Building Up My Stones

Though not technically weightlifting, I think I will be adding in some strongman movements to my template, in place of pure weightlifting movements. 

Right now, I am thinking stones and axles because I have them. I am working on doing 'flights' of stones, and that seems to be going well. I have a lot of smaller stones at my gym (Crossfit gym) so it's a nice start now that we have a 56" platform (it feels SO high). I started with 114/142/157 to 56"/52"/46" respectively, and did five sets. I completed all the sets pretty easily. Needless to say, going up to 142/157/175 was a big jump. 30 extra pounds up there at 56" is tough. So I did 3 flights of that set up. Each week I will do another, when I complete 5 straight through with no trouble, I will go up again (157, 175 and something heavier). Right now we have a 175 and 307. Not ready for the 307 just yet (and it's not going to be real soon). Found a guy on craigslist that's not far away that sells stones pretty cheap, so probably just going to buy a few of his, and hope to snag something low 200's, and mid 200's.

I have been doing max effort work on 'special exercises', and doing volume work on the power clean and jerks (from all positions). So, I hit 68k on the tall snatch on my first day back, then I did 64x3, then 68x2, so was hoping for something 71k+. I got 70 pretty easy, even with a poor foot placement. So was sure that I could do 72/73. Felt ballsy, so went for 73. Missed it 3 times and quit. 70k it is. If I can tall 70, I am hoping that I can pull at least 77k from the floor, but I am really hoping for more like low 80's. 

Some cleans and Front Squats

https://vimeo.com/79889032

These lifts were a couple of weeks ago. I was attempting to use the jerk boxes for a 'tall' position with no counter movement in the clean. What I discovered was that all that additional front squatting was quite fatiguing.

Next are the power cleans. I established a conservative 3RM in the power clean several months ago (~75k) and have tried to add a kilo every 2-4 cleaning sessions (every other week). I was hoping to get to 100k x 3 before the end of the year, but so far I am only at 89k, and 90 is later this week I believe. So, I have time to get close (93-95k) but not quite make it. 

The last part of the video is the front squat. I feel like my feet are too externally rotated, and I need to work on bringing the toes in and using my hips better. I have tweaked the set up (turned the feet in) on cleans, snatches and front squats, and I am working on doing all of them pretty much the same. At the Don McCauley workshop, one of the assistant coaches suggested that my starting stance for cleans and snatches was too narrow, but they didn't offer much guidance on what they thought should determine the starting stance width. 

Shortly after this video I did 220 x 5 (was having a good day) and it went really easily. Last week I did 230 x 5 and it was definitely pretty tough, but no form breakdown except my thoracic and elbows. If I can front squat 100kg for five, I better be able to power clean it soon.