Life is simple, bring the rain, total loss of fear

I stay up too late but the answer isn't complicated. Step one, shut of television. Step two, go to bed. I'm not as strong as I want to be. Try harder. Harder is heavier, harder is more often, harder is more, again, more. Supplements don't do anything, it's all placebo effect. If you want to get stronger try getting more sleep, try eating more, try eating better. Stressed out? Think a drink might be the answer? Try yoga, try actually relaxing, try shutting everything off, closing your eyes and relaxing. Not proud of the way your apartment looks, clean it up, maybe if you make it look nice you might be proud enough to invite people over. Don't like the way you look? Do something about it. Make a change, try new things, get out of your comfort zone. Tired of snatching 100 all the time? Guess what? You gotta put 101 on the bar, that's it. That's all. Don't be afraid of failure. Fear is what separates winners from losers. Fear is the enemy. Think you can front squat 200? well get on with it then, who is stopping you. Oh yeah, you is stopping you. This is the real world, no body is going to give you the answers, you gotta figure em' out for yourself and when you figure it out you see it's all simple. Why can you lift well some days and you're weak other days? It's not your body, it's your mind. Your body can do so much more but the mind is afraid. You have to switch it around, the mind has to say yes, bring it on without fear, without hesitation, with desire and stomach. Not everyone has the stomach for this job, most people are soft and afraid. Choose to be the man, show them the animal, find yourself and loose yourself, bring the rain. Total loss of fear.

Good lifters

I was doing squats tonight and I got to 170 and it was hard and slow. I had to give it everything and to a common person it might look like that would be my top set. Instead I put on 175, same thing, a tough, hard, all out effort, but it went up. Again, you might think that I should call it a day, but I proceed with 180 and make it ounce again. Now, I am not a relatively good lifter, but I reminded myself tonight of what makes good lifters good. Good lifters get to a heavy weight and it looks like a limit lift, but then they add more weight and continue to make heavier lifter with sheer effort. For common lifters everything has to be easy, it's very easy to spot. Every lift looks easy, and then along the way they miss almost out of nowhere. It's best described as a lack of effort. These lifters get stronger but they only make weights when it's easy. The flip side is what I'm talking about, someone who has mastered down maximum effort. This lifter for example gets to 150 in say the clean and jerk and you think to yourself, damn that looked like a struggle, that was a hard lift, he doesn't have much more. Then you see the lifter do 155, same thing and you are surprised, surely this is a limit weight. Then 160 is loaded and lifted. What this lifter has done is learned to do things the hard way, he has learned to swim against the current. Chad Vaughn is a very good example of this type of lifter. His 1st attempts look very hard and you wonder how much he has left, as someone said, all his lifts look like they are a cunt hair away from a miss, but he makes them.

2011 Nationals

I bombed out for the first time in my life at this years nationals. While it was sweet to become a two-time qualifier it is bitter to have bombed out. My weigh-in was scheduled for 6:30am and lifting for my session began at 8:30am, this was a little earlier than I was used to for maximum performance. Non-the-less I made it to the weigh-in and warm-ups in snatch went as planned with no misses back stage. I came out for my 101 opener and behind me it went, the next two attempts were closer and closer but still out the back door they went. This all seemed to have happened in a flash as if the three attempts were all just one attempt and boom I was out. I went backstage and took my shoes off, I'd never bombed out before and I thought the day was over. It dawned on my later that I was going to have to pull myself together and clean and jerk. I wasn't exactly in the right state of mind at this point and when clean and jerk warm-ups began my lifts felt uncomfortable at best. Somehow I squeeked in my opener at 135 as originally planned. There was a dozen attempts untill my next attempt 140, I cleaned it well and I was starting to feel a good rush of adrenaline flowing through me, it felt good. I lifted the weight overhead but one arm didn't lock out and must have pressed out. I got called on it and three red lights I believe. A dozen attempts later I came out for 145, an attempt that would save face somewhat if that's possible. I pulled on it and racked it forward and on my heels. It kicked me on my ass and the day was over. I went 1/6. Looking back throwing two sessions in per day two weeks before Nationals was maybe a mistake, that's a big change right before a big show, but at the time it was hard to argue with the 108 snatch one week out that it yielded. Other than that I regret going so light leading up to the competition. My body and mind were getting very used to lifting heavy all the time and I believe a negative shock can happen when I all of a sudden did the light weights. I remember my last session everything feeling very tight and unrelaxed. The light workout didn't shake all of that out, but perhaps a heavier workout would have got some of that out of my system. I saw personally the guy that won my session, who jerked 145, went up to 130 the day before. Sometimes it's not a bad idea to "check" if everything is in order.

Star of the North Games 2011 and Senior Nationals

A few weeks back I did the star of the north games up in Saint Cloud, MN. Being that nationals weren't far away I didn't cut down and ended up weighing in at 79.5. I ended up making 2/3 snatches and 3/3 clean and jerks, snatched 104, clean and jerked 145, and totaled 249 for a 4kg PR clean and jerk and 3kg PR total. In other words, it was a good day for me. One of these days I'm gonna make 6/6 lifts.

Senior Nationals are this weekend, I'm leaving thursday, gonna get down there, settle in and lift some big weights. Trainings been going great, I put in 13 workouts last week and the big highlight was a PR 108 snatch last Friday. I'm goin in to nationals with best lifts of 108 snatch, 145 clean and jerk, 249 total. Odds are I'll be in the 77B session since there are some 17 lifters in my class. I'm thinking the B session will be 250 totals and below so if I get a chance to win the B's I'm gonna go for it. The President of Minnesota Weightlifting himself told me to win the B's and I don't want to let him down.

I'll be representing Team Spartacus and Brian Derwin will be coaching me. Representing Team Spartacus will be me in the 77s, Adam Rozmenoski in the 85s, and Allie Henry in the 69s. Allie lifts for NMU, but represents her original club in non-collegiate competitions. Other than those lifters I believe I saw Natalie Johnson and Mike Churchill on the start lifts as far as Minnesota lifters. Remember that I'm born and raised in Iowa so I look forward to seeing fellow Iowa man Jared Enderton who is currently lifting out of Las, Vegas Nevada with John Broz as coach. Also I believe Vince Decker as well as Andy Stocks are going to be there watching so I look forward to seeing familar lifters from the Enderton forum.

I heard there is gonna be a webcast for nationals so if you are interesting in viewing me lift be sure to check out the usa weightlifting website for the link. My session should be early saturday morning just like last year, weigh in at 7am lift at 9am. Other than lifting, I'm looking forward to watching some of the nations best male and female ;) lifters in action.

front squats and such

Update: I qualified for nationals at the Do it now Invitational held at team Spartacus headquarters in Burnsville, MN on May 15th. This is my second year qaulifying for Senior Nationals in the 77kg weight class. I placed 13th in 2010 so I expect a top 10 finish this year, but we will have to see how many 77s are entered this year.

Front squat: A week or two ago i front squatted 182KG or 401lbs with nothing to assist me but a belt and rehband knee sleeves. I did this squat alone with no spotters, but managed to video it and get it up on youtube. Needless to say I was quite excited to squat this weight. This was a goal that I thought would happen sometime before nationals, but it happened much quicker! What's my secret? I front squatted everyday after snatch and clean and jerk, and only performed singles. I wouldn't warm up much either. When I hit 182KG my warm up was 140KG,160KG,170KG,175KG, then 182KG! After doing the 182KG I asked myself, How much can these legs front squat? I think I can front squat 200KG. It may not happend tomorrow, but I see it happening. That's the kind of potential I feel I have. It would be a great acheivment for me to front squat 200KG as I have mad respect for the front squat and it helps with the clean and jerk so much.

Clean and Jerk: Not long ago I decided to max out on clean and I got 145KG. Well, one week ago I attempted to clean and jerk 145KG. I cleaned the weight well and narrowly missed the jerk because it was out front, but this was a strong attempt, the weight was at arms length, the hips were just a tad behind. This weight is gonna go, I can do it, I'm ready for it. This close miss with 145KG made me ask the question, How much can I clean and jerk potentially. The first thing that popped in my head was double bodyweight, 154KG at 77KG. It may not happen tomorrow, but I will do it.

Snatch: Snatch has hit a dry spell. It seems that my success with front squat and clean and jerk have come at the expense of my snatch. I still feel that my snatch felt the strongest when I was squatting at lower percentages, but when I did that it came at the expense of my clean and jerk and my total. It's not that my snatch is terrible, I mean I snatch 105KG weekly and 110KG is my best.

Star of the North Games: I have a local competition next weekend in Saint Cloud, MN. This competition is held every summer and rotates locations between Rochester and Saint Cloud. I'm entered in the 85kg category for this one. I figure I'll weigh in at my training bodyweight and lift some big weights leading up to nationals. No need to watch the diet for this one. I think in the future I might only reduce my weight for national competitions. I'll be in the 85s for state meets and 77s for national meets. I expect to weigh in around 79ish next weekend.

Supplements/Nutrition: I just got 6lbs of whey protein in the mail! I think it's muscle milk brand. I'm trying out some creatine called Podium Gold, actually endorced by the IWF but I'm not sure about it (it smells bad). I kinda miss my straight up cheap Creatine Monohydrate from Target. I'm back in Iowa for the summer and boy do I miss the Universities cafeteria. I'm eating big breakfasts here but what can I say, it's no buffet when you're cooking for yourself. There are some good restaraunts near by. There is this family restaurant called The Family Table and they have the biggest pancakes and alos there's this Oriental place called The Lucky Bamboo with great chicken teriyake on skewers, you get so many! Finally there is a bar near by where you can get some great ribs with a salad and baked potatoe, but it is costly especially when I devour the ribs in like 5mins. I love barbecue ribs! I need to eat out more, I've really been slackin' lately.

More updates soon!

last nine days breakdown

4.29 thru 5.7
Fri- 100SN 130CJ 170FS
Sat- 100SN 135CJ 172FS
Sun- 70SN 70CJ
Mon- 95SN 125CJ 175FS
Tue-100SN 120CJ 165FS
Wed- 100SN 132CJ 170FS
Thu- 90SN 120CJ 145FS
Fri- 105SN 140CJ(PR) 170FS
Sat- 100SN 130CJ 170FS

140 C&J

I clean and jerked 140 last night. My jerk has never felt so on. I think I was even jumping forward on some of my cleans, I was just a whole different lifter last night. This was a lifetime personal record for me. I've cleaned that weight many times in the last year but I've never jerked it. I took a stab at 142, but only did the ol' clean and dump.
Snatch didn't go as well, it took me a few times to make 105, and then I deadlifted 108. I was thinking how people call doing that, deadlifting an attempt, a 'Clark'. So, if you are practicing deadlifts, you are in fact practicing 'Clarks'.
I am now attempting what would make a 250 total in training and hittin' 245. Next Sunday is the meet to qualify for nationals. I need 244. Nationals are in Council Bluffs, IA. My home state! I really want to compete in my home state at nationals. I may even have to cut a mullet come July, one that even Jared Enderton would envy.
My jerks were just so hot last night. What I was doing was relaxing so much before the start of the clean, then I fast twitch the pull, I catch and rise up from the clean, this is where I changed something. I again relax with the bar on my chest and get some air, I hold it while still relaxed, and then I fast twitch the jerk. This going from relaxed to fast twitch is essential. If I am tight before the start of either the clean or the jerk, then the fast twitch is gone. Watch Kendrick Farris, he has it down pretty good. What I've found is that it's not so important to stay tight an entire lift, but more important to relax and quickly fire certain muscles at certain times. The more you can relax before firing the fast twitch stuff, the greater the reaction will be. It was working last night.

Sink or Swim

Sink or swim. this is the philosophy my training has to have. I have to come in everyday and snatch and clean and jerk to the maximum. Some days I'll sink, others day I'll swim. Did I swim today? I'd say no. no progress today. today I drowned. today I died. Will I swim tomorrow. you bet your ass I will. I'm gonna do the butterfly stroke better than Michael Phelps. sink or swim, what's it gonna be. be all that you can be. be the man. be the difference, the difference between you and your competitors is decided on what you lift today. There is no tomorrow, there is only here and now. lift like it's the Olympics in the gym everyday. Bring on the pain. I want it. I want it so bad, here and now, I want to feel like something, instead of like nobody, just a numb dumb machine. I want to try harder and put forth more effort than ever before seen. I can do it. this is my time.

front squat=regular squat

I don't like to call it a front squat because to me it's a regular squat. When we catch a clean the bar is in the front. This is the fundamental squat position for the clean. There is no need to call it a front squat and distinguish it from the back squat. There is the regular squat, aka front squat, and there is the back squat. Never in the sport of weightlifting do you pull a clean and then duck your head under the bar and receive the weight on your back. The back squat is a movement done in the sport of Powerlifting. Now, I'm all for any strength sport. I mean, we're all trying to get strong. I'm not bashing the back squat. There may even come a time when I focus more on it than the regular squat, but as far as I'm concerned the regular squat is the supreme squatting activity for the sport of weightlifting. There are two, possibly three squats in weightlifting. The overhead squat in the snatch, the front squat in the clean, and perhaps another overhead squat if you squat jerk. I know a hell of a lot of lifters have gotten ridiculously strong by back squatting but I just don't see the points when such a position with the bar on the back is never achieved in this sport. Sometimes you just have to believe to achieve and I believe in the regular squat more than the back squat. I did 175kg(385lb) in the squat today, of course it was what I call a regular squat. I'm going to do 182kg(400lb) this spring, that's a goal and I'm ready for it. This goal of a big squat goes against my previous outlook on squatting and not doing much over clean and jerk weights but I'm gonna roll with it and see what happens. Obviously I have that bull strength to squat the bigger weights well over my clean and jerk. I'm going to tap into this bull strength and use it for all it's worth. Below is my easy 175 squat from today, it was a personal record. It's amazing how often I can front squat heavy. Friday I did 170, Saturday I did 172, and now on Monday 175. Of course these squat workouts have absolutely no volume at all. For instance, my squat workout today was after snatches and clean and jerks doing 100,130,150,160,170,175, all for singles. It's different this style of training with maximum intensity and minimum volume. You absolutely have to keep the intensity high or you risk under training. You have to go to maximum every time. The second you back off or take it easy, you kill the adaption process. What you want to do is stay in the fight or flight zone where your body and mind expect heavy weights every training session. If you go light, you die. I'd compare it to the Movie Crank, where the guy can't stop moving or he dies. You have to get fundamentally addicted to lifting maximum weights.

4/29 and 4/30 training

On Friday I worked up to 100/130 and 170 FS. It wasn't such a bad day, those are numbers that I expect out of myself on most days. Anything less than those numbers and I have to really question what I'm doing with my training.

I picked up training on Saturday by working up to 100/135 and 172PR FS.  It was great to get the 2kg PR, but you know I wanted to put 175 on the bar. You can count on 175 being loaded more often with future training.

I had some great as well as poor weight selection on Saturday. I successfully jumped from 50 to 70 to 90 in the snatch which I've never done before, then made 100, and then thought I could go right into 110, a weight I've only made once in training. Well I clarked 110, went down to 105 and couldn't do that either. In other words, I got greedy. Taking 105 after 100 would have been much wiser. It's better to get that 100+ or 130+ than to just do the same thing 100/130 all the time. To do this it takes some methodical weight selections, not just the round numbers.

I watched a Video of Jon North training and he came into the gym cold and snatched 120, then 140, then made 150 on his third attempt. It was something else to watch. I want to be in that kind of shape with my lifting. That same Jon North worked up to 155/190 recently. Honestly, how quickly a lifter can get to 90% I believe is a good indicator of their mastery of the sport. You see lifters that come in and stretch for 20 min., warm up with 50kg for 5 sets and slowly work up to top weights and that doesn't impress me. Someone who impresses me might walk in the gym and go straight to the empty bar and loosen up with it, then put 50kg on and before you know it they are up to a heavy weight just like that. I'm pretty sure I watched North go from 120 to 170 in the clean and jerk before. Something tells me those kind of jumps are inherited from Donny Shankle, but again I like that kind of mentality. It says, who cares about the light weights, what I care about is those big weights.

Training on Sundays

    I took Sunday training off yesterday. Going into Collegiate's I had been training every Sunday. Well today was not good training. What I learned today was that if I don't train on Sunday, Monday will feel like a Sunday's training or even worse.
  At first Sunday training didn't go so well. I think the first Sunday I came in I might have snatched 80 and clean and jerked 100. Eventually though, leading up to Collegiate's I was snatching 90 and clean and jerking 110 on Sunday (I mean that was my lightest workout of the week, now that's sayin' something). I started training on Sunday because Monday workouts were just horrible (like todays workout). What I found was keeping the ball rolling on Sunday lead to more productive workouts with greater intensities on Monday. SIMPLE SIMON MUST TRAIN ON SUNDAYS. 

Training log (April 11-16) and training thoughts

          SN/CJ
Mon- 95/125
Tue- 100/120
Wed- 100/125
Thur- 100/120
Fri- 95/125
Sat- 105/130

    What a consistent week for me. I've never snatch 100 consistenly that many days in a row. I think on Friday it caught up with me, but I was roaring back on Saturday. On Saturday I went to Twin City Barbell and trained on the same platform with Dan Motoyoshi. Training on the same platform with someone who lifts more than me is always benificial. I always end up doing a little more than if I was doing my own thing.
    Earlier in the week I was doing some very heavy front squats that may not have been necessary. Actually, on Friday I didn't squat at all after snatches and clean and jerks and I attribute my lifts on Saturday to not squatting on Friday. Earlier in the week I had worked up to a 165 front squat and felt a PR of 170+ was not far off, but what good is all that leg strength if it doesn't carry over to the lifts? What those big squats do is make my legs tired and give me a sore back.
    Right now I'm contimplating squatting less frequently, say Mon., Wed, Sat. for max singles or else squatting every session but keeping the intensity down. From suggestion as well as practical experience I've found that keeping the intensity below 110% of my C&J makes for consistent and productive workouts with the competition lifts. This doesn't mean that I don't get good work in. Doing 5X2, 3X2, or 3X3 with 10-15kg over what you clean and jerk is no easy task, it's just more practical than doing 40kgs over my clean and jerk and holding back my competition lifts in the process. Also, I don't think it matters if I front or back squat, although I favor the front squats. What I could do is alternate front and back but keep the intensity under 110% which would be a natural way to alternate heavy/medium workouts since the back squat is easier than the front squat. I got that one from Duane Hansen. Thank you Duane.
    Leading up to Collegiates I was training on Sundays but I am going to try to make it a day of rest in the future. Training six days a week does seem to be the standard as opposed with seven. The main thing I've noticed is training environment. Training alone gets me by but is not optimal. When I go to Team Spartacus headquaters or Twin City Barbell the intensity is always higher.

2011 USA Weightlifting Collegiate Nationals

2011 USA Weightlifting Collegiate Nationals

I competed in the 77kg weight class and made 5/6 lifts. Bodyweight was 76.53 and I really didn't have to "cut" to make weight, just made sure to not eat or drink anything until I weighed in.

The results
Representing UW-River Falls
6th place - 242kg total (5th place was Chris Kim(LSUS) with 244kg but also lighter)
Snatch- 100,105,107PR
C&J- 130,135,137(no lift)

I was +9KG up on my total from last year which is good. I was also 2KG shy of the 244KG total needed to qualify for Senior Nationals in Council Bluffs, IA in early July. I qualified last year and I can do it again. There may be a small local meet in Waterloo, IA later this month which would be another opportunity to qualify and also my coach Brian Derwin mentioned a possible qualifier meet at Team Spartacus Headquarters.I feel confident in opening with 105/130 in the future for snatch and C&J. My snatch has just been on lately, I've even done 110 in training. It's my jerk that gives me trouble, I can clean more than I can jerk. My best clean ever is 144KG done in Montana with Steve Gough and Mike Karchut present. I can also front squat a ton, my best is 170KG done at SWSC in front of Adam Rozmenoski. My best C&J ever is 139KG, done in Carroll, IA to qualify for Nationals last year.

The 110 snatch was done a few weeks before Collegiate's. I'm pretty sure I was watching the move Blue Chips, which happens to have Dick Vitale in it. He's always saying things like "it's gonna be awesome, baby" or "the big 10, baby". He always says baby. Somehow I think that got in my head from the movie, so this is what I'd like to call the Dick Vitale snatch because I say "110 baby" after I do it. This lift was done in Rochester, MN while training with Adam Rozmenoski.