Training ups and downs

On Monday I had a horrible squat day. On Wednesday I had by far the best day of deadlifts I've ever had in my life. Then this morning I had a total crap day of CrossFit. I used to let the ups and downs effect me emotionally. I'd feel on top of the world in every aspect of my life on a good day of training and I'd feel like the world had caved in on me if I had a bad day of training. I'm learning to not allow the highs and lows to effect me as much. I'm trying to remember that training is like bouncing a ball while traveling up hill.  There are a lot of small ups and downs. But the end effect is still going in an upward direction.

For a long time I was angry and resentful. I'd been forced to work 80-90 hours a week for so long I was depressed and had lost hope of a decent life. I haven't worked any overtime since October. Just 36-40 hours a week. Not working as much, being able to spend time with my kids, and time to workout has done miracles for my happiness and contentment. This week was the first time in over a decade that I felt that I was glad to be married.

Next training cycle

Have I mentioned recently how much I like my powerlifting coach? Well I think he's pretty awesome. I emailed him this morning and asked if I should start training more frequently. I asked if he thought I could handle training some two-a-days. His response motiated me.

His response, "I’d say stick with 4 days of powerlifting a week. Since we’ll be going off of 1RMs during this next training cycle (instead of just slowing getting back into lifting shape), the workouts should be much harder and much more taxing. Doing a two-a-day in the midst of such workouts would, I think, be Ill advised."

Looks like the next training cycle will be pretty intense. I can't wait!!!

Weight loss, getting back in shape, and CrossFit

I'm exhausted. After doing minimal training last year I'm doing CrossFit 3 days a week, weightlifiting 3 days a week, and a bench press program 3 days a week. I'm taking tomorrow off from training. I'm just going to eat healthy and recover.

I can tell my physique is changing. My clothes are fitting much looser. And my wife freaked out a couple days ago when we hugged. She said my midsection had gotten so much smaller it was like hugging a stranger. I'm losing WAY more weight in the last two weeks with CrossFit than I was doing powerlifting and track training. That's one thing I remember from back in the day at Zia CrossFit in Santa Fe NM. CrossFit gets you in shape QUICK! But I also remember being chronically injured. And this morning at weightlifiting practice my shoulders hurt so bad I couldn't do my push press sets. I'm struggling with my decision to go back to CrossFit. Yes, it'll get me back in shape and help me lose weight quicker than anything else. But I'm already beat to hell and it's only been 2 weeks. Is it worth it?

Breaking up is hard to do

My family and I returned from vacationing the North East. I planned on training while on vacation. I didn't. But I didn't overeat much while gone. So that's a plus. When I returned I realized something that I've known for a long time. I don't enjoy training powerlifting. I love competing in powerlifting meets. But I don't enjoy the training. I miss weightlifting. I love weightlifting training. And I love weightlifting meets. I miss obsessing over my former goal of qualifying for the Masters national weightlifting championships (I did qualify once in my 5+ years of weightlifting). So I guess what this means is I'm going to stop powerlifting. That sucks because I love my new powerlifting coach, Vernon Smith. He's awesome. I love the way he programs and I think the world of him as a person. I'm not sure how to break this to him. I think, honestly, I need to approach this like a business transaction. I tend to get overly attached to my coaches and feel guilty and stressed when I choose to move on to another coach or another sport. Especially my last few. My weightlifting coach Joaquin Chaves and my nutrition coach Barry Schroeder. I adore botth of them. I still feel guilty when I see them or talk to one of them. So long story short I want to go back to weightlifting. My current work schedule doesn't work with my two favorite weightlifting coaches here in Albuquerque, Joaquin Chaves or Vernon Smith (Vernon coaches both powerlifting and weightlifting). So I need to try and figure out something. Not sure what yet. But I'll work it out somehow.

Back into it at 41

For the last three weeks I've been running stairs during my lunch, track training (100 & 200 meter) two days a week, powerlifting four days a week, and eating low carb. I hired a powerlifting coach, Vernon Smith. As of this morning I've lost 16 pounds. 106 more pounds to go.

My ultimate goal is to get back down to 224 pounds and compete in the 105k weight class of weightlifting. You may wonder, if his goal is weightlifting, why is he training powerlifting? I've tried losing weight with weightlifting before and it didn't work. I can easily maintain my weight with weightlifting. But not lose. I've heard this before from other people too. Im not the only one. Once I get down to 224 lbs I'll transition back to weightlifting. But until then I'll be doing low carb, powerlifting, and track training.

Training starting and working much less

Earlier this week my boss cut my hours from the 73 a week I had been working. At first I was freaking out. But I eventually realized this was the best possible thing for me. I emailed coach Vernon Smith and told him I wanted to hire him as my powerlifting coach. He had an opening for a client! The only down side was the days I'll be working out would be Wed, Fri, Sat, & Sun. Three days in a row is not a perfect training scenario. So today I called up my boss and told him I didn't want to work a 2nd shift on Monday's anymore. He agreed. So now I'll be able to work out Mon, We'd, Fri, and once on the weekend. From here on out I'm going to be spending more time working out, spending time with my kids, and sleeping. I'll never allow myself to be forced into working 70-90 hours a week ever again. I'll still be working 52 hours a week. So it's not like I've become a complete lazy slacker...... Could this be the fist step in me becoming happy for the first time in 11 years?

Powerlifting training

Well, I hate to admit it, but I'm not enjoying powerlifting training at all. I loved training for weightlifting. I thought they would be about the same. But it's not. And my work schedule doesn't allow me to train at High Dessert Athletic Club (HDAC), a Weightlifting gym here in Albuquerque. So if I don't like powerlifting and can't train weightlifting what now....

This is the 2nd time I've hired my powerlifting coach Rich Kahle. He's a great coach and fantastic person. I don't want to fire him​ a 2nd time. I'm unsure what to do. It doesn't make sense to continue to do something I don't enjoy for fear of upsetting someone I like and respect. Should I fire him and do nothing at all until I can get enough seniority at my job to start training at HDAC again? That could be a few years.....

lemonade out of crap

The duty station (post) I've been working the last week has been as bad as I thought it would be. Stressful. Dangerous. Talking to crazy people tests even the most patient of people. But the good news is I get to train with coach Joaquin Chavez 4 days a week. And being trained by Joaquin is worth working a stressful post. So as hard as it is to believe I'm going to try and bid for this full time. If I get it I'll be working that post for the next 5 months. That means 5 months of awesome weightlifting training. I could accomplish some great things in 5 months. I've followed my nutrition coach's advise for the last 40 straight days. I've gained a lot of strength recently. Chacho Taylor ages up into my division on January 1st. So I'll need to be at my best. 5 months of being coached by Joaquin Chavez and nutrition coach Barry Schroeder full time and I'll be a beast. As unbeatable as I could ever be. I'm thinking this horrible post is the best possible thing that could have happened to me and my weightlifting career.

post bid and weightlifting

My work schedule changed again. I'm only able to train at HDAC with coach Joaquin Chavez on Saturdays. I've been struggling to force myself to train on the days I'm not not at High Dessert Athletic Club. It's just not fun to do weightlifting on my own. I pretty much hate it.

In October of this year I bid for my next post and shift. I just started at this new career so I'm #70 out of 71 full time employees. Its probable I'll get the worst days off and least popular shift. As far as the job goes I'm OK with working bad posts. But if I'm forced to work evennings I won't be able to train at Joaquin's at all. I have to admit, I probably won't continue with weightlifting if I can't be trained at HDAC. I'd pick it back up once I built up enough senority to have a schedule that I can train at HDAC.

Olympic style weightlifting at Albuquerque CrossFit

My work schedule has changed and I found myself only able to train with my coach and my team on Saturdays. That left me training 3 times a week without a coach and without my team. Alone. Weightlifting by myself sucks. I found out Albuquerque CrossFit has a weightlifting class starting at 7pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Those are exactly the days and times I'm available to lift with my new schedule. So tonight I tried Albuquerque CrossFit's weightlifting class. First thing I noticed was there was more people there who had 6 pack abs than I've ever seen in my life. In addition to being in incredible shape they were all... well..... georgous. I'm nothing like them at all. I'm 40 years old, bald, wear glasses, and weigh 310 pounds. I haven't seen my toes in half a decade. I've finally gotten to the point in my life that I'm comfortable with myself and how I look, but i felt really out of place there.

I did the group warm up and then started doing my weightlifting program. I noticed I was the only one doing my own program. Everyone else was doing the exact same weightlifting workout. I was afraid that was going to be a problem. But everyone seemed fine with it.

The coach, Joe, was really knowledgeable and threw out some really great advice on fixing some of my bad form. He noticed right away my calves are really really tight and he suggested working on my calf mobility. I wasn't expecting a CF coach to be that good at coaching weightlifting. Out of the 4 weightlifting coaches I've tried out I'd rate him in the top two! I was there an hour and a half. I was focusing on weightlifting as best I could and doing my best at ignoring all the beautiful people around me all doing the same thing and looking great doing it. I was hoping like hell I didn't stick out as badly as I felt I did.

All in all I'm happy I went there and i tried it out. I was impressed with the coaching. He had a great eye for technique. Which is rare in weightlifting.

I'm really happy I found Albuquerque CrossFit. It's only $75 a month for the weightlifting classes. No contract. Very reasonable. I think I'll like it a lot. I'm hoping I'll feel more comfortable and fit in a little better with the other athletes as i train there more.

weightlifting 4 days a week! Hurray!

It's funny how things end up working out for the best even when I'm not expecting it to.

The only reason I was willing to move to Albuquerque was because of the amazing weightlifting. Outside of the weightlifting i dont really like this city. But Albuquerque is a meca of weightlifting. And I really love weightlifting.

Recently my work schedule changed and I'm only able to train with my coach once a week. Training three days a week on my own without a coach or team mates sucks. Last night I was talking to a couple of my weightlifting team mates about my predicament. They let me know there's a place who's coaching schedule fits my new work schedule perfectly. I'm not changing gyms, I'll still be training with my primary weightlifting coach, Joaquin Chaves of High Dessert Athletic Club, on Saturdays. He's the bomb, I love that guy.

So on Tuesday after work I'll be checking out Albuquerque CrossFit. If the coach at Alb CF is a good fit for me and it's affordable I'll be training there on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. On Saturdays I'll be training at High Dessert Athletic Club. Man, I can't tell you how badly I hope I can afford it and their coaching is good!

work infringes with weightlifting

My new job had me working different days and shifts. Sometimes I'd work days, sometimes swings or graveyard. I was getting frustrated because the chaotic schedule was causing me to miss workouts. In the hopes of missing less workouts I asked my supervisor to put me on a set schedule. He did. I'm working mon's, Tue's, Wed's, and Fri's 6am-6pm. My plan back fired. My weightlifting coach trains weekdays 5-7pm. Now the only day I have coaching and am able to train with my team is on Sat's. I came close to quitting my job. I'm a retired correctional officer. I'm collecting a pension and am able to have the flexibility in my life to do pretty much what ever I want. If I want to job hop I can. If I decide to look for a job that is willing to work around my training schedule I can. Een if I want to stay permanently retired I can. Before I put in my two week resignation letter my wife talked some sense into me. I love this new job. It pays $5 and more than what I earned at the prison after 21 years of service. And I'll only have to tolerate this new schedule until the post bid October. By October I'll have enough senority to bid for a post that works with my weightlifting schedule. So until October I'll just have to suck it up. It's only 4 months. After that weightlifting can be my number one priority again.

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. 

back to training and competing

Yesterday was my first day back in the gym in a couple weeks. I have a powerlifting meet this weekend, The 2016 USPA regional powerlifting championships. The timing couldn't be worse.

 I know, I know. What's an olympic style weightlifter doing competing at a powerlifting meet? Truth is I love training weightlifting more than I've ever loved training any other sport, but I'm not that fond of weightlifting meets. Where as I LOVE powerlifting competitions, but not that fond of powerlifting training. Thankfully olympic style weightlifting training transfers very well into powerlifting meets. Plus, my best friend and I are doing this together. He and I have done a all sorts of awesome competitions together. From Triathlons, jui jitsu tournaments, marathons.... you name it, we've done it.

The good news is my lifting felt pretty good considering how much time I'd taken off. Things didn't feel that much heavier. I did fatigue quicker than usual, but all things considered I'll take that over a loss of strength any day. I'm not tapering for the powerlifting meet. The one good thing about being a super heavyweight weightlifter in my 40's is I rarely have anyone else in my age group and weight class. With rare exception all I gotta do to win my division is show up. My goals this weekend is a 140k (308lb) bench, 185k (407lbs) squat, 190k (418lbs) deadlift, 515k total (1,133lbs). Not great numbers, but not bad for only my 2nd powerlifting meet.

weightlifting competitions vs training

I was explaining to someone how different weightlifting is from powerlifting. How many times have us weightlifters had that conversation? I told him powerlifting builds massive strength, weightlifting builds strength, but it also builds explosiveness, speed, coordination, and balance. But the biggest difference between the two sports is that I can get a difficult lift in powerlifting by force of will and motivation. In weightlifting an athlete can have all the strength, motivation, speed, and explosiveness needed to make a lift, but if he/she doesn't have perfect form they will miss the lift.

I LOVE weightlifting training. I enjoy it more than I've ever enjoyed training for any other sport in my life. But I've realized i don't have the same passion for weightlifting competitions that I do for the training. I  think the reason I don't enjoy the meets as much as the training is that it is a thinking person's sport. All the sports I've ever tried I've become successful at because of my passion, my excitement, and emotion. Getting really pumped up and emotional for football, ground fighting, running, crossfit, cycling, powerlifting, or triathlon helps in those sports. Forcing an adrenaline dump for a lift in weightlifting doesn't work unless it also comes with perfect form. How do you keep great form while the pressure is at its highest? By focus. The more intelligent you are, the easier it is to think through a lift. Truth is, I'm a really passionate and emotional person,  but I'm a bit lacking in the intelligence department. And this is without a doubt a thinking man's sport. I think that's why I've walked away from almost every one of my weightlifting tournaments frustrated.

So, after flip flopping dozens of times in the last month alone I've finally decided that even if I qualify, I'm not going to go to the Master's national weightlifting championships in Savannah Georgia. It just doesn't make sense to spend that much money on travel expenses for something I'm not that suited for. I still enjoy it enough to compete locally. But why spend that much money to travel to a meet when I can be just as disappointed and frustrated right here in my own backyard.

Am I the only one who thinks it's odd that I enjoy powerlifting competitions more than weightlifting competitions, but i enjoy training for weightlifting much MUCH more than training for powerlifting?

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.

hunger after competing

Yesterday I competed in The 2nd annual John Davis memorial weightlifting meet. Today i have been SO hungry! That usually happens to me the day after a race or weightlifting meet. I've tried all tricks to not be hungry. Drinking a lot of water, drinking coffee, going on walks. Nothing was able to stem my hunger. Thankfully i got called into work for a 12 hour shift. The post I got called into I'll only have the food i packed, there's no place to buy anything. If it wasn't for that I garentee I'd of fallen off the diet wagon.

That's not the only hunger I woke up with today. I want to get back to training so bad! My last decent workout was December 19th, then i did the longest dang taper of my life! It's been 29 days since I've done a weightlifting program. I can't wait to get a barbell in my hand! Did you notice i didn't say I'm ready to compete in a weightlifting meet again? I said i cant wait to train. Weightlifting competitions could suck my big fat hairy toe.

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!

I'm in full blown athlete mode!

When I first started training triathlon in 2004 i weighed 292 pounds. I trained hard and got surprising results for a guy as big as i was. During races and training I'd constantly be told, "how does a big guy run so fast?" I knew they meant it as a compliment, but i didn't want to be fast for a big guy, I wanted to be in the front of the pack. 

                                   (February 2003)
The only way I could do that was lose weight. It took me a long time, 5 years actually, to figure out how to eat to lose weight without ruining my training and racing. There was a fine line. Slide a little to much to one side and I lost weight but sacrificed performance. Ate a bit to much and I'd recover from training better but the extra weight would slow me down. Eventually I figured it out. I got down to and maintained a body weight of 175 pounds for 18 months. I'd lost 117 pounds total. It was hell getting there, but once i got there a switch went off in my head. I went into full on athlete mode. Nothing got in the way of my training and eating right. I went on a two year streak that i took top 10 in almost every race i entered. I was no longer just fast for a big guy,  i was one of the fastest multisport athletes in the region. I became a sponsored athlete. 

(April 2010)

Since I picked up weightlifting my training has been great. I have perfect coaching and i was focused on training. But my diet sucked big time. Before my nutrition coach started helping me I'd try dieting like i used to when i was a multi-sport athlete. But i'd miss food so bad! I wanted to eat the foods i loved more than i wanted to be in great shape. I gained back all the weight I'd lost in traithlon and then some, getting to 318 pounds. I could find the motivational to train hard,  but couldn't find enough motivation to do the right thing with my diet. That changed on Holloween. My sports nutrition coach, Barry Schroeder, found my blog and decided he was going to help me. Since then my diet has been nearly perfect. I'm recovering faster. I'm gaining strength and speed quicker. And I'm doing all that while still losing weight. I feel like I've hit that full blown athlete mode again. I never miss training. And I don't leave the house without having my entire days meals planned out. Now i'm entirely focused on eating food that will help me recover and make gains. I'm perfectly content going without the bad food others may eat in front of me. I've reached that state of mind that if my body is craving something I'll have a bite or two of it and feel satisfied. I feel like a serious athlete again.

update on calorie change

A couple days ago my sports nutrition coach changed my daily calorie allotment. It took a couple days for me to figure out what the new calorie regiment would feel like. On my non-training days it feels like I have lots of carbohydrates to eat at everyone meal. On my training days I eat the majority of my carbs before, during, and after training. The rest of the day I only have a dozen grams of carbs to eat at each meal. Even though my carbs feel low the rest of the day, I never feel hungry because I have 300 grams protein and 125 grams fat each day. I've always felt best eating lower carbs  and a little more fat than most people. On the occasions I've tried low fat diets I fell apart quickly. I lost strength, endurance, and energy. This diet seems perfectly suited for my body type. I'm down to 304 pounds. I've lost 14. Just 75 pounds to go to hit my goal of being a 105k.