TJ’s Gym Barbell Club – Workout for Sunday 3/13

I love this: Just like a good big brother, Danny likes to come over and bicep curl the bar whenever Olivia gets a PR.

Shirts. We’re ready to order them and we need to know who wants one. So who wants one? Size and how many, posted to comments or e-mailed to me (calen.hall@gmail.com) OR respond to the D-board thread that will be up by Friday night. Sexy, retro, light blue ringer T with dark blue rings. Gym colors, baby. Plan on about 25 bucks. Here’s what the front looks like:

BBC Fundraiser Sunday April 3rd! This is going to be an awesome gym-wide community event to benefit our very own Olivia’s travel to the National School-Age Weightlifting Championships, June 24-26 in Gainesville, GA. Two main events going down simultaneously:

Clean and Jerk Exhibition Open to all TJ’s Gymers. Come show your lifting skill in a fun, laid-back atmosphere. No weight to small to be lifted; heck,  throw the training discs overhead!

Raffle. Tickets are $5 (cash only) and will be available at all the gyms starting next week. We’ve got INOV8s, a men’s and a women’s outfit from Lulu, gift certificates from Peet’s and Sports Basement, and other totally sweet stuff to get in for. You don’t need to be there on the 3rd to win (but definitely try to make it).

You can contribute in so many ways: Buy tickets, lift in the C+J comp, or just show up and cheer. I am super excited to see what this community can do for Olivia and other competitors in our program!

_____________________________

The squats this Sunday are another “I dare you:”

A. High Hang Snatch – 3 reps x 3-5 work sets. Position the bar 3/4 up the thigh. Focus on an explosive, slamming finish and speed under the bar. Moderate weight – no misses.

B. Clean and Jerk – Max for Day

C. Back Squat – Work up quickly to a heavy single (~95%), then drop down and perform 2 sets of max reps at 85% of the single. After a max rep set, immediately perform max reps strict chin-up or ring row before resting.

 

TJ’s Gym Barbell Club – Workout for Wednesday 3/9 and Thursday 3/10

Shirts. We’re ready to order them and we need to know who wants one. So who wants one? Size and how many, posted to comments or e-mailed to me (calen.hall@gmail.com). This will help us gauge how many to order in addition to yours. Light blue ringer T with dark blue rings. Gym colors, baby. Plan on about 25 bucks. Here’s what the front looks like:

BBC Fundraiser Sunday April 3rd! This is going to be an awesome gym-wide community event to benefit our very own Olivia’s travel to the National School-Age Weightlifting Championships, June 24-26 in Gainesville, GA. Two main events going down simultaneously:

Clean and Jerk Competition. Open to all TJ’s Gymers. Money goes to the cause for every pound lifted!

Raffle. Tickets are $5 and will be available at all the gyms starting next week. We’ve got INOV8s, a men’s and a women’s outfit from Lulu, gift certificates from Peet’s and Sports Basement, and other totally sweet stuff to get in for.

You can contribute in so many ways: Buy tickets, buy pounds from the C+J comp, lift in the C+J comp, or just show up and cheer. I am super excited to see what this community can do for Olivia and other competitors in our program!

_______________

The Novato Crew is going after Sunday’s workout. This squat protocol will soon be infamous. If you lifted last Sunday, I’ve got something else for ya.

A. Snatch 90-92% 4 x 1

B. Power Clean, Clean and Jerk – 4 x 1

C. Front Squat 2 reps, then immediately back squat 1 rep, working up to a heavy double in the FS. Upon hitting the heavy double, immediately perform max reps of back squat with the same bar. Upon completing BS, perform max reps strict chin-up or pull-up. Rest 3 minutes. 2 working sets.

Alternate Workout #1 (if you did above Sunday):

A. Power Snatch – Max

B. 2 Front Squat and Jerk – Max

Work up to the heaviest weight you can jerk after two reps of FS.

C. Jerk Rack Dip – 5 RM with perfect position.

Very important for strengthening postural muscles of the jerk rack position. Un-rack a bar, holding as in a jerk. Dip and stand, keeping elbows up, midline tight, and bar moving down and up vertically.

If your dip and drive on the jerk has problems, begin at 80% of best jerk and go up from there. If you are technically excellent at the dip+drive, start at about 90% of best jerk.

Alternate Workout #2 (basically this one’s for you, Olivia…)

A. 1 Snatch DL, 1 Power Snatch, 1 Snatch – Max

B. 1 Clean Deadlift, 1 Power Clean and Jerk, 1 Clean – Max

C1. Push-press 5 reps x 4 sets

C2. Ring Row – 4-6 reps x 4 sets

This footage is too awesome to just be posted once. All Barbellers should watch this before bed each night.

TJ’s Gym Barbell Club – Workout for Sunday 3/5

Snatch – 90-92% 4 x 1

Power Clean, Clean and Jerk – 4 x 1 @ 85%

Front Squat – 2 heavy reps immediately followed by max reps back squat at same weight – 2 sets.

Warm up the squat with FS doubles followed by 1 rep of back squat.

TJ’s Gym Barbell Club – Workout for Wednesday 3/2 and Thursday 3/3

Dave Z is in beast mode – he stood up with a PR 333 front squat last week, then narrowly missed 343. Gotta be the lucky hat…

Two news items:

#1: At long last BBC T-shirts will be here next week (that’s almost a promise). They are totally sweet. Rock one and represent!

#2: BBC Competition Fundraiser tentatively scheduled for Sunday, April 3. What’s going down:

- Gym-wide Clean and Jerk competition with money donated based on total poundage lifted. Rockin.

- Raffle for Lulu, Inov8s, and other goodies! Ticket prices TBD.

___________________

Classic Lift Max Day

Snatch – Max for Day; 90% x 1

Clean and Jerk – Max for Day; 90% x 1

Front Squat – 2 x 2 @ 90% of last week’s max.

__________________________________________

If you maxed out last Sunday:

Power Snatch, Snatch – (75, 80, 85%) x 2

Power Clean + Jerk – Max for Day

Front Squat – 2 x 2 @ 90% of last week’s max

_________________________________________

If you train Sunday and Wednesday, do this Thursday (so many workouts!):

A1. Snatch Deadlift 3 reps @ best snatch, rest 2 min

A2. Power Snatch 2 reps @ 75%, rest 2 min

4 sets

B1. Clean Deadlift 2 reps @ best clean, rest 2 min

B2. Power Clean and Jerk 2 reps @ 75% of C+J, rest 2 min

4 sets

TJ’s Gym Barbell Club – Workout for Sunday 2/27

A. Snatch – Max for Day; 90% 2 x1

B. Clean and Jerk – Max for Day; 90% 2 x 1

C. Back Squat – 2 x 2 @ 90% of last Sunday’s max

TJ’s Gym Barbell Club – Workout for Wednesday 2/23 and Thursday 2/24

Cleans have been looking good lately, but we can never stop toiling on the Snatch.

The jerk behind the neck is an interesting variant on the traditional split jerk done from the front rack. The behind the neck bar grip (that is, like a back squat) allows better scapular engagement than the front rack, in which the scapulae are spread. This makes it easier to get a strong overhead lockout, allowing us to possibly lift more weight and to focus our technique on the split position rather than the arms. There is more of a tendency to fold at the hip on the dip and drive the bar forward in this style, so watch out for that!

A.  Multi-Position Snatch – Max

First rep from floor, second from above knee, third from floor.

B. Jerk from Behind Neck – Max

C. Front Squat – 100% x 1

The world record in the clean and jerk is 266kg. Here is 270 put overhead from behind the neck.

watch?v=QyNLaQlxKvU

TJ’s Gym Barbell Club Workout for Sunday 2/20

More spots than a Dalmatian.

Watch out for more info on the Weightlifting Team Raffle and Fundraiser. Things are happening quickly behind the scenes…

This here is a no-nonsense workout that will make you a better athlete. Folks in our program ask me: “Since we only do Olympic lifting sometimes in CrossFit, how will BBC make me better overall?” Great question, and here’s my answer: Strength, speed, power, coordination, accuracy, agility, balance, and flexibility all get HAMMERED when we train the snatch and the C+J. Of the ten general physical skills, that’s eight (sorry endurance and stamina). I would add a ninth major capacity to weightlifting’s quiver: courage. Here’s my question: How could you NOT improve as an athlete?

Now get out there and rock it!

______________________________

Power Snatch, Snatch – sets at 75, 80, 85% First rep is power, second full.

Snatch – 90% 2 x 1

Power Clean + Jerk – 3 x 1 @ 90%

Clean Pull – 3 x 3 @ 110% of clean

Back Squat – 95-100% x 1

TJ’s Gym Barbell Club – Workout for Wednesday 2/16 and Thursday 2/17

Very Big News. Many of you are already aware that Olivia will be heading to the National School Age Weightlifting Championships in Georgia later this spring. Here’s the deal: a ton of local merchants like LuluLemon and Maring Running Company are donating sweet gear for a RAFFLE to raise money for Olivia’s trip and for Barbell Club in general. This is a great community we have here, and this is what community is all about. I will be posting all the details in the next blog entry, but for now, get ready for a fun event that is all about supporting the great athletes in this club. Proceeds from the imminent BBC shirts will also be going toward this cause!

A. Hang Snatch – 3 reps. Work up to your max. Emphasis on big finish followed by instant change of direction and speed under the bar. Ninja.

B. Clean and Jerk – Heavy Single; then singles at 80, 85, 90% of heavy single. Get up to a rep at 92-95%. Make it pretty, then drop down and go back up. Roller coaster style.

C. Front Squat 4 x 4 @ 85%

If you don’t know what your max is, find 4RM.

This guy is writing the book on hang snatches. He intentionally aborts the recovery on the first rep. We will recover fully every rep:

TJ’s Gym Barbell Club – Workout for Sunday 2/13

Don’t judge me, but I caught myself doing this yesterday in the Andronico’s parking lot. I now realize it’s become routine for me to hook grip, like, everything. Gear shift and steering wheel. Beer bottles. I am actually proud of this and weirded out at the same time. At least I don’t use chalk on everything. Yet.

Why do we hook grip in weightlifting? It’s simply a stronger grip with the integrity necessary to withstand the forces generated in the snatch and clean (if you are hook gripping jerks and squats, stop doing that). When we use the index and middle fingers to grip the thumb and lift a bar, the load creates a ton of friction between the thumb and forefingers, locking the grip in place. So it’s really friction, not muscular effort, that creates a crazy-strong grip. This is why novice lifters feel like their thumbnail is getting ripped out when they first hook grip, and why some weightlifters grow their thumbnails out to create more surface area (!).

I had a fried soft shell crab BLT at Bubba’s for lunch and the delicious sourdough gluten-fest bread is making my tummy hurt, so I better wrap this up.

A. Snatch -( 85, 90, 95%) x 2

That’s a rep at 85, 90, and 95, then back down to 85 and back up again.

B. Power Clean, Clean and Jerk – 85% (of C+J) 3 x 1

Looking for a power clean followed by a clean, followed by a jerk. We will be limited by the power clean to a weight that’s 90% of our C+J or lower.

C. Back Squat – 4 x 4 @ 85%

I would strongly encourage folks to knock out some ring rows or strict pull-ups between squat sets.

TJ’s Gym Barbell Club – Workout for Wednesday 2/9 and Thursday 2/10

 

First one to identify this whizzing blur of a lifter gets to put the chalk bucket right next to THEIR platform next workout. I’ll give you a hint: it’s not Ham, or Alicia Bannister.

Power Snatch – Max

The heaviest weight that can be received  at or above parallel. This should be around 85% of your snatch. Unless you CrossFit a lot, in which case it might be as much as 200% of your snatch. Burn.

Clean and Jerk – Max for Day

Two consecutive misses permitted. Go for a big one.

Clean – Max

After you can’t jerk ‘em, keep on cleaning ‘em.

This is already a big workout, but if you have time (YES YOU DO), it’s jerk rack support time: 3 x 20 sec @ 100-125% of max front squat.

Thursday dubble dipperz:

Power Snatch, Snatch -  sets at (75, 80, 85% of Sn) x 2

Power Clean + Jerk – 3 x 1 @ 85%

Barbell Forward Lunge – shoot for 4- 5 reps each leg at about your best snatch x 1 set. Pause 1 sec between reps.