"Chipmunk Cheeks" locks out an RDL

Good stuff happened this week and Tuesday was a high volume, CNS-blasting session, masterly programmed by the Brengel. The week finished with a deloading week, starting on Saturday, followed by an unexpected, surprise training session Sunday.

To the log:

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Tuesday, 10/6/09

Axle Push Press: 65×5/105×5/165×3/185/175/190/200/. Not enough leg drive.
Back Squat: 135×8/185×8/185×5/225×2/  3 second Pause Squats: 260×5/275×5/285×5/285×5/235×10 (no pause).
Chin-ups, 2 mb, pause between reps: 3×4.
Barbell Front Raise: 12/12/
Russian Twist: 25#x8/

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Tuesday, 9/22/09

Push Press (behind the neck): 95×6/95×6/135×3/155×3/165×3/165×3/165×3. I did not do a very good job get my legs into the lift and relied too much on upper body strength.
Box Squats: 135×5/185×3/205×3/225×3/singles: 255/285/305/325, best lift/335, but lost my arch.
Assisted Pull-ups, 1 purple band: 3×8.
Iso Split Squats: 2 @ 2:00.
Russian Twists: 25#, 3×10
Side Lateral Raises, 20#, 2×10.

Thursday, 9/24/09 (solo)

Hang Power Cleans: 90×5/90×5/100×5/105×5/111×3/121×3/126×3/131×3/. Singles: 146/146/155/155/155/.
Clean Pulls: 155×4/165×4/170×4/175×4/.
RDL: 135×8/185×8/225×8/245×6/255×6/275×6/.
Front Plate Toss: 3×25#x10.
Ab Mat Sit-ups: 25#x10/35×10/35×10

I thought a deload week would be easier than the previous 3 weeks. Different, tough, but not easy!

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Another excellent week of training with Scott expertly mixing in some new technical movements like, um, the Bunny Hop, when mastered, may become one of my favorites. No question, over the last three weeks, I am training with the highest volume I have ever done. Should really have done this 30 years ago. Who ever says, “never too late” is invited over to the gym!

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Monday, 6/15/09

No training

Tuesday, 6/16/09

Snatch Balance x 3: 65/85/85/90/95/.

Snatch, x 2: from the ground and from the hang. 65/70/75/80/85/90/95/.

Sandbag Burpee Clean and Press, 70#: 3 x 10.

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Ted Swings the Sledge

Monday, 6/1/09

Back Squat: 225×3/235×3/5×5: 5 245.

Push Press, 5×5: 5×135.

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I got a strong start to this training week and an even stronger finish at the end. I am very pleased with the effort.

Monday, 5/4/09

Jump Squats, up an 18″ plyo box down to full squat: 3 x 15.

Sandbag Clean & Press, 50# max number of reps in 5 minutes: 50. Got 13 reps in last minute.

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In typical fashion of late, I started my training week slowly, picked up momentum and finished strong. Always finish strong!

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Yesterday, my training buddy Jon and I got together for our Thursday “Snatch Session” where we train for our mutual goal of snatching “a wheel” or 135 lbs with good technique. To date, we are hovering around 110, with crappy form. We did get some help though in the form of an 18 year school football player who has been lifting the Olympic lifts with the benefit of expert coaching at his high school.

The level of coaching I have had was some bits and pieces from very good teachers, unfortunately so far, not consistent coaching which is needed for the technical Olympic lifts. So, Jon and I are trying to get some professional coaching so we can nail our goal.

Though referred to not by the name “backward chaining” my first coach, Stephane Rochet, taught me to break down the snatch into progression movements starting from the end of the lift to the begin to get the proper skill set for integration. This was reinforced further by Olympic coach, Mike Burgener of Mike’s Gym.

According to Pro Athletic Training and Development, LLC, the “catch” is the starting point of the snatch. That means holding the bar overhead with the elbows locked out to get a good sense of where you need to be at the end of the lift. From there, master the overhead squat and then snatch high pulls, but not to the catch. Further down the chain, closer to the beginning is the RDL (Romanian Deadlift) with a wide snatch grip.

Next, deadlift into the RDL with the snatch grip. Finally, put it all together! Those are a lot of progressions, (steps) and a lot of reps to master for a technical lift that takes less than a second to perform. We think it is well worth it. The Snatch is a fast, powerful and elegant lift. (Jon thinks it will “pull babes” when we get out lift working. We all have to find our motivation somewhere)!

It’s back to the broomstick and pvc for learning the snatch while I continue to find a coach.

Here are some additional resources if you would like to learn more about backward training to master the Olympic lifts:

The Soviet Model For Teaching Technique

What Would Pisarenko Do?

Different Approaches To Teaching The Snatch