Wanted to share with you a few numbers from the strength class.  We’re going to finish up 1 RM’s by Saturday and then I’ll post the rest of the results.  With this class our primary goal was to gain strength in the back squat, front squat, snatch and clean and jerk.  We had a few smaller goals built in.

The first one was to increase body awareness.  Most people don’t know how to contract their abs or retract their shoulder blades.  This leads to injuries due to lack of stabilization through your trunk while your lifting.  A lot of people can not activate their glutes in order to do any type of squat or deadlift.  Your glutes should be activated in just about everything you do.  People needed help finding their ass.  We made everyone work on form and feeling what their body was doing by following this progression, Position->Movement->Speed-> Load.

The second goal was mobility.  Strength and mobility are the key to becoming more athletic.  If you can’t get into a good position before a lift due to poor mobility in your ankles, hips or shoulders you need to get that addressed.  If you don’t, that’ll lead to plateaus and injuries.

Third goal, have FUN!

We accomplished all of those.  Here’s a few numbers from our first 2 days of retesting.  We didn’t do any bench pressing in our workouts for the last 3 months.  When you get stronger it affects your whole body.  I was surprised by the results.  4 People in our group (Felipe, Ryan, Matty and Eleanor all did the Tough Mudder), pay close attention to their back squat numbers.  Taking part in that race 2 weeks ago definitely had an effect on their lifting.  This is the reason why we didn’t do any conditioning in this program.  Here’s the numbers so far.

Laura McG

Snatch-70# / New PR 80#

Clean and Jerk-105#/ New PR 115#

Back Squat- 155#/ New PR 215#

Bench Press- 105#/New PR 125#

Shannon

Snatch-35# / New PR 45#

Clean and Jerk-55#/ New PR 75#

Back Squat-Missed Class

Bench Press-Missed Class

Darrien

Snatch 115#/ New PR 135#

Clean and Jerk-145#/ New PR 185#

Back Squat- 265#/ New PR 295#

Bench Press-265#/265#

Reeko aka Rick

Snatch-115# / New PR 125#

Clean and Jerk-155#/ New PR 185#

Back Squat- 235#/ New PR 265#

Bench Press-165#/ New PR 195#

Mikey

Snatch-115# / New PR 125#

Clean and Jerk-165#/ New PR 195#

Back Squat- 285#/ New PR 305#

Bench Press-195#/ New PR 235#

James

Snatch 140#/140#

Clean and Jerk 175#/ New PR 190#

Back Squat- Missed Class

Bench Press-Missed Class

Eleanor pulled a muscle during Tough Mudder and couldn’t workout this week.  She was with us in spirit though!

Cryan Ryan

Snatch-85# / New PR 140#

Clean and Jerk-103#/ New PR 180#

Back Squat- 265#/ 265# *Tough Mudder

Bench Press-265#/ 245#

Matty Ice

Snatch-115# / New PR 125#

Clean and Jerk-135#/ New PR 170#

Back Squat- 265#/ New PR 270# *Tough Mudder

Bench Press-200#/ 200#

Andrew Hollywood Hardenbrook

Snatch-125# / New PR 145#

Clean and Jerk-145#/ New PR 165#

Back Squat-Missed Class

Bench Press-Missed Class

Norm The Strong Guy

Snatch-155# / New PR 180#

Clean and Jerk-225#/ New PR 260#

Back Squat- 350#/ New PR 375#

Bench Press-290#/ 265#

Dapper Dan

Snatch-95# / New PR 125#

Clean and Jerk-135#/ New PR 175#

Back Squat- 225#/ New PR 245#

Bench Press-165#/ New PR 200#

Filpie aka Felipe

Snatch-115# / New PR 130#

Clean and Jerk-115#/ New PR 130#

Back Squat- 225#/ 225# * Tough Mudder

Bench Press-155#/ New PR 160#

Suzanne Sister Wrench

Snatch-75# / 75#

Clean and Jerk-115#/  115#

Back Squat- 145#/ New PR 190#

Bench Press-110#/110#

Zaheer

Snatch-65# / New PR 115#

Clean and Jerk-75/ New PR 145#

Back Squat- 235#/ New PR 275#

Bench Press-175#/ New PR 195#

I’m extremely happy and proud of all of you guys!  Wanted to also thank Christian, Corey, Josh, Steph, Pete B., Bryon and Santana for helping me out with this class.

-Your Homeboy Tom

Norm The Strong Guy