Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Finally

It was time to pick up the pace a bit training-wise. I've been avoiding those freakin' snatches all too long.

So this is how it goes these days:
VO2Max (15:15 @12kg) every other day.
Friday: 40 sets of 8
Sunday: 50 sets of 8
Yesterday: 60 sets of 8
I plan to go sort of ratchet-ladder-wise: tomorrow back to 50, then 60, then (hopefully) 70, again back to 60 and so on. Increments are subject to change :)

On the days in between:
Some clubbell practice to get the form down on the basic moves - same with yoga, I don't do the whole sequence but I spend more time with the asanas I pick for the day.

As for VO2Max, it was made clear at the Cert that going for speed is no excuse for poor form like "Nazi-style" lockout, so I decided to cut back to 8/set but make sure the elbow passes the ear at every single rep.

8 comments:

Howie B said...

Good form is key!! We can't afford any injuries. You know you're going to have to post some vids of that club bell work, don't you?

Gabi said...

Oh, sure, as soon as it doesn't look like some secret ritual suicidal machination of a weird underground cult (in spite of the boys' shorts, lol) :)

Franklin said...

Did you say "secret ritual suicidal machination of a weird underground cult" .. where do I join?!?

Or better yet, I thought that's what we had all been doing anyway ..

Nice Max VO2 .. ya been sna-chin likes dahz no tamara!

Gabi said...

Er, yes, sort of... I'm only trying to avoid the suicide-part :)

As for "sna-chin likes dahz no tamara", seems like this is the only way that works for me. Twice a week is not enough, it feels like I have to start anew every time. Every other day is just fine up to now, creeping up to 60 sets was no problem and now back to 50 actually felt easy - I wonder how it'll work out.

Mark Reifkind said...

great job gabi, this should be interesting to see how you test out after all this mvo2 work.

Gabi said...

Mark,

I'm attempting nothing highflying here. The goal is the way: No matter how I turn it, the fact is I don't like snatching and I keep avoiding it when planning my workouts by myself. So I needed something "external", a simple but rigorous high rep program, fully designed so that I only need to follow - I hope this way I can bring myself to snatch regularly again (as that's the only cure, obviously).

Franklin said...

Having come to grips with with my aversion to high volume snatching, it all goes back to the demands on the hands and the subsequent multi-day recovery I would need to get them calmed down again.

Since discovering both taping and sock sleeving (hail! hail! to the Reifkinds), this is no longer an issue .. my hands are now completely unaffected.

I've heard it argued on DD that chalk should be sufficient in order to encourage toughening up of the hands. Or that using tape/sleeves is only masking a form issue.

I'm no longer concerned about these arguments .. they pale in comparison to the benefits of high volume snatching snatching. No single ballistic works me more thoroughly.

Gabi said...

Yes, I used to prefer swings for the same reason - I found snatching simply not worth the damage to the hands, as I didn't experience so much more extra benefit as compared to swings.

But there must be some truth about the form issue, too, I guess. For me it always takes a bazillion of reps and high frequency of training for the groove to become "reliable". The first two sessions last week I used socks and tape, too, and still needed the more or less off day in between. Now I'm coming along with the socks alone pretty well and the hands feel fine in just a few hours.