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! :)
