Testing Day

Next Saturday me, and my class, will go back to traditional Snatch vo2, 15:15, so today I thought it would be good to take our 10 minute snatch test, with our newly assigned weights, as a baseline for the next test.

14kg

Meg 263
Tracy 246

12kg

Sabina 190
Mina 230



Interesting......you always learn something new when you test. If you don't already test for time, at least twice a year, you should! Snatches, swings, presses, get-ups, whatever! Testing against the clock and "all out" helps you map out future workouts and set new goals based on you first performance. Testing also helps you explore "testing strategies", which is just as, if not more, important that the actual number of reps you do.

So what did I learn from my 10 minute 14kg snatch test?

First let me say that I was very surprised I only did 246 reps. I purposely did not watch Meg because I didn't want any influence of her test to affect my strategy....speaking of strategy....

I had none....oops! I didn't go "all out". I don't know what I was thinking until it was over and I had time to reflect on it. I seemed to have picked a cruising speed....kind of.....I started out with 12/12 and stayed with that rep count until about halfway before I started trying different combinations of reps.....that was maybe a mistake..."trying" new rep combinations. Mark had asked me if I wanted him to give me my count every minute or so and I said no. Why not? I don't know. Would it have helped? I don't think it would have made a difference, but now I'll never know.

I think one mistake I made was I never had a goal number. Yes, I did ask Meg her final count, but it really didn't register that maybe I should do a bit of math before I started, so I could figure out some kind of pace based on her outcome.

I went into this "test" with the mindset that it was only a baseline.....and that's what I got!

A baseline of 10 continuous minutes snatching the 14kg with no real urgency, and not really putting myself on the line. I should have gone as fast and hard as I could, burned out, put the bell down, picked it up, fast and hard, whatever! It was only a test for God's sake! I should have collapsed when I was done!

Next time, lol!

Congratulations Meg! Meg tested her 10 minute 12kg snatch basically one year ago and had just about the same number of snatches! Huge improvement, unbelievable! (I was there so it has to be believed!) We both did the same test with the 16kg this past Dec., 210 for her, 211 for me, and she learned a bunch from that experience that she brought into this one. She told me that the one thing she was better prepared for was the transitions from L to R.

Congratulations Sabina! Good God, probably the most admirable performance of the morning! Sabina has only, ever, snatched the 12kg maybe a dozen times....ever! She regularly started training a Max based workout these past 4 months with the 8kg and the 10kg, but had never done anywhere near high volume snatches w/12kg. I was counting her reps and she easily did 100 in the first 5 minutes, only to slow down slightly to finish just under 200! Sabina's goal was to not put the bell down for the entire 10 minutes, and she never put that bell down! This was nothing short of amazing!

Congratulations Mina! 230....TWO HUNDRED THIRTY? Mina started training regularly with me a few months ago and joined my Max class just two months ago. Mina has used the 20lber, the 10kg and the 12kg for Max, but has never completed 80 sets of 8...yet! Her form has improved greatly thanks to, #1, training regularly, and #2, Mina is smart enough to book some time with Mark a few times a month to specifically work on her technique. Mina is standing next to me in the video and you can hear the excitement in her voice at the end when she heard her count....again, 230! Her goal was also to not put the bell down and was greatly inspired by watching Sabina the previous 10 minutes.

Wasn't that fun?