Everyone bombs. In this blog article I will go through a year of training and competitions for one of the more talented girls that I coach. Going from bombing out in record time at the Scottish Seniors in 2015 to the winning the British U23s with a clutch Clean and Jerk on the final lift.
Scottish Seniors 2015
Leading up to the Scottish seniors the training had been pretty standard with a 2 week taper and hitting every opener on the Saturday session going 5/5 Snatch and 3/3 in the Clean and Jerk and opening at her PR double or ~90%. Consistent errors were jumping forward on the Snatch, the bar was drifting away from the center line and an aggressive early extension of the hip. At the seniors Zoë bombed on the snatch. Some of the lessons learned from this competition were to lower the energy level for the snatch, (2 scoops and shouting is simply not needed. A lot of lifters go through this phase, it doesn’t really help and bleeds you of so much energy come lifting time.) better clock management and it was time to start addressing technical issues if she wanted to progress. The great thing about competing is that it forces you to lift under a microscope. Once the pressure is on, it is more likely you try to muscle the barbell and abandon everything.
Looking at the video you can see most of the problems listed above in action. She was still pretty new to lifting so mistakes were to be expected. The bar drifts around the knee, the vertical speed decreases above the hip (a common problem with an early extension of the hip. This is due to you losing drive from the legs) and an excessive horizontal force is being introduced to the barbell. Bad day at the office for sure.
Training post Seniors
This was the last competition that Zoë lifted as a 63kg/light 69kg, I maintain the goal is being a jacked 120kg with no neck but for now @Shovelhands_69kgs lives in the 69kg class. The next competition she was going to compete in was the BUCS (British University and Colleges Sport) Championships and a lot needed to be worked on before then.
- Strength
- Improve speed qualities as a lifter
- Improve technical mastery
Between the Seniors and BUCS there were 4 months + change to improve these aspects. Using a 3:1 (3 weeks active // 1 Week deload/rest) rotation; her training was broken up into 4 blocks. Hypertrophy / General Strength / Specific Strength / Peak.
During the Hypertrophy block the aim is to add muscle mass. Training involves a wide exercise selection and larger repetition schemes. It is the horrible period of training where you go to the squat rack hating life. It can be harder to motivate the athlete in this phase, the classical lifts might decrease due to the high volume of strength work. Some athletes panic and quickly change program. Motivation is maintained through the exercise selection and the ability to get “default PRs” on random stuff.
Intensity for exercises was in the 60-70% range with an accumulation of intensity over time. (A total increase of about 7% in intensity from week 1 to week 3). The third week was a hard overreach microcycle. A days training (over 2 sessions) would look similar to:
The exercise selection has her technical flaws in mind and over the 3 week period the stimulus is constantly increasing. I started incorporating the option to do more work if lifters had the energy (before it was implied). The green boxes are there so the lifter has the option to do more work if they feel the energy level is still high. (Technical failure is not acceptable.) Whenever people get to make choices they tend to be more accepting of an outcome. I found this to be a useful change throughout my programming. A potential problem could occur here if an athlete does so much work that the risk of injury increases. For now this risk is acceptable if this moves the lifter closer to her/his maximum recoverable volume.
During the general strength block the main goal is to improve the force production capabilities whilst addressing the individual lifters’ weaker areas. For female lifters it is common to have a weaker upper body compared to male athletes. For Zoë; she has a longer femur compared to total leg length so positional strength when the lever arm is at it’s longest is a concern. (Other sessions included pause squats, stalling lifts or lifts from challenging block heights. A days training (over 2 sessions) looked something like:
The intensity in this block was within the 70-80% range and increased roughly 6-7% comparing the first and third week.
The sport specific strength block is similar in intensity to the previous but the exercise election is reduced and a greater focus is placed on technical outcomes. This is when technical adjustments are a major factor in performance. You should have an increase in horse power to work with and need to start putting it to use. Video sessions were a greater priority in this block, important for the lifter to get immediate feedback. An average training day looked something like:
The intensity in this block was within the 70-85% range and increased roughly 5-10% over the 3 weeks. Snatch variants went slightly higher.
The peaking blocks goal is an increase in competition performance. The volume of the lifts were low and the intensity building towards 90%. Deadlift variations are often removed at this point. An average training days would look something like:
A week before the competition there was a large drop in volume to prepare the lifter for weigh-in, travel and competition.
BUCS Championship
Competition preparation went well, openers were stable. Going into the meet Zoë was working on warming up quicker (to preserve energy) and lifting at a lower arousal level (having been a problem during the seniors). This competition went very well. Going 5/6 and winning the 69kg class.
There were technical improvements across the board and lifted well under pressure. Overall pretty happy with the result of the competition with a result of +17kg in 4 months of training. This is somewhat skewed since the bomb out at the Seniors.
Training Leading up to the Easterns and British U23s
The training followed the same phasic structure with alterations based off of experience working with Zoe. Some minor injuries and holidays slowed down progress. This is to be expected and must be taken into account with program design / workout volume. The summer training was largely uninterrupted only missing about 1 month in total. As mastery level increases speed factors become a more important part of weightlifting. Block work is one of the ways to improve speed under the bar and maintain high volume, this started to take up a larger section of her programming. Accessory work and hypertrophy was important to filling her out as a 69kg lifter.
Easterns and British U23s
Going into the the Eastern districts a two week taper was used and the openers went fairly well, although some sad news had an impact on the energy levels in training.
For some reason I have a nasty habit of not filming the first lift. Zoë went 5/6 and had an increase in competition total of +4kg. On the whole I was satisfied with the competition. The clean and jerk being the weaker of the two lifts. Errors include; the bar crashing down when transitioning under the barbell and the Jerk getting pushed forward a little.
The British U23 Championships followed in three weeks time so there was not much that could be done training wise. Openers were redone and front squats were used to stall out any decline in leg strength / minimize the injury risk of a high average intensity for such a long period of time.
The competition was neck and neck all the way in the British, the stage made for an intimidating experience for a first time lifter. Kudos to British Weightlifting for making the stage similar to international venues. The MC putting the hype levels over 9000.
Zoë was opening the highest on the snatch so she had an opportunity to set the pace of the competition and only lift what she needed to. Going out for her first lift her hands were visibly shaking when going to grip the bar. Deciding to abandon everything she worked on over the past couple of months she did her own thing. It did not go well. An early hip extension and a large horizontal force on the barbell caused it to loop behind. In this situation with a more experienced lifter I would have moved the bar to 71kg. In her current state it would be a dangerous gamble to take. Missing the second lift would put her under enormous pressure and could lead to a bomb out. The lift was repeated and was an easy make. Explaining that a larger jump was needed on her third snatch to remain competitive. I wanted to move the bar to 72kg framing it with carrot of winning, she countered with 73kg (1kg less than the Eastern districts but still a 5kg jump in the snatch which can be a lot for female lifters). The third snatch was spot on and put her 3kg behind going into the Clean and Jerk.
The clean and jerk warm up was a little more jumbled with quite a few misses of other athletes forcing the clock to run long. This meant the timings had to be slowed down and some pulls used to stay warm and conserve energy. To keep her mind off of proceedings I didn’t pay that much attention to her lifting so she wouldn’t be stressing out. After every lift she was asking “what happened / was it good?” Quite funny considering how much lifting she has done. Knowing that she was 3kg behind on the snatch yet the lightest of the girls I wanted to move the bar to 84kg to take first place and force other lifters to “make lifts”. Zoë panicked a little and didn’t want to move the barbell past 83kg. (I cri errytime) This meant the first lift was somewhat of a waste, only securing second (although it meant we used none of our changes). After making the first Clean and Jerk we moved the bar 1kg over the other lifters (to 86kg) to see how they would do. The girl in first place missed her second clean and the lifter in third place moved up into second having made 85kg. Zoë had the chance to move into a large lead with one lift remaining by making the second clean and jerk. She missed. Explaining to her that we want to take the chance to win it on the last lift regardless of the others I moved the bar to 88kg (1kg above the others, knowing that the lifter in second was out of changes). They both missed their last lifts of 87/88 (meaning Zoë would have won with 86kg). She had the opportunity to win it on the final lift, so hype. Luckily she made the lift, (I was feeling the heart flutters) it was an exciting competition performance and luckily it went our way on the day. That made sense to me but no doubt read horribly.
TLDR : Knees weak, arms heavy, mom’s spaghetti. #Anothaone
Going forward,hopefully she learns from the competition. I know I will be altering some parts of training. For example: openers being a higher intensity wave series so people getting less fixated on a number. It was a great return on a years training and I look forward to competition season being over. Next year the goals are to compete at the British and move her total up in the region of 175-180.
Initial total 53/72=125
Final total 73/88= 161
Improvement over 1 year = 36kg.
With training; staying the course and waiting on your body adapting is very difficult. You think micro adjustments are required after one bad session, as long as the work is getting more difficult over time and you are improving your technical mastery you will have a good time. Put your trust in delayed transformation.
Regarding the blog: I find writing super taxing (I am the sort of writer that goes back to the start and constantly frets) but will be trying to write on a more consistent basis, even if it is just to work on finding more dank memes.
Very fast under the bar (audible gasp), Jordan’s speed is a valuable asset to him when he finishes the pull. On the jerk it is a hard to say what went wrong, it looks in the right place. Speaking with him after he said it felt goofy and I understand the difficulty of overcoming a serious injury so I don’t want to drag it out. Foot position looked decent, although the back foot turns out ever so slightly. The bar was over the hips, a lack of pressing strength cost him here.
This is the first time Jordan has encountered real pressure in making a lift in Weightlifting so it is a good experience for him. This time slightly forward on the clean so he has to recover the barbell to his throat to make the lift. Too much wobbling about at the top of the the suggests that the midsection probably needs a little work stabilizing the jerk drive. On the Jerk the back foot goes for a long split but not a deep one, the front foot gets caught on the ground and he can’t sink his hips. This means that the arms are caught pressing the barbell and it’s game over man, game over.
The clean is very comfortable for Ian, he has a big excess on this part of the lift. The main focus here will be on the jerk. On the first two lifts the re-adjust was not as smooth as I would like. It is somewhat of a double movement, this costs a little bit of leg power. The arms were a little slow on this lift so the feet had landed and the arms were still going. This caught up with him and was deemed a pressout. The bar positioning was a little too far forward and meant he had to run to try and catch it. The picture on the right shows the centre of balance a little in front of the hips, elite lifters do this as well, they counter with a crazy amount of shoulder flexibility. A frustrating opener since he would require a big jump on his final lift.
For this lift the bar goes a little forward on the jerk. The main cause for this is the foot weighting on the jerk. His knees are a little beyond his toes and when he reverses his dip and drive he is already moving forward ever so slightly. You have to watch the lift in slow motion to see it. He manages to recover this lift well. (the judges buzzed a little early, probably guilty from the Easts).
For Ian this was a interesting competition, he was unfortunate to miss the weigh in, this meant that he was lifting as a guest. He would’ve finished first so we prepared a trophy for him so that he wouldn’t sleep in. (made by my gorgeous girlfriend) For his training, more time spent Jerking weights and making sure that he has accurate footwork. Improving his upper body strength with basic movements like bench press, dips or weightlifting specific movements like push press and power variations of the lifts will benefit his lifting. A 11kg total increase from his last competition is a great return from training. His next goal is moving towards the 240kg total mark and moving up the classification of lifters.
This is one of my new favorite pictures of a back squat (thanks to Allthingsgym), I know the lifter has a fantastic body structure for squatting, but the motor control in the upper back is great to see. The arms are pretty loose and the big movers like the quads/glutes/hamstrings are doing the work. A far cry from people who have to get so tight with their arms on the back squat then lead with the hips so the lower back is doing a disproportionate amount of the lift. For Weightlifting this is not useful, legs do the work. It is not chance that took these lifters to the World Championships, taking care of the little things plays a big role for anyone.
Extension
Finishing position with bar racked
Looking at Jordan’s finishing position you can see the main culprit. This finishing position will prevent him from hitting those big juicy weights.
Easy opener for the big man, his bottom position on the clean still needs a little work. Similar to his snatch, he needs to open the hips up a little more to take the pressure off the ankle. Otherwise on heavier weights that bar will just roll off. The jerk drive is reasonable efficient, although the foot placement afterwards is problematic for him. The hips move back and so the bar is out in front, his strong arms hold the weight. (All dat benching). The front foot lands a little too early, you want either same time or rear foot first.
This is the Jerk that keeps on giving, fair play to him for holding it as long as he did! Far too much like Cardio for my liking. The clean was quite similar to the last, although his upper back is starting to take more of a pounding at the bottom position.
Backstage Ian was understandably gassed after the last lift, I made sure to mention to Jerk the weight quicker than usual otherwise his legs would feel wiped. The Clean itself was lovely, no upper back rounding so the transition to the jerk was smooth. Hips still move back a little on this lift but the front leg is a touch more aggressive, resulting in more stable knee angle. (His shin is perpendicular to the floor). Decent enough jerk, awesome work considering how taxing the last lift must have been.
A very frustrating attempt, the bar is plenty high in order to make the lift. The arms extend rather lazily and he gets spat out. From the position that he hits in the picture to the right, he should make that lift, if he can keep the back tight and step forward. Unfortunately he cannot rescue the lift with his upper body and it’s a miss.
Lovely clean, the upper back round is still present but he really caught the bounce of the weight, good timing. The jerk is disappointing, the bar gets driven forward quite far, it is still plenty high but just in the wrong place, Jordon’s upper body isn’t on par with his legs so he can’t afford to make those sorts of mistakes. If the bar was towards the rear by about 2 inches he would make that lift. Again the rear knee angle could also be reduced so that he presses himself under the bar more.
The clean bottom position is a little on the toes, the bar got away from him slightly but he quickly recovers and transitions to the jerk. The jerk itself is quite good, unfortunately his arms bends slightly and he gets popped for a press out. On the whole the position was more stable than the previous lift but again his upper body let him down slightly. His strict press and push press are lagging when compared to his squats.
Barbell Meditations 