friday

had yesterday off as was driving all over the place went into training today with only one aim back squat 160 for 3

snatch balance, 80, 90, 95, 100
snatch 80, 80, 80, 85
back squat 120 for single, 140 for single, 150 for single 160 for 3, 170 for single missed it was fucked after the 3 at 160

wednesday

great session today

power snatch doubles 75, 80, 80, 82.5, 82.5, 82.5
power snatches felt really good and quick today was really putting them into a position where i could just let fly in the second pull

power clean 95 for 2, 100 for 2, 105 for 2, 105 for 2, 110 for 2 second a bit in no mans land, 110 for 2 proper powers
had the feeling i had in my power snatch where was putting the bar in the perfect position to just let rip on the bar and explode up felt great

front squat 132.5 for 2, 132.5 for 2, 135 for 2, 135 for 2, 135 for 2

tuesdays realisation that i am a complete gobshite

snatch singles 90, 90, 92.5, 92.5, 92.5 missed, 92.5, 92.5 92.5 missed 92.5 made lovely
snatch 80 for 2, 80 for 2, 82.5 for 2

jerk from blocks 90 for 2, 100, 110, 115 missed, 115, 117, 120 missed, 120 missed, 120 missed, 120 made lovely back in the hole

back squat 140 for 5, 145 for 5 and 150 for 5 previous pb for 5 being 140 so kinda happy !!!

snatches felt really secure overhead why did i stop doing damn snatch balance !!!

monday the day i realised i am an idiot !!!

i stopped doing snatch balance oh why oh why did i stop ??
snatch balance a fairly irrelevant lift to most but not me when i snatch well it usually coincides with me doing snatch balance !!!! and why did i stop doing these well because i am an idiot !!!!

todays session snatch from blocks 2 doubles at 80, single at 85 single at 90 missed this twice before i made it ... sull was in then doing snatch balance so i decided to join in ... snatch balance 80 for double, 85 for single, 90 for single 95 for single

back to down some snatch and my god the difference in stability and position overhead felt like a different lift i did 5 singles at 80 and they were the easiest lifts i have ever done

the major point of today was to do what works for me and not be a complete idiot !!!

saturday

had a mixed day in the snatch made 7 single at 90 but missed 2 and also missed 2 at 95 on the plus side the ones i made were much more secure
clean and jerk 5 single at 110 felt very good the clean felt like nothing starting to like this extra leg strength thing
front squat 140 for 2 and finally 145 for 1 a pb been a long time coming

funniest video ever

around 30 secs watch for the lad in the wheelchair its amazing

anger !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Had just finished my session in a great mood and then checked my email this killed the good mood just found out got turned down for an unpaid 4 months internship not a happy boy at the moment !!!!

fridays free falling

rocked into the gym with the byrd man twas going to be a powerful day

power snatch 10-15 lifts between 70-80 some singles some double just working on keeping the bar as close as possible in the turn over and not jumping back too much
squat jerks few sest 50kg to warm up the shoulders then
power jerk 70, 90, 100
heavy squat time
back sqaut 150 for 3, 150 for 3, 155 for 3 were pretty decent to be honest

i am actually starting to enjoy this squatting malark tis coming along nicely target for end this phase was 150 for 3 i guess i thought i was in a much worse position than i am. NEW TARGET 160 FOR A SET OF 3 !!!!! I think i am going to have to ease down the intensity in the lifts as am squatting heavy heavy 4 days a week and I can feel silly mistakes being made in the lifts i think i will just keep it around 90 percent ish for lots of singles and just keep squatting my balls off

plan tommorrow is 135 for 2 sets of 2 in the front squat

go on whitey

a good old fashioned punch up no jersey pulling going on here the last ten secs shows it the best

its coming together again

earlier start than usual had very productive day in college last two days so when i finished what i had to do this morning that put pay to anymore proudctivity today so decided to join the lads for an early session

power snatch 70 for , 70, for 2, 75 for , 80 for 2, 80 for 2, 80 for 2
power clean 100 for 2, 100 for 2, 102.5 for 2, 102,5 for 2, 102.5 for 2

front squat 130 for 2, 130 for 2, 130 for 2, 130 for 2, 130 for 5 pb by a long shot !!!!!1

am going back to using my straps less now as the hands had gotten a bit weak and also i am going to go lighter and be very gradual with progressions of my 2nd and 4th workouts of the week thank you barry john for reminding me of this. last week i did 80 for 5 doubles in power snatch and it effected my bigger session the day after so lighter on the light days and heavier on the heavy days!!!! very happy with how squats are coming along 130 for 1 double was quite difficult about three weeks ago and now i was able for 4 doubles at this weight and then a set of 5 to finish. why the set of 5 ??? well i just unracked the bar and i was in the mood for testing myself and after the second rep i said here goes lets see what happens and low and behold 5 reps popped out of the sky .......

another balls of a day kinda

for some reason i was just in a bad mood today dunno why or what caused this but it just happend so i will demonstrate a unique formula for weightlifting success...

andy in bad mood = not very pretty technical lifting session

snatch 80, 90 missed, 90 missed, 90, 90, 95 missed, 95, 95, 95 missed, 95 missed, 95 missed i was very annoyed and impatient today not really my normal self if you may.... and this showed in my lifting the weights felt light but just not right if that makes sense....... i did throw a few barry john tantrums after missing some lifts but sure we are all human.

jerk or as i i will remember where it all went terribly wrong
50, 50, 90, 90, 105 missed what the fuck ??? 105 made lovely, 115 haha didnt even dip with the fucking thing my head was in another world only solution some heavy squats

back squat 135 for 3 sets of 5 done and dusted le strength coming along now just to detach my brain from my body and i will be sorted !!!!!

mondays balls

feeing shit today was busy with a lot of things other than lifting !!! and ended up having very lil food

snatch 90, 90, 90, 90, 90 missed , 90 missed , 90 missed, 90 nailed, 80 for 2, 85 for 2, 85 missed 85 for 2
left it there felt shit and weak and hungry so home time and food will finish todays session tomorrow as well as some extra well needed quality snatch practice

saturday with the lads

coach roche joined us for the day

snatch 80, 90, 95 , 95, 95 missed like 6 times then made it again so easy stupid annoying snatch
power clean and jerk 100, 105, 110, 113, 115, 115 pb power clean and jerk happy days
front sqaut 100 for 3, 120 for 2, 130 for 1, 140 for 1, 145 missed seen the shiny white lights decided best to leave it there before i actually passed out. 140 was quite easy so its coming along

a few training ides that will be discussed

I have a few interesting ideas floating around in my brain that I am going to unleash in the next few days
- snatch and clean and jerk (two different lifts?) needing two different approaches ?
- snatch pulls and clean pulls the difference
- snatch deads and clean deads the difference
- variation and injury
- assistance exercise ? what i believe works for me ? and why ?
- assistance exercise with positional emphasis
- squats squats and squats

whats a sweet potato look like ?? it looks like a potato with down syndrome

a breakthrough has been made in my snatch not in mweight but in feel and mots defo speed!!!!!

snatch 80, 85, 87, 87 missed, 87, 90, 90,90, 90, 90,
clean and jerk 105, 105, 105, 105, 105 2c+1j 90, 90, 90
clean deads x3 130, 140, 140

not what my programme dictated but this is the way i usually train left the double and concentrated more on nailing repeated singles. clean and jerk felt rough as i have not done it enough lately so i need to address this and i will....

and to the breakthrough !!!!
snatch has felt strong but slow and out of position for quite some time and i think its been down to the amount of pulls and deads and also the weight i have used on them i think they got too heavy and slow. yesterday i focused on getting the bar into the right position from the floor to hang and as soon as it was felt there i actually just tried to fuck the bar up as fast and as straight as possible and fire myself underneath even faster and low and behold what happend my best feeling and looking snatches in months.

my strength is from hang if i can get the bar into the right position every time i know i am strong enough and explosive from this position to get it overhead i think i havd been making a mistake with the dynamic start and getting the bar moving too quickly and it ending up in the wrong position off the floor. its just a matter of practice

wednesday all day

power snatch 75 for 2, 80 for 2, 80 for 2, 80 for , 80 for 2
power clean 90 for 2, 100 for 2, 100 for 2, 100 for 2, 100 for 2
front squat 127.5 for 2, 127.5 for 2, 127.5 for 2, 127.5 for 2. 131 for 2
push press 60 for 3 sets 6
weighted situps 5kg 3 sets of 12 great pump in the abs!!!

squats are feeling quite good was only supposed to do 127.5 for 5 sets 2 but on last set decided with the encouragement of byrd no harm in setting a pb for 2 as far as i can rememeber anyway pull is feeling quite good especially in the snatch as it is fresh from lack of heavy snatch pulling movements...... looking forward to snatch and full clean and jerk tomorrow

tuesdays session

simple enough
snatch 80, 85 90, 90, 90, 90 missed, 90, 90 snatch 80 for 2, 80 for 2, 80 for 2
jerk from blocks 105, 110, 115, 115 , 115 missed, 115, jerk 105 for 2, 105 for 2, 105 for 2
back squat 132.5 for 3 sets of 5
back extensions 10kg for 2 sets 12

good to get back into the full lifts really feel as if there is something decent to come soon in the snatch lifts got better as the session went on

i see some funny shit in this place but this beats all

in my job i see some funnny crazy shit from lads trying to jump onto bosu balls and buckling themselves to people falling off treadmills to people creating some of the weirdest most bizzare exercises know to man but this evenings work has allowed me to see a true master at work...... a strength and conditioning coach as he calls himself always watch out for people that call themselves this in their introduction with a gaa team was in oh what a beauty of a session. have you ever seen the clean pull that requires 3 people to perform it and not in the cool yielding isometrics or eccentrics way of the old polish weightlifting camp this is the version that 2 spotters are required to roll the bar back into place after each rep oh and also calling it a clean pull is being a bit generous.... there is also my favourite the power squat lateral raise

there are so many fucking eejits out there that need to exposed if only there was a way and a means ????????????]

oh good jesus they are now trying jerks from the hip well thats where they are all racking the bar this is going to end in disaster oh and some seated behind the neck press and some lawnmower start single leg rows stop the madnees!!!!

boy jesus the selectors are giving savage encouragement and the coach is some man to blow a whistle!!!!

a change of heart

My original plan of getting as strong as hell in pull, deads,squats presses etc bit silly now i think of it. I am good at pulling movements so why would i spend so much time on them, duh andy its time to keep all the energy for the full lifts and the squats. Another change was my original plan to do bucket loads of variation from watching vids of my lifting and chatting to others i really need to practice the full lifts a lot more my lifts have gotten a bit rough not that they were ever beautiful. I need to practice the full lifts a hell of a lot more so this is something I shall do. Its amazing the changes one can make when they take a step back and look at themself the way they would look at someonelses lifting. There is no point in expending all my energy on something that I am quite good at already and ignoring the stuff I have gotten shit at ie. the full lifts. My lifts have slowed down a lot in the last while and this is something I want to address through practice of the full lifts and lighter powers. Below is my training plan for the next while. The adapation or overload will come from adding extra doubles from week to week and adding extra single at the heavy weight from week to week. How this overload will be made up will not be set in stone as it will depend on how i feel on the day. If i feel shit it will be made up of more doubles and if i feel good it will consist of more singles simple enough really ha.
So here goes
Day 1

Snatch 90% 5 singles, 2-4 doubles around 80-85%
Jerk 95%+ 2-3 singles, 2-4 doubles around 80-85%
Back squat 3 sets5 (wk1) 130,(wk2) 135, (wk3) 137, (wk4) 140 2set 5

Day 2

Power Snatch 5 sets 2 around 75-80%
Power clean and jerk 5 set 1+2 around 75-80%
Front squat 5 sets 2 (wk1) 125, (wk2) 127, (wk3) 130, (wk4) 132 2 sets 2

Day 3

Snatch 90% 5 singles, 2-3 doubles around 85%
Clean and jerk 5 singles around 85-90%, 2-4 sets 2+1 around 80-85%
Clean deads 3 sets 5

Day 4

off

Day 5

Power snatch 5 sets 2 around 75-80% of snatch (1 floor 1 hang)
Power clean 5 sets 2 around 75-80% of clean (2floor)
Back squat 3 sets 3 (wk1) 142, (wk2) 145, (wk3) 147, (wk4) 150 1 set 3

Day 6

Snatch 95% 2-3 singles, 3-5 doubles around 80-85%
Clean and jerk 90-95% 2-3 singles, 2-3 doubles 80-85%
Front squat heavy single back down 3 sets 2

Day 7 off

The above programme does not include the assistance work I will do i.e. abs, back extensions, glute hams to keep the knees in one piece presses and the likes. These are not included as reps will not go below 6 and as the name suggests they are the assistance stuff for the important lifts.