"ATHLETIC LIFTING" tagio's workout journal

[Tagio]

Monday Nov. 19

i thought about it and made a guess that the shoulder pain was caused by jerking the weight from behind the neck with a snatch grip (very wide grip). i was doing this to perform overhead squats and also drop snatches. so on this workout i did snatches instead, with some extra overhead squat reps. this turned out to work perfectly, my shoulders are completely back to normal now.

Overhead press
this is the beginning of week 4, which should be the highest volume week, so i did a lot of sets on overhead press.

95x5reps
115x4reps
95x5
115x1
95x5
115x1
95x5
95x5

muslces felt nicely fatigued by the end of this


Snatch
up to 105 for singles

did variations. power snatch, hang powersnatch, squat snatch, hang powersnatch, and some extra reps of overhead squats. i can hang powersnatch 105 easily but my form and overhead support are shaky enough that i didn't want to increase the weight. shoulders felt great, overhead support felt better than previous weeks. getting better at jumping right under the weight in overhead squat position.

pullups
6 sets of 3


deadlift
singles up to 245x1
205lbs, 3 sets of 5 reps

continued to add weight from previous weeks. getting harder but then that's the point! noticing some growth in my traps by this point

very good workout. i was really happy to fix the shoulder pain problem, i was afraid i'd have to cut my overhead work but in fact i just need to change my exercise selection a bit. no problem!

 

[Tagio]

Weds Nov. 21
Yesterday's workout outdoor workout with oly lifts

Snatch to 105 for doubles

same as monday but with more reps. grip felt a little tired after a bunch of sets and this always screws up my form - the weight feels heavy in my hands so i pull wrong. form was great until this happened though.

grip and bottom portion of deadlift are long-standing weak points for me, so i'll be prioritizing those in the next 6 week cycle. i don't use chalk or straps and i plan to keep it that way except to use chalk in competition or PR oly lift attempts. no reason my hands can't get stronger

Clean and jerks to 155

did a complex of 1 push press, 1 jerk with the weights starting at 135lbs. at 155 the jerk form still felt a bit wrong so i just did 2 push presses. when i do a push press, then a jerk, my jerk form is much improved so i'll be adding this exercise to my next cycle since jerks are a weak point for me.

went inside to finish workout:
SQUAT singles up to 275x1
FUCK YEAH. solid single, had more in the tank. i'm already close to my old P.R. of 315 after a month of training.

225x3
225x3
225x3
225x3
225x3

did lots of sets since this is my highest volume week in the cycle. last 2 triples took some willpower but bar speed was fine.

curls, hi rep presses with 65lbs (5 rep curl sets with little rest, 12 rep press sets)
wanted to work my bis and tris a bit since my upper arms are smaller than my forearms and i lack upper body strength. curls are not strict, using a bit of a rowing motion but not moving the legs or hips. will be doing random arm work at the end of workouts now.

wide pushup 4 set 5 reps - need some chest hypertrophy to provide a 'shelf' for my jerks and pushups are good for general athletic purposes. as you can see i can barely do any, i estimate 10 reps would be complete failure.

great workout, didn't feel demolished at the end of it but felt nicely fatigued all over. grip strength wore out quickly which is a sign of CNS fatigue, but this is good because i want to push a bit too hard this week, back off next week to recover and hit some PRs before starting a new cycle

 

[Tagio]

Haven't posted in a while but i've been working out, just finished my first 6 week cycle. here are the workouts I've been doing:

Friday Nov. 23

Push press to 165
Press 135 3 singles
115x5
115x5
115x4
115x4
95x5
95x5
95x4

high volume, trying to overreach a bit before my light week

front squat
245x1
225x2
225x2
185x4
185x4

same principle, some heavy weights then a lot of volume, trying to overreach a bit. first time front squatting 245 since i've been back training, felt heavy

 

[Tagio]

the following week i worked out with lower volume and did some random lifts. I didn't write down wednesday or friday but this was Monday, Nov. 26


Snatches with 135 several singles
Clean and jerk 135 5-6 singles
overhead press 65 3x8
curls (lol)
pullups 5,4

snatches felt good

weds and friday were similar, i did some benching and got up to 155x2. i'll be benching a lot in the next cycle so that gives me a good starting point. took it easy overall

 

[Tagio]

Monday December 3.

Attempted PRs in Overhead press, Overhead Squat and Clean deadlift

OHP
135x2
135x1
115x5
115x5
135x1
115x5

PR for volume, but unable to get the weights i was shooting for. I think training bench will help my triceps and delts grow a bit and i'll come back stronger on the press in the future.

powersnatch 135+5 rep OHS
squat snatch 135
squat snatch +4 ohs

highest powersnatch since i started lifting again, and PR on overhead squats for reps. 135x5 was my written goal out the beginning of this cycle and i managed it for 2 sets, very happy

pullups
x5
x5
x5
x5
in between deads

deadlift
315x1
315x1
225x2
135x5

pulled 2 singles with 315. this lift was not a priority in this cycle but i'm focusing on deadlifting in the next cycle and this gives me a starting point to work from.

awesome workout, started out crappy because i wanted bigger numbers on the press but overall i was very happy

 

[Tagio]

Wednesday December 5
Attempted Powerclean PR

Powerclean + Powerjerk
singles at
155, 185, 205
205 was my old PR in the powerclean AND the jerk - but i had never powercleaned AND jerked the weight before, I jerked it after a squat clean. This felt powerful and solid. This lift was one of my written goals when i began the program 6 weeks ago.

squat clean 225x1, x1
form sucked on the first one, second one was hard to stand up but form was good. my squat strength isn't quite up to par yet.

Back Squat Singles at 135, 185, 225, 245, 275, 295,

then 225x2, 225x2

295 was heavy but went up. old PR is 315, i'll be back there soon

press 65x12
snatch grip row 65x12

a little high-rep stuff to get the blood flowing

great workout.

 

[Tagio]

Friday November 7
felt a bit burned out after the two max effort sessions earlier this week but i stuck it out. goal for this session was matching my old front squat personal best, 245lbsx4 reps

power Snatch 135x1
snatch 135x1
this weight is getting easier, feels better in my hands. felt fatigued early, drained a bit from monday and weds.

front squat 135x2, x2, 185x1, x1, 225x1, x1, 245x4

almost called it a day after the single with 185, but i took a break, had a snack and came back at it and got my target weight. last 2 reps weren't too pretty. this set was a really intense effort lol

snatch grip rows (touching sternum with short pause) 85 a few sets of 7 or 8
reverse curls 65 lbs a few sets of 5
curls 45 lbs 2 sets of 8 ish
ohp 65x8 2 sets
(all barbell lifts)
some upper body high-rep work, got a nice little pump going lol

This was the last workout of my first 6-week cycle. overall it's been quite successful. the only goal i didn't make was my overhead press PR, and I still made good progress on that lift. I've added some muscle all over my body, i'm espeically noticing it on my shoulders, traps, upper back/lat area, and forearms. weight is up to 188.5 and my pants fit the same so i'm gaining some muscle and minimal fat. i plan to keep gaining weight slowly over the next 6 weeks. i'll only cut back on food if i notice disproportionate fat gain. I'll post up my program for the next 6 weeks soon

 

[Tagio]

6-Week Cycle #2

Monday:

Bench Press, 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps, alternating (slightly) wider and narrower grip from week to week

Snatch doubles or Snatch followed by overhead squat reps

Snatch grip deadlifts, 3 sets of 8 reps

Barbell Rows 3x8
OHP 2x15


Wednesday:

Complex of 1 push press, 1 power jerk, working up to 4-8 singles

One 'weird' exercise - barbell Turkish getup, One hand Snatch, walk for distance with weight overhead, anything like that

Some variation of cleans with box jumps in between sets

Back Squats 5 sets of 3

pullups in between squats

Friday:

warmup for the snatch
Bench 5 sets of 3
Snatch for singles (3-6 singles)
Clean deadlift 5 sets of 3 or 4 sets of 4
Rows 2 sets of 8
OHP 2 sets of 12

 

[Tagio]

Came up with some goal lifts for this cycle:

225 power jerk
405 clean grip deadlift
225 bench
175 snatch

These would all be true PRs for me, more than i've ever lifted before, and they're pretty ambitious but I think i'll get them.

2 workouts to post:

Monday December 10

bench
105x8
105x8
105x8
105x8

lots of reps because i've never done this lift with much frequency and my body is still figuring out how to do it efficiently. slowing down on last reps of every set but that's normal for me if i lift above 4-5 reps. felt fine, will increase weight next week and probably drop 1 set


powersnatch-squat snatch-3ohs
complex lift: one powersnatch, one squat snatch, 3 reps overhead squat

5 sets with 115

working on the snatch technique and building up the support muscles, as opposed to friday when i do snatches for heavier singles

snatch grip deadlift
135x8
135x8
135x8

started with a conservative weight. these are a great workout, i had more in the tank but i've never deadlifted with as much volume as i plan to in this cycle so i'm giving myself a chance to adapt. I'm doing these with a controlled negative and barely touching the ground, maintaining tension through the whole lift to try and build some isometric strength at the bottom and do a little bodybuilding style hypertrophy training (got a good pump in the erectors)

barbell row
95x8
95x8
95x8

pulling with clean grip to the sternum, near failure on last rep of last set

ohp
65x15
65x10

just getting a burn going

curl
65x8
DONE

fun workout

 

[Tagio]

Wednesday December 12

Push press, Push jerk
complex lift, 1 push press, 1 jerk. actually ended up doing 1 push press, 2 jerks. will lower reps if the weight gets too heavy for doubles.
I'm working the jerk separately this cycle because it lags behind my clean.
did 135 lbs for 5 sets of 1 push press +2 power jerks

Hang squat clean
worked the squat clean because my brother needed some work on the form, did hang squat cleans since i'm pulling from the floor on my monday and friday workouts.

2 doubles at 135
2 doubles at 155
2 singles 175
2 singles 185

these felt powerful and solid. will attempt to hang powerclean these weights next week, then hang squatclean greater weights the following week

one hand snatch 65 lbs, 2 reps each side, 4 sets
these are fun and really make you get full extension on your pull

back squat 5 sets of 3, 225 lbs
felt kinda slow, we didn't do a heavier single before our worksets this time and i think it slowed us down a bit but nothing too bad.
DONE

awesome workout, just feeling way stronger overall