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Two weeks ago I posted about my experience at the Hassle Free Open and how I believe I did well even when sick because I was able to mentally keep calm. I actually had another (recipe) post ready to go for this week, but after training today, I felt so incline to write this post. So if you decide to keep reading, it will probably be just a rant.
After the Hassle Free meet, I tried to get myself into that mindset where I didn't think about anything, didn't have expectations I had to meet, and truly lifted because I like lifting. But that didn't work. It wasn't as simple as saying or believing: 'you will not overthink training today'. However, today, I had arguably the best training day so far in this cycle because somehow I was able to truly clear my mind out and just lift because I was happy being there, rather than setting expectations for myself.
I haven't had a rest day in awhile because I have work commitments during training time this week and I'm going up to Napa this weekend for my birthday. I started Monday's workout on Sunday and then divided Thursday's workout, over the course of the past three days to accommodate my schedule this week. So that meant I'll be doing Saturday's workout on Wednesday's. Saturday's are game day at the gym: HS everything. For me that meant HS Snatch, HS Clean & Jerk, 5-rep max Back Squat, Snatch High Pulls, and Snatch High Pulls + Hang Snatch from Thursday's workout before all of that. While we were coming up with the game plan for this week, Greg warned me not to have high hopes for today and to really treat it as a HS for today.
So now a bit of background. Last Saturday I PRed my 5-rep back squat. I didn't take a rest day so since Sunday, I've been feeling pretty beat. I've also been under a lot of pressure at work with the quarter ending and such. This morning I woke up at 4:45am and started work at 5:15am and had back to back meetings straight until 2:30pm at which I decided to boogie out early so I wouldn't have to drive in traffic later and take my meeting at 3pm in the office at the gym. My body was sore and I haven't slept enough just trying to get stuff done. I've also been moving to a new place as I have to be out by this weekend. Add that on top of an overdue rest day, I wasn't feeling so hot.
So when I got off my meeting and warmed up to workout, I didn't brainstorming a game plan or come up with numbers to hit for the day so that I'd be 'happy'. Instead, I just warmed up, and went to the platform. Then before I knew it, I was making snatches, probably some of the best snatches in my lifting experience. They looked so great that Greg even told me to keep thinking whatever I was thinking (even if it was food, haha), and I replied to him, "I'm literally not thinking of anything."
When it came to clean and jerks, I cleaned and jerked 68, which is big for me in this cycle because I've been missing cleans at 68 the entire time even though my best double is 69. I can't even begin tell you how frustrated I've been especially since the clean probably my favorite movement, right behind front squats.. and not being able to get out of that hole has been driving me insane. Anyway, after that, I went on to clean 70 pretty easily. Then when it came time to back squat, I PRed my 5-rep again to 82kg! I'll take every kilo! I ended up totaling 120kg for the day which is only 1kg away from my best total, PRing my 5-rep back squat, all while being sleep deprived, overworked, and very sore.
On my way home from the gym and as I'm writing this post, I can't stop pondering about why I had such a good training day and how did I get myself into that same mindset as I did at the Hassle Free meet. Like, what did I do to trick my brain into thinking I truly didn't care about hitting X and Y kilos or I'd be pissed... or before a lift, if I don't do X, Y, and Z, this lift will fail? There are so many different things that fire up an athlete. For me it's not thinking and not constantly reminding myself of the goals/expectations I set earlier. Literally, clear my brain out, and lift because I want to be lifting. But how did I get there? What did I do to 'clear my brain out'? Or perhaps it's what I didn't do. How do I get to that state?! Why do I literally have to be in these extreme states to 'do well'? Why does that 'drive' I have for work not translate to my lifting.. in fact it does the opposite? Who knows. It's all mind boggling to me. All I know is that today is just more confirmation that my brain is keeping me from lifting near or at my PRs. Hopefully I can figure out how to control it but in the mean time, I'll enjoy truly feeling satisfied after a hard long day of work and training.
Thanks for reading my rant :)
After the Hassle Free meet, I tried to get myself into that mindset where I didn't think about anything, didn't have expectations I had to meet, and truly lifted because I like lifting. But that didn't work. It wasn't as simple as saying or believing: 'you will not overthink training today'. However, today, I had arguably the best training day so far in this cycle because somehow I was able to truly clear my mind out and just lift because I was happy being there, rather than setting expectations for myself.
I haven't had a rest day in awhile because I have work commitments during training time this week and I'm going up to Napa this weekend for my birthday. I started Monday's workout on Sunday and then divided Thursday's workout, over the course of the past three days to accommodate my schedule this week. So that meant I'll be doing Saturday's workout on Wednesday's. Saturday's are game day at the gym: HS everything. For me that meant HS Snatch, HS Clean & Jerk, 5-rep max Back Squat, Snatch High Pulls, and Snatch High Pulls + Hang Snatch from Thursday's workout before all of that. While we were coming up with the game plan for this week, Greg warned me not to have high hopes for today and to really treat it as a HS for today.
So now a bit of background. Last Saturday I PRed my 5-rep back squat. I didn't take a rest day so since Sunday, I've been feeling pretty beat. I've also been under a lot of pressure at work with the quarter ending and such. This morning I woke up at 4:45am and started work at 5:15am and had back to back meetings straight until 2:30pm at which I decided to boogie out early so I wouldn't have to drive in traffic later and take my meeting at 3pm in the office at the gym. My body was sore and I haven't slept enough just trying to get stuff done. I've also been moving to a new place as I have to be out by this weekend. Add that on top of an overdue rest day, I wasn't feeling so hot.
So when I got off my meeting and warmed up to workout, I didn't brainstorming a game plan or come up with numbers to hit for the day so that I'd be 'happy'. Instead, I just warmed up, and went to the platform. Then before I knew it, I was making snatches, probably some of the best snatches in my lifting experience. They looked so great that Greg even told me to keep thinking whatever I was thinking (even if it was food, haha), and I replied to him, "I'm literally not thinking of anything."
When it came to clean and jerks, I cleaned and jerked 68, which is big for me in this cycle because I've been missing cleans at 68 the entire time even though my best double is 69. I can't even begin tell you how frustrated I've been especially since the clean probably my favorite movement, right behind front squats.. and not being able to get out of that hole has been driving me insane. Anyway, after that, I went on to clean 70 pretty easily. Then when it came time to back squat, I PRed my 5-rep again to 82kg! I'll take every kilo! I ended up totaling 120kg for the day which is only 1kg away from my best total, PRing my 5-rep back squat, all while being sleep deprived, overworked, and very sore.
On my way home from the gym and as I'm writing this post, I can't stop pondering about why I had such a good training day and how did I get myself into that same mindset as I did at the Hassle Free meet. Like, what did I do to trick my brain into thinking I truly didn't care about hitting X and Y kilos or I'd be pissed... or before a lift, if I don't do X, Y, and Z, this lift will fail? There are so many different things that fire up an athlete. For me it's not thinking and not constantly reminding myself of the goals/expectations I set earlier. Literally, clear my brain out, and lift because I want to be lifting. But how did I get there? What did I do to 'clear my brain out'? Or perhaps it's what I didn't do. How do I get to that state?! Why do I literally have to be in these extreme states to 'do well'? Why does that 'drive' I have for work not translate to my lifting.. in fact it does the opposite? Who knows. It's all mind boggling to me. All I know is that today is just more confirmation that my brain is keeping me from lifting near or at my PRs. Hopefully I can figure out how to control it but in the mean time, I'll enjoy truly feeling satisfied after a hard long day of work and training.
Thanks for reading my rant :)
