Sunday 090614

Two of the last four (the other two were heavy as well) workouts I have done have been the epitome of my style of training and basically what has gotten me to where I am today. If you were to ask anyone in my gym, client or colleague, what kind of workout do you see Ricky doing. Nine times out of 10, they would tell you very heavy and low on the volume. I just love moving large amounts of weights with a barbell, especially the Olympic lifts. Now, I probably should pay more attention to my gymnastic efforts because I am not the greatest at moving my body-weight. I think I may have even surpassed my ability to proficiently complete pull-ups, pushups, handstand pushups, and the like with heavy Olympic Lifts and Power-lifts as well as thrusters, etc. etc. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not bad at gymnastic type movements but I should be better than what I am, at my body-weight. I just don’t like doing pull-ups and all that stuff. I’d rather be throwing a heavy barbell overhead.

Onto another subject. I re-read an article just yesterday about training Olympic Lifters. I read it on CrossFit North Santa Cruz’s website. The first time I read it, it was a few years back when I was still training athletes at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The article was written by one of the best in the business of getting people strong and powerful. This guy knows all about work capacity and it’s importance to a person’s respective sport. He knows all about weaknesses and addressing them before they get the best of you. He, like Coach Glassmann, is before his time. I look up to Louie Simmons and when he speaks, I listen. If you get the chance, read the article. You can learn a thing or two about training. You may not necessarily agree with his philosophy on training but the essence of what he is talking about holds true in any type of training. Keep your training highly varied, get your work capacity up to par, address weaknesses, and absolutely avoid specialization. Does this remind you of anything? CrossFit closely resembles the conjugate method of training. That is, as long as the person programming knows what the hell they are doing. If you like the article, check out Louie’s website (btw, Dave Tate is a disciple of Louie’s training methods), Westside Barbell.

What If I Were An Olympic Coach, by Louie Simmons.

Sunday’s WOD
3-2-1 rep rounds for time of:
176 pound Full Snatch
220 pound Full Clean and Jerk

Time: 8 minutes

Saturday’s WOD
As many rounds in 20 minutes of:
242 pound Back Squat for 3 reps
6 Weighted Pull-ups, 25 pound dumbbell
9 Handstand Pushups

Rounds completed: 10 (didn’t break up the hspu’s until the 7th round i believe)