3rd times a charm

 So it's day three back and I had plans to power jerk today since my front knee in the split is the one I hit buuuuuut after I started I got to feeling saucy so I went ahead and did splits. First off- just training again, especially three days this week was a PR in itself. Also, my this has to be an all time Post PR. Three posts this week!
 I knew I was going to Jerk and Front squat today and most likely end with some core work which has been lacking without the heavy loads. I worked up heavy on the block with one rep from the back and then one from the front both split. This is manly because I have issues pushing my head through aggressively when it gets heavy and having the bar already behind your head is a great way to train head through. I hit 325# in that with was only 6# shy of my all time PR from the front and I felt great. The front jerk was ugly but it was more because of my footwork and not power. Because of this I decided to go for a PR jerk. Why not right? I hit 335# which is a 4# PR. This is a huge win for me since even in my last cycle I didn't work much on jerks from the blocks(focused mainly on the full Clean and Jerk).
After that I did take it easy on front squat. I worked up to 300 for a double and then dropped to 185 for a set of twenty just to get some blood pumping down there. Felt great.
 I am far from rehabilitated and my knee does still have pain but it is not getting worse and hasn't bothered me during these workouts enough to mess with my head. I am still taking it slow. Three days of lifting followed by some remedial strength/conditioning accessory work during the weekend. Next week I will start with a quick session in both snatch and clean and jerk(I haven't done these in the same workout in quite some time now).

Here are two videos from today.

BACK JERK + JERK 325#

JERK PR 335#

(I held it up for extra long and dropped it on the floor for dramatic effect. Screw that weight)

Mind right, Knees wrapped, Grip hooked

 Today was day two back and I was honestly pretty worried about it. Snatch will always be a relatively lighter weight exercise and therefore doesn't really put a lot of stress on the joint coming out of the bottom(That's what she said?). Because of this I had a feeling I would be ok going heavy on that. However, Cleans and back squats obviously require alot more loading to reach maximum effort. I went in saying, "I wasn't going past 70% no matter what". Of course deep down I knew better than that. I ended up hitting 295 for a double in clean (20# below my single PR) and squatting 330 for a couple sets of 3(best single is currently 390). I felt slight discomfort at 295 and 330 but definitely nothing that scared me. Also, 330 for 3 felt fairly light considering I haven't squatted over 250 period in almost a month. I'm taking another day off tomorrow and am coming back to jerk and front squat friday.
 We will see how the knee is in the morning but right now it actually feels pretty strong and stable. Things are finally starting to look hopeful. Can't wait til Friday.


295# Clean double post injury

330# Squat for three post injury

S.N.A.F.U. or Don't call it a comeback

 So quick update. I was debating on if I should even post this or not and figured, hey these things happen in weightlifting. By now I am fairly use to things going wrong, pain, and disappointment. Such a wonderfully dark sport this is.
 Anyways, I was going for a 1 rep on power snatch three weeks ago, I hit 245(PR for Power) and when it dropped it grazed my knee. Ok grazed is probably a soft word. It was more like a 110kilo baseball bat swung by Sammy Sosa hitting the top of my patella. I actually didn't feel like it was that bad at the time and even went on to PR on power clean and jerk. The next day was a different story. I was not able to squat and have had tremendous pain since. I stopped lifting all together for two weeks. I did a couple crossfit metcons just to be doing something and though, the pain is still there, I'm slowly gaining confidence that it is something that will pass without surgery. Yesterday was my first day lifting heavy since. I did full snatch and worked up to 245#. This is 10 lb. below my PR but the important thing is I had no knee pain. I'm still a little worried about cleans and Back squats. Not sure how long it will be before I can go heavy again without pain. Hopefully soon. We will see how they go tomorrow.
 Either way, the simple act of being able to lift heavy was a huge win for me yesterday. I've been in a pretty bummed state since the injury.

Below is the video of my 245# snatch yesterday. The funny thing is, I realized yesterday that this is the heaviest snatch I have on video. Weird.