Thursday:
Worked up to 90% of my goal snatch weight of 115Kg (93% of my snatch 1RM) twice with no misses! Getting more consistent and more used to the weight. Also hit a 2RM at a Front Squat PR weight of 340# and a 3RM Press at 145# (another PR)!!
Today, Friday:
Worked up to 90% of my goal Clean & Jerk weight of 140Kg (94% of my C&J 1RM) twice with no misses! Then hit some heavy snatch pulls. Did I mention I'm trying to get used to this weight?
Inspired by this:
Punch the Rhino! Beat the Germans! World Champ 2016.
The other night I was thinking about what this mission means. If I'm on a mission to win gold at a World Cup or World Championship, that means I will be the best weightlifter in the world. Yeah, sure, in my age group, whatever.
The. Best. Weightlifter. In. The. World. That's completely nuts.
I have to read it back to myself because it makes me laugh. Me, a 41 year old, former CrossFitter who has only learned to snatch at the age of 33 and who has never done a performance enhancing drug in his life. Hahahahaha. I'll be world champion. Lulz.
That's Crazy!
Yep. That's okay. I've lost my mind, but I'm totally okay with it. The mission is decided.
I had such a hard time making lifts on Friday, then Saturday seemed absurdly easy with power cleans and snatch pulls at 80%. I bumped up the weights on both so I can get used to moving more weight again.
Sunday, was one of those rest days where I feel the effects of the week's training and wonder if I'll ever be able to survive another day. Elbows, knees, back... I feel oldest on rest days!
But, even getting up to train at 3am and starting at 4am, today was a very successful day. I hit every snatch. After seeing my video, coach said to work on holding the bottom to build more stability... definitely rushing to get out of the hole. I PR'ed my Back Squat 4RM at 370#! That's 5# shy of a 1RM I got and then couldn't hit again for over a year. I feel like I'm getting closer to 400#. And, I hit pretty good weight (140#) for 3 on the press (forever my nemesis lift).
I started a new job on Monday, the 24th. I'll be running assays on silicone products at Momentive Performance Materials in Waterford, NY. It's continuous shift work, so I'm going to have to figure out how sleep and training work into a rotating 7 day of changing shift work schedule when typically my programming has always followed the traditional Wednesday and Sunday off or something along those lines.
This week, I got up at 4am so I could get to the gym and get training done. I want to try to establish a schedule that gets me to work on time and gets me home to see my kids after work. I hear a lot of people say that training early in the morning is tough or training alone is tough, but I've gotten used to both. They're habits, so acclimating those habits to a rotation will be the biggest challenge... until I build new habits.
Youtube didn't allow the music I had, so I added some.
“Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
I am trying to do exactly that, put my thoughts into words here, although I lack practice at this and am usually a very private person. I want to make sure that I put those words into action and form winning habits and a destiny of my choosing!
Visited Black Sheep to taste the gains on Kilo plates (and got to see Kia, Viv, Derek and Dean)
My dad was moving and needed help making the drive from Albany, NY to his new home in Port Charlotte, FL. That means from Thursday night until Saturday night, I did the majority of 20+ hours of driving. When I drive, I like to listen to podcasts; Weightlifting Talk, The TED Radio Hour, Invisibilia, The Joe Rogan Experience...
On the drive, I listened to this part of a TED talk and I was shocked. Apparently, telling people your goal reduces the chances you'll ever achieve it. It's especially shocking because when I put this post (describing my goals) out there, I didn't feel satisfied at having accomplished something. I felt scared.
What ifs were flying through my mind; what if I get injured (it's happened before, especially when I push my limits)? what if I don't get any stronger (I'm 41 and don't have the T levels I used to)? what if I do all of the training and bomb out under pressure at a big meet? what if I can't find time to train with a full-time job and 2 boys? What if?
What if?
What if fear isn't really such a bad thing?
My biggest fear is that I would put the goal out there and not follow through on it.
What if I don't do enough? What if I'm not pushing hard enough? What if I'm not missing enough? What if there aren't enough squats in my program? What if I'm not competing enough?
A lot of people think fear is a negative emotion, but champions are partially driven by their fear of failure not just their vision of success.
It drove me to get to 13 Stripes CrossFit in Harrisburg, PA at 6am on Friday morning.
It drove me to get to CrossFit Wappoo at 8am on Saturday morning.
And, it drove me to get up this morning to start training at 5am.
The work is getting done. The training is paying off. I hit a Back Squat PR this morning. That hasn't happened in over 2 years!!! 2 years of stagnancy, I will hit 115/140 soon.
More about how fear makes champions in this podcast.
