Snatches

Sweet & simple training for Sunday session. Earlier in week skipped all training coming off last heavy load. Monday did some mobility/BW nothing thru week.

After a closed eyed/blind warm up of 20 kg TGU to gladiator (top foot elevated - known as star side plank in yoga) to windmill & OH squat at top - back down (1 per side) the snatch workout went:

20 kg 10/10

24 kg 10/10

28 kg 10/10

32 kg 10/10

36 kg 5/5 5/5

These were performed on a I go/you go basis w/training partner Dusan - thanks D!

Then:

36 kg 5 rest 5 x 2 (R ring finger callus tore...grrr)

32 kg 10/10 callus touch worse...

28 kg 10/10 ....ah well...no 24-20.....

...but did get in 100 snatch volume w/bell larger than 24 kg....

Finish w/some double 20 kg jerks (only) for 10.

Will do light mobility & bodyweight work with probably some acupuncture and massage before heading to St Paul for RKC II on Thursday.

Recap

Few weeks out before a trip to St. Paul for level II course, and feeling comfortable with the majority of the criteria. Except still yet the 36 kg press. However did have a nice pressing session after receiving course outline and being referred to the ETK schedule in order to achieve such. So although the order is a bit scattered for what days compromised what workout. Some of the 'better' sessions this past week have been:

Friars Rd Y (Friday) - 1st time for workout here. Can't say I like it to go to all that much. Tons of pin select equipment on top of each other, a 'cross fit' area w/more isolation pieces by hammer strength and some basic free weights. What I did find though was a pull up bar different from what I usually use, and a nice mason wall to kick into some handstand push ups. I was able to dial in some alignment issues by using the lines in the tile floor for the HPU's, and did several pulls, HLR, front lever tucks & variations/progressions, etc - the usual.

8EW (Sunday) - Father's day led to a short 45 session of V-straddle pulls/sits on P-bars, 10' 4" slosh pipe work, Double 24 cleans for runs of 10, power wheel rollouts & skin the cats on rings.

Hazard Center Y (Monday) - Getting out late and traffic put me right at class time for the bodyweight S & C class - so it was quite fun :) lot of wall shoulder mobility work, combined with shuffles, alligator push ups, sliders, squat thrust, burpees, lunges, etc etc.

JCC (Wednesday) Like the various pull up bars available here along with battling ropes, good rebounder, etc. Simple session - 8 sets of 5 pulls, 5 korean styled dips, and HS holds - all with 20 lb weight vest.

8EW (Friday) - nice midday session due to light work load, led way to some pressing discoveries. Lined up multiple bells and attempted to mimic Mark Reifkind's pressing model.

And does it work! Most comfortable I've felt pressing and was just a touch shy of getting up the 36. The session was: 6 per 16 kg, 5 per 20, 4 x 24, 3 x 28, 2 x 32 & halves on the 36. Went back to the 32 x 2, 28 x 3, 24 x 4, 20 x 5. My suspicion is I was shocked at how smooth the pressing was feeling, and should have attempted the 36 after the 20's. 68 total press volume. Ah well...see soon enough...

Hospital's Break (Sunday) - Felt good today training with Ralph and Dusan - both of whom are making good progression. Session went:

20 kg TGU x 2 alt. followed by 10/10/10 - R/L/center swings...then went to...

40 kg TGU - 1 per, followed by same swing pattern

36 kg TGU x 2 alt. followed by swings

32 kg " " "

28 kg " " "

Finished with Bulgarian Bag halos 10 per (2nd - 8) immediately followed into "O-goshi" throws 10 per (8 - round 2) followed by center line snatch/pull overs 10 (12).

228 swing volume - 18 TGU volume. - good day!

Change of plan

Finally a nice sunny San Diego morning down at hospitals break. Originally the thought was a snatching ladder single arm w/the 32 kg for 1, 3, 5 - followed by a double 24 kg clean & jerk, maintaining the rack after the last jerk for front squats for 2, 4, 6. Started out w/the first 32 snatch and felt so comfortable and strong went for 5/5 R/L. Moved on the the C&J's w/the 24's and decided working 5 reps for 5 sets in each movement would be a better route to go for the day. The first 2 C&J's had the squat immediately following. The latter 3 sets, rest was taken after the c&j's before the squat.

Went back to the club for ring play and power wheel work to finish the morning (outside of cleaning the pool thoroughly :)

The previous day (Saturday) snuck into the weight room at the Y while Lia was in her gymnastics class, and grabbed a couple of 16 kg. Worked in three sets of double snatches for 20. Along with 10 flip catches (singles) L & R, and alternated back to 5 flip catch presses per.

Earlier in the week after the last blog, snuck in 3 sets of 50 kg barbell military presses for 1 clean 5 MP's before a client and 3 more after the client; and then an additional set of double 24's MP's for 5 and singles for 5 per after 3 client :)

Tips from any RKC w/help pressing 36?

Am lacking in the level II skilll of 1/2 bodyweight press. So choice is to

A. Fix it

B. I run as low as 158 (cutoff for 32) often & time it well.

I would prefer A over B. So....

I haven't been as diligent in records keeping as of late, but a summary of some past sessions over the previous 2 Sundays (heavy days) thru today would be:

Sun 5/22 -

*Main focus was trying to get a solid loaded clean with the 36 kg (press weight for July) that Franz was so kind as to allow me to borrow. So a Deadlift station was set up at 185 lbs, with the primary purpose of 'finding the feet' - toes were lifted with making a solid footprint in the floor. Then on to a 10' 4" slosh pipe overhead hold for duration (@ 2 minutes) was to make the shoulders push down into the solid foot print created by the DLs. Off to attempt the 36 kg press coming off a solid clean (failed L & R). After failed attempts 8 cleans per side followed, followed by GTG w/a 24 kg for C & P 5 per side.

To counteract some of the high tension, a 50 lb sandbag was carried over one shoulder up a flight of stairs for a short walk and back, followed up with the opposite side. The intention being to not pull away from the loaded side (as can happen on a heavy press attempt) but stay well distributed in weight and long in spine. Quick run back to the top of the stairs for handstand push ups (1st set was PR of 9 consecutive, followed by 6, 3, 5, 4 in further sets). The circuit was completed 4 times over (36 kg press attempts ceased after 3rd try but stayed w/cleans).

Very end, threw in 40 kg barbell C & MP for 5 x 2 sets (felt fantastic).

*Followed the Sunday on Monday night w/bodyweight S & C class at Y, with some pulls/dips/hanging abs prior and focus in class was some active stretching/mobility work.

*Mid week - was excited to have 36 kg, so snuck in between work and life 36 kg TGU's for 4 per side alternating. The rest of the week was minuscule to note, primarily consisting of ring play, roller, HS, etc.

*Lead to Sun 5/29. After reading a bit about pressing in ETK, went with a Sunday game plan of:

36 kg TGU to start and warm up with, followed by a 1, 2, 3, 4 C & P ladder with 28 kg (thanks Ralph!) & finished w/36 kg single hand swings for 10/10. The circuit being repeated 3x and the 3rd only going to 3 on the C&P ladder. Some skin the cats followed on the trap table.

*Fast & loose was Monday's protocol with primal play with the kids down at the Shores :) A fun HIT drill was having them both (@ 40 kg total bw) sit on a boogie board and be pulled around in the grass. Some decent handstand attempts were made, kicking the futbol etc.

*Brings me to today in which half the day was free (nice break :) and went to the pull up bar down by the ocean near 'hospitals' break in La Jolla. Really took a bit to get into it with the want of just chilling by the break, but just slowly worked into a fun session.

Started out straight legged raises, and the nice thing about having a bar outdoors - no ceiling! So, was able to get the hips further vertically up the line over being confided to just shin/instep. After 2 runs of 6, moved on to a 20 kg bell for clean cleans of 5/5, followed by 10/10 snatches, 10 center line swing (2 handed), into two handed flip swings for 10.

The first circuit was repeated once more with another run of straight legged raises to 7. The last two (four kb runs total) had more of a mixture at the bar: single knee tucked front levers 5 per, straddled front lever for 4, lever knee tucks for 6 & plank play on the benches that square the gazebo where the bar is located.

Tidbits?

Change Up

Pushed for time due to lil' ones classmates b-day celebrations, it was a bit of a different Sunday. Majority of crew were out of town and held up via various events. So turning 'lemon' to lemonade, it gave me a chance to experiment & play on the rings. Combined into the ring play of inversion, various tucks/front lever progression, dips, flyes, planks etc. was a

* 3 rung ladder of 2, 3, 4 - 50 kg barbell clean & strict press.

Only 1 clean per set and a static hold of 15-20 seconds on the end.

Will see if this helps on the road to the 36 kg strict press (currently lacking item) necessary to complete the Level II RKC in July.

The other cool news was gaining a lead into the gymnastics studio where the children's event was held. See where it goes?

~

Same Same

Hadn't blogged in a week or so, but definitely have been training. A quick re-cap would be:

~ Sunday 2 past - long cycle (clean & jerks) with 2-24 kg for ladder of 2, 4, 6, 8 x 3 - 2, 4, 6 x 2, 2, 4 once. Then some play various L-sits between them.

~ Monday - standard pull/hanging work followed by bodyweight conditioning class

~ Mid-Week - 32 kg (single) jerks for 5 per x 6

~ Past Sunday - quick one before out on Mom's Day :) 2-20 kg long cycle of 2, 4, 6, 8 x 5.

~ Monday - Wasn't able to sneak in a pull session, but went a bit stronger in b-weight class.

~ Mid-Week - Snuck one in a busy work week before client of a single 32 kg jerk session of 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 per.

Simple but effective :)

Breathing Patterns

So this week consisted of establishing distinctly different breathing patterns for lifts, and it paid off with a comfortable move up to the 32 kg.

*Mid week was the experiment with a 32 kg snatch (which prior consisted of a good 6-8...10 would scarily be the edge point). Applied the breathing technique of a sharp exhale on the pitch of the bell back, followed by an additional sharp exhale coming back thru the mid point into its upward ascent. A inhale consisted of the area between the Adam's apple and sternum/breastbone line (both coming and going) followed with a body locked exhale, bell being overhead. This allowed a very comfortable (and surprising) 10 reps (so surprised, I was too shocked to continue even though more could have easily been obtained...next time :) followed by 10 reps on the opposite side.

*This made swinging the 40 kg for 20 reps feel more like an alignment process over a working process. The breathing, however, differed from the snatch in which a nice inhale came with pitching the bell and the exhale with the thrusting of the hip (energy down into the ground more so than forward)

*A replication of 2 more sets followed.

This lead into a bit of a sadistic complex ladder for Sunday (in some opinions...)

*Double 24's for 1 double snatch (set-up) into 2 strict presses (no knee/hip flexion) followed by 2 squats (2nd was 1 dbl snatch - 3 press - 3 squat) (3rd 1-4-4)

*Following the 1st round of the press/squat was a 32 kg single arm snatch for 4 per side (2nd - 6, 3rd - 8)

*Followed by 40 kg swings for 8 (2nd - 12, 3rd 16)

Much harder than I anticipated w/the original intent being to complete 4 rungs :) HA!....had a hard enough time completing 2!

But the good news is the breathing pattern definitely helped tremendously. Differs on the press/squat as well.

*Traveled back to club for playtime with some nice assisted full straddled planches (no elbow lever), dragon flags, skin the cats, ring dips and other odd n ends......