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!
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