Training goals

I wanted to post some fitness goals in addition to weight goals for the new year, since I've actually started training for something. As I've said before I've been doing Crossfit for 3 years now, since it's a great mix of modalities that never gets boring. It's also reintroduced me to something I used to do (and enjoy) in high-school: Olympic weightlifting. As I've gotten more and more fit and capable as an athlete I've also gotten a greater desire to compete at something, and I think Oly lifting is going to be the avenue to go down.

So what are my goals, exactly? Well, the only set-in-stone goal right now is to train for a local USA Weightlifting meet sometime in June or July (from the info available the meets haven't been finalized) in the 85 Kilo weight class. This forces me to tailor my training to focus on these lifts (snatch and clean & jerk), and their auxiliary lifts (front squat, overhead squat, press, etc.) instead of doing the generalized Crossfit programming. It's also forcing me to monitor and control my diet, because 85 kilos is 187 pounds, which means I've gotta lose about 20 in 6 months.

As far as my training goes, I've implemented a program from Catalyst Athletics that focuses on the Olympic lifts, but also includes Crossfit-style conditioning workouts throughout, so I don't lose my wind and general fitness as I get stronger and more coordinated in these complicated movements. The program is designed to be 16 weeks of 5 sessions per week, but since I can only train 4 days a week I've modified it to 22 weeks, so I should finish right around the time I'm looking to compete. I'm about a week into it, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I also (finally) bought some real weightlifting shoes and a belt, which both make a huge difference in my stability and balance under tension.

You can see my current maxes on these lifts on the right, but I'll record them here for posterity as well:

Snatch: 155# (70.5kg)

Clean & Jerk: 225# (102kg)

Which leaves me with a 172.5kg total (snatch + c&j). Here are my goal lifts to hit or exceed by competition time:

Snatch: 185# (84kg)

Clean & Jerk: 255# (116kg)

Which makes for a precisely 200kg total. The clean and jerk goal is doable, since I can front squat 255 and jerk 250 currently, but the snatch goal is a bit more lofty. I'm hoping the high volume of Oly work will allow me to hit it, though. If I hit any of these goals before the competition I will adjust up as needed to continue to push myself to constantly get better.

Phew, I know that was a long post, and most of you probably don't care too much about this sport, but it's something I'm coming to be passionate about, and I just wanted to share the direction I'm going.