Road Trip to Columbus: Firm Date, January 30

OK, the schedule is set. Mark January 30 on your calendar for a road trip to Columbus Weightlifting Club's facility. Plan to start lifting at noon then go out to eat after lifting finishes. Should be a good time and, if you are sick of me telling you to "...get undah the bah..." you can have someone else tell you the same thing.

January Visit from USAW CEO

On January 28, 2010, Rick Adams, CEO of USA Weightlifting, will be visiting our club. It will be his first stop on a brief tour of Ohio. Timing will most likely be late afternoon/early evening. One can only hope we have some lifting going on with plenty of spit, chalk, and sweat flying. Rick will then go to the venue for the 2010 American Open for a review. Definitely want to show Rick the high level of enthusiasm for weightlifting we have in our club.

Cincinnati Cabin Fever Open: February 7, 2010

As a tune up to the Arnold and as a check on how winter training is going, the Club will host the Cabin Fever Open on Sunday February 7th. Look for an entry form and further information after the first of the year. It will take place in the Explosion Fitness Solutions portion of Gametime. First session is planned to start at 1 PM. If there are enough entries, then a second session will be added (and require the first session to start earlier). Should be fun!

National Meet comes to Cincinnati

Cincinnati Weightlifting Club will be the host club for the 2010 American Open Weightlifting Championships in December 2010. Very excited to have this meet in our area!

Hours at the Club for Lifting

Here is the way the rest of the year 2009 shapes up:

December 23: Usual 5 to 8 PM session

December 24: Special 3:00 PM start time then egg nog?

December 25-27 closed.

December 28 to December 30: usual after work

December 31: Special 3 PM start time then wrap by 6 PM or so

January 1 closed

January 2nd: Morning lifting session say about 9 until noonish. If you are still hungover, come on in, we can work it out of you.

Winterfest: The Finale

The best for last. Keith, after 4 months of no lifting due to illness and no competition since June, comes back after just a few weeks' worth of training and goes 6 for 6 PLUS hits PR lifts in clean and jerk and total Wow. THAT is what the Daniel Gorelik Bravest Lifter Award is all about!
Thanks to all the volunteers this past weekend: Brandon, Andrew, Kirk, Garrett, Dean, Ed, Mark C, Mark G, Todd, Jon, Dave (the wood keeper), and Stephanie. Here are the results.

Bret, Charleston WLC, 29/37/66 after lifting on Saturday!
Keith, Cincinnati WLC, 60/78/138 and 6 for 6
Milo, Charleston WLC, 76/96/172 which is 5 kilos more than he did Saturday.
Jerry, Toledo WLC, had to drop out due to wrist injury. He did post a 73 snatch.
Chad, Cincinnati WLC, 80 (PR)/101 (PR)/180
Ben, Cincinnati WLC, 76/100/176 in his first meet!
Ethan, Cincinnati WLC, 87/105/192 unfortunately missing his goal, but nonetheless good lifting.
Travis, Hoosier Barbell Club, 100/122/222 at a light weight of 85 kg.
Josh, Cincinnati WLC, 105/125/230 and had to hit that last CJ to stay in the meet to post a total.

Lots of good lifting: High School

The high school lifting portion of the Winterfest Weightlifting Championships is in the books and it was an exciting day.
8 years old Gabe had a good day hitting his totals. Including one lift where the plates slid off the bar! Clips would have been handy then...
Patricia put up a valiant fight to stand with a 48 clean. After no less than 6 attempts to stand, she gave it up.
Alexa lifted in her first meet. Has this volleyballer caught the bug?
Stone battled Kennedy with the latter coming out on top by 5 kg.
Chris lifted in his first meet. He has the bug.
Grant lifted courageously, getting two PRs and nearly running off the platform on his final jerk. He received the Daniel Gorelick Bravest Lifter Award.
In team standings:
4. Brownsburg Team of 3
3. Brownsburg Girls
2. Crown Point Indiana
1. Brownsburg, Indiana, Team of 8

Thanks to today's volunteers for coming in and helping on a moment's notice...More festivities at 12 noon tomorrow.

Winterfest Meet: Masters Portion in the books

The masters lifted to begin the Cincinnati Winter Sports Festival today. Frank set a PR CJ and PR total today. He just barely missed going 6 for 6.

Frank: 53/75/128

Donald: 75/97/172 (first meet for this Highland Games champion)

Michael: 85/115/200 (first total posted since 1998)

Bryan: 95/120/215 (first meet for the 1999 World's Strongest Man U.S. Champion)

High school kids tomorrow will be doing battle for the 175 KG WerkSan Barbell H.S. training set. Hostilities commence at 11 am!

Winterfest Meet: Lifting Sessions

Based upon entries received so far (there cannot be many more on the way), here is the breakdown for the lifting sessions for this weekend:

Friday, 12/18: noon, Masters weigh in, 2 PM lifting session

Saturday, 12/19: 11 am, High School Session #1: all females, males up to and including 77 kg (9 am weigh in)

Saturday, 12/19: 1 PM High School Session #2: all males 85 kg and up (11 am weigh in)

Sunday, 12/20: 12 Noon, Open, juniors, school age lifters (all), 10 am weigh in

Venue is: Duke Energy Convention Center, 525 West 5th Street, Downtown Cincinnati

Hope to see you there either lifting or cheering on the lifters!

On Great and Not-so-great Sessions

Credit goes to Dan John for this essay. Good to keep in mind the next time you lift and it goes great or not-so-great:

"...In a group of five workouts, I tend to have one great workout: the kind of session that makes me think that in just a few weeks I could be an Olympic champion and Mr. Olympia.
Then, I'll have one workout that's so awful that the mere fact I continue to exist as a somewhat-higher form of life is a miracle. Then, the other three workouts are "punch the clock" workouts: I go in, workout, and walk out. Most people experience this.
Now, in 100 workouts, there could be 20 great workouts. Of that 20, a couple will be flat-out amazing. And in 1,000 workouts, just one is worthy of an article, or bragging to your non-lifting buddies about. So, once a decade, if you're lucky, you have that workout.
Unfortunately, many people think they're under-training all the time because they don't puke every workout, the world record doesn't fall during the session, or a swarm of reporters from People magazine aren't taking your picture. Really, I never understood this idea that every workout had to be the best and finest training moment of your life.
This brings to mind two things: where else in life does something become better and better every single time? Meals? Sleep? Work? Even sex can have highs and lows. (I was going to say "ups and downs," but somehow even I can't handle that level of bad pun.) Furthermore, how can you honestly think that training improvements are that linear?
Remember this: if you start bench pressing 100 pounds, and add 10 pounds a month, you'll bench 460 in about three years and 500 hundred in a few more months, right? How many of you with just three years of training under your belt are knocking out 500-pound benches? (You know, in the gym, not just on the Internet.)

In other words, give yourself a break emotionally and physically... most of the time..."

New PR in the OH Squat

Chad hits a new PR in the OH SQ: 90 for a single. Nice!

Clean and Jerk PR

Posted by Ethan tonight: 112 kg. Nice!

Columbus Meet Results: November 14

Approaching the meet on Saturday as this week's heavy day for everyone, the results were impressive. PRs were set as well as a 6 for 6 day. Many thanks to Bob and Penny for working the video and photography. Good info about everyone's lift here. Also, thanks to Junior, Emily, Erin, and Bob for watching.
Frank, 85 kg, 6 for 6: 53/70/123
Breann, 58 kg, 2 for 6: 50(meet PR)/60/110
Chad, 85 kg, 2 for 6: 77 (PR)/97 (PR)/174 (PR)
Josh, 105 kg, 2 for 6: 100 (PR)/122/222

Josh was also Best Lifter on formula. Back at it this week as the run up to Winterfest begins in earnest.

A Small Meet in Columbus, Ohio, November 14

Mark your calendars for this small meet in Columbus, hosted by the Columbus WC, on November 14 at 4 PM. Weigh in is from 2-3 PM. Sounds like a good check point for some peeps and a nice way to start off the lifting career for others. Will have more details later.

Lifter returns to the club

After a lengthy battle with a specific medical condition, Keith comes back to lift on Friday, October 30. It will be a long road back to where he was, but it will be a great ride. Glad to have him back!

Planning for Next Week

No coach available on Monday, November 2, and Tuesday, November 3 at Gametime. The place is not closed and usual lifting sessions should be conducted. Duty calls in a big way.

Crazy Carmel Indiana Meet

Easy to get to and at a great indoor venue, Velocity Sports and Performance, the Carmel Indiana meet was a junior meet with Jake lifting by special dispensation.
Lifting on a rubberized basketball court, Jake was the last lifter and followed himself. Warmups started unspectacularly then right around 90%, the form started to dial in. One crazy snatch at 100 kg had two heads being scratched. Fortunately, that kink was left in the warm up area!
Opener 107 kg: easy. Looked light.
2nd 112 kg: easy.
3rd: 115 kg, not so easy. The lift was no good.

The CJ would be in about 1 hour as all the kids had to go in advance of Jake. Ugh was muttered by Mrs. Jake. Smooth warm ups followed by the final pull at 145. Things were looking good.
1st attempt: 142, no problems. Bang, bang, 3 whites.
2nd attempt: 148, big problems. Jake missed the clean. A very rare site.
3rd attempt: 148 clean no problem, jerk, in the right position, good drive, feet split as bar came off of shoulders. A struggle on the lockout and finally a drop. Missed lift.

3 for 6, 112/142/254. a handful of kilos away from 2010 national qualification. Next meet!

The return to Cincinnati was an adventure with the I465 east bound closed. Took the long way around Indy. When does a 20 minute drive seem like an hour?

Toledo Development Meet Results, 10/24

Glad this meet was inside! The weather was nasty: rainy and cold.

Breann: 48/66 (pr)/114 (pr)
Chad: 72/95/167 (pr)
Ethan: 80 (pr)/105 (pr)/ 185 (pr) and 6 for 6
Fred: 75/--/--
Josh: 97 (pr)/125 (pr)/222 (pr)


Fred is still struggling with the broken wrist pain remnants. Today, the pain was too much in the clean and jerk and his day was ended after posting a snatch total. Even tight tape around the wrist was to no avail.
Breann lifted in the earliest session-- very nervous about the snatch after her back-drop episode of a few weeks ago. Opener of 48 was easy and a meet PR. 52 went behind. 54 was a crowd pleaser. She popped that bar overhead and hit the bottom. Three tries to stand and she just could not do it. The crowd tried to urge her on up, but Bre had to drop it. Spectators commented positively on her impressive effort.
She went in to her favorite lifts with good energy after a nice warm up. The opener of 58 went up easy. 62, which buried her at the state meet in July, went up nicely. The 66 was a standing up struggle, but she did it, nailed the jerk, and got 3 whites. Another PR. 48/66/114.
There will be plenty of heavy leg work in her future!

Chad, Ethan, and Fred all were lifting with about the same weights and Ethan was competing in his first meet. Fred was in his first outside-the-club meet.
Chad had a solid opener of 72 setting a meet PR. Ethan came in with an equally solid, butterfly busting 75. Fred hit his 75 with authority.
Chad went to 75 for his second, got under it with plenty of room, but could not hold hit. He called for 80 on his third. He missed the 80 though he got it up well and was almost all the way under it. It was a nice try, but he still got 3 red lights.
Ethan hit 77 for his second and then, still doing the donkey kick, hit 80. 3 for 3 in the snatch.
Fred got the 77 up overhead, but pressed out the bar. He said it felt light and asked for 80. The 80 got up there, but he was already standing up straight before the bar was locked out. He had to drop it. Credited with 75.

Josh went with a PR 97 attempt for his first snatch. Dialing it in, he nailed it for 3 white lights. He called for 100. He locked in his starting position, pulled, but the bar stayed out in front a few inches and he could not get under. No lift. He called for more weight, wanting to make the bodyweight snatch of 102. Again, he dialed in nicely, nice first pull, but the power was not there on the second. No lift. Credited with a PR 97.

During CJ warm up, Fred's pesky wrist caused too much pain and he was forced to withdraw from the meet. Bummer.

Chad opened with 95. He has done more in the gym, but wanted to start off on a good note. He nailed the CJ, but was a bit light headed in standing up. He went for 100. He struggled with the clean and barely got the jerk off of his chest. Again, the same light headedness. He elected to stay with 100 then moved up to 102. The clean then nothing; no energy. Credited with 95.

Ethan opened with 95. He hit it with room to spare. Now, it was official: a total in his first meet. He went to 100 and again, room to spare. He went to 105 to tie his gym PR and got that, too. Credited with a solid 105 and a 185 total.

Josh was opening with a 120 which was his final lift back in July. He hit it nicely. He called for 125. His clean cleaned up on this lift and he nailed it making the jerk look easy. He called for 130. This was a struggle from the get-go as he was not able to rack the weight, leaving it out in front of him by a few inches. Still, a 125.

Upcoming Meets

The club is excited about upcoming meets. The plan is to have a number of lifters hit PRs.