As we close one chapter, today has seen the opening of another. The competition era of AFS.
Myself and Jamie have been in a few competitions and I for one enjoy the pressure. I'm not saying I'm awesome under pressure but a 190kg squat, a 130kg bench and a 110kg clean and jerk with no significant strength training left me feeling extremely happy. Jamie equalled his squat PB of 170, equalled his snatch PB of 110, equalled his deadlift on of 240kg and narrowly missed his clean & jerk PB with 130kg.
Today however was not myself or Jamie. It was about the blooding of new team members. Lizzie, Hayley and Maria all were taking part in their first competition and I know from talking to them that sleep deprecation the night before wasn't the best prep.
Standing in front of people for anything may it be fitness, bodybuilding or public speaking is extremely nerve racking and all three of the girls felt the pressure. The beauty of competition is seeing how people react to that pressure. Do they fight or do they flight?
Our 3 ladies certainly decided to fight. I have never seen Lizzie lift as well as she did today. During her set of snatchs our months of hard work really clicked. I have to be honest and say I was distracted on her first lift and caught it out of the corner of my eye. It was that good though that I was gob smacked. The final result was a 5kg PB to 47.5kg. A great start to the day. Hayley also snatched but the early start with the crowd played a few mind tricks. Arguably the best lifter technically on stage all day (doods of Crossfit Reading even said as much) she battled brilliantly with her nerves to achieve 42.5kg. 3kgs off her best but a cracking effort.
Our second event was the squat. Myself and Jamie as I said earlier performed pretty well. The highlight of the squat being Seth Rouse hitting 215kg at 9;kg bodyweight and another power lifter from 1664 hitting 260kg at 105kg bodyweight. Oh and I bent one of the bars around my shoulders like Geoff Capes. It had nothing to do with the bar quality it was all me honest!!!! Hayley joined us and after messing around with the rack manoeuvring the j-hooks into position she worked her way upto 97.5kg. Not a bad effort at 60kg bodyweight herself.
Maria got involved on the bench press, her first event, with Lizzie and myself. My 130kgs was way off some of the other guys with 160s being thrown around like confetti. The girls worked their way up to 57.5kg. Both hit that relatively comfortably. We moved the bar to 60kg and Lizzie smashed it out of the gym. Now Maria missed her first attempt. Now if you know Maria you know that she doesn't quit easily if ever. The clock was reading 20mins to go and she spent that whole time trying to lift it. The guys, the determination and the stubbornness deserved to lift it and on her final attempt we were doing whatever we could to help, shouting, screaming, sucking a vacuum (might of been Hayley for that lol) but sadly she had to settle for the 57.5kg. Lizzie also had to settle for the 60kg equal PB (however her previous PB did have a little spot so this was legit).
The third event for us was the deadlift. Jamie absolutely monstered his 240kg lift. So much so that he felt confident enough to try 252.5kg (mainly because the big dude mentioned earlier was next door and he missed it lol). Sadly it wasn't to be but that's why we love Jamie ever the optimist. Hayley took part in her second event and battled to a PB of 105kg. I think she had more in the rack but a niggle in her back meant it wasn't worth risking as the clean was up next. Maria was our third participant. Her determination was once again there for all to see. Her pure lack of self preservation and will to put every single vertebrae on the line while pulling 135kg was absolutely mega. A 5kg PB and a very happy Maria.
Out final event was the clean and jerk. Jamie was starting to feel the pace of 3 events and did superbly well to hit 130. The well was dry though for 135kg but I was still extremely proud of his commitment not only on that lift but throughout the day. I managed to sneak up a 110kg effort. Now if you have been around the gym lately you may have seen I've had a little bit on. I have not lifted anything near 110 for about 2years and it's been a real mental challenge to get it again. I have to say though that power cleaning it and then power jerking it felt amazing and hopefully now I can kick on. Hayley joined us and our little pocket rocket didn't disappoint. She worked her way upto 60kg her current PB. She nailed it and as I said earlier her technique was floorless. There were a few green eyes monsters wishing they lifted as well as her and I include myself in that bunch. 62.5kg went on the bar and the little powerhouse house fires the clean up brilliantly. The jerk was a little much but she walked away very pleased.
We spent all day competing together. We bonded, we bled and we celebrated our efforts. We hit PB's but consoled each other when we didn't quite get there. That is the beauty of competition and we will be encouraging more people to get involved and experience this amazing exercise in self discovery.
On another note the Battle of London Qualifiers closed today. We had a fair few members sign up and perform magnificently. Jamie and Spencer have both qualified and we will be heading to london in January to support them. If you can spare a day or two to come down as a team and cheer them on I know they would be grateful and I definatley would be.
To summarise I get no greater feeling of satisfaction and pride as I do when you (my members) represent AFS, my little gym. I also get a little emotional when I see you guys smash your own expectations and succeed. I believe in you all and have high hopes that the future will see this happen many more times.
Final results:
Overall we finished 6th from 7
Gareth - squat 190/bench 130/ c&j 110
Jamie - squat 170/snatch 110/ deadlift 240/ c&j 130
Hayley - Snatch 42.5/ squat/ 97.5/ Deadlift 105/ C&J 60
Lizzie - Snatch 45/ Bench 60
Maria - Bench 57.5/ Deadlift 135
Eat, Sleep, Smash it, Repeat
Gareth
