200 Club

Last week at our box was “test week” for our competition team. With the CAL season going on these past 5 weeks, I wasn’t too excited about maxing out each day mostly because our CAL team holds practices throughout the week in order to get ready for Saturday competition. Luckily, CAL gave everyone a bi-week so we didn’t have to worry about competing – leaving more room to test our lifts. =) Maxing out is definitely a time of fun, mixed with stress for me. I get those butterflies in my stomach throughout the day thinking about the lifts & then when I’m at the box the nerves really kick in. Increased heart rate & nerves definitely come along with lifting heavy, like my Dad says “If it doesn’t scare you, it’s not heavy enough”.

Monday was Clean & Jerk.

Photo courtesy of stackhealthy.com

My last PR for this lift was 190#. For those of you that follow me on Facebook, you already know about my PR & the video I shared. At the risk of being repetitive, I’m sharing again. =) My lifts that day were 190#, 195# & 200#. Since I had been more in competition mode I wasn’t banking all of my hopes on hitting 200# but that was definitely the number I wanted.

Here’s a video of me hitting 195#:

I was pretty excited for that 5# PR! Since 195# felt good & after hearing my teammate, Vinny, say “That looked too easy, you need to go for 200#”, here’s the video of me hitting 200#:

Tuesday was Overhead Squat.

Photo courtesy of crossfitproper.com

My last PR for this lift was 140# but I had hit 165# for 3 a while back so I knew I could jump from there. I ended with 190# & although I was pretty excited about that number, I felt that I definitely could’ve gone higher if only my shoulder would’ve cooperated. The jerk felt spicy but the squat felt great; I always seem to be nursing something in this sport.

Wednesday was Split Jerk.

Photo courtesy of Functional Muscle Fitness

Obviously since I had PR’d on Monday with my clean & jerk, I knew that I could hit 200#. I didn’t want to repeat that same number though; I wanted to go for something a little higher. Unfortunately, that day I was a lot more in my head; the weights felt heavy each time I pulled it off the rack. My plan was to go for 205#, but instead I went for 202# - there was just something about that extra 3 pounds. The 202# felt good & I probably should’ve gone up but I decided to stay where I was at.

Friday was Snatch.

Photo courtesy of Five Rings Athletics

This lift has always been the one that gets in my head the most, specifically when it gets heavy. I remember being stuck at 135# f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Thankfully during our oly cycle we did so much snatching that it finally felt like second nature to me & I started to enjoy it; not to the point that I enjoy doing cleans, but enough to enjoy them. At the end of that cycle we had to test our maxes & my first lift was snatch. I ended up PRing by 10 pounds (145#) but on my attempt at 150# I dropped the bar on my back & twisted my ankle trying to get out of my own way. I hadn’t snatched heavy since then . . . enter Friday. I had told myself earlier that day that I was going to go by how I felt & then go from there; if I ended up PRing – great! If I didn’t – there’s always next time. I worked my way up & hit 120#, 130#, 140# - all of those felt awesome. My last attempt was at 150#. My first 2 attempts my mental game wasn’t there; I set up, pulled & raised the bar to my eyes but then bailed out. Dammit! My teammate, Vinny, told me to attempt 1more time & then call it a day. I did as I was told but wasn’t able to land it. I decided to revert back to something that one of my coaches once told me, “If you hit 90% of your 1RM you should consider that a good day”. 150# I’m coming for you…

Saturday was Push Press.

Photo courtesy of crossfit.com

My last PR at this lift was 140#. After a programmed metcon on Friday night just about killed me, I wasn’t too excited to attempt another max lift first thing on Saturday morning. After some wandering around the box & chit chatting with everyone, I decided to get on with it. I ended up hitting 165# which is a 25# PR. =) Sometimes you just gotta suck it up & see what happens.

I’m pleased with the PRs that I hit this week & looking forward to more training & competitions to improve in the future. Cardio is definitely on the top of my improvements list.