“Push it, push it
Push it, push it
Push it, push it
Go get the money, go get the money
Go get the money, go get the money”
Some of you may or may not have read this about me before. If you haven’t, welcome. If you have, well, welcome back. Lol.
So, I did CrossFit for about 5 years. Let’s just say that for about 3.5 of those years I trained at a high level. I’m talking on average 4+ hours a day at the box.
Even though Olympic weightlifting (OLY) was always a part of the CrossFit package, in 2019 I started to fall in love with it solely. I eventually decided to shift my focus away from CrossFit and onto OLY. In January 2020 I started a 5-day training program online with a coach from CrossFit Invictus, who has a ton of accolades in the OLY world. I did that through March, but we all know what CORONAVIRUS came and did.
It was challenging. And it still is challenging.
When I was doing CrossFit I had coaches and experienced persons around me who could help me learn and improve my techniques. However, with OLY there’s really only one other person who lives on the island that focuses on it. (As far as I know). Kati lets me send her my videos and she’s been a huge help in correcting some technical issues.
When I was doing CrossFit, having these minor technical issues was fine because you don’t really have to lift close to your max that often. It’s usually moderate weight and higher volume. But with the OLY programs you tend to get up to those 80 and 90 percentages often and that’s where the attention to details matter that much more.
Johanna is on the island for a bit and she has a weightlifting certification, so you know I’ve been milking her brain. She’s already given me some pretty helpful tips and pointed out some things with my form that need adjusting.
After lockdown I spent about 2 weeks doing CrossFit again, just to ease my body back into working out. (I was a bed potato during the back end of lockdown). Then I did this 8 week OLY program that I found online for free. Over the last couple of weeks I seem to have earned the role of Sensei because Claire has snuck her way under my wing. Lol.
I definitely felt my strength come back, so I knew now was a good time to shift into turbo. (I hope y’all got that Power Rangers Turbo reference).
On Monday Claire and I started a new 16 week OLY program from Sonny Webster. He’s an Olympic weightlifter and he’s actually been to the Olympics. Alongside that, we also signed up for a 12 week strength program at the box (Colosseum SXM). So in the next 3 months we should be JACKED! LOL
There’s an International Weightlifting Federation in Curaçao and they are supposed to have 2-3 more lift-offs this year. Who knows, maybe it’s something that we can have on our calendars to look forward to. Hopefully RONA stops being a pain in the butt.
*Yo, Siri, play Push It by O.T. Genasis*
