Week two is done. I am not as sore as the previous week. Towards the end of the week I started to feel some tightness in my groin, so I backed off of the safety bar squats after my classic work (snatch and clean and jerk). There were some good things that happened this week and some things that I will have to attack even more next week. However, this is how the week went for me.
Day one (Monday): My jerks felt good. I hit 215 lbs on my 4RM and did hit my drop sets of 4x4@90% pretty well. This is a PR from last week. Back Squat is still a work in progress for me. Right now, my main goal is to work on my back rounding and strength. I believe the next two weeks will be better for me.
Day two (Tuesday): I PR'd on Snatch Push Press with a 215 5RM, which is just ten pounds away from my goal. Still close to a PR on Overhead Squats. I feel like getting stronger in these two lifts, and my pulls will help me with my goal of 100 kilo (220 lbs.) Snatch.
Day three (Thursday): I PR'd on my Front Squats again. I actually did my 1RM of 265lbs. for a 3RM. That puts my 1RM up to 290 lbs. This is huge, however, I still have to work on my back rounding still. My T-spine was a little bit sore afterwards, and I didn't get my last rep of my drop sets of 4x3@90%. 2RM Power Cleans went the same as last week. However, my 2RM Tall Cleans went up ten pounds (215 lbs.), which is a huge increase from the week before. I feel like the Tall Cleans are extremely beneficial for me. It is helping my body get use to turning the bar over faster and getting myself under the bar and in the right positions faster.
Day four (Friday): I hit 90% of my snatch max for eight singles. This is amazing seeing that the week before I had so many problems with the bar and my technique. The bar path was still not ideal. I could feel that much. However, I caught it low and above all, I caught it. For Push Press, one of the other strength coaches at Faction Strength & Conditioning, Chris Moore, came up with a hypothesis. One of my major troubles with my lifts is the bar path. I tend to push the bar away from my body, which not only makes me fight the weight, but also gravity. So, we decided to attach an Elitefts red mini band to the bar and put tension forward while I perform my movements, to trick my body into actively pulling the bar back in the normal path. So far, it is being tested, however, I did hit the same 195lbs. better than I did the week before. My stabilizer muscles we fatigued, and I couldn't really finish my drop sets. We used the same tactic on my Pendlay Rows and Snatch Pulls, which I felt really helped.
Day five (Saturday): I took Friday off and was planning on having a good breakfast and early training session on this day. That didn't happen though. A family emergency came up this morning, and I couldn't train or eat how I wanted to. I got to the gym late and couldn't lift on the platform and bar I normally use. My groin was also bothering me this morning, and it felt tender during my warm ups and lifts. My snatches didn't turn out right. My bar path was not where it should have been. I was still catching it in front of my body. I did, however, have a good Clean day. I pulled myself under the weight that I had previously not been able to. I called it quits after the Cleans due to my groin and closing time at the gym.
All in all it was not a terrible week. I was able to PR on several different days, and I barely missed the total I need to qualify for nationals, on Saturday. In hindsight, that is great because nationals isn't until April and our next meet is another two months away. That gives me eight weeks to go heavier and get stronger and better at my positioning. These are my two weaknesses, and they are the two areas that I will be focusing on the most in the coming cycles.
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