Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Routine for the more seasoned weight-lifter

Good Morning! It's Vicky again. Today I will give you two options for quick workouts and am beginning with the one for the more seasoned weight-lifter...

I got this workout when I was in college - I was a walk on for a heavyweight crew team (me, miss clumsy, cannot make any sports team ever in high school, gets letter saying you are the right size - a.k.a. your college application indicates you might be on the chubby side - to be a rower). Anyway, during our spring season, the football team's weightlifting coaches became our weightlifting coaches and this is my favorite workout from that time.

The picture is from this Bootcamp Crossfit Program.

3 sets of 6 of each of the following exercises (no rest during the sets) at 1/3 your body weight**.
Upright Row
High Pulls
Hang Cleans
Front Squat with Overhead Press
Straight Leg Dead Lifts
Bent Over Rows
Bicep Curls

I currently use my olympic bar for these exercises, but in the years before I could afford that, I had the tiny weight set that only goes up to 55 lbs and that works, too - as do kettle bells if you have those.

[**If you have not been pushing weights recently, I recommend dropping down to 1/4 of body weight or less... I've had to do that when getting back on the bandwagon yet again... my cycle of life]

2 comments:

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

I don't use olympic bars but hand weights can definitely be used for the exercises, too. Although, I do have to ask--what are Hang Cleans? LOVE dead lifts!!!

Shore Debris said...

Hang cleans are basically a power clean (or normal cleans) where you don't rest the bar on the floor in between each rep - bar goes to your knee or so when you come down and then you do the motion again.

Here's a good basic description of it (from what I understand, the regular clean is more of a leg exercise and people use hang cleans to learn the power clean and to work more of the back/hips in a regular weigt-lifting regimin): You’re going to use a stance similar to a deadlift stance (feet 12 15 inches apart). Bring the bar up to the lower part of your upper thigh, just above your knees. Unlock your hips and knees with the bar hanging where it would intersect a line from you sca to the middle of your foot. Shoulders will be slightly in front of the bar, with your elbows strait. We’ll call this the “jumping position.”

From the jumping position, jump strait up into the air high enough that you have to extend the hips and knees to do it. You want the bar to travel as closely along the thighs as you can. Letting the bar move away is wasted energy that just throws the whole lift off. Also try to shrug the bar and contract the claves to put you up on your toes as you jump. While all this is gong on it’s important to keep the elbows strait. You’re not going to even think about bending those suckers until the bar stops going up.

When the bar has stopped it’s upward motion you can then allow the arms to bend in order to put the bar into the rack position on the meaty part of your deltoids. The biggest mistake most people make here is not pointing the elbows up high enough. It’s important to know that this is not an arm exercise, so don’t try to do a reverse curl. All you’re doing is jamming your elbows underneath the bar after it has risen to a certain height. In fact, try to keep your arms relaxed, as relaxed arms will rotate under the bar more quickly.

Right before you jam the elbows under the bar to put it into the rack position, keep in mind that you want the bar to travel upwards as close to your chest as you can. If it can graze your shirt, then so much the better. The farther it travels away form your body, the more effort you have to expend to bring it back towards you to properly rack.