Working out / health and fitness

Ah. Okay. Could be worth a try. Although will need to rearrange my floor space.

+1, I used to do olympic lifts and absolutely loved it, and got in great shape. I always preferred snatch vs clean and got mine over 200lbs before injuries stalled my progress. I haven’t done them much in the past couple years but would love to get back into it.

Edit: if you do learn them, take the time to do it right. I’ve seen some godawful oly form at my gym over the years. And don’t do it for speed like fucking crossfit either, treat each rep as a standalone rep.

1 Like

Off and on. You can probably do a bad form version pretty quickly. Then you want to just keep refining. But you need to practice and then refine. So Google when you have an understanding of a problem you are trying to solve.

I.e. right now. I’m working on the final catch, so I’ve been watching videos. But if I’d tried to look into this 6 weeks ago, I wouldn’t really understand what I needed to look at.

Fwiw. I’m very much not an expert.

2 Likes

Any resources or tips? My form is still pretty shocking. I’ve only recently stopped slamming the fuck out of my collar bone every workout.

I feel you. I tried some Olympic lifts and gave up for this reason. I don’t think I’d try again without a qualified personal trainer.

Now you’ve got me pantomiming the motion trying to figure out what worked for me haha

I never had collarbone impact issues. I think high shoulder mobility helped–I was always able to get my upper arms to about horizontal, which put my delts high enough to catch things. Usually I’d only have 2 or 3 fingers under the bar, just for stability. I think stretching your lats out can give you more range-of-motion here.

Also your speed to catch position may have something to do with it. If you’re getting under the bar when it’s at its highest point, the bar shouldn’t have much downward momentum when you catch it. Maybe the weight is too light for you and you’re launching it up into the sky :D

Only other tip is standard barbell lifting stuff–make sure the weight is centered in the middle of your feet. If you’re catching it too far forward you might be leaning into the bar, which will put strain on your back as your body tries to stabilize.

Could always record yourself doing a rep that you feel is pretty standard for you and post it.

2 Likes

Yeah. I think it was mainly bar path. I didn’t quite understand what “getting under the bar” meant. So I would have to pull the bar towards me.

Still have issues with driving my elbows up, but I’m getting there.

I just remembered that I have an amusing clean video from years ago. When I was working on my Olys I was lifting alone, so I would record myself to analyze later. Not every rep was pretty. Enjoy.

How not to clean:

If you have the volume on you can hear my exasperated sigh as I realize I’ve caught it too far back haha

(I had to reactivate my Facebook account to track this sucker down–turns out it was almost exactly 6 years ago.)

2 Likes

Lol. I’m a little worried. I cant actually fall backwards from where I clean, not without going backwards over a rowing machine into a wall.

I think I need to make sure I stick with power cleans, so I can always bail.

Haha, fair–that would be ugly. I think that’s the only time I ever fell backwards like that, may have bailed differently if I hadn’t known there was open floor behind me.

That’s actually pretty impressive bail. Lots of people panic and throw the bar.

This conversation has reminded me of another dumbell exercise doable at home: one-armed dumbell snatch. Definitely adding that one to the workout.

2 Likes

Rowing machine today.

5000m in 17:50 @ 1:47.0 pace.

1 Like

I went the other way.

2 Likes

Just brace your abs and squeeze your glutes while picking up those boxes, that counts as a deadlift.

1 Like

Front Squat and power cleans today.

I’ve been struggling with losing grip on the bar during front squats. A bit of googling suggests that i need to get my elbows up higher, which is possibly a flexibility issue.

Good to have something to work on.

Bought a bike. Have been riding to work the last two days. 5km each way. 25 minutes morning and night.

This is on top of the other workouts I’ve been doing. The ride is fine, but I am noticing a bit of extra fatigue in the legs. I reckon I will get used to it and this should be good for my cardio and rowing.

Also an extra 400 calories a day, that’s gonna add up with my weight loss.

In other “working out at home because corona ldo” news.

My dad just asked me to order a concept2 rowing machine for him. Just like mine. He’s 80.

He hasn’t rowed since university, so will see how this goes. Probably a big step up from his zumba aerobics in the pool.

2 Likes

I used to have my half rack in my bedroom when I had less space lol… Not sure of the square footage but it wasn’t close to what I have now.

Looks like a pretty good example of a safe failed attempt. Got the weight to the ground in a controlled manner without crushing yourself.

1 Like