Topic: NEW FEMALE LIFTER

[MissT]

Check out our articles section, under features. Check out the videos as Tom said. Check out our links. When I started weightlifting, there was nothing to be found on the sport anywhere yet I succeeded. Now you have immense information right here on this site at your disposal, if you seek it. I worked many hours to make it available.

And for that you are very appreciated!

[Dave Chiu]

It's tough to become beyond your original coach, but often the right thing to do.

Educating yourself thru vids/books/classes will really help you to find the truth,

both for yourself, and from what your coach has been trying to tell you.

All good coaches develop a mutual teamwork w/ their athletes in seeking their best performance.

Sometimes lifters bail on what could have made them great, sometimes coaches push them away.

In the end, your lifting is YOUR baby.

[Pete Church]

Maybe you could post a video of your lifts?
Sounds like Dr. Phil could chime in here on the relationship with your coach.
Perhaps your coach is frustrated because you have not met his expectations?
Perhaps some private feedback from some of your closest team mates would be enlightening.
Don't be discouraged. Do you have a first meet you are working towards?
Do you do full front squats? Do you wear weightlifting shoes?

[Dave Chiu]

Also, are you REALLY doing all your coach asks, or just kinda part-way?

Lots of coaches' frustration comes from lifters not taking their opportunity seriously,

rather than from frustrating obstacles that will be overcome eventually w/ diligence.

Some coaches have no patience for the less-perfectly-talented, but if you really are putting in steady work w/o giving lots of lip, then a coach would have to be pretty limited to not understand how unpredictable development can be.  Knowing all the stuff to help people achieve their best, AND patiently applying it thru thick and thin (of progress, not attitude) are not every coaches forte'.

Try doing jumps from a medium box/bench, to the floor, exploding up to a high box/bench (that requires you to flex your knees and hips quickly and fully after major extension) -- this could help you transition from powers to fulls.

Also, trying some Hip-SN and Hip-CL (no lowering as in Hang work) may help you gain the better ability to drop.

[MissT]

It's tough to become beyond your original coach, but often the right thing to do.

Educating yourself thru vids/books/classes will really help you to find the truth,

both for yourself, and from what your coach has been trying to tell you.

All good coaches develop a mutual teamwork w/ their athletes in seeking their best performance.

Sometimes lifters bail on what could have made them great, sometimes coaches push them away.

In the end, your lifting is YOUR baby.

That is a very thought provoking post and a great attitude to have. I have so much work ahead of me, and perhaps I need to learn tolerance as well. Thank you for your feedback Dave!

[MissT]

Maybe you could post a video of your lifts?
Sounds like Dr. Phil could chime in here on the relationship with your coach.
Perhaps your coach is frustrated because you have not met his expectations?
Perhaps some private feedback from some of your closest team mates would be enlightening.
Don't be discouraged. Do you have a first meet you are working towards?
Do you do full front squats? Do you wear weightlifting shoes?

I actually might have a few videos here somewhere. Maybe I should upload them to youtube once I find them. If not, I will make a point of shooting my next training session and perhaps start a journal on here.

I actually have a feeling I might know what ails my coaching in regards to my performance...but I am afraid to jump to conclusions or make assumptions based on a feeling. However, I have observed his pattern of behavior and have noticed his agitation increase when i make reference to my diet. Coach wants a superheavyweight...a big superheavyweight. I refuse to walk around like a fat tub of lard just to pull more weight.  I am strong enough to use proper technique to improve on all my lifts. I know that coach encourages me to eat more than I am comfortable eating and I get a lot of heat from everyone on the team for doing cardio in secret..I need cardio to maintain a healthy physique. Its not about the way I look..its about my health. I have had this conversation with almost every one of my team mates and everyone accuses me of being vain. I understand bodybuilders are vain but I am not like that. I do not consider myself a bodybuilder anymore. I was done with bodybuilding far before I had ever even heard of Olympic Lifting. The only habit I carried over from bodybuilding was proper diet...and ****ty form :) lol  Its as though I am expected to end up the size of Cheryl Hayworth to become a good lifter. The coach has not had a superheavy on his team in years and I was an answer to his prayers when i walked into his gym out of nowhere one day. Everyone is always pushing me to put on weight. I am sorry, but I am a woman, my looks are important to me to some degree. I am not saying I want to be shredded year round. I am only saying I would like to maintain a healthy weight and improve my lifts at the weight I was when my coach met me. I weigh over 200lb year round. Anyway, here recently, I've dropped some weight...and everyone has been upset with me..even though my strength has remained INTACT. I will post a picture of me at the Emory classic. I will blur for privacy.

I actually competed last year 3 or 4 months after I started training and won the supers at the Southeastern Emory Classic and qualified for the American Open on my first meet. Then I competed at the Southern Open and won the supers again. I tried to make my totals for nats a few weeks ago and lifted as an extra lifter at a local meet but missed my totals by 5kg because of a stupid stupid stupid technique screw up on my jerk. So I am not doing so bad I suppose considering I would have only been doing this a year in July.

My team mate tell me I mess myself up by over analyzing. I think about the lift far more when I should actually just DO IT. I am sorry, but I am not like everyone else. They have all been lifting for fifteen years. I have to REALLY think about my lift regardless of whether I have 35kg or 135kg on the bar (which is about as much as I can front squat for a single). It just does not come naturally to me the way it does for them :(

I am currently in training for the American Open. That is my main focus.

Yes, I do full front squats, ass to the floor (which was a huge challenge for me for months considering I had never gone below parallel and lacked flexibility in the ankles and the hips). Coach bought me adidas lifting shoes and added .5" heel to them which has helped me a lot.

[MissT]

Also, are you REALLY doing all your coach asks, or just kinda part-way?

Lots of coaches' frustration comes from lifters not taking their opportunity seriously,

rather than from frustrating obstacles that will be overcome eventually w/ diligence.

Some coaches have no patience for the less-perfectly-talented, but if you really are putting in steady work w/o giving lots of lip, then a coach would have to be pretty limited to not understand how unpredictable development can be.  Knowing all the stuff to help people achieve their best, AND patiently applying it thru thick and thin (of progress, not attitude) are not every coaches forte'.

Try doing jumps from a medium box/bench, to the floor, exploding up to a high box/bench (that requires you to flex your knees and hips quickly and fully after major extension) -- this could help you transition from powers to fulls.

Also, trying some Hip-SN and Hip-CL (no lowering as in Hang work) may help you gain the better ability to drop.

I honestly can tell you I am the only lifter who refers to coach as sir when all the other lifters call him by his first name. So believe me when I tell you of coach says, jump, I say how high. I have never argued with him. EVER. I do exactly as he asks. Now granted many time he will instruct me on how to do something and I will fail to apply it because the technique is still very hard for me, but I certainly do not defy him intentionally. My failure to perform as required is due to my lack of experience. And like I said, I never asked coach to train me or allow me to compete. He insisted I train under him. So I doubt it is my lack of talent that was my culprit.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

In the end coaching is of only so much significance, maybe even what I would call little significance. The greatest factor is the size of the athlete's heart. No coach, no matter how good or bad, could have kept me down. Some coaches could make a little more of me than others, with my permission.