Wednesday's Waiting

Trained in DCU today. I should stop. I really don't like training there! The olympic lifting equipment's awful, and it's always busy. That coupled with being surrounded by many people lifting with terrible technique, definitely doesn't create the best environment to train in.

I had an ok session, even though it took a little while to get my hands on a bar and bumper plates. After spending more time that usual doing shoulder rehab and bar work, I started snatching. These were a little off. As I moved the weight up, and got more fatigued, the bar started to drift out. This made me run forward a little in the finish. However, I managed to finish off on with a few sets of 50kg. At least I'm bumping the weight up. Slowly but surely!

Here's what I did today -

• Snatch - 2*2*40kg, 2*2*45kg, 2*2*47.5kg, 4*2*50kg

I missed both reps of the second set of 50kg, I just wasn't focused enough. I also missed the second of the third set, but managed to get both in the second and final set, so I was content.

After some jerk skill work-


• Front Squat + Jerk - 2+1*50kg, 2+1*55kg, 3*2+1*60kg

These weren't too good. Just couldn't get the lockout right, so I kept it short.

• Front Squat - 3*70kg, 3*80kg, 3*3*85kg

So there you have it. If I'm not too tired tomorrow I'll train in Hercs.

Hours of sleep - 5/6hrs

Friday's Short Session

I was pretty fatigued today. I had another exam this morning, so I only got 3/4hrs sleep. I'm actually going to start logging roughly how much sleep I get the night before training, just to see how much it's affecting me.

As the title says, I kept it short today. I started with my shoulder rehab work as usual. Spent a little longer on it today, as I hadn't done much during the week. The exercise I'm finding most effective so far is the thoraic spine extension (also called the cobra pose in yoga). I can really feel the scaps moving in to place when I do them. The scap push-ups are really improving too. I hope all this indicates I'm improving.


Disclaimer: This is not me.

Here's what I did today after some bar work-
Hang Clean - 2*2*40, 2*45
Clean - 2*50, 2*55, 2*60, 2*65, 3*2*70
Back Squat - 5*60, 5*70, 5*80, 3*5*90
Glute-ham raises - 1 set of 6
Had to leave it at one set as the gym was closing. They weren't feeling the best anyway, so I wasn't too bothered.

So there you go. Quite an easy session.
I'm not sure when I'll be in next. I've exams Monday and Tuesday, and the last on Thursday. Hopefully I'll get in three times. Not too happy with only 3 sessions a week. But I'm too busy at the minute to increase that. Once the exams are finished, I'll up it to 4 proper sessions a week.

Hours of sleep - 3/4hrs

Tuesday's Logic

Had my first exam today, it was in Logic surprisingly enough! It's probably the easiest of all our exams, but it's good to have one over and done with.

While some people can apply their study to their training, I really don't find I can. Computers, weightlifting, not much there really! Logic is probably the only one with any relevance, especially as reasoning is such an important part of it.

While training today I thought about relationships between my lifting and study. I really couldn't think of any, apart from ones negative impact on the other. I concluded that I need to improve the balance. I leave college work to the last minute all the time. These leaves me working to ridiculous hours in the morning, skipping training, and not concentrating fully when I'm there. All negative! So applying my logic skills, I reason that I should get my college work done earlier, and everything will improve. Genius!

Right, enough of the waffle...


Today's training was mediocre. I started with foam rolling again, and some of the other shoulder rehabbing exercises. Then after some bar work, I started snatching. Initially these felt great, but as the weight got heavier, they got pretty bad. I put this down to confidence more than anything. I'm not getting myself into the mindset that leaves me comfortable getting under the bar. I also noticed I'm driving out with the hips rather than up, going to focus on improving that over the next while.

Afterwards I did some jerks. I was experimenting with different grip widths. I've been trying a wider grip for a while now, as it made sense to me that it would improve my lock out. Today I went back to the normal width, and I felt I was locking them out better than ever. No idea why.
Anyway, here's what I did-

Snatch- 2*35kg, 2*40kg, 2*45kg, 1*50kg(messy power snatch)
Jerk- 2*40kg, 2*45kg, 2*50kg, 2*55kg, 2*60kg
Still Struggling to get the foot forward in these as the weight increases.

Back Squat - 3*60kg, 3*70kg, 3*80kg, 3*90kg, 3*100kg, 3*110kg
Jerk Combo (Military Press + Push Press + Power Jerk) -
40kg, 50kg, 3 sets @ 60kg

Should be training in Hercs tomorrow, if Harry's heading in. Gonna increase the sleep tonight anyway, 3/4hrs last night did not make training easy at all.

Thursday's battered legs

It must be the slight increase in volume, my legs are really suffering. A return to the ice baths is definitely due!

Today was tough again. My sleep pattern is all over the place, I got damn all last night, and it's really catching up with me. My speed was terrible, everything felt unusually heavy, and the intensity was like a long distance race (without it being that intense at all!).

I was training in DCU's high performance gym again today. Sami was in training some of the Dublin gaelic team, which was great, as he's always got plenty of advice for me. Sami's an 85kg lifter with pbs of 100kg/135kg. He's only lifting a short time, so we'll without doubt see plenty more from him.

I started again today with some foam rolling. It was a little more painful than yesterday as I was a little tight. Afterwards I did some shoulder dislocates, and t-spine extensions, following that I began some bar work, and then moved on to power snatches. Sami informed me that I need to keep the bar in closer when I extend for these. A rookie mistake no doubt!

After that I did some clean and jerks, with two cleans and a single jerk. Sami was quick to point out that I need to get the front foot forward more in the jerk. I've noticed this for a while myself, but when someone else mentions it, you think about it that bit more. I'll have to get some videos up to see if there's any improvement in it. Unfortunately you're not allowed to use videoing equipment in the HPG, I'll have to see if I can find a way around that. Here's what I did today-

Power Snatch - 3*30kg, 3*40kg, 3*42.5kg, 3*45kg
Clean and Jerk - 2+1*40kg, 2+1*50kg, 2*2+1*55kg, 2+1*60kg
Front Squat - 3*60kg, 3*70kg, 3*80kg, 3*90kg

The front squats were ridiculously tough. My 3x100kg last week was far easier than the 3x90kg today. I'm looking forward to adjusting to the current training.

I'm not sure whether I'll be training at home or in DCU tomorrow. May have to head back early. I'd much rather train here, so fingers crossed I can.