A few more weeks along

   I been working more on the o lifts, as I stated in my last post. Things feel like they are going along pretty nicely.

   I have been working triples in the front squat and in the power clean twice a week, and doing light cleans on the minute the other days, as well as strict presses. It would make more sense to work more on push presses, but I have a terrible strict press and I want to raise it badly.

   The video above is a work set of light cleans (135#), followed by my first sets of a power clean and split jerk. As you can see in the video my feet are turning out on both sides. Maybe that's some flexibility lost, maybe that's something I can cue myself out of. In the third set you can see that I am talking to someone off camera, and he's telling me my feet are out. The next set I willed my feet straight and the jerk was much more stable. I think that's 80kg. The next lift was high hang snatches, with 52kgs. I was doing doubles from the tall with considerably more weight the prior week. Next week I may try some lifts from blocks instead of from a hang and see how that feels. The final video is my 3RM front squat set, which is at 250#. This is up from the 225 starting point. I went 235, 240 (tough), 245 (only hit 2) to 250 this week (fuck it).

   While I am pleased that I hit my target 3RM this week, I am little bummed to think that a 3RM is probably comparable to ~90% of 1RM, ie 250x3=275x1, a lift I have already accomplished. I will be doing full cleans and snatches next week or the week after, and I will be doing very heavy jerks from behind the neck soon too, which should give me a great opportunity to work on that stability.

Shit. Now I gotta go for 200...

JERK! from Full Circle on Vimeo.

More Jerks

WOD

This is week 4 of about 5-6 in our programming for more strength/power. We've adapted some concepts from Catalyst Athletics and Gant Grimes
Basically, most days of the week we are starting off with some skill lifts, power lifts and strength lifts drawing heavily from O lifting culture.

Today was no different;
I hit 185,205 and 225x3 in the clean pull (225=PR, +5 over earlier in the week)
I also hit 135,145 and 155lbs x3 in the high hang squat clean

Then it was met con time.

Jerks - 95lbs
Pull Ups - BW

This was Fran with out all that squatting. Given that I weigh 150lbs, and my max strict press is about 125lbs, 95lb thrusters fuck me up pretty quick. But I am working on it. Today's workout seemed like a step in the right direction...
7:53

It's been interesting getting smacked around by three days in a row of Jerks, from 115lbs x 7 for rounds, to 12,9&6 with 70lbs KB and now finally 21-15-9 at 95lbs. I am a better man for it.

Day Two

I am a little woozy while writing this...

I just completed Tuesday's WOD at Full Circle
WOD

My performance...

Clean Pull 145x5, 165x5 and 195x5 (PR)

then

Jerk 115lbs
Row 500m

four rounds for time

I finished in 16:18

I thought I'd burn right through the jerks, but for some reason I really stumbled through the first two rounds. Ironically, I took little down time in rounds 3 and 4 when I was considerably tired.
Perhaps my mistake was completing the first row in 1:48, about 9 seconds behind my PR. Of course, I told myself I'd do it about 2:10, so that I'd really fresh for the more demanding jerks...
once I get one fast pull, i can never slow down. It's almost impossible for me to pace myself on the erg. I could never compete beyond 1000m. It just wouldn't work.

my rows were approximately;
1:48
1:55
2:01
1:59

do the math... that means I spent more time 'pressing' than anything else, again. Well, there seems to be a pattern emerging!

Jason needs some stick time with just about every type of barbell overhead lift there is, as well as a reacquainting with the russian military press, more time on the rings and lots more time upside down.