trojansliftingclub » Odd Lifts

Odd Lifts: Days 32 to 40!!! The End!

bjrule — Thu, 05 May 2011 13:12:37 +0000

The Odd Lifts have finally finished. And they’ve certainly been a challenge! The objective of the 40 Lifts was to try my hand at lifts that I knew existed but for whatever reason I’d never tried. Most of the lifts are competition lifts under the IAWA (International All Round Weightlifting Association), of which I have now become a member!

A couple of the lifts I had tried before but most of them were new to me. I now have a whole new bunch of lifts to add to my training and I’m looking forward to cracking on.

Anyway here are the final lifts:

Day 32: Bent Over Row

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Day 33: Barbell Carries

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Day 34: Shoulder Drop

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Day 35: Scott Lift

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Day 36: Overhead Squat

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Day 37: Two Hands Anyhow

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Day 38: Seated Press

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Day 39: Turkish Get Up

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Day 40: Pull Over Push

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There you go! That’s what I got up to for Lent this year. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I ‘ll have a full report and exercise descriptions to come.

Odd Lifts: Days 26- 31

bjrule — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:13:18 +0000

During the last week work has meant I’ve travelled to Loughborough and back. This travel however hasn’t interrupted my 40 Day Challenge. Loughborough University has a fantastic Performance Gym known as the Power Base. I used the Power Base to perform the lifts last Friday and Saturday.

Accompanying the lifts from Day 26 on have been an odd dance. This is all in tribute to a little jig I saw a guy perform after he broke a world record performing the Dumbbell Clean and Jerk.

DAy 26 The Kneeling Snatch

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Day 27 The Split Snatch

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Day 28 The Dumbbell Clean and Jerk

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Day 29 The Jefferson Lift

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Day 30 The Zercher Lift

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Day 31 Snatch Balance

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I’m into the home stretch now and am really looking forward to resuming regular training and incorporating some of the lifts I’ve come across!

Odd Lifts Days 20 to 25

bjrule — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:34:21 +0000

These things are becoming relentless now!! My regular training has pretty much taken a back seat. I’m also pretty knackered. I’ll be adding plenty of these lifts to future programmes though- this has been really valuable.

In the last week as well as the odd lifts I’ve only managed a couple of other lifts and a few conditioning sessions. Two of these conditioning sessions have been the Crossfit Opens WOD 2 and the other has been a session with CJ Swaby and Sabina Skala of CJSFitness.

The following are last weeks lifts:

Day 20 The Windmill

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Day 21 The Split Clean

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Day 22 The Bottoms Up Press

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Day 23 Weighted Pull Ups

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Day 24 One Arm Snatch

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Day 25 The Dumbbell Swing

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15 days left. Reports and reviews of each of the exercises are being written and I’ll post them all at the end- there may even be an Odd Lift workshop or two to come….

Odd Lifts Days 14-19

bjrule — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:33:51 +0000

Days 14 to 19 have been a heap of fun! I’m currently sitting at Day 20 and I have a slight calf strain from double under’s last Saturday, so some of the lifts have been a struggle.

My left to right imbalance has been highlighted even more on both grip and shoulder stability. Something that I’ll definitely be addressing moving forwards. My regular training has also suffered, mainly my strength training- due primarily to fatigue and lack of recovery time. I’m hoping that after a week of rest after the 40days I’ll hit pb’s in Dead Lifts, Squats and Presses!!

Anyway here are the last weeks lifts:
Day 14- Behind the Neck Split Jerk

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Day 15- Steinborn Lift

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Day 16- Side Press

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Day 17- One Hand Dead Lift

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Day 18- Crucifix Hold

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Day 19- Cyr Lift

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With each lift I’m finding more and more to add to my armoury, I’ll be a weapon of mass destruction soon!!

40 Odd Lifts. Days 8 -13

bjrule — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:49:47 +0000

The 40 Odd Lifts in 40 Days have continued. I must admit they’ve been relentless. They’ve also highlighted my weaknesses. My main weakness has been my grip, particularly my left grip. I’m pretty sure it’s not just the hand that affects the grip I feel it’s also my ability to stabilise and tighten efficiently in my left shoulder. Anyway it’s something to work on!

Here are the lifts from the last week:

Day 8 Side Press

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Day 9 Plate Grip

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Day 10 One Arm Clean and Jerk

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Day 11 Kneeling Clean and Press

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Day 12 Reverse Clean

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Day 13 Reeves Lift

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There are 27 more lifts to go and I’m gonna give each one a crack!!

40 Odd Lifts in 40 Days

bjrule — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:51:34 +0000

Inspired by Tommy Matthews 2009 project 40 Lifts for 40 days: The Manual of Heavy Kettlebell Lifting, I’ve decided to have a go at something similar this year. The overall objective of this challenge is to try my hand at lifts that I have never practiced or used before. The only lifts that I can say I’ve had a crack at before are the TGU, Windmill, 2 Hands Anyhow, Bottoms Up Press, Seated KB Press and the One Arm Snatch. The TGU, Windmill, 2Hands anyhow have all been done with Kettlebells (the TGU I’ve tried with a barbell).

Over the years I’ve come across most of the lifts that are on the list, I’ve either read about them, seen pics or seen peoples attempts on the internet. They are all lifts that have played their part in the history of lifting. Most of them are still used in competition, see IAWA or USAWA, of BWLA-Odd Lift Category. Despite the lifts still being used in certain competitions they have pretty much fallen off the radar of most fitness enthusiasts and even out of the grasp of a lot of strength athletes.

Part of this 40 Day Challenge is about exposing myself to lifts that I haven’t come across before and about finding out the validity of the lifts for my own and my clients strength programmes.

Most of these lifts came about before fitness or strengths machines. Many of them were essentially a means of lifting, picking, pulling, pushing or pressing a weight or weighted object. Many of the athletes who performed these lifts were pioneers of strength training. Most of the lifts today are named after their major practitioners. Each lift has a history and unique story and each will be told in part as this challenge unfolds.

My rules for the Challenge:

- My list of 40 Odd Lifts is numbered from 1-40 in no particular order.

- The Lifts are chosen by random (Colleagues are to be asked on the day to pick a number between 1 and 40). The only time I’ll ask a colleague to pick an new lift is if there are two similar lifts on consecutive days (this is to spare boredom, those having a look at what I’m doing and mine!).

- The Lifts have to fit in with my current training and will be performed at the end of my normal sessions.

- A daily REP Max is to be set on each of the lifts

- There is to be no practice of the lift until the day of performing the lift.

That’s about it.

It’s been just over a week since I started (and since I started writing this)! The following are the Lifts that I’ve had a go at thus far:

Pressing Snatch Balance (I called it a heaving one- I was wrong!)

I’ve been compiling my thoughts on the lifts and a brief history/ about section on each. I’ll get the first part posted this weekend and put something up daily.

Enjoy!! They’ve been fun so far

Real Strongman

bjrule — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:27:12 +0000

Here is a clip that a friend sent to me:

This is a true legend of the strength game- Johann Martin. He weightlifts, kettlebell lifts, squats and uses his bodyweight brilliantly. I need to keep training!!

Lift of the Quarter: Left Hand Snatch

bjrule — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:08:52 +0000

Each quarter of the year Brian Hamill of South East Counties Weightlifting and the Woking Centre of Excellence hosts a mail entry competition for the Lift of the Quarter. For this quarter, Q1 2010, the lift is the Left Hand Snatch- good luck if you’re not left handed!

The Lifts of the Quarter come from a list of exercises that include a varied range of lifts and they come out every 3 months, that’s every quarter! So if you think you can lift, or even if you can’t, and you want to challenge yourself why not give the lift of the quarter a try?

This quarter’s lift of the quarter is the Left Hand Snatch. This is performed as you would perform a regular barbell snatch except you use your left hand only. Tommy and myself gave it a go for the first time today with 40kg which went up reasonably easy. However Brian has already said that some of his kids are already lifting 50kg! You’ll notice that Tommy and myself don’t get all that deep on the catch, if we want to lift more we’ll either have to get the bar higher or get deeper under the bar. I’ll be adding a few if these to the end of my training sessions and I’ll see how I get on.

Why not give the Left Hand Snatch a go and let us know how you get on? Post your results with links to clips on the comment section below. For more information on how to enter the competition officially please visit Brian Hamill and the South East Counties Weightlifting Clubs website for details.

Lift of the Quarter

bjrule — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:31:50 +0000

The Lift of the Quarter is a BWLA (British Amateur Weightlifting Association) event and is open to everybody. There are 30 recognised lifts and there is a different lift each quarter. The last Lift of the Quarter (Q2.) was the Two Hands Anyhow with Dumbbells and this quarters (Q3) lift is the Left Hand Dead Lift.

The four quarters are:
Q1. January – March
Q2. April – June
Q3. July – September
Q4. October – December

At the close of each quarter I will put the lift and the rules of the next quarters Lift of the Quarter up on this site.

Over the course of the year points are tallied up to decide Britains Best All Rounder and Britains Best Club.

To enter all you need to do is weigh the candidate, record his/her best attempt, have the lift witnessed (why not post vids on you tube and I’ll post them on this site), and send their name, club address, lift, gender, weight and age and £0.25 per entry to:
Jim at Longwood House
Shifford Lane
Standlake near Whitney
Oxon

Odd Lifts

bjrule — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Odd lifts are lifts that are a little unconventional and somewhat… Odd!

In days not so long ago people would pick up objects and either stand with them or put them over their heads. With the onset of machines lifting things in this manner tended to go out of fashion. The Bench Press only became popular post WW2.

Rather than lie or sit down individuals would stand on their own two feet and pick things up. One of these such lifts was the two- hands anyhow. It’s exactly as it sounds, you pick up two weights (barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells) and you place them over your head- anyway, anyhow you like!

Lifts like the Two- Hands Anyhow, The Bent Press, The Wind Mill, Bottoms Up Press, various One Arm Lifts, Continental Lifts and many more are all lifts that have been forgotten.

There’s something almost primal about picking a weight up and putting it over your head. Remembering the lifts of old, paying homage to them and giving them a try should be embraced. As you long as you keep sensible and safe, what have you got to lose? What will happen is that you’ll gain new found strength!