EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the athlete journal of Terry Hadlow. Terry got started in Olympic weightlifting in 1970 and is the only Canadian to have competed in senior nationals in five different decades – 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Follow Terry’s journal here to learn about his approach to training and competing.
Athlete Journal Entry 10 – 12/23/2013
This week was rest week. There’s really nothing to tell since I spent most of my week trying to get the house renovations done. It’s looking good, but the cold weather has set in and the length of time it takes to get things done has jumped exponentially due to my limited skill level. I’m not interested in manning a compound miter saw when it’s minus twenty degrees Celsius. When I did get to the gym, I did a few of the Olympic lifts every time, as well as some front squats.
Monday
Monday was the start of week one, phase three, day one. I started with snatches, as I always do. It’s my comfort lift and sets the tone for the rest of the week. Since I hadn’t done anything heavy for ten days, I spent a little more time at the lower weights until I felt the movements smooth out.
- Muscle snatches: 40kg x 2 x 6
- 45kg x 2 x 6
- Snatch: 55kg x 2 x 6
- 65kg x 2 x 4
- Power snatch from the hang: 65kg x 2 x 6
- 7kg5 x 2 x 4 – my fitness was going to be tested because power snatch from the floor was next and I had to lower each rep to the floor eccentrically. The fatigue was compounded because of the energy expended adding the reverse movement to the sets.
- Power snatch from the floor: 75kg x 2 x 6 – then I made the dreaded 10kg jump.
- 85 x 2 x 4 – my first set was off a little because I switched bars and didn’t adjust my grip to accommodate the different markings. I didn’t make the same mistake twice, though. Instead, I missed the last rep of my last set. In our club, if you miss the last rep you must repeat that set. It took me four more sets to get my last set of four complete reps done.
The weather turned nice so I spent the next two days on my renovation project.
Thursday – Back Squats
Back squats were the next session, so as usual I spent a long time on my warm up. The weights were moving well, even if they felt heavy.
- 130kg for 4 sets of 6 reps – everything, specifically my groin, felt pretty good so I kept going.
- Speed squats: 2 sets of 10 with 70kg – my legs were sore from squats the day before, so I was a little leary of expending myself. The warm up was very long. It took me nearly an hour, but things were starting to flow.
- Speed clean: 50 kg for 2 sets of 6 – these felt light so I made a 20kg jump to 70kg for a set, then up to 80kg for a set.
- Power cleans from the hang: 2 sets of 6 with 80kg
- 90kg x 2 x 6
I was happy with these, as the bar was moving well considering the level of soreness in my muscles. I took 90kg x 2 x 6 for power cleans from the floor then did 100kg x 2 x 6. They weren’t that hard, so I moved to 100kg and did 4 x 1+1 clean and jerk.
Friday – Circuit Day
It was my birthday circuit so we had to do 56 minutes instead of forty on the first week. The group was not impressed.
I passed on the Saturday workout to finish my floor.
Sunday
The last day of the first week was front squats. I’m on a new routine and I’m looking forward to it. I started with 245lbs (all the kilo plates were being used by the guys doing the Olympic lifts and there was a bigger group than usual), which is 111.5 kgs. I was supposed to take 242lbs, or 110kg, but the club rule of always round up had me doing the heavier weight. The weights were feeling heavy, but I did the 5 + 3 + 1 stop squat three times for a total of 27 reps. I finished with 70kg front speed squats.
All in all it was a great week!
