The Amazing Cara Heads



Cara, the reigning 69 kg US national champion and current alternate for Beijing, keeps training like she means it. Her 95 kg snatch and 122 kg c&J at the Trials were two of the best lifts I've seen all year. This is a double-bodyweight (146 kg) set for 10, gentle readers. You can hear her training parter and fellow Olympic team member, Kendrick Farris, giving her a little support in the background. She hits a set of 135 kg/10 right before the PR set.

Cara and Kendrick train at LSU-Shreveport, under the direction of Kyle Pierce. Now, their training plan differs a bit from many other typical weightlifting training programs in that they squat sets of 10 on a regular cycle. Thus, they squat a higher volume on a regular basis than many other competitive weightlifters. For example, Melanie Roach (coached by John Thrush) never squats more than triples. But her current training plan has her squatting every day of the week. She may even squat and front squat in the same training session. There are many different coaching philosophies on how to apply volume/intensity/frequency for the competitive weightlifter, particularly with squatting.

BTW, Melanie went 6/6 at a meet in Canada yesterday with a 77/80/82 and 100/105/110, for a 192 total.

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