Training Session 5 with Coach Keith
Frustrating day. My back was still tweaked from a missed power clean on Friday, despite resting it for three days. Keith put me right to work anyway. Started with a quick 3 rounds of Cindy for a warmup, then went to work on the squat. Started with the bar and worked up in sets of 5. Only got up to 225 today before I started showing a “soft” back. Keith had me to do some supermans with my hands behind my head and a plank-like hold, where I concentrated on pushing my chest up and my hips down. I really need to keep reinforcing the correct back position if I want to go heavy safely. My left hip was also feeling weird today and hurt a bit in the bottom position.
After that, we reviewed the jerk movement. Did a few reps with the bar behind my neck to warmup. Then Keith had me start from the hang position, clean the weight up, front squat, and split jerk it overhead. The split jerk landing position is still really unnatural for me and I’ll need to keep drilling it. I learned some footwork drills that will help. The real limiting factor with the jerk, though, is getting a good grip on the bar in the rack position. I’m not flexible enough in the shoulders to get into a good position here, so I’m forced to jerk from the fingertips, which rolls the weight forward, which throws the entire bar forward of my center line and throws everything off. Got a drill that I can do with a stick to work on this flexibilty- basically just putting the bar on my traps and squeezing the elbows into the correct position while keeping the shoulders up and chest hollow. My wrists were wrecked after all this work. At least I know I have plenty to work on!
