10 Attempts.

I live in the spaces between the knurling. Where chalk collects and where my blood dries and flakes and eventually wears away, leaving behind a residue like the rust of my efforts and my spirit. Even with straps, my hands are tired and starting to tear. I probably should have quit by now, but for some reason I couldn't. I was more afraid of quitting than I was of trying again. I guess I took the path of least resistance, if you think about it.

I'm not sure what attempt it was when they started goading me. I wasn't counting. I just knew I hadn't made it yet.

"You're trying again? No way you're going to make this."

I didn't make it.

"He's gonna clark this."

I didn't make it, but I sure as shit didn't clark it.

"Mental intensity, that's what you're lacking! Your problem isn't in your body, it's in between your ears!"

Fuck you, you don't know shit about me. You don't know about what's in between my ears, you don't know the beating it's already taken, you don't hear the rhythm my heart beats.

"Jacob, just call it, you're not gonna fucking make it."

"Why are you still trying?"

"No, just fucking stop. You're not going to make it."

I don't know if they believed what they were saying, or if it was just their way of encouraging me. But in that moment, it didn't matter. I believed that they believed it, and I believe that if you tell me I cannot do something that is within the realm of physical possibility, I am going to do it or die fucking trying.

"You had one shot, and that shot was about three attempts ago. It's not going to happen."

It didn't happen.

I've been yelling back. In Russian and in English. I was getting in their faces, I was ready to fight. I tried again, missed again. My knees hurt way more than they normally do when I snatch. The shoulder that's been giving me trouble is pissed at me, screaming in my ear after every attempt. I ignore it.

"Is he seriously trying again?"

"You've got nothing left in the tank, nothing!"

I'd calmed down. Composed myself. Changed the music. Timed my attempt with it.

I missed.

I waited about thirty seconds, and got back down. I heard someone yell across the gym, "you're a loser!"

That word is familiar. "Loser."

I smiled. Real big. I can't explain it. I knew I had the rep before I even got into my start position. I smiled like I'd been keeping a secret and I was finally able to tell the world. Pull, hit, retreat. Ass-to-grass. Bar in the slot. There was never a chance that I was going to miss that attempt. If predestination is God's will, and in this world there is only me and the barbell, then one of us has to be God, and it wasn't going to be that fucking piece of knurled steel. Not today.

In weightlifting, the bar always wins. No matter what. It's not like other sports. You PRed? Go to a meet. Won the meet? Go to a bigger one. Won Nationals? Go to the Olympics. Take gold? Beat the all time record. Beat the record? Fuck you, add one more kilo, and then another, and then another. The bar always ends up being God, and I'm certainly never going to the Olympics, and I'm never going to win Nationals. But I'll struggle every day like I think I'm going for gold. I will put one more kilo on the bar, and I will miss, and I will miss, and I will miss, and the bar will always win more matches than I do, but I will fucking win when it counts, because to give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift (Prefontaine.)

I will be here, leaving the rust of my efforts and my spirit in the spaces between the knurling, where the chalk collects and I lay down to sleep. I'll wake up kicking and screaming, ready to go again, roaring like a bear, yelling in both of my languages, and my soul will bounce off the walls in the echo of the plates hitting the platform.

Can you hear me yet?

Am I loud enough?

The past week of training has been a solid 5 on TIOLI.

i did a bunch of stuff. None of it notable. On Friday at Cal Strength I went straight from 90 to 100 in the snatch and proceeded to miss it like 10 times. Cleaned 120 twice but missed the jerk, then on the third attempt missed the clean and tweaked my right knee again. Couldn't squat 405# yesterday. I'm going to take a week of squatting, my knees and back could both use a little bit of rest.

Well that's all.

I have nothing funny to say today.

I have nothing clever or funny to say so instead make fun of this picture. I think that's 270#.

Yesterday I C&J'd 270# for a PR (and 260# WITHOUT A PRESSOUT.) Glad my jerk is finally making progress again. MORE EXCITINGLY for me, I cleaned 300#. And it wasn't very hard. Seriously I went kind of ape shit when I made that lift. Today was crap, I was just beat. Power snatched 165#, power cleaned 225#. Tried to front squat but it wasn't happening. It's okay, I don't hate myself right now because I'm still excited about my 300# clean.

But then again, Donny Shankle snatches more than I front squat.

It's fine.

Nathan has a "Troll Me" sign on his forehead at all times.

Last night Nathan and I sat down to dinner at Chili's and within 3 seconds our waitress was trolling him. It was real good. She asked if she could get us some drinks, and Nathan said "Could I get a glass of water, please?"

To which she said "Nope."

WE'RE OFF AND RUNNING.

I finished my food a lot faster than Nathan (since I am the fastest eater in the world and Nathan is the slowest eater in the world,) so our waitress (HER NAME WAS KAYLA) asked if I'd like her to bring my dessert. I said no, I'd wait for Nathan, it should be about a half hour.

15 minutes later, she walked by, looked at Nathan's still thoroughly unfinished plate, LAUGHED, and walked away.

I loved every second of this.

P.S. Nathan didn't finish his dessert, he currently weighs 166#, I'm real fucking pissed about this.

Yesterday morning I snatched 80 and C&J'd 90 for some singles. In the afternoon I snatched 95 and C&J'd 121, for a PR. Only by 1kg, but it's 5kg more than I've C&J'd since early September. I'll take it. I think moving the bar into my fingertips for the jerk was a good idea. I see progress forthcoming.

Today I squatted 405#x2. I wanted the triple, but the second rep was a true grinder, took about 5 seconds from bottom of the hole to top. I'm still happy with it, it's a PR and I've never squatted over 400# for reps before. I also power snatch + snatched from knee 170#x3. I was hoping to do power snatch + power snatch from knee, but I ended up catching the second rep of every set in the hole. I'll take it.

Sunfish are stupid.

Firstly, this:


So, last night, I was at a table full of sunfish. No really. The Sunfish Face is a face originally implemented by Justin of 70's Big. He and Brent were here visiting, and they went to the aquarium. Justin encountered the giant sunfish, determined that it was retarded (it is,) and proceeded to make this face (Brent shown here):



Done properly, the Sunfish Face is accompanied by leaning slowly and aimlessly in one direction, tucking your arms close to your sides, and flicking your hands like useless little flippers.

I use this face whenever someone says something very stupid, obvious, or completely over my head. Since most things fall into one of these categories, I pretty much look like this all the time. Anyway, two of my good friends are in town for the Holidays, and last night we went to a coffeeshop. I told them about the Sunfish Face. We all began making it at different points during the conversation, but then, something so profoundly stupid happened (I don't remember what it was, but we were surrounded by hippies so it probably had to do with Occupying something) that we all made the Sunfish Face AT THE SAME TIME. Please understand, there were four people at this table, and only one of them (me) is retarded. One has a masters degree, one is about to finish his PhD, and one was a mechanical engineering student at Carnegie Melon, but he dropped out because he got fucking bored.

And there we were.

Just four sunfish drifting along in the sea of the world.

Aimless. Helpless

Outnumbered.

Flippers flicking pointlessly against the current.

So anyway yesterday was mostly crap for training, I snatched 185#, snatch high pull + hang snatched 195#, clean & jerked 225# for 3 singles, cleaned 245# and tweaked my knee pretty good. I racked 265# but didn't stand up, it didn't hurt much on the squat but the pull hurt and threw me off. I wrapped up my knees and tried to squat but the knee was feeling "funny" so I called it. I iced it and it's a little tender this morning but doesn't seem too bad. I'm change my jerk grip to less of a grip for a while...I tried it last night and it felt weird but I was definitely not inclined to press the bar, which is a huge problem for me. I'm hoping if I train it out of my fingers for a while it'll become natural and I'll actually be able to do a split jerk like a person who looks like they know how to do a split jerk.

I've been scraping ice off my windshield in the morning even though I live on the California coast.

Yeah I know it's only cold by Californian standards but get fucked I'm a Californian kthxbai.

Yesterday my friend, who is a bald headed Canadian fuck, trolled me in the most vicious, personalized way I've ever experienced. I'm both real angry and real impressed. First off, let me tell you that he is 5'7", 163, ripped as fuck, deadlifts 655# or something like that, has a really hot wife who deadlifts like 300# and still cooks dinner for him even though she could probably kick his ass. So this dude is trolling me merely by existing.

Anyway.

He owns a gym, and his gym shares the locker room with a really nice hotel. So he gets to use their hot tub and stuff. So he starts telling me that he met this really hot blonde chick about my age in the hot tub. And I'm like, great thanks bro, good to be reminded that I have no social life.

But he keeps going, because he is a fucking asshole.

He tells me he thinks she's my type. I remind him that she is in Canada.

He says she's a track athlete, seriously dedicated, doesn't really drink or party, etc. I remind him that she is in Canada.

He tells me he is probably going to see her again in the hot tub tomorrow. I REMIND HIM THAT SHE IS IN CANADA.

He tells me that he will tell her I'm not interested. At which point my brain goes "wait, is he actually trying to set me up with this girl?"

I remind him that she is in Canada...

Then.

He says.

Oh shit, I thought I told you...she's from the West Coast...Salinas, I think?

DAWN BREAKS IN THE DARK OF MY HEART.

A SOLITARY EMBER GLOWS, READY TO IGNITE AT HER GENTLE BREATH.

For about two fucking seconds. Then I remember that my friend knows where I live, and probably googled towns near it.

I. COULD. NOT. BE. MORE. TROLLED.

I hate Canada.

Anyway, yesterday I power snatched 175# for two singles, but caught the first one in the hole. Power cleaned 225# for a single, and took two attempts at 240# but caught them both in the hole. This is a new problem for me, normally when I power snatch/power clean I don't get under at all. I guess this is what happens when you start to get decent at the lifts, so I won't complain. I also front squatted 360# for a relatively easy 5# PR. I'll take it I guess.

Oh, and my friend the Bald Headed Canadian Fuck (BHCF) is trying to take credit for that PR.

Fuck.

Oh yeah, I have a blog.

I guess I've been lifting weights and stuff.

I snatched 102kg on Friday, for a 7kg PR, it's alright. I took about 20 maximal or near maximal attempts in total that workout, it's fine I don't need my traps to be functional anyway. Also I took $20 of Jon North's money because he bet me I couldn't make 102. Oh yeah, I train at Cal Strength on Fridays now, so that's pretty cool. It's a pleasant reminder that I am a pretty worthless weightlifter.

The next morning I squatted 400#x3, I'd been trying and failing to do a double for the last few weeks. 15# PR triple while cutting weight okay I guess.

Oh yeah, I'm cutting to 85kg. Only about 10kg more to go.

Did my first meet a few weeks ago, I went 80/112 as a very light 105 (95.3) I suck.

Yesterday I snatch + hang snatched 185# for 3 sets, clean & jerk + jerk 215# for 2 sets, and squatted 400#x1. It's good to know I can now snatch 185# like I used to snatch 175#, i.e. it's my "I will make this every day" weight, and it's good to know I can squat 405# even when I feel like shit and have a tension headache.

In other news, I still have the worst split jerk in the world.

Bite

Bite your lip, baby

I wanna wonder

What you're thinking

Tell me with your fingertips

I do too much cardio.

Here are some things I am forced to do on a daily basis which I believe are far too similar to cardio.

1. Coaching. Do you know how much walking you have to do in order to effectively coach a large group of people spread out across 2400 square feet? Seriously folks, that's a lot of calories burned. The alternative, of course, is to just sit in the middle of the room and yell, but that takes a lot of air, so it's really not much better.

2. Getting out of bed quickly. My alarm isn't near my bed (so that I don't repeatedly hit the snooze button,) and in order to shut up it's horrendous noise I have to walk across the room. I hate the noise so much that I get of bed pretty damned fast. Definitely cardio-esque.

3. Cleaning. There is a lot of movement involved in sweeping, vacuuming, washing dishes, etc. I'm pretty sure it's catabolic.

4. Dealing with Nathan. Because it requires a LOT of yelling.

5. Eating quickly. Sometimes I have to shovel down a meal between classes. I'm moving that fork FAST, people, and not for just one rep.

6. Giving a fuck. As hard as I try not to, I find myself, at least once a day, giving a fuck about something. This can lead to elevated heartrate, moving quickly, and a distinct lack of getting hypertrophic. I'm taking lessons on Not Giving A Fuck from Brent to help me deal with this.

**********************************************************************************************

Let's talk about something awesome. Specifically, Ben kicking ass at Nationals last weekend. Observe:

NO BIG DEAL JUST SLANGIN' KILOS BRO.

***********************************************************************************************

Training yesterday was meh. Snatched 15x1 on :90 and managed to make 175 3 times, but missed it 4 times. Tried to squat but I'm thrashed. Gonna throttle back this week and come back strong on Monday.

...why is there a pug at the bar?

Let me tell you some funny things.

Last night Mariah and I went to a bar with a few friends. Mariah and I are cooler than you, so instead of drinking, we decided to eat ice cream, which we brought ourselves. I had Häagen Dazs chocolate chip cookie dough. Mariah had some Ben & Jerry's. The flavor doesn't really matter since Ben & Jerry's is CLEARLY inferior to Häagen Dazs. Also there was a pug at the bar. Mariah was really freaked out by this. We had the following conversation:

Mariah: Why the FUCK is there a pug at the bar?!

Me: Give me three good reasons there shouldn't be a pug at the bar.

Mariah: ONE it's a dog...TWO this is a people bar...THREE this is a vulgar environment...WHAT THE FUCK IS IT DOING HERE?! I think it's drinking beer. Out of a cup. It has foam on it's little snout.

Later Mariah told me "Before you know it, I'll be T. Colin Campbell with a pug at a bar, and I'll be like...feeding it breadsticks."

Mind you, Mariah was sober.

Also, I have some new aviator sunglasses, and they make Nathan very nervous. Seriously. He has trouble looking at me when I wear them. At one point I looked at him with a serious face and said "Sir" and he FREAKED OUT and goes "please...please don't do that Jacob."

Mind you, Nathan was sober.

Anyway, this was a better training week. Managed to snatch 195 yesterday, and C&J 245 and the jerk didn't hurt my knees. Cleaned 265 pretty easy too. Then squatted 385. My lower back was pretty shot and I was tired from snatch and C&J...think I have 405 fresh. I suppose I'll take it rather than leave it.

P.S. Before you ask, we brought the spoons for the ice cream too, from my house.

Per Aspera Ad Astra

No one tells you about hands.

I suppose it may be mentioned in passing, and it should probably seem obvious that in a sport that requires regularly lifting a roughened steel bar that weighs several hundred pounds, your hands will take a beating. But no one tells an aspiring weightlifter "By the way, there are going to be days when you think your palms are going to rip off like a worn out Band-Aid."

No one talks about how, some days, getting out of bed or into your car will seem like a chore, or about the frustration of missing the same weight, which might be 20kg under your PR, over and over and over again.

You're never going to hear about the days you need to spend 45 minutes warming up just so that your shoulders don't hurt like hell at the bottom of the snatch. You won't hear about being too tired to sleep, or being hungry no matter how much you eat, or how sometimes you don't want to eat at all.

No one will say "the ice doesn't help that much," or "you can only take so much ibuprofen," or "if you want to be good at this, you're going to have to beat yourself into the ground for weeks, months, years on end, and sometimes, when every voice in your body and your brain is telling you 'no, no, no!' you're going to have to listen to the stupid little voice in your stupid stubborn heart saying "YES, GOD DAMMIT, PICK IT UP AGAIN.' "

In short, no one is going to tell you "this is going to fucking hurt."

But you'll find out. I am in the process of doing so. It fucking hurts. In a new and different way than anything I've experienced before.

And it's important in a way nothing I've done before has been. Because I can tell that it's going to work. I can feel myself getting better, even as I seem to get worse. I ache from head to toe, and though some of my lifts aren't at PR level right now, they're still getting better. That's important, because there's a lesson in it.

The days when you want to quit, when your hands feel like they're going to fall off, when your knees and your shoulders ache, when the bar just feels too damn heavy from your first warm-up, when you're out of ibuprofen and the ice isn't cold anymore...those days, when you decide to listen to the stupid little voice in your stupid stubborn heart, and pick the bar up one more time, those days are opportunities to decide your fate. Anyone can do it on an easy day. Only those who do it when it hurts can become champions. And I'm not just talking about weightlifting. Every great runner's road has, at some point, felt too long, every writer's ink seems to have run dry, every singer's voice grown hoarse. And yet the Badwater is run every year, and great works of literature are written, and beautiful songs are sung, and heavy bars are lifted. Of course it's not easy. To hell with easy. Easy never got anyone anything other than mediocrity and maybe comfort. But comfort is complacency and I'm not interested in that. I'll take the pain and the exhaustion and the challenge. I'll get up tomorrow and ache and want anything other than to lift that bar again, and I will lift that bar again, and again, and again, and again, until the weights I lift today are warm-ups, and I've got my own fucking Wikipedia entry.

Nothing can stop me.

Per Aspera Ad Astra

**********************************************************************************************

7/12

Cleans - 285 for a 20# PR. 245x2x2

DB press - 80# DBs x3x3

Pullups/Chins: 12, 10, 10, 10 alternating grip each set

7/13

Snatch - 15x1 on :90, up to 175. Missed one rep with 145 and one with 175. No squats, knees hurt pretty bad after the cleans yesterday.

This post has been written a thousand times...

...but apparently the message isn't getting through, so here we go again.

This morning I dropped Brent off at the airbus station. Obviously I'm going to miss him, because he's hilarious, so I was in the mood to Troll. I went to a coffee shop that I haven't been to in a while, but where the baristas know me. I lucked out: one of my clients had borrowed my copy of "Starting Strength" and, knowing that I go to this place pretty regularly, he left it there for me to pick up as he's leaving the country for a while.

Now, these girls at the coffeeshop are fairly used to my crap, but I was on fire today. As I was leaving, I half jokingly offered to leave "Starting Strength" for them to read. This is pretty standard for me...I regularly try to convince them to come train at my gym. Upon reading the cover of the book, one of the girls said "Basic barbell training? I like looking like a woman, not a man."

Jesus, this again? Really?

Plenty of people who are much smarter than me have written a lot of material on why women should lift weights for health. I'm not going to do that here (but I will remind you that long, slow distance cardio increases the body's efficiency at storing bodyfat.) So instead I'm going to go with this: stick girl is not hot. I am in no way attracted to this:

Sometimes I see a girl who looks like this and I wonder "what are those things sticking out of her acetabulums?" before I realize that those are what she's using in place of legs. How the hell does she get around? Who's going to carry her to safety when the Zombie Apocalypse comes?

Ladies, so we're clear, this is what legs are supposed to look like:

I'm mostly preaching to the choir here. The females who read this blog aren't going to disagree with me, and the males who read this blog aren't reading anymore because they're staring at the above picture (I'm having trouble concentrating on writing now, as a matter of fact.) So if you know someone who needs to hear this, send it to them. Girls should lift. It makes you look better. It makes you more useful. It most certainly does not make you look like a man.

I'll leave you with this thought, ladies: I don't think it's cute or sexy when you need me to carry a fucking case of water from the car because it's just too damn heavy. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go coach two ladies who understand the utility of being STRONG.

*************************************************************************************

AM

Snatched 15x1 on :90. 5x135 (missed 3rd rep,) 5x145, 5x155

Squat 345x3x5 (high bar, no belt)

PM

Snatch to max - 165

FYI resting 2 hours between heavy sessions IS NOT ENOUGH.

If I could take a minute to not be an asshole...

The 70's Big Lifting Workshop is legit. We hosted one at CrossFit Monterey yesterday. Justin has one of the best eyes for movement I've seen, and his cuing is concise, effective, and usually funny. He does a great job of altering the seminar on the spot based on the needs and wants of the participants. It's a steal at $150. If there's one in your area, GO.

***************************************************************************************

I want to talk to you guys about a place that's very important to me. It's where I go when I'm happy or when I'm sad, when I want to celebrate or when I need something to get me through the day, when I need support, inspiration, or the fortitude to get through my second heavy session of the day.

I'm talking, of course, about Papa Chevo's taqueria.

No seriously you guys. I've probably eaten there once a day for the last week. I've gone there twice in a day before. You you can a big delicious burrito for five bucks. My go-to is a carne asada burrito with just cheese and guacamole, and a carne asada quesadilla, just meat and cheese. But of course, once in a while, I go jumbo:

Brent just told me he would not mind eating there again today, even though we've been there every day for the last four days. That's some fucking endorsement coming from a guy who pretty much hates everything.

Listen, seriously, go there okay. It'll make your life better. Ask Nathan.

*************************************************************************************

Gonna start incorporating some timed sets into my training. On double days, I'll snatch timed sets in the AM (light) and go for a max in the PM. When I squat will depend on my schedule that day.

This One's For You

Two knots

Tangled together

Through twilight

And midnight

Coming undone

***************************************************************************************

Nothing of note except that I managed an 245# clean entirely on rage. I was exhausted, everything hurt, and I felt off as shit. So I turned up Electric Frankenstein really loud and decided that I was just going to rip the bar off the floor. That seemed to work.

Guess I should fucking post something.

The last week has been shitty as fuck training. Shitty as fuck. But I can't really complain because in the last few weeks I've got some squatting back (365x3 high bar, unbelted,) pressed 200x3 unbelted, and snatched a 20# PR (205#.)

Last week someone told me I couldn't qualify for Nationals in 2012. Fuck that.

Check out this blog it is the best www.ohgodsheslookingatmebetterjuststicktosquatting.wordpress.com

I'm going to stay up late while Justin and Brent play Starcraft 2, and smoke a bunch of cigarettes. I think this will help me lift more tomorrow. It's science.

I have no title for this post.

Things are pretty awesome. Went to the Midtown Classic weightlifting meet on Saturday. Both of my lifters (Nathan and Shareef) did very well...Shareef snatched a PR but missed on a technicality, and all of Nathan's lifts were meet PRs.

I have a new gym. It is coming together. It is basically the shit.

6/16/2011

Snatch up to 175 for a few singles

6/17/2011

Snatch up to 155 for some singles

Front squat 185x3x2

RDL 135x10x3

6/20/2011

Snatch up to 155 for 2 singles

Squat 245x3x5

Front squats and cleans will come back much more slowly than snatches and squats...the sharp knee angle makes front squats pretty painful. All in due time, I suppose. For now my training plan is to snatch a lot, squat a lot, run hills as soon as possible, and do some other stuff like rows, chins, etc when I feel like it.

I'm back. Kind of.

Hi. This is my friend Ben, being a FUCKING MAN:


I couldn't bring myself to give a shit about blogging while not training. Now I'm back to training...kind of. I snatched a couple of times last week and things were getting better, so I'm doing a little more this week.

6/13
Snatched up to 3 singles with 165. This has been the best the knees have felt so far, and I did it without knee sleeves. PR?
Dumbbell Rows (standing, pulled from floor) - 190x10x3 (each side)

6/14
Squat 225x3x5. Hurt a little bit during the lift, but between and after were all fine. These were done high bar, again without knee sleeves (I have a new tattoo on my calf and don't want to have the neoprene all up in it's grill.)
RDL 135x10x3

I'm planning on resting tomorrow, snatching and doing some kind of upper body pull again on Thursday, and front squats and RDLs on Friday.

Going to a meet in Sacramento this Saturday. I have two lifters competing, and am looking forward to seeing some friends, Ben included, kick major ass.

Filler.

Maybe I'll write something later. I feel like I should, but I don't really have anything to write about.

"On" Days

Coaching the (loosely formed but rapidly growing) weightlifting team at CrossFit Monterey is the best and worst thing I do all day.

I am going crazy not training. Coaching and watching the team makes me miss it all that much more. When I'm cheering them on, I literally have this explosive energy running through me...I saw a video of me yelling at Nathan while he was going for a new 3RM squat the other day, and I'm stomping the fucking ground as hard as I can, like it's the only way I can exert some force against a Goddamned barbell. Frustrating doesn't cover it.

But then again, you can have "on" days with coaching just as you can with training, and I think I did today. Bailee hit a PR clean (110#) and Shareef hit a PR snatch (175#.) These didn't have a lot to do with my coaching: Bailee C&J'd 100# the other day and it was clear she had more on the clean, so she came in and crushed it. Shareef is a freak of nature, I don't know what to say about him. I don't know who else just shows up and PRs their snatch by 15#.

Nathan, on the other hand, didn't PR, but in one session we 1) found something we needed to fix, 2) found the cue necessary to fix it (in my experience it usually takes 2-3 sessions after finding the problem to determine a cue that works optimally to correct it,) and 3) developed a new ramp-up protocol that I think is going to get him much more consistent at 90%+ weights. I'm pretty sure the only reason he didn't PR today is because he was tired by the time we got there, but he still hit 5# under his PR snatch, and the rep he did at 10# below was probably the best rep I've ever seen out of him.

Overall, I can't complain.

I still want to lift some fucking weight though.

The Blueprint

It was a rough couple of days, but I've been listening to HOV all day, and my Swag is on high.

This is what I'm going to be doing as of June 6, whether my knees are better or not.

Monday

Snatch to 1-2 misses, drop to 80% of best and work back up

Clean & jerk heavy single, 10-15 reps of volume with 85-90%

Squat 5x5 high bar

Tuesday

Snatch, whatever I feel like

Press/Push Press, 15ish reps of volume

Barbell Rows, for the Yammage

Thursday

Clean & Jerk heavy single, volume whatever

Front Squat 3x5

Weighted Chins, for the Yokeage

Saturday

Snatch to max

C&J to max

Squat 3RM, 2RM, or 1RM high bar

I will do GPP as well: plyos on Monday and Thursday (before training, probably in the AM,) sprint intervals/hills on Tuesday and Saturday (after training whenever possible.)

4 days a week, three movements a day, HEAVY FUCKING DUTY EVERY DAMN TIME.