Hoggetowne Part 2

I befriended a female peregrine falcon today! I think she was more talkative than the scarlet macaw today, but she was friendly enough. That being said, I know better than to attempt a bird that can easily send me to the ER without it "asking" me to do so! Peregrine falcons are truly magnificent raptors, and when I had requested a falcon, I was actually expecting an American Kestrel.

Among the Viking Wolf Pack

Jumping Back Squats

This was after drills involving heavy snatches and even heavier snatch pulls. This was my final set of jumping back squats at 105 lbs.

Hoggetowne 2019 1/n

It was a fun time at the first day of the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire, even if photographs were a bit sparse.

Working on Dropping Down Faster

High hang clean and jerks are a really good test of the acceleration system known as triple extension as well as somehow helping me with dropping under the bar faster.  I think my kinks occur somewhere between my knees and my hips based on where I tend to miss lifts.

I Love Front Squats!

I worked on paused front squats today as part of my barbell training. This will help me come out of a squat clean once I master dropping under the bar quickly and getting a more reliable pull.  This was all at only 105 lbs. I know I can do more, but I wanted to make sure I kept my form clean and consistent first.

Team Florida Gainesville Intrasquad Meet, Post 3/n

I'm in the process of learning how to extract stills from videos as well as still figuring out the optimal method of delivery of masses of pictures. In the meanwhile, here's a few stills of myself from the meet yesterday.

Team Florida Gainesville Intrasquad Meet, Post 2/n

I am in the midst of performing quality control and editing on the order of 900 pictures / videos, but in the meanwhile, here are my own lifts plus a few little things that I was able to knock out fairly quickly.

First, the snatch...

My opening weight was 25 kg, which I know is an easy and reliable weight that I can do singles with to get the nerves out.

I moved on to 30 kg because I knew I was able to also do that weight once I got the nerves out of me.

My original plan was to finish out at 31 or 32 kg, but the 30 kg felt good, so I decided to jump up to 33 kg, which is still short of my personal best. I knew it held a 75% chance of success, so I figured the odds were good enough.

And then the clean and jerk.  My opening weight was 43 kg, which is on the upper end of what I can (usually) do. I took slightly more risk overall with the clean and jerk.

Then there was the 45 kg because I knew that was starting to enter mildly risky territory with my jerk because I do occasionally forget to lock my elbows in time.  I found out that I didn't have to go all the way into the squat for my cleans, so I went and did it as a power clean.

And finally, I decided to go with 48 kg because I knew it was a moderately risky weight but would solidify my position in the triple digit with pounds. In retrospect, I probably could have added another 2 kg, but I do like to play it relatively safe.

Team Florida Gainesville Intrasquad Meet, Post 1/n

After a big breakfast but before taking my deuces, I weighed in at 73.65 kg, which put me in the 76 kg weight class. I finished my snatch at 33 kg and clean & jerk at 48 kg, neither of which are PR's but are still respectable numbers given my recent inactivity.

We also celebrated the nth birthday of a buddy who helped celebrate my birthday earlier this week. Iron Legion, unite! Birthday boy has been semi-hidden, but the ladies of CrossFit Iron Legion (and one from Pinnacle) have made their showing, as has one of the kiddos!

Clean Pull, Turtle Edition

I still went a little bit fast on  the clean pulls, but it certainly alerted me to which muscle groups need further development in my clean and jerk as well as my snatch!

Poco a Poco: El Ano Nuevo

This will be over the course of a handful of posts, but my journeys to/from California will start coming in.  For now, I'm posting a bit of a little celebration I had today with the furball and the gang.

Drop Snatches!

Drop snatches are very much like snatch balances, minus the pop upwards, so effectively, dropping straight down while pushing the barbell up.  It's not a heavy lift because the emphasis is on speed, which is critical for a properly executed heavy snatch.

It's a Revolution!

If only I had a toilet and reliable source of food and drink in the classroom... as well as much more alone time that I can allocate!

Sight Reading Sometimes Becomes More...

I'm on a bit of kick with Edvard Grieg's Lyric Pieces because they're fun to sight read and potentially actually learn.

Clean and Jerk - Elbow Edition

My elbows tend to be a little too high when I set up for my jerk because I like to get my elbows as high as possible when I catch my cleans and do my front squats.  Unfortunately, starting with extremely high elbows takes away a lot of the power I have to do a proper jerk because the power is really coming from my shoulders and chest pushing up, and my arms are just going for the ride.

Then the Viking helped me troubleshoot my jerk because that jerk didn't feel so good. My upper arms are supposed to be at about a 45 degree angle with respect to my torso instead of the 90 I tend to shoot for when I do cleans and front squats.

Spectating Reindeer Rumble 2018

Before yesterday's music session, I got to watch my friends compete at the Reindeer Rumble, and one of my friends apparently caught me in my iconic standing and watching pose. Most of the pictures with me in it are courtesy of A. Baker, the mother of the little masked boy.

Wiping Off Rust

One thing nice about my rank within the hierarchy at work is that I can make good use of the piano during the weekend and other not-school hours.  I learned two things today: 1) Playing the Military Polonaise immediately after the Heroic *hurts* and 2) Rain makes the piano a little more finicky.

And then there was a bit of fun with Clementi Sonatinas particularly #4 in F Major.  I'm definitely much more of a Grieg / Chopin / Mussorgsky person, but the occasional Clementi never hurts.