Strength++

Hey everyone, sorry for the gap between posts (again!). I did end up getting a cold after my last post, but thankfully it was short and easy (3 days) and I was back in the gym by the next week. My weight-loss has pretty much stalled since then, with no real movement in either direction on the scale. I've indulged too much in food and drink, and now I'm reining it in once again. I know what I have to do, and I'm doing it.

My training is still going pretty well. I took a weightlifting seminar this past Sunday with Sean Waxman from Waxman's Gym which was pretty enlightening for me. My starting position on the first and second pulls of both my snatch and clean and jerk was off, and we got it corrected, for the most part. I just have to drill the movements to ingrain them in my muscle memory.

Last week I hit another PR, this time in the clean and jerk. I nailed 235 pounds, which is 5 pounds more than I did a few weeks ago. I tried 240 but I just couldn't get under it fast enough. I feel that I'm nearing the limits of my strength in the clean, unfortunately. My best front squat is 255 pounds, which is pretty darn close to where my clean is at. I have a similar problem with the snatch, although not quite as close percentage-wise (max overhead squat being 195, best snatch is 175). I've also lost some strength on my back squat and deadlift due to not programming them into my workouts for the past few months. So I'm retooling my program a bit to incorporate more strength work (squats, deadlifts, presses) as well as both heavy and light Oly work (it's based on this template, if anyone's interested). I just started yesterday, so we'll see how it goes.

One of the other trainers at my gym has also been looking to compete in weightlifting, and she found a local meet in March. I wasn't planning to compete this early, as I wanted to cut weight first, but I've decided to take on the challenge. I figure it'll give me some exposure to the dynamics of a real meet, with all the rules, judging, commands, etc. I have to compete at 94kg, but that's fine, since I'm never going to be an elite-level weightlifter in any weight class.

That being said I'm not giving up on my goal of cutting down to the lighter weight class. Just not for my first meet. I bought a singlet which should be good for both weight classes (it's made for men between 185 and 225) so no worries there. Just gotta stop eating so damn much :-)