Friday, November 13, 2009

This week's training

I'll work on getting it together and posting more regularly...

11-6
Power snatch 80/2 @ 8,8,7,7
Snatch 90/2 @ 8,8,8,8
Sn. Pull 100/3 @ 7,8,8
BTN Jerk 100/2@7, 105/2 @ 7, 110/2 @ 8,8
Front squat 134/5 @ 8,9,9,(4+miss) The last rep left me on the floor for a few minutes gasping for air, followed by my quads cramping a little.

11-10
Power snatch 70/3 @ 7,7,7, 75/3 @ 7
P. C. + Jerk 92/1+2 @ 7,7,7,7
Jerk from split position 60/3 x 2 65/3
Streching

11-11
Power clean + Jerk 92/1+2@7, 102/1+2 @ 7,8,8,8
Clean and jerk 105/1+2 @ 8, 107/1+2 @ 8,8,8,8,8
Jerk after bouncing up and down 100/2 @ 8,8,8,10
Overall this day had a lot of jerks... Still, I got them all and they weren't that hard.
Clean pull 120/2 @ 8,8,8,8

After this, one of the cheerleaders came over and was like "how much weight is that....wow." I responded with "Well, Bud Charniga just got back from China and told one of the strength coaches here that a 52kg girl clean and jerked 127... So I'm actually not any good.

Back squat 125/6 @ 7,7,7

11-12
Jerk from shallow split 80/3 @ 9, 70/3 @ 7, 75/3@7,7
Drop Snatch 70/3 @ 7, 75/3 @ 7, 80/3 @ 7
Flexibility

11-13
Power snatch 80/3@8,7,7
Snatch 90/2 @ 8,7 92/2 @ 7,7

Snatch pull + Sn. 92/2+miss, 92/2+1@8,8,8 Not sure how I missed that....Maybe I shouldn't combine the pull and the lift, or just drop pulls.

Front squat 139/4@ 9,10, (3+miss) Since I was definitely not 100% recovered from Monday, I was pretty happy with this. If I feel good this weekend then I'll hopefully be going for 5x4 at this weight Monday.

4 comments:

Kyle said...

Hey Jake, I was curious about what you've done in the past that improved your jerking/pressing strength the most. The reason I'm asking is that the push press is going to be one of my main movements, and I was looking for some back-up assistance exercises in case one of mine wasnt working. So far I have standing presses(somewhat of an olympic style) and dips as my pressing assistance. Any thoughts?

Jake Ceccarelli said...

Well, if you're training the jerk it turns out pressing strength is almost useless, and can actually have negative carryover. Why is the push press an exercise you're focusing on? I thought you competed in the bench press.

Kyle said...

I do compete in powerlifting, but would like to make a transition into strongman as well - which requires a LOT of overhead strength (most contests I looked at require pressing 220+lbs for reps). The way 5/3/1 is set up, there is a day for overhead pressing and I want to take full advantage of it.

That's also good to know about the jerk. Thanks.

Jake Ceccarelli said...

Refer to these articles (which are about the jerk but have a lot of pressing info):
http://www.sportivnypress.com/English/frames.html
then go to "original articles" and read the two about the jerk.

I'll give you the gist. Basically, strict pressing with the arms is not a good way to press, and in fact, in order to "press" the most weight, neither is pressing. Because strongman competitions have pretty relaxed pressing rules, you should be doing the Olympic press:

"A weightlifter learns to consciously straighten the legs fully to execute the push - press. This is an incorrect habit because a weightlifter should have begun switching directions from lifting to descending while the knees are still flexed. There is no instantaneous switching of directions from lifting to descending in the push - press. Consequently, the arms and shoulders “press” the barbell up with the assistance of the leg drive instead of pushing the trunk away from the barbell, i.e., the body does not “think” to follow the path of least resistance."

Really, in the overhead press, as in the jerk, the muscles of the arms are NOT employed to push the weight up, but the body down. I would imagine this is true with an odd implement as well (log, stone, etc). You want to employ the strongest muscles (the legs) to lift the weight while the weaker muscles push a lighter weight (you) away from the bar so you can easily fix it overhead.

That said, I have never met a person who can teach the Olympic press as it should be performed, so I guess just maximizing overhead strength is the best way to go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqGI0sHNWPc&feature=related

Notice where the first guy fails: his arm gives out. Why? He push-pressed the weight, utilizing the arms inappropriately. This was only 275 pounds, only a little more than half of Alexeyev's best, 507. Granted the implement is awkward, but still. The problem is that their upper bodies are too upright. Also, in the slow motion, you can see that they fully extend their bodies, but do not utilize the airtime that they could generate to drive themselves underneath the log (watch Mark Felix's lifts).