10/27/13 USAW Weightlifting Certification Course at CrossFit Oahu!

-Written by KC

KC, Mel Miyamoto, and Chris at CrossFit Oahu

United States of America Weightlifting Trainer Certification Course

I spent the weekend with Six-Hole on Oahu at the USAW Trainer course! This was NOT a CrossFit course, on the contrary, it was what the United States uses to train coaches in Weightlifting (Olympic style...NOT bodybuilding they will make that distinction very clear). The course was taught by Mel Miyamoto a really sweet guy who been in the Hawaii Weightlifting scene for longer than all of us, in fact he's good friends with Olympian Tommy Kono who also still lives on Oahu. It was great to be taught the material by Mel, a pretty straight forward guy who's become accepting of us 'CrossFitters' and even mentioned that CrossFit has drawn interest into the sport of Weightlifting. It was great to learn from the source, USAW! With my certification (YES I passed the written exam!) I'll be starting a USAW Sanctioned Weightlifting Club at AllStar. (For adults, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, for kids who are ready and want to learn this sport) This will something very different than lot's of you are used to. The goal of the club training will be to attend the Weightlifting meets held 3 times a year on Oahu, and twice a year on Maui, or as much as possible. THIS IS A GREAT DEVELOPMENT FOR OUR BOX! Olympic Weightlifting is one-third a part of what CrossFit is, and having a specialty club devoted to lifting will only support our CrossFitters and grow our Community and AllStar culture. I'm pretty excited about it!!! Six-Hole (Chris Matute) also attended this trainer course and has been doing some private coaching for me and some AllStar Athletes. We've got a plan in the works for a 3 month long Weightlifting Program that would start in December-Feb coached by USAW Certified Coach Chris...to get ready for the next Weightlifting Meet in February. This will NOT be CrossFit, it will be a separate program available to our members, for a separate cost. More details on this program to come! Let me know if you're interested so I can be certain to include you in the information loop.

An added bonus to the weekend was that the course was held at CrossFit Oahu and I got to see in person their recently renovated facitliy!!! ITS JUST AWESOME! I felt like it wasn't even a renovation, it felt like a BRAND SPANKING NEW PLACE! LOVE LOVE LOVE the colors, the layout, the BIG ASS CEILING FANS(literally that's their name), and the fancy bathrooms and showers. Top notch all the way! I'm very proud of Bryant Powers in his partner Courtney they and their staff did a fantastic job! Please visit the next time your on Oahu!

Much of the course was lecture, but the greatest learning for me is the performance sections. LOVED working with Kilo plates....mostly because I had no idea how much weight was on my bar! It's easy to not attach to the number when you don't know what the number is! 100# Snatch felt light! The lifting platforms were awesome, Eleiko bars were a pleasure, and Kilo plates fun! And yes, behind Six-Hole in the picture above is a Pukie the Clown photo booth board:) CFO's got humor to.

I try to convince people this but now thank goodness it's confirmed. Lifting weight is just a good if not better that all the isolated 'core' movements on stability balls or mats. Duuuh! It was part of our lecture series at USAW!

After I took the test and said goodbye to my class and Mel....I convinced Tiffany Bove to train with me! What a great way to end the weekend with a good, hard, WOD! Thanks Tiffany you ROCK! And thanks Sean for staying open for us!

Workout of the Day

Lift lots of weight as perfect as possible. Take USAW Weightlifting test. And see below: