If you are a proponent of the big compound lifts; power cleans, deadlifts, bench press, and squats you probably know of Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore and their well-known book, Starting Strength, Basic Barbell Training. I can’t think of a better how-to book to learn these lifts.
Have you ever used Wikipedia, the user-editable online encyclopedia? Then you have an idea about the Starting Strength Wiki. There is some great information here in this wiki so I invite you to take a look.
Here are a couple of classic Mark Rippetoe quotes you’ll enjoy.
“There are few things graven in stone, except that you have to squat or you’re a pussy.”
“Pierre, if you are eating 5500 calories a day, then I am a female kangaroo with a Sonic Drive-In franchise and a heroin habit.” (I have no idea what that means).
On steroids:
“There are no shortcuts. The fact that a shortcut is important to you means that you are a pussy.”
“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general.”
Last night Jon Curry and I trained with power cleans and squat cleans. I went more with the former. Many lifters and strength coaches consider the power clean one of the top three most beneficial compound lifts with the deadlift and the squat. For that reason, athletes at all levels train with this classic lift. A lot of power goes into this movement, (hence the name). I like power clean after the deadlift and before the squat.
Take a look at this video and notice the good technique. I need to get more of the shrug into the lift if I want to increase my poundages as well as exploding the lift.
A couple of good “add-ons” to the power clean are the front squat and the push press. I added in some of the push presses yesterday when I got as heavy as I was going to go.
Taking a heavy barbell and picking it up off the floor and lifting it over your head is a great feeling, (as is dropping it to the floor after a successful lift and knowing you won’t get kicked out of the gym for doing it!)
Ah, yes, another lift I wish I would have been introduced to 30 years ago! I do get a kick out of the fact that I am probably the oldest guy in my gym doing the cleans, squats, snatches, deadlifts and definitely the kettlebell stuff and the guys I train with are 15-20 years my junior. The rest of the folks just don’t know what they are missing!
In my previous post, Rack Pulls, I provided some instruction tips from Beyond Strong. In that same training session last night, preceding the rack pulls, I also did squat cleans and push presses and found these great reasons for doing the clean and push press. He gives the benefits of each but here he is talking about the power clean and not the squat clean, which is what I did. Close enough and great info.
Got off this morning with a few sets of kettlebell swings and ring push-ups before the deadlift mist rolled in.
KBSwings, 24 kilo, 20/20/20 RingPush-ups, 25/25/25 Burgenerwarm-ups, with drop snatches, MT bar x 3 PowerCleans, 45×5/90×5 SnatchGripDeadlifts on a platform, 155×3/200×3/200×3 Deadlift 245×3
With the warm-ups over, let the deadlift singles begin.
335/365/400/405/405f/335/335/335/. I “mist” the second 405 after just barely making the previous.
Did not have enough to go higher today, but a few reps at 90%+ never sucks.
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
Here is a funny animation from Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist and animator, Walt Handelsman for all of us baby boomers working out like maniacs. For a Christmas present, I received from Valerie, 3 sessions with kettlebell instructor Steve Belanger, RKC, of Old School Barbell Club in Westminster, CA. His Kettlebells and Beyond website can be accessed here. I met Steve about a year ago when he was an instructor at a Crossfit Kettlebell seminar at Valley Crossfit. This combination stoked my interest in kettlebells and it made sense to seek Steve out for some training. For my first session today, we went through the mechanics of the swing and the snatch and will spend more time the next session on the clean and the clean and jerk and whatever else Steve has in mind.We concluded the first session with a nice cardio rip.
5 rounds of 10 two-handed swings with a 28 kg kb and immediately over to 16 kg snatches, 5 each arm. Rest 30 seconds and get some more.
I am looking forward to the next session with Steve. He is a very personable guy and a good coach. Thanks Val!A few hours later, if the KB stuff wasn’t enough, I went to the gym and lubed up with 3 rounds of the Burgener warm-up before doing some light Oly lift work.
Power Snatch + Full Snatch + 3 Overhead Squats: 45/45/45/65/65/65/65.
Power Clean + Hang Squat Cleans + 3 Front Squats: 65/95/115/135/135/135/115.
I admit there was a little guilt for my Christmas Day indulgences, but I had plenty of energy for the stuff I did today.
