Category: Olympic Weightlifting – Diary

A year or so ago I decided to start learning Olympic lifting (if you do a search you will find a post somewhere about it) then a tweaky elbow and a slew of family ups and downs meant that I just did not have the time, capacity or finances to learn a new thing. Obviously I continued exercising but the free weights and HIIT style workouts I was use to.

Late this spring I decided I wanted to try again. Due to time and caring commitments realistically it made sense to find an online coach. I looked at a HUGE number of websites until I found this one https://www.trainingweightlifting.com/ the content was informative, educated and well written, I really felt like this was someone I wanted to work with. I was right, the coach in question is Lionel Isaac a coach who has a lifetime of experience training, coaching and competing. Not to mention many an academic qualification (we all know how much of a nerd I am!).

After a brief online chat Leo agreed to take me on as client, I have to be honest I feel genuinely grateful that he did. I don’t think I have ever learned as much from a trainer or a PT. What I particularly like about Leo’s method is it is very technical and incredibly precise, there is no single aspect that is left out of any of the lifts and honestly I love it!

Right now I have had 33 coaching sessions with Leo, between 90 mins and 2 hours each and all have been highlights in my day. Without stating the obvious there are a few obstacles in my way when it comes to learning a new physical skill, firstly I’m 52 and in surgical menopause then of course there is the hypermobile ehlers danlos, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and femoral anteversion.

As far as the being a touch on the older side the way I see it is that means there is all the more reason to learn a new skill. I firmly believe that it’s not just that we stop learning or experiencing the new because we get old but that we also get old because we fail to push our boundaries. We become complacent within our comfort zones, settle into routines and gradually find our capacity for the new becomes diminished. Plus all resistance training reduces the risk of both osteopenia and sarcopenia.

With regard to the slew of this and that my body has going on, I understand that various diagnoses mean I am classed as disabled, but I have always refused to see the various hurdles I have as reasons to not try anything. If anything the fact I am so naturally rubbish at athletics makes me more stubbornly determined to prove I can, what I lack in natural ability I have always made up in consistency and determination.

Then there is the fact that for me getting strong was life changing, I went from having chronic fatigue due to my lack of natural physical structure to having a close to normal level of energy. Joints sublax and dislocate less and my POTs symptoms are negligible as long as continue exercising. In other words some form of resistance work is essential to my day to day health so why not Oly style lifting.

With the ability to have 3 sessions a week with such an amazing coach I know over a year or so I will begin to feel stable and confident in the lifts. The biggest issue I have is that from what I understand in order to fully enjoy the sport at some point I really should enter a contest. It is after all a sport and sports tend to involve doing something outside the house with other actual people. The thought of that fills me with utter terror. I was horrendously bullied as a kid, my femoral anteversion was a large target for the bullying but so was my utter incompetence at sports. Sadly the more unsure I became of my body the less I ran, played or tried sports which meant that I continued to incredibly weak, slow and generally physically unstable. It became a chicken and egg situation where the more I was mocked the less I did, the less I did the less likely it was that I would develop any athletic skill and the weaker and slower I remained.

Sports days were a nightmare for me, being forced into races that I knew I would come dead last at every single time still leaves me with a feeling a dread that actually makes me feel sick. It was an exercise in public humiliation each year. If my parents had allowed me stay off sick I would have in a heartbeat. At the end of of a race when coming dead last…again what was worse than sniggers was the pity clap. Oh god, the pity clap makes me actually want to curl up into a ball. Usually it was part sarcasm, part “oh bless, poor thing can’t do better” the implication being not only bad at sports but just a bit useless generally. If you are someone reading this with any form of visible physical disability you likely have also had the experience of people presuming it extends to your mental acuity. That was very much a part of my experience with any kind of public physical endeavor, dread, followed by failure accompanied by pity and being treated as though I was mentally disabled.

You can imagine then that the idea of doing anything in public in particualr a contest does not fill me with much joy. In fact sitting here typing even thinking about it brings a welling of that nauseous terror to the pit of my stomach.

Still at some point I want to do it, for me, for my daughter who has as many health issues as I do plus some worse ones her genetics through in for good measure and because I can do better. Because I always was more capable than I showed and if one person had taken me in hand, helped me develop some running ability helped me build some structure I may never have developed chronic fatigue. I can’t say I wouldn’t have been bullied because once it starts it very often never ends but maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad that as a teen I would go to bed praying fervently and in all sincerity that I just…would…not…wake….up again. Finally I want to do it for each and every person who experienced growing up not trusting their own body or is capability to do anything athletic, When the truth is they likely absolutely can, those of us not naturally gifted may never set world records but we can learn new skills, improve our health and longevity and have huge fun while doing so.

I don’t know where I am going with the Olympic lifting but I have always firmly believed that a new skill learned is of value in itself. Mostly I am enjoying the process.

For the moment I am going to plod along with 3 coaching sessions a week and give myself time to grow in ability and confidence, there is no rush to get anywhere or achieve anything. Right now it’s about taking time and enjoying the process.

If you are interested in learning Olympic Lifting I thoroughly recommend Leo both his coaching and books and resources.