Thursday's trumpet call to arms

We need more training camps. If I, as an Irish weightlifter want to progress to the limit of my athletic potential, I need to go on more training camps. If the rest of the make and female Irish athletes want to lift more weight and go to places Irish weightlifting has not been in a long time, we need to find a way to organise more camps. They can either be abroad or at home, with our own dedicated coaches or with foreign coaches. Either way, we must organise ourselves!

Many lifters are able to continue progressing rapidy without going elsewhere--Charlie Hamilton's lifters and John Broz's lifters come to mind--but they have an environment that pushes them to the wire every session. Firstly, one could argue that we all need to work harder at installing that atmosphere in our own gym and secondly, because Irish lifters are spread all over the country, we have to get together more often and AS A TEAM, push ourselves to places we have never been. You may have seen the thoughts from two weeks ago in a group interview after London where we discuss the benefits of training together and also in a new and stimulating environment. What do you think? Can we organise ourselves more efficiently or am I not understanding or appreciating the reality of the situation? I understand there are severe financial restraints, but is there anything we can do about it?

Last year, a few of us organised training camps in Wexford, Glasgow, and London a few weeks back. I had an additional camp in Amsterdam and when I was in California I was lucky to train with John Broz and Jim Schmitz. I give these examples to show that we are currently doing our best for what we know, but what can we do better? How can we improve our current scenario?

In October 2008 we had an official national squad session and we will have another in this coming March, but as lifters we need to take more responsibility on ourselves. The Irish Weightlifting committe is doing as well as it can considering its resources, and I know all the lifters are very thankful of the effort the men and women on the commitee who voluntarily put their time into our beloved sport. We have some very sharp minds in Irish weightlifting, so what can we do? This post is intended to stimulate thought processes and is no way a criticism of any individual in Irish weightlifting. We all need to work together to achieve more.

Here is a little video showing the lighter side of lifting and why passion goes in hand with the lighter side of the sport:



In my own lifting, here is what I did tonight in training:

Snatch--1x2@40, 40, 60 1x1@80, 95, 105, 110--I tried a different weight jump and it was a nice mental stimulus. I have never Snatched 11o in a regular training session during the week without loads of people around so I was happy with this, particularly because I have just finished week two of the Russian squat program.

Back Squat--1x2@120, 135 6x5@144 which is 80%.
I was on form tonight and I banged out most of my squats one rep straight after the other. My squatting tonight was far better than on Monday when I did six sets of four reps. I am really looking forward to 6 sets of 6 reps next week.
Here is a quick video of two of my Snatches so please leave any constructive criticism you may have.

Wednesday's wholesale opinions

I had a short session on Tuesday to work out the stiffness from Monday's session and I did very little. I did a few doubles in the Snatch up to 70 and Clean and Jerk doubles up to 90 and then a single with 100. On Wednesday, I was training with Zag and Wayne and it was a prductive session overall. We Snatched, Clean and Jerked, took a 25 minute break and then Snatched again and ended the session with day 2 of the Russian squat program. Here is what I did:

Snatch--1x2@40, 40, 40, 60, 70, 80, 90, 95 1x1@100
My technique and positioning was as rough as it has ever been. I was far from fresh and I knew it, but I was happy not to miss any Snatches despite the ugliness of my lifting. Today was a day to get the lifts irregardless of form. My catch was solid and reasonably quick and this saved me on the day.

Clean and Jerk--1x2@70, 70, 90 1x1@ 100,110, 120, 130
I only went up to 130 because Sami did 120 and narrowly missed 125. The blessings of competition; it always brings out the best in my lifting. Wayne did a lovely Clean with 120--his shoulder is still preventing him Jerking. In the second session he got 97 in the Snatch also and Front Squatted 140 easily enough.

Snatching in the second session--1x2@40, 40, 60, 80 1x1@90, 100, 105--This was a limit lift on the day and I was happy to get it considering how rough my lifting was. Sami got 94 pretty easily also.

Back Squat--1x3@100, 126, 135, 144 for 6 triples @80%. This was tough and on the sixth set I missed the last rep. I had to do a seventh set so I got on with it and although it took around four seconds, I got through the sticking point on the last rep. This is supposed to be the easy week of the squat program...

A series of interviews with the lads about the trip in London and how it went is soon to follow and is currently being made. We all discuss what we enjoyed about the trip and ways that we thought it could have been improved upon:

Wednesday’s Woking success

Cathal Byrd agreed to shake things up and write the report of the day’s training and he clearly shows the benefits of the love of language. Here it is:

Today was our final session of the London training camp. As expected, after a tough four day, we were all pretty beat up; but nonetheless we decided to go for broke and make the most of the training environment.

Paudie was particularly fatigued as well as being ill for most of the week but he still managed to produce a gutsy snatch of 67.5kg, only 2.5kg off his all-time best snatch. I continued my vein of successfully snatching over 95% with quite a gruelling 105kg. I also went to just over 90% in the clean and jerk with five singles at 130kg, dedicating my power jerks to Lord Murphington. Chris Chea made an outstanding 113kg snatch pb and wasn’t too far away with 115kg. He then clean and jerked 140kg after the jerk gave him trouble on his first few attempts. Chris is looking to lift a total of 260kg @69kg this year to qualify for the 2010 Commonwealth Games for England. Going by the evidence of the last few days, 260kg is very attainable for Chris who is a truly gifted athlete.

Barry snatched 102kg which was very routine. Only for particularly tight hip flexors, most likely caused by the heavy loading over the five days of the camp, Barry would have made the 107kg that he attempted a few times. His pull was strong, but his catch position was a little off. In the clean and jerk Barry made amends with an extremely easy 138kg. There was a bit more there on the day in my opinion, but like all of us Barry was clearly quite fatigued and he made the sensible decision to hold back a little. Like myself, Barry snatched successfully to quite high percentages which is a sign that his consistency and technique is ever-improving.

The most impressive lifting of the day was produced by Sami Dowling. He came very close to a new pb of 103kg in the snatch, just losing it on his way up from the squat position. Sami also attempted 105kg which was not far away at all. 100kg+ snatches will be quite mundane for Sami very soon. In the clean and jerk Sami made an outstanding pb with 130kg, and then also easily cleaned 135kg and fought hard to save the jerk. 2010 should be a very progressive year for Sami if he can keep his current vein of form going.

This was our last day training and there are a few videos to come over the next week. Well done to Zag and bring on the Limerick Open on February 6th!

Monday's max out

We all had two sessions again on Monday. In the first session it took us all a good while to warm up. I Snatched to max for the day which was 110, as did Paudie, who got 67.5kg. Cathal took it very light as did Zag who was under the weather. David Woodhouse Snatched up to 125 and then missed 127 and 130 in as close a manner as I have ever seen. He missed them on the way up after the catch. He then Power Cleaned and Jerked 135 easily, but he was clearly tired. The man has a very powerful second pull in his Snatch and his Clean and he really maximises his pulling potential.

In the Snatch, I did doubles with 60, 80, 90 and then singles with 100, 105 and 110 and then left it there because I knew Harry and Wayne would have told me to. I also wanted to save a bit for the second session an hour later. Technically, my back was good, but my shoulders were not quite as locked throughout the pull as I needed them to be. I was a bit tired so there was not the dynamism that I would have liked, but that is the most I have ever Snatched in training--I have Snatched 115 in competition--so I was happy to leave it there.

In the second session, Paudie got a 5 kg pb in the Clean. First of all, he equalled his pb of 92.5; then he got 95 and then 97.5kg. 100 was beyond him in the focus department but the strength and technique is clearly there. Cathal Snatched 108 and narrowly lost 110 behind. 108 is the most he has Snatched since last July when his knees were healthy, so he was content enough. Zag went easier again in the lifts, but after Front Squatting 140 in the morning he went up to 160 for an afternoon single in the Back Squat. After Chris Chea got a 120 bench in the morning weighing 71 kg, in his second session after we left, he Snatched 112. You can't beat genetics....

In my second session in the Clean and Jerk, I did a few singles with 70, then a single with 100, 110, 120 and 130 which I Power Cleaned and Jerked. I then went to 140, got it and missed the Clean with 146 which was frustrating. With the 130 Clean I could feel my back giving out a bit and I could not lock it at all. Fatigue always exposes weakness, and I know it is something I have to work on. 110/140 i ssomething I have never done in a training day before; the most was 105/140 around six weeks ago. Very light on Tuesday and then see how things go on Wednesday I suppose.

Saturday's snuffly weightlifters in London

I was the only Irish lifter not to have a cold today, which I was thankful for. Myself, Zag, Paudie Roche and Cathal Byrd got up at four in the morning and got a plane to London to train for five days with David Woodhouse and his lifters in Woking Weightlifting Club. We arrived into the gym straight from the airport and we were all pretty stiff, but excited all the same. The idea was to Snatch and see where it took us from there.

There were some great lifts from David, a 90kg lifter and Chris Chea, a 72kg kg lifter. Both of them Cleaned 150kg. Zag got a Clean pr of 130kg, Cathal got a 5x5 Back Squat pb of 150kg. Paudie got a 120kg Front Squat pb as a 62kg lifter.

I started with the Snatch and did three doubles with 40, a double with 60, 70, 80, 90 and then singles with 100, 105 and then I missed 107kg four times. I knew it was there and on David's suggestion, went up to 108kg, got it and left it there. This is the heaviest I have Snatched in training for a long time so I was happy. My back lock was as good as it has ever been and I know I can still get it better in my upper back which sags ever so slightly during my first pull. Considering I was not feeling very fast, I have to be happy with 94% in the Snatch.

I then went on to Clean and Jerks and I worked up to 120kg but my Cleans were feeling out of sync, so I went onto Power Cleans. I did singles in the Power Clean with 120, 125 and then I got a 130kg Power Clean for a 3 kg pb. I tried 133kg, but my catch needed to be faster to keep it above parallel. Next time. I also really have to work on my back arch in the Clean. The Snatch back lock is way better, but the Clean arch must improve. I left it there considering our we are training twice in the next two days, and then once a day for the following two days.

The atmosphere in the gym is infectious and myself and the lads are really enjoying our time so far. Chris Chea's parents have been really kind in feeding us and David's hospitality has been exemplary. Hopefully the rest of the week will be as productive.