Confidence Builds

This past weekend I competed in my third Olympic weightlifting meet at Woodward CrossFit. I didn't set any PR's, but my confidence is growing. Enough so that in January I will be competing in the Texas State Championship meet in Alvin, Texas. It will be my second sanctioned meet and worlds different than my first one.

When I competed in my first sanctioned meet this past January I choked....bad. I have dedicated myself to the Olympic lifts and training for them only for almost a year. With some coaching by Olympian Chad Vaughn, I had finally built up enough confidence in my lifts to start competing. I had one other meet early on in the summer and did fairly well, no PR's but hit all my lifts. So, I got my USAW card and signed up for a meet at 210 CrossFit in San Antonio. I picked an opening weight that I had regularly hit while training and went for it. And then I scratched on all three attempts at 85 kilos. Not my brightest moment in the world of Olympic weightlifting.

After my poor showing I decided I need a full time coach and looked to Ursula Garza for guidance. She was gracious enough to accept me into her tight nit training group, and so my training began. If your not familiar with Ursula she is a stud! A former lifter herself, trainer for the CrossFit Olympic lifting certs. and a former U.S.A. record holder in the clean and jerk. Stud! She pretty much started me over with HEAVY focus on the snatch. Since it is the most technical of the two lifts it only makes sense that we spent the most time on the snatch. We drill, drill, and drill and then do hang snatch. Lot's of hard work. BUT! it is starting to pay off. When I first started training with Ursula I could only snatch 90kilos, and clan and jerk 120kilos. Just two weeks ago while training at Central I snatched 102kilos and cleaned and jerked 125kilos. Like I said, paying off!

At the meet this past weekend I snatched 98kilos with no straps and just missed 100. I cleaned and jerked 120kilos with ease and just missed 125. Not PR's but consistently making my attempts and getting stronger. Which leads me to going to the state meet in January where I will go for new PR's in the snatch and clean and jerk.
Seeing the progress I'm making and recognizing all the hard work I have been putting in is only feeding the fire inside. All of the workouts and sacrificing my free nights with my family to go get coached is not going to be for nothing. I have big goals for myself and am visualizing myself getting there. I have video of the lifts from this past weekends meet and should have it up next week for all to view. Happy lifting!

Olympic Weightlifting and Me

This week I asked Cindy to share with you whatever was on her mind. She is fairly new to Red Black Gym but not to CrossFit Central. Hope everyone enjoys.

I joined the Olympic Lifting class at Red Black Gym with a single goal in mind. I wanted to be stronger. What I did not realize is that I would also find a sport to challenge me both physically and mentally -- something for which I have been searching for a long time.
I started Olympic Lifting in October 2011 with Coach Zachary Thiel, who also happens to be my Crossfit coach.
I had already been Crossfitting for 2 ½ years, but the Olympic Lifting class is even more demanding. It steps it up to a new level for me. We do a lot of work in a short amount of time. The warm up feels like a workout in and of itself, but it does the job to get you loose so you can move some serious weight.
I thought I knew something about the Olympic Lifts because I’ve done them in many WODs at Crossfit Central over the years. But it turns out I have a lot to learn. There’s more to it than just where you place your hands and feet. Details matter. Timing matters.
When you lift a bar overhead, a number of things have to happen in just a spilt second. It’s not enough for me to do a lift once and “get” it. I need to drill the movements over and over again, and that’s what we do.
The level of focus required leaves me just as exhausted mentally as physically.
I’ve already noticed slight improvements, and it’s only been 6 weeks.I’m building up my strength through Olympic lifting -- I can see the results in Crossfit. But really, it’s a side benefit to the challenge of a sport that tests my mind and body.

Videos For You

So I've been lookin around and all the cool kids seem to have YouTube Channels so I decided to get one myself.
ZUTFIT is the name of the channel naturally. I created it so all of you can catch a glimpse of the Red Black Gym Olympic Lifting Club and all their glory. I also plan on throwing some vids of yours truly on there training so you can see what sort of stuff I like to do as well as videos from the Central coaches and other cool Olympic and crossfit videos as well.
I hope you all check it out and I would love to see comments on the videos I post up there.
Hope you enjoy.

Aww Yeah, Here It Is

Here it is! New PR Clean & Jerk. #265! A BIG thanks to Elliot Schrock for putting this video together and just taking the time to do it. I know he's a busy guy, so thank you brother.

Zach Thiel from CrossFit Central on Vimeo.

Refer to the bottom of my Liberation blog post for some background info and pics that Ingrid took of the first PR. My goal is a #300 clean and with this new Clean & Jerk PR I now have a new goal for it. #275! We will see what happens.

Feel free to criticize and coach me up so I can reach my new goal sooner rather than later.

Finland Suspends Swine Flu Shots After Vaccine Linked With Neurological Disorder

Cases of narcolepsy in children jumped 300 per cent following H1N1 vaccination campaign

Why Natural Health?

Because it's about staying well, not controlling symptoms with drugs, says Margaret Durst.

Liberation

LIBERATOR

*To set free, as from oppression, confinement, or foreign control

*Liberation, the freeing of a place from a tyrannic regime.

This past week my brother Jeremy asked us coaches to come up with a mission statement or a sentence that told our purpose. Over the week I thought long and hard and came up with a word: Liberator

I had to separate myself from my coaching at the gym and all of our athletes and think of the big picture. Why was I put on this earth, what is my purpose given to me by the Creator.

It's no coincidence to me that I am here on this earth at this time in history. Not that I am the next Jesus Christ or anything, but people are hungry for knowledge and know that something is amiss. All my life I knew that I was going to be a leader of something and I believe that I am at the place I am supposed to be. More than ever people want to be liberated from lethargic boring lives. People were created to be free. Free from an inactive lifestyle, a mundane boring office job, from poisonous processed foods, and free from the television set's that decay and destroy the mind. Crossfit's the instrument, you are the player and I'm the drum major.

Not only am I here to help liberate you from your bondage, but I am fighting to lift chains off my own back. To me this goes way further that crossfit. I know some of you probably wonder why I post political articles at the bottom of my blog, and some who read them may think, man this guy's into weired stuff. I just want you to think outside the box. To liberate yourself from the mainstream and think maybe there is a different truth out there. I find myself seeking the truth all the time in all kinds of different places and I just happen to share them with all of you. I would like to think this blog is a place for you all to get a glimpse of my life from out side Crossfit Central and on a personal level. I can be brash, rude and obnoxious sometimes and from what I understand I have earned a interesting reputation from a lot of the athletes in the gym. Some of these things are what hold me back from becoming a level 10 coach and I MUST LIBERATE MYSELF from them! I am open to all and any opinions on how to do that.

And now on to some fitness!

This past Friday I needed to work on some Oly lifts and when for some heavy Clean & Jerks.

3x1 90% of my max lift

Which happen to be #255 at the time, so my three lifts where #230

After knocking thous three lifts out I thought hey let's go for a PR!

And I just happened to have my camera on hand.

So I loaded #260 on the bar and here are the results.

Not to shabby I thought. Then Elliot Schrock walked in and happened to ask me what I was doing and I let him know with a smile on my face that I just set a new C&J PR. He asked if I would like for him to shoot some video of me doing it again and I happily obliged him. But to make it interesting I added a little more weight to the bar and thought why not #265. Video footage coming soon.

I hope you boy's and girls are enjoying the new blog and look for more tabs at the top to be coming soon. I want to be at that level 10 coaching scale and all of your input will help me get there faster so don't be shy!

Dumbing Down Society Part 3: How to Reverse it's Effects

The first two parts of this series describes the negative effects that some commonly consumed chemicals have on the body and brain. This third and final part looks at some natural ways to keep the brain healthy and provides tips to rid the body of dangerous substances. In other words, how to fight back against the dumbing down of society!

Getting Better Everyday!

For the past two weeks some of the coaches and members of the Affiliate Team have started following James Fitzgerald's (OPT) Big Dogs Training, which is set up to prepare Crossfit athletes for the 2011 Crossfit Games. If you aren't familiar with OPT you should check out his site and do a little research on him. His programing is meticulously put together and he is also a legend inside the world of Crossfit.

Since starting his programming my body has been absolutely obliterated in one of the best ways possible. The workouts thus far have been focused mainly on strength training with a ton of Olympic weightlifting, which happens to be one of my favorite things, and some wicked met cons that are exactly what I need.

So, with the addition of the speed training I've been doing over the past two months (of which I have lost six pounds since starting) and OPT's Big Dog Training, I can only imagine where I am going to be over the next eight months to a year. Although I really have no aspirations of competing in the Crossfit Games as an individual, I would love to be on he Affiliate team next year. So, with that said I'll keep you guy's and gals posted on how things are going.

FCC's Stealth Plan to Censor Internet Content:
In order to control the internet and do so without much notice, the FCC has rolled a censorship plan into its Net Neutrality scheme. Under the fallacious rubric of “consumer protection,” the FCC is calling for the regulation of television and internet broadband.

"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. "
Thomas Jefferson

Spring Gardening

Garden is Growing! Tomatoes and eggplant are blowing up, and peppers are about to start producing! We've even got a cantaloupe plant sprouting in the corner of the garden.

Rosemary, Basil, Thai Basil, Mint and Oregano.

Summer is coming FAST and if you are looking for something new and different or if you want to gain strength SICFIT Austin gym is beginning olympic weightlifting classes in May!!

Monday/Wednesday 6:45am

Monday/Wednesday 5:15pm

Monday/Wednesday 6:15pm

*Each Class Time is Limited to only 10 People

SICFIT Gym Is Here!

The new SICFIT Austin gym is here and just nearly ready to role. As many of you know I enjoy throwing around heavy weight and have a passion for Olympic weightlifting. It is going to be a pleasure and a new experience to be coaching an Olympic weightlifting and strength and conditioning class. The new classes begin May 3rd and a lot of excitement is already being generated by the new gym. So if you want to increase strength and power, and not to mention honing in on your Olympic lifts I wouldn't hesitate signing up. The classes are limited to ten and will fill fast. If you have any questions you can reach me at zacharythiel@sicfitaustin.com

(Platforms ready and waiting to be used)

Making Gains

(125 kilo clean, new PR)

This past weekend Hyde Park Gym had a clean contest and tire flipping contest. It was an absolute blast testing myself against other crossfiters and people that do nothing but Olympic strength training. I set a PR for cleans at 125 kilos (275.5lbs) and flipped the 630lbs tractor tire 3 times. First time to flip a tire, so I wasn't too disappointed. I will say this, Olympic weightlifting has got to be my favorite type of lifting to do and has got to be one of my favorite things to coach. I just wish I would have found it when I was twenty years old.
Many of you may or may not know I am doing three on one Olympic weightlifting and strength specific training once a week for eight week sessions. The next session will begin in four weeks. If you are interested in joining the group or have any questions please email me at zacharythiel@crossfitcentral.com

Strength and Conditioning

ATTN: this training program is Full! I am considering opening another time slot in the near future though, so if you are still interested contact me @ zacharythiel@crossfitcentral.com

Ladies and gentlemen, I am introducing an intensive eight week long small group strength and conditioning program. Some of you may know that I have a great passion for strength training and Olympic lifting, therefore I have decided to begin offering this opportunity to all CrossFit Central clients and non clients alike. The group will be limited to three people who are dedicated to meeting one time per week with me for and hour who want to improve on strength specific training and Olympic style strength training. The details are as follows:

*eight week program, every Friday at 6:45am
*working on strength gains through power lifting
*learning to improve on Olympic weightlifting through specific
drills
*learning proper weightlifting technique

Coach Jen Cardella has been training with
me over a month now. Look for her testimony of
skill and strength gains coming soon!!

If you are ready for strength gains and to improve your weightlifting and Olympic weightlifting technique get signed up now. These classes will begin Friday February 26th, will last eight weeks and is limited to three people. This will fill up fast so to get your spot or for more information contact me at zacharythiel@crossfitcentral.com

Advocare

This past weekend a team of Crossfit Central coaches attended Advocare Success School in Ft. Worth. As many of you know we at Crossfit Central endorse, share, and use Advocare supplements. Not only is Advocare used to enhance your athletic performance in a safe and natural way but it is an essential way to get the minerals and vitamins your body needs. Over time our foods have lost the vital minerals and vitamins we need to live a long and healthy life because they have been depleted from our soil and bred out.

"It's a fact. Our soils are depleted and depleted soils do not produce healthy, nutrient-rich plants." Straight out of the mouth of Dr. Richard Drucker, PhD. The answer "If our soils and crops are lacking essential minerals, it's necessary to supplement our diets if we are to achieve true wellness." This is where Advocare steps in. I'm not saying it is the only supplements you should be taking, but Advocare is high quality and I have actually met the men and women who formulate the supplements. I'm also not saying you can eat what ever your little heart desires and take Advocare and all is good, but with a well maintained diet and exercise along with Advocare you will be ahead of the pack.


(Carey Kepler, Tommy Hackenbruck, Lindsay Smith, Jeremy Thiel)

This pic was taken this past weekend of some of the top Crossfit athletes in the world. 2009 women's third place finisher Carey Kepler and fifth place finisher Lindsay Smith. 2009 men's second place finisher Tommy Hackenbruck and sixteenth place finisher Jeremy Thiel. All of these athletes use and believe in Advocare and what it does for there performance. Not only can it enhance your athletic performance, above all else, it can improve your overall health and wellness. I strongly suggest you do your research on the benefits of nutritional supplementation along with a healthy diet.

If you have any questions about Advocare and what it can do for you please contact me www.zacharythiel@crossfitcentral.com. If you are ready to dive right in and get started go to www.advocare.com/04011094.

Oly Shoes vs Running Shoes

If you can get them, do it. It does make a difference in stability and helps you to stay in your heels. I do all my power lifting and olympic weightlifting in them and while I won't say it makes me lift more, it does help me stay more stable and sit in my heels. And I know many of you have issues with that.

Mission To Myself

 
In 6 months I will:
Run a 22 minute 5k
Be 10% body fat
Daily, I will:
Train hard and with intensity unmatched by any other
Eat palio every day and for every meal
I am fast, strong and dedicated to my own health and wellness and will be an example for all clients and Crossfit Central coach's.
This is my mission to myself.

My Mind Won't Hold Me Back!

Stubborn Determination from CrossFit Central on Vimeo.

YEA BURPEE'S!!!

 
This past weekend my sister Carey Kepler, Chris Hartwell and myself made the short trek up to Ft. Worth for a fun filled weekend with Coach Mike Burgener and his daughter Sage and earned our very own Crossfit Olympic Weightlifting Certification! It was probably my most favorite cert. that I have ever attended and one of the most informative. Coach Burgener is truly a great man and a great teacher. What I learned this weekend is going to take my oly. lifts to the next level. Thanks Coach B.