cmynhier's Intermediate Log

[Chad Mynhier]

My man, as I tried to point out, the issue with the power cleans is likely just too many thoughts between the jump and the catch. Just go from thing 1 (Jump HARD with straight arms when the bar touches mid-thigh) to thing 2 (Slam shoulders into the bottom surface of the barbell) without allowing your forebrain involve itself in how. As we discussed, you're not a gentleman who really has to do power cleans (I doubt you're going to make either the high school football or wrestling team at this juncture), but they're certainly not bad. You have a common form error that sometimes takes a little work to resolve. Your lifts overall looked technically better this time around than they ever did in the past. It was great to catch up. Keep up the great work!

You're right, I forgot to mention that in my notes (your point about too many thoughts). To put it another way, I just need to do these enough times that the movement pattern becomes ingrained.

What instinct is telling me to do is to stay at the weight I can do until my form is much better, but I know that runs counter to Rip's philosophy. (I can hear him saying, "Okay, you have perfect form at 95. What's going to happen when you go to 100?") Given that my interest isn't as much in training the power clean as it is in mastering the power clean (at least to some degree of competence), I may do that, though, just to get in the practice.

OTOH, this quote from another thread may be pertinent here:

The vast majority of those folks can tolerate them just fine, but if they don't like them and don't have aptitude for them, spending 20 minutes of a 60 minute session with someone trying to fix his train wreck of a 95 lb power clean when he squats 315 and deadlifts 345 just doesn't make sense.

(BTW, you probably could have stopped at, "As we discussed, you're not a gentleman.")

[Mr. Bingley]

you probably could have stopped at, "As we discussed, you're not a gentleman."

lol

yeah, I'm due to go back and get yelled at by Skillin too.

[Chad Mynhier]

Squats:
Warmup:
45x15
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x1
255x1

Work:
280x5
280x5
280x5

Press:
Warmup:
45x10
45x5
65x5
85x3
105x1

Work:
115x4+f
115x4
115x3+f

It looks like I've run out my LP on press this time. I'll need to figure out what to do with press while I run out my LP on squats. I'm thinking about doing TM for press, doing a volume day on Monday (5x5) and an intensity day on Friday (5x1).

Power cleans:
65x3
85x3
95x3
105x3
110x3
115x3

My catch on these still isn't perfect, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable with them.

[Chad Mynhier]

Squats:
Warmup:
45x15
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x1
255x1

Work:
280x2
280x2
280x2

Light (volume) day.

Bench press:
Warmup:
45x10
45x5
75x5
105x3
135x3
145x1

Work:
145x5
145x5
145x5

Re-introducing bench press. I had been doing OHP 3 days a week and ignoring bench until today. Now that I've exhausted LP for press, I'm going to do TM-style programming for that on Monday and Friday. And given that, it seemed an appropriate time to start benching again.

Deadlift:
Warmup:
135x5
225x3
275x1
315xf

Work:
315x5
295x5

I was planning on 335x5 today, but after failing my last warmup set, I decided to stick with 315x5. After resting, 315 was easier than expected, so I probably had a chance to get 335. I tacked on a backoff set as penance.

[Chad Mynhier]

Squats:
Warmup:
45x15
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x1
265x1

Work:
285x5
285x5
285x4+f +1 (Note the two different videos.)

This was a form failure more than an I-just-can't-do-it failure. I let the bar get a little ahead and couldn't recover. I re-racked and did another rep.

Press:
Warmup:
45x10
45x5
65x5
85x3
105x1

Work:
115x1
120x1
125x1
130x1
135x1
140xf+f

I've exhausted this LP on press, and I'm going to start TM-style programming for press on Monday, so I wanted to do some heavy singles today. 135 matches my current 1-rep PR, so that's pretty good for finishing an after-layoff LP. I hadn't originally planned the 140 attempt, but after 125 went up fairly easily, I decided to tack it on (contingent on making 135). I debated whether to go for 137.5 or 140 and decided to be bold. Fortune didn't favor me today, though. It's not a given that I would have made 137.5, either, so it's no big loss.

Power cleans:
65x3
85x3
105x3
110x3
115x3
120x1+f+f

The bar snagged on the wrinkle in my Rehbands on the second rep at 120, so I jumped early and failed the rep. I should probably take the Rehbands off, 'cause I don't need them for PCs. It never occurs to me to do so, though, which is why you'll also see me wearing them for bench press.

[Adam Skillin]

OTOH, this quote from another thread may be pertinent here:

It's most definitely pertinent. Young Wolf has accumulated much wisdom in his short time on this planet. I fully believe it's due to the fact that he's spent something like 80% of that time in a gym.

(BTW, you probably could have stopped at, "As we discussed, you're not a gentleman.")

An excellent point. We should have discussed that further. It would have been far more entertaining than all this silly lifting nonsense.

[Chad Mynhier]

Squats:
Warmup:
45x15
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x1
265x1

Work:
290x5
290x5
290x5

Press:
Warmup:
45x10
45x5
65x5
75x3
85x1

Work:
95x5
95x5
95x5
95x5
95x5

I'm starting TM-style programming for OHP. This was volume day.

I'm debating whether to go ahead and make the, "Gee, Texas method isn't that bad. I don't see why everyone complains about it." comment or wait until I have a couple of weeks under my belt. But, then, I'm not doing TM for squats, so it might not completely crush me.

Power cleans:
Warmup:
65x3
85x3
105x2

Work:
115x3
120x3
125x3

I tried some warmups without the Rehbands. It was actually worse, 'cause the bar caught a bit on the bare skin of my knee, so I put the Rehbands back on. My sweat-soaked Rehbands which were now cold. Guh.

[Chad Mynhier]

Light squats:
Warmup:
45x15
45x5
135x5
185x3
225x1
265x1

Work:
290x2
290x2
290x2

Bench press:
Warmup:
45x10
45x5
75x5
105x3
135x1
145x1

Work:
155x5
155x5
155x5

Deadlift:
Warmup (all hooked):
135x5
225x3
275x1
315x1

Work:
335x5
295x5 (hook grip)

No static hold on the 295x5 set. I don't think my thumbs would have forgiven me.

[Mr. Bingley]

no hookie, bad hookie, me no likee

[Chad Mynhier]

Squats:
Warmup:
45x15
45x5
135x5
185x3
235x1
275x1

Work:
295x5
295x5
295x5

Press:
Warmup:
45x10
45x5
65x5
85x3
105x1

Work:
115x5

This was the (first) intensity day of my TM-style press programming.

Chins:
3x4

I've dropped power cleans. They were fun, but, as Adam said, I'm not trying out for the high school football team anytime soon. There's also the fact that doing power cleans leaves me no time to do chins, which I want to get back to doing.

I was a bit surprised to get sets of 4, given that I haven't done these in about 8 months. They weren't bar-to-sternum chin-ups, but they were chin-above-the-bar chin-ups.