7/8/13 - clean/squat/pull & stones

Training#1 @ 415a

Hang power clean up to 315x1
Hang clean pull 325x3, 335x3, 365x2
Squat up to 405x1, add belt/wraps 465x3x3
2" deficit deadlift up to 495x1
Deads off the floor up to 635x1
2" deficit deadlift 595x1, 545x2, 495x3 all done with approx 45-60 seconds between sets.

Great workout today. Hang cleans felt pretty good, getting a nice pop. Clean pulls were miserable and akward. Got the bar just under nipple height. Def need more work here. Squats felt pretty solid. Fast and poppy on the 2nd and 3rd set. Then the bar hit the floor and all was great in the world. 495 was cake from a deficit. Went to 585 off the floor afterwards and felt my right hamstring tighten up, despite the rep being pretty easy. This kind of discouraged me from going for 635. I did some dynamic stretching, got a drink and hit 585 again. Smoked it, plates were singing. Loaded up 635 and while it was a grinder I nailed it. Glad I got that off my back. Been chasing that since January. Not only did I pull 635, but I pulled 635 towards the end of the workout. Very excited here, finally making some progress on deadlifts again. Speed can't compare to Rob Meulenberg but I'll take it nonetheless. Went back to a deficit to get in some reps then called it a day.

Training#2 @ 1215p

49# wfd
*1 turn x6, best 45
*full x8, best 51, avg 49

56# wfd x5 = 38, 39, 41, 42, 43

28# wfd x3 = 75, 80, 85

Trying to think about how I developed a big finish and the only thing I can remember is how I could FEEL the push to zero with the 49. That's what developed my push with the 28 as well. Even when I would get a big push with the 56, it was tough to feel, outside of the heavy hand at the low point. Did a bunch of one turns with the 49 with minimal sprint (maybe 20%?) and just working on feeling that push. After 2-3 I still wasn't feeling it. I then had this epiphany that I wasn't reaching back to catch the weight higher. The very next rep I focused on really reaching back with my right and catching the weight closer to 10:00 and boom, huge push and big finish out to 45ft (one turn, with the 49#, obv). Light bulb. Did the same thing for a few more reps then moved to full throws and ended up with a best of 51 and a bunch in the 49-50 range, pr is 52 here. Moved to the 56 for a few and was a bit discouraged at first. First two tosses were under 40. Then I just tried to think about an easy sprint and a big reach back on the finish and 40+ started going easy. Last toss I put some gas on the finish (but not the sprint) and went 43+. I got some video but erased the 43 on accident so, meh, I'll have more vid on Sunday. Thought about doing the exact same thing on lwd. If I'm throwing 83-86 now without really reaching back on at the front I'm sure there's a lot more in the tank. The 75 was slow as molasses. The 80 wasn't much faster, just a bigger finish. The 85+ was moving. Considering the extend of leg work I did this morning, I'm pretty damn happy. Finally got some confidence back with the hwd. Now, time to get these stones under control.

7/7/13 - hammer/wfd

Training @ 5a

16# hammer x10-12, best at 132, avg 128

Took a couple days off so I felt semi-recovered. Made the mistake of only getting 4.5 hours sleep though so that made me drag a little. About 4 throws over 130, new finish really feels solid. Still not reaching top speed. Looking for some big hammers in Portland.

56# wfd
*1 turn x6, best 35
*full x8-10, best 39

Really feeling the lack of sleep with the hwd. Missing the position at the front by a long shot. Very annoying. My cast/first turn/sprint feel great. Even have some pretty good speed through the sprint. The finish is a total CF though. I'm completely missing the drive to zero on the finish. There is no accelleration through the low point. I'm just landing, waiting and pushing the finish. I'm not feeling that heavy hand like on lwd and like I used to on hwd. I remember with the 49 I could really feel it and it transferred well to the 56. I'm going to throw the 49 a few times to see if I can get that feeling back then throw the 56. Portland is coming up fast. With my piss poor stone numbers I need to have really good weights and hammers to make up some of those points. Throwing a 42-43 wfd is unacceptable. I need to be 45-46.

28# wfd x5, best at 83, avg 81

Not bad. Can feel the increase of speed through the low point on these much better than the heavy. It's almost like I'm getting no feedback from the heavy. Makes me wonder if it's just a timing issue. I'm not pushing the weight soon enough with the heavy. Again, I'm going to play with the 49 this week and see if I can get that push and heavy hand feeling back.

7/4/13 - snatch/squat press

Training @ 930a

Hang power snatch up to 225x1x2, 185x3
Squat press up to 275x3, 225x5
Pullups 4x5

Done and done. I think I'm just going to work in the 185-205 range on these hang power snatches for a while and then work up to something heavy-ish for snatch pulls. I need to get a better pop off my hips. Squat press was something new to try. Speed work is pretty boring imo. Its easy to put too much weight on the bar and slow down too much. Was talking with a buddy of mine that threw in college and he told me they did squat presses quite often. I though it would be a fun alternative to speed work. I obviously can't go too heavy or I'll miss the press. The goal here is to get the bar as high as possible and lockout with the least amount of upper assitance. 275 was a bit heavy for this but not a bad guage. 225 felt great. I think I'll start these at 255 next week. Very fun to do.

7/3/13 - hammer

Training @ 1215p

16# hammer x12-15

Started off with 4-5 rounds of warmup winds. Feeling pretty stiff so having trouble getting the hips moving to counter fast enough. Distances were miserable even when I tried to get after it so I just focused on trying to relax and hit positions nice and slow. Been trying to clean up my finish a bit more as well, trying to push the ball up vs just out. Getting a lot more hang time and overall the finish doesn't feel as cut off as it used to. Felt pretty good. Looking forward to adding some speed.

7/2/13 - overhead/bench & stones

Training#1 @ 415a

Push press up to 325x1x3
Strict ohp 225x5, 235x5x2
Bench up to 335x1x3
CGBP 255x5x3
Ring dips 3x5
Band pushdowns 3x20

Great sesh. Initially wasn't going to go for the 325 but 275 felt like nothing so I went anyways. They weren't easy but they weren't awful either. Going to add 5lbs/week until I stall out. I'm guessing I'll be resetting in 2-3 weeks but the extra heavy stuff will be nice. Strict ohp felt great. Bench sucks, dips were meh. lol.

Training#2 @ 1215p

15.5# stone
*stand x6-8, best 45, avg 43
*full spin x8-10, unk distances

Stands feel pretty good. Distances were meh but as stated above my legs are destroyed. Just looking for positions here. Really trying to drive my right knee in and down and load my left for a strong block. Getting better at this but not where it needs to be. Also focusing holding my upper body from drifting forward and twisting around with my chest to the sky for a higher release. These are feeling much better. This is also carrying over to my ostone. I'm starting to be able to feel the position that I need to get into. Another thing that is helping is I'm thinking about the stone following a J path (facing toward the trig). I'm trying to think about PUSHING the stone through a J path. Poor articulation? Probably, but it's working for me. I'm thinking about pushing the stone from the very beginning of the movement vs just pushing when I hit my block.

Spins were ok. Pretty hot out so throwing stone with a sweaty neck is frustrating. I wipe down and I'm soaked again by the time I get setup. On top of that my knees are extremely stiff from last couple days. Need to break out the roller tonight and see if I can loosen things up. I feel confident coming out of the back but not really getting as linear as I need to. Leaving about a foot in the box. Going to sink down and load my left a little harder. Trying to keep my right on the ground as long as possible to create a good stretch and slingshot forward. The two biggest things I'm working on right now is:

1) holding my focal point on the horizon. As soon as my right leg touches down, it seems that I automatically look back. I need to hold that focal point longer so I can wrap up. That's going to keep my shoulders back and let me push my hips through.
2) Stopping my upper body linear movement at the front. I need to stop my torso from drifting forward and chasing the stone. Get left foot down and rather than continue forward, twist my torso and get my chest to the sky. I'm starting to get this but it's very difficult for me right now. Trying to visualize and apply everything that I would for a power position throw which is causing me to stay on my left a bit longer at the front and that's big for me. I think these are the two things that are going to get me to the next level. Now I just need to implement them. Starting to get excited about stones again.

7/1/13 - clean/squat/pull & wfd

Training @ 4a

Hang power clean 135x8, 185x5, 225x5, 275x2, 275x2, 315x1x4, 275x2, 225x4
Squat up to 495x1, add belt/wraps 555x1, 495x3, 495x2, 405x6
Deadlifts up to 555x1x3 no belt
RDL 405x5x3 + 30" box jump 3x5 superset

Smoked. Missed the first attempt at 315 on power cleans on the first two sets. Tech felt solid all the way up to and including 275. Was trying to pull high and snap my elbows around/under the bar. Felt great up to 315. When I put 315 on the bar I wasn't getting full extension and a big pull. Even on the ones I did catch, I caught it out in front of me. Just need more reps in to dial the tech. Not dropping under these hardly at all. Dropped to some lighter weight afterwards to focus on tech again before calling it. Squats felt ok until 495 was loaded. Hit 495 no belt or wraps for a VERY SLOW single rep. Had trouble staying back on my heels, hips wanted to shoot up. Same thing with 555. Called it there because I'd rather drop and rep than miss a single. Getting very close to my top end on squats. Lifting partner crushed two more singles with 555 then dropped to 495 for a set of 5. I was planning on 10 with 405 but got to 6 and just didn't have the WIM. I get like that on rep out sets. The 6th one felt easy but my mind shut it off and called it quits. Something I need to work on. The pulls felt easy, all of them. Very fast, tech was solid, stayed back, spinal erectors feel great. All the deficit work has definitely helped. Going back up to a 2" deficit next week for my 565 pulls. Going to drop down to somewhere between 455-495 and start working triples on the squat. RDLs finished off my legs good. I'm toast. WFD this afternoon.

Training#2 @ 1215p

56# wfd
*1 turn x7, best of 40, avg 38
*full x12-15, best of 42, avg 41

Positions felt much better today, despite distance not being improved. This mornings leg sesh really took it out of me. Was sitting around 39 for a lot of throws in the beginning. Started being more aggressive on the sprint and finish and distances improved. A mini-breakthrough if you will. Got to remember that this isn't a lwd. I need to get after it as soon as possible. Also need to minimize my left side drive and work on driving straight. Overall a good sesh. Will hit wfd again on Sunday when I'm fresh from 2 days off. Stones tomorrow.

6/27/13 - wfd

Training @ 1230p

56# wfd
*1 turn x6
*full x15-18, best 42, avg 40

28# wfd x6-7

Still feeling off, however, on the last 2 throws with the 56 I figured out why my orbit feels off and I'm not getting that long push on the finish. It seems as if I'm leading my upper out of the back too early after the first turn. This is causing the weight to push too far right and throwing my high point off to the left side. I focused on pushing the weight down to zero, but was mindful to keep zero to the left or right at my right knee vs to the right of it and "pulling" with my upper body. Orbit fixed right up and I felt that very long push on the finish that I used to. By then there was nothing in the tank but I'm getting close to being back in the 43-45ft range as I was before.