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My Body Is Toast (Athlete Journal 50)

I'm just not able to get any quality work in, and fooling around in the gym with light weights is incredibly aggravating.

Terry Hadlow

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Sunday

My hand was still in bad shape, so Sunday was a repeat of Saturday.

Monday

The swelling was starting to come down and mobility was returning to my wrist. I spent a lot of time in massage, working on my forearm and hoping this would clear up the swelling.

Tuesday

I was finally able to do something half decent. My body felt pretty good since I had a lot of rest. I decided to do work with speed cleans.

Speed Clean

  • 50kg for 2 sets of 5
  • 70kg for 2 sets of 5

Power Clean From the Hang

  • 70kg for 2 sets of 5
  • 90kg for 2 sets of 5

Power Clean From the Floor

  • 90kg for 2 sets of 5
  • 110kg for 2 sets of 5

My pull felt strong so I switched to clean pull at 153kg for two sets of five.

Wednesday: Front Squats

My workout was early in the morning because it was the only time I could get it in.

Front Squat:

  • 40kg for 1 set of 5
  • 63kg for 1 set of 5
  • 78kg for 1 set of 5
  • 105kg for 1 set of 5
  • 130kg for 3 sets of 3 and 1 set of 1 stop squats

I sat down in my chair and took a hard look at the weights. Having used a combination of kilogram and pound plates, I discovered my 130kg was actually 136kg. No wonder it felt so damn heavy. I was a little relieved I was able to do those weights.

I switched to speed squats and one set of ten with 180lb. On the tenth rep, I felt my groin let go. It was like somebody undid a zipper really fast.

Thursday

Back to some snatch work. My groin was very tender and my wrist very sore.

Muscle Snatch

  • 50kg for 2 sets of 6

Speed Snatch

  • 55kg for 2 sets of 5
  • 75kg for 2 sets of 5

Pull and Power Snatch From the Floor

  • 55kg for 1 pull and 3 snatches
  • 75kg for 1 pull and 3 snatches
  • 80kg for 1 pull and 3 snatches

Everything felt terrible. My groin was on fire and left wrist was throbbing. Finished with some snatch pulls at 120kg for two sets of five, then lowered the weight to 80kg and pulled two sets of five as high as I could.

My body was toast. I spent the afternoon in physio, hoping that they would do a better job than the last time. Didn’t seem to have any alternatives.

I am going to take some time off. I’m just not able to get any quality work in, and fooling around in the gym with light weights is incredibly aggravating.

Terry Hadlow 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.

Terry Hadlow

About Terry Hadlow

Terry Hadlow started lifting in 1970 at the age of thirteen. He was a member of the CanadianJuniorNational team at seventeen, Senior B team at eighteen, and on the SeniorA team at nineteen. He was selected to three junior world teams and competed in two of them. His best finish was a tie for third place, but he lost on body weight. His best lifts as a junior were 140-167.5 in the 82.5 class. Terry won medals in the 1978 Commonwealth Games and 1979 Pan Am Games, and was selected to the 1980 and 1984 Canadian Olympic Games team. He competed in five senior world championships, with a best finish of twelfth in Moscow in 1983, with 90kg lifts of 155-185. Terry’s best lifts ever in competition were 160-190 and his best training lifts were 163-195 at 90kg.

Terry stopped lifting in 1991 age 33 and didn't touch a weight to Olympic lift again until 2005, at the age of 48. He went on to win the Masters Pan Am in 2006. At the age of fifty, Terry competed in the 2008 World Masters at 85kg in Greece and won with lifts of 112-135. In 2010 he went to Poland in the same category and won with lifts of 113-135. His best lifts in that division were 114-139. Those lifts were enough to qualify him for the Canadian Senior Championships as a53 year old. Terry is the only Canadian to have competed in senior nationals in five different decades -1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.

After that, Terry took a break from world competition and trained to compete in competitions in North America.His last competition was the 2013 Pan Ams inChicago, Illinois. He won with lifts of 108 (world record)- 132, for a total of 240 (also a world record).

Terry always takes the summer off training, as his summer work schedule just doesn't allow time to workout. In addition, there’s no training in September as that’s Terry’s time to go R.V.-ing.

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