Olympic Weightlifting Training Diary: An Introduction

Let me introduce myself.

My name is David Heppenstall, and I’m an amateur Olympic Weightlifter and the current Welsh National Champion (105kg).

This training diary – for those who wish to follow/read/whatever it is you do with a blog – will seek to cover my progress as I strive to get a 300kg Total in order to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow next year.

A very long shot.

It will feature my training cycles, where I will try to discuss why I am doing what I do in each workout, as well as training videos, and general updates, so we can see if my training approach is working or not, and, on occasion, a general post or two on the sport of weightlifting.

Where to begin…

The sport of Olympic Weightlifting is quite possibly one of the most insane athletic creations ever.

The concept alone is crazy: two movements whereby you have to lift well over your body weight above your head, in either one motion (in the case of the Snatch), or two (with the Clean and Jerk).

Surely you would have to be mental to dedicate all your training to this sport, with the constant threat of injury literally looming above your head like a much heavier ‘Sword of Damocles’, waiting to break you in half?

Then again, I guess I’ve never been one for mental stability.

Background

First things first, I train at Holyhead and Anglesey Weightlifting and Fitness Centre in Wales, in quite possibly the best gym, under the instruction of Welsh National Coach, and former Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist, Ray Williams, the best coach in Wales in terms of technique training and correct programming.

I started taking the sport seriously in late February, since the Welsh National Championships were upcoming and Coach thought I stood a good chance of winning.

Welsh National Championships

With three weeks solid training six days a week, and despite a lower back strain, I managed to win my category, lifting, on the day, 10kg in each lift above my training maxes.

So I thought why not give this a proper shot see what happens.

My next competition

A month later came an inter-club competition in North Wales, in which I managed to lift 11kg above my previous comp Clean and Jerk, and nearly 10kg in snatch, but I just missed it.

So now you are all caught up:

Welsh National Championships Total: 220kg

Current Total: 236kg

The road to Glasgow 2014

Join me on my journey to qualify for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

I would appreciate any comments/feedback you have as this Gym-Talk training diary progresses – just leave me a comment in the comments section below this post.

See you all in Week #1…