On one hand, I could say that a plan I hatched over a year ago has finally payed off. But I can't help but think that the trigger for it all was a chance injury.
Let's back-up a bit. I did not exercise regularly in my 30's, I tried running a few times but the result was always the same: I would run for a week or two, injure myself and then be out of commission for 6 months. Finally, in 2001 I had enough! I had gained a lot of weight and needed to either buy larger clothes or make running stick. I deliberately held myself to modest pace and distance and took a good 3 years to gently ramp up the effort. In the end, I got good enough to run some marathons in 2008,9,10 and 11 but I had chronic pain in my left Achilles tendon. I could run, but I might limp the next day. In 2012, I decided to take-up weight training. I got a barbell and 300 lbs of weight and did the one exercise I could do with no other equipment--the clean and jerk (this is the lift you see in Olympic competition).
Good C & J video
I slowly ramped-up until I peaked at 158 lbs, which I did exactly once. I tweaked my back reaching under a bush for a basketball. Now, I couldn't really lift much in the C & J, but I wanted to keep training. Also, I felt like I had reached a dead-end in the C & J. It is a very technical maneuver and so it is really hard to stress your muscles to their limit, at least not consistently. So, I built a squat rack and decided to alternate power lifting workouts (shoulder press, squat and dead lift) with Clean & Jerk. I could protect my back, since the moves are slow and deliberate, and continue to build strength. In the long run, this should lead to new personal records (PR) in the C & J.
That's the theory. In practice, I got back to making 155 every once in a while, even as my power lifting numbers steadily climbed.
I think what broke this impasse was our trip to Italy. We walked a ton and stood in plenty of lines, but I only ran once in the week we were there. I had a couple of really good runs on the return but then the old injury came back, worse than before. I had to drastically scale back on running. This resulted in a little renaissance in strength. Cardio is great, but I think it is pretty well established that it runs counter to strength. Also, the thing about strength, is that it comes with increases in body weight. I was 140 lbs when I ran marathons a few year's ago and am now 163 lbs when not dieting and hardly get below 155 when I am trying to get light (I was 153 on July 4th, when I lifted 155 after running a two mile race). The upshot, is that with more body weight, there is more stress on joints and tendons from running. So, rather than healing my old injuries, as lifting originally did for me, it was now causing injuries.
Getting back to the point: I was stronger but not lifting more in the Clean & Jerk. It must therefore be a matter of technique. I decided to workshop my methods and in the last couple of weeks and a few bloody shins later--I have a nice improvement in how I lift. Last Tue was the first pay-off: I normally lift 115, 125, 135, 145, 150 and then attempt 155 with failed attempts really common from 145 onward. Then something clicked: 145, 145, 150, 155, what the hell? Why not? 160 and a new PR. The first PR in a year and a half!
It was with some trepidation that C & J day rolled-around yesterday: 115, easy. 125, barely made it, 135, same. 140, same. 145, something clicked again. 150, easy, 155 easy, 160 easy, What the hell? Why not 165. Yes! Easy and another PR. But not just another PR: This was bucket-list territory. When I started lifting 4 1/2 years ago, 165 was my semi-realistic goal. Any weight beyond that was pure fantasy.
Done and done. Hopefully not a one-off. But even if so, a PR is a PR and this is a good one for me.
Update: The injury is not done with me: I ran an easy 5-mile treadmill workout on Tue night (ironically enough, I watched
The Punisher ep 1) during the run. I could hardly walk on Wed, which was the next C&J workout and so skipped it. Today at work, I did a C&J with no drops: 115, 125, 135, 140, 145, 150, 155, 155. I did not dare do more because I don't feel entirely at ease on the rubber-matted floor, also, my ankle still aches. A couple of weeks ago, this effort would have had me walking on clouds, now: Meh!
Update 2: Yesterday was the first C & J where my Achilles feels fine, though I dare not run. 115, 125, 135, 140, 145, 155, 160, then 3 failed attempts at 165. My form felt good at 160 but also, it felt like all I could do. I went back and did 155, 160: The last lift felt effortless, but I was tired and quit for the day. I feel like I have solidified 160 and maybe I will enter a period analogous to roughly a year where I regularly did 140 and very rarely made 145. I will be fine with that!
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