Topic: Getting Back on Track.....

[Owen Duguay]

Very interesting topic Brooke.    When you speak of percentages do you mean a percentage of Snatch or C & J or do you mean a percentage of Pulls or Presses or Squats.   Or do you mean a percentage of what your next goal is.   Each is different.  Also what do John and Sjak think.    Bye for now

[John Wheeler]

Owen:

I have used percentages on my lifts + 5kgs. atop my best as my target thus my workout schemes/percentages are based on these.  As far as my squats and presses I calculate them from my 100% best on each of these.  Finally my pulls I add 10-15 kgs. above my best in the lifts as a rule.

I have trained both by instinct and by percentages and I typically use instinct, but I have recently found that cycling is helpful to me given my age (53) as it keeps me from overtraining and allows for recovery.

I also will adapt my workout based on how I feel on a given day.  Listening to your body is a key to success. I am still learning after all of these years and I enjoy discussing training with other lifters and this is an excellent forum by which to do so.

All the best in your training and continued success!

John

[Brooke Burkhalter]

Very interesting topic Brooke.    When you speak of percentages do you mean a percentage of Snatch or C & J or do you mean a percentage of Pulls or Presses or Squats.   Or do you mean a percentage of what your next goal is.   Each is different.  Also what do John and Sjak think.    Bye for now

I base them roughly off of my PR's in each lift, at least PR's from a cycle or two back. And I try to add weight when I am feeling it and/or when I think my technique is doing well. Like this week, snatch felt good so I added an extra 2.5 kilos to my sets. If I miss more than two times now I go back down and work at lower weights. I used to blast away missing 5-6 times out of competitive ridiculousness but I think that did more harm than good.

 Clean, Power Cl - based off latest max clean. Same for Sn and Power Sn
Squats and Deadlifts - based off max squats and Deads. I vary these more than anything usually
Pulls based off of max clean or snatch but may go heavier if I feel it. To me the Sn and Cl Deads are more like slow pulls with shrug usually anyway. But I will do the high pulls at less than max lift probably as well.
Jerk Dips, Jerk Recovery - will be well above the jerk typically. Maybe 120-130% above jerk pr.
Presses - I try to leave 2-3 reps in the tank.


Dips and Chins, Situps whatever I can do.

I had my best results just after I initially learned basic technique, horrible technique, but I listened to my intuition and my body and progressed pretty steadily. Then I got someone to help with plans (but not onsite coaching) and pretty much only increased in squats and in size/bodyweight and very little in the lifts. Until I can find a coach I really think can guide me I may just stick with doing it myself for planning.

[Jack]

I had a great workout last Thursday and Saturday and this week, my Tuesday session was very difficult to get through.  For years I did not use periodization but as I have eluded to in a previous post I am trying a four week cycle and I must admit it has been difficult at times to pull the reigns in so on those days I go for it and it is nice on other days especially those of low energy to adhere to a range of percentages for a specific workout or exercise.

In fact, I have been considering working out 5 days a week, breaking the classical movements down with pulls on M-W-F and doing my squats and assistance work on T-Th, however at 53 I am mindful of the need for recovery.  At present I train three days a week and walk and or cycle and or swim on the remaining days.

I am appreciative of the dialogue with you and others and to Chris for this forum that allows us to participate in discussions relative to the sport we enjoy.  Have a great day!

John

thanks John,
I agree to go for it when you feel it happening, I always do it myself.  Your adherence to percentages on low energy days might be better than my instinctive approach. The 5 days a week training is so seductive! I've done a long stint of every day training, wich started out at first as 3x per week training, with added technical light workouts in between. What stopped me in the end were my knees, wich started to complain. In retrospect, I feel that overtraining on pistols (1 legged squats) wich were a source of pride for me, was adding insult to injury. A great feature of 5+ days a week training was in my mind, the short workouts and the surplus energy I could spend on each lift or assistance exercise because of the more divided routine.

I share your caution with regards to recovery. Personally, the slow strength movements seems to hit me harder in that regard than the two full lifts. thanks a lot for your feedback John!

Sjaak

 

[Jack]

Brooke,

Thanks for explaning your workout and load build up. It's a very organized approach. I agree fully with your experiences with blasting on through misses, It also always set me back in the end. I share your approach to the high pulls with less than the max lifts, too heavy here, and the pull is very different. Your thoughts on (self) coaching seem spot-on.

Owen, I hope you'll find something of value in these posts.

Sjaak

[Brooke Burkhalter]

Sjaak,

I do heavy pulls as well. Probably up to 120-130% over max. I guess that's more of a deadlift+shrug. Mainly cause I like them and they have given me confidence off the floor and it makes sense to me to have strength pulling as well as squatting however dumb that may be.

[Brooke Burkhalter]

Wed 17 June 09

Probably an easy pool workout of sprint drills, sprinting, etc. in the shallow end of the pool.
Maybe an easy ab and and light light weight circuit as well.

Knees sore from having to do front squats without locking out at the top yesterday. If I locked out at the top my quad tendon (vastus lateralis side) and ITB at knee insertion really caused a lot of pain when starting the decent.

I find full rest days of doing nothing often times makes me tight and lethargic so I rarely take a day of doing nothing. Plus I am somewhat antsy and ADD. 

[John Wheeler]

Brooke and Sjaak:

I am curious about your perspectives on a 5-day a week routine, what it might look like?  I know that you had mentioned Sjaak that it appealed to you in terms of workout duration (for me this is very appealing) also in terms of energy levels.  I would say that perhaps something like the following could be considered:

Day 1 Snatch, Snatch Pull
Day 2 Front Squat, Press
Day 3 Jerks, light Snatch, Overhead Squat
Day 4 Back Squats, Press
Day 5 Clean and Jerk, Clean Pulls

I would be very interested in your thoughts and thanks for the discussion.

John