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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