I am coming off an amazing 2012 for the most part. Granted it didn't quite end like I had hoped, which would've included getting on the podium at the American Open, but that would've required actually lifting at the competition. Alas I was unable to compete (see American Open 2012 for reference) and am reminded that "without struggle there is no progress."
It's that time of year now where people start thinking about their resolutions and goals for 2013. Well for starters I think resolutions are stupid since 99% of the population makes them about getting in-shape and most have given up 2 weeks after making those resolutions. Not to mention it shouldn't take a date change on the calendar to be resolved to accomplish something in your life. As an athlete I'm constantly making goals, whether its a small goal for what I would like to achieve this week in training or what I would like to achieve in a few months at my next competition. Hitting the next mark and going a little batshit crazy in the weight room is what keeps me going despite setbacks. It's a bit of a passion bordering on obsession I would say.
In reviewing my goals for 2012 I found that I came very close to most of them. My training book is littered with PRs for the first half of the year. As the year progressed they tapered off, by September they completely disappeared, and by November this is what my training log looked like:
Please forgive the expletives in the training log, I was only expressing my sentiments at the time. However, I'd rather look at what I accomplished over the year....
Snatch - my goal was to snatch 80kg and I managed to hit 77 in both training and in competition. That's 10k over what I would normally be hitting for openers and a 4k improvement over my all time best. I jussssst barely missed the 80k the last time I was able to compete.
Clean - my goal was to clean 100k and ultimately also clean & jerk it. I was able to clean 98k pretty early in my training. which equated to an 8k PR on my best ever clean and at least 10k above my best clean & jerk. On the actual clean & jerk side I managed to hit 95k in training, a 7k improvement over my best clean & jerk, and actually hit 93k in competition. The next two videos show both the PR clean and the PR clean & jerk.
On the straight up strength side of things I also got very close to hitting my goals. Most notably I finally got within reach of the double body weight back squat goal of 137k, ultimately hitting 131k. As I've mentioned in previous posts the double weight is actually now more resembling 150k thanks to moving up a weight class. I also deadlifted 140k and benched 66k which are both PRs but I never had goals for those having never really trained those or aimed for high weight on them. The 140k deadlift is actually the most weight I've ever moved in any lift ever!
So overall 2012 treated me quite well. Adding almost 20k to my total, whether I achieved it at random moments in training or in competition, is a huge success for me. It was a huge upswing in my abilities and gave me the confidence to really go after big lifts.
This year I'm starting off a bit different than I started last year. This year my first and ultimate goal is to overcome whatever the hell is going on with my hips and back. While doing that I have to get my my mind right and find the big inspiration inside me that before I had found from outside sources. This year its entirely 100% up to me.
The goals for this year include but are not limited to: Get healthy - most namely my back/hips but also overall general health since I kicked off 2013 with a nice sinus infection. I would like to be able to bilateral squat, lift from the floor, and perform full lifts again some time in the near future. Stay healthy & get ridiculously strong. Strong everything, everywhere. Snatch 80+ Clean & Jerk 100 Clean 101+ yep I put 101k because I think 100k might be one of those stupid mental block type weights so we'll just go ahead and skip right over it. Squat 137-150 Deadlift 150+ Bench 75 - yes I am fully aware that this has no particular function towards Olympic lifting and tends to be on the douche-y side of things but it would also mean that I'm getting stronger overall, not to mention I think benching body weight would be a pretty cool accomplishment. And let's face it, upper body lifts in any capacity are not my strong suit and could use some work anyway. Total 180k - obviously in a competition would be great but I will also take training total. Hit the podium at a national level meet - shouldn't take a genius to figure out why this would be awesome.
So those are a rough outline of the goals that I would like to accomplish this year. They're mostly carry-overs from last year and since we're starting from a totally different place physically speaking I think they are reasonable enough. I'm not putting a deadline on any of my goals. It's not about accomplishing them all right away. It's about setting myself up to be successful. Let's do this!
It's been more than a week since I traveled to Palm Springs for the American Open 2012. The weekend started off with a 3a.m. alarm clock to pick up a fellow lifter and catch a 6a.m. flight with a brief, like 5-minute, layover in Denver. The flight from Denver to Palm Springs was about 50% weightlifters and 50% old people. I'd say at least half of the lifters from the OTC were on that flight. Not a bad crew to share a flight and a shuttle with!
View on our walk to our third breakfast of day one
The hotel and the venue...yeah pretty damn awesome. Great rooms, gorgeous views. Although I swear the hotel hallways were lifted straight out of The Shining for as never-ending as they were and I half expected a little boy to zip by riding his tricycle whispering "redrum redrum." The convention center was connected to the hotel by more and more hallways and based on that you'd think the venue would be easy to find. Well let's just say it took three of us about 20 minutes to find it only to be sent back to the hotel for the check-scale. Haha! Thursday was mostly about hanging by the pool, waiting for others to get in, and eating. Palm Springs has some damn good places to eat and the people watching was pretty phenomenal.
Beautiful pool to waste away an afternoon
Friday, day one, saw a pretty busy day. There were so many lifters entered that
Friday was a two-platform format with all the B sessions running and
often in a combined classes format. For three of the four lifters that
lifted on Friday it was their first appearance on the national level.
Two of our girls competed in the 58kg class and finished 19th & 26th
out of 36 lifters, which I actually think was the largest of all the
weight classes this year. I'm very proud of how well they did and I
believe they were also able to qualify for Nationals.
Yummmmmy breakfast at Pinnochio's
On
the men's side of things I had two guys in the 85kg class going. The
warm up room was a madhouse and I'm absolutely certain there were not
enough sets of weights in there, which lead to a whole lot of
"borrowing" and a bit of tension between coaches getting their lifters
warm. For one of of my guys it was his first time on the national stage
and needless to say he was a bit excited. The other guy was making his
second appearance and looking for a little redemption from his first
time at the American Open last year. Both wonderfully and unfortunately
we had completely opposite ends of the performance spectrum. The
first-timer unfortunately wasn't able to lock in a clean & jerk and
it always breaks my heart to have someone not get a total. That now
makes two lifters I've coached bomb out at the American Open, not a good
track record so far.
3 Thumbs Up for Fajitas!
My other 85kg lifter was making
his second appearance at the American Open. Last year he was lifting in
the 77kg class and unfortunately his debut didn't end up well. This
year we came back with a vengeance. After much coaxing he finally moved up the 85kg class and has enjoyed every single part about adding body weight including hitting bigger and bigger lifts. Not only did he get a total this year but he got a PR clean & jerk AND added 7kg to his best total ever. He managed to nudge a teammate that lifted in a different session on Saturday who also totaled 280kg out of the 10th place spot based on a difference in body weight of 0.15kg. Out of 23 lifters we had 2 guys place in the top half of the class. I call that a great win!
Day two of lifting saw my teammate Gina making her return to the
national stage. While I know if you ask her she's not 100% happy with
her performance. However, I would like to point out that she took home
the SILVER medal in the 48kg class. For those of you that aren't versed
in kilograms Gina weighs under 105lbs and between the two lifts throws a
total of 268lbs (122kg) over her head.
Sunday, day 3, final day of competition. Again one of my teammates took home some hardware. My teammate Shane crushed the competition taking home the gold in what turned out to be a very slim 105+ kg class with at least two of the top supers not attending this meet. I also know he was not 100% satisfied with his performance and was disappointed to get red-lighted on his final lift. However, I think that's the nature of the beast for lifters, we're never satisfied and always want the next level.
By now if you've made it this far and if you're a regular reader of this blog you're probably wondering where I fit into all of this, after all I did commence Operation 180 back in October. Well to put it simply I had to withdraw from the competition all together. Starting in about September my performance started to decline. I attributed much of it to a perfect storm of stress. My work load increased dramatically, I was still working 4 jobs, and personal stresses all seemed likely culprits especially when added together. Being the big stubborn ass that I tend to be I continued to push and push and push. Eventually my body said stop so I took 10 straight days off and stupidly did nothing, not a single athletic movement, not even foam rolling or stretching. Coming back I thought the "rest" would be enough. Turns out I should think a little less and listen to my body a little more. Practice what I preach in essence. I started experiencing a tight feeling in my low back which I attributed to extremely tight hips, both hip flexors and hip rotators. It was really more just an annoyance and a slight discomfort than pain. As time rolled on it started to effect my ability to perform. I wasn't able to squat much and since lifting involves getting into full ass to grass squats you can see how this can be a detriment to performance. I could make it through a session of snatching but I could only get in one or two clean & jerks before I had to pull the plug on that training session. It was still only discomfort and not actual pain. Over about 5 weeks leading up the competition I had one chiropractic session, two ART sessions, and three 90-minute deep tissue massages.
Fast forward to competition week. I knew going into the week there was a possibility I wouldn't be able to compete over the weekend. On Monday I wanted to hit near my openers just to prove to myself that I could overcome and get it done. I made it to 60kg on a snatch before my body started working against me so I shut it down. I decided not to lift again until I got to Palm Springs. On Friday I started what would be my last training session before competition and I wanted to summon some "old man strength," as my friend refers to it. Snatches felt okay, snatched up to 50kg for a single. Decided I would move on to clean & jerks since I hadn't touched those in about a week. I did 40kg for a couple singles and then jumped to 60kg, a normal jump for me. I got it to knee level, my body screamed NO so I dropped it. That was the final straw for my body and I knew I wouldn't even be able to gut it out. In tears I found my way to my coach to let him know there was no way I would be able to compete.
It was a heart breaking moment having to withdraw from the competition. Seriously the hurt in my heart actually far exceeded the physical pain. I've had the most phenomenal year of
training adding almost 10kg to each of the two competition lifts and I really felt like I managed to piss it straight down my
leg. I've never had to withdraw from a competition because of a physical inability to perform. I had extremely high hopes and huge goals for this meet. To many it may seem trivial, completely unimportant, an injury setback but I set high expectations for myself. I love this sport and all I want to do is lift but I can't right now.
Since the meet I've seen two different doctors. One thinks it's a disc problem and I need to get an MRI to be certain. The other one thinks it's a facet issue and I just need to let it rest and do some rehab to see how it responds. At the moment I've lifted a grand total of twice since that Friday in Palm Springs. I won't be doing any lifts from the floor, no lifts into a full squat, and no bilateral squatting for at least 2-3 weeks. All of my lifting will be from blocks, overhead work, and split squats, all of which my body tolerates well. I'm also speaking with my physical therapy friends and getting rehab from them. We'll see how my body responds to my game plan. It still hurts a little bit when I do something dumb but for the most part its just discomfort and a tight feeling in my low back, sacrum area, and occasionally my glutes feel really fired up and tight.
I can't say I'm not frustrated but this is a good opportunity to peel everything back to the very basics as well as a great opportunity to re-work my jerk which is something I've been wanting to do lately. The hopes are to be ready to start getting back to business by January and ready to start tossing up some real weight by the time the Arnolds roll around in March. Long term goals would include making a huge statement at Nationals in July. For right now though I have to start slow again and build myself back up both physically and mentally. If other lifters can comeback from injury, big or small, then so can I. If I find myself slipping and needing a little motivation then I can just watch this video.....
Overall the American Open was an interesting learning experience. Humbling to say the least. I still had a great time, talked to old friends, met some new friends, and had a great time coaching and supporting my teammates. The whole experience really just leaves me very hungry to get my body right and get back on that platform. 2013 might just be the Year of the Beastess!
I have to admit that I have some incredibly awesome, super supportive friends, family, teammates, lifters, coaches, co-workers. They suffer with my highs and lows. They don't judge when I grunt and growl when lifting. Or when I scream and cry and have a hissy fit cause I'm having a rough lifting session. They are hands-down just phenomenal people.
I've been waging an internal battle with how well I think I can perform at the American Open in a couple of weeks. It's been some great training and some shit training over the past year. That being said some friends have offered some well-timed and much needed inspiration.
"You worked too hard to just lose before the meet even starts. It might not have all been perfect but you lift because you love it and you know you can hit 180. You will do that if the 9 inches between your ears believes it. You have the strength physically for sure."
"Google 'Donny Shankle: The Iron.' Careful, you may become mega inspired." So I googled it.... Donny Shankle: The Iron and was beyond floored. It sums up everything I've ever really felt, especially this past year.
So to my friends, family, teammates, lifters, coaches, co-workers, and anyone else who has had an impact on my life....thank you for the inspiration.
In case you haven't read any of my previous post and if you aren't someone that knows me personally, I am obsessed with weightlifting and teaching people how to lift weights. I suppose it was pretty prophetic when I began lifting weights at the age of 16 and thought it was cool and impressive trying to leg press the entire stack. Maybe it was where I grew up or the fact that I grew up a bit of a tomboy but it never ever occurred to me that lifting weights, let alone lifting HEAVY weights, would be considered atypical for a girl. It never crossed my mind that I might get "bulky" or "huge" from lifting. To me I wanted to get strong, I wanted to be stronger than all the boys, and the only logical way to do that was to lift heavier weights.
Well over a decade after I first stepped into the weight room, I now step into one of the following three "offices" any given day of the week.....
Now my days....and nights....and weekends revolve around teaching others about lifting weights and the actual sport of weightlifting. It's a passion, plain and simple. Coaching, teaching, competing.
As evidenced by many of my posts I love competing. I have always been a competitor. However I get just as excited coaching. Seeing the look on someone's face who has never performed the Olympic lifts before and that moment when all the technique work finally clicks is pretty priceless. I love screaming my face off as one of my advanced guys goes for a big weight. If one of my guys bombs out, my heart breaks along with them. I like being the voice of reason to bring someone back from the edge and help them refocus on the task at hand. The motivator, the drill instructor, the shoulder to lean on, the frustrater, the high fiver, the good bad and ugly, all in one.
Coaching people in weightlifting and to lift weights in general is just as much of a beast as competing. Convincing an 18-year-old female soccer player that lifting weights will only improve their performance is just as challenging as convincing a 25-year-old male that there is a rhyme and reason to why I've given him specific exercises to work on instead of just maxing out all the time. It's not a simple, cut and dried profession where I get to say lift weights and then be done with it. I worry about how to best approach improving performance, what to do when an athlete or lifter has stagnated, how to prevent and avoid injuries, what to do when there is an injury, how to best balance their workouts to get the most from them, how to approach the individual that's struggling mentally or emotionally. I think about all of that almost constantly. No two athletes or lifters are exactly alike and I will never treat them as such. I want to know what everyone's best of the bests and worst of the worsts are. Celebrate when they do well and pick them back up when they've fallen.
I treat coaching as an opportunity to educate people. If nothing else when they leave school or when they move on from lifting, I hope they have learned a few things from working with me. Whether it's how to properly execute a power clean or that they're stronger mentally and physically than they've ever given themselves credit for, it's an opportunity to learn something. If they have learned that the only limits they truly have are the ones they have placed upon themselves then I have done my job successfully. Coaching, teaching, and competing; it's all a passion. One I am fortunate enough to live every day.
There is a defining line between those who wish and those
who do. As the saying goes, “Wish in one
hand and crap in the other. See which
fills up faster.” People wish they had a
better job or wish they could travel to exotic places. People wish they had more time to work out. Perhaps some of those are empty wishes,
something to pass the time and make life seem a bit less dull.
Yes, I’ve been a wisher in my life, we all have. I’ve wished I could be a better photographer
or wished I could learn to dance. What
it boils down to is those things that are truly important to you, you will find
a way to make them happen. If I really
wanted to be a better photographer, I’d study it. If I wanted to be a ballroom dancer, I’d take
a class. If I really wanted it, I’d find
a way to make it happen. These guys found a way to make it happen: All Things Gym - Makeshift Platform
When it comes to lifting weights and getting my training in,
I’ve definitely found a way to make it happen.
I’ve gone so far to make it happen that my entire life revolves around
lifting and training. My full time job
allows me to pass along my passion for lifting through athletes in the weight
room. Working in a weight room also
obviously allows me to fit my training in during the day. My two side jobs also allow me to pass along
my passion as well as alternative places to train should I find the need to
train elsewhere.
In order to make big lifts happen there are many things I’ll
pass up doing so I can have a good training session instead. I’ll opt for a night of foam rolling,
stretching and ice bath instead of a night of shenanigans and debauchery. It’s not that I’ll never go out and do those
things. It’s just that some days I want
to shift into beastess-mode and I generally prefer to do that with a head that’s
not in hangover-mode. I will do the things
I need to do and adjust my life accordingly to make it happen.
Obviously I've occasionally taken lifting to an obsessive compulsive level. I've gotten so wrapped up in weightlifting that I often times forget to do other things, fun things, things that don't involve picking up something heavy and putting it back down. We all have to let loose once in awhile but for me this is a passion. People have said that if you're passionate about your job, you'll never work a day in your life. I disagree. I've worked my ass off to get here, to get the job that I love going to and that I'm passionate about. I'm not just sitting in some cubicle wishing I could have an awesome job.
I have found that “wishers” don’t often understand “do-ers.” They don’t understand the desire to take
things to the next level and the commitment it requires. To me, wishing you could do things in life
instead of going out and actually attempting to do them is to resign yourself
to mundane mediocrity. Sure I might wish
to immediately improve one aspect of a particular lift but what I do is
set myself up to improve it over the long term.
Are you doing what it takes to make it to the next
level? Or are you just wishing in one
hand…..
I'm a needs versus wants kinda person. Do I really NEED something or do I just WANT something? It's how I was raised and actually a pretty conservative way to live. Unless of course you take it to the extreme. Now I'm not talking get my own special on TLC kind of extreme but I'll justify myself out of a lot things that I need. I won't buy myself a new pair of jeans because I already own *gasp* two pairs: one nice and one not nice pair. I haven't bought a good solid winter coat because I can just layer long sleeves and sweatshirts under my other coats. Like I said, conservative way to live but not always the brightest.
As you might've noticed from quite a few of my previous posts I've taken a bumpy ride on the Struggle Bus. *honk, honk* Being a stubborn individual I have continuously talked myself out of getting the extra stuff that, at this point, I definitely NEED. I've needed a deep tissue massage, active release therapy, chiropractic, any type of bodily intervention for awhile now. I have kept justifying myself out of actually getting that work done by telling myself that I don't need it, I just want it, and I can address the same issues at home with foam roller/PVC/lacrosse ball, a nightly stretch out, and save a bit of money in the process. That plan is all well and good except for one small bump. By the time I get home at night and get a chance to do all of that, I actually just fall asleep on the floor. Yep, a nightly 30-minute nap on the floor on or spooning a foam roller.
I'm all for a little cuddle session but snuggling with a foam roller doesn't exactly keep my hips mobile. By not being diligent and strict about my Recovery Routines, I have allowed myself to become so jacked up that my ability to squat at any given point is hit or miss. I mean we're talking that some times it's uncomfortable to squat down just to tie my shoe, let alone actually load weight onto my body. Not being able to squat is an enormous road block to Operation 180 that was supposed to start about 2 weeks ago. Hard to get bigger and stronger if I can't do one of the key lifts to help with that. Let's not even talk about my current ability to perform the Olympic lifts.
After a very rough, very frustrating Saturday morning lift I was getting a little pep talk from a teammate. I told him that I was more apt to justify helping him pay for a deep tissue massage than to actually get one for myself. I would pay for someone else to get one before paying for myself. He pointed out that with working as many jobs as I do I most certainly can't be hurting for money for the occasional deep tissue massage. He also mentioned that I need to stop worrying about helping out
someone else before I help myself. I will write programs for everyone
else before I worry about my own programming. I will make sure my
lifters are getting what they need before I consider myself. I have a couple of 94s that I'm determined to get qualified for a national level meet, a 77 turned 85 that I want to have a better experience at the American Open this year, and a 58 that I want to have a good experience at her first national level meet. I worry about them well before I worry about what my body, training, etc is going like. I was instructed to stop always worrying about everyone else and justify a little time for myself.
Well after learning the hard way, which is a common theme for me, I now have to classify active release therapy, chiropractic, and a deep tissue as a need. If I don't re-categorize it as a need vs a want, I'm going to keep doing the same insane things time and again and like an idiot expect different results. I want to take weightlifting as far as I possibly can. I'm going to have to put on my big girl pants and realize that, as I have often preached to other, recovery is part of the process of getting better and periodic massages or chiropractic have to be a part of that recovery. I can't keep justifying myself OUT of something I need especially if its something I can afford on occasion.
If there is nothing else to be had from reading my posts, I hope there's at least an occasional cautionary tale in here to learn from. Most of my recommendations to fellow lifters and athletes that I coach are because I have experienced it first hand and don't want them to have to learn the same lesson the hard way. So the moral of the story today is don't justify yourself out of something because you think you don't deserve it. Some times a want IS a need.
Being female and lifting weights doesn't make you butch or masculine. It makes you strong.
Lifting doesn't make women bulky. Females just don't have the right
hormone levels to get huge bulk. I'd rather be considered "bigger" because I lift
weights and have muscle than bigger cause I have jiggly bits.
"I want Paris Hilton's ass," said no one EVER.
When asked by some female athletes how they get long & lean like me, my answer was and will always be, "Pick up heavy shit."
Spot reduction is a myth. Just because you spent 20 minutes on the inner/outer thigh machine doesn't mean your thighs will no longer touch. It just means you're gonna walk like you rode horse to the gym.
Muscles burn calories. Lifting weight makes muscles work harder. You figure out the rest.....
You can't grow a muffin top without eating a few muffins. And donuts and candy bars and drinking extra large caramel macchiatos....
I have never heard an athlete say, "Gee, I wish I hadn't gotten stronger."
CrossFit didn't invent the exercises it uses nor did it invent the concept of high intensity circuits. It just marketed them better.
You shouldn't model your training after YouTube videos and expect to PR every training session. Just remember nobody posts their shitty days on YouTube, not even Shankle.
No listening to R&B in the weight room. You might as well put on the Best of Elevator Music if you're going to do that. If you wanna lift big kid weights, you need to put on big kid music.
Got your own "For the Record" thoughts? Post 'em to comments or send me a message!
*Update! New "For the Record" thoughts!
Running does NOT take the place of squatting. -Gina
Going past parallel when you squat will NOT "blow out" your knees, what does that even mean anyway?! -Gina
Please don't compare leg pressing to squatting, not even kind of the same thing. -Gina
