EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to the athlete journal of Terry Hadlow. Terry got started in Olympic weightlifting in 1970 and is the only Canadian to have competed in senior nationals in five different decades – 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Follow Terry’s journal here to learn about his approach to training and competing.
Athlete Journal Entry 12 – 1/13/2014
Monday
I started week three of the third phase with my legs on fire from Sunday’s front squats. I tried a long warm up, but my legs weren’t cooperating so I spent the rest of the time stretching and rolling. I used a roller to start, then finished my legs off with a road hockey ball. Better luck tomorrow.
Tuesday
Tuesday is usually upper body day, but Monday was a bust so I wanted to try to do the snatch work I missed from that workout. With the competition only a few days away I decided I would have to do full snatches. My legs felt much better than Monday, but I spent a lot of time on my warm up. I used the empty bar for six to eight reps with combination work, with most reps through the full squat range. Next up was 40kg, 50kg, and 60kg. I did three sets of five reps with each weight. The weights were moving well so I took 70kg for a set of four and then 80kg for three, all full squat snatch. I did 90kg for two reps, then 95kg for two more. The first rep was okay – a little out front – but the second rep was very easy and right in the slot. I finished the workout with two sets of three reps in the snatch pull with 105kg.
Wednesday
Wednesday is usually back squats, but I needed to work on my jerk so I switched up the rotation and did clean and jerks. All my cleans were full squats to get my legs moving.
- Clean and jerk: 40kg x 3 x 2 sets
- 50kg x 3 x 2
- 70kg x 3 x 2
- 90kg x 2
- 100kg x 2
- 110kg x 2
- 120kg x 2 – like last week, the clean was easy but the jerk was better than last week’s effort. Not much better, but I’ll take any improvement.
Thursday
Thursday was upper body day, as I must spend some time to look good in my new lifting suit.
- Behind neck press: 130lbs x 6
- Inclines: 145lbs x 6
- Narrow pull downs: 140lbs x 6
- Curls: 35lb x 10 reps x 3 sets
Friday
Friday is usually fitness day but I used a rest week circuit to help prepare for tomorrow. That means I did 35 seconds of work every two minutes.
Saturday
Saturday’s competition was a test to see where I am in the training process. My warm up was precise and deliberate. It went well and I was feeling very good. The snatch warm up ended at 90kg for a power snatch. This early in the season my warm ups finish with what my first attempt is, so my first attempt was 90kg, which is an easy power snatch. I took 95kg on a second and it was a three-quarter catch. My last attempt was 100kg, which was pretty easy as I did a full squatto test out my bottom position. I could have done 105, so things were looking positive.
In the clean and jerk, I did very few attempts to get to my opener. I took 40kg, 70kg, 100kg, and my final warm up was 115kg. My starter was 115kg, which was a power clean with a sub par jerk. 120kg was my second with an easy power clean and a repeat of the jerk. My attempt at 125kg was the opposite of the first two, with a harder clean than expected, but the jerk was very easy, go figure. I had wanted to achieve a 225kg total with the confidence of having 235kg in my pocket – mission accomplished.
