The CrossFit Games get bigger every year. And every year the topic comes up again: the likelihood that performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) are being used by top athletes. And this conversation tends to also bring people to discussing the use of PEDs in the larger arena of sports in general.
This year a very informative and provocative piece kicked off the bulk of the current conversation in regards to CrossFit PED use:
Steroids, CrossFit, and the CrossFit Games
They did a very good job of explaining the state of testing and evading, and presenting the probabilities without naming anyone specifically. Nor do they state if they are for or against the use of PEDs in CrossFit, they just state the high probability that they are there.
As a complimentary piece, Justin from 70's Big wrote about his experience with using and non-using athletes. Giving another "they are neither good nor bad, but they ARE here and you have to adjust accordingly" point of view is also a good contrast to the normal knee jerk of "PEDs are evil!" script that's played out over and over:
Steroids and CrossFit?
The knee jerk is out there, though. And for those of use that don't use, we want to take the moral high ground, cling to the trope of Refer Madness, and lambast those that use as idiots, cheaters, and sinners:
Open Letter to PED Users
PEDs are here to stay.
For those of us that train clean, it's just a reality we'll learn to live within. I train for three sports right now: Olympic lifting, powerlifting, and Strongman. Two of those are with federations that don't test. However, as long as I'm competing in Olympic lifting, I feel that I have implicitly agreed to not use banned substances. That means when I compete in powerlifting and strongman, as (if) I rise up the ranks, I'll have to be okay with being second (or third, or whatever).
If I wasn't an Olympic lifter, would I take PEDs? They aren't actually banned in either of the other sports that I do, so it wouldn't be cheating... Honestly, I'm really, really, really happy that it's not a decision I have to make. As a competitive athlete, choosing to inhibit yourself by not taking advantage of the same tools that others have would seem a little foolish.
But I am a nationally competitive Olympic lifter. So, thank goodness, I don't have to make that decision.
With that said, I don't necessarily think taking PEDs is wrong.
If you're in a sport that doesn't test and basically assumes you're "juicing" (most powerlifting federations, strongman, highland games, bodybuilding), you're not breaking any rules. The people that I know that do them WORK THEIR FUCKING ASSES OFF and they treat themselves right and they know the risks involved. No one takes them with the idea that they are going to sit on their behind and get jacked. It doesn't work that way. These are people that already train hard, and want the capacity to train harder. It's not a short cut for them, it's a bridge to another level of dedication.
Then there is a sect of people that do PEDs because it helps them stay on top of their game for their job. Firefighters, police, military. I don't personally know anyone in this population, but I can't say I blame them. I also don't think this is a bad thing. Who are they cheating? The criminals they are up against?
Then there is a population that wants to use them to just look the best they can. These people usually just go to a hormone replacement doctor for testosterone lotion and growth hormone. These people don't bother me either. I hope they are studying the effects and being smart about it (this isn't a "some is good so more must be better" situation) but if they feel it increases their quality of life, leave them alone.
And of course, there is the population that takes PEDs for legitimate medical purposes. Cancer, AIDS, and patients of other wasting diseases all use anti-catabolics to keep from dying of other complications. I don't think anyone has a problem with this population.
For other perspectives, check out the following links:
Gods, Drugs, and the Purity of Sport
USADA Sanctions divided by year
A Critique of Anti-Doping Policies
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
Taken for Granted: Push ups
Push ups are a real pet peeve of mine. You think, hey, it's just down and up! Yay, pecs! Then I see all kinds of worms and back cranking and shoulder rolling happening. It's really a lot harder than you think it is and the push up deserves more attention and respect.
1) Prioritize the spine
Like you've never heard this or some version of it. It's one thing when you can't do a full push up to let yourself "snake" back up to the start, but for godsake, man, don't make it look like you're trying to hump the ground or make out with it when you're descending!
I see this a lot. People will reach their face and/ or their hips towards the floor to shorten the distance their arms have to take them. You're not fooling anyone, and you're spine isn't going to be too happy about that in the long run. Don't get weird with the floor, just bend the elbows and do what you can.
2) Use your back!
Most think of this as a chest and triceps exercise. But, just as in the bench press, if you aren't engaging your lats and back then you aren't doing this right.
At the top of the push up, many coaches say you should have fully protracted shoulders and scapula. That's all fine and dandy, but as soon as you start to descend, you need to pull your shoulders back in line and get lat engagement and external rotation through the rest of the movement. Those muscle are much bigger and will support you through many reps more than the smaller muscles of your anterior delts alone.
3) Vertical forearm
This one should fall in place pretty readily if you follow the previous point. Again, much like the bench press and shoulder press, your forearm should be inline with the direction of force. You're pushing into the ground, so your forearm should be directly perpendicular to the floor.
Another way I've heard it described is that the elbow is like the knee and the shoulder is like the hip. Just as you don't want to shoot your knees forward in the squat, you don't want to shoot your elbows back. (Let's not get into the arguement about knee, shin angle, and torso angle here. That's why I don't use that description, personally.)
Okay, so in the end: (1) Don't get weird with the floor. (2) Put some back into it. (3) Elbows up!
1) Prioritize the spine
Like you've never heard this or some version of it. It's one thing when you can't do a full push up to let yourself "snake" back up to the start, but for godsake, man, don't make it look like you're trying to hump the ground or make out with it when you're descending!
I see this a lot. People will reach their face and/ or their hips towards the floor to shorten the distance their arms have to take them. You're not fooling anyone, and you're spine isn't going to be too happy about that in the long run. Don't get weird with the floor, just bend the elbows and do what you can.
2) Use your back!
Most think of this as a chest and triceps exercise. But, just as in the bench press, if you aren't engaging your lats and back then you aren't doing this right.
At the top of the push up, many coaches say you should have fully protracted shoulders and scapula. That's all fine and dandy, but as soon as you start to descend, you need to pull your shoulders back in line and get lat engagement and external rotation through the rest of the movement. Those muscle are much bigger and will support you through many reps more than the smaller muscles of your anterior delts alone.
3) Vertical forearm
This one should fall in place pretty readily if you follow the previous point. Again, much like the bench press and shoulder press, your forearm should be inline with the direction of force. You're pushing into the ground, so your forearm should be directly perpendicular to the floor.
Another way I've heard it described is that the elbow is like the knee and the shoulder is like the hip. Just as you don't want to shoot your knees forward in the squat, you don't want to shoot your elbows back. (Let's not get into the arguement about knee, shin angle, and torso angle here. That's why I don't use that description, personally.)
Okay, so in the end: (1) Don't get weird with the floor. (2) Put some back into it. (3) Elbows up!
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Adventures in Gaining Weight
I had a "stereotypical girl" moment last weekend. I had an event to go to and decided to wear my jeans. They were tight. Like, difficult to pull up my legs tight. Like, I ended up standing most of the time at the event rather that sit down tight.
They didn't dig into my waist, mind you, but they were so tight on my thighs that flexing at the hip meant uncomfortable pulling and squeezing.
And I had a mini freak out.
I just bought these jeans! I've been telling everyone how these are the only jeans I can wear anymore! Do I look as bad in these jeans as my discomfort has me feeling? Was putting on this weight a mistake??
-------
You see, for the past month I've been on a new journey. One where I have been working to purposefully gain weight. It's not because I'm a "hardgainer." Trust me, I'm not. I can think about squats and my quads respond.
In a way, the very fact that I can put on mass easily is why I'm purposefully gaining. I previously lamented the state of women's weight classes in strength sports. Now that I'm doing powerlifting, extra bodybuilding accessory work, and tacking on strongman training, my body is not interested in going under about 78 kg. And that's with a very strict diet and extra cardio/conditioning!
So I decide to say fuck it. I'm going to be a super heavy weight. I'm going to be as strong as I can be and not put the extra stress on my system of constantly trying to stay a certain weight and occasionally dropping weight for competitions. I'm not a professional, no one is paying me to do this, and I can't imagine it's good for my body considering how much I put it through in training alone.
So for a few meets last year I just let myself weigh what I weigh. At the time it was between 170 and 172 lbs.
But I noticed that I was still in a weirdly semi-strict place about my eating habits. I had nervous moments when I'd worry about having too much rice on training days or getting too many calories through my protein shakes. I knew that it was time to try something a little drastic to shake that.
I'd purposefully try to gain weight.*
This is an endeavor unlike anything I've tried. I've always been on a mission to either maintain or cut, gaining is that thing that happens when you don't train enough and continue to pick up a harmless slice of pound cake with your coffee at Pete's.
At first I tried to keep my normal carb cycle and up the calories at each meal. That means low carb breakfast and lunch, two protein shakes, and a medium carb dinner and some white rice or the like before bed.
That got me nowhere fast. I was so entrenched in eating a certain way, at a certain volume, and the high protein and fat meals often kept me from getting hungry and cueing more eating. I had to let go.
So for the next three weeks I let myself eat whatever I wanted. Understand that "whatever I want" tends to still skew towards healthy compared to the average American. If my breakfast has any less than three eggs and some sort of meat in it, I feel gyped. But this time around, I'm going to have the breakfast burrito I've been eying instead of the scramble.
Took the month of January to consistently hit 180 lbs. Now I'm dealing with maintenance without losing weight. Ideally, I start to recomposition myself.
I still have freak out moments. As much as I present myself as "this is who I am", I have 18 years of dance and 33 years of being female and dealing with all the messages we are assailed with. I made the mistake of putting my measurements into a body fat calculator in a moment of boredom. While intellectually I know those aren't super accurate for someone who is muscular, the borderline obese numbers they regurgitated sent me for a loop.
So to make myself feel better, I write about it and put together this video of myself generally being a heifer:
Yeah, what a Tubby McTubster.
--------
*I also decided that gaining weight would shut people up about "why don't you just cut to 75kg?" Because I don't fucking want to, okay?
They didn't dig into my waist, mind you, but they were so tight on my thighs that flexing at the hip meant uncomfortable pulling and squeezing.
And I had a mini freak out.
I just bought these jeans! I've been telling everyone how these are the only jeans I can wear anymore! Do I look as bad in these jeans as my discomfort has me feeling? Was putting on this weight a mistake??
-------
You see, for the past month I've been on a new journey. One where I have been working to purposefully gain weight. It's not because I'm a "hardgainer." Trust me, I'm not. I can think about squats and my quads respond.
In a way, the very fact that I can put on mass easily is why I'm purposefully gaining. I previously lamented the state of women's weight classes in strength sports. Now that I'm doing powerlifting, extra bodybuilding accessory work, and tacking on strongman training, my body is not interested in going under about 78 kg. And that's with a very strict diet and extra cardio/conditioning!
So I decide to say fuck it. I'm going to be a super heavy weight. I'm going to be as strong as I can be and not put the extra stress on my system of constantly trying to stay a certain weight and occasionally dropping weight for competitions. I'm not a professional, no one is paying me to do this, and I can't imagine it's good for my body considering how much I put it through in training alone.
So for a few meets last year I just let myself weigh what I weigh. At the time it was between 170 and 172 lbs.
But I noticed that I was still in a weirdly semi-strict place about my eating habits. I had nervous moments when I'd worry about having too much rice on training days or getting too many calories through my protein shakes. I knew that it was time to try something a little drastic to shake that.
I'd purposefully try to gain weight.*
This is an endeavor unlike anything I've tried. I've always been on a mission to either maintain or cut, gaining is that thing that happens when you don't train enough and continue to pick up a harmless slice of pound cake with your coffee at Pete's.
At first I tried to keep my normal carb cycle and up the calories at each meal. That means low carb breakfast and lunch, two protein shakes, and a medium carb dinner and some white rice or the like before bed.
That got me nowhere fast. I was so entrenched in eating a certain way, at a certain volume, and the high protein and fat meals often kept me from getting hungry and cueing more eating. I had to let go.
So for the next three weeks I let myself eat whatever I wanted. Understand that "whatever I want" tends to still skew towards healthy compared to the average American. If my breakfast has any less than three eggs and some sort of meat in it, I feel gyped. But this time around, I'm going to have the breakfast burrito I've been eying instead of the scramble.
Took the month of January to consistently hit 180 lbs. Now I'm dealing with maintenance without losing weight. Ideally, I start to recomposition myself.
I still have freak out moments. As much as I present myself as "this is who I am", I have 18 years of dance and 33 years of being female and dealing with all the messages we are assailed with. I made the mistake of putting my measurements into a body fat calculator in a moment of boredom. While intellectually I know those aren't super accurate for someone who is muscular, the borderline obese numbers they regurgitated sent me for a loop.
So to make myself feel better, I write about it and put together this video of myself generally being a heifer:
Yeah, what a Tubby McTubster.
--------
*I also decided that gaining weight would shut people up about "why don't you just cut to 75kg?" Because I don't fucking want to, okay?
Monday, February 3, 2014
Taken for Granted: Kettlebell swings
Some movements seem so simple we hardly think about them. They're so easy that they're often use in high reps. One of these moves is the kettlebell swing. Here are the big three problems I see regularly:
1) It's a hip hinge.
And by that I mean that it's not a squat.
The kettlebell swing most closely resembles the deadlift in the shape you create with your body. Your shins stay vertical, your hips push back, and your back inclines accordingly. The difference is that you're explosively pushing into the ground with a weight near your hips, causing it to be flung forward.
I could rant about the bent arm kettlebell swing and how what you're really wanting to train is the kettlebell snatch, but that's a chip on my shoulder for another day.
2) This isn't a club, don't booty pop.
Where your lumbar spine connects to the sacrum isn't the sort of joint meant to move under load. So often I see people let their low backs go either during the back swing (usually because they want to keep their chest up) or after they pop the kettlebell forward because they aren't maintaining tension in their tush. That excess movement is going to make your back mad, mad, mad.
3) Stay within your shoulder range.
We have a love for the overhead swing in CrossFit. But just because Games competition athletes are expected to have their shoulders reach 180 degrees of flexion, you don't need to force it. Face it, most of us have been hunching over a desk since kindergarden, and our shoulders aren't ready for that. Only swing the kettlebell as high as you can while maintaining tension in your butt and abs.
1) It's a hip hinge.
And by that I mean that it's not a squat.
The kettlebell swing most closely resembles the deadlift in the shape you create with your body. Your shins stay vertical, your hips push back, and your back inclines accordingly. The difference is that you're explosively pushing into the ground with a weight near your hips, causing it to be flung forward.
I could rant about the bent arm kettlebell swing and how what you're really wanting to train is the kettlebell snatch, but that's a chip on my shoulder for another day.
2) This isn't a club, don't booty pop.
Where your lumbar spine connects to the sacrum isn't the sort of joint meant to move under load. So often I see people let their low backs go either during the back swing (usually because they want to keep their chest up) or after they pop the kettlebell forward because they aren't maintaining tension in their tush. That excess movement is going to make your back mad, mad, mad.
3) Stay within your shoulder range.
We have a love for the overhead swing in CrossFit. But just because Games competition athletes are expected to have their shoulders reach 180 degrees of flexion, you don't need to force it. Face it, most of us have been hunching over a desk since kindergarden, and our shoulders aren't ready for that. Only swing the kettlebell as high as you can while maintaining tension in your butt and abs.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Taking Movement for Granted: Why Are You Training?
We've all ended up there. The tunnel. Somewhere after you hear "3.. 2.. 1.. go!" and when you yell time you slip into that place where your body just moves. Through all the dripping sweat and burning lungs, you get through the movements and come out a beautiful sweat angel on the other side.
The problem is, most people do just that. Simply get through the movements.
In a conversation with another coach during last year's CrossFit games, we waxed poetic about how so many of the athletes were doing chest to bar pull ups even when it wasn't asked of them. They had worked hard to make their default movement the hardest and best movement they could, so that if they ended up in The Tunnel, technical slips wouldn't cost them reps.
You're going to be hard pressed to argue with me that simply because you're not a CrossFit Games athlete, you can and should get through the workout with minimal concern for movement quality. What ARE you training for? Is getting through sloppy movement going to make you a better human being? Not likely. How you train is what you are.
We take movement for granted. Our bodies are meant to move and they can do amazing things if we ask them to.
So next time, instead of going into The Tunnel when the clock starts, ask yourself what you're training for. I promise you you'll still get a great workout in, arguably a better one, and your sweat angels will become even more beautiful over time.
The problem is, most people do just that. Simply get through the movements.
In a conversation with another coach during last year's CrossFit games, we waxed poetic about how so many of the athletes were doing chest to bar pull ups even when it wasn't asked of them. They had worked hard to make their default movement the hardest and best movement they could, so that if they ended up in The Tunnel, technical slips wouldn't cost them reps.
You're going to be hard pressed to argue with me that simply because you're not a CrossFit Games athlete, you can and should get through the workout with minimal concern for movement quality. What ARE you training for? Is getting through sloppy movement going to make you a better human being? Not likely. How you train is what you are.
We take movement for granted. Our bodies are meant to move and they can do amazing things if we ask them to.
So next time, instead of going into The Tunnel when the clock starts, ask yourself what you're training for. I promise you you'll still get a great workout in, arguably a better one, and your sweat angels will become even more beautiful over time.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Weight Class Rant
Last weekend I did my first honest to God strongman training session at Jon Andersen's Facility in Novato, CA. I had so much fun and can't wait to go back and watch my progress. I rarely get into a new hobby without intentions to eventually compete or perform, so naturally I've already started looking at competition events and weight classes:
On the National Association for Strongman website:
"We also provide Light and heavyweight classes for:
• Masters (40+) in the Lightweight (up to 231) and Heavyweight (232 and above) divisions only. There is also a 50+ and 60+ category added at nationals.
• Teenage (up to 200 – LW) 201 and above (HW)
• Women LW, MW, and HW. (LW- 140 and below, MW- 141 – 165 HW- 165and above)"
Dammit. Another strength sport that sees women over 165 lbs as capital-h Heavy. This is some bullshit.
Let's take a quick comparison of women's weight classes in various sports:
On the National Association for Strongman website:
"We also provide Light and heavyweight classes for:
• Masters (40+) in the Lightweight (up to 231) and Heavyweight (232 and above) divisions only. There is also a 50+ and 60+ category added at nationals.
• Teenage (up to 200 – LW) 201 and above (HW)
• Women LW, MW, and HW. (LW- 140 and below, MW- 141 – 165 HW- 165and above)"
Dammit. Another strength sport that sees women over 165 lbs as capital-h Heavy. This is some bullshit.
Let's take a quick comparison of women's weight classes in various sports:
| Strongman | Weightlifting | Powerlifting | Amateur Boxing | Judo | Wrestling |
| Up to 140 | 48 kg | 44 kg | 48 kg | 48 kg | 48 kg |
| 141 to 165 | 53 kg | 48 kg | 51 kg | 52 kg | 53 kg |
| Over 165 | 58 kg | 52 kg | 54 kg | 57 kg | 58 kg |
| 63 kg | 56 kg | 57 kg | 63 kg | 63 kg | |
| 69 kg | 60 kg | 60 kg | 70 kg | 69 kg | |
| 75 kg | 67.5 kg | 64 kg | 78 kg | 75 kg | |
| over 75 kg | 75 kg | 69 kg | over 78 kg | ||
| 82.5 kg | 75 kg | ||||
| 90 kg | 81 kg | ||||
| over 90 kg | over 81 kg |
There seems to be a lot of consistency in the lighter weight classes, but where things start to get all "what the fuckery" is when it tops out. 70 kg (165 lbs) seems to universally be seen as on the heavier end of things. Fine. But then you have powerlifting with three more classes over 75 kg. And boxing, a far more cardio intensive sport than powerlifting or weightlifting, has an 81 kg division.
So weightlifting used to have an 82.5 kg weight class for women, but it was nixed (along with the 110 kg for men) to stream line international events. What was the discussion like in that room?
"Let's get rid of the top end weight class. Bitches be dieting, anyway!"
Or as my friend, Stevo, put it "there's no way an athletic woman could weigh over 165 lbs, right?" *bro five*
The world population is getting taller, its more common than not for daughters to be taller than their mothers. You see this in all industrialized countries, as shipping food from Venezuela to Japan becomes common, nutrition and the changing culture around it allows for taller people.
Then there is this body weight distribution I found:
I can't find what year this research was taken. What I'm seeing here is that for all age groups, when you make the super heavy cut off at 165 lbs, your basically lumping 1/3 of the population together and dividing the other 2/3 of the population into 6 different categories.
Here is one that just shows the weight distributions for the most commonly represented ages seen at national and international weightlifting events:
It's easy to see that at younger ages, the weight distribution skews a little more towards the lighter side. But it's still not an even split of the population to make the cut off at 165 lbs.
I tried to find some data on the international body weight distribution, but all I could find were charts of BMI, which doesn't help me as I think BMI is bullshit and we don't weigh in based on our BMI.
I'd say that it's obvious their standards were pulled out of their ass and unfounded scientifically. I don't care about some fabled mathamagician that came up with some formula that no one else could wrap their head around to create the weight classes. Either we're a world of dunces and no one gets math, or we're a world of dunces and got duped.
I'm betting on the latter.
/rant
The world population is getting taller, its more common than not for daughters to be taller than their mothers. You see this in all industrialized countries, as shipping food from Venezuela to Japan becomes common, nutrition and the changing culture around it allows for taller people.
Then there is this body weight distribution I found:
I can't find what year this research was taken. What I'm seeing here is that for all age groups, when you make the super heavy cut off at 165 lbs, your basically lumping 1/3 of the population together and dividing the other 2/3 of the population into 6 different categories.
Here is one that just shows the weight distributions for the most commonly represented ages seen at national and international weightlifting events:
I tried to find some data on the international body weight distribution, but all I could find were charts of BMI, which doesn't help me as I think BMI is bullshit and we don't weigh in based on our BMI.
I'd say that it's obvious their standards were pulled out of their ass and unfounded scientifically. I don't care about some fabled mathamagician that came up with some formula that no one else could wrap their head around to create the weight classes. Either we're a world of dunces and no one gets math, or we're a world of dunces and got duped.
I'm betting on the latter.
/rant
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
The American Open: Aftermath
I'm not much of a resolution maker. But Jan. 1 is as good a day as any to restart posting my blogs. I spent last week finishing up a bunch of blogs to queue up to keep the momentum going.
So without further ado, here is a long needed blog post from the beginning of December:
------
It's apparently a miracle that I not only made it TO Dallas, but there were no delays to my flights. My flights were so on time I almost missed my connection. Thanks to fitness, I could run, gasping, from one terminal to the other.
There were over 450 lifters registered for the American Open this year. It will be not only the biggest AO, but the biggest national weightlifting meet ever. They had to break sessions down to A through D and even had three platforms going on day 1.
I really didn't spend that much time in the hotel. I had friends and family to visit and hang out with. But I heard about the craziness from those that were still competing.
For one, they initially had some risers to put the platforms one, but they were four feet tall. First, the refs wouldn't have been able to see the lifter and second, it would have felt claustrophobic for the lifter so close to the ceiling. So those were ditched.
You'd think that platforms on the ground that basically consist of plywood screwed together would be easy enough. But one of the platforms broke halfway through a sessions. Broke! They had to stop the session for close to half an hour to fix it, the athletes had to warm up again.
There were several instances of the bar either being misloaded, sometimes on only one side, or a plate or collar falling off mid-lift, that necessitated fourth attempts. The computer program that was supposed to show the lifter, the following lifter, and the scores was usually frozen. And there was so much chaos in the warm up area that wrong names were called and clocks weren't going or weren't stopped because no one knew who was supposed to be up.
They had SOME of that stuff smoothed out by my time. Last session on the last day, after all. However, on three of my six attempts I was yelling at them to either "stop the clock, this isn't my weight", "start the clock, I'm just standing here" or some iteration of that. I mean, I've never been in a situation where I could start a lift before the clock even begins, does that count? I didn't want to take those chances.
Despite all of that, my results, though not as grand as I hoped for (only on 6 for 6 does that happen) continued my upward progression. In the snatch I missed my first at 74 behind, made 74, then made 77 as a friggin power snatch. (Fuck that squat shit.) In the clean and jerk, I made all three at 100, 103, and 106. A total of 183, five kilos over my last competition total of 178. And while missing my FIRST SNATCH is disappointing because I felt like I had the pull for 80+, the overall result still felt great.
Next up: Nationals in Salt Lake City!
So without further ado, here is a long needed blog post from the beginning of December:
------
It's apparently a miracle that I not only made it TO Dallas, but there were no delays to my flights. My flights were so on time I almost missed my connection. Thanks to fitness, I could run, gasping, from one terminal to the other.
There were over 450 lifters registered for the American Open this year. It will be not only the biggest AO, but the biggest national weightlifting meet ever. They had to break sessions down to A through D and even had three platforms going on day 1.
 |
| My fan girl moment: two time Olympian Kendrick Farris. |
I really didn't spend that much time in the hotel. I had friends and family to visit and hang out with. But I heard about the craziness from those that were still competing.
For one, they initially had some risers to put the platforms one, but they were four feet tall. First, the refs wouldn't have been able to see the lifter and second, it would have felt claustrophobic for the lifter so close to the ceiling. So those were ditched.
You'd think that platforms on the ground that basically consist of plywood screwed together would be easy enough. But one of the platforms broke halfway through a sessions. Broke! They had to stop the session for close to half an hour to fix it, the athletes had to warm up again.
 |
| Jo Ann Aita, me, Max Aita. Thank goodness they were there to help in the chaos. |
 |
| And from California representing F-U Barbell, Kristin Newman. From California representing Arena Ready, Sarah Hopping. |
They had SOME of that stuff smoothed out by my time. Last session on the last day, after all. However, on three of my six attempts I was yelling at them to either "stop the clock, this isn't my weight", "start the clock, I'm just standing here" or some iteration of that. I mean, I've never been in a situation where I could start a lift before the clock even begins, does that count? I didn't want to take those chances.
Despite all of that, my results, though not as grand as I hoped for (only on 6 for 6 does that happen) continued my upward progression. In the snatch I missed my first at 74 behind, made 74, then made 77 as a friggin power snatch. (Fuck that squat shit.) In the clean and jerk, I made all three at 100, 103, and 106. A total of 183, five kilos over my last competition total of 178. And while missing my FIRST SNATCH is disappointing because I felt like I had the pull for 80+, the overall result still felt great.
 |
| Jo Ann, Diane, Sarah, me, Rob |
Next up: Nationals in Salt Lake City!
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