last nine days breakdown

4.29 thru 5.7
Fri- 100SN 130CJ 170FS
Sat- 100SN 135CJ 172FS
Sun- 70SN 70CJ
Mon- 95SN 125CJ 175FS
Tue-100SN 120CJ 165FS
Wed- 100SN 132CJ 170FS
Thu- 90SN 120CJ 145FS
Fri- 105SN 140CJ(PR) 170FS
Sat- 100SN 130CJ 170FS

140 C&J

I clean and jerked 140 last night. My jerk has never felt so on. I think I was even jumping forward on some of my cleans, I was just a whole different lifter last night. This was a lifetime personal record for me. I've cleaned that weight many times in the last year but I've never jerked it. I took a stab at 142, but only did the ol' clean and dump.
Snatch didn't go as well, it took me a few times to make 105, and then I deadlifted 108. I was thinking how people call doing that, deadlifting an attempt, a 'Clark'. So, if you are practicing deadlifts, you are in fact practicing 'Clarks'.
I am now attempting what would make a 250 total in training and hittin' 245. Next Sunday is the meet to qualify for nationals. I need 244. Nationals are in Council Bluffs, IA. My home state! I really want to compete in my home state at nationals. I may even have to cut a mullet come July, one that even Jared Enderton would envy.
My jerks were just so hot last night. What I was doing was relaxing so much before the start of the clean, then I fast twitch the pull, I catch and rise up from the clean, this is where I changed something. I again relax with the bar on my chest and get some air, I hold it while still relaxed, and then I fast twitch the jerk. This going from relaxed to fast twitch is essential. If I am tight before the start of either the clean or the jerk, then the fast twitch is gone. Watch Kendrick Farris, he has it down pretty good. What I've found is that it's not so important to stay tight an entire lift, but more important to relax and quickly fire certain muscles at certain times. The more you can relax before firing the fast twitch stuff, the greater the reaction will be. It was working last night.

Sink or Swim

Sink or swim. this is the philosophy my training has to have. I have to come in everyday and snatch and clean and jerk to the maximum. Some days I'll sink, others day I'll swim. Did I swim today? I'd say no. no progress today. today I drowned. today I died. Will I swim tomorrow. you bet your ass I will. I'm gonna do the butterfly stroke better than Michael Phelps. sink or swim, what's it gonna be. be all that you can be. be the man. be the difference, the difference between you and your competitors is decided on what you lift today. There is no tomorrow, there is only here and now. lift like it's the Olympics in the gym everyday. Bring on the pain. I want it. I want it so bad, here and now, I want to feel like something, instead of like nobody, just a numb dumb machine. I want to try harder and put forth more effort than ever before seen. I can do it. this is my time.

front squat=regular squat

I don't like to call it a front squat because to me it's a regular squat. When we catch a clean the bar is in the front. This is the fundamental squat position for the clean. There is no need to call it a front squat and distinguish it from the back squat. There is the regular squat, aka front squat, and there is the back squat. Never in the sport of weightlifting do you pull a clean and then duck your head under the bar and receive the weight on your back. The back squat is a movement done in the sport of Powerlifting. Now, I'm all for any strength sport. I mean, we're all trying to get strong. I'm not bashing the back squat. There may even come a time when I focus more on it than the regular squat, but as far as I'm concerned the regular squat is the supreme squatting activity for the sport of weightlifting. There are two, possibly three squats in weightlifting. The overhead squat in the snatch, the front squat in the clean, and perhaps another overhead squat if you squat jerk. I know a hell of a lot of lifters have gotten ridiculously strong by back squatting but I just don't see the points when such a position with the bar on the back is never achieved in this sport. Sometimes you just have to believe to achieve and I believe in the regular squat more than the back squat. I did 175kg(385lb) in the squat today, of course it was what I call a regular squat. I'm going to do 182kg(400lb) this spring, that's a goal and I'm ready for it. This goal of a big squat goes against my previous outlook on squatting and not doing much over clean and jerk weights but I'm gonna roll with it and see what happens. Obviously I have that bull strength to squat the bigger weights well over my clean and jerk. I'm going to tap into this bull strength and use it for all it's worth. Below is my easy 175 squat from today, it was a personal record. It's amazing how often I can front squat heavy. Friday I did 170, Saturday I did 172, and now on Monday 175. Of course these squat workouts have absolutely no volume at all. For instance, my squat workout today was after snatches and clean and jerks doing 100,130,150,160,170,175, all for singles. It's different this style of training with maximum intensity and minimum volume. You absolutely have to keep the intensity high or you risk under training. You have to go to maximum every time. The second you back off or take it easy, you kill the adaption process. What you want to do is stay in the fight or flight zone where your body and mind expect heavy weights every training session. If you go light, you die. I'd compare it to the Movie Crank, where the guy can't stop moving or he dies. You have to get fundamentally addicted to lifting maximum weights.