famendoza's 5/3/1 training log

[famendoza]

Woke up at 6:30AM for a online deployment. Except the scheduled conference never occurred and I was there half dozing expecting emergency crises to happen, which never did. Interrupted sleeping as a result. Did have a big breakfast though. Hand cramps occurred occasionally holding forks and spoons during the morning, mostly when I closed my hand around stuff. The charlie horse on my left calf from Friday was still present, to a smaller extent from a sensation POV.

The training
Came to the gym seemingly energetic. But that energy whittled down pretty quickly. The snatch was a disappointing performance in terms of attaining or even meeting a PR weight. I just couldn't pull hard or get anywhere with 75kg. I used 60kg as practice for the movement afterward as my back-off attempt.

The lack of aggressiveness in the snatch bled its way into the clean & jerk. There were too many misses in weights which I should be owning by now. Every attempt past 80kg felt like it was handicapped by stiff rubber bands attached from the ends of the bar to the floor. The fact that I couldn't even clean 90kg consistently(a feat that I made a backoff set not once but many times in the past weeks), and couldn't clean them for the majority of my attempts, made the whole experience unbelievable, surreal - as if I was participating in a documentary about how to get weak and useless.

I chalk this one up to lack of sleep and not always being able to make gains. I didn't try to keep with maximums on the snatch or clean and jerk, since I was not in any condition to do so.


Snatch
20kgx3x3
40kgx2x1
60kgx1x1
70kgx1x0 <-- felt heavier than expected
70kgx2x1
75kgx4x0 <-- MUCH heavier than I expected, and couldn't get it up.
60kgx4x1
60kgx0,1,0,1,1,1,1,1 <-- felt I needed the practice

Clean & Jerk
60kgx0 <--WTF?
60kgx1x1 <-- way too much effort for this
80kgx1x1
90kgx4x0 <-- WTF??!?!?! Couldn't even clean it!!!!
90kgx1x1 <-- crappy press-out
90kgx1x0 <-- no jerk
90kgx1x1 <-- finally OK
80kgx4x1 <-- only the last one was good, all others were slight press-outs.

Pull-ups
5,4,3,3

I also still suck in pull-ups. Traps feel very "flat", and I feel very tired.

[famendoza]

Today almost didn't happen, until I lucked out. My project had postponed a performance run tonight due to political difficulties. Worked out in my favour.

The training
Arrived at Adelaide Club. Redeemed shake ticket I got when I joined for a protein shake. That was my only reason for coming to Adelaide Club.

Met girl at gym who is going to become co-owner of a new Crossfit facility in Toronto. Apparently she heard of my exploits from one of the gym staff members who is my friend. Had a great conversation, and we shouted encouragingly at each other for the front squat (for her) and the back squat (for me). Good times. Glad I came to Adelaide to redeem a shake ticket.

Back squats were heavy at 295 lb - the pattern of the reps was 1) alright, 2) heavy, 3) HEAVY, in that order. In a couple of sets my left heel came off a bit, only to come down again. Hate when that happens. 140kg and onwards will be missions of their own. However, the 295 lb (135kg) was my 1RM in the high bar squat before, so I'm pretty satisfied with doing it for 5 triples. Another note, if I pressed the bar down tightly into my torso, the squat felt slightly easier.

I found out I cannot Snatch Deadlift 185lbs (85kg) hook grip without chalk. My thumbnail is too slippery at that weight. I can double overhand it though, which is strange.

The push press was a learning experience today. About 2 sets into my push pressing, I realized why my push press felt weak - so weak that I couldn't just snap it into place, I actually had to press it. It was because I didn't puff out my chest enough and to fix it, I cued spreading my elbows apart as far as I could while having them in the proper rack position for a press. Doing so made all subsequent Push Presses easier, but the last rep of each set needed to be pressed at the top regardless. But a slight change in form - basically not allowing my chest to "cave in" - worked wonders.


Back Squats (lbs) (high-bar)
45x1x15
135x1x5
185x1x3
225x1x2
275x1x1
295x5x3 **PR** (~135kg - all sets had hard reps and one not so hard rep)

Snatch Deadlift (lbs)
135x1x3
185x4x2 (~85kg needed chalk for these)

Push Press (lbs)
45x1x5
95x2x4
115x1x2
135x1x1
145x5x5 (~65kg every final rep of each set was hard)

[famendoza]

Previous day pissed off, some stupid shit happened with a (female) friend. Needless to say, she's dead to me now. I figured the pissed off energy, coupled with about 3 days since my last workout, gave me the energy pool I needed to demonstrate heavier snatching and pulling.

The training
Snatch PRs were the highlight of today. I normally would have gone to 75kg after 70kg but 70kg felt good so I decided what the hey, let's pull 80kg. And when I got that easily, I decided for 83kg to be conservative. When I got THAT one easily I figure 85kg would be good. And it was!! All of them were done with the following cues
- heels to floor until I'm forced to switch stance (i'm sure I was on my toes as the 2nd pull came but the cue forced me to bring the bar closer to me)
- "upright row" that little hinge thing that happens almost like a cuban press with the arms as the bar goes up while I go down. This cue plus aggressiveness on the 1st pull and the catch, which was sorely lacking before

I'm nearly at bodyweight (87kg) on the snatch. I tried going for 90kg but then second I missed it, I could actually feel the power that had been surging in me suddenly just leave my traps. I almost feel like had I stopped at 85kg and just done the 77kg backoff sets, I would have still had power to make PRs happen in the clean & jerk. I should have stopped after the first miss - which made me feel flat, but I thought I could push on. Nope, nyet, no mas mi amigo.

Clean and jerk was a weird experience. The bar flew up there with 70kg it felt so light. The 90kg felt alright, not as effortless in the jerk, but still effortless in the clean. The 100kg felt heavy throughout, and both jerks were pressed out. The 110kg was an attempt to try to get the PR and meet my first weightlifting goal. I got 2 cleans, but I couldn't even get the cleans consistently so I backed off and did 95kg. The 95kg attempts got progressively better - the last one being essentially near perfect as these things go. Why the hell couldn't I get that on the 100kg or even 110kg!?!

My snatch is too close to my clean & jerk. Only a 15kg difference between my heaviest successful attempts. Need to convert the 110kg into a clean and jerk. I'm so close to bodyweight on the snatch and 110kg on the clean and jerk. I'm excited and thrilled to be so close to meeting my first goals!

Pull-ups sucked, but slight improvement on first set, I'm up a rep (woo-hoo).

Snatch
20kgx3x3
40kgx3x1
60kgx2x1
70kgx1x1
80kgx1x1 Met my previous PR
83kgx1x1 **PR**
85kgx1x1 **PR!!!**
90kgx2x0 (My first miss, I could feel the power sapped away from me as if all the bindings for strength magically went away. My traps were done)
72kgx1x0
72kgx1x1 (wrong weight for backoff set)
77kgx1x0
77kgx3x1 that's better!

Clean & Jerk
70kgx1x1 Light as a feather
90kgx1x1 felt ok
100kgx2x1 ugh felt way heavy
110kgx5x0 (got 2 cleans out of 5, a good one, then a sloppy one where my elbow touched my leg) **PR clean only**
95kgx3x1 Last one was my best one - an actual powerful jerk. Goddamn, why can't it be like that throughout the sets!?!?

Pull-ups
6,4,2,3 BLEH - upper back done at this point!

My traps still feel super tired, as though they've quit for the rest of the day.

[famendoza]

Decided to take film today so I went to Adelaide Club, and just happened to bump into my buddy who works there and the girl I met last time (Crossfitter).

The training
Came in, warmed up with just the bar then went immediately into snatching to start OH squatting. The OH Squat wasn't particularly tough even at 68kg, and the girl was offering to take video on my behalf, which I graciously accepted - it made for less editing effort on my part. I used her chalk as well - in a little makeup container called "chalk bucket". She got a good laugh at that.

The front squat was immediately afterward. I took the time to warm-up while covering topics such as training, eating, and competition. The girl was looking forward to be competing in an upcoming Crossfit event, all the while manhandling my camera. When it came time for the lifts, she took the best video she could with me giving no warning whatsoever on all 5 of my work sets. The work sets themselves were taxing, and on the 4th set I thought it was all over given that I was actually rounding my back a bit. However it got worse on the 5th set before it got better again (you can hear her cue of "nice!"). Still 110kg on the front squat for a triple means that I've just GOT to nail down the 110kg clean & jerk.

Around this point I started talking about my general fatness - I have jelly rolls that I can grip in my hands fully. I'm starting to go "cuddly" which ain't good.

Finally went to the clean pull AKA the exercise that seems to do nothing but waste my time. I took it to about 195lbs (about 85% of 105kg - my "projected" max Clean & Jerk) and went about wasting the first two sets on what was described by the dynamic duo observing me as "trying to do a half-assed reverse curl." I was advised to just keep the arms straight, triple extend and shrug, which is NOTHING like the way I pull for the clean. Still I did it, but I don't think it contributes at all to my pull - especially at 85%.


Overhead Squat (lbs)
45x1x5
95x1x5
115x1x3
135x1x2
150x3x2

Front Squat (lbs)
45x1x15
135x1x5
185x1x3
220x1x1
240x5x3

Medley of above:

Clean Pull (lbs)
135x1x3
185x1x3
195x4x3

Clean & Jerk (lbs)
195x1x1

Felt the abs afterward and today. There ARE abs there, so the jelly's gotta go.

[famendoza]

I will no longer update this log. I may come back to it if I ever want to continue with solely strength training, but I've gone down the path of Olympic lift training and I like it. You'll find the latest updates here:
http://www.ampedtraining.com/communi...ad.php?tid=320