Lampito

Today I matched my old snatch max, 40 kilos, for the first time since I've been lifting again. And then I did it twice more! Three good reps at my PR. This is a significant weight since it lets me use the big 10-kilo bumper plates on a 20-kilo barbell instead of the flimsy 10-pound bumpers and a bunch of little plates. The big plates are much nicer to work with (and safe to drop, saving my lower back!) but they seemed so intimidating. Now that I've done it, I feel so eager to add more weight! I think I can make some significant strength gains in the next few months.

I'm posting this on my mother's behalf. She's in her late 50s and recently had a bone density scan done since she has some risk factors for osteoporosis (family history and low body weight--she's fairly short and has always been thin). The scan showed that she has lower-than-average bone density (osteopenia) but not osteoporosis. She already eats pretty healthy and does a lot of running, but she's looking to add some strength training to improve her bone density. She has some dumbbells at home and may have access to a college weight room. She's done some stuff with weights in the past--she can back squat with proper form, for example. Unfortunately I live several states away; if I were back home, I'd be working out with her! As it is, I'm trying to offer long-distance advice and encouragement, but I'm not sure what's best for bone strength. Does anyone have any specific advice on what she should be doing? I've been reading about osteoporosis prevention, and everything mentions strength training, but never with any specifics. I'm guessing free weights or bodyweight training would be preferable to weight machines, and loads should be heavy enough to be challenging--basically, the same things that make up a good strength program. But if anyone has any recommendations, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Well, the 10 pound bumper plates are gone for good. They belonged to a member, not to the gym itself, and the guy who owned them left the gym. I don't know if/when the gym will get another set, so I guess I'm gone with Oly lifting indefinitely. Sad day. I guess I'm giving up on this challenge entirely. I suppose I'll be going back to powerlifting-style training until I can do Oly lifts again. I'll stick with some of the diet changes I've made because they've been making me feel physically better. I'm not sure if I'll keep up with the calorie deficit, though, or if I should increase my eating to maintenance. It will depend on what kind of lifting I'm doing. For the reading goal, I'm definitely going to finish everything on the list eventually, but I may space those books out with some other things. Without weightlifting to keep me happy, I may be needing a couple of good library binges in the next few weeks. Hopefully by the next challenge I'll have either plates to work with again or a better plan for what else I can do for the next few months.

I finally hit a 40 kilo snatch on Tuesday. Then when I went to the gym yesterday, their only set of 10 pound bumper plates was gone. There followed an awkward attempt to warm up with hang cleans, with the little metal weights, until I got up to 50 kilos. (Their only other bumper plates are 15 and 25 kilos each.) But weights don't feel right and it's hard to hit ~95% of your max with a crappy warm-up, so the whole thing kinda sucked. I'm really hoping those plates come back. (The only trainer there yesterday had no idea they were gone, and didn't know why.) Otherwise, I guess that's the end of Oly lifting for me until I move in three months. Sad, sad day. As for dead lifts, I haven't made any noticeable progress in the past three weeks. I think when I set those goals, I was sorta just finishing out my beginner gains, or whatever--that stage where you're finding your existing strength rather than truly increasing it. I also didn't have any sort of programming I was following, and I could tell my form wasn't great when I went heavy. Thus, I think I should give up the dead lift goal. I'll still focus on that lift, but I'm looking around for a good program to follow, and I don't expect even to have maxed out again, necessarily, before the six weeks is up. With both of my lifting challenges on hold, I guess there's still weight loss and reading. 128 pounds this morning, and I finished Persuasion.

Thursday's workout wasn't too exciting--I made it up to one messy rep at 52 kilos, but I wasn't feeling too great. Today was considerably better. I found an article my former coach wrote about starting snatches and cleans with the hips lower, which forces you to keep your weight on your heels. I think I've been starting wrong for a long time without realizing it, so I focused on that today and it felt a lot better. I got up to 38 kilos on snatch today, and I almost had one at 40; then I did a bunch of lighter reps to work on technique. I've gotten much better at getting under the bar quickly, and the heels thing feels like it will be great once I'm used to it. I stayed light on clean & jerks--I ran into an old weightlifting acquaintance, and he gave me some very welcome advice on my jerks, so I ended up doing about 20 reps at 42.5 kilos. Also, I taped my wrists for the first time today, and it felt so much better! They've been hurting a lot during snatches, cleans, and front squats, and I think the poor front rack position has been another part of why I'm on my toes too much. I may look into buying wrist wraps. Weight loss: I weighed 129 pounds yesterday. My stomach's looking noticeably leaner, and I can fit into some jeans that had been too tight before. I hadn't expected to have fun with this goal, but I'm proud of my self-control, and it's making some good changes in how I think about food. Part of my purpose for this goal was learning how to cut weight for competition, in addition to losing body fat for real. Thus, I think I'll try to stabilize once I'm at 127, then cut a couple pounds of mostly-water for the end of the challenge. Eating slightly more should help with my lifting. As for reading, I finished Small Gods and The Wind in the Willows on Thursday and The Game today. 9 to go!

Lifting hasn't been particularly great--only worked up to 36 kilos on snatch and 49 on clean & jerk on Saturday. I'm still trying to figure out some technique issues on both, and the old wrist pain is back. Today I snatched up to 38 kilos, but it wasn't my best day. For dead lifts, a set of 3 at 205 pounds. I've been feeling kind of off the last few workouts. I don't know if it's from not eating as much, or if I'm getting worn out, or if my concentration's just off. Hopefully I can turn it around soon. One high point: chin-ups are getting easier! I managed 5 sets of 2 today, which is the most I've done. It's just about the only thing I should definitely get better at while losing weight. As for the weight loss goal, I weighed 131 pounds on Sunday morning. Calories since my last post have been: Friday* 1545 Saturday 1200 Sunday* 1460 Monday 1180 Tuesday* 1390 *lifting day I allowed myself a soda on Sunday, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. And apparently I do really like iced tea. For the most part, I'm not having too much trouble sticking to my limits. I'm hoping they're enough for my weight to keep going down, though. I've never kept close track of what I eat, so I'm not really sure what my daily intake has been. For the reading goal, I finished Skeleton Crew this weekend, and I'm making good progress on a couple others. Wish I could--I think the gym's pretty adamant about their no-chalk rule. It's very much not a serious lifting gym, but it's cheap, it has a platform and bumpers, and no one's given me grief so far about my lifting habits. No chalk is a compromise I can deal with!

Better workout today! Clean-and-jerked up to 52 kilos, which is a new PR! And for dead lifts I worked up to 3 reps at 200 lbs. It was a fun day for my grip.... My gym doesn't allow chalk, and my callouses are looking pretty angry this week! Calories: 1210 on Wednesday, 1215 on Thursday, and 1545 today (lifting day). I'm actually starting to enjoy it--it's making me feel very controlled. Plus, it gives me another thing to do mental arithmetic with when I'm bored at work.

BIt of a "meh" workout today, but not too bad. Got up to a couple nice snatches at 38 kilos, then missed 40 twice. On dead lifts, I worked up to 3 reps at 195. As for the dieting goal, it's not too bad so far. 1240 Cal yesterday, 1500 today since I lifted. Feeling a bit dizzy-headachey, but overall okay. Also, finished Hunger Games and gosh, was it good!

I've been back in the gym for almost 4 months now, and I had been wavering back and forth on what I wanted my focus to be. Then in the previous six-week challenge (my first) I saw my snatch increase by 4.5 kilos in about a month--probably the fastest I've ever progressed on that lift! It reminded me how much joy I get from Olympic lifting. I'm actually thinking I may start competing again in the fall, if circumstances allow for it. Thus, my goals for this challenge will be focused on getting me competition-ready. 1. Increase my total. At the end of the last challenge, my best snatch was 38 kilos. I hadn't been clean-and-jerking at all for those six weeks, but I did one clean-and-jerk workout last week to get a sense of where I am. I got up to 49 kilos! One kilo below my old PR, so that was pretty cool. So that means my total right now would be 87 kilos, at a body weight of about 61 kilos. For comparison, my best during college was 82.5 competing at 58 kilos, and my high school best was 80 kilos at a body weight of 53 kilos. (Note the depressing lack of improvement in college.... What the heck was wrong with me?) My goal for this challenge will be a 96 kilo total. That will probably work out to a 42 kilo snatch and 54 kilo clean & jerk, but if that's off a couple kilos each way, I'm still good. This isn't a particularly ambitious goal compared to how I've done so far, but goal #2 may make it difficult. Grading: 96 = A 94 = B 92 = C 90 = D 87 = F 2. Get back in my weight class. My days as a 53 kilo lifter are long behind me, but I should be able to get down to 58 again. My weight has crept up a bit while I wasn't lifting, and it's crept up a bit more now that I am. If I'm going to compete again, I'd like to get below 58 kilos (127.6 pounds) and stay there. For this challenge, I'm aiming for 125 pounds at the end of this challenge, with non-extreme cutting practices allowed at the end. As of this morning, with no cutting beforehand, I'm 134 pounds, and I've been within a pound of that either way for the last month. I'm going to weigh myself and record it every day, but I'll only record it here once a week. My scale does body fat too, though I'm not sure if it's accurate. Today it says I'm at 23.3%, which seems in the right ballpark if I compare myself to pictures. I don't think it's accurate enough that I should obsess over it, but I will record it once a week to see if it's trending up or down. I'm going to record calories in a journal and probably here. I'm tentatively going to aim for 1400 Calories a day--possibly a bit more on lifting days and a bit less on non-lifting days, with one day (probably Saturday) around 1800. I'm imposing a few absolute rules--no soda, nothing from the vending machines at work, no coffee shop treats or meals out during the week. If I do any of those things, I have to record it here. More generally, I'll try to eat fruit for desserts, minimal bread and pasta, and tons of vegetables. Grading: 125 = A 127 = B 129 = C 131 = D 133 or higher = F Now, I am putting sort of a kill switch on this goal. If I get halfway through the challenge, I'm not losing weight, and my lifting totally sucks, I'll give up on this goal for now and just work towards being the strongest 63-kilo lifter I can be. If I'm doing well on the weight loss but not the lifting, I'll keep trying with both and hope I can maintain a lighter weight later while focusing on the lifting. I know strength gains are harder to achieve while losing weight, and so I'm trying to prioritize not getting discouraged or miserable over this. 3. Dead lifts! I've been loving the brute-strength work in general since I've been lifting again. My general plan is to focus on one strength lift at a time (not totally neglecting the others) while my main focus is the snatch and clean & jerk. This time around, it's dead lifts! I hadn't ever really focused on dead lifts until a month or two ago. So far, I've gotten up to 215 pounds for one rep. I'm setting a goal of 240 for the end of this challenge. Again, I'm not sure how well this will work along with the weight loss, but I'm optimistic. Grading: 240 = A 235 = B 230 = C 225 = D 220 = F My general workout plan is as follows: Tuesday: Snatch (doubles or triples), squats, deadlifts Thursday: C & J (doubles), squats, deadlifts Saturday: Snatch, C & J (work up to a heavy single on each), squats Squats will mostly be front squats, and I'll add in some chin-ups and accessories as time allows. 4. Read all the books! All the books I'm in the middle of or have checked out from the library, that is. Some of the ones on my pile have been there for months now, and the boyfriend's starting to complain about the book-moat on my side of the bed. (Seriously, it's a trip hazard.) Here's the list I need to get through. Grading: A for getting through everything, and I drop a letter grade for each one I don't finish. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking Complete Poems of Catullus Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories, Bram Stoker Early History of Rome, Livy Female Masculinity, Judith Halberstam The Game, A. S. Byatt Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis, J. K. Rowling trans. Peter Needham The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins Persuasion, Jane Austen Rickover, Francis Duncan Skeleton Crew, Stephen King Small Gods, Terry Pratchett Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame I'm partway into several of these. I think I have about 3500 pages of English left and 250 pages of Latin. Should be possible in 6 weeks.

I do continuous cycling (skipping placebos in standard birth control). It's probably the best decision I've ever made. My physical symptoms during periods were bothersome but not debilitating. Mentally, though--two days of CRUSHING DESPAIR every five weeks for a decade. Plus feelings of disgust, probably aggravated by some mental health issues. I did have to try I think three different brands before I found one that worked. The first two caused near-constant spotting, which led to near-constant anxiety. With the third one, absolutely nothing for two years and counting! The several months on the first two brands were pretty annoying, but it was worth it for all the benefits now.

English: native German: I took 4 years of it in high school. I can still read quite well, but my conversation skills are kinda rusty. Latin: Studied it from middle school through college (Classics major) and I still read some for fun. I can get through most written works (usually with a dictionary, unless it's a familiar text). I've never had the opportunity to practice conversation, though I hope I can someday! Ancient Greek: Three years in college (other half of the Classics major...). This one was more of a struggle; I never quite developed an ear for it. Anglo-Saxon is the next one I plan to tackle.

Apparently I've been slacking off on posting here--time to catch up! Snatch workouts have been going well, mostly. On Saturday, my form was a bit wonky, so I only went up to 36 kilos. I did 6 reps at that weight; the first three had all the old problems, but the last three were pretty good. Tuesday, I got up to one good rep at 38, then a miss. Thursday was excellent--worked up to three good reps at 38 kilos. My technique has really come together in the last few weeks. Now I just need to keep getting stronger! For my sleep goal, I got a C for last week and a B for this week. And for my sewing goal, it's really time to get to work! For the dress, so far I've only got the pattern traced and cut out. At least I have a three-day weekend and not much else to do, so I think I can still get it done. Once I settle in with it, it's easy to get absorbed in sewing for a few hours.

Since I started lifting again 3 months ago, I've been concentrating on building strength in the big lifts. I set a new one rep max on back squat about a month ago: 185 lbs (high bar, ATG). Last week I maxed out on bench at 110. And on Thursday, I dead lifted 210! That puts my current maxes at 505 pounds total, which means I met my latest long-term goal. Now to start thinking about 600! Also on Thursday, I found out that I've been accepted to an academic program I applied to. As long as everything works out with finances and logistics, I get to leave my tedious desk job in 4 months and go back to studying something I love! And hopefully start lifting at a fancy college gym.

I've finally got my snatch technique under control! I worked up to three excellent reps at 36 and 3 excellent reps at 38. I should be hitting 40 in another couple workouts. For pretty much the first time ever, I feel like I can keep increasing without limit. Nothing makes me feel quite as powerful as weightlifting does! On that note, I tested my deadlift max today: 210 pounds! That's a lot higher than I expected. (I'm glad to see it's above my squat max--185. A month ago it probably wouldn't have been.) I think I didn't put enough time into developing brute strength during college; maybe that's why my Oly lifts made no progress. I made it to bed on time the last two nights, at least, and I'm on track for tonight. I'm going to have to get to work on my dress if I'm going to be done with sewing on time. I'll probably settle in with it for a good while this weekend.

I've definitely been struggling with the sleep goal more lately. I get a C for last week, and this week I'm already 0 for 2. Sad.... Since I've mostly been getting better sleep these days, it really knocks me out on days that I don't. And on the weekends, I'm basically useless after 11pm. This led to a hilariously bad workout on Saturday--or rather on Sunday morning, from midnight to 2:00. (Drat the boyfriend's late work schedule!) Looking back at my notes, I didn't perform terribly: a few good snatches at 36 kilos (but I didn't make 38), on track for squat and deadlift, etc. Still, I felt queasy and a bit dizzy the whole time, and the next day I woke up feeling exactly like I'd been up late drinking. Let this be a lesson to me! No more late-night workouts for a while. Today was a really good snatch day! My technique now looks basically the same at 36 kilos as it does at any lower weight (not perfect, but soooo much better than it was even a couple weeks ago). And today, I landed an absolutely beautiful rep at 38 kilos (followed by a slightly messy one, and then another that was no good due to press-out). That one gorgeous rep pretty much made my day.