Zander's olympic quest!

[ZanderBlair]

Good evening everyone, relatively new to the forum, so thought a journal would be a good way to introduce myself properly, as well as have a permanent record of my progress.

I'm a 19 year old student living in northwest london, recently finished my first year (studying music) and now I have the summer to chill/play guitar/go nuts in the gym!

My training is now centred around olympic lifting - I am lifting twice a week (wednesday and saturday) at Bethnal Green Weightlifting club where Giles Greenwood is coaching - besides that I usually do 2 sessions in the gym, consisting of strength training (squats, deads, presses etc.) and no lifts, to ensure that I'm not learning bad technique on my own. My goals are just to improve my lifts and general strength, have no fat loss or particular weight gain goals - my weight seems to be fairly stable, steadily increasing with strength.

Had a week off weightlifting due to a little discomfort in the left side of my lower back, but it seems to have cleared up after a bit of rest and a sports massage at my gym (left glute took a hammering though!)

Here are some stats:
Height - 5"7
Weight - 75-77kg (haven't weighed myself in a week and a bit)
BF - not sure, probably around 14/15% but have never had it measured.

Lifts (1RM):
Squat (high bar, ATG) - 140kg
Front Squat - 120kg
Deadlift - 150kg
C&J - 100kg
Snatch - 60kg

[ZanderBlair]

Okay, first session today...

Back Squats
Bar x5
60kg x5
80kg x5
100kg x5
(112.5 x5) x5

Push Presses
40kg (presses) x5
60kg x5
70kg x3
90kg x1 (1RM PB)
(82.5kg x3) x5

Stiff-leg deadlifts
60kg x5
80kg x5
105kg x6 x6 x5

Did these with no straps and overhand grip so the last one was probably down to this.

Felt pretty good today, hopefully get back to weightlifting on wednesday, or failing that, saturday.

[James Copping]

Nice lifts you have there mate. Looking to hit a BW snatch soon? How long have you been liftign for?

[ZanderBlair]

Thanks mate, yeah bodyweight would be nice.. I don't think it's too far off either, as I've only been snatching less than a month, including a week off. Started squatting early november, so been doing compounds since then - found that motivating myself is much easier with less bull**** exercises to worry about! In terms of cleans, I've been doing them since the end of 2010 but have only had my technique set on the way to being decent in the last few weeks.

[ZanderBlair]

Thought I may post my food intake for today - any comments/advice/criticism would be appreciated!

9:00 - Whey protein (unflavoured!) + creatine monohydrate (both from MP)
Bowl of porridge (50g dry weight) with water and a bit of honey
10:00 ish - 3 scrambled eggs with diced tomato and chorizo (tasty!), 2 slices of wholemeal toast
Apple
12:00 - WORKOUT
1:45 - creatine and 140ml lucozade energy (original), whey protein
2:00 - Pasta pot (chargrilled chicken from tesco, finally found all the chicken at the bottom) and snickers bar
Afternoon sometime - Bacon sandwich, 2pcs bacon, 1 slice wholemeal toast, dab of ketchup. 3 haribos that someone left!
8:00 - Just about to tuck into zorba chicken (chicken breast marinated in lime juice, coriander, cumin and turmeric... with homous & yogurt and salad [onions, tomatoes, lettuce] in pitta bread) - would recommend this to anyone!

Really should have got another whey shake in the afternoon, usually have 3 on training days, 2 on off days, but got sidetracked by haircut.
Usually have my morning shake with grape juice (150ml) instead but this is a pretty standard day for me.

Zander

[ZanderBlair]

Decent workout today... Squats felt pretty good whilst being heavy, but spoiled my overhead presses with a few sets of dumbell bench presses whilst waiting an age for the one squat rack to become available (with about 6 people doing bench press). Still worked myself pretty hard!

Incline Dumbell Bench Press (bit of a waste of time!)
14's x8
18's x8
22's x8
26's x8
30's x8

Back Squats
60 x5
80 x5
100 x4
125 x3 x3 x3 x3 x2 <- last one was not going up! Having to drop it on the metal side bars did make a racket though.

Presses
30 x5
40 x5
62.5 x3, x2+2 push press
60 x3, x3

Ran out of time to do stiff legs again, will do them tomorrow with some overhead squats methinks.

Finished off with some ab stuff, lots of reps... need to start some heavy ab work to strengthen the muscles.

Attached the file with this post yesterday, a nutritional calculator where you can work out your calorie, protein, carb and fat intake (+ percentages). Feel free to have a look, might save some time!

[ZanderBlair]

Lighter session yesterday, got some nice overhead squats happening!

OH Squats
Bar x5
40kg x4
55kg x4
70kg x2
80kg x2 (PB)
60kg x3 x3 x3 x3

Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
warm ups up to
105 x6 x6 x6

Not a bad session, beat my previous overhead squat best by 10kg, reckon I could hit 90/100 without too much strain. Nice to do some lighter squats where the focus isn't so much on your legs once in a while as well. Deadlifts went up fine, still trying to keep my grip intact for those last few.

Going to have a rest until saturday, maybe friday, back feels tender for now, think the heavy squats on monday were a lot to ask.

[ZanderBlair]

Lighter session yesterday, got some nice overhead squats happening!

OH Squats
Bar x5
40kg x4
55kg x4
70kg x2
80kg x2 (PB)
60kg x3 x3 x3 x3

Stiff-Leg Deadlifts
warm ups up to
105 x6 x6 x6

Not a bad session, beat my previous overhead squat best by 10kg, reckon I could hit 90/100 without too much strain. Nice to do some lighter squats where the focus isn't so much on your legs once in a while as well. Deadlifts went up fine, still trying to keep my grip intact for those last few.

Going to have a rest until saturday, maybe friday, back feels tender for now, think the heavy squats on monday were a lot to ask.

[ZanderBlair]

Session at Bethnal Green today lifting - felt a bit rusty but good to be back.

Snatch (3 reps, 5 sets)
56kg - x4 (2 misses) x4 (1 miss) x4 (2 misses) x4 (2 misses) x4 (1 miss)
Rusty at the start, improved towards the end, just need practice

Front Squat
50kg x5
70kg x3
(100kg x2) x6
Not too taxing, went up easily

Jerk-offs
85kg x2 x1
80kg x2 x2 x2 x2
Still need work, some good and bad reps, not consistent enough

Snatch Balances
(42kg x5) x5

My hands were fried after the snatches so the jerks and snatch balances were a bit painful, just need to toughen them up. Finished with some ab stuff, decent workout.

[James Copping]

Quote

Session at Bethnal Green today lifting - felt a bit rusty but good to be back.

Snatch (3 reps, 5 sets)
56kg - x4 (2 misses) x4 (1 miss) x4 (2 misses) x4 (2 misses) x4 (1 miss)
Rusty at the start, improved towards the end, just need practice

Front Squat
50kg x5
70kg x3
(100kg x2) x6
Not too taxing, went up easily

Jerk-offs
85kg x2 x1
80kg x2 x2 x2 x2
Still need work, some good and bad reps, not consistent enough

Snatch Balances
(42kg x5) x5

My hands were fried after the snatches so the jerks and snatch balances were a bit painful, just need to toughen them up. Finished with some ab stuff, decent workout.

too much info