Courtney's Training Log

[courtneygould]

A little about me before I get to the good stuff.. I've competed in figure, strongman, powerlifting.. and I have recently delved into the goofy ass world of Weightlifting. I have been in focusing on weightlifting for the past 3-1/2 months and my first competition will be July 28th. I meet with my weighlifting coach 3x a week and train with tthe guys at a powerlifting gym 2-3 additional days.

Monday is bench day for the guys so I get in early and do weightlifting related lifts and assistance work then jump in with the guys for their bench training. So here was yesterdays training:

Squats
160 x 10
199 x 4
221 4x2

RDL - 3x135

Jumped in with the Bench Master, Adrian Larsen and hit some chest stuff w/ him:
Incline Pin Press: 135x8
185 x 5
185 x 6

Dumbbell Bench -
45 x 8
50 x 5
50 x 4

Sledge Hammer to Tire - 3x30secs.

Light Jerks working on technique:
Triples - Bar
Triples - 65 x 2
Triples - 85 x 3

[Brian C]

Yo Court. Good to see you start a log here. Our whole Iron Sport crew keep their logs here. You can show us all up Oregon style with the bodybuilding stuff

[larsen540]

Glad you started a log here Courtney. For those that do not know Courtney I have seen her train. She works as hard as I have ever seen any train. She is always up for the hardest things in the gym and never gives up. Sometimes she even muscles up more weight than the boys. (Not me of course) I am glad your here. This will be a log I will stay in contact with you can learn alot from her.

[courtneygould]

Adrian!!! Thanks for the welcome, I'm just trying to keep up with the guys and get stronger.. but definitely not hurt anyone's pride. :Thanks for your coaching and motivation!! Training with you has been awesome!

[courtneygould]

Hey Brian!!! It's good to see you on here!!! I will be following all you guy's logs and progress! I gotta rep Oregon with some Oly lifting... excited for my first meet!

[courtneygould]

Clean and Jerks w/ my Weightlifting Coach
– 95lbs x 3 – 4 sets
105 x 3 reps
110 x 3
115 x 3 x 1
120 x 3 x 1
125 x 1
135 x 3
Power Clean (no jerk)
140 x 1
145 x 1
150 x 1
Full Clean (no jerk)
160 x 1
170 x 1
175 x 2 (Previous PR)
185 – miss, 3 attempts… complete and udder failure. My quads are now bruised to shit because I'm dumb. I really really need to learn how to bail on my lifts. I'm soo set on trying to get the bar up, I will put my body in harms way. Which is really fucking stupid.


Ice - Lots and lots of ice.

[courtneygould]

Today I met with my Weightlifting coach. I got there early and was feeling like a sack of smashed assholes and my belly was really upset. I had to power through the training though. Today our focus was on snatching. I asked to do this mainly because I’m still pretty sore and tore up from my failed attempt of 185# clean on Tuesday.

Snatching:
Started out with some bar triples for a shrug under Power Snatches.
43kg Snatches about 3 x 10
45kg 3x2
52kg about 15 sets of singles.

Ab Work: Puking Rally in the parking lot.

This is the easiest and lightest I’ve gone with my coach in quite a while and to throw up at the end was quite pathetic, so I’m guessing I light bug because I had been feeling shitty all day.

On the flip side, my coach was so excited and impressed because I’m FINALLY becoming consistent with my pulls, scoop, and bringing my arms straight up. This is something as a beginning oly lifter is very difficult, so I was rather excited about this.
His words “Are you really becoming an Olympic Lifter?” “HELL YES!!!”

[courtneygould]

http://youtu.be/zP42TLV1rd4

Training vid from 2 weeks ago... front squats and snatching.

[courtneygould]

I had a really shitty training days Friday and Saturday... not even worth posting, I got a massage Saturday on my pec minor, subscap, and lats to try and loosen up the shoulder that was bothering me.

I was still feeling a bit shitty on Sunday and Monday, so I figured I would hit a light day of snatching on Monday. Well like usual, my 'light' day turned into working up and hitting my PR weight of 61kg/135lbs on snatches. I'm only 4 months into learning any sort of oly lifts, so technique is still pretty shotty.. but here's a video:

http://youtu.be/0Q1kHkBF7ik

I attempted to go for 63kg/140lb but I missed. Adrian was watching me during the lifts and let me know that I didn't look like I was staying tight at the bottom of the lift so I worked on my snatch balances.

Worked up to singles of 52kgs on Snatch Balances.

Nothing too exciting just trying to teach my muscles stay tight during all portions of the lift.

[courtneygould]

I didn't train yesterday... something hit me and my sweet ass was throwing up at work. I took the rest of the day off and worked a bit from my couch and then spent the rest of my day in bed. I still wasn't feeling completely 100% but I needed get some training in.

Tomorrow I will go hard with my coach so I wanted to work on technique and some things I've been lacking in.

Snatches:
bar x 5x2
30kg 5x3
47kg 2x6

Snatch Balances
bar 5x2
30kg 5x3
47kg 2x5

Jerks:
bar 5x3
30kg 4x2
38kg 3x2
47kg 2x5

Halting Deads w/ snatch grip - hold at top for 3 secs
47kg 3x5

As usual Friday night was dead and it was stupid hot here in PDX so I didn't expect to be seeing many people anyway... as I was cleaning up my mess from training, I looked around and HOLY FUCK! the guys I train with are slobs! The best workout I got in was putting away all the fucking weights that were strewn all over the place. It's a good thing I kinda love them... otherwise I would be the biggest snatchbasket ever!

[courtneygould]

Met w/ my weightlifting coach on Saturday, and hit snatches. My technique was coming along beautifully and we were both excited because I was on point to hit a new PR. Then came along my worst fucking enemy ever. My head. I am a complete basket case and miss too many lifts when I start thinking.

There are 10 different lifts all combined into one explosive & violent movement. And if I start thinking about it and don't 'feel' it then its usually a missed lift. Simple cues from my coach help, but I need to figure this shit out asap.

So what I came away from with this, is I need to find that mental toughness and ability to just turn my mind 'off'.

[larsen540]

You know exactly what to do. The missed lifts in a gym do not matter one bit. Dont let them hold you back. YOU GOT THIS

[courtneygould]

You know exactly what to do. The missed lifts in a gym do not matter one bit. Dont let them hold you back. YOU GOT THIS

Thanks Adrian... I'm getting back on track, thanks for always having my back!!!

[courtneygould]

Well this morning at work I received a phone call from the owner of Heavy Athletics Nutrition. I am now a fully sponsored athlete!! Sooo excited about this opportunity, not only because I believe in the products they sell, it's not some bullshit protein you see on the shelves at GNC. This is a quality weigh, made specifically for strength athletes. I am very excited to be part of their team! Make sure to check them out at www.heavyathleticsnutrition.com

Onto training.. Snatches, after Saturdays training, I wanted to get my mind right and do work.

3 or 4 sets Triples with the bar, 95lbs, 115lbs

2x2 of 120lbs

5x1 of 125lbs

2x1 of 130lbs

decided to try out a max of 138...

It could have gone a LITTLE bit better. I took 138lbs to the back of the head. Here's the video, it looks A LOT worse than it is, I was laughing on the ground while 15 huge guys were trying to make sure I would okay.

Here's the video: http://youtu.be/3nfjcBv4Kqs

I dusted off and tried this weight 6 mores times... I didn't hit, but I will.

Then moved onto the Alpha's. Named after Adrian, a bench press specialist. It was band tension with the mini's and just working on my lock out at the top with the bar:

Video of the Alpha
http://youtu.be/_oH4TL6oKDc

To work on my core strength and overhead lockout:
Walking keeping my upper body completely tight holding 18lb kettle bells. Every 6th step I would stop and squat w/ the kettle bells overhead.

I really like both of those exercises and will be adding them to my training.

[courtneygould]

Met w/ my coach today:

Hit cleans, they're coming together, biggest issue I have is staying tight at the bottom... seems to be my problem with both. Although once again, my head started playing games. I need to be FEARLESS. I will fail, but that's what will make me succussful.

Warmup w/ Bar:
RDLs, Shrugs, Front Squat, Strict Press - 6ea x 3

Hang clean w/ Bar:
Shrug hard and explode and full clean 5x3

Cleans:
135lbs x 3x5
155lbs x 10x 1
165lbs x 3 x 1
175... hit a wall. Head game got stupid.

Moved to RDL's - PR
135 x 8 x 2
185 x6x4 - PR
185x 5x1

Had no idea the weight was 185... put it was a rep PR, and I'll take it! Hammies were fried by that point.
Ice.

[Brian C]

Congrats on the Sponsorship Court! Pretty exciting. Great work lately too. Numbers are climbing! And im glad your ok after that drop to the head. 6 more attempts after that is kick ass

[courtneygould]

Congrats on the Sponsorship Court! Pretty exciting. Great work lately too. Numbers are climbing! And im glad your ok after that drop to the head. 6 more attempts after that is kick ass

Thanks Brian!!! I'm really excited to be representing HAN!!! The worst part was I was going for a PR so ALL the guys were watching that attempt. I was faceplanted into the ground laughing my ass off.

I'm hoping I can keep getting better, I just have to stay consistent. I'm hoping for Nationals within 3 years.

Sidenote: 61 wings in 8 minutes??? Holy balls!!! Now THAT is impressive!

[courtneygould]

Usually I take Wednesdays off... but I felt good... so for me there's no other option but to do work!

Rolled out my sad sad hips and hammies.

Front Squat:
135lbs 6x4
155 5x2
165 3x4

Snatching:
Hang Snatch warm up w/ the bar... a lot.
Full Snatch:
95lbs x3x5
105x2x3
115 x 1 x2
125lbsx 1 x2
130 ... 1x12 attempts. I decided I wasn't fucking leaving the platform until I hit this lift.

I was taking a break and Rudy, our "Mature Lifter" (stud) was sitting against a wall (keeping back tight, abs tight and shoulders, elbows, & wrists against the wall) showing us how immobile his shoulders are. I tried it and Chris Duffin our PL coach was watching me and noticed that I wasn't pulling my ribcage into my spine. I did a couple more of whatever it those are called. This is why I wasn't able to lock out at the bottom of my snatch, I didn't have my ribcage as tight as was needed.

SOO I got back on the platform and got 130 up flawlessly.

Chris showed me a few more things and I am excited to use the exercises for prehab before my training.

Bar lockouts in the Snatch position:
135x3x2 (3 sec hold at top)
155x3x2
175x3x1

food ice sleep.

[larsen540]

Nice work.

[courtneygould]

Nice work.

Thanks Adrian!!! Trying to keep up with you keeps me strong!

[courtneygould]

Jerk Master, as my coach calls me.

Today, just lots of technique work on the jerk. For how simple the jerk looks (throwing some weight over head and stepping one leg back) it is surprisingly technical.

Worked up to 155lbs.

Actually coming together quite well. I'm excited.

[courtneygould]

I was planning on taking this day off but plans fell through so I just meandered on into the gym with no plan.

Nothing really exciting:

Bench

Snatch

Snatch Balances

Cleaned up the gym, because guys seriously don't know how to put away their fucking weights.

Dynamic Bench... and a couple rounds of cardio. Haven't hit cardio in a while and it was definitely a good way to end my friday night!

[courtneygould]

Met with my weightlifting coach. Started hitting snatches.

He was overly excited with my technique and how aggressively I re-asserted my feet and was immediately catching onto the cues. He let me know it was the best snatching he's ever seen from me, that was great to hear!!!

Worked up to 125lbs on Snatches, went really well.

Snatch Grip RDL's. With proper form and keeping everything tight... these really suck!

Massage to hit all my tight spots.

For my cardio, I ended up playing some basketball.

Now, I haven't picked up a ball in 6 or 7 years and after shooting around for awhile I was challenged to a game of 1on1 by a gentleman that plays in city league every week. Well he shall remain nameless, but I ending up beating him! Yes, I am bragging and yes, I did a ridiculous dance around the whole quart while a couple of 12 year old boys stared at me like I was on meth. I have a feeling I'm going to be eating a lot of pavement next time we play eachother...

[larsen540]

Good job on a couple of rounds of cardio on Friday. That will help with the cut for the meet.

And so you beat some guy in bball and you think your a baller???

Nice work last night at the gym you did a great job. I am very happy for you to get another PR.

[courtneygould]

Good job on a couple of rounds of cardio on Friday. That will help with the cut for the meet.

And so you beat some guy in bball and you think your a baller???

Nice work last night at the gym you did a great job. I am very happy for you to get another PR.

I need to get in cardio every day... cut 3lbs just in that alone last night. Never ever ever thought I would start loving cardio so much!!

And yes! You are now looking at a baller... Bitch betta have my money!