Why even bother?

Sunday May 17, 2009

Sometimes I ask myself "Why in the world are you doing this?" when I know I will only ever be able to handle a fraction of the weights that the seasoned Olympic weightlifters perform on a regular basis. Not only have I started very late in life (elite lifters start in the early teens), I am also in the age range where every year my body looses more fast twitch fibers. It is this type of muscle fiber that are required for performing the lifts explosively. I mean "Why even bother?".

I bother because every time I train and every competition I compete in, I always learn something about myself. Things that apply not only to strength training but to life in general. I learn about commitment, how to overcome adversity, how to plan, how to be flexible, how to create goals that are challenging yet achievable with hard work and dedication, how to be humble, how to console, how to encourage. Want to build character? Learn how to squat snatch a heavy weight. All this from trying to pick up something heavy and put it over my head .. that's why I bother.

Morning Basement Dungeon Assistance Lifts:

Z-Health Neural Warmup Level II Dynamic Joint Mobility

Bar warmup:
1 x 5 OHS
1 x 5 Hang-snatch
1 x 5 Snatch-balance
1 x 5 Front-squat

Front Squat (lb):
95 x 1 x 5
115 x 1 x 5
135 x 1 x 3
155 x 1 x 3
175 x 1 x 3
200 x 5 x 3

The five sets of triples with 200 lb (91kg) is a great psychological achievement as I have been struggling coming out of the clean of 90kg c&j attempt. This was leaving me with very little energy for the jerk. I almost jerked it once with a press-out and that was after a very rare but smooth clean. Getting used to this weight will build my confidence to smoothly clean 90kg more consistently.