With a few weeks to go before the competition, it was time to focus on some full Olympic lifts and see how the last 2 months of focus on weightlifting. 2 weeks ago I decided to see if I could pull off any new personal best lifts.
To do this, I needed to get up to a top weight pretty quick, without tiring myself out. So here’s how it went, Snatch (current PB = 77kg) on one day, Clean and Jerk (current PB = 100kg) on the other:
Day 1 – Snatch: 3×40, 2×50, 60, 65, 70, 75. Then I failed at 77.5 five times in a row.
Day 2 – C&J: 3×50, 2×60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 100. Then I failed to clean 102.5 four times in a row.
On the one hand, I lifted pretty well, getting up to either very close to, or equal to my PBs quickly. On the other hand, I failed to improve, which was disappointing. This week, I worked on high % reps in final prep for the Northern Open next week.
Day 1 – Snatch: 3×40, 2×50, 60, 65, 70, 3×75. This went well, 3 good lifts at 75kg all felt hard but comfortable.
Day 2 – Snatch: 3×40, 2×50, 60, 65, 70. The 70 felt wobbly, so I thought I’d try it again before moving up. That’s when it all went wrong. I dropped the 2nd 70. Then dropped the 3rd, 4th and 5th! What was going on? I was bombing badly on what should have been a warm up lift. When this happens, it’s sooo demoralising.
Day 3 – C&J: 3×50, 2×60, 70, 80, 90, 95, 95, 95, 95(F), 95. There were several days between Day 2 and 3 to get my head back in gear. 4 out of 5 lifts at 95kg was a good day.
So there we have it. 7 days to see if I can pull off 2 new PBs and qualify for the European Masters and to see if the last 2 months have all be worth the effort. There’s also the small matter of whether I can make the weight, but that’s looking doable now:
