140/160

For those of you who have read some of my other blogs you will know that I am big on setting goals.  I recently reached a goal I had set for my self over a year ago.  140kg snatch and a 160kg clean and jerk for a 300kg total.

140/160 was my outcome goal.  I also set smaller goals to help me reach that goal; which where to get a weightlifting bar, find a training partner, get sponsored, find a coach, and compete at a national level.  So after I set these goals I first went to the Arnold Classic (which was a the national championship in 2012) and competed against people who where far my superior as an 85kg lifter.  I snatched 130 and clean and jerked 153 at that meet for a 10th place finish.  A few months latter I got a chance to try out for Glenn Pendlay's new Muscle Driver Team! If I got on the team it would help me to get to train with a Pendlay weightlifting bar, have great training partners, get a coach, and get sponsored.  It sounded to good to be true.

Coach Pendlay ended up inviting me to the team about a week after the meet.  So we moved out to the Charlotte area so I could train full time with Team MDUSA.  6 months later I finally met my outcome goal of 140/160 as a 77kg lifter (a weight-class lighter).  How all these things worked themselves into place was a blessing.  Even though there were times when not getting a Snatch PR in over a year was discouraging, I focused on the getting the process goals completed which led to an achieved goal.

Now it is time for me to set new goals

Outcome Goals

1. Clean and Jerk 170kg
2. Compete at an International Level 
3. Total over 304kg in competition

Process Goals

1. Get soft tissue work done at least once a month
2. Compete with more 77kg lifters in training like Chris Gute and Jake Rubash 
3. Get at least a 290 kg total on Max Out Fridays!

Thanks for reading

Stay Strong,

James Tatum