Garden

Sunrise in the Garden

So far: arugula, red ribbon dandelion, red russian kale, toscano kale,

tokyo turnips, breakfast radishes, wando peas, broccoli raab

Pig

Steps towards putting pig on the menu

Wrapping up

May has more or less ended, finishing out quite a series of eventful weekends. The Olympic Weightlifting meet was a fair success - I went 6 for 6 on my lifts and PRed both my lifts - Snatch at 87kg and C&J at 107kg. Both of these went up quick and easy, bringing up a few questions about my training program: I already knew that my Bulgarian-esque training was leading me into overreaching, but the fact that a week off (before the meet) lead to very quick and strong gains leads me to wonder if perhaps there shouldn't have been longer breaks during the training cycle as well. On the one hand, one could argue that because I went into steep supercompensation that went clear into the meet I was guaranteed a successful competition, but on the other hand one could also argue that if I had included longer rest periods I might have been able to hit a "mini-peak," hitting these PRs earlier in my cycle and thus opening the door to hitting higher PRs in the meet. In essence, the program I used only provided one peak at the very end - during the entire cycle my strength levels stayed level and I was unable to hit any new strength gains as far as the Olympic lifts were concerned - I did PR my back squat, front squat, and press.

I'll be taking time off to digest the pros and cons of my Bulgarian-style O-lifting program. In the meanwhile, I'll be doing an adjusted Starting Strength program and building running volume - running mainly on my days off, no more than two miles per session. Pulling power may also be a supplemental focus.

Stepping up

The first big weekend has passed, with me landing a gold, silver, and bronze medal in three divisions and placing out of a fourth. My performance was about as I had expected, although my conditioning seemed to be well beyond many of the other competitors. What would have made the biggest difference simply would have been more time on the mats in practice, though there wasn't much I could have done about that. Otherwise, I did much better against the other players than I thought I would, and was very happy with the weekend.

I'll be back on the strength work, coming off a brief taper during the last week and a half leading up to the BJJ tournament, although I did notably hit a front squat and back squat pr (295 and 365, respectively).

Workouts the week before my final tournament taper:

monday snatch 85kg, fail 90kg, tabata shuttle

tuesday c&j 102, fail 107, "amanda" - 100DU, 20 burpees, 3 min rest x 5, 1:56 first round, 2-3 after

wednesday dynamic box squat 205 3x8, good mornings 8x3 95lb

thursday snatch 80kg, snatch 2x3 80kg, 30sec escalating airdyne (>60, 70, 80rpm), 2 min rest x 3

friday c&j 102, tgu 3x3, 70lb, 80lb, 80lb, bodyweight fran - 3:30

For the next few weeks leading up to the O-lifting meet, I'll be on a Bulgarian-style cycle with plenty of food, hoping to come as close as I can to the 185lb mark. I'm hoping to attempt 195lb and 245 for my snatch and c&j at the meet, respectively. Following the meet, I'll be looking to start my running "experiment," which pretty much just means doing it at all.

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.