Dutch Lowy

I’m being pushed to get this up so here it is. First is a video of Meggie, Marshall, Danny and Jordan, all of Crossfit ATM.
And a little slow mo action from Meggie. She will kill me if she knows i posted this so don’t tell anyone… Please! A side note, she won the meet and is the state champion!!

I got this little quote from a good friend of mine. I actually stole it from his website that is linked here. You saw him on a video on this page when he snatched a PR. A good dude all around and has a deep desire to learn and get better everyday.

Back to the quote. It is a good determinate of your current progress, not only in fitness but in life. It also takes a bit of self reflection and forces you to be critical of your current standing. I asked myself this question and was a little thrown off by the answer. I’ll give you the answer before i state the question because i want to hear what ya’ll think about it too.

Looking back, i think i have softened up a bit. More mentally than physically. I think i am actually stronger than i have ever been and in my mind that makes me more fit. With my recent exposure to CF again i am starting to doubt the fitness thing and have really realized how soft my mind has gotten. Well at least the battles it plays out while i am trying to get some shit done. I am hoping it is just the first week jitters and i will shake them off in the next couple weeks. Right now i fail at kicking my ass from 6 months ago.

So, here it is: “Can the current you kick the past you’s ass?” 6 months, 5 years, 10 years…
Lay it on me and thanks dave for the motivation.

I want to make some observations based on my last couple months of training.
First of all, weightlifting is fun. Fucking Hard, but tons of fun! Although it is about as basic of an idea as could ever be imagined (pick something up and put it overhead, the heaviest thing wins), it can be very complex and fulfilling. As most of you know that have ever attempted a snatch, it is a very complex and technical movement. The margin for error is very small especially at heavier weight. The athleticism need is also right up there with a major league pitcher, professional footballer (soccer or football), or tennis player. Interestingly enough the benefits of weightlifting (snatch and clean and jerk) cover each of these disciplines. To me it seems like a no brainer for people to feel the need to get better at these two movements for the betterment of their sport. I am getting off track a bit, sorry.

More observations:
Little gains make big differences and are a big deal. When i added 3 kgs to my snatch and went from 97 to 100 kg a couple months ago it was a mental victory. Not only did i realize a goal for 2009 but it also forced me to adjust all my numbers. Obviously in training 70% of 97 is different than 70% of 100. All this means is that all my training weights went up and forced me to work harder. I was talking to steve at the american open and as we were pumped about getting PR’s in our lifts, we were a little bummed that training was going to be harder in the future. I guess this forces us to get stronger. Eventually however 90% gets easier and easier as you train more. This is the idea behind progressive loading i suppose.

It sucks training alone. I train in my garage and rarely hit big lifts. I attempt them all day but the atmosphere is different in my garage than say at a national meet. I can’t count the amount of times i have missed a 100kg snatch over the last couple weeks. However, i nailed it at the American Open last weekend. I even got 105 unofficially (press out). Looking at the video, it was easy. What is wrong with me in training?? Well nothing besides the fact that i am barely held accountable. I report to my coaches Greg and Aimee at Catalyst Athletics, but they can’t yell at me before and after lifts and this makes a huge difference.

Weightlifting is hard!
It takes alot of mental strength to get under the bar on the fifth set of squats at 85% of your max for a set of 5. The desire not to fail is crucial. This transfers well into the the mental strength needed for Crossfit.

PR’s are fun, but rare.
As a novice lifter i experienced many more PR’s than a seasoned lifter. I went from a 90 kg snatch and 110 kg clean and jerk to a 105 kg snatch and 130 kg clean and jerk. All my squats and presses have gone up as well. I attribute this to being new and don’t expect as much gains in the future. This is an understanding anyone who has been in sport for a while can understand. Once you get to a certain level, progress is hard and you have to fight tooth and nail to get it and keep it. If you don’t get fired up and want to tell everyone that you PR’d in the snatch by 2 kilos then you might not be in the right field. I watched my girlfriend snatch 55kg a week ago and the smile she had afterwards was amazing! I was like a proud father and wanted to tell everyone. So keep in mind the joy goes beyond just the athlete. One final note here. PR’s are records for a reason. They aren’t meant to be beat everytime you attempt them. its ok not to hit a record everytime. In fact i would say it is a good thing if you miss PR’s everytime you train. To me this means your PR is actually pretty legit and you have to work like hell to beat it.

Where do i go from here?
I feel like i still have tons of potential as a weightlifter. i also have a strange desire to compete in teh CF games in 2010. I think, despite others views, that i can do both and be competitive in both. This will take a strong focus on quality training and will need to be reviewed by someone other than myself. I am too easy on myself. Obviously i won’t make the huge gains in either sport but that i part of the compromise i am willing to make. So now i have to figure out what this hybrid program looks like and talk with my coaches about how to make it work.

Thank you all for your support and i will do my best to make you proud as an athlete!!

Dutch

So, i am chipping away at this Crossfit thing again and man does it hurt!! I did the 2000m row last week and Fran yesterday. Definitely feeling it today. You are going to have to watch the video to get the final time. All i will say is that i am not really proud of it but i am not discouraged either. Sorry about the camera angle, sometimes you gotta work with what ya got.
I have a half cindy in my sights. Sorry for all of you that requested the full thing, its just not gonna happen right now.

The row was 7:35 with a previous PR of 7:14 so not all that bad.

Olympic Weightlifting Seminar

Sunday, February 28, 2010, 9 AM to 4 PM

Fee: $225.00 per person

Instructors: Chad Vaughn and Ursula Garza Papandrea

CrossFit Austin is pleased to announce our one-day Olympic Weightlifting Seminar featuring 2-time Olympian Chad Vaughn and USAW Senior International Coach Ursula Garza Papandrea. The focus of the seminar will be detailed instruction and hands-on training of the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. This seminar will provide you with:

* Mechanics and fundamentals of the Snatch and Clean & Jerk
* Logical progressions for the two competitive lifts
* Small group instruction from Olympic level coaches and athletes

This seminar is limited to 16 people,

Chad Vaughn

Chad Vaughn is a 2-time Olympian, who recently competed in the 2008 Bejing Summer Olympics. He has established a long career of weight lifting successes and is the American record holder in the 77 kg Clean & Jerk at 190 kg (418 lbs). He is 5-time National Champion, 4-time World Team Member and a 7-time Pan-American Team Member. Chad is currently preparing for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Coach Ursula Garza Papandrea

Strength, conditioning and competitive weightlifting are Coach Papandrea’s specialties. She boasts 15+ years of experience as coach and an athlete, in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. She holds the titles of Club, Sports Performance, and Senior International Coach (The only female in the US!!) within the United States Weightlifting Association, in addition to her BS in Exercise and Sports Science. Coach Papandrea has coached numerous athletes (and been quite successful herself, A national champion as well as 4 time world championship competitor) at the National and International levels.

Watch this video and think about future Athletes. If a kid is able to play with the same skill as the best in the world, how long till that same kid will have the same capacity as the best in the world. I feel that with Crossfit we will see more and more kids with competing capacity in both CF as a sport and different sports.
Watch out. Here they come!!

I recently received a question about my olympic lifting and how it relates to CF. I want to post an elongated version of my response because i think there may be a bit of confusion surrounding this topic.

From Steve:

recently saw your lifts on OPT’s blog. Pretty impressive! I was just wondering how you vary your olympic lifting with metcons?

I know that world class olympic lifters train 5 or 6 days a week on pretty much the snatch and clean and jerk with little variation and some other lifts involved. But they aren’t trying to compete for the crossfit games. My goal is to get to the crossfit games in 2010. This last summer, I followed OPT’s blog to the T and felt like my fitness was great. However, I felt the need to get the snatch and C&J down. So in September I joined a olympic training center in Montreal. At 83 kg, my lifts are 86 and 110 kg. I feel like I still have lots of room for improvement. What I have been doing recently is 3 days of o-lift and 3 days of pretty much random metcons without any running involved. I was just wondering how you are able to maintain such good lifts and such great muscular endurance? Or is muscular endurance something that just comes and goes very quickly unlike the explosion that you need in o-lifts which takes a while to develop. Do you just start to increase metcons duration a month before competition or something?

Since the CF games 2009 i have done little to no conditioning (met-con). I was both mentally and physically run down and still struggle with the notion of doing fran or cindy or anything like it. For the last 5-6 months i have been 100% dedicated to Olympic Lifting and it has obviously payed off. I have increased my snatch by 14 kg, my clean and jerk by 15 kg, Front squat by 10 KG, and Back Squat by 6 kg. These gains are worth it to me. Not only has strength increased but, technique has also greatly improved. I also now understand how difficult it is to get stronger.

I can’t honestly say what my conditioning is like right now although i suspect it is very poor. I have not tested it since starting the lifting program. I hate to burst your bubble but i don’t think i could have made these gains while maintaining my CF conditioning. I do, however, feel that i could have made the gains over a longer period of time if i chose to maintain my CF conditioning.

Having mentioned the above, i want to shift the discussion to what 3 workouts should i do to test my fitness? You have to understand that i do not have any training logs from pre CF games 2009. I only decided to keep a log when i started lifting. So, lets take a poll and i will do the top 3 workouts as a test to my fitness since dedicating to lifting only. A few caveats:
No running. This is an easy way to an overuse injury right out of the gates. Running needs to be eased into in order to keep from overuse injury.
Only workouts within reason. If i feel that there is potential for injury, i won’t do it.
I get the final say on what i do.
You have time. I will be doing these towards the end of January.
Remember its just a test, not a training program.

I have not yet tested the theory of strength before strength endurance but i suspect i can get my conditioning back relatively quickly.