But I'm a strong AND fast geek

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

I think every one knows that Rachel Crass is my roommate. We were talking about competition and training and decided to look up last years Masters winning total. It was 252 for the 105's. I'm a 105 and my total is 218. I asked Rachel if she thought I could add 40 kg to my total by November. She assured me I could (assuming I had a someone as awesome as her to coach me).


Wednesday

Snatch from the blocks, bar at knees. Started with 65 lbs and did doubles up to 165 in 10 lb jumps. Then singles to 205. After all that, I pulled my snatch pr from the blocks. And trust me when I tell you it was a power snatch.

Bench (recovery week for 5-3-1)

Toes to bar 3x3 (strict) Side note, one of the CF coaches said to me "Ya know, you would be faster if you kipped". I got off the bar, stopped, gathered myself and looked him in the eye and said "I. Don't. Kip". He laughed, so did I.

Thursday

Clean from the blocks; started at 65 with triples, jumped to 95, then 135. Switched to doubles and 10 lb jumps to 215, then singles to 265. I missed 275 (current clean PR)

Deadlift, clean style* 275, 295, 305

I TRIED to do toes to bar, but I couldn't hang from the fucking bar so I did
GHD situps with 30 lb slam ball at chin 3x7


Form
Even though I've been weightlifting for about 3 years, my form needs some work. Here's what we are currently working on


Hitching I tend to hitch at the transition into the explosion. I wanted to slow down so I could pull really hard on the bar, kind of like pulling on rope. I'm trying to pull smoothly and increasingly faster past the hip crease

Position My torso was more forward than it should be during the jump/explosion. I'm working on being more upright (vertical torso) when jumping. My shoulders weren't pulled back into the correct position and I'm focusing on keeping them tight.


I also need to work on going under the bar, but we are focusing on the pull now.

SO the idea is to work technique while still getting strong in a way that benefits weightlifting. I still deadlift, but use the clean start (bar over big toe, wider grip (pretty much my bench grip), hips a little lower) and move it quickly. I'll be focusing more on moving the bar quickly than on absolute weight on the slow lifts, but still using progressive overload.

[ColoWayno]

You should get there if you've really got that much room for improvement in your technique. Where is the Masters held?

I'm doing my own programming now for a while and I was thinking of alternating clean pulls with heavy dead lifts.

[Mr_Rogers]

What type of training are you going to be doing (ie following any specific program)?

[FKYT]

Hmm, I didn't know that Rachel Crass was your roommate, but it's pretty cool that she is. Good luck with the training!

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

" Where is the Masters held?"

http://www.2012americanmasters.com/

"What type of training are you going to be doing (ie following any specific program)?"

5-3-1 for powerlifters modified for weightlifting. We still have to talk about specific assistance and what not, but the major changes are to bar speed (faster is better) and deadlift style (clean instead of conventional). I start each day with skill work on one of the lifts and then go into the strength training.

[Mr_Rogers]

"What type of training are you going to be doing (ie following any specific program)?"

5-3-1 for powerlifters modified for weightlifting. We still have to talk about specific assistance and what not, but the major changes are to bar speed (faster is better) and deadlift style (clean instead of conventional). I start each day with skill work on one of the lifts and then go into the strength training.

Very interesting, I'll have to keep an eye on things. Good luck Jamie.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

Snatch from the blocks (knee) 65 to 195 I need to eat more before training
Bench 165 x5, 175 x5, 205 x7 (focused on moving quickly)
press 115 x3 x8 (also done quickly on the concentric)
Barbell row(dead start) 155x5, 175x5, 205x4

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

Clean from the blocks: 65 to 265 in 20 lb jumps. I wanted to get to 265 then go up in 2 lb (1 kilo actually) jumps to get over my mental block at 275. I felt slow last night though and couldn't get 267.

Squat 275, 320, 365 x5 I wanted 6 at 365, but I barely got 5. I did 2 sets of 3 jumps after each set of squats. Jumps started at a relaxed standing position, I didn't go from one jump into the next.

Clean pulls: 275 x3x3, 295 x3. the 295 felt like a deadlift so I only did one set.

Back extensions 40x3x8

I generally felt slow and pissed off yesterday. It was a pretty crappy day. I do know I need to get my lower back stronger.

[Rachel Crass]

(Oh goodie. A public critique of my pet project... :-\)

But, anyway, I suppose I should probably chime in.

While one of Jamie's goals is to compete at Master's Nationals, he is not a full-time lifter in that he thoroughly enjoys the pure strength component in addition to the Olympic lifts. Sure, strength is an important component of successful Olympic lifting, but no lifting coach in his (or her) right mind would program in THAT MUCH strength work for someone who already clearly has enough reserve strength to challenge a horse. With Jamie's squat and deadlift numbers, he already has the strength necessary to perform the lifts he needs for Nationals.

**BUT** Jamie loves it. He loves the heavy deadlifts and bench presses and other stuff, so the key to coaching him effectively in the Olympic lifts is to figure out how to modify/adjust/incorporate those movements into more Olympic-lifting friendly variations. If lifting's not fun, then why the hell do it? So my goal is to keep lifting fun for him and still get him the progress he needs to do well at Master's Nationals next year. His Olympic lift numbers might suffer a bit for it, but as with anything, there is a trade off that I think will turn into a win-win all around for him: he'll have fun in the gym and still be able to do well at Nationals. Seems like a plan to us.

Jamie does have some pretty glaring holes in his strength though. His lats, traps, erectors, and quads are noticeably weaker than his glutes, hamstrings, and shoulders. For him to be able to hold the positions of correct technique in the Olympic lifts, we first have to get him stronger in those weak spots. After all, if you're not strong enough to get in the positions required by correct technique, then how the hell are you supposed to have said correct technique?

Jamie's technique isn't terrible. (I helped instruct his USAW certification course, so if his technique were awful, then I didn't do my job in instructing him.). It's actually some of the better technique I've seen by a non-full-time Olympic lifter in a long while. So once we can fill in those strength gaps and get him dialed in and moving correctly, he'll blow even his own expectations for himself out of the water.

[Michael Wolf]

I'd just like to state for the record, that I also want to have an international level olympic lifting competitor as a roommate. Thanks for posting all this, Jamie and Rachel. Will be fun to watch.