If you've been following me, or know me, then you know that last semester and this summer, my main focus has been on the sport of Weightlifting (the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk). I first became really interested in it when I got my Romaleos II last November just to help me with my CrossFit by helping with my squats and other lifts. That first snatch workout I did, I knew then and there that weightlifting was what I wanted to do. I committed to it, I looked up technique videos, programming articles, podcasts, anything I could get my hands on to get better at it and to make progress.
I trained and trained and decided that once I was able to consistently hit lifts, not necessarily big lifts but just make them, that I should do a meet. I firmly believe if you are going to train hard for something, you should compete in it, at least once. Competing gives you a more specific motivation for training and you'll find that you can make much faster progress when you have a deadline. So I competed in the Capital City Open last April in DC and absolutely loved it. That meet, while incredibly stressful, reaffirmed to me that weightlifting was what I wanted to do for the foreseeable future. It was fun, fast, you could get strong, and everyone was so supportive whether you were like me or had been lifting for years and were a national level competitor. Simply put, weightlifting is awesome.
This summer, after interning at EXOS in San Diego, I learned something pretty simple about me, "Your biggest weakness is that you are weak". It sounds simple, and part of me knew that my strength was definitely my limiting factor, but once one of the coaches actually said that to me, it resonated. I knew I wanted to continue with weightlifting, but then my goals shifted slightly, I wanted to get strong. Everyone wants to get strong, but I at least knew what I had to get strong in.
This semester, with my change in situation in jobs and accessibility to equipment, I am no longer able to train weightlifting since they are not allowed at the gym here at school. As such, I am doing what I can to get as strong as I can in this time. But I am also going to take this time to have fun with training. I am going to try programs/ideas that may be unconventional or something I may never want to try at a different time. You might even see me doing things like bicep curls (Gasp!) or other movements that I wouldn't normally do because I have weaknesses that do need to be shored up with some bodybuilding type movements. However, I'm not going to be dumb about it, I am still going to keep training principles in perspective, as well as have a realistic understanding of where I am in my strength levels.
As such, this semester, I am not doing any weightlifting and hopefully in January, I'll come out stronger, maybe a little leaner (I'm still going to do my usual not-really-care-about-diet diet and simply eat for hunger), and have gained some weight (Hopefully mostly muscle). See you all in the future as a stronger me!
Monday, October 12, 2015
Sunday, July 5, 2015
The Ups and Downs of Progress
This post is inspired by a friend of mine who will be spending over a month out of the country, have very inconsistent ability to train, and her nutrition is going to be all messed up. It took me some serious effort to calm her down as she was freaking out about it all and what she is going to do while she is gone.
Progress, it is something we all strive for, to be the best we can one step at a time. We love when we have some, and we hate it when we don't have any, or even move backwards. It is one of the greatest concepts that we have created because it means that we are closer to achieving something we want. If you are progressing towards something, you are probably a much happier person right now because you can see the light at the end of the tunnel of your goal.
The worst thing that can happen to people is a setback. A setback is discouraging; it can be something that knocks you back one step or it can knock you back to the beginning of your journey. Regardless of how severe, it seems to hurt just as bad each time. It is even worse when there is nothing you can do. Sometimes your situation just won't allow you to move forward, you try and try and try, but this setback is just there stopping you.
Sometimes though, that setback can be the greatest thing for you, even if you can't see it. The phrase "one step back for two steps forward" can be just that. If you allow yourself to look beyond this setback, this "one step back", then you can come out of your situation much improved...if you allow yourself.
Back to my friend who is out of the country, she is a weightlifter and found out she won't have any access to an Olympic bar or bumper plates, so she won't be able to practice the snatch and clean and jerk. She was furious and freaking out about it. After some talking, she realized it doesn't have to be the worst thing. She does have access to a gym, so now she can spend this time getting as strong as possible; really dedicating herself on just strength now. When she gets back, she'll be able to use this new found strength and apply it to her lifts, and she will come out a better, stronger lifter than she would have been otherwise. It just took seeing what those 2 steps forward for her could be.
I'm in a similar situation now at my internship. We have different performance tests throughout our time here, and they are more work capacity based, encompassing in a "Monster Mash" at the end which has taken people 3 hours before to complete. That is obviously very different than me just focusing on the snatch and clean & jerk. I'm taking a huge step back right now. (I'll talk more about my summer training program in another post for more specifics). I have lost a significant amount of squat strength with the lower volume of squatting and all the conditioning I'm doing. That is translating to more difficult time doing cleans. However, my work capacity is going up, so I'll be able to have better training when I get back. Because my pulling strength stays around much longer than squat strength, I'm able to work on my technique when I am doing the lifts and I am already feeling better and more confident with my lifts. My all time best clean was 95kg, and I hit 90 the other day on tired legs and with a lower front squat. I did that because my pull is much more efficient than it was before. While I may not hit a new PR this summer, I'll get back much quicker when I get my strength back with my new pull.
Everyone experiences a setback, you just need to learn to look towards those 2 steps forward while taking that step back. Progress isn't always positive, and isn't always linear. There are will be times when you're making amazing progress, times where your stagnant, and times with huge setbacks. The key is to make sure that the trend is always upward and that you are better in the long term than you were when starting. Face that setback head on and get better from that experience.
Progress, it is something we all strive for, to be the best we can one step at a time. We love when we have some, and we hate it when we don't have any, or even move backwards. It is one of the greatest concepts that we have created because it means that we are closer to achieving something we want. If you are progressing towards something, you are probably a much happier person right now because you can see the light at the end of the tunnel of your goal.
The worst thing that can happen to people is a setback. A setback is discouraging; it can be something that knocks you back one step or it can knock you back to the beginning of your journey. Regardless of how severe, it seems to hurt just as bad each time. It is even worse when there is nothing you can do. Sometimes your situation just won't allow you to move forward, you try and try and try, but this setback is just there stopping you.
Sometimes though, that setback can be the greatest thing for you, even if you can't see it. The phrase "one step back for two steps forward" can be just that. If you allow yourself to look beyond this setback, this "one step back", then you can come out of your situation much improved...if you allow yourself.
Back to my friend who is out of the country, she is a weightlifter and found out she won't have any access to an Olympic bar or bumper plates, so she won't be able to practice the snatch and clean and jerk. She was furious and freaking out about it. After some talking, she realized it doesn't have to be the worst thing. She does have access to a gym, so now she can spend this time getting as strong as possible; really dedicating herself on just strength now. When she gets back, she'll be able to use this new found strength and apply it to her lifts, and she will come out a better, stronger lifter than she would have been otherwise. It just took seeing what those 2 steps forward for her could be.
I'm in a similar situation now at my internship. We have different performance tests throughout our time here, and they are more work capacity based, encompassing in a "Monster Mash" at the end which has taken people 3 hours before to complete. That is obviously very different than me just focusing on the snatch and clean & jerk. I'm taking a huge step back right now. (I'll talk more about my summer training program in another post for more specifics). I have lost a significant amount of squat strength with the lower volume of squatting and all the conditioning I'm doing. That is translating to more difficult time doing cleans. However, my work capacity is going up, so I'll be able to have better training when I get back. Because my pulling strength stays around much longer than squat strength, I'm able to work on my technique when I am doing the lifts and I am already feeling better and more confident with my lifts. My all time best clean was 95kg, and I hit 90 the other day on tired legs and with a lower front squat. I did that because my pull is much more efficient than it was before. While I may not hit a new PR this summer, I'll get back much quicker when I get my strength back with my new pull.
Everyone experiences a setback, you just need to learn to look towards those 2 steps forward while taking that step back. Progress isn't always positive, and isn't always linear. There are will be times when you're making amazing progress, times where your stagnant, and times with huge setbacks. The key is to make sure that the trend is always upward and that you are better in the long term than you were when starting. Face that setback head on and get better from that experience.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
What Is This New Thing Called....Cardio?
I haven't had to breathe this much since I unofficially quit CrossFit. Now that I'm living about 10 miles from my internship and don't have a car out here, and the public transportation isn't that great out here, I have to find a way to get to work. Now, I'm riding a bike. Yes, me, the guy who hasn't done any conditioning in over 6 months is now riding a bike 20 miles a day at the minimum. Now that wouldn't be so terrible, except there are also a lot of long, long and steep hills both ways. So when your parents say they walked uphill both ways to school, I now understand.
It has definitely gotten a little bit easier throughout the month of being here, but I am definitely not someone who likes this, but I actually do feel a little bit better with that conditioning being in my life. However, I still don't necessarily want to make it a huge part of my life because my priority is still my lifting. I think I need to somehow find a middle between the 100 miles a week of biking with a lot of hills and the nothing I was doing. But for now, I just need to deal with it.
I'm aware this was a shorter post, but I don't have a ton to say about it, other than...wow conditioning is hard and hurts...and biking when your not a biker really hurts. I mean I'll say that I do think my quads have actually gotten bigger with the biking, but I'm always sore and it's really hard. Who knows, maybe my body will actually figure this out.
On to more biking... yay?
It has definitely gotten a little bit easier throughout the month of being here, but I am definitely not someone who likes this, but I actually do feel a little bit better with that conditioning being in my life. However, I still don't necessarily want to make it a huge part of my life because my priority is still my lifting. I think I need to somehow find a middle between the 100 miles a week of biking with a lot of hills and the nothing I was doing. But for now, I just need to deal with it.
I'm aware this was a shorter post, but I don't have a ton to say about it, other than...wow conditioning is hard and hurts...and biking when your not a biker really hurts. I mean I'll say that I do think my quads have actually gotten bigger with the biking, but I'm always sore and it's really hard. Who knows, maybe my body will actually figure this out.
On to more biking... yay?
Sunday, June 14, 2015
This is late, but....Recap of the Capital City Open
Sorry for this being so late, and for not posting anything in 6 months. I've been really busy with school and every time I think about writing something, something comes up. But now, I am going to try and post at least once a week about some topic. Ok, on to the recap.
April 26th was the Capital City Open, a weightlifting meet held in Alexandria, Va. This was my first time ever competing in weightlifting (Olympic lifting). It was an incredible experience that really solidified my desire to continue to train it and set future goals.
Training up to it was pretty intense for me. I was (mostly) following a 4 week meet peaking program from Catalyst Athletics that was based on something Bob Takano had written. I made some slight changes though in the sense that I actually was squatting every day, sometimes to a max, sometimes to just a heavy single up until the week of the meet. I did that after listening to a podcast with John Broz and hearing about the rational of doing that, it sounded like something that interested me and seemed to make sense for the program. In addition, about 2 weeks prior to the meet, I had purchased a pair of wodlifts based on the recommendation from Travis Cooper, one of the best lifters in America. With that I was then able to pr my snatch by 5 kilos the week before the meet. So training was looking and feeling good going into the week of the meet. I was hitting my numbers and feeling better than ever.
The night before the meet I was with Sean Campbell, a friend of mine who was going to coach me at the meet, and we were discussing whether or not I would actually cut down to 94kg since I registered as a 105 since I wasn't planning on cutting when I registered. I did end up cutting down by just cutting with water, wearing lots of layers the night before and morning of to sweat and not really eating at all the day of the meet. Luckily, the meet was running late but we weighed in at the scheduled time, so I instead had 3 hours beforehand instead of 2 to actually eat some food and rehydrate, that was a blessing. I weighed in at 92.7kg (about 204#) which was the lightest I had been in about 8 years which was crazy for me.
Regarding the actual lifting, it was crazy, I was feeling really good warming up for the snatch until I was about 10 minutes out from my first lift and all of a sudden I started getting super nervous and sweating like crazy. Sean actually said it was a good thing that I was starting to get nervous because it meant that I cared. I opened up there at 61kg, a really conservative lift for me and I barely even made that. The bar had actually scraped against my knees and somehow I still got it back overhead. I then started really freaking out for the second attempt (64kg) after barely making the first. I ended up missing it after barely getting the lift off before the clock ran out, I missed it forward and almost hit the head judge. Heading into the 3rd attempt where I took 64 again, Sean finally told me to breathe. I remembered that I needed to do that and I have some breathing techniques which I use to calm down, and I actually felt extremely calm heading into the 3rd attempt where I smoked that 64.
After the snatch, I got to calm down and relax and wait before the clean and jerk. Warming up for that, I was feeling really solid and thought I might have a chance to actually PR. Getting into the opener at 81kg, another conservative weight for me, I was really dumb; I smoked the clean but forgot to adjust my grip for the jerk so I ended up pressing that out. I then hit 83 for my second attempt because I knew I just needed to remember to adjust. We then decided to go to 88kg for my 3rd attempt which I again hit pretty easily but was really happy with.
In the end up I totaled 152kg and went 4/6 which I was happy with for my first meet. I didn't even realize I was enjoying it though until I was sitting watching the rest of the lifters in my session when I could finally relax and all of a sudden it hit me,"Damn that was really fun". That's all I could think at that moment. I can't wait to do more competitions, but right now just more training and having fun with it.
April 26th was the Capital City Open, a weightlifting meet held in Alexandria, Va. This was my first time ever competing in weightlifting (Olympic lifting). It was an incredible experience that really solidified my desire to continue to train it and set future goals.
Training up to it was pretty intense for me. I was (mostly) following a 4 week meet peaking program from Catalyst Athletics that was based on something Bob Takano had written. I made some slight changes though in the sense that I actually was squatting every day, sometimes to a max, sometimes to just a heavy single up until the week of the meet. I did that after listening to a podcast with John Broz and hearing about the rational of doing that, it sounded like something that interested me and seemed to make sense for the program. In addition, about 2 weeks prior to the meet, I had purchased a pair of wodlifts based on the recommendation from Travis Cooper, one of the best lifters in America. With that I was then able to pr my snatch by 5 kilos the week before the meet. So training was looking and feeling good going into the week of the meet. I was hitting my numbers and feeling better than ever.
The night before the meet I was with Sean Campbell, a friend of mine who was going to coach me at the meet, and we were discussing whether or not I would actually cut down to 94kg since I registered as a 105 since I wasn't planning on cutting when I registered. I did end up cutting down by just cutting with water, wearing lots of layers the night before and morning of to sweat and not really eating at all the day of the meet. Luckily, the meet was running late but we weighed in at the scheduled time, so I instead had 3 hours beforehand instead of 2 to actually eat some food and rehydrate, that was a blessing. I weighed in at 92.7kg (about 204#) which was the lightest I had been in about 8 years which was crazy for me.
Regarding the actual lifting, it was crazy, I was feeling really good warming up for the snatch until I was about 10 minutes out from my first lift and all of a sudden I started getting super nervous and sweating like crazy. Sean actually said it was a good thing that I was starting to get nervous because it meant that I cared. I opened up there at 61kg, a really conservative lift for me and I barely even made that. The bar had actually scraped against my knees and somehow I still got it back overhead. I then started really freaking out for the second attempt (64kg) after barely making the first. I ended up missing it after barely getting the lift off before the clock ran out, I missed it forward and almost hit the head judge. Heading into the 3rd attempt where I took 64 again, Sean finally told me to breathe. I remembered that I needed to do that and I have some breathing techniques which I use to calm down, and I actually felt extremely calm heading into the 3rd attempt where I smoked that 64.
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| Standing up 64kg after finally being relaxed |
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| Pulling on 81kg before missing the jerk |
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| A slo-mo version of my 88 C&J |
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