Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 120

Day #120 After some upper body focused lifting and the "fun run" with my group last night I decided some Olympic lifting would be a good call today. I wanted to get a lot of muscle working at the same time, but not overload any one particular area of the body. I've been a little hesitant to push the loads with my cleans, after hurting myself back in March, but I'm feeling really good. I decided to still be a little conservative with the loads and focus on technique. I think some technical errors may have been responsible for my back injury in the first place.

I had a little company for my workout today. My friend Jared Alvey was about to hit up the squat rack as I was setting up the platform. He asked if he could join me. I was more than happy to have a workout partner, so we took turns tossing the weights around. Jared is a former powerlifter. This means that the even if he hasn't been training a ton lately, the guy is frick'n strong. The loads for the cleans didn't get out of control but the front squats got a little heavier than I had originally planned.

Today's Workout:

Olympic Lifting Day: I took roughly 2 1/2 minutes rest between sets

Set 1: Hang Clean / 5 x 95lbsSet 2: Hang Clean / 5 x 115lbs Set 3: Hang Clean / 5 x 135lbs

Set 4: Power Clean (Floor) / 5 x 145lbs Set 5: Power Clean (Floor) / 5 x 145lbs Set 6: Power Clean (Floor) / 5 x 145lbs

Set 7: Squat Clean / 5 x 145lbs Set 8: Squat Clean / 5 x 145lbs Set 9: Squat Clean / 5 x 145lbs

Set 10: Front Squat / 6 x 135lbs Set 11: Front Squat / 6 x 185lbs Set 12: Front Squat / 6 x 225lbs

I'm happy to say my back felt great. My cleans could still use a little work, although considering it's been a while, they weren't too bad. I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping an eye on my weak links and paying attention to the warning signs. So far, so good. Tomorrow I have a crazy day at work. I might sneak a little work in the gym before joining my conditioning group for some sprints and med ball work.