Guest guest Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 Eddie, Three of the four finalists in the 105 kilo Weightlifting competition in Beijing disprove your thesis. Big upper bodies. The Turkish lifter had exceptionally big guns and all three sported serious shoulder development and big arms. These guys looked very strong. However, Aramnau, the guy with the narrowest, smallest shoulders, least muscular arms, whose head actually looked a bit too big for his body, is the guy who went 6 for 6, making each lift look easy because of superb technique, breaking the Olympic record on his second attempt in both lifts and then the world record in each of his third attempts. Mike Burgener and I have been trying to get 24 Hr Funkimess to offer Weightlifting for over 20 years. They finally started a program. They had a guy managing it who knew nothing about Weightlifting. He went out and bought five top of the line York barbell sets and platforms. He placed them in 5 clubs that had no one qualified to coach Weightlifting. One of the clubs that got a $4000 York weight set and platform was the Vista club, about 2 miles from Rancho Buena Vista High school where Mike Burgener was the strength coach with 8 Weightlifting stations. Not only that, the Vista club had no one qualified to coach. They put the platform in a corner next to the aerobics area and placed a yellow ribbon around it, like a crime scene. The 400 lb York weight set and bar sat in the manager's office gathering dust for a couple of years. All the kids went to the school to get coached by Mike. Meanwhile, 40 miles down the coast at the Pt Loma club I had at least 40 athletes that wanted me to coach them in weightlifting. We had the space, a built in clientèle and a coach. Club management was all for it. Instead of working with me, the genius responsible for purchasing the York equipment offered to let supply the equipment and he'd lease me the space for only $3.00 a square foot! Brilliant. Remember he had $4000 wrth of equipment 40 miles up the coast gathering dust. I passed. That was 10 or 11 years ago and there still is next to no Weightlifting or Crossfit type training in 24 hr Foolishness. Mike won't have anything to do with them. I only go there because my membership costs me $10 a month and management and the new generation of personal trainers appreciate me and treat me with respect. But at the corporate level they never got it and now that they are owned by an insurance company they probably never will. Whatever you can think of to grow Weightlifting, we've already thought it, usually 20 years ago. It's weird. I've never, in 40 years, turned an athlete on to Weightlifting who didn't love it, yet no health club will embrace it. I'm afraid we need a Weightlifting Pro Tour. W.G. Ubermensch Sports Consultancy San Diego,CA > > I second 's opinion on Olympic Weightlifting. I started out in this when I was a kid because as a young boy I thought it was the most athletic expression of strength I had ever seen. After nearly forty years as a power lifter I still feel the same about Olympic Lifting. > > In my opinion the reasons we have never been really competitive in the sport are pretty basic. First Olympic lifting requires a coach. Say what you want but most people need a coach to learn the lifts especially if you start as an adult. Second comes the hesitance of training facilities both in schools and other training areas to teach or allow training for the sport. I believe this is because of the liability involved in the sport. Let's face it throwing weight over your head that can crush you is dangerous. Third and finally is the lack of physical payoff in the sport. Power lifting (to some extent) and body building provide lifters with the type of physiques that have become popular today except for the behemoths in the upper weight classes of power lifting. Olympic lifters often have exaggerated development in the lower body while the upper body often appears much less developed. This last reason is not so much today. One only has to look at the trim and muscular physiques of some of the heavy weights in the current Olympics to see that they have not neglected their upper torsos. > > I'm sure that the lack of popularity in this country for this sport has many other reasons but it saddens me every Olympics to see these fine athletes on the podium without one competitive American. Indeed I wish we could find a way to remedy this. A good start would be to implement training in the middle schools and high schools through College. Secondly, would be to implement this training in gyms and fitness centers across the United States. A well known gym chain like Golds or 24 hour fitness could go a long way in promoting the popularity of this sport. We need to make a National commitment to make sure in the coming years that a few Americans bring home medals in this great sport. Yes, I know the chances of that happening are very slim but one can hope. > > Eddie White > Blue Springs, Mo > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 Eddie, Three of the four finalists in the 105 kilo Weightlifting competition in Beijing disprove your thesis. Big upper bodies. The Turkish lifter had exceptionally big guns and all three sported serious shoulder development and big arms. These guys looked very strong. However, Aramnau, the guy with the narrowest, smallest shoulders, least muscular arms, whose head actually looked a bit too big for his body, is the guy who went 6 for 6, making each lift look easy because of superb technique, breaking the Olympic record on his second attempt in both lifts and then the world record in each of his third attempts. Mike Burgener and I have been trying to get 24 Hr Funkimess to offer Weightlifting for over 20 years. They finally started a program. They had a guy managing it who knew nothing about Weightlifting. He went out and bought five top of the line York barbell sets and platforms. He placed them in 5 clubs that had no one qualified to coach Weightlifting. One of the clubs that got a $4000 York weight set and platform was the Vista club, about 2 miles from Rancho Buena Vista High school where Mike Burgener was the strength coach with 8 Weightlifting stations. Not only that, the Vista club had no one qualified to coach. They put the platform in a corner next to the aerobics area and placed a yellow ribbon around it, like a crime scene. The 400 lb York weight set and bar sat in the manager's office gathering dust for a couple of years. All the kids went to the school to get coached by Mike. Meanwhile, 40 miles down the coast at the Pt Loma club I had at least 40 athletes that wanted me to coach them in weightlifting. We had the space, a built in clientèle and a coach. Club management was all for it. Instead of working with me, the genius responsible for purchasing the York equipment offered to let supply the equipment and he'd lease me the space for only $3.00 a square foot! Brilliant. Remember he had $4000 wrth of equipment 40 miles up the coast gathering dust. I passed. That was 10 or 11 years ago and there still is next to no Weightlifting or Crossfit type training in 24 hr Foolishness. Mike won't have anything to do with them. I only go there because my membership costs me $10 a month and management and the new generation of personal trainers appreciate me and treat me with respect. But at the corporate level they never got it and now that they are owned by an insurance company they probably never will. Whatever you can think of to grow Weightlifting, we've already thought it, usually 20 years ago. It's weird. I've never, in 40 years, turned an athlete on to Weightlifting who didn't love it, yet no health club will embrace it. I'm afraid we need a Weightlifting Pro Tour. W.G. Ubermensch Sports Consultancy San Diego,CA > > I second 's opinion on Olympic Weightlifting. I started out in this when I was a kid because as a young boy I thought it was the most athletic expression of strength I had ever seen. After nearly forty years as a power lifter I still feel the same about Olympic Lifting. > > In my opinion the reasons we have never been really competitive in the sport are pretty basic. First Olympic lifting requires a coach. Say what you want but most people need a coach to learn the lifts especially if you start as an adult. Second comes the hesitance of training facilities both in schools and other training areas to teach or allow training for the sport. I believe this is because of the liability involved in the sport. Let's face it throwing weight over your head that can crush you is dangerous. Third and finally is the lack of physical payoff in the sport. Power lifting (to some extent) and body building provide lifters with the type of physiques that have become popular today except for the behemoths in the upper weight classes of power lifting. Olympic lifters often have exaggerated development in the lower body while the upper body often appears much less developed. This last reason is not so much today. One only has to look at the trim and muscular physiques of some of the heavy weights in the current Olympics to see that they have not neglected their upper torsos. > > I'm sure that the lack of popularity in this country for this sport has many other reasons but it saddens me every Olympics to see these fine athletes on the podium without one competitive American. Indeed I wish we could find a way to remedy this. A good start would be to implement training in the middle schools and high schools through College. Secondly, would be to implement this training in gyms and fitness centers across the United States. A well known gym chain like Golds or 24 hour fitness could go a long way in promoting the popularity of this sport. We need to make a National commitment to make sure in the coming years that a few Americans bring home medals in this great sport. Yes, I know the chances of that happening are very slim but one can hope. > > Eddie White > Blue Springs, Mo > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 One video is worth a thousand words. Go here: http://www.nbcolympics.com/weightlifting/index.html On the right hand side it says: Exclusive Weightlifting Video Under that is the 105 kilo class video link. Enjoy, W.G. Ubermensch Sports Consultancy San Diego, CA > > > > I second 's opinion on Olympic Weightlifting. I started out in > this when I was a kid because as a young boy I thought it was the most > athletic expression of strength I had ever seen. After nearly forty > years as a power lifter I still feel the same about Olympic Lifting. > > > > In my opinion the reasons we have never been really competitive in > the sport are pretty basic. First Olympic lifting requires a coach. > Say what you want but most people need a coach to learn the lifts > especially if you start as an adult. Second comes the hesitance of > training facilities both in schools and other training areas to teach > or allow training for the sport. I believe this is because of the > liability involved in the sport. Let's face it throwing weight over > your head that can crush you is dangerous. Third and finally is the > lack of physical payoff in the sport. Power lifting (to some extent) > and body building provide lifters with the type of physiques that have > become popular today except for the behemoths in the upper weight > classes of power lifting. Olympic lifters often have exaggerated > development in the lower body while the upper body often appears much > less developed. This last reason is not so much today. One only has > to look at the trim and muscular physiques of some of the heavy > weights in the current Olympics to see that they have not neglected > their upper torsos. > > > > I'm sure that the lack of popularity in this country for this sport > has many other reasons but it saddens me every Olympics to see these > fine athletes on the podium without one competitive American. Indeed > I wish we could find a way to remedy this. A good start would be to > implement training in the middle schools and high schools through > College. Secondly, would be to implement this training in gyms and > fitness centers across the United States. A well known gym chain like > Golds or 24 hour fitness could go a long way in promoting the > popularity of this sport. We need to make a National commitment to > make sure in the coming years that a few Americans bring home medals > in this great sport. Yes, I know the chances of that happening are > very slim but one can hope. > > > > Eddie White > > Blue Springs, Mo > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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