How To Master Weightlifting - Sarah Davies
Hello and welcome to The Progress Theory where we discuss how to implement scientific principles to optimise human performance. I’m Dr Phil Price and on today’s episode we have British Olympic weightlifter and World and European silver medalist, Sarah Davies.
Weightlifting is a technical sport which requires years of dedication to master the skill of the lifts and develop the necessary strength to move heavy loads quickly. In this episode, Sarah Davies takes us through her weightlifting journey which has culminated in her competing at the Tokyo Olympics, and achieving silver medals at both the 2021 European and World championships. And she is just getting started. She details what training has led to her success, how to break down weightlifting skill learning, and how going to a max lift every-time you train may be negatively affecting your development.
But before we get to the show I want to thank our sponsors, who the show would not be possible without.
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Thank you to HMN24 – fuelling human potential and optimising everyday human performance and well-being.
First of all – HMN24 is not a sports supplement company. I’ve seen sport supplements be used as a method to improve performance in the gym and at a certain sport. However, these supplements, like a pre-workout, are often used on top of a lifestyle which does not provide the foundation needed for optimal performance. There’s no point taking pre-workout supplements if your sleep, hydration, and nutrition is an unstructured mess. I’m convinced that a large percentage of injuries are often caused, not because training was poor, but because a poor lifestyle foundation increased the athlete’s susceptibility to injury. Sports supplements are often used to plaster the cracks in poor lifestyle habits, which only causes more future problems.
And this is where HMN24 is different. The product range at HMN24 not only helps improve your foundation; it optimises it. The HMN24 products are designed to fit around your circadian rhythms, from the moment you wake up, to key moments in the day when you need optimal focus, to getting the best sleep at night, there’s a product to optimise each phase of the day.
I can’t recommend enough the “live on form’ pack, consisting of the products Rise, flow and pre-sleep. Rise is for the morning and is my absolute favourite. It tastes amazing. Rise contains caffeine for increased morning alertness (though not a huge amount of caffeine, which is sooo much better for avoiding gastro-intestinal distress), electrolytes from coconut and watermelon powder to increase hydration after the previous night’s sleep, and B-vitamins, to ensure you ready to win the morning. I’m not a fan of long-winded morning routines. I wake up, have my Rise with ice, and get straight to writing, and I’ve seen such an improvement in getting into deep work.
By the time 2pm comes around the effects of caffeine from Rise has worn off, but I don’t want to take more caffeine because that’s going to interrupt getting to sleep later on. This is where Flow is perfect. It’s a caffeine-free nootropic, perfect for improving alertness and concentration during that mid-afternoon slump. And finally, I take pre-sleep just before bed, which is a comprehensive night-time complex, formulated to help support well-being and fortify the body against the fatigue and stress that come with leading a performance-driven lifestyle.
I can’t recommend these products enough they are a game changer for human performance. And also, while you’re at their website hmn24.com check out there plant protein, which is incredible for smoothies post-training, and their website includes articles and an awesome podcast for those wanting to learn more about human performance. You can even check out the episode I did with them, I thoroughly enjoyed that chat I had with Phi Learney, Co-founder of HMN24, and it has led to an awesome collaboration with HMN24 supporting The Progress Theory. If you want a 10% discount on all HMN24 products either head to their website via the links in the Instagram bios of @theProgresstheory or my personal Instagram @drphilprice or use the code PHILPRICE at checkout.
As always, follow The Progress Theory on Instagram and Youtube, head to our website theprogresstheory.com, and check out all of our other episodes. So here is, Sarah Davies
In this episode, we discuss:
- 1:06 - Introduction to Sarah Davies and competing at Tokyo and the World Champs
- 4:40 - What it’s like competing on the world stage
- 5:55 - Getting into Weightlifting
- 9:34 - Starting out in weightlifting
- 15:50 - Reaching the International level in Weightlifting
- 18:40 - Training for the Olympics
- 24:32 - What is a rolling start?
- 27:14 - Can focus and intent affect different aspects of training?
- 29:21 - Sarah’s approach when needing to work on new skills
- 31:53 - Sarah’s current focus
- 35:33 - Common mistakes in weightlifting
- 39:44 - Issues with going to max lifts too often
- 42:20 - How to contact Sarah
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Mentioned in this episode:
The Science of Hybrid Training
It was originally thought that you could not effectively train for both strength and endurance at the same time because they required different adaptations which were not compatible with each other. It was claimed that ‘an interference effect’, blunted the adaptations for strength if you simultaneously trained for endurance. However, recent developments in sports which require both strength and endurance have really challenged this idea, with hybrid athletes producing impressive performances in both strength and endurance sports together. This had led scientists, coaches, and athletes to rethink what is humanly possible and suggests the interference effect is not as influential as originally thought. But what is a hybrid athlete? What is the ‘interference effect’? And how can we maximize our training to improve at the same time our strength and endurance performance? In this book, Dr Phil Price provides insight into the misconceptions surrounding strength and endurance training by distilling the past 50 years of research and drawing on the conversations he had with great scientists, coaches, and athletes on The Progress Theory podcast. This book is essential reading for hybrid athletes and coaches who are looking to understand the key training variables and their effect on the simultaneous development of strength and endurance performance.
