MAJOR CHANGES coming to the World of Weightlifting in 2018 !!!

The Sport of Olympic Weightlifting is on the verge of making monumental and sweeping changes in the coming Months. Changes the likes have not been seen since the introduction of woman into the Olympics in 2000. Bellow I delve deeper into what has lead to this, and give my insight into what likely changes I see taking place.

While most of the Weightlifting world wait in anticipation of the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships set to begin next week in Anaheim, a handful of delegates have been behind closed doors deciding the fate of our sport.

Those handful of delegates are part of the Weightlifting Working Group of Olympic Results and Information services, or ORIS for short. They have been tasked with deciding on the new Olympic Qualification systems, Competition format including event field size as well as the introduction of new body-weight categories, which is a major change.

I digress. Let’s investigate why these changes are going to take place and what led up to this.

Chief reasons are that the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C) is effectively reprimanding the International Weightlifting Federation (I.W.F) for the number of positive doping cases from previous Olympic Games (2008 and 2012) and are in search of alternate solutions to avoid such incidents reoccurring in the future.

 

Sadly, at those Games there were no less than 56 Positive results for performance enhancing Drugs. This was a huge concern for the IOC and decision to enforce new regulations was a must. As a result, they threatened the IWF with expulsion from the Olympics all together unless they could clean up their act. To further reiterate their stance, the IOC decided to reduce the overall number of competitors from 260, down to 196, as well as eliminating one male body-weight category. They used the ruse that by reducing the number of men’s body-weight divisions from 8 down to 7: it would bring about further gender equality as both Men and Women would now have 7 Body-weight divisions. But everyone knows that this was effectively a slap on the wrist from the IOC to the IWF to make sure they realize the full extent of their predicament. Which is simple: Clean up your sport, or you are out of the Olympic Games.

So what are these changes going to be? First and foremost, they have to decide on which men’s body-weight category to cut. I have spoke with someone who is a member of this committee, and all they could tell me, was that there will be all new body-weight categories, and only one athlete per Nation will be allowed per medal event. Basically meaning that China can’t double up the lighter divisions with two medal contenders. They have also reduced the number of athletes per flight to 14, effectively eliminating the "B" session from the Olympics. However, what I found most surprising, was that they are seriously considering adding a new lift into the competition format. YES, a completely NEW LIFT in competition for Weightlifting.

Bellow are my thought on what I feel the new body-weight categories could be. This is by no means a certainty, and I am merely speculating here. But I can see the new categories looking similar to below;

	Men's Current: (2017)	Men's Olympic (2020)
1	56 kg (123 lbs)	58 kg (127 lbs)
2	62 kg (137 lbs)	66 kg (145 lbs)
3	69 kg (152 lbs)	75 kg (170)
4	77 kg ( 170 lbs)	86 kg (189 lbs)
5	85 kg (187 lbs)	98 kg (215 lbs)
6	94 kg (207 lbs)	111 kg (244 lbs)
7	105 kg (231 lbs)	111 kg + (244 lbs+)
8	105 + kg (231 lbs +)
	Woman's Current: (2017)	Woman's Olympic (2020)
1	48 kg (106 lbs)	50 kg (110 lbs)
2	53 kg (117 lbs)	56 kg (123 lbs)
3	58 kg (128 lbs)	62 kg (137 lbs)
4	63 kg ( 139 lbs)	69 kg (152 lbs)
5	69 kg (152 lbs)	78 kg (171 lbs)
6	75 kg (165 lbs)	90 kg (198 lbs)
7	90 kg (198 lbs)	90 kg + (198 lbs +)
8	90 + (198 lbs +)

Now on to the real game changer. A possible third lift in competition. What do I think they could/would/should include?

Up until the late 80’s the sport already had three lifts. The Snatch, the Clean and Jerk, and the Press. Below is an example of the Press in competition. 

The Press was eventually eliminated in favor of the two lifts we currently have today, the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. I think the general consensus was that the Press was no longer a Power Movement, but a strength movement more akin to the Sport of Powerlifting.

With that said, I do not see them bringing in a discipline that mimics or encroaches on the sport of Powerlifting. We are not going to see a deadlift or squat anytime soon in Olympic Weightlifting. Weightlifting is about power and generating explosive force, not a strength movement. They need to find a movement that is technical, and explosive, but neither the snatch or Clean and Jerk.

Now I know I will take some flack for this from certain circles, but has anyone ever consider a “thruster”? Yes, I said it, THRUSTER!!!

Or more precisely, a Clean directly into a Push Press (Thruster). We have already had a PRESS in competition before, so why not add the more athletic Thruster into the mix. I also think it would be a great nod to Crossfit’s influence and impact on the Sport of Olympic Weightlifting over the last 15 years.

The competition format would be first the Snatch, followed by the Clean into Push Press, and finally the Clean and Jerk, with the combination of all three lifts equaling your Total lifted. The Winner would be the athlete whom lifted the combined most weight for all three lifts.

Now that’s something to ponder over. The committee meets on the 25-26^th of November to make their final recommendations to the IWF. With the World Championships taking place in Anaheim USA the following week, I do not see them making any announcements until the new year.

You can however be certain that in the new year there will be major, and monumental announcements in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting.

And now, we wait with bated breath… What do you think the third lift will be?

GENDER EQUALITY, DRUGS & the OLYMPIC DILEMMA.

GENDER EQUALITY, DRUGS & the OLYMPIC DILEMMA.

I remember the day it was announced that woman would be allowed to compete in the Sport of Weightlifting. Up until that point, weightlifting had been exclusively a Male only sport for close on 100 years. I was excited, hey I was a teenager competing on an all male sport. Of course I was looking forward to having some female competitors around the training hall.

Then I remember the announcement of the weight categories, and the subsequent changing of the men’s’ weight categories. At that stage I was a 64 kg lifter. That was (and still is) my natural division. The men’s division was split right down the middle, creating a 62, and 69 kg class. In the 20 years since, I have bounced back and forth between both, never quite being comfortable cutting to 62kg, but also never having gone heavier that 67kg. Which means I was literally stuck between weight classes.

My first International where Woman competed alongside men was the 1997 World Junior Weightlifting Championships Cape Town. I remember how awesome it was to have lifters from all over the world, both men and woman at the same tournament. I distinctly remember being rather enamored by one female US lifter. She was strikingly beautiful. I had never before seen such a beautiful woman lifting weights. Back then it was still a very new sport for woman. There was still a stigma attached to the sport, and very few were brave enough to venture into the mans world of weightlifting.

 

A few weeks ago the International Olympic committee decided to drop one men’s category from the Weightlifting event at the 2020 Olympics. Bring for the first time an equal number of bodyweight categories for both men and woman to 7 each. This marks an end to the female lifters meteoric rise to the top of a sport once dominated by men. The number of woman now competing in the sport has surpassed that of men. And let’s face it, the general public are more likely to watch an attractive woman lifting weights than a muscle bound man. Weightlifting social media is dominated by attractive woman lifting heavy weight. The old adage that lifting weights will make a woman more muscular and less attractive has been completely obliterated by the rise of beautiful, talented, and immensely strong athletes in the likes of Mattie Rogers.  (pictured below)

The IOC’s decision to drop one men’s category was not entirely due to gender equality. Unfortunately, there is a much larger, uglier elephant in the room. Doping. It is no secret that the sport of Weightlifting has always had a higher number of athletes looking for a competitive edge by the use of performance enhancing drugs. Never before has this prevalence of PED’s been more in the spotlight. The number of athletes caught doping in the last 2 Olympics has been appalling. An utter disgrace to the sport. The pandemic of doping has become so bad the IOC has sent a clear message to the sport of Weightlifting with the exclusion of one men’s category. It will no longer be tolerated. I honesty fear that if there is again such a high number of athletes caught doping at the 2020 Olympics that the sport will be stripped from the games entirely. This is no longer a threat, but a distinct reality.

 

I recall the day I made the realization that I was never going to be an Olympic Gold Medalist in the sport of Weightlifting. It was one of the most devastating, yet eye opening events of my life. I was in a Sauna before an International Event in Athens (98, or 99) trying to cut weight. I was joined in the sauna by a multiple World Record Holder and Gold medalist. I was in awe. Here was one of my heroes. Someone who’s poster used to hang on my wall. Someone I idolized. We spoke briefly, I remember how down to earth and relaxed he was. We where happily chatting away when I couldn’t help myself but to ask.

“How do you become a champion”.

His answer not only surprised me, but left me completed dumbfounded and gutted me as an athlete, and a lifelong clean competitor.

In his broken English he said this;

“He who has the best chemist, will always be the best”

I think that speaks for itself. That was the very moment that I knew spending my entire life training for a dream, that would never happen, would be in vain. That was the day the music died for me.

Thankfully there is a light at the end of the tunnel. After almost a decade in the athletic wilderness, away from the one thing I loved most, I found my way back into the sport as a “Master” Lifter. 

 

I have now come to realize that “Master Weightlifters” are the true champions of the sport. They are the ones that dedicate not years, but decades of their lives to the sport. Gone are the sponsors, money, accolades and applause. Yet Master lifters continue lifting, not for glory, but for the pure love of the sport.

If only all lifters could say the same.

Competition Idiosyncrasies:

Everyone in the world is different and unique from one another. We all have our own little quirks and idiosyncrasies that make us who we are. Weightlifter are no different. Every Weightlifter in the World has their own little routine and setup before they lift on the platform. Some are quiet and intrinsic, while others are load and vocal. We have all developed our own method and way that works for us to approach the bar in competition.

My routine starting over 25 years ago at my first big National meet back in South Africa. Up until that point I had only competed in small local and state tournaments. My name was called, I stepped up to the platform for my first snatch. I crouched down, took my grip and began to pull the bar off the ground. Right as started pulling the bar the loudest most obnoxious sound rang out through the hall. (It kind of sounded like the noise Jim Carey makes in Dumb and Dumber when they are in the truck playing the MOST ANNOYING SOUND IN THE WORLD GAME )

Needless to say, I was completely put off and missed my first attempt. I stormed off the platform and said to my coach, “WTF” was that?

It was then that I learned of the “30 second Buzzer”. At big national and International meets there is a buzzer that goes off at the 30 second mark to inform the lifter that they have 30 seconds left to lift the weight. Right then and there, I decided that I would never again be distracted by the buzzer, and that’s where my now infamous “Walk behind the platform” originated. To this day, over 25 years later, I still set up to lift the same way.

After the clock is set to 1 min and my name has been announced as the next lifter on the platform, I start walking behind the platform. 5 paces one way, 5 paces the other. I then stop and wait, standing behind the platform for the 30 second buzzer to go off before I walk on the platform. This is the routine I still do to this day.

                                            watch this for perfect example of the walk

This is not my only Quirk/Idiosyncrasy I have on the platform. I am extremely OCD about the loading of the weights. Let me explain. Olympic Bumper plates have a solid silver disk on the inside of the Bumper, and on the other side the rivets are showing.

                                                please NO, Just NO RIVETTTTTTTTS!!!!!!!

Now as long as I have been lifting I have always been taught that the ‘rivets’ are to be facing the outside, so that the lifter only sees the shinny silver side of the bumper plate. When crouching down to take your grip to lift it can be very off putting to have the weights loaded with the weights loaded rivets in, or heaven forbid they actually load the weights with one side out, and the other side in. Now for someone with OCD, this is exasperated exponentially. (ME)

So last week Ted D’Amico and myself competed in the New Jersey Outdoor Weightlifting Championships. To say I was “Out of my element” would be an understatement. Not because the meet was outdoors, or that is was over 100 degrees outside that day. No, it was for the very reasons I have mentioned above.

 

Because of the limited lifting space outdoors, there was nowhere for me to do my walk before I lift. The weights too were loaded with one side ‘in’ and the other ‘out’. I asked the announcer if they could get the weights changed, which they kindly did. However, they inexplicably changed them so that both rivets where facing in. 

                                                                       no fricken rivets

By the time my turn came to lift my head was all over the place. I had nowhere to walk, and I was eyeing those rivets out like the wart on your one friend’s forehead whom you’ve always wondered “why didn’t they just get it removed”. So inevitably I missed my first two opening attempts on the snatch.

I came back to make my third snatch, and decided to open lower in the Clean and Jerk because I new my head wasn’t in the game.

Now make no mistake, none of these are any excuse for missing lifts or getting upset over. I was never upset; I was simply out of my comfort zone. I was unable to perform my usual set up routines and it completely screwed me up. I am more than happy that I even managed to get a total on the day, let alone a medal.

18 years ago the same thing happened to me at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. It was the first time I had lifted on a platform with a Camera right in the center of it, staring up your fricken nostrils. I couldn’t concentrate, I lost focus and ended up Bombing out of a tournament which at the time was my biggest international to date.

Now all of that being said, here is the ironic part. Last weeks meet was probably the most memorable and challenging meet I have lifted in for over a decade. Lifting outdoors was awesome, and having my own compulsiveness put to the test, challenged me in ways on the platform that I have never experienced before. I learned more about myself as a lifter at this meet than I ever have.

Do I want to do it again next week, probably not, but I am a better lifter for having experienced it?

You are never to old to learn a thing or two about yourself. The day you stop learning, is the day you die.  And I ain't done learning yet.

Being a Coach - Reap what you Sow:

I am not a conventional coach. I am a good coach, I know how to teach, I know how to correct faults. I know how to program to ensure an athletes progression. Yes, that I am good at.

I do, however, profess to things other coaches will scoff at. Yes, I encourage my athletes to go out and enjoy themselves with their friends after a Successful Tournament. I know how much friends, and socializing means to a 21-year-old, I was there.

 

Hell, I will be the first one to buy them and all of their friends a drink. I believe success should be rewarded. No, I do not have an issue with them drinking, as long as it doesn’t interfere with their training. This is why I give them time off after a meet, to enjoy themselves. If you take the joy out of life, and try to control every aspect of someone’s life, they will be as good as lost. 

I think that’s what makes me a good coach, that I have been in the position I put my athletes in. Not only that, I still prescribe to my own programming. You see I am still a Lifter. A Master lifter, fair enough, but I am still a lifter at heart. I still want to win medals, break records, bring back the Gold. I have lost none of the motivation that made me a successful lifter in my youth, even now that I am almost 40. On the Contrary, I think I am more motivated, driven and dedicated now than I was at 21.

 

I am also a big proponent of being able to preach what you sow. Who am I to have the right to tell an athlete what to do? If I can’t, and don’t still practice it myself. That’s why I follow my own programming that I prescribe to my athletes. I don’t want to hear how they feel; I want to know how they feel. I know when they are tired, because I am tired. I know when they are sore from a workout, because I am sore from the same workout.

I will never be a coach who simply tells an athlete what to do without being able to show them how to do it. Is my technique perfect? Not by a long shot. But I can at least show them what I am expecting of them. Are there great coaches out there whom have never competed in, nor been successful in the sport they coach? Sure there are.

It’s not just about being able to show them that I still lift. It is about showing them I am still passionate about my sport. I love lifting more than anything in this world. I still believe I can and will have much more success as a lifter. Yes, again as a Master. I have to compare myself to my contemporaries.

That being said, I CAN and WILL Qualify for the 2016 US Open in Florida. Not the Masters, the OPEN division. I want to compete against the best in this country one more time. One more time to show them that even being double their age, I am still doing what I love. I will be one of the oldest, if not the oldest competitor at the US OPEN.

It’s that passion I hope to impasse on them. The passion to never quite. To never cop out and run away from life just because it is difficult. Don’t make the same mistake’s that I did. Life is difficult, life is hard. Don’t give up.

I might have been a rather average if not mediocre International Weightlifter when I was younger. Yet I do believe I have the capability to be an even better athlete as a Master Lifter, I believe it to my core. I believe I can break world records, and I will.

 

I thought the culmination of my career as an athlete was between 21 and 30. That was nothing but a bug smear on the windshield of my life. I have barely begun to accomplish what I intend to accomplishing in my life. I saw the end of my career as an athlete, as the end of me accomplishing anything in life. How wrong I was.

I was young. I was arrogant. I was ignorant to the world. I didn’t know anything else. I didn’t love anything else, I was lost, for a long time.

I am back now, and I don’t intend on going anywhere for then next 40 to Life. What lies ahead I don’t know, but I can’t wait for it.

BRING IT!!!!

Full Circle: From Lifter to Coach

Today I embark on a new Journey. I am heading to the USA National Weightlifting Championships, NOT as an Athlete, but as a Coach.

I have been to many National Championships in my home land, South Africa. I have been to several National Masters Championships in the United States as an Athlete. This is the first time I will be attending National Championships for the sole purpose of being a Coach, and I couldn’t be happier or more excited.

I keep thinking I am going to be nervous about being around all the top level Athletes and Coaches, but the truth is I am not. I look at some of the names of the coaches that will be backstage when I will be there with my athlete and its easy to be mortified. National Coach, Smalcerz. Drechsler, McCauley, Fleming, Cohen and Greg Everett. These are the top coaches in the Country.  I have Greg's book at home, I idealize these coaches. The National coach Smalcerz will be backstage, along with some of the most well know and accomplished coaches in the USA. I am Honored to be in their presence. I am looking forward to introducing myself to them as a coach for the first time. The first time, I believe, for many years to come.

 

Most of these top level coaches have many decades of experience in the coaching game. I will be the newbie in the group, without a doubt. I am OK about that. I am still very young in coaching circles. Even though I have over 25 years’ experience as a lifter, I have only been coaching for just over 3 years now.

Of course none of this would have happened without the amazingly talented lifter Ted D’Amico.

Since Ted has been training with me he has surpassed and superseded even my greatest expectations of him. I am already so proud of him, and yet this is only the beginning of the journey. You see this years National Championships wasn’t even on our radar a few months back. We had always planned on, and focused our attention this year on Ted’s performance at the National University Championships later in the year in September. He just accelerated and blew away every periodization schedule I had him on. Which has lead him to competing at the National Championships in Salt Lake City this Week.

Seeing as though I have always told Ted what the plan is, and what the goal is, we are not expecting any records on Friday. He will be there at the National Championships, lifting in the “A” Session as a 21-year-old man to gain experience of top flight competition. Experience that will be invaluable to him in the future.

We are both young in our respective positions as a Coach, and a lifter. I know how talented Ted is. He has more talent and potential than I ever had as a lifter. I know that with a few years of hard work he can achieve anything he puts his mind to. I know that with many years of hard work, I can be attending the National Championships with an entire team of successful athletes.

These are our respective dreams. I do not have one doubt in my mind that we both shall attain the greatest heights in our respective roles, as a Coach, and an Athlete.

Today the journey begins for both of us.

Its Official: We are USA Weightlifting Club #7041:

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Crossfit Hoboken Barbell Club is now an Official USA Weightlifting Registered club. We are Club number 7041 in New Jersey.

  

We are now the only official USA Weightlifting club in Hoboken that offers full time coaching and support to our athletes. Congratulations to the following club representatives:

Club President: Ryan Erasmus

Club Coach: Dallas Quano

Club Secretary: Britta Winans

  

Under the auspices of USA Weightlifting we can now register and Compete as team CF Hoboken Barbell Club. We can now run and host both coaching and referee clinics as well as our very own USAW Competitions. As a registered Club we are now also covered under USAW General Liability insurance.

  

When I started coaching at Crossfit Hoboken I dreamed of a time when we would have a full Official lifting team; that time is now. We will now train together, and compete together as a team. There will be many medals, championships and Team Trophies to come for CF Hoboken Barbell Club in the future.

Congratulations and thank you to all those who have worked so hard to make this a reality. I am so very proud of everything we have, and will achieve as a team.

Well Done All. 

Coach Ryan

Three Years to a World Title: Keep Setting Goals

3 years ago I decided to start competing again in Olympic weightlifting. It had been almost a decade since I last represented my country internationally. Straight from the onset I set myself the goal of winning a World Championship Title. Last week I did just that by taking the Gold medal at the 2015 World Masters Cup. 3 years might seem like a long time but that is a normal training cycle for many athletes. Most top athletes will train in 4 year cycles along with the Olympic Games.

I believed when I started training again that I was capable of winning the World Masters. I trained and set my goals accordingly to reach that goal. It started out with a few local meets. Then moved on to the U.S. Open Masters Championships, and finally the World Championships.

Set your own goals well in advance, 3, 4 years down the line. Pick a tournament or competition you want to take part in, the US Open, World Champs, or Crossfit Games and set your sights on achieving it. I see too many athletes in the gym looking for that quick fix that is going to put 50 lbs on each of their lifts. The only thing that puts 50 lbs on your lifts is years of practice and dedication.

Start by making a list of the next 5 years of your life. After four years write in the goal you want to achieve. Now work your way back. Start with the National meets you want to attend each year. Then look at local meets roughly three months apart leading up to those events. That's it; there you have your plan. Now you can focus on your periodization between each.

Now that I have a World Gold medal, I have my sights set on the 2017 World Masters Games in New Zealand. I don’t just want to win the Gold; I want the Gold and the World Record. That is my goal, that is what I am training for, and that is what I intend on achieving.

I Can, I will, Watch me.