Northern Open, 13th November 2010

I got a lift there with a guy from my new gym, James Everett. I weighed in at 65.7! :O
I was competing against one other woman in my category, but there were 4 of us overall competing for the sinclair cash prize.
I lifted: Snatch - 43, 46, 48X
C&J - 55, 58, 61
Total - 107
I won my category and came 3rd on sinclair (which won me £50!!).
James also did very well, especially considering it was his first weightlifting comp!
As always, you can watch videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/zoraphina?feature=mhum

British Under 18s and Under 23s Weightlifting Championships 30 October 2010

So, I got up at 2am in order to catch a train at 3am, because I was told that weigh in would be at 8am in Birmingham. In fact, weigh in was not until 11:30am, so I got up gruellingly early and had a horrific train journey for no reason! However, I got there with plenty of time to watch the first group of men. Having not eaten or drunk for 24hours I was anxious to weigh in, and I made my category by 0.2kg! (I weighed in at 62.8kg) Then I stuffed my face :)

The women didn't start lifting until it was nearly 3pm (due to delays, and causing me to miss my train home!). There was no one in my category (of under 63kg under 18s) so all I had to do to win was lift at least one snatch and one clean and jerk. I snatched 43kg, 45kg, then failed 47kg. I clean and jerked 55kg, 57kg and 59kg, to total 104kg. I wasn't too unhappy with this considering I haven't trained properly in 5 weeks! And I got a nice trophy to take home out of it!
The competition didn't finish until 7:30pm, and I was lucky enough to get a lift with some lovely people heading back to Leeds, so I didn't get home until 9:30pm.

Check out my videos on http://www.youtube.com/zorophina

Next comp is in 2 weeks, near Halifax. Will keep you informed ;)

Update from Leeds

Hello all! It has been a while because I haven't done any weightlifting in over a month!! I moved to Leeds in September to start university, and have really struggled to find a gym, which was particularly depressing since the Commonwealth games have been on since I've been here and its sad to watch them all doing so well while I'm losing muscle by the day. My uni has no weightlifting facilities but I've just managed to join the weightlifting club at Leeds Met uni, and had my first training session yesterday. I arrived at the club to see Helen Jewell training, who was at the Commonwealth games the other week! Sadly I was not training with her and her coach, but with the rugby lads and weightlifters from Leeds Met. Their coach, Alex, seems very competent though and he had some good tips. I only lifted very light weights though as this was my first training session back in a while. I have the British Under 18s championships next Saturday so it is now a race to try to improve a bit by then!! I will let you know how it goes!

London and South East under 18s and under 23s Weightlifting Championships

I have just got back from the London and South East under 18s and under 23s Weightlifting Championships. I weighed in at 61.5kg (I lost 3kg in two and a half days!) so was in the under 63kg group, on my own! There were only 4 girls in the whole comp, and one was a guest so wasn't even competing!
I lifted:
 Snatch: 47X, 47, 50
 Clean and Jerk: 60, 63, 65X
 Total: 113
I was very pleased, as this is a new competition PB, and I won!! (By default, sadly, because I was the only one in my group!) And I got a shiny gold medal to add to the collection. All in all a really good day.

Congratulations also to Emily Godley for getting a new C&J PB of 97 (I think!?)

Have a look at my YouTube channel for my clean and jerk videos for this comp (my parents forgot to film the snatch!): http://www.youtube.com/user/zoraphina

New P.B.! At last...

So... having got back into training, after my exams, I got a new personal best: 65kg clean and jerk. I can now say I can C&J my own bodyweight. I am pleased, but I will only know I've made it when I can snatch my own bodyweight!

Since then training hasn't been great, but I now have a job next door to my gym so I have no excuse not to go!!

I have the London and South East under 18s and under 23s championships on 7th August. It will be almost exactly a year since my first ever comp, which was the same one at Crystal Palace, in which I lifted 35kg and 50kg. It is strange to think my total has gone up 30kg since then. And worrying because I know that will never happen again in one year!

I will let you know how it goes...

London and South East Spring Open

Me and my coach, John, left Lewes at 7am. I felt VERY ill (from not eating or drinking) so I slept the whole way. We met Holly and her dad there. I weighed in at 61.6kg, So I could have had breakfast after all!
The competition didn't go brilliantly. I felt good, but I lifted 1kg less than my total at the British Juniors and I DON'T like going down!! However, I worked out this was a better sinclair percentage (which also takes into account bodyweight: total(kg) / BW(kg) x 100) because I weighed a fair bit less.
Holly wasn't too pleased either. We were both expecting to do better. They also gave prizes according to sinclair instead of BW category because there weren't that many women, so neither of us received a prize :(
However, it was good fun, as I feel comfortable competing at Crystal Palace now, and although Zoe Smith and Emily Godley weren't competing they were there loading the bar for us and being supportive :)
You can see me and Holly's videos from the comp at http://www.youtube.com/user/zoraphina

Things started to look up yesterday, when I went to the gym with my old coach Rob and managed to lift a total of 112kg again! For the first time since April! It felt good to know that I haven't completely lost all my strength!

'No news is good news' = Not true!

Sorry folks! The reason I haven't blogged for so long is because nothings happened! Training's going rubbishly! I haven't had a 112kg total since before the British Juniors!

I have, however, got my first pair of weightlifting shoes! They're beautiful, and I paid for (most of) them with the £70 grant I got from Wave Leisure. The company I bought them from (Risto Sports) in the USA didn't make the postage charges clear though so I ended up paying £35 extra! Not cool!

Tomorrow I have the London and South East Open. I am soooo hungry because I am trying to go down a weight category to under 63kgs. I'll let you know if I make it!

The British Junior (Under 20) Weightlifting Championships

I woke up feeling OK (considering it was 4am!), and so happy that my emergency sports massage the evening before had sorted out my hamstring injury which I had obtained through fencing! 

We left Lewes at 5am(!!) and arrived at Lilleshall national sports centre at 9am. I then had to weigh in: 64.6kg which put me in the 63-69kg category with 2 other girls. 

The warm up went OK, so I started on 45kg snatch, which went fine. Then 48kg which I failed - it was too far forward and I almost threw it off the platform! So I took 48kg again and got it. 

Then I started the clean and jerk on 57kg, which was fine. Then 60kg which the judges said I failed, but looked fine to everyone else!! So I took 60kg again and got it. 

So I ended up with a total of 108kg, which put me in second place. I was a little disappointed, as I was only 5kg off winning, which I could have done if I hadn't failed two lifts. I was annoyed because the total which the girl who won had put on her entry form was 80kg, which is significantly less than she actually had, which fooled me into thinking I stood a chance of winning in the 69kg bodyweight category. If I had known the truth I would have gone in the 63kg category, and won it!!

Even so, it was a good day. I overcame a lot of the fears I had last time, thanks to reading Steve Backley's book. I also came home with a MASSIVE silver cup (see picture above).

Zoe Smith was there, even though she wasn't competing, and she filmed my lifts (well, actually, she missed half of them!) which you can see on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/zoraphina

Quick Update...

On Monday, I had a brilliant training session. I got a 112kg total for the second time and I was feeling great, then today I had my last session  before the comp and it went appallingly. Only got 105kg total, and dropped the bar... a lot!

Last night Zoe Smith was on the BBC program Olympic Dreams! She looked great! I suggest you watch it on iPlayer!

This evening I went fencing, when I should have gone to bed because I've been feeling really run down this week, and I pulled my hamstring! 3 days before my big competition! Now I'm icing it, trying to get it back to normal for Saturday! Will let you know...

Training with Zoe Smith!

On Monday Rob (coach 2) and I were driven to Kent by John (coach 1!) where we spent a couple of hours training with Zoe Smith! The British champ! She's a real inspiration. She's 15 and can lift more than men twice her age! To give you an idea of how strong she is - I can C&J 62.5kg and she can C&J 110kg!! I learnt a lot from watching her and she was very encouraging. She is off to Spain in a couple of weeks for ANOTHER international competition, but she is still coming to the British Juniors next week to watch and cheer everyone else on! While training with her I managed to snatch 50kg again, and got a total of 110kg.

The rest of training this week hasn't been quite as successful. My totals haven't been very high, and I only have 2 training sessions until the British Junior Championships next Saturday! Will let you know how it goes!

Quick Update...

In the last week I have had some good improvements. On 30th March I got a new total of 110kg (S-47.5, C&J-62.5), then my next training session went pretty badly and I only reached 102kg total. However, yesterday I got a new total of 112kg! I snatched 50kg (but it was a bit dodgy!) and clean and jerked 62. I'm feeling very pleased about this :D

Progress...

Since I last wrote a post, I have got a total of 107kg (made up of 60 and 47) three times! This is a new PB and I'm feeling very confident about the next competition (April 24th - British Junior Championships). The shoulder has also been slowly improving. I have been doing various exercises and stretches to help it along so it hasn't been causing too much trouble!

This Saturday my coach John and my training partner Holly competed in the British Masters, getting totals of 120 and 96 respectively. Holly won her category, so congratulations are in order!

I am hoping to go to Kent to train with Zoe Smith ('strongest girl in Britain'!) in the next couple of weeks which should be very educational!

I am also trying to keep my weight under control and have lost 2 kilos in 2 weeks :)

This Week

Well, I was in The Argus on Monday! This isn't a great photo, but you get the idea.
I then trained with John on Monday evening and used some new 'visualising' techniques which I learnt in a Sports Psychology book by Steve Backley called 'The Winning Mind'. It really helped and I managed to clean 60 and squat snatch 45 without feeling too scared! Thanks Steve!

When we got onto jerking it all went wrong though. My shoulder started to really hurt, so we stopped and went onto front squats.

On Tuesday evening I had an hour long sports massage (OUCH!), which hopefully will have sorted it out. I still have to rest it until Friday now though! I hate not being able to train!

Training and The Argus

YES! On Friday I clean and jerked 60kg for the first time since before my last competition! It felt so good and was a real confidence boost.

Also - I am going to be in The Argus tomorrow (Monday 15th March)! Check it out :)

The Argus

Yesterday, The Argus (local newspaper) came to my gym (ZT fitness) and took photos of me weightlifting, and with my coaches and training partner, Holly, to feature in an article in a few weeks time! It was very embarrassing, but hopefully the press will do some good! Maybe someone out there will want to support me and buy me some weightlifting shoes *nudge nudge hint hint*!
I will let you know when it's out so you can all go and buy a copy :D

Last week's training

Last week didn't start too well. My shoulder was giving me more grief, so I booked a sports massage, which seemed to have done the trick, until I clean and jerked 57.5kg again and it went 'twang' and started hurting a LOT.
I went back to the gym on Friday on my own and tried doing some snatching again, because I haven't gone very heavy with it recently, and to my great surprise I 'snatched' 47.5kg overhead - a new PB! Admittedly it wouldn't be legal in a competition but it has given me a confidence boost! Now all I have to do is sort that shoulder out...

Training back at my old club!

After work (coaching gymnastics) today, I trained at the leisure centre (Wave Leisure, Lewes, E. Sussex) where I work, and where I used to train, on the old Argos bar that I first learnt Oly Lifting on, and with my old coach, Rob! We only did snatches today, and I am very happy that I managed to snatch 42.5kg. If I can do it on that short, crappy bar that doesn't rotate, I should be able to get back and do 45kg on the better bar at Hove! :D

Today's training

Today I tried something different, which was recommended by someone who started talking to me on Facebook: I did a practice competition. So I warmed up as usual, then had a few minutes break, then did 3 of each lift, as I would in a competition. The idea is that it gets me psychologically prepared for competitions, so that I am less nervous when it comes to the real thing. Sadly it didn't go as well as I hoped. I snatched 40, 42 then failed 45. Then clean and jerked 55, and failed 57 twice! Giving me a total of 97! Rubbish! I hope I get back on form soon!

Training - 24/02/2010

Again, I'm very disappointed with my total today! It was only 95kg! I haven't done that badly in a long time. I snatched 40 and clean and jerked 55.

I am going back to basics with my snatch at the moment - trying to get squat snatches right, which could take a while! I have been power snatching for so long that squat snatches are very hard for me!

I also did 30 mins of cardio beforehand so I may just have been tired!

My awards so far....

My progress from the beginning:

Wow, it's been a while...

I haven't blogged for a long time!

Well Olympic lifting is going well(ish). I had my first competition in August (London and South East Under 18s Championships) and got a total of 85k, and a bronze medal. My second comp was in Birmingham (Warley Open) and again came 3rd, with 97kgs. My third comp was the British Under 18s Weightlifting Championships in Kilwinning, Scotland, and I got 98kg total and a bronze cup. I then had the London Opens in December and got a 100kg total and silver!

My latest competition was this weekend, in Lilleshall, and it didn't go as well as the others! I entered at 41kg snatch, which was OK, then I failed my next 2 lifts! (45kg). Clean and Jerk was slightly better, I got 55kg and 59kg but failed 61kg. This was very disappointing as I had done 45kg and 60kg in training and I was hoping to get new PBs. However, I still got bronze, beating 2 other girls in my 69kg BW category!

I will try and keep you updated more often from now on!