Competition time

Things are closing in, and it's time to start considering where I really measure up. Less than two weeks till my first competition, and I am reasonably confident in where I stand, though I know I will ultimately be disappointed by my performance(s). My O-lifting is moving along well; some recent revelations in the details of the lifts should be promising, along with a recent front squat PR of 295 (up from 275). My weakness in the clean is still inability to fight T-spine flexion in the receiving position, which has been remedied by lots of front squats and good mornings. I still believe I am capable of more than 185 in the snatch, and hoping to attempt 195 (or maybe 200) at the meet.

As far as my conditioning is going, my capacity has certainly declined - this is to be expected as my training goals have drastically changed, but it is still disappointing to know how much "gas" is out of the tank now. My tournament will be a struggle, but I'm expecting as much. May will be a busy month, with a tournament, job interview, then a meet in consecutive weekends.

I've been working to keep my weight up, still hovering at a fairly consistent 175. Work is escalating and regular eating is becoming somewhat of a struggle.

Workouts the past week:

Monday:

Snatch 1RM (80kg)

C&J 1RM (102kg)

Tuesday:

Max rep back squats @ 80kg - 31 reps

Max rep supine strict pull-ups - 12, 11, 10, 7, 7

Good mornings 3x5 (43kg)

Wednesday:

8x3 Band box squats, speed emphasis (60kg + green and blue bands)

3x5 Push Press (70kg))

Thursday:

Front Squat 1RM (133kg - PR)

3x2 Dead stop Front Squats (60kg)

Max rep pronated pull-ups - 12, 10, 9, 9, 9

Tabata Airdyne (8 rounds)

Friday:

Snatch 1RM (80kg, after 15 fails)

C&J (97.5kg)

Failure and success

My brief experiment with the linear progression is over - the workout done April 2nd was the last one, in which I completed a 3x5 at 285 and 145 on the squat and press, respectively. Every rep of the workout managed to feel like a 1RM, where in previous workouts it was only the last two sets that felt that way - I'm positive that I will fail the next workout (5x5 @ 295), and given my goals, two competitions in may, one of them being a weightlifting meet, I would rather get the extra day to start the next phase of training rather than spend it possibly failing and having to rest for two days before I come back. I believe this decision to skip my "fail" on the progression is sound, as I am definitely nearing the limits of my gains on this current cycle of linear progression - the last workout was done at 90% of my old 1RM.

I'm going to start monday with something I've been thinking about for a while - doing the double from the 1st day of the VA sectionals - weighted cindy followed by AMRAP C&J at 185. My reasoning is that if I'm going to do a workout that could possibly trash my mechanics it would be better to do it sooner rather than later, during a transition from pure slow lifts to Olympic ones.

I'll be starting the coaching of a new client saturday as well - he's scheduled for 3 workouts per week, fit in for tuesdays, thursdays, and saturdays. This should mesh perfectly as my heavy lift days are monday, wednesday, and friday, and the other days were originally going to be reserved for metcons - still workable given the short amount of time I'll need for them.

Strength days will be o-lift focused, with slow lifts (primarily push presses and front squats) added in as supplements. Rep schemes will be roughly bulgarian style, though this will all likely be moderated as wear is assessed. Metcons will consciously avoid o-lifts to preserve mechanics and work on bodyweight movements with strength endurance as an overall focus over explosiveness. Likely lots of cherry picking as far as workout specifics.

The linear progression diet has been interesting - by my estimates I'm eating at least 30oz of protein a day, coming to around 200g of protein and 1800 calories a day from the protein alone. Interestingly enough, my weight has not gone up and is still hovering at 175.