It's been a while

I haven't posted in a long time, and it's been almost as long since I've lifted anything. Time to get back on the horse.

Some news. We might be moving the club to a new location. Details are still being finalized but I'm pretty excited about it. Stay tuned for more info on that.

Let's get amped!

Alright boys and girls, this week we're going heavy, testing some maxes. Time to get amped. And here for a little demonstration/inspiration we have two guys with the right attitude...

Jon North, American 94kg lifter. Attitude Nation Boss.

Dmitry Klokov, 105kg Russian Superstar and my unabashed man crush.

Information for parents from QWA

LIFTING OFF – Is weightlifting Safe
Nowadays many medical practitioners who see young patients are often asked about strength training programs for children. Many parents seek guidance over the safety of resistance training for both competitive and cross training purposes. Other parents of overweight or underweight children seek guidance about which activities are effective for weight loss or weight gain.
Among the general concerns of weight training include musculoskeletal injuries (back and knees) and damage to growth plates, with excess muscle development and masculinisation a specific concern for young girls and their parents. Informed clinicians can reassure parents that, with adult supervision, proper equipment, and realistic expectations, strength training programs designed for children and adolescents are safe and effective.
Realistically, strength training in prepubertal children is a safe and effective way to improve muscle strength and joint flexibility while potentially decreasing the rate of sports-related injury. A properly designed and supervised program will help improve children's overall health and sense of psychosocial well-being. Current published literature demonstrates that the benefits of strength training far outweigh the small potential risks. When a child or adolescent is involved in strength training, the emphasis is on technique rather than the amount of weight lifted, and qualified coaches always ensure these guidelines.

Read the rest at Queensland Weightlifting Association.

3 weeks out

Here we are 3 weeks out from the meet. If you are planning on going please let me know tonight and we'll talk about some goals for openers and whatnot.

I'm pretty excited to get to a meet, and to be able to bring some lifters with me! :D

Also, if you are going to go, please go here and sign up.

See you all tonight!

Check out this video, this is how it's done.

Your first WL meet

It could be coming up on February 4th! And here is what to expect from your first meet.

First thing, have fun! You're new to the sport, and like any sport it takes years to get good at it, and a lifetime to master (if you master it at all). So don't worry about it. Go out, have some fun, see what you can do, and watch some great lifting. (and probably some not so great)

What happens at a WL meet? Good question.

First thing is your weigh in. At your weigh in you will tell the judge what your opening attempts will be. This happens 2 hours before your session starts. These are the following weight classes you could fit into.
Women:
48 kg
53 kg
58 kg
63 kg
69 kg
75 kg
75+ kg

Men:
56 kg
62 kg
69 kg
77 kg
85 kg
94 kg
105 kg
105+ kg

If it's your first meet don't concern yourself with "making weight". That really is just an added level of stress you don't need your first time out. In fact, unless you've actually got a shot at qualifying for Nationals or something, I wouldn't worry about it for quite a while.

After your weigh in, you can hang out and watch the other sessions, go get some breakfast/lunch, whatever you want. You'll want to start warming up a little before your session starts, I think 5 minutes before it starts (maybe it's 10 minutes?) all the lifters in your session will be lined up and introduced to the crowd.

The first lift that is contested is the Snatch. Lifters will lift in order of lowest to highest weight attempted. There is 1 minute between each attempt, unless you are following yourself, in which case you get an extra minute of rest. You get 3 individual attempts at the heaviest Snatch you can manage. You need 2/3 white lights for it to be a good lift.

There is another break of about 10 minutes between the Snatch session and the C+J session. It goes the same way as the Snatch session.

The winners of each weight class is chosen based on their Totals. You get your Total by adding together your best successful Snatch and C+J of the day.

And that's it.

I'd love to see our new lifters make it out for this meet, it's only in Saskatoon so we don't have to travel all that far. And if it's your first meet you aren't required to wear a singlet, as long as your elbows and knees are uncovered, and your clothes aren't really baggy (to allow for proper judging of the lifts) you will be fine.

Change is afoot

As you might have noticed, we are no longer a CrossFit Affiliate. Over the last couple of years I feel like CF HQ has kind of lost the plot a little. (individual affiliates are still doing great things, fighting the good fight) It didn't affect the training we were conducting in our gym, but now we're going in a new direction.

Focusing entirely on the sport of Weightlifting.

Weightlifting is a great sport, it's accessible and it's fun. It's both individual and a team sport. I've never competed in anything quite like it. (I suppose karate tournaments felt close...)

It has been my experience as a coach as well, that the VAST majority of trainees coming through my doors would have benefitted from focusing solely on strength and power development, not lung shredding conditioning.

So that's what we're all about now. 4 nights per week we are throwing the bumps around.

We've got heat!

Thanks to Danny, his apprentice and the Sask Energy guy they dragged kicking and screaming into my yard, we now have heat in the garage.

Training this winter is going to be very very nice now. You probably can't tell but I am pretty damn excited about it.