July 25, 2014

taper for olympic weightlifting

This week I'm tapering for my 2nd big weightlifting competition called "the Kevin" which will be held at miller weightlifting in Santa Fe NM. This is the 2nd time I've tapered for Olympic weightlifting. Tapers suck a lot less for weightlifting than they did for triathlon. A lot less!

Both endurance athletes and weightlifters do what's called a taper for big events. Tapering, especially in endurance athletics makes athletes feel like crap. Some of the symptoms of tapering are: Feelings of losing fitness. Sluggishness. Panic that the race or competition is approaching. Grumpiness. Aching muscles and nagging pains. Inability to sleep and feeling constantly tired. These are all normal. Your body has been pushed to its limits for months and now it does not want to stop. That is your mind telling you that you are going to be out of shape in a week. Trust the taper. Tapering is a vital part of the overall training cycle. This allows you to maintain your peak fitness while allowing your muscles to rest and recover.

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