Jim's OL Training Log

[jimbob]

personal bests so far:

push press 100kg
back squat 130kg
front squat 100kg
snatch 60kg
clean deadlift 120kg

Current weight = 238lbs Height = 5'10

friday = cleans (still learning) 40kg working on technique
did a max of 100kg on the front squat, coach says front squat technique
is perfectly straight up and down.

saturday = couple sets of snatches at 60kg

still having trouble transfering leg power in snatch, bottom position
looks very deep according to tony he was impressed

goal = coach says october compete as a beginner in the pittsburg OL meet

[Jonathan]

Great to see you keeping a log here JimBob. I think that you are perhaps the first oly lifter to do so, and I shall keep a close eye on it!

You have excellent numbers, and you have lots of mass for your height! We both have the same push press - will be nice to see how that develops over time. We both need overhead strength, but for different things - I should imagine that yours will take off - professional coaching is unebatable.

Anyway, enough waffling, I look forward to reading your log

Jonathan

[bronco]

I agree with the tall guy, nice to see an OL-log .

[Oak]

Looking forward to reading your log! I'm going to join an olympic lifting club in a couple of weeks.

Oak

[bronco]

Looking forward to reading your log! I'm going to join an olympic lifting club in a couple of weeks.

Hey, thats cool .

Jimbob, do you do only clean deadlifts or do you do PL-style deadlifts as well?

[jimbob]

nothing is done PL style. everything is with hook grip also.
mostly focus is on technique. My snatches and cleans will go up
in numbers once i get better. Its cool because in a year i'll have it
all perfected OL is all about technique. Once you have perfect
technique then you can ramp up the weight!

my favorite lift is the snatch! its a great feeling. Nice thing about
OL is the bars are expensive ($1000+) and the weights are EXACT
hahah i get to train on worlds most expensive plates/bars.

[Jonathan]

I agree with the technique aspect of OL. It is really admirable that it is a sport based not only on strength but also on a tremendous amount of skill. Kudos

Training with precise plates and bars is also a plus - mine can be as much as 3% off, which sucks, but at least in my case they are heavier, which is ok.

Out of curiousity, what do Oly lifters make of strongman??

Jonathan

[jimbob]

yeah the problem with OL technique vs. powerlifting technique is, its not repeatable.
There is no "true" squat in PL, everyone has all kinds of crazy variations,
none of which are legal in OL, there is a lot of cheating going on with
squatting wide and going down a few inches and having that count as a
squat. I was talking to a guy who is friends with our coach and he is big,
did steriods and did powerlifting and benching contests (he looks big) and
he said to me "powerlifting is a joke"

with benching suits, squatting suits, etc. in OL, a snatch is a snatch,
a clean and jerk is a clean and jerk.

there is only one way to do it, not your way, not the cheating way, just
one way.

not sure what any OL people think of strongmen....but we do have
strong opinons on powerlifting in general.

[jimbob]

MONDAY 3 JULY 2006 LOG

warm ups 40kg snatch
hit a PR today 62.5 kg snatch

did a wave on cleans and hit a PR today 70kg
my clean-ing technique getting better

coach made me do 3 sets of 2 front squats @ 90 kg

areas to improve:
I am afraid of the weight when i snatch, not confident
enough going under the bar and putting the weight overhead.

[sensless]

Do you perform very many drop snatches? That's what helped my confidence for getting under the bar (granted I mostly powerclean and power snatch, but I can get under there sometimes now).

I enjoy front squats more than back squats. Not sure why, but even back in high school I found myself doing them more frequently than the back squats. I just picked them back up with regularity this year (they've been an novelty exercise the previous two years).

Regards,

Sensless

[jimbob]

I've never drop snatched, or power snatched (i had to google to find
out what they were)... just full oly snatch, my coach and one of my
OL buddies were impressed with my deep bottom position on the snatch,
its a matter of getting the technique.

to gain confidence, i have a bunch of my OL buddies yelling
"get agressive with the bar" "you can do 80!" etc so that, I just have
to do it more....and having people cheer you on is good too.

i agree with you on the front squats, its a bit easier to dump the
weight on a front squat.....

when you move up in weight it exposes flaws in your technique so
as i improve i have to refine my technique..

[tylerm]

Hey Jim, what other lifts do you do for assistance work for OL, if any?

[jimbob]

i'll list out some of the stuff the coach has me do.....

romanian deadlifts
snatch press (stand and press overhead with snatch grip)
push press
push jerk
powercleans
cleans
clean/jerk
snatch
front squat
back squat

not much else...... OL is heavy emphasis on squatting with
snatches and cleans

we really don't do "overhead squats" either, since when you
snatch you are doing them.

its very "meat and potatoes" training, no fancy assistance
exercises. i think the secret to getting bigger is hit the legs,
legs, legs, legs and full squats all the way down. sometimes
the coach will do incline bench... i save my chest for overhead,
i want to have big overhead pressing numbers some day

come down to columbus and lift with us sometime.

[jimbob]

WED JULY 05 2006

wave of cleans up to 70kg
wave of snatches up to 60kg

thats it!!!!! simple!!!!

[jimbob]

THU 06 JULY 2006

light day

3x4 cleans 40kg
3x4 snatches 40kg