PRs were smoked all day

Another meet in the books and progress is being made by a bunch of lifters. Nice progress. The Cabin Fever Open had 15 lifters and all had great lifts.
Thank you to the volunteers for helping make the meet run well: Frank, Fred, and Steve acting as judges, Pat helping with loading, and Frank contributing to the Best Lifter awards. Great stuff! Great bunch of spectators, too.
Of course, the meet was about the lifters and they did indeed provide entertainment.
Grace, all of 11 and in her 4th year of lifting, hit solid lifts of 20/25 for a 45 total. She continues to improve.
Fern, in only her second meet with an entourage cheering her on, hit a solid opener of 35 in snatch. She cleaned a misloaded CJ attempt and just barely missed that jerk. Ah, well, she had three more attempts ending up with a 42.

Ralph, thankful he was away from his family members with the cold and flu, hit a respectable 55/80/135 going 5 for 6.

Zach in his third meet opened with a PR snatch then could only hit his opening CJ. The jerk proved to be his undoing. He posted a 62/75/137 total, meet PR all three.

Kyle opened with a PR and got it. Then closed with an even better lift. He was a bit more cautious in the CJ, but got a nice PR on his third attempt. 67/82/149 for Kyle for a really good day.

Bret, 12 y.o. and 38.2 kg, provided the most entertainment for the day with aggressive attempts at national records. He opened with a 40 snatch which was missed. Then went up for his second attempt. he nailed that 41 then came back with a 42. Both were American records. He called for an AR opener in CJ and nailed it. He made valiant attempts at a 58 but his knee hit the ground in his jerk. He was credited with a 42/55/97 total.

Keith opened with what proved to be a very comfortable 70. The jerk was the objective for the day and he was able to nail the 87 which had been dogging him for some time. Fresh from a Russian Squat Cycle, he went after a meet PR of 93 in the CJ. Nailed. The state record 100 was attempted but there was just not enough pop coming off the hips to complete the clean. 70/93/163 were his final numbers.

Adam, lifting as a very light 77, nailed his 75 snatch. His slender build proved to be his undoing in the CJ as he just could not rack his second and third cleans. he did post a fine 75/95/170 total.

Milo, in the 69 class, showed good speed in the snatch with a solid 82 on his second attempt then a nice comeback in the CJ where he got a 98. A bit more muscle and his CJ will skyrocket as the speed is there. 82/98/180 was his total.

Ron, also in the 69 class, opened with a solid 77 and nailed all three snatches. His CJ went well, too, as he went 2 for 3 and hit a niiiice lift of 102. 85/102/187 for solid meet PR and 5 for 6. A good day for him.

Anthony, the third lifter in the 69 kilo class, made it interesting. His first snatch was behind him. His second was in front. Can you guess where the third one was? nailed a very, very solid 80. His Cj opener of 105 looked a bit press-y, but the referees gave all whites. He went for a 110 and got it albeit with some lazy arms just at the finish. He was credited with a 80/110/190 for a fine effort.

Ben, seeking continual improvement, nailed all his lifts. He was the insider's favorite for most improved lifter. 3 for 3 in the snatch finishing with a meet PR of 95. 3 for 3 in the CJ, finishing with an all time PR of 130. 95/130/225, more PR on the horizon.

Quinn, fast and strong, in the 77 class, hit his first two snatches of 90 and 95. He smashed his first two CJ of 115 and 120. His third CJ seemed to drain the life from him and he could not get it. Credited with a 95/120/215.

White Ben opened with a very comfortable 95. Then he rolled to what one can only assume was a PR snatch based upon his reaction of 106. He got it though there was a bit of a fight as it was just a bit in front of him at the finish. He made an easy opener of 120 in CJ, missing the next two. a 106/120/226 was his total.

Jake closed out both sessions. Wanting to get a meet under his belt prior to nationals in a few weeks, he banged out solid 110 and 115 in snatch. The 120 was 98% made but just a bit weak on the punch had him miss it. The CJ was interesting. A 145 opener was missed, but form was good enough to warrant going up. 150 was loaded and Jake nailed that guy. solid. 157 for a meet PR CJ and a PR total was loaded. A solid clean. The jerk was launched nicely, but just a bit too much arms and not enough legs: failed to lock it out. Still a nice 115/150/265 for the day.


Fern and Jake were best lifters. Jake graciously declared Bret the best lifter for the meet and transferred his award to Bret.

A nice, fun, entertaining meet by all!

Squat cycle results

Another long Russian squat cycle in the books and, shockingly, improvement in the squat PR. Oh, and the snatch and CJ are doing well, too.
Keith, working with a two rep squat PR of 120, double dunked 127 last week. Valentine's Day was planned for an assault on the one rep PR. It happened. 130 went up and down smoothly then enthusiasm got the better of everyone. 137 was loaded. 75% of the rep was done. The second attempt was a pure negative.
With better selection of the second attempt, he probably could have dunked 135. In any case, the squat goes up the CJ goes up, the snatch goes up. With 39 "good" stickers, Keith has leap frogged Ron for the sticker lead. The meet on Sunday should prove to be exciting to see who can set PR and move past 40 stickers!

Greater risk; greater reward

But, you can also go down in flames. Keith decided after his nearly perfect performance last week to go after the greater reward and had to hit 9 squats to do so. Some months back, he put in an all out effort to do a double at 120. Last night, it called for 3 x 3 at the same weight (which was previously an absolute 1 RM PR for him).
Even more piston like, Keith hit every single squat with authority, let out a scream when he hit the 9th squat, and earned himself 3 stickers for the effort.
Under the bar, you learn a lot.
Ron had to get under the bar in his own way. Hitting 95% jerks while making the rack happy...legs tired from driving the bar, arms tired from punching his 70 kilos under the bar...
Ben finally learns that the jerk is a leg exercise. Funny how driving with the legs makes the weight light. And the pipe never lies...
Under the bar, you learn a lot.

Great stuff by the lifters this past evening!