In a June 16th email sent out to members and post on their site, USA Weightlifting (USAW) announced the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) would cease offering a resident program for weightlifters as ... Continue Reading
It’s Official: IWF Suspends Ilya Ilyin, Other Olympic Champions
In the culmination of many rumors circulating over the past month — and a statement from IWF President Dr. Tamas Ajan while visiting Iran for the Fajr Cup — the International Weightlifting ... Continue Reading
Superheavyweight Lifter Mart Seim Has Crazy Hops
Mart Seim is a weightlifter on a role, and heading into August, he's in the conversation to be a medal contender at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Estonian superheavyweight doesn't quite have world-elite ... Continue Reading
How I Balance Volume and Intensity for New Weightlifters
Working with athletes from all ages, competitive levels, and in many different sports, you learn to respect all stages of an athletic career. Every coach wants to see their athlete improve and succeed in ... Continue Reading
Remember When Lu Xiaojun Overhead Squatted 220kg?
Lu Xiaojun has mobility and movement patterns that make (other) Olympic champions jealous. And while he's certainly not invincible — a clean & jerk bombout at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships ... Continue Reading
4 Wild Variations on Benchmark CrossFit Workouts
We’re all familiar with our share of CrossFit benchmark workouts. Whether it’s one of the Girls, a Hero WOD, or one of Dave Castro’s wild ideas that has wormed its way into CrossFit mythology (14.5, ... Continue Reading
The Three Best Strongman Moves for Weightlifters
Tradition. It runs strong and deep in weightlifting. Many coaches have used the exact same exercises and programs for decades with great success. Experimentation is often frowned upon and hence ... Continue Reading
Poke Is Easy, Protein-Packed, and Perfect for Summertime Gains
Summertime is basically here, and that means lots of sunshine, cookouts, and beach bodies. After spending the winter and dreary spring indoors, we’re all itching for a change of scenery and diet. If you’re ... Continue Reading
Olympic Weightlifting Championships by Year and Country (Infographic)
Olympic weightlifting is at its core an individual sport, and what ultimately matter's is each person's singular performance on the platform. (It's just us against the weight, after all.) But while partner ... Continue Reading
The Heaviest Clean & Jerks Ever Filmed
The snatch is athleticism, precision, and timing personified, but the clean & jerk is where the championships are won. Taking the heaviest weight possible from the ground to overhead is one of the most ... Continue Reading
Brian Shaw Training to Compete Raw at World Deadlift Championships, Challenges Competitors to Same
In a candid YouTube video released on June 12th, American strongman competitor Brian Shaw gives an update on his training, when he and his wife are expecting their first child, and how that could ... Continue Reading
Report: Azerbaijani Weightlifters, Including World Champion Boyanka Kostova, Test Positive
Update: Along with Ilya Ilyin and other Olympic Champions from the London Olympics, Boyanka Kostova has been provisionally suspended from competition by the IWF. Kostova finishe 5th in London in the 58kg ... Continue Reading
4 Ways to Get More Out of Training Alone
CrossFitters are a particular breed. We want to do our own thing and not rely on anyone else — nah bro, I’ll set up my own bar over here. I’m going RX+! — but we also want to suffer (and succeed) with ... Continue Reading
Vladimir Sedov Takes to Instagram to Call Out Ilya Ilyin, Asks for Rio Consideration
On June 7th, Kazakhstani weightlifter and 2009 94kg World Champion Vladimir Sedov put on a bizarre display at his country's national championship, declaring Ilya Ilyin a fraud, tossing his tshirt into the ... Continue Reading
Flashback Friday: Inna Filimonova Smokes a 419 Pound World Record Deadlift
Russian powerlifter Inna Filimonova is the reigning IPF Raw World Champion, and later this month, she'll look to defend her title in the 57kg weight class at IPF World Championships in Killeen, ... Continue Reading
A Massive Amount of Quality Strongman: Watch the Full Arnold Classic Africa
Outside of a handful of events — the Arnold Classic in Ohio, World's Strongest Man, Giants Live, and a scant few others — most major pro strongman competitions can come up short in terms of video coverage ... Continue Reading
Reebok Releases CrossFit Combine, But Is This Hybrid Shoe Necessary?
In case you didn't have enough choice between iterations of Reebok Nanos/Speed TRs/Nano Speeds/Nano Pumps/Competes, Nike Metcons, NOBULL Trainers, and whatever other shoe is targeting the functional ... Continue Reading
Current Pan American Championships Men’s Standings and Qualification Points
Final Update: After a hard-fought Pan Am Championships, the U.S. men have earned one Olympic spot. USA Weightlifting has confirmed that spot will go to Kendrick Farris. The 2016 Rio Games will be Farris' ... Continue Reading
Sara Sigmundsdottir Does “Grace” at 220 Pounds (Plus Other Very Heavy “Grace” Performances)
Sara Sigmundsdottir is a force to be reckoned with in CrossFit® competition — she's the reigning third fittest woman in the world — but her weightlifting prowess is also notable. In 2015, she represented ... Continue Reading
Fifty Years Later, Norb Schemansky Is Still the King of American Weightlifting
Last week, we highlighted some weightlifting techniques of yore. The split snatch, Continental clean, and clean & press were all used frequently back in the day, but have now gone by way of ... Continue Reading
Tia-Clair Toomey Named to Australian Olympic Team in Weightlifting
For years, fans, athletes, and critics alike have wondered aloud if top CrossFitters would ever catch up to the ranks of world-class weightlifters. Now, a reigning CrossFit Games runner-up has qualified ... Continue Reading
How to Watch the 2016 Pan American Championships (Live!)
Update: The live stream from Colombian TV below seems to have been discontinued (bummer). We'll be searching for another high-quality one in the meantime and will update this post if we find ... Continue Reading
Weightlifting Is Life
Most elite sports competitors probably feel an intense bond with their craft, teammates, and coaches. Weightlifting doesn’t have the same effect on every person, but for many in our small but growing ... Continue Reading
The Morality of Fitness: An Anthropologist’s Observations in a CrossFit Gym
Editors note: Katie Rose Hejtmanek, Ph.D. is a cultural anthropologist conducting research on the culture of strength sports in the United States. This is the second of an in-depth series introducing ... Continue Reading