[Becca]

Sports tape on the blister?

Are you washing your hands as soon as you are finished doing chalky exercises? And moisturising?

[aivi]

(Original post by Becca)
Sports tape on the blister?

Are you washing your hands as soon as you are finished doing chalky exercises? And moisturising?

Yeah I used tape and a bit of a paper towel to cover it in the gym, but it didn't really help. Now that it's a bit better I can probs put the tape directly on it, or maybe try putting a blister plaster on it first or something. Or learn how to grip the bar properly
I wash my hands afterwards and muisturise daily.

[aivi]

standard mob

back squat (low bar):
50 1x10
60 1x8
65 1x8
67.5 1x8

front squat (superset with 40kg jerks again):
45 1x5
50 1x5
52.5 1x5
52.5 1x5

5 negative GHRs (with bosu ball under the knees, makes them easier)

hip thrusts with bar:
45 5x5
55 5x5

chinups: 3,3,2,2,1,1,1,1,1

Used a belt for all the squats, made things a bit more comfortable.
Might take tomorrow off. I'd like to do deadlifts on Sunday, but I want to save my hand for Monday's cleans. So will probs just try to do tons of different exercises to hit the hammies and the glutes.

[The Lyceum]

Yeah, I'm going to rep ypu (again) solely because you're a savvateur and thats cool as hell. Plus, you know, progress.

[aivi]

Yesterday's training: (I was supposed to go this morning, but had to walk home yesterday after phone died and there were no late busses, so was too tired. Will do the hatch squats tomorrow instead)

short row, mob
burgener with 15 and 20

turnover/3rd pull with 15kg bar, 5x5

clean high pull:
2x3 30
2x3 40

high rack cleans 20 3x3
low(under knees) rack cleans:
20 5x1
30 5x1

cleans:
40 6x2

I was trying to work on the third pull. I just find it difficult not to use my arms to pull the bar, and instead try to make contact with my upper chest and pulling my body around and turning my elbows to create a good rack position. The bar was light enough for me to manage the cleans even with a bad receiving position (there were even a few accidental muscle cleans). There were a few good ones though, where I got nice vertical hips and managed to get my elbows around quick enough.

Again I found using the belt useful, shame that it belongs to the gym. I've got a cheap velcro belt that I bought sometime last year, but I don't like it, it's too wide. Might invest in a leather belt soon.

[aivi]

So I missed Tuesday's squatting session because of travelling back to London from Brussels.
Instead of catching up on wed/thu I sulked home avoiding the rain and pretended to study.
So did Tuesday's squats today, and will do the intended Friday's squats on Sunday...back to the proper schedule on Tuesday.

Today's session wasn't very good. Squats felt hard, and my snatch balances were horrible, just felt like my legs and arms refused to work in synch.

standard mob

back squat (high bar):
55 1x8
60 1x8
67.5 1x6
72.5 1x6

front squat superset with snatch balance:
45 1x5 (fs)
40 1x5 (sb)
52.5 1x5
45 1x5
57.5 1x5
45 1x5
60 1x5
45 1x5

additional snatch balance:
45 3x2
50 3x1
40 2x2

chinups:
3, 2, 3, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1

[aivi]

standard mob, handstands

back squat (low bar):
50 1x10
55 1x10
60 1x8
65 1x8

front squats superset with strict/push press:
45 1x5
30 1x5 strict press
50 1x5
32.5 1x4 strict press, 5th with push
52.5 1x5
35 1x5 push press
52.5 1x5
37.5 1x5 push press

push press:
40 1x5
42.5 1x5
45 1x4,f
47.5 1x3
50 x1
52.5 x1
55 fail

burgener

Decent session. Sometimes I feel kinda frustrated when squatting even under 70kg is hard (even if it is for many reps), but then I just try to remind myself that this is the place I am atm, and as long as the lifts are challenging but doable, I'll make progress. I guess I'm just so used to ****aroundatis and just working on weights that I already feel comfortable with, that I sometimes forget that the whole point of the program is to progress and push outside that comfort zone.

I got myself a belt from powerhouse fitness, was too lazy to order one from sugarrays, probs wouldn't have saved any money when counting the shipping costs. Definitely felt better squatting and pressing with it, lot easier to get tight in the midbody.

Anyways after squats decided to just push press and see what weight I would end at. Definitely need to do more pressing in general, but especially push pressing to get used to it. I just wanted to drop squat all the time, was hard to remind myself to use my arms to push after the dip&drive.

So just finished with the burgener with the bar. But the hang snatched were so much better, just because of a little adjustment that I saw on a Pendlay video: when starting from hang, instead of bending at the hips and the knees, and having the bar around mid/upper thigh, I kept my chest up more and bent more at the knees, so that the bar stayed in high hang, just in the crease of the hip. Lol bad explanation. But the snatches felt so much easier, like I only had to drive up and drop underneath the bar...usually I've had trouble getting properly vertical hips and keeping the bar close to my body, but here it seemed to work. Will work on it more next time I have time to do oly (with revision and exams, I don't know how much time I'll have for gym next month. I'll make sure to keep up with the hatch program, and hopefully fit in some oly).

[Becca]

I am totally the same with squats, just stick to the programme, you'll definitely get a nice result out of it

[aivi]

Had an info&training day for my summer job. I knew there was going to be a physical element, which turned out to be a 5km run. I was wearing nike frees (couldn't wear my vibrams), and I haven't been running in ages....so it was pretty much hell. My left achilles heel started aching, but I couldn't let myself stop. Now at home icing it, eating some food before heading to the library to do the stupid presentation for tomorrow.
Pretty bummed out that I'm missing tomorrow's training, some pretty cool on-site stuff and all of us (them rather) are gonna be spark-tested, so a fitness test meant for athletes.
After exams I'll probably start increasing my running, but keep it mainly short and fast.
It's kinda annoying that most of the training is conditioning biased, I'd smoke them if it were anything to do with lifting heavy ****

[The Blind Monk]

What kind of job is this? Sounds very...different.

[aivi]

(Original post by The Blind Monk)
What kind of job is this? Sounds very...different.

Nike is opening NikeFuel Stations in some parks in London during the summer (I think one's already been opened in Box Park, I'll be elsewhere), I'll be working there. Essentially it is a giant testing space for all the shoes for running, football, basketball etc. and technological gadgets like Running+ or the Fuel Band, as well as Nike Training classes.
So a pretty awesome job, and the pay&benefits aren't too bad

[Becca]

(Original post by aivi)
Nike is opening NikeFuel Stations in some parks in London during the summer (I think one's already been opened in Box Park, I'll be in Regent's), I'll be working there. Essentially it is a giant testing space for all the shoes for running, football, basketball etc. and technological gadgets like Running+ or the Fuel Band, as well as Nike Training classes.
So a pretty awesome job, and the pay&benefits aren't too bad

That sounds brilliant!! How's the injury?

[aivi]

(Original post by Becca)
That sounds brilliant!! How's the injury?

Still achy, it seems to kinda come and go. I only really feel pain when I try to push on my toes, otherwise it just feels like a weird sensation of pressure, like someone was pinching the tendon. Didn't go lifting today, so I'm gonna just continue icing it and wearing a pressure band to reduce the very slight swelling...I will try out squats tomorrow, and just focus on upper body, if the heel can't take extreme stretching. If the gym was empty, I'd probably wanna try to bench, always wondered what I could do (not much probably lol)

[The Blind Monk]

(Original post by aivi)
Nike is opening NikeFuel Stations in some parks in London during the summer (I think one's already been opened in Box Park, I'll be in Regent's), I'll be working there.

This sounds much more awesome than your typical summer job

(Original post by aivi)
If the gym was empty, I'd probably wanna try to bench, always wondered what I could do (not much probably lol)

If you go in the evening, I'll be benching at 8pm. Hopefully in my shiny new Adidas Power Perfect IIs.

[aivi]

First off, achilles tendon is still sore (at least not getting any worse, but not really any better), but I can still squat. I have no idea really, what is wrong with it: it was very slightly swollen earlier, but otherwise the area feels and looks normal. Dorsi/plantarflexion and rotation don't cause any pain, but if I try to use the toes to push off (like when walking with long strides or running), then I feel pain.
But anyways, can squat and pull, as long as my feet are static.

short mob, lacrosse balling (I think I've learned my lesson about stiff heel cords, and will start doing more smashing with the ball and the bar)

back squat (high bar):
50 1x8
52.5 1x8
60 1x6
62.5 1x6
*after congratulating myself on how easy the squats felt, I realised I used the FS weights by accident. ****. So I redid the two heavier sets with correct weight*
67.5 1x6
72.5 1x6

front squat+press:
52.5 1x5
30 1x5 strict
55 1x5
32.5 1x5 last with push
60 1x5
32.5 1x5 last with push
62.5 1x5
30 1x5 strict

chinups: 2x2
assisted pullups (15kg): 5,4,3,2,1
reverse pullup shrugs: 2x10

snatch deadlifts 4x3 (just bar)

There were some really ugly squats in there, and some really pretty ones. There were a few, where I guess my form and balance were spot on, and squatting down and getting up felt so easy, no ugly knee tracking. Now to just replicate that form for every rep :/

Once again kinda behind schedule on the squats. Will do Friday's squats on Saturday/Sunday, and try to go do some oly tomorrow.
Since I can't do anything with jumps, I'll just do some heaving snatch balances, snatch dl, maybe some long pulls, OHS etc.

[aivi]

Achilles tendon is healing! Feels almost normal, and even walking around and lifting didn't seem to aggravate it.

mob, handstands, ball smashing

snatch deadlift:
20 3x3
30 2x3
40 1x3

burgener with 20kg
high hang snatch 20kg 3x3

snatch from blocks (approx normal height):
20 10x1
25 5x1
27.5 4x1
30 3x1

3x2 chinups

heaving snatch balance with full drop + OHS:
20 2x5
25 2x2
30 2x2
35 2x1
40 2x1
45 2x heaving with minimal drop + 1 OHS


Overall session felt pretty good.
I felt like I made some progress with snatching, and I know what I need to work on (proper full extension and more aggressive 3rd pull). The heaving snatch balance is really good for teaching stability. With normal snatch balances it's easier to control the bar when you just jump and catch after the drive, but with heaving balance, if you essentially allow the bar to drive you all the way down, it forces you to engage your back and shoulders more to minimise the horizontal movement of the bar.

ps. had once again a guy ask me what I train for, since I seem to lift so diligently and "always seem to be working on my legs"....okay, my workouts are leg-heavy, but I train my upper body as well...since I'm training more for performance than aesthetics, it just makes more sense to do stuff like snatch balances than curls or tricep extensions... though I do want sligthly more defined arms need to get rid of all the jiggle once this cycle ends lol

[rlw31]

(Original post by aivi)
ps. had once again a guy ask me what I train for, since I seem to lift so diligently and "always seem to be working on my legs"....okay, my workouts are leg-heavy, but I train my upper body as well...since I'm training more for performance than aesthetics, it just makes more sense to do stuff like snatch balances than curls or tricep extensions... though I do want sligthly more defined arms need to get rid of all the jiggle once this cycle ends lol

I get this a lot "leg day again?".

[Becca]

Haha, every day is "leg day" for me. Squats every session

[aivi]

The squat is king. Curls and extensions are his bitches.

Once exams are over I will literally be squatting every day

[redbuthotter]

What did you tell that guy?