One Ambitious Jerk

Workout date: 7/29/15

I wasn't there to witness it, but I have it from some good sources that Doctor Coach Giulz hit a PR on her jerk tonight.  And then she went ahead and jerked even more weight.  Don't mess with Doctor Coach Giulz!

It was 1RM Jerk night at the gym this evening, but I was going to start off with some strength work before I hit up the WOD.  I had started a new back squat program on Monday that requires squatting 3 nights per week.  I know I won't be at the gym on Friday (update: this may no longer be true), so doing it on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday seemed like a good plan.  With that in mind, I snuck over to the annex to get in my squats for today.  The program called for 6 sets of 2 reps at 235 pounds on Monday, but for today I was doing 6 sets of 3 reps at the same weight.  I also lucked out by having Leslie and Jim C in attendance to watch me because I was apparently doing some funky stuff the other night.  More specifically, I was rocking back and forth during the lift.  As you might imagine, that isn't the best way to move around 235 pounds.

I honestly believe that the rocking was mostly due to the fact that I was tired out when I went to do the squats on Monday, but that wasn't the complete explanation as I still had some minor rocking going on tonight as I warmed up.  Once again, I started with 5 reps at 135 and 4 reps at 185.  Leslie told me that I was rocking when I did the first two reps at 185 and then all of a sudden I kept my feet planted for the final two reps.  The only logical explanation for such behavior is that I'm a head case, but you already knew that.

When it came to the sets at 235, I didn't experience too much trouble.  In a couple of weeks I will need to be able to handle six sets of six reps at this weight, so it isn't all that surprising that six sets of three reps wasn't overly cumbersome.  However, it was a contrast to the other night where each set of two felt like work.  I probably should re-consider doing the six sets of two reps after a WOD.  On one hand, I felt like it wasn't much volume, so I could handle it.  But if my legs are fried like they were on Monday, it's probably better to save it for another day.

I had a little bit of time between the end of Open Strength and the 7:30 class so I stretched out while waiting to see if I would be the only person attending that class.  The 6:30 class was a de facto personal training session, so it was very possible that Keith would be hanging out with only yours truly at 7:30.  Instead, I got to work out with two people who recently completed the Summer Shape Up program, Chris and Danielle.  And I have to say I was impressed.  I remember how bad my form was when I started.  I don't even need to remember as I still have pretty bad form with a lot of movements today.  But these guys learned the split jerk during warmups and then looked very solid as they practiced it during the workout.  Maybe I should have taken the Summer Shape Up classes!

The format for finding the 1RM today was a bit different than it was on Monday when we had 20 minutes to find a 1RM thruster.  Today, you had to do at least 7 lifts.  Some stubborn SOBs did 10 (not naming names).  I thought about what weight I wanted to get to and the best way to get there.  My PR for the jerk was 225, which I managed while finding my 1RM overhead squat.  I had jerked that from behind my neck.  Opinions seemed to vary on whether that was easier or not, but I tended to believe that doing the jerk from the front rack would be easier.  As a result, I expected to jerk more than 225 during the workout.  (Also, I believe I should PR every time because I always want more, more, more.)

I believe I've stated before that I like to go after PR's on my second to last lift so that I can scale back on the last lift if necessary or go even higher should I feel really good.  So my plan for the 7 lifts was as follows:

135-165-185-200-215-230-245

The first few lifts would be ones that I knew I could get, then I would switch to 15 pound jumps as the weight got heavier.  Aside from the fact that I would have to add and remove 2.5 pound plates repeatedly (I try to avoid those), I was happy with the plan.

Got started with 135 and just did a push jerk as I'd have ample opportunity to practice the split jerk along the way.  In fact, once I got to 165, I started testing it out.  165 and 185 were not too bad using the split jerk, but I wasn't doing it with a lot of depth because I knew I could handle the weight (translation: I could push press it).  Once I got to the jerk at 200, I knew proper form and more depth would be necessary.  I had the completely incorrect takeaway from my lift at 200.  Here's my impression of the lift followed by what Keith saw as he watched my lift:

Me: Good drive, followed by my mid-section bending like an accordion.  Core tight, dumbass!  Now the bar isn't completely locked out.  Straighten out my arms and...done.  That was a disaster.

Keith (paraphrasing): You drove up with so much energy that you ended up having to pull the bar back down to you as you split jerk.  That's why you scrunched up.  Your core didn't go soft on you.

What I thought was a terrible lift turned out to be a good one.  That's always nice to hear.  Especially since I was still 25 pounds shy of my PR.  I believe that clarification had a big impact on my next lift at 215.  Quick flashback: during my second attempt of the first workout of this year's Open, I did a squat clean of (coincidentally enough) 215 pounds.  Why do I remember that so clearly?  Because it was the best squat clean I've ever done.  It's nice being able to successfully complete a lift, but when you do it with the proper form and just nail it?  That's something that you remember.  When I did that squat clean, my timing was right, I pulled all the way through and I met the bar at the right level.  Do I get any more credit for doing it properly than if I did it poorly and still made the lift?  No.  But I still remember that lift 4.5 months later.  When I went to jerk 215, I thought about my previous lift and knew that if I repeated it, this weight wouldn't be a problem.  And sure enough, everything went about as well as I could have imagined.  Pretty sure I had a smile on my face as I looked over at Keith while holding the bar over my head.  Another lift like that and I would have a new 1RM.

Brimming with newfound confidence, I got ready to take on 230.  I wasn't even thinking PR at that point.  I was thinking it was simply my next lift on the way to finishing up at 245.  The lift at 230 was nowhere near as good as the one at 215.  Once again, I didn't get much depth in my split jerk.  I got just enough though as I used my upper body to power the bar above my head.  Keith let me know I could definitely get much more if I could simply get lower in my split.  But for the time being, I had at least a 5 pound PR.

Was jumping 15 pounds after getting a PR a bit ambitious?  Probably.  But based on the results at 215 and 230, I thought I had a legitimate shot at it with the proper technique.  Over the course of three tries, I couldn't make 245 happen though.  Keith told me I should get angry at the bar and use that in my lift, but I couldn't get my mind there.  I was in a good mood.  I even tried to think about things that normally would make me angry and my disposition didn't change.  After the third failed attempt, Keith encouraged me to try 240.  When I took the bar off the rack for that attempt, I knew I was in trouble.  Despite removing 5 pounds, the bar now felt heavier.  My split jerk had nothing on it and I dropped the barbell again.  I was done for the day.  Do I think 245 is feasible?  Absolutely.  I'll just need to be a little bit fresher when I take it on again.

Now that I was exhausted, it was the perfect time to take on some 20 ft rope climbs!  Or not.  I do love me some rope climbs, but I did have some concern about how effective I would be climbing all the way to the ceiling as part of the cash out, especially since we don't practice it all that often.  That being said, the cash out was only 5 minutes, and as was the case on Monday with the short thruster cash out, I would have felt dumb not being able to handle 5 more minutes of work.

There was one small difference though.  On Monday, when I got tired, I did my gimpy run back and forth and was able to recover a bit.  When you're dangling 17 feet above the ground, you don't really have that luxury.  Eek.  During the first minute of the cash out, I made it up to the 20 ft mark and back down twice with no problem other than breathing a bit heavy.  That third trip up to the 20 ft mark was not as fun.  I made it, but my arms were feeling tired and I was sucking wind more than I had been.  The clock was only at 1:45.  I jumped back on the rope and began to climb, but my lack of control became evident.  The rope began to twirl.  Not only was I struggling to hold on to the rope, I was now twirling around like a figure skater during the big finish of their long program.  As I moved just beyond the 15 ft mark, my grip began to loosen.  It was time to head back down.

I spent some time trying to recover, but then I got back on the rope.  I struggled again and the rope began twirling a second time.  I barely made it to the 15 ft mark before losing my foothold on the rope.  I clenched my whole body around the rope as my legs flailed and slowly began to descend that way.  It was all falling apart now.  When I got to the bottom, I took a longer break.  With 45 seconds left, Keith told me to get up the rope one more time.  I was determined to get to the top on this last ascent.  And the last climb was better than the two prior ones.  I reached 15 ft and made two more small pulls.  But my forearms were shot and I felt like I couldn't hold on any more.  I slid back down to the floor with 10 seconds remaining.  Three 20 ft climbs and three 15 ft climbs would have to do.

Sitting on the bench, sitting in my car, and sitting on my couch back home, I could barely move.  I couldn't remember the last time I was this tired.  I nearly fell asleep on the couch, which is something I almost never do.  No more lifting on Thursday.

Thursday preview: The lifting substitute?  Running!  My first unofficial Endurance class of the year as I attend Coach Tim's running clinic at the track.