The week ended with a bit of pain in my elbow and wrist, which kept me from doing my planned snatch workout, but otherwise it was a solid training week.
Monday
It was Monday, and my legs needed a rest. I decided to do an upper body circuit.
- 130lbs x 6 reps for behind neck press
- 155lbs x 6 reps for incline press
- 120 lbs x 10 reps for wide pull downs
- 35lbs x 10 reps for curls
The weights were used for my last four sets of the six set circuit. My wrist and elbow took a little time but warmed up nicely.
Tuesday
Tuesday was a day off, mainly because of the crazy schedule both at Jonathan Toews Community Centre and the university. With the split shifts, I spend as much time commuting as I do in the two gyms.
Wednesday
Today was a day to see how my elbow and wrist were responding to the therapy. So to challenge the two appendages, I decided to do combination snatch work. My warm up as methodical and little discomfort manifested itself, so I was cautiously optimistic.
My first five sets were made up of five reps, which includeed a pull, power snatch, speed snatch, power snatch from the hang, and a full snatch. I did two sets with 50kg and 70kg and one set with 80kg. I made a 10kg jump to 90kg and did four sets of four reps, eliminating the speed snatch. I made a final 10kg jump to 100kg and did one set of two reps, a pull, and full snatch. The wrist and elbow were feeling okay, but the 100kg tested them. One observation, I’ve noticed is the decrease in my pull power for the snatch. I haven’t done any back squats in a while, and I wonder if there is a correlation between the two.
Thursday
Thursday was clean and jerk, with front squats thrown in for good measure. Each set was a power clean with four front squats and a jerk. My wrist and elbow were a little stiff, but it was tolerable. My knees and groin were virtually pain-free. I started at 50kg for two sets and made 20kg jumps up to 110kg to do four sets there. By putting the jerk at the end and executing the reps efficiently, I could feel my confidence growing in being able to secure a successful lift at the more strenuous weights.
Friday
Today was long circuit fitness, and with a competition just around the corner I cut back to rest week work. Until the competition is over I’ll stick to the strategy of forty minutes every second station.
Sunday
I woke up on Sunday and my wrist and elbow were on fire. Unfortunately, the discomfort coincided with the typing for this article. I have to investigate how to fix this. With the level of discomfort peaking, I knew that the planned snatch workout is out of the question. So clean and jerk it was.
I started with speed cleans for 6 reps, starting with two sets with 50kg. I made a 20kg jump to 70kg for six reps, then made 10kg jumps from there, all the way up to 100kg for two sets of six reps. I switched to clean and jerk, starting with 70kg and I did a double. I repeated that with 90kg and just did singles with 100kg, 110kg and 120kg. I finished this part of the workout with a very solid 125kg. I did clean pulls with 145kg for two sets of four reps, with the fourth rep of the second set a ten-second slow pull.
Terry Hadlow 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.
