The Battle for The Belt: in the books

Another battle for the belt today as 6 lifters went at it and a new point scoring system was tested. I can already see one tweak in it before I use it for a weightlifting league. To the matter at hand. Zach has been the proud holder of the belt for the last few weeks. He has certainly lived up to the title: posting PRs and showing good progress over the time period. Plus, 4 days a week of lifting have helped tremendously. Will he keep it or will he relinquish it? Lifters made 4 attempts at snatch and CJ. The attempts were: 90%, 93%, 97%, and PR. Points were tallied for each lift made and there was a multiplier for lifters with totals closer to Ohio state lifting records. Kind of made it interesting. Garrett opened the contest up with his first attempt at 40. he makes it. His legs were dead after this as none of his attempts were good after this. Patrick, theoretically not in contention at all, hit all of his snatch attempts. With no true PR yet established, he got 4 points. Zach, certainly getting good elevation on the bar, hit 3 of 4 lifts. He failed to lock out the last PR attempt. So close! Keith, strong off the ground, but just a little off in pulling himself under the bar, hit two attempts. Ron was solid in his first three snatch attempts, missing a PR @ 90. Ben hit his opener solidly then was weak off the ground for his next two attempts. He nailed the 4th attempt. Standings after the snatch: Keith 5 Ben and Pat: 4 Zach: 3 Garrett: 1 the CJ would hopefully get some separation in there. Garrett got things going again hitting 2 of his 4 attempts for 2 points. Pat, not so great on getting the elbows around, but if he cleaned it, he jerked it. He nailed all 4 lifts gaining himself another 4 points. Zach was great all around through his first 3 attempts. he goes for the PR, does all the work to get it racked, get ready, dip, drive, and almost punch under the bar. Just a bit to the front and just not enough arm power. Keith was moving great with the bar. He nailed his 3 sub PR attempts and went for a PR of 95. He hit it with authority, earning himself a sticker in the process. Then, he came back and hit a PR clean. Ron was having problems getting that right heel down fast. It threw him a bit to the front on each clean. He did nail all 3 sub-PR lifts. He attempted 110 to set a new PR. a bit forward so, no lift. His only reward here was a tweaked wrist. Ben needed to hit all three lifts then come back and PR in a BIG way on #4 to tie Keith and go to the Triple C Leg Crank tiebreaker. Opener was a bit dodgy, but made. The good news is that he posted a total at his new svelte 94 kilo bodyweight. Last time, well, that was last time. he was not able to hit any more CJ. Points totaled out this way: Keith 18 Ron 9 Pat 8 Ben 6 Zach 6 Garrett 3 Keith takes the belt back and is the first repeat winner!

Then Robin said to Batman: "Holy loaded barbells!"

What a month it has been since the Arnold Meet in early March.

Keith after months of tough work, hits PR CJ, PR total, and finishes 4th at National Championships.

Jake gets screwed out of lifting at national championships because of competition secretary last minute scheduling changes. He has hit some PR lifts since then.

A lifter who began her career in our club and won a national junior championship with us qualifies for the Olympics.

Now it gets crazy; fortunately crazy in a good way.

Ben: PR competition CJ and competition total

Brigid: after spending a morning showing a Russian strongman how PRs are made, she becomes a PR machine for the month of March. Tying and breaking PR right and left.

Brieh: despite not being a weightlifter just a talented athlete, she has been posting PR in front squat (bodyweight) and snatch (60% bodyweight).

Garrett gets into the mix by moving up in his front squat.

Zach: SN/CJ/Total competition and training PR

Ron: in a particularly tough training cycle is still hitting vital PR numbers including a RJ PR.

Fern was able to make excellent progress in the "Stand up shrug down" department.

Imagine if the lifters were even more committed! Great stuff!