My son and weightlifiting

Before the NM youth and master's weightlifting meet my former coach Joaquin Chaves of High Dessert weightlifting club called me up and asked if I needed him to warm me up, count attempts, and keep track of competition in my weight class and age group. He hasn't trained me as one of his athletes in over two years. There was no reason for him to do that for me. I was so touched.

On a side note my wife has been stressed out driving my son, Cody James to and from weightlifting practice with Coach Vernon Smith on Tuesdays. And now my daughter's volleyball practice is also on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It has gotten to much for her to handle. My wife asked me to pull Cody James out of weightlifting. Instead I called up Joaquin Chaves and asked him if he could take my son at High Dessert Athletic club. Coach Joaquin said yes. I'll be taking him to Joaquin Chaves on Monday's and Wednesday's. My mother-in-law will be taking him on Fridays. On one hand I'm excited that my son will be training three days a week with such an amazing man to guide my son in both weightlifting and life. But in the other hand this kinda sucks because his former coach, Vernon Smith was great with my son. I love Vernon. I think so much of him. Vernon been my powerlifting coach since I started powerlifting in October.

 My son starts HDAC on May 28th.

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.

Diet focus and goals

I've been struggling with my diet the last few weeks. I've been dieting for 5 months straight. I still have almost 6 months left before I get to my goal weight. It was beginning to feel overwhelming. But a couple days ago I recieved an email from Joaquin Chaves, the president of The New Mexico Local weightlifting Club. He's set the dates for the two NMLWC meets. The NMLWC Youth and Master's championships on May 12th and the NMLWC weightlifting championships on June 30th. That helped motivate me again. Helped me refocus. If I can lose 40 more pounds in the next 4.5 months then I'll show up to the state games weighting 100lbs less than I did at last year's weightlifiting state championships.

New Mexico local weightlifiting club series and The New Mexico Games

I received an email from the president of New Mexico weightlifiting, Joaquin Chaves. Looks like there's some major changes going on for the New Mexico Local Weightlifting Club (NMLWC). I received an email stating the president of NMLWC won't be hosting the New Mexico games and will be starting his own local weightlifiting series. The first will be the the NMLWC youth and master's championships on May 12th, 2018. The next will be a big two day weightlifiting meet. It's going to be the NMLWC state championships June 30th and July 1st. The New Mexico games used to be called the state championships. But looks like it's officially not going to be anymore. Which is big news.

The other big news is that the email showed Joaquin Chaves is no longer signing as High Dessert Athletic Club. He's signing under Black Box CrossFit. I wonder if that means Joaquin, who I love dearly as a friend and weightlifiting coach, closed up his club completely? Is he now a coach for Black Box or a partner? Interesting stuff. Big stuff.

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.

The 2017 New Mexico games weightlifting report

91/117/208k
BW 148.8k

Today I competed in the 2017 New Mexico games. This meet is the state championships for weightlifting. I'd won the last three years in my age group and weight class. This year I wasn't expecting to do very well. I was out for 6 months with a non-weightlifting related back injury. I've only been back to training for three and a half weeks.

When I first got there I was so happy. I saw all my current teammates, teammates from my former gym, and other weightlifting buddies I've made over the last 5 years. I love weightlifting so much. A lot of the reason is the people. The only person I didn't get to see who I was looking forward to seeing was David B from my old gym. He and I lifted at the same time the full 3.5 years I lifted in Santa Fe. I absolutely adore him and his wife. They're great people who I miss seeing and training with.

Pictured below is my former coach Shane Miller and my current coach Joaquin Chaves. I love both these guys so much. They are more than just friends and mentors.

 I also was lucky enough to be able to get a picture with my current coach, former coach, and my former nutrition coach Barry Schroeder. I'm going to have this picture framed and I'm going to hang it in with my families pictures. Barry was the one who was my motivation to get into weightlifting long ago and he took me under his wing and taught me about weightlifting specific nutrition.

The last couple weeks I haven't been able to snatch anything more than 86k. I only made 84k two out of 7 attempts. Coach Joaquin Chaves told me he wanted to start out at 90k. I begged him to let me start at 74k. He told me he wanted me to start out at 84 at least. He said he knew I could get a 90 easy. Long story short, I made 3 good lifts for the snatch. 84/88/91. Even after 6 months away from weightlifting I was able to get within 9k of my lifetime best snatch of 100k. Coach Chavez was right. I made 91k easy. No problem at all. I need to trust him. He knows my ability more than I do. Anytime I ever doubt him I always find out he was right. 

The clean and jerks felt great also. I made a 114k/117k and missed a 121. There was no reason at all for me to have missed the 121. I pulled it high enough. I just had that same pause at the knee that I usually do with my snatches.

I've noticed the last few weeks my strength has come back quickly. But it's taking me longer to recover between sets than it used to. I never told coach Chaves I wasn't recovering as quickly. I also never told him during the meet that to do well I'd need more time between lifts. But he knew. And after every set he'd change my weight two or three times to buy me extra recovery time. Thanks in large part to my coach I finished 1st in my age group and weight class. This was the fourth straight year I was state champion. But this time it was just plain luck. I was the only one in my division competing.

Now that I'm back into the weightlifting game my next goal is to qualify for the 2018 masters national weightlifting championships that will be held in Buffalo NY. I'll need a 230k total. That's only 22k more than my total today. That gives me plenty of time.

It's been 6.5 months since my last sports competition. That was the longest I'd gone without competing since 2004. I missed competition. My next sporting event is the New Mexico games track and field on June 24th. Its going to be held at Milne stadium in Albuquerque New Mexico. Thats within walking distance of my house!

A weightlifting wizard

I'm not sure if everyone at High Dessert Athletic Club gets as much from coach Chaves's coaching as I do. But I'm constantly amazed by his ability to diagnose and fix problems with form. The last week my snatches have been absolute crap. After the first couple reps coach Chaves went over and started his magic.

  "Cody, your hesitating after the knee. That pause is causing negative momentum. Which is why your dropping to the front."

  Next set: " Cody, your concentrating on staying over the bar. Which is good. But your overthinking it. It's causing the pause at the knee. Now stay over the bar without slowing down". 

Next set: "now your slowing down to much during the whole lift. Your concentrating on making sure you're getting a good lift so much that you've slowed the whole snatch down. EXPLODE! Don't hesitate! Some of your best lifts are missed. Some are your worst lifts are makes. Now come on. EXPLODE!"

  Not only was he able to see what I was doing wrong with my form, he even told me what I was thinking while I was doing it. And he was right every damn time! Coach Chaves is amazing. I'm so greatfull to have wandered into his gym. 

The pain in my shoulders and elbows is almost gone already. I think I'll be fine at the New Mexico games this Suñday.

Help with my snatches

Last week was a great week for clean and jerks. Up until this week the most I'd I c&j was 100k. This week I lifted 110k multiple times. But my snatches were horrible this week. I dropped just about everything I tried. Coach Chaves saw I saw struggling and he diagnosed the problem. Just l like always. His ability to figure out what's wrong with a person's form and help them fix it is unmatched. He helped me a lot this week. I can't say I'm going in to the New Mexico games confident in my snatches. But I'm going in knowing they're better than they were last week.

My shoulders and elbows have been bothering me a bit this week.

Nutrition and less weightlifting support

I learned a ton from my former nutrition coach Barry Schroeder. I decided I'd try some of the things I learned from him. I spent the last 15 days logging everything I ate and measuring how much I weighed. Based off of those two numbers I figured out my metabolic rate. It's a little over 4,100 calories a day. So I'm going to eat 3,400 calories on days I do weightlifting. And 2,800 on days I don't train. That should put me at a 7000 calorie a week deficit. 7,000 calories should make me lose approximately 2 pounds. I doubt I'll stick with it for long. I never do. But I'll try it for now.

My weightlifting coach, Joaquin Chaves, told me he wanted me to train three times this week. Monday, Wednesday, and today.  I wasn't able to train this morning at High Dessert Athletic Club. Normally I'd just shoot him a text and ask him to send me the workout for me to do on my own. But he told me not to text him anymore. I waited all day to see if he'd text me a workout. I never got one. Coach Chaves is looking for ways to decrease the demands in his life. I'm doing my best to be patient and understanding.....

Yesterday I clean and jerked more than 84k for the first time in almost 7 months. Then I did an 86 and a 94. Then coach told me to try a 100k. I stood there on the platform staring at the bar for an eternity trying to pump myself up. Finally I tried. And it was easy. I was so excited and it felt so good I did it a few more times. Thankfully the old saying about muscle memory is true. It comes back quick.

Anytime my schedule changes and I can't lift at High Dessert Athletic Club I text my coach and ask for the workout so I can do it on my own. Yesterday coach Chavez told me not to text him anymore. That throws a wrench into things. I'm a Dad of three young kids. My schedule can be hectic. I guess on the days I can't train at High Dessert Athletic Club I'll just repeat last week's workout for that day. That's not ideal. But life happens. I just need to learn to improvise, adapt, and overcome. Even with no communication or guidance with workouts during schedule changes, he's still one of the best weightlifting coaches in the nation.

I did some investigating. From 2007-2015 I worked 42,120 hours. That's 4,680 hours a year. An average person that works 40 hours a week works 2,080 hours a year. I averaged more than double that. These are the types of things no one tells men and boys about marriage. If they did we wouldn't do it.

Day two of my return

Wednesday was my first day back to weightlifting in 6 months. It was wonderful. My clean and jerk form felt pretty good considering how long I'd been out. And although I'd lost a lot of strength, I didn't lose as much as I thought I would.

Today I was so sore! I couldn't walk normal. After a few sets my legs lost the sore feeling and I was training again. I did my first set of snatches in half a year. They were kinda ugly. But it was still a ton of fun! I'm so glad to be back with my coach's, my team, and weightlifting!

Back to weightlifting!!!!

My Dr released me to go back to weightlifting a couple months ago. I wasn't able to go back because my work schedule didn't fit with my coach's training times. This week my work approved a shift transfer that works with weightlifting. So after 6 months I'm finally back to weightlifting!

Yesterday was my first day back. Today I'm pretty sore. But not nearly as bad as I thought I would be.

I went off the deep end today and registered for the state games. The New Mexico games is in 4 weeks. I doubt I'll be ready to compete that soon. But I'll try anyways!

Ready to train

I competed in Olympic style weightlifting for 3 years. 2013 until November 2016 when I was sidelined with a back injury. I haven't done anything at all for the last 5 months. Now I'm all healed up and ready to start training for something, anything really. I've really missed training. I miss working hard. Sweating. Training for goals. And accomplishing things normal people don't.

My new work schedule started on Tuesday March 28th. My new powerlifting coach, Rich Kahle, and I were planning on me to start training then. I haven't received my training schedule. I'm assuming he's either going to wait until my check gets to him, which should be by today or tomorrow. Or he might still be sore at me because last year I had hired him as my powerlifting coach and after three weeks decided to go back to weightlifting. His programming was excellent. I only went back to weightlifting because I missed my weightlifting coach,, Joaquin Chaves. I know I may have ruffled some feathers. So I'm planning on not saying anything to my PL coach until April 1st. I want to make sure to handle this with little kids gloves. I don't want to piss my powerlifting coach off. He's one of the biggest names in powerlifting in New Mexico. I'd like to stay in his good graces. In such a small sport, he's not the kind of person that I'd want to anger.

Post bid

I post bid later this month. It'll determine what my shift and days off will be for the next six months. I'm currently number 65 out of 72 employees. It's funny. I just retired from a 21 year career in which I had to post bid twice a year. And now I'm back to post bidding. It's exciting and nerve racking. The new post bid will start on April 1st.

I miss weightlifting. Especially my coach. He's bad ass. I'm hoping my new schedule will allow me to go back to HDAC.

UFC 207 and retirement from the prison

Last night was UFC 207. Rousey's return. My wife and I hosted a fight party at our house. A few of my wife's high school friends and her brother showed up. Not one person I invited showed. I really love my new job here. I have a great nutrition coach who lives in the city. Most importantly I have one of the top weightlifting coaches in the nation. But I worked at the prison since I got out of high school. I lived on prison grounds. All my friends were fellow prison guards. My entire life was there. Albuquerque has a lot of potential. But I'm home sick. I miss the camaraderie of the prison. I miss feeling needed. I miss the feeling of belonging. But mostly I miss my friends. So far I think retirement from the prison kind of sucks.

front squats and Rich Kahle

Rich Kahle ended up being a no-show for the weightlifting meet. My state records are safe for now. I need to start training. And hard. Because Rich Kahle is a beast. And if he's back on the weightlifting scene then I'll have my hands full with some extraordinary competition.

Front squats have always been my weakness. I used to hate front squats. I haven't done any in about 9 months. From here on out coach Chavez said he's going to have me squatting three times a week. 2X back squat, 1X front squat. Surprisingly I'm thrilled. I've missed those danm front squats. My front squat programming will be based off of a guess of a 150k max.

back at HDAC and most blog hits

Tuesday and Wednesday was my first day back to weightlifting in 3 weeks. It felt great being back in the gym. My weightlifting coach seemed genuinely happy to see me- I really think the world of that guy. The members of my weightlifting team were giving me hugs, high fives, and yelling "Cody!". It was wonderful being back. It was a perfect welcoming. And surprisingly my form was a lot better than I thought it would be after a three week break.

Yesterday I had a the most hits on my blog in 10 years of blogging. I'm not sure why. Might be all my fellow 12 steppers using 12 step terms in Google search. Or fans of the show I talked about. I usually only average 30-40 hits a day. Yesterday I had almost 900. Interesting. I'm dumbfounded.

if ya spot it ya got it

I watched a documentary on Netflix called "Last chance U". It was an awesome flick. It's about division 1 talent who has to play college football at a comunity college because of poor grades or getting in trouble. There's one kid on that show who's a bad ass defensive lineman, Ronald Ollie. He was amazing. The only reason he wasn't playing for an SEC team was he was an idiot. Anytime things didn't go his way he disappeared. I told my wife about how bad that kid pissed me off. That he was a waste of tallent. I told my kids that it takes 2 things to be successful, good attitude and good effort. And that kid lacked the right attitude. 3 weeks later, and that kid Ronald Ollie is still on my mind. One of my old 12 step buddies once told me,"If ya spot it, ya got it". It dawned on me that the reason that kid on Last Chance U got under my skin is I'm the exact same way. I'm the "go to guy", until I think someone close to me is going to give up on me or I'm going to be unable to meet thier expectations. And then I disappear just like him. Ronald Ollie's guidance counselor said he has trust issues. I think a better explanation is he has abandonment issues. He feels its better to disappear on someone than to have them give up on him or hurt him. He and I are exactly alike.

If there's something about someone that annoys or infuriates you, that means there's something in you that is just like that. "If you spot it, you got it."

I was a blue chip high school football player. I gave a verbal commitment to go play for the University of Wyoming. Before I could go play football I became a homeless teenager. I lost my scholarship. And because I had to provide proof of my parents taxes to get student loans and I wasn't in contact with them, I wasn't able to go to any college at all, much less play collegiate football. I always wondered what my life would have been like if I'd have been able to play football and get a degree. But after watching that show I found closure. I probably would have ran away half way through a season. And then my heart would have been overflowing with regret amd guilt. I'm exactly where I should be. My life couldn't have ended up any better than it did.

he's trying to break my state records!

This morning I built up enough courage to contact my powerlifting coach, Rich Kahle and tell him I am going to go back to weightlifting. That kind of stuff is always really hard for me. I hate hurting people's feelings or disappointing. Truly, I hate it. He was awesome about it. He also told me two other things that shocked me.

1) he'll be trying to qualify for the masters national weightlifting championships at High Dessert Athletic Club (my weightlifting club) on Saturday. That got my anxiety up quite a bit. I'm hoping like hell he doesn't tell my weightlifting coach Juaquin Chavez that I had quit weightlifting for a couple weeks and started powerlifting. I don't know how my weightlifting coach would handle that.

2) he told me he's a super heavyweight 40-44. That's my age group! What's the chances of that? My powerlifting coach showing up to break my state records a week after I fire him!?!

being a mediocre weightlifter

I recently came to the realization that I was just about at my full genetic potential in weightlifting. My body is better suited to powerlifting than weightlifting. So I switched sports last week to powerlifting exclusively. But this week something happened that took me completely by surprise. I missed weightlifting. I missed the speed lifts. I missed my team. I missed the group workouts. And I especially missed my weightlifting coach Joaquin Chavez. I'm really glad I tried powerlifting because I learned something. I learned I'd rather be a mediocre weightlifter than a great powerlifter. So starting on Friday I'll be back with weightlifting at High Dessert Athletic Club. I feel like the last week I've been an athlete with no impulse control. "Hey, I'm a weightlifter. Now I've decided to dedicate myself to powerlifting! Now I'm a weightlifter again!" Man, the last couples weeks has been a trip.