My Other Favorite Sport

Before weightlifting, wrestling was my sport of choice.  

I just returned from my first international senior wrestling tournament (outside of Canada) that included both women's and men's freestyle in addition to Greco-roman competitions. The tournament was hosted at the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan and included very high caliber competitors. I know that if I want to continue to grow my skills as a referee and to pursue this at an international level, that I need to become competent in officiating Greco. Which is exactly why I chose to travel to the NYAC Bill Farrell International.

Women's Wrestling Tournament on day 1 of the Bill Farrell International at the New York Athletic Club

I want to thank the Black Bears Wrestling Club for continuing to support me in this sport both while I was an active member and now. I love that our wrestling community is so small and so interconnected that I can easily call up my former coach and ask if I can bunk in with the team to save on my expenses (because I quickly discovered that hotels in Manhattan are hella expensive). 

Black Bear Sam Stewart getting ready to launch her
opponent during the bronze medal match at the 2016 NYAC

Without this support and constant willingness to assist others in our sport, wrestling in Canada would not be as successful as it is. In fact  Canadian wrestlers have won Olympic medals at every games since 1992! 

I started wrestling in New Brunswick when I was 15 after being recruited to the high school team by the coach. After the first practice, I was hooked. After high school, I joined the varsity team at my undergraduate university where I spent 7 years as a member of the Black Bears Wrestling Club. Because of the Black Bears, I spent many years as a competitive athlete and was supported as I developed my coaching and referee skills. While my body is now too old and broken to continue wrestling, refereeing is something that I can pursue for decades to come. 

Without all the time, resources and effort that the Black Bears (past and present) showed me in those early years, I wouldn't be where I am today.  Although I now live in Ontario where I am supported by my colleagues at the Ontario Amateur Wrestling Officials Association, I will always be a Maritimer and a Black Bear at heart! 

The 646 Weightlifting Grand Prix

The inaugural 646Weightlifting Grand Prix took place on July 9-10, 2016 at Crossfit Toronto. The 646 was a great event and there were a number of competitors who were first time lifters. 

Guelph Barbell member Tiffany Hinds competed in her 2nd weightlifting competition since taking up the sport. In fact, the women's 69 kg weight class was so large that they had their own session! Tiffany easily made weight and was pumped to test how far she had come since her last competition in November of 2015.

 

Tiffany opened her lifts at the 646 Grand Prix heavier than she had finished at her last event! After narrowly missing hitting the judges with her barbell on a missed snatch, Tiffany finished with a 136 kg total (57 kg snatch, 79 kg C&J).

The Big D & Marcy both competed in the same session. This was D's first competition since nationals in March and she improved on her previous performance by hitting a 25 kg snatch (which is just off of the Canadian record for her age division). She narrowly missed out on a 35 kg C&J - which would have been a new personal best, but had to settle for  33 kg C&J and a 58 kg total. 

Following 9 months of rehab after a shoulder injury, Marcy started out with relatively light lifts just to get back into the swing of things. Thankfully, the shoulder held up and Marcy was able to finish the competition with a 142 kg total (63 kg snatch, 79 kg C&J). No personal records were set but getting back on the platform and putting up a total was good first step towards getting back on the proverbial horse!

   

Jadon Hammill had also been out of competition mode for a number of months due to some nagging injuries. A few solid months of programming from coach Adrian had Jadon ready for action! Jadon finished with a nice round 200 kg total (93 kg snatch, 107 kg C&J). 

Overall, the 646 Weightlifting Grand Prix was a phenomenal event - the sponsors, organizing committee and hosts were great! We are looking forward to the next 646 event!  

Activism or Slack-tivism?

I'm probably going to piss a lot of people off with this post. And as Beyonce would say: "I ain't sorry"

Let me start with this - Just being educated about diseases isn't enough to make people healthier. Social media activism may "raise awareness" but there are few (if any) legitimate actions associated with sitting behind your computer and "sharing" a post.

A few years ago women were updating their status update with a color - nothing other than a color. Why? Apparently to raise awareness about breast cancer. How? I have no freaking clue. Last year, people were trying to show-up one another by posting increasingly obnoxious ways to get dunked by ice water - to raise awareness about ALS. This year, I have seen a horrifying trend of women posting photos of the underwear they are wearing to apparently "raise awareness about women's genital health". (Don't do a google image search of that one - EWW). And most recently, I have been challenged to do 22 push ups for 22 days to raise awareness about veteran suicide and PTSD.

These are just a few examples of the phenomenon of "raising awareness" for diseases. People continue to "raise awareness" of different health issues online without following this up with actions. What does awareness mean anyway, and what is supposed to come of people sharing photos, videos or bra colours? To me, these things feel very reminiscent of the 1990's chain letter phenomenon where you were threatened with years of bad luck if you didn't share the message with all your friends. Of all the recent "awareness campaigns" that I have seen, at least the ALS ice-bucket challenge involved donating money to fund ALS research. But that aside, everything else feels like a social media chain letter. "Share this if you care about _______".

To date, I have not participated in any of these social media challenges and I do not plan to. Why? Because I invest my time in energy in volunteering with the associations that I am a member of and donate funds to charities that are meaningful to me.

The 22 days of 22 push ups really bothers me. I'm not saying that the incidence of mental health issues among members of the Canadian Forces should be ignored. In fact, this is a very concerning issue that requires more resources and funding devoted to it. But sharing videos of myself doing push ups isn't going to change policy and it's certainly not going to make my veteran spouse feel like I care. In fact, my spouse is sick of being judged as being broken and damaged because of being a member of the CF but that's another issue entirely.  

There is nothing wrong with awareness - but it would be more beneficial if social media awareness campaigns were followed up with real actions. Awareness may be a first step towards changing behaviour but just being educated about diseases isn't enough to make people healthier. Perhaps "sharing" things online makes people feel like they are helping. But if this generation of social media warriors tried donating time, energy and/or funds to these issues, maybe actions would do more for these causes than just raising awareness.

So forgive me for not going online and saying: "Hey motherfuckers, look at what I'm doing"!! while posting the color of my bra, a photo of my underwear or videos of myself getting dunked with a bucket of water or doing push ups. I'll stick to continuing with the actions that I currently engage in to try and influence what I can.
 

Competition Recap - Hybrid Open

Guelph Barbell Club's youngest member just completed her first ever weightlifting competition!  Tiffany comes to us from Barbados where she was a member of the national swim team. While not a stranger to competition,  Tiffany is relatively new to the sport of weightlifting.

Tiffany trained hard all summer via remote coaching, while she was completing her internship in Windsor. Upon her return to Guelph, she had just 6 weeks to get ready to compete at the Hybrid Open.

Following our arrival at the competition venue, Tiffany jumped on the scale and easily made weight for the 69 kg division. She then got down to business - and by business,  I mean she finished an engineering assignment! 

When it came time, Tiffany began her warmup. I think that she was trying to put her game face on, but it came across as more like "OMG! I have to get on a platform and lift in front of judges!?" As Tiffany warmed up, coach decided to set her opening snatch at 43 kg, which is well below her training PR of 54.5 kg. But the goal was to have her hit an easy opening lift to get some confidence on the lifting platform. The plan worked, and after Tiffany easily hit a 43 kg snatch, she REALLY put her game face on! Tiff followed that lift with successful snatches at 47 and 50 kg.

Up next, Tiffany rocked her opening C&J at 64 kg. She looked so confident on the platform that coach uped her next lift to 70 kg. For her third and final C&J, Tiffany attempted 77 kg, which was just slightly shy of her training PR. She missed the lift, but hit 5/6 lifts overall and finished with an official competition total of 120kg.

An excellent first competition for our Junior member,  Tiffany Hinds!

Competition Recap - Toronto Weightlifting Championships

One year has passed since Guelph Barbell Club’s first appearance at a weightlifting event sanctioned by the Ontario Weightlifting Association (OWA), and what a year it has been.

GBC’s first competition experience was at the 2014 Toronto Pro Show, competing at the Toronto Weightlifting Championships (TWC). Although still relatively inexperienced in this sport, we knew even less in 2014! Both GCB competitors, Jadon & Marcy completely bombed out at the 2014 TWC.  Neither athlete managed to post a total score at this event as both completely missed all of their attempts at the clean & jerk.

Wide variety of strength events at the 2015 Toronto Pro Show

One year later, they both decided to register for the 2015 TWC, even though only 6 weeks separated the TWC & Masters Nationals (April 2015). For the Nationals, Coach Adrian prepared them well and programmed a long cycle to help them peak for the event. The approach was golden as both GBC members set new personal records and won national titles in the Masters division. After Nationals, there was rest, recovery and not enough time to peak for another event. Regardless, both felt like they had something to prove and wanted to put up a total at the Pro Show, one of the most interesting fitness events that Toronto has to offer.

The Toronto Pro show is a unique event which brings together all manner of strength sports (weightlifting, powerlifting, strong man) with endurance activities like CrossFit and boxing, and “showy” events like bikini, figure, and bodybuilding competitions. Of course, the venue is rounded out by a wide variety of people trying to sell stuff, like equipment, clothing and supplements. This year, the weightlifting event was directly next door to the powerlifting booth and directly across from some sort of jail-inspired iron cage (seriously, WTF?). Not only were we competing with these 2 booths in terms of the noise level, but the bikini models on stage were posing to their favorite pop-chick music from the 90’s. It was a bit of a cluster fuck to say the least.

I had to weigh in at 8:00 am as my session began competition at 10:00 am. After making weight easily, there was an immediate need for refueling and caffeine. Once those basic needs were satisfied, it was time to get ready to lift all the things. Coach had planned that I would open with a weight that I could hit comfortably, the second attempt would be close to my current PR and the final attempt would be just above my PR. Following in this progression, I started with a 59 kg opening snatch, followed by a 62 kg snatch. At nationals in April, I had hit a 64 kg snatch, which was a new record for me. So coach decided to bump me up to 65 kg. The pull felt great, I got under the bar and caught it. However, on my attempt to rise up out of the bottom of the catch, my weight shifted forward slightly and I lost control, resulting in a missed lift.

Although I completed my opening C&J at 77 kg, the judges called it a missed lift because of a slight elbow bend on the left side. Coach said that it looked easy and asked if I wanted to go up – so I said sure. Without having completed a C&J, we bumped up the weight to 80 kg (just 1 kg off my PR!) and I hit it easily. For my final lift, I attempted an 82 kg C&J. Similar to the snatch, the pull felt great. I caught the bar at the bottom of the clean with an upright and locked torso. But try as I might, I just couldn’t get up out of the hole. Another missed PR attempt. I finished with a total of 143 kg which is only 3 kg off of my personal best. In all, I was very happy with the performance. Never have I caught a 65 kg snatch or an 82 kg C&J so even though the lifts were not completed, it is still progress in the right direction. Although, after getting stuck in the hole, Coach Adrian threatened me with a future full of heavy front squats with a 5 second hold in the bottom position!

Jadon weighed in at 10:30 and his competition began at 12:30. For the first time ever, Jadon actually had to cut weight. Lucky for him, he was fully hydrated. After an hour in the sauna, he easily made weight. Jadon got off to a shaky start and missed his opening snatch at 87 kg. After pulling his head out of his ass, he walked out on the platform and made his second attempt at 87 kg look easy.  For his third snatch, he easily hit a new competition PR at 90 kg.

After a short break, Jadon opened the C&J with an easy 105 kg lift, which tied his current PR. Coach increased the weight on the bar to 108 kg. The clean portion of the lift was easy, but the judges called a no lift on the jerk. Jadon tried again and although he was close, he just couldn’t nail the jerk. He finished the competition with a 195 kg total and finished the day with a 3 kg competition PR.   

2015 Masters Weightlifting Championships - Competition Recap

The 2015 Masters Weightlifting National Championships - until this year, I didn't even know such a thing existed. Coming into this sport as a rather mature (in age, not personality) athlete, I expected that the only person that I would be competing with would be myself. The high-caliber Canadian athletes who compete on national and international platforms are often under the age of thirty and have significantly more time under a barbell than I. In fact, I was completely amazed by a junior competition (under 18) in 69 kg weight class who out lifted me by approximately 30 kg last year. She was lucky enough to be born with a barbell in her hand.

However, my teammates and I have come to discover that it's not all over once you become "over the hill".

Guelph Barbell Club set out on the road for Rouyn-Noranda, in north western Quebec. After nearly a six hour drive, we arrived in the home-town of Canadian weightlifting champion Christine Girard. A relatively small town with a strong history of weightlifting. We checked into the hotel, jumped on the scale to ensure our weight was good and settled in to prepare for competition.

Saturday morning, we headed out to the venue. Dawn was up first and made weight for the 69 kg weight class with ease. She was a little rattled as coach Adrian tried to get her warmed up and focused for the competition. Dawn had a little bit of humming bird in her that day, she couldn't stop moving. At one point, coach actually had to make her sit in a chair to keep her in one place. It was the funniest thing I have seen yet at a competition. Dawn opened with a 22 kg snatch. Her goal was to hit 27 kg on her final lift, but unfortunately, she missed both snatch #2 & #3. Dawn had a rough start to the day but coach was able to get her settled and refocused for clean & jerk. After a quick break, Dawn came back out on the platform for the C&J. She was able to hit both her opening lift and C&J #2, tying her previous PR. Although she wasn't completely happy with her performance, Dawn earned a national gold medal!

Marcy (also known as ass. coach) was up next. I have never been able to match my training PRs in competition and I have never been able to hit 6 out of 6 lifts. The goal at this competition was to do both. Making the 75 kg weight class for this competition was easy. I opened the competition with a 59 kg snatch and then moved up to 62 kg (to avoid my goat!). For my final lift, I hit 64 kg which is both a competition PR and an all-time PR. After a quick break, I got ready for the C&J and opened at 77 kg. Coach Adrian decided to jump up to 81 kg, and I successfully completed my second lift. Pumped, I told coach that he could decide the weight of my final lift. When I heard the words "84 kilograms on the bar", I'm not going to lie, I might have shit my pants a little. I walked out on the platform, took a deep breath and ripped the bar off the floor. Unfortunately, I didn't finish my pull and missed my attempt at 84 kg. In all, hit 5 out of 6 lifts, hit a new snatch PR, tied my previous C&J PR and finished with a 145 kg total.

Competing in the final session of the day was Jadon in the 105 kg division. At a recent lifting seminar, Jadon hit a number of PRs which he had not yet tested out in competition. Jason hit a 80 kg snatch on his opening lift - and made it look EASY. So coach decided to bump it up to 87 kg for snatch #2. Lifting like an animal, Jadon hit 92 kg for his final snatch - hitting a new competition PR. Heading into the C&J, Jadon opened with a 100 kg lift. He jumped up to 105 kg for C&J #2, which he just missed because of his night-time career as a stripper. He came back for a third attempt, and hit 105 kg. Jason hit 2 competition PRs, and set a new total of 197 kg.

By the end of the competition, Adrian was exhausted from coaching all day and Guelph Barbell Club finished with 3 National titles! After a celebratory dinner, a bottle of scotch and some Quebec poutine, we were ready to head home. Until next time, we will continue to lift all the things!      

How to Fight a Goat, and Win!

http://crossfitlondonuk.com

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.