famendoza's 5/3/1 training log

[famendoza]

The training
Short and bitter, like a pill. It was a non-PR day with the clean and jerk just maintaining itself for a brief moment, before and the snatch not coming together when it needed to. Thankfully 70kg still comes with no misses - thank goodness for small mercies.

I really need to stop pushing it when I feel like teh suck. Nothing gets accomplished when I feel like crap and my form matches it.


Clean & Jerk
20kgx1x5
40kgx3x1
60kgx1x1
80kgx0 (dropped clean)
80kgx1x1
90kgx1x1
95kgx1x1
100kgx0 (couldn't jerk - light headedness)
100kgx0 (couldn't push it all the way)
100kgx1 (pressed out jerk..)
100kgx0,0,0,0,0 It took this many attempts where I miss all my jerks before I quit
90kgx3x1 (strangely, easy)

Snatch
20kgx1x3
40kgx1x1
60kgx2x1
70kgx1x1 (very good!)
75kgx7x0 (goddamn it...)
60kgx2x1 (eh)
60kgx0 (losing it..)
60kgx4x1 (testing form change)

Pull-ups
5,4,3,0

[famendoza]

Came in early. Overall felt good coming in, had lots of sleep in the past two days. Food intake was not a problem.

The training
The snatch balance was for some reason a lift I wanted to practice a ton. Not only because I was wishywashy on the weight to practice with (I kept going back and forth between what I *CAN* do and what I should do to spur long term growth, and more importantly keep technique), but because I wanted to practice the technique of driving up on the bar while staying stable when placed in the squat position dynamically. This lift feels uncomfortable, as though at any moment I'll tip forward or backward, never truly dead-centered balanced, and my wrists hate the feeling of driving up in snatch grip. Given that it's supposed to increase my confidence in the snatch receiving position, I've got a lot of practice to do.

The squat on the other hand was done nicely with a weight that correctly challenged me. I narrowed my stance a bit from last week, and noticed an immediate improvement in my ability to keep my knees out and back locked. Like any challenging weight, the last rep of the last set was mildly difficult (aka slow), but only because I wanted the form of the rep to be close to perfect. During that last rep, it's almost as if I could feel every muscle fiber in my legs and torso, complain to me that "meh" form is good enough, while my mind was whipping them like a field master going 'No - perfection is necessary'.

The snatch pull presented a different challenge, in that I need to do what I wanted to accomplish (a more aggressive 2nd pull), while practicing other key points of form which I'm only now just starting to integrate:
- arms rotated inwards to get elbows directly out to sides
- getting heels glued to floor while bar remains just a bit behind toes
- getting the appropriate grip to stay upright.
- ensuring that bar travels VERY close to legs, and that on second pull stays close to torso WITHOUT ELBOWS FACING BACK!

Only the last snatch pull set did I feel I accomplished that, and even so, getting the snatch the first time after the pulls still gave me a forward orientation - I'm still letting my elbows relax as the 2nd pull arrives instead of keeping the correct orientation. Actually focusing on the correct elbow orientation lead to two nice snatches at the end.

Snatch Balance
20kgx1x6
30kgx1x5
40kgx1x2
45kgx1x2 (original increase)
50kgx1x2
55kgx1x2 (seemed a little slow on the drop the first time around)
50kgx1x2
55kgx1x2 (definitely slow on the drop - switched to weight enough to practice form)
50kgx3x2 (finally decided on acceptable weight)

Squat (high-bar)
60kgx1x7
70kgx1x5
90kgx1x3
100kgx1x2
110kgx1x1
120kgx5x3 (correct challenging weight)

Snatch Pull
60kgx2x2
60kgx2x3
60kgx2x3 (lost my footing on the last rep. REDO)
60kgx2x3

Snatch
60kg miss
60kgx2x1

As I noted while finishing my pulls, one of the 20kg plates had a cracked ring and had it sent away. One less 20kg plate unfortunately, but it was broken.

[famendoza]

Came in kinda pissed and didn't end up talking to anyone. Not sure why. I felt depressed, really uncomfortable in my own skin, as though I could not meet my own expectations for how the day should go for some reason. I'm sure people felt it and avoided eye contact for that reason. Hated it. Aside from all that, I was well rested and fed.

The training
I was fixated on getting a PR somewhere, which probably was an overcompensation of feeling like a socially incompetent piece of crap in my head prior to entering the gym. How I achieved that may have not been the smartest strategy, although I don't regret it.

The clean and jerk felt great up to the first 100kg clean and jerk. I had to press it out, and for the first time ever I felt very unstable in the torso, almost as I had begun a very subtle hula hoop contest while pushing a heavy weight over my head. I stabilized in about 10 seconds, but that felt as uncomfortable as rounding my lower back during a deadlift. Second one was awesome. As for 105kg I could not even clean it except but once, and no jerk came out of that one. I never clean anything at 103kg. On the other hand 90kg backoff sets were easy, which frustrated me further.

The snatch was a mission today. After performing 70kg I attempted to put on 75kg and proceed to miss a whole bunch forward and a couple back, me clueless as to why.

After reducing the weight to 73kg I still missed a whole bunch, but midway through I attempted something new, partially in desperation, based on an proprioceptive observation about my arms during the end of the second pull. I cued myself to pull my elbows up by thinking of the move as an partial upright row, in snatch grip. After 2 misses behind me, I got 72kg twice.

I then proceeded to go on ahead with 75kg and got it twice, the first time exhibiting extreme uglyness as I duckwalked forwards and back to remain stable. My left knee hit the floor and I had to stabilize the bar above me while regaining my footing. I did so and recovered. The second one was way better. After several attempts at 78kg (all misses behind me), I got 78kg the first time in the same ugly manner, the second was a miss that occurred on the recovery (never had that before), and the third 78kg attempt was successful in a much better manner. 80kg was misses all around, but with the upright row technique as the 2nd pull ends, they were all misses behind. Strange...

I did made one backoff attempt at 70kg, got it, observed my hands. They were mirror image in damage. My right hand now had all the damage that occurred to my left hand, in the exact same spots. Rip under the ring finger callus, pooled blood under my middle finger callus. The rip caused me to stop any further training for that session. Now I'll have to tape both hands for my next session.

So basically I volumed up on getting my PR attempt, and got a PR snatch and a possible new technique to practice with the snatch. OTOH my hands are now completely abused, and I probably overdid it on volume to get a PR to overcompensate on my shitty attitude coming in. Perseverance or Madness? We'll see.

Clean & Jerk
20kgx1x5
40kgx1x3
60kgx1x1
80kgx1x1
90kgx1x1
100kgx2x1 (first ugly pressout, second awesome)
105kgxFail,Fail,Clean Only,Fail,Fail *PR on clean*
103kgxFail,Fail,Fail (Couldn't even clean it)
90kgx4x1 (first ugly, 2,3,4th easy)

Snatch
20kgx1x6
40kgx1x3
60kgx1x1
70kgx1x1
75kgx4x0 (fails)
72kgx7x0 (many fails, but an interesting development in technique occurs...)
72kgx1x1 *nice*
72kgx1x1 *NICE*
75kgx1x1 *UGLY*
75kgx1x1 *BETTER*
78kgx3x0 (more fails, all behind me...)
78kgx1x1 *UUGLY*
78kgx1x0 (missed it coming up, TOUGH)
78kgx1x1 *PR not ugly*
80kgx4x0 (final set of fails)
70kgx1x1 (immediately afterwards my callus rips and I stop)

[famendoza]

Decided to go to the Adelaide Club given that my work was running rather late (7PMish). I had brought the camera with me, and even brought it out to tape, but I got wrapped up in training that I just plum forgot to set it up. Now the world will never know how awesome my 275lb high bar squats are :P
I also came in with the shittiest sleep I've had in quite sometime - 3 hours. I cannot sleep in my room, it's soooo goddamn hot even with air conditioning.

The training

Actually trained with the male staff member that's there and that I've made an acquaintance with. We went to buy food at Tim Horton's first, brought it back and ate half of it, then put the rest in the fridge for after training.

Squat was good, challenging, I felt a slight sense of a lack of self control on descent. Might have been just me looking at the mirror, plus the bulky power rack. Beyond that it was fairly non-eventful, and am looking forward to do 130kg. Pretty slick, given that 295 lb. (approx. 134kg) is my all time max in the high bar squat.

Snatch deadlift was uneventful, except my partner had never seen one and thought it was a snatch pull. I showed him the difference, which lead to him trying out his snatching at 65 lb.. He has the same problem I have, and that we both need to correct, which is timing the 2nd pull.

Push Press was slightly outside of expectations. Although 60kg has been done before for 5x5, 135 lb. felt heavy the first warmup set I tried it. The 140 lb. reps fluctuated between being easy and slightly challenging, within even the same set. Some sets more than others, and not in sequence. The very last rep was challenging in the sense that I actually had to prep myself to push press it. This crap should just lift itself right?

Honest to goodness this was a good training session, in spite of the lack of sleep, I had a good time chatting with acquaintances and I picked the right weights and finished the schedule for today. Couldn't ask for a better day.


Back Squat (lb.)
45x1x15
135x1x5
185x1x3
225x1x2
245x1x2
265x1x1
275x5x3 (correct weight ~125kg, moderately challenging)

Snatch Deadlift (lb.)
135x1x3
155x1x2
175x1x3 (~80kg, had to chalk up for this one, grip was giving away)
175x2x2

Push Press (lb.)
45x1x10
95x1x5
135x1x2
140x5x5 (~63kg, very last rep was challenging)

Snatch corrective drill from Glenn Pendlay's youtube channel. Slight back and forth rocking with slightly bent knees and then all of a sudden dropping down. Let's see how useful they will be on Day 3.

[famendoza]

Came into the gym tired - crappy sleep yet again. Had not that much to eat, stupid me and my not wanting to do the right thing and EAT. Emotionally felt better than my last Oly lift session. Met some new folks as well, very friendly and talkative and into Olympic lifting as well. Felt very welcome.

The training
I continued the snatch 2nd pull drill that Glenn Pendlay put on his site for 20kg. I felt a bit unnatural doing them for some reason, but they at least helped me realize where I should actually extend for the 2nd pull. This helped me finally nail 75kg as a lift with no failure (all prior snatch session I fail with 75kg at least twice if not all attempts). For some weird reason during my warm-ups, I felt very off balance because of the new 2nd pull position (higher up, more accurate on the hip) and 60kg were not all successful attempts - balance was my main issue, missing forward. Tried for 80kg twice, even after my back-off sets. I felt pumped I could do 75kg attempts back to back successfully with no misses, so I thought the power would carry over to the 80kg. No go though.

The clean and jerk was good until 100kg. Cleaning was hard today for some reason, and it's for that reason that only my third attempt was successful. I attempted 103kg about five times and was only able to clean it twice. 90kg was once again easy.

Of course I can't leave unscathed. My left thumb now has a tear, and it's not even thick callus there. Just a soft skin tear. I will be taping up my thumbs now. Any more tape and I'll basically be wearing gloves made solely from athletic tape.

Snatch
20kgx1x5 (snatch 2nd pull drill)
40kgx4x1 (snatch 2nd pull drill - a little heavy for this drill)
60kgx2x0 (wait .. what?)
60kgx1x1
60kgx1x0 (hmmm....)
60kgx2x1 better
70kgx1x1
75kgx1x1 AWESOME no misses
80kgx3x0 fail whale
65kgx2x0 (damn off balance)
65kgx5x1 better
70kgx1x1 nice
75kgx2x1 VERY AWESOME no misses back to back felt strong
80kgx2x0 fail, but no whale

Clean & Jerk
60kgx1x3 yup three in a row
80kgx1x1
90kgx1x1
95kgx1x1
100kgx2x0 (CANT CLEAN IT?!?!)
100kgx1x1 better
103kgx6x0 (only 3 cleans in that whole set, no jerk)
90kgx3x1 easy, then I tear my thumb

I was told that I don't complete the push of the jerk up high enough, and that I need to get more aggressive. Truer words have never been spoken.

Also that I should stop going to my previous PR as a warm-up - go to 103kg instead of 100kg.

I will redo this day as I was super tired coming in, and a better more rested day should net better results.

[famendoza]

The training
Originally I was supposed to redo Wednesday's workout, but I saw that my 70kg snatch was HEAVY and 75kg was going nowhere. So I turned it into the day 4. I'll continue on with the schedule as is.

The overhead squat was a surprise challenge. Maybe not that surprising considering I was having a hard time with 70kg snatch. 40kg felt alright, but 60kg felt hard just putting it into position, and annoying on the wrists. 65kg felt even more annoying, and was the first OH squat in a while where I was worried I would lose it overhead. None of that happened (I stabilized well after a bit of slowness), but it was still tough on my wrists.

The 100kg front squat was challenging in the 4th set, where I actually rounded my upper back and almost lost the load on the 1st rep. Luckily I was able to extend my upper back under load and continue forth. Last couple reps were slow.

Using the clean pull, I implemented tips that I was told by someone much stronger than me regarding my hips and shoulders. My hips have a tendency to rise too fast, so with 90kg I made sure to maintain an even extension before the 2nd pull. This made my subsequent 90kg cleans very easy to do. I still linger in the bottom of the clean, but I'll fix that.

Snatch
20kgx3x3
40kgx3x1
60kgx3x0 (flag!)
60kgx1x1
70kgx1x1 (ugly)
75kgx3x0 (BIG flag to stop)

OH Squat
40kgx1x5
60kgx1x2
65kgx3x2

Front Squat
60kgx1x5
80kgx1x3
90kgx1x1
100kgx5x3

Clean Pull
60kgx1x3
80kgx1x3
90kgx2x3

Clean Only
90kgx2x1 Better cleans.

[famendoza]

Had family & friends gathering, with Peruvian cuisine. Somewhat filling. Sleep felt not so good.

The training
Sweet and short. I must be undergoing some temporary performance degradation. I again managed to only make 70kg, missing 75kg several times. The clean & jerk was WAY worse, and may have had the same problems on Friday, had I decided to perform it right then and there. I could barely get 85kg on it, and 93 kg was a no-go. Overall traps felt very tired, almost squished, like someone danced a little jig with heavy booths on my upper back. Pull-ups sucked hardcore as well. Will put up with this to get past "the dark times". They are dark times indeed, cause they make me suck.

I went to Adelaide this time so weights are in lbs.

Snatch (lbs)
45x3x3
65x3x1
95x2x1
115x2x1
135x1x1
155x1x1
165x4x0 (fails)

Clean & Jerk (lbs)
155x1x1
185x1x1 (erhmm...)
205x4x0 (GODDAMN IT)
185x4x1 Actually got progressively better technique wise, but its 85kg so go figure

Pull-ups
4,4,2 <-- teh sux

[famendoza]

I woke up with a stiff neck, almost felt like I was wearing a loose cast. Must have been the awkward sleeping position my head was in (I roll around in bed a lot). The stiffness made it difficult to maintain good posture without it being annoying, as chest up shoulders done, head straight made the stiffness jump out immediately. It felt as though my neck was being pushed towards looking to my lap. This made it somewhat easier to look at my iPhone on the subway while playing Final Fantasy II, but also encouraged upper back rounding. I was expecting a crappy workout - even as an assistance day.

The training
The front squat felt heavy at 175 so I wasn't surprised at the lack of "pop" in my work sets. The first 230lb (approx 105kg) was like I was handed a heavy stone and asked to rise with it 3 times. All I was thinking was "elbows up, look forward and up", and hoping that would be enough effort to keep me from collapsing. I managed all 5 sets alright, although I had a close call in the last set (look in the video).

The mission on the clean deadlift was to get an even rise between my shoulders and hips on all my sets, from the floor to just under the knees. I was called on this last time I did my cleans last week - basically I was told my ass was going up before my shoulders. The video shows an even distribution for the most part, plus a locked back for the most part. Speed was also something I wanted to work on, and they seemed good.

The Snatch push press was perhaps the most annoying exercise. I've yet to come up with a good way of positioning my elbows and wrists with a snatch grip that feels "powerful" the way I'm told it's supposed to. The grip that is most "powerful" basically requires that I ride the bar on my freaking neck. Which brings me to my other annoyance:

I've also yet to master bringing the bar back down without it crashing and bruising the back of my neck.

The damn bar with its center knurling was massaging my neck with its cheese grater. Hell, I though bone was gonna come out exposed by the time I was done 5x5. If I place it any lower though, I have no platform to push off powerfully and it feels like it'll roll down my back. I'm open to any thoughts on managing this once it gets heavy other than to suck it up. I'm possibly not stiff with my torso when the bar is on its way down, so that could be fixed.

Front Squat (lbs)
45x1x6
85x1x5
135x1x3
175x1x3
210x1x2
230x5x3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vzd_XHx0QI

Clean Deadlift (lbs)
135x1x3
175x1x3
210x1x2
230x2x2
230x1x1
230x1x2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDjIkU9TLqs

Snatch Push Press (lbs)
45x1x10
65x1x5
80x1x3
100x1x1
120x5x5 (first set had extra rep) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y62bTwwhF3g

The one good thing that came out of doing the snatch push presses was that my stiffness in my neck suddenly relieved itself. There was a bit of tightness still resident between my shoulder blades, but my neck felt looser and warmer.

[famendoza]

Came in a bit pooped from work, but otherwise ready to train. Some days are just not that exciting, which sucks - time is money!!

The training
Came in, had an image in my mind for the third pull of the snatch. I've had this image for the past couple of days based on my experience when I pulled 78kg last time (slight relaxed arms as soon as the 2nd pull ends, almost like I'm upright rowing with a snatch grip) and a cue from Glenn Pendlay - "think of the third pull as if you're kicking a visor off your forehead with the bar". Those cues made 70kg and 75kg easy. And gave me my new PR 80kg. I thought I could carry this over to 82kg, but looks like mental fatigue came in. In fact, I almost got 82kg, except I couldn't lock my elbows and the bar came crashing down on my neck, and I fell forward. Thing is, that was annoying but I didn't feel hurt at all. It was quite embarrasing though, as if I had sharted loudly in the gym.

The clean and jerk was a different story. I just couldn't pull off what I had in mind with the jerk when it got heavy. I wanted to basically widen my split considerably, but I guess I my mental fatigue and inexperience made me scared to do so? I dunno. I got more cleans this time around than before, of course with lower weight - 102kg. The 90kg were springier this time around, with the clean recovery instantaneous. Guess what? I finally did what I wanted to mentally with the 90kg with the last jerk, which was a wider split. It felt comfortable, or at least as comfortable as 90kg overhead can feel.

Pull ups continue to suck, although the first rep makes me feel like they wont. Oh that first rep - WHAT A LIAR!!!

I decided to do snatch first today, even though clean & jerk was scheduled first today since I had that snatch image in my mind.

Snatch
20kgx1x7
40kgx3x1
60kgx1x1
70kgx0 <-- I'm not being aggressive
70kgx1x1
75kgx1x1
80kgx0 <-- almost
80kgx1x1 **PR**
82kgx5x0 <-- includes a bad spill on my part
70kgx4x1

Clean & Jerk
60kgx1x1
80kgx1x1
90kgx0 <-- i'm "complacent"
90kgx1x1
95kgx1x1
102kgx6x0 (2 high-pulls, 4 cleans, 0 jerks)
90kgx3x1

Pull-Ups
5,5,3

[famendoza]

Most memorable thing was eating Sushi Kai and solving two defects at work in the span of an hour.

The training
I came in early evening. Since another trainee was using the squat rack I decided to warmup with the empty bar, doing drills to ensure I get the cues "tip visor off head" and the sudden lockout coupled with aggressiveness to receive and catch the bar. I felt like I had a tendency prior to just do the visor tip cue (which seemed similar to the "upright row" cue), without doing enough to drive shoulders up and me down aggressively and tightly. Leading to tipping over or missing behind, or worse, missing on my neck. I had all these issues in mind as I practiced. I eventually made it to about 40kg and started practising hang snatching - mostly as a warmup. I did many sets (not sure how many) but I stopped once I felt warm, sweaty and loose in the shoulders.

From there I went to the snatch balance, which required me to power snatch all the weights. I noticed something about the snatch balance which helped me complete the exercise with what seemed like a very hard time keeping balance - keeping the heels as much on the floor as possible. Doing so prevents the ankle extension with going high, with which the snatch (and snatch balance) makes the system more unstable (learnt this from reading Bob Takano's writings). Doing this netted me my final set of 55kg with more balance than the previous two (and the 1 repper) and forced me to stay upright which was good.

After I got the rack, and met a new acquaintance it was time to squat. Squat was a bitch. Ok, really only the final set, which went from 2 really hard reps, to one easy rep, because I cued myself going slightly forward and (mostly) up. I noticed my center of gravity shifting towards my toes, causing me to think "grab the floor with my feet", and I gave myself a charlie horse around the third set. Even as I type this now I still have the charlie horse.

Snatch pull was my high pulling a snatch. I don't think a single one of those pulls will help me with the snatch anymore than the cues for the pull after the 2nd pull ends.

I tried a 68g snatch and failed. That doesn't mean I won't try to do another quick lift after a heavy workout just to see if I can.

Bob Takano's writings - all wonderfully in PDF format - are here:
http://www.takanoathletics.com/index...les&Itemid=192

Snatch balance
40kgx1x2
45kgx1x1
50kgx1x1
55kgx2x2
55kgx1x1 (felt unstable)
55kgx1x2

Back Squat (high-bar)
20kgx1x10
70kgx1x5
90kgx1x3
110kgx1x2
120kgx1x1
130kgx5x3

Snatch Pull
60kgx1x2
68kgx4x3 (didn't feel confident I was doing these right at all)

Snatch
68kg miss - done for the day!