S2B plus, making a better Buk

[Deserve]

I know it was said in some other thread but what is a kip?

[Buk]

Wow, a lot of activity in my log.

As for the rings: yes, I am still waiting on Tyler's new elite rings. He had a lot of troubles late in production, but I think they started shipping this week. I hope to get mine in time to bring them to the retreat. I think the timing will be good as I am just coming off of a very high volume pull-up and dip cycle using the Smolov parameters. I have been going very deep with the dips, but the weight on the pull-ups has limited me to just chin over bar, hopefully the strength will carry over to more pull though. Dave, I am much more likely to complain about my push-ups than my pull-ups.

A kip(on a pull-up) is where you rapidly flex and extend your hips to build momentum to help raise your body. Typically these are considered cheating pull-ups, but I do them intentionally sometimes as an alternative exercise; I view them like a push press compared to a military press. A kip-up is what you see in kung-fu movies where you "hop" off of your back(again by rapidly extending your hips) and land on your feet. I am going to incorporate some of them into my upcoming plyometric workouts.

My plan now is to do some O-lifting and overhead squats, ahead of some more general exercises. I gotta keep my overhead squat strong, and I want to train some strength into power. I gotta get my vertical up, and I also wouldn't mind getting my Olympic technique dialed in. I will probably do something like:

1. O-lift variation
2. Knee dominant(alternating bilateral/unilateral)
3. Hip Dominant(alternating unilateral/bilateral)
4. Pull(alternating horizontal/vertical)
5. Push(alternating vertical/horizontal)
6. Rotation

If I go 4 times a week at something like this, I may separate the additional exercises to do lower body stuff with a snatch variation, and upper body work after clean and jerk variations. The other days will have some Crossfit like conditioning and plyometrics.

[Buk]

Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Weight: 193

A1
-Pull-ups
(bw+80)x3+3+3+2
(bw+80)x2+2+2

A2
-Dips
(bw+80)x3+3+3+3
(bw+80)x3+2+3

Last workout of the Smolov like cycle for pull-ups and dips. Stopped at 7 sets mostly because of time, but I was also incapable of getting another triple on the pull-ups. I was basically going past failure on the 2 rep sets by pulling a long isometric, then dropping the dumbbell and then finishing the 3rd rep unweighted. February 6, I maxed at a (bw+70) pull-up for 2 reps(using a belt rather than a dumbbell), so there is definitely some improvement on the strength end. I will have to test pull-ups for reps pretty soon, I got 16 reps on February 19. My dips are slightly stronger than my pull-ups, but that will change when I make the move to rings - the rings make dips so much harder.

[Mahler]

bw + 80. What do I say? Next month for me will be pullup improvement month. I hope to be able to do several sets at bw. But, +80 is unreal.

[Buk]

Thanks Mahler, but I don't think you can be that far behind me. I saw you putting up 12 reps in your log the other day. A month of focused improvement will do wonders for you. And note that these are chin-ups(palms facing me) that I am doing, I just call them all pull-ups. I think loosing a little more weight will get me to the 20 rep mark, I will test it next week.

[kmwest]

great progress on the chins. I think I'll try a similar Smolov cycle for weighted chins this summer.

[BamaDave]

With this chin-up improvement, you are now free to ditch your healthy diet and let yourself morph into a massive 270-pounder who can still bang out several reps!

[Buk]

Go for it KM, I thought it was a great cycle, and it really seemed to improve my strength for the pull-ups.

Don't count on it Dave. The diet is going awesome, and my weight is still on the way down. I want to be consistently under 190 this summer.

[Buk]

Thursday, March 23, 2006
Weigth: 191

-Snatch
115(50Kg)x3
137(60Kg)x2
159(70Kg)xF+1+F+F+1+1+1

A1
-Step-up 24 inch
(alternating, reps for each leg)
135x5+5+5

A2
-GHR
x5+5+5

B1
-Standing Military Press
115x8+8+8

B2
-Pendaly Row
137x8
159x8+8

It felt good to go through a "full" workout, as opposed to just doing front squats or pull-ups and dips. I struggled on the snatchs today, kept loosing them out in front of myself. The step-ups were high and heavy, I struggled with them too. The natural GHRs were awesome though, they felt very strong and I didn't assist on any of them. My standing press is nothing to write home about, but I can really get it going with the push press and jerk. I think I am doing well on the Pendaly rows, but will get some halp from Danny at the retreat.

[Buk]

Friday, March 24, 2006
Weight: 192

-Jerk
137(60Kg)x4
181(80Kg)x4
203(90Kg)x2
225(100Kg)x2
247(110Kg)x1
269(120Kg)xF
203(90Kg)x2
269(120Kg)xF+F+F

I just couldn't get the 269 high enough, but I think I will get it next time. I got 258 overhead last month, but skipped it today hoping for more. My plan was to follow this up with a fullbody workout, but I ran out of time. Long rests, lots of loading and unloading, and really trying to hit a new PR on the jerk took too long. There isn't a whole lot of work in there, but it sure took a long time. I willl have to go back and do the rest of my workout later.

[Buk]

Friday, March 24, 2006
-wo2

-Overhead Squats
115(50Kg)x8
137(60Kg)x8
159(70Kg)x8
181(80Kg)x2+5+2+2

-Pull-ups (long rest breaks)
x16+13+14

I would have like to put up a little more on the overhead squats, but that was all I had today. My shoulders, arms, and wrists were holding me back. The first set of pull-ups felt slow, it seemed like I was on the bar long enough to do 30 reps. I think my forearms were slowing me down after the overhead squats. The next 2 sets were at a faster pace, but no more reps. I rested to full recovery between the pull-up sets.

[Buk]

Saturday, March 25, 2006

-Bike Ride(trail / single track)
55 minutes, about 5.1 miles

I took my new bike out for an easy ride. It was a fairly slow ride with one little climb up then back down a new singletrack trail where I usually ride. It snowed about half the time, and was a very enjoyable hour.

I also got to play a few hours of fairly competitive indoor volleyball. The Virginia Tech club team had an alumni jamboree. These two events made for a very fun and active day.

[Mahler]

Damn, those OH Squats blow me away.
After those, you deserved an enjoyable day on the trail.

[Buk]

Thanks Mahler, it was a wonderful day; and it was great to ge my new bike out. I need to get some miles in before I embarass myself on the group ride the day after the retreat.

[Buk]

Sunday, March 26, 2006
Weight: 190

-One-arm Snatch
(dumbbell weight)x(right reps)a(left reps)
70x(2)a(2)
90x(1)a(1)
90x(1)a(1)
100x(1)a(1)
100x(1)a(1)
110x(1)a(1)
110x(1)a(F+1)
110x(1)a(1)
110x(1)a(1)

I've seen a lot of one-arm dumbbell snatches going up in the logs lately so today it was on my mind. I started heavy to see what I could get up. 110 felt pretty good, I did drop one attempt with my left hand though. And I actually did drop it. It got a little behind me and I thought it much safer to let it go than to try to catch it. Next time I am going to remember to put another mat down under where I do these. I don't know if the slight indents in the rubber(not wood) platform are permanent or not. My plan was to finish off with some intervals or high rep one arm snatches, but I got distracted teaching my wife the Olympic lifts. She hasn't been in the weight room in a while, but has been busy with the treadmill and karate. Her front squats were perfect, she got a few overheads with the 45 pound bar, and had a good looking power clean by the end of the day.

[kuri]

Good stuff Buk!
How low are you getting on the catch?
I ask because I'm doing power snatches with the DBs so am thinking that once I get comfortable with getting deeper the load should go up, yeah?

Did your wife teach you some Karate in exchange?
What style does she do?

[BamaDave]

Have you ever done 5x180 on Overhead Squats before?? As usual, the stuff you can do with a bar over your head is unfathomable for mere mortals. And now you're going to have Heidi doing this stuff, too.

The biking sounds like a lot of fun -- I saw the pics of the new bike. Very nice! I want one!!

[Buk]

5x180 may well be a PR for reps on the overhead squat. I am much better at heavy singles on the overhead squats than doing them for reps though. One of Crossfit's challenges is to do 15 reps of overhead squats with bodyweight. I am still a ways off, but I think that milestone(from Dan John) is in my future.

The bike is great. I got about 3.5 miles in today on the road/paved path riding from one office