5 Rounds:
10 Hang Power Cleans
10 Front Squats
5 Handstand Push Ups
Cori and Liz participated in the Nor Cal 40’s event yesterday at TJ’s Gym in Novato. It was a great competition with crushing programming. TJ’s put on a truly great competition.
Words can hardly describe how proud I am of both of these gals for going out and putting themselves through this ringer. Liz had an epic battle with two barbells in a couplet of deadlifts and jerks. The whole place was on their feet cheering and screaming for her to finish. Right near the end, as form was failing and reps were being missed, Liz busted her chin with the bar and bit her tongue open pretty good. She remained focused and determined despite a nice amount of blood coming out of her mouth and finished a the task that had her shaking in her boots for the last couple days. Seeing her push through what seemed to be an impossible task brought tears of joy to my eyes when she pulled it off and finished.
To be quite frank, Cori has a history of being a real head case when it comes to competition. She puts tons of pressure on herself, gets way too anxious, and has made mental errors that have prevented her form achieving her true potnetial. Yesterday was a great breakthrough for her that she was able to remain fairly calm and focused allowing her perform to her true potnetial. Cori ended up placing 5th in the competition against a pack of FIERCE 40 year old women in a fiercly intense competition! I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome, and I know that she will go forward with a new found confidence in her abilities.
It was a great day for me as a coach to watch two of my atheltes out-perform themselves and mature in their abilities. Both Liz and Cori learned things about temselves as athletes that are invaluable to their continued success, and that is the biggest reason that I believe all of you should compete in some kind of event. There is no substitution for competing in terms of what you can learn about yourself and your abilities. I will be pushing many of you big time to go out and compete in this event next year. Grow some balls and do it! You will learn more about yourself, and you will benefit from the experience more than you can imagine. There is something to be said for putting yourself in an unknowable and uncomfortable situation and challenging yourself to accomplish a task that you are unsure about.
