Reinventing the Gwen

So, do I go up a weight class? Go back down a weight class? Stay the same? Keep my natural hair color?

Many athletes face these questions each competition season- to continously go up a weight class or stubbornly continue to cut weight.

In my case...

My lifting has been going incredibly well, with even more potential to improve. It begs me to ask the question-- How much is attributed to weight gain?

To some extent, weighing more will let you lift more. Equally powerful is the absence of cutting weight and your body's ability to recover. For me, I think this is a bigger factor in performance improvement.

Aside from weight gain, there are confounding factors in this performance improvement such as:

1. Fixing fundamental technical problem

2. Increased number of work outs

3. Increased loading and intensity

4. Consequently, improved leg strength and increased total potential

5. Have not been rear-ended by an automobile recently (no joke, my car was a magnet for careless drivers!! The bright yellow GA Tech sticker is my rear bumper's guardian angel.)

2-4 are affected by recovery capacity and, hence, weight cutting. Additionally, technique can be affected by cutting weight: depending on how your body loses weight, your center of gravity can shift noticeably when you descend from your training weight to competition weight. 1-3 are also all Ivan's expert coaching.

Still, it bugs me to think that fat does not lift weights, and it also bugs me to think of how gaunt I look as a 53.

Thinking positively

The more important conclusion is that my lifting is far from plateaued. I just need more work at higher intensity. That's it.

Everytime Ivan and I have trained with a national team or traveled to learn from a reknowned coach, we've been given essentially the same advice across the board --- "more work". And, ohh by the way, "more work" means an S-load more work, it means training harder than you ever imagined. I think I finally get it now.

Like many non-fulltime athletes, the only difference between me and someone at a training center is that I have to work 40+hours a week**, which does challenge number of workouts and recovery time. That being said, I will outlift and persevere over my competition.

**I actually like my job ;).