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.

Sickness and under recovering

Again, over a month has passed since my last entry. Work has gotten busy which is awesome and exciting. However as with almost everything, it has it's downsides namely, lack of free time.
 I didn't want to slack off on my training so I was cutting back on personal time and other things that weren't absolutely a must. This blog was one of them. I really need to stop using that as an excuse though.
 My training was at an all time high as far as volume the last couple months. Averaging 8 training sessions a week. I was honestly getting used to the soreness and kind of liked it. I was sleeping fairly well and eating everything. I mean I had to pretty much eat constantly just to keep up weight with my training. Something happened a a couple weeks ago though. I either ate something bad, or God stepped in and said "you need to back the crap off". I can only describe it as food poisoning. This is weird because I have never had this before in my life until I moved to GA. It has happened three times now since I came here. I'm not sure if it's me or the area but it is frustrating. I could barely get out of bed to teach class let alone train. So I didn't.....for an entire week. I also couldn't eat anything but simple sugar and starchy foods. No protein. For seven days I was on a fruit and bread diet for calories. I lost about 15 lb.
 I know alot of people would call this overtraining 101, however let me say, I was consistently PRing and moving forward and though I was sore, I felt great. Right up until the sickness, there were no warning signs. I had great session one day and then BAM an hour later, in the bathroom. My recovery and outside stress was great. The only thing that was lackluster was my diet. This is why I believe it was food and not over training, or under recovering as most weightlifters/coaches call it.
 Even still I have changed plan of attack again. I am training half as often as I did before and only plan on upping it when I am good and ready(when progress stalls). For now I seem to be coming back strong and have even hit two PR's since my return. Though I haven't hit PR's on my main two lifts yet, I think I will see better numbers soon. I've only been back a week and I have heard from some great trainers that you can expect to take the same time to twice as long as your break to get back to your previous performance. I've also backed off the caffeine again. This is hard but I ultimately feel fresher and more clear headed. Just a bit hard to get aggressive on the bar. But hey, maybe thats a good thing? I know if I can hit my lifts without coffee, I sure as hell can hit them with it.

140kg Clean off blocks for a double PR

Ain't got time for blogs

Not really but that's a good excuse for my long breaks between posts. When I started this blog I started because of failure. It sparked a greedy demon in me to beat my fears and stay focused on my goal. Many bright days, clear nights, calorie dense foods and back breaking training sessions later, here I sit atop my 20" wooden jump box unwrapping my knees, drinking fruit juice, wearing a sweat soaked unlabeled hat, and a cheshire cat smirk. After a brutal 6 week program, my front squat stands up and looks down at that 150 kilo marker, kicks some dirt, burying it and walks off to the next challenge.

Dark days may be ahead but my eyes seems to be adjusting to the light.

My numbers as of now:
Snatch - 113 Kilos
Clean&Jerk - 141.5 Kilos
Jerk - 150.5 Kilos
Front Squat - 157 Kilos
Back Squat - 171 Kilos



Start of blog Sept. 22nd:

Today:

Squatapaloza and approaching normal

 It's been a while since I've posted. The good news is it's because work is super busy and I have been training like a mad man. For the last 6 weeks I have been eating, training, and living like a weightlifter. This included training 6 days a week for about 3 hours a day in the snatch and clean and jerk. During this period I was also squatting every training session. I alternated between front and back squat with low volume either before or after the training session. This sounds like overkill and I was honestly a bit worried about the results but I ended up pleasantly surprised at my progress. I was able to not only squat at full intensity both before and after training but I actually PR'd almost daily. The end result was an increase in my front squat double by 15lb. and almost 50lb. in my back squat!
 Although I have had several PR's with this increased training it has also taken a toll on my body. The long sessions have left me sore pretty much constantly, I feel my power has diminished sightly and I have also lost a good amount of my stamina/over all fitness from the lack of metabolic conditioning. Then came the stomach bug that was exacerbated by the poor eating. After this I decided to turn gears back to my health. I have cleaned my diet up, started training Metcons 3-4 times a week and have cut back the squatting to every other training session.
 Over all I am happy with this program and would recommend it as a temporary cycle to any post-novice looking to get serious about lifting. Of course there are consequences to this but then again, if you have never trained under a crossfit methodology you probably wouldn't notice the lack of power, stamina, energy etc.
 That being said this has, in my opinion, turned me into a normal lifter. See before, I was always weaker in my lower body. In other words, if I got the weight up to my shoulders I could lock it out over head no problem. Now, I seem to be standing up with weight and failing jerks. My strength hasn't gone down in the jerk as a matter of fact, I hit a 15lb. PR in my triple earlier this week(315lb.), My legs just seem to be catching up with my arms. Of course, it could also be that standing up these new weights are taking so much out of me that I don't have anything left in the tank for the jerk. This is actually a more likely explanation.
 At any rate I'm moving in the right direction. Here is a max squat today. A 25lb. PR from a week and a half ago:

375LB. BACKSQUAT

Sidenote, check the new shoes ;)

The 1lb. PR

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"

 I heard something the other day that didn't make sense to me. I just couldn't figure out the logic behind this question. Why would someone ask that? How could anyone think this is a good path to take? The question was "Should I try to tie my PR in training". Wait what? Step back and think about what you just said. First though, let's examine why you are here. Are you here to get better? Are you here to improve? Do you show up to the gym everyday to become stronger than the day before or are you just here to socialize and maintain what you have because you've reached your peak and are happy with that. If you think that, get out of my gym. Go apply for a government job, you'll fit in better there.
 "Wow Justin, that's a little harsh" you say? Maybe some people don't care about being as strong or as fast as they can be. Maybe they just want to coast by and have no goals. That's fine but I don't want them around my athletes. Everyone I train has to have one thing. One requirement. It's not a bodyweight snatch, or a sub 1:45 500m row. It's drive. They have to have the drive to always work towards something better. If someone does not have that, I can't help them. To be honest, no one can. The best trainer in the world is useless if someone does not have that desire. That doesn't mean I don't like them or I think they are a bad person. Anyone that knows me knows I'm a pretty easy going guy and get along with just about everybody. So if you don't want to get better, we can still be buddies, Hell, we can go have a beer and a burger sometime but I have nothing for you in the gym.
 That being said, let's say someone has that one requirement but still asks this question. My only response is NO. To quote Jon North, "That's why we have half kilo plates." If you are not always training to beat yourself then you will never improve. So why would you want to ever tie? If you were in a race with a damn lion, would you want to be running the same speed as said ferocious feline? I'm going out on a lib and guessing you'd agree just a little bit faster is a better decision.
 Once you have hit that mark, there is absolutely zero reason for you NOT chase that next PR. You may miss, but you will always fail the PR attempt you don't take. A slow crawl forward is like a quiet storm. It may not get the attention of one wrapped in thunder but at the end of the day the outcome is the same. So next time you hit just below your best go get the change plates and be proud of your 1lb. PR.


VIDEO OF A 1LB. PR:

301 CLEAN&JERK PR

Excuses

  I failed on backsquat today. 4 months of progress and it ended to the song above. I have plenty of excuses as to why it happened. Bunches of things that I could use to make me feel better about it. Bottom line, I didn't lift the weight. Only hit 3 at 330lb. I was suppose to hit 5. This pretty much ruined my mood for the rest of the day. Time to restructure the program. Plan on doing alot more lifting and less conditioning work for a while.
  On a good note, the interview in memphis went well. Lot of good stuff including a little talk about programming and High/Lowbar squatting. The podcast should be up about a week form tomorrow. I'll post a link when it debuts. (watch for the sweet voice over work in the intro)

Deloading, getting back at it, and caffeine

 I've had a lot going on this last week, just not in the gym. A trip to orlando to see a friend get married, came right before my Deload week. Then a trip down to AL to load a house(which my awesome wife already packed all by herself) and a trip the next day to UNload a house in GA. This turned into about two weeks without a significant load on the bar. Sure, I picked up heavy stuff. So much so that I tweaked my lower back and rolled my ankle a bit. However, I went three days in a row without any legit workout and the only training between my 2 day and 3 day breaks was a silly metcon I made up with a straight bar at my buddy's house I was staying at. All he had was 185lbs.
 I hate deloading, I absolutely loath it. Unfortunately it is a necessary evil. The Texting of weightlifting. My problem isn't the time off physically. It's the head change. I become unmotivated fairly easy and when I am not progressing I get worried about derailing. A week of light weight makes me feel depressed to be honest. Obviously, I still do it and obviously it has worked so far. If you have the same problem, please stick to your guns. If you don't deload, stop telling yourself lies. You're not superman. You need a break. Maybe that's why you're still at a 3/4BW press.
 On another note, I haven't had any caffeine for the last two days and am just now getting over that withdrawal headache. No real reason why except for I think the volume of my consumption has gotten out of hand lately. I know, no such thing right? At any rate, I am going to lay back a bit for a while. Ask my early morning classes and they might say I'm not my normal perky self but as far as training goes I haven't seen a drop. Which brings me to my lifting for this week.
 So when I got back I didn't feel all that great. Still turned out to be a good week.  Back Squatted 325 for 5, Pressed 200 for 3 (this was lacklluster IMO),Snatched 230 from the high blocks, and I actually finished out the week by jerking 331lb. I was very happy with the last one as it came after some illness that I can only attribute to not washing my hands well enough while cooking chicken.
 This weekend is going to be odd as we are taking a trip to Memphis to promote The Garage Games series and Box Complete on a Podcast held by FactionSC.com . Hopefully we'll get to train with the guys up there. Great athletes and always fun hang with.


LINKS TO SOME VIDEOS FROM THE WEEK:

BACKSQUAT 325x5

JERK 331lb.