Upcoming

This is a big week for the folks following the blog. On the weightlifting blog is the culmination of an 18 week program that into the competition day max. For those of you who are actually in competition good luck and my advice is simple. Start with the weight that is consistent and create consistency throughout your attempts. Your last attempt should be a PR not your first or second. If you start with a weight that is consistent and build on that weight it will carry over to your third attempt and inevitably into your clean and jerk. Start with weights that you know you’re going to crush and build on that consistency. A good example is nationals this past year for me. I opened at 122 when I probably should’ve opened at 118. I have a funny suspicion that had I opened 118 it would’ve built some confidence for 122 and that likely would’ve carried over into 126. Instead I opened at 122, missed the opener made the second attempt and then missed 126. Making lifts early often bleeds over into made third attempts. Create consistency in your lifting in your first and second attempt in order to help your chances on the third.
For those of you who are finishing the weightlifting blog series this week but are not going to be in competition I would still advise you to max competition style. Pick an opener, give yourself three attempts starting at that opener, and despite how much you want to try an attempt over again limit yourself to three attempts only. The experience will pay off if you ever find yourself on a platform.
For those of you on the competition side you are completing your max strength cycle this week with a couple max effort lifts as well. I did a slight lifting taper to help you with that but not something as significant as you will see in the weightlifting blog. Big news for y’all is that Power and Grace has decided to send as many athletes as possible to the East Coast Championships put on by crossFit New England and Kill Cliff. What that means is starting at the end of this month our focus will be on the qualifier WODs. If you have no desire to compete in this specific competition, that’s fine. Doing the qualifier WODs will not hurt you and ultimately it will give you an opportunity to compare your strength and weakness to some of the fairly competitive athletes around the country. Focusing on the ECC will also be good prep for the open and good motivation for y’all as we transition out of the lifting volume and into a more conditioning focused phase.
Keep up the good work. And if you are lacking in motivation this Monday take a look at this article on suffering as an elite athlete’s best friend.
Suffering