The weekend after doing my USAW certification, I attended and volunteered at the 2014 USAW American Open since it was taking place in Washington DC, and I wasn't yet home for break. Unfortunately I was only able to go on Sunday, but it was still an incredibly experience where I saw great lifting and met people in the industry that I follow all over social media.
I was a volunteer for the 105kg A session. I arrived thinking I was going to be a loader, but those positions ended up being assigned to others. I ended up volunteering to be a USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency) rep for the session. My job was to escort a randomly selected athlete (I feel like I'm not allowed to give away who it was) to get tested after the session ended. What that meant for me was that I was able to watch all of the snatch and most of the clean and jerks. About halfway through the clean and jerks, I then went to the warm up area. For me, that was even cooler than being in the audience. I got to see all these incredible lifters warming up and their coaches and all the interactions. It was a surreal experience for me. The only downside was that I wasn't able to really talk to anyone or take pictures with anyone or really be much of a fan, I had to act professional. But hey, I got to meet all these amazing people.
After that session, I then stayed around and watched the 105+A session which was another session of really good lifting.
The one thing I have to say though, if you haven't ever been to a weightlifting meet as a spectator, go! It was so cool, and while this was a national meet, and I haven't been to any local meets, I would still say to go because seeing lifting like that is really cool.
Another thing that I learned at my USAW and again after talking to people at the American Open is that people should compete more often and earlier in their development. For me specifically, I have spent the last 3 months really focusing on the lifts, and while my numbers are pretty crappy for my size (I would be pretty successful if I weight 100 pounds less and was a woman though), I still am comfortable enough with the lifts where I should be able to go out and compete. Too many people, myself included, don't think they are "ready" to compete. Just go and do it! I was hoping to register for the Baltimore Open in February, but it is already sold out, so I'll be looking into meets in April hoping to finally get that first meet out of the way.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Looking Back on 2014 and Towards 2015
2014 was an interesting year for me, lots of highs, and lots of lows. But in the end, I'd say it was a good year.
Firstly, my personal (non fitness) life continued on a trend that I like. I am still very close with the friends from high school that I really care about, I have a lot of wonderful friends at school, I did stand up comedy again and didn't suck this time, and I've just tried a bunch of new things. I'm really looking forward to what 2015 can bring for me.
Now on a more fitness related note, this was a roller coaster year. I started my internship, which lead to a job, at CrossFit DoneRight in February and can't wait to get back there in a few weeks to start coaching those awesome members again. I got my CrossFit Level 1 as well as my USAW Level 1 certifications. I attended the Freestyle Movement Seminar with Carl Paoli. I found out I'll be a student presenter for the Southeast Collegiate Fitness Expo. And most importantly, I became more passionate and more confused about the fitness and strength and conditioning world. I say confused as well because I want to always be a little confused so that I'm always striving to learn more.
Regarding myself, this was actually a pretty injury-filled year for me. I messed up my hip 4 times in the span of 6 months which had be do no squatting for about 7 months, I had a freak accident at camp which messed up my shoulder and limited all pressing and pulling I could do for about 2 months, and tendinitis in my knees have been a constant battle.
I have now switched to just training for the sport of weightlifting, and no longer doing CrossFit, and still doing some strength stuff because I still want to be strong and what not. I also got my own pair of weightlifting shoes which I absolutely love. With those, for the first time ever, I finished an entire training cycle with no injuries where I hit lifetime PR's in multiple lifts.
My main numbers to end 2014 are as follows:
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 207# (94.09 kg)
Back Squat 1RM: 265# (12/12/14)
Front Squat 1RM: 225# (12/10/14)
Strict Press 1RM:
Snatch 1RM: 140# (12/26/14)
Clean 1RM: 185# (12/6/14)
Jerk 1RM: 190# (12/31/14)
Clean & Jerk 1RM: 170# (11/29/14)
Deadlift 1RM: 325# (12/15/14)
Max set of Strict Pullups: 10, done on multiple occasions.
For 2015 I have 1 main personal goal and 3 career related goals.
I want to compete in my first Weightlifting Meet and record a total. I don't care if I win or come in last, all I want to do is compete for the first time and make sure that I record a total.
My 3 career goals are to rock this internship with Georgetown Strength and Conditioning that I (still not 100% confirmed, but mostly) will be starting when I get back to school. To get an internship for the summer at some strength and conditioning facility, and to get a full time internship for the fall which causes me to take the semester off of school and graduate next spring instead.
Numbers that I'd like to achieve for the following year are as follows:
Back Squat 1RM: 300#, I may be able to hit more, but that is such a barrier in my mind that I want to crush
Front Squat 1RM: 255#, again I might be able to hit more, but I also want to maintain a good ratio between my back squat and front squat at 85%
Strict Press 1RM: 165#, I am so weak overhead and don't expect rapid improvement, so if I can hit this I'll be ecstatic
Snatch 1RM: 175#, Normally asking to improve 35# in a year is a lot to ask for a lifter, but I think I can do it because I am a beginner and this is my biggest weakness which I'm going to attack
Clean 1RM: 225#, again a huge jump, but if I can improve my front squat as much as I'd like, I think I can do this. It will be really hard though.
Jerk 1RM: 225#, I want to keep these close so that hopefully I can put it all together in one lift.
Clean & Jerk 1RM: 215#, I want that body weight C&J, and while this may be a little over, I hope to gain a little bit of weight too.
Deadlift 1RM: I don't actually have specific goals for this since I'm going to be training it so little. I'd say just keep it over 300# probably
Max set of Strict Pullups: Maintain 10. If I do gain weight, I want to make sure I keep this at 10. If my weight stays constant, then the goal will become 15.
My last final goal for 2015, is to avoid injury, and still love what I'm doing.
To a better day, week, month, year, and most importantly, to a better life.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Getting my USAW
The weekend of December 6/7 I attended the USAW Level 1/Sport Performance Certification. It was a long weekend of a lot of lifting and a lot of learning. I will say though, that I really enjoyed it both on a personal level as a lifter and as a hopeful strength and conditioning as well as weightlifting coach.
We talked about a lot, so I'll just give a brief overview.
After about a half hour of just talking and introductions, we finally got into it. The first things we talked about were essentially readiness of athletes for the Olympic lifts (snatch and clean & jerk) and different assessments that should be done. We also discusses training adults versus children and differences necessary. We talked about a little more after that, but I didn't take as much notes so I don't remember.
We then went into technique and talked about that a lot. Before I get into it at all, a lot of people, myself included, think that USAW teaches a strict triple extension technique rather than catapult or any other technique you can think of. With my experience, that was not the case at all. We were taught weightlifting. While there are differences that are needed on an individual once technique becomes a little better and for a person's anatomy, we were taught weightlifting: a delayed and controlled first full, get the bar to the power position, extend your hips hard and get into a good catch position. Regardless of who is teaching, those are things that should be taught regardless and every good weightlifter does those. We did talk about some things that will be different for bigger or smaller lifters and other differences that are needed, but that was the base.
After lunch, we got into lifting, and we lifted a LOT. We first went through the progression of snatch and then the clean. After we went through our progressions, we were allowed to go heavy. I ended up PR'ing my snatch as well as my clean. The biggest difference that was changed about my lifting was my start position, and it felt a little awkward the first couple reps, it then felt a ton better and have had a lot more success with it since.
We followed the lifting with talks about programming and then left.
The second day was going over the jerk, practicing teaching the lifts, going over coaching and cueing, identifying errors, and then equipment. We finished it up with the test, where I got a 100% on.
I didn't really go over what we did specifically, and that was on purpose. I do that because this was an awesome certification that I think any coach should get because you learn so much that can be helpful for athletes, whether they are fitness athletes, weightlifters, or any other type of athlete. I learned a ton here, and recommend anyone mildly interested in coaching or the lifts to spend that $495 and go get your USAW. You will not regret it, I promise.
We talked about a lot, so I'll just give a brief overview.
After about a half hour of just talking and introductions, we finally got into it. The first things we talked about were essentially readiness of athletes for the Olympic lifts (snatch and clean & jerk) and different assessments that should be done. We also discusses training adults versus children and differences necessary. We talked about a little more after that, but I didn't take as much notes so I don't remember.
We then went into technique and talked about that a lot. Before I get into it at all, a lot of people, myself included, think that USAW teaches a strict triple extension technique rather than catapult or any other technique you can think of. With my experience, that was not the case at all. We were taught weightlifting. While there are differences that are needed on an individual once technique becomes a little better and for a person's anatomy, we were taught weightlifting: a delayed and controlled first full, get the bar to the power position, extend your hips hard and get into a good catch position. Regardless of who is teaching, those are things that should be taught regardless and every good weightlifter does those. We did talk about some things that will be different for bigger or smaller lifters and other differences that are needed, but that was the base.
After lunch, we got into lifting, and we lifted a LOT. We first went through the progression of snatch and then the clean. After we went through our progressions, we were allowed to go heavy. I ended up PR'ing my snatch as well as my clean. The biggest difference that was changed about my lifting was my start position, and it felt a little awkward the first couple reps, it then felt a ton better and have had a lot more success with it since.
We followed the lifting with talks about programming and then left.
The second day was going over the jerk, practicing teaching the lifts, going over coaching and cueing, identifying errors, and then equipment. We finished it up with the test, where I got a 100% on.
I didn't really go over what we did specifically, and that was on purpose. I do that because this was an awesome certification that I think any coach should get because you learn so much that can be helpful for athletes, whether they are fitness athletes, weightlifters, or any other type of athlete. I learned a ton here, and recommend anyone mildly interested in coaching or the lifts to spend that $495 and go get your USAW. You will not regret it, I promise.
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