Competition Recap - Ontario Masters Championships

Guelph Barbell Club attended our first Ontario Masters Championships.  Our Masters team consisted of Jadon, Dawn, myself and of course, coach Adrian. What makes a Master, you ask? In weightlifting, you must turn 30 during the calendar year of the competition. The weight categories are divided into age groups at 5 year intervals, all the way up to 80 years of age. So instead of being the Golden Oldies, we were the #GoldenOlys !

Both Jadon & Dawn have the challenge of a body weight which lies exactly in between 2 weight classes. As a result, both decided to compete at the upper weight class. Myself, on the other hand, preparing for this competition may have been the most challenging weight-cut yet. Apparently, I enjoyed myself way too much during the month of December and it really kicked my ass. Cutting weight is not foreign to me, but it's certainly not easy.

To get down to 75 kg, I had to spend about 2 hours in the sauna the night before the competition. When I got up on Saturday morning, my home scale said 75.0 kg precisely. You never know how close your home scale will be to that of the competition scale, so I opted for not eating or drinking anything until after weigh-ins. Normally, I weigh in in my singlet, but because I knew that I was going to be close to not making weight, I jumped on the scale in my sports bra and underwear. Much to my disappointment, I was over weight! So to make weight, I actually had to strip down and weigh in naked - this was definitely a first for me.

Up first, was Dawn "the Lorax" Larson! Dawn hit her 22 kg opening snatch easily, followed by a 25 kg 2nd attempt. Her final attempt was 28 kg - which is equivalent to the current national record for her age & weight class. Dawn just barely missed her final attempt, but she was so close! 28 kg is not far away for this lifter!
In the clean and jerk, Dawn hit a set a new PR at 33 kg on her second attempt and finished with a 58 kg total.

I was up next, trying to chase my goat, the 60 kg snatch. I hit my opening lift at 58 kg, and instead of attempting the goat for my second lift - coach jumped me up to 61 kg. This was a competition PR lift for me. I missed my final snatch attempt at 63 kg. Coach and I decided to open at 77 kg for the C&J. Although I completed my first lift, unfortunately, I felt my left elbow graze my knee in the catch position - which is an immediate foul. So I had to repeat 77 kg for my second lift.  My second lift was successful, and coach decided to go for 80 kg for lift #3. I had a great  pull but rocked slightly forward in my catch and dropped the weight forward. I finished with a 138 kg total.

Jadon lifted in the last session of the day. He missed his opening lift, but hit 80 kg on his second snatch and hit 83 kg on his final lift. With a slight press out on his first C&J attempt, Jadon reattempted 100 kg on his second attempt. He finished the competition with a 180 kg total and competition PRs for both lifts. Not a bad day at all.

After the competition, we headed out for some well deserved beers and carbs! We were also invited to participate in the Canadian Masters National Championships coming up in April. Two more months of training and Guelph Barbell will be at it again!
                   

Competition Recap - Guelph Barbell Club

In December, the Guelph Barbell Club hosted it's first (non-sanctioned) weightlifting competition at Royal City CrossFit. As the sport of weightlifting becomes more popular (thank you CrossFit!!), it is becoming increasingly difficult to get into competitions in Ontario. As a result, we are seeing more of these non-sanctioned events as well as hybrid events, to give lifters the opportunity to get some experience on the platform.

Our friends from Forever Strong Fitness in Uxbridge had planned to host a weightlifting competition in December. A number of Guelph Barbell athletes had registered for this event but unfortunately it was cancelled due to issues with the planned venue. 

Coach Adrian swooped in and saved the day by offering to host the competition in Guelph instead. This event was not sanctioned as we did not have an official judge or competition plates. But it was a great opportunity, especially for the novice lifters, to have a chance to practice lifts in a competitive environment.

So we built a sturdy platform and got to work! Four novice female lifters from Guelph Barbell participated in addition to a novice male from Forever Strong Fitness and coaches Adrian & Tyler. The day was full of new PRs, especially from Emily who rocked the platform! And who can forget coach Adrian lifting in a "nut-hugger" singlet? We have got to get that man a proper singlet!

Thanks to all the Royal City CrossFitters came out in record numbers to cheer on the competitors. 

Weightlifting Etiquette

A new year always comes with new people joining your favorite gym. This is a good thing - new training partners, new skill sets and diversity is great. I’m always open to new people joining our little club.

HOWEVER – there is something that all newbies to the weightlifting club should learn. And that is a thing called Weightlifting Etiquette! A little bit of etiquette can go a long way in preventing your grizzled and seasoned teammates from handing out a throat punch.

(1)  Please don’t walk across my platform while I am lifting or setting up for a lift. Seriously, it’s plain rude. Please be aware that weightlifters need space. Space to set up for a lift without someone walking through my field of vision. Space to complete my lift without fear of you walking into my bar. And perhaps, most importantly, space so that if I need to bail out of a lift, I won’t kill you.

(2)  There are good weightlifting barbells …. And some that are not so great. CrossFitters, I love you. You know that I do. But if you are going to come play in my arena, don’t take the good bars for your deadlifts and leave me with the shitty bar that does not spin. Especially when I am less than 2 weeks out from competition.

(3)  Speaking of bars, please allow the women to use the slimmer bars. I realize that some of you males out there prefer the 25 mm bars rather the 28 mm bars, but in most gyms the slim bars are few in number. The narrow bars are for those of us with small hands so as a male, please don’t take the 25 mm bars when the platforms are dominated by female lifters.

(4)  High density rubber weightlifting plates are in short supply. As such, don’t be a donkey. If you are increasing the weight on your bar by 20 lbs each lift, please don’t be a lazy ass and add 10 lb plates each lift. Take some of those 10s off and use a couple of 25s already!

(5)  And this brings me to my final point. DO NOT STEAL PLATES! Some of my teammates like to joke that am like a raven and collect shiny objects (plates) to surround my platform. I’m not being an asshole, I do this for a reason. In preparation for competition, I take specific breaks between sets. I surround myself with plates so that I don’t have to go far for what I need next. I like to be prepared and I don’t want to have to go on a lengthy search for my next working set. I will share, I promise to share my shiny plate stash with teammates. But please ask for them. SO - Don’t be a plate-stealing-ninja. Do not wait until a lifter to turns their back and then steal their plates.  And when that lifter calls you out on your bullshit – own up to it.

So please feel welcome to come visit our weightlifting club. If you keep my top 5 weightlifting etiquette tips in mind, then you might just be invited to stay while avoiding the dreaded throat punch.   

OWA Fall Classic - Competition Recap

Now that we are getting into the 2014-2015 competitive weightlifting season, the standards are starting to be set. Two of the largest OWA competitions, the Fall Classic and WinterLift, now have minimum qualification standards required for competitors to be eligible to enter. The standards must be performed at a sanctioned event at least 30 days prior to either of these competitions. Both events are good measures to check out the competition and attempt to qualify for the provincial championships.

In order to qualify for events, competitors are required to hit a minimum total which is the amount lifted during the snatch added to the amount lifted during the clean and jerk. For the 2014 Fall classic, competitors in my weight class (75 kg) had to hit a minimum total of 108 kg.

For this event, I had to lose 6.8 kg in October. Let me say that again... I had to lose weight in OCTOBER! Both Thanksgiving and Halloween are events in October which I enjoy greatly, primarily due to the food! But alas, the event organizer decided that the best date to host this event was on November 1 - the day after Halloween. This meant no Halloween candy for me.

Before the last competition I participated in, the Kanama Summeriest, I also had to lose some weight. I didn't really take it seriously though, and ended up having to cut 3 kg in water weight in the sauna the night before weigh ins. In an attempt to avoid this issue before the Fall Classic, I tried to cut all my weight through diet manipulation. Thankfully, my previous life as a wrestler has prepared me well for weight cutting and I was successful in reaching my target, weighing in at 74.6 kg 2 hours before my event began. However, going without beer and mini chocolate bars was a challenge!

On the day of the competition, my goal was to hit both my opening lifts. Historically, I have this issue that a friend described as "monkey's having a shit fight in your head". Which, I must admit, is a pretty apt description of what goes on up there! So this time, I wanted to hit those bastard openers! I had planned to open my snatch with a 57 kg lift and to open my clean and jerk with a 75 kg lift.

Getting ready for my warm up, coach Adrian told me to tell my brain to "Fuck off", which is easier said than done. But we had a great warm up without missing a single lift on my ascent up to 55 kg. I went out, stepped on the platform and hit that 57 kg! Totally pumped, we bumped up to 60 kg for my second lift, which I successfully executed, meeting my previous competition PR. We decided on trying for 64 kg for my third and final lift, which if I had hit it, would have been a new personal record. Sadly, although I was able to get under the 64 kg snatch, my weight was too far forward and I fell to my knees. Upon seeing this, one of the other coaches apparently commented to coach Adrian, "Yep, THAT'S a CrossFit snatch!"

We had a quick turn around after the snatch component and began the clean and jerk right away. I aimed to open with a 75 kg lift. I hit this lift and the clean came up with ease! Jacked up, we went for 79 kg for my second lift, which was a competition PR. Aiming for a 144 total, we bumped up to 84 kg for lift number 3. On my third lift, I pulled the barbell off the floor and caught it low in the front rack position. In doing so, my elbows touched my knee, which I have now learned is a fail in weightlifting. So the buzzer and lights went off indicating that my attempt had failed. 84 kg would have been a new PR.    

After the competition was complete, the first thing we did was try to find a place to grab a great meal
and beer. We left Variety Village in Scarborough and headed West on the Danforth until we found a pub. What did I find instead you wonder? An absolutely delicious Russian Imperial Stout from Guelph's own Wellington Breweries!

Overall, I had a great competition and although I didn't hit new PRs, I did achieve my goals. I had wanted to increase my OWA total from the previous 135 kg and I had wanted to hit both my opening lifts. NAILED IT!

Now to start a new training cycle in preparation for the Winterlift in February, which requires a 122 kg total as a qualifying standard. Coach Adrian says that I have to focus on 2 objectives: (1) all my squats need to be pause squats (hooray!) to work on getting up out of the bottom and (2) I have to add hook grip to my repertoire. The ultimate goal is hitting a competition total of 144 kg (which I have previously hit in practice) to qualify for the Ontario Provincial Championships.

Thank you to all my friends from Royal City CrossFit who travelled to Variety Village to cheer me on. Guelph Barbell REPRESENT!  

Jennifer Kovach Memorial Workout - Competition Recap

Just after midnight on March 14, 2013, Guelph Police Service Constable Jennifer Kovach was responding to a call for assistance from a fellow officer when she lost control of her vehicle and struck a transit bus. Despite rescue efforts, Guelph Police Service lost an officer and a friend. Jen was hired and went through Ontario Police College at the same time as my husband.  

In memory of Jen and her service to the citizens of Guelph, the CrossFit community created the Jennifer Memorial Workout as annual "Hero" Challenge. CrossFit "Hero WODs" (or workout of the day) are a symbolic gesture of respect to the fallen and act as a tribute to those that have lost their lives in service to others. Proceeds from the event go to the Jennifer Kovach Memorial Trust Fund which finances an award for a graduating female student of Police Foundations at the Conestoga College Kitchener campus.

This event was a partner competition and I joined forces with Jay. Out of simplicity, we re-used the team name "Jacked & Classy". In hind sight, we perhaps should have used "The Dr & the Nurse". At any rate, the challenge consisted of 3 workouts. 

WOD #1 was "Death by Deadlifts". This was the workout which I was most fearful of, solely due to the sheer volume of deadlifts and my history of lumbar injury. The workout had a 10 minute time cap and involved a progression of 28-24-20-16-12-8 deadliest and burps. If your team was lucky enough to make it down to round 8 with time remaining on the clock, then you began to climb your way back up the ladder. Jay and I made it into the round of 12s and ended up finishing 7th out the 14 teams in the women's scaled division.

WOD #2 was "Run Beretta Run". This was a barbell workout, which I greatly appreciated. However, there was one twist - every minute one partner had to do a 60 yard sprint (FML - I hate running). Jay and I finished this one in 6:18 and landed 4th in the scaled division. The rep scheme involved completing 30 repetitions of:   

30 Thrusters

30 Power Cleans

30 Push Press

30 Back Squats 

30 Front Squats

WOD #3 was "72" which was Jennifer Kovach's badge number. This workout also had a 10 minute time cap and involved 72 repetitions of:

72 Box Jumps

72 Kettle Bell Swings

72 Wall Balls

72 Sit Ups

72 Over Head Walking Lunges

72 Clean & Jerks

Jay and I made it to the OHWL which really pissed me off because C&J are my bread and butter!! But I still think we had a very respectable finish. I'm not sure what our official finish was for WOD #3 but at the end of the day, Jay and finished in 3rd place. 

Definitely a good showing by all those in attendance. And a shout-out to the organizing committee who put on a fantastic event. Overall, I'm happy with our performance and I want to give a HUGE thanks to my fantastic partner who came in for this event after working a 12 hour shift!  

CrossFit is all about Community, right? Well not in our City!

DISCLAIMER: The opinions discussed here are my own and do not reflect those with whom I work, nor are they intended to be defaming.

In many crowds, CrossFit is often synonymous with Community. I think that it's fair to say that many CrossFit participants #1 reason for sticking with the effort to "increase work capacity over broad time and modal domains" is the CrossFit Community. In my experience, every time I have traveled to a new gym, I have encountered nothing but positivity and camaraderie - and this is something that I absolutely LOVE about the CrossFit. Now just because CrossFit propagates strong communities doesn't mean that everyone will always get along, which is expected. However, there is a difference between not getting along and creating barriers.

Recently, it was announced that there was going to be a local CrossFit competition hosted by one of the three CrossFit gyms in our city. This competition was advertised as a male/female partner competition with both Rx'd and Scaled divisions. I thought this sounded like a fun way to spend a Saturday with my husband. So I registered us for the event, not realizing the shit-storm that was about to ensue.

Not long after registering, the event organizer contacted me to inquire about my registration. Specifically, they wanted to know who my partner was and why we were registered in the Scaled division. So I responded and advised that there were certain movements, specifically heavy, high-rep deadlifts and muscle ups, which I absolutely knew that I could not achieve. In the interest of (a) completing the workouts and (b) protecting myself from injury, there Scaled division was the clear choice for me.

Now I could go on to explain why I am not an Rx'd athlete, but realistically, I shouldn't have to explain myself to anyone - but for the record, here it is:

I am not a CrossFitter. I have been exclusively training for Olympic lifting for the majority of this year. As a result, my lower body has become larger, stronger and heavier - which is great for lifting, but not so great for the gymnastics movements found in CrossFit.  In addition, a number of years ago I sustained a back injury while preforming high rep heavy deadliest at a CrossFit gym. My back has never and will never be the same. 

For example, here is a list of Rx'd exercises that I can't do:

- Chest to bar pull ups

- Handstand push ups

- Ring dips

- Muscle ups

- Pistols

- Knees to elbows

- Toes to bar

- Heavy loads for high reps

- Heavy deadifts

Now some of these movements I can get occasionally like a single HSPU (kipping) but I certainly can't string them together to finish a WOD. I can however, rock heavy singles on squats, cleans and snatches, because THAT is what I train for. Also, these movements require me to maintain an active lumbar spine and therefore, my back injury is not aggravated (when preformed in a controlled manner).

A few weeks went by and I heard nothing more from the event organizer, until I received the following email message:

“I have given this a lot of thought,

There is one workout that has the movements you are wanting to avoid by being in the scaled division. The wod is structured in a way that it will be very difficult to even make it to the movements that you can’t do. The other workouts are all ones you can manage.

I suggest that you participate in the Rx’d division where you belong. It is unfair to have you in the scaled division alongside men and women in their 50’s and 60’s, and beginners, don’t you think?”

So I did give this some thought. I talked it over with my partner and my coach, and we still came to the same conclusion, that because I am unable to perform everything Rx'd and because I have a chronic back injury, the Scaled division is the appropriate place for us. Not to mention that my husband, who is employed in a career which requires that he be physically fit, also wanted to compete in the Scale division to avoid heavy loads. It is important that he avoids injury as to not be sidelined from his career. We responded a second time and advised, that although we can appreciate the concern, we want to remain in the Scaled division.

To be honest, that was a lie because I CAN'T appreciate the concern. I have participated in a number of CrossFit competitions and I have always been a Scaled competitor. In those competitions, the Scaled division has been fiercely competitive and the majority of participants are people like me (not 50 & 60 year olds). I have never placed better than top 20 in CrossFit, so I am clearly not a threat to knocking any deserving person off the podium.

Five days before the competition, we received a message explaining the details, such as what time to show up, what to expect at registration, etc. The very last statement in this message was the following:

“In the interest of fairness _______ (name removed to protect the identity of the parties involved) reserves the right to move you into the division we feel best suits you and is fair to everyone else.”

Clearly, this statement was referencing myself and my partner.  It seemed to us that regardless of what we had signed up for, that this person felt that they were qualified to make decisions about our athletic capacity for us - when in fact, they have no qualifications to do so. All the fun I had been hoping to have, the idea of participating in a partner competition with my husband, had been crushed.

So I responded to the event organizer and asked that we be removed from the competitive roster. I said that I strongly believe that when you offer a service for which money is exchanged, that service should be provided and the customer should be able to choose what service they are willing to pay for. We registered for the Scaled division because that's the service which we were willing to pay for. We should not have to justify our choice to anyone. The only reason why this has become such an issue is because we have a past history of acquaintance with this person.

I also pointed out that legally, you are unable to claim that "______ reserves the right to move you into the division we feel best suits you", especially after registration has closed. Primarily, this statement was not advertised or communicated to the participants during the registration period. Therefore, participants were unable to decide if they were willing to accept this term before committing and investing financially. Secondly, you cannot force people to participate in a division they do not feel comfortable in, especially when competitions require the participants to sign liability-release waivers. And thirdly, unless you personally coach the participants in question, it seems unlikely that you are qualified to judge the athletic capacity of people whom you do not train.

As I see it, CrossFit is about community and inclusiveness. All of this posturing regarding this upcoming local (meaningless) competition does not make us feel included in the local CrossFit community. We were looking forward to having a fun day of jovial competition among our peers from the Tri-Cities area. We did not register to win, we did not even register to be competitive, we simply registered to have a day of athletic fun in a partner setting. So what I have come to learn is, not all CrossFit gyms are about community, there are a small few that prefer dictatorship.

Competition Recap - Kanama Summerfest

Guelph Barbell Club

Since my return to Ontario this spring, I have been trying to compete in as many weightlifting meets as possible to increase my comfort with this type of event. Thankfully, Ontario has a much larger number of weightlifting clubs than the East coast and there have been 4 competitions in the past 5 months. I have had the opportunity to compete in the last 3 out of 4 OWA competitions and I have learned that I seem to have a mental block where I can hit better numbers in practice than I can in competition.

Today, we left at 9:30 to begin our drive to Scarbough where we were going to compete at the Kanama High Performance facility. There were 4 sessions in total and we were in session #3, scheduled to weigh in at 11:15 am and begin lifting at 1:15 pm.  I had a bit of difficulty making weight this time around, so I had to hit up the sauna and go without food/drink for about 18 hours prior to weighing in. The combination of me without food & coffee in the morning + highway 401 gong-show traffic, made for a very, very HANGRY Marcy. Thankfully, I stepped on the scale at 74.6 kg and quickly began re-hydrating/refuelling.

My goals for this competition were (1) to hit both my opening snatch and clean & jerk and (2) to hit a new C&J personal record. Annnnd.... I accomplished neither.

Making her weightlifting debut in my old wrestling singlet!

My teammate, competing in the 69 kg division and the only Masters lifter, had a fabulous weightlifting debut. She hit 5 out of her 6 lifts, and if I remember correctly, I think she hit new PRs for both. Being the only Masters competitor, she impressed the hell out of everyone. The crowd was particularly fond of her, cheering as she bounced like a giddy school girl after making her final snatch.

In the practice room, my snatch has been plateaued at 140 lbs (63.6 kg) for 8 months. My C&J, on the other hand, has been continuously improving and is now up to 175 lb (79.5 kg).

Today, I competed in the 75 kg division and planned to open with a 57 kg snatch and 75 kg C&J. I felt great this morning (after re-hydrating and refuelling after my weight-cut) and didn't miss a single lift during warm up. Then I walked out on the platform, ready to hit my first lift - AND I failed at 57 kg. Frustrated, I walk back to my coach who gave me the swift kick in the ass that I needed, and then walked back out to my second attempt. I hit the 57 kg snatch the second time so coach and I decided to try 60 kg for my third and final lift. Thankfully, I hit the 60 kg, which tied my best-ever competition lift from the Toronto Pro Show. But much to my irritation, a 60 kg competition lift is a far cry from the 63.6 kg I hit in practice just last week.  

After reading an article from Catalyst Athletics about the dos-and-don'ts of competition day, I decided to try eating the recommended Snickers bar in between the Snatch and the C&J (I'm not exactly sure if it helped though).

Again, I easily hit all my warm up lifts for the C&J, but I failed my opening lift at 75 kg. And it was UGLY! It looked as though I had never hit that weight in my life! I struggled up out of the bottom and found that both my pinkie & ring fingers were stuck under the barbell. I had to bounce the bar of my collar bone twice, just to get my fingers in the appropriate place from which to jerk. I tried to centre myself, take a deep breath but I completely bailed on my jerk (which is my strongest lift, by the way). So again, I get the necessary kick in the ass from coach. I KNOW that I can hit this number, I have been hitting it consistently for weeks. So I go back out there, I ripped the bar off the ground, cleaned it up easily, and punched the jerk hard. There was actually an audible sound of shock from the crowd, they were seemingly amazed that this lift came up so easily after the last attempt was such junk. Feeling good about this lift, we decided to try for a 79 kg third and final C&J (as my last competition PR was 78 kg). Unfortunately, I didn't pull back on the bar enough and caught the clean on my toes, failing to get up out of the bottom of the clean.

In all, we had a good day. We saw some fantastic lifting, including a 64 kg woman hitting a 100 kg C&J, and had a lot of fun. I scored a 135 kg total and have thus qualified for both the OWA Fall Classic and Winter Lift. But I am still disappointed with my inability to get out of my own head. I need to get to the point where I can consistently hit my opening lifts, regardless of how heavy they are. In the meantime, I will be heading back to Royal City CrossFit to hit up another strength cycle and work on my headspace! And maybe hit up a few CrossFit competitions in the area just for some fun! Until next time, LIFT ALL THE THINGS!