The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.
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Pentathlon attempt with 28kg only. This was a reasonably "full" try, other than doing it at 5am, and generally aiming to quit at round numbers rather than squeeze out the last one or two stray reps, this represents more or less my best effort. I wanted to really get a handle on pacing and fatigue this time, and figure out where to swap weights to maximize scores.
Clean: 90 reps out of 120
Clean and Press: 50 out of 60
Jerk: 80 out of 120
Half Snatch: 40 out of 108
Push Press: 80 out of 120
Total score: 340 Reps x 3.5 (per 28kg rep) = 1190
Best effort so far. I let gym boss run out the 5 minute rest timer after the last set, even though there was nothing after, just because it took me five minutes of laying on the carpet gasping like a fish to want to crawl over and turn it off.
Conditioning is clearly holding me back in the Snatch especially. I let myself get out of shape when I was mainly doing a ton of squats over the winter. I'm starting to do more jump rope, loaded carries and air dyne and hill sprints to build my cardio up. Snatch tests used to be a grip failure for me when I first tried it 8 or 9 years ago (wow I'm old) then I went through a time rock climbing and now my grip always holds out, but instead it's like a full system failure when I can't do another snatch, like I'm a video game character that ran out of hit points. I need to work on recovering in between, and being ready to hit 100 snatches, or at least 60. If I start swapping weights to maximize score, I'm definitely leaning towards doing the 16kg for the half snatch. It's the only event where I'd get more points out of full reps with the 16kg, and if I could reduce fatigue in my shoulders going into the push press that would be worth even more points overall.
I'm really enjoying the Pentathlon as a challenge. It's the perfect level of SMART goal for me to improve conditioning this spring. Difficult, I'm still a ways away from maximizing reps with the 28kg, but I'm doing well enough on it that progress feels legit, and offers a very measurable yardstick. Sticking with this through late May or early June at least. 188 reps I can add at 28kg is 668 more points on the table, then I can start throwing in the 36kg for a set of cleans or push presses.
Maybe a stupid question, but why the very narrow band of weight class options?
If it was just low resolution, I can understand that. Instead, it's basically little guys, very medium guys, and big guys. Why the narrow medium band, but not more resolution on either side of medium?
Probably just because it's a silly challenge that nobody cares about. I prefer it to the Kettlebell Sport rankings that give a weightclass every ten pounds so that most of the time most people are the only ones competing in their weight class.
Personally, I think fitness or weightlifting sports at the amateur level should be classed by height rather than weight. Take your height, which you can't change, and assume yourself at an ideal athletic BMI (Think Navy Seals or MMA pros), and work from there. You don't get extra credit for being a pencil, put some muscle on.
it should be this way in something like powerlifting. tall guys at disadvantage when in same weight class as shorter guys . rather than top prize being awarded to who lifts the most, it should be awarded for the most work performed, which also incorporates distance.
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