Hi everyone,
So I am still recovering from my weekend Olympic Weightlifting Course in Dublin. I did this course with Optimal Life Fitness Group (who I also did my Extreme Kettlebell Course with). And I am busted!!! My nervous system is fried. In saying that, the course was brilliant, challenging but brilliant 😀
For the assessment we had to learn the Olympic Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. This was not about the weight for me, it was about form and learning the skills to then progress. Although I think I would have been able to drop under the bar lower had I used heavier weight, I was having trouble getting the acceleration in the “jump” enough to lock my arms out in time to do this. As a result of this my Snatch ended up looking more like a Power Snatch than an Olympic Snatch.
The other issue I was having was the place was FREEZING!!! At the end of the second day, we did two 10 minute drills. The first was 1 snatch on the minute for 10 minutes, then 1 Clean and Jerk every 2 minutes for 10 minutes. At the start of this challenge, you see me wearing my Ugg Boots – I only had my Vibram FiveFingers with me and my toes were numb LOL!! Don’t worry I didn’t do the whole course in the Boots LOL ! Guess I was just being rebellious near the end 😛
Anyway, the footage also shows some of the other people on the course. It was a great weekend, both because of the course, and I got to meet up with Sarajane, who has done a lot of site improvements for me.
I hope you enjoy the video and you will all forgive me if I am a little lax on the workouts this week. I have had some numbness in my left arm and am extremely drained from this course, so I will need to allow proper recovery. But I am sure I will think of something to rant about, or even a tutorial in the meantime 😀
Chat to you all soon.
Marianne
Give Tommy Kono a search on Youtube. His instruction/advice is amazing and I wish I used it when I first started out.
Great footage!! No pun intended! This is so inspiring to see and you did so awesome! Take care of that arm and like I said before you have enough workouts here to keep us busy for a long while!
LOL Good one Aimee! My arm is definitely starting to feel better. I am glad I have been resting, I’ll probably look like a big tub in my next video, but what can ya do! LOL Enjoy!
Hi Marianne,
great video.
Go see a doctor for that arm and I am sure that it will not take years to recover.
Cheers
Bianca
Thanks Bianca, Went to see my Doctor and he said I HAVE TO rest for a few more days and see if it rights itself. So I’m not even allowed to go to work :/ Feel a bit guilty because I’ve just had nearly 3 weeks off for annual leave. But my health is important and I will need my arm for both work and evil workouts !
Hey Marianne, way to go! I am hugely impressed. Hope the arm mends soon…abd it appears the trip itself did you well…welcome back!
John
Yeah John, I had a great time. Meeting Sarajane was a highlight too. Of course there was a lot of wine involved in the weekend too 😉 But hey, it’s Ireland – there is drink in most situations LOL
Can’t wait until I recover and can go to the gym and practice again! They are kind of addictive 😀
Good to be back.
Marianne
Marrianne,that was great except for the fall. Doing weights is a little different than kb’s did you have any soreness from the workout because it is different?
Take your time coming back with another workout, I’m still sore from doing the kettlebells and burpees Steve posted in your forum.
Again great job and I will talk to you soon.
Jim
Hi Jim, thanks there were plenty of falls, which are good to help you fear less and correct your landing position. Any weights I am used to outside of KBs are slower, heavier strength lifts like barbell DLs, RDLs and squats that I do in the gym, but this was totally different – getting that speed and firing the barbell about !
Not so much soreness, just the numbness LOL, although my Traps were in bits on Monday. With the triple extension you have to shrugg your shoulders, which I am not used to.
Thanks for commenting Jim.
Marianne
Wow, that was awesome! You are so strong and determined! Please don’t make us do that stuff… I for one would fall over!
Numb arm.. I can relate — I was carrying very heavy buckets (of concrete) years ago and both hands were numb by the end of the day. One took a couple of days to recover and the other took a couple of years! Little things touch it off even now, so I have to be careful — mine was a pinched ulna nerve. But you could see how you could pinch a nerve anywhere from the spine over to the shoulder and down to the elbow when lifting heavy weights or even moving in an unusual manner. The best thing I found was acupuncture. I hope you just had a minor pinch and it just fixes itself.
Amazing job Marianne!
~ Gillian
Hi Gillian, determined is a fair assessment 😛 I hate not being able to get something, plus we had no other choice but to practice practice practice – the last drills turned out to be the best thing to help us gain confidence and even speed, because you weren’t over-thinking it. There was plenty of falling over, but it was good to fall because it takes the fear away. I’m sure you’d enjoy it 🙂
Think i could have irritated my Ulna nerve too, the numbness only starts from the inside of the forearm down. The main thing I am worried about is work tomorrow night as my dexterity has been affected and I have to do detailed things in work, like prepare medications :/ Hope it doesn’t take years!!!
Better go to the doctor today as everywhere is closed tomorrow for St Paddy’s.
A couple of years! eek
Hey Marianne looks like you had a great time!
Think you may set a new trend in weight training footwear LOL!!!
Oh I spoke to someone from OLF today. They said they have quite a few people who do the course who are martial arts instructors and the like, but not qualified personal trainers per se. So I am thinking I may well book myself onto the May weekend in London. Well I have almost decided, seeing as I have recieved a glowing recommendation LOL!
Hope you mend soon 🙂
Steve.
Nice one Steve! Their London Centre looks great! You’ll have a blast 🙂
All booked and paid for, can’t wait!!! 🙂
Nice one! With OLF?
YEP 🙂
Great work Marianne. you look fantastic. very inspiring. were you the only girl training?
Thanks Mickela 🙂 There was another girl there too, Lynn. She is very good! She went after me when i fell over 🙂
MARIANNE, THAT IS AWESOME!!! This is so inspiring, and you look great! 😀
ps: hehehe, Uggs :p
Hey, thanks Melissa 🙂 I think near the end of the day I was sick of changing between my Uggs and the Vibrams due to the cold – but after the Snatch Drill, I soon warmed up LOL Did the Clean & Jerk drill barefoot and was leaving sweaty footprints LOL
Great experience, I would highly recommend learning these lifts to anyone wanting to develop strength, power, co-ordination, awareness, speed and a great sense of achievement!
Cheers
Marianne
Oh my god that looks intense. It must take a lot of mental coordination to get the moves right. I think the simultaneous up/down movement would have made my head explode! The first time I tried to do the TGU I had got confused and tried to get up using the wrong leg, that didnt work and it ended up with me screaming with a crazy leg cramp. Thankfully the instructor was there to help lol. You can really see a big improvement towards the end of your video. Do you think you would incorporate these into your workouts that you do in the gym?
How is your left arm now, does it still feel as numb? :/ I hope this improves, sounds a bit mad. Would a sports massage help it?
It was great meeting you in person, I wish Dublin was closer to Belfast!! Take all the time you need to recover, you most definitely deserve it after that! We all have plenty of workouts to try out here and I’m sure everyone will agree that we love a good rant hehe. Hope you get plenty of rest 🙂
Sarajane
Hey Sarajane,
I totally will be practicing these again as soon as my arm gets better. It’s the weirdest thing! Still numb, might need to see someone about it. Meant to be going back to work on Thursday, so hope it’s better by then!
Yeah we all like a good rant from time to time, and you got to experience one or two of mine in real life LOL 😉 It’s not that far to Dublin, it only took my 1 hour 45 mins on the way back, which was handy. Once you’re on the M1 it’s a straight road.
Thinking of trying to bring in overhead squats to my workouts at some point – so everyone will need to have a broomstick at the ready 😛
I have been practicing the overhead squats with a broom stick so I am right there with you. I am also practicing the hip thrusts slowly getting better. Can’t wait to see what new workouts will be like.
Mickela, you should learn the lifts too, you’d really enjoy them. The hip thrusts are actually easier once you bring the barbell into play, especially for the clean. The new workouts will have to wait till next week 🙁 been told to rest – so I am for sure, because I don’t want to make things worse. Will have plenty of thinking time to come up with new workouts 😀
Cheers
Marianne
Rocking the plates Marianne, Rockin the plates. Awesome you are sweet. Now I see that *C*. now i see it. And ya, I see you were more comfortable with the tee shirt under your gear. You were not pulling down your shirt so much so that gave you better confidence and concentration, I believe. So you did Uggs, Sneaker and Vibrams. Which felt the best while doing your practice?
Oddly enough, the Uggs LOL 😀 Could stomp it out more !
😛