Author: Rachael Keilin

Rachael Keilin, MD is a surgeon, weightlifter, knitter, lover of EDM, thinks cats secretly rule the world (deservedly), NYC girl living in a small(ish) town in Texas.

Masters Nationals



For those who don’t compete, olympic weightlifting is divided into four groups: youth (the under 17 crowd), juniors (the under 20’s), senior (20-35) and masters (35 and above).  These are not inviolable divisions.  I watched a 14yo girl snatch a US record at the American Open this year (ostensibly a senior event) in the same session as last year’s 53kg masters champion who is 47 years old.

The competition I went to this past Friday was Masters Nationals, so a national level competition for lifters over the age of 35.  It is further subdivided in 5 year age increments, so 35-39, 40-44, etc as well as the traditional international weight classes.

It was an amazing experience for a variety of reasons.  First, to see 80+ year old lifters still competing with good form (albeit with more power receipts than full squats) was encouraging.  Having found this sport late in life, it’s nice to know that there is still a place to compete and encouragement for people who worry more about hormone replacement than hormone surges.

Second, it was held at LSUS (Louisiana State University Shreveport) the home of Kendrick Farris, two time olympian and a nationally competitive weightlifting team.

But most importantly, it was the culmination of a year of training, studying, worrying, and discussing these two lifts for me personally.  It was a chance to qualify to compete at the masters world championships in the fall.  It was an opportunity to prove to my family that their support wasn’t in vain.

First, the good news.  I am now the 53kg/45w national champion.  I lifted a total that will allow me to go to Worlds and compete against some of the best lifters in my age and weight class from around the world.

But now, the analysis.  As meets go, it was actually fairly awful for me.  I went 1/3 on the snatch and 2/3 on the C&J and both were far lower than I had planned.  My total was lower than either my first local meet and the Texas State Championships.

So what did I learn?  I learned the timing of warming up.  I’m a lifter who does best very warm.  So I started a little earlier than everyone else with my foam rolling and standard warm-up maneuvers.  But then the session in front of me went over and I ended up lifting about 30 minutes later than I had planned.  Rookie mistake to be sure, but I probably should have been paying more attention to that.  So I hit my opener easily in the back, then got cold, missed it on first attempt, went up a kg, got it, but was frazzled and missed the third attempt forward from overhead in the hole.

I noticed when I went to the back after finishing the snatches that I was sitting in what I consider a meek and sad position.  Arms folded around my middle, kind of hunched over.  So I decided to shake my disappointment at the crappy snatches by adopting a power pose – knees out, chest up and back, arms out to the side taking up space.  It really did help me get back in the game and get focused on the second half of the competition.  I convinced by brain (though adopting a physical pose) that I wasn’t pitiful and was still in the game.

Cleans and especially jerks are harder for me technically than snatches.  I don’t work them as much because a) I like snatches more (and yes, I realize this is not a mature way to train) and b) since snatches were initially more challenging, I spent more time focused on them.  So my C&J aren’t the big powerhouse savers for me that they can be for other people and that is most surely going to be a big focus going forward.  How?  Squats, leg power, plyo accessory movements and simply more reps from the floor.

My competition cleans have been overwhelmingly power cleans which means I’ve got a lot more kgs in me if I can just trust myself to get under the bar.  What I noticed with both cleans and snatches this competition is that I can get even heavy weights up to my eyebrows, so strength ain’t the issue.  Technique and speed most certainly are.  Part of technique is keeping the bar closer so that I can just scoop under it after the second pull is finished.  So there’s my homework for the next 5 months.

Jerks just need work.  I just started playing with squat and power jerks, and who knows, maybe I’ll end up there because I’m much faster down in a squat than a split.  But I am going to keep working on my split jerk for now, with more aggressive feet and moving back leg first and landing with front leg at 90 degrees, not with knee over toes.

With snatches I need to strengthen the overhead position.  What good is it to get it overhead than lose it because you can’t lock it out?  Sots presses, heaving snatch balances (learned courtesy of the Catalyst website) and static overhead holds around 200% of max snatch is my plan there, along with more behind the neck push-press work at “stop being such a giant candyass” weights (as opposed to what I often lift).

All this may sound very negative, but overall I’m pleased.  I learned a lot about competing, about training about my weaknesses and even discovered a few strengths.

And if I choose to go to Copenhagen for Worlds in September, I’ll get to wear a USA masters singlet.  That will be an extraordinarily proud day indeed.

If you want to see a slomo version of the snatches here it is:


Side View Snatch with Bar Path Traced

My thoughts – the bar seems a little far out in front and doesn’t come into the hips for the second pull.  It then kicks forward after meeting the hips instead of traveling straight up, partially because it was too far in front to begin with.  Hold it close, maybe even think of shaving your legs with the bar.  Remember, it’s not a deadlift, so think in and back not just up.  Plus, check where the bar starts – is it in front of feet or by the ball of foot or midfoot?

I’m still very impressed with how much progress you’ve made in such a short time.  Kudos!

Snatches 75, 79lbs

Getting ready for Masters Nationals.  These are 80-85% snatch singles.  I may end up being conservative at the meet though and going for a 40kg snatch which would be 88lbs, making these 85 and 90%.  Depends on how I’m feeling.  I’m not going for a record, just trying to qualify for worlds this time around.  Next year I’d like to bring a 53kg snatch (bodyweight) to the table 🙂

Recovery

Two weeks before each of my competition begins freak out time for me.  The heavier percentages mean more misses.  More misses undermine my confidence (that’s just the way my mind’s built).

Rationally I understand that no misses mean I’m not aiming high enough.  But misses also highlight all of the things that are wrong with my technique – being slow under the bar despite being strong enough to get the bar high means I miss.  That’s partly bar fear and partly technique and partly ingraining the movement pattern better.  And ingraining it so it’s faster.

But inevitably some of the issues that are uncovered in those last heavy weeks before deload are my lack of recovery.  I’m just as susceptible as the next person to the myth of the Russians and the Bulgarians.  Train daily, train hard.  Then double that volume and you’ll be a champion.

But a) I’m not on steroids and b) I’m not in my 20’s.  So guess what happens when you hit it hard and daily?  I’ve been lucky to avoid big injuries, but the little accumulation of fatigue and not resting adds up.

There is good evidence that daily training is feasible and likely even preferable to fewer times per week for both strength gains and ingraining neural patterns.  But as a master, I’ve got to be more cognizant that “greasing the skids” (to quote Pavel) doesn’t have to be balls to the wall* each and every time my foot steps inside a gym.  It’s okay to focus on one or two movements and their accessories, some mobility and leave.  It doesn’t have to be 2+ hours and to failure on every set.

That doesn’t mean not heavy, it just means smarter. Because left to my own devices I’d be in my happy place on the platform with a bar in my hand 6 hours/day.

It also means conceding that Superwoman needs sleep.  8+ hours/night.  So I bought a pair of dorky blueblocker sunglasses and started wearing them around 8pm each night so that iPads and computer screen blue light don’t keep me up.  The only negative to that is my children announced that I look like an alien and they can no longer take me seriously.  Maybe I could spank them with a barbell.

Eating is important, too.  I’m one of those people who loses their appetite when I”m stressed (and gee, there’s no stress pre-competition).  So I force myself to watch my intake.  No “intuitive” eating.  That means tracking calories, carbs and protein to make sure I’m getting enough (and not just donuts and protein shakes).  It means making sure that I”m not in a position to lose a lot to stay in my weight class in the two weeks before so that I”m not forced to restrict.

With age comes wisdom.  And I’m wising up to the fact that I gain a lot of strength in what I do when I’m not in the gym, not just under the barbell.

* interesting fact about the origin of “balls to the wall”.  It’s apparently a WWII term from pilots.  Pushing the throttle (that had a little ball knob on the top) to the “wall” i.e. all the way forward was kind of like full speed ahead or all out.  It’s not as raunchy as it sounds 🙂

L Cleans SloMo and regular speed

L performing cleans from several different vantage points, slomo and regular speed.  What I am noticing is that the bar seems to be going around and therefore hitting knees, instead of knees going back to get out of the way of the bar which should be pulling into hips.  Also the top of the second pull isn’t quite finished, but this may be because the weights are very light for this very strong young lady and she doesn’t have to fully extend to get the bar moving.

A Beginner’s Guide to Weightlifting Meets

I’m not a big fan of re-inventing the wheel, so let me first direct you to an excellent article by Jacob Tsypkin published here :

http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/08/07/a-guide-to-your-1st-weightlifting-meet-part-1/

But I wanted to add a few thoughts of my own.

1) Here are the men’s weight classes: 

  • 56 kg (123 lb)
  • 62 kg (137 lb)
  • 69 kg (152 lb)
  • 77 kg (170 lb)
  • 85 kg (187 lb)
  • 94 kg (207 lb)
  • 105 kg (231 lb)
  • and over 105 kg;

And here are the women’s weight classes:

  • 48 kg (106 lb)
  • 53 kg (117 lb)
  • 58 kg (128 lb)
  • 63 kg (139 lb)
  • 69 kg (152 lb)
  • 75 kg (165 lb)
  • and over 75 kg.

That means to be in a class you have to be at that exact weight or lower.  Now, for my weight class it says 117lbs but ACTUALLY since it’s officially in kg, the top of my class is really 116.6.  Seems petty, but if you’re trying to cut water weight to get there that almost half a pound is important.  You don’t want to be the absolute lightest lifter in the weight class above.  Know your weight class and don’t do anything stupid to get into a lower weight class because you’ll just lose a lot of strength in the process.

When you are a masters lifter, there is an additional set of classes, i.e. age.  The classes are 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, etc. by 5 year increments.  Your age group is determined by what your age would be IN DECEMBER OF THE COMPETITION YEAR now how old you will actually be at competition.  Say your birthday is July and you will be 40.  If you compete in May (when your driver’s license and mama say you are 39) you will still compete in the 40-44yo division because by December of that year you will be 40.

2) Absolutely, positively, bring your own chalk.  At both meets I have attended, chalk was in short, short supply.  If you like using it to lift, you’ll need it for your warm-ups.  Bring your own (but share)

3) If you’re used to the imperial system of weights (pounds, stone, etc) then bring a giant grid of the conversion of pounds to kgs.  You’re going to be nervous and you’ll just want to glance at the grid to when you’re giving your attempts or even when calculating warm-ups.

4) this may be TMI for the menfolk, but if you’re female, bring sanitary pads because stress urinary incontinence happens (i.e. peeing a little with heavy lifts) to some women.

5) a pen, paper and calculator for filling out forms, re-calculating lifts into kgs if you lose your chart grid, doodling to calm your brain, getting numbers and emails of cool people you meet.

6) women should go visit GlamletAthletics.com for  a cool singlet 🙂

7) bring extra EVERYTHING  socks, tape, band-aids, sports bras, drinks, tissues.  Wear pants that will fit over your weightlifting shoes without having to take them on and off.

Later I’ll try to explain how the order of attempts go, why you may be following yourself in 2 minutes and why you should always stick around until the end of your session 🙂

It Takes a Village

teamwork

 

I had a PR today that wasn’t *exactly* weightlifting related.

4 weeks ago, I started going for weekly sports massages with an amazing local masseur. This was done in desperation.  Before the Texas State Championship, I hurt my left knee and couldn’t squat for 6 weeks which clearly hurt my lifts.

Now my right knee was hurting (although my left was finally feeling better).  With Masters Nationals coming up, I really – REALLY- could not afford an injury.  I had already had an orthopedic colleague check it out and he said it wasn’t a joint or meniscus injury.

So I went to the massage therapist who diagnosed a gastroc-soleus tendon insertion trigger point and worked the hell out of it.  But his really important insight was noticing that my toes turned in when lying on the table.   He said I had wicked tight adductors and glutes.

I then went on to book weekly massages and as homework did mobility work to stretch all the compartments of my legs (adductors, abductors, quads, hams, ankles, hip flexors).

The PR? Today my massage was fun and relaxing and most importantly…..PAIN FREE.  All the other massages hurt like rusty nails being scraped across my cornea because I was tight and a veritable lump of trigger points.

Being a masters lifter means a lot of things.  It means making time to work out when you have to go to work for 8-10 hours per day, make dinner for your kids, pay bills, check homework, drive to soccer practice and maybe even occasionally have some grown-up time with your spouse.  You’re not a student with a fairly flexible schedule.  You’re not even a young adult with only yourself and the cat to worry about.  You’re a full bore adult with parents who are aging and starting to need you and kids who are old enough to have lots of important firsts in their lives that need your attention.

You also don’t recover as quickly nor do you just jump up on the platform and start lifting.  Warming up is important, so is mobility work when you’re done.

Being a masters lifter requires a patient family who supports your obsession, coaches who can modify programming for your capacity and therapists to help you recover.

It doesn’t just take a village to raise a child.  It takes a village to support one aging but ambitious lifter.

And this one is eternally grateful for hers.

Welcome to Strong Snatch!

how-to-snatch

Welcome to Strong Snatch, a place to discuss olympic lifting, share videos of your lifts to both celebrate and to garner constructive critique and to discover some of the many steps I have taken on the journey to becoming a competitive masters weightlifter.  Masters weightlifters, by the way, are not necessarily “masters” in the sense of someone who has great proficiency.  Masters refers to weightlifters over the age of 35.

There will be links to articles from which I’ve learned important insights (and why I thought they were useful).

There will be a place to share great product discoveries like favored singlets, shoes, chalk, etc.

And last a training log to keep me accountable and to have a place to track those “aha!” moments that come while learning such a technical sport.