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 9 – 12/16/2013
Monday: Snatch Day
It was day one, week three of the second phase and I could already feel the fatigue starting to creep into my body. The combination of house renovations along with my regular work, compounded by the training sessions, was starting to take its toll. I usually don’t get that tired until Thursday of the last week. As usual, Monday was snatch day. I started with speed snatch.
- Speed Snatch: 50 x 6 x 2
- 60 x 6 x 2 sets – not bad, but I knew that the top end of my work was going to be a challenge.
- Power snatch from hang with 2 second hold at the knees: 60kg x 6 x2
- 70 x 6 x2 sets – no surprise, the weights were feeling sluggish. The strength was there, but no pop at the finish.
- Power snatch from the floor: 70kg x 6 x 2 sets
- 80kg x 4 x 2 sets – as hard as I tried, I could only manage four reps with each set. Bitten by the threshold effect, 70kg didn’t really feel heavy even though they didn’t move with speed. The 80kg felt like a ton and didn’t move at all.
Tuesday
I was so tired I decide to scratch Tuesday’s workout. I hoped the rest would help me get through the workload – that is the priority.
Wednesday: Back Squats
Wednesday was back squats, and with the rest day on Tuesday my disposition was much fresher than on Monday. My warm up went well and I had no pain in the usual problem areas. I started with the bar and made large jumps, which boosted my confidence.
- 70 x 6 reps with speed squats – that movement was done by going into a full squat, but only standing to three quarters of the leg extension to begin the next rep.
- 100 kg and do the same as with 70kg – no problem. I settled on 122.5kg because all the kilogram plates are being used by the other lifters who were doing the lifts. The movements were strong and I did all four sets as speed squats. I was pretty happy with the progress. Going from what was a challenge two weeks ago to speeds with the same weight means my training is headed in the right direction.
Thursday
My legs were burnt – the squats the day before had done me in. I was on the brink and it only takes one workout to put me over the edge and it’s a long way down. I decided to leave the cleans alone for this week, since I still had a heavy front squat day and that was my priority.
Friday – Circuit Day
I used Friday as an active rest opportunity. I did forty minutes at 35 seconds of work with 25 seconds rest. I started off sluggish but felt pretty good by the end of the session.
Saturday
Friday’s workout was a great strategy. I felt so good on Saturday I was beginning to feel guilty about missing Thursday’s workout. The solution was to go do a workout Saturday. I knew front squats were on the menu for Sunday, so I decided on a snatch pull workout.
- High hang pulls: 2 sets of 6 reps with both 50 and 60kg.
- Pulls from the hang with a 2sec hold at the knees: 2 sets of 6 with both 60kg and 70 kg – during the first two exercises I made sure the elbows led the pull position and finished the pull with the bar right under my chin. With the weights only going to 70kg, getting the bar that high was no problem.
- Pulls from the floor with 80kg and 100kg – with the 80kg I hit the same positions and height as I did with the first two exercises. With 100kg I worked on maintaining good form from the floor and made sure I exploded at the knees and finished with a strong elbow drive.
Sunday
Sunday is the training day I enjoy the most. I’m not sure why that is the case, but I think it’s because this workout sets the tone for the coming week and it’s the best indicator of progress. I did 110kg for sets of 5, 3, and 1 stop squat x 3 rotations. They went so well that I could finally do speed squats with 70kg x 10 reps x 2 sets.
Looking forward to next week – it’s rest week!
