Pierini's September 2007 Training

[CF-OC_gal]

Nice work on your O-lifts Mr P. : You are strong!

Last night I had some extra time on my hands so I went to visit a CrossFit gym in Sacramento. Here is their website link:

Fourth Power Fitness

A nice place, a little small, but complete for great workouts. The price seems to be comparable with what I have noticed for other CrossFit affiliate facilities.

I don't think I'll join but I may do some drop-in training for the $10 fee on Oly lift training days as I really need to have an enviroment where I can drop the bar.

I thanked the person who answered my questions then told her to tell the owner that there is a typo on the website (Thursday is spelled incorrectly). That personally would drive me nuts if it were my website and someone else told me.

Oly lifting workout in about 3 hours. Looking forward to it although my shoulders feel a little tired.

Friday, September 14, 2007
Oly lift training today at 12:00 noon in the garage of my "free coach".

Shoulder warmup drills - front to butt straight-arm shoulder windmills and overhead squat stretches with light bar - didn't count sets or reps.

Snatch training - squat snatch: 45x3 - 88x2 - 88x2 - 88x2 - 98fail. Then I dropped the weight back down and did 88x3 - power snatch 88x2 - half squat snatch 88x2 and 88x2. Took 2 videos of me performing squat snatches which I was able to view later when I got home. I am absolutely disgusted with my pulls, my incorrect use of my biceps during the pulls, and my failure to shrug. Boy do I have alot of work to do. I'm going to use the video often as it is a great tool.

Clean & jerk training - power clean, squat, then split jerk: 88x3 - squat clean & split jerk: 88x2 - 135x1 - 155fail - 155fail - 155x1 - 155x1 - 155x1. What a crappy job I did today!

Time to put on my thinking cap and lay out my planned training for next week. It will include alot of light pole technique work and drills to work on taking my biceps out of my pulls and working on shrugging. Never too old to learn something new.

One thing else I learned from watching the videos is that I need a haircut - BAD!!

Have a great weekend!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

[gymgirl]

taht gym looks pretty cool, pierini! where are the videos? when do we get to see?

Hi gymgirl, those videos will remain in my private collection. They totally disgust me when I look at them. Heck, I'd be more likely to post a video of me in the flesh than those - my form is that bad!

Never in my wildest dreams have I thought that getting a good snatch would be so difficult.

Saturday, September 15, 2007
Saturday afternoon dojo workout, seminar style. We had 6 instructors each leading for 20 minutes each for a 2 hour workout. I did the warmups. A very good workout, lots of sweat. My shoulders were hurting towards the end of the workout from Friday's training.

Sunday, September 16, 2007
Complete rest day. My shoulders were sore and I was basically a slug, needing to be lazy all day long. I did walk to and from a late afternoon Sunday Mass at a moderate pace for a total distance of 2 miles.

Monday, September 17, 2007
Arrived at the gym at 7:15 a.m.

Elliptical trainer - resistance and incline both at level 10 for a 5 minute warmup, completing 1,051 strides (113 less than last Thursday and 166 less than my best effort of 1,217 strides).

Clean & jerk warmup - with a light pole - #1 = front to butt straight-arm shoulder windmills x 10 - #2 = overhead squat x 10 - #3 = clean grip deadlift with shrug x 10 - #4 = power clean then squat clean x 5 - #5 = alternating leg split jerk (right forward then left forward) x 5.

Clean & jerk training - #1 = hang power clean: 45x5 - #2 = hang power clean x 2 then front squat x 1: 95-115-135 - #3 = squat clean and split jerk x 2: 135-145-150-155-160 (2nd reps on 155 and 160 were a little too pushy).

Barbell overhead press from the rack - 120 for 4x4.

Front squat - 155x3 - 175x3 - 175x2 - tired! Early morning workouts on just an apple!

Running - skipped it will do tomorrow. Still a little tired from Saturday's workout.

Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Arrived at the gym at 7:10 a.m.

Elliptical trainer - resistance and incline both at level 10 for a 5 minute warmup, completing 1,073 strides (21 more than yesterday and 144 less than my best effort of 1,217 strides).

Shoulder flexibility and snatch technique drills - with light pole and 10 reps for all exercises except handstand balancing - #1 = front to butt straight-arm shoulder windmills - #2 = handstand balancing x 0:45 - #3 = overhead squat with 10-count hold at bottom for each rep - #4 = snatch grip deadlift with shrug and extension - #5 = snatch grip high pulls - #6 = squat snatch - #7 = behind-the-neck snatch grip full squat jerk.

Pullups and bar dips - a single set of each - #1 = standard grip pullups x 16 and #2 = bar dips x 25.

Running on the treadmill at 1% incline - it has been a whole week - 3 miles completed in 21:11 (7:04/mile pace). My average HR was 155 bpm (84% of max) and my highest HR was 179 bpm (97% of max). First time I've gone 3 miles in a long time. My mile pace is about 0:35 slower than when I was in my best running condition.

Stretching - on the floor to stretch my hams, quads, glutes, calves, etc.

My body feels good today. Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

[minime]

nice work pierini, that is a great time for a 3-mile run, especially considering you haven't done it in a while.

I don't know how you workout on just an apple, i'd be worried i might pass out!

[JDR3]

Nice run!

[gymgirl]

nice work on the runs! isn't it amazing how much of a workout you can get just in the oly lifting warm-up? I'm already sweating before I start the actual workout!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Arrived at the gym at 7:05 a.m.

Elliptical trainer - resistance and incline both at level 10 for a 5 minute warmup, completing 1,125 strides (52 more than yesterday and 92 less than my best effort of 1,217 strides).

Shoulder flexibility and snatch technique drills - same as yesterday. Yes gymgirl, I break a sweat doing these drills and I really like the combo that I did today.

Snatch training - worked the following combos today:

#1 = hang power snatch then overhead squat: 65x3 - 75x3 - 85x3.

#2 = hang power snatch then hang squat snatch then snatch grip behind-the-neck squat jerk singles: 65-65-65-75-75-75.

#3 = snatch grip deadlift with shrug then snatch grip high pulls then power snatch singles all from the floor: 95-95-95.

I'm frustrated with the snatch work but I'll keep at it. I'll have a platform workout on Friday so I'll be able to drop and that will help.

Squats - 95x5 - 135x5 - 155x5 - 175x5 then front squat 135x10.

Running - tommorow.

Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Thursday, September 20, 2007
Arrived at the gym at 7:00 a.m.

Elliptical trainer - resistance and incline both at level 10 for a 5 minute warmup, completing 1,264 strides PR (139 more than yesterday and 47 more than my previous best effort of 1,217 strides).

Rest - about 15 minutes as that ET effort felt as exhausting as running 1 mile at an all-comers track meet. Had to walk outside in the cooler and fresher air to regain my lungs.

Shoulder flexibility - front to butt straight-arm shoulder windmills with light pole x 10 reps.

Holds - haven't done these in a long time - single holds of the following with best efforts in parenthesis:

#1 = handstand hold: 1:23 (1:31) - failure snuck up on me and I lost my core and came down.

#2 = standard grip pullup hang hold: 1:49 (2:08) - thought I had a PR in the making, then grip crapped out on me and that was it in a second.

#3 = ab plank hold: 3:00 (4:14) could have gone longer if money was on the line - it wasn't so I didn't.

Running - skipped it as that ET effort spanked me and gave me all the cardio I needed for the day.

Stretching - on the floor to stretch my hams, quads, glutes, calves, etc.

That was it! Something is better than nothing. I'm taking Friday off from work and at 12:00 noon I'll go train with my "free coach" on the Oly lifts. Saturday is my morning dojo workout and Sunday will be my standard rest day.

Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

[minime]

nice work on those snatches and squats pierini.

i hear ya on the ab plank, the only time i've ever felt i pushed to my limit was when we had an impromtu ab-plank competition in my friends living room. I imagine if my PR was over four minutes i would never get close to beating it as I would just give up each time!

Friday, September 21, 2007
Oly lift training day from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. with bumper plates and a platform.

Warmup - shoulder flexibility and snatch transfer drills

Snatch - I didn't log down what I actually did. I had so many misses it was pathetic. Basically I was just doing singles. I made 2 singles of 65 and 2 singles of 88. Squat snatch depth sucked and my shoulders were tighter than normal. I have so much work to do I don't know where to begin. I need to get the biceps out of my pull for starters. Ironically, I did the best with the snatch the first Friday I started to train on a platform (this workout was my 3rd) when I got 98 and almost got 108. It seems like I'm thinking too much about it. I have not achieved my September goal of a 100 single. I'll try again next Friday.

Clean & jerk - Better here. I also did singles - 135-135-145-155-165PR-165 and 3 missed attempt of 170. I had the pull power but had hesitation of getting under the bar, plus I was probably a little tired at this point. So I achieved my September goal of 165. I'll shoot for 170 for October.

Squats - front squats of 135x5 - 140x5 - 145x5 - 145x5 and back squat of 135x5 with pauses at the deep bottom. I'm very pleased with my squat depth and upper body uprightness on the front squats.

Saturday, September 22, 2007
Saturday morning dojo workout.

My shoulders (muscles) are sore again like they were after last Saturday's workout. It seems like the Friday Oly lift training day and the Saturday morning dojo workout is the culprit.

Enjoy your weekend!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Sunday, September 23, 2007
Training rest day. At 1:00 p.m. I walked 2 miles at a brisk pace to a festival at a nearby park. Later around 6:00 p.m. I walked another 2 miles (slower pace) home.

Monday, September 24, 2007
Arrived at the gym at 6:50 a.m.

Elliptical trainer - resistance and incline both at level 10 for a 5 minute warmup, completing 1,072 strides (192 less than last Thursday and my best effort of 1,264 strides).

Shoulder flexibility and clean & jerk drills - with a light pole - 7 different exercises for 10 reps each.

Squat clean training - #1 = singles of power clean from the floor, then hang squat clean , and finally squat clean from the floor : 115-135-140 - #2 = squat clean doubles: 140-150-160.

Split jerk training - #1 = singles of back squat, then behind-the-neck split jerk, then front squat, and finally split jerk: 135-135-135 - #2 = behind-the-neck split jerk 135x2 - #3 = split jerk 135x3.

Clean pulls - triples of clean grip deadlift with extension and shrug then clean grip high pulls: 155-170-175.

Overhead press - 125 lbs. - 3-3-3-3-2 (should of had the 3rd rep).

Squats - triples of 145-155-165-175-185 and a final set of front squats of 155x4 (starting to lose my uprightness).

Static isometric contraction - a single standard grip pullup hang hold of 1:34 (tired!)

Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum