A bunch of squat PR’s. 5 guys tried for new PR set’s of 5, all made them. 215 for Jon, 170 for Rob and Nate, 171 for Chris, and 245 for Spencer. Good day.

Jon and Spencer both had close misses with 161kg snatches, and Donny made a 205kg clean and jerk, then missed 211kg. Pretty good workout, here is the live feed of the whole workout.

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Some of the best athletes in the Bay Area do their strength and conditioning training at Cal Strength. A majority of those athletes participate in football in the EBAL League, one of the most competitive conferences for football in the entire country. As high school sophomores and juniors, this is a vital time in their lives as they participate in camps and events to catch the attention of analysts and college coaches all over the country. Those that do well have the chance to be approached by their favorite schools and big time football programs, with the goal of getting a scholarship “Offer” to play the sport they love.With recruiting season in full swing, the offers are starting to roll in for several prominent Cal Strength Athletes.

Jeff Lockie cheers on fellow Cal Strength trainee Zach Kline, as he slings the rock at the Elite 11

Zach Kline, who dominated the Elite 11 camp this last weekend, has already received an offer and committed to the University of California, Berkeley.Zach’s commitment to Cal isn’t final until he signs his Letter of Intent, but he is planning on enrolling at Cal a semester early in what is called a “Mid-Year”, despite still hearing from a number of schools, including USC. Zach is currently ranked as the #2 QB in the country in the 2012 class by Rivals.com, the #10 by Scout.com, and the #4 by 247 Sports. Zach is committed to playing in the Under Armour All American Game

Jeff Lockie, who also stood out at the Elite 11, just received his all-important first Offer from Offensive Coordinator Andy Ludwig at San Diego State University. Jeff is hearing from a number of other schools, including Duke, Northwestern, and the University of Washington. Lockie was named to the 2nd Team on Cal-Hi Sports All-State Underclass Team for 2010 by ESPN Rise.

Dalis Bruce was one of many Cal Strength athletes to catch balls for the top QBs at the Elite 11

Dalis Bruce is another high profile EBAL athlete that is getting national attention. Dalis has already received an offer from Oregon State, but is also receiving heavy interest from Notre Dame, the University of Colorado, Cal, and Oregon. Dalis has improved his stock drastically in the past few months, being named top DB at the Badger Elite camp in Vegas and top WR at the USC Nike Camp.

We are laying off the volume just a little this week because of the NorCal open this weekend. Still going heavy, as Jon shows here with two PR powercleans of 172kg and 175kg. His old PR was 171.

Nice day, EVERYONE who back squatted made PR’s for sets of 5. Then Spencer did the 235kg that he was supposed to do for 5 for a set of 10 and kind of stole the show. Then Donny hit a PR triple on the jerk (200kg) and so did Spencer (190kg) but then Spencer once again stole the show by adding a new PR single of 204kg. Here is the video of the back squats…

Donny went with me to do a seminar this weekend and had a 175kg snatch locked out, but it drifted behind… then he hit a scary easy 208kg clean and jerk. One of his best days in recent memory. Today was pretty normal, Jon did 155/180, Spencer did 150/180, Donny did 160/200, Rob snatched 127 and tried and failed to clean and jerk a new PR of 151. Jared snatched well, with some close misses at 145 that were definately high enough to make.

Jon, Jared, Donny, and Spencer took it a little easy today, stopping a bit short of actually missing weights. The most photogenic lifting was done by Max. The day after hitting a new PR on the squat with 302kg, he came in and did a 290kg squat, missed 310kg (!!!!!), then front squatted 250kg, and took an honest shot at a 272kg (601lb) front squat. He didn’t make it, but I think that had more to do with it being the day after making a PR on the back squat than it did with the weight on the bar. Here is the video…

Pretty good day today. Trained twice, snatch and clean and jerk followed by heavy push press in the morning, heavy squats followed by snatch and clean and jerk in the afternoon. The highlight of the squatting was Max finally hitting a 302kg (665lb) squat that he has been chasing for a while, then backing it up with a couple of sets of 5 at 272kg (601lbs). And, new development in the Donny vs Spencer push press battle… last week Spencer jumped ahead by 1 kilo, hitting 156kg for a set of 5. Today Donny hits 157 for 5 to re-take the lead. But I somehow doubt this will be the end of it!

Here are the videos…

Yesterday and today were very normal training sessions, not a lot of PR’s but a lot of good work put in. Monday morning we had a fairly light snatch and clean and jerk session, followed by maximum front squats. No one made a new PR, but everyone got fairly close to their current PR’s, which is good for a Monday morning. In the afternoon we went heavier on the competitive lifts, and continued to do our back-off sets from the hang or from the box. Today, we power snatched and power cleaned, and put most of the work in on power snatches off the low box. I am really liking these… I like to do power snatches right up around maximum. Whether the lift is made or missed (missed meaning the lifter is driven below parallel) it creates a struggle to get under the bar and stop it FAST, exactly what you want. Its easier to do reps from a box than the floor, less range of motion means less fatigue, and with a set of 5 its easy to pick a weight that although it can be stopped above parallel pretty well the first couple of reps, keeps pushing the lifter harder and harder towards to end of the set to move a faster and faster to stay out of the hole.

The best video from the last couple of days, though, is not a snatch or a clean and jerk, its a squat. A missed squat, actually. Max takes what must be his 15th or 20th try at 302kg and this time he ALMOST gets it.

Saturday is the day we get a little volume on the squat and work on our overhead strength… I only filmed the squats, so here it is, 5 minutes of squats!