Wednesday 17.9: Squats, Push press, 21-15-9

Wednesday. Strength, Smolov squats (2x122.5kg). Strength, push press 3-3-3-3-3 (max 85kg). Metcon, 21-15-9 of: pull-ups and power snatch (40kg). Time, 7.14. Overhead squat technique and mobility for 1h.

Today I was in no hurry at all. It extended to a good 2h+ session. Lots of things happened. First of all, I got back to squats, the Smolov program let be put the barbell in my back for some doubles. After that overhead strength was ahead of me. Metcon was a killer for forearms, even with hook grip on snatches. I spent at least 45min for the cool down, continuing improving overhead squat form and then mobility stuff in the very end.

Strength.

• Back squat (Smolov) 2-2 (across 122.5kg)
• Push press 3-3-3-3-3 (70, 75, 80, 85, 85kg)

I've been missing squats for a while now. This Smolov training cycle began with 3 days of squatting in a row, since then it's been easier. There are couple of days still left to go until some serious ass squatting takes place. Then it's gonna be 4 times a week of back squats. Today was only 2 doubles at 122.5kg. Naturally there were some lighter weights to get prepared, did them at 60 and 100kg. Some pause squats and speed squat, with full range of motion. These doubles felt light today. I've tried to let my legs recover in my training lately, exactly because people tell this Smolov thing is tough stuff. This far it's been easy but soon things are gonna change.

It was quickly over, as I didn't even keep that big a rest between squat sets. I quickly changed weights and took over the rack. First warm-up sets at 60kg I took from ground but first set at 70kg from rack. At this point I was properly ready for the overhead work and it didn't feel tight anywhere in my body. All of these sets felt a good weight to push around. Still, after every set I felt there's room to add kilos. The last station was at 85kg which was very good weight for me for a triple. Happened to push it up for 2 sets. that was great!

I believe my max push press for a single is 90kg this far so having a triple this close to max is success. Actually the last set of 85kg was even better than the first one.

Haha, Milko Tokola on fire

Metcon. Time 7.14

• 21-15-9 of:
• Pull-ups
• Power snatch, 40kg

I saw one monster completing a workout of 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 with these same movements, snatches at 50kg. That sounded attempting but would have been way too heavy for me and the intensity would have sucked big time. This scaled modification suited well for today. Of course I had hook grip on the snatches but this one killed my forearms nevertheless. Towards the end it was difficult to hold on to either of the bars. Two pull-movements sealed the deal.

Got the first set of pull-ups unbroken, not sure how the second set went, unbroken or then 10-5, really just don't remember. Third set was miserable. At this point grip strength was gone. It was 5-2-2 on the round of 9's. Snatches went 7-7-7 on first round, 8-4-3 on the second and 4-3-2 on the last set. I tried to keep the recovery short. That's how it felt but don't know how it looked like =)

SF @ LA

Technique.

• Overhead squats
• Mobility

I had decided to take it easy after the actual workout session. My back was sore the entire day. Like I had done some serious back workouts. But I didn't. So I was wondering why the heck is it sore. In the warm-up I realized we worked a lot on overhead positioning and form with Toni yesterday. My tight felt very tight then and that's the reason why this happened. It definitely didn't bother my training today but it was funny to witness these two are linked together.

I wanted to continue working on this weakness. Got to get the form good before I'll add more load. Working simply on a pvc pipe will make good on my mobility. I took a lot of sets without weight, and each rep felt in my back. It's very tight and needs to get loosened up for better mobility. Plus I was able to keep the armpits facing forward. That is the biggest gain I got from working the form with Toni, and still being able to go below parallel. There were also a lot of different mobility drills involved in the end.

Working on ohs mobility