Week 2021.01.25

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This Week’s Conditioning

Option 1
Sled
Outdoors:
10 rounds of:
Push sled 100 ft
Pull sled 100 ft (hand over hand)

Indoors:
20 rounds of:
Push sled 50 ft
Pull sled 50 ft (hand over hand)

Compare to 2020.11.23.

Option 2
Bike/Row for 9 rounds:
1 min on
1 min off

Record distance for each round.

Compare to 2020.11.02.

Option 3
Outdoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
50 yd farmer carry (25 yd down-back)
Rest 1 minute

Indoors:
5-10 rounds:
10 sledgehammer strikes (5R, 5L)
100 ft farmer carry (50 ft down-back)

Rest 1 minute

Compare to 2020.10.05.

Option 4
Row/Tire 10 min ladder:
2 cal row
2 tire flips
4 cal row
4 tire flips
6 cal row
6 tire flips
…
Climb the ladder as high as possible in 10 minutes.

Compare to 2020.09.28.

Stop Using Your Hands to Catch Your Cleans!

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The clean is racked (i.e., caught or received) on the shoulders. Not in the hands.

This is the correct way to rack a clean.

Figure 1: This is the correct way to rack a clean.

When you rack a clean, you do so by rapidly punching your elbows forward and up so that the barbell can sit on the shelf provided by your delts (Figure 1). This shelf is extremely strong, stable, and it can support a lot of weight - more than you can clean, in fact.

On the other hand - or rather, hands - if you receive your cleans by supporting the bar in your hands (Figure 2), your poor, tiny, bent wrists will hate you for it, and it’s possible that your collarbones will too.

Don’t rack your cleans like this. Your wrists will despise you.

Figure 2: Don’t rack your cleans like this. Your wrists will despise you.

To rack the bar properly, jam the elbows forward and up and receive the bar with a loose grip - be sure to let the thumb slip out of the hook grip as you punch the elbows forward.

Elbows forward and up and a loose grip on the bar

Figure 3: Elbows forward and up and a loose grip on the bar

It’s possible that your pinky finger (maybe even your ring finger) will slip off the bar during the catch, and while this is not ideal (especially if you need to jerk the barbell overhead yet), it’s not the end of the world. Do whatever you need to do with your grip to permit the receiving of the bar on your shoulders.

Your wrists will not be straight when you catch a clean, and that’s perfectly fine. Whether a lifter receives the bar correctly on the shoulders or not, the wrists will be bent backwards in extension, but a bar caught on the shoulders (with elbows forward and up) is supported by the shoulders, so the wrists - although bent - do not take any of the load. A bar caught with low elbows, however, cannot be successfully supported by the shoulders and is instead supported on bent - and usually painful - wrists.

Tommy doesn’t even need hands to rack his cleans. (We do NOT recommend trying this at home, folks)

Tommy doesn’t even need hands to rack his cleans. (We do NOT recommend trying this at home, folks)

Be kind to your wrists and commit to catching your cleans on your shoulders. You’ll enjoy the lift far more when your wrists aren’t screaming at you.

As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.

-Phil

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Week 2021.01.18

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This Week’s Conditioning

Option 1
Sled Pyramid – 4, 5, or 6 tiers
Go up and down a 4, 5, or 6 tier “sled pyramid” – rest as needed. The distance for each round is 80 m indoors (a down-back on the 40m course) or 200 ft outdoors (2 down-backs on the 50 ft course). Rest as needed.

For example, Bob does the following (4 tiers):
Round 1: Empty sled
Round 2: 25#
Round 3: 50#
Round 4: 75#
Round 5: 50#
Round 6: 25#
Round 7: Empty sled

Compare to 2020.11.16.

Option 2
Bike/row:
3 rounds of:
8 x 20 sec on/40 sec off
Rest 3 min between rounds
Score = lowest distance

Compare to 2020.10.26.

Option 3
5-10 rounds of:
30 sec ME tire flips
30 sec rest

Compare to 2020.09.28.

Option 4
5-8 rounds:
50 ft sled push
50 ft sled pull (hand over hand)
Row 1 minute
Rest 1 minute

This can also be done in a group of three where the sledder determines how long the other two people row and rest.

Compare to 2020.09.21.

Your Training Log - Part 3: The PR Sheet

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A few months ago, we covered the importance of keeping a training log in Your Training Log - Part 1: Just Do It, and we also covered how to keep one in the cleverly titled article, Your Training Log - Part 2: How to Keep One. Today, we’re going to add to this series and discuss adding a PR sheet to your log.

The concept is very straightforward - simply designate one sheet of paper in your training log for keeping track of PRs (Personal Records). I would recommend using the first page of your book, the last page of your book, or you can keep a separate piece of paper in your book that is only used for PRs (but don’t let it fall out).

On this sheet, record your 1-5 rep PRs for the Big Four Lifts - the squat, press, bench press, and deadlift. If you snatch and clean-and-jerk, do the same for those lifts. Pull-ups? Absolutely. Curls? Sure. What about a 7-rep PR? Knock yourself out. If you compete, have two PR lists - one for training and one for competition (the competition list will only have 1-rep PRs). We’re not talking hard-and-fast rules here, but at the very least, having your 1-5 rep PRs written down for the Big Four is a good place to start.

Here’s a sample for the squat:

Weight Reps Date
310 1 03/25/20
285 2 05/18/19
275 3 02/20/20
4
265 5 10/18/19
250 3 x 5 10/06/19

It’s fine if your sheet has some blanks - as you can see, our imaginary lifter doesn’t have a 4-rep PR yet. You’ll also notice that this lifter recorded his “3 x 5” PR as well (i.e., the best he’s done for 3 sets of 5 reps), and that’s another solid idea.

When you start out, you’re setting PRs every single session, so this might not seem all that useful at first. However, the longer you train and the stronger you get, the harder it is and the longer it takes to get stronger and set new PRs, so having multiple opportunities to set new personal bests can be very helpful in the motivation department. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to discover that you just pulled your old 3-rep deadlift max for a set of five, and how will you ever know unless you track these things? Give it a shot.