My history of underperforming in Crossfit competitions is well documented. There was a time when I was excited about the prospect of signing up for Crossfit competitions. Now, I'm on the fence about taking part in ones like King and Queen where I'd only be competing against the same people I work out with everyday. My stance on team competitions is a bit softer, as evidenced by the fact that I'm taking part in this year's Brawl In The Burbs. Even if I suck during a team competition, my teammates can shoulder more of the load and keep us afloat.
When the leaders of the Bridgeport Barbell Club (Steph and Jim C) asked me if I would take part in their meet this year because the Novice division was running light on lifters, I was hesitant to immediately say yes. At a Crossfit competition, the focus is rarely on one individual. There are a bunch of people taking part in a given heat. There is music blaring, along with lots of screaming. All those distractions can keep the crowd from noticing how badly you might be struggling in a workout. At an Olympic lifting meet, the spotlight is on one person at a time and there is no escaping it. The room is silent, you walk out on to a platform in front of the audience and three stern looking judges. If your lift isn't perfect, you get the dreaded red light (or in the case of the BBC meet, the red paddle). Two reds or more means you failed on the lift. The lenient "counts in Crossfit" standard does not fly at an Olympic lifting meet.
That was a lot of pressure for a guy who doesn't seem to do well in those situations, so my first instinct was to say no. But both Steph and Jim have been good to me over the years and this wasn't a huge favor they were asking of me. They even went so far as to say that they would make it worth my while (I told you they're good to me) if I participated. So I signed up. The day after I signed up, I learned that Mooney and Chris S were also going to be in the Novice division. Was it too late to back out? I mean, these other KOP guys had signed up, so they didn't need me to fill in, right? I resisted the urge to try and talk my way out of the meet. It was time to try something new and see how it turned out.
It's unusual for me to show up really early for an event, but I got to KOP well in advance of my lifting time on Sunday just because I was unfamiliar with the format of an Olympic lifting meet. Did I need to be there at the very start of the weigh-in session? (No.) Did I need to start warming up about an hour in advance? (No.) Could I eat donuts if I had already weighed in and it was too early to warm up? (Yes.) I killed most of the down time I had by joking around with Mooney and Aileen, but I did get weighed in shortly after I arrived. There didn't seem to be any point in delaying, so I followed Tom (my coach for the day) into the babysitting room to step on the scale.
A little background on the weigh-in: You are assigned to a weight class for these meets. (Warning: Weights will be in kilos (kg), both for the athletes and for the barbells later on. I will translate it back to pounds though when it's important.) There are checkpoints along the way that you have to stay under to qualify for a weight class. So if you weigh 73kg, you would be part of the 75kg weight class, not the 69kg weight class. When I signed up for the meet, I was less than 2kg north of the 94kg (206.8 lbs) weight class. That works out to about 4 pounds. I had a month to drop that extra baggage, which seemed like a reasonable time frame to me. However, when I came home from the Saratoga trip I knew that I wasn't making 94kg. I let Steph know that she should list me in the 105kg class, even though I wouldn't come close to that threshold.
At least that's what I believed. Tom had me step on the scale, looked down at the screen, and announced that I had weighed in at 99.4kg (218.7 lbs). That was crazy talk! Granted, I hadn't stripped down to my skivvies, but there was no chance that I weighed that much regardless of what I was wearing. (Note: The day after the meet, I hopped on the scale at home. It read 212 and change. I rest my case.) It didn't really matter how close to 105kg I had ventured since I was over 94kg, but I wasn't pleased with the start of my day.
Tom wrote my body weight on the card that every lifter was given at check-in. The next step was to write down my opening lifts for the snatch and the clean and jerk. That was tricky to come up with. You only get three lifts, so you didn't want to start so low that you'd need to make huge leaps to get near your PR weight. On the other hand, if you started too high, you could fail on all three lifts and end up with no score for the meet. (Note: Your score for the meet is the total of your best snatch and your best clean and jerk. If you hit zero snatches and a 90kg clean and jerk, your score would be 0, not 90kg.) I asked Tom for some assistance in coming up with a number, letting him know that my top snatch was roughly 84kg (184.8 lbs - I've hit 185) and my top clean and jerk was a smidge over 104kg (228.8 lbs - I've hit 230). His advice to me was to choose an opening weight for each that I "could do in my sleep". I was much more concerned with the snatch, so I went conservative on that lift, putting down an opener of 70kg (154 lbs). I felt I could go pretty heavy to open on my clean and jerk, so I listed 93kg (204.6 lbs) for that lift.
In order to be able to participate in the Novice division, you must be taking part in either your first or second sanctioned Olympic lifting meet. After that, you're part of the Open division and you must wear a singlet to compete. I'm not sure why the singlet is mandatory, but those things don't leave a whole lot to the imagination. I had no desire to don that attire, but most of the other Novice lifters were apparently eager to show off their singlets. Aside from the Junior lifters and the KOP representatives, all of the other Novice guys had singlets on. To each their own, I guess. It certainly provided a bit of an intimidation factor to the warmup area. Mooney, Chris, and I shared a platform, each garbed in a t-shirt and shorts, looking the part of newbies. Everyone else looked like they were out for blood.
Coach Tom explained to us how the warmup would work. We would do a few doubles at lighter weights, then perform some singles as we got closer to our opening weight. He would keep an eye on how long it was until the session started and then let us know when we should do our various warmup lifts. Chris was 4th to lift, Mooney was 5th, and I was 6th as the three Junior lifters were leading off the session and all of the singlet-clad lifters were going after us.
The snatch was our first lift and I started my warmup with doubles at 40kg, 45kg, and 50kg. I followed that up with singles at 55kg, 60kg, and 65kg. I didn't miss on any of those lifts, but I still felt very nervous. As the Junior lifters began to filter up to the main platform, I stood off to the side trying to get rid of my jitters. Steph recommended trying a snatch at 68kg to burn off some of that nervous energy as well as to keep me confident when I went up for my first snatch ay 70kg. I added 3 kilos to the barbell in the back and had a good lift at 68kg. Now I just had to wait for my name to be called.
Chris was done with all 3 of his snatches and Mooney had completed 2 attempts when it was my turn to take the stage. I came out from behind the curtain and looked at the audience and the judges before I looked at the barbell. It was pretty terrifying. No one was intentionally making it scary for me, but all the people I knew from the gym were sitting there looking very serious. I wasn't used to that at all. I walked over to the chalk bucket, covered my hands, and walked up to the barbell. You can do this in your sleep. Hit this lift and take all of the pressure off yourself. This is more than 30 lbs below your max. You got this! I went through my mental checklist as I got set up at the barbell, got my breathing right, pinched my shoulders back, and began the lift. I didn't sense anything wrong as the barbell made contact with my hip crease, but I must have let it get away from my body as I pulled it overhead. The barbell was out in front of me when I went to catch it and I couldn't control it. The barbell fell to the floor. I had messed up on my "easy" lift.
That was not the way to get rid of my jitters. Making matters worse was that I immediately had to go again. At a meet, you will get 1 minute to lift the barbell when it is your turn. However, if you miss and no one else has a lift at the same weight you missed on, you (to steal a golfing phrase) keep your turn. You are given 2 minutes for your next lift if you keep your turn, so I didn't have to hurry right back to the barbell. I could walk off of the platform and collect my thoughts without feeling rushed to make my second attempt. The scoring table did their best to cheer me up as I tried to regroup.
I felt like I knew what I had done wrong and what I needed to do to correct it, but part of me was feeling nauseous over the idea that I might blow this lift three times and end up with no score. What was the point of even doing the clean and jerk if I was going to end up with a score of zero? I wasn't trying to qualify for the American Open or anything. (Note: Michal, Aimee, and LC were at a meet in Miami this same weekend trying to qualify for the American Open. Michal and Aimee lifted on Friday, LC was lifting on Sunday afternoon.) I had to hit one of these next two lifts. I walked back on to the platform, less intimidated by the scene in front of me than I had been when I got up there the first time. I told myself to keep pulling and to make sure that I kept the barbell close to me. I went through my setup and gave 70kg a second try. The lift didn't feel all that much different, except for one minor detail: I caught the barbell. I was sitting in the bottom of the squat with the barbell extended overhead. I didn't have any difficulty standing it up, but as I awaited the judges' decision, I became paranoid that I might have done something wrong. The lift had to basically be perfect. Did I bend my elbow at some point in the lift? Did I overlook some detail? Was I about to see three red paddles?
Thankfully, the answer was no. There weren't any smiles on the judges' faces, but there was a smile on mine once I saw three white paddles. I had a score, at least on the snatch portion of the meet. All I needed now was one good clean and jerk and I'd have an official score in an Olympic lifting meet. When I came back to the warmup area, I discussed with Coach Tom what I should use for my third attempt. He suggested moving up 3kg. I watched Mooney successfully hit his 3rd snatch before returning to the platform. All of the pressure was now gone. I felt a lot more confident with my third lift, snatching 73kg (160.6 lbs) without much of a problem.
There was a lot of down time before the clean and jerks because I had to wait on all of the dudes in singlets to snatch. Once they had finished, it was time to warm up on the clean and jerk. I don't recall exactly what we did in terms of reps and weights, but I know I did less lifts in preparation for the clean and jerk, partially because the snatches have already helped us warm up somewhat. The order for the clean and jerk was the same as it had been for the snatch, although there was one singlet athlete whose clean and jerk was in the same range as Mooney's and mine, so we wouldn't necessarily have to follow our own lifts in this round.
I was feeling chipper at this point. I didn't tend to miss as often on the clean and jerk, so I felt confident that I'd be posting an official score. That was until I started watching the lifters in front of me. The Junior lifter going before Chris got all red paddles on every one of his attempts. Chris was greeted with a red response on 2 of his 3 attempts. Uh oh. While it was fairly easy to tell whether a snatch was performed correctly, it was not so simple to discern whether a clean and jerk was getting white paddles. Athletes had the tendency to press out a bit on the jerk, which was not allowed. Your arms needed to be locked out overhead when you completed the lift. Even the subtlest press out would earn you the judges' scorn. I had no idea whether I was guilty of the "counts in Crossfit" press out when I did my jerks, so I would need to make sure I punched each of them out when it was my turn on the platform.
My first clean and jerk would take place after Mooney had taken care of his initial clean and jerk. Even though there was nearly 205 lbs on the barbell, I wanted to try and power clean the weight. I could squat clean it, but I didn't want to introduce any extra degree of difficulty to this first lift. I wanted to make it easy, get a score, and then I could play with house money on the final two lifts.
I walked up to the barbell, made sure I felt totally comfortable, then performed my power clean. I got it up to my shoulders. Just needed one solid jerk and I had my score. I took my time, reset my breathing, then went for the split jerk. I got the barbell overhead, brought my feet back together, and waited for head judge Faby to tell me to put it down. Did I press out? The three white paddles let me know I hadn't. 93kg was in the books and I had my official score!
The best moment of the day came next. Mooney did his second clean and jerk, except he clearly pressed out his jerk. Just as his arms came to full extension, he muttered "fuck me" before dropping his barbell. Everyone cracked up, even the judges. The humorous moment couldn't save him from the red paddles though. He definitely should have had that weight (95kg), so he decided to move up to 98kg for his final attempt. That bought him some time to relax as my second attempt would be at 98kg (215.6 lbs) as would the 1st attempt of one of the singlet-wearers. When everyone is using the same weight, the lifting order is based on least number of attempts so far, so the semi-pro guy would be first at 98kg, then yours truly, then Mooney.
Semi-pro guy made the lift at 98kg, as expected. I went up to the platform still thinking that I could go with a power clean at this weight. The 93kg power clean wasn't that bad, so why not try it again here? Sure enough, I caught the 98kg power clean and prepared myself for the split jerk. I got that overhead, waited for good news from the judges (3 more white paddles were displayed), and then headed to the sideline to await my final lift. Mooney made it a clean sweep at 98kg on his last lift of the day.
As Mooney was preparing for that lift, I was at the scoring table with Tom deciding what I should use in my finale. He suggested a 3kg bump like I had used when going from my 2nd to 3rd attempt during the snatch. That would put me at 101kg. I was a bit lukewarm on that idea. Now that I had an official score, I wanted to gamble! Why not try for a PR at 105kg? I was too wimpy to put forth that idea though. Luckily, Kris was able to read my mind. She turned around and said to us, "I would just go for 105." She was right. Screw 101, let's go after a PR! Tom was less enthused with this idea, but he wasn't going to stop me if I wanted to try it. I told the table to put me down for 105kg for my final clean and jerk.
That jump bought me some extra time. Mooney had his lift, then singlet-guy did a second clean and jerk at 102kg. When he came off the platform, I was officially on the clock. I tried to pump myself up as I walked out to the platform. 105kg (231 lbs) was sitting there waiting on me. There would be no more power clean. I needed a full squat clean to stand up this weight. Rather than describe the lift, I've included a bunch of photos (all of the BBC meet photos are courtesy of our house photog, Samson) to illustrate my PR attempt:
At least that's what I believed. Tom had me step on the scale, looked down at the screen, and announced that I had weighed in at 99.4kg (218.7 lbs). That was crazy talk! Granted, I hadn't stripped down to my skivvies, but there was no chance that I weighed that much regardless of what I was wearing. (Note: The day after the meet, I hopped on the scale at home. It read 212 and change. I rest my case.) It didn't really matter how close to 105kg I had ventured since I was over 94kg, but I wasn't pleased with the start of my day.
Tom wrote my body weight on the card that every lifter was given at check-in. The next step was to write down my opening lifts for the snatch and the clean and jerk. That was tricky to come up with. You only get three lifts, so you didn't want to start so low that you'd need to make huge leaps to get near your PR weight. On the other hand, if you started too high, you could fail on all three lifts and end up with no score for the meet. (Note: Your score for the meet is the total of your best snatch and your best clean and jerk. If you hit zero snatches and a 90kg clean and jerk, your score would be 0, not 90kg.) I asked Tom for some assistance in coming up with a number, letting him know that my top snatch was roughly 84kg (184.8 lbs - I've hit 185) and my top clean and jerk was a smidge over 104kg (228.8 lbs - I've hit 230). His advice to me was to choose an opening weight for each that I "could do in my sleep". I was much more concerned with the snatch, so I went conservative on that lift, putting down an opener of 70kg (154 lbs). I felt I could go pretty heavy to open on my clean and jerk, so I listed 93kg (204.6 lbs) for that lift.
In order to be able to participate in the Novice division, you must be taking part in either your first or second sanctioned Olympic lifting meet. After that, you're part of the Open division and you must wear a singlet to compete. I'm not sure why the singlet is mandatory, but those things don't leave a whole lot to the imagination. I had no desire to don that attire, but most of the other Novice lifters were apparently eager to show off their singlets. Aside from the Junior lifters and the KOP representatives, all of the other Novice guys had singlets on. To each their own, I guess. It certainly provided a bit of an intimidation factor to the warmup area. Mooney, Chris, and I shared a platform, each garbed in a t-shirt and shorts, looking the part of newbies. Everyone else looked like they were out for blood.
Coach Tom explained to us how the warmup would work. We would do a few doubles at lighter weights, then perform some singles as we got closer to our opening weight. He would keep an eye on how long it was until the session started and then let us know when we should do our various warmup lifts. Chris was 4th to lift, Mooney was 5th, and I was 6th as the three Junior lifters were leading off the session and all of the singlet-clad lifters were going after us.
Coach Tom helping Chris warm up:
"I'm just easing the tension, baby!"
The snatch was our first lift and I started my warmup with doubles at 40kg, 45kg, and 50kg. I followed that up with singles at 55kg, 60kg, and 65kg. I didn't miss on any of those lifts, but I still felt very nervous. As the Junior lifters began to filter up to the main platform, I stood off to the side trying to get rid of my jitters. Steph recommended trying a snatch at 68kg to burn off some of that nervous energy as well as to keep me confident when I went up for my first snatch ay 70kg. I added 3 kilos to the barbell in the back and had a good lift at 68kg. Now I just had to wait for my name to be called.
Chris was done with all 3 of his snatches and Mooney had completed 2 attempts when it was my turn to take the stage. I came out from behind the curtain and looked at the audience and the judges before I looked at the barbell. It was pretty terrifying. No one was intentionally making it scary for me, but all the people I knew from the gym were sitting there looking very serious. I wasn't used to that at all. I walked over to the chalk bucket, covered my hands, and walked up to the barbell. You can do this in your sleep. Hit this lift and take all of the pressure off yourself. This is more than 30 lbs below your max. You got this! I went through my mental checklist as I got set up at the barbell, got my breathing right, pinched my shoulders back, and began the lift. I didn't sense anything wrong as the barbell made contact with my hip crease, but I must have let it get away from my body as I pulled it overhead. The barbell was out in front of me when I went to catch it and I couldn't control it. The barbell fell to the floor. I had messed up on my "easy" lift.
That was not the way to get rid of my jitters. Making matters worse was that I immediately had to go again. At a meet, you will get 1 minute to lift the barbell when it is your turn. However, if you miss and no one else has a lift at the same weight you missed on, you (to steal a golfing phrase) keep your turn. You are given 2 minutes for your next lift if you keep your turn, so I didn't have to hurry right back to the barbell. I could walk off of the platform and collect my thoughts without feeling rushed to make my second attempt. The scoring table did their best to cheer me up as I tried to regroup.
How could I be down after looking at these smiling faces?
I felt like I knew what I had done wrong and what I needed to do to correct it, but part of me was feeling nauseous over the idea that I might blow this lift three times and end up with no score. What was the point of even doing the clean and jerk if I was going to end up with a score of zero? I wasn't trying to qualify for the American Open or anything. (Note: Michal, Aimee, and LC were at a meet in Miami this same weekend trying to qualify for the American Open. Michal and Aimee lifted on Friday, LC was lifting on Sunday afternoon.) I had to hit one of these next two lifts. I walked back on to the platform, less intimidated by the scene in front of me than I had been when I got up there the first time. I told myself to keep pulling and to make sure that I kept the barbell close to me. I went through my setup and gave 70kg a second try. The lift didn't feel all that much different, except for one minor detail: I caught the barbell. I was sitting in the bottom of the squat with the barbell extended overhead. I didn't have any difficulty standing it up, but as I awaited the judges' decision, I became paranoid that I might have done something wrong. The lift had to basically be perfect. Did I bend my elbow at some point in the lift? Did I overlook some detail? Was I about to see three red paddles?
Thankfully, the answer was no. There weren't any smiles on the judges' faces, but there was a smile on mine once I saw three white paddles. I had a score, at least on the snatch portion of the meet. All I needed now was one good clean and jerk and I'd have an official score in an Olympic lifting meet. When I came back to the warmup area, I discussed with Coach Tom what I should use for my third attempt. He suggested moving up 3kg. I watched Mooney successfully hit his 3rd snatch before returning to the platform. All of the pressure was now gone. I felt a lot more confident with my third lift, snatching 73kg (160.6 lbs) without much of a problem.
There was a lot of down time before the clean and jerks because I had to wait on all of the dudes in singlets to snatch. Once they had finished, it was time to warm up on the clean and jerk. I don't recall exactly what we did in terms of reps and weights, but I know I did less lifts in preparation for the clean and jerk, partially because the snatches have already helped us warm up somewhat. The order for the clean and jerk was the same as it had been for the snatch, although there was one singlet athlete whose clean and jerk was in the same range as Mooney's and mine, so we wouldn't necessarily have to follow our own lifts in this round.
I was feeling chipper at this point. I didn't tend to miss as often on the clean and jerk, so I felt confident that I'd be posting an official score. That was until I started watching the lifters in front of me. The Junior lifter going before Chris got all red paddles on every one of his attempts. Chris was greeted with a red response on 2 of his 3 attempts. Uh oh. While it was fairly easy to tell whether a snatch was performed correctly, it was not so simple to discern whether a clean and jerk was getting white paddles. Athletes had the tendency to press out a bit on the jerk, which was not allowed. Your arms needed to be locked out overhead when you completed the lift. Even the subtlest press out would earn you the judges' scorn. I had no idea whether I was guilty of the "counts in Crossfit" press out when I did my jerks, so I would need to make sure I punched each of them out when it was my turn on the platform.
My first clean and jerk would take place after Mooney had taken care of his initial clean and jerk. Even though there was nearly 205 lbs on the barbell, I wanted to try and power clean the weight. I could squat clean it, but I didn't want to introduce any extra degree of difficulty to this first lift. I wanted to make it easy, get a score, and then I could play with house money on the final two lifts.
I walked up to the barbell, made sure I felt totally comfortable, then performed my power clean. I got it up to my shoulders. Just needed one solid jerk and I had my score. I took my time, reset my breathing, then went for the split jerk. I got the barbell overhead, brought my feet back together, and waited for head judge Faby to tell me to put it down. Did I press out? The three white paddles let me know I hadn't. 93kg was in the books and I had my official score!
The best moment of the day came next. Mooney did his second clean and jerk, except he clearly pressed out his jerk. Just as his arms came to full extension, he muttered "fuck me" before dropping his barbell. Everyone cracked up, even the judges. The humorous moment couldn't save him from the red paddles though. He definitely should have had that weight (95kg), so he decided to move up to 98kg for his final attempt. That bought him some time to relax as my second attempt would be at 98kg (215.6 lbs) as would the 1st attempt of one of the singlet-wearers. When everyone is using the same weight, the lifting order is based on least number of attempts so far, so the semi-pro guy would be first at 98kg, then yours truly, then Mooney.
Semi-pro guy made the lift at 98kg, as expected. I went up to the platform still thinking that I could go with a power clean at this weight. The 93kg power clean wasn't that bad, so why not try it again here? Sure enough, I caught the 98kg power clean and prepared myself for the split jerk. I got that overhead, waited for good news from the judges (3 more white paddles were displayed), and then headed to the sideline to await my final lift. Mooney made it a clean sweep at 98kg on his last lift of the day.
As Mooney was preparing for that lift, I was at the scoring table with Tom deciding what I should use in my finale. He suggested a 3kg bump like I had used when going from my 2nd to 3rd attempt during the snatch. That would put me at 101kg. I was a bit lukewarm on that idea. Now that I had an official score, I wanted to gamble! Why not try for a PR at 105kg? I was too wimpy to put forth that idea though. Luckily, Kris was able to read my mind. She turned around and said to us, "I would just go for 105." She was right. Screw 101, let's go after a PR! Tom was less enthused with this idea, but he wasn't going to stop me if I wanted to try it. I told the table to put me down for 105kg for my final clean and jerk.
That jump bought me some extra time. Mooney had his lift, then singlet-guy did a second clean and jerk at 102kg. When he came off the platform, I was officially on the clock. I tried to pump myself up as I walked out to the platform. 105kg (231 lbs) was sitting there waiting on me. There would be no more power clean. I needed a full squat clean to stand up this weight. Rather than describe the lift, I've included a bunch of photos (all of the BBC meet photos are courtesy of our house photog, Samson) to illustrate my PR attempt:
Always optimistic: Looking so positive about my prospects for a new PR
Power clean? I thought I needed to squat clean this weight,
but look how tall I was standing when I caught this barbell.
The plan was to squat clean, so I rode this one all the way down to the bottom
Phew! Stood it up. Catch your breath and jerk this overhead!
Please tell me that I didn't press this one out. Red paddles will make me cry.
White paddles! Time for an awkward celebration!
All credit goes to Kris for my PR. And even though it doesn't look
like it in this picture, I did connect with her on this high-five.
My first experience at an Olympic lifting meet began poorly. I was told I had gained a bunch of weight and then I failed on a lift that I said I could do in my sleep. But once I managed to get a successful lift in, a wave of positive momentum took over and I ended up with a PR. It was a really cool experience. I don't know if I'll do it again, only because I'd want to be much more prepared than I was going into this meet and I'm not sure if I'm willing to put that much time into my Olympic lifts. I was just filling a spot here, so I didn't take it very seriously. If I did it again, I'd want to be a lot more confident in my form. I owe a huge thank you to Steph and Jim for talking me into signing up, and to Tom and Kris for coaching me through the day.
I stuck around to help out changing plates for the female Novice lifters. After their competition ended, a bunch of us took apart the platforms and made the gym look like it normally does. Then we gathered around to watch LC on TV as she competed in Miami. More on that in an upcoming Dudes After Dark recap.
Monday preview: Recycling the name of a blog post? There better be a good reason for such laziness! (Don't worry, there is.)
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