Update

Tuesday
Barbell Complex
RDL
B.O. Row
Hang Power Clean
Front Squat
Press
Back Squat
Good Morning

8 reps @ 95
6@115
4@135
2@155
1@185
2@155
4@135
6@115
8@95

Pretty tough

Wednesday
Clean - 5x3 @ 225
Back Squat - 5x5 @ 315
Press - 3x5 @ 150
Clean Pulls - 5x3 @ 315

Thursday (Thanksgiving)
Gym Closed
Strict Chin Ups - 10x5 w/ 1 minute rest
3 Rounds for time
50 meter walking lunge
150 meter sprint
4:30-5:00ish (approximate, i accidentally hit the stop watch in the middle of my 2nd round)

Monday 11/22

Busy day at the gym
Snatch - 3x3 @ 185
Behind the neck Jerks - 3x5 @ 240
Front Squat - 5x3 @ 254
Snatch Pulls - 5x5 @ 205
Split Squats - 10x5 each @ 135# - 1 minute rest
Bent Over Rows - 10x10 @ 185 - 1 minute rest
Decline Pushups - 5x10 - :30 rest
Sit Ups - 50

This is the beginning of week 3 in my linear progression experiment. The squats (both front and split) felt easy. I'll keep upping those 10# every week. The Jerks aren't bad but definitely are my weakest point. The auxillary work was a bit much. If I feel like I start to suck at the important stuff (classic lifts and squats) these will get toned down... a lot. Either way it was nice to have a day go right and to not be starving in the gym.

Post workout meal was ham, bacon, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and mozzarella.

Interview with Tommy Kono

Zen and Weightlifting

“On this trip I think we should notice it, explore it a little, to see if in that strange separation of what man is from what man does we may have some clues as to what the hell has gone wrong in this twentieth century. I don’t want to hurry it. That itself is a poisonous twentieth century attitude. When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and to get on to other things” – Robert Pirsig

This quote, taken from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is how I would like to address my “career” in weightlifting. I know that I am not a world class athlete and if I am in something it isn’t in weightlifting. But it is something that I enjoy, very much. I want to get into it, study the sport and learn for myself what it takes to be great (everything is relative). Weightlifting for me is a journey, a trip. Not a destination to London in 2012 or Rio in 2016. It is rather something that I enjoy and because of this want to do as well as my body will allow me. I want to focus my energy in the gym of maximizing what I can do with what I have been given. I will not be fickle in choosing programs but will invest the requisite time and energy in deciding what is successful and what isn’t.

For the moment I am following a linear progression model of Olympic weightlifting. Has it been successful? I’m not sure. It has been with the “power” movements. Will it be successful? Not the faintest clue. It is a well outlined plan but that means little in the face of actual, in the trenches, work. But, because success in weightlifting is purely objective (most weight wins) I can take the time to analyze my time spent.

To “get my hands dirty” and to get to know my sport in the fullest since is my ultimate weightlifting goal. Obviously, there are objective goals to keep me on track, Snatch 120, C&J 160 and after that, possibly nationals, but these are goals in the process. I will not hurry this goal or speed it up beyond its intended speed. When (if) it happens, it happens. But the journey to weightlifting greatness (again, relative) involves a lot of introspection and focus on understanding to the best of my abilities.

These are my goals.

Dat's Wass Up

The Mechanisms of Hypertrophy
How to Start Your Own Weightlifting Team (Tanner, read this)

Haiku's are hard to, Write sometimes they don't make sense, Refridgerator

Squats make my legs burn,

I am wobbly the next day,

Eat to recover

Adam Richmond has,

Nothing on my gastono-

Mic abilities

Testosterone lev-

Els rise when squatting more than

Double bodyweight

Protein to build mass

Fats to help me recover,

Carbs fuel the Workout

When Squatting heavy,

Don’t forget to go to the

Bathroom first. Uh-Oh!