| ABell’s 390 C&J and 286 PS

Author / John

[SlideDeck2 id=299]
Long time Power Athlete ABell shares a bit about his recent weightlifting meet, and the videos he posted on CFFB.  Check out his lifts above, pretty impressive stuff!

First I should say that my performance in these regional competitions has always been a little disappointing.  I usually win my weight class (105+ obviously) but the numbers I was putting up were not on par with the skill level I thought I had.  When I started doing the CFFB programming my strength went through the roof and my Oly lifts progressed as well.  This Competition was different for me, I didn’t really care who else was there, I was going there to get the state record and start throwing up weight closer to the guys who are competing nationally.  I know I’m not going to catch them in the Snatch, my technique is just not there but I’m fairly confident that I can get to 440 or so in the clean and jerk and this was going to be my first step.

A month out from the comp I dialed back the CFFB site workouts and did this

Monday
Squat volume 3×5 @ 455 I increase it if it is too easy.
Bench (I basically did 5/3/1 for this)

Tuesday
Snatch 4 reps at 85% or higher
Clean & Jerk 4 reps at 85% or higher

Wednesday
Off

Thursday
Snatch Max for Day
Clean & Jerk Max for Day

Friday
Squat 3RM
Deadlift (5/3/1 again)

Not sure if this is perfect or not but I wanted to get a lot more Oly Lifts with heavy weight and get the feel of a competition which is why Thursday is a max day.  It really worked for me leading up to the comp.

I should also say that the CFFB Total fell in this time frame and who can pass up an opportunity to max out against the CFFB community.  I hit 340 Pwr Clean, 550 Squat, 380 bench, 655 Deadlift.  This is about a 75lb increase over Occupy Last year and I think I left some weight on the bar.  I had a 580 squat nailed except I shifted forward a little and missed it.  I also almost had a 400lb bench (which I’ve hit before) but my bar speed slowed enough that my spotter grabbed it, not his fault he was just making sure I didn’t kill myself.  I’m looking forward to going past a 2000lb Total soon.

I wasn’t too focused on the snatch leading up to the meet because I was always consistent in the power snatches so I knew I could get 280 or so.  The clean and jerk is what I was really interested in; the state record was 365 and I knew I could beat it.  The first week of training I missed my 380 attempt but just chalked it up to feel and the new training cycle.  The next week I got 380, the week after I got 385, so I felt good going into Competition week and I took it easy to work on speed.

I went 5 for 6 in the meet.

Snatch(Power)  255,270, 286 (red lighted)

Cl&Jk  358, 375, 390

I don’t think they liked me power snatching in the meet, It obviously looks less “clean” but it is completely legal so get over it.

My official total was 299kg because I was red lighted on my 286 Snatch for a press out.  In the video I can see a small movement in my right arm, but not sure it was a press out.  So unofficially I could have had 307 total which would qualify for the national championships.  My previous best Cl&Jk in a Comp was 355 and previous best total was 625ish so this one was a big step forward for me and I hope to continue making gains leading up to the Indiana State Championship in May and the Power Athlete Team Series in June.

For people who haven’t competed yet, do it.  It is so fun and the adrenaline you get is guaranteed to get you some PR’s.

Share this article
FacebookTwitterLinkedInShare

Tagged:

AUTHOR

John

John Welbourn is CEO of Power Athlete and Fuse Move. He is also creator of the online training phenomena, Johnnie WOD. He is a 9 year veteran of the NFL. John was drafted with the 97th pick in 1999 NFL Draft and went on to be a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2003, appearing in 3 NFC Championship games, and for starter for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2004-2007. In 2008, he played with the New England Patriots until an injury ended his season early with him retiring in 2009. Over the course of his career, John has started over 100 games and has 10 play-off appearances. He was a four year lettermen while playing football at the University of California at Berkeley. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Rhetoric in 1998. John has worked with the MLB, NFL, NHL, Olympic athletes and Military. He travels the world lecturing on performance and nutrition for Power Athlete. You can catch up with John as his personal blog on training, food and life, Talk To Me Johnnie and at Power Athlete.

9 Comments

  1. Denny K on March 26, 2013 at 9:41 am

    Good stuff Bell and bravo for making bench press a priority!

  2. Steven Platek on March 26, 2013 at 11:05 am

    ABell – straight up beast. Great job!
    and I second Denny’s comment.
    I second your comment about competing. It’s a lot of fun to compete and usually the atmosphere is friendly.

  3. Emily Clem on March 26, 2013 at 12:23 pm

    Not to mention accomplishing all of this while having a newborn at home! Very impressive.

  4. ABell on March 26, 2013 at 12:29 pm

    Thanks Guys, I appreciate the kudos. I’m pretty humbled to be featured on the website today

  5. Emily Clem on March 26, 2013 at 12:58 pm

    Not to mention accomplishing all of this with a newborn at home! Very impressive.

  6. Kaylee Long on March 26, 2013 at 3:35 pm

    I guess this is a pretty biased opinion, ABell is my brother, but he IS a BEAST!!! My son pretty much thinks he’s the Hulk…which is awesome!! GO BROTHER!!

    Actually the best part about all this is how humble you really are and how hard you work. We are all so absolutely bursting at the seems with pride. Great work!! Congrats!

  7. sheehan on March 26, 2013 at 7:05 pm

    great friggin’ work ABell, good write-up! And whoops on the bench spot. 😛

  8. Ben Kimmerle on March 27, 2013 at 9:54 am

    Will echo everyone’s comments, awesome performance!

    And you power snatched that 286…

  9. Crossfit South Bend blog on March 27, 2013 at 6:35 pm

    […] Aaron Bell highlighted in Power Athlete HQ for a 390 Clean and Jerk and a 286 Power Snatch […]

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply





SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Never miss out on an epic blog post or podcast, drop your email below and we’ll stay in-touch.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.