Saturday, October 19, 2019

Working on Barbell Drills

So circumstances got to where I couldn't make my usual class time on Friday. That's what Saturday is for.

This was a focus on clean & jerk, opening up with some triples at moderate-challenging weights, leading into heavy pulls and some moderate-challenging back squats. I generally notice that I tend to row the bar in and not keep my heels down long enough during the clean. By rowing the bar in, I'm not generating as much of the upward force I need to be able to produce a controlled squeeze that will then let me drop under the bar faster.  And then on my jerk, I'm having some trouble dropping under fast enough, and I suspect it's a mixture of not enough explosiveness in my upward drive and not aiming the bar back far enough. 





And then there were the clean pulls.  I was pretty fatigued going into these, plus part of my circumstances of NOT getting to the gym yesterday involved some potential medical concerns. These were all done at 115 lbs, close to 95% of my 1RM. The benefit of the heavy clean pulls is that I'm forced to concentrate much more on smoothness, consistency, and positioning than on simply exploding upwards. 




And then there was the back squat, which will help me build up the strength in my legs, core, and glutes to be a better lifter all-around.  I'm especially trying to focus on my squats knowing that there is a very strong correlation backed by causation for enhancing my abilities to squat jerk. Ultimately, I want to move from power jerk to a more consistent squat jerk. I don't ever see myself ever becoming Lu Xiaojun or Shi Zhiyong, but I can always emulate them!




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