Small Discoveries

24kg.
Presses, Snatches, Half Get-Ups.

Presses: I focused on being fully-loaded earlier, by the time the clean is racked, ready for the press. I made a fist on the opposite hand even earlier - anticipating earlier - not waiting till the bell is racked to really activate the full-body tension.

When doing presses, the protocol is to push yourself AWAY from the bell, rather than trying to push the bell upward. I have to confess... while I've understood what this is supposed to feel like, I've had a difficult time actually FEELING this. I finally (why tonight??) came up with a way to conceptualize this that works for me. It REALLY worked! It happened on the ninth set... I thought about trying to leave the deepest indent I could in the grass with my feet. Not even really thinking about the bell at all. Push through my feet, into the ground, as hard as I could... really as if I were making an indent. Pretty cool what happened on the next set...

THE SETS.

1: C&P L/R, snatch 5L/5R
2: C&P R, snatch 5L/5R... missed L press. Whoa, this is going to be a long workout, snatch sets feel hard.
3: C&P R, snatch 5L/5R... missed L press. Snatches are hard, it's been a while since I did these.
4: C&P R, snatch 5L/5R...missed L press, won't try it anymore. Snatches: maybe I'll just stop at 5 sets... the 24kg feels so heavy...
5: C&P R, snatch 5L/5R... feeling stronger, I will make it to 10 sets.
6-9: C&P R, snatch 5L/5R
10: C&P L/R, snatch 5L/5R...here's where I started "indenting" the ground with my feet. Had to try it out on the left, just to see if it would make a big difference. Well what do you know?!?? All of a sudden, I get the press on the left again! Interestingly, my feet got tingly/buzzy, just like fingers in Tai Chi practice. Could that really be the case? Really felt like I had pushed all this energy down through my feet, leaving them buzzing... ? Has anyone else experienced this? Hopefully that means I did something right - it would seem so, since I got the press again. :) Snatches: hands are done, not gonna push it. Will continue with the presses...
11: C&P L/R Yes! Another on the left!
12-18: C&P R Missed on the left for a few more, then stopped trying again.
19: C&P R...the clean to press: the bell landed lower on my hand on this set, and I realized...while I'm focusing on having the full-body tension, loaded as the bell racks, squeezing my opposite fist earlier... I'm also gripping the bell handle too tight, not allowing it to drop lower on my hand. So, for the rest of the sets, work on doing BOTH - loading up earlier, WHILE keeping my hand relaxed enough for the bell to land lower on my palm. And indenting the ground. I'll try the L press again, trying to do all of these things...
20: C&P L/R :)
21-25: C&P R
So, I just had that one more L press in me, for a total of 4 for the workout, and 2 earlier in the day. NOT BAD! I'm pretty happy about my little "discoveries" throughout the workout, and am glad to have this blog to document them. Right-side presses totaled 25 for the workout, and 3 earlier, for a total of 28. Excellent.

A recap of the curious set sequence for achieved left presses: Got #1, #10, #11, and #20.

Half Get-Up:
3L/3R
4L/4R
5L/5R
Feet pressed down on every rep. These felt strong, and great. Somewhere during the second set... (where I was doing 4 reps per side then switching,) I let my hand raise off the ground when pushing onto that elbow. And it was stronger, easier. Why have I been trying to keep my hand on the ground the whole time? It's okay to have it come up, really pushing down through your elbow, right??? I'll have to check that out during my nightly review of the RKC Manual tonight.

Total count:
24kg C&P: 6L/28R
24kg snatch: 50L/50R
24kg half get-up: 12L/12R
...and 3 small discoveries.

EDIT: During my RKC Manual review... guess what I came across? (Well, first of all, no mention is made of whether the hand should be left down or not on the punch, but Dr. Cheng does recommend keeping it down, for anyone wondering.) I re-read parts of the Press section, and Pavel does suggest, while pressing up on the door jamb (to reinforce the feeling of pushing yourself away from the bell), to try to indent the carpet with your feet.
*Blushing*
(So who among you didn't want to embarrass me by pointing this out? ;) Well, at least my improper "discovery" only lived for two days! Let this be a reminder to you all - study your Manual regularly, don't make the same mistake!