Physical and mental weightlifting setbacks

Since getting ran over by a car I haven't been able to clean anything higher than %70 of my max. My snatch and jerks are still good. It's just my cleans that I'm struggling with. That leaves me contemplating..... Did I lose strength? Or is it some sort of a mental block? Perhaps a combination of both? I feel that if it's a loss of strength then it's not a problem. I'll rebuild my strength in no time. Muscles have memory. But unfortunately I feel it's some sort of mental block. Last night anytime I tried to clean over 105k I'd freak out once it was time for me to drop under the bar and I'd jump out of the way or push the bar away. I'm pretty sure the problem is in my head. Some sort of response to the trauma of having been ran over. And I have absolutely no idea how to handle this. Do I use lower weights until I start feeling comfortable dropping under the bar again? Or do I keep attempting to lift the heavy weights and force my way through it?

I've seen my weightlifting coach, Joaquin Chaves of High Dessert Athletic Club, do some pretty amazing things with his athletes. He's always able to coach his athletes through any problem they're having. Sometimes he focuses on form. Sometimes he talks them up using motivation. On occasion he'll even jump down one of his athletes throats, using hard coaching, or tough love. On some athletes who are particularly hard on themselves coach Chavez will always use positive and inspirational coaching. He seems to know each of his athletes and knows exactly what each one is capable of and how to get them there. 

Last night coach Chaves saw I was struggling and he had me drop down to 90k and build back up to 110. I missed 110 so he had me drop back down again. On the third time through this pattern he had me stop with the clean and jerks and had me move on to squats. I've never seen him do that before. He always found some way of coaching his athletes through whatever struggles their facing. But last night he somehow knew that the problems I was struggling with wasn't something that should be pushed through yet. That I was facing something more than a problem with my form or motivation. He just somehow knew addressing the issue again later was the best course of action. After last night I realized that I don't have to stress or worry about how I'm going to get through this. I have a great coach and mentor. All I have to do is show up and he'll figure out how to get me through this. I'm in great hands. 

the masters national weightlifting championships and the American open series

Friday was my last big day of training before I tapered for the October 29th weightlifting meet. My snatches were great but my clean and jerks were absolute crap. I'm pretty sure I could only clean a 127k right now. And I couldn't jerk 125k to save my life. If I can't clean and jerk at least 130k there's no way I can qualify for the masters national weightlifting championships. I was really hoping to compete in the masters national weightlifting championships. But it might actually work out well. Coach Joaquin Chaves asked all of us to compete in the American open series as a team. At the American open series not only could I compete as an individual on a national meet but I'd also get to be part of a national team competition. My coach and team are awesome. That sounds like a blast to me.

figuring this weightlifting stuff out!

Today was the first time I felt like I knew what I was doing in regards to weightlifting. It's such a complicated sport! Today i even received a bunch of "atta boy Cody!" &"that was great" & "exactly like that"! Felt dang good. I'm thinking I'll hit 100k, 120k, 220k soon.

hardcore weightlifting at High Dessert Athletic Club in Albuquerque

Today I was still sore after two days of rest and recovery. My new coach is kicking my butt! It's pretty awesome. I've never been this sore from olympic style weightlifting before. I think this is what it would be like training with the Russians national weightlifting team.

Since I've started training at High Dessert Athletic Club with Juaquin in Albuquerque I've learned one very valuable lesson. Do the form right. Seriously. Because if I don't get it right I'll be doing that one rep over and over again until I do get it right. My first heavy set of 5 reps today turned into a set of 11 reps. By the end of the set I was drenched in sweat, my legs felt like they were on fire, and my arms were shaking. Apparently it's a good way to teach because I'll never forget how to do snatcg deadlifts again. It's BURNED into my brain, my legs, and arms. Seared into my muscle memory by lactic acid, sweat, and tears!

The training at HDAC has been so intense I started taking creatine monohydrate again to speed up my recovery. Seriously,  this is flippin' unbelievable. I've never trained like this before. It's awesome. Unbelievably awesome. 

form corrections

Recently I completed my 2nd day of training at High Dessert Athletic Club  (HDAC). Juaquin broke down and corrected my form in almost every exercise I did: snatch deadlifts, snatch pulls from the knees, cleans, jerks, and even back squats which I thought was great at. Oympic style weightlifting is mostly form, so I'm motivated and excited to fix my form deficiencies. Fixing my form will benifit my weightlifting quicker than speed or strength increases. But I'm also being pushed hard at HDAC. Really hard! So I'll also be putting on a tremendous amount of speed and strength while creating great form. The combination of those three will be exciting to experience. I was worried when I moved away from Santa Fe that I'd have to give up weightlifting. But so far I'm a happy weightlifter! I do have one big regret though. The best weightlifting increases I've ever made was late 2015 through February of this year when I had hired a nutrition coach. I can't help thinking, what kind of massive increases would I be making if I was still working with him? 

a new weightlifting gym

Now that I've moved away from Santa Fe I had to find a new weightlifting gym. There's not many weightlifting gyms in the U.S. There's even fewer with decent coaching. Moving to another city is usually weightlifting suicide. But thankfully New Mexico is a weightlifting meca. There's two great weightlifting coaches in this state. Only two you might ask? That's two more than most states have. Weightlifting is a fringe sport in America. It's growing in popularity, but there's still not a ton of interest, and even fewer decent coaches. In New Mexico the two great coaches I know of are my former coach Shane Miller of Miller weightlifting in Santa Fe and my new coach Juaquin Chaves of High Dessert Athletic Club (HDAC) in Albuquerque.

I'm going to miss my old coach like heck. He's a great man and  great coach. I was worried when I told him I wasn't going to be able to train with him and that I wanted to train at another weightlifting gym. His response was so supportive.