Tuesday

Back Squats (6-10 sets) x (8 reps)
Hang snatch (2 sets x 5 reps each weight. Top set + 3 sets)
Hang clean and jerk (2 sets x 3 reps. Top set + 3 sets)
Box Jumps (5 sets x 1 rep) [+] Lunges (5 sets x 15 reps)

Wednesday

Block Snatches (2 sets x 3 reps each weight. Top set + 3 sets)
Block Clean (2 sets x 3 reps. Top set + 1 set)
Snatch Pulls (to 5RM. Repeat 3 sets)
Clean Pulls (to 5RM. Repeat 2 sets)
Behind Neck Push Press (to 2RM. Reduce 10%, 5 sets x 5 reps)

Thursday

Front squats (6-10 sets) x (6RM + 1 Jerk)
Power snatch, with standard grip (3 reps x 3 sets each weight to 3RM)
Power cleans and power jerk, with standard grip (3 reps x 3 sets each weight to 3RM)
Dumbbell Overhead Press [+] Walking Lunges (5 sets x 15 reps)

Friday

Snatch (To 1RM. Repeat for 3 sets of 4)
Clean and jerk (To 1RM. Repeat 3 sets of 2)
Snatch pulls (to 5RM. Repeat 3 sets)
Clean Pulls (to 5RM. Repeat 2 sets)
Strict behind neck Press [+] Step-ups (5 x 10)

Saturday

Back squats (8 sets x 10 reps)
Bodybuilding stuff. Back, arms, shoulders.

Front Squats + 1 Jerk

20KG x 2 x 10
60KG x 2 x 6
80KG x 2 x 5
100KG x 4 x 5
120KG x 1 x 3 (Jerk fail)

Hang Snatches

20KG x 2 x 10
50KG x 3 x 5
70KG x 3 x 5
80KG x 1 x 5

Sunday (25/12/2011)

Snatches
20KG  x 5 x 5
40KG x 2 x 3
50KG x 3×3
70KG x 7 x 3

Not too bad. playing around with the technique.

Finished with some presses and pull-ups

Monday  (26/12/2011)

20KG x 4 x 10
40KG x 2 x 10
60KG x 2 x 10
80KG x 1 x 10
90KG x 1 x 10
100KG x 4 x 8

Trying to get some technique in, some endurance in the legs and back. Feeling a bit tight all over but loosened up after a few sets.

Snatches for 4 sets of triples. Techn tech tech!

Tuesday (26/11/2011)

Power Clean and Jerks

50KG x 3 x 3
70KG x 3 x 3
90KG x 2 x 3
110KG x 1 x 1 (Wasn’t planning to go past  70%)
90KG x 4 x 3 (1 power clean, 2 front squats, 1 jerk. I think my wrist died in the process)

40KG overhead presses for 3 sets of 8.

Tomorrow’s gonna be front squats to a top set of 10RM for 5 sets.

Looking forward for next week when I can put in the second exercise in.

Yes, I may be born in a country outside of China, but my parents are still extremely Chinese in terms of upbringing. I don’t even understand why! My dad doesn’t even speak Mandarin. Weird…

I remember being dragged out the car because I was threw a tantrum. Dragged by the back of the collar and thrown out the car. I had to walk a good 6 hours I think to get back home. No no scorching heat. Just 6PM darkness.

Actually, one of my best memories of childhood was when I was still…about 10. I didn’t complete my homework and hid it in the couch. My mom sat and the book, popped out. Holy…shit.

Nowadays, I see kids that ask, plead, whine and yell to get what they want. My dad used to say “MY words are FINAL!” and u knew you just lost the argument despite how logical yours sounded to you. I still think I beat him in logic.

After years of such beatings which the modern world would call, abuse or torture, I learned how to actually, “enjoy” it. Shit’s gonna happen anyway. My dad’s going to hit me ANYWAY. I could yell and let the pain eat me, or I’ll just keep quiet and take it all in. While the beatings are going on, I’ll just think of something else and block the pain.

I think this sort of upbringing, often taught me to toughen up and say, screw that, I’m doing it no matter how tough the process will be. The process sucks, but it’s only for that period. After that, it’s all smiles again.

Am I pissed that I was brought up this way? Are you kidding me, seriously? I’m happy that my dad brought me up this way. It taught me humility and toughened me up. It taught me which battles were worth winning. Would I bother arguing with you, about the end of the day? No. Will I argue which method is better in training? To hell with you. It’s your body. Will I argue if you diss me without anything to back your words up. You bet!

I see the way kids are brought up here and I think to myself “Holy cow, they’re lucky alright!” My cousin’s 8 and he’s never gotten caned. I think I was 3 when I first got smacked. The special weapons would come in later. It’s very interesting for me at least, to see how children are brought up.

Perhaps this is upbringing does bring the best out of children. Psychologically and future mental health aside, performance does improve when pressured. I’m thinking, this may be why many athletes from less “socially developed” nations are so much better in weightlifting. Perhaps, they’re just a lot tougher and have a “I don’t care” attitude.

I see some guys that rip their hands and the workout’s over. I see some people, whom are given the privilege of a personal trainer, fussing about whether to do overhead presses behind neck or in front of neck. I see a lot of sissies in gyms nowadays.

Whatever happened to the days where, “Oh shit, my knees hurt. Oh well, I’ll do pulls” Or, “Oh shit, my grip’s weak. I’m going to do more wrist curls”. Nowadays, people are just all so into the whole functional, big picture, do compound only because I’m cooler that way. I think such individuals are mentally retarded.

Just because compound movements are better, doesn’t mean isolation movements don’t work. You try running a V8, on a 10″ rim. You need to have the whole structure. So just toughen up, and don’t stress over what the industry names these movements. Just do what fixes your errors. And stop believing that you can’t train your back today, just because you trained your back yesterday. You ate yesterday. Why you still eating today?

I believe there are many opinions in the training world, and each coach is allowed to create his own. Mine however, says that “Spotting is extremely important for the athlete to be better and stronger”

First, you have to look at your goal. If your goal, is to get stronger and build more muscle, I believe a spotter (smart spotter), is integral to your success. A spotter not only works as an individual that provides tiny assistance at your weakest points, but also cues your technique. A spotter is also hugely important, as a motivator, telling you that there’s an extra rep within you. But what’s most important to me, is how the spotter helps break through the sticking points.

Sometimes, it’s that 1″ that the lifter’s a bit weaker at, and by slightly tapping the bar, the lifter gets the lift. Now realize that, training is to get you to a goal. My goal, is to get stronger. Now here I am, doing sets of triples at 95% of 1RM.

I say…By using a spotter, to help you tap through that 1″, you get so much more work done, at that selected weight and eventually, just get stronger? How’s that for training perspective? Possible isn’t it? And as a bonus, I’ll even do sets of 2-5, from a block at that weak spot after that. Now I’ve got intensity, I’ve got weight, I’ve even started working on my weak positions. And to even it all out, I’ll even add unilateral training, to build connective tissue strength and help balance some muscular imbalances.

So for me, spotters are extremely useful and important. It’s how you use these spotters, that is far more important. If my friend touches the bar, I’ll ask “How much load was pulled off? Was it because the bar was out of position? Thank you”

Spotters=Good.

Are some of the words I’ll remember till the day I die.

I’ve been hanging around some forums, reading on stuff they post. There are posters who are so stupid, that they refuse to accept that each man or woman or child’s physical goal, differs. And they can’t keep shoving one type of training into the throats of another. Really… one of my biggest question is;

“I wonder how much these companies are paying these fanboys”

For me, training, is specific to your goals and what you wish to achieve. There’s no need to make fun of others. However, there are a few elitist communities out there, that love dissing the fact that some people curl instead of deadlift, use a leg press, instead of squat, and do kipping pull-ups, instead of strict pull-ups.

Make no mistake, all communities of trainees, whether crossfit, powerlifting (Suited or raw), bodybuilders, bootcamp, whatever. They are all somehow or rather trying to condemn other sports or method of training.

What I’d like to know is, how many of these fellows have seen, real athletes? Maybe that’ll teach you a thing or two about dissing other trainees.

170KG power clean by a sprinter.

A discus thrower, Werner Gunthor, doing some “functional” (What a nonsensical term) plyometric drills

A wrestler, showing some major strength. So what if he doesn’t squat 300KGs for a triple? He’ll still lift you off the ground and make you look like a complete wuss.

Rugby players, that are probably not going to beat your Fran time, but will still take the worst beating you could possibly give, and stand. After that, they’ll hit you twice and see you fall. Rugby players do have higher bone densities you know.

So my point here is, learn from all angles, whether bodybuilding, crossfit, powerlifting, weightlifting, sport specific training. Anything. There’s really no need to compare yourself as being a better athlete. It’s worst when companies, start telling their followers and their followers are STUPID enough to believe that they’re better athletes.

You’re nothing, if you can’t respect the training and abilities of another athlete. Don’t even bother calling your athlete, for the most important conduct of an athlete, is respect. Until you can get that right, you can forget about being an athlete.

You’re nothing but a retard, controlled by marketing strategies and here’s take home message for you.

While some guys like Jiri Orsag (300KG)…wait hold on, 90% of the videos on Youtube are videos of guys squatting with their heads/eyes/nose pointed up.

We’ve all been informed to look up. The theory states that our eyes direct where we go. That’s why if we close our eyes and run, we’ll end up running in circles, often to the direction of our handedness. I’m not sure what happens to people who are ambidextrous though. Thus if we look down, we’re going to go down.

On the other hand however, keeping a neutral spine is better to deliver force into the bar. This is because it transfers the power better without losing a percentage of it through flex or excessive arch/curve. No disagreements yet right? A straight stick will deliver more force, than a stick that’s curved right? This is also dependent on durability of the stick, and amount of torsion the stick can handle. But our bodies aren’t sticks.

I’ve been doing some reading, experimenting with clients and myself and my mates, and 90% of us have realized improvements in our squats by looking downwards or forward instead of our previous cue to look UP. Mine’s probably the most extreme, where by looking at a point 3 feet in front of me, I get the best balance and feel. No my back doesn’t round. Tested and checked even with 95% 1RM @ 190KG. The comments I get most by looking downwards or forward are;

- Better stability and ability to feel the weights between the midfoot to the heels.
- They feel their hips and glutes working harder (I personally got up with major butt sores)
- Looking in the ground gives them more confidence
- The quads feel more fired up
- Easier to keep the knees locked in place
- Easier to get the right positions while going down and less mistakes when shooting up.

I can guess to why it happens, but I’m in no way sure, so I’m not about to make assumptions so soon.

In fact, two of our clients always had problems with the hips shooting too far back while the shoulder and bar stays in the same stop. They end up doing a good morning. Myself included, but this was minimized when I did a lot of pulling and front squats. I figure with stronger quads and back, I can keep a more upright position with less leaning forward. For the longest time I saw clients and friends improving, their quads getting all stronger with back squats and I was pretty upset that I had to stick to front squats to get stronger.

My best theory for this improvement;

By keeping a flat back, we have no “platform” to good morning the weight if we shoot our hips shoot back. So this helps us be aware of keeping our hips as close under the bar as possible.

It could also be due to torso length as a lot of our clients have long torsos and keeping a flat back, seems to alleviate the load on the abs and shift it more to the hips.

For the moment, looking down is working well but should the need to move back to looking up arise again, I’ll definitely switch back. Just thought others out there who keep falling over, can give it a shot. Look down, or forward and keep the back flat. Please don’t round the back though.

Week 1:

70% 1RM x 4 x 8

Week 2:

75% 1RM x 5 x 8

Week 3:

80% 1RM x 5 x 5

Week 4:

85% 1RM x 5 x 5

Week 5:

90% 1RM x 3 x 3

Week 6:

95% 1RM x 3 x 2

Perform your desired lift, at least twice a week to a maximum of 4x a week.
At week 5, do at least twice with no more than 3
At week 6, only do the lift twice a week.

This was designed through the Prelipin chart and we added about 25% of loading on top of the recommended. NO, I do not suggest using this for your Olympic lifts. Please do not, because you’re avoiding the real work which begins at 85-90% 1RM when we’re talking Olympic lifts. Olympic lifts, past 5 reps are pointless if your goals are to be better at Olympic weightlifting.

So if a coach, is taught that back squats is necessary and it he sees the improvements, it’s likely he’ll bring that to his athletes. The athlete will learn this and continue this pattern. While this is all good, the issue is, how do you know, what you know, is right, across the board? After all, we don’t know, what we don’t know.

My point here is, sometimes, you’re going to need to use lifts that most “literature” don’t talk about, or go against literature. The Chinese coaches understand this, and quite a lot of times, you’ll see lifters doing odd things like a row, that rotates into an oblique twist (I’ve no other way to describe this), back squat + box jumps + dragging a sled.
Things that weightlifting dictionaries don’t have in existence.

Myself, for example.

Literature suggests that snatch and clean pulls from the floor will improve our pulling strength to keep our torso over the bar. I don’t benefit much from floor pulls, so I ended up spending a lot of time pulling off the blocks and from an elevated platform. From these two movements, though I barely touched my clean and jerks (2x a week only), it shot up from 131-135KG in 2 weeks. While many may say that’s barely anything, keep in mind I was stuck at 120-130KG lifts for a whole 2 annoying months, so to have it move 4KG in 2 weeks is huge for me.

Literature suggests that back squats improve leg strength and back strength. Not the case for me, as I kept falling forward. It was supposed to improve it, but it wasn’t doing it. In the end, I did front squats, 2″ platform wide grip clean pulls, box jumps and sled pushes. I even did a ton of kettlebell swings and trunk work after each session. The only back squats I did was paused back squats so I wouldn’t topple over and could find my center. During this time, I still had no idea the leaning forward could be a hip tightness caused by my tight IT bands and wasn’t just about strength.

That helped tremendously. Finally shot my back squats up to a nice 195KG from 175KG. That took roughly 2 months. This was after my squats didn’t move for 6 months so I was obviously extremely satisfied. When I studied further about ITB, hip flexor and hamstring involvement in the opening and closing of the hip angle, I got my brother to massage my ITB daily and step on it. It felt like someone put a hot knife through my flesh, but it got the job done.

So yeah, just use the resources around to help you. It annoys me sometimes when people calls it the Chinese training method. There isn’t one. They just use resources around to help them. Not everything is a cookie cutter y’all! I’m sure many people have watched the vids of Klokov’s 120KG high pull/hip snatch thing.

I’m sure this wasn’t in much literature but he uses it. What does that mean? It simply means he found an exercise that he likes and can benefit from. Just experiment.

Another reason why the daily max method of lifting, sport specific method cannot be used for long. There, whether or not you like it, are too many variables it doesn’t address. And these variables can and will affect the lifter. They sent back the Bulgarian coaches in Indonesia because the lifters had too much injuries. When he came back to Asia, (Malaysia), he toned his methods down and included other moves like presses and pulls because he admitted, in terms of sustainability of training, it’s difficult.