Mock Meet

This past week I put my Olympic Lifting athletes through a mock meet. I warmed them up as I would warm up in a meet and only allowed them three attempts at each of the lifts. It was fun to watch some of the athletes ask for a forth attempt and look surprised when I said they only get three. This shit ain't easy! People often ask me what went wrong at a meet I competed in where I only hit one lift on the snatch or completely bombed on my clean & jerk. When you compete in an Olympic meet, you are trying to be absolutely perfect at a high load. There is a minuet amount of error allowed in order for you to make the lift. So, if I'm not as close to perfect as I can be trying to lift a load that I don't regularly put over my head....well, you can see where I'm coming from. Like I said, this shit ain't easy.
Since most of the people that are in the Olympic classes are crossfiters, they are used to getting multiple chances at a lift with less than stellar technique. So I think the point of them coming to get trained up in a different atmosphere, where we are not crossfiting and technique is the main focus, it will bleed over into their crossfiting. Any who! It's fun to watch people beg for more opportunities at a lift and me get to say no.
And just FYI for those of you that didn't know, I did do the Open WOD 12.2 and hit 63 reps. This was my first WOD in just nearly a year, and I just nearly puked afterwords. It was my technique that allowed me to get as far as I did. I am certainly not in any metcon shape so the training that I do paid BIG dividends! Since the Olympic lifts are so prevalent in crossfit I would suggest adding the technique work to your training. And if you are doing it on your own, SLOW DOWN! and make it as perfect as possible. Now go lift some heavy shit!

Come take a look at my YouTube page and subscribe. Lot's of training videos.

Training Video

This was shot last night at my coaches gym. Training has been kicked into over drive and I am mightily inspired! After my last meet in Ft. Worth I am hungry for massive gains and new PR's. I have picked up my training volume and am planning on lifting at 85kg at my next meet in May. This is going to require some serious eating clean and stepping up my supplementation. I made an Advocare order today and have my eyes set on eating clean.
As far as the video below, I set a PR for a snatch triple at 95kg. My technique is getting better and more consistent. Lifts I would have usually missed forward are now being made, pulling hard has now become more consistent. I now need to shore up my jerks and have several exercises I am doing weekly to make that happen.
It has now been one year since I dedicated all my training solely to Olympic Lifting. Since that time I have put 11kg on my snatch max and the same amount on my clean & jerk. I have visions of being a legitimate lifter and being competitive in the lifting world.

Just wanted to also throw out that I did the 12.2 Crossfit Games Open WOD last week and lit my lungs on fire! First Crossfit WOD in a year and got 63 snatches. My goal was to get to sixty without dying and everything else on top of that was gravy. Just thought I would share.

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!

The Two Sports Compliment Each Other

You all have read several other post I have asked Cindy to do and here is another. If you are new to Crossfit or an OG, you are very familiar with the fact that the Olympic lifts are all over Crossfit WODs. They range from cleans, power snatch, and everything in between. She was kind enough to share her experience with the combination of the two practiced separately and what they have done for Crossfiting.
Hope you enjoy the video and her view on things.

Olympic Lifting Reignited My Crossfit

When Coach Zachary Thiel asked me if and how Olympic Lifting has helped my Crossfit, I had to think about it for a while-not because there wasn't a benefit, but because the effects have been numerous and gradual. I've been Crossfitting for nearly three years, and I added Olympic Lifting to my schedule in the fall of 2011. Before starting Olympic Lifting, I was doing Crossfit-style workouts both at the gym and at home, but was frustrated because I felt like I was losing strength and burning out. I turned to my coach for help. Zach suggested I change up my routine. And when I told him I wanted to get stronger, he suggested I add Olympic Lifting. Olympic Lifting is focused and we practise variations of the same lifts with an eye on form, rather than speed. In the months since I added this repeated focus to my workout schedule, I have noticed some awesome changes.

Strength

The most awesome benefit is that I'm stronger. Overhead strength has always been tough for me, but I'm finding I can lift more than ever before. Just the other day I did a power jerk at 90lbs. I've never done that before. But the weight has edged up all-around. I've been able to increase the weight I use in many of the Crossfit WODs , because I'm stronger overall.

Efficiency and Speed

Olympic Lifting is not just about lifting heavy weight-it's about lifting it efficiently, and that requires excellent form. I had no idea how bad my form was before I started the class. I just didn't practice the lifts enough to improve. Olympic Lifting is all about consistently practicing the basics and tweaking the tiniest movements. Even though I still have a long way to go, I feel I've made significant improvements in my form. That definitely helps me perform better in the Crossfit WODs, because I move more quickly and efficiently at a higher weights.

Body Awareness

One thing I've also noticed is how I feel more confident and stronger with exercises we do in Crossfit that seemingly have nothing to with Olympic Lifting. Because Olympic Lifting requires that I know how my body is moving at all times. I feel more body aware. And I really believe that has helped me improve my pull ups, push ups, squats, and handstand.

Olympic Lifting has been an incredible compliment to Crossfit in many ways. The best thing of all is that I’m finally back to making gains again in the gym, rather than struggling to keep up.

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!

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!

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.

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