Bill Starr: Strength in Olympic Weightlifting

[Mark Rippetoe]

They Don’t Award Form Points in Olympic Weightlifting | Bill Starr

[Yngvi]

Very helpful article for coaching the Olympic lifts.

[Gymmoser1]

One of Bill Starr's greatest articles.

It simply amazes me that Rip and I are probably the only two coaches in America who recognize the fact that Getting strong is the most important component in Olympic Weightlifting. I have coached literally thousands of kids under 14 years of age. In every case the stronger the athlete the better their technique becomes. If you want to get good at lifting light weights, lift light weights. The only way to get good at lifting heavy weights is to lift heavy weights often. Clip is 9 year old Traison setting a PR in the snatch. He deadlifts 180 pounds.

[Lost and Found]

Things must be changing a little over the past 12 years based on the recent Olympic and World Championship results from Olivia Reeves and Hampton Morris. Reeves squatting 218kig at a body weight of 71kg is damn strong.

[Johnsonville]

I’m always impressed with some of the numbers put up at the weightlifting meets you host, a lot seem to be with the high hips starting position you coach too

[Gymmoser1]

This may be true; however, these performances need to be taken in context. A large amount of the weightlifting powerhouse countries is not allowed to compete in international competitions due to doping sanctions or wars. The constant changing of weight classes has helped the womans team USA immensely. I am not taking anything away from our lifters, medals are medals.

I saw Niam back squat at 62kgs 250kgs X 2. Naim never failed a doping test. USA Morris did 126kg snatch and a 172kg c&j @ 61kgs for a 298kg total. Naim at a bdy. wt. of 60kgs did a 152.5 Snatch and a 190kg c&j for a 342.5kg total at the 1988 Olympics. 44.5 more KGS then Hampton Morris did at the past Olympics.

If you want to compare apples to apples let's look at the 500lb.c&J. Only 5 Americans have lifted this amount. Yuri Vardanian c&j'd 507 at 82.5kgs. Conservatively there are over 500 men (that number more than likely is over 1000 men) have c&j over 500lbs in the world.

I stand by Bill Starr's article. Us Americans have a long way to go in the strength dept. If Harrison was squatting 300kgs and deadlifting 350kgs. his lifts would be dramatically increased. The same with Olivia if she was back squatting 250kgs and deadlifting 300kgs her lifts would dramatically improve. 218kg squat for Olivia Reeves is good however the current women's world record squat is 310kg @ a body weight of 165lbs.

Recently Iran Weightlifters have been allowed to post on Instagram. Their superheavy weight posted a very easy 815lbs deadlift. This is the kind of strength Starr, Rip and i are advocating.

[Lost and Found]

I saw Niam back squat at 62kgs 250kgs X 2. Naim never failed a doping test. Lance Armstrong also never failed a doping test Weightlifting records from the 80-90's are irrelevant today so they change the weight classes. Weightlifting has struggled to even stay in the Olympics due to it's long history of drugs and corruption.


the current women's world record squat is 310kg @ a body weight of 165lbs. Reference?

.

I'm not at all arguing the premise that stronger is always better for Olympic lifting or any sport for that matter. Rip has discussed this many times and I'm a believer. I just think Americans are making some improvement since 2012 as barbells have become cool.

[Gymmoser1]

Weightlifting records from the 80-90's are irrelevant today.
100's of world records in Sports have been broken since the year 2000. The decline in weightlifting, if there is one, is due to many factors, doping only being one of them. The switching of weight classes is designed to give the illusion of tighter doping controls. This is for the benefit of the IOC for weightlifting to remain in the Olympics.

It is a good thing Lasha does not subscribe to your theory of "weightlifting records from the 80's and 90's are irrelevant today". Lasha has the all-time World Records in the Snatch, C&J and Total. Snatch 225kg, C&J 267KG, Total 492KG December 17, 2021. 1988 World Records Snatch 216KGS, C&J 266KGS, Total 475KGS



Source for world record squat.
Kristy Hawkins
F 43 165lb weight Class 163.1 Actual Bdy. WT. 683.4 Squat

https://youtu.be/f3sZKAqTnPQ?t=47[VIDEO]

Hampton Morris to his credit is lifting more than his American counterparts in the 80's and 90's. I do agree with you we are doing a little better.

[Lost and Found]

Weightlifting records from the 80-90's are irrelevant today.
100's of world records in Sports have been broken since the year 2000. The decline in weightlifting, if there is one, is due to many factors, doping only being one of them. The switching of weight classes is designed to give the illusion of tighter doping controls. This is for the benefit of the IOC for weightlifting to remain in the Olympics.

It is a good thing Lasha does not subscribe to your theory of "weightlifting records from the 80's and 90's are irrelevant today". Lasha has the all-time World Records in the Snatch, C&J and Total. Snatch 225kg, C&J 267KG, Total 492KG December 17, 2021. 1988 World Records Snatch 216KGS, C&J 266KGS, Total 475KGS



Source for world record squat.
Kristy Hawkins
F 43 165lb weight Class 163.1 Actual Bdy. WT. 683.4 Squat

https://youtu.be/f3sZKAqTnPQ?t=47[VIDEO]

Hampton Morris to his credit is lifting more than his American counterparts in the 80's and 90's. I do agree with you we are doing a little better.

Thanks for the source on Hawkins

"irrelevant" is probably not the proper word. Juiced records may not be comparable to less-juiced records and to non-juiced records.

American men with the best potential (genes) for weightlifting competition are not involved in competitive weightlifting because they can make big money playing American football and followed that path from an early age.
Hampton Morris is strong but has no football future so he is a weightlifter. There are probably dozens of NFL or even college football players who could be competitive weightlifters if they had been raised in another country (Columbia?) and trained appropriately since they already won the genetic lottery.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Juiced records may not be comparable to less-juiced records and to non-juiced records.

You seriously believe that athletes stopped taking steroids?