Competition

JT Scott | 07/24/2016 | 1

You may have noticed a whole lot of hype about a competition happening this weekend. Or maybe you haven’t, because it’s not something we really dwell on in classes at the box or on the blog.

Whether or not you identify as a “competitive type”, competition can play an important role in training. When training (as opposed to exercising), we need to have specific targets that we set as goals. Winning a competition is one specific example of goal-setting and training to achieve that goal, and in that context competitions can be great motivators.

One thing that is important to remember though is that we’re all on our own journey. That’s one of the things I love about Olympic Weightlifting competitions in particular: you might go in with the intention of “winning”, but what does that mean? There’s only 1 competition each year that really determines the “strongest weightlifter in the world”, and if you ask a dozen lifters which competition that is you’re going to hear a bunch of different answers (and none of them will be “Mid-Atlantic Regionals” or “MuscleFest Spring 2017 hosted by CrossFit MeatHead“).

So the question of “best” really becomes “best today, here, and in these conditions“. It’s nice to get a trophy, but when it comes to Oly lifting in a regional meet, that Gold Medal might mean “best old man over 40 weighing between 77kg and 85kg who decided to spend the weekend away from his family to lift weights“ – and there were only two of you at the meet, so the other guy gets a silver medal. What’s more important than a gold medal in that scenario is how you performed against the benchmark of your goals! Likely you’re there with the intention of completing all 6 lifts successfully, or hitting a new competition PR, or just qualifying for the next meet. That’s the win right there!

So our local competitions may not rival the Olympics, but any competition you may choose to enter can still have your own definition of a WIN that you’re chasing – and can be a great motivation to buckle down and get focused on your goals in training.

For my money, the most important competition happening this weekend was the Bay State Games Summer 2016. It was an oly weightlifting meet hosted at UMass Boston, and it featured 4 lifters from our Wednesday night weightlifting class that have been working on their technique and getting prepared for this particular meet. In particular, our very own Christine Liu slid into a singlet and got the weights up! It was a pleasure to be there to cheer her on, and meant more to me than the 5 day track meet out in California this weekend.

If you’d like to see some competition, we’re co-hosting a community focused competition this weekend called “The Battle For Bosteros“, and it should be good fun. And if you’re curious about what entering a competition can do for your focus and your training, send me an email. I’d be glad to help you pick out a competition (if you don’t have one in mind) and put together goals and a plan!

Monday, July 25 2016

STRENGTH:
Hang power clean
3-3-3-3-3

WOD:
3 Rounds
20 Push press (135/95)
100 Double unders