Mince pies

Hercs Club Championships, Saturday 10th December 2011

Snatch: 60kg, Clean and jerk: 75kg, Bodyweight: 63.0kg

After the Northern Ireland Championships last weekend, I took two days rest and went back training on Tuesday at 90%. I should have stopped at 85% as there were quite a few fails. I don't normally struggle with cleans but I'd a few fails at 68kg which I would think is a pretty routine weight for me by now. Wednesday was a few doubles at 80% and then rest till Saturday Morning.

I spent the week using my 60.9kg weigh in at NI Open as an excuse to pig out on take away, mince pies, ice cream and hot chocolate. This was quite a departure from my usual diet of home made stew and proper sausages. This explains why I weighed in at 63kg on Saturday morning.

I spent a lot of time activating the glutes and stretching my ankles during warmup and I felt really good. I was hitting all the positions and really getting the speed. I finished my warmup at 50kg about ten minutes too early and that timing is something I should probably work on for the next competition but it didn't seem to bother me too much for this one as I hit 55kg easily. My first attempt at 60kg was high enough but I was soft in the catch and lost it forward. 60kg has been too close too many times and I've just failed to hold it so there was no way I was going to let myself miss it again. It has turned into a big mental block for me at this stage. I know I got 61kg in York but I felt that was a fluke. With all this running through my mind and trying to distract me, it was difficult to put it all aside and focus on the lift. It sometimes helps to be a little wound up for a lift but being too emotional will definitely not help!

I stood in front of the bar and took a minute to steady myself. I pictured a great lift, then turned off my brain and just pulled as hard as I could and kept it close. The next thing I know, I hear the down signal and all I know is I'm very happy. Good lift!

I took a moment to be pleased with myself and sat down before warming up the clean and jerk. Warmup was good but I probably shouldn't have taken that time to sit down as I was just hitting 60kg when I heard the announcer say the bar was loaded for me at 70kg. I had planned to open at 75kg so that I could have two shots at the 80kg if needed. I may or may not have gotten visibly cranky at having my plan disrupted but I made the 70kg and 75kg both very easily. It's worth noting that I used to have a horrible growl of effort with these weights but with the clean technique work I've been doing lately, they feel very easy and quick now. I was feeling really confident about the 80kg and the clean was easy and quick enough, although the big nasty growl was back to help me get a little bit of oomph! I took a breath and went to jerk the 80kg but unfortunately, it just wasn't there and I sort of melted under the bar and lost it behind. Rare that I'd lose them that way and I was damn lucky I didn't kill myself!

I was still incredibly happy with my lifting and even though I earned less sinclair points this week (due to a higher bodyweight), I felt my lifting was better. This is only the second time out of many attempts that I have hit the 60kg+ in the snatch and this time definitely wasn't a fluke so the confidence is there to hit it again soon. I'm just going to keep drilling it as often as I can (allowing for recovery) so I can move past it and focus on getting to the next milestone: 70kg. I'm incredibly chuffed that I got my shot at the 80kg clean and jerk and even though I didn't make it, I am satisfied that I gave it my all, that the clean was so easy and that I didn't squash myself with the bar!! It was very close so I reckon I'll be able to get it in training this side of Christmas.

I don't underestimate the effect that the extra kilos had to my lifting. I felt better in the days before and on the morning of the competition and I'm sure this led to a better mental state and more confidence. I think a good strategy for me would be to eat the way I normally do and then bulk up to 63kg in the week before a competition. My previous strategy was to try to weigh in as light as I can so I can get as many sinclair points as possible but that's not necessarily the best considering I normally eat fairly healthy anyway. Amazing how much difference such a few kg bodyweight either way can make!

I'm going to take a couple of weeks to feel out my training and do some general strength stuff before getting on a new training programme. I'll wait a week or so and max again before Christmas and hopefully hit the 60kg at least once more and get that 80kg under my belt. That's all I want for Christmas!

Here is a video of my lifts minus the 80kg clean which will come at a later date once I track it down. 

Northern Ireland Open Saturday 3rd December 2011

57kg/ 76kg @ 60.9kg bodyweight

Snatch: Warmed up the snatch a little early so had to go back down and work up again. Everything was feeling technically good but I just wasn't in the zone and lacked that last little bit of "oomph". 57kg was not perfect but a good lift. I pulled 60kg high enough to get under it but I was a fraction too slow and I think it was a bit out front from the start. I thought putting 1kg on the bar would force me to put more into it but it just wasn't there. Incredibly disappointing.

Clean and jerk: Tried to put snatch out of my mind and not let it be like Edenderry all over again but that was really tough to do! I just did the best I could and warmup seemed great. 72kg has been a weight I can pretty much hit anytime. I felt like I had a good easy clean but then I started to see stars and got really dizzy. I just couldn't commit to the jerk at all and failed it. The same nearly happened for the 2nd attempt at 72kg but judges gave it to me anyway. Not feeling at all confident, I called for 76kg. Nothing left to conserve energy for, without thinking, I just went out on to the platform and stuck it. Really easy clean and rock solid jerk. Where I'd been feeling lousy before, I was suddenly feeling amazing and like I was finally hitting my stride. Damn, too late!

In hindsight, 60.9kg was probably a bit too light for me so I need to be a bit smarter about competition week nutrition in future. I reckon I should clear my schedule and just eat and sleep in the week coming up to the next big competition!
Overall, I was hoping for 60kg+ in the snatch and 80kg in the clean and jerk so I'm disappointed but there are a ton of positives that can be taken from the day. 76kg is a personal best and a national record and 133kg total is also a personal best. It probably seems a little silly to be disappointed in light of that but I know myself I wasn't in the best form for whatever reason and I can do better.

I'll have another chance on Saturday at the Hercs open. It won't count for records or rankings but it'd be good to know myself that I can do those lifts.

All in all, a very good day for a bad day!

Thanks a million to Ed for top notch handling on the day and for pandering to my diva whims!

http://youtu.be/oV9aehMzpOc

One week out: Fingers and toes crossed!

This is just a quick update on how competition prep is going.

One week out from the last big competition of the year and so far so good. I've been working on filling out the 63kg class with lots of starchy veg (and a few hot chocolates!) Training has been consistently good. Even after a busy day if I'm tired getting to the club, the weights have still felt light and gone where I want them to. I'm taking that as a good sign.
The programme I've been following is a basic singles programme which seems to suit me best. Triples and doubles feel too much like cardio!

Last week and was the first of two taper weeks where I lift up to 90% but reduce the volume and accessory exercises. Next week will start at 90% on Monday and decline to 70% on Wednesday, then rest on Thursday and Friday and hopefully I'll be in great form for Saturday morning.
I'm not quite at the top of the 63kg weight class so I have no pressures to make weight. I'll continue to eat well and probably wait until after weigh in on Saturday to have breakfast.

I still haven't decided on my openers. I have a good idea of what I'd like to do but I'll probably wait to see how I feel in the warm up on Saturday.

I really enjoy the run up to a competition; I love the nerves and excitement and all the extra energy tapering builds up. Now I just hope I can put it all together on the day. Fingers and toes crossed!

When everything doesn't go to plan

I didn't get to do the Cork Open competition in the end. A last minute bout of rare bad health meant I had to call it off, just as I'd finished tapering. This was more than a little disappointing as I'd been looking forward to the competition for well over six months. I did the get the award for most improved female lifter 2011 at the annual awards though which was nice. 

After this setback, I got my training back on track as soon as I was well enough to do so which luckily only resulted in one week off training. I found it pretty tough going for about two weeks. Even though I didn't physically do the competition, I was mentally spent and normal training weights felt heavier than usual.
I can feel I'm getting back to good form now and I'm really looking forward to the next competition which is at the start of December. I was going to take a few months break from competing after the Cork competition and just concentrate on training so that break is just postponed by a few weeks.

The plan for training between now and the competition at the beginning of December is one of higher intensity and lower volume as that seems to suit me better in the run up to a competition than the doubles/ volume programme. Training plan is very simple, just focusing on the snatch, clean and jerk, power variations, squats and then a bit of abdominal work and stretching. It's all going well at the moment anyway, hopefully this keeps up and I'll have good things to report in a few weeks!

Getting away

The last few weeks I've been feeling a bit sluggish and weak. I have had some issues with abdominal activation and tight ankles and I keep promising myself that I'll throw something into my training programme to work these minor issues out but somehow, I just haven't felt like I've had the time. I'm trying to start up my business and train for all the competitions as well as a million other things in my personal life and the net result is nothing getting done really. I was in great form for York but Cork was the one I've been planning for longer and I spent all last week dreading it to the point where I was losing sleep. Stupid really as there's no one holding a gun to my head; I'm doing this for the fun of it. I'm not normally a negative person so I decided something had to be done.

So I took the weekend off life and went out West for some wandering around in fields and forests and a bit of fishing. This was exactly what I needed. All of a sudden, when I didn't have to do anything, I wanted to do everything. I took out my notebook and made lists of all the things I needed to do and how I planned to go about them. I'm back in Dublin 3 days now and I've already put at least half the plans into action and I know how I'm going to go about the rest of them. 

Training is still feeling pretty hard but I'll be tapering next week so I'm confident that I'll feel a bit differently once I'm physically a bit more rested. This is the closest to a competition that I've ever stayed on the doubles programme (volume) and I really don't think it works for me. The reason I'm on the doubles programme now is I've spent most of the last six months preparing for all the competitions and there has just been too many interruptions to training. Cork is in a week and a half, I'm going to give it everything I have and then get back to at least six months of uninterrupted training. 

Summary of this post: 1) When you have to much to do and you're not getting it done, go to the woods. 2) Too many competitions are bad. M'kay?

Centenary Competition, York. 3rd September 2011 *Warning: long post!*

55, 60(f), 61(4kg pr!)

69, 75(f), 75(F or 5kgpr?...)

This is the biggest competition I’ve done to date. I had about 2 or 3 weeks’ notice to prepare for it but as I’m preparing for a competition in Cork in October anyway, it didn’t make too much difference to my training plan. It actually fell at the start of max week anyway, so it was just like a very public max session!

My preparation had gone well and in the week run up to the competition, I was physically and mentally in great form. I have a rigorous mental training regime in the run up to competitions which I think is almost more important than the physical training programme. When I’m on my own, I imagine doing all the lifts successfully and when I’m in anyone’s company at all, I don’t shut up about the competition, about how well I plan to do, about how good I feel, about how excited I am... basically I just think about the competition all the time and make sure it’s positive! (Yeah, I’m a bucket of laughs coming up to a competition!)

My coach’s taper plan went well and I was dying to lift heavy by the time the competition came up. I had a good night’s sleep the night before thanks to an early morning flight and camomile tea. I made sure I arrived early in the venue on competition day and had a good look out at the platform, visualising what good lifts wood look like from there. Weighed in at 61.6kg, pretty much what I was expecting. Unfortunately, I had a bad case of verbal diarrhoea; I was unable to have a thought without vocalising it but apart from that, I was managing my nerves well. (A well meaning “shut the f*** up Dee sorted that out!)

Warm up just seemed to click and I was really chomping at the bit. I made my first lift fairly easy and after a short celebration, I got angry and focused on getting my target snatch for the day: 60kg. I ran out on the platform, forgot to set up mentally and visualise a good lift and just heaved. It was too far out front and too slow from the start and I ended up on my ass. I decided to try a Tommy Hayden trick that has served me well in the past and add 1kg. I don’t know why it works and I don’t care. There was no way in hell I was missing that lift. I took a few seconds longer on the platform to visualise a successful lift, smiled and assured myself that I had the lift and that the physical act of snatching the bar was a mere formality. I pulled with all my might, kept it close and it hit a good path because it felt rather light. Wobbly right knee and scrunchy face aside; good lift! New national record and personal best by 4kg.

It seemed like a lifetime until my clean and jerks came around and I had to keep telling myself I was not tired. I pressed 65kg in the warm-up which made Wayne call for 69kg instead of 70kg. I got on the platform and just horsed the bar up with no consideration for technique or setup. It was rough as can be but good lift. I called 75kg for my second lift. I have a silly superstition, and I don’t know where it started, but I believe that I need to fail a new number once before I get it. I reckon my body is testing out the weight before it lets me commit to it but more likely is I’m just a mad coconut. Either way, I had two shots at the 75kg (which was target c&j of the day). For my first one, I gave it my all but felt my right arm pressing on the way up as it often does during a heavy lift. I’ve strained myself trying to hold on to this in the past so, discretion being the better part of valour, I chucked it. I felt pretty sure of it the second time and swaggered onto the platform, taking my time chalking my hands and visualising a good lift. I did everything I had practiced and it felt good. I really felt like I stuck it, I didn’t feel any kind of a press-out at all. I got my down signal and was feeling pretty chuffed but unfortunately, two of the three referees saw something they didn’t like. You can see the video below from two angles and decide yourself but I still haven’t had anyone who can tell me why it wasn’t a good lift. This would have been a new national record, new personal best by 5kg. Would have also given me a national record in total too so I’m a little disappointed and confused but overall, really very happy with my lifting and I had a great day and a lovely trip.

Anyway, there’s another competition in 6 weeks in Cork and now I have the 75kg under my belt once, it should be easier to do it again and hopefully a few kg more by then.

I want to thank Ed for his support and Wayne for coaching and the rest of the Irish team for some deadly craic and banter!

By the way, York is a lovely town and well worth a visit.

Dee 61kg, snatch attempt 3 

Dee 75kg, c&j attempt 3 

Max week, July

So this is the end of another max week of which the Edenderry open was the first day. I don't think it's possible to treat a competition as just another heavy training day, well not for me anyway. I get very wound up about competition and that seems to take more out of me than just the lifting on it's own, even if I didn't actually lift that much in the actual competition!
So as I said, I snatched 50kg and clean and jerked 70kg at the competition last Saturday. Wednesday, I snatched 56kg very easily and with perfect technique and today (Saturday again), I clean and jerked a very disappointing 67kg. Although I cleaned 70kg twice easily after that, I just couldn't keep the head about me to jerk it.
I have 5 weeks now until my next max day and 11 weeks until my next competition so hopefully there'll be no interruptions to the training plan and I can get on with making the improvements I know I'm capable of.
I know I said I didn't think I needed to make improvements to my training plan but perhaps some more heavy jerks or jerk heaves might be useful to give me confidence under the bar. I think my major problem is wussing out like a scaredy cat!
I also need to get back to that place where I just enjoy the lifting and stop worrying about if I can lift more or not. I'll save that for the max week and in the meantime, I'll just lift.

Edenderry Open

Snatch: 50kg, 55kg (f x 2)
Clean and Jerk: 65kg, 70kg (f), 70kg

I definitely didn't have as good a day as at the Seniors back in May and I was disappointed in my lifting; I was expecting a lot more. The usual cliches apply here about how it can't always go right and there's always next time. The fact that I can't pinpoint one exact reason for being off form is niggling at me too but I'm determined to keep training hard and make up for this little blip.

I took 1st place anyway and overall, it was a good day. It's always fun chatting to other weightlifters and meeting new faces and the competition atmosphere on it's own is just great craic.

I don't think I really need to change much in my training, I reckon I'm pretty much on the right track with it.

Below is a video of some of my lifts. Hopefully next competition will go a little better.

Quiet time

Well, I haven't posted since the Nationals because nothing has really been happening. I've been tipping away at my lifts four times a week and gradually increasing the amount of flexibility and accessory work that I do. I have a competition tomorrow in Edenderry and I'm quite looking forward to it.
I was away on holidays a few weeks ago and I had a minor hip ouch that had to be rested for a few days but apart from those two brief interruptions, training has been going well.
So this is a short post as I'll probably have plenty more to say after the competition tomorrow and hopefully it will all be good! 

The Irish Senior Weightlifting Championships in Belfast

Well, I've been training for the Seniors, pretty much since last October. Result! I am really happy with how it went down; I don't think it could have gone much better really.

bw: 61.5kg
Snatch: 50kg, 54kg, 57kg (pr+1)
Clean and jerk: 65kg, 70kg (f), 70kg (pr+5kg)
I came 2nd in my weightclass and held a national record for 2 seconds (until it was broken again!)
This is 12kg onto both my competition lifts (45/58 at the Cork Open last October).

The plan for now is to chill out for a few days and be happy with where I am and then get angry and start preparing for the Cork open on October 15th. I reckon I could well do 60 odd kilos in the snatch by then and maybe 80kg in the clean and jerk if my jerk continues to behave. The cleans are fairly easy now so I don't imagine they will be much of a problem.

Some things I'm going to concentrate on are pressing, stretching my hips and ab work. These are things I already do but not very consistently. I'm also going to go back to focusing on volume for awhile rather than intensity. Until about 6 weeks ago, I had been doing 6 doubles at 80% for snatch, clean and jerk and squat and while I found it rather boring and monotonous, it seems to be like money in the bank. When I went on to singles after a few months on the doubles programme, my lifts took a massive jump and I had endless energy.

Below is a photo of my trophy and videos of the lifts. I can't wait until next max week! :)

The best day of lifting I've ever had

Scientific experiment result: WIN!

Sorry, this is going to be a bit of a long post but it's been awhile since I've posted.

So I've been eating my way up to a training weight of 63kg and gravity seems to like this. Lifting has been going very well indeed. I feel stronger and more confident with the weights and recover easier. Coach seems to think I'm better at this weight and I tend to agree.

About two weeks ago, I arrived in the gym feeling wrecked after a very long draining day of lectures but I perked up so much in the warm up and felt so on form that Coach let me max out on the snatch. I came pretty damn close to 55kg but keeping true to my pattern, I generally need to fail a new number a couple of times before I hit it. Got the 55kg on Monday anyway and failed 57kg twice. 55kg was shockingly easy too, seemed it was up before I got a chance to put some welly into it!
I then hit a solid 120kg for a high bar, ass to grass backsquat. Seems like a fair bit of payback for not a whole lot of effort on this lift. Back in November I was killing myself backsquatting heavy at every opportunity and only just managed to squeeze out 125kg lowbar style but with the massive differences between these two variations of this lift for me, I doubt I'd have hit 120 highbar style back then.

Wednesday was clean and jerk day and was equally sucessful. I worked up to a very solid comfortable 65kg which is miles behind where I should be but it's progress anyway. I felt in control of every part of the lift and nothing was left to chance. I'm gradually moving away from the attitude of "put as much energy as possible towards the bar and hope it lands where it should"!

Saturday was, as the title suggests, the best day of lifting I've ever had. The atmosphere was great in East Coast Barbell and I was nervous and shaking but otherwise in good form. I warmed up and snatched up to 50kg quite quickly and with no drama. Every lift just went where it should and felt good. I missed 55kg twice and was just about to walk away to start getting ready for the clean and jerk when Coach suggested I try 56kg. I thought he was craazy but he knows best so I tried it and sure enough, it went up! Three cheers for max week, I put 3kg on my snatch. Check it yo!

Took a few minutes to let myself feel happy about that and then started the clean and jerk. Went up in 5s from 45kg and form felt good. 65kg was great. It felt easy enough and I really stuck it.

I tried two attempts at 70kg then and the cleans were easy but no dice on the jerks. The first was too far behind and I almost mashed myself and then the second one was too far forward. I'm pretty happy that it's there though.

I have the seniors Competition in Belfast in three weeks and I fully intend to continue to eat my way to success. I have plenty of time to solidify these lifts at a slightly lower bodyweight after that.
I <3 Lifting! :)

Science!

I've been conducting a very scientific experiment using a sample size of one (me!) I want to see the effect of different nutrition and different training modes using my lifting as a marker for progress. It's all very scientific and I will publish my findings in a prominent scientific journal very soon no doubt and the Daily Mail can pick it up and quote me as saying that weightlifting either causes or cures cancer, (or both as they frequently do).

So you've all seen the effect of project abs: less food equals abs but also less weight lifted. As my goal is to lift more weight, this is not ideal. I know I would probably get stronger at the lower weight if I chipped away at it, but food is too tasty so I'm back up at 62kg and have been maintaining this since project abs ended.

Non specific training: While metabolic conditioning and other such ways of training all have their benefits, none of them seem very applicable to me right now. Having spent years doing non specific interval style training, I find the weightlifting on it's own to be a more efficient and more effective way of making strength gains and keeping fit for meeting any non specific challenges that arise. I believe squats to be the key to this progress.

Cycling: I view this as a way of getting from A to B, not of getting exercise done. However, due to my lackadaisical approach to time keeping, I frequently find myself belting across town as fast as my little legs will go, fighting against the lactic acid building up in my legs. Whenever I take a week off, I notice that even though I'm less hungry, the scales isn't as friendly. I have yet to notice an effect of cycling on my lifting.

And so, armed with this knowledge, I have come up with a very scientific equation to a successful healthy productive life.

Squats + Healthy food x pink leg warmers = Win. 

Last few days of project abs folks. If you intend to donate, better get on it now. Donate here now please Donations are very much appreciated and you will be entered in a draw for a lovely portrait of you or a loved one thanks to the very generous and talented Daire Lynch. (Click this to see his art!). 

Here are some training videoes because I got a new camera toy.

Another max week

Monday 14th March 2011
I felt strong. I snatched up to 51kg feeling really good. All the lifts were whoosh boom. 53kg just would not go up. I tried three times but no dice. Squatted up to 115kg oly style and failed 120kg. I'm not sure if I couldn't do it or if I gave it up but left it there anyway.

Rested Tuesday and Wednesday

Thursday morning was max clean and jerk. They started out great and they got sexier as it got heavier. I hit a really sweet 63kg, got a great 66kg clean but the jerk was not meant to be.  I dropped it behind me, couldn't get out of the way on time and squashed myself with it. I have a rather nasty bruise on my back as a testament to how badass I am. (A few minutes later, I ditched a 45kg overhead squat down my back and hit the exact same spot D'oh!). Didn't try to max the squat as I thought it best to Save myself for Saturday.

Friday 18th March: I got a really awesome sports massage and dry needling at Functional Training Ireland, felt much looser after it. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Saturday 19th March 2011- East Coast Barbell, Bray
Even if I don't hit what I'm expecting, I always have the funs at East Coast Barbell. I arrived full of beans and strong as bulls and I dived straight into the snatch. I got up to 52kg feeling amazing, no problems but hit a wall at 54kg. Three times. I tipped back down and attempted to work back up. I got as far as doing a few singles at 47kg but they were inconsistent and I was getting frustrated so I listened to the little voice in my head telling me to move on and started to work on the clean and jerk. I didn't want to max out as I'd done so 2 days previously and wanted to save my legs for the squat so I just worked on tech at about 85%. It felt technically good but I still need to get more aggressive. I managed to squat up to 115kg but failed 117kg, it just wasn't there. Dee has an opportunity to improve. Again.

Max week results:
Snatch: 52kg (-1kg) boo :(
Clean and jerk: 63kg (+1kg)
Squat: 115kg (I think that's an oly style PR, not sure)
Bodyweight: about 62kg (Hopefully a few kgs of this is just water)

My charity website is open for two more weeks so now is a great time to get donating. DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!
Remember, all donations, big and small, are greatly appreciated and go into a draw for a lovely portrait of you or a loved one thanks to the very generous and talented Daire Lynch. (Click this to see his art!).  

The mysteries of losing fat

So one thing that this challenge has thought me is that a lot of what I thought about fat loss is complete nonsense. Physically, it's really not as complicated as I had previously expected. It is simply eating the amount of healthy food that you need to meet your energy needs. Healthy food for me is meat, vegetables and a bit of nuts (and the odd few mandarins when I'm training) but humans being a diverse lot, I'd imagine that would vary from person to person quite a bit.
I don't buy into the "good calories bad calories" as much as I used to. Sure, good quality food is better for your health- duh! But at the end of the day, calories are calories. (I'm not talking about calories as they appear on the nutritional information on food labels; I reckon that figure is arbitrary. It was derived by burning the food in a bomb calorimeter and maybe I'm missing something vitally important here, but unless you are a bomb calorimeter, they don't really apply to you.) If you've got a bit of extra fat you're looking to lose, it's generally not enough to just eat good quality food (although that's a very good start); I find that will only get me so far. Portion control is the key. Only you can figure out how this applies to you. Monkey around with different quantities and find out what works best. It's not about your metabolism and it's not about hormones the gubbermint are putting in your beef, it's all the extra things you eat that you don't need to. Metabolism is a lie the nutritionists made up to keep you fat and keep them in the business of selling you weight loss rubbish.

Now, with the physical mysteries dispelled, I can tell you I find the mental aspect a complete mess! After a crazy paddy's day on the sauce and giving in to stupid hangover cravings, I'm now about 62kg. I'm finding maintaining to be quite a difficult task in general actually. Moderation is waay harder than abstinence! And so I find myself back on the sugar train. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm lazy and weak. Just because I know exactly what kind and how much food I need does not mean that I'm going to always do the right thing.

Now, I'm going to attempt to get off the sugar train again without delay. I reckon two weeks off the booze then the odd glass of red wine at the weekend should do it. I've a feeling the answer to this problem will be good planning.

Last day of max week tomorrow, I'll keep you all posted.

My charity website is open for two more weeks so now is a great time to get donating. DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!
Remember, all donations, big and small, are greatly appreciated and go into a draw for a lovely portrait of you or a loved one thanks to the very generous and talented Daire Lynch. (Click this to see his art!). 

Twelve days later...

So almost two weeks on, I'm managing to hang on in around 60kg, although I'm finding it a bit harder. The body has decided it requires a constant fuel of dark chocolate and cream in coffee and it has a compelling argument. Training's been great the last few days and I've put it down to the extra few calories but it didn't really seem to help testing my lifts too much today. Let's take a look at how I got on...

Saturday 12th March 2011
Squad training at the always lovely East Coast Barbell. (Basically maxing out on snatch and clean &jerk).

Snatch: Warmup felt so-so. Noticed a decline in quality around 45kg but I was still getting them up there. Hit 50kg easy, failed 52kg three times. I could examine all the factors but it just wasn't there today and I knew it wasn't there after the first fail. Unable to disappoint my adoring fans, I gave it socks anyway! Fairly disappointed though as I felt very strong going in today and training's been great lately. I wonder if the pressure of lifting in front of folks got to me as I seem to do better with the snatch in training. If that's the case, it does not bode well for competing and I need to sort that s**t out!

Clean and Jerk: Despite my weak performance on the snatch, I felt fresh going into these. The jerks got better and better as the session went on. Really got into a groove at about 57kg and felt all kinds of wonderful things happen with the jerk that have been fairly rare up to this. I'm always surprised when the jerk goes well and it went really well today. 60kg was so effortless and 63kg (pr +1kg) was the best of the day (based on how it felt and what others said to me). Failed 66kg twice unnecessarily, both due to inattention to the clean really. I consider my clean to be the best thing since sliced bread and take it for granted but I'm going to have to start paying it a bit more attention. First clean was a bit out in front, had to fight it in to place and wasn't set up properly for the jerk, went soft and pressed it out in front. Failed the second clean with some owee feelings in my teres major. Don't think it's anything a bit of rest won't fix.

So based on the performance today and how I'm feeling now, I reckon I've a few more things to work on.
I'm probably the last person that should be diagnosing my weaknesses, inflexibilities and imbalances but here I go anyway!
Inflexible ankles, glutes and hips- especially hips. They hurt a lot from squatting. Relatively weak adductors, upper back- affecting the clean recovery. Imbalance between strong spinal erectors and weak abs. Lazy glutes, not activating.

In response to this, think I'm going to do even more core work, stop dodging my squats and stretch more. Need to get a pullup bar sorted, pullups are the business. I feel compelled to do wallslides and band pullaparts. I'm going to throw in more presses too. Lastly, going to have a chat to the glutes and see what their major malfunctions are. I'm sure they just want more sweets or something.

How to be an olympic weightlifter

So I like blogging, and even though project abs is essentially over, I haven't even come close to my fundraising target so I'm going to keep sharing my two cents with you good folks.

I love Olympic weightlifting. I love the whoosh boom of a good snatch. I love getting wound up for a good angry jerk. I didn't always love it though. I'm not lifting that long, I don't claim to know a whole lot, but for what it's worth, here are the little nuggets of information I've picked up so far.

The lifts are a good mix of technique and strength and while I considered myself strong, I was a bit impatient about the time involved in learning the technique. I've toyed with the lifts for about two or three years now, only getting serious and giving them the time they deserve since April last year. I probably could have shortened the journey a bit if I'd put the effort in at the start. To anyone who wants to start learning the lifts, here is my advice:

Get strong first. Put in the time with squats at every session. Don't scrimp on the deadlifts and pressing either. Eat lots and eat well. With insufficient protein, you'll feel like crap. Plenty of sleep is important for recovery too.

Do thousands of reps at no/ low weights. Drill the techniques until you're beyond bored. Then do some more. Time spent getting technique right in the early stages is like money in the bank. Concentrate on keeping the bar path close and getting your hips into the bar on the snatch and clean. If I ever figure out the jerk, I'll let y'all know!

Get a coach. There's no point in drilling thousands of reps if you're doing it wrong. It seems pretty difficult to unlearn bad techniques i.e. bending elbows early. This is a problem I've never had personally, but my coach tells me it's a pain in the neck to untrain.

Train consistently. If you're serious about improving your lifts, you're going to need to devote time and energy to them. I find that if I haven't snatched in a few days, my timing and technique seems a little off. Because of this, I'll try to get to the gym to snatch at least every two or three days, even if I don't have a lot of time. Twenty minutes is enough to get a snatch workout done and there are some days that's all I've had but it keeps me ticking over.

Get flexible. http://mobilitywod.blogspot.com/ That is all that needs to be said about that.

Wear pink legwarmers. This adds 10kg to each lift. FACT.

DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!). 

The end: Isabel 2 and pullups

Tested pullups yesterday, got 6 strict as opposed to the 4 ropey ones I got at the start of this challenge

This was done after a full workout of snatches, and jerks. Not awful, could be better though?

Isabel 1: Wednesday 26th January 2011 2:52 (30kg, 30 snatches)
Isabel 2: Saturday 5th March 2011 2:22 (30kg, 30 snatches) 30second personal best. Sound!

Even if I had managed to bypass the brain, the quadz were burnin' yo! Seemed very easy at first but got extremely difficult after about a minute. Still, I'm fairly happy with that.

Right, It's all done and dusted. I've done my part and lost the weight, showed off my abs and improved all the parameters I said I would. It's now your turn- if you're going to donate, then just donate (if you haven't already) please at this link DONATE NOW! All donations are secure and go straight to Childline/ ISPCC, a great charity that has been Ireland’s leading independent children’s charity advocating for the rights, well being and protection of children for over 100 years. This means alot to me and I really appreciate your support.
All donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).

Retesting

Grace 1: Thursday 6th January 2011 5:03 (40kg, 28 reps)
Grace 2: Friday 4th March 2011 5:13 (40kg, 30 reps)
Kind of annoyed I got a slower time, it really felt like I was pushing myself here. See video and post acceptable excuses for my poor performance to comments. Thanks!

 And donate please! http://www.mycharity.ie/event/projectabz/

What now?

I've got a severe dose of the "what-nows". I've been asked 100 times over the past few days what I plan to do now that project abs is over. Simple answer: I'm not 100% sure.

I would consider my project abs a success in that I followed a course of action, pretty much as I said I would and reached my stated aims of making my abs more visible. I've raised a few quid and I hope I've increased people's general awareness of ISPCC/Childline. As a bonus, I've raised my general fitness levels and just feel better in my clothes and in my skin.

What I do know is I'd like to maintain this weight and with that in mind, I'm probably going to carry on as I have been over the last 8 weeks, with a few minor changes. The main focus of project abs was losing fat and getting lean at all costs. Hopefully maintaining will be a friendlier objective to achieve. The way I'd go about this is to use my general nutrition of the last 8 weeks as a template and tweak it a little e.g. fruit with each meal and coffee in my cream. I reckon I wasn't eating enough fat for the last few weeks, (the skin on my hands has gone to muck) so that will be addressed with more nuts, olive oil and cream. If I have a beer or two at the weekend, I won't stress about it. I will not get mashed and eat all the kebabs though!

My main training focus now is the weightlifting. I want a bodyweight snatch ASAP, I don't care who I have to kill in the process. With some technique work, I don't think a 70kg clean and jerk would be a pipe dream. I have May 7th in my head as an important date, this is the date of the Seniors competition in Jordanstown. I'm not sure if these goals are achievable by this date, (they probably aren't at all) but I'm bloody well going to try anyway!

Apart from that, I'd like to enjoy what I eat and how I train so the important thing will be to not tie myself to any specific path that won't make me happy. Some of the things that make me happy in small quantities are pull ups, swimming, running, Crossfit, beer and chocolate. These will not feature largely in my future, but they will make appearances from time to time.

I'm open to comments and criticism of what I've been at over the last few weeks and would appreciate feedback and suggestions on where best to put my energy for the next few weeks, months etc.

I'm planning on hitting Grace or Isabel and the max pull up challenge at the weekend. Videos soon.

Weigh in 8a: The finale

Weight: 57.7kg (- 9kg)
Waist: 63cm (- 12cm)
Hips: 92cm (- 8cm)
Thighs: 54.5cm (-7cm)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before

Before

After

After

The finished product

DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).

Weigh in 8: The dog ate my homework!

It's 6:39am. I'm confused as to who owns those feet, they may well be mine. It has taken me about 30 minutes to simply get dressed. I have to leave for college in 6, no 5 minutes. The location of the camera is a total mystery and my camera man is dead or asleep. He looks angry when I try to talk to him, I suppose he's asleep. Right, so no pictures today. I'm all bloated from the sodium in the damn hot sauce anyway. I'll lay off the sauce and get the pictures tomorrow.

Weight: 59.4kg (+0.2kg since last week, - 7.3kg since beginning)
Waist: 64cm (-2cm since last week, -11cm since beginning)
Hips: 92cm (- 3cm since last week, - 8cm since beginning)
Thighs: 55cm (-0.5cm since last week, - 6cm since beginning)


I retested my 500m swim time today, came out with 13:15 (previously 17:25, that's 4 minutes and 10s better. I'm happy enough with that!) I'll get through the rest of the testing this week and will hopefully have some illustrative videos for y'all.

How to be awesome like me... or crazy!

1: Cook twice as much as you need to eat for one meal
What a car crash of a week! In a desperate attempt to gain meaningful employment, I have started yet another course in biochemistry. To cover my bases, I also started a pool lifeguard course and I had my final personal trainer exam. As if juggling three courses in one week wasn't enough, I also have my own oly training, coaching, chinchilla breeding, and work. Phew! If that didn't send me screaming for the drink or an ice-cream covered pizza, nothing will. Through the past few weeks I've kept healthy eating as my priority. This isn't always the easiest thing to do. The unexpected can always be expected to happen and I'm not the best at dealing with changing plans. I get grumpy when things don't go as I'd envisaged. However, no matter what life's been throwing at me lately, I've found it so much easier to deal with it knowing that I always have a lunchbox of yummy, nutritious food to hand. Somehow, nothing seems as bad when my tummy is taken care of. Cooking my food in advance has been the single best habit I've formed over the last few weeks. If you haven't tried it, get yourself a lunchbox and when you're cooking dinner, make a little extra for lunch the next day. Put some imagination and effort in, and a bit of Frank's Red Hot Sauce (The second best discovery of the last few weeks!).

2: Eat vegetables

Vegetables are disgusting. Anyone who disagrees is a liar or completely insane. Do not trust these people! Having said that, I'd definitely condone the use of vegetables at every meal but it's like mobility work. Eating veg and stretching and rolling all have to be done with a grumpy scrunched up face, so everyone knows that you're doing it because you have to and absolutely not because you want to. Both activities are crap and rubbish and 100% necessary. Frank's Red Hot Sauce can help here too. 

I wish I was on commission. 

3: Wear pink legwarmers.

4: Click here to DONATE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!). 

Weigh in 7

Weight: 59.2kg (- 0.4kg since last week, - 7.5kg since beginning)
Waist: 66cm (0cm since last week, -9cm since beginning)
Hips: 95cm (+1cm since last week, - 5cm since beginning)
Thighs: 55.5cm (+1.5cm since last week, - 6cm since beginning)

DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).

Max Week (warning: lots of boring oly lingo)

So I've been testing out my lifts all week, and I was very interested to see if the loss of ~7kg in ~6 weeks would make a difference to my lifts.

Previous lifts: Snatch- 52kg, clean and jerk- 61kg, front squat- 95kg (all at 67kg)
New lifts: Snatch- 53kg, clean and jerk- 62kg, front squat- 90kg (all at 60kg)

Day 1: Max snatch and max front squat
Snatched 25kg x 3, 30kg x 3, 35kg x 3, 38kg x 3, 40kg x 2, 42kg x 1, 45kg, 48kg, 51kg, 53kg (f), 53kg (pr +1kg), 55kg (f)
They started out good, hips into the bar and bar very close but somewhere around 48kg I felt it get away from me a bit and I just couldn't keep it close enough. Whenever I manage to get it in the groove, it feels infinitely easier and it just wasn't happening like that today. The plan for the next snatch max day (Thursday) was to arrive about 30 minutes early and drill correct technique with the bar, forget about the nerves of maxing and concentrate really hard on keeping it close from the beginning of the warmup.
Front squat felt fine and only started to slow down at 90kg but failed 95kg. I was very surprised at this as I was pretty cocky that I'd get 100kg. With three more days to attempt it, not too worried.

Day 2: Max clean and jerk and max front squat
Clean and jerked (reps on the jerk): 42kg x 3, 45kg x 3, 48kg x 2, 51kg, 54kg, 57kg, 62kg (f), 62kg (pr +1kg), 65kg (f x 2)
Again, started well but once the bar got a little heavy, I had trouble keeping good technique. As you can see from the video at the bottom, cleans were ridiculously easy. I need to work more on dialling in good jerk technique when the weight gets heavy.
The exact same thing happened with the front squat. I had to consider that I've lost a little bit of strength with the bodyweight and the reason my snatch and clean & jerk have gone up a little is down to improvements in technique.

Day 3: Max snatch
Snatched up to 48kg, failed 51kg three times. Same thing happened as Monday but even worse as in the bar just got away from me and felt very heavy. I suppose correcting this will come with practice but it's frustrating all the same. I shouldn't have such defined expectations because I get very disappointed when I don't meet them. I was very tired today in particular and called it a day on the front squat at 85kg even though I was supposed to go to 90kg. I just wasn't sure I would make it and I thought it best to stay away from failure. It wouldn't really add anything to my lifting, just tire me out.
Coach reckons I should not bother with day 4 of max week and take a rest instead and I'm inclined to agree.

Conclusion: losing 7kg in bodyweight is not all that good for my lifting. I'd be lying if I said I was awfully surprised but I'm still disappointed.

Have a look at my video from this week anyway which I'd imagined was going to be a document of triumph but instead turned into a blooper reel. At least it has a daysent soundtrack, with many thanks to a fantastic band called Calico Jak. The song is called "Tore Down" and you can hear more from them at www.calicojak.com

Here's the link to donate DONATE HERE NOW PLEASE!, all donations gratefully accepted. A reminder that all donations received through this website will automatically enter a draw for a portrait of you or a loved one, thanks to the wonderful and talented Daire Lynch (click this to see his art!).
A few people have been asking me for help with their training goals lately and I'd happily talk about this stuff all day long but for the duration of project abs, if I help you out, please help my charity out. It's such a good cause. Thanks! :)

Week 6 update

Weight: 59.6kg (-1.4kg since last week, -7.1kg since the start)
Waist: 66cm (-4cm since last week, -9cm since the start)
Hips: 94cm (-1 cm since last week, -6cm since the start)
Thighs: 54cm (- 3cm since last week, -7.5cm since the start)

15th February

15th February

Training's been going quite well lately. I have max week all this week which just means I test out all my lifts to see how much improvement I've made. I normally do this every 4 weeks. The normal training schedule was interrupted by the squad session so the last max week was Christmas week and I was a good 7kg heavier. At that point, my snatch was 52kg, clean and jerk 65kg (both pretty ropey and the 65kg had a bit of a press out).
I'm pleased to report that day one of this max week went well. Stay tuned for a full progress report and details on Friday.

Slip ups

My camera man is away on holidays today, weigh in with pictures will be tomorrow.

There have been a few things I've struggled with so far and I'd like to share them and how I went about overcoming them.

The most obvious is the sugar cravings at the start. Strangely, these took a couple of days to kick in but once they did, it was quite annoying. Coming off the mince pie diet was quite a shock to the system. I found that green tea can be very helpful. Mostly, when I notice that I'm craving sugar, it's out of boredom and going to the effort of making green tea can direct my attention enough that I'll get distracted by something shiny and forget about food for a little while.

For the inappropriate hunger pangs, (e.g. just 20 minutes after a meal when I know I couldn't possibly be hungry) I've been having a glass of soda water. For the first few weeks, I made sure I always had soda water with me everywhere I went. What I'd been mistaking for hunger a lot of the time was just excess acid in my stomach and the bicarbonate in the soda water can help neutralise that. After a few mouth fulls of the stuff, I'd usually find that I wasn't hungry at all.

I haven't counted calories at all during this challenge, just listened to my body and ate when I reckoned it was time to do so. Portion control for me meant eating very slowly. It takes awhile for the body to register it's been fed so by slowing down my eating, the amount I was eating was closer to what I needed.

Temptation wasn't too much of an issue for me this time because I'm doing this publicly and for charity. I've had a lot of support; no one's been trying to tempt me into hell with their homemade cheesecake. If there are some biscuits doing the rounds, they generally don't come my way and I've been careful to keep my kitchen sugar free. I've been in surprisingly few situations where my will has been tested.
That said, since the start I've had an almost obsessive craving for a slice of toast with marmalade which I finally succumbed to last night; one of two infractions since Beerlin (the other one was a single sneaky housewarming bottle of beer last week). I was disappointed and pleased at the same time to find that my taste buds have changed and it was tasteless and bland. I had a fillet of salmon soaked in lemon juice later and it was infinitely tastier. When I finish this challenge, I think I may continue with this way of eating save for the odd bottle of beer.

There is one thing that I'm still struggling with though and this is where my self restraint meets it's limit. COFFEE. It's not exactly going to damage the outcome, it'll just make me feel a bit crap along the way. I said I was going to give up coffee as I couldn't cope with the insulin spikes and dips but I lasted approximately 4 days. There was one morning I was up at 6am for work and used that as a justification for "just one cup" which the following day that became two cups and it's snowballed from there. Why does it taste so good and make me so happy only to bring me crashing into an abyss of grumpy crapiness?! I know it might be obvious that green tea could help here too, but sometimes I go in to the kitchen to make a cup of green tea and my hands suddenly get a mind of their own and completely without my permission, I leave the kitchen with a steaming cup of damn fine coffee, black as a moonless night and sure once I have it in my hand, with all those lovely smells, I have to drink it. I'd be interested to know if anyone has a solution for this heinous addiction.

P.S. I do not recognise decaf coffee as a viable alternative.

Mmmmmmmmmm.............. coffee..................

Week 5. Home stretch!

It's been a manic week between working wonky hours and moving to a new apartment so weigh in has been delayed by a day and posting has been delayed by a couple more. Training took a minor hit but nutrition remained on track and all is going well.

Max week starts Monday which means I test my olympic lifts and my squat. Fingers crossed that the cut in weight won't result in a cut in lifts!

Progress update
Tuesday 8th February 2011: Weigh in for week 5

Weight: 61kg (-1.1kg since last week, -5.7kg since beginning)
Waist: 70cm (no change from last week, -5cm from beginning)
Hips: 95cm (3cm from last week, -5cm from beginning)
Thighs: 57cm (no change from last week, -4.5cm from beginning)

8th February

8th February

Halfway point update and East Coast Barbell

Week4: Halfway point

Weight: 62.1kg (-0.9kg since last week, -4.6kg since beginning)
Waist: 70cm (-1.5cm since last week, - 5cm since beginning)
Hips: 98cm (no change since last week, 2 cm since beginning)
Thighs: 57cm (-1cm since last week, -4.5cm since beginning)

31st January

31st January

I'm happy with how the weight's been coming down and I've lost a good amount from my waist. I'm not too worried about my hips and thighs as they've always been stubborn about trimming down anyway, I knew I was going to have to be more patient with them. I can feel the abs just under the skin so hopefully I'll be trimmed down enough in four weeks to actually see them!

Today marks my last day of caffeine. I had thought the odd cup of black coffee wouldn't do too much harm, but I'm finding it making me hungrier when it wears off so I'm going to allow myself one more day of it then go cold turkey. May all the deities help me!


Training is going well. I tipped down to East Coast Barbell in Bray again on Saturday. I really enjoy training there. There's always great coaching, great atmosphere and great banter! Barry is an excellent coach, and I got some new cues which really made a difference to my lifting. It always surprises me how much training with him can improve my technique in just one afternoon. 

I was worried that losing almost 4kg bodyweight would affect my lifting but didn't seem to by much. I hit a really easy 50kg snatch. Very weird, I was under it before I knew what was going on and there was so little effort involved I burst out laughing at the bottom. I suppose I wasn't necessarily limited by strength. Missed 52.5kg with a bump on the head and couldn't muster up the stones needed to make a decent go of it after that. 

I came pretty close to 65kg jerk but no dice, I reckon I was a bit tired from all the snatching before but I felt like I hit a good groove with the 60kg jerk that came before it.

Testing procedure and Isabel

So I've chosen 4 tasks to test my progress.

1: swim - how many lengths can I do in an hour? (Changed to how fast I can swim 500m)
2: pullups - how many unbroken pullups can I do? (changed to chinups)
3: "Grace" (30 clean and jerks) - How fast can I complete this? 
4: "Isabel" (30 snatches)  - How fast can I do this?



I should probably explain a bit about why I've chosen these particular tasks as my tests. The swim test is because I want to do a pool lifeguard certificate towards the end of February, as I feel this will improve my employability. A gym job would be handy for experience and money. I used to swim quite a bit but prior to this challenge, my last time in a pool was probably about a year and a half ago.
The pullups are chosen because they will improve as my pullup strength improves obviously, but also, as I lose weight, they should also become a little easier. I feel they also heavily involve the abs. 
Grace and Isabel were chosen because I am a weightlifter and these involve the olympic lifts. I also feel that they would be a good measure of improvements in my anaerobic capacity. 

Below is my 1st attempt at Isabel, completed 26th January 2011. I think 30kg was a bit light but it'll be a good measure of anaerobic capacity when I repeat it. I finished the workout in 2:52, managing to get through the first ten reps in 28s. I couldn't get into the rhythm again after that but hopefully I will next time I test this. I'm aware technique is rubbish, I just wanted to get it done. That is a perfectly adequate excuse and I'll hear no more on the matter!

What's the point and what's in this for you?

So I've been asked to clarify what the point of this blog is. The idea of setting oneself a personal challenge or a sacrifice for charity is not a new one, for example marathons, climbing mountains, shaving ones head etc. This blog is essentially documenting my "get-abs-a-thon". I have pledged two months of eating a very strict diet (of meat, veg, nuts and a little fruit), training harder and getting to bed early so that all of this is sustainable. It might seem a little unconventional to try to get ripped for charity so maybe I should explain a little more about where the idea came from. 

I have just finished a course in exercise, health studies and personal training and I am eager to put my knowledge into practice. It would be completely unethical to use someone else as a guinea pig in the application of this knowledge and so I am using myself. I need some way of holding myself accountable for my progress and outcome of this personal challenge and raising money for charity seems perfect.

I have raised money for Childline before when I ran the Flora Mini Marathon in 2009 and I believe they are a great charity. I intended to get involved in their collections over Christmas, but never actually got around to it so this is my contribution. 

As well as raising money for charity and helping me to get healthier and fitter, the other point of this blog is to help others along the way to similar goals. Let's just hope I succeed!

So what's in it for you? A wonderful artist that I know has kindly donated his amazing talent to my cause, and by donating to the ISPCC through my website, you will be added into a draw to win a portrait of you or a loved one. Check out other works by the artist Daire Lynch http://www.redbubble.com/people/dairelynch.

So how do you donate? I've set up a secure charity website http://www.mycharity.ie/event/projectabz/ where you can use a credit or laser card to donate. All donations are gratefully recieved and no amount is too small :)

Below are some training videos I have taken this week. Form may not always be perfect, but I'm trying!

   

Hanging leg raises: I need to work on doing these without using momentum.

Rollout using an ab roller.

3 Week update

So after three weeks, I seem to have hit a plateau. As you can see from below, there's not much change. I haven't deviated from the eating plan at all, sticking to meat, veg and nuts. I've also cut down on fruit a little. Perhaps I've underestimated the amount of fat I'm using. 
The plan going forward from here is to use less fat in cooking and choose leaner meat. I'll have a look at my portion sizes too. I'm reluctant to cut out fruit altogether as the only time I eat it is before training and I find it gives me a nice little boost for lifting. I don't think a couple of oranges and apples a week would have that much effect anyway. 
To be honest, I'm not too worried. Weight loss isn't supposed to be linear and there's still five weeks to go. I'm also starting to up the volume of non specific training this week so hopefully that'll help drop another little bit.



Weight: 63.2kg (-0.2kg)

Waist: 71.5cm (- 0.5cm)
Hips: 98cm (no change)
Thighs: 58cm (no change)

24th January

24th January

Week 3

I'd a great time training today. I got a 10kg personal best on the front squat (that previous best was last Monday!) and I've started adding more volume to my programme. Actually, I've been having a great run lately. My snatch technique is really clicking and I'm feeling more energetic.
I went a bit crazy during the first week of this challenge trying to do everything at once and on top of my usual 4 times a week weightlifting schedule, I tried to do millions of burpees, tons of extra ab work, pullups, swimming and metcons. Any rocket scientist could have told me that wasn't going to work unless I wanted to feel like total crap! I was sleeping badly and that's no good for recovery.
So now, I've kinda gone the other way and I don't think I'm doing enough this week. There's about 5 weeks left of this challenge so hopefully that's plenty of time to turn it around. I want make sure I get my usual weightlifiting training in and I'll do what I can after (obviously ab work being a priority.)

This week was a light week: week 1 of my 4 week training cycle and it  looked like this:

Monday 17^th January

Warmup: dynamic stretches, glute activation exercises, overhead squats.

Snatch 25kg x 3, 30kg x 3, 35kg x 3 x 2, 38kg x 2 x 2, 40kg x 2

Powerclean and 2 power jerks: 45kg x 1 x 5

Front squat: worked up to max, 85kg. Failed 90kg. (I was pretty knackered after the previous 2 days of squad training)

Tuesday 18^th January: Rest and ab work (rollouts, rocking hollows)

Wednesday 19^th January

Warmup: dynamic stretches, glute activation, jerk drills

Clean and jerk: 45kg x 3 x 2, 48kg x 2 x 2, 51kg x 1 x 2

Snatch below knees: 35kg x 3, 36kg x 3 (f), 35kg x 3, 36kg x 3

Power jerk: 45kg x 3 x 4 (sloppy)

Front squats: 60kg x 3 x 2, 64kg x 2 x 2, 70kg x 2

Stretch glutes and hip flexors (and again later)

Thursday 20^th January

Warmup: dynamic stretches, glute activation, ohs

Snatch: 25kg x 3, 30kg x 3, 35kg x 3 x 2, 38kg x 2 x 2, 40kg x 1 x 2

Power clean and 2 split jerks: 45kg x 1 x 5

Front squats: 60kg x 3 x 2, 64kg x 2 x 2, 69kg x 1 x 2

Stretch glutes, hip flexors (and hip flexors again later)

Friday 21^st January

Same as Wednesday

Later: ab work: rollouts, rocking hollows

Saturday 22^nd January: Rest and ab work (rollouts and rocking hollows)

Sunday 23^rd January- Coach decided week 1 again but with slightly more volume

Warmup: dynamic stretches, glute activation, ohs

Snatch: 25kg x 3, 30kg x 3, 35kg x 3, 38kg x 2, 40kg x 2 x 6

Powerclean and 2 split jerks: 45kg x 1 x 5

Overhead squat: 35kg x 3, 40kg x 3 x 3

Front squat: 60kg x 3, 70kg, 80kg, 85kg, 90kg, 95kg (pr 10kg) (that maxing wasn't exactly in the programme but I just wanted to)

Ab work (rocking hollows, 15kg plank, hanging leg raises) and stretching (death quad stretch, glute stretch)

I'm still not sleeping great, but better than I was back in week 1 and I think I'm doing pretty well with food. I haven't had any cheats since Berlin and I'm cooking way more and even starting to enjoy it a little (I've never been the biggest fan of cooking). I've discovered a few wonder foods that I just can't get enough of. Spring onions are amazing, so much nicer than other onions and make everything taste nice. Sugar snap peas are a life saver for snacking on and getting my greens in. 

So the plan for next week is to start adding in all the other stuff again (swimming and metcons and the like), just not all at once! I haven't had a chance to test the Crossfit workout 'Isabel' yet ( that's 30 snatches for time) and I don't know if it would really mean anything at this stage but sure if I get a chance, I'll give it a go for the craic and see how I get on.

http://www.mycharity.ie/event/projectabz/ is the website where you can donate to the kids. No amount is too small and it's all very much appreciated.