Weightlifting Weekly

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MythBusters Page 8

Coaches Corner Page 10

The Life Of Steiner: The Hero of Beijing Page 6

World Championships 2019 Review Page 2

2019 IWF World Championships Review Mens 55kg

Women 71kg

Mens 96kg (Snatch)

The highlight of day 1 came in the men’s 55KG category, where North Korea’s Om Chul Yun swept all 3 gold medals on his way to setting a new World Record in the clean & jerk and the overall total, winning his 5th World Championship.

Making her debut at the senior world championships at age 20, Kate Nye swept the women’s 71 kg division. She became the youngest U.S. women’s world weightlifting champion, earning gold in the snatch (112 kg.), clean & jerk (136 kg.) and total (248 kg.).

Her snatch of 112 kg. broke five records: junior world, senior Pan American, junior Pan American, senior American and junior American, in her final year of junior eligibility. Her total of 248 kg also set an American record.

The snatch portion of the 96kg A session brought drama that changed the entire course of the competition. Tian Tao opened with 175kg. He proceeded to miss the weight on his first and second attempt.

However, just like in Rio 2018, he jumped to 180kg and was successful on his third attempt to stay in the competition.

Om Chul Yun celebrates Image:IWF.net

Om started strong making all 3 attempts in the snatch and finishing with 128KG in the lift.

After opening with a conservative 155KG clean & jerk, he jumped to 163KG only to miss the lift. The problem turned out to be that he needed more weight, as he came back to make 166KG on third attempt for a triple bodyweight lift that represented a new World Record in clean and jerk and overall total (294KG).

Tian Tao standing a 218kg Clean. Image:IWF.net

Nye Catches 112kg Snatch. Image:IWF.net

After this performance at the world championships, Kate Nye is definitely one to watch out for in the future, especially at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020.

Following Tao, Rostami was called to the platform for an opening attempt at 180kg. He was the last athlete to enter the competition, and as such, then there had previously been changes to weight declarations from other athletes who had already taken attempts. Before taking the platform, there appeared to be confusion from the officiating staff,

Rostami seemed ready to take his first attempt, but another athlete was called. This waiting period seemed to have cooled off any momentum that Rostami had and he was unable to complete a successful lift. After his third miss and elimination from the competition, he yelled in Arabic at the members of jury.

Missed attempts by Tao and Rostami opened the door for a relatively unknown, Anton Pliesnoi of Georgia. He won the gold medal in the snatch with 181kg, narrowly surpassing Tao who managed to lift 180kg for the silver medal. While Colombia’s Rivas lifted 179kg to win the bronze in the snatch.

Mens 96kg (Clean & Jerk)

Tao then called for 230kg, and proceeded to easily make the same weight, which is only one kilogram below his current world record.

Kazakhstan’s Ilya Illin finished the event in 13th place overall.

He was successful on three of his six attempts and finished with a 363KG total. Team Canada was represented in the A session by 2019 Pan american Games silver medalist Boady Santavy who lifted a total of 380KG and finished in 6th place overall. Team USA was represented in this large weight class by Jason Bonnick, who totaled 347kg and finished in 25th place, along with Nathan Damron who totaled 352kg and finished in 20th place.

Womens 81kg The women’s -81kg competition started strong before the A session group of athletes even took the platform. For context, all of the snatch medals were won by women that competed in the B session.

The gold medal snatch of 111kg was completed by Jieun Lee of South Korea.

Meso Hosanna celebrates. Imgae:IWF.net

In the Clean & Jerk, it turned into a two-man race for the championship between Tao and Elbakh. With one attempt to go for each athlete, Elbakh held a four kilogram lead over Tao. Elbakh went for 230kg on his third attempt, however, came up just short on the jerk.

For the A session, Arthur was successful on two of her three attempts and finished with 106kg. Spain’s Lidia Valentin, the 2017 and 2018 World Champion in this category, was successful with 108kg, and Darya Naumava of Belarus lifted 109kg. Venezuela’s Dayana Chirinos and Colombia’s Leidy Solis were credited with 105kg and 106kg respectively in the competition.

Solis snathing her way to Gold. Image:IWF.net

In the clean & jerk, Valentin successfully lifted all three of her attempts and finished with 134kg. Her successful 134kg third attempt put her into first place. Arthur missed her first attempt with 132kg due to a right elbow press out. Team USA coaches tried to challenge the referees’ decision, but were unsuccessful in doing so. She then increased her second attempt to 134kg and made it effortlessly. For her third, Arthur made 139kg to put her into second place overall with three athletes to go.

Naumava had two opportunities to surpass Arthur with her 138kg in the clean & jerk. However, she was unsuccessful on both attempts and Arthur secured a minimum position of fourth place. It was then Aracelis’ turn, she needed 139kg to surpass Arthur, yet was also unable to do so. Naumava and Aracelis’ misses locked Arthur into the medal podium.

2019 IWF World Championships Review

Lasha Talakhadze Sets New World Record for Heaviest Total of All Time

The Georgian Man successfully snatching 220kg for a new world record in the 109+kg cat

2019 IWF World Championships Review

tegory. (Source barbend.com)

King Lasha & the 109kg+ Men Georgia’s Lasha Talakhadze broke his own world records in the men’s over-109 kilograms snatch, clean and jerk and total as the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships ended in explosive fashion at the 2019 IWF world championships.

The 25-year-old did enough to defend his snatch and clean and jerk titles with his second attempts, at 215kg and 255kg respectively, and he then went about breaking his global marks set at his home European Championships in Batumi in April.

437kghaving come sixth in the snatch with 192kg and third in the clean and jerk with 245kg.

He declined the opportunity to take his final attempt in the clean and jerk.

The third-place finisher in the snatch was Algeria’s Walid Bidani with 200kg, securing his country’s first and only medal of the 10-day event.

He came fifth overall with 431kg, which was one kilogram less than Belarus’ Eduard Ziaziulin managed.

He finished on 220kg in the snatch and 264kg in the clean and jerk, bettering his previous marks of 218kg and 260kg.

That gave the Rio 2016 gold medallist and now four-time world champion a total of 484kg, six kilograms more than he managed earlier this year.

Lasha’s Performance Summary •

Snatch: 220kg (WR)

•

Clean & Jerk: 264kg (WR)

•

Total: 484kg (All Time World Record)

The Other Guys Armenia’s Gor Minasyan had to settle for all three silver medals, ending on 212kg in the snatch and 248kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 460kg.

Compatriot Ruben Aleksanyan was the overall bronze medallist with

Written by Daniel Etchells

The Life of Steiner: The Hero of ‘08 Beijing

Steiner catching a snatch in the Beijing Olympics. Image: Olympic.org

Steiner’s Background Few athletes have a story as inspiring as Matthias Steiner. Diagnosed with diabetes on his 18th birthday, Steiner was told to but went on to become a four-time Austrian National Champion in the +105kg category. He competed as an Austrian from 1998 to 2005 in European Championships, World Championships, and the 2004 Olympics held in Athens.

In 2005 he married Susann Steiner, a German citizen, and after a complex , he left the federation and applied for German citizenship.

While going through the process of obtaining German citizenship, his wife died in a tragic car accident.

“It’s hard to describe,” he said. “You think you’ve got your life figured out, I was completely focused on the Olympic Games, my wife was studying, she had her career in front of her.

Then, one day it’s just over.”

Faced with the decision to quit weightlifting or carry on, Steiner says he realized that quitting would not change his situation or undo the fact

that his wife had passed, and decided to continue training.

In 2008, he became a German citizen and won gold in the +105kg category at the European Championships in Italy, where he was the only lifter to snatch over 200kg (440.9lb). (He won silver overall with a total of 446kg (983.26lb), one kilogram away from first place.)

Olympic Games Beijing 2008 He’s best known for his performance at the 2008 Olympic games. Having always promised his wife that he would win an Olympic medal, he completed two snatches at 198kg and 203kg, but failed his third attempt of 207kg.When warming up for the clean & jerk, he was unable to catch 235kg. That was when his coach, Frank Mantek, told him that he needed to lift 246kg.

He protested. “I just tried 235kg and couldn’t do it. I don’t have enough air left for it!” Mantek answered that it didn’t matter, he had to go out.

There was no time for failure. Steinman failed his first attempt. But his coach pressed him to add more weight: a 248kg lift.

“You realize that if you make this, you have a (bronze) medal?”

In life you only have two or three, maybe only one chance, and you have to grab it. That’s the difference between a very good athlete, and a champion.

Steiner walked to the podium and nailed the lift.

But then, Russian weightlifter Evgeny Chigishev clean & jerked 250kg, leaving a gap of 9kg between their totals. So Steiner decided to attempt a 258kg clean & jerk, his heaviest ever.

“I just wanted to win gold,” Steiner said in an interview. “I had only one try. I thought of the words of my coach, Frank Mantek. When I first came to Germany, he told me the very best athletes are distinguished by one thing. They compete a lot of times but they only have a few where they have one try which will decide everything and that can change their life. In life you only have two or three, maybe only one chance, and you have to grab it. That’s the difference between a very good athlete, and a champion.”

What followed is one of the most emotional performances in weightlifting history. Steiner went on to hit a 258kg clean & jerk to secure a 461kg total and claim gold.A bittersweet victory, Steiner admitted that he felt alone on the podium and wanted his wife to be there. That’s why he held up a picture of the late Mrs. Steiner when he accepted the gold medal.

Steiner gets gold with pic of wife. Image: imgur.com

Life after lifting After leaving competition, he decided that a bodyweight of 150kg (330lb) was not something that is sustainable in everyday life. He claims he lost a hundred pounds in just one year and he still lifts recreationally – he can now snatch about 120kg (265lb) and squat about 200kg (440lb).

Today, Steiner is an accomplished author, motivational speaker, and TV host. In 2016, he wrote “Das Steiner Prinzip “(The Steiner Principles) about his weight loss journey. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be available in English, but you can see the principles laid out here. In short: •

Burn more calories than you consume

•

Keep your blood sugar steady

•

Eat regularly

•

Avoid refined sugar and processed foods

•

Try extra hard not to combine fat with sugar.

He makes it clear that he learned many of his principles while managing his diabetes, but points out that they are also “true of a healthy person.”

Matthias Steiner lives with his wife and child in Germany, and can still be seen snatching at his home.

Slim Steiner Image: commons.wikimedia.com Written by Nick English

Myth Busters with Aaron Horschig

Dr Horschig. Image: SquatUniversity.com

This week we are joined by the Dr. Aaron Horschig from Squat University. Aaron is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, CSCS, USA Weightlifting coach and athlete. You may know Aaron from YouTube or Instagram where he can be seen coaching some of the top athletes in the world back from injury to compete at National, International and Olympic level.

Aaron is here to help us break down some of the most common myths, fallacies and misunderstandings heard in gyms around the world with regards to the king of all exercises; THE SQUAT!

Is squatting too deep bad for your knees?

Weightlifter squatting ATG. Image: Youtube.com

The squat is a staple exercise in almost every resistance-training program. Today athletes of all ages and skill levels use the barbell squat to gain strength and power. However, a good amount of controversy still exists on its safety.

There are many opinions when it comes to optimal squat depth. Some experts claim squatting as deep as possible (ass-to-grass) is the only way to perform the lift. Others believe deep squats are harmful to the knees and should never be performed. So who should we believe?

Science has actually shown that squatting deep may have a protective effect on our knees by increasing its stability! In 1986 researchers compared knee stability among powerlifters, basketball players, and runners. After a heavy squat workout the powerlifters actually had more stable knees than the basketball players (who just practiced for over an hour) and runners (who just ran 10km). In 1989 another group of researchers were able to show that competitive weightlifters and powerlifters had knee ligaments that were less lax than those who never squatted. Again and again, research has shown that the deep squat is a safe exercise to include in a healthy athlete’s training program.

But when can squatting be harmful for your knees?

Theoretically, most of the damage that the knees would sustain from deep squats would be due to excessive compression forces. Some authorities claim that because deep squats raise compression forces at the knee they cause the meniscus and the cartilage on the backside of the patella to wear away. While an increase in compression would lead to a greater susceptibility for injury, there has been no such cause-andeffect relationship established by science!

If this were true, we would expect to see extreme amounts of arthritis in the knees of weightlifters and powerlifters. Fortunately, this is not the case. There is little evidence of cartilage wear in the knees as a result of long-term weight training.

In fact, elite weightlifters and powerlifters (who sustain loads up to 6x bodyweight to the knee in the bottom of a deep squat) have relatively healthy knees compared to you and me!

Considerations for squatting deep.

Every coach must consider a few things when determining optimal squat depth for an athlete.

Everyone should have the capability to perform a bodyweight squat to full depth, period.

Myth Busters with Aaron Horschig That being said, the depth of the barbell squat should be based on the requirements of an athlete’s sport. A weightlifter for example needs to establish strength in the full depth squat in order to lift the most amount of weight on the competition platform. On the other hand, a barbell ass-to-grass squat is not necessary for a soccer player. He or she can still gain efficient strength and power from a parallel depth squat.

To Conclude...

For athletes with healthy knees, performing the squat to full depth should not cause injury as long as heavy loads are not used excessively.

Proper training programs should employ light, medium and heavy intensity cycles throughout the year in order to lessen any harmful effects of constant heavy loading. Now that you have a deeper understanding of full depth squats, feel free to get that ass to the grass!

Weightlifter squatting ATG. Image: barbend.com

An athlete’s injury history also needs to be taken into account when determining optimal squat depth. Often athletes will ignore pain in their pursuit of performance gains. The phrases “no pain, no gain” and “know the difference between hurt and injured” cannot apply to the weight room. Pain is like the warning light in our car.

The light is indicating something is wrong. Just as ignoring your car’s warning light on will lead to engine problems, pushing through pain in the weight room will lead to injury of our physical body. For this reason, if an athlete is injured and has knee pain, deep squats may not be the best choice. The depth of the squat must be limited to a pain free range if we want to stay healthy and continue to compete injury free.

Squat depth should also be limited if it cannot be performed with good technique. Poor movement only increases our risk for injury. An athlete’s body is like a finely tuned sports car. Constantly driving pedal to the metal and taking aggressive turns will lead the car to break down faster. The same goes for squatting. You can only lift so much weight poorly for so long before your body sustains an injury. Squatting to full depth poorly is a great way to invite injury.

Lu Front Squatting. Image: Hookgrip.com

More from Dr. Aaron Horschig: If you would like to learn more about improving mobility, flexibility, stability, and all other things squatting visit www.squatuniversity.com or visit Aaron’s social media accounts: Instagram: @Squat_University YouTube: Squat University Tik Tok: @SquatUniversity Also, check out Aaron’s book “The Squat Bible” and check his website for tour dates!

Coaches Corner With Sika Strength We are delighted to be joined by two of Irelands most successful weightlifting coaches for this weeks instalment of Coaches Corner: Eoin Murphy (Insta @Gurphling) & Daire Fitzgerald (Insta

Sika Strength Image: Soundcloud.com

2 of the best ways to improve your squat (that nobody ever told you....)

A long time ago in a gym far, far away the bench press used to be the king of the lifts. When asked to inform a gym-illiterate person of your physical prowess after informing them of your current excursions to the gym the following question always followed “How much can you bench?”

Now thankfully we've all moved to the true King of the Lifts, the Back squat!

Step 1: Have a plan So often we talk to people about their squat stagnation problems, they say they haven't hit a PB in months, even years some times. We begin the usual series of questions to figure out what’s wrong, we ask what they've been doing etc. Usually what becomes clear is their program isn't, it's not well defined or worse yet people have a no plan at all!

What tends to happen is people either over simplify or over complicated the program and miss out any necessary changes in variation to progress or lack of consistency through over complication. The vast majority of the time people are squatting 1-3 times a week, which is great.

You have to squat to get better at squatting, but where the problem usually comes in is people are doing the same thing week by week with little change in weight or reps. Very often it's the same 5x5 week by week, 5 sets of 5 reps week by week at the same weight.

Now 5x5 is a great little rep scheme in the middle of our training plan, for 2 weeks or so a challenging 5x5 is great for getting lots of juicy volume but while still using heavy weights. But it's just that, approx 2 weeks in the middle of our training block. If we do this for too long we end up adapting too much to the stimulus and not progress or we start getting fatigued from the volume.

Well okay, not really but among the gym culture the rise of lifters interest in the squat has grown enormously. Before the squat was confined to the likes of Olympic Weightlifters, Powerlifters and Bodybuilders, now we see 1000s of none competitive lifters appreciating the squat in all it's form for it's strength, muscle and power building properties.

Unfortunately the rise in use has not coincided proportionately with the rise in knowledge. Many users are often in the dark about how to improve consistently once the initial beginner gains fade away.

So how do we improve the squat and primarily the back squat?

Planning in key! Image: Eoin Murphy

Coaches Corner With Sika Strength So what do you do? How do you program to keep making gains while not getting fatigued?

We start at the end and work back. For example lets say your max is 200kg and you have no injuries and a clear run at training for the next 8 weeks so we aim for a reasonable 5kg increase of 205kg. So a high level program might look like this at the top sets.

•

Week 8 2x1 190kg, 1x1 197kg, 1x1 205kg

•

Week 7 2x2 190kg

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Week 6 3x3 180kg

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Week 5 6x4 170kg

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Week 4 5x5 160kg

•

Week 3 5x5 150kg

•

Week 2 3x8 130kg

•

Week 1 4x10 120kg

Nothing crazy, no extra specialty bars, however at the same time we’re still adding variation in terms of reps, sets and intensity. Like so often is the case the answers lays somewhere in the middle. We’re not adding unnecessary squat variations but neither are sticking to 5x5 every day.

Write it DOWN! Writing in a notebook ads a sense of weight to our program.

Once you’ve completed you plan what then?

We take a little break for 4-5 weeks or however long you feel is needed, a sort of maintenance phase of moderate sets and reps at a miniature version of the above. For example •

Week 1 3x8 90kg

•

Week 2 4x5 100kg

•

Week 3 5x5 110kg

•

Week 4 4x5 120kg

At this point you should be ready to go again and guess what we’re going to do.

•

Week 8 1x1 210kg…..

You’re goal should be to do the least amount of work for the most amount of gains so if squatting once a week gets you to XXXkg and after a period of maybe 6 months you’ve stagnated

and you have been working hard at the squat, giving it the respect it deserves but no increase is in sight then consider changing what was working to this point. The next logical step is to add an extra day and continue until this ceases to work. Moving beyond where you are now is often a case of repeating what’s gotten you this far (but maybe more of it)

Step 2: Gain some weight!

This article is intended to give you some practical advice and not much works better for your absolute strength then gaining some weight.

Now before we try convince you further we’ll give you a real world example of what gaining some weight. In September of 2014 Eoin’s max was approx. 180kg at 85kg bodyweight, not a bad squat at all but really not where he needed or wanted to be. So Eoin implemented the first step of this article and made a plan with the help of his broken-hipped but well-endowed in the pectoral region friend Paidi Lillis. The plan looked surprisingly similar to the one mentioned in step 1, but along side this Eoin implemented step 2 and gained some weight. Long story short summer of 2015 his squat is went from approx. 185kg at 85kg to 240kg at 100kg bodyweight. Now we’re not recommending gaining 15kg of bodyweight but even 2-3kg over the course of 6 months will help immensely.

Typical weekly groceries. Image: Eoin Murphy

Very often squatters are worried about loosing sight of abs or are even just unaware of what the advantages of gaining weight can have on ones max strength.

Continue over...

Coaches Corner With Sika Strength ctd.

It may not even be about gaining weight in itself and the increase of squat favourable leverages but rather eating some extra calories can have a big effect on your energy day to day in the gym and over the course of several weeks many productive individual sessions will pay off, gathering momentum and carrying you to a new max!

Yeah, we know, crab walks aren’t very fun, no one likes eccentric pistols, and quad Nordics hurt in a way that’s not in anyway fun but we also know that these could be the difference between you squatting for years without falter or you stumbling along for frustrating month without being able to squat let alone squat heavy.

Begin by determining your current daily intake and then proceeding to add no more than 15% of these calories daily when trying to gain weight. So if we’re currently eating 3,000 calories a day, a max of 450cals extra is needed and if you track your intake you’ll know this is easily obtained.

Buying the calories you need for the week is the surest way you'll eat enough and of the right foods!

The psychological benefits of eating more cannot be dismissed either through knowing you’re eating more and knowing you should be getting stronger or from physically seeing yourself grow in the mirror knowing you are stronger!

Of course the physical leverages of your body change as you grow, ranges of motions are adjusting favourable and more muscle will allow for more contractile tissue to produce more power while an increase in the cross sectional area of a muscle indicates a greater potential for strength.

Long story short EAT MORE!

Aaaand stretch Image: Eoin Murphy

BONUS TIP: Stop getting injured!

Finally something I wanted to add but it’s pretty ambiguous and hard to give a general recommendation to everyone but we feel it’s important to add. The last big barrier to many people improving their squat is infuriatingly they’re often out of the game for months. When we’re injured we can’t follow step 1, while step 2 is useless!

More from Sika Strength:

Too often we have tendinitis, back injuries, knee pain and any other number of ailments. The most upsetting part of this for us is that often this injuries are preventable with some proper planning and patience with a heavy dose of boring but powerfully effective assistance exercises.

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