Erik, a.k.a. "Rio", is our 14 year old lifter who started lifting after being a spectator at a meet a few months ago. Which emphasizes the importance of getting someone to a meet so that he can get excited about competing. If you are an adult weightlifter going to a meet and you don't have a youngster with you, well, I could go on and on, but this post is about progress.
Last night at practice, he is putting in a lot of effort doing his push presses. He is struggling to drive that weight up there as his legs were probably burnt out by the heavy squats just completed. I walk over to him to tell him he just completed 5 reps in the push press with a weight that he could not squat just a few weeks ago.
How is that for progress? What kid or adult would not want to experience that kind of progress? A loaded barbell that you cannot roll across the floor and now you are putting it up overhead for multiple reps??
Can I get a Cincinnati Reds rally howl?
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Round 1, Battle for the Belt goes to...
Great meet hosted by Central Kentucky Weightlifting on a late Sunday morning had lifters chasing personal goals. A few PR were set and lifters were close to getting into upper level, national meets. Then, this meet started the next Battle for the Belt competition.
Abby and Fern started the event off. Fern is chasing state records and has tied one in practice. Abby is chasing qualifying totals for junior nationals and university championships.
Corrections follow:
Fern hit a 40 in snatch, tying a meet PR and headed into the CJ. Her opener proved to be the only one she got. She gave 48 an easy ride to hit the lift and post a PR tying total of 88. A two sticker performance!
Abby looked sharp in warm ups and went to the platform for her opening snatch. No problem with the 48. Her next two lifts of 51 and 52 were overhead, but not tight enough to complete them; she was credited with the 48. Her opening CJ was easy and she said, "...should have started higher..". Jumping to 57 for her second attempt, she gets it. The third attempt: way too far in front from the first pull so, no lift. She is credited with 48/57/105 which should get her university qualification and did get her 3 stickers and the first reward level!
Dave, one weight class lower than previously, nails his opening snatch. The next two were smooth and fast with plenty in the tank. The CJ was the same way. Finishing with a strong 80 on his final attempt, he was credited with a 58/80/138 in his first competition in a looong time. Nice work.
Keith was looking to tune up for the American Open in a few months. Goals were fairly modest (72/92/164) and he was able to hit them nicely. Opening snatch of 70 was routine and then 72 flew up there. The third attempt of 76 was just glued to floor a bit too long and he left it out in front. Same story in CJ: 88 up nicely, second attempt of 93 in the groove. The 96 was cleaned, jerked, but just not straight up enough so, a miss. He was credited with a 72/93/165.
Zach was well rested and moving nicely in warm up. The opening snatch was smoked as was the second. The third was a PR attempt. It came off the ground nicely, swept in, and pop. It was locked out and he was credited with a new PR of 80. CJ had a modest opener. The clean was fine, but the jerk was wobbly and he got three red flags for that. No matter, he was going up. 102 to tie his current gym PR. Clean: good. Jerk: a bit of an arm bend! Can he hold it without pressing out? He did and only the center judge gave him the thumbs down. On to a PR attempt. 105 cleaned and witnesses say his hips actually went down so that he could receive the bar. Good enough for me. The jerk was missed. 80/102/182 for 2 PR.
Ron was ready to begin the defense of the Belt. Warm ups smooth and he comes out to smoke the opener. he goes up, following himself. No problem with the 86. Calling for a new PR of 90, he just cannot get that timing right to get himself fully under it. In the CJ, if he can clean it, he can jerk it. 102 was easy for him today. The next two attempts at 107 and a PR total were not made. He is credited with the 86/102/188.
In this first event in the three event Battle for the Belt, Abby has the lead with Zach in second, and Dave in third. It is still very close with the next event set for October 6 there should be some shuffling of positions...Fern is close in the 4th position
Abby and Fern started the event off. Fern is chasing state records and has tied one in practice. Abby is chasing qualifying totals for junior nationals and university championships.
Corrections follow:
Fern hit a 40 in snatch, tying a meet PR and headed into the CJ. Her opener proved to be the only one she got. She gave 48 an easy ride to hit the lift and post a PR tying total of 88. A two sticker performance!
Abby looked sharp in warm ups and went to the platform for her opening snatch. No problem with the 48. Her next two lifts of 51 and 52 were overhead, but not tight enough to complete them; she was credited with the 48. Her opening CJ was easy and she said, "...should have started higher..". Jumping to 57 for her second attempt, she gets it. The third attempt: way too far in front from the first pull so, no lift. She is credited with 48/57/105 which should get her university qualification and did get her 3 stickers and the first reward level!
Dave, one weight class lower than previously, nails his opening snatch. The next two were smooth and fast with plenty in the tank. The CJ was the same way. Finishing with a strong 80 on his final attempt, he was credited with a 58/80/138 in his first competition in a looong time. Nice work.
Keith was looking to tune up for the American Open in a few months. Goals were fairly modest (72/92/164) and he was able to hit them nicely. Opening snatch of 70 was routine and then 72 flew up there. The third attempt of 76 was just glued to floor a bit too long and he left it out in front. Same story in CJ: 88 up nicely, second attempt of 93 in the groove. The 96 was cleaned, jerked, but just not straight up enough so, a miss. He was credited with a 72/93/165.
Zach was well rested and moving nicely in warm up. The opening snatch was smoked as was the second. The third was a PR attempt. It came off the ground nicely, swept in, and pop. It was locked out and he was credited with a new PR of 80. CJ had a modest opener. The clean was fine, but the jerk was wobbly and he got three red flags for that. No matter, he was going up. 102 to tie his current gym PR. Clean: good. Jerk: a bit of an arm bend! Can he hold it without pressing out? He did and only the center judge gave him the thumbs down. On to a PR attempt. 105 cleaned and witnesses say his hips actually went down so that he could receive the bar. Good enough for me. The jerk was missed. 80/102/182 for 2 PR.
Ron was ready to begin the defense of the Belt. Warm ups smooth and he comes out to smoke the opener. he goes up, following himself. No problem with the 86. Calling for a new PR of 90, he just cannot get that timing right to get himself fully under it. In the CJ, if he can clean it, he can jerk it. 102 was easy for him today. The next two attempts at 107 and a PR total were not made. He is credited with the 86/102/188.
In this first event in the three event Battle for the Belt, Abby has the lead with Zach in second, and Dave in third. It is still very close with the next event set for October 6 there should be some shuffling of positions...Fern is close in the 4th position
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Do you have ring around the collar?
Overall responsibility. That is a boring topic.
You sweat, your collar of your shirt gets dirty, you pre-soak the shirt in detergent, wash the shirt, and, magically, the ring disappears. Referring to this rather ancient laundry detergent advertisement is rather odd, you may think, but the true responsibility is that you must wash your neck. There is not anyone available to apply the Wisk so that the ring is removed; you need to keep that neck clean so that the ring doesn't appear in the first place.
Coaching responsibility is to get the best out of you in every session of every day. Doesn't always go as planned, but that is still the responsibility and goal of every individual session. A program (whether a 4 week or 12 week or 48 week program) has the objective of raising your lifts beyond what you thought you could do. A coach is irresponsible if he or she shows up with a "training program" generated when he was pumping gas earlier that afternoon.
A lifter is responsible for putting forth the effort needed in each training session taking place. Specifically avoided here is the terminology of "workout". A lifting session is not a workout. To me a workout is just to do some exercises to get a sweat going so that you can eat more at the next meal. A training program wants you to improve by 2-5% by the time you finish it. Our experienced lifters know that the six week "Russian Squat Program" works 100% of the time giving a hard working lifter a 2-5% increase in his or her squat.
A new lifter has the responsibility to learn the lifts, learn the definitions of the lifts, understand what warm up is required, what different effort feels like, etc. New lifter must also be willing to accept that there may be a need to do brain surgery. Take out all the old yucky crap that is residing in the gray matter about what is involved in lifting, replace that crap with fresh material on the lifts and their accessories, allow it to grow for a while, and then affix the skull before sending you on your merry way.
450 pound sumo deadlift? Part of that soon to be replaced crap. 320 pound low bar squat? Ditto. Clean and press 100 kilos? Ditto.
An intermediate or advanced lifter must accept the responsibility that focus and attention is needed from the moment the first warm up is started until the barbell is unloaded at the end of the training session. Once this lifter wraps his or her hands around the bar, hopefully employing the hook grip, there is nothing but the barbell. Want a 2% improvement at the end of 4 weeks? You need to accept the responsibility of focusing on the task at hand. Want 5% improvement at the end of 12 weeks? Might want to make double sure that your neck is clean.
So, the question to you is: Are you a lifter waiting for someone to beat your ring around the collar every time or are you a lifter who keeps his neck clean?
You sweat, your collar of your shirt gets dirty, you pre-soak the shirt in detergent, wash the shirt, and, magically, the ring disappears. Referring to this rather ancient laundry detergent advertisement is rather odd, you may think, but the true responsibility is that you must wash your neck. There is not anyone available to apply the Wisk so that the ring is removed; you need to keep that neck clean so that the ring doesn't appear in the first place.
Coaching responsibility is to get the best out of you in every session of every day. Doesn't always go as planned, but that is still the responsibility and goal of every individual session. A program (whether a 4 week or 12 week or 48 week program) has the objective of raising your lifts beyond what you thought you could do. A coach is irresponsible if he or she shows up with a "training program" generated when he was pumping gas earlier that afternoon.
A lifter is responsible for putting forth the effort needed in each training session taking place. Specifically avoided here is the terminology of "workout". A lifting session is not a workout. To me a workout is just to do some exercises to get a sweat going so that you can eat more at the next meal. A training program wants you to improve by 2-5% by the time you finish it. Our experienced lifters know that the six week "Russian Squat Program" works 100% of the time giving a hard working lifter a 2-5% increase in his or her squat.
A new lifter has the responsibility to learn the lifts, learn the definitions of the lifts, understand what warm up is required, what different effort feels like, etc. New lifter must also be willing to accept that there may be a need to do brain surgery. Take out all the old yucky crap that is residing in the gray matter about what is involved in lifting, replace that crap with fresh material on the lifts and their accessories, allow it to grow for a while, and then affix the skull before sending you on your merry way.
450 pound sumo deadlift? Part of that soon to be replaced crap. 320 pound low bar squat? Ditto. Clean and press 100 kilos? Ditto.
An intermediate or advanced lifter must accept the responsibility that focus and attention is needed from the moment the first warm up is started until the barbell is unloaded at the end of the training session. Once this lifter wraps his or her hands around the bar, hopefully employing the hook grip, there is nothing but the barbell. Want a 2% improvement at the end of 4 weeks? You need to accept the responsibility of focusing on the task at hand. Want 5% improvement at the end of 12 weeks? Might want to make double sure that your neck is clean.
So, the question to you is: Are you a lifter waiting for someone to beat your ring around the collar every time or are you a lifter who keeps his neck clean?
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