It’s been a nice little month for Savage Strength with PBs in abundance and a competition on the horizon, so lets get straight into it.
Joe has ben b building volume and work capacity in the past block and we’re just starting to get to the business end of his 5’s. He’s hit rep PBs in the Deadlift of 220kg x5, he also hit a nice unplanned PB double in the Squat of 230kg x2. Sometimes when it’s on and an opportunity to hit a PB presents itself you have to take it and thats what happened in the Squat. The prescription was 5x2 at 85% and was more geared towards strength maintenance, but I kept an eye on velocity and things were moving well so we kept creeping up and finished on around 92% of Joes max which puts us in good stead for a PB Squat when we’re ready to take it.
It’s often a slow process in weightlifting, especially when you come to a coach wanting to learn the competition movements but are starting from a baseline of nothing and have to learn to goblet squat first, but Taj has been patient and this month has hit plenty of PBs, especially in the Snatch. Taj hit PBs in the Snatch of, 36kg x2, 37kg x1, 39kg x2 and a big milestone of 40kg x1. He also hit a milestone Squat of 100kg x1 and a nice Push Press of 60kg x2. I’m sure he hit some PBs in the Clean too, but I haven’t wrote them down. One of the things I really like about coaching Taj is he asks his own questions to expand his knowledge and really looks to improve his own understanding of the lifts. I can give you the most comprehensive explanation and all the information I have on the lifts, but as an athlete and lifter, you have to piece it together into something you understand, and you’ll only ever do that by asking questions that fill in the gaps for you.
Last month Xena wasn’t featured in this blog because she hadn’t hit any PBs that month, she was definitely disappointed, but sometimes thats just the way it goes in a training cycle. You can’t hit PBs every session once you become more seasoned and sometimes you have to wait a little for them. Sometimes it’s just part of the structure of the training cycle too. Anyway, in Michael Jordans word, I believe Xena ‘took that personally’ so here’s a list for this month because I only have so much time to type this out 😂
Snatch - 38kg x1
Snatch - 39kg x1
Squat - 93kg x1
C&J - 45kg x1
Snatch - 40kg x1
Snatch - 40kg x1
C&J - 46kg x1
C&J - 47kg x1
C&J - 48kg x1
C&J - 49kg x1
C&J - 50kg x1
Front Squat - 71kg
Squat - 84kg x2
Big PB’s in the competition lifts along with a couple of Squat PBs which sets Xena up nicely for her competition at the end of the month.
Liam has recovered from the sock base spine injury and resumed where he left off hitting many many PBs this month, my favourite being 200kg x6 in the Deadlift. The most he’d hit for reps at 200kg in the deadlift before that point was a double so this was a huge PB. You’ll notice a couple of Pause Deadlift PBs in the list, while there’s a trade off with pausing just off the floor in terms of training deceleration (which we don’t want) the positional gains it’s given Liam have been priceless and it’s shown in his numbers. Like Xena, i’ll leave you with a list, because it’s a decent length.
Front Squat - 120kg x2
Deadlift - 200kg x2
Squat - 155kg x2
Deadlift - 185kg x5
Deadlift - 190kg x5
Squat - 150kg x3
Deadlift - 195kg x5
Seated Backless Strict Press - 65kg x1
Pause Deadlift - 200kg x1
Pause Deadlift - 205kg x1
Deadlift - 200kg x6
We have a few lifters competing at the end of May and Marie is one of them. We’ve hit PBs in the Snatch of 53kg x1 and 47kg x2 and C&J of 63kg x1 this month along with a PB Clean of 65kg where we narrowly missed the Jerk. So that is the goal in competition, a PB C&J of 65kg. We also made big progress in the Squat hitting Back Squat PBs of 91kg, 94kg & 97kg and a Front Squat PB of 78kg (all for singles). Lastly the Box jump is a source of anxiety for Marie but we’ve been increasing height week on week and we recently hit a 26'' Box Jump for a set of 5. Inching closer to confidence in the movement each week is as good a goal as any.
Olivia has had a great month and all the technical work she’s put in is starting to be realised. Olivia hit Snatch PBs of 51kg, 52kg & 53kg along with C&J PBs of 72kg & 73kg all for 1RMs setting us up nicely to compete at the end of May. She also hit a new 1RM in the Front Squat of 80kg which in honesty, looked like she could have tripled. After Olivias competition we’ll have a short rest and start looking towards the new rugby season.
Jacks had a nice month hitting a variety of PBs, most notably beltless Squats of 150kg x3 & 160kg x1 showing the leg strengths there. He also hit a ‘comeback Snatch PB of 90kg and Clean PB double of 105kg and we’ll be looking to put it together with the Jerk in competition. He rounded this all off with a new 1RM Push Press of 103kg and a PB Muscle Snatch double of 60kg.
In his prep for UKNS Finals, George F has hit some nice PBs, half of them being in the Axle Deadlift, they were 250kg x5, 260kg x5, 270kg x3, 280kg x2, all were beltless and set him up nicely for an event that is 270kg for reps. He also hit PBs in the Zercher Carry of 170kg x12m, Shield Carry of 125kg x40m and Log Press of 120kg x1+3. Overhead has always been Georges weakness and we’ve really focussed in on it this training cycle and we’re making good progress, but on a strength level and a technical level, still the 135kg log at UKNS will be a new 1RM for George but I have faith in the work he’s put in.
After BNSF Sean hit a nice rep PB on the Deadlift of 250kg x3 and has had a nice time just plodding along in his training with no competition plans up too now.
After qualifying for BNSF finals Johnny turned his sights back to UKNS and their finals at the beginning of June. The events are quite nice for Johnny, but the level of competition will also be high. During this (very short) prep Johnny has hit PBs in the Axle Deadlift of 245kg x5 & 260kg x3, setting himself up nicely for the 250kg for reps that is coming in comp. He also hit a nice PB in the log of 117.5kg x1+5 and a rep PB on Atlas Stones of 140kg x5 (I think to around 55in). At the time of writing, Johnny has one more week of hard training than a taper for competition, check back next month to see how he got on.
Finally we have Dean who competed at Power Bars Strongest in the middle of May in the novice category taking 3rd Place. It’s one of the few local competitions I wasn’t able to get to so i’m still waiting to hear fully how he did. Either way, Dean now has to look to continue building his strength and event skill as he steps up to inters in his next competition.
I’m not the best writer and this blog often takes about an hour to write, so I’m done writing. Just remember, if you’re getting coached to ask your own questions to fill in blanks when it comes to your knowledge. You’ll learn, understand and put things together much quicker.
Until next time
Adam
