Finally! A Long-Overdue C&J Breakthrough

 I know how strong I am, because most of my weightlifting takes roughly zero skill:  I squat and I do standing shoulder presses.  The other lifting I do is clean and jerk, which takes strength, but also technique, timing and balance. Not to mention, a bit of nerve.

The last few months, I've been struggling to C&J 145 and 150 but I know that I'm just as strong as I was when I routinely did 155-160.  So what's the problem?

Some mechanics:  The bar starts in front of you, so your knees are hanging over the bar.  By the middle of the clean, the bar needs to be touching your thigh and your knees are on the other side of the bar from the rest of your body.  I've been focusing on form--once the bar clears your knees, you need to pivot your hips toward the bar as you unbend at the waist, so that your shoulders move to vertical.  The whole idea is that your body's center of gravity needs to be identical with that of the bar, otherwise you can't really drop under it to catch it on your shoulders (front).

The problem is that I was neglecting my timing:  You shouldn't be going "all-out" all the time.  If you pull too hard at the start of the lift, your legs will overpower your back and round it.  Then you'll have no power later--and might injure yourself.

I did a timing re-set last weekend:  I normally would do; 115, 125, 135, 145, 150, but this time I did; 115, 115, 120, 120, 125, 125, 130, 130, 135, 135, 140, 140, 140, 145, 145, 145. I never went very high and graduated the weights slowly, so that I could get used to; lift-off smoothly and with my shoulders low, then explode with the bar at about knee height.  This weekend I did; 115, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 145, 150, 150, 155.

In a perfect world, I would get right to 155-160 and do a bunch of lifts there--but in this real world, I need to have patience and get there when I get there.  Don't move to the next level until the one you're at feels solid.

Alternate McSweeney's Titles part 12

 

I plan to continue watching pro sports even though they are filled with blatent propaganda. I wouldn't want megacoroporations, which don't know I exist, to feel undue pressure

by GRAEME CAREY

Toward An Understanding of Universal Ethics via Agreement Between Dog and Human Ethics

Just in case you're wondering, this is not satire.

Our dog is fed twice per day but always (unless it runs out and we don't notice) has water available.

Her behavior with regards to these two essential things could not be more different:  

When it comes time to be fed, or really anytime when food is in-play, she becomes very excited and seems to welcome 'tasks' in exchange for food.  Sometimes when she is uninterested in her kibble, I will have her do tricks with a kibble reward.  Or have her chase-down a kibble piece that I toss across the room.  (She really likes it when I toss a piece under the dining table.  She has to do dog-geometry to negotiate all of the chair and table legs. This gets her excited and soon, she wolfs-down her bowl of kibble.

With water, she is never excited--she goes and drinks as she needs to. Every once in a while we let the bowl run dry and we find out because she will just lay down near it and look pathetic.  We feel so sad!  How could we neglect her like this?  When we are in the process of re-filling the water bowl, she is attentive but not excited like she would be with food.

I brought this difference with my wife.  We both agreed that it would feel wrong to make her do tricks for water.  The dog 'feels' the same way.  Logically, both are essential to life, but on an emotional level they are different.  The dog and the Humans agree on this, so maybe, while it's hard to define why, there is something fundamentally different.  We're not sure what it is but we are pretty sure that it is.