Mental aspects of Olympic Lifts

There are a number of things that drew me to CrossFit initially, but one of them is the focus on olympic movements. As a former college athlete (football) I know the importance of these functional movements. Yeah, after college I got lazy and slipped from doing most of these movements, except squats. Now (years later) I am back at it, and it's fun. I have a few issues to work around, one of which prevents me from squatting heavy, but I can deadlift heavy and do most of the other movements.

One of the things I like most about these complex, functional movements is the mental aspect required to perform the lift, effectively and properly. You really have to learn the movement, understand it, imprint it into your brain. Even something like deadlifts, which when done properly "looks" like a pretty simple movement. Not. Every time I get up to the bar, I am thinking, "sit down, explode (not snap), shoot hips!" During the rest between sets I am picturing the form in my head, replaying it, thinking of a time I had good form. But, there's a fine line where you need to stop thinking and just do it. I mean, don't think too much! That's where repetition, practice and coaching come into play. Get up to the bar, grab hold, and nail it..hoping the technique has been planted firmly enough into your head that your body takes you through the movement based on instinct! Fascinating. Contrast that to sitting on a pec deck or leg curl machine (ack), there's very little mental acuity needed there.

So today I set out to do what I am calling a clean progression:

Hang Squat Clean
5-5-5-5-5
Power Clean
3-3-3-3-3
Power Clean and Jerk/Push Press
1-1-1-1-1

The thought was to start on the hang squat cleans and work on the pull up, and shooting the arms through. Then, add a little weight and start from the floor, squat a little if needed. Finally, ramping up to a clean and jerk. Now, I CrossFit at the corporate gym where I work. It's not the ideal environment for serious weightlifting, let alone CrossFit, but it's my only option right now. The reason I mention that is how my mental ability was tested with all the "funny business" going on all around. I have a small area near a couple flat benches where I do the oly lifts. I can usually get it done with no one around, today someone pulls up to one of the benches, very close to me. At that point I was doing the singles, with the jerk. I eventually asked her to move, and she was pretty cool about it. I really just had to create a little bubble around me, shut out the external "noise" and focus on the movement. I have much less practice time doing cleans than say, deadlifts. And, it's much more complex.

At the end of the WOD, I was truly very pleased. Here's the weights:

Hang Squat Clean (focusing more on form than pounds)
95-135-135-155-155
Power Clean
185-185-205-205-215
Clean and Jerk (jerk needs work, not enough confidence to commit to full split, used more pressing strength)
215-215-215-220-225

The cleans were coming up strong on the last round of singles, I wasn't quite as steady on the jerk. I wish I had a better facility, and one with bumper plates. It sure would be nice to just drop it!

Rock on.