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Although my first challenge was very Olympic weightlifting focused, I'm new to the warrior guild and looking forward to continuing to progress towards my goals with the NF community. My first challenge saw some really important changes for my lifting - I started working with a coach and I hit a couple of weights that had seemed like intimidating numbers, a 70kg Snatch and 80kg Clean. I feel now that I have a better sense of where I'm going and what I need to achieve and so my second challenge will be all about taking that information and applying it to my training. Starting Stats (14th September 2013): Bodyweight: 87kg Bodyfat %: 14% Clean & Jerk: 90kg Snatch: 72.5kg Back Squat: 152.5kg 5RM / 165kg 1RM Front Squat: 125kg 1RM Master Quest Achieve an Olympic weightlifting total that will secure qualification for the Scottish Championships (Nationals) in 2014 or 2015 - currently 211kg+ at 94kg As a small country, qualifying totals for the national championships in Scotland aren't particularly high. 202kg for the 85kg and 211kg for the 94kg class for the 2013 event. Assuming that I'm going to compete as a 94 (see Goal #5) and that the minimum will increase this year due to increased interest in the sport, let's aim for 215kg+. I'm currently at a 162.5kg total and appreciate that adding 50kg may take quite a while though I think that it may be feasible in as little as 1 to 1.5 years - strength isn't my limiting factor at all. In fact, looking at Olympic Lift to Squat ratios of efficient lifters (which I certainly am not, given my beginner status ) my current squat would put me at a 103kg Snatch and 126kg Clean & Jerk - a 229kg total - if I had the necessary technique and practice under my belt. So my Master Quest is to hit this total and chances are my challenges are mainly going to focus on progressing towards this goal over the long term. Difficult to say how much of a dent I can make on this in 6 weeks - last challenge I added 18kg to my total but I suspect that may be tough to repeat. I'll judge success for progress towards the main goal on a mixture of how I do at the Goals and a subjective judgement on if I was happy with the increases to total I made during the 6 weeks. Goal #1 - Lift more with other lifters This should explain the "It's dangerous to go alone" subtitle Since I started working with my coach, I've had a training partner on Saturdays (another client of his) and it has been fantastic lifting alongside somebody. We're going to be getting another partner in a couple of weeks which should be awesome too. I've also been invited to join the university weightlifting club - I'm not a student or uni staff so I didn't think I could - and will now have the opportunity to train with others, under the watchful eye of coaches, another two nights a week. I am free to stick to the programming my coach is providing for me. I plan to jump on this opportunity. Scoring A: Attend 2 weightlifting club training sessions per week for all 6 weeks B: Attend 2 weightlifting club training sessions per week for 5 weeks C: Attend 2 weightlifting club training sessions per week for 4 weeks D: Attend 2 weightlifting club training sessions per week for 3 weeks F: Attend 2 weightlifting club training sessions per week for 2 weeks or less Goal #2 - Sort out my Snatch technique For the last four weeks, I've been working with a coach on Saturdays and it has made an immense difference to my lifts. I've put 8kg on my Clean & Jerk and 4.5kg on my Snatch. On the the C&J I'm far more consistent and miss a lot fewer lifts. Technique has improved to the point where my coach described a 90kg PR today as a "really sweet clean, the best you've done". Unfortunately, the Snatch isn't quite there yet, I have many more bad habits to unlearn. My coach has identified three core issues than need to be fixed. #1 - I pull the bar too high. Today I was apparently pulling 65kg up to eye height! #2 - My second pull isn't vertical enough and I overcompensate by leaning my torso back and bringing my hips into the bar too violently. This puts the bar out in front. #3 - I don't get under fast enough. This is mostly a byproduct of #1 and #2 because of where the bar ends up as I start to go under (i.e. too high and too far out in front). Scoring It's difficult to measure this one in a numerical way so I'm going to go with positive feedback from my coach and make a subjective judgement on how we feel my Snatch technique has improved over the six weeks.Scout's honour. Goal #3 - Make some big Squat gainz This is probably going to be a constant challenge goal for me but y'know, squatting is awesome and important for weightlifters. It just so happens that this challenge coincides with the last 6 weeks of my current Squat program so that I'll be maxing out and going for a new PR on the final Saturday of the challenge. Convenient, huh?! The program (Russian Masters routine, for those who are interested) projects minimum gains of 5% so let's start with that as a base. One of my Saturday training partners went from a 105kg squat to barely parallel to a 120kg deep squat on his first cycle of this routine so more progress is possible - just gotta really push the reps on the final sets once we start tapering down! Scoring A: +15kg B: +12.5kg C: +10kg D: +5kg F: +2.5kg or less Goal #4 - Stop skipping out on accessory exercises I have got into a bad habit of not consistently doing accessory work for my abs, back and upper body. The first two will both directly help my squats and Olympic lifts and being stronger in the upper body is clearly awesome so I should make sure I'm doing that too. Thankfully, my coach is now programming for me and always includes weighted hyperextensions, ab stuff (hanging leg raises, planks, ab wheel etc) plus pull-ups/chin-ups/dips. I want to make sure that I'm doing each of these things at least twice a week - 2 back, 2 abs and 2 pull-ups/dips = 6 accessory exercises per week. Scoring A: Achieve 6/6 on accessory exercises for all 6 weeks B: Achieve 6/6 on accessory exercises for 5 weeks C: Achieve 6/6 on accessory exercises for 4 weeks D: Achieve 6/6 on accessory exercises for 3 weeks F: Achieve 6/6 on accessory exercises for 2 weeks or less Goal #5 - Lean Out I've been overly concerned about keeping my bodyweight within a certain range (82-85kg) for the last year, which I think is a hang-up of being a former fat guy. It still seems alien and scary for that number on the scale going up rather than down. However, I'm probably a bit light for my height if I want to compete in weightlifting and 94kg is probably a better weight class for me than the 85kg I've been eyeing. With that in mind, I've come to terms with weight gain and have decided that I don't mind bulking up a little SO LONG AS IT'S QUALITY WEIGHT! I've been trying the carb-backloading diet for the last 6-7 weeks and have got on very well with it (my recovery has never been better and I've leaned out a little) so I want to keep following this and try to refine my approach a bit to focus on trimming off a bit more fat. Weight gain is cool so long as more muscle than fat is going on and that body fat % is going down. Depending on how this progresses, I may add in some conditioning but we shall see. Scoring A: -1.5% B: -1% C: -0.5% D: No change F: Increase in body fat % Life Quest - Save more money I've been a little lax with my savings lately and seem to be hemorrhaging money without being totally sure where it's all going. I get paid (monthly salary) on September 25th and would like to make sure that come the end of the challenge, at least £250 of that is squirreled away in my savings account.