I felt nervous about today’s training. I’m still don’t feel incredibly solid on my clean and jerk form. Last Thursday was such a frustrating day and form just wasn’t happening. Saturday was a better day. I am still working on my speed in the clean, and on catching the bar in the correct position. So, I’m usually a little nervous for clean and jerk day.

Yesterday was supposed to be a rest day for me. I felt tired and slow. Then I unexpectedly had to fill in for someone at work at a CSA pick up and farm stand. Lots of heavy lifting and restocking in hot weather. My back did not want to do that stuff at all, and my lower back muscles kept cramping up as if to say “you said this would be a rest day!”

One of the things I like to do the night before a training session is to watch video tutorials of the lifts I want to focus on. I think the visualization must be good practice too. These lifts are so technical and learning them involves training the neurological pathways…..but you can’t physically practice them to master them as quickly as your brain will allow. Your body needs time to recover. Mine does, anyway. So, I had watched a couple videos last night.

I did not sleep well and so my mind kept going to the clean and jerks. Would I be able to do them today? My back felt better in the morning, but I felt a little groggy and gross and slow to wake up. I gave myself extra time to get moving, and told myself I would start warming up and see how it went. I warmed up and did some tall cleans with the empty bar to practice the pull under.

I did get through the cleans today, which I was happy about. Just took them one at a time. Did hang cleans and segment cleans instead of full cleans to train the pull-under. As weights got heavier the neurological piece seemed to get tired, so I switched to catching in the power position rather than in the full squat clean then. I figured that some practice is better than no practice. Patience, patience.

I cut out the clean pulls due to time constraints – since I took longer to get moving and warm up this morning, I didn’t have as much time to train. I also was still feeling pretty tired after yesterday. I cut straight to front squats and mobility/recovery.

I still feel tired today, and glad that I have a rest day tomorrow. Maybe I will go to the gym and use the sauna while my kiddo is in the gym day care!