Training Summary & Video October 2012

Summary of my training is at the bottom of this post. The video below contains video clips of some of the exercises I am doing in training now (Sept/Oct 2012). I started on a high volume strength cycle/program during Ramadan and have continued until now. It is also focused on weaknesses in my technique. I will (hopefully) take and add more videos to my Youtube Channel, and either in this blog post or in new ones. I am making dua that the future videos are going to be of me making PRs!

Some of the exercises shown in the video are:

• Power & Muscle snatch from the hang
• Deadlift, Snatch and Clean grip, from the middle blocks
• Clean from the blocks
• Shoulder Press
• Deadlift Cleans (fast)
• Lockouts

Disclaimer, do not use this as a guide, I do not do everything 100% correctly. You can look up other websites for videos on training exercises for learning purposes.

Background Music in the video (in order):

1. Hans Zimmer – “Time” (We Plants Are Happy Plants Remix)
2. Mark Petrie – “Virtus”
3. Two Steps From Hell – “To Glory” Epic Version
4. ORBITAL – “Where Is It Going?” (from their new album YAY!)

I do about 5-6 exercises a day, and my goal is to do 20-30 total working repetitions (reps) in each exercise, not counting the warm ups sets/reps. 100 reps is the minimum goal amount for each day/training session.  (Though some days my warm up reps feel like they need to be my working reps :P)  One has to see how things feel and go, your max is not always going to be what you think it is, it could be lower or higher than you expect. The days it is higher, take advantage and try to PR or max out.

I was initially going 5 days a week, and so far I have tried 4 days a week for one week.  I will see how that goes. Recovery is important, but sometimes when I have too many rest days that affects me as well, such as having to warm up more to get the hang of a movement pattern, sometimes weights feeling heavier because of too much rest.

One technical weakness is the split jerk. For that, there is focus on upper body strength, plus jerk assistance exercises, such as lockouts, top presses, shoulder press, push jerk, and in my previous cycle, push presses. Though every week we modify things (Juan “the King” Sepulveda has been coaching and programming for me) . The general idea is when you try something, see if it helps and transfers over, if not, you can take it out and modify your programming.

My cleans are my strong point, though sometimes I don’t complete the second pull as well as I could. My pulling strength is not a bottle neck, but bar positions and the second pull are being focused on. That is where block work helps, which is doing a partial movement of the lift to focus on a particular area.
For the snatch, I am working on snatch grip focus pulls, also power and muscle snatches.

Because of the heavier weights and increased volume, it is more challenging to make PRs in the Olympic lifts, but I am hoping with time, I will be able to, as I increase strength and confidence. It has been an intense year and half for me, and one of the biggest factors of lifting and making gains is mental confidence and energy, so I am battling this and hope for improvement.