Block & Pull Cycle 2018, Training

Block & Pull Cycle 2018: Week 3

BP18.W3.D1.0116

  • Blocks (above the knee) Sn Pull + Sn 2(1+1): 2×1 @ 70% / 151, 2×1 @ 75%/ 161
  • Blocks (above the knee) Cl Pull + Cl 2(1+1): 2×1 @ 70% / 228, 2×1 @ 75% / 244
  • Clean lift off + Pull (3+1): 4×1 @ 80% / 260
  • Pause BS: 5×4 @ 65% / 325

Snow day! Normal classes were canceled until the evening, but a few of us ventured out and made it in.  The roads were not too terrible.  Certainly slick but since I wasn’t in a rush it was fine.  School for my girls was canceled in the middle of the night and my wife’s work was delayed 2 hours, so I had no reason to rush in our out of the gym.  The block work was tough today.  It took a while to get warmed up and I while I hit everything I had to hit, it still felt out of sync.  On the cleans, I kept catching them forward and the bar was crashing down on me, which doesn’t normally happen.  Going to chalk this up to it being 12 degress outside and having a hard time warming up.

BP18.W3.D2.0117

  • Jerk: 3 @ 70% / 228, 3 @ 75% / 245, 2×2 @ 80% / 261, 3×2 @ 85% / 277
  • Hang PC (below the knee): 3×3 @ 65% / 196
  • Heaving SB: 3×4 @ 65% / 140
  • Accessory: 5 rounds NFT: 15 reverse hypers, 10 upside down KB presses (35#), 1:00 plank

Today was pretty rough.  My knees and hips just did not want to get moving at all.  I didn’t miss anything, but it took me longer to get through the jerks and they certainly felt heavier today.  Just made it through and then spent a lot of extra time stretching and rolling out afterwards.

BP18.W3.D3.0119

  • Pull + Sn (Blocks, below the knee) 2(1+1): 2 @ 75% / 161, 2 @ 80% / 172
  • Pull + Cl (Blocks, below the knee) 2(1+1): 2 @ 75% / 245, 2 @ 80% / 260
  • Sn Lift Off + Pull (3+1): 4 @ 80% / 172
  • FS: 2×2 @ 70% / 295, 4×2 @ 75% / 315

Made sure to wrap my knees up good, even on the first few sets of cleans, since they were so beat up last night (Ended up breaking down and taking some Ibuprofen for them).  The snatches felt a little heavy, at least heavier than they have, but as I got warmed up, I was able to move through them.  I took more time on them than I probably should have, judging by the clock.  The cleans were difficult as hell.  These pulls off the blocks used to not feel so hard.  Just have to get my mind in attack mode on them and grind through it.

BP18.W3.D3.0119b

Went to the “Push + Pull” event for guys at the gym and tested my 3RM.  Ended up pulling 3×520 for a PR.  Wrote up a ton of details about all of that here.

BP18.W3.D4.0120

  • PP+J (2+1): 2 @ 65% / 212, 2 @ 70% / 228
  • Hang PS (below the knee): 3×3 @ 60% / 129
  • Pin BS just above parallel: 3×3 @ 55 % / 275, 2×3 @ 60% / 300

I did not sleep well the night before.  My body was tired, but my mind wouldn’t shut off.  I got such very little sleep.  On top of that, I had about 2 gallons of water yesterday which meant more bathroom breaks needed all freaking night long.  Getting up and getting moving was a struggle, but I had to wake up early and work out before the 7am coaches meeting.  I also had to get home, get showered and changed, and eat, before I had to take my youngest to gymnastics.  By the time I got home, I crashed.

BP18.W3.D5.0121

  • Snatch: 2 @ 70% / 151, 2 @ 75% / 161, 2 @ 80% / 172, then work to a heavy single.  I went 185, 195, 200x.
  • CJ: 2 @ 155, 2 @ 185, 225, 250, 275, 295x

Today was brutal.  I should have known better. My body just had not recovered well enough from all the work on Friday.  The deadlifts proved to take such a toll on my back that in the pull on the snatch at 200 I had to let it go.  Everything just locked up.  The same with the pull on 295 in the CJ.  I still worked up to about 90% of my 1RM on the lifts, which is really a miracle given how I felt.  If I was being honest, I probably should have made it just an 80% day and been done with it.  Given how I felt, I opted to skip the FS.  I just didn’t think 5×3 @ 80% would have been smart given how I felt.

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