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Long time Power Athlete ABell shares a bit about his recent weightlifting meet, and the videos he posted on CFFB.  Check out his lifts above, pretty impressive stuff!

First I should say that my performance in these regional competitions has always been a little disappointing.  I usually win my weight class (105+ obviously) but the numbers I was putting up were not on par with the skill level I thought I had.  When I started doing the CFFB programming my strength went through the roof and my Oly lifts progressed as well.  This Competition was different for me, I didn’t really care who else was there, I was going there to get the state record and start throwing up weight closer to the guys who are competing nationally.  I know I’m not going to catch them in the Snatch, my technique is just not there but I’m fairly confident that I can get to 440 or so in the clean and jerk and this was going to be my first step.

A month out from the comp I dialed back the CFFB site workouts and did this

Monday
Squat volume 3×5 @ 455 I increase it if it is too easy.
Bench (I basically did 5/3/1 for this)

Tuesday
Snatch 4 reps at 85% or higher
Clean & Jerk 4 reps at 85% or higher

Wednesday
Off

Thursday
Snatch Max for Day
Clean & Jerk Max for Day

Friday
Squat 3RM
Deadlift (5/3/1 again)

Not sure if this is perfect or not but I wanted to get a lot more Oly Lifts with heavy weight and get the feel of a competition which is why Thursday is a max day.  It really worked for me leading up to the comp.

I should also say that the CFFB Total fell in this time frame and who can pass up an opportunity to max out against the CFFB community.  I hit 340 Pwr Clean, 550 Squat, 380 bench, 655 Deadlift.  This is about a 75lb increase over Occupy Last year and I think I left some weight on the bar.  I had a 580 squat nailed except I shifted forward a little and missed it.  I also almost had a 400lb bench (which I’ve hit before) but my bar speed slowed enough that my spotter grabbed it, not his fault he was just making sure I didn’t kill myself.  I’m looking forward to going past a 2000lb Total soon.

I wasn’t too focused on the snatch leading up to the meet because I was always consistent in the power snatches so I knew I could get 280 or so.  The clean and jerk is what I was really interested in; the state record was 365 and I knew I could beat it.  The first week of training I missed my 380 attempt but just chalked it up to feel and the new training cycle.  The next week I got 380, the week after I got 385, so I felt good going into Competition week and I took it easy to work on speed.

I went 5 for 6 in the meet.

Snatch(Power)  255,270, 286 (red lighted)

Cl&Jk  358, 375, 390

I don’t think they liked me power snatching in the meet, It obviously looks less “clean” but it is completely legal so get over it.

My official total was 299kg because I was red lighted on my 286 Snatch for a press out.  In the video I can see a small movement in my right arm, but not sure it was a press out.  So unofficially I could have had 307 total which would qualify for the national championships.  My previous best Cl&Jk in a Comp was 355 and previous best total was 625ish so this one was a big step forward for me and I hope to continue making gains leading up to the Indiana State Championship in May and the Power Athlete Team Series in June.

For people who haven’t competed yet, do it.  It is so fun and the adrenaline you get is guaranteed to get you some PR’s.

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