No Excuses-that Rhonda Rousey....

     So I read the Rhonda Rousey biography and aside from feeling terrible about her dad dying and her mom being a hard ass bitch, I took away a really cool philosophy from the book.  Her mom would tell her (essentially), anyone can perform well on a good day, but you need to be able to beat your opponent twice on your worst day.

     Rewind to my Donny Shankle seminar back in February of this year and his philosophy of find something to PR in everyday, and now I'm feeling dangerous!

     I have friends that mock the PR everyday thing, "Hey Trav, today I PR'd my 1 eye closed, red shirt wearing pistols!".  I just kind of smile and think (Shankle voice), "F you".  (He is just that intense and I'd be scared to death to get on his bad side).

     So to the point:

I used to do all my strength work before the metcons at my gym, I was given the special ok to do the competitive programming stuff at the time I came in and then jump in with the next class and do metcons.  Well, the rules changed.  Now you have to do the class and then any comp stuff after.  At first I was kind of pissed because I thought, "how will I be able to have any energy to Oly or strength after I'm beat down by the conditioning???".

Well, I decided (again in Shankle voice) "f you", I'm going to beat Oly and strength stuff down at my worst.  So I began a mindset of being my best in less than optimal situations.  Would I do better clean and jerking heavy BEFORE I do a God awful "spartan WOD" that takes 45-50 minutes???  Of course!  But you know what?  Screw it, I won't take no for an answer on my performance.

And sure enough I STILL make it happen.  This weekend I was at the gym in my oly shoes and my son needed them (he's training for the raw nationals next week).  So I gave them to him and put back on my flimsy INOV8 192's.

I needed to do a jerk triple.  Well....no excuses.  I PR'd by 20lbs.  In fact I also had to do a snatch balance x2 and OHS x5.  No Oly shoes at first and I thought, "well there goes my PR likelihood....".  Then I decided, I needed to be able to do this stuff on my worst days too and so I did the work and PR'd the snatch bal by 10 lbs too.

Moral of the story:  There are easy excuses to make or there is hard work to do.  Don't let your mind beat you before you start.

PR everyday. Seriously.

     

     Feb 8, 2015 I went to the Donny Shankle seminar.  One of his theories is to PR everyday.  He went so far as to say that he hadn't PR'd his snatch for a period of YEARS early in his career but he would always find something to PR in his training sessions.  He is an Olympic weightlifter so he would do squats, front squats, C&J, position work, pauses, doubles, triples, complexes, etc....

     As a crossfitter its WAY easier to "find something" to PR in at each session.

     So that's the "theory".  In practice, I've found something to PR in at almost EVERY workout for the last month plus.  This has done exactly what Shankle said it would do, kept me excited.

     The other thing it has done is applied overload to my limits.  Which is the only way you improve.

     As a CF athlete, I can log a million things on my little mywod app (and I do).  I can look at things like unbroken double unders, max wallballs in 60 seconds, in addition to the big lifts for various rep schemes and position work and benchmark wods, etc....

     I was speaking to my coach about this (Blair Morrison) and he said this is component that is part of the success of the Westside barbell ideology with their powerlifters conjugate training.  Using bands, chains, inclines, declines, dumbells, deficits, etc...allows them to constantly vary their attack and always work to PR "something" and the sum total is increases in the big 3 lifts they care about.

     As far as what I care about it's a lot more than the big 3 powerlifting lifts, its those, the Olympic lifts, engine work, gymnastics, and on and on.....

A couple big principles:

1. You must record your sessions.  I use mywod as I mentioned to log the big things/milestones.  But I also write on the little hand held whiteboard my session and take a picture of it each day.  This lets me look quickly if I've done something and if so at what weight/reps.

 2. You want to sneak up on your PR's but not repeat them.  If your PR hang snatch is 165, go for a little less and then a little more.  That's why I have a ton of 1 kilo or 2.5 lbs PR's.  It breaks down a mental barrier for one, and then it absolutely counts as overload since you've never done the weight before.  The longer you've been lifting the harder PR's are to come by.  1 kilo is 1 kilo!

3. If you have to sandbag from time to time, do it!  If I'm having a bad gym day, I may have to go stretch to find something, but I am not leaving the gym till I have a PR.  Then record it and come back to fight another day.

Why I think Rich Froning snatches in Nanos

     Lots of snatch PR's post the extra note of "in nanos".  It's VERY rare that someone boasts of a clean and jerk "in nanos" though.  I suppose it happens.  But let's talk Rich and how he snatches exclusively in nanos.  By the way, Rudy Nielsen of Outlaw had a funny quote at a camp that I loved:

"I'm sick of hearing people say they hit a lift "in nanos".  That's like Michael Jordan saying he dropped 40 points wearing a pair of Christian Louboutin's!!  If he would've had basketball shoes on he would've done even better!!!"

When attacking the Clean ladder at the 2012 Games and the C&J ladder in 2013, Rich wore Oly shoes...

      Enough about Rich, let's talk about me.....I snatch "better" in flat shoes.  I have been hitting PR's lately in my INOV8 192's.  They have a 0 mm drop from heel to toe and weigh 192 grams (or 6.8 oz).  That makes them flatter than nanos (4.0 are a 4 mm drop) and MUCH flatter than Oly's which are usually 16.5 mm.

     When I went to the Donny Shankle seminar I was coming off of a 178.2 lb snatch the week before in my INOV8's.  Up till then I was stalled at 165 for a WHILE.  I was ALWAYS catching on my toes in my Oly shoes for some reason.  Donny broke it down by telling me I didn't know how to pull right in Oly shoes and needed to practice.  (I've been practicing for years Donny....I suck)

I couldn't figure it out, I just thought my calves are tight or maybe I'm not moving fast enough to get my heels down.  And then the day in mid Jan where I just kept adding weight in my flat as a board INOV8s and I kept making lifts....I even did a heat check and pulled under 185 that day but missed... badly....

     In any case, Donny wouldn't allow us to use anything but Oly shoes.  I made 160 at his camp and missed 165 and he immediately told me to drop weight and work on technique.  Meanwhile everyone else was PR'ing their lifts and I'm over in the corner at 70%....

     So I came to the realization that in my flat shoes I am able to stay back longer on my heels.  I wasn't being "tipped" forward onto my toes.  So when coaches talk about being patient and staying back on the heels while the shoulders are still over the bar through that 2nd pull, I guess I'm just too weak to do it or in too much of a hurry.

     In the bottom, Oly shoes will make up for a host of mobility issues.  I don't have those problems and look fine in my bottom position with flat shoes.  So the trade-off for me is that I have a better pull and the bar stays closer and I'm not chasing it.  ALSO, my feet move much faster in the 192's due to the weight.  The Reebok 2.0 lifters are a whopping 408 grams (14.6 oz) and I use INOV8 335 fastlifts which are 335 grams or almost 2x more than my 192's.

Ok so back to Rich.  I think that his feet move faster into landing position and he can stay back longer in his pull to generate more power with nanos.  That's what I think.  And as far as me being able to snatch more in Oly shoes.....I can't.  I'm a crossfitter though and if I can snatch in metcon shoes, then isn't that better anyway?

Oh and today I hit 179.4 on my snatch!

Donny Shankle weightlifting seminar

     Let's start with a list of Donny's coaches he's had in his career: Zygmunt Smalcerz, Ivan Abadjiev, Mike Burgener, and Glenn Pendlay.  It makes you realize very quickly that Donny is a WEALTH of info and experience.  (And his stories were awesome.)

     One of the most important things I took away from the seminar:  THE DARK AGES- This is where time can pass without any PR's off the floor and it can last a LONG time sometimes, but it is building your strength still and with consistency you will break through.  He discusses being stuck at 170 kilos on his C&J for (I thought he said) years!!!!  And then he broke through and picked up 10-15 kilos in the coming months!  It makes me see that misses, that plateaus, are all part of the building process and they are not spinning your wheels but are adding to your ultimate progress.

     He had 12 keys:

1. Vertical strong back-He called this "the golden rule".  Everything seemed to come back to this.

2. Hips low-this he tied deeply into mobility

3. Use your hips (violently) to move the bar.  Bar contact was VERY important to him.

4. Move your feet quickly

5. Eyes forward (helps tighten up back) "And there's nothing down there that's going to help you"

6. Bar close to body

7. Relax-do not fight the bar

8. Fast under

9. Be aggressive-key to everything else 

10. Stay off your toes-or bar is controlling you

11. Gear.  When he asked Coach Abadjiev, "Uncle, what about wraps and sleeves and all that gear people wear?".  His reply, "Donny....if it make you lift more...use"

12. Warmup (peaks and valleys was a cool lower back warmup he did that is like an inchworm push up and then a back extension stretch), aside from that he did a pretty standard warmup

SNATCH positions plus (cues)

From hip-Bar stays on hip as knees bend, chest up and shldrs back just behind the bar.  Most people drop the chest as soon as the knees bend, don't (coordination & speed)

Above knee-keep knees bent as you take a bow, keep knees bent as u come back up, slide & drag (power).  He talks a lot about the slide and drag.  He really wants to hear the bar slide and drag on your thighs as it moves to the pocket.

Below knee-trigger of hamstring tension at midpatella causes hips to drop (center of gravity)

Floor- begin how you intend to finish.  This was good because he said that your set up position should look like your finish position except your arms are overhead with a bar in it.  Line up youbar over 1st shoe eyelet.  (All rise)

JERK

5 points of bar contact (throat clavicles shoulders)

Control dip & not forward, wt back

coordinating bar oscillaton is key on this

Think back knee down and that will cue you to really drop under.  Too many people keep the back knee too straight.
He did agree that the back foot should make contact 1st but said he tries not to cue that.

Feet should land about 3 steps of spacing apart.  Chalk the floor and see where you land

CLEAN

Front squat- 1st make sure you have a good front squat

from the Hip-bar contact is high on thighs with a knee bend wherever the bar falls when you are holding at the hip

from above knee-keep the knee bend and take a bow, slide and drag again
from below knee-hips drop

from Floor-pull in to shins, back tight, patient just like snatch, again beginning how you intend to end

SUBORDINATE exercises.

Variation on the lifts-powers, hangs (these get the back strong), blocks (only after mastering hang-these work power-no point in block work if you haven't mastered positions), no hook no feet (works speed), muscle (keeps bar close), On the minute work x 20 min (works consistency), pushpress (trains the dip-this was interesting to me because he made us see the multi rep pushpress as an exercise done exclusively to get better at receiving a heavy bar and re-loading in a perfect dip for the jerk ), power jerk (trains the drive because you better drive the shit out of the bar if you aren't splitting), negatives and breaking or pausing on the way off the floor (creates a stronger back)

Posterior chain-GHD hip extensions, back extensions, glute ham raises, etc....rows, chins

Additional-plyometrics, complexes, things that you like to do to make it fun

PRINCIPLES

Always train speed, make pr's, make lifts.  These were his big 3.  He wants PR's at EVERY session to keep you motivated.  If you aren't PR'ing your snatch, then PR your hang triple, PR your front squat double, etc...find something to succeed at every session.

Train footwork 1 day a week.  This would be considered a light day.  These days were still Oly lifting but the weights were light enough that you focused on your footwork.

If u can get better w singles then just do singles.  Only train other schemes (doubles triples) to improve the single.  He said that if you are improving and making lifts hitting heavy ass singles then don't mess with it.  Only change when the single isn't being made. 

Training template on his blog-he passed these out and they were pretty cool

Monthly need a minimum weight that u know u can always hit.  This was a handout also that took into account the minimum snatch, C&J, and front squat you were hitting in sessions compared to your PR's that month.  He wanted you to be within 5 kilos with your minimum and PR's to know you were ready for a competition.

Weekly u r pushing maximum weights.  Period.

Vertical jump and grip tell recovery.  This was interesting and came from his European coaches to know if you needed more recovery.  They would log your vertical jump and if it started to go to shit you needed an extra recovery day.  He also said that Uncle Ivan could tell just by asking you to squeeze his hand each day as hard as you could. 

Competition plan-squats, hangs, blocks, floor.  You want to compete, then do things in this order/progression and don't move on till you have it right.  He talked about keeping one of his lifters at the hang for a year one time.....

He trains 3 weeks hard and then has a deload week.

Adaptation trumps everything.  He went back to the video screen over and over to show beautiful lifts and lifts that were technically very inefficient that people were making because they've adapted to that style of lifting.

He had a continuum that on one end was beautifully efficient and on the other end was inefficient.  If you are going to lift inefficient you better be damn strong.

COMMANDS-virtues.  This piece was all about the mindset of a champion weightlifter.  Which is probably why it didn't 100% resonate with me and my mind of a kitten.

1. Make ready-acceptance.  This is that place you address the bar with your head down and are loose.

2. Set-fearlessness.  This is when you get tight and eyes are up, ready to lift. 

3. Break-patient (bar in hips).  This is the point that you are in the pocket.

4. Finish-pride.  And this is the way you finish the lift.

Favorite quote: "Some coaches out there might disagree with some of what I say....but FUCK them!  I'm out here competing while there coaching, they're talking while I'm doing".

There was soooo much more but these are the things that stood out to me.  He wanted everyone to PR and I was bummed because he also won't let you miss much at all before he pulls the plug on you.  I snatched 165 then missed 170 but knew I could get it (my PR is 178) and he waled over and said plainly, "Clean and Jerk".  I'm thinking, "I only missed it once....give me another shot here".  But I listened and moved on.....