famendoza's 5/3/1 training log

[famendoza]

The training

So I get to the gym in a hurry since I decided that I'd leave my self about 50 mins to train in total. It's a good thing I decided to train since I managed to get close to a PR in the clean and jerk and managed to do so while training the Jerk part twice. I got tips from one of the other girl gym staff who actually is a lifter in the 58kg class. Glad I was able to meet her since she helped see things that I couldn't see all those times I've recorded in my camera. The jerk was one of those things - I wasn't sitting down enough and I was springing forward. With the cue "sit down" I was able to get the jerk up, and me under the bar quicker and stronger and steadier. It felt like I had taken a shortcut, or heck even a wormhole, in the movement and somehow managed to get a good jerk. On the whole, my clean was approved of by her, no mean feat considering she's seen it all as she was a competitor; granted I've power cleaned so I've at least got positive transfer from that.

She also observed my rendition of the snatch and found that I swung the bar WAY too forward on the second pull, and circle it around behind me on the catch. These mistakes manifested in the first 70kg miss and second 70kg miss, highlighting my erroneous pattern. I got to readjust movements or I'll never get to bodyweight in the snatch. Glad I got another lifter on my side. She was also gracious enough to give me a ride home, which speaks beautifully to the class of the staff at the gym. It is an awesome gym and I'm glad I'm finally here.

Part of the ride back home was a subway ride. I demonstrated my other lifts on the camcorder I stowed away in may bag. These lifts were from previous recordings, the purpose of which was to demonstrate I've done stuff other than the Olympic lifts and to get feedback from someone experienced in lifting (at 56kg she deadlifts 125kg). Needless to say she was unimpressed, and in fact called me a pussy for failing on the 320 lb. squat, saying that it was "easy" for me and I quit too soon. Also my eating was apparently NOTHING compared to hers. Either way, I've got a long way towards my goals, and if harsh criticism is part of the path there, so be it.

Clean and Jerk
20kgx1x5
60kgx1x1
70kgx1x1
80kgx1x1
85kgx1x1
90kgx1x1
95kgx1x1 (iffy jerk)
95kgx1x1 (wayyy better jerk)
80kgx3x1 (~85% of heaviest C&J for that day)

Snatch
40kgx1x1
50kgx1x1
60kgx1x1
70kgx1x0 (missed behind)
70kgx1x0 (missed in front)
70kgx1x1
60kgx3x1 (~85% of heaviest snatch for that day)

Ran out of time to do pull-ups - jeez don't I sound like an excuse maker. I come to the gym way too late.

[famendoza]

Today was supposed to be a day where I would be video taping online. However I did a disservice to myself and the staff that was waiting there by oversleeping. I missed an important opportunity to show the staff that the camcording would not be a bother, and I apologize to them when I came in. Sucks, but it's my fault. I suck, and made a bad first impression. Sorry team.


The training
The training was a mixed bag. The snatch balance felt good, but also felt slow on the elbow lock. The back squat was a change of pace I haven't had in a while, not to mention being done high bar. It was much tougher than I thought for something that should have been easy (110kg == 242lbs). I'll be loading this at 2% increases to adjust to the volume and the form of lifting - there were some slow reps near the end. What was cool though was being able to drop the loaded bar behind me to prep the bar for the snatch pulls - can't do that in a regular gym!

I don't know how to do snatch pulls, and it's apparent in what transpired in my training. I was doing something along the lines of how I start the snatch below my waist, but once it got to waist level, the pull did not seem to mimic the appropriate mechanics. The reason I say that is because I decided to actually snatch 63kg aftward with those same mechanics, and it was a no go for 3 lifts before I modifed the mechanics and was more on my heels (and perceived to be leaning back a bit more) before the lift became natural with no misses.

I use the squat down version to grip. My start position is entered by me breathing in and tensing the torso straight, and raising my hips in line with the barbell. The above two sentences sound out of place, but I'm describing how I enter the snatch position.

Snatch Balance
20kgx1x3
25kgx1x3
30kgx1x3
35kgx1x3
40kgx2x3

Back Squat (High Bar)
60kgx1x5
70kgx1x5
80kgx1x3
90kgx1x3
100kgx1x1
110kgx3x5

Snatch Pull
40kgx1x2
50kgx1x2
55kgx1x2
60kgx1x1
63kgx3x2

Snatch
63kgx1x0 (behind)
63kgx1x0 (forward)
63kgx1x0 (forward)
63kgx1x1 (alright)
63kgx1x1 (BETTER)

[famendoza]

I forgot how to read, and in the training terminology preceding the Beginner template, the reps and sets were from left to right. I interpreted them the other way, and have been doing more reps for fewer sets on certain lifts (like the back squat). E.g. I should have been doing 5 sets of 3 reps instead of 3 sets of 5 reps. Doh! I'll have to fix this for my next "week", which involves a lot of squatting (front, OH, back).

[famendoza]

Began in the afternoon. Missed the whole rainy period here while I was productive in the gym.

The training
Began with the clean and jerk. Every thing looked promising till I got near limit weights. The clean and jerk for 95 kgs was passable (straight arms, no pressing). However the 98kgs just buried me on the jerks. The cleans were fine, but a little bit tough (strangely, the tough part starts not at the bottom, but near the middle of the squat between "the hole" and the recovered stance. I would have expected the hole to cause problems). The jerks just got worse as my attempts grew. The first one was closer to a near miss. The second two were closer to full all-out misses. Will have to try these again. The three singles at 80kg just felt harder to execute properly (note the misses), most likely because my mind was on missing the 98kg jerks.

The snatch presented the same problems on the climb up. A miss/catch on 70kg, then just misses (forward) all around on 75kg. As with the clean & jerk, the snatch contained its fair share of misses on the three singles - causing me fear, uncertainty and doubt about my preparedness on this session. After a bit of focus on pulling back on my traps, and getting the setup at the bottom closer to correct, the 60kgs flew up correctly.

I finally attempted pull-ups, given I had plenty of time to do so. I chose the straightest bar I could find in the gym. They seem to be a rarity nowadays with every gym having power racks equipped with those angled handle bars they call a pull-up station. They remind me more of demon horns on a power rack, beckoning the average gym trainee to train his "lats" with the wide grip shoulder destructor, not realizing the detrimental effect it'll have on their shoulder health. Demon it is indeed. Anyways I prefaced my pull-up story with the above nonsense to distract from the fact that my pull-ups SUCK! A 4 rep is the highlight of my pull-ups, and they just got worse and worse. I tried to see if I could get another triple at the end (just for the heck of it) and saw it just get worse. On top of that the straight pull-up bar was just murder on my hands, particularly the hand with the callus tear. I'm gonna need to find me some athletic tape to fix this craptacular situation.

Clean & Jerk
20kgx1x3
40kgx1x2
60kgx1x1
70kgx1x1
80kgx1x1
90kgx1x1
95kgx1x0
95kgx1x1
98kgx3x0 (I made the cleans, but missed the jerks)
80kgx1x1
80kgx1x0 (caught too far back on my shoulders, tipped backwards)
80kgx3x1

Snatch
20kgx1x3
30kgx1x2
40kgx1x1
50kgx1x1
55kgx1x1
60kgx1x1
65kgx1x1
70kgx1x0
70kgx1x1
75kgx3x0 (still can't duplicate my feat from before)
60kgx2x0 (caught too far forward, swung forward ..)
60kgx3x1

Pull-ups
4,3,3,2

[famendoza]

Came in at the nick of time for about an hour's worth of training. Good times before that talking with a coworker on the subway about the need to be challenged NOT STRESSED at work, in order to improve the morale of subordinates.

The training
Quickly got in the gym pulled together the squat rack, and set up the bar for squatting. One thing I noticed was a tendency for my left knee to buckle in before being pushed out on the squat. When I made deliberate attempts to keep pushing the knee out I noticed a weakness in my left leg on the concentric. I can't quite describe it unfortunately, but I dread the eccentric since it feels like I'll grasp failure even though I have not, and I feel like I have to put every ounce of rapidly depleting strength to finish the concentric portion of the squat. One of the squats in the 3rd set actually went very knees forward and I thought I was going to lose the bar right then and there. Looks like I'm gonna have to suck it up and go up only 2-3 kilos and get the knees part sorted out - even if all the squats end up making me feel like I've got a jointed left peg leg about to burst.

The snatch deadlift was a forgettable experience. I practiced flaring my knees and pushing them back during the concentric. On my right hand side, a dude was power snatching 90-100 kg. I want that strength.

The push press was the first exercise where I felt I had just gone under the razor-thin boundary of what I could do 5x5 MAX. I did 60kg 5x5 and none of it felt even remotely comfortable. Thoughts of failure, dread and much doom did fill my head while on my second set, since I was thinking I had overshot the weight, and that the weight choice was going to catch up to me on later sets. I caught a second wind on my fourth set since it went VERY fast, almost like I decided to actually power my way into position and take the reins for victory, so to speak. The final set caught the momentum from the fourth. The grip and elbow position throughout all sets was sadly inconsistent. Looks like another form correction area. This looks like another lift that should be pegged at 1-2 kilo increases max per session.

Squats (high-bar)
40kgx1x10
60kgx1x5
70kgx1x5
80kgx1x3
90kgx1x2
100kgx1x1
115kgx5x3

Snatch Deadlift
40kgx1x3
50kgx1x3
60kgx1x2
70kgx1x1
79kgx1x3 (oops one extra rep)
79kgx1x2

Push Press
20kgx1x8
30kgx1x5
40kgx1x3
50kgx1x2
60kgx5x5

[famendoza]

Was almost held up indefinitely due to a work issue. Thankfully I was able to masterfully maneuver myself out of it and get to the gym; unfortunately my maneuvering didn't account for time and once again I got only an hour's worth in the gym so pull-ups were thrown out for today.

The training
The good: My 70kg snatch came with no misses and was powerful as a snatch enough to catch it somewhat high (a few inches above parallel), but ride it down for a squat before recovering. The epic fail: 75kg snatch. I figured since 70 kilos went up just dandy I should've been able to squeeze out a 75'er. Around the 8th attempt, I figured I should lower the weight by about 3 kilos - that didn't help. The exact pattern of fails:
75kg
not pulling under
miss forward
miss backward
miss forward
miss forward
miss forward
miss backward (this one was almost made it )
not pulling under
72kg
miss forwards
miss forwards, but had it stable for a bit above while I duck walked then got my left foot back in squat position but lost it.

Sucktacular as that is, I gotta realize that the 75kg was a one shot deal two weeks ago and that I have to focus on smaller gains to inch forward. The fact that the 70kg came strong with no preceding miss means that it's getting stronger. The fewer the misses at that level the better - i guess?

The clean and jerk looked promising at the outset, but I felt hurried and rushed as I was nearing closing time at the gym. That probably didn't help me to complete the 95kg jerk part. So my performance was worse than the last time on this lift.

I did notice something I didn't quite know how to describe but I felt it should be noted. When I'm closer to PR weights specially in the snatch, I'll perform the snatch great, but feel very "depressed" immediately afterwards. Like my traps will feel incredibly tired, and my torso will have a hard time staying stable, ruining my confidence for heavier AND EVEN lighter lifts at times. I remember feeling this today, and the last time I did my PR snatch. My traps and the sides of my torso felt like I got stepped on by an invisible giant.

Ran into a fellow lifter who's doing great in his performance. He did 112kg in the snatch and 150kg for the clean and jerk which is awesome. I'm shooting for bodyweight in the snatch (88kg) and 110kg in the clean and jerk, and was wanting to do this before the end of the year, but if I'm sensing a pattern here - these weights might not come till next year.

Snatch
20kgx5x1
40kgx3x1
60kgx2x1 (first one was a PR power snatch, second one was a full snatch)
65kgx1x1 (almost a power snatch wow)
70kgx1x1 (first time ever no miss on the first attempt and almost felt like a power snatch)
75kgx8xZERO
72kgx3xZERO
60kgx3x1 (easy....)

Clean & Jerk
60kgx1x1
70kgx1x1
80kgx1x1
90kgx1x1
95kgx2x0 (urge to kill rising, missed both jerks)
80kgx3x1

[famendoza]

Got to the gym fairly early, and left early too. Only thing is THAT I LOST MY LOG BOOK!!!! That log book has been with me since I started barbell training for real back in May 2008. It's recorded everything I've done so far, and now it's somewhere in some locker at the U of T AC. So many memories written down on paper - PRs passed, barriers broken, things learnt during my 2 years time, now carelessly thrown away. First piece of gym equipment I've ever lost.

Otherwise, leaving the gym, physically I felt excellent, like I had taken a relaxing massage. Not sure if its simply cause I drained myself and am relaxing out of sheer fatigue, but I feel good too, and actually a bit sleepy - drank a 1L chocolate milk and I felt I should have drank 2L.

The Training
All of this is from memory. I came in thinking I should do a 50kg OH Squat, but I realized after several warmup sets that it was too easy. I conservatively tried 55kg and that still didn't feel slow, so I went with 60kg and that was a good weight to try. Went for three doubles - none remotely tiresome, second rep just slightly slower than the first. The hardest part was arguably getting it into position, as I had to behind the neck push jerk in snatch grip position - for the first time ever.

I also came in thinking I should do an 88kg Front Squat for five triples. After the first triple I realized two things:
1) My stance was a bit wide so bringing it closer on heels (hip width or a hair thinner), and with toes out at 45º made it feel strong and stable.
2) Because of #1 88kg was not heavy

So I went to 90kg. Concentrating on keeping my chest and elbows up, and back locked REALLY helped with the bounce off on the bottom. I looked a bit higher than directly forward, which helped keep my elbows up. Coupled with the foot adjustment I'm ready for 95kg next week. My back squat stance (high-bar) will also borrow this foot stance.

I don't know how to do clean pulls. I don't get their purpose, and I probably was overextending. I first did it as though I'd pull and pretend to go a bit down for the rack, but they felt awkward that way. After two sets of that, I changed it up so I'd pull as high as I could once I got it at mid thigh. I'd get it to the chest there. Still even though I don't get it as a training tool, I felt it made the subsequent transition to suddenly doing two clean & jerks feel way easy.

Overhead Squat
20kgx1x6
30kgx1x3
40kgx1x3
45kgx1x2
50kgx1x2
55kgx1x2
60kgx3x2

Front Squat
40kgx1x10
60kgx1x5
70kgx1x3
80kgx1x3
88kgx1x3
90kgx5x3

Clean Pull
40kgx3
60kgx2
80kgx4x3 (learning how to do this...)

Clean & Jerk
80kgx2x1

[famendoza]

Took video of this for the first time in a bit yesterday. Then I tried to import it to the iMac without realizing that Max OS X doesn't support the MOD MPEG-2 with AC3 audio format that digital video is stored in (for JVC, Panasonic etc), and that to attempt to edit such video would require me to FFMPEG it ("free" solution - don't worry guys I did ffmpeging 3 years ago to make DVDs from AVIs that magically appeared on my computer and I'm fed up with it). So no elegant solution for moving editing that didn't involve me using Windows. Damn. And you want the editing, otherwise its a 5 minute youtube video of me farting around, with 20 seconds of action.

I was supposed to do this yesterday in a two-stage workout format (before and after a group class I was attending that same night), but I decided instead to chat with a girl. Who I found out later was attached. SOL on that one.

Had a function today, pretty expensive one that I went to last month, and had a lot of fun, and felt it was worth it. Attending it today was the worst decision I've made in the past few months, making me regret spending even a dollar on it. I traded in today's time at the function for working a night shift OT tomorrow - OT with no pay. The function started off alright, then as the night went on, sucked more hardcore than a butter-face porn actress, except about 1000000x as bad. Tons of negativity in the form of passive aggressiveness alongside some real out and out nastiness. A confrontation (quickly shuffled aside) took place as well. I felt like a little part of me died attending this, and along with the prospect of having to face "performance testing" tomorrow, just smashes together the kick-in-the crotch that will be my end of the week.

So it's a good thing I got a close to PR snatch yesterday. Almost makes the week worthwhile. And I did it with a power bar and York "bumper" grip plates. So a near PR on substandard equipment - golf clap everybody.

I should mention in the videos I'm at the Adelaide Club, not at the U of T Athletic Centre. They still allow me to take videos (and I thank their good souls that they do, and allow me to do so without paperwork), whereas U of T does not.

FYI The york bumper grip plates weight scheme is the following:
black = 5lbs
green = 10lbs
yellow = 25lbs
blue = 35lbs
red = 45lbs

and the bar is 45lbs.

The training
So I started by snatching the bar, but with great focus on keep the elbow to my side and a tip from Pendlay to another trainee, which in essence was to not let the bar swing out forward below the knees. Failure to prevent this results in missed lifts - basically by the time the bar reaches the knees if its in a bad position, you're about to abort that lift, unless God-willing you can wrestle it out of a bad position. I'm training to get good positions, not wrestle myself out of predicaments of my own making, so I practiced both tactics for all my lifts. Although I may still have a bit of swing out, I believe it improved my positioning for the 2nd and 3rd pull as all my catches seem smoother than they felt.

I made a classic mistake of mine, I kept trying to go for the PR on the snatch even though I was supposed to end it with a 72-73kg snatch attempt. Thankfully my memory finally had the good sense to kick in and remind me of my task.

Although I think I've got the hang of the elbows to side tactic, the tactic to keep the weight from pulling me forward will need work. I think I understand the reasoning behind snatch deadlifts and snatch pulls now.

Snatch (in lbs)
45lbx5x1
65lbx3x1
95lbx2x1
115lbx1x1
115lb miss
115lbx1x1
135lbx1x1
145lbx2x1
155lbx2x1 (70kg no misses!!!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I58mu-3mrNk
165lb miss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhtoxj1D2rI
160lb miss, then GOT ITx1! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAqo4ugZyc0
145x3x1 (one miss in between) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AdjKAG3uiU

Didn't do the Clean & Jerk or pull-ups, I will redo this workout on Saturday (hopefully).

[famendoza]

Came into training mid afternoon which gave me plenty of time and plenty of space needed to concentrate on lifting. Coming at such a fortuitous time led to an excellent training session - a 76kg snatch and 100kg clean & jerk. Breakfast was more like brunch, and wasn't big.

The training
Snatch went great all the way to 70kg no misses. 74kg was my next target after acquiring 72.7kg last time. After 3 pulls I got it. The thing is when I land things, they feel so easy, that I feel tempted to increase weight. And I'm glad I went with that inclination today, because after another 3 pulls I got my new max PR of 76kg for the snatch. TWO increases in one day for the snatch. Again, landing the 76kg felt so easy on the catch, receipt and recovery that I'd figure I'd go for 78kg. Of course that's like an increase in 10lbs right there, so of course I did not get it. Greed's reward is inheriting the wind so to speak. I figure I could probably land 78kg in possibly a week or so, to readjust the technique of staying on heels until the 2nd pull and aggressive extension and turnover.

I though with the snatch getting all the increases lately, the clean & jerk was going to show me no love. On the contrary, with the help of a very good correction that one of the gym staff noted I should apply, I was able to get very strong jerks, attain TWO PRs (97kg and 100kg), and bring my total up to 3 digits!!! 100kg club for this lift.

My main problem is a lack of speed in transitioning my feet from initiating the jerk to landing the split. For future reference, concentrating on really getting that split started as soon as the dip is done will help improve my form. I did 90kg twice, one with meh form (pressed out jerk), the other with good form, simply based on my foot work. The 95kg, 97kg and 100kg followed the same pattern, once I actually got them.

With the 100kg weight, I REALLY had to concentrate as the weight had a tendency of making me feel light-headed. I note that the first clean, I had to abort as soon as I recovered cause I was losing my perception.

The cleans at 90kg onwards show a new problem that I haven't experienced a whole bunch. Basically, I miss cleans at the bottom at heavy weight. More precisely, as I catch them, they get thrown forward out of my catch. A lot of the misses below are because of me losing the clean rack on receipt. What's more interesting is that I have NOT had this problem with the 100kg clean but with 90kg, 95kg, and 97kg.

One thing I notice is that my left ankle aches like crazy after a heavy Olympic lift workout. Right now it's bugging me.

The double PRs I got today more than make up for my crappy pull-ups. I figured out the pull-up bar hurts my hands less if I grip with my fingers and not the crease of my palm.

The callus under my left middle finger 1st knuckle from the hand has bled internally. I see the scab forming underneath. My trimming is not up to snuff.

Snatch
20kgx1x4 (mixing power and full snatching)
40kgx1x3 (same deal...)
50kgx1x1
60kgx1x1
65kgx1x1
70kgx1x1
74kgx1x0 (bad pull)
74kgx1x0 (almost there..)
74kgx1x1 *PR*
76kgx1x0 (bad pull)
76kgx1x0 (almost there..)
76kgx1x1 ****PR!!!****
78kgx1x1 (nope)
78kgx1x1 (Nope)
78kgx1x1 (fell forward brushed top of head)
68kgx1x0 (I'm being retarded)
68kgx4x1 ~90% of 76kg - easy

Clean & Jerk
60kgx1x1
70kgx1x1
80kgx1x1
90kgx1x1 (dropped clean)
90kgx1x1 (pressed out jerk a bit)
90kgx1x1 *nice*
95kgx1x0 (dropped clean)
95kgx1x1 *Nice*
97kgx1x0 (dropped clean)
97kgx1x0 (dropped clean again WTF)
97kgx1x1 **PR!!**
100kgx1x0 Clean *PR*, then I nearly fainted after I recovered from the clean so dropped bar
100kgx1x0 Almost got jerk, got lightheaded again
100kgx1x1 *****PPPPRRRRR!!!!!!******
90kgx3x1 All easy

Pull-ups
5,5,3 *sucks*

[famendoza]

Bought a new log book yesterday. Made sure to note down my PRs from yesterday, as well as the fact that I'm starting my log book at the first day of Week 2.

The training
Came in with plenty of time. In fact I came and got to the training room by 3:00pm and left the training at around 4:05PM. Got a lot done.

Front squat felt hard again, but I didn't give up. REALLY felt it in the stomach muscles as I needed to brace my self so I wouldn't cave forward. Felt almost like butterflies in my stomach. For now, continue on with another 5kg increase, and once failure occurs, adjust to 2-3kg increases.

Clean DL felt very easy, the challenge is coming back down slowly to ensure I can keep the bar close to me at all times. But we're talking here about 230lbs so that's a very light deadlift. Even in clean position.

Snatch Push Press has me thinking about bar placement, and my hands and wrists. I notice that I have to angle my arms approximately similar to a backsquat, but angled forward and up. In order to push press though, the arms need to be ideally vertical. Hard to do without the bar nearly rolling off your back as it almost did when I attempted near vertical arms. Tried to see if I could have skipped 10kg to 50kg snatch push press. Then I realized I was trying to take a 22lb jump on an exercise I'm not familiar with, and brought it back down to 45kg. No need to hurry stalling on this exercise

Front Squat
20kgx2x10
40kgx1x5
60kgx1x5
80kgx1x3
90kgx1x1
95kgx5x3

Clean Deadlift
60kgx1x2
80kgx1x2
95kgx1x1
105kgx2x2 (105% of max clean and jerk)

Snatch Push Press
20kgx1x10
30kgx1x5
35kgx1x3
40kgx1x2
45kgx2x5 (started 5x5)
50kgx1x5 (wanted to try an increase in weight ...)
45kgx3x5 (finished 5x5)

Afterward, I went to Shopper's Drug Mart and found Life brand sports tape - which I assume is the same as athletic tape. I'll be wearing this. I drained the pooled blood in the knuckle that had the "scab" beneath the callus. Turns out it wasn't a scab after all.