Make or break

[Alon]

I'm having trouble finishing my powercleans. I can't seem to get my elbows up and my arms end up supporting the weight until I reposition for a front squat with my arms crossed out in front of me. I have every intention of practicing this until blue in the face, I was jsut wondering if you have any pointers for a rookie?

It's a bit difficult to know what's going wrong without seeing it, but you shouldn't consciously be trying to force your elbows up or anything, the arms are just following off the speed the bar gets from the hips and back extending before it.

Also you need to dip a little bit more to recieve the weight properly, that takes time to get used to (as does racking the bar properly on the shoulders).

 

[Steve Oly]

Alon, thanks to your thread on Olympic LIfting a while back my CLean and Jerk feel better than ever. I am focusing on diping deeper and also getting up on my toes and driving hard with my hips. I need to be careful now that I dont catch the bar on my chin or even worse, my teeth.
Also, doing the overhead squats helps too. 95lbs for 5x5 made me feel quite girly. It definatly works.

 

[Alon]

Haha, the chin hit really sucks, I'm happy you appreciate the thread, if you want to ask anything don't hold back.

Today's training was pretty good, I'm getting used to the wider grip but I'm not 100% sure if I'll keep it. Everything feels good with it except it's still a bit iffy in a deep squat position.

Bodyweight 89.70kg
Snatch 3x3 90, I actually powersnatched some of these which is a far cry from Wednesday, and pretty good in absolute terms for me
Clean & jerk 3x(2+1) 120, powercleaned some of these, jerks were ok but could have been better, my hip flexors are really tight lately and make the recieving position a bit akward
Overhead squats 3x3 70, just to get used to the position with a wide grip
Backsquats 5x5 135, decent, boy I need the leg strength

Some chins on bodyweight and some abwork, then played a bit of cricket which I've never done before, all in all a good workout and a nice way to end a not-so-good two weeks.

 

[graedy]

Admit that you forgot the Overheadsquats in your workouts and i just remembered you!

 

[Alon]

Admit that you forgot the Overheadsquats in your workouts and i just remembered you!

Haha ok you're right, actually while I was doing them the pain in my wrists was almost unbearable, I think the wider grip makes it even worse (I'm basically going collar to collar), so I thought back to my post and why I said it isn't a favorite exercise.

 

[Alon]

Another pretty good training, I'm starting to drink more milk in an attempt to somehow gain weight. I was talking to a member of the English Commonwealth games team, this guy is totally ripped, he gave me shit for my lack of cut-ness so I'm going to put in more effort to my training (even though I know it's a diet thing).

Bodyweight 89.65kg
Power snatch (hang) 3x3 90, many of these were actually power!!!
Overhead squats 4x3 65, feeling more comfortable with the wide grip
Back squats (1/4 depth) 3x3 150, not as easy as I wanted but easy nonetheless
Snatch pulls (low blocks) 4x3 130, kind of akward with the wide grip but getting better with every set
Presses b/n 4x3 50, just for injury prevention
Shitloads of abwork

 

[Alon]

200LBS!!!!

Ok so now I got over that, training today wasn't all that good, my triceps were exhausted from an ab wheel like thing I did yesterday, as was the rest of my body.

Bodyweight 90.45kg
Powercleans (hang) 3x3 110, ok technique but lacking in the pull
Clean & jerks 3x(2+1) 120, crappy pull in the clean and stupid mistakes in the jerk
Front squats 3x3 130, tough but alright
Push press 4x3 80, easy, worked on holding the bar properly overhead more than anything

I'm stuff, time to rest and relax.

 

[Alon]

Today's training was sluggish, my left shoulder was hurting and everything felt heavy. Good thing I have a day's rest tomorrow.

Bodyweight 89.95kg
Snatch 3x2 95, alright but should have been better, warmups were pretty nice
Snatch pulls (hang) 3x3 130, tough, extension was ok but my back was feeling it more than usual
Back squats 3x3 150, weak but getting better with each set
Jerks (rack) 4x2, some good some not so flash, altogether alright

Time to stretch and relax.

 

[Alon]

Not feeling crash hot today, bodyweight was down for no reason and my left delt was hurting again.

Bodyweight 89.00kg
Power clean & jerk 3x2x2 115, skipped jerk in the last set and added a powerclean, position was ok but the left shoulder was just so stiff
Cleans (blocks) 3x2 125, fine, better with each set
Pulls 5x3 150, decent, still need to get a good rhythm off the floor
Presses 3x3 60, just conditioning for the shoulder

 

[Alon]

I keep getting these headaches, I think from reading too many object recognition papers, I can't believe I'm like this and uni hasn't started yet. This will be a painful year. Shoulder felt a little better which is nice.

Bodyweight 90.45kg
Snatch (doubles) 90, 95, 3x100, decent but could be better, need to get more leg drive at the start and sit more upright when I recieve the bar
Clean & jerk (2+1) 110, 120, 130, 135, powercleans upto 120, coach said they were very good.
Backsquats 5x5 145, better than it's felt in a long time, quite happy
Lots of stretching and some car pushing for fun, time to eat!!

 

[Alon]

Bodyweight was way higher than I thought it would be, I'm pretty happy. Training went ok, I made a bet with another retired lifter that I could out-backsquat his best double frontsquat by more than 5kg's in the middle of May, he's gotten older but I think I'll still need 200kg's to do so.

Bodyweight 91.00kg
Power snatch (hang) 3x3 90, some power, some full, all in all quite good especially when I didn't rush on the way down to the hang
Snatch grip D/L (blocks) 4x3 140, D/L instead of pull to help my shoulder, nice and easy
Overhead squat, 60kg for 20 reps, pointless but fun until my head started hurting
Backsquat (1/4 depth) 3x3 160, ok, not that easy
Press b/n 3x3 55, just keeping the shoulder moving

94kg here I come!!!

 

[Alon]

I had to stop training cause of my shoulder pain, the pain has now moved inside my left delt and felt like something was moving out of place. I'm really pissed since this means no overhead work for the rest of the week at the least, which means missing some double snatches on 100, and a few possibly heavy exercises.

Bodyweight 89.90kg
Powercleans (hang) 3x3 115, pretty good, nice and fast
Some backsquats, couldn't do much as I might be going heavy tomorrow

Really pissed off now, oh well.

 

[thomas87]

Damn, those shoulder injuries blow.

Keep posting, it's interesting to read your logs.

 

[Alon]

Damn, those shoulder injuries blow.

Keep posting, it's interesting to read your logs.

Thanks, much appreciated. It's the first time I hurt my shoulder since I was 16 or 17, I generally heal pretty quickly and expect it to recover within two weeks (based on absolutely nothing, but the pain isn't that bad it's just really stiff). I won't be doing any overhead work for the rest of the week, no pulls and no deadlifts if they hurt me. I think it's my posterior deltoid, most likely for keeping my elbows up a little bit more when I pull (not that it's a bad thing, just that it's a relatively new stress to my body).

In any case I don't like push presses, and would be happy not going above 80% in the jerk for a while and just training it twice a week, I honestly don't think you need to go that heavy in it to make a pr in comp. That and I'm not competing until April 8 anyways.

 

[graedy]

I wish you a good recovery.

 

[peanut butter]

alon, how many times a week do you squat, it looks like almost everyday lol

 

[Alon]

alon, how many times a week do you squat, it looks like almost everyday lol

3-4 times a week, I don't count quarter squats really. I used to do 5/week but then my knee would always play up when I begin to make progress.

Todays training was limited to goodmorning and backsquats with a hugely wide grip so that my shoulder didn't hurt. Things should be fine in a few days, didn't check bodyweight.

Backsquat (all 5's), 2x70, 2x100, 120, 140, 150, 160, 170, very surprised and happy
Good mornings, 4x5 100, pretty good, heaviest I've gone in a while
Abwork

 

[Alon]

Shoulder keeps feeling better, I might try some very light stuff tomorrow if I'm feeling good.

Bodyweight 90.10kg
Deadlifts (5's) 100, 130x2, 150, 170x2, felt ok, apparently I'm bending the arms at the start a bit
Backsquats (3's) 100, 130, 150, 3x160, also ok but not that good

Can't wait to do some real lifting again

 

[Alon]

Fun training, my shoulder is getting better, in the pulls I shrugged but made an effort not to use my shoulders, still getting a good close pull though.

Bodyweight 90.55kg
Snatch pulls, lots of sets of 3, nothing above 90kg
Deadlifts (3's) 110, 140, 160, 180, felt decent, for some reason I'm getting a great hamstring workout even though my ass is low as it is in the clean pull
Backsquats 100x2, 130x2, 150x2, 170, 180, 190, 10kg personal best, a good fighting attempt
Abwork

 

[Alon]

I started using my shoulder again, things are going better so I'm pretty happy.

Bodyweight 90.30kg
Powercleans, lots of sets upto 70kg, no real pain
Light presses
Backsquats 3x3 150, not as easy as it should be
Good mornings 3x8 80, easy enough