Mon, 20 Mar 17
Block 11, Wave 1 - Snatch & Clean @ American University
Today I took a strength and conditioning field trip to American University to do a little lifting and a little learning from their S&C staff headed up by Sean Foster. It had been almost 3 years to the day since I was last there and Sean has made some nice changes since my last visit. Gone are the awkward spotlights, the clutter of impractical equipment, and the fishbowl effect of the window wall. Now the weight room is bright, clean and efficient, and free of the distraction of NARPs doing ab machines a few feet from collegiate athletes in training. Sean, Mario, and Andy run their teams like a well oiled machine and getting to sit in for Track and Field and Volleyball showed me some new and different strategies for running teams that I like as well as reinforcing the validity and rationale for many things I believe to be right and true.
In between T&F and VB I had the distinct privilege to be coached by Sean on my snatch and clean and THIS was the KEY to hitting a 7.5 kilo PR on my snatch as well as making significant technique improvements to both lifts.
Unless you are fortunate enough to train with people who are both knowledgeable enough about what you are training and have the coaching skills to help make you better, it's very difficult and/or time consuming to break down what you're doing and figure out how to get technically better on your own. You may use a mirror, but that doesn't work for everything and can distract from actual lifting. Video is another option, but then you only get one angle and you're checking it between all your sets on a tiny ass screen which is not conducive to staying in the right frame of mind to actually train.
I have been exceedingly lucky to have amazing coaches and training partners for most of my athletic and lifting career, but since starting grad school in 2010, I have had to travel a couple to several hours away to get good coaching with the exception of Nick O'Brien and Mike Hedlesky. I lost full time access to my training partner Nick when we finished our Master's degrees in 2012 and I am only able to train with Mike occasionally due to conflicting schedules and training times. So getting the opportunity to have Sean coach me on two lifts that I know need work was huge for me and I can't thank him enough. This is also why every time EliteFTS hosts a training seminar, the PR count from the attendees is ridiculous - top notch coaches and athletes who are there to be coached.
One more crucial ingredient for instant success when you have access to a good coach - BE COACHABLE! If you have someone watching you who knows their sh!t and is willing to put forth the time and effort to watch you and offer you their experience and skill to help make you better, then you damn sure better listen to what they say and work to apply it. Arguing with a coach because you don't like what they are telling you or making excuses about how that's just the way you are and it can't be fixed or being unwilling to work to make change because it's too hard will not only piss off the coach and make them much less likely to offer help in the future, but will also demonstrate just how much of an a$$hole you really are. Finally, because I'm on a roll now, if you are a beginner you have no business trying to coach anyone so keep your mouth shut and eyes and ears open. And I don't care if you've been training for 1 year or 10 years, if you don't have a good working knowledge of programming and exercise science (formal or informal, I don't care), and hundreds to thousands of hours watching people move, you're still a beginner and any advice you are offering is coming from an uninformed viewpoint.
Snatch
complex x 20kg
2x50kg
2x60kg
2x70kg
1x80kg
1x90kg
2x0x100kg - I would have been up the proverbial creek here without Sean's help.
1x90kg
1x97kg
1x103kg - PR by 0.5 kg
2x0x110kg - I knew what I was doing wrong and how to fix it, it just took a little work.
1x110kg - PR city!
This was a 7.5 kg increase over my previous PR of 102.5 kg from back in December when I presented up at RMU and trained with my teammates Todd Hamer and Joe Schillero in Hamer's weight room.
Clean
complex x 20kg
3x50kg
2x70kg
2x100kg
1x110kg
1x120kg
1x128 kg
1x135 kg
0x140kg
1x140kg
I thought I hit a PR on clean as well because I was a dummy and got my kilos and pounds mixed up in my head. My clean PR is 150 kg which is 330 lb, but I combined the two and thought my PR was 130 kg. I should have written it down in my notebook like I did with my snatch PR. Regardless, I learned a lot from working with Sean and I can't thank him enough for all his help. My only complaint from yesterday is that the bathrooms at AU have the sandpaperiest single ply institutional toilet paper I've ever encountered. Seriously, damn.