tbk,

Never before. I just started doing it as part of my warmup. I try to include more overhead lifting, but its something fairly new I'm including in my programming.

I'm not EXACTLY sure what midline stabilization is but I'm pretty sure OHS is the answer.

you are smart.

Yep. The point I was trying to make was that my OHS is so poor that it's not gonna improve my clean. So doing a program that involves a more complex variant (snatch) is even more pointless.

i could totally be wrong and by no means "know" this, but i am going to say it anyway. i think that getting better at/practicing/improving your ohs will help your clean a ton. try it and prove me wrong as an experiment.

i think that the ohs has single handedly helped me more than any other exercise bar none on all things, but it could be something else that i don't know or just overall improvement. i think i like to credit the ohs because i went from not being able to do it at all or barely with a broomstick to somewhat proficient at it and meanwhile have gotten a ton stronger and fitter in the last year. could be a coincidence though.

the barbell snatch is sorta a mystery to me too, but i am told that it is supposed to click and then all come together at once, but for me that could be a decade at the rate i am improving now.

J. Brown,

I know. Thats why I'm doing OHS as part of my program. Maybe everyone is misunderstanding me. My limitation with OHS/Snatch is less about my lower body strength and more about my flexibility and stabilization and technique. While improving the OHS is gonna give me long term benefits (why I include it in my warmup since they weight isn't heavy and gives me a good chance to work on the technique), its not going to improve my power clean until I am able to up the weight on it.

Its kinda the same reasons Smiley wrote about why he stopped doing the snatch. The skill component is too high to devote time to for my goals right now.


Its not that I have anything against the OHS. I will be spending time working on my form on it, I just don't think its gonna help me increase my power clean over the next three months.

Hrm. Maybe its less clear now. Regardless I think I'm just gonna do DB snatches.

i just added light db snatches to my warm up. funny.
i will post it later in my log when i have more time.
i think i am picking up what you are laying down though.

is it lower body flexibility or shoulder flexibility that is the most limiting factor in the ohs?

it's 100% shoulder flexability for me. I think he is prolly the same. Last month or so I have been really working on shoulder flexability for ohs and BJJ and it still is almost as hard for me to do a OHS. I blame it on genetics.

Buy a pvc pipe and do dislocates until you can do them at a decent snatch-width grip. You'll gain a few inches within a month.

i think you may even advance a bit quicker than this, at least i did.
i still do dislocates all the time, they are awesome to keep your shoulders "open"

has anyone ever seen those people who can ohs with their hands almost touching? it is sick, sick, sick. oh to be flexible AND strong.

Is it odd that I can do OHS fine with a barbell, but if I just squat down and try to put my hands in the same position (w/out a barbell), it doesn't work?

no, not strange.

a little bit of a load forces you to be in a more fixed position, without it your hands can tend to follow the path of least resistance more easily.

i figured this out trying to front squat with a pvc pipe and not intially being able to keep my elbows up. i a bit of weight makes all the difference.

Hrm.

I forgot what I did exactly for Friday. Probably a normal warm-up (need to add leg raises in and maybe something else... I dunno LOL GPP).

Power Clean
3x3x135

Seated Row
2x10x75

Form on clean was lollercoaster bad. Knee didn't explode. So I'm making progress. Doesn't feel good. But to be expected. Will start this bulgarian gangster program on Monday. Weight is bad to like 168ish and I've lost a good bit of fat mass. So it seems my diet is semi-working despite it sucking mostly ass and me getting no sleep.


Today:

Tabata BW Squat (TY shemp): 15

I've never done one of these before. Well exactly like this. Its pretty horrible. I was talked to Smiley after I did it and it seems my rough guesstimates on what to do were very close to correct... So thats good. Maybe suggestions on what to do for this. Do most people use a stop watch... I could probably do this more often with a BW squat version or maybe OHS with a broomstick since I can turn the TV on and watch the weather scroll by.

Kinda surprised I actually got all 15 out of the way since I'm mostly teh suck at this stuff.

Full range tabata(15) in OHS with a pvc pipe/broom would be animal.

Timing solutions:

http://www.gymboss.com/

http://www.speedbagforum.com/timer.html

or create a loop of a 20s splice and then 10s splice of two songs.

Knee felt good.

DB Snatch
5x1x70
3x2x60
2x3x60

Clean
5x1x165
2x3x135

Front Squat
2x1x185
2x2x175

Will probably add more rest days than the system prescribes, since I was dying when I woke up, am still dying now, and predict future dying.

Ran 1.5 miles yesterday. It was cold.

Took an extra rest day since I felt a little bonked. Not to mention my sleep sucks. And does my diet. But whatev. Its taking minimal effort. Though I'm back up to 171 today... So umm... Weird. I'm probably looking into my weight too much. I should just grind out the exercise and see what happens. I'll probably start using Fitday and being a diet Nazi in Feb. if things don't go my way for the last 2 weeks of this month.

Warm-Up
1 min bike
6 Pullups
10 Back Extension
10 Hanging Leg Raises
10 OHS w/bar
5 DB Snatch (40)
10 Dips

DB Snatch
2x1x60

Clean
2x1x150

Back Squat
3x2x200

I'm pretty surprised I was able to do these ATG. Maybe I'm not as weak as I imagined. Might have to ramp up or reset the weights for this program. Positive problem.

Was in a rush today. I attempted to do some Tabata push-ups. Got through 5 sets of 10 and bonked and called it a day. Shoulders felt pretty awful today along with general soreness.


Maxed DB Snatch: 75, 80 with right and barely failed left. ****ty form.
Maxed Clean: 165. Rushed through. Was tired and form is poor. Meh. Not really an issue.
Front Squat: 205. Didn't go higher.

Front Squat:
3x2x175

Still feel really sore. Probably take some days to recover. Also have weekend guests.

My shoulders feel terrible. Normal?

Try and get at least 6 intervals if you feel you must abort tabata. If you only get a rep or three in the last one, so be it. Toughen up buttercup.

Push-ups (I'm assuming that is what you are linking the discomfort to) can beat up your muscles and a lot else. Definitely take it easy on them and give them rest when they complain, but make push-ups a bigger part of your life.

still so AMAZING to me that tabata pushups break everyone i have ever seen (myself very much included) down to the ground fast!!!! i went form 20+ first round to single digits in my tabata everything a couple days ago. scary. not sore though, yeah!! sorry for the rub it in factor thremp, couldn't resist.

what makes this movement so difficult to do tabata style exactly??

I have some guesses about why it seems that way, but I'll save that for another day. I will say, that if you feel broken, do something else for the remaining intervals or a full 8 even. Don't quit at 5 or fewer.

who quits?? it is 4 or 5 minutes with rest thrown in.
no one quits do they?? don't you just do a rep or two and get back to resting?

Maybe I misunderstood "Got through 5 sets of 10 and bonked and called it a day."

It's at least 2m 50s and usually 3m 50s.

i was making a bad joke. maybe i misunderstood.

so thremp did you quit?

At first, I chuckled and thought you were joking, and then I chuckled and remembered it was you and figured you weren't.