[Espi]

Since 1998 or so I've been lifting twice or three times a week.
Without proper feedback on exactly HOW to lift and what programs to use, I've not really seen much progress.. after all, who ever cares to tell you that you shouldn't warm up to failure if you want to get strong. Or cares to show you the little details that make the difference between a technically correct lift or a lousy one.

Not all gym owners or gym staff are like this.. which is why 12 weeks ago, I've joined another gym and signed up for 6 months hands-on coaching by a real (Olympic) trainer. The first idea was to get the details for the deadlift right and maybe the cleans as well. Never did I dream to do any more technical stuff like snatches or pushpresses.

My new trainer thought differently and after just 1 week got me to do just those 2 lifts: (hang) cleans and (hang) snatches.
Shock #1 : all those hang cleans I thought to be doing 'right' were dead wrong.

So these past weeks I've been trying to unlearn all the wrong stuff with the most difficult one being that I need to keep the bar close to the body until way higher than I thought plus getting underneath it into a squat. NOT easy I tell ya!

It's also pretty obvious now why lifters wear socks.. bloodied shins were the first results. However.. when looking in the mirror yesterday, I noticed one other wound. Bruised bones right where the barbell is resting for a front squat or where you bring it to when doing a clean. It just looked like I was bitten by a giant vampire. Hence the name of the log.

To tell you guys the truth.. I'm far from strong and I'm also far from agile. Yet, there seems to be this Oly bug (vampire) that bit me and it'd be really really really fun if the weights used would go to a decent level for my age. And who knows, if I ever acquire proper balancing skills, even do a meet?

Needless to say Jill and tkinsley were and are quite inspirational to me.