Written by Sam Lower
5 Weeks Out
Hello to All my loyal followers! Just kidding, hi mom! Nationals is quickly approaching, almost to fast. I finally feel healthy so of course I would love a longer training cycle, but I have officially registered for Nationals and ready to go have some fun! I’ve been training the last 10 days at my old stomping grounds, in Daytona Beach, where I was actually first introduced to weightlifting. It was so great to see the old gym and the coaches who first showed me what would be the other love of my life (the hubby is the first 😉 I must say, it was a great mini vacay with my moms surprise 60th, having some training partners for a change, USAW Youth Nationals going on, and of course the beach. One highlight of my training this week was giving 77kg snatch a try, since that was the most I’ve pulled since American Open back in December where I hit 83kg, though I missed it I still felt it again and I didn’t have any pain! Also I clean and jerk 94, again the most I’ve attempted since AO (videos on my IG samlower13)
At Youth Nationals this weekend there were so many Youth records broke and just absolutely amazing to see these young kids and the hopeful future of Weightlifting. Crazy enough it was being held at MY old high school! One of my favorite clans to watch was definitely the Goads, talk about some talent! Sydney Goad, daughter of Robin Goad 2000 Olympian, at just 17 broke the American Youth Record with an 83kg C&J in the 48kg class! If you haven’t checked out the videos from USAW Facebook page, you should definitely check out this young raw talent we have coming out. It was a record number for USAW with over 500 competitors, we’ve never had that number at any age or national event. I feel like it’s growing and finally becoming accepted honestly because the parents are either involved in CrossFit or some sort of S&C and now know what a Snatch and Clean and Jerk is (and know it’s the cool thing to do) rather than before when I was a youth, my mom had zero clue about lifting or what the risk was. I think this record number is only the beginning!-Glitter
Samantha Lower (formerly Turnbull), the 2x American Open Champion (2013 and 2005 and 3x Runner-Up) and multi National Champion on the Youth, Junior, and University level, as well as World University Games athlete based in Austin, TX; where she coaches weightlifting at Dane’s Body Shop. She has been a competitive weightlifter on the national and international level for over 10 years. Samantha was a resident athlete at the Olympic Training Center for two years, and then moving to USA Weightlifting’s High Performance Center for another three. As a 58kg lifter her competition lifts are 83kg in the Snatch and 100kg in Clean and Jerk. Which won her Gold in the C&J at the 2013 Nationals. Facebook, YouTube
