Category: Articles I Like

What To Wear in Olympic Weightlifting Competitions

I think we’re incredibly lucky in olympic weightlifting that we do not have to buy singlets or equipment from specific manufacturers like the lifters in some powerlifting federations.  Looking at those pictures, there is just a sea of similar looking singlets and belts.

USAW and the IWF are much more liberal about what you can wear.  Other than when I competed in the Masters World Cup and proudly wore a USA singlet, I have always preferred sparkles and a bit of glam with my spandex.  In the video below I’m wearing one of my favorites with actual sequins (courtesy of Glamlets who I believe are no longer making singlets).  The Two Doctors who were narrating the session enjoyed the sparklies, too.

But while the pattern of the singlet isn’t specified, there are in fact many rules about what can and cannot be worn, especially in and around the elbows.  Judges have to be able to see if you re-bend your elbows or if you even lockout in the first place.

The rules have undergone a fairly large change in the last two years to accommodate religious and cultural needs for modesty.   But while some rules have changed, some are still fairly strict.

There is an excellent powerpoint presentation HERE that is available as a download from the IWF site.  Lots of good examples of what is and isn’t legal in competition (keeping in mind that these rules may be laxly enforced at the local level).

You can wear a short sleeved t-shirt or a long sleeved unitard but you cannot wear a long sleeved t-shirt.  Socks can now touch your knee sleeves, as can the bottom of your singlet, but neither can actually cover the knee sleeves nor the knees.

Prosthetic limbs can be worn, but they are considered part of your body and so count toward your weight at weigh-in.

No cell phones on the platform.  Period.

Sponsor’s logos are limited to specific dimensions on the singlet.  If you are lucky enough to have a sponsor.

My favorite part is that tiaras are apparently considered part of your head and are allowed in competition.  I might actually do this some day.

iwf headcover rules

 

The Importance of Wrist Strength and Mobility

The number one complaint I hear from people when they first try the olympic lifts or even front squatting, is that it’s hard to get into/maintain positions because they are limited by their wrist flexibility and strength.

As a result, their front squats collapse because they can’t keep their elbows up comfortably and they can’t rack a clean quickly or efficiently and lose the bar in front.

I’ve never had a good answer to correct this.  I’ve Googled some videos on wrist stretches but some of them seemed more like something from Vlad Tepes’ playbook than actionable advice.

Then a link to the latest article on Jen Sinkler’s website came to my attention (thank you most observant husband!).  Entitled, “Rock Your Wrist Strength”, it includes an outstanding video by Ilya Igolnikov, MD, a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor and athlete.

Check it out NOW!!!!! Here is the Link: Rock Your Wrist Strength

But listen to what he says – do these movements slowly and in a controlled fashion.  Don’t bro out and hurt yourself by loading your wrists heavily when you first begin.  Set a realistic time frame for improvement (months, not days).  And do use these as part of your warm-up

[for those who are wondering, Vlad Tepes was also known as Vlad the Impaler, the historical person upon whom Dracula is based.  “The Impaler” is simply the coolest sobriquet in the history of mankind.  You can read about him here]

The IWF Video, “Lift The World”

I admit to a tendency to cry at Hallmark commercials.  And to always root for the underdog.  So maybe I was the exact target audience this video meant to capture.

But I loved this film.  It’s 49 minutes long and features both the sublime (Lu! Who it turns out has the sweetest smile) and the heartwarming ( a Tunisian team that talks about being a family).  It’s even got a wonderful and very clearly explained technical section on how weightlifting meets work.  There are women and men, adults and children.  Something to inspire everybody.

The cinematography is beautiful and there are many quotable moments.  But I’ll leave you with the ending (sorry, spoiler alert!) which made me all weepy.

“So why Is weightlifting special?  Is it special at all? Being probably the most simple sport in the world?  Are the people of weightlifting special?  Of course they are, each and every single one of them.  Because they’re all different.  You can be tall, short, big, small, girl or boy, rich, poor, Chinese or Mexican.  But you can be sure of one thing.  You will fit in.  Weightlifting will accept you just as you are.  It will only ask for your passion and your hard work.”

The link to the full video is HERE or you can watch it in the window above.  Enjoy!

Want to be a Better Lifter?

You do if you’re reading this past the title.

Wanna know how to be better?  Lift every day.  The more work you do, the stronger you will be.  Yes, some of that “strength” will come from not-very-heavy technique work and some will come from heavy singles and some will come from accessory work.  But you will get better overall not by going to the gym 3 times per week, but by perfecting some element of your craft every day.  Mobility and foam roller counts, too and sometimes that’s all your body can handle that day.  But you should actually do some of that icky stretching and rolling on your non-gym days, don’t just rest.

I thought about this concept when my husband showed me this awesome article by Neil Gaiman.  He was asked by an aspiring writer how they could become better.  His response here is priceless.  Substitute lifter and you’ll understand the gist.

On the top of a distant mountain there grows a tree with silver leaves. Once every year, at dawn on April 30th, this tree blossoms, with five flowers, and over the next hour each blossom becomes a berry, first a green berry, then black, then golden….

More, Not Less

I’ll admit that I might be a touch biased since a) I”m mentioned in the podcast and b) I think the man is some sort of barbell whisperer genius, but this is a really important message for all my fellow masters weightlifters.  There is an excellent new book out (you know which one I’m talking about) which emphasizes maybe a little too much taking it easy, resting the old joints, etc.

This ain’t that.  Not even a little.

This podcast encourages you – yes, you, my 57yo friend who started weightlifting last year and you my 50yo former powerlifter mighty mouse who is just now starting to really focus on olympic weightlifting – to do more than the naysayers would have you believe.  To lift every day and to lift to big numbers.

Listen and tell me what you think.  Personally, it’s the embodiment of what I believe in my heart is possible for us all if only we let it happen.

Listen to it HERE

Training When Sick

My beloved husband is on a four day fishing trip in another state.  This is fun for him, lonely for me.  The only upside to his being away is that when he’s away, my two girls come down and sleep with me.  It’s like a giant snugglefest of mommy love.

However, snuggling with a 10 year old means catching said 10 year old’s cold.  Yesterday I woke up with a scratchy throat and a mild cough.  Today I’ve got a more productive cough, a scratchy throat that feels like I rubbed Eleiko competition gnurling on my vocal cords and the headache from hell.

Everyone asks me (likely because they know what I”m going to say and they enjoy mocking me) if I’m going to train when I feel like this.

My answer is….. hell yes.

Personally, I feel better after I get blood flowing, joints more limber and have something to focus upon other than the liquid cement that is mucus running through my sinuses.

It’s not dissimilar to operating.  When I had morning sickness with both pregnancies the only time I literally did not sense the stomach roiling was when I was so focused on operating that the world just fell away. That degree of focus is exactly what I experience when lifting, so it makes me feel better.

I might try to avoid the gym so that I keep my pesky germs within my family unit, and just train at home.  If I go to the box, I’ll try to wipe down the bar.

But yeah, I’m going to train if it’s only a cold.  Viri don’t know if you’re doing behind the neck presses and frankly I don’t think a couple of hours of bar work will suppress my immune system enough to make anything worse.  I doubt I’ll PR my lifts, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t get some useful work done.

When would I not train?  Fever is kind of a deal breaker for me – that is your body’s way of asking for more fluid and some rest, not dehydration and speeding up an already elevated heart rate.  Vomiting and diarrhea are also big no-train signals, mostly because, well, yuck.  I admit that I am not hardcore enough to puke in a chalk bucket and finish the rest of my set.

Injury is a slightly different matter, but instead of commenting on that right now, I will link you to this most awesomest of articles from Matt Foreman at Catalyst Athletics.

Now grab a tissue and go train.

 

 

A Variation on the Snatch Grip Back Extension

I found this right after my post from yesterday.  It’s a great variation on the snatch grip back extension that I did on a GHD yesterday.  This one requires no special equipment, just a friend to hold your ankles.  This is the great Apti in the video, so I’d probably start with much smaller weights 🙂   It was also recommended to me to try this exercise with dumbells or kettlebells instead of a bar for an extra challenge.

Lydia Valentin, my superhero

There are many men I admire in weightlifting. Donny Shankle, Kendrick Farris, Pyrros Dimas.

But there’s nothing like having somebody with whom you can actually identify. Not only the fact that she is as strong as a grizzly, but the fact that a) she is a she, not a he, b) is a girly-girl, c) is fun and irreverent on international platforms (she has winked at the judges, made a heart sign after a gold medaling lift).

For those of you who don’t know her, may I introduce Lydia Valentin, Spanish olympian and the 2014 European champion in the 75kg class. She wears a lot of pink in training- see this “day in a life video” here:

She is gorgeous and medals in international competition with teased blonde hair and thick black eyeliner. As a mascara addict, this is important to me. I am now the proud owner of a (pink) Lydia tank top from Hookgrip.com .  Someday I will lift PRs in this tank because she is that inspiring to me.

In addition to just being cool, gorgeous and stylish, she is also a perfect lifter from a technical standpoint. Here are her snatch and clean and jerk from the 2014 European championships held this month in Tel Aviv, Israel, the c&j in both real time and slomo. In slomo you can see how precisely she uses the bar whip both in the bottom of her clean to come out of the hole and at the top to reset for the jerk.

A Beginner’s Guide to Weightlifting Meets

I’m not a big fan of re-inventing the wheel, so let me first direct you to an excellent article by Jacob Tsypkin published here :

http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2013/08/07/a-guide-to-your-1st-weightlifting-meet-part-1/

But I wanted to add a few thoughts of my own.

1) Here are the men’s weight classes: 

  • 56 kg (123 lb)
  • 62 kg (137 lb)
  • 69 kg (152 lb)
  • 77 kg (170 lb)
  • 85 kg (187 lb)
  • 94 kg (207 lb)
  • 105 kg (231 lb)
  • and over 105 kg;

And here are the women’s weight classes:

  • 48 kg (106 lb)
  • 53 kg (117 lb)
  • 58 kg (128 lb)
  • 63 kg (139 lb)
  • 69 kg (152 lb)
  • 75 kg (165 lb)
  • and over 75 kg.

That means to be in a class you have to be at that exact weight or lower.  Now, for my weight class it says 117lbs but ACTUALLY since it’s officially in kg, the top of my class is really 116.6.  Seems petty, but if you’re trying to cut water weight to get there that almost half a pound is important.  You don’t want to be the absolute lightest lifter in the weight class above.  Know your weight class and don’t do anything stupid to get into a lower weight class because you’ll just lose a lot of strength in the process.

When you are a masters lifter, there is an additional set of classes, i.e. age.  The classes are 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, etc. by 5 year increments.  Your age group is determined by what your age would be IN DECEMBER OF THE COMPETITION YEAR now how old you will actually be at competition.  Say your birthday is July and you will be 40.  If you compete in May (when your driver’s license and mama say you are 39) you will still compete in the 40-44yo division because by December of that year you will be 40.

2) Absolutely, positively, bring your own chalk.  At both meets I have attended, chalk was in short, short supply.  If you like using it to lift, you’ll need it for your warm-ups.  Bring your own (but share)

3) If you’re used to the imperial system of weights (pounds, stone, etc) then bring a giant grid of the conversion of pounds to kgs.  You’re going to be nervous and you’ll just want to glance at the grid to when you’re giving your attempts or even when calculating warm-ups.

4) this may be TMI for the menfolk, but if you’re female, bring sanitary pads because stress urinary incontinence happens (i.e. peeing a little with heavy lifts) to some women.

5) a pen, paper and calculator for filling out forms, re-calculating lifts into kgs if you lose your chart grid, doodling to calm your brain, getting numbers and emails of cool people you meet.

6) women should go visit GlamletAthletics.com for  a cool singlet 🙂

7) bring extra EVERYTHING  socks, tape, band-aids, sports bras, drinks, tissues.  Wear pants that will fit over your weightlifting shoes without having to take them on and off.

Later I’ll try to explain how the order of attempts go, why you may be following yourself in 2 minutes and why you should always stick around until the end of your session 🙂