After always having a keen interest in learning the C&J and snatch, I’ve decided to officially undertake the effort of properly learning how to perform them. I have dabbled with the lifts some over the past few weeks, but realizing how lousy I am at assessing any errors I might be making (and thus ingraining bad form/habits) I would much prefer learning to do them the right way.
For a little background, I’ve been powerlifting for the past 4 years and managed to put up some halfway decent raw numbers at my last meet of 500-sq, 375-bench, 545-DL @ 220lb (100kgs for you metric system folks), not that those really translate to anything in OL. I train out of my garage at home and have just about every piece of equipment that I would need (including bumper plates) and would like to continue my training there for obvious rea$on$.
I live in Fairfax County, VA, and I notice a couple of people (dfreezy?) on here live and/or train in the Baltimore area. Do any of you guys know of an OL coach down in Fairfax County? I’ve checked around various websites (mostly found CFers) and noticed a group called Capital Barbell; however, they seem to be clustered in Maryland, which given the horrible traffic in this area would be a hell of a haul for me. Anybody with any info would be a HUGE help to me.
I still train in Baltimore and occasionally in Frederick, MD but live in Bethesda. I would say that Capital Barbell is probably your best bet; I believe their home base is in a Crossfit gym in Arlington. There is actually a platform and bumpers at the Fairfax LifeTime Fitness, but I’m not sure its worth joining just for that. Another option is Supreme Sports in Rockville, MD; the drive isn’t that bad from Fairfax depending on the time of day. There are probably a few Crossfit gyms spread throughout NoVA, but who knows the type of coaching you’ll get there…
[quote]dfreezy wrote:
I still train in Baltimore and occasionally in Frederick, MD but live in Bethesda. I would say that Capital Barbell is probably your best bet; I believe their home base is in a Crossfit gym in Arlington. There is actually a platform and bumpers at the Fairfax LifeTime Fitness, but I’m not sure its worth joining just for that. Another option is Supreme Sports in Rockville, MD; the drive isn’t that bad from Fairfax depending on the time of day. There are probably a few Crossfit gyms spread throughout NoVA, but who knows the type of coaching you’ll get there…[/quote]
Thanks for the info, df. I actually used to be a member of LifeTime as there was a location about 2 miles from my house in Centreville (which is where I live). It was pretty damn expensive for me and my wife’s memberships, and that location was so wussified that deadlifting was a big no-no. I dropped my membership there and joined Olympus Gym in Burke. They actualy had some bumpers and stuff there and had a big guy there who trained a girl for OL. When I put together my garage gym I quit going there and I think they quit lifting there when management changed and I have no idea what their names were to get in touch.
I’d really like to do the training/instruction out of my garage if possible. Do you know of a way I can get in touch with anyone affiliated w/ Capital Barbell? I tried their site and it is set to invited readers only. Again, thanks for the info.
Contact Fred Fialco
I think his phone number is on the USAW website
I also forgot to mention that Primal Fitness is another Crossfit gym in DC that I’ve seen their lifters compete at various local meets
EDIT: Check your PMs novaeer, Mods don’t like emails posted in open threads
I just moved to NoVA. One of the first things I did when I got up here was look for a coach/club so I can learn the oly lifts properly, too.
Check out this site: steadfastfitness.com/weightlifting-club
It has some info on weightlifting groups in the area. You might want to talk to Lance LeTellier. He’s a personal trainer at a place called Maxx Fitness in Annandale - usually people come in at 2:30ish on Tuesdays and Thursdays for oly lifting stuff there. He asks for $20 a training session.
There is/was a spreadsheet on the USAW site that had a pretty useful list of coaches, but I can’t find it now.
Personally, mostly because I’m poor, I’ve been making the drive to Bethesda to learn the lifts with the Capital Barbell folks - they work out at the Crossfit Bethesda (not Arlington) and from what I can tell Fred’s a pretty good coach. They have bumpers and a set of jerk boxes, no platforms. Also, it’s $5 for non-Crossfitters each session.
EDIT: Typing in your own HTML doesn’t seem to work as I’d expected.
Thanks for the info. Thanks to dfreezy’s help I was able to get hooked up with a place up in Frederick, Maryland. I’ve been going there for the past three weeks, but only on Sundays merely due to the distance (about an hour on Sunday morning would equal about 2 hours+ on a weekday because of traffic). It’s a great group of guys (and ladies) and I’ve seen some pretty good improvements in form from just those three sessions.