[GuiltyCol]

I'm lifting in the Yorkshire and the North East Counties Open Weightlifting Championships this coming weekend, my first proper competition! I don't know if it's too late for people to enter?

I've been working on my lifting technique and would appreciate any comments. You can see a short 2 min video of my last training session here: Olympic Weightlifting Practice and Competition Warmup.

[Chet]

Col,

Cheers for posting re the comp.

Just read the article/watched the video.

Nice lifting bud, that extra 10% is yours

Good luck and have fun - let us know how you get on

[Gubernatrix]

Good luck with the comp!

You are certainly going against normal advice as regards your opening snatch lift, but if that's what you feel you want to do - go for it!

[GuiltyCol]

I don't know if there are any members near Halifax, but I believe the comp is an open event so anyone can come watch for free. I have just remembered that as an official BWLA comp, you do need to be a BWLA member to lift though. you all are right?

Thanks for the comments on the lifting. You may be interested that I posted the video on Strength Mill and had a reply from Mark Rippetoe here. Interestingly, re the snatch 2nd pull, he's told me to do the exact opposite of what Giles Greenwood told me . Giles is the British Record holder in Snatch and C&J at 180kg and 207kg respectively, if memory serves.

I have found that different coaches often focus on and highlight completely different things. Giles for example, when seeing the same video, picked me up on lifting my bum a bit first, before my shoulders (both should go up together obviously).

[Franz29]

Good luck with it Colin. Pretty sure you will nail the lifts for the extra KGs you need; those PB lifts there easily looked like you could go higher had you wanted to.

I always find it interesting how different coaches say different things. I train with Brian Hamill, and some of his techniques seem to directly contradict those from Everett and Burgener in the videos/books. I guess you need to listen to the coaches you have around you and find the technique that best fits your style. Even watching the guys and gals in the Olympics, there are noticeable differences in form between them all, yet most of them lift similar weights successfully.

[GuiltyCol]

You are right Franz. I used to think that there must be the "perfect" technique, just like in golf they try to teach you the perfect swing and it's well known what that is. But Olympic lifting is such a whole body movement that your body size and proportions come into it a lot. Long body and short arms and legs will give you the best mechanical advantage for the lifts, but my longer arms don't fit well with hitting the snatch with my belly.