Have decided to start posting a journal again, but here instead of MP.

A quick bit of history: Before Christmas I decided to take a few weks off to rest the shoulder and start again in 2008. When 2008 came the shoulder flared up, and I was so fed up with physio I went and had an MRI scan. This showed an inflamed joint, possibly brought on by a small spot of arthritis in the top of my humerus. So I had a cortisone injection in the joint and its been pretty much well behaved since.

Training has been sporadic becasue of this and becasue I've been skiing (well actually more snowboarding this year) a couple of times.

I have decided to train at slightly lower weights and do higher reps for a while partly to see how it goes and also to build up a good base/foundation before trying larger weights.

Very little science or thought gone into what I'm doing, but wanted to continue combing Oly lifting and power lifting. So decided on something extremely simple - Just do the 5 lifts and reps of 5 and 3. It looks like this:

Monday Snatches/power snatches 5 x 5
Tuesday C&J / power C&J 5 x 5
Thursday Snatches/power snatches 3 x 3 - Heavier than Monday
Saturday C&J / power C&J 3 x 5 - Heavier than Tuesday

Despite the small number of exercises this is acutally bloody hard - Tuesday's especially are a real strain becasue Monday and Tuesday are back to back training on legs and back and I am barely recovered by Thursday.

The idea then is to build up over 3 weeks and then drop back down on the 4th week - hopefully with some progresion but I know this won't be possible evry 4th week - in fact probably only now and again will an increase make sense. And high on the agenda is not to push too hard as I don't want my shoulder to go off again.

I am currently on week 3 and when I get home I'll post up last two weeks - I didn't even log the 1st week - It was very light. Next week'll be a light week.

Good to see your journal here and good luck staying injury free.

Good luck with this mate. Good to see some O lifting on here, & keeping it nice & simple.

Last weeks journal ...


Monday

Snatch
40 x 5 x 1
50 x 5 x 5

Clean & Jerk
60 x 5/5 x 1
70 x 5/5 x 5

Tuesday

Squat
60 x 10 x 1
120 x 5 x 5

Bench Press
40 x 10 x 1
70 x 5 x 5

Deadlift
70 x 10 x 1
140 x 5 x 5

Thursday

Snatch
40 x 3 x 2
50 x 3 x 1
60 x 3 x 1
65 x 3 x 3

Clean & Jerk
65 x 3/3 x 1
75 x 3/3 x 1
85 x 3/3 x 3

Saturday

Squat
70 x 5 x 2
110 x 3 x 1
130 x 3 x 1
140 x 3 x 3

Bench Press
40 x 5 x 2
60 x 5 x 2
80 x 3 x 1
90 x 3 x 3

Deadlift
90 x 3 x 1
140 x 3 x 1
160 x 3 x 3

And that was it!

Snatch
40 x 5 x 1
50 x 5 x 1
55 x 5 x 5

Clean & Jerk
55 x 5/5 x 1
75 x 5/5 x 5

Total tonnage / reps 6125 / 95
Intensity 64.47

Squat
50 x 5 x 2
100 x 5 x 1
130 x 5 x 5

Bench Press
50 x 10 x 2
80 x 5 x 5

Deadlift
110 x 5 x 1
150 x 5 x 5

Total tonnage / reps 11550 / 115
Intensity 100.43

Knackered at the end of this

Very tired - physically because of Monday/Tuesday and mentally becasue of work. The latter was teh biggest problem and why I missed teh 3rd 70kg snatch of the first set - idiot

Snatch
40 x 3 x 2
50 x 3 x 1
60 x 3 x 1
70 x 2 x 1 }- Missed the 3rd rep - just too slow
70 x 3 x 1 } Technique ropey on all as the pull was just too slow - Last rep of 2nd set was the best of the lot!
70 x 3 x 1 }

Clean & Jerk
70 x 3/3 x 2
80 x 3/3 x 1
90 x 3/3 x 3

Total tonnage / reps 4070 / 56
Intensity 72.68

Oh weel was reasonably happy - Possibly pushing my rule of not overworking my shoulder - Would have been Ok if I hadn't been so dam slow and I had been better focussed.

One thing I noticed last night was how crap I was at getting into a low squat - Defo some loss of flexibiliyty that I need to work on. So most of my snatches in particular were more like power snatches

May do Oly squats on the Tuesday session to work on that, but will stick with power lift style squats on Saturday.

Ader wrote:One thing I noticed last night was how crap I was at getting into a low squat - Defo some loss of flexibiliyty that I need to work on. So most of my snatches in particular were more like power snatches

May do Oly squats on the Tuesday session to work on that, but will stick with power lift style squats on Saturday.

That sounds like a good idea, have you not been doing any atg squats?

I've been doing PL style squats i.e to parallel or just below but not ATG/Olys!

Trained about 9.30am - I hate mornings as I never feel ready - But no choice becasue of other commitements - Didn't go too bad though...

Squat
50 x 10 x 1 Oly/ATG style
110 x 3 x 2 Oly / ATG
140 x 3 x 1 Power
150 x 3 x 3 Power - I have more in the tank definately

Bench Press
50 x 5 x 1
70 x 3 x 1
85 x 3 x 1
95 x 0 - Too much!
92.5 x 3 x 3

Deadlift
110 x 3 x 2
150 x 3 x 1
170 x 3 x 3 - Very hard

Total tonnage / reps 7117.5 / 66
Intensity 107.84

Went a bit heavier thatn last week - Tried to do do 95Kg benches but it was too much today - Went down to 92.5 and struggled but got a full 3 sets of 3 so quite pleased. Other trouble with benches and training on your own is unracking and re-racking them - For the 92's I had to put the bar a bit lower as it was too hard to take off the slightly higher placement - The downside of that is you have to do a 1/2 becnh before you even start

Overall

Nice squats and deadlifts

Ader wrote:Other trouble with benches and training on your own is unracking and re-racking them - For the 92's I had to put the bar a bit lower as it was too hard to take off the slightly higher placement - The downside of that is you have to do a 1/2 becnh before you even start

That's the problem with training alone, I don't like benching without a spotter. I always get the spotter to help with unracking or it hurts my shoulders - I never have a problem racking as I'm already locked out.

Good squats & deads mate.

Thanks CP and Richard

I sometimes find re-racking hard if it's on the high side - I find my shoulders drop slightly when I go heavy and that means I've got to raise them to re-rack - Just means I've got it too high I suppose - But next notch down and I've got to press out 2/3 inches before I even start.

Just have to grin & bear it or go to a gym I guess.

This weeks training - Slightly lighter than last weeks:

Monday

Power Snatch + overhead squats
40 x 5 x 1
53 x 5 x 1

Power Clean & Jerk
53 x 5/5 x 1
73 x 5/5 x 5

Total tonnage / reps 4,613 / 70
Intensity 65.89

Tuesday

Squat
50 x 5 x 2
100 x 5 x 1
120 x 5 x 5

Bench Press
50 x 5 x 2
75 x 5 x 5

Deadlift
75 x 10 x 1
140 x 5 x 5

Total tonnage / reps 10,625 / 110
Intensity 96.59

Thursday

Power Snatch / Snatch
45 x 3 x 2
55 x 3 x 2
63 x 3 x 3

Power Clean & Jerk
63 x 3/3 x 1
73 x 3/3 x 1
83 x 3/3 x 3

Total tonnage / reps 3,458 / 51
Intensity 67.79

Saturday

Squat
60 x 5 x 2
100 x 3 x 2
140 x 3 x 3

Bench Press
50 x 5 x 1
70 x 5 x 1
85 x 3 x 3

Deadlift
85 x 10 x 1
120 x 5 x 1
160 x 3 x 3

Total tonnage / reps 6,715 / 68
Intensity 98.75


Quite happy with the training - Only problem was the shoulder played up after (I think) doing the overhead squats on Tuesday - So maybe I won't do power snatches follwed by overhead squats next wee. Iced last night and immediatley after training today and it seems to be ok again. My suspicion is that the small bit of arthritic bone is irritating some of the soft tissue - In particular the long headed bicep tendon just under my front delt - So overhead squats will inevitably make that worse - Oddly the snatches themselves don't seem to have the same bad effect.

A definite case of no pain no gain being a bad thought process - Pain means stop!

I am noticing is that the deadlifts are really draining - So while 160 x 3 x 3 today isn't that heavy - about 80% - it leaves me feeling very knacked - And I suspect building up to 180 x 3 x 3 in 2 weeks time (which is the aim) will really kill me - Something to look forward to.

One last thing to note - I was 80kg dead when I weighed myself yesterday morning, so strength to weight is fairly good.

That's it - I am off to watch Wasp/Leicester properly (rather than looking over my shouldsr every few seconds - giving me a crick in the neck) and to give my shoulder another icing - Prevention is better than cure?

Ader wrote:Quite happy with the training - Only problem was the shoulder played up after (I think) doing the overhead squats on Tuesday - So maybe I won't do power snatches follwed by overhead squats next wee. Iced last night and immediatley after training today and it seems to be ok again. My suspicion is that the small bit of arthritic bone is irritating some of the soft tissue - In particular the long headed bicep tendon just under my front delt - So overhead squats will inevitably make that worse - Oddly the snatches themselves don't seem to have the same bad effect.

A definite case of no pain no gain being a bad thought process - Pain means stop!

Oh dear mate, you'd better watch that if its hurting so soon after a cortisone shot.

A little late posting.

A weird week as shoulder was very sore after Wednesday and wasn't sure I'd be training at all on Thursday - But after intensive stretching on Wednesday and Thursday it almost completelyt cleared up - I started off very slow on Thursday as I was hesitant about the shoulder - But once I realised it was going to be ok things went fairly well. I am pretty sure my problem at the moment is my supraspinatus and/or infraspinatus so have been concentratying on stretching them - Quite hard to do.

On Saturday I change my bench press slightly and did them with much elbow flariung than usual - It was hard but definatley less stressful on my shoulder - Very pleased.

Also decided to add snatch or clean pulls on the Oly days - Intention was to do these from nmow on but I forgot today - oops - Anyway last weeks sessions went like this ...

Monday

Snatch
40 x 5 x 2
50 x 5 x 1
57.5 x 5 x 5

Clean & Jerk
58 x 5/5 x 1
70 x 5/5 x 1
77.5 x 5/5 x 5

Total tonnage / reps 9,175 / 135
Intensity 67.96

Tuesday

Oly Squat
50 x 10 x 2
110 x 5 x 1
130 x 5 x 5

Bench Press
50 x 10 x 1
70 x 7 x 1
80 x 5 x 5

Deadlift
80 x 5 x 1
120 x 5 x 1
150 x 5 x 5

Total tonnage / reps 12,540 / 127
Intensity 98.74

Thursday

Snatch
40 x 5 x 2
50 x 3 x 2
60 x 3 x 1
67.5 x 3 x 3

Clean & Jerk
60 x 3/3 x 1
70 x 3/3 x 1
80 x 3/3 x 1
87.5 x 3/3 x 3

Total tonnage / reps 5,290 / 73
Intensity 72.47

Saturday

Squat
60 x 5 x 2
110 x 5 x 2
140 x 3 x 1
150 x 3 x 3

Bench Press
40 x 5 x 2
60 x 5 x 1
80 x 3 x 1
90 x 3 x 3

Deadlift
110 x 3 x 1
140 x 3 x 1
160 x 3 x 1
170 x 3 x 3

Total tonnage / reps 7,980 / 77
Intensity 103.64

Today's training session seemed to take ages and I forgot to do either clean pulls or snatch pulls- Will maybe do both on Thursday if I have time ...

Snatch
40 x 5 x 2
55 x 5 x 1
62.5 x 5 x 5

Clean & Jerk
62.5 x 5/5 x 1
72.5 x 5/5 x 1
82.5 x 5/5 x 5

Total tonnage / reps 7,713 / 110
Intensity 70.11

Annoyed I forgot to do any pulls but tbh I was totally knackered anyway so probably just as well- Session took over an hour as I had to take long rests - 3 to 5 mins every time - between sets - 5's at this weight were very hard and draining- Pluusss i ttook out a ot of time to warm up my shoudlers and stretch out a lot before I started.

Happy with what I achieved today though.

Good work mate.. kudos on doing snatches.. im afraid to even try them as they seem technically very hard to me.

Thanks - Snatches are fun! - I learnt to do them when I was a kid and it's great to chuck a weight straight up - Even though I'm not able to do anyting very heavy at the moment I still love it.

The only down side of snatche and cleans is your legs get very smooth - I've pretty much taken all, the hair off the tops of my thighs - Smooooth

Ader wrote:Thanks - Snatches are fun! - I learnt to do them when I was a kid and it's great to chuck a weight straight up - Even though I'm not able to do anyting very heavy at the moment I still love it.

The only down side of snatche and cleans is your legs get very smooth - I've pretty much taken all, the hair off the tops of my thighs - Smooooth

Just thinking about that makes me feel sooooo warm inside...

Pics?

Rilla wrote:Just thinking about that makes me feel sooooo warm inside...

Pics?

That's just a little worrying so sorry no pics just yet

Heavy 5 x 5 day - Took ages again - Over an hour absolutely fooked - No surprise really with two leg days in a row - But oddly satisfying - Just love pamperng to my masochistic tentencies...


Oly Squat
70 x 8 x 2
110 x 5 x 1
140 x 5 x 5 - First set very hard - Matbe a 30Kg jump was a bit much

Bench Press
50 x 10 x 1
70 x 5 x 1
80 x 5 x 1
85 x 5 x 5 - these hurt and very slow at the end - real grinders

Deadlift
70 x 10 x 1
110 x 5 x 1
140 x 5 x 1
160 x 5 x 5 - Oddly these went well despite all the earlier work

Total tonnage / reps 14,495 / 136
Intensity 106.58

Very pleased - Was surpised the session took so long till I saw the tonnage, volume and intensity just now - Bloody hell!

Nice workout!

bench press, squats and deadlift. Bread and butter with some meaty weights there

Thanks Rab

I'm going simple for a while - Just 5 lifts - Snatches, Clean & Jerk, Squat, bench & Deadlift.

No thought whatsoever - just back to basics

It's good fun if a bit knackering. This week is a heavy week - I aim to go very light next week before building up again over 3/4 weeks.

So this week ...Thursday and Saturday will be 3 x 3 sessions aiming for:
On Thursday - Snatches @ 72.5 and C&J @ 92.5
On Saturday - Squats (probably PL style not Olys) @ 160, Bench @ 95 & Dead's @ 180

It's gonna hurt