post competition hunger

I'm not nearly as sore today as I usually am the day after a weightlifting meet. But I'm hungrier than lice on a wig. I'm WAY more hungry than I usually am, even post meet. My muscles are really tired, not sore, but definitely tired. Coach Joaquin saw the fatigue and told me he's not going to let me squat the rest of the week so I'm prepared for my powerlifting meet this weekend. That's a fantastic coach right there. He knows my goals and adjusts things right away.

The 2016 High Dessert Spring invite weightlifting report

Today I competed in the 2016 HDAC Spring invite. I wasn't expecting to do well because I've been learning different weightlifting form for 2 weeks at a new weightlifting gym and a new coach. I think the new form is perfect for me, but until I have more time practicing the new form I was afraid there would be a bit of a learning curve. Plus yesterday I helped a friend move his powerlifting gym to a new location so my body was sore and fatigued from moving thousands of pounds of weight and equipment.

Somehow I still pulled off a 95k snatch which is only 1k below my all time best. For the clean and jerk I lifted a 120k on my third attempt, a 4k PR. It was also a New Mexico state record. My total was a 215k, also a New Mexico state record!

my first meet after a new coach and gym

I have a weightlifting meet this weekend. I've only been at my new weightlifting gym, High Dessert Athletic Club learning new and completely different form for a couple weeks. I think learning new form will eventually benifit my weightlifting, but I'm guessing there'll be a learning curve. I suspect I'll get worse for a while before I get better. I have no idea what to expect on Saturday. Best case scenario I reach the HUGE milestone of the 100's in the snatch and the 120's in the clean and jerk. Worst case scenario I don't lift well but I get more experience competing in weightlifting. It's a win win. A bit of a nerve racking experience, but a win win none the less.

6 days after the weightlifting meet I'll be competing in my third powerlifting meet, the New Mexico NASA state powerlifting championships. If all goes as expected I'll set 11 NASA national records, 11 state NASA records, and be the New Mexico state champion. The New Mexico NASA state powerlifting championships will be held on April 30th. Which is the last day I'll be employed by the state. On May 1st I'll be a retired correctional officer. Setting national and state records, what a great way to celebrate!

my new job makes me feel I'm being immoral

I'm being trained for my new job. Its a great paying job with incredible benifits. At first I thought I'd love this job, but as I'm learning more about it I've realized I'm not very comfortable with what I'm being asked to do there. They're telling me I need to confiscate people's personal property if they enter a certain area. Even if there are loop holes in the law that allows me to do it I just don't think it's right. I feel it violates Americans rights against illegal search and seizure. They're also telling me that I can detain people, by hamdcuffing them if necessary, until law enforcement arrives to arrest them. But I know in many areas if i detain someone without the legal right to arrest them I'd be guilty of false arrest and false imprisonment. My new employers aren't telling us what the laws are or if we'd be breaking the law doing what they are asking me to do. And since I'm a contract employee, not an employee of that agency I could be arrested or even sued personally.

Tomorrow after training I'm submitting a job aplication for one of my two dream jobs, ABF. This is the third time in the last year I've applied for this job.

figuring this weightlifting stuff out!

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

re-hiring my nutrition coach

The best results I've ever had weightlifting was when I was working with a nutrition coach. Usually when a person loses weight they lose strength too. The crazy thing was I was losing 2-3 pounds every week and STILL making unbelievable speed and strength gains.

I asked my former nutrition coach Barry Schroeder if he'd be willing to work with me again after I'm done training for my new career. He agreed. The major change I'm going to ask for compared to the last time we worked together is I occasionally want to stop losing weight and get onto a diet to maintain my weight. Trying to lose 80 pounds nonstop was just to overwhelming. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. After a couple months I'd lost 19 pounds, which was great. But dieting and being hungry for another 32 weeks just wasn't going to happen. I decided  I'd rather give up than suffer through that. This time i want to diet for a month, then eat a maintenance diet for a week. That would be much easier. That would make for more frequent goals to work for with the reward of being able to eat more at the end of that successful goal. By my estimation if I lose 10 pounds a month with a week of maintaining in between that will get me to my goal of 235 pounds in 10 months.

different form, state records, and national records

My first week training High Dessert Athletic Club I thought my form was bad and needed a lot of corrections. Now I've realized it's not that my form was poor, it's that the club I was at then and the club I'm at now teach different technique of the snatch and clean and jerk. Much different.

I'm learning the new technique quickly, but I'm pretty sure there will be a learning curve for me. I'll get worse for awhile before I get better.

My next competition will be at High Dessert Athletic Club on April 24th. I'm hoping to break the three state records I set in March of 96k, 116k, 212k.

 Then on April 30th, 6 days later, I'll be competing in the NASA New Mexico state championships powerlifting meet. If I compete well I'll set or break 11 national and state records in the following divisions for the SHW 40-44 ag:
1) power press- police
2) power press- open
3) power press- pure
4) power sports- pure
5) power sports- police
6) power sports- master 1
7) Unequiped push/pull- pure
8) Unequiped push/pull- police
9) Unequiped powerlifting- police
10) Unequiped bench- police
11) equipped powerlifting- open

working two jobs

May 1st will be my last day working at the prison, then i retire. Saturday was my first day of training for my new job. I'm attending training for my new career on my days off and in between shift of the prison. Between the penitentiary and my new job I'll be working 68 hours from Monday to Friday, plus 7 1/2 hours of drive time. Busy and exciting times.

My new career I'll be security for the federal buildings. I'll be spending the majority of my day walking or standing. It hurts being on my feet that many hours a day being as heavy as I am now. I need to lose some weight.

hardcore weightlifting at High Dessert Athletic Club in Albuquerque

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

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

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

form corrections

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

a new weightlifting gym

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

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

crazy busy

The last two weeks have been the busiest two weeks of my life.
- We purchased a new home in Albuquerque New Mexico and we moved.
-We sold our mobile home on penitentiary grounds.
- i filled out the paperwork to retire on April 30th 2016 after 21 years of service!
- I applied for a job in Albuquerque and was hired. As soon as i get approved for top secret clearance I'll go through 120 hours of training. Then I'll start my my new job.

quick weight loss, packing, and moving

In a couple days of eating low carb I've dropped from 316 pounds to 309.6 pounds. I've been sick since Saturday, so I'm sure some of my weight loss has to do with being ill. But still, I'll gladly take losing 7 pounds no matter what the reason.

We're moving into our new home tomorrow. Apparently moving the weekend of good Friday and Easter is a bad time to move. All but a couple of friends have bailed out of helping us. Moving sucks. Packing and moving an entire house of five people with only three helpers sucks much worse.

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

masters weightlifting and weight classes

From October through February I was motivated to eat right and lose weight. After 4 months I gave up.

The master's weightlifting national championships list of men was released. It shows everyone's age, weight class and qualifying lift. If I lifted the totals I hit last weekend at the HDAC Spring Break Invitational I'd be in 6th place in the 105+ weight class. If I lifted in the 105k weight class I'd of been in 5th place.  I think I could lift a 220k total. If I did a 220k that would put me tied in 4th place in the 105+ and a very strong 3rd place in the 105k weight class.

I'm really regretting my decision to stop dieting. I've gained 16 pounds since then and I feel like crap.

I figured out that if I was to lift in the 105k weight class next year I'd need to lose 85 pounds. 85 pounds in 54 weeks would be about 1.58 pounds a week average. That's doable.

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

retiring from corrections

I've worked at the penitentiary of New Mexico for the last 21 years.  I'm working on retiring. The only thing left to do for me to retire is sell my home on prison property.

I know. I've posted on my blog that I'm retiring multiple times. I'm just so excited it feels surreal. The more I talk about it to my my friends and family the more believable and less scary it is. So, here it is one more time: once I sell my mobile home on prison grounds I'm retiring. Holly crap! I'm retiring!

I've been taking a lot of vacation time the last couple months. There's one thing I know for sure. I may retire from one career, but I'll never stop working. I hate being home alone all day. I love to work. It gives me a feeling of belonging. I'd rather be stuck at the prison another two decades getting piss and shit coctails thrown in my face by angry inmates than be fully retired staying at home twiddling my thumbs.

training without coaches

I pulled a muscle in my back last week. Then today I woke up with a kink in my neck and my shoulder that's so bad I can barely move. I'm relatively certain it's because I had put on a tremendous amount of strength when I was working with my former nutrition coach Barry Schroeder. Now that I'm no longer having him help me with my nutrition I've been losing strength and explosiveness and I'm more injury prone. I flippin' miss working with him! He always got the best out of me.

I'll be moving to Albuquerque next month and I'm needing to find a place I can train at for the times I'm not able to drive all the way to Santa Fe to train with my team. 

On Sunday the family and I spent the night at my inlaws in Albuquerque NM and I had to find a place to train while I was there. I was also gym shopping. I called everywhere trying to find a gym that had drop plates, a bar that spinds, and is open on Sundays. There were none. But the owner of Iron Soul Gym told me he'd be willing to meet me at his gym on his day off to make sure I got my workout in. How cool was that?

It was so much different training without a coach and by myself. I'm used to training with a bunch of athlete's who also also love olympic style weightlifting. I missed the comeradery of the Miller Gym but the Iron Soul Gym was pretty awesome. It has 24 hour access, weights and bars that can be used for olympic style weightlifting, the membership is supet cheap, and the owner was super cool. I've found where I'm training at when I'm not able to drive to Santa Fe. The Iron Soul Gym.

my next weightlifting competition

Looks like I have a couple different options for my next weightlifting meet. I could compete on March 12th at the High Dessert Athletic Club in Albuquerque or i could compete on April 23rd at The Miller Gym in Santa Fe. Since my training may be inconsistent for awhile after we close on our new home in Albuquerque and we move I'm thinking I should do the earlier weightlifting meet in March.

It's no secret I've done piss poor at all my weightlifting meets the last 18 months. I've become more and more frustrated. I've hit a 100k snatch and a 120k clean and jerk for a 220k total in practice, but my best lifts at a meet has only been a 92k & a 116k.

The 2016 USPA High Dessert regional powerlifting championships

On February 27th 2016 I competed in the USPA High Dessert regional powerlifting championships held at Duke City Strength in Albuquerque New Mexico.

I took a couple weeks off right before the meet so I was expecting to lift poorly. But, somehow I still pulled off a few lifetime PR'S and a meet PR. I think most of my accomplishments at the meet had to do with having someone there to coach me who was knowledgeable and motivational. Vernon Smith coaches out of Grow Strong which is a weightlifting, powerlifting, and strong man gym. I met him at a few olympic style weightlifting meets. Then in December 2015 he was coaching some of his athletes at a NASA powerlifting meet. I didn't have a coach there, it was my first powerlifting meet. I was completely lost, out of my realm, and overwhelmed. Vernon asked if I wanted him to coach me. He saved my meet. He offered to coach my best friend and I at the 2016 US powerlifting association High Dessert regional powerlifting championships. I knew we were in good hands with Vernon.

I entered the classic raw division because the weights I'd be lifting would break all the masters 40-44 AG 308lb classic raw state records. Even though I entered the classic raw division and I could have wrapped my knees, which is a lifting advantage, I opted out of wrapping my knees. I've never trained with my knees wrapped, and at a meet isn't a good time to try something new.

I ended up successfully lifting a meet PR 130k (286lb) bench and lifetime PR's of a 190k (418lb) squat, a 197.5k (435lb) deadlift, and a 517.5k (1,138.5lb) total. I took first place in the 40-44 AG, 308lb, classic raw division. And a Wilks of 292.182.

Turns out I had to tell the meet director before my lifts that I was attempting state records. So even though the weights I lifted were state records USPA won't count my lifts as state records.