Wednesday Fun Day

Push Jerk
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 3
185 x 3

Kettlebell Swings
3x: 20 swings, crossfit style 53lb kb

Kettlebell Snatch
2x: 10L, 10R 53lb kb

Snatch Practice
3 x 3 @ 75lbs

Continued to practice Pat's advice of doing power snatches, catching the weight, then riding it down into a full OH squat

Ab Ripper X

Front Squat, Push Press, Ring Dips

A lot of volume today.

Front Squat
135 x 3
155 x 3
185 x 3
185 x 3
185 x 3

Push Press
135 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 5
155 x 4

Ring Dip Pyramids:
Took Pat's advice here and did 4 sets of 1x2x3x4 pyramids.
40 ring dips total. Great advice, as I got in many more reps than had I just gone for four sets of max reps on ring dips. I'll be doing this from now on with pull-ups, too.

Knees to Elbows: 3 sets of 10 reps

Snatch work: 3x5 @ 75lbs: 5 sets of 3 reps using 75lbs. Again, took Pat's advice here and worked on completing that 2nd pull, then riding it down into an OHS. Pat was right, I'm rushing into that 3rd pull, which is why I'm losing them forward. Great advice, and a drill I can continue to use.

Clean & Jerk, Snatch, Pullups & Tabata Pushups/Situps

Clean & Jerk
185 x 1 - Pressed it out
185 x 1 - Pressed it out
185 x 1 - No press, much more aggressive on the jerk
135 x 3

Snatch
115 x 2
135 x 1
135 x 1
135 - Failed
135 - Failed

Deadhang Pullups
13
9
7

Tabata Pushups & Situps
Dave Eagle: 85 pushups + 77 situps = 162 (159 on 12/29)
Adam Oldenburg: 66 pushups + 74 situps = 140 (103 on 12/29)
Andy Heikes: 56 pushups + 86 situps = 142 total (first time)
Joel Santos: 20 pushups + 59 situps = 79 total (first time)

Snatch Balance, Back Squat, Snatch Pull

Snatch Balance
125 x 3
135 x 2
135 x 2
135 x 3

Back Squat
185 x 3 x 5 (five sets of three reps at 185lbs)

Snatch Pulls & Full Snatches
75lbs - Focused on the double knee bend and aggressive shrug

Knees to elbows: 3 sets of 10

Last night Pat, Phil, Brian, Kiko, Garth and I spent 2 full hours training with Mike Gattone at WCS Gattone Sports Performance in Buffalo Grove. To get an idea of how fortunate we were to train there, here is a short bio/history on Mike Gattone:

• President/Assistant Coach of Windy City Weightlifting Club
• President of WCS/Gattone Sports Performance
• Manager of Coaching of the US Olympic Committee
• Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Chicago Bulls
• Competition Manager for the 2009 Pan American Weightlifting Championships
• Three National Weightlifting Championships
• 2 Junior National Weightlifting Championships
• 1992 Olympic Trials Manager
• Personal Coach for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Weightlifting GOLD medalist, Tara Nott
• Board of Directors for USA Weightlifting
• Current member of USAW Coaches Committee
• Assistant Women's Coach for the 2008 Junior World Weightlifting Championship USA Team
• Senior International Level Coach with USA Weightlifting
• Coached Dave, Pat, Brian, Kiko, Phil & Garth for 2hrs on January 15, 2010

Obviously the last bullet is to drive home the fact that this INCREDIBLE coach with an INCREDIBLE resume and history in US Weightlifting coached US! On the side, Pat was receiving coaching from Roger Nielsen: An incredible resume as well, including Head Coach of the Men's Olympic Weightlifting Team for Barcelona in 1992 and Beijing in 2008.

The fact that we have this caliber of coaches in BUFFALO GROVE, IL is just incredible.

Clean & Jerk and Snatch

Clean & Jerk:
185 x 1
185 x 1
185 x 1
195 - Failed
195 - Failed

Lack the leg strength to get out of the hole on the cleans at 195. I'm able to shoot my elbows through and get under the bar, but I can't stand up out of the hole with 195.

Snatch:
135 x 1
135 - Failed: Pat talks about liking the OLY lifts for many reasons: strength, power, speed, accuracy, agility, coordination, balance and FOCUS (what Pat calls "Real Mental Toughness"). I wasn't focused, and I dropped it. Simple as that. So I got focused and went for it again:
135 x 1
135 x 1
135 x 1

Got all three after getting my head focused. Plus Tom and Garth were watching me, so I couldn't mess it up!

Dead hang pullups:
14
9
6

Ab Ripper X

Wednesday Fun Day

Incline Press
185 x 3
185 x 3
185 x 2
185 x 3

Team Competition: One person working while the other two are resting, complete, as a team:
100 pullups
100 pushups
100 situps
100 squats

Team 1 -- 14:48
Adam
Andy
Dave G

Team 2 -- 15:01
Dave E
Phil
Joel

We then did the old 7 minute ab routine.

Front Squat, Deadlift, Push Press

Front Squats:
135 x 3
155 x 3
175 x 3
185 x 3

Deadlift:
235 x 3
255 x 3
275 x 3
295 x 3
305 x 2

Push Press:
135 x 5
155 x 5
165 x 5
165 x 4
155 x 5

Took the guys through "Ab Ripper X" (P90X ab routine)