Weightlifting…. Is that like where you lift something over your head?

Weightlifting…. Is that like where you lift something over your head?
By Andrew Stuart

In the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London there were countless nations who showed their strongest athletes off to the world in the Olympic Weightlifting event.  Some nations had as many as two or more in the different weight classes, the United States had only three total lifters. Of the three (Kendrick Farris, Holley Mangold, and Sarah Robles), there was only one male (Kendrick Farris).  As I watched Kendrick lift at four a.m. our time, I started to realize something and asked myself a simple question. Why do we suck at Olympic Weightlifting? Now out of all kinds of respect to Kendrick, Holley, and Sarah you guys are awesome and getting any place within the world is a feat that is very unlikely for many people myself included.  However, the fact of the matter is that the reason that we suck is because the sport of weightlifting is unknown to the common man.  Most individuals don’t understand the sport. “Weightlifting… is that like where you lift weights” Is a common question that I receive on a daily basis?

Most people don’t know the sport exists or that it is even a sport. Yes, America, lifting weights is a sport and an Olympic event stop basing your life off of Jersey Shore and get educated! Most people haven’t even tried it, and if they did then it came from some ass backwards fat high school lineman coach who programmed it in their high school football teams training program, where they had no technical development and no safety whatsoever.  Trust me I was there last year, you can ask any high school football player at DCHS if they will ever do cleans after they leave high school and the answer I am pretty sure will be hell no!  The problem is exposure.  Most individuals only see weightlifting negatively, it’s too painful, and it’s too dangerous, or they just simply association it with a bad experience in previous athletics. Most recently, weightlifting has gained some notoriety amongst my generation and the younger generation from such televised events as The Crossfit Games.  However, it is a small step in the right direction, but how can we improve the sport?

We can improve our coaching, by producing more high quality coaches, kids are not being properly taught technique at an early age.  Beginning to learn technique is very beneficial at a very young age, the old Eastern Block mindset was that kids between the ages of six to thirteen were exposed to all different kinds or athletic events to become more athletic and well rounded. They were able to learn the techniques of different athletic event and become more athletic through general physical preparation. (i.e. a kid goes through gymnastics at an early age and learns how to generate power, and force to do a back flip, and how use stability to do a handstand which later in life helps him clean and jerk 100 kilos). In the United States, we normally focus our kids on either one sport or allow them to get on the computer, Xbox, Wii, or PS3 all day.  Exposure to different athletic events will help the youth develop neurologically.  This is highly important because like all other strength-speed sports the neural pathways is the driving force and if youths do now learn this at a young age they will have a greater struggle once they reach adolescents and young adulthood.

In short, the United States will probably continue on the path it’s on regardless of what I put down here.  This is probably in large part due to the problems that big money sports (football, basketball, baseball, etc.) poor quality of coaching, and the social mindset viewed upon weightlifting have on the sport and its development.  In the words of Chad Smith “maybe the solution is this for Americans… be genetically gifted, find a mate with similar traits have kids and tell them to forget about the millions of dollars and fame they would receive and compete in an obscure sport that will only bring personal satisfaction and no monetary success.” Until we change the mindset and expose a younger generation to the sport, we might just have to follow Chad’s advice.