Weightlifting Log

[Chae Cramb]

Originally Posted by James Bailey

I filmed a snatch PR and a few C&J last week.

Any input is appreciated...


Video is here

Great to see some of your lifting, you're looking a heck of a lot stronger. The snatch and cleans didn't look all that hard, you're definitely looking good for a 200 total for your first comp.

Couple of points.

You still look a little forward in some of the pulls, it's a lot better than it used to be but you still get a little hop forwards some of the time. I think you maybe just let that rolling start go a little too far sometimes and it pushes over a bit too much.

The pulls look smooth and easy but lack any real explosion at the end. You look like you should be able to get a far more powerful hip drive and much faster pull under the bar. Focus on driving the hips in hard and fast.

The jerks are still the furthest behind technique wise. I'll break it down a bit.

The drive - watch it in slow motion and you should see that the bar shifts forward quite a bit at the bottom of the dip, it then ends up being forward throughout the drive.

Overhead and split position - the position you receive the bar in makes it look like you lack shoulder flexibility which from your clean grip ohs you obviously don't. It looks like it's mostly because of the bar shifting forward in the drive and the position of your feet in the split. You also end up with your torso almost leaning back rather than driving your chest and head through the bar.

Compare these pictures of the instant the bar is received.

james jerk.jpg

good jerk.jpg

As you can see your weight is shifted backwards onto the back foot. Get that heel up of the ground, bend the back leg a bit and get your body through the bar. Again a faster drop under and quicker feet would help. A lot of the problems with your jerk are pretty common in people that have practiced push pressing a lot before they ever begin jerking. I would considering doing much push pressing before you're a good jerker the equivalent to doing a lot of power cleans/snatches before your good at the full lifts - it tends to encourage bad habits.

It's funny these problems are basically exactly the same issues Juan has, except he also lacks the flexibility for a proper jerk position. Been doing a lot of work with him on explosive hip drive and getting back onto his heels in the pull, his jerk is almost identical to yours!

Anyway, hope you don't mind me being critical, hopefully it will be constructive for you. They actually look very good overall and I'm just pointing out the minor issues. The only thing that really needs a bit of work is the jerk.

[David Boyle]

Looks good to me...the weight got off the ground and over head...but what do i know...lol

however the music threw me off a bit...

[James Bailey]

Originally Posted by Chae Cramb

Great to see some of your lifting, you're looking a heck of a lot stronger. The snatch and cleans didn't look all that hard, you're definitely looking good for a 200 total for your first comp.

Couple of points.

You still look a little forward in some of the pulls, it's a lot better than it used to be but you still get a little hop forwards some of the time. I think you maybe just let that rolling start go a little too far sometimes and it pushes over a bit too much.

The pulls look smooth and easy but lack any real explosion at the end. You look like you should be able to get a far more powerful hip drive and much faster pull under the bar. Focus on driving the hips in hard and fast.

The jerks are still the furthest behind technique wise. I'll break it down a bit.

The drive - watch it in slow motion and you should see that the bar shifts forward quite a bit at the bottom of the dip, it then ends up being forward throughout the drive.

Overhead and split position - the position you receive the bar in makes it look like you lack shoulder flexibility which from your clean grip ohs you obviously don't. It looks like it's mostly because of the bar shifting forward in the drive and the position of your feet in the split. You also end up with your torso almost leaning back rather than driving your chest and head through the bar.

As you can see your weight is shifted backwards onto the back foot. Get that heel up of the ground, bend the back leg a bit and get your body through the bar. Again a faster drop under and quicker feet would help. A lot of the problems with your jerk are pretty common in people that have practiced push pressing a lot before they ever begin jerking. I would considering doing much push pressing before you're a good jerker the equivalent to doing a lot of power cleans/snatches before your good at the full lifts - it tends to encourage bad habits.

Anyway, hope you don't mind me being critical, hopefully it will be constructive for you. They actually look very good overall and I'm just pointing out the minor issues. The only thing that really needs a bit of work is the jerk.

Thanks for the input, it's better to have some criticism, that is the first video I have made so far, I'll be doing more though I need the input.

Yeah a lot stronger which helps. I see what you mean about the jerks and the top of the 2nd pull. I haven't really worked on jerks except in the full lift. I have been considering switching up my programming to drop bench pressing in favour of doing jerks and the doing dips as assistance, might be a good idea... explosion on the 2nd pull, perhaps doing SN and cleans from boxes or doing them from the hang? or other ideas for that?

I think it might be time to practice jerks more too as I have started failing on them more often than cleans. I cleaned 110 on Wednesday but failed the jerk and I don't think it is a strength deficit seeing as I can push press 90 for 3. It is just technique. I feel that my jerks are sloppy too. Those were especially so that day, I did better on Wednesday, hit 107.5 nicely. But the foot work is crappy half the time and I don't get under the bar fast enough or in the right position.

I know that I have a little hop forward receiving the bar sometimes, though I have been working on that and have minimised it to it only happening when I'm a bit slow and sometimes I take a step forward recovering from the cleans or snatches. I did that by drawing a chalk line in front of my feet and trying to stay behind it as well as focussing on pushing through the heel.

There is a Crossfit oly cert being held here in July which I'll probably go to just to get some coaching from Mike Burgener and who ever else he brings with him. It would be good for teaching the lifts to other people so we can start a weightlifting club. It's only 600 bucks too, and as it's about 1 swiss franc to the dollar right now that isn't an awful lot

[James Bailey]

TSC results

DL 175/185/190

Pull Ups 14

KB snatches 70

BW 91.5kg

I am pleased with my DL results, I was hoping to get over #400 and I did. Pull ups sucked big time, I thought I'd get 18+ but then again last time I did over 15 pull ups I weighed about 73kg. Snatches were damn hard, by 50 my lumbar was really tight, probably from shitty form and the heavy deads prior, I was hoping for 100...

[James Bailey]

SN 50x5 60x1

BS 60x5, 100x3x2

SN felt stupid heavy and I couldn't really get under the bar, gave up on that and thought I'd squat. Did a triple at 100 to warm up for my set of 5 at 135, unracked it and walked out it really felt so damn heavy, I tried to squat it and couldn't get one rep. So I took the smaller plates off and did another triple and spent 30 mins foam rolling and doing mobility stuff. Called it a day after that. I figure I was way under recovered from Fridays TSC, Saturdays moving flat and drinking after work...getting to bed at 4am Sunday because of work and trying to train 30 mins after waking up on Monday...not a good idea overall. Need to manage rest and recovery better...

[James Bailey]

C&J 50x3, 70x3, 85x3, 100x1x8

Press 50x5, 65x5x3, 55x10

OHS 80x1, 85x1x2

Today was much better, my back is still sore though from Friday. I was going to just do PC but felt like I could use the practice in C&J. I worked on a more explosive 2nd pull and getting under the bar better in the jerk, better footwork and locking out the arms. I only pressed out half of the jerks, which is a good improvement. More work is needed. I have a chiro appointemnt tomorrow so I will see how I feel on Friday and what I end up doing, I think only power SN or clean, FS but relatively light, bench and dips, possilbly RDL or GM, no DL. Chins too probably, beach work

[James Bailey]

Bench 60x5, 90x5/4/3, 80x8

Chins BW+20kg x5/4/4 +16kg x5

DB Rows 35kgx15x2 per arm

Ok so I tweaked something in my lower back yesterday or Wednesday, not sure how or exactly what but I have pain right at the base of the spine, around the coccyx. It only hurts when I slightly hyperextend or flex it, it is a slightly sharp pain during movement but not shooting pain. More dull than a shooting pain. I saw my chiro yesterday, I was going anyway, she couldn't find anything out of place in that area but my right SI joint was slightly out as usual. I have upped doses of fish oil, magnesium, c and b complex. I will take an ice bath today to bring any swelling down but I'm a bit stumped as to what it is. If it doesn't feel much better by Monday I'm going to the chiro again to have it checked again as it pisses me off that I can't do any lower body stuff and it is painful at work. I work in a bar so at least I am on my feet but it is a bit uncomfortable to bend, squat or generally move from a standing to any other position.

[James Bailey]

P-Sn 50x3x2

Lunges 60x10x2 (done with bar in FS racked postion, 1 min rest between legs)

PP 60x5, 80x5x3

Pull Ups BW x 12/8/8

Back is still sore, but better than the weekend despite my best efforts on Saturday night to not get any recovery done I will have another ice bath tomorrow and maybe shift my chiro appointment to this week and see how it feels. Lunges for some reason were ok today and P-Sn I just did to see how it felt...I hope I can do the 70's big 225 challenge next week. After that I will be away for two weeks and will just do sprints, plyos and other forms of conditioning as I won't have access to a gym but will have a few dumbells I can fuck around with. After those two weeks I will shift my program I think and give Justin Lascek's novice weightlifting program a go and see what I can eek out of linear progression on that as I want to do the full lifts still...

[James Bailey]

Sprints 50mx2, 100mx2

Stair climbing, 4 flights with 2 20kg jerry cans wearing a 20kg weight vest.

Bench 80x5, 85x5x4

Pull ups BW 8/6/6

Db Rows 40kgx10x3

Back is still fucked up, sacroiliac joint is out, I can't squat or pull really. But I can sprint and climb stairs so that is my lower body work until further notice. Any other ideas are appreciated, I don't know about doing plyos but will give it a shot over the weekend...going back to the chiro on Monday.

[Chae Cramb]

How's training been this week, any progress on the back?

Sprinting and plyos both result in very high forces travelling through the body. If you can do them without a problem I'm sure you should be able to find some strength exercises you can do. The most obvious thing would be any form of single leg work that lets you keep a neutral spine (ie. not pistols). They can put a bit of pressure on the SI joint if you're not able to stabilise the spine laterally under load just now, but if you can sprint it should be fine. Depending on how bad it is you may also get away with front squats as long as you stick to weights that you can maintain good position with.

If none of that stuff is an option I'd just go with some of the weighted stair climbs you're doing along with good old leg presses, leg extensions and leg curls. Just be careful not to go too low with the leg presses as that will eventually put pressure on the SI joint too. Heavy sled dragging would also be an option if you have access to it.