r_graz Tries Not to Get Crushed

[r_graz]

Spent an hour and a half with the strength coach last night going over snatches and cleans. He prefers to teach snatches with a clean grip to start, since it requires a greater range of motion and forces you to really extend on the second pull. Went through jump shrugs, shrug cleans, hang power cleans, and hang power snatches. Did so many sets I lost count, mostly triples and then doubles as we added weight. I think we got up to 110 on the clean grip snatches and 135 on the cleans, not bad for a first time. Snatches definitely feel better to me than cleans, still awkward about racking the bar.

My lower workout today calls for cleans, but I'll probably take it real easy since I'm definitely "feeling" yesterday's workout.

[Lifting N Tx]

That was a pretty awful workout, as seems to happen pretty often when I take a "rest" week. Doesn't feel like I recovered during that week, feels only like I lost strength and gained some bodyfat (despite 5 days of cardio).

Are you possibly conflating 2 different things, namely strength and endurance? I think that latter declines much faster than the former. One reason that I wonder about this is that you tend to use short rests between sets, I think.

I looked at one of your workouts from a couple of weeks ago and the numbers don't look that different. A lot of the exercises are different though, which makes comparison harder.

Spent an hour and a half with the strength coach last night going over snatches and cleans.

90 minutes of cleans and snatches ought to get that endurance back. Seriously, sounds like fun, though tiring and hard to do technique-oriented work for that long.

[r_graz]

Are you possibly conflating 2 different things, namely strength and endurance? I think that latter declines much faster than the former. One reason that I wonder about this is that you tend to use short rests between sets, I think.

Maybe, though it felt like a strength issue on the bench press. A few weeks ago I did 3 x 3 at 205, 225, 215. I would have thought 2 x 5 at 202.5 should have been pretty easy based on that, but I pretty much barely got the last rep. It was just frustrating, and left me feeling like I've made little progress.

I've learned enough though to reserve judgement till I've gotten a few weeks into it.

90 minutes of cleans and snatches ought to get that endurance back. Seriously, sounds like fun, though tiring and hard to do technique-oriented work for that long.

It was a lot of fun, though a bit tough after the upper body workout earlier in the day. I was actually surprised that the coach kept adding weight to the bar, I guess my form didn't break down as quickly as I expected. It was the first time I've done any real volume of either exercise and it was encouraging.

[r_graz]

LOWER WORKOUT A

Olympic Squat
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5
225 x 5

Hang Power Cleans (above the knee)
95 x 3
95 x 3
95 x 3
95 x 3
95 x 3
95 x 3

Good Morning
165 x 6
165 x 6
165 x 6
135 x 10

GHR (3 second negative)
4
4
4


Front Planks (45 secs btwn sets)
2 x 60 sec static hold

NOTES:

Kept the hang cleans light today because I did so damned many of them last night, just included them today to get the practice. My form got better in the last couple sets, I think. Concentrated less on getting the bar racked and more on the explosive portion of the lift. I've got a serious amount of wrist flexibility work to do, I think.

I had forgotten what a ballbuster 5x5 squats are.

[Misanthrope]

I had forgotten what a ballbuster 5x5 squats are.

Yeah; they suck.

[r_graz]

UPPER WORKOUT B


OH Press
120 x 5
120 x 5
120 x 5

Cable Row
150 x 8
150 x 8
150 x 8
150 x 7

DB Flat Bench
70 x 6 (WTF?)
60 x 8
60 x 8

WG Pulldown
140 x 9
140 x 9
140 x 7

Seated Tri Extension (French Press)
70 x 9
70 x 8
70 x 8

DB Curl
35 x 8
35 x 8

NOTES:
Another awful upper body workout. Lost strength pretty much everywhere.

[r_graz]

LOWER B


Clean Grip Power Snatch (hang, from above knee)
105 x 3
105 x 3
105 x 3
105 x 3
105 x 3
105 x 3

Snatch Grip Deadlift
135 x 3
165 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 2
245 x 3
245 x 3
245 x 3

Overhead Squat
135 x 7
135 x 8
135 x 7
110 x 13

GHR (pushup assist)
8
8
8

Core Work

Decline Crunches - 3 x 12
30 second Planks x 3

NOTES:

[Lifting N Tx]

Looks like lower is closer to past workouts than your upper numbers, as I think you've mentioned. Hopefully, week 2 will start an upward trend.

[r_graz]

Looks like lower is closer to past workouts than your upper numbers, as I think you've mentioned. Hopefully, week 2 will start an upward trend.

That's true. Lower seems to be holding steady. About the only thing that fell off a bit was OH squats and I think it's mainly because it got moved to the 3rd exercise in this workout instead of the 2nd, so I'm more fatigued.

Here's hoping for a good week 2

[r_graz]

UPPER WORKOUT A


Flat Bench
205 x 5
205 x 5 (barely)
165 x 10

BB Row
172.5 x 5
172.5 x 5
172.5 x 5
145 x 12

DB Shoulder Press
50 x 9
50 x 9
50 x 8

Weighted Chinups
+20 x 6
+20 x 6
+20 x 6
BW x 8

Seated Tri Extension (French Press)
70 x 9
70 x 9
70 x 8

BB Curl
70 x 9
70 x 8
70 x 7

NOTES:
A little better than last week, but disappointing that I had to struggle to get 205 x 5 x 2 on flat bench. Maybe doing nothing but heavy triples for the past 12 weeks on bench has made it tougher to do 5's? I will say that the first 3 reps go up nice and strong, and it's like a huge drop off in strength for reps 4 and 5. 1-3 reps is supposed to be more neural training, so I guess that could have something to do with it. All my other upper body exercises I've been training at 5 reps or more all along.