Lots of feedback today.
2. Typical goals are to pick 1-2 compound movements and work a low volume, high intensity set up which usually revolved around working up to heavy triples to singles and 2-3RMs. I tend to emphasize my front squat and push press. There really wasn't much of a pattern. I did a lot of just thrown together stuff after I got there.
Lets start here. You will need to have more specific goals for your training days. If you have 3 days per week you can have a power day, a strength day, and a hyp / work capacity day.
Or every other week you can alternate 2 power, 1 strength / 2 strength, 1 power. And get your hyp / work capacity in the same workouts.
This way you will have a better plan when you go into the gym.
Either one you choose will help with -
I find my power starts to fatigue semi-quickly. My conditioning is probabally lacking compared to the other two.
Next -
4. I have an abdominal rotational strength imbalance. I found this out when doing full contact twists the other days. I was disapointed in the weight I struggled with. That's a horrible thing for a thrower.
A lot of throwers do. a good way to work imbalances out is to do some of the events in the opposite direction. You do not even have to throw anything, just go through the rotations with weight in the opposite direction.
I fell down the first time I swung the weight in the opposite direction, using my right hand.
Aside from that the full contact twists are good. I know you do single arm OL. You should be good here. You always train both sides.
As a thrower you will be off a little all the time.
5. I think my deadlift should be signifcantly higher than it is. My push press has stalled on increase and I had a horrible day with it the other day. However, my front squat keeps increasing.
After looking through your journal, you do very little low back and hamstring work. These are key to your deadlift / WOB and, well, just about all of the events as well.
This would explain why your front squat gets better, since it is a leg dominant exercise (you do bulgs and other assistance ex for legs)
I think my biceps are weak.
Smaller muscle groups recover faster than larger muscle groups. (science and practice, zatsiorsky) So you can train biceps more often in order to bring up strength. Biceps generally recover in 24 hours. (unless you have really bad work capacity.)
7. The pyramiding is just me working up to the heavier numbers.
It makes your volume look bigger than it is. Example -
Mon-7/23
A)Hang snatch:135X5, 145X3, 155X2
B)zercher squat:225X5, 275X3, 315X1, 355X1, 375X1
C)BTN jerk:185X3, 205X3, 225X3, 245X1, 255X1
You did 3 sets of hang snatch, 3 sets of zercher squats, and 2 sets of jerks. For a total of 15 reps for your 3 big exercises. So your volume is pretty low. (especially since all of your workouts tend to look like this.)
6. I use the low reps/high intensity for increasing absolute strength and efficiency of the CNS. I've had it drilled in my head that absolute strength is the basis for building all other strength capacities.
The basis for building all other strength qualities is work capacity. If your work capacity is high you will recover faster from more intense workouts. This also builds a base of muscle as well as the fact that work capacity training has a high training effect on connective tissue and non contractile tissue, decreasing the chance for injury. (siff, facts and fallacies)
You are right about the CNS. But your volume is too low on your power exercises. Which would explain -
I find my power starts to fatigue semi-quickly.
You need more volume on your power exercises, snatch, clean, push presses, high pulls, really any exercise like that.
Choose a number of reps to do (I usually use 2 or 3) and do 8 - 12 sets. This will give you more volume, help to increase your ability to be powerful over longer periods of time, and give you a lot more reps to get your form better.
This is everything I have spotted for the time being. I am sure we can work out some specific workouts over the next few days.
