Two videos this week everyone, in honor of me not writing last week and eating with great vengeance and furious anger. This first one is an awesome compilation of power/squat jerks in international competition. The Chinese in particular are insanely good at squat and power jerking.
The second video is the 85kg champion from 2013 European championships, Apti Aukhadov. Staying with the theme of the day (and unbeknownst to everyone watching), Apti switched from split jerks to power/squat jerks. High fives for the awesome multi-directional views here as well. Epic consistency and technique; notice the final jerk is faster and caught higher than the first two.
The week right after a meet is such an individual thing. Some people are so banged up physically that they can't do much of anything besides go for some walks. For some people the body feels good but the nervous system is bashed up and a 50% lift feels like a max lift. You just have to see what you're feeling and react accordingly. I did three workouts this week, all of which consisted of sled work, Prowler work and high rep dumbbell circuits for the upper body. I didn't spend more than 45 minutes in the gym at any one time. The first time I picked up a barbell was one week after the meet and I did some power clean/power jerk and power clean/push press singles at 90kg. Nothing special, just moving a bit.
As far as the week post-meet, there are a couple general guidelines that I can suggest. In A System of Multi-Year Training in Weightlifting, Medvedyev stated that recovery methods involved approx 60-85 mins PER DAY. This is difficult to do for those that work full time jobs or don't train full-time, but it's something to keep in mind the week after a meet, when your training is throttled back. This is an ideal time to dial up the accumulation of recovery time.
-Get outside. Go for walks. Get in the sun.
-Nap and foam roll. A LOT.
-Keep the time in the gym to a minimum and emphasize prehab/rehab movements and things you haven't done for awhile. I did some DB bench for the first time in probably a year.
-Get outside. Get in the sun.
-Nap A LOT.
Here's an example of what my Tuesday/Thursday workouts looked like:
Foam Roll/Reverse Hypers/Fire Hydrant Series/Agile 8
Abs x100/TKEs 2x20
Band Shoulder Circuit
25 minute circuit - DB Single Arm Press 15+15/Chins x10/Parking Lot Sled Drag
Abs x100
Reverse Hypers and Traction
I also ate like a total fat ass basically this entire week. I stayed carb-free during the days all week, but Thurs/Fri/Sat/Sun nights were carb explosions. Really just let the diet chill out a bit and didn't stress. No idea where my weight is at and I don't care. No meet for the foreseeable future so no worries. If anything this past meet solidified my thoughts that it's better for me to stay in the 94s rather than try and move up to the 105s. Mostly I need to think about getting my body composition squared away a little bit and get a little more Jacked, Tan and Vascular. To that end I'm gonna make a couple changes for this upcoming block:
-I'm going to actually start counting my carbs on my backloads; 200g seems like a nice round number to start and can tweak it up or down.
-I'm also going to start eating breakfast every morning and try to dial the calories up a little bit in the morning.
-Trying two PWO shakes instead of just one. I got the chance to have a chat with Kiefer and he discouraged the idea of just carbs intra-workout and encouraged me to just have an additional PWO shake. My preferred PWO is Muscle Feast's Anabolic Recovery, so I'll probably dial up two scoops of that during my workout and another two scoops for the drive home. This also decreases the amount of food for my backloads, which is probably a good thing.
-Same recovery methods as always: not pushing the recovery means on training days so as to not interfere with adaptation. I would like to push the contrast showers a bit more in the mornings.
I will do a better job of writing out training, recovery means, etc with this block than I did on the previous one. Better to do it here than try and read the chicken scratch from my training book.
With this upcoming block (courtesy of Greg Everett at Catalyst Athletics), a lot of this is going to be going by feel. Last training block I didn't squat more than three days a week; this block I'll be squatting twice a day and around ten times a week. When I hit my all-time back squat PR of 190 I did it when I was experimenting with Bulgarian training, squatting daily and doing all singles. I have a better base to build off now with my best back squat set of five increasing from 140-170kg and my SSB squat pushing up to 400lbs. I'm excited to get back to singles now and see what happens.
I'm operating with the below max lifts in mind as far as making percentage calculations for this block:
Front Squat - 160
Back Squat - 190
CJ - 130
Snatch - 105
One of Greg's guidelines for this block stood out to me: no sitting down. Isn't this weightlifting? Hell, the Iranians and the French basically take smoke breaks in between reps. I tested it out a bit as I was getting ready for my last meet and I actually really enjoyed it. It's really easy to sit and relax a bit and let five minutes go by without knowing it. Plus pacing around the platform makes me less of a target for people who want to just sit and chat.
Don't get me wrong: I love talking to people. I love talking lifting, teaching lifting and it still makes me giggle and beam with pride whenever someone asks me for suggestions or training ideas. BUT one of the few places that I've found peace and quiet is on the weightlifting platform, both in competition and in training. For my money it is the epitome of being in the present moment, or the Eternal Now, as it is often referenced in Zen. I very much like that feeling. I'm not worried about a trade, my bank account, if a girl likes me, if I'll ever get married and have kids, if my mom is OK, if I'll ever pay off my student loans or if I need to fart. I'm there. I'm here. I'm everywhere. Going to war with gravity while you have a barbell somewhere on your person tends to focus the mind.
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