Training - 26th Sep. 2013

Pull + Snatch from blocks: 3+1 @ (95) x2, 2+1 @ (105) x2, 1+1 @ (115) x2, 125x1, 130x1
Power Clean + Clean + Jerk: (135,145,155x2)
Clean Pull 3x3 @ 165,170,175
Dips 2 sets
ab wheel 3 sets

Pretty pissed off today. The back injury from 2 weeks ago came back yesterday. Was hoping I could work through today, but I feel pretty bad atm. It just feels like the mid traps on only the left side are super tight and it hurts through rotation. Was probably returned by a bad sleeping posture. Hopefully it gets better fast,
I need to get strong.

Training - 24th Sep. 2013

Snatch (5x2): 2,2,2,1,2 @ 125#
Front Squat: 3x(5,3,1) @ (175,185,195), (180,190,205), (185,195,215)
Jerk off the Rack: 2x3 @ 135, 3x2 @ 155, 1x(165,175,185)
Rows: 3x10
Ab Wheel Roll 3 sets

Was expecting today to be shitty, was kindve shitty but only in the way that I felt exhausted. Had to wake up at 6 for work this morning, so was not well rested. Front Squats were really hard, much harder than they should've been, but it just goes to show the importance of rest.

Snatches surprised me, felt a bit off at first, but worked into it pretty well and made 90% of the reps (I usually aim for 70%!)

Also, moving things over a bit to get more training on weekends when I'll be more rested.

The fundamental Principle of Weightlifting

When I first started weightlifting, the squat portion of the lift didn't really make sense to me. I thought that the idea of the lift was to get the bar over head, then squat and then stand up and ta-da you are amazing!

However, upon starting I started to realize that the only purpose in the sport is to get the bar overhead. There is no need for a squat. So why then does everyone seem to end up in a deep squatted position when doing said throwing of weights over head? The answer to this question is the same as the answer to every question in this sport: to lift maximal weights overhead with minimal exertion.

To be honest, it didn't really start out this way. The origins of weightlifting interestingly involved something called a split snatch or a split clean. Where, similarly to a split jerk, the weight would be received in some sort of quasi lunge.

The now obsolete split Snatch  (really cool though!)

However, at some point smart lifters started figuring out that there was another way to lift. Many started lifting heavier weights by receiving in a deep squatted position.

An absurdly deep position! Like really? God damn asians! >=[

Well it's really simple. Let's say I asked you to lift a weight, do you think it would be easier to bend over and muscle the weight up onto your shoulders? Or would it be easier to get into a squat beneath the weight and stand up with it? I think intuitively it is pretty obvious. Our legs are amazingly strong, and can lift heavy weights much more easily than our arms/back/etc can manage in the positions they would have to be in to muscle something overhead.

So basically, the primary principle behind weightlifting would be the following:

Displace your body underneath the weight, allowing your legs to stand up with it.

Weekly Training Video #1:- Sept 16th 2013

Training - 20th Sep. 2013

Snatch: Singles upto 135, missed 140
Back Squat: 1 rep @(205-245) 3x3@225, 2x6 @ 205
GHR 5x5
Behind the Neck Snatch Grip Press: 2x10 @ 45, 3x8@65
Rows: 3x10
Ab wheel roll out


Hand was still hurting today but less than yesterday, Took a risk with Snatches, and I think it was okay. Bit of pain but tightly would wrist wraps supported the hand, and it actually felt better when snatching than it had all day. On another note, ripped callous hurts so much!
Snatching went pretty well.

Back Squats bit of an experiment. Never really experimented with heavy singles in my training before, it's something pretty new. The idea being to spend more time at heavier weights and teaching the body to handle a heavier weight better So I'm not going for a 1RM by any means, just a heavy single. Was surprised how tiring the heavy singles can be though. Relatively conservative, but hard anyway.

Behind the Neck Snatch Grip Presses were a bit risky due to the hand but I did them anyway at light weights. The idea behind this exercise is not really strength. It is assistance in activating the right musculature. My thought is that if I can forcefully externally rotate my shoulders through the movement, I place emphasis on the back muscles that I want active in the bottom position of the Snatch...Thus teaching them to wake up and be more alert. Will go heavier on these at some point once the hand heals, and eventually switch them to Sots Presses (same thing but doing it in a deep squat). It really feels tense on my back, honestly the shoulders feel nothing but that external rotation is really good for my weaknesses.

Training - 18th Sep. 2013

Clean & Jerk: 2+1 @ (155,160,165), 1+1 @ (175,180,185)
Front Squat: worked upto 225x1 (yay!!), 3 reps @ (160,170,180,190,200), 2x5 @(115 for speed)
Glute Ham Raise: ~5x5
Rows: 3x10
Ab Wheel Rollout 3x6-7

Working back into the Clean & Jerk. It's gotten much more consistent with technique adjustments that are usually considered bad (i.e. bent arms, says something about individuality in technique mastery)
Still having a hard time considering a strong extension with precision in receiving the bar. Hopefully Power Cleans Help with this.

Hit a PR Front Squat of 225 lbs pretty easily today. The results of Smolov Jr. Could have been a fair bit higher if I wasn't tired from the C&J's.
Also, for some reason my hand hurt so I decided to skip Push Presses. Callous ripped on left hand and also some sort of muscular pain on it's back. Hopefully it'll be okay tomorrow (:

Training - 17th Sep. 2013

Pull + Snatch from blocks: 95x2x 3+1,   105x2x 2+1,  115x2x 1+1  125x 1, 130x 1
Power Clean + Clean + Jerk: 135x2 145x1 155x1
Clean Pull: 3x3: (165, 170, 175), 185x1, 195x1
Dips 1x10
Ab rollout thing 3x8ish

Second Session. Meant to be a lighter day, kept things easy. Still pretty tired though. Clean movement patterns not fully back yet.

Working up in sets very slowly with dips as I don't want to be too tight for the next days training session.

Training - 16th Sep. 2013

First session of the new program. Wasn't really used to doing Snatch doubles, so not the best performance there, needed more focus on the second lift. All the reps I got felt great though. The misses were close, probably could have got them if I had more conviction in holding the bar.
Also, was meant to Front Squat, but I felt that last weeks injury continued to haunt me and I didn't want to risk anything so I decided to Back Squat with the same rep scheme. Went relatively easy on Back Squats because I haven't back squatted in ~ 2 months

Snatch: 125 lbs:    1, 1, 2, 2, 1,
Back Squat: 3x(5,3,1) @ (185,200,210) , (195,210,220), (205,220,230)
Jerk: 135x2x3,  155x2x2,  165x1,   175x1
Rows: 3x10
Ab Wheel thing: 3x5-6?

Current Status and moving forward

1B as a school term was...annoying to say the least. It resulted in me being unable to make any significant progress in weightlifting due to work. In all fairness, I could have planned things out better- shorter sessions, strength phase etc. But It is a learning experience.

I found that I was unable to gather enough training frequency and consistency through the term. Sometimes I would lift once a week, and another week I'd go twice but separated by many days. The final result is that the motor patterns required for a complex movement like the Snatch need to be constantly re primed and every single lifting session feels awkward, heavy and hard.

After school ended, I had two weeks to spend back home. Knowing that weightlifting in Richmond Hill would be a challenge, I decided to go all out with a squatting program. So I ran Smolov Jr. for Front Squats.

This was a good idea. My squatting is weak, and is a limiting factor for the Clean and Jerk. Smolov Jr is a 3 week Russian program which emphasizes a single lift. It forces you to lift 4 times a week, never doing less than 30 reps in a single session for the given lift and then increasing the weights each week. I found it to be amazingly effective.

Front Squats are tricky with high volume because the upper back fatigues really fast. This however was a further motivator for me to use them, Front Squats are probably the absolute most effective exercise I can personally do right now because they train all of my weaknesses - more on that later.

Anyway, it was hard. But effective, squatted heavier weights than before for way more volume much more easily. haven't tested max yet.

Unfortunately, I got myself slightly injured on the 2nd last day of Smolov Jr doing something a bit stupid so had to take ~5 days off and couldn't REALLY finish the program. Since then, I've done 3 sessions as a re priming of the classical lifts which I haven't done in a month and haven't REALLY done in 5 months. The official program starts tomorrow:

Current working Program starting 15/9/2013:

sets x reps

when sets are written out, the spaces indicate increase in weight

Two different exercises separated by a +  means super setting. 

Midsection encompasses all abdominal work, mainly going to be wheel roll out and some other ab stuff I just make up. 

A:
Snatch (5x2)
Front Squat (wave loaded - 3x(5,3,1) wt. increasing each wave)
Jerk off the rack:  2x3,  3x2,  work up to a heavy single
Rows  3x8   +  Midsection

B:
Pull (w/ rebound) + Snatch from blocks:  3+1, 3+1,     2+1, 2+1,    1+1, 1+1,    +1
Power Clean + Clean + Jerk:     4x
Clean Pull:   3x3,   1,   1
Dips 3x   +  Midsection

C:
Clean and Jerk: 2x(2+1),   2+1,     1+1 until a heavy single for the day.
Front Squat: work upto near a 1RM, drop to ~70% of that and do 3s increasing until ~3rm, then 2x5 for speed.
Push Press:   5x5
Rows  3x8   +  Midsection

D:
Power Snatch + Snatch:   5x(1+1)
Clean Complex: 4x (Clean from blocks + Clean from ground + 2x FS + Jerk.)
Snatch Pull:    3x3,   1,   1
Dips 3x  +  Midsection

E:
Snatch:    2x2,     1x2,    work up to a heavy single for the day
Back Squat:  1,     3x3,      2x6
Glute Ham Raise:  5x    +    BTN Snatch Grip Press    5x5
Rows  3x8  +  Midsection

F:
Probably go swimming? Make sure to do something physical.

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It is somewhat Bulgarian in style in the sense that I have 3 intense days separated by 2 less intense days which I can also use for technical improvement.
Hopefully this works well, I will have to evaluate fatigue and progress as things go on and changes will for sure be made. An option is to lower squat volume on individual days and increase frequency by squatting every day (e.g. for 2 sets)

It will look something like:
M    A
T      B
W    C
Th    D
Fr     E
Sa     F
Su     Rest

New Beginnings

Sometimes triviality is the most elegant property.
Take for example my well loved sport of Weightlifting. To lift a barbell from the ground to over your head, is there any thing more trivial? What purpose is there in the movement of dead weight through which no benefit to others arises?

There really isn't, it is extraordinarily arbitrary.

Yet, is there anything that a man can do that is more badass? To lift a weight for no reason other than to lift it, to prove to others but mostly to himself that he has a strength previously unaccounted for? Is this not marvelous in it's own regard?

Many debate the meanings of life, all of us question our existence. Life is complicated, there is so much in the world. So much to see, so much to learn, to discover, to create, to give. But I do believe that some times it's the simple things that are more worth living for. Sometimes it's worth it to faze out all of the chaos, and allow yourself to focus on something arbitrary. To do things for no reason other than to just do them.

Such is one of the many reasons why I love this sport.

I started weightlifting ~ 9 months ago excusing ~4 months of near inactivity due to school (I make excuses). Progress since starting has been a major struggle with continuous setbacks and hurdles to overcome (this is obviously expected when starting out a new sport as technical as weightlifting). However, I feel like I am finally at a point where I can really begin this journey. Which is the purpose of this post, the announcing of this blogs revival.

I am not strong.
In fact, I am weak!
But I will be strong.
This blog will document said going from weak to strong.

I plan on making a (b)log as I call it. It shall be a training log of my daily lifting sessions with weekly or so longer posts that detail my ideas and thoughts. This won't always be weightlifting related.

For most of my friends, Olympic Style Weightlifting is a pretty major oddity. I hope that through joining me on this, you can gain some insight into a beautiful sport and maybe even try it out yourself! The main purpose of this log is to really look back on.With that being said, I shall begin an introductory post detailing the two competition lifts:

Olympic Weightlifting:

The aim of weightlifting is to lift a maximal weight from the ground to over head within the boundaries of certain constraints. Three attempts to lift any weight of the athletes choosing are given for each lift. There are two lifts in which this display of strength, power, flexibility, coordination and speed is tested. The Snatch and Clean and Jerk.

The Snatch:

The Snatch is the first movement tested in competition. It involves lifting a weight from ground to overhead in one motion. It is a lift that requires great precision, timing and coordination. It is also highly dependent on being very brave and just a tiny bit insane.

< Szymon Kolecki - One of the greatest Snatchers of all time

Generally, you will find that less weight is always lifted in the Snatch in comparison to the Clean and Jerk. This increases many fold once someone gets strong, it is much harder to lift 1 kg heavier in a Snatch at some point than it is for the C&J. I believe this to be the main reason why the Snatch World Records are much more clustered together across weight classes than the Clean and Jerk ones. This is of course mainly due to the nature of the lift, moving a weight to an overhead position in one movement is going to be harder than moving the same weight overhead in two movements.

The Clean and Jerk: 

The Clean and Jerk is the second movement tested in competition. A weight is lifted from the ground to the athletes shoulders in the clean portion, and then to the overhead position in the jerk. It is the lift that is probably more dependent on strength and benefits greatly from a strong squat.

Zulfiya Chinshanlo - World Record Holder for Clean and Jerk in the 53kg Category.

Insane weights have been moved overhead with the Clean and Jerk, it is the absolute most efficient way to do so.





Anyways, this post is long enough. I don't want to get too much into detail on the lifts for now. I'm not really qualified to teach, but I will probably describe them at some point.

Thank you for reading. I hope this blog is of some benefit (or interest) to you!