Dutch Lowy

This past weekend i had the pleasure of competing in the Oly Athlete Open. It was a great experience… At least most of it. More on that later.

The event consisted of a olympic lifting meet (3 attempts at the snatch and clean and jerk) and an AMRAP (5 thrusters 135lbs, 10 burpees, 20 double unders). It is my hope that in the future events like this continue to be simplistic. Many of the CF competitions popping up become excessive and overall exhausting for everyone included. Spending a whole day focused on competing with multiple workouts and many heats just gets kinda old. I think it would be really fun to have 1 maybe 2 workouts in a competition and allow people to go all out once rather than having to go on an all day slugfest of workout after workout. Not only are the competitors more at risk of fatigue injuries but its just hard to watch as a spectator. I think it would be more exciting to just watch one workout and possibly some sort of tie breaker at the end.

Back to the Oly Athlete open. I must say that i had a blast. I am excited that olympic weightlifting is gaining momentum in the CF community. There were actually quite a few pretty good lifters competing. I was impressed by everyones willingness to compete in something they had never tried before.

I am pleased with my performance but at the same time a bit annoyed. I finished second in the lifting portion and had a chance to take the victory with a PR Clean and Jerk of 133kg. I missed the jerk and reviewing the video i was much closer than i thought. It felt like a million kgs. I also took the first loser spot in the AMRAP which absolutely Crushed me. I won the overall event by 1 point. The aftermath was a bit scary since i spent about 45 minutes on the floor followed by another 45 in a chair not moving and trying to understand where i was. Needless to say, i don’t currently feel like my fitness is “Elite.”

I have been asked a couple times if i was going to the CF/USAW event in CO Springs and i won’t be going. I think it would be a fun event, however i am not looking forward to the beat down i got last weekend. I am excited that it will get more people interested in weightlifting which is a damn good thing. I hope that this event can get people fired up and spread the good word about weightlifting. Good Luck to all of you that are going and have fun!!

I have talked alot about giving you and your athletes tools to get better rather than just serving them up some fitness for the day. I want to talk today about a conversation i had this weekend with Matt Murski. A long time friend of mine and mentor. He never ceases to amaze me when i talk to him.

Recently we were talking about longevity or sustainability in CF and clients in your gym. As Cf is currently i don’t think it is sustainable. Give me a shout out if you have modified your training from an all out CF model to something either more specific (sport focus) or more sustainable (lower intensity, or less frequent). In case you haven’t noticed, i have shifted to a more specific focus (weightlifting).
Sorry i got off the point for a second. back to our conversation. We were talking about what Matt is doing in his gym. He started talking about giving people abilities vs workouts. He said something to the effect that he wants people to walk out the door everytime they come in thinking “Damn i never knew i could do that.” In this way he is able to keep things fresh and exciting while developing abilities. He doesn’t just dose them up with a workout and send them home to lick their wounds, he teaches them something new…Every Day! Do you do this?

As a side note, and i totally agree with this, if his people want a body comp shift he directs them to nutrition and lifestyle advice instead of giving them a workout. If this is your goal, check in with the Whole 9 Crew.