haha, higher reps.

started out today with some power snatches
hps
95x3
115x3
power snatch
(135x1 145x1 155x1)x2
Standing press
3x5: 135 155 165
dynamic effort bench press
8x3: 185

I'm also really interested in getting faster with a better vertical and came across this thread. The second poster seems to know his stuff and highly recommends that you do all your high velocity movements first. It looks like you are following exactly what he outlined, I was just wondering if his reasons for doing so were the same as yours.

Great log btw

Thanks. My vertical has increased ~2 inches to about 33 inches. So this program is working.

Today

Warmed up with some plyos
30' box jump x5
then 30" box jump x10

Tall clean-hang clean complex
2x1-2: 135 155

hang power clean
175x2
195x1
205x1
215x1
225x1
235PR Good session. All clean lifts.

Front squat
135x5
225x3
245x1
265x1
285x1
300x1
Had something left in the tank. This went up quickly. Think I will try 315 next time. If I could eventually (in the next year) get this to 400 I would be pretty happy.

Pull ups
2x10: bw

Solid session. My goal starting this was to hang power clean 225 for 2 or 3 reps. I think I am going to change that to 245 as my grip is really the limiting factor right now otherwise I could probably get 225 up for a double.

if you can get to 400 within the next year, you should get a coach without a doubt. I would start now! hah. If you are interested in that kind of thing.

As an fyi most of the guys in the Olympics at 85kg are front squatting 500-550 for around 440 cleans. 100 pounds is a big jump but I think you've showed much better progress than you realize since you started this log.

ATG front squat is basically the best test of leg strength, so to improve yours by a great deal in this time period training the way you have without gaining BW is impressive. I know two people who are front squatting about 400 pounds, and one is clean and jerking 160kg at 94 and the other has a 46 inch vertical (hes at more like 450fs) and can raw squat low-bar 750 parallel.

keep it up and congrats on the PRS

yeah this is the only log I routinely open, it's pretty inspiring actually. how do you measure vertical leap?

I don't have an exact measure. I have measured how high my reach is standing from the ground and determined that for me to touch the rim I need a to leap 29" (I am about 5'10.5"). I just stand under the rim and see how high up my hand gets. Right now from a standing position I get about 4" over the rim.

I am not really disappointed overall. Just really disappointed in my lack of progress on the snatch (I think switching to a hook grip which I really need to do could be part of this). I have put on probably close to 90lbs on my front squat (assuming i could have gotten up 310 today) since I started doing lower body stuff regularly about 7-8 months ago. So hopefully another 90lbs in the next 12 months is not out of the realm of possibility. I keep meaning to start going to lostbatallionhall to get coaching. Went there once, but have just been to lazy to go back. They were honestly a bit to anti-powerlifting/body building preachy and it rubbed me the wrong way a bit. They had almost as bad a "we are the best every other form of lifting is silly" attitude as the crossfit monkeys. No real reason that i should let that get in the way of getting some decent coaching though.

Also, i was under the impression that most of they O-lifting guys couldn't front squat much more then they could clean. I know thats one of the things Louie Simmons always brings up when pointing out that O-lifters could do themselves a favor by trying to get stronger.

I decided to make a second trip to the gym today and do the crossfit WOD Isabel (30 snatches with 135lbs for time)
Took about 7:30. Didn't bring a stop watch.
This was disappointing. I banged out the first 21 in a bit under 4:00 and then just hit a wall. I could have probably cut a bit off if I had bumpers. My grip and rear delts were really fried and forcing some extra rest time.

it depends on the lifter. Suleymanoglu was front squatting about 4x bodyweight for a 3.5x+ bodyweight clean and jerk.

I question Simmons' statements about Olympic lifting. It's also very difficult to get the front squat much higher than that. I've never heard of anyone doing an atg front squat with more than 660 pounds, and the best clean and jerk ever is over 580. So if anything, the front squat being close to the clean just shows the proficiency of these lifters in the clean working close to what is absolute limit strength.

Taranenko was interviewed and admitted excessive strength in the squat was not necessarily a big advantage. He claimed a pause back squat of 380kg for 2 reps, and 300kgx3 in the front squat, and was probably the strongest Olympic lifter ever, stronger even than Hamman. But he clean and jerked 266kg.

Vasily Alexeev did something like 258kg decades ago, and he NEVER worked with weight higher than in the clean in his squats. He used no more than 270kg in back squats, and was cleaning over 250. The same for Pisarenko.

I question basically anyone's assertions about anything related on Olympic Lifting and the strength of the athletes and how they should be coached unless they train competive, Olympic level athletes and have a history of success, because there is just decades and decades of training experience in the hands of the best coaches and people are eclipsing the old world records very rarely. There seems to be a basic limit of human strength that is occasionally breached and I think Simmons is just arrogant if he thinks throwing some chains and boxes into the arsenal is going to make the difference

my take anyway.

also, hook grip is crucial for relaxed whippy arms and bar rotation imo

Who's saying the current or former champions of the sport need to get stronger? Where's this quote I'd like to read it.

It is something Louie Simmons states in regards specifically to American weightlifters. I dont have a link, but you should be able to find it.

Today. Was pretty tired, but tried to get a pressing workout in.

Bench
5x5: 135 185 225 245 265
Standing Press
2x8: 135
This was harder then it should have been. My shoulders were still fried a bit from all of the snatches I did yesterday.

That's what I suspected btw.

Was pretty tired. Probably should have taken the day off.
Hang power snatch
95x3
115x3
2-position snatch
135
145x3
These were not as smooth as they should have been.
Back squat
5x5; 135 225 275 305 225

Forgot I also supersetted 3x10 bw pull ups in with the squats.

seriously? just wondering? like more so than BS?

yeah. This is the sentiment of a lot of coaches and online gurus. That doesn't mean that it's the best way to build that strength. You can train the same muscles with an ATG back squat and an upright stance and use more loading with other variations of the squat.

The reason this is said often is related to how much variation there is in how people back squat. If someone says they back squat 400 pounds, they are no doubt strong but it could also mean anything. The level of back involvement, the good morning motion in the lift, sitting back into the squat, etc all come up.

An ATG front squat pretty much forces an upright stance and places all of the loading on the legs. the only way you can "cheat" is with depth and that's obvious. You don't need to ask many questions. If someone front squats 450 pounds, they nearly always have stronger legs than someone front squatting 400 pounds.

that's a very good answer. As a sidenote, I've been doing atg squats to prepare for oly lifting, but I really miss the low bar back squats for hamstring work. I'm considering just alternating low bars with front squats and keep progression going on each separately (cuz I can obviously low bar more than I can fs).

I felt like the actual pulls and RDLs gave me more than enough hamstring work

but working with lighter weights on technique and such, I could see it being an issue

I feel like you have to either push the front squat or atg back squat for progression, but if you wanted to focus on the front squat and add in the power squats once a week or something, it probably wouldn't be bad at all

I'm going to do that if I start the olifts up again

what I like about that is after a heavy deadlifting plan, you can pretty much deload on the deadlift, push the pulls and explosive movements hard, and still add strength while focusing on the olifts and front squat. Ala Bill Star theory I think? Basically just benching very frequently on top of the O-lifting after a deadlift cycle. So even if you are light on the olifts, supplementing heavy explosive squats, RDLs, and GM in the 3x/week training should do the trick.

I think I'm either going to do that or the Russian program early next year but I can't decide. It probably doesn't matter as usual. What ISF is doing is pretty close to optimal

kind of derailing ISFs thread here, my bad

I have actually thought about adding these since I have probably been neglecting my post chain a bit. The problem is that I cant really add anything without removing something else as i am pretty my at my limit and I am not sure what I am willing to give up.

Had a very solid workout this morning. I am off to vegas for three days so will be getting a bit of a break from training. Did this entire workout in 40min start to finish.

4-position clean(tall, floor, knee, midthigh)-press complex
3x4-5: 135 155 165( this was very difficult, almost failed on the 5th press rep)
2-position clean
185x1
205x2
2-position clean-squat complex
1x2-5: 210 (This went smoothly. I would like to work up to doing these with 225 by the end of the year)

Then I did a superset of pull ups, bench press, and front squats
front squats
3x5: 225
bench
4x5: 135 185 225 245
pull ups
3x10: bw

15 min later I am still on the verge of puking.

Tried to get a quick workout in before work, but was still a wreck from my weekend Vegas trip. Got stuck on a red eye sunday night and went almost straight from that in to work.

Hang power snatch:
95x3
115x3
3x2-position snatch: 135 145 150
3-position clean-press-front squat complex
3x3-5-5: 150 150 150
superset of bench and pull ups
bench 3x5; 135 185 235
pull ups 3x10: bw

wanted to do some heavy squats, but just didnt have it in me and was running out of time.

Got a decent workout in today before work. Pretty intense 40 min or so.

3-position clean-press complex:
3x3-5: 135 155 155
2-position clean
4x2: 185 205 215 215 (I would be pretty happy if I am using 225 for this by the end of the year)
Superset of bench and back squat with a set of pull ups tossed in.
Back squat worked up to 2x3: 315
bench 4x5: 135 185 225 245
pull ups 2x10: bw

didnt really feel it today. Had to wake up early to move my car as it was parked in a zone that gets street sweeping at 8:30 near my gf's place and it took me 1 hr to move it. Not a good start to the day.

Hang power snatch
95x5
115x3
135x3
145x1
155x1
165x1
170x1
I wanted to hang power snatch my weight which is currently about 189 by year end. Doesnt look like its gonna happen.
Hang power clean
170x3
185x3
205x2
225x1 (harder then it should have been)
225x1 (high catch, felt strong)
240F
240F
neither were actually fails as I just chickened out and didnt try to get under them. They were really more like hang clean pulls.
225F WTF
Back squat (all high bar ATG)
225x3
275x2
315x1
335x1
355x1
365x1
375F
I also wanted to get this up to 400 by year end and it doesn't look promising. Hopefully I was just weak today. Also, was pretty spent by the time i started doing squats.

Upper body workout today. didn't feel strong as i wasn't able to sleep in for some reason today.

Superset of Bench and pull ups

pull ups 4x10 : bw

Bench
4x5: 135 185 225 255
275x8 (This went up surprisingly easily)

Push Press
3x5: 155 175 185

Did a snatch focused workout today.
hang power snatch
95x3
115x3
2-position snatch
135x1
145x2
150x2
These didnt go that smoothly. I was falling forward indicating that I was not finishing my second pull.
Snatch pulls w/ straps
2x3: 185
WOW. I had never done these with straps before and I felt super powerful. I am pretty sure with straps I could power snatch this and may try next time. This leads me to believe that my grip is really the limiting factor in my snatch progress.
3-position snatch
135x1
Did this just to practice form. Still wasn't good.