Friday's firestorm in the Sport's Palace

This was my second session with Jim Schmitz and it was even more enjoyable than the first session. Despite the fact that I had cycled around hilly San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge for over two and a half hours the previous day, I was raring to go. Before the session started, Jim agreed to give a three part interview and the first part is below and it deals with his overall experience with the sport of Olympic weightlifting. Here is the session that Jim put me through and what I learned from it:

I did a short warm up and then Jim had me do a quick circiut with the bar that got the blood flowing and stretched out the relevant muscles a small bit.

Snatch doubles--I actually began with two Power Snatches and one Squat Snatch and I did three sets of this with 50kg.

1x2 @ 65, 75, 85, 95kg--I was told in no uncertain terms that I needed to reach up in my Snatches more and that I needed to get my earlobes up to my deltoids. I found this helped my transition from the pull to the catch. He also got me to stay in the bottom position for a second or two to get comfortable down there so that if a lift was out of position I could save it. I also had to get into a different habit of performing the second Snatch as soon as the bar hit the floor after the first. Usually I would take a few seconds to step away and regroup but Jim had me lift straight away which, because of fatigue, placed a far greater demand on both finishing the pull and keeping the back straight.
5x2 @ 100kg--I did five sets of doubles with 100 and I got both reps in my second, third and fifth sets. I found this very beneficial because I thought I was trying my hardest on my first set, but I really wasn't. More focus was required in order to keep the back locked in the first pull and also to finish the second pull fully. The fact that I could do it in the sets after the first, shows me that it was a state of mind, not of the body.

Power Clean and Jerk--I did three sets of three Power Cleand and one Jerk with 60kg to warm up. Then I did the following:
1x2@ 90, 110
1x1@120, 125--I then missed a Power Clean with 130 so I settled for a full clean because that was all I could do on the day. I got three Clean and Jerks with 130 although one of them was a press out because as Jim noted, it was "a dainty Jerk."

Clean Deadlift and Shrug--Jim uses these to help create a flat back and this is particularly good for me. The deadlift is done slowly with a shug at the top while also extending onto your toes. He explains the exercise in greater detail in part of the interview, I can't remember which of the three. I did doubles with 130, 140, 145 and 150. Not only did this show me I am simply not strong enough, it also showed me that, like in Amsterdam, I need to improve my back arch, which one has to really focus on in the second rep in particular.

Back Squat--1x5@70 1x4@110 1x3@140 1x2@160--I missed the second rep twice which was annoying. My legs did not have it in them again. I went back down to do three triples with 140.

1 Military Press + 1 Push Press + 1 Power Jerk--3x3@60--This last exercise was just to show me a nice combination to improve positioning and bar awareness.



All in all, I really enjoyed training in the Sports' Palce with Jim and his lifters. I was made feel welcome and I learned a lot. Jim is extremely experienced in the sport and his passion inspired me, much like John Broz's did the previous week. Above is a video of some of my lifts and as always, please male any constructive criticism that you think may help. Below is the first of a three part interview with Jim and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did: