#catalyst 8 week

[barbellsandbetasheets]

28.8.2014: Week 8, Day 4

Feet. FEET.

Work

Power Snatch: 2x2x45, 2x50, 3x2x51

Clean and Jerk: (1+1)x56, 2x(1+1)x60

Pullups: 5-4-4-3-2

Core

Rollouts: 3x8

I wasn't using my feet at all to start, so I kept snatching until I got the prescribed number of sets *in a row* perfectly. I also noticed that I was losing my hook by the time the bar was overhead and I wondered if that was alright. According to Greg Everett, it is (especially since my thumbs are destroyed from high school volleyball), so I trekked on. Pullups were challenging, but not impossible. Rollouts surprised me--they were so much easier than the last time I did them! Core strength is definitely improving. Also, I grew lats? Like when did that happen? Less than a full week on this pullup program and I've already got a bit of a spread happening. Sick. If I were more of a douche, I'd have taken a locker room selfie for y'all. Maybe next time.

[barbellsandbetasheets]

27.8.2014: Week 8, Day 3

The back o' yo' head is ridikulus

Work

Snatch: 2x53, 3x1x56

Snatch Pull: 3x2x63

Front Squat: 2x75, 1x(80, 85)

Pull-ups: 5-4-3-3-2

Core

Side Bends: 3x10xside@65#

Mobility

10:00 with the LAX ball to alleviate hip flexor tension

Quick, easy, and great. I shared the platform with a Sociology PhD cutie named Kat today and I really would not mind lifting with her again in the future. We shared form advice and she pointed out that my right grip is much looser than my left in the catch of the snatch. I remember ages ago I was having a problem where I would literally release the bar on the way up, so I'm going to have to nip that in the bud. I made sure my grip was strong for the rest of my work. Pull-ups are getting way easier already; I'm finding that I get a lot more power when I use a hollow body position. 

[barbellsandbetasheets]

26.8.2014

When a barbell comes along, you must whip it

Work

Snatch: 6x1x53

Clean and Jerk: (1+1)x(60, 64), 3x(1+1)x68

Pull-ups: 5-4-3-2-2

Core

3x10 GHD extensions @ 25#

3x10 GHD sit-ups

I was catching my snatches a *little* bit forward, but I didn't lose any of them. Still searching for that middle ground between catching forward and nearly dumping behind. I made good use of the whip on the bar for the cleans and jerks. Generally, I'm getting much better at being efficient at jerking. 

[barbellsandbetasheets]

25.8.2014: Week 8, Day 1

Thumbs up

Work

Snatch: 2x53, 2x1x56, 3x1x60

Power Clean and Power Jerk: (1+1)x(53, 56, 60)

Clean Pull: 2x72, 2x2x76

Squat: 3x90, 2x96, 2x2x102

Pull-ups: 5-4-3-2-1

Core

3x1:10 Weighted plank @ 45#

Since I missed most of last week's training, I decided to redo Week 8 of this cycle. It's a light week leading up to a max-out session, so I think this makes sense. Of course, I managed to mess it up and did power cleans and jerks instead of full ones. Oops. I'll just swap that movement in the next session, NBD. 

Things felt untidy and I redid a few reps because of it. My low back was tired from all the portaging this weekend and I'm dealing with seasonal allergies. Despite those things, I had a good session. I missed one snatch at 60 (spectacularly, if I do say so myself), but the jerks and squats went up easy. 

[barbellsandbetasheets]

21.8.2014: Week 8, Day 2

How did you get so fast?

Work

Snatch: 6x1x53

Power Clean and Power Jerk: (1+1)x(53, 56), 3x(1+1)x60

Pull-ups: 5-4-3-2-2

Conditioning

3 Rounds, unbroken, untimed:

10 Kettlebell swings (Russian)

10 Kettlebell push press/arm

16 kg (program said to go light)

Things felt great today. Snatches were smooth, fast, and stable. Jerks were decisive. Two other lifters complimented my speed, even! What an ego boost. 

I like this pull-up program, too. The last rep of each set feels like failure and I think that's why it works well. I'll be up to 12-15 pull-ups in no time!

[barbellsandbetasheets]

20.8.2014: Week 8, Day 1

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to missed lifts.

Work

Snatch: 2x53, 1x(56x, 56), 3x1x60

Clean and Jerk: (1+1)x(60, 64, 68)

Clean Pull: 2x72, 2x2x76

Squat: 3x90, 2x96, 2x2x102

Pull-ups: 5-4-3-2-1

Core

GHD extensions: 3x10@25#

GHD sit-ups: 3x10

Lifting totally alleviated my knee irritation, which was really surprising. I did a really long dynamic warm up, with lots of flossing and glute activation. I also really rolled out the knot at the top of my calf. That helped, certainly, but I think the GHD work did the most to make it feel better. I love the GHD machine so so much. 

My snatch at 56 was not a miss, I just caught it a little too far forward for my liking, so I re-did it. I thought I might be jumping forward, so I drew a line with chalk on the platform to make sure that I wasn't (and I wasn't). 60 is feeling really comfortable, which is fantastic. My jerk at 68 was surprisingly solid too. I realised that fear is really holding me back, so I just fucking went for it. I made good use of the whip on the bar to get it overhead. Same deal with the squats; I've got to commit to that stretch reflex, otherwise I fall forward. That happened on my second rep of the first set at 102, so I just re-did the rep after a quick physical and mental re-set. It went up no problem.

Great session!

[barbellsandbetasheets]

16.8.2014: Week 7, Day 4

Why do I do this to myself?

Work

Power Snatch: 2x2x42, 2x45, 2x1x50, 4x1x51

Power Clean and Power Jerk: (1+1)x(53, 56, 60), max: 65, 70x, 70 (meets predicted PR)

Snatch Balance: 2x3x50, 3x3x53

Pullups: 3x5

Core

3x10 side bends/side @ 65#

On paper, this session doesn't look bad. In fact, it looks pretty good. However there were several issues. First, I kept forgetting about my feet on the power snatches. Any time that I happened, I added a set on to get it right. Then my power jerks all sucked. The one I missed at 70 was a miss only because I fucking push pressed it instead of jerking (but I couldn't push press 70 earlier this week??). I was having so much trouble getting under the bar. Then on my snatch balances I jumped up to the prescribed weight too quickly and had *the worst* bail of life. I couldn't lock out so the bar fell onto my traps, then off onto the back of my ankle after I had dived forward. It was so embarrassing and painful. I'm fine, though. Just a bruised ego. 

Also, like, where the hell did the snatch balance even come from? It hasn't been programmed all cycle and the website gave no indication of which percentages to use. It just said 70%, 75%, but of what? So I used my new predicted snatch max. Seemed heavy enough. On the plus side, my snatch bottom position is looking fantastic.

[barbellsandbetasheets]

15.8.2014 Week 7, Day 3

Dip. Drive. aka Weightlifter legs, tho aka Weather the Storm

Work

Clean and Jerk: (2+1)x(50, 52, 56, 60, 64, 70, 75, 80x, 80x)

Clean Pull: 3x(80, 84), 2x3x88

Front Squat: 2x(70, 75, 80, 85), 2RM (90, 95x)

SLDL: 3x4@90

I'm alright with my performance on the clean and jerk complex. I managed a clean double at 80, but couldn't jerk it. That's a rep PR, anyway. I should've been able to hit 95 for a double FS, so the fact that I didn't was a little disappointing. However, I know that I'm in a squat funk right now, so I should recognise that hitting 95% for a single is really great. I was having trouble with shoulder alignment so I didn't push myself on the SLDL. All in all, this was an okay session.