In case you missed it via facebook, twitter or 5 oclock news

10 things to do to improve your clean and jerk.. from start to finish

#1: Discontinue your day job at the strip club…you’re better than that. (Shoulders, hips, and bar move up together off the ground).

#2: God gave you lats to activate. Do NOT disappoint him (Set your lats before the bar leaves the ground,or you WILL pull with your arms)

#3: The bar’s main goal in life is to pull you forward and down. CRUSH that bar’s dreams (Shift to your heels IMMEDIATELY off the floor)

#4: On a hot day, milk is a bad choice, but using your legs is ALWAYS a good choice even on non climatically- perfect days. (Jump HARD)

#5: A wise woman once said, “My hips don’t lie”(Your hips must move UP and DOWN in a matter of milliseconds. Slow hips=slow bar)

#6: You’re not on the dance floor. “Dropping it like it’s hot” is not recommended. (Do not dive or drop. PULL yourself under the bar)

#7: 99% of the population has suffered from the deadly disease MonoSyphiSlowElbow. Will you be one the them?(Fast elbows=brownie points)

#8: Favorite alliteration: Petunia Practiced Perfect Posture… On Her Jerk…wait… (The jerk dip: chest up, toes out, weight on heels)

#9: Chewing gum instead of brushing your teeth counts for nothing, but jumping up and punching down on the jerk, counts for a lot.

#10: Weight on your hips doesn’t always mean you have love handles (Receive your jerk with ALL the weight centered on your hips)

I've been stranded

I've been stranded in the middle of the desert with no food, water, or internet.

Of course that's not true, but because I haven't updated my blog in forever, that's the story I'm going with.

Let's talk turnovers (unfortunately, I am not talking about apple turnovers because that would make this post WAY more appealing)...
I've been in this weird mood the past couple weeks. It's the kind of mood where I just don't really feel like turning the bar over aggressively in the snatch. I tried blaming it on my experimentation with just letting things happen and not trying to control people, places, or things in my life, but that worked for about .5 seconds until I missed my snatch at 60 kilos and then missed it again.. and then missed it 6 more times after that.

And all my misses have been in the exact same place... at the bottom of my snatch, and in front of me.
Of course I'm not going to ever be satisfied snatching anything less than my brother Casey (best snatch was 400lbs), so I know I need to get a move on this minor set back. Aka.. I need to fix my turnover.. NOW (I'd be happy if I fix it within the next 3 months) before I get all old and wrinkly and too jacked up to even lift my ice cream scooper.

So, what am I going to do?

I am going to work my muscle snatches and snatch balance.

Muscle Snatch:
Muscle snatching is going to help me strengthen my external rotation. It takes my legs out of the equation and forces me actually use my shoulder muscles to get that barbell back behind my ears. By the time I get to add my legs into the equation, the bar will be FLYING through that turn over!

The other GREAT thing about muscle snatching is that it forces me to pay attention to the path of the barbell. I can't muscle snatch anything unless that barbell is moving straight up my body and staying as close to me as possible. Because I can't move the bar as fast with my arms as I can with my legs, slowing down the movement really reinforces how it feels when the bar moves right... which is great for when you start moving fast again.

Snatch Balance:
Yes, I admit, I'll be doing more snatch balances because I love them with all my heart, but it's also because when I have an unaggressive turnover, the bar never gets back in the "slot" (right behind the ears where our whole body is supporting the weight rather than our arms and shoulders). When we snatch balance, the bar is behind our neck at the start, so it only has one way to go... and that is STRAIGHT UP into our slot (of course, that's only if we actually do it correctly). Not having the pressure of having to get around my face and back behind my ears really helps me to feel the proper bar position overhead. That way, when I snatch, I'll have a reference point as to where the bar is supposed to end.

Make sense?

So, If you're like me, and you miss every single important lift of your life out in front because you have commitment issues and won't get the barbell back behind your ears, do muscle snatches and snatch balance.

If you're the person that misses the barbell behind you a lot, stay tuned... Definitely within the next seven years when I decide I want to write another blog post, I will teach you guys some exercises that can fix that!