This year has been a transformation for me. Not just my strength has changed, but my technique and mindset as well. At the beginning of the year I focused on completely changing my technique. A few months later I was happy with the progress but was very frustrated with the lack of strength I had. I felt like I would never be able to get back to where I was last year before I got ill.
1st competition: January
At the beginning of the year,聽I competed at Crystal Palace, hitting a 57kg snatch and 67kg clean & jerk. I made two out of six of my lifts on this day, and even though my technique was improved, I didn鈥檛 feel like myself 鈥� weightlifting felt really foreign to me.
After this, I decided to programme myself. I needed to be in control of my training and listen to my body more. With the help of daily coaching from my teammates, I programmed myself for two weeks. It may not sound like very long鈥� but, wow, two weeks can give you a LOT of progress.
2nd competition: February
I then competed at BU and hit a 64kg snatch and 74kg clean & jerk 鈥�聽a聽combined聽improvement of 14kg in 2 weeks. This gave me the confidence to carry on and focus on the聽British University & College Championships which were聽just a couple of months away.
3rd competition: April
I had six聽weeks of training in the lead up to the Championships.聽It was very up and down 鈥�聽some good weeks, some tougher weeks, but that鈥檚 just how it goes.聽I was planning on competing in the higher weight class but I made a last-minute decision to drop down to the聽lower weight class. With the help of fellow BU weightlifter Noorin Gulam (in fact, a lot of help), I cut nearly 6kg in five聽days.聽
However, I weighed in 0.5kg too heavy. I was frustrated but the judges still allowed me to lift and after hours of cutting water weight (through having saunas聽and hot baths),聽I hit a 62kg snatch and 76kg clean and jerk. Overall, I hit聽5/6 of my lifts on the day聽which I was pleased with.
I鈥檓 now looking forward to getting back on the national stage for my last year of U20s in September and will hopefully hit a 70kg snatch again.
June 2019
