Sunday, April 5, 2009

Palo Alto Tactical Strength Challenge

The Palo Alto TSC went down yesterday with two participants: Kai Johnson and Gabe Rinaldi. It's worth noting that Gabe came in with six days notice and had done zero specific training for the event.

Kai
Deadlift- 365 lbs.
Pull Ups- 12
24 kg. snatches- 106



Gabe
Deadlift- 405 lbs.
Pull Ups- 14
24 kg. snatches- 125



Gabe was flying during his snatch test. I think he's around 6'2", which makes it tougher to keep up that speed as the bell has further to travel. Unfortunately we lost the end of the test.

7 comments:

  1. I had a great time. Thanks for putting it on for us.

    It was pretty cool seeing Gabe power through each event the way he did. He's a strong guy and obviously has been training right for a while now.

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  2. Yeah, it was a real testament to his training protocols that he was able to just walk on like that. It was also impressive that he pulled 405 double overhand.

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  3. Yeah, that double-overhand grip needs to go away. When your body senses that it cannot hang onto something, the lifting muscles will stop working. At some point, his body will be stronger than this mechanically deficient grip, and he should switch.

    For both guys, the snatches are good. I think Kai would benefit from some 3-minute snatch sessions, going for some 3-minute PRs and thereby increasing his normal speed.

    Both guys could deadlift more, but can't we all? LOL.

    Great job fellas.

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  4. Thank you Aaron. Great tip and I'll give it a shot. I will definitely be looking at improving my pull.

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  5. Hi guys! Jordan, thanks for running this event in Palo Alto for us. If you're bored and want to look at my training log, then check out:

    http://www.focusedtrainers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2107&page=24

    I vary my training between a CrossFit emphasis, Olympic weightlifting, or various phases emphasizing certain neuromuscular qualities or sports. The last month or so has been crazy since I just had a new baby. Previously I was training for Olympic weightlifting. As such, I do deadlifts with an Olympic lifting hook grip and wearing weightlifting shoes. This is more specific to strengthening my pull for the snatch and clean & jerk. I could likely lift heavier if I did a powerlifting phase and switched to chuck taylors, mixed grip, and even rounded my back like a lot of elite powerlifters to shorten the moment arm. I'm not really interested in that at this time. I'm more interested in well rounded fitness at this point. In that regard, it was fun to do this Tactical Strength Challenge without any specific training. I didn't even know about it until a week prior and was sick the week prior. That being said, if you look at my training log I occasionally did KB movements, pullup variations, and deadlifts or a variety of other pulls from the ground. Maybe next year I'll do a specific training phase a few months out and see how much better I can do vs. my performance this year. Either way it was fun. Cheers!

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  6. Gabe, If that's a hook grip, then I take back what I said. Whatever you lift with that grip is your max.

    If you ever train for this event specifically, I expect you'll do even better than you did this time.

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  7. I checked out your log Gabe, that's some good stuff. I'm looking forward to the next TSC in September, as I'll be competing and going for my magical 100 on the 32 kg. I need to share the suffering.
    I'm going to try to promote it next time as well and find a better location.

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