Spreading Weightlifting Like a Bad Case of Chlamydia in a Frat House

[jjeane]

I'll try to do that later this week. Training for State in Jan right now but a lot has gone on since my last update!

[NorwichGrad]

I'll try to do that later this week. Training for State in Jan right now but a lot has gone on since my last update!

Get to it, girl! We wanna see some of your lifting!

[BubsNBean]

The bottom of your snatch (and others that do it right) look so much like you're body is far forward, but the bar is back, and somehow you don't fall over. I fall over. :/

[NorwichGrad]

The bottom of your snatch (and others that do it right) look so much like you're body is far forward, but the bar is back, and somehow you don't fall over. I fall over. :/

You just might have to pause for a few seconds in the bottom position to ensure that the CoG (center of gravity) is midfoot, before you get up. Another reason could be shoulder flexibility. If you post vid in your journal I can help you diagnose..



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My New Doctor is a Russian Weightlifter


True story, bros.

My old doctor moved to a different hospital, so I was assigned a new one. I met him a few days ago.

I was wearing a Dmitry Klokov T-shirt. When he walked into the room, he knew who Klokov is. I didn’t have to ask. Asking a Russian if he’s heard of Klokov is like asking an American if he’s heard of Michael Jordan.

My doctor is ethnic Russian. He has this really cool KGB accent. And he has this thousand-yard stare, like he can kill anybody with his left pinky kinda demeanor. He is also a weightlifter. He trains at my gym late in the afternoon.

We talked about lifting weights and strength training. It was a great visit..

Then he checked me for hernia.

So I was standing there being ordered to cough, I’m thinking to myself: “I came here to make sure my heart if good (which thankfully it is). Why is he checking another body part?”

But whatever.. Perhaps it is TSA-mandated to check everybody for hernia, even if one’s ailment is something entirely different.

I’m just glad he didn’t use his Russian strength to destroy the family jewel.

At any rate. Being able to say, “Bro, my doctor is a Russian Weightlifter” is so cool. I got so pumped that I decided to set two PR’s in Klokov Complex this morning. (Old PR was 85-kg..) The first PR was 86-kg. I was happy with that. Then I realized one PR is not good enough. Because in Mother Russia, weights lift you. So I decided to set a second one at 91-kg, just a little over 200-lbs, for my doctor and for Klokov.

[IrishLassie78]

Congrats on the PR. I love the bar slam at the end. I'm looking forward to PR Bar Slams in the near future. The complex looks fun, and by fun I mean horrible, but in a good way.

[BubsNBean]

New Russian doc checked you for hernia because he knows you're a weightlifter


I don't want to take video of my pussy snatch right now.

[NorwichGrad]

Congrats on the PR. I love the bar slam at the end. I'm looking forward to PR Bar Slams in the near future. The complex looks fun, and by fun I mean horrible, but in a good way.

You will be slamming those bars soon enough!

I know you do some conditioning.. You can actually do some Klokov Complex for fun.. Start light and watch your heart rate go through the roof.

New Russian doc checked you for hernia because he knows you're a weightlifter

You so smart! Of course that was the reason.. In Mother Russia, ballz check you.

I don't want to take video of my pussy snatch right now.

That was shock and awe.. LOL.. I almost blushed.. No comment.. hehehe..

But seriously, vids help diagnose problems. Even if they're just empty bars..

[BubsNBean]

You will be slamming those bars soon enough!

I know you do some conditioning.. You can actually do some Klokov Complex for fun.. Start light and watch your heart rate go through the roof.





You so smart! Of course that was the reason.. In Mother Russia, ballz check you.



That was shock and awe.. LOL.. I almost blushed.. No comment.. hehehe..

But seriously, vids help diagnose problems. Even if they're just empty bars..

Fine.

[NorwichGrad]

Fine.

You're so cute when you pout.. LOL..


Maya is going on vacation. I won't see her for two weeks. So I decided to have her do max out today. She set two PRs. 64-lb snatch and 91-lb clean and jerk.

She missed the snatch PR attempt twice, but nailed it after she conquered here fears..

I had to have her drop the bar in one of the cleans because stupid me I forgot to clip so the right almost slid off.

[BubsNBean]

Congrats to Maya!! Conquering fears is the hardest part, she looks like she has more in her, she's just scared. You're such a good coach.

I made a clean video, btw

[NorwichGrad]

Congrats to Maya!! Conquering fears is the hardest part, she looks like she has more in her, she's just scared. You're such a good coach.

I made a clean video, btw

Thanks, Bubz.. I left feedback in your journal.. Great job!!!!


I have to be careful sometimes.. I think that sometimes I psych out my lifters.. In other words, sometimes I need to kill my emotion and do not show that I believe they have it in them to set PRs. Otherwise, it puts pressure on them..

I have actually done it before, where I just added the weight and the lifter (I believe it was Buddy) and I did not say a word.. I was excited inside, but did not show it.. Then when he set that PR, I got so excited..

[BubsNBean]

Thanks, Bubz.. I left feedback in your journal.. Great job!!!!


I have to be careful sometimes.. I think that sometimes I psych out my lifters.. In other words, sometimes I need to kill my emotion and do not show that I believe they have it in them to set PRs. Otherwise, it puts pressure on them..

I have actually done it before, where I just added the weight and the lifter (I believe it was Buddy) and I did not say a word.. I was excited inside, but did not show it.. Then when he set that PR, I got so excited..

I know what you mean. Us as coach-ees want to impress our coaches, even when we feel like we don't see what you see. I do it with Dan a lot, I always want to impress him and show him how strong/fast/technically savvy/whatever I am, but it gets in my head and works against me. I know he likes to see me do well, but I think I have more invested in it than he does and I don't want to let him down. He wouldn't be let down, it's all in my head!

[NorwichGrad]

I know what you mean. Us as coach-ees want to impress our coaches, even when we feel like we don't see what you see. I do it with Dan a lot, I always want to impress him and show him how strong/fast/technically savvy/whatever I am, but it gets in my head and works against me. I know he likes to see me do well, but I think I have more invested in it than he does and I don't want to let him down. He wouldn't be let down, it's all in my head!

You’re right. Sometimes as athletes we want to please our coach. This is a good thing, of course. But if it goes unchecked, it could be detrimental to progress. And I’m saying this as a weightlifter, because I also have a coach.

There has to be a balance between coach and lifter. That coach-lifter pendulum is always swinging. Too much to one extreme or the other is not good.. Happy medium is key.


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Today was strength day.


A. Squat was the main movement of the day. Daily max was 160-kg.. I felt that the weakest link was explosion out of the hole and the continuous aggression all the way to the top.





B. Movement to assist the main weakness in “A.” I picked 1-1/4 squat to improve the BAM! out of the hole. I did several sets of triples.





C. The secondary movement to assist weakness in “B.” I did some cleans doubles. Cleans (or any of the Olympic variations) are an excellent way to develop explosiveness. KB swings, bands, chains, plyos are excellent implements as well.






D. The main isolation assistance to weakness in “C.” Did some box jumps.






E. The main isolation assistance to address muscular weakness in “D.” Did some high reps band work and pumped the crap out of my posterior chain.

[NorwichGrad]

Snatch Triples

60kg
60
60
65

Sumo DL Triples
135-lbs
225
275
315
315

[ilovethe80s]

Love this style of training, seeing the analysis and reasons for the exercise choices. Those box jumps were legit, that was like waist deep. Sumos looking very efficient there, too

[NorwichGrad]

Love this style of training, seeing the analysis and reasons for the exercise choices. Those box jumps were legit, that was like waist deep. Sumos looking very efficient there, too

Thanks, Laura!

I’m really liking sumos. They don’t beat up my lower back. I tried to do something different when I did them. I tensed my arms a lot more.. I am so used to keeping my arms loose because that is what I do in the first pull of both snatch and clean. So this arm looseness usually carries over when I sumo. I flexed them yesterday for the first time and the bar felt lighter.

I’m discovering that WL and PL can compliment each other in certain areas, but in other areas the carryover from one sport to the next can also affect performance. So I just have to remind myself, meaning I have to think. And I’d rather not think because it’s dangerous when athletes think. LOL..

[IrishLassie78]

Box Jumps FTW!!! I seriously need to add those back in to my training. I love them. Your Sumo DLs have inspired me to stop letting those be the lift that falls by the way side when I'm short on time. My posterior chain misses them.

[NorwichGrad]

Box Jumps FTW!!! I seriously need to add those back in to my training. I love them. Your Sumo DLs have inspired me to stop letting those be the lift that falls by the way side when I'm short on time. My posterior chain misses them.

Thanks!

You know what, thanks for reminding me. I’ve been meaning to address your sumo. I know you asked me about it once.


Yes. Continue to do sumo.

If you were competing in PL, based on your build and proportion, conventional DL would probably be better for you. BUT (and there’s always a BUT), doing conventional DL while learning the sport of WL can be a dangerous mix.

The reason is, yup.. You guessed it, cuz we’ve talked about this before.. CARRYOVER.

The first pull on the clean and conventional DL ‘look’ the same. On the surface level, yes, they kinda look the same. But fundamentally, they are totally different movements and different TEMPO.

First pull on the clean, as you know, stay over the bar, squat the bar, bring knees back so that the shins are perpendicular when the bar passes the knees, and so on.. As far as tempo, as you know, deliberately controlled until BAM at second pull.


Conventional DL bar path is entirely different. The explosive BAM must happen when the bar is on the ground.. Also, you do not ‘squat’ a conventional DL, rather you ‘RDL’ it..


So if you wish to do ‘conventional DL’ by all means do it, but make sure the bar path mimics (i.e. carryover) the first pull of the clean.. So really, it’s not conventional DL but rather clean DL. Hope this make sense. And by all means, if you want to do some snatch grip DL, by all means do some. As long as you make sure the bar path mimics the first pull of the snatch.

Carryover..

But even if your build is ideal for conventional, sumo will still benefit you! Strength is strength. Get the strength from all sources.. But minimize the carryover interference if you can so that you will continue to progress in WL..

Hope this helps!

[BubsNBean]

Box Jumps FTW!!! I seriously need to add those back in to my training. I love them. Your Sumo DLs have inspired me to stop letting those be the lift that falls by the way side when I'm short on time. My posterior chain misses them.

Don't neglect your posterior chain or you'll end up like me

[NorwichGrad]

Don't neglect your posterior chain or you'll end up like me

But you are posterior chain dominant.. I picked that up the first time I saw your vid years ago..


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Hope you guys and gals had a great Thanksgiving.. I did.. My wife and I have been hosting Thanksgiving for years. My family and friends just left the house.. So I'm sitting here fat, dumb, FULL and happy.

One thing for sure, my chickens were thankful they're not turkeys.. hahaha.




I lifted this AM. I'm reintroducing front squats into my session. The last time I did them was 5 months ago. The reason I put FS in the back burner because I wanted to focus on increasing my back squat..

I maxed out on the front squat. Went up 300-lbs.. Then I thought I would attempt to set a PR by going to 320.. (Old PR was 315). I went down and I knew I was not going back up.. LOL.. So I just dumped the bar. Next time..



A. Main exercise was front squat. Singles to 300-lbs




One thing I want to bring up on the front squats is the importance of GRIP.. As you see in the vid, with the lighter weights my hands were OPEN. This is perfectly fine. But as the weight approaches 90%, I usually close my grip. I also have my lifters do the same. The reason is that the upper back also plays an important role in doing FS.. You see, FS is a GREAT lift because it will readily expose one's weakness.

If the lifter does not have lower body flexibility, the bar will be dumped.

If the lifter has weak core, the lifter will fold like an accordion and the bar will be dumped.

If the lifter does not have upper body flexibility, the bar will not stay in a straight path and the bar will be dumped.

Now, why do I close my grip at heavier weights? It's because the UPPER back can be a weak link in the chain as well. If the hands are closed, the upper back will ENGAGE. If the upper back does not engage at heavier weights, the lifter will fall forward and the bar will be dumped.


B. I sensed two weaknesses. First weakness was explosion out of the hole, second weakness was keeping upper back tight. So I did a couple of 1-1/4 Front Squats with Pause for triples.



C. Then I did some Speed Clean + Push Press + Jerk Complex up to 185-lbs. So what is speed clean you ask? It's basically just a normal clean but with the INTENT of BAMMING right up like a rocket once I hit the bottom position. So the speed clean is to train explosiveness and the push press was picked to strengthen upper back, while the jerk was added just because..



D, E and F. I did some sott press to strengthen my upper back. Then did some GHR. I took a picture of the BEST GHR machine in the world. I've used many models, but this particular design is the best because it isolates the glutes and hammies well. The knee pad on this model allows the athlete to rest the knees so that the glutes and hammies can be isolated. Then I did some face pulls.

[BubsNBean]

But you are posterior chain dominant.. I picked that up the first time I saw your vid years ago..

Not anymore I'm not!!!

[NorwichGrad]

Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving!!

Today was Competition Lifts Day. The last time I did both lifts was at my last meet in the summer.

Warmed up to 65-kg power snatch to encourage hip extension, then dropped the weight to 60 to do full snatch.

Focused on positions before adding weight. Went up all the way to 75-kg snatch.




Then did C&J up to 102-kg.



I detected some weaknesses. Bu the biggest one perhaps was the fact that I was sucking wind.


In order to strengthen this weakness, I picked a bunch of exercises and did a MetCon to improve conditioning.

Did ten reps of each to get the heart rate up there.

[NorwichGrad]

Why I Teach Low Hip Setup

Today was Buddy's snatch max out day. I had him do power snatch to encourage violent hip extension. He did power snatch to 65-kg. Then once he was ready, I dropped the weight back down to 60 and started doing snatch. He progressively added weight 5kg at a time until he hit 75-kg with no problem. As soon as he hit 80, he missed 4 in a row. I noticed that he was moving his hips a bit too forward in the second pull..

I had him do some snatch pulls to focus on bar path and vertical hip extension. Then he was able to do 80 no problem. Then he attempted to do 85-kg several times and came very close..

One thing I noticed was that his hip position at setup was a bit too high.. So I dropped the weight all the way down to 60 to reteach him low-hip. His hip pop was a lot straighter upward with no horizontal punch.

We kept going up and up to 85-kg. But he missed it because he was just too dang tired by then. But I was happy with his progress.






High hip set up is NOT good for many reasons:

a) A high hip set up will prematurely fatigue the lower back. (Low hip will allow the lifter to use the legs instead.)
b) High hip setup causes jump forward because when the bar is in line with the launch point, a high hip set up will create a distance between the hips and the bar at second pull. With this distance, the body will tend to chase the bar to make contact, which usually results in some horizontal movements. When the hips go horizontally, the hips will also punch the bar forward, creating a loop and the lifter will end up chasing it forward. But with a low hip setup, the distance between the hips and the bar is minimize. So when it comes time to extend, all the posterior chain energy will be able to move UPWARD because there is no bar to 'chase.'

[NorwichGrad]

Did two clusters of max squats. I wanted to see if equipment makes a difference in squats. I know that in WL, equipment makes a huge difference.

First group of singles was with standard iron plates. Second group was with competition grade equipment.

Conclusion: High quality equipment also makes a difference in squats.. With my Pendlay plates, the weight distribution was very balanced. Weight is weight, but when I use cheap plates I feel wobbly.




Then did 8 sets of triples of The Bear in under 8 minutes. By the time I hit 4th set, I was so hallucinating that I forgot what set I was on.. lol..



By the time I finished the 8th set, my heart was jumping out of my chest.. Best conditioning ever..

DB, thanks for the suggestion, mate.. I hated doing it, but afterwards it felt great..

[IrishLassie78]

Nice lifting as always. I love the tips about addressing weaknesses. And I'm mad jealous over that GHR thing. The closest we have is a back extension thingy that I am borderline too short for.

Buddy is a beast. That kid is seriously going to kick some ass in competitions some day.

[NorwichGrad]

Nice lifting as always. I love the tips about addressing weaknesses. And I'm mad jealous over that GHR thing. The closest we have is a back extension thingy that I am borderline too short for.

Buddy is a beast. That kid is seriously going to kick some ass in competitions some day.

Buddy will be entering his third meet n 2016. I'm confident he will easily qualify for the Youth Nationals. He's already warming up with the minimum requirements to qualify.







1Dec19

Did some OHP, push press triples, close grip neutral grip pull ups and some tricep extension.




---

Today was Squat Day


Played around with split snatch


Squat Triples
308 lbs
308
308
319
319





Played around with split C&J with open hand

[NorwichGrad]

Yesterday was snatch day.. I was missing lifts I would otherwise make..




Today I coached Buddy with focus on low hip start in both snatch and clean and jerk.. He easily snatched up to 80-kg and C&J up to 105-kg..

I was not planning on lifting. But after his snatch session, I decided to do some C&J with him.. Really proud of this kid. He can now out lift me, which is every coach's dream.

[BubsNBean]

Watched lots of videos, Buddy does have such great potential. And he's so tall which I think would be a disadvantage but he can really move!

You must have a super strong lower back, you are really upright (almost like a front squat) for your back squats. Usually people (powerlifters) sit back further and are bent over more, maybe they do the low bar version too. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just an observation.

[jjeane]

Hey Joel. Yes I agree Buddy will go far. I see you are doing excellent work yourself!

[NorwichGrad]

Thanks, ladies.. Yeah, Buddy is at a point now where the only way I could catch his "mistakes" is by watching and re-watching his videos AFTER our session is over.. In other words, any adjustment that he has to make I usually cannot catch during the lifts.. It's either because they're so subtle, or I'm just getting old.. LOL..


Just got back from Tulsa, OK. Had a chance to meet up again with Bubz and WyoMann..


I spent my afternoon with the little guy.. Took him to Chuck-E-Cheese, then went to a toy train store, then the park.. Unseasonably warm in PA. Won't complain, though.

Next date will be with my daughter..





I was able to do some circuit training for a couple of days when i was in Tulsa.. WL training resumes Monday.