Helen and Max overhead squats

Today in crossfit we tested Helen. Which is 3 rounds of:
400m run
21 kettlebell swings with 53lbs
10 pull-ups

I still can't do that many pull-ups. So I scaled down to 35lb DB and ring rows. I finished with a PR scaled time of 13:09.

On the overhead squats I finished with 255lbs. I think I could have done 10lbs more,but we ran out of time. My old weightlifiting coach Shane Miller used to tell me, "if you can overhead squat it, then you can snatch it." That's kind of exciting to think about! I'm really looking forward to the two New Mexico weightlifiting meets in May and June that Joaquin Chaves will be hosting this year.

Athletes first kind of Strength​ Coaches

A little over a month ago my father in-law​passed away and I paid for the funeral. A couple weeks later we got hit with a $1,300 tax bill. Until I get our emergency fund back up to where it's supposed to be I won't be training. I'll be to busy working overtime.  It's not really a big deal. It'll probably only take me three or four months of 55 hour work weeks to replenish our emergency fund. I told my powerlifting coach, Rich Kahle what was going on. I told him I'd rehire him after we got caught up with our finances. He told me he wanted me to continue training and he'd program for me for free until I got caught back up. Of course I won't do it. If he's training me I'll pay him. There was a time when we were hurting really bad financially. My first weightlifting coach Shane Miller trained me for free back then. At that time I was working 80-90 hours a week to pay off my wife's debt. The only choice back then was train for free or not train. But we're in a lot better place now. I'll continue to pay him. No doubt about it. But think about it, how considerate was it that he offered to work for free? I was touched.

next weightlifting meet

My coach advised me the next weightlifting meet will be held on October 29th, 2016. That gives me another 6 weeks & 5 days to get my total up. I'm guessing I have 2 attempts to qualify for the masters national weightlifting championships. One in October, and time for one more before the cut off of February 1st of 2017. I'm so excited. I think I have a really good shot at qualifying. Coach Joaquin Chaves told me it may be a pretty good sized meet. It may be big enough to be held at the University of New Mexico weight room. If it's that big of a meet there's a chance my former coach, Shane Miller, will be there with his team. I'd really like to qualify with him present. He was the first one to take me under his weightlifting wing to coach me and guide me along. Accomplishing something like that with him there would be sentimental and the best way I could think of to say thanks to him.

weightlifting coach Juaquin Chavez of High Dessert Athletic Club

Today after training my weightlifting coach Juaquin Chavez of High Dessert Athletic Club told me he wanted me to skip the 2nd annual John Davis memerial weightlifting meet next weekend to get in more quality training time with him. My old triathlon coach Pete Alfino of Mile High Multi-sport used to ask me the same thing all the time, "don't race this weekend, train instead. You need the training more than the race." I'd ignore my former triathlon coach and race. Every single time. Joaquin's the best coach I've ever had in any sport. I think the world of Joaquin. Both as a coach and as a person. If Joaquin asks me to not lift in a meet, then I'm not lifting in a meet. I do what he says no questions asked. Period. The only regret I have is not having found him to train under his tutlage earlier. He opened up High Dessert Athletic Club way back in 1998. I could have been lifting with him since I was 23 years old instead of starting with him at 40. I can't even imagine how my life would have been different if I'd of started lifting with him 16 years ago. For one, I'd be a beast by now. Jennifer Buckner has been lifting with him since 1998 and she's one of the strongest master weightlifters in the nation! But, I'm here now. And I love it. It's hard to believe when I left Santa Fe I was considering giving up weightlifting and becoming a powerlifter. My fear was I wouldn't be able to find decent coaching.

I've been stuck at 310 pounds for a little over three weeks now. In the past I'd of freaked out about not losing any weight for three weeks. But I'm OK with it now. I'll continue doing what my  sports nutrition coach Barry Schroeder says and eventually we'll get through it. If not, that's ok too. I've gotten to the point that I'm comfortable with myself. I like myself as I am at any weight. I believe the new fancy term for that is fat acceptance. Accepting myself as i am sure makes trying to eat for health and weightlifting performance more enjoyable. Now it's a goal and a process I can enjoy rather than feeling manic and obsessed about getting to a bodyweight that will make others and ultimately myself like me more.

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.

The 2016 HDAC Spring Break Invitational Weightlifting meet report

On March 12th 2016 I competed in the HDAC Spring Break Invitational Weightlifting meet. I decided to do this meet last minute,  so I didn't taper. Even without a taper I knew I was much stronger than I was at my last weightlifting meet thanks to having worked with a nutrition coach from Oct-Feb. But during the last 18 months or so I haven't been able to conect any of my strength or speed increases to any decent lifts at meets. As a matter of a fact, I missed qualifying for the masters national weightlifting championships 8 times in the last 27 months.

I took my youngest son to his basketball tournament before my weightlifting meet. The game ran longer than I expected so I didn't have time to grab any food. I was worried about running out of energy after my snatches from not having food.

I felt great during warm ups. That was the first time in almost 18 months that I'd felt good and had decent form warming up for a weightlifting meet.

Coach Shane Miller set my first snatch at 86k. I made it easy. 2nd lift was a 91k. Shane told me if i made that lift i could attempt anything i wanted on my third. 2nd attempt was successful. On the third attempt I couldn't decide to go 96k or 98k. Shane said if I hit a 96 today I could shoot for a 100k at the next meet. I nailed the 96k no problem. Now that i nailed the 96k snatch I only had to lift a 111k clean and jerk to qualify for the ever elusive masters national weightlifting championships!

After the three snatches I started to warm up for the clean and jerk. I was running out of energy without anything to eat. A team mate of mine offered me a bagel. Man did that taste so good! My energy returned. He and his bagel probably saved my meet!

I was successful at my 1st and 2nd clean and jerks of 108k and 111k. The 111k qualified me for the masters national weightlifting championships!!!!!

Coach gave me the green light to attempt a 116k clean and jerk. A 116k would be a meet PR and tie a lifetime PR. I was successful! This was the first 6 for 6 meet I'd had in over a year and a half. It felt great to finally leave a meet feeling like I lifted to my full potential. I ended up breaking all 3 of the masters New Mexico state records, and of course qualifying for the master national weightlifting championships!

I'm going to see if coach Miller will let me lift again here in Santa Fe on April 23rd. I'd really like to attempt a 100k snatch and a 120k clean and jerk! Then after the April 23rd weightlifting meet I'm going to compete in the April 30th NASA N

moving, retiring, and change

I really hate change. I'm like an old person in that way. That's probably my best and worst personal trait. It makes me loyal, but it also makes me a huge pain in the butt. There's a massive amount of change coming in my near future. We're buying a new home. We'll be selling a place I love and have lived happily for the last 13 years. We'll be moving to a city I don't like much, Albuquerque NM. I'll be retiring from the prison I've worked at and loved for 21 years. I'll be getting another job with potentially better pay, but still it's.... change..... I'm a wreck right now.

I've been struggling with weightlifting for a couple months. I should be lifting a lot more than I am. My speed and strength have increased a ton, but the weights I'm lifting haven't increased. The problem is my form. I've been frustrated enough that I've been contemplating switching to powerlifting. The only things that had stopped me from changing sports was that olympic weightlifting has one of the lowest injury rates of all sports, powerlifting's injury rate is pretty high; I felt I was on the verge of getting some pretty big numbers before getting in my slump; I recently lifted a 100k snatch. That's a pretty good lift for someone in their 40's. I'm like %75 certain I'll stick with weightlifting., try to work my way out of this slump.

Once i move to Albuquerque it'll be a two hour round trip drive to the Miller Gym. Add a two hour long workout, that's 4 hours, four times a week to train. The Miller Gym is worth it. Coach Shane Miller is one of the best programmers in the nation. And I love the people I lift with. I feel a tremendous amount of camaraderie with them. It's rare to find such a close knit team. I'm going to try like hell to continue to train there. I'm hoping I'll be able to adjust my schedule to fit 4 hours of training and driving everyother day after work, but with 3 kids involved in sports after school, and my wife working full time while taking 14 credit hours of college classes in the evenings, I'm not sure how I'll be able to. Change sucks.

And all is right in the world again

Today I was back in the gym and did my first good day of training in almost 30 days. Dang it felt SO good! It immediately put me back in a great mood. Before my workout my coach Shane Miller pulled me aside and had a talk with me about my meet. He told said a lot of motivational things. But the one thing that stuck was that the form on my snatches improved drastically from my meet in October. I didn't believe him, so he showed me pictures of the meet. He was right. My form looked pretty good.

I started a new program today. I was really excited to see I'll be training 4 times a week every other week. I've been wanting to get to 4 days a week for a long time, but my body would break down every time I tried it on my own. The program is a 10 week program. It wasn't until I got home and looked at the calender that I realized the program has a perfect timed taper and peak for the Masters National Championships. I'd decided for money reasons I wasn't going to the Masters Nationals, but my wife is pushing for me to go. So we made a deal. If I can hit a 100k snatch and a 120 clean and jerk by the nationals, then I'll go. If I can't get one, the other, or both then I wont go. I can't believe I've made a decision about it. I'd been going back and forth for months. Did you notice yesterday i virtually swore I'd NEVER compete again, and now I'm contemplating flying across the country to compete That's what a great motivator my coach is, and what a supportive and encouraging wife I have.

mental toughness and blog names

I've been contemplating changing the name of my blog. I came up with the perfect blog name: podium quest. Turns out the blog name is already taken. Should i keep the name memoirs of an olympic weightlifter? Got any ideas for me? Please share.

I felt great in the gym today. I guess a large part of my problem was mental. It was caused by not sharing my feelings on my taper and peak with my weightlifting coach. That surprised me. I've always felt I was mentally and emotionally stronger than that. The only other time in my life that my athletic performance was hurt because of something mental was back in 2007. I was training for my first Iron distance triathlon, The Silverman full distance triathlon. That year my step dad died, i had a poor triathlon coach, I was over training, my wife racked up a staggering amount of debt, and i was forced to work 90 hour work weeks. That year I suffered my only DNF of my triathlon career of 86 races. With all the things happening to me in 2007 I feel it was understandable to fall apart. But what's happened the last couple weeks was a pretty small thing to come unraveled over. I'm disappointed in myself. I'm just thankfull the solution was easy. Simply talk to my weightlifting coach about it. He was so receptive and understanding. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

communicating with coaches and money

The last few days I weighed 308. I weighed 303 this morning. My weight is like powerball numbers, you have no clue what theyre going to be.

I've been horrible in the gym the last week. It's because I peaked a few weeks ago. Most people lose some strength and speed after they peak. But I don't lose a little,  I crash and burn. I straight up fall apart! This isn't surprising at all. I've known my body does this since I first started triathlon training way back in 2004. Timing my peak is the most important thing for me and my athletics endeavors. My weightlifting coach didn't know this. You know why he didn't know? Because I didn't tell him that's why. I've wanted to tell him, but i wasn't sure how. What was mostly on my mind was not making waves. I love my gym. It's one of the few pure weightlifting gyms in the nation. And the Miller Gym is the most awesome place I've ever trained. All of the coaches are incredible. Coach Shane is one of the best program builders in the nation. The other members who train there are more than just like minded athletes who also love olympic style weightlifting. We're a team. A really close team. I haven't felt a team spirit like this since my days of playing football.  I guess deep down I was just worried I'd accidentally ruffled some feathers and be asked to leave. It was an absurd fear. Coach Shane approached me today & asked me a long list of questions, trying to diagnose what was up with me and my crap performance recently. I finally broke down and told him what was up. He seemed relieved, "oh, ok. That's an easy fix. I can adjust your program for that." Seriously?  It was that easy? Dang it!

Shane's always been very approachable. Always willing to listen and work with people. I don't know why the heck I was so anxious talking to him. Once I finally bared my soul to him everything was fixed. Bam, that easy. I feel really stupid.

I got paid on Friday. It was a check with almost no overtime. We still had enough money to pay all our bills and also enough left to save some for a down payment for a home. I know that doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but we struggled something horrible for a long time. There was one Chistmas, in 2011, we didn't have enough money to buy our kids presents. Imagine how hard it would be to tell your kids Santa Claus isn't coming this year. I've had a lot of time at home with the family recently. I'm playing catch up with all the time I missed with the family when I was working 80-90 hours a week. I've taught my kids how to ride a skate board, play the game go fish, and I've been shopping for a guitar so we can all learn to play music together.  It's amazing to me how much more appreciative I am now for the good times after we struggled so much for so long. I am so grateful to be through the rough patch and enjoying  the good times now. The last few months may have been the best 3 months of my life. 

support and weightlifting

Since I hit a lifetime PR on the snatch yesterday I've been on cloud 9. I never believed I'd get to a 100k snatch at all, much less this quickly.  Especially since I didn't start weightlifting until I was 38 years old. When I was attempting to max yesterday I ran out of energy half way through. One of my training partners had a particularly long and grueling training day, yet he still gave me his Cliff bar even though he obviously was going to need it to get through his workout. Coach Erik saw me miss a few of my lighter attempts so he watched the rest my lifts and helped me with my form. All that help made me think of how much support it takes to be an olympic weightlifter. For me, in addition to the obvious, like my wife adjusting her schedule to watch my three young children anytime I'm wanting to train. There's also the half dozen coaches and athletes who help me with form and advice every single time I'm in The Miller Gym. And of course my nutrition coach who has made the adjustments I needed to make the biggest gains I've ever made in a two month period. Weightlifting is the most amazing sport I've ever competed in. But it takes more support than any sport I've ever done too. I'm blessed enough to have such an amazing support system around me. I'm a lucky man.

I've decided that if I qualify for the 2016 master's national weightlifting championships I'm going. I'll have to sell my triathlon bike, road bike, race wheels,  And wet suits to be able to afford it. But if I qualify,  I'm going!

hand care for weightlifting

Yesterday during training my weightlifting coach asked one off his star lifters if she'd been doing proper hand care. Hand care? I know a lot of weightlifters use sandpaper to grind the calasus off their hands. But if that was the only thing we were supposed to do they'd simply call it sanding your hands. I asked coach Shane Miller, the guru of all things weightlifting, what things is important in hand care? These are the things he said:

- your hands should be completely smooth. If your skin is rough or lumpy, they are more likely to catch on the bar when you are lifting causing painful rips or tears. So shave your hands. The best time to do it is after you shower or  bathe.

-wash your hands after lifting to get all chalk off your hands. Leaving the chalk in will dry out your hands.

-use lotion on your hands to keep them from cracking or getting rough. it's especially important after washing your hands after lifting.

-use a small amount of chalk when you work out to keep your hands dry and help your grip. That will make you less likely to hold the bar too tight, which is a good thing as far as callus prevention.

- don't over-chalk. That may actually create more friction by having too much chalk on your hands.

- Use a towel to dry your hands between sets.

- weightlifting will make your hands tougher. The longer your a weightlifter, the better conditioned your hands will be, but it takes time.You will go through a period of time where no matter how careful you are, your hands will rip if you hit a high enough volume of exercise. Be patient and be careful and you will get through it. Your hands will come out tougher on the other side.

more energy during training

Today's workout was awesome! 81 reps total, all double and triples. Today was one of those rare days that everything felt light and no matter how hard I worked I never felt tired. I think that has a lot to do with hiring a sports nutrition coach. I'm recovering quicker, feeling stronger, and have more energy during training now. The workout took me almost two hours. After weightlifting I did the bench press program Shane built for me. I built up to two reps at 129.5 kilos (285lbs). I've always struggled at bench. That Shane's program has built me up to 2x285 lbs is virtually a miracle. I'm hoping to hit a 300lb bench at the NASA powerlifting competition on December 5th in Roswell New Mexico.

My daughter hugged me today and said, "Daddy, your getting skinnier. I can tell when i hug you. You feel different." I haven't seen much weight loss on the scale the last couple weeks,  but she sure made me feel good.

my son and weightlifting

Some wives give socks or ties for presents. Not my wife. She knows exactly what will make me happy. Weightlifting suplaments baby! I got this in the mail today for my 40th birthday. I'm a happy man. 

Today at my son's weightlifting practice coach Miller gave my son a Miller gym t-shirt for an early Christmas present. My son was was so happy about the shirt he refused to take it off last night. He slept in it. He really loves weightlifting, and he's pretty darn good at it. I'd really like it if I could watch him practice just one time without my eyes filling with tears. It's funny how love and and being proud of seeing my children exell  makes me cry.

Here's a video of my son doing power cleans. If he continues progressing as well as he is coach Miller will let him lift in the 2nd annual John Henry Davis meet in January. My dad even said he'd come to watch my sons first weightlifting meet. Even though my Dad only lives a few hours away he only visits once every couple years. So that would make it a particularly special day for my son. He and I would be lifting in the same meet together. Now that's what I call father/son bonding! 

weightlifting, retirement, and Santa Fe New Mexico

I find great joy from training olympic style weightlifting. The dedication and focus it takes to train in this sport fits my personality perfectly. I have a perfect weightlifting specific gym and like minded athletes to train with. I have two top notch coaches, one weightlifting coach and one nutrition coach. I'm completely content where I'm at. And now that I'm able to slow down on overtime my family life is the best it's ever been. 

I spent my entire career counting down the days to be able to retire and move, and now that I'm eligible to retire from the prison I've found complete satisfaction where I'm at. My wife and I have been house shopping here in Santa Fe, the houses are unbelievably expensive, there's no way we could afford to buy a house here. So after years of wanting to retire, I've found  that now I don't want to, and I sure as heck don't want to move away from my weightlifting gym here in Santa Fe.

I started taking creatine again. I'm always amazed how quickly my body gets strength gains and how much more quickly my body recovers when I take creatine. The only down side to creatine is the weight gain. I've gained three pounds in less than a week. All the weight gain is water weight, and since i don't have to worry about making weight at a lower weight class i don't mind. My next weightlifting meet is in January. The meet in January will be my last chance to qualify for the Masters Weightlifting National Championships.

a great Olympic weightlifting coach

My middle child has significantly less confidence than my other children. His lack of self-esteem has caused him to learn more slowly in school, causes him to give up at things very quickly, have emotional outbursts, he's incredibly hard on himself,  etc. A few months ago I started having him trained in olympic style weightlifting by coach Shane Miller. My son has a real talent for weightlifting. He stays intensely focused at every training session, which he usually isn't willing to do with anything else. This new found talent of his has totally changed him in the last few months. He always leaves in a better mood than when he started, which has has taught him to stay focused and positive when attempting other things. Since he's becoming so good at weightlifting so quickly its made him feel significantly better about himself. He's more patient, focused, confident, and much happier. Only a few months weightlifting has had a profound and positive effect on my sons life.

Awhile back there were 5 men at The Miller gym who were competing to successfully lift a 91k  (200lb) snatch. i was the first one. One of the guys at the gym, I'll call him Jack Ass, was a sore loser and told me the only reason i was the  one who lifted a 91k first was because of how overweight i was. Earlier this week a 2nd athlete successfully lifted a 91k snatch. As soon as Jack Ass heard he immediately said loudly,  "yeah, but your a 105k+ and-" before Jack Ass could finish his statement coach Shane Miller shut him up and pulled him aside. Apparently Coach Miller had a come to Jesus moment with Jack Ass because Jack Ass came back to me and apologized. I love my gym.  I love the other members of my gym- most of the time. And i love my coach. He's a great teacher,  a great person, a great motivator, he does an amazing job at stopping or minimizing gym gossip or politics, and I'm mostly grateful because he's making a huge difference in my son's  life.

sport nutrition coach update

I've hired a nutrition coach to help me lose enough weight to get down to the 105k weight class while still making performance gains in olympic style weightlifting. We were supposed to start next week. Yesterday i received an email from him saying he was so excited he was willing to start coaching me early for no additional cost. Seriously? How often does that happen? Awesome! He analyzed the last week of my diet and sent me almost 2 pages of observations and suggestions. He sent me info regarding what to eat before,  during,  and after my workouts to get the best benefits from training. How many carbs and what percentage of my daily carbohydrate intake should be consumed within a two hour block of training. He sent me suggestions on what to eat, when to eat, and why it'll benefit my performance. Since getting his email I've probably emailed or Facebook messaged him a dozen times. He always responds within moments and spends the time answering whatever question i had in great detail. I can't believe all the work this guys doing for me for only $75 a month. I doubt he's making minimum wage coaching me at this point. I'm thinking hiring this guy to be my sports nutrition coach was the best decision I've made in long time. My only regret is not hiring him earlier. If i had I'd already be a 105k and would have qualified for the 2016 Master's National Championships weightlifting meet. With Coach Shane Miller as my weightlifting coach and and Barry Schroeder as my sports nutrition coach I'm certain I'll be making unbelievable gains. Current weight, 309lbs. Next stop, lighter, stronger, and faster baby!

when to retire?

I'm currently eligible to retire from the state of New Mexico. I've been struggling to figure out when I should retire. I could retire anytime between now and July 2019. After years of deliberation my wife and I have decided for me to wait until 2019 to retire from the prison. The reason is simple. I've fallen in love with weightlifting. I've never enjoyed another sport or hobby as much as i enjoy weightlifting, and Santa Fe has one of the best weightlifting coaches in the nation, Shane Miller from who Coaches out of the Miller Gym. There's no way I'm ready to leave the quality of coaching here, there's way to much I still want to accomplish in this sport.

challenging weightlifting program

I started a new weightlifting program.  Coach Miller told me this will be the most difficult program I've done. If yesterday was an indication of how the next 9 weeks will go then he's absolutely right. Yesterdays workout was a ball buster. It was a tremendous amount of fun, but it was one of the hardest workouts I've ever done. It took me 2 1/4 hours to finish the workout. The rest of the day my legs were wobbly and i woke up with my legs ridiculously sore. I love to work hard, and i love how a hard workout leaves me feelling.

If training goes well then I should hit an 95k snatch and a 120k clean and jerk by the John Davis memorial weightlifting meet in January. If i can hit this numbers then I'll qualify for the 2016 master's weightlifting national championships that'll be held in Savannah Georgia in April.

program for more fitness

I've put a lot of thought into developing a great program that will increase my fitness level, raise my metabolic rate, and help me lose weight without fatiguing my legs for Olympic style weightlifting. I've decided I'll do Olympic style weightlifting and abs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll do the bench press program Shane builds for me, pullups, abs, and hit the heavy bag for cardio.

The abs program I'll be doing is from the book The Complete Book Of ABS by Kurt Brungardt.

Back in my glory years I had included his abs workout program into my triathlon training with great results (see picture below)

I know,  i post this pick a lot, but who doesn't still dream of their glory years? I'd like to improve my physique again so that my glory years are now rather than in the past. I'm hoping this program I'm starting will get me there.