Sunday April 29, 2012

Quick update on training:

It has been going really well in terms of the squat strength. My 1 RM prior to starting this squat cycle was 325. Yesterday as part of the program I squatted 301 for 4 reps. After that I set a 3RM in the front squat at 270. I'm already stronger in the squat after 4 weeks and am really looking forward to seeing the progress at the conclusion of the 12 week program. 

Oly lifting has been pushed to the side as I am dealing with some troubling shoulder issue. Full snatches and any kind of jerks have been causing pain. I have been in to see an ortho and will be getting some PT done in the coming weeks so I can hopefully resume Oly lifting as I need the work here. 

Conditioning has taken a back set as the squats are time and energy consuming and my focus is gaining a bit of weight and keeping power output high for all workouts. 

I did do 3 testing workouts this past week while on Vacation to see where I am at right now.

The first was 

15-12-9

Power Clean 115#

burpees

done @ 95%

2:58.  Not too bad. Little slow on burpees. When "in top shape" this is in the 2:40 range. This is the kind of workout I prefer. Go hard and fast, deal with a little pain and then it's done. If this was a 10 min AMRAP I would hate it. 

*Note this was done after 4x8 HBBS, and 4x5 Front Squat so I was lacking a bit of pop, but the limiter was mainly breathing anyways. 

Second one was 

500m Row

15 Power Snatch 115#

100 DU's

15 Power Snatch 115#

500m row

time was 9:07 done at 95%. This is the time domain and area I need the most work in as it seems to be most frequent in any X-fit competition and it is my biggest goat. First 500m was in ~1:40 and was very comfortable as rowing is my biggest strength. PS were done 9/3/3 with short rest and then I slowed big time. Did 25 DU's to start and started gassing and missing reps and was breathing heavily. Second set of snatches was slow and was triples and doubles. Last 500m I was sucking wind something fierce and completed in about 2:02 with no drive pop or desire to go hard at end. Legs felt fine for the most part, breathing was the limiter. 

Third test of week was 200 walking lunges for time.  This was done the day after heavy LBBS and Front Squats, and following 200m repeats in the sand. It was also done in the sand and I finished in 4:53 unbroken for a PR. Legs felt really good, just need a bit more urgency to speed this up. 

As always priorities and goals are changing on the fly here but for now my top priority is fixing shoulder issue and continuing with the squat work.  I still look forward to the squat days and like the heavy work for now. 

Current Training

After completing Crossfit Open workout 12.5, I took four consecutive days completely off. I then went to Strength Headquarters in Endwell, NY to check out another gym and to train in a different environment and in a different way. That session included some speed bench, some peg board work, rows with a sled and a prowler suicide sprint. It was a good session and was fun to train in a different way.

Saturday I started in on a program that will hopefully allow me to reach my goals of improving my squatting and Olympic lifting numbers. I am following a Hatch squat cycle which will involve a large volume of squatting at specific percentages with the plan of testing 1RM in 3 months. It will involve low bar squatting on Sunday's and High bar back squatting on Wednesday's with Olympic lifting practice on the other three days of training per week. Tuesday's and Friday's will be rest. Conditioning and skill practice will also be added in but the main focus squatting and Oly lifts. It will be challenging to squat this much but I'm hoping to really reap some nice gains from this as it will be the first time I have ever been on a specific cycle devoted to squat development.

My training priorities are as follows:
1. squat work - get in if it's the only thing I get to.
2. recovery and mobility( foam rolling, proper warm-up and cool down) and staying hungry in training even if that means more rest days.
3. Oly skill work and development.  It's not about the weight on the bar, it's about being efficient with the movement.  I know I can pull higher weight with shit form but this is the off-season, time to develop here.
4. overhead pressing stability.


The percentages for the squats were light this week and went without a problem. The Oly work was enjoyable to work the movement and not be concerned with weight for the time being.

Only did one 3,2,1 go workout this week and it was a wheelhouse one for me.
8 min AMRAP of 7 reps 275 deadlift and 35 double unders.   I kept it about 90% and stayed mostly unbroken with the movements. I got 8 rounds plus two deadlifts.

Todays workout will be High Bar back squatting followed by Press and Front Squat supersets. The conditioning portion will be Prowler suicides and the skill work will be handstand walks and vertical jump testing.

Tomorrow will be finding 1RM for the day in Snatch and Clean and Jerk.  I will only go up in weight if the lift is executed smoothly and will not count power versions of the lifts as this has stagnated my lifts in the past.