I didn’t get a chance to talk about some other things in yesterday’s post — my post was long enough and it was getting late. Here is a little list of stuff I wanted to mention.

Pronouncing My Name
If anybody saw the webcast, they had all 11 lifters walk out and introduced us one by one. The announcer said “Justin Las-check”, and I was right next to the table so I said, “It’s Lah-sick.” He smiled and said they’d get it figured out in a minute. I guess not. But anyway, it’s pronounced “Lah-sick”. I’d rather have it said “Las-check” than “Lay-sick”, though.

First Jerk
Using a lower eye gaze definitely made the bar collide into my jaw/chin. When it happened, it almost made me bite a chunk out of my tongue (the back right portion). My tongue was swollen for the rest of the day. I do not recommend this.

Crass
I met Rachel briefly. She was wandering around looking for something unimportant (I’m kidding, Rachel). I watched her lift, and I hope I can get as solid a rack position in the snatch as she has sometime soon. I think the new rule is that you aren’t allowed to ask eating questions until you’re lifting more than her. Correct me if I’m wrong, Rachel, but you are qualified for the world team with Sunday’s performance, yes?

Problem Areas
My primary problems with the Olympic lifts are technical. I don’t rack heavy snatches solid and my jerk used to be a mess. I think that getting more experience/practice with the lifts will be the first step into solidifying these things, and I think I’m on the right path with the cues I have implemented lately. There may be a couple drills that will help the snatch situation. As for the jerk, I recently changed my grip, my elbow position, and how I dip/drive. The dip/drive has been the hardest to reconfigure, but I think I did pretty well with it at the meet, especially on the third attempt (which was the most important). The bar moving back at the rack of the jerk is a new development, and I haven’t bothered spending time to figure out the mechanics behind it yet.

“The Face” Is Hard To Do
I think I’ll need to have a tutorial on how to make — what I guess is being referred to as — “the 70’s Big face”. I took a picture with Ben, and it looks like he’s doing more of a kissy face. Maybe he was trying to spread love to all of his adoring fans.