I had a great training session with Zag and while it was not very heavy, it was a great learning experience. The bar work is helping me keep the bar close and this session felt more fluid than the last one. I am really starting to get used to the wider grip now and hopefully I can get back to the level of power I am used to and beyond that again. Things did not go quite to plan for Zag, but he got all his lifts and worked through his dodgy session which is all we can do on days like that.Here is what I did:
Snatch work with bar and power plate for 15 minutes.
Snatch--1x2@40, 40, 40, 40, 60 1x1@80, 90, 94 for five singles. A bit more pop is still needed but each session it gets a little better.
Snatch Pull--1x2@90, 100 for three doubles
Power Clean and Jerk--1x2@60, 60, 80 1x1@90, 100, 105 for three singles.
Back Squat--1x3@90, 110, 130, 142, 152 for three doubles.
For me, training five days a week is better for skill development than four days a week because that fifth day allows you to get more reps in and literally build skill. The key I think is to keep the extra sessions light enough so that they work in as active recovery and skill work, rather than simply banging away with as heavy weights as possible. At least, this is what I am thinking right now for me. I need to build skill in weightlifting technique, power and strength. Skill acquisition needs repition and conscious, mindful practise. Then when the skill is built, you learn to lift without consious thought. I need to work consciously on my technique and then leave the overthinking at the door when the weights go past 80%. Then when I am far more skillful and disciplined mentally, I will be able to park my brain outside for training and competitions.
Here are two articles that I found fascinating. The first is by Bob Takano and it is about developing atmosphere in the gym. I think this point is relaly important and this is something that myself and the lads mentioned after our trip to London when we did our star interviews.
The last article that I found fascinating was written by Pierre Roy, a Canadian weightlifting coach that was Charles Poliquin's mentor. It is on developing power for weightlifting and anyone with any interest in power sports needs to read this. It should be interesting to rad peoples' opinions on the man's thoughts.
Showing posts with label article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label article. Show all posts
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Thursday 11 February 2010
Thursday's treatise: an article on why I am a weightlifter
I have been thinking about what Olympic weightlifting can offer a person and why we, as individuals, train and compete in this sport. Each person has different motivations and aspirations, but I believe—or hope!—that sometimes a group of people, regardless of nationality, can experience similar passions, trials and tribulations. Here is a brief portrait of why I view Olympic weightlifting as my path to fulfilment.
Weightlifting appeals to my underlying personality. My parents raised me as a lifelong learner and in the twenty months since I gave up rugby to train with the barbell instead, my inner perspective has, and still, continues to evolve. Weightlifting forces me to look at myself as I really am and how I want to be. Do I want the sublime athleticism of Kolecki? The ruthless efficiency of Kakishvilli? The brute power and showmanship of Dimas? No. I want to be myself. The beauty of this journey is that I am continuously discovering what exactly I want to be, and more importantly, what I am. This differentiation is vital for anyone who seeks to progress, adapt and evolve on any front.
Our sport requires a mix of brutal honesty and romantic ambition. These two traits are seemingly at odds, but I feel that they actually fortify and strengthen each other. Without ambition, there can be no will to improve. Without honesty, there can be no method to improve. I think we all know that when genuine will power and thoughtfully structured planning are combined, totals tend to soar. Things tend to change. You need to believe that your body is capable of far more than it is currently achieving in strength, speed, power, skill and flexibility. Can your ability to focus on the task at hand improve with dedicated practise? Can you change how you respond to external and internal pressure? You need to believe that your body and your mind are capable of adapting to the stresses placed upon it. I need to believe this. One without the other is a flagrant waste of potential, but this essential belief is there in all of us, if...we dare to expose it.
Are we ashamed of our romantic ambition? Do we really think we are good enough to go looking for the total of our dreams? This requires genuine testicular fortitude—metaphorical for the fairer sex!—which cannot be faked. Time and actions reveal all. Courage matched with ambition can become a potent tool. What I believe makes this tool accurate, is brutal honesty. You need it. Your training partners need it for themselves and as a group. Your coach, if, like me you are lucky enough to have one, must have the courage to question his or her methods. Do you have the belief in yourself to hit a raw nerve and go for the jugular; can you look at yourself in the mirror and work on what frustrates you about your lifting? This is where honesty and, what it hopefully leads to, planning, comes in.
Planning, whether it is short, medium or long term, is needed. Specific planning for you, the lifter, can only be optimal when one’s strengths and weaknesses are critically analysed. This is why your coach needs to be as self aware as you are, because he or she may have to examine their traditional beliefs about technique and how to construct a program. It is not enough to try new exercises or different repetition and set ranges. Getting stronger is not enough. How a movement is felt and understood both physically and intellectually has to change; coaching cues may need to evolve; how you use mental imagery before and during a lift may need to be coloured in differently. Your entire understanding—and initially, your comfort—of each lift may need to change. Most of us are amateur lifters who lift for love. We do not have professional coaches and our lives are not tailored around workouts. We need more than the elite to progress. This requires self belief and faith, which can only be rewarded with an improved total when there is a plan that is intelligently structured. Can you picture breaking down your body and mind to build yourself stronger? Then roll on the romantic ambition and brutal honesty.
These are traits that I want and need to develop and weightlifting helps me do so. For the last nineteen months I have chosen weightlifting as one of the main avenues in which I can improve myself in body and mind; in strength and health; in my maturing as a man. Before this game was called strength training, it was called physical culture. Culture implies development and progress: this is why I love the sport of Olympic weightlifting.
Weightlifting appeals to my underlying personality. My parents raised me as a lifelong learner and in the twenty months since I gave up rugby to train with the barbell instead, my inner perspective has, and still, continues to evolve. Weightlifting forces me to look at myself as I really am and how I want to be. Do I want the sublime athleticism of Kolecki? The ruthless efficiency of Kakishvilli? The brute power and showmanship of Dimas? No. I want to be myself. The beauty of this journey is that I am continuously discovering what exactly I want to be, and more importantly, what I am. This differentiation is vital for anyone who seeks to progress, adapt and evolve on any front.
Our sport requires a mix of brutal honesty and romantic ambition. These two traits are seemingly at odds, but I feel that they actually fortify and strengthen each other. Without ambition, there can be no will to improve. Without honesty, there can be no method to improve. I think we all know that when genuine will power and thoughtfully structured planning are combined, totals tend to soar. Things tend to change. You need to believe that your body is capable of far more than it is currently achieving in strength, speed, power, skill and flexibility. Can your ability to focus on the task at hand improve with dedicated practise? Can you change how you respond to external and internal pressure? You need to believe that your body and your mind are capable of adapting to the stresses placed upon it. I need to believe this. One without the other is a flagrant waste of potential, but this essential belief is there in all of us, if...we dare to expose it.
Are we ashamed of our romantic ambition? Do we really think we are good enough to go looking for the total of our dreams? This requires genuine testicular fortitude—metaphorical for the fairer sex!—which cannot be faked. Time and actions reveal all. Courage matched with ambition can become a potent tool. What I believe makes this tool accurate, is brutal honesty. You need it. Your training partners need it for themselves and as a group. Your coach, if, like me you are lucky enough to have one, must have the courage to question his or her methods. Do you have the belief in yourself to hit a raw nerve and go for the jugular; can you look at yourself in the mirror and work on what frustrates you about your lifting? This is where honesty and, what it hopefully leads to, planning, comes in.
Planning, whether it is short, medium or long term, is needed. Specific planning for you, the lifter, can only be optimal when one’s strengths and weaknesses are critically analysed. This is why your coach needs to be as self aware as you are, because he or she may have to examine their traditional beliefs about technique and how to construct a program. It is not enough to try new exercises or different repetition and set ranges. Getting stronger is not enough. How a movement is felt and understood both physically and intellectually has to change; coaching cues may need to evolve; how you use mental imagery before and during a lift may need to be coloured in differently. Your entire understanding—and initially, your comfort—of each lift may need to change. Most of us are amateur lifters who lift for love. We do not have professional coaches and our lives are not tailored around workouts. We need more than the elite to progress. This requires self belief and faith, which can only be rewarded with an improved total when there is a plan that is intelligently structured. Can you picture breaking down your body and mind to build yourself stronger? Then roll on the romantic ambition and brutal honesty.
These are traits that I want and need to develop and weightlifting helps me do so. For the last nineteen months I have chosen weightlifting as one of the main avenues in which I can improve myself in body and mind; in strength and health; in my maturing as a man. Before this game was called strength training, it was called physical culture. Culture implies development and progress: this is why I love the sport of Olympic weightlifting.
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