Saturday night we went to the wedding of a long time family friend. There are four families - our parents are all friends and have been for many years. Of all the children, I’m the second oldest and Saturday’s groom is among the youngest. I remember clearly when he was born. Kinda weird.
Typical wedding in most ways - The bride was beautiful, the ceremony was nice, the food was good, the booze was tolerable, the DJ was crap.
The reception was held in a really neat art gallery / studio. It’s a big building, divided into one main center hall and two side halls. The center hall is open, two stories tall. That’s where the dinner and dancing happened. The first floor of the two side halls are used as galleries. One could walk through there and see the art on display. Then, above the side halls, on the second floor, were about a dozen studios on each side. We had plenty of time to wander about, looking at the art on the wall and in glass cases in the center of each gallery hall. Cool place to have a reception.
It was also my 4 yr old daughter’s first ‘big girl party’. She had a blast. She loved the fancy cake, the dressing up and the dancing. She felt very special and grown up. Pretty cool.
Workout
This morning I finally tested my 15x OHS @ BW goal…
- OHS
- 10x @ 45#
- 10x @ 95#
- 5x @ 115#
- 3x @ 135#
- 3x @ 155#
- 1x @ 175#
- 1x @ 185#
…and failed.
- OHS (cont.)
- 11x @ 160#
On my 12º rep I took a deep breath, pulled my arms apart hard, squatted low, felt solid, started to rise…and fell completely apart. It just seemed like everything gave way at once. My arms, my lats, my stomach, my spinal erectors, my legs - all gave up. I had to dump out of 160# overhead from a full A2G squat. I’m pretty ticked off about it. It felt good going down, but I just couldn’t stand up. My mind did not give up, my body did.
Somewhere, sometime, I heard or read JB’s wife say that an athlete’s body should do any reasonable thing its mind asks of it. I think that’s pretty accurate. Now I just have to figure out if I was asking something unreasonable or if I’m not yet the athlete I think I am. Either way, my expectations are not in line with the reality. I need to readjust. That’s tough.
- Clean & Press / Push Press
- 10x C&P @ 95#
- 5x C&P @ 115#
- 5x C&P @ 135#
- 3x C&P + 2x C&PP @ 155#
- 5x C&PP @ 155#
- 3x C&PP @ 155#
- 3x C&PP @ 165#
- 3x C&PP @ 165#
- Barbell TGUs
- 3×6 (3x ea. arm) @ 70#
3 Comments
So up until last week, I’d only done OHS with a super-lightweight bar to hold form. On Friday, I tried the little bar (18#?) with no problem. Then Jesse helped me get into starting position with the regular bar (45#?) and I couldn’t even start to squat. (Note that I can’t even get the dumb bar overhead by myself.) Once up there I just wobbled for a few seconds, laughed a bunch, and begged Jesse to take the bar from me. I tried again later much to the same effect.
I have no idea how you can even hold 185# over your head, much less squat with it. I am truly amazed.
Doc,
First, I outweigh you by…I don’t know. At least 40#, I’d guess. Right? Secondly, I have two fantastic little testosterone factories you don’t have.
Considering those two factors, I’d say the equivalent weight for you would be somewhere around 110 - 115# (Siff coefficient and whatnot).
I started out a year ago the same place you are now.
In Feb ‘07 I started out each workout with 3×15 OHS with a broomstick. When that became comfortable in a few months, I progressed to an empty 45# bar.
Then I just kept doing them and growing, adding weight bit by bit.
Just like anything, negatives help.
Set the safety pins in your rack up high - maybe just below shoulder height. Get that 45# bar overhead then simply squat slowly and under as much control as possible until that bar rests on the pins.
Let go the bar, stand up, do it all over again. Do a set of 10 at the beginning of every workout. Add 5# in a week or two.
When you’re doing negatives comfortably with 65# or 70#, try a full OHS with an empty bar. At that point I think you’ll find it easy. =)
Keep doing the full motion with the 18# bar or broomstick to keep good form.
Maybe 2×10 w/ light weight and 1×10 negatives. You’ll look like an O-lifter in no time!
To get the bar overhead, I do a snatch-grip, behind the neck jerk. Really get your legs into it, dip at your knees and pop that bar up.
Just keep doing them.
There are few better things in this world for shoulder mobility, hip mobility and connecting your lower body to your upper body (through your core) than a good behind the neck jerk and some overhead squats.
Alrighty, I shall give that a try.
Post a Comment