My visit to Coffee's Gym PT. 2

This second part of my visit will focus on events and people that took place and who I met during my visit.

Training:
First day when I got to Coffee's gym I was greeted by an old man named Juan Sepulveda aka The King. He's a masters lifter who at one time snatched more than 300lbs and clean n jerked 385lbs. At 63 he can snatch close to 100kgs and clean n jerks 300lbs. That's very good considering his age.

We squatted that day and jerked off the blocks and The King push jerked 125kgs. It was a special moment. The influence that one person has in an environment can be game changing. One person does make a difference!!! The next day I was able to clean n jerk 135 and clean 140 several times. Power snatched 90kgs and felt very strong this weekend. The King went crazy and did 8 reps of 110kg power cleans off the bocks. 8 reps!!!!!! That's crazy!!! He called his workout Crossfit 'WHO?'
The King calls a 'WHO?'  on someone who he feels needs to step up their performance.

The power of Facebook is real. For the first time I met people who before I only knew on Facebook. I met Shelly, Mary, John Coffee, Edward Baker, and Beth. Before going to Coffee's they were only faces I met on Facebook. It was awesome meeting them in person.

In all, training at Coffee's gym was an amazing experience. There is so much Weightlifting history there. Mr. Coffee has trained and developed so many Weightlifters and even though those lifters aren't competing anymore they still come back to train. This place just keeps bringing you back. What's great is feeling welcomed by all those lifters.

I definitely felt the Southern hospitality. 

Coach Cano

My visit to Coffee's Gym PT. 1

Hi everyone.
I traveled from California to Coffee's gym in Marietta Georgia (30min north from Atlanta) this past weekend to meet some friends but more importantly to train there. Training in different gym environments gives you an opportunity to perform at a higher level because you are not familiar with the people, energy and environment. Coffee's gym gave me an EXPLOSIVE energy and I didn't disappoint!!!


Coffee's Gym
John Coffee is a legendary Weightlifting coach out of Georgia. In the early 1990's his gym was the dominant Women's Weightlifting gym for years. Many girls came to John Coffee and still do and turn out to be amazing lifters. One of Coffee's gym most successful Weightlifters is Robin Goad who became IWF World Champion in 1994. This is a very rare achievement in the USA. She is just one of numerous lifters who have come out of Coffee's gym with huge success.

When you enter the gym it's divided into 2 sections:  one section is for fitness/bodybuilding which is generally seen throughout all gyms and the second section is entirely dedicated to Olympic Weightlifting. When you enter you notice the walls full of placards of achievements that go from top to bottom. Then there are framed pictures of both national lifters and international lifters all over the walls.

In one corner lies John Coffee's coaching couch where he spends a lot of time coaching...and napping. Around Mr. Coffee are endless newspapers and magazines and kinda looks like a bomb went off. Some people are just special like that.

Coffee's gym has so many lifters from different age ranges from junior lifters, senior lifters and many masters lifters. But don't be fooled, all these lifters are taking their training serious!!!! You just don't walk into Coffee's gym haphazardly!! You are there for a purpose!!!! 

I stated my training with the one and only Mr. Juan Sepulveda aka THE KING!!! IF you don't know who THE KING is let me tell you something about him. At 63 years old, he can snatch 100kgs, clean and jerk 300lbs and created his own Crossfit workout called Crossfit 'WHO?' It's 8 reps of 100kg power cleans. I saw it in person and said, 'WOW!!!!" I couldn't believe it. He was going to another planet!!!!

I'll write more about it next time in PT. 2 of my Coffee's gym experience. I'll introduce you to some of the people I met there and other details not mentioned here. 

Till next time,

Coach Cano