesday, 10/28/08

Snatch Clusters:

65×2/65×2/75×2/75×2/
90×2/90 (2+2)/100 (2+2)/105 (2+2)/105/110/110/110/115/115.

Clean & Press, 5×5 @ 95#.

Wednesday, 10/29/08

Back Squat:

135×5/185×5.
225×3/245×3/265×3/275×3/285×3/300×3 pr/275×3

Hungarian Core Blaster Swings:

75×20/75×20/90×20/90×20/90×20.

Thursday, 10/30/08

Rest Day

Friday, 10/31/08

Reverse Hypers x 15: 50/70/80/80

Back Extensions: 4×15

Muscle Snatch: 65×3/65×3/75×3

Snatch, power and squat: 65×2/65×2/75×2/75×2/85×2/90×2/95×2/100×2/100/90×2

Hungarian Core Blaster: 105×5/115×5/120×5/120×5/125

Pumpkin Cleans

Saturday, 11/1/08

60# Sandbag x 300

Bent Row, 3×10
Zercher Squat, 3×10
Back Squat, 3×10

–
Step-Ups: 3×10
Lunges: 3×10
Jump Squats: 3×10
–
Squat Cleans: 3×10
Clean & Press: 3×10
Stair Jumps: 3×10

Sunday, 11/2/08

Rest Day

Monday, 8/25/08

Burgener warm-ups with empty bar snatches

BB Snatch:

65×3/70×3/75×3/80×2/88/88/88/88/88.

Good Mornings:

95/115/135/135/135

2 sets, 10 GHD sit-ups, 10 Hip Extensions to hyper extensions for the hammies, 10 Reverse Crunches.

Tuesday, 8/26/08

4 rounds:

10 70# sandbag lifts (power cleans, squat cleans, zercher squats, overhead presses)
10 70# kettlebell swings
10 AbMat sit-ups
10 push-ups
10 burpees
10 air squats

Brief rest between sets

Wednesday, 8/27/08

Rest Day

Torri’s Deadlift PR

Thursday, 8/27/08

Burgener Warm-ups x 3

Muscle Snatch:
65×3/65×3

Power Snatch:
65×3/65×3

Hang Snatch:
65×3/65×3/7×2/75×3 crap/; the rest were singles, 75/80/90/90/90/95/100/100/100/100

Hang Clean:
112×2/111×2/120×2/125×2/135×2/145×2/155×2/1600×2

BB Russian Twists, x 10:
45/55/65

Kettlebell Snatch:
3×20

Abmat Sit-ups:
30/40/30

Reverse Crunches:
2×15

Friday, 8/29/08

Rest Day

Saturday, 8/30/08

Mid Hang Snatch:
45×3/65×3/70×3/
75/80/85/90/95/100 ps/100/105/105f/105 ps/105/110 ps/110 f/110 f/110.

DE Deadlifts:
225×5/225×5
60% @280#, 5 singles, with 1 minute rest between lifts.
70% @325#, 5 singles, with 1 minute rest.
75% @350#, 2 singles, with 1 minute rest.

Sandbag Cleans,
70# squat: 10/10/
power: 10/10/10

Sandbag Zercher Squats,
70# 10/10/10

Sunday, 8/31/08

40# Ruck Run. After walking for 10 minutes with the ruck, I ran, as it where, for 5 minutes. When I got to the base of my hill, I ran up it 2x and walked down. After I ran up 3 more times, I added in 25 step-ups on a rock, 25 push-ups and 25 air squats for each. This took about 25 minutes and walked another 10 minutes to get home, totally spent!

Monday, 7/28/08

3 Position Snatch, x 3: 65/65/75/80/88/90
Hang Power Clean, x 3: 90/115/139/149/155 + press/160 f/160 + press.

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Tuesday 7/29/08

Kettlebells Swings Pyramid, 24 kg. 5×15 32 kg. 5×10 103 lb.* 5×5 *is a T-Bar or homemade “Hungarian Core Blaster” 103 lb. 5×5 32 kg. 5×10 24 kg. 5×15 About a minute rest between most sets.

For the finisher,

Farmers Walk, 2 x 190 lb x 225 & 250′ respectively.

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Wednesday, 7/30/08

Rest Day

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Thursday, 7/31/08

Hang Snatch 65×3/75×3/90/90/100/110

HITT Run, 20 min 5 minute walk followed by running intervals 1 minute run, 1 minute rest, 1:1 for 15 minutes.

Overhead Squats 45×5/90×3/95×3/105×3/115×3/135×3

Kettlebell Swings, 32 kg. 2H: 10/10/10 H2H: 10/10/10/10/10/10/10 —————————————————————–

Friday, 8/1/01

HIIT Workout in Back Bay. I walked for 5 minutes with a 40# weighted vest and then did 8 hill repeats, 1 minute on, 2 minutes rest. Good solid anaerobic effort.

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Saturday, 8/2/08

Muscle Snatch + Overhead Squat + Snatch Balance x 3: 45/65/75/80/88

HIIT on treadmill: 5 minute walk, 1 min on/1 min off for 15 min, increasing speed by .5 mph from 7 to 10 mph.

Hang Squat Clean, x 3 95/115/125/135/145.

Press + Push Press + Push Jerk, 1 each: 95/115/135/145/155/160 My jerks still suck.

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Sunday, 8/3/08

Rest Day

Val and I went to UCLA for a one hour training at the tail end of the big RKC cert being held there. Learned a little, did not get much in the way of a workout, but had a great time, nonetheless.

That’s Val and I with Dan John, who along with Brett Jones and Harvey, coached our group. Here are pictures of the last RKC workout.

Our pal, Steve Belanger, was there training and saw actor, John Saxon who became famous in his role with Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon”. At age 75, I am told he is still quite good with the kettlebell.

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This turned out to be a good training week that ended strong with some solid training in between. Decided to mix in some trap bar deadlifts as they are something I haven’t paid much attention to. I also noticed that I have a nice stretch of being injury-free <knock on wood-no jinx>, so I look for that to continue <repeat wood knock>.

Monday, 6/30/08

Sunburned and tired. Took a day off.

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Tuesday, 7/1/08

Burgener Warm-ups x 3

2-Position Snatch + 2 OHS x 5
65/75/88/88/95

Sandbag Cleans, 65#
5/5

2 Position Clean + Push Press x 4
95/115/139/149

Sandbag Clean + Box step-up
10/10

Sandbag Stair Climbs, 4 x 72; Left & Right Shoulder, Back & Zercher.

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Wednesday, 7/2/08

Muscle Snatch-get to a heavy single;
45×5/65×3/75×3/85×3/95×3/105/115f/95/110/[b]115/120f
Tall Clean-60% of clean x 2 x 3 (105#)

Push Press + 2 jerks x 4
115/115/120/120 (I suck at jerks)

3 rounds,

20 sandbag power cleans + push jerk (65#)
20 kipping pull-ups, (assisted w/purple band)
20 GHD sit-ups 20 kettlebell swings, 70#.

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Thursday, 7/3/08

Burgener Warm-ups x 3

2 Position Snatches @ 60% (70#) 5 x 2

2 Position Snatches @ 70% (82#) 5 x 2

Working on staying on my heels in the first pull and moving the bar quickly the rest of the way.

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Friday, 7/4/08

Rest Day

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Saturday, 7/5/08

6 Way Barbell Complex

3 sets @ 75#
6x snatch
6x OHS
6x Back Squat
6x Good Morning
6x Bent Over Row
6x Deadlift

Bent Over Row + Pull-up (assisted)
8×95/8×115/6×95

DB Push Press, 70#
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, with 30 second plank between each set.

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Sunday, 7/6/08

Trap Bar Deadlift
135×6/225×6/315×2/365×2/405×1/455×1f/425×1

Overhead Presses, thick bar
115×5/135×5/155×5/155×5/125×5

Squat Cleans, thick bar
105×5 x3

GHD Sit-ups
3×20

Ab Roll-outs, thick bar, big plates
2×10

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Monday, 6/23/08

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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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.