Thursday's ticking over

Myself and Byrdie had a nice and snappy workout in Hercs today and something momentous happened: Harry Leech performed Power Clean and Jerks. He has not been able to Snatch or Jerk in over two years due to a shoulder injury and his moment of Morgan Freeman style redemption brought a tear to my eye and a belief that--picture the movie trailor voice guy with the incredibly deep voice here--anything is possible.

I took a long time to warm up and was the better for it. I used the power plate, shoulder prehab, my back mobility exercise and upper back stretch and lots of bar work. Then I did the following:

Snatch--4x2@40 1x1@70, 80, 90, 100
Cathal did three singles with 92, but I wanted to get the feel of 100 and do one slightly heavier single over three slightly lighter ones. I really focused on keeping my back locked and it was working nicely. I have a ways to go with my back but this week alone there has been a definite improvement. Have a look;


Clean and Jerks--1x2@50, 50 1x1@50, 70, 90, 105, 112
Byrdie rightly convinced me not to take too big jumps as I was more tired than I realised from yesterday. I only did one single with 112, but Cathal did 3. Very light weights, but I would rather save it for Saturday.
All in all, I felt great after the session and I am looking forward to competing on Saturday. It should be fun and I am really looking forward to those moments just before I lift....

I have a few more guest articles that I will post over the next week or two. I will be having another longer interview with John Broz; an article on flexibility and warming up by Alex; an article on pre-hab movements and the why's and wherefore's by the one and only Zag and also a brilliant article describing what the Hercules club was like in the thirties; I have to thank Jimmy Jennings for that one. Have a great weekend lifting everyone and post some big numbers!