How to Fight a Goat, and Win!

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The Goat, we all have one. In case you are confused, I'm referring to that hurdle you have in the gym. In CrossFit, it's that one thing that you really suck at. For some, it's thrusters, for others ... it's burpees.

In the weightlifting room, our goats are often a particular weight on the bar. When Coach and I first started training for weightlifting, the snatch was my goat. At that time, my technique really needed a lot of work. But my goat was 95 lbs, because of the mental barrier I had about getting into the triple digits. Coach, on the other hand, his goat was 185 lbs.

I worked on my technique and thanks to squats, squats and more squats, I became strong enough to overcome that triple digit mental barrier. For the record, so did coach. But when you beat down one goat, there is always another one just around the corner.

That bastard goat is back, and this time it's a weight that I want to hit in competition. My snatch PR at the time of writing is 140 lbs, or in competitive speak - 63.6 kg. In the practice room, I haven't missed this weight in months. But do you know what weight I do miss consistently? 60 kg. I know that I can hit 60 kg, I HAVE hit 60 kg, but for some reason - this is my goat.

Why is this goat important to me? Well, it's because I want to be a competitive lifter now. In the practice room, you can take as many attempts to make a lift as you like. But in competition, you can only take 3 attempts. Your first attempt should be a weight that you know you can lift easily, but that is not terribly far away from your max. This is where my goat comes in. Your second attempt should be a weight just shy of your target. Your final lift, should be your target and hopefully a new PR!

In my first competition, the 2014 Toronto Pro Show, I wanted to open at 60 kg. I missed both my first and second attempts. Thankfully, I did make my final attempt, but missing what I thought should be an easy lift (twice) messed with my head. 60 kg became my goat.

So how do we beat this goat? Coach came up with the perfect plan. At my last competition, Coach planned my opening weight at 58 kg, which I hit with ease. He then planned to skip over my goat entirely and make my second attempt at 61 kg. And you know what? IT WORKED! I didn't think twice about the weight on the bar as I went out to the platform. I kicked that goat square in the face! But of course, there is always another goat around the corner..... waiting patiently to mess with your head. I will have to wait and see what surprises lay ahead as we train for the masters nationals at the end of April.