More Reps.
May 31, 2011
I went to a small show tonight to see Asobi Seksu. But I left early because I needs my 8 hours, hater! I did, however, stay to see this band.
Scattered Trees, you get extra points for your elevated metachlorian count and tight harmonies.
PM
Power snatch: 110. Missed a 120, and took a few more triples at 100 with a pause to make sure I was hitting properly.
Power clean: Took it up to 140, a weight that I couldn’t even full clean yesterday morning. Went down to 100 for a set of 5 and a few more doubles at 120. It’s amazing how much better it feels after getting a decent amount of reps in.
I finished off the workout with some jerks from the rack just for funzies.
Also. My buddy, Dan, sent me this self-portrait that he did the other day.
He used egg wash with delicious meaty accents.
Just Snatch.
May 30, 2011
A few tips if you find yourself missing snatches.
1) Start problem solving from the ground up. If you set up a lift wrong, you will finish a lift wrong.
2) Are you finding your positions that you need to hit? Are you over the bar when you need to be? Are you making contact at the hip?
3) Just snatch. Repetitions are your best teacher. Don’t look over at your coach after every attempt, just do it better. Load more weights on until you start missing, take weights off and start all over again. Try doing heavy doubles or even triples from the hang. Snatch until it feels better. Snatch until you’ve developed a better understanding than you had when you walked into the gym that day because chances are, by the time you walk back into the gym the next day, you will have forgotten a percentage of what you learned. So learn as much as you can.
That being said, my snatches looked like shit today. Actually, I looked pretty shitty in general today. I’m tempted to not even post my workouts.
AM
I’m not posting this.
PM
Snatch: I barely got a 130. Worked back down to 100 and worked back up to 120 for triples off the blocks.
Clean and jerks: I embarrassed myself by getting pinned under 150 today. I looked around to see if anyone else had seen it and of course they had. I worked back up from 100 off the blocks. I made a dece’140 and didn’t even come close with 50.
I wonder if anybody else fluctuates as much as I do.
Also.
I just picked up this album. I’m really into a couple tracks but not so into the rest. Good if you like groups like The XX, Deerhunter or Woods.
Stealth.
May 28, 2011
Do you ever feel envious of the people who grow up wanting to be something? I’m talking about the people who applied to multiple colleges because these specific schools “have a really good (insert profession) program.” Do people grow up knowing that they want to become doctors? Every time someone my age or younger succeeds at something like graduating law school, or starts their own business, or gets into med school or invents some new improvement of a bicycle brake, I get the sudden urge to start kicking people in the face. Then I get the urge to go lift weights.
When I was a kid, I wanted to draw comic books for a living. Specifically, I wanted to be the inker. There was always something about those dark lines and blacked out areas that always carried some mystique with it. I never went to art school though. So now I lift weights. I always wanted to be strong.
Drinking and drawing.
Workouts:
I missed my AM workout today. May go get a “stealth” session in later. Then I’m going to get drunk and draw pictures.
(Note: Going “stealth mode” is a term that my friends, Will and Chris, coined for working out after hours.)
More Ink.
May 26, 2011
inked, scanned, and touched up a bit.
I love ink.
PM
Had a really bad power snatch/clean workout.
Next Level.
May 25, 2011
I sketched a bunch of portraits tonight. Then I stayed up WAY too late editing a couple on my new and improved software. I’m just getting the hang of a few basic features that should take my art game to the next level.
Technology.
Looking at this again, it still looks pretty rough and vectorized. I would consider it a learning experience. Oh, I also spent a couple hours “in the studio” yesterday working on some super secret musical projects.
AM
OK, party’s over. Only one workout today. I’ll do my 1st double on Friday. Then it’s back to the PR machine come Monday.
Snatch: Went up to 120. Took a 130 but somehow managed to slow the space time continuum enough for the pull to last what seemed to be like 5 seconds before missing.
Clean and jerk: My knee’s still ached pretty bad so I went to 120, went back down and powercleaned up to 130. I “Clarked” the shit out of 140 and then sat down for 45 minutes. Not great. But it will come back . . . It always comes back.
The Official V-Neck Workout.
May 24, 2011
I’ve decided that this was the last day of fun before I ease myself back onto the “program.” So since yesterday’s installment of “The Official V-Neck Workout” was the chest and tri’s edition, it seemed fitting that today be the back and bi’s edition (which is funny because I spent the entire day on Sunday convincing people that I don’t do this shit).
So here it is:
Power cleans: 5×3 at 100kg. Why? Because I don’t count it as working out unless I snatch or clean and I really wanted to “un-glue” my knees a bit. Also, the best pumps are caught AFTER a productive barbell lift. This shouldn’t be new information to you guys but is somehow lost knowledge to the regular gym rat.
Pull-ups: Keep it functional, bro.
Lat-Pulldowns/Pendlay Row: alternate between these for a FAT lat pump. Sets? Reps? No. Continue this until jacked.
Finish up with some curls and some core work. And by “core,” I mean wrist curls.
Glute/Ham raises and isometric hamstring work: because nothing says “jacked” like a big ass.
Norcal Open.
May 23, 2011
I’ll hurry up and give you guys a quick write up of how the meet went yesterday. I’ll probably do a more in depth post about it when I have some more time.
Snatch:
The attempts I had in my mind were 138, 143 (which would be a meet PR), and 145. I ended up missing my opener at 38, repeated the same weight and then made 40. That’s not so great for me. 140 feels like it should be standard ops but I instead keep fuckin’ around on my openers.
See what I mean? Not great. I need to stop messing around and get my 150.
Clean and jerk: I was feeling REALLY confident on these; confident enough to open with a meet PR of 166. For those of you who don’t lift competitively, gym PRs feel WAAY different than meet PRs. So even though I made 170 a few weeks ago, it still didn’t feel like my “real” PR if that makes any sense. Anyways, I made 66, jumped to 171 (PR) and then missed 75.
AM
The Official V-Neck Workout (Chest and Tri’s edition).
I tried doing some power snatches, but I was just really unmotivated. I’ll start back up on Wednesday and be up to full speed by Friday. Until then I’m going to take off a few lbs and get yoked.
Bench: 225 for like 4 sets of 8-12. I wasn’t really paying attention.
Band pull downs and push-ups on kettlebells: Will and I alternated between these for like 10 minutes. Again, we paid no attention to reps or sets, just swollage.
Tricep extensions: Taking it back to high-school.
Glute-Ham raises and other miscellaneous stuff.
If I work out again this afternoon it will probably be slightly less bro-ey. But only slightly. It was funny to me how many people razzed me for my arms yesterday, especially since I hardly ever even do pull-ups or muscle-ups anymore. One time I told Greg Everett that the core of my workout routine was tricep kickbacks. We laughed. Weightlifters can sometimes be a judgmental bunch.
Meet Prep.
May 21, 2011
Let me apologize for the mental emptiness that was this week. the only thing that I’ve been able to focus on is this meet. Everything else takes a backseat. I’ve been training hard the last 2 days, thanks in part to my friend, Will, for giving me the mental boost.
Thursday I did my regular Power snatch/clean workout. Nothing notable happened except for I power cleaned 150, matching my previous PR.
Yesterday I only trained once. I went up to 130 on the snatch and 150 on clean and jerks (missing the jerks). Missing didn’t worry me too much. If everything goes to plan tomorrow, I’m going to open with a meet PR on the Clean and Jerk. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll be posting video of my attempts.
This was posted on 70′s Big a LONG time ago. The song has been on my workout playlist ever since.
Dillon!
May 18, 2011
I’ve been working my ass off trying to get ready for the meet this weekend. It’s to the point where I’ve become socially awkward because I can’t talk about anything else because I don’t want to think about anything else. That’s the nature of weightlifting though; the more into it you get, the more everything else suffers.
Yesterday I did my usual power snatch and power clean workout. I wanted to redeem myself after Monday’s less than stellar workouts. Today was much better. 10 AM Barbell club was full of energy and my long lost workout partner, Will, came back to give me a much needed kick in the balls (a figurative kick in the balls). When he walked in and we shook hands, it probably looked something like this:
AM
Snatch: Took it up to 130. Went back down and worked up with Will to 110.
Clean and jerk: ”Nobelted” a nice 150. Took 160 a few times but couldn’t rack it. I should’ve spent more time loosening up my shoulders.
Time to eat, ice, stretch, sleep, heat, and repeat.
PM
Snatch: worked up to 130 and missed it. Puzzled, I went back down to a hundo, worked up to 30 and made it twice.
Clean and jerk: Worked up to 160 and missed it. The belt came off and Will and I began taking up doubles. We reasoned that if we were “big timers” we could do things for doubles. ”Big timing (to big time)” became a verb for the rest of the session. 120, 130, 140, 150, and finally I missed my 2nd rep at 160. But I’m pretty sure I took home the No Belt Peace Prize for the day.
Here’s me having a great time. I don’t think the 150×2 was actually a PR, but that didn’t stop me from telling everybody that it was.
Secret Projects.
May 16, 2011
Summertime. That means that very soon, I am going to have at least a few extra hours a week on my hands; hours that can be used to once again get my creative machine up and running again. I have a number of projects that I am currently taking into consideration and deciding what I can and should divvy up some extra time for. I am reluctant to say exactly what, but you can be sure that I am going to do some writing, figure drawing, ink wash/watercolor and secret musical projects. I’m also looking into what would be the best way for me to start illustrating on my computer (let’s face it. I need to get with the times and learn how to properly start digitally adding color to my art.) This may or may not necessitate purchasing another computer specifically for creative purposes and will definitely demand that I shell out the money for any software involved. After all, this is an art website, which means that I should start finding time to make some damn art!
Here’s a little beat I made. I just now named it “Between the Bars” unless you can figure out a better name for it.
AM
Snatch: 110 for 3 singles.
Clean and Jerk: 130 for 1.
Squat: 210 for 1.
PM
Snatch: 120 for a couple.
Clean and jerk: Worked up to 150.
