Latest Competition

This past weekend myself and my weightlifting team traveled up to Ft. Worth to compete in Black Box Gyms first Olympic Weightlifting competition. It was a great weekend and good to see all the competitors I have come to know traveling around and competing in local meets. Dutch Lowy, the owner and host of the competition did a great job with the organizing and accommodating of all the athletes, so to him much thanks.
Now for the meet! I was going for a new opener on the Snatch of 100kg and was hoping to PR with something along the lines of 107kg. As you can see in the video below I had a little trouble with the opener. But I will take what I got because 100kg is a new PR for a meet. And for the Clean and Jerk I also was going for an opener that I have hit during training at 125kg but yet hit in a meet. I was feeling confident Saturday so I was just going for it on both openers. My aspirations for the Clean and Jerk were to hit 135kg for a new PR. The first Clean and Jerk at 125kg was cake! And and as you can see fro the video my Jerk needs some attention.
All in all I am happy with the meet because I was going with some bigger than normal openers and taking a little risk. The 100kg Snatch and 125kg Clean and Jerk are both PR's for a meet so I am satisfied. Competing in these meets and training pretty much strictly the Olympic lifts is one of the most satisfying and fun things I have learned to do. After every meet successful or not I always leave ready to hit the gym wanting to get better. I feel like I have only begun to scratch the surface of my human potential when it comes to Olympic Lifting.
Next meet in May! Time to get stronger!

Meet This Weekend

This coming weekend while everyone is putting their lungs to the test for the CrossFit Games Open, Emily and I will be traveling to Ft. Worth, Tx. We are headed to our friendly neighbors to the north to compete in the Black Box Gym Olympic Weightlifting Championship. With the growth and popularity of Olympic Weightlifting (due to the growth and popularity of CrossFit) it seems there are more and more chances to compete in lifting meets. This suits me just fine since I spend the majority of my time training for the Olympic lifts.
Since my time training with Ursula Garza my lifts have gone from barely suitable to semi respectable. In August I was snatching 85kilos and not but two weeks ago while training I hit 100kilos twice. So I would say I am improving. This weekend I plan to open with 100kilos on the snatch and 125kilos on the clean and jerk. I see my self PRing on both lifts. (I'm getting a little nervous as I write this) So with all this said, here is to lifting HEAVY SHIT!
You can follow my lifts on twitter @ZUTFIT

My last meet above is from January at the State Meet. My snatch misses are at 100kilos and Clean and Jerk bombs are 125kilos. I've made some strides since then!

Latest Competition

This past weekend I competed in the Texas State Weightlifting Championship in Alvin, Tx. It was my fourth meet, and while not the best one I've competed in, I am making strides. My opening weight for snatch has worked itself up to 95kg. That was once a PR not to long ago and has now become an easy opener. I missed my second snatch attempt at 100kg, which was not caught on video, and also my third attempt which was the 101kg. I have to sit in it more! While I am making progress with the snatch, I have a lot more work to do.
You will also notice I missed all my clean & jerk attempts. That really frustrates me! The clean was once upon a time my bread and butter and has now become something that I struggle with. Ursula, my coach as pointed out to me that we are going to make some changes to my hand position on the bar and work on my pull off the blocks. I feel confident this will get me to were I should be on my cleans and punch me through a ceiling that I seem to have reached.
Every meet that I have competed in has taught me something new about myself, and showed me that I am making progress every time I step out on the platform. It has taught me patience and that being competitive in Olympic Weightlifting is incredibly hard. You have to be on your game that day and be just nearly perfect to hit your lifts. Unlike crossfit where you might have five minutes to find a PR, in a meet it is sixty seconds. It's nuts! I've also learned that I love this sport and have a desire to become the best that I can at it, and become a legit competitor in the sport.
My next meet is in February at Black Box Gym and I my opening snatch will be 100kg, and clean & jerk to be 125kg.
Time to #Assassinate the platform!