Evolve Strength - April 3, 2018: New Chapter - Olympic lifting with O.P.F.

Evolve Strength - South

Olympic Lifting Coach:   Kevin Zimmerman

Thoughts:
So it begins, a new chapter!  Learning under a new olympic lifting coach, and in a different facility.  That facility will be Evolve Strength.   

Who is Evolve Strength and what kind of a facility is this?  Check out their website:

  http://www.evolvestrength.ca/who-we-are/

The fun begins with meeting new people, seeing familiar faces, and trying to remember everyone's name afterwards.

Time to get back to just the basics.  The most important skill..  Listening...  

Coach Kevin had me start with some warm-ups.  I was left to do whatever my warm-up routine was.  Afterwards, he came by and thought it would be good to start with some Snatch work.  He wanted to see what my movements were like.

After a few pulls, he suggested that we work on my technique.  Specifically around the 'hip thrust'.   Bingo, just what I need to work on.  He demoed some of the movements, and had adjusted my stance.  I repeated the movements with the fine tuning from coach Kevin.

Power Snatch; I hate power snatch only because when the weight hits about 120 - 125 lb; my form breaks.  More specifically, I ended up doing a squat snatch.  But it's not a normal squat snatch; more of my body just not being able to support that weight at the power stance and then my body sinks into a squat.

And that's exactly what Kevin had pointed out, and need to be fixed.  

We worked on adjusting my positioning and ran thru some drills, specifically re-enforcing the corrected movement and foot stance.

I had practice with lighter weight until my technique was corrected.   And then slowly increase the weight accordingly.

Today's training time was 3 hours!!! It was an hour longer than I had prepared myself for.   Those who been reading my blog for the last two plus weeks already know that I've been doing back to back workouts (Crossfit + Olympic lifting) at my crossfit box; Crossfit Armoury.  The intention was to build load so when I switch over doing Olympic lifting here; it's not a complete shock to my system.

What I didn't anticipate was my later arrival to this location; would results in the bulk of the olympic lifting platforms would be full and/coaches time would be spread thinner.    Still, it worked out for me as I had more time to practice with corrected form/technique.   Breaking some bad habits, modifying some movements to be more efficient.

The strength component came at the end, where I was to hit 70% of my 1 rm for Front Squat.  It was done with a rep scheme of 4 sets, 3 reps.   It took a bit as I was still figuring out my weight in KG while trying to convert from pounds. 
Yes, I'm getting the hang of things.  Yes, the color plates is messing with me. 

I'm not sore, but the body is feeling exhausted.  I'll see how I feel tomorrow, as I will be going back to Crossfit Armoury for class.

The Olympic Power and Fitness (O.P.F.) club is based out of the Evolve Strength South location.   For more information about them; check out their Instagram:

  https://www.instagram.com/olympic.power.and.fitness/

Who is Coach Kevin Zimmerman?

Kevin Zimmerman BPE, NCCP II (Olympic Weightlifting) - Kevin Zimmerman is the head coach of the Olympic Power and Fitness Weightlifting Club at Evolve. His involvement in the sport began in 1972 and has since coached countless national athletes and champions and officiated many provincial and national competitions. 
source:  http://www.evolvestrength.ca/edmonton-south/

Practice; practice with consistency, practice with intention!