Olympic Weightlifting: Cuban Method

[crackyflipside]

Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Band front squat: 70+g x 3r / 100+g x 3r x 2 / 100+g x 5r [1.310 tons / 14 lifts]

Didn't have much drive today to do anything.

[crackyflipside]

Wednesday, August 3, 2011
First Session
Snatch balance: 50 x 3r x 2 / 60 x 3r x 2 [0.660 tons / 12 lifts]
Front squat: 70 x 3r / 100 x 3r / 110 x 2r x 3 [1.170 tons / 12 lifts][70% 3/2]

Second Session
Clean and jerk: 60 x (1+1r)3r x 2 / 70 x (1+1r)3r / 80 x 1+1r x 3 / 95 x 1+1r x 5 [2.570 tons / 23 lifts]
Back squat: 70 x 3r / 120 x 3r [0.570 tons / 6 lifts]

I felt like absolute sh*t today. I don't know what the heck is going on, I just hope it ends quick. Been discussing clean technique with my coach, going to have a few changes and outlook into the clean. Doing all doubles first with a power clean then a full clean. I'm not following through on the full clean like I am doing with powers.

[crackyflipside]

Friday, August 5, 2011
Back squat: 60 x 3r / 100 x 3r / 125 x 3r x 4 [1.980 tons / 18 lifts][75% 4/3]
Power snatch: 50 x 3r x 3 / 60 x 3r / 70 x 3r
Snatch: 75 x 2r [0.990 tons / 14 lifts]
Low hang snatch pull: 75 x 3r / 75 x 2r [0.375 tons / 5 lifts]

Had some issues again with the glute thing. My coach thinks it might be sciatic related, I hope not, going to see a massage therapist and see what can be done. Couldn't do heavy squats without aggravating it. Coach wanted me to do the reps as fast as possible, it went well, also when doing the reps fast you never let go of the bar so no time is wasted. Do the lift, pause and hold position for a second at the catch, don't bother to stand up, bring bar down without dropping and repeat immediately.

[crackyflipside]

Monday, August 8, 2011
Power snatch + snatch: 50 x 2+1r x 2 / 60 x 2+1r / 70 x 1+2r
Snatch: 75 x 1r x 3 [0.915 tons / 15 lifts]
Hang deadlift: 60 x 3r / 100 x 3r / 120 x 3r / 125 x 3r x 2
Band hypers: bw+g x 10r x 3

The deadlifts today really showed a lack of strength in my entire posterior chain. Band hypers on a GHR bench [i]really[i] hit that area hard. Gonna add weights to that next session. Started a full-time job so there won't be any double sessions throughout the week.

[crackyflipside]

Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Power snatch + snatch: 50 x 2+2r / 60 x 1+2r / 70 x 1+2r
Snatch: 80 x 1r x 3 [0.830 tons / 13 lifts][80% 3/1]
Low hang power clean: 80 x 3r / 90 x 3r / 100 x 2r
Low hang clean: 110 x 1r [0.820 tons / 9 lifts][90% 1]
Front squat: 120 x 3r / 130 x 2r / 130 x 1r [0.750 tons / 6 lifts]
Band hypers: bw+g x 10r / 20+g x 10r x 2

Those band hypers REALLY helped me out today in lifting. I felt like the arch was so easy to hold and it really helped. my back was still sore from them but I think doing them for a while will reduce that and I'll see some killer benefits from it. Did them today at the end the same way by tying the band to the base of the GHR bench then wrapping the free end around the back of the neck but I also added the bar for the last two sets. I might switch to the blue band in a few sessions. So yeah, was able to hit some decent weights, finally. The programming today called for 10% less whatever I did there in the snatch and the hang cleans but damn, I was finally feeling good after all those crappy workouts so had to increase the weight. Squats really suffered after burning out all the energy on the other lifts. Was trying to get 130 2r x 3, which is 80%, but only managed one and a half sets.

[nmsk80066]

Nicely done today!

[adoboandryce]

did you miss any front squats or did u just rack the bar and called it a day?

on another note 130 is my 1RM haha. i need to squat moar.

[crackyflipside]

did you miss any front squats or did u just rack the bar and called it a day?

on another note 130 is my 1RM haha. i need to squat moar.

Friday, August 12, 2011
Power snatch: 50 x 3r
Snatch: 50 x 3r / 60 x 3r x 2 / 70 x 3r / 75 x 1r x 2 [1.020 tons / 17 lifts]
Clean and jerk: 60 x (1+1r)2r / 80 x 1+1r / 90 x 1+1r / 100 x 1+1r [0.780 tons / 10 lifts]
Bent over clean pull: 60 x 3r x 2 / 90 x 3r x 3
Band hypers: bw+b x 10r x 3

Snatch was going good until I got to 80k when one of my straps broke, so pissed. The cleans were stupid hard off the floor but felt ridiculously easy in the second pull and standing up with the weight. Legs felt strong, told coach I wanted to fix my pull off the floor. So did the bent over clean pulls.

[crackyflipside]

Saturday, August 13, 2011
Muscle snatch: 50 x 3r x 2 / 60 x 3r x 3 [0.840 tons / 15 lifts][60% 3/3]
Power clean + push press: 60 x (1+1r)2r / 80 x (1+1r)2r / 90 x 1+1r x 2 / 100 x 1+1r [1.1120 tons / 14 lifts][95% 1]
Front squat: 100 x 3r


Monday, August 15, 2011
Muscle snatch: 50 x 3r
Snatch: 50 x 3r / 60 x 2r x 2 / 70 x 1r x 2 / 75 x 1r / 80 x 1r [0.835 tons / 18 lifts][80% 1]
Clean and jerk: 60 x (1+1r)2r / 70 x (1+1r)2r / 80 x 1+1r x 2 / 90 x 1+1r / 100 x 1+1r [1.220 tons / 16 lifts][80% 1]
Back squat: 110 x 3r x 2 / 130 x 2r / 140 x 2r [1.200 tons / 10 lifts]
Push-ups: bw x 20r
Sit-ups: bw x 20r x 3

I'm feeling much better now, my body is getting used to waking up early and working all day. Saturday was a fail with squatting. Tonight did a longer warm up with lighter weight and it really helped, still had to cut the volume short at the last set, but whatever at least getting up to semi-normal weight.

[crackyflipside]

Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Snatch pull: 50 x 3r x 2 / 70 x 3r x 2 / 80 x 3r x 3 [1.440 tons / 21 lifts][80% 3/3]
Front squat: 80 x 3r x 2 / 100 x 2r / 120 x 2r x 3 [1.400 tons / 14 lifts][75% 3/2]

Again the longer warm-up in the squats helped out a lot. Was finally able to easily finish the prescribed volume. Coach told me an interesting thing about squatting. That he was taught not to increase the weight when he was feeling good, rather it's better to do more volume with the prescribed weight. Even if you feel stronger in the squat, you don't adjust your squat weight until you improve in the competition lifts.*

[crackyflipside]

Sunday, August 21, 2011
Back squat: 70 x 6r / 100 x 6r / 130 x 3r / 140 x 3r x 3 [2.670 tons / 24 lifts][80% 3/3]

Working full time sucks, so does going to school. Only going to be able to meet up with the coach 2/wk but still train five days a week including weekends.

[Faparama]

Subbed!

[crackyflipside]

Friday, August 26, 2011
Snatch balance: 50 x 2r x 5 [0.500 tons / 10 lifts]
Low hang clean: 50 x 2r x 3 / 80 x 2r [0.460 tons / 8 lifts]
Back squat: 50 x 6r / 100 x 6r x 2 [1.500 tons / 18 lifts]

Working full time and going to school SUUUUCKS, haven't had an Oly session in eleven days. Gotta figure out how to sneak in more sessions, today was terrible. I felt the strength there but there was no damn coordination. Every set I did I felt like vomiting after each set.

[crackyflipside]

Sunday, August 28, 2011
High block snatch: 40 x 5r / 50 x 3r x 2 / 60 x 3r x 2 / 70 x 3r x 2 [1.280 tons / 23 lifts]
Power clean and push press: 80 x (1+1r)3r / 90 x (1+1r)3r / 100 x 1+1r [1.220 tons / 14 lifts]
Back squat: 110 x 6r x 3 [1.980 tons / 18 lifts]

Really good workout today compared to last session, high block snatches were to focus on perfecting the catch, went for a double in the push press with 100k but just couldn't get it overhead. Back squats went nice so might start increasing intensity in future sessions. Back to somewhat normal levels.

[totgeburt]

why cuban brah?

[crackyflipside]

why cuban brah?

The coach is from Cuba, lifted on their junior national team then coached until 1996, moved to Venezuela to coach there until a few years ago, now he moved here to Miami. He coaches us with what he was taught in Cuba, basically the modern Russian system with a few tiny changes. He has a ton of experience and international champs under his belt so I trust he knows what he's doing so I follow his program as much as I can.

[totgeburt]

oh very good. there's an armenian coach here who has a 20yrs+ experience and has high credentials too. i might go train with them. russian system too. dunno yet though i do like bulgarian

[crackyflipside]

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Snatch pull + low hang snatch: 40 x (1+1r)3r / 50 x (1+1r)3r / 60 x (1+1r)2r / 70 x 1+1r
Snatch pull (missed hang snatches): 80 x 1r x 2 [1.080 tons / 20 lifts]
Behind the neck jerk: 70 x 3r / 90 x 3r x 3 [1.020 tons / 12 lifts]
Pull-ups: bw x 5r / 5r / 4r / 2r

Didn't have time to squat, might do that tomorrow, better than doing nothing! Getting that workplace stress and schoolplace aggression out of my body so I can sleep easy at the house. Yesterday was brutal, 15 hours straight of work and school.

[crackyflipside]

Friday, September 2, 2011
Snatch: 50 x 3r x 2 / 60 x 3r x 4 [1.020 tons / 18 lifts][60% 4/3]
Front squat + push press: 60 x (1+1r)3r x 2 / 80 x (1+1r)3r x 5 [3.120 tons / 42 lifts][65% 5/4]
Clean pull: 90 x 3r x 2 / 100 x 3r x 3 [1.440 tons / 15 lifts][80% 3/3]
Hypers: bw x 10r x 3

Lots of volume today. Though it says nothing on the past few days, I've been doing body weight stuff before going to bed like abwork, pushups, dips. In the snatch, the coach had me pausing every rep at the bottom of the snatch for a second before standing up. In the other lifts he was making speed the top priority, like no pausing between the reps of front squat and push press, and clean pulls done very rapidly in reps.

[crackyflipside]

Saturday, September 3, 2011
Low hang power snatch: 50 x 3r x 2 / 60 x 3r x 2 / 70 x 3r x 3 [1.290 tons / 21 lifts][70% 3/3]
Power clean: 70 x 3r x 2 / 90 x 1r [0.510 tons / 7 lifts]
Back squat: 90 x 3r x 2 / 120 x 3r x 3 [1.620 tons / 15 lifts][70% 3/3]

Snatch was good today, power cleans sucked, so slow and couldn't finish. The squats were pretty good, going to increase intensity.

[crackyflipside]

Monday, September 5, 2011
Band box squat: blue + bar x 5r / b+70 x 5r / b+110 x 3r / b+125 x 2r x 8

The owner there was talking to me about some of the Westside Barbell stuff, I've done box squats before, might as well throw them back in for a bit, see if it helps. So just had time for a short session.

[someonefat]

Friday, August 26, 2011
Snatch balance: 50 x 2r x 5 [0.500 tons / 10 lifts]
Low hang clean: 50 x 2r x 3 / 80 x 2r [0.460 tons / 8 lifts]
Back squat: 50 x 6r / 100 x 6r x 2 [1.500 tons / 18 lifts]

Working full time and going to school SUUUUCKS, haven't had an Oly session in eleven days. Gotta figure out how to sneak in more sessions, today was terrible. I felt the strength there but there was no damn coordination. Every set I did I felt like vomiting after each set.

haha I know that feel

I have a home gym and still have trouble working out. I imagine getting to your gym with the cuban team is much harder.

[crackyflipside]

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
2" Deficit first pulls: 60 x 5r / 85 x 5r / 93 x 3r x 3 [1.562 tons / 19 lifts][75% 3/3]
Front squat: 60 x 3r / 100 x 3r / 125 x 1r / 143 x 1r x 3 [1.034 tons / 10 lifts][90% 3/1]
Chin-ups: bw x 6r x 3
Dips: bw x 6r x 3
Speedbag: ~1 round

6am-4pm work, 5-8pm school, 8-10pm gym, 11pm sleep. Kind of sh!tty, but hey, that's what I got to work with now. The first pulls are called 'Despegue' in Spanish, which roughly translates to take-off or un-stick. The first pull ends with the bar past the knee and the torso bent over. Deficit to work on off the floor strength. Front squats felt really good to go heavy, still I'm going to keep more focus in posterior chain stuff and pulls. What good is a 160k front squat if you struggle getting 140kg off the floor. Forgot how insane speed bag work is on your shoulders, burn from hell.

[crackyflipside]

Dear weights... it's been so long.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Low hang power snatch + low hang snatch: 40 x 2+1r / 50 x 2+1r / 60 x 2+1r x 3 [0.810 tons / 15 lifts]
Power clean and jerk: 60 x 2+1r / 85 x 1+1r / 100 x 1+1r [0.550 tons / 7 lifts]
Back squat: 100 x 2r / 140 x 1r x 3 [0.620 tons / 5 lifts]

Coming off of a bout with the flu that had me feeling hungover from Friday afternoon to Monday morning. Going to try to be more consistent. Starting a weight cut with the help of an EC stack and a low carb diet.

[adoboandryce]

so you're just coming off a sickness and you're starting up an EC stack? haha hardcore. good luck with your cut.

strong power cleans btw

[crackyflipside]

Friday, September 16, 2011
Power clean + push press: 60 x 1+1r x 3 x 5 / 70 x 1+1r / 80 x 1+1r [2.100 tons / 34 lifts]
Stiff leg low hang muscle snatch: 40 x 6r x 2 [0.480 tons / 12 lifts]
Back squat: 80 x 3r / 100 x 3r x 4 [1.440 tons / 15 lifts][60% 4/3]

Forgot my shoes so first time lifting barefoot. The stiff leg low hang muscle snatches were really hard, could not finish the last two sets. It was my first time doing that exercise, the coach said it was to strengthen the back.

Saturday, September 17, 2011
Power snatch: 50 x 3r x 5 [0.750 tons / 15 lifts][50% 5/3]
Behind the neck push press: 50 x 3r / 70 x 3r / 80 x 3r x 5 [1.560 tons / 21 lifts][70% 5/3]
Front squat: 90 x 3r x 5 [1.350 tons / 15 lifts][60% 5/3]

This is all start of training cycle after a long layoff or crash of results.

[crackyflipside]

Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Back squat: 60 x 5r / 100 x 5r / 125 x 3r x 5 [2.675 tons / 25 lifts][70% 5/3]
Sots press: b x 5r / 30 x 5r / 35 x 5r / 40 x 5r / 45 x 5r
Pull ups: bw x 7r / bw x 4r / bw x 3r

[crackyflipside]

Friday, September 23, 2011
Snatch: 40 x 3r x 2 / 50 x 3r x 2 / 60 x 2r x 3 [0.900 tons / 18 lifts][60% 3/2]
Low hang power clean: 60 x 3r x 2 / 70 x 3r / 80 x 2r x 3 [1.050 tons / 15 lifts][65% 3/2]
Hypers: bw x 10r x 3

F'd up today cause I forgot my shoes. Still a pretty good workout. Always pausing in that bottom position of snatch before standing up. Legs hurt to squat so didn't do any.

Saturday, September 24, 2011
Low hang snatch: 40 x 3r x 2 / 50 x 3r x 2 / 60 x 2r x 3 [0.900 tons / 18 lifts][60% 3/2]
Power clean and push press: 60 x (1+1r)3r x 2 / 70 x (1+1r)3r / 80 x (1+1r)2r x 3 [2.100 tons / 30 lifts][65% 3/2]
Back squat: 80 x 3r x 2 / 100 x 3r x 2 / 120 x 3r x 3 [2.160 tons / 21 lifts][70% 3/3]

Today felt really really good. Lots of good lifts. Squat technique has improved to be more stable in the descent, before I would drop too fast and my back would lose arch, now descending very stable from the start and no jerky descent. Same pauses at the bottom of the snatch. The power clean and push press focus was on speed and doing reps rapid fire.

[crackyflipside]

Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Snatch: 40 x 3r x 2 / 60 x 3r x 3 [0.780 tons / 15 lifts][60% 3/3]
Front squat: 85 x 3r / 100 x 3r / 125 x 1r [0.680 tons / 7 lifts]

So my quads were shot today... but my snatch has gotten a billion times quicker and more precise. Let me tell you how. My cousin is a massage therapist and frequently massages college athletes and suggested I get a glute massage because that's what all the athletes that see her constantly request. I was kind of apprehensive about somebody massaging my ass, but since I've been having those weird glute issues in lifting, I figured it might help. Jesus Christ, it was painful and felt like someone had smacked me with a paddle the day after. Today I go in to lift feeling kind of crappy and tired, and was hitting positions so easy, so fast. It was weird because my quads were sore just from snatching but the pull was ABSURD quick and I was instantly hitting bottom positions. I didn't have enough strength to clean (or even front squat) but god damn, I feel like I have a new set of hips in the pull.

[gewaltiger]

o hay bebe