Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Day 278.. oh wait, never mind, it's only day 2

Well, the good news is that I squatted today and although the odds were not in my favor, I didn't die (it has nothing to do with the fact that I stayed EXTREMELY light). Life is good.

Workout:
Box Squats: 5x2, back off sets: 2x3
Front Squats: 2x5 @ 4 second descent and 2 sec hold in the bottom
Good Mornings: 3x5
Wall climbs+Handstand Walks: 5 sets
Muscle ups: 12 total (done in pairs)

Allow me to elaborate:
Box Squats: These were supposed to be regular back squats, but I cannot squat below parallel with any type of heavy load. I've never really done box squats before, so I had someone show me how to perform them properly. MUCH different than an oly squat! We'll see if they transfer over to the clean at all.

Front Squats: I literally stuck with 35-40 kg for these. I stayed very light and controlled because I didn't want to aggravate my hip too much. Despite almost passing out from holding my breath for so long, I love having to force myself to slow a movement down and keep my form PERFECT.

Wall climbs: I use these for shoulder strengthening and stability. Start in a push up position with your feet on the wall. Walk your feet up the wall and your hands towards the wall until your belly is touching. When up there, walk on your hands laterally for a couple of steps and then walk your hands back out into a push up position. Repeat in the opposite direction. I LOOOOVE these for strengthening the jerk. The more hand stand work I do, the stronger I feel when supporting the weight overhead.

Muscle ups: I only did these so that I could still say that I can do a muscle up.

Things I focused on:

Since it was more of a strength day, I didn't focus on much other than making sure I eased my way back into things. I wanted to do 70 sets of box squats because I want my leg strength to be back where it was. Tomorrow. However, I knew that if I pushed it too much today, I most likely would be too sore to have a productive workout tomorrow. I want to progressively improve... Not take 17 steps forward, and 27 steps back (I'm really into random numbers right now).

I also focused on keeping everything tight through my mid-line. For me, I have a tendency to relax my core as I go through simple movements. Like good mornings, for example. I know that when I get lazy on a good morning, I really arch my back and completely disconnect from my abs as I'm sending my butt back. That does me no good! So, today I tried my best to avoid that. I made sure to ask my friends to randomly punch me in the stomach when I wasn't expecting it, just to make sure I was staying focused.... kidding, people... I didn't ask. My friends just do that on their own.

The last thing I focused on was not crying (tears of joy) when Michele told me my butt looked bigger. Miracles really do happen.

When my butt gets this big, I know that I'll REALLY be competitive in oly lifting:



5 comments:

  1. You know what they say... big butts, big weights!

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  2. Sounds like a great day for you. I will have to try the wall climbs for sure. I definitely need a bit of work on my jerk. Today I cleaned 180lbs missed the first jerk and the other two did a dip and must of said forget it on the driving part. I need to get a little better at getting under the weight not trying to press it. It's getting too heavy for these things, which is nice to say. ;) I don't know if I will be trying the muscle ups. I have done 1 in my life and many moments getting very frustrated with them. Good luck with your workout tomorrow! :)

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  3. Kim- two cues that help me on the jerk

    #1- Jump up, punch down. That way, I don't try to jump up and press up.

    #2- hands and feet together. Lock out those arms at the EXACT same time as your feet hit the ground.

    Keep up the good lifts, gf!

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  4. Thanks Sage! Will remember those pointers when I am trying to lock that weight out in my competition over the weekend. :)

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