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.

Weightlifter

This week I've been training really hard. My legs are trashed. Last night I wasn't able to finish my clean and jerk workout. That rarely happens. I'm going to increase my calorie intake by 50 a day to see if that helps. This morning I woke up and my legs are still tired. But I'm going back to High Dessert Athletic Club this morning anyways. There was a period of time that I was struggling to decide if I wanted to be a weightlifter or a powerlifter. I tried powerlifting. I didn't like it. I have focus now. A focus I was missing before. I'm a weightlifter.

2nd day of snatches

Today was my 4th day back to weightlifting. And the 2nd training day of snatches. The first day felt pretty raw. Today the snatches felt a lot more natural and fluid. I worked up to 4 sets at 74k. I'm surprised how little strength my body lost during those 6 months i took off. I may not be ready to attempt my lifetime best of 💯 kilos. But I'll get there a lot more quickly than I originally thought.

6 months ago I was unsure what I was going to do in athletics. I wasn't sure if I really wanted to stay with weightlifting or try something new. But weightlifting is just like that old saying, absence makes the heart 💓 grow stronger. I missed it so bad. I'm glad I'm back.

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.....

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.

from weightlifting to powerlifting

A couple weeks ago I competed in the USPA New Mexico state powerlifting championships. Even though I'd been training really hard since I moved to Albuquerque in April my strength has decreased. After the meet I've been sitting on my butt, not working out, trying to figure this whole thing out. My training and eating has always been symbiotic. When I'm kicking butt at one I'm doing well in the other. So the last couple weeks has not been pretty. Of course I'm a weightlifter, not a powerlifter. But still.....

I trained with a guy, Philip Christopher, who was an AMAZING weightlifter. I could squat the same as him, but when it came to weightlifting he'd smoke me. I mean he crushed me into dustl! I can lift a 100k & a 125k. He could cllift lift a 130/160k. The difference is form. And the difference is frustrating as fuck. I still love the sport. But I think I'd be a much better powerlifter than weightlifter. I'd be a lot happier, successful, and less frustrated as a powerlifter. So yesterday I contacted a powerlifting coach, Rich Kahle out of Las Cruces New Mexico, and asked him to start training me. So, after 4 years of dedicating myself entirely to weightlifting I'm on to a new adventure. Powerlifting.

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.

gym politics

Today was my first bad day of weightlifting since joining High Dessert Athletic Club. And it was awesome. I was only able to get up to an 85k snatch and I dropped just about everything getting up to the 85. My cleans and my jerks were even worse. As soon as coach Chavez realized I was struggling he stood on the platform next to mine and watched just about every set. He talked to me about my form. He also talked about mindset. He pointed out everyone in the gym who does the same thing I was doing. He never let me get frustrated. He kept my mind focused on the things I could do better. There's just something about his coaching style that fits. I get it. It was that way from the very first day I trained with him.

Sometimes i post things on my blog that explains how quickly I'm progressing and how amazed I am by coach Chavez's ability to get the best out of me. I say it because it's true and i am honestly amazed. Last week after I posted about hitting a 100k snatch I got a text message with a video of the first time i hit 100k at another gym. The message said "I was asked to send you this gym. What a great lift." I assumed it was because I'm so complimentary of coach Chavez getting me to 100k so quickly. Just because I praise Joaquin doesn't mean I think any less of the coaches and gyms I used to train with. I've had some pretty fantastic growth and accomplishments in other gyms. The coaching was stellar. Joaquin's style just fits and I'm not going to be shy about saying how amazed I am by his abilities to lead and teach. But I don't mean that as an insult to anyone else. So if your a former coach reading the compliments I'm giving Joaquin please don't think it means your anything less. I still adore each of my former coaches. And if your a current athlete at one of the gyms I used to train at don't start drama. Weightlifting is a very small community. And it's a beautiful community. Let's keep it that way.

workout number three at Albuquerque CrossFit

Today was my third training session of olympic style weightlifting at Albuquerque CrossFit. It was great. Jen B ran the class. She has a tremendous amount of weightlifting knowledge and is great at explaining it. The first two training sessions were ran by Joe. He was also awesome.  I met a couple more of the coaches today. They were really supportive and friendly. So far only one of the coaches was a dick to me. I can ignore one bad apple for great coaching and a training time that works well with the odd hours at my new career. I've decided to join to train there the days I'm unable to train at High Dessert Athletic Club.

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.

new job and weightlifting

I've been at my new job for three weeks. The first couple weeks were great for my weightlifting schedule. This week I'll be working 6am-6pm all week and will only be able to train at High Dessert Athletic Club once. I love my new job. But unfortunately it's going to take awhile for me to build up the senority to work posts that will fit with my weightlifting schedule. Any days I miss weightlifting at High Dessert I go to Iron Soul and train by myself. I gotta be honest. I dont find weightlifting by myself fun at all. Not even a little.

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.

low carb diet for weightlifting and weight loss

Since Valentines day I gained all the weight back I had lost using a nutrition coach. I'm back up to 313.4 pounds. My body has always responded well to low carb diets. I usually feel great while I'm on them. The only problem I've ran into is that I struggle to finish weightlifting workouts when going low carb. The last time I played around with low carb I found that if I ate rice before my workout and drank Gatorade during my workout then I'd have the energy to finish the weightlifting workouts. The carbs before and during training didn't slow my weight loss much at all.

So, today is my first day back on a low carb diet. I'll report all things low carb, weight loss, and weightlifting here as I experience them

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.

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?

The 2nd annual John Davis memorial weightlifting meet report, January 16th 2016

Yesterday, January 16th 2016, I competed in The 2nd annual John Davis memorial weightlifting meet. I was needing a successful meet to qualify for the 2016 master's national weightlifting championships. I failed. Again. It's been my ultimate goal for the last 19 months to qualify. And no matter how amazing training has been, no matter how much more weight I've been lifting in practice, my meets have been dismal, and the master's national weightlifting championships have eluded me.

I hit a 100k snatch in training a few weeks ago. I BARELY lifted a 91k snatch at today's meet. Since I only lifted a 91k snatch I HAD to successfully lift a 116k clean and jerk on my last attempt. I missed it. I missed it badly. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't broken hearted. I know, there's very little worse than a sore loser, so I'm trying like hell to not make this a pity party. But crap. This sucks. I could hit a 230k total in practice, but can't hit a 207k in a meet? Seriously!?! I'm pissed about how crappy i lifted, that i missed qualifying for the national championships for the 6th time, that my peak was three weeks before my meet, that my third lifts were 91 & 116 so i had to go 6 for 6 to qualify, and also that I was the heaviest person competing there today. I was the heaviest by more than 70 pounds! That would be understandable if I was one of the strongest or most muscular lifters there, but I'm not even close.

My top lifts of the day was:
91k snatch
112k clean and jerk
203 total

On a positive note, I love weightlifting more than any other sport I've ever tried. I'd be happy training the rest of my life in weightlifting. A successful meet is just icing on the cake. But its been a long time since I've had a successful meet. A very long time.

May 2015 got sick the week of the meet
July 2015 sick again!
Oct 2015 missed a snatch I've hit in practice dozens of times
Jan 2016 missed an easy jerk

My last decent meet was 12 months ago. The good news is I get to train on Monday. Did I mention how much I love to workout when it's weightlifting?

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!

Snatch high pulls and other weightlifting joys

Today I completed 4 sets of snatch high pulls at 90%. I LOVE snatch high pulls and clean high pulls! They're one of my favorite exercises of all time. When I first started weightlifting I hated any kind of high pulls. I sucked at them, and they completely exhausted me. Not only would high pulls tire me out for the rest of the workout, but I'd be physically wiped out the rest of the day too! It's amazing to me how the body can adapt if it's given the right stimuli.

I'm also amazed at how much more sleep I need now that I'm an olympic style weightlifter. Today after my workout I laid down to rest for a moment or two. I had no intention of falling asleep. I woke up 2 hours later. Since picking up weightlifting I sleep much more deeply. I never struggle to get to sleep and I rarely wake up during the night. I never needed this much sleep when i played football, trained MMA or triathlon.

Since the powerlifting meet I competed in a few weeks ago my elbows have been hurting when I do jerks or any kind of presses. I'm not sure what's going on there,  but I purchased a bottle of glucosamine chondroitin. Glucosamine really is a miracle drug. My Rottweiler used to run with me when I was a hard core triathlete. She'd average 25 miles a week. About the time she turned 7 her hips would hurt after long runs. I started giving her human grade Glucosamine and after a few weeks she never had problems with her hips ever again. On hindsight I suppose I should have started taking glucosamine as soon as I became really serious about weightlifting. Especially since I didn't pick the sport of weightlifting up until I was 38 years old.

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.