WOD 4-28-09

"Barbell Tuesdays" and "Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1"

Today we worked more on the cleans, a little on the deadlift, and then cleans from the floor.
I used a heavier bar this time - last time I used the women's bar which is 35 lbs, but today I used the men's at 45 lbs. Thea thought I used the men's last time, and I knew I could do it, so I just went with it, haha. So we did more technique work on the clean from the standing position and worked on getting some speed in getting the elbows around and out.
From there we did some work on the deadlift technique, focusing on pushing the knees back and engaging the quads as you come up. This made a HUGE difference and I could really feel the bar coming up easier and I pushed my knees back. It also made it alot easier to keep the bar really close to the body the whole time, because your knees aren't in the way.
Then we put the two together and used the deadlift to get the bar up into the bottom position of the clean, then cleaned it to the shoulders as one movement. My first attempt wasn't so great as I was just overthinking it too much. There really are a lot of movements that have to be done correctly and in the correct order for it to work, so it can be a little overwhelming. So, I tried to just shut my brain off and get the weight up, and after a couple of times it felt more natural.
We finished up with Thea (Dr. Taylor) and moved onto Coach Laura's WOD, the deadlifts.

Now, deadlifts have never really been my strong suit as I just don't have a whole lot of confidence in my leg strength. But, after doing so many squats and really working on technique since I have been at Taylor Sport, I can tell a huge difference with my strength and confidence in my legs. So that is awesome. The last time I did deadlifts my 1RM (1 rep max) was 154 lbs. and I think that was my second or third workout at Taylor, so right about a month ago.
So we started off and I felt really good, it helped a ton to use Thea's "knees back" technique. We kept on upping the weights each time and on my 3rd rep I had matched my old PR of 70kg (154 lbs.). With two reps to go, I wanted to shoot for 75 kg and then 80 kg. I did the 75 kg and it wasn't even a problem, so I was psyched for 80. We loaded up the bar with 80 and at first I had a little bit of a false start, but took a breath and then got myself set. I got the bar moving and it was definitely heavy, and although it wasn't the most beautiful deadlift in the world, I was able to stand up and I got it!
So, I was able to beat my previous PR by 22 lbs.! That was just awesome. My hands have been ripped to hell, but I guess that is just part of it!
So it has been a couple of great days at Taylor and I highly recommend anyone that is looking to really push themselves and see considerable gains in strength and fitness to check them out - the link to Dr. Taylor's blog is to the right and you can get all of the info you need there.
So, a big thanks to Dr. Taylor and Coach Laura!

Endurance workout tomorrow morning, then into Taylor tomorrow evening. Thursday off, will be traveling Thurs/Fri but I am going to try and get a good run in on Friday morning in New Mexico - take advantage of the time zone!