Squad session shenanigans

The weekend was a successful one for Irish weightlifitng. Not everyone was able to make it, but we still had around eighteen to twenty lifters show up and generally, everyone lifted well. Thanks again to all the coaches involved and all the people who organised the weekend.

Saturday morning had us start off with a talk on warming up and flexibility for weightlifting from Alex and afterwards, we did a short power up session to wake the body and the nervous system. I Snatched up to 70 for two singles and did some skill work with 60kg and the bar for the Jerk. We then had a break and after that, a talk with a lady from the Sports' Council on anti-doping measures and what to avoid in everyday over the counter medicines, psuedoephedrine being the main culprit. We then went into our second session of the day where everyone went to max. Zag got a 1kg pb with 102kg in the Snatch. Cillian hit several pb's with a 3kg jump in the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. Laura also hit a 1kg in the Jerk as did Murph with his lovely 122kg that did not look like a max at all. Everyone else generally lifted very well, including Kris Greene who is only lifting for the last month and has Power Snatched 85 and Clean and Jerked 112 weighing 71kg! Byrdie Snatched 115 again and narrowly missed 116 a few times. Here is what I did:

Snatch--2x2@50, 70 1x1@80, 90, 100, 105, 109, 113--as you will see in the video I had to go for quite a little run for this one. I then missed 115 twice and got 116kg for a 1kg pb. I missed 117 which was just a bit slow.

Clean and Jerk--Myself and Byrdie were rushing to fit time into our Clean and Jerks so we took big jumps and did not really have that much rest. I worked up to singles with 125, 133 and then 139. I then Cleaned 143 twice but missed the Jerk and I then failed to Clean 144 because although it was very high, I pulled back on it too much and ended up behind the bar. We had to leave it then because we had run out of time for the hall and had to leave.

Sunday morning had us lifting only once and I followed Byrdie with what he was doing generally. I was a little tight and fatigued from the previous day so I Snatched up to 105 and then missed 108. I got it on my second attempt but it was ugly and I was not feeling the Mae West so I left it there. Byrdie worked up to 110 and missed 112 a few times. I then worked up to an easy single with 120kg in the Clean and Jerk and I left it there. Alex then led a stretching session and I felt far better afterwards when it was coupled with some work on the cardboard roller.

Have a look at the video below. I did not get that many videos so apologies if people are not showing in it. Hopefully we will be able to have another squad session in the next few months because there was some great work done over the weekend.