Squad sharpshooting

ECB hosted the Irish squad training camp this weekend and it proved to be a resounding success.It was great fun and there was some superb lifting. I got some footage of the lifting but only from my group on the first day. Everyone lifted well and the camp was very well organised by Wayne Healy. Here is a video of some of the top lifts from my group:

EDIT: After watching the video, I realised I put in Sami's miss with 106 not his success. I must be sub-conscious jealousy.


As for my own lifting, I did ok. On the Saturday morning I did a little wake up session forty five minutes before everyone started. I worked up to a Power Snatch with 90kg and a full Snatch with 100kg and I left it there. In retrospect I should have stopped at 90 but it did not make much of a difference; I felt strong but not particularly fast.

In the full session with my group I worked up to singles in the Snatch with 110, 115 and then I sailed to of 120 and only pulled it. A bit embarrassing. I dropped back to 100 and then hit 107.5 and promptly missed 112.5. It simply was not there so I left it. I was feeling a little tight and not as fast as I would have hoped, but 115 is the most I have Snatched in training in a year, so I am happy enough. If I can hit 115 or so in training then I now I can hit over 120 in competition. In the Clean and Jerk I was tired, but all felt fine. I worked up to 137.5kg and then for some reason, I could not Clean 142.5kg. Very frustrating and for the first time in quite a while, I threw a bit of a wobbler on the platform. On reflection, I put too much pressure on myself and I was also not in the state needed for record weights. Unreasonable expectations and fatigue are not ideal bedfellows. I finished my session with a single with 180kg in the Box Squat and I left it there. I got an awesome massage and followed this with a stretch so that I would be ok to lift the following day.

On Sunday, I was far more relaxed and I Snatched 110kg well. I missed 113 twice and I did not mind really, because, as Wayne correctly pointed out, I was "not going after it." I worked up to 130 in the Clean and Jerk and I could feel I was drained, but for pride's sake, I had to hit 135kg. An embarrasingly small weight to psyche oneself over, but it is what it is. I wanted to get a squat pb so I worked up to 160 and I got 5 reps with it on the 14 inch box.

When I got home on the Sunday, my entire back, legs and hamstrings in particular, traps, shoulders and abs were really feeling the exertion. I felt like I used to feel after a rugby match: battered and bruised. I was happy enough that a sub-par performance could yield 115/137.5 but a few issues were highlighted and I will write about these later when I have had some time to think about them. Everyone lifted particularly well, but I have to mention Sami for his Snatch pb. It was a brave lift considering he was as tired as I was; I just did not have his mental strength!

Saturday's simplicity

I had a nice training session on Friday where I simply Snatched up to 80kg and Front Squatted up to 140kg for a nice and easy single. This workout was as much as an active recovery workout as it was a technical one. I was actually quite stiff from the previous day's workout and subsequent stretching and soft tissue work.

Today, I had two enjoyable sessions. I did a short power up session with James for around 45 minutes which was basically a warm up and a few Snatch doubles with 60kg. We had an hour break, for a quick bite to eat and an espresso. For the second session, Byrdie, Wayne, and Killer McNamara joined us, as did a Latvian 105kg lifter Alex, who Snatched 115kg quite easily and Clean and Jerked 140 like it was not there. It ended up being a productive session for everyone. I was able to up the intensity a little bit again as was Killer and James; Byrdie and Wayne were able to get the volume in that they needed. Here is what I did:

Snatch--1x2@40, 40, 60, 80, 90 1x1@95, 100, 105, 110--I missed this the first time and got it on the second attempt. It felt like my max on the day, so I knew to leave it there. I only have the miss on video and it felt like I swung back on it a bit rather than extended up. The video below shows this, but not the 110 attempt I made!

Clean and Jerk--I was feeling sharp with these and worked up to singles with 100, 110, 120, 125 and 130. Each lift felt sharper and I was feeling more like myself and getting used to lifting 90% weights again. I got up to 135kg and Cleaned it twice and missed the Jerk twice. This was very surprising as it did not feel particularly heavy; it felt like I was messing up my Jerk dip; that I was off balance and thus not putting my full power into the Jerks. Looking at the videos, it seems that my knees were not going out, but rather too far forward which almost had me leaning back as I was trying to get my back locked. This can be very easily fixed, so I am not worried.

Back Squat--I had to hurry with these due to life getting in the way of training, so I worked up to an easy double with 150 in the Back Squat and left it there.

I have Nationals this time next week. My training cycle was been disrupted due to my training camp in Amsterdam and change in grip and me being an idiot when I did the Russian squat cycle and tried to Snatch to max so that I was completely burnt out. However, I consider myself a platform lifter and I always lift better in competitions so I feel I can and should get small pr's in both lifts. I have the strength and technique to get 120/150 so I need to get used to lifting maximum weights now that I have been working on my technique for the last while. Bring it on! Have a look at the video and leave any constructive criticism you may have.