Mon, 19 Feb 18
Heavy Upper @ Iron Strong CF
The plan for today was to work on what I talked about in my last training log - dropping lower to work overhead lockouts from the bottom up. I planned to do this with log push jerks. Things did not go according to plan. I was having a helluva time with dropping lower than I needed to in order to catch the weight, so much so that some of my push jerks turned into push presses (at least they were outstanding push presses though). Part of this is probably because push jerking the log instead of split jerking it felt like a foreign movement. Also, from watching the video it looks like I was having to work harder than normal getting into an overhead lockout position today - meaning I needed to do a little more in my dynamic warmup to fix this. Regardless, I did not drop lower, even when I lowered the weight and switched from cleaning each rep to just cleaning it once for my down sets.
I also noticed that I didn't seem to be bracing well so I kept my belt on for the lighter sets to use as a tactile cue, but this didn't help at all. From the video it actually looks like I am pulling my abs in before doing the push jerks instead of pushing them out. I have a hunch that this may be related to the front rack position with the log and having my head back - a bunch of muscles are already pulling my ribs up and expanding them so when I go to breathe more air into my belly, it just expands my lungs into the newly available space up and out instead of down. This will take more investigation to confirm though.
Log Clean & Push Jerk (clean each rep)
complex x 90
complex x 140
3x180
3x230
2x3x250
3x5x225 - Switched from clean each rep to clean once and press away. Video of last set.
I stopped going up at 250 today because my technique on push jerks was just awful. After the first set, I took some notes and repeated it to try and see if I could improve and keep going up. Second set was worse than the first set (technique-wise), so I dropped down and even with the lighter weight I wasn't doing what I needed to. Since I was starting to get pissed off and I had limited time because I was training between classes, I chose to move on with the rest of my training instead of continuing to lower the weight until I could get it right.
Meadows Rows
10ea x 50
10ea x 80
15ea x 65
15ea x 70
Today was the first day I felt like I am getting used to Meadows Rows (I've never done them consistently before). It could just be because I wasn't doing 3 sets of 15 though cause that never feels good on any exercise.
Strict Crazy DB Presses/DB Curls
15ea x 20/12ea x 45
2x{15ea x 30/12ea x 45}
I had to head back to class at this point to present on vertebral compression fractures, vertebroplasy, and kyphoplasty. It's looking like all my Monday trainings will be slightly rushed so I'm going to try to sneak in an extra work day for upper body at the end of the week like I did last week whenever I am able to.
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