10 years and a retrospective

10 years ago yesterday, I got off a plane at Pearson Intl airport and stepped into the most defining phase of my life (so far!) I don't remember too much, except that it was incredibly overwhelming. I remember thinking that the airport was really nice. I also remember observing that there were a lot of people from a lot of different places, but hey it was an airport so that made sense. Other than that, I was really tired from sitting around in the plane for so long. We got a pizza thing on that flight. Being the picky eater I used to be, I was quite happy with that and really wanted more (airplane food had until then, universally sucked). That pizza thing would single-handedly result in me holding Air Canada in high esteem for the next couple of years.

We eventually got out of the airport, and lo and behold it was snowing. And it was cold. So cold. I think I almost died. Don't get me wrong, we fully expected the wrath of the Canadian winter. But I think that we may have just underestimated it. It was quite the contrast, having spent years in Qatar. A country where winters are probably as warm as the summers in Canada. None the less, it was so different that I enjoyed it! There I was, running around trying to act all grown up and making sure our luggage was in tow. My mom yelled and screamed, telling me to get inside, or to cover up more or something. Glad we got through that.

My Uncle (Dad's younger brother) picked us up. It's kind of funny. I feel like his life decisions are what probably led to us moving to Canada. Dad had got a new job in Nigeria. He didn't want us to be educated there, especially with my younger brother being hearing impaired. So he decided to send us to Canada, a country he was told to be really nice by his brother, where we can study while he works overseas.

My Uncle's story is especially inspiring. He brought his family over from Pakistan, from nothing to nothing kind of deal. Worked hard, taking on a job in a factory before finally making his own (and very successful business!) But I'm not going to butcher his and his family's journey with my imperfect and incomplete knowledge of it.

Before I go any further, I feel that for the sake of building the narrative, I should establish the setting and context of this whole thing. Here's my journey in some pictures.

This is where it all started. The union of my beloved parents. My dad's always been a bad-ass moustache kinda guy. I'm glad to know that his game was on point on his wedding day. 

The second of three siblings, I was born in Lahore and spent the first few years of my life in my grandfather's house there. It's not the nicest area of the city, but this was the house that my granddad (paternal) built for his family. The house that my dad was raised in. It is a very special place in my memories. We still have family living there, so of course it's not just a memory. 

My younger brother was born late in 1997. A year or so after his birth, we found out that he was completely deaf in both years. One of the strongest memories from my childhood is my mom running out of the hospital to where my older brother and I were waiting, crying. I promised myself I wouldn't make her cry again. That was a promise I have broken repeatedly. We spent some time in London, where he received an operation for a cochlear implant. We decided that we would exclusively speak english, and then my dad had a new job in Turkey and we moved to Ankara.

Turkey was kind to us. A beautiful country, with wonderful people. I have a few memories from it, though not nearly enough. This is a picture of the family with all of the grandparents when they visited 

Pamukkale, Turkey.

At some point in 2001 we decided to move to Qatar. Here's us dressing up for school on Halloween. We're standing in our front "lawn!" My older brother and I spent an absurd amount of time out here, and beyond those doors playing cricket on the road. 

We had family in Qatar too. 

We even had pet rabbits! 

At some point, our beloved 500 series BMW, which had been with us since Turkey caught fire. My mom was on the way to pick up my brother and I from cricket practice. I've been forever grateful that she pulled over and got out of the car the moment she saw smoke from the hood. 

Of course we went home to Pakistan too. This is a picture from the house in which my mother grew up, in a town near the city of Multan. Another house which is really special in my memories. Unfortunately, this house was ruined in the floods of 2010, which caused my grandparent's to move next to their oldest daughter's house in Islamabad. 

School was tough in Qatar. We went to a British school, and I exclusively had British teachers while there. But it was strange because as a non-arabic speaker, I really was the odd one out in my class. Nonetheless, the few friendships I made, I've cherished to this day. 

There's a bit of a gap here in the photo history, but the next we knew, we had moved to Canada. This picture of course was taken in our current home in Richmond Hill, soon after we bought it. We spent the first few months in Missisauga. 

Naturally, we decided to spend our first Canadian summer outside of Canada. We visited Dad twice in Nigeria, and both times lined up nicely with his birthday. The second time we even dropped by Kenya for a safari. 

The next thing I knew, we'd been in this country for a full five years and we were waiting to take our oath of citizenship. 

And then I was a Canadian. 

I met a bunch of really cool people. Unfortunately, I could only find a picture of these fools.

Naturally, we still visit our birthland. 

Well, there you have it. My life. These pictures seem to form some story or another. They're missing the hours I spent in the universe that my older brother and I had made up, telling stories to one another. They're missing the scratches and bite marks that my younger brother and I inflicted upon one another. They're missing the tears of my mother, and her pain of having to raise 3 disobedient boys. One of whom required special care. Of her pain of having to do it for three years without her husband. Of her inability to practice medicine because she was too busy taking care of us. They're missing the sweat and stress that my father endured so that he could bring us to this country and give us the million opportunities we have now. Of his pain in being away from his family, all alone in a foreign land so that he could bring literal light to people who would never know him. 

I guess it's obvious. Our lives are so full of emotion and experiences that there is no simple way to summarize them. My story is an ordinary one but I still wanted to share it. It began in Lahore, and ends with me as a Canadian citizen. I think it's wonderful because it's so definitely Canadian. And the fact that it happened in the first place, is something that this country should be proud of.

In this country, the dominant culture is one that accepts and sees the human experience in all people. Canadians acknowledge the value of all human life, and respect all human culture. We don't look at people and see their country of origin. We look at people and we see another human being. Our instinct is then to understand their way of life and respect them for it. In Canada, there is no "us and them." I think that this is a quality of our country that we absolutely must cherish. 

This is all especially relevant with the ongoing refugee crisis. My own perspective is that this country has given so much to my family. And I want to give back. I imagine, that for many who are suffering and living in far worse conditions than I ever did, this country's salvation would be a godsend. And I believe, that if we continue seeing the humanity in every human, the acts that seem so much like charity now will not only strengthen the nation, but be something our children can be proud of. 

I'm not the best with words. And I've now realized, long after it's too late to stop writing this, that there is no way I will truly be able to convey what this country has done for me. Canada has defined my personality and who I am probably more than any other place I've lived and I am proud of it. It's made me a better person. It's opened my mind and my heart, and it's allowed me to meet the most wonderful people. It's given my the ability to understand our shared human struggle, and sympathize with all people. 

I know that tough times come. Oil prices are down, there's a lack of jobs, tuition is expensive as all hell, etc. But I think that at it's heart, which is the heart of the people, Canada is doing well. It's doing wonderfully, and I love it. 

The Saga of Zammar the Great #15: Black! Lands!

Story Recap:

The forces of Candahar were saved from the Und’kal threat by the intervention of armies from The Whitelands, The Dragon Empire and Indus. In the aftermath of the fight, Ren mediated deeply rooted conflicts between these parties in an attempt to form alliances that were inevitably unstable.

Because the battle of Candahar left the city destroyed, Ren established a refugee camp, where she gathered people who had fled the Und’kal menace. She also housed the armies that had come to Candahar’s rescue. In preparation to counter  the alien threat, she asked representatives to call their leaders for a meeting of nations.

Abasi fled the destruction of Kampalla with companions Imad, Hadi and Jamil. While on a journey to bring warning of the Und’kal threat to the Pharaoh, god-king of the Blacklands, the four found themselves waylaid at Candahar. Here, Abasi met with his old friend Omir, and learned how Abejide, one of the chiefs of Candahar had accepted white people into the city. Before the two could act, the Und’kal horde fell upon the city, and Abasi was dragged into battle.  

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Ren fidgeted ceaselessly with her hair. Maybe the braids were too much…I should have tied it in a tail. But this is what the women of the Blacklands do. What if they think it’s rude of me to copy them? I should have just left it down...

“You look wonderful, my Queen.” Maria said.

“I don’t know…I should have worn that dress that the village chief from Boran gave me…” She said, pulling on her awkward leather jerkin. “But it was so big…I thought it would look strange. I used to have so many nice dresses…”

“This is a time of war, you need to show that you are ready to fight…”

“And the hair…maybe we shouldn’t have braided all of it…Or leave it straight…Or I don’t know…” Her voice was shaky.

Maria extended her arms to hold Ren’s shoulders. “My Queen. You will be fine, you need not worry about these things.”

“But it’s the first time they see me…”

“And they will love you, my Queen.”

“Brenda, Abejide is almost done.” Zammar’s booming voice spoke above her.

Ren’s fingers started numbing. With Maria, she had been hiding behind Zammar for the duration of the ceremony, trying to calm her nerves. Now she focused her hearing on the ethereal chanting that filled the dry desert air.

She peeked her head around Zammar’s arm. Abejide was standing on an improvised podium of dirt in front of a low mound.  His arms were raised in the air as he crescendoed to a high note. The remnants of the Candaharan people, so few now, stood across the mound from him and imitated the chant.  

The mass burial ceremony was taking place just beyond the blood stained ground where the battle had been fought. Behind the Candaharans, and as testament to their resolve, the remaining structures of their city were finally starting to materialize from rubble. In the distance, downwind to the south, a dark and thick plume of smoke rose to the sky. Ren had decreed that all Und’kal corpses be burned, not wanting to risk disease.

“It looks like the white people are finished as well.” Maria said.

The large gathering of soldiers from Lion’s Gate was walking slowly towards Abejide and his followers. Behind them, six horses rode to the north. They carried bodies wrapped in ornate cloth and were led by three armoured riders. The soldiers would be buried in their homeland, by ancient tradition.

“Why do they wear that heavy metal? Are they so afraid of us that they think we will attack them at such a time?” Maria said.

Minus their helmets, every soldier from the Lion’s Gate assembly was fully adorned for battle, regal in their golden plated armour. Moving as a group, they looked formidable. Ren had to squint against the sunlight that bounced off the wall of steel before she could make out Anderson proudly leading the men. I guess looking powerful is more important than being cooked alive...Even Ren, in her sleeveless jerkin, was sweating in the desert heat.

The chanting stopped suddenly, leaving behind an eerie and empty silence.

“Looks like all of the others are coming now.” Zammar said.

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 12

Hello!

I have finally finished the Catalyst OTM cycle, and I must say that it has been a great ride. I feel kind of unfortunate that I had to skip a week between week 11 and 12. A lot of things came up really suddenly (including a Sabaton/Nightwish concert!!) and I was just not in a position to train.

I think that skipping that week, and then doing things like trampolining over that weekend sort of messed me up for week 12. Unfortunately, I was unable to end the term with a PR. Pretty disappointing, but not a big deal.

Week 12 is actually meant to be a deload week that concludes the training cycle with max attempts on the last day. I think that as a part of the program, it would work effectively as a taper to a max. But because I messed up by taking a week off, I was not really ready for heavy weights on the max days. I also split the max day in to two separate days for Snatch/CJ.

Snatching went great, I spent the week working on technique and feeling it out and getting back into it. And on Sunday, I felt really good about snatching. I hit up to 165 without missing. I'm not sure if maybe it was just out of position a bit or I'm just weak, but 165 felt really heavy overhead. And I think that thought along with the pressure of going for a PR messed me up for 170. It's a major weakness of mine, to get nervous before going for a PR. It's 5lbs, perfectly within my capability, practically not even heavier than the previous weight. It's all in my head though; demons I must conquer. Oh well, I was happy to be able to hit 165 twice.

CJ I think is what I messed up with the week off. I wasn't really prepared to go heavy. And I think I made the other mistake of taking minimal warm up weights. The idea was to conserve energy for the max attempts, but the jumps were a bit too big (I was taking 15lb jumps), and the weight felt too heavy off the ground that I just crashed on receiving. It's been a weakness since the day I started lifting, and it has improved a lot, but I still need to work on preventing the bar from crushing me on the receive. I guess a part of it is just confident from lifting heavy often. Either way, the second 225 I missed the jerk because the clean was really inefficient. Now to be fair, I haven't Front Squatted more than 225 for probably > 6 months.

Not such a big deal. I think 225 is a weight that is meant to be lifted for the first time at the PAC. And I hope this coming term to hit it pretty quickly! All it takes is a good day xD

So overall progress with the program: I'm happy. I know that all I managed was a 5lb PR on both lifts. But the program brought my Snatch up from around 135, and I was practically not CJing at all when I started. Besides, I make really really slow progress in weightlifting. I think the OTM cycle was just what I needed. It's unfortunate that complications occurred, such as delaying days/weeks, and the inability to decide on a form to stay consistent with (esp. for the Snatch). But I still think that consistency and confidence have improved significantly.

Moving forward, I will be taking a week off to recuperate mentally/physically. I'll try to post up my next cycle for the summer term by the end of the week. It won't be as set in stone as this one, because I know things will always come up during the school term. The focus will be imbalance correction, Structural/postural & Overhead strength. I think I'll also be squatting more, to try and keep the squatting movement fresh and get the weights back up to what they were before.

Thanks a lot for following, friends! Stay strong!

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 11

Week 11 has been a great week!

I finally finally managed to break my Snatch plateau.

I think it's been close to a year since I snatched 155. I hit 160 like 1-2 weeks after that. And then I tried 165, and I missed. So I tried it again, and I missed. And I tried, and missed again. And again. And again. And again. I would hit 160 just fine, everything was good. Add 5lbs on the bar, and all of a sudden it becomes impossible to lift. 165 haunted me. I used to have nightmares about that weight. I don't even know why, I had the strength to lift it, it was just a mental barrier. Technique always broke down significantly, I'd knock it forward, or I couldn't tighten up and receive it well; everything was just bad.

And then I started thinking about 160. "What if I miss 160..." And I missed. And then I thought about 155. "...What if I miss this too..." And on and on. Next thing I knew, I was missing 135lbs.

I don't lift much weight. But I've already found that this sport is incredibly hard. Not just physically, but mentally. You have to be prepared. You have to believe in yourself at a level beyond thought. Absolute faith in your ability, and you have to be brave enough to pull yourself underneath a heavy ass bar. I lack this.

This was a really depressing time for me. I've never progressed fast in weightlifting. It took me years to get my squat to where it is, and then you can compare it to people who can walk into the gym and squat just as much within a week. So to see my snatch, my favourite lift, actually accumulating negative progress was pretty demotivating.

I was even training 4-5 times a week, and when each session is 3-4 hours long, you spend a lot of time in the gym. Backwards progress is the last thing you want to see.

The Catalyst cycle has been great for me. It's helped me get back to where I was before without over thinking things. I guess all I needed was a reset, high volume at low weights and the ability to throw out my ego. Maybe all that happened was that I got really burned out always trying to push myself. But lessons were learned.

This was the penultimate week of the cycle. The last time you work up to heavy singles. Week 12 is essentially a deload and taper up to a max out day.

Clean and Jerks were a little bit bleh. Main reason was that I was apathetic and put them on the back burner to really push the snatch. I know I can do well in the CJ if I'm well rested.

So, I don't actually have the time this week for week 12's training unfortunately. I'm going to try to sneak in a training session tomorrow but it's a maybe. Week 12 will probably be next week. It's not such a big deal I think. The rest is just going to be trying to hit a PR or two. The goals are 170/225.

So, what's going to happen next?

After the cycle, I'm going to take a short break. I'm feeling really burned out after these 15ish weeks of training 5 times a week for 4 hours a day (my warm up takes forever :( ). So the week before classes is probably going to be all rest, with maybe one or two sessions.

Next term is when I'll begin the new cycle. I think it's pretty obvious watching the video, the reason for my misses at the heaviest weights seems to stem largely from the imbalances that have been formed due to the recent hip injury and my eternally stiff shoulder. At heavy weights I end up gripping and ripping, thus not controlling my movements very well, and imbalances just show more at heavy weights generally.

So fixing those imbalances will be one of the primary focuses for next term's training. For this, I'll probably be taking a much more active approach using exercise selection in the workout as opposed to just stretching and activation in the warmup/cool down. The second focus will be structural/postural strength. I'll be doing a lot of pulls, RDLs, SLDs, etc. To try and maintain strength over the bar and better back positioning. Will probably be 4 days a week (but will vary a lot with class and associated work). Squats will probably be low weight/high volume (to work on the imbalances). I'm also planning on working on Overhead stability. I've been basically power snatching exclusively this term. Partially to save the injured hip, but also because thinking about power snatching really helps tighten up and receive the bar well for me. It's just that my best weights are so low that I have the strength to power snatch them, but I lack other things that cause me to miss. But to get better, I still need to be prepared to hit full snatches though.

Will definitely be carrying forward loading and programming experiences learned from the OTM cycle.

Thanks for the read! Thanks for the support!

PS I'm sorry for being so loud! I've been encouraging myself to let loose a bit more, especially since I'm lifting alone. And the moment I locked out 165 was so cathartic that I ended up getting a bit excited xD

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 10

Week 10 is done. It was a really blergh week. I can make excuses like tiring work and horrible traffic (which for some reason persisted throughout the week). But I dunno, I just wasn't feeling it.

Sunday was better, though I had plenty of rest before then.

No video this week, didn't really have enough footage to justify it :p

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 9

Week 9 is done.

The program has switched to a Bulgarian style daily max training thing. And I've found it so far to be really hard, tiring and time consuming xD

I was doing fine for a Snatch HS and CJ HS once a week on a weekend when I'm rested. But It's really hard on weekdays after a long day at work. I was struggling with CJs this week but then I realized, at the end of the week too, that my start position was off. Also, didn't really have the energy after snatching heavy + back off sets.

The program also includes heavy singles for squats, which is a major first for me. I haven't squatted a heavy single in a really long time, as the last time I was avidly training squats, they were on a high volume program. But this is kind of good because it lets me see where I am, sort of. If only I wasn't so tired when it came time to squatting xD

IT band/Quad on my right leg was feeling really tight this week, so I took it easy on the squats anyway. 240 was 6 reps before the hip injury. I'm hoping to hit a minimum of 275 back squat by the end of the term/cycle.

Unfortunately, family things came up on Sunday so I had to move the training session back to Saturday. This meant I had 5 training sessions in a row. I think the result of this is pretty evident, in that I couldn't hit a 155 snatch on Saturday. (but I'm just making excuses xD)

That being said, I was really glad to hit 155 twice. 150 is the weight I expect myself to be able to hit on a daily basis. So getting back up to 155 feels good. Though every day it happened on the 2nd attempt. If I get it on the first, I'll try for 160. But I need to train smart through this phase. Can't spend excessive energy chasing Snatch PRs and miss out on the Clean and Jerk part. Just gotta put in the work.

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 8

Week 8 was a bit of a bleh week. I'm glad it was a deload week, because I felt so lethargic and more than that, apathetic. Part of the reason is that I was really into the Cricket world cup. I care a little bit less now that Pakistan's been knocked out, but I really wanna play some cricket!

So every day felt like I was just going through the motions.

There's also a lot of accumulated fatigue over the term. Not just physically, but because of work and as always, lack of sleep.

Oh well, will try to be more involved in the coming weeks. The program is now going to begin a bulgarian style cycle, with heavy singles on the Snatch, CJ and squats 3x a week. I'm going to veer off the written path in one major way: The program will have 2 days where CJ's are performed before Snatches. I can appreciate what Greg was doing here, but I think my priority is still on the snatch, so I'll be doing the snatches first.

Adios, and have a good week friends!

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 7

Week 7 is finally done, and with it the high volume portion of this program. Good riddance! (This OTM stuff is so tiring!)

On paper, this looks like a really good week. In many ways it was, but it was hell to get through as well. Back tightness from last week continued periodically throughout the week. As a result, the Jerk day was really not as good as it could have been, but still not bad. Unfortunately, I was so tired after that jerk training session that come Thursday for Cleans, my upper back was just fried. I had a really tough time staying tight on the receive, so I didn't want to push Cleans too much.

Snatching went great! Sort of. I managed to super man 150 after like 18 other reps at or above 85% on Tuesday. It displayed my imbalances to the worst extent they can be though :D. I was really in the mindset of "Just pick this thing up, man."

Friday's reps felt awkward, but I think were important in coming up with the right feeling and helped a lot on Sunday.

Sunday was awesome. Snatched up to 155, and probably couldve done 160 (in another attempt) if I didn't want to save energy for CJs. 160 is the all time best, and I haven't hit anything above 150 for close to 8 months now =|

As is evident in the video, back angle in the snatch is still a major source of inconsistency. The issue is that I just don't know what's right, and I end up improvising according to what feels right the day of...

The issue is that naturally, my back angle would be very horizontal. This feels good in some ways, letting me keep the bar closer in the 3rd pull, but it sacrifices so much power that I have a hard time power snatching anything. It also leads to drifting on my toes, and since I have a weak back, forces a bunch of arm bend.

On the other hand, if I keep my back more vertical, my hips are in a far better position to produce power and I can power snatch my best (probably, maybe?). It also seems to result in a tighter receive. Unfortunately, I end up hitting the bar forward, and this is really costly.

I've been trying to find a middle ground...I guess the experimentation continues =|

BUT GOOD NEWS

A PR, FINALLY! (after like 6 months or something)

And a big one! 220lb/100kg Clean and Jerk! It's only 5lbs better than the previous, but it's huge! First three digit lift, so pretty happy. Not as happy as 225 will make me though! :)

Interestingly, I really was not feeling C&J's on Sunday. Especially the jerks. I was pretty tired after Snatching, and sort of just did it. The jerks were crappy (kept shifting to front leg and not getting front foot out enough), but I managed to do the work. I'm confident that 230 is in the park on a better day.

Also, I randomly suffered an ab cramp while walking around yesterday (after training). It's a bit sore today, but hopefully will be better for tomorrows training.

Week 8 is deload week! (Thank you Greg :) )



p.s. I apologize for all the man grunting. I don't know when I became so noisy >_>

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 6 + Week 6.5

Hi everyone, super late on updating this.

I finished two weeks of training pretty well, including a fun Sunday at the PAC.

But for some reason, on Tuesday when I was meant to start week 7, my back was like NOPE. I think I slept in an awkward position and I woke up with it soo tight, in a way it hasn't been tight before. This time it was the thoracic area, not the traps like usual :p

I decided, regretfully to redo what I did in week 4.5 and take the week easy. All I did was 2 snatch technique sessions.

Will be starting week 7 tomorrow hopefully...

On a different note, I've sort of learned that training 5x a week is a bit too much for my body. It sucks, since that's like the minimum to make decent progress...But every time I train 5x a week, injuries happen >_>
I still plan on finishing this program, but it's something I'm keeping in mind moving forward.

Anyways, week 6:

Pretty decent week actually! 

I'm sort of starting to figure out Cues and etc. for Snatches. They're feeling decent. Cleans this week were awkward and weird, except for Sunday when I matched by all time best CJ of 215. That day Cleans felt awesome O_o, funny because snatches felt horrible. 

Jerks are feeling pretty good as well. 

The Saga of Zammar the Great #14: Father and Son (Indus pt.2)

Story Recap:

Indus is a land of people that live in close harmony with nature. These people tamed the indigenous animals, keeping them as lifelong companions. For thousands of years, different tribes warred amongst themselves. Now, though the nation has been unified under a council, those ancient tensions still linger.

The people of Baghadaar worship the spirits of Raj, Kavi and Harisha, the ancient kings of the tigers, snakes and monkeys.  Aitzaz (Aey-teh-zaaz) is a young tiger tamer of the city, whose tiger is named Khan. Two years ago, he graduated from training school with his classmates Maisa, Rahul, Sachiv and Mahit. These are companions who he has trained with since the choosing ceremony, where he was chosen as a tiger tamer by the spirit of Raj.

Now, just a week has passed since Aitzaz attended the choosing ceremony of his sister, Indira. Indira was chosen by Kavi as the tamer for the Anai-Kondra, a mythical snake that lives for a thousand years and whose birth signifies the beginning of a new age.

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Aitzaz stood outside a small wooden house and peered through a crack in the curtains that covered the window. He could just make out a pile of boxes wrapped in colourful cloth on the table across the room. Welcoming gifts? But it’s been two months...

Aitzaz had helped Lyla move into her new house after her parents, both tiger tamers, were killed. He remembered the day well. She had cried, and he had been there to comfort her. With Khan outside the door, Aitzaz had made sure that he was the only one to do so. The memory was bittersweet; tainted by guilt but redeemed by the joy he would experience over the next two months. She’s happier now, with me.

He knocked on the door, crossed his arms behind his back and waited with a humble smile.

“She’s not there, runt.”

The voice startled Aitzaz, and he turned around to three monkey tamers standing a few meters away. Arms crossed, monkeys hissing furiously on their shoulders, the three glared at him. He recognized them as three of the tamers that had had their choosing with Lyla, the same year as himself.

“Esam, hi.” Aitzaz’s voice didn’t sound nearly as aggressive as it had in his head.

Esam, who was tall with a pockmarked and scared face, cocked an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?”

“I was just visiting Lyla…” Aitzaz mumbled. This is ridiculous, I’m a tiger. I shouldn’t be scared of these guys.

“Well she doesn’t want to see you.”

“What?”

“Just…leave Lyla alone you little shit.” Esam barred his teeth and swung his fist towards Aitzaz’s face. Aitzaz moved quickly; unlike the monkeys he’d been trained in physical combat. One hand blocked the attack while the other countered. The man’s abdomen caved behind the force of his blow.

Esam groaned and clutched at his stomach, but before Aitzaz could continue, he was hit hard from the right. He gasped and stumbled to the left. The other monkey tamers grabbed his arms and soon he was pinned between the two. Esam stood tall and glowered.

“I’ll fucking kill you, you little pig.” His fist made contact with Aitzaz’s stomach. Aitzaz braced in time, but the pain made him gasp. The next attack hurt even more. “Lyla doesn’t belong to you.” Esam spat on Aitzaz and punched him again. His monkey scratched Aitzaz’s arm and shrieked violently.

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 4.5 + Week 5

Bit of a weird two weeks. For some reason, 2 days into week 5 the first time around, my hamstring felt a bit funny (just tight I think), I didn't want to injure it so I decided to rest out the week and begin week 5 again the next week. So I basically had a longer resting period in which 2 training sessions happened. These are those two:

Then this past week, I've gone and done the week properly. I also took the opportunity to move training days to free up Saturday, since everyone always wants to do stuff on Saturday :) 

Not such a bad week. Cleans are feeling better than ever (though I'm starting to get into that bad habit of not pulling long enough). Jerks felt good, but a bit wonky on Sunday. The main issue there was that I was starting to put too much weight on the front foot and not balancing the split properly. Just something to keep in mind going forward I think. 

Snatches are crappy as always. I figured out to how to get the best barpath with the new heels. The solution seems to be to starting with the bar farther away. This is really weird for me, because I have never (not once) lifted a weight without it touching my shins. I don't really have much strength in this kind of first pull, and that seems to throw my shoulder off position so my stupid imbalances act up more than before.

I believe practice is key here, because this is almost definitely the best way for me to lift. I've been doing some analysis of longer legged lifters (like Yurik Vardanyan,) and the main difference seems to be starting with the bar farther away. 

If the bar is farther away, the first part of the movement can have the bar coming back in, while my knees also move out of the way. If my legs were touching the bar, my shins are too long and would always force the bar to move out unless I sacrificed the back angle significantly. 

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 4

A day late in uploading this, but week 4 is over. No videos this week because it was a deload week so not really that interesting.

I got my heel height on the shoes adjusted (raised by 1/2'') on Friday. So the last two days were really about trying to adapt. It'll probably take a while, so I'll be playing it on the slightly conservative side.

On the other hand, this was absolutely the first time I've done a deload week. I'm really glad it's there, because I was starting to feel really beat up. Interestingly, I've always had great progress for the first 4-5 weeks of a program and then suddenly been unable to lift as much/as well. I never thought that it was over training, namely because I figured that I just don't lift heavy enough to be over trained.

Even mentally, it's nice to have a break. One of the reasons for my lack of success in this sport is almost definitely how much I stress myself out over it ._.

In hindsight, I can see why I should have incoporated deload weeks.

Looking forward to week 5. The program is starting to get hard, and it'll be harder with me trying to adjust to the new heel height. But hopefully, things will work out for the better!

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 3

Woohoo, week 3 is over.

And it has left me really tired. This program is starting to get tough, so I'm glad that the coming week is a deload week.

Other than an iffy first day of Snatching, it was another good week of training. More goofs at heavier weights, but I'm starting to see where the weaknesses lie. I was happy to hit 150/195, which is heavier than I've done on either lift in a while.

Though that 150 Snatch was super iffy lol
And I can't believe I didn't get that 200, it's like my right elbow just didn't feel like coming up all the way :(

But as for weaknesses, I think it's pretty obvious from watching the video that back strength is a major one. I really need to work on it. At heavier weights, I have a very hard time staying over the bar, and the back collapses. I used to compensate through this by bending my arms, but after having corrected that (to a degree hopefully), now I just collapse and start the second pull because the body doesn't want to stay over the bar any longer. It seems to be a major cause for me missing heavier lifts (especially with Snatches)

Also, I need to be really conscious about keeping the back tight. This is pretty evident if you watch Monday's session (in the gray full sleeve) where I lifted the heaviest weights. For some reason that day I just forgot to queue proper back tightness, and I lost it instantly. It should be passive, unqued, automatic.

Fortunately, this program has shown me SDLs, and what a great exercise they are!
I've also incorporated Snatch Grip RDLs (just like the SDL but with bent knees) for flexibility and back strength. Back strength will definitely be an ongoing process in my training and will probably feature as a more critical part of future programs.

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 2

Week 2's training went pretty well. It was a bit of a rocky start because I sort of forgot about some of the changes I'd made to my Clean starting position until after I did all of my 20 cleans. I was really confused as to why it felt so different and why I was pulling really low off the legs...Oh well >_>

Shoulders feeling really tight. Well, not really shoulders. More like traps/neck. The new office job isn't helping with this, and it's pretty noticeable in the video (if you watch the bar rotate overhead.)

I've always had this imbalance where my right shoulder is significantly less flexible than my left...This means the right shoulder doesn't go as far back as the left, so the left takes a bit longer and that's why you see that rotation. It's something I'm working on at the end/beginning of training sessions.

First time snatching upto 145 in a long time. Was less than perfect (could've stayed over the bar much longer), but glad I could do it without too much difficulty.

Couple of goofs, but overall a good week.

Catalyst OTM Cycle - Week 1

Hey everyone.

I've decided to start documenting my weightlifting again. I stopped a while ago because I felt like I was making nothing but backwards progress and was somewhat embarrassed and what not. But anyways, I'm going to try my best to keep up with it this time.

There's a change though, I'll be recording training sessions weekly instead of daily. I think this is not just more manageable for me, but more entertaining and easier to read for you guys.

Where I am:

Well, the past few months have been iffy. I had a pretty major hip injury that stopped me from lifting (other than Power snatches and back exercises) for the better part of 2 months. The injury has gotten better now, but I'm left with a couple of imbalances that I'm still working on.

Because of this injury, I won't be squatting really heavy. The focus for this next training cycle will be on technical consistency and improving strength in pulling positions.

To this end, I've decided to, for the first time in my life, run a weightlifting program. I decided that I was thinking too much and confusing myself by self-programming. To that end, I'm going to try the Catalyst Atheletes OTM (on the minute) cycle.

Here's a link:
http://www.catalystathletics.com/olympic-weightlifting-training-program/54/On-The-Minute-Cycle/

I've been doing some similar training recently and I really loved it for technical consistency. Luckily for me, after I spent so long learning a specific & odd style for the Snatch, I decided to flip it and go back to what's more conventional (so I have to relearn everything! :( )

I will be running the above program with some modifications to better tailor it to my own weaknesses. (I think modifications are crucial to a general program, you just need to be smart about it.)

This is how my progress will be shared - With a picture of my daily tracking whiteboard! And occasional videos (though I don't have any for the past week!)

Bottom right corner has the weights I'm using as working maxes going into the program. As you can see, I'm taking it really easy on squats (otherwise I'd have 315 BS & ~250 FS)

So...

Week 1 went pretty well. Weights were generally programmed really light so no major problems. Only miss was that 185 CJ, which was a dumb mistake on the Clean. 

Just so terminology is clear:

OTM: On the minute. This is the trick with this program. The idea is to have a timer running and perform the lift every minute. I've found this to be super advantageous to really get into a good rhythm (and I swear that must be one of the most important things in weightlifting). Also, the movement stays pretty fresh in your mind after every rep, so that helps with technical consistency.

FS: Front Squat

BS: Back Squat

OHS: Overhead Squat

SLDL: Stiff Legged Deadlift

BTNSN: Push Press: Behind the neck Snatch grip push press

SN: Snatch

C&J: Clean and Jerk

Moving forward, I'm going to change the board to show reps x sets. I've always used sets x reps, but it's confusing because the program is written reps x sets...xD 

I'm hoping this program goes well. I'm really behind on my goals!