Saturday 12 December 2009

Saturday's second chance at a 260kg total

It was the Hercules' Club Championships today and I was determined to enjoy the day irregardless of what state I was in. I did a Power Up session at half eight in the morning with Zag and this definitely helped iron out a few of the morning creases. My joints were doing a lot of early morning cracking, but they were the better for it. I had a great breakfast of porridge with a chopped up pear and I still weighed in at 93.3kg. Either I have been losing weight or the epsom salt baths I have been loving all week are a great weigh-in strategy. Either way I was relatively surprised because my scales from home were telling me a similar story.

Zag Snatched an easy 98kg for a 1kg competition pb and Clean and Jerked 128 for a 3 kg pb. He would have been good for more, but his body hates him right now because of all the training he has subjected himself to. Amy and Shannon are two ladies that train with him and they lifted really well in only their third competition and with a minority of their training devoted to weightlifting.

In my Snatch warm up, despite the earlier session, I was not feeling amazing. I worked up to my last warm ups of 90 and 100, neither of which felt particularly great.
Competition lifts:
1x1@105--This was not as sweet as can be, but it only matters where you end up thankfully.
1x1@111--This was a better lift, but I felt that there was definitely more speed for me to utilise. I knew my co-ordination was not at its best when my feet were not moving at all in my lifts.
1x1@115--I got this for a 1kg pb and it was probably my best Snatch of the day. It was nowhere near as fast, smooth or fluid as my 114 last week, but I will take them where I get them.

My warm up in the Clean and Jerk was also not feeling too sweet, but I just got on with it. I worked up to singles with 100, 110, 120 and 127 in the warm up.
1x1@134--This was a shocking lift and I was actually lucky to get it. My Jerk was very shoddy and I knew that if I wanted to hit 145, I was going to have get under the bar a lot quicker.
1x1@140--This was better and although a little out front, far faster and more secure.
1x1@145--This was a lack-lustre Clean followed by my best Jerk of the day and I would rather have it that way than the opposite like last week! I was following myself in all my lifts so I was pretty tired at this stage and felt completely spent for around 10 minutes afterwards.

All in all, I was happy with my first 260 total for a 296 sinclair. I feel like there is a weight off my shoulders as this was a total I have craved for the last four months. Like always though, there is that nagging and persistent voice whispering how 120/150 is what I really want....And it is right. But that is for next year which will give me a new opportunity to push myself beyond where I have ever been before mentally, physically, technically and emotionally. Have a look at the video below and let me know if you have any constructive criticism:



I also just saw a video that Brendan Flanagan compiled from the competition and his actually has more lifters than mine. Here is it:

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome. Well done Barry.

Don't take your foot off the gas now though, keep chipping away at those top lifts whilst you've got some momentum going.

Competitions are the best training sessions...


DW

Anonymous said...

Hi.

Very interesting competion. I liked your lifts.
Only one thing occured to my eye. Your right elbow seems to be lower, when you cleaned the weight. I do not know, if its just the angle of the video or if this is a problem, but it is just something I noticed.

Keep up the good training
and best wishes from Berlin.

MK

Barry said...

Thanks David. All four of us have booked our flights and will make sure that we bring over big lifts with us. I am aiming to hit 120/150 as soon as I can.

MK, good observation. My left elbow is actually slower to whip around in the catch for some reason. When I am about to Jerk, it is also slightly higher than my right elbow.I have never really thought about it before, but thanks for the comment.

Franklin said...

Congratulations on a great meet and reaching a 260 kg total. It would be interesting to know over the last year how much you improved each lift? And good luck on achieving 270kg next!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Franklin. I have been training for 18 months now and in my first competition after five months or so, I got 105/130 and on the same competition last year, I got 100/130. For my first competition, everything went right and I got a little too far ahead of myself in terms of future expectations. My next goal is to get 120/150 and however long it takes, I will enjoy the ride, train as hard and as smart as I can. I will also make sure that I improve myself athletically and holistically.

Barry

Franklin said...

A twenty five kilo increase in a year .. wow! I've had some decent gains my first year and know that such gains will be harder to come by as quickly. And I hear you about training hard AND smart.

The blog has been an inspiration .. I know its a lot of work and you should know its greatly appreciated .. thanks!

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