Why US Lifting Sucks

Training Powerlifting
61

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver.

62

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver. [/quote]

Swimming, diving, water polo, cycling, soccer, hockey

We seem to do well, or at least okay, in some sports Americans don’t care about. But maybe it has to do with needing to be a weightlifter for life, like you said.

63

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver. [/quote]

Swimming, diving, water polo, cycling, soccer, hockey

We seem to do well, or at least okay, in some sports Americans don’t care about. But maybe it has to do with needing to be a weightlifter for life, like you said.[/quote]

I don’t know much about most of those sports, but I was under the impression that Canada/US sucked balls internationally at soccer (maybe I’m wrong?). And I think you may be underestimating the popularity of hockey in the states, it’s certainly not like Canada as far as I know but it’s pretty good (enough popularity to support most of the NHL teams, anyways).

64

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver. [/quote]

Swimming, diving, water polo, cycling, soccer, hockey

We seem to do well, or at least okay, in some sports Americans don’t care about. But maybe it has to do with needing to be a weightlifter for life, like you said.[/quote]

I don’t know much about most of those sports, but I was under the impression that Canada/US sucked balls internationally at soccer (maybe I’m wrong?). And I think you may be underestimating the popularity of hockey in the states, it’s certainly not like Canada as far as I know but it’s pretty good (enough popularity to support most of the NHL teams, anyways).[/quote]

Us is normally ranked somewhere in the top 20 internationally, which is a good team. We certainly don’t suck.

And yeah, there is some interest in things like soccer and hockey and swimming, but not anywhere near the interest seen in other countries where those sports are their national past times.

65

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver. [/quote]

Swimming, diving, water polo, cycling, soccer, hockey

We seem to do well, or at least okay, in some sports Americans don’t care about. But maybe it has to do with needing to be a weightlifter for life, like you said.[/quote]

I don’t know much about most of those sports, but I was under the impression that Canada/US sucked balls internationally at soccer (maybe I’m wrong?). And I think you may be underestimating the popularity of hockey in the states, it’s certainly not like Canada as far as I know but it’s pretty good (enough popularity to support most of the NHL teams, anyways).[/quote]

Us is normally ranked somewhere in the top 20 internationally, which is a good team. We certainly don’t suck.

And yeah, there is some interest in things like soccer and hockey and swimming, but not anywhere near the interest seen in other countries where those sports are their national past times.[/quote]

As far as women’s soccer, the US is one of the best in the world. They had a documentary on them last year called “the best team youve never heard of” or something like that

66

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver. [/quote]

Swimming, diving, water polo, cycling, soccer, hockey

We seem to do well, or at least okay, in some sports Americans don’t care about. But maybe it has to do with needing to be a weightlifter for life, like you said.[/quote]

I would think that just about all of those sports are more popular than Weightlifting in the USA. Maybe not diving but I’d still guess more people do that than actual weightlifting.
I believe you can get athletic scholarships for swimming, soccer and hockey (don’t know about diving or water polo). Certainly there are lots of leagues and facilities for these sports. Cycling may not be as popular as those, but I’d guess it still is more popular than weight lifting, plus people who tend to be good cyclists aren’t going to be good football/basketball/baseball players in general. Also, the USA isn’t that good at cycling.
Hockey and Soccer are popular enough to support professional leagues. Water polo is something that would be fairly easy to transition into - at least compared to weight lifting.

Also, I think weight lifting is likely more popular all over the world than diving or water polo is. So these are more of unpopular vs. unpopular than popular vs. unpopular.

67

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver. [/quote]

Swimming, diving, water polo, cycling, soccer, hockey

We seem to do well, or at least okay, in some sports Americans don’t care about. But maybe it has to do with needing to be a weightlifter for life, like you said.[/quote]
Hockey/soccer, I don’t count.

For the rest… how big are those sports elsewhere in the world? Swimming, diving, water polo… to me it seems that these sports are as big in the U.S. as they are anywhere else. Whereas Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, … and even China/Russia (even though they have a huge population) - their main sport is weightlifting.

68

USA isn’t good at cycling what about Lance Armstrong and the postal service team?? Water polo easy to transition to I think not that sport is demanding I personally know someone on the Navy water polo team.

69

[quote]Ironlion23 wrote:
USA isn’t good at cycling what about Lance Armstrong and the postal service team?? Water polo easy to transition to I think not that sport is demanding I personally know someone on the Navy water polo team. [/quote]

x2 water polo is insanely difficult

70

Sorry if this winds up in the wrong section. I’m not down with the posting particulars.

I couldn’t agree more with the premise that the money sports soak up all of the good US athletes and soaks them up early. There are draft and recruiting boards for 8th graders in football and basketball and kids as young as 16 can show up at MLB tryouts.
To excel- really excel- to the elite or pro level at any sport a certain amount of natural explosive talent is required. You look great athletes in the USA and most of them were 2 or 3 sport gods in High School. This is not a result of having 3 great high school coaches, or a great strength program in 8th grade. It is the result of genetic gift coupled with very early childhood conditions.
The Football/Track combination that many top physical athletes pursue through high school and college leaves no room for competitive lifting of any type. Winning and performing in your measured sport is all that matters. When I was in college we recorded our lifts and had the occasional PR day a couple of times a year but meet performance always came first.

Go to a good college track meet 75% of the throwers and jumpers will also play football. They may not make it to the NFL. By the time they are out at 22 years old they don’t have the depth of training in these lifts to perform well on the international stage and usually will want to take a break from training for a while. I would be willing to bet there is not one male podium Olympic Lifter who started competing at 23.

Not to get too Jimmy the Greek but athletes in the USA have a unique predicament - We have no national physical profile - If you are a great 5’7" ‘athlete’ in 9th grade you may wind up being a bad 5’8" college pick up player or a 6’4" college point guard. The lack of predictability of dimensional development causes USA athletes to keep their options open. Open options = no elite strength athletes starting at 12 years old.

Big rant but big topic.

71

[quote]PB Andy wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver. [/quote]

Swimming, diving, water polo, cycling, soccer, hockey

We seem to do well, or at least okay, in some sports Americans don’t care about. But maybe it has to do with needing to be a weightlifter for life, like you said.[/quote]
Hockey/soccer, I don’t count.

For the rest… how big are those sports elsewhere in the world? Swimming, diving, water polo… to me it seems that these sports are as big in the U.S. as they are anywhere else. Whereas Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, … and even China/Russia (even though they have a huge population) - their main sport is weightlifting.[/quote]

You are just blatantly making this up. Weightlifting is not even close to their main sport.

72

[quote]ConorM wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver. [/quote]

Swimming, diving, water polo, cycling, soccer, hockey

We seem to do well, or at least okay, in some sports Americans don’t care about. But maybe it has to do with needing to be a weightlifter for life, like you said.[/quote]
Hockey/soccer, I don’t count.

For the rest… how big are those sports elsewhere in the world? Swimming, diving, water polo… to me it seems that these sports are as big in the U.S. as they are anywhere else. Whereas Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, … and even China/Russia (even though they have a huge population) - their main sport is weightlifting.[/quote]

You are just blatantly making this up. Weightlifting is not even close to their main sport. [/quote]
maybe… at least I’m not making it up intentionally. it may not be their main sport but it sure as shit isn’t considered ‘unpopular’ over there. my point still stands. suk it.

73

[quote]ConorM wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]PB Andy wrote:
I’ll say it again… Olympic lifting is just unknown in America. Look at all these Russian or Chinese vids and all that, and you see entire gymnasiums devoted to Olympic lifting with so many god damn people. That is reason #1 right there.[/quote]

But we do well in a lot of sports that aren’t popular here.[/quote]

Like what? Few sports compare to the level of dedication and training time required to be an elite international weightlifter. For some sports, it’s also much easier to transition into them at a later age and still have success. Bobsleigh, for instance. You can take a big, strong, fast dude at the tail end of his career in another sport (throwers I think do well here) and turn them into a good sledder. Hell, Canada had a football player push in the Olympics in Vancouver. [/quote]

Swimming, diving, water polo, cycling, soccer, hockey

We seem to do well, or at least okay, in some sports Americans don’t care about. But maybe it has to do with needing to be a weightlifter for life, like you said.[/quote]
Hockey/soccer, I don’t count.

For the rest… how big are those sports elsewhere in the world? Swimming, diving, water polo… to me it seems that these sports are as big in the U.S. as they are anywhere else. Whereas Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, … and even China/Russia (even though they have a huge population) - their main sport is weightlifting.[/quote]

You are just blatantly making this up. Weightlifting is not even close to their main sport. [/quote]

actually in many of the former USSR weightlifting is THE or at the very least one of 2-3 “national sports”

The official national sports of both Armenia and Bulgaria (and im sure a few others) are Weightlifting and Wrestling. Russia has many “National sports” and Weightlifting really is one of them.

You can say im making it up, but this is what I have learned by talking to my coach who is from Armenia.

74

yay. i win. if Lu Xiaojun walked on any random street in China, he could get poon-tang right then and there. the same cannot be said for our athletes. except Jon North, 'cause he seksay.

75

[quote]Ironlion23 wrote:
USA isn’t good at cycling what about Lance Armstrong and the postal service team?? Water polo easy to transition to I think not that sport is demanding I personally know someone on the Navy water polo team. [/quote]

Outside of Lemond and Armstrong, how many elite cyclists does the USA have? Those two were the exceptions, not the rule.
Half of the US Postal team were for other countries.

Just because a sport isn’t demanding doesn’t mean someone can’t transition to it fairly easily. IMO many competitive swimmers could be quite good at water polo without much effort and be elite with only a few years of specific training. It certianly isn’t like weightlifting which requires decades to be elite.

76

For those still following this thread, Chad Wesley Smith responded to Holdsworth’s claims in another article on Elite.

http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/why-we-actually-suck-at-olympic-lifting/

77

Sorry if this has been posted here before:

A lot of interesting info is in that article (including some the author’s opinion, who I believe also posts here as “gymmoser”), but what interests me the most is that Abadjiev currently lives in California. It would be interesting to see how his (direct) contribution can influence the US weightlifting community. A (or better, several) US Olympic gold medalist in the future?

Now I see how US lifters can apparently train with him so often and easily!

78

[quote]Paperclip wrote:
Sorry if this has been posted here before:

A lot of interesting info is in that article (including some the author’s opinion, who I believe also posts here as “gymmoser”), but what interests me the most is that Abadjiev currently lives in California. It would be interesting to see how his (direct) contribution can influence the US weightlifting community. A (or better, several) US Olympic gold medalist in the future?

Now I see how US lifters can apparently train with him so often and easily![/quote]

Thanks for posting that piece by Moser. There is a lot of information in there and it is certainly worth reading. Although it is just a small point he makes in passing, Moser’s defense of Broz caught my attention.

79

woo hoo! my cigarette break training strategy is legitimated!

80

Decisions decisions play in the NFL and make millions (when there isnt a lockout) or become the greatest oly weightlifter on earth and still have 95% of America not give a shit until the Olympics roll around.