By Edward Baker
There aren’t any videos of our training this weekend because instead, I went up to Nashville to help out my friend, Jordan Pepe at a local competition. I’m not trying to turn this into my personal blog, but I can’t help but want to brag about the performance I saw this weekend.
Jordan went up to this meet with the intent to qualify for this year’s Senior Nationals, and boy did she convincingly do so. She ended up going 6 for 6 and totaling 16 kilos more than she needed to qualify. Each attempt looked routine, each one looking just as easy as the last. The highlight for her was clean and jerking a PR of 96 kg, but it ‘looked like a toy’, as John Coffee would say.
I also had the pleasure of helping out Zan Hamilton and Sara Beth Phillips; this was Zan’s first meet and she did great considering that! No matter how hard the cleans, she jerked everything with ease. If you read this Zan, I would recommend front squatting at least once a week once you finish the squat program you’re on; it’ll help you stand out of those cleans with ease! =D
Of course I have to brag about Sara Beth too; she started off by missing her opening snatch at 70 kg. As most weightlifters will agree, this is probably one of the hardest situations to overcome. She overcame it alright, snatching it on her 2nd and then making a much more convincing snatch on her 3rd at 73 kg. In the clean and jerk, she hit 90 on her opener, then went to 94 on her 2nd attempt, gutting out the clean and then missing the jerk. Most people (including myself) would have contemplated just giving up and giving the bar no more than a tug, but she went back out on her 3rd and again gutted the clean, and nailed the jerk. Having that level of tenacity is a great quality to have, a quality that every coach wishes their athlete has.
I really felt compelled to just brag on each of these girls that I helped out this weekend. They each are more involved in CrossFit, but they each could become great weightlifters if they ever decided to dabble in the sport more one day. I look forward to seeing you all at the Senior Nationals next month!