Ursula Garza, middle of the front row, next to me.
I was so nervous ahead of Satuday’s Olympic Lifting seminar. Zach told me to sign up, and, of course, I did, and for the past two weeks I’ve had this gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I thought about it.
I worried and worried. I know that the seminar was intended to help beginners like me improve their form, but I worried about how I would look in front of a woman who coaches Olympic athletes. Ursula Garza is a darn good coach. She’s also Zach’s coach, and part of me didn’t want to look bad because I didn’t want my coach to look bad in front of his coach.
I’m so glad I went, though. It was an awesome seminar. Andy asked me if Ursula was a better coach than Zach and the answer was (and still is) no – just different. Her cues were different. Everything she said I’ve heard from Zach, but she said it slightly differently. There were no major revelations, but I definitely benefited from her instruction.
We did snatch progressions, jerk progressions and then clean and jerk progressions in the 2 hours we had with her, and it was so great! By the end of the snatch part, I felt the bar contacting my hip just at the right spot EVERY TIME. It was so great, because that’s what I’ve been working for for so long. I just hope I can repeat it on Monday morning in class.
And it felt so good to hear Ursula say “That was good!” when I clean and jerked the weight near the end of the seminar, Admittedly, there wasn’t a lot of weight on the bar, but my partner and I were more concerned about form than weight. I felt like it was more important to get it right than go heavy.
This has been a week of great lifting. This week I tried out the morning class because of scheduling, and it turns out I really like it! I’ve decided to make it my regular class. I feel stronger and I like not interrupting my day.
Monday
Hip Clean 3×4 → 55/65/75/80
Power Clean & Power Jerk 2×3, 2+1×3 → 80/80/80, 85/85/90
Drop Snatch 3×4 → 55/65/75/85
Back Squat 75% 4×4 → 110/110/110/110
Wednesday
Drop Snatch 3×5 → 55/55/55/55/55
Power Snatch + Hang Power Snatch 1+2×4, 1+1×4, 1×3 (Power snatch only) → 50/50/55/60, 60/60/60/60, 65/65/65
Flat Foot Snatch Pull 5×3 → 65/65/65
Front Squats: Find Max for day → 120/125/130
85%x3, 90%x2, 95%x1, 100%x1, 85%x5 → 105/110/120/125/105
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I thought about going, but had other commitments that day. Do you think it was the kind of seminar that someone not currently in oly-specific training would benefit from? Zach’s my indoor coach and I have kettlebell class at the same time as one of the oly classes, so I’ve absorbed a bit more oly technique that I might under other circumstances, but obviously I don’t have the background that you and Zach’s other oly students do.
I think this type of seminar would definitely benefit those outside Zach’s Oly class. In fact, as we were working with her, Ursula made the comment that the girls who were there from his class didn’t really need her.
, but there definitely were people there from outside his class.
Which wasn’t true, of course