Leading up to the 2016 Rio Olympics, Jenny Arthur was the only American weightlifter named to the Olympic team before Olympic team trials. BarBend weightlifting correspondent Mike Graber spoke ... Continue Reading
Is This the Heaviest Front Squat of All Time?
The front squat is a lift we rarely — if ever — see tested under "competition" circumstances, but it makes up a big portion of strength training for athletes across disciplines. It's a pillar of ... Continue Reading
“School of Champions” Documents Ivan Abadjiev’s 1987 Bulgarian Weightlifting Team
The Bulgarian system of weightlifting generally refers to a style of intense, competition-centric training developed by Ivan Abadjiev in the 1980s and 90s. His Bulgarian team had immense success in those ... Continue Reading
Caffeine and Kilos’ Danny Lehr Accepts Doping Sanction, Warns Against Mystery Supps
In a statement released on Monday, May 2nd, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced weightlifter Daniel Lehr has accepted a four-year competition sanction for a positive doping text. From ... Continue Reading
How to Watch USA Weightlifting Nationals and Olympic Trials
Update: NBC has confirmed with BarBend that there will be no TV subscription authentication necessary to watch weightlifting trials; anyone in the U.S. with the app should be able to watch whether or not ... Continue Reading
How Paul Anderson Became One of History’s Strongest Humans
If you mention the name “Paul Anderson” in front of a random group of people, most of them will probably think you’re talking about an unremarkable middle manager of a cereal manufacturer. A “Paul ... Continue Reading
Behdad Salimi Has the World’s Heaviest Power Clean (on Video)
We've seen some pretty big (if slightly unverified, and completed to football weight room standards) power cleans on video, but there's still one that takes the cake — and all sources indicate it's very ... Continue Reading
2016 Asian Weightlifting Championships Full Results
The 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championships have come to a close. The event — held April 21-30 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan — featured a mix of various nations' best, along with plenty of other top ... Continue Reading
Pyrros Dimas to Hold Q&A Session at Olympic Trials in Salt Lake City
To be the best, learn from the best. Attendees at Next week's US Olympic Trials/National Championships will have the chance to ask 3-time Olympic Champion (and 4-time Olympic medalist) Pyrros Dimas their ... Continue Reading
Throwback: Chad Vaughn Sets American Record with 190kg Clean & Jerk
Before the days of CrossFit boxes on every block, and before everyone from bankers to soccer moms knew the other definition of "snatch," Chad Vaughn was one of America's top weightlifters. To be fair, ... Continue Reading
Weightlifter Profiles: Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Nurudinov (105 kg)
At the 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championships, BarBend weightlifting correspondent Mike Graber sat down with members of Uzbekistan's National Team to discuss their training and goals. First up is Ruslan ... Continue Reading
Aleksey Lovchev Challenges IWF Suspension in Anti-Doping Meeting, Maintains Innocence
Following a provisional IWF suspension after his world record clean & jerk, Russian superheavyweight Aleksey Lovchev continues to maintain his innocence in an anti-doping appeal. On ... Continue Reading
Max Aita Explains Abadjiev’s Bulgarian System. But Is It Sustainable?
For as much that's been discussed about the Bulgarian weightlifting system, there are hundreds of young impressionable lifters who have tried tackling it head on by maxing out their lifts daily and ... Continue Reading
Weightlifter Nathan Damron’s Crazy Strength Gains from Ages 13 to 19
Nathan Damron is one of America's best young lifters, and regardless of how he performs in the Junior Pan American Championships this week, the reigning Junior National Champ has built up an impressive ... Continue Reading
Weightlifting Legend, 3-Time Olympic Medalist Tommy Kono Dies at 85
Olympic champion weightlifter, competitive bodybuilder, celebrated coach, and IWF Hall of Fame member Tommy Kono passed away Sunday, April 24th, in Honolulu. He was 85 years old. Sources and local news ... Continue Reading
Flashback Friday: When Becca Day Cleaned 315 pounds
Call them the lifts that launched a thousand ships -- or at least the cleans that took Becca Day from social media phenom to pro athlete. While there are some seriously strong women in CrossFit and ... Continue Reading
At the Asian Weightlifting Championships, Host Uzbekistan Poised for Greatness
Today beings the 2016 Asian Weightlifting Championships, which will run from April 21st to April 30th in Uzbekistan’s capital city of Tashkent. Fun fact: Uzbekistan is one of two countries in the world ... Continue Reading
Attention New Yorkers: Weightlifting (and Mattie Rogers) Are Coming to Times Square
In an email blast on April 20th, USA Weightlifting announced Mattie Rogers will be joining a roster of other Olympians and Olympic hopefuls in a sports demonstration/meet & greet to mark 100 days until ... Continue Reading
Watch Mikhail Koklyaev One-Arm Snatch 242 Pounds
Mikhail Koklyaev is one of history's most impressive cross-sport strength athletes. He's been a Russian Champion weightlifter, World's Strongest Man medalist, Strongman Champions League winner, 2200+ lb ... Continue Reading
Fight the Couch Potato Within: Mid-Week Lifting Motivation
Straight from the mouths of powerlifting champs Stian Walgermo and Brett Gibbs, this week's images are no-nonsense. Honestly, looking at pictures of fit people working out won't get you a single step ... Continue Reading
Olympic Weightlifting Weight Classes Throughout History
Weightlifting today is a beautifully simple sport, where athletes from different weight classes are scored on two lifts -- the snatch and clean & jerk -- and the combined total from the heaviest of ... Continue Reading
Men’s Records (Unofficially) Fall at Chinese Weightlifting Nationals
After the women's portion of Chinese Nationals earlier this month — where three World Records were unofficially broken — weightlifting fans were eager to see what the men could do. So far, that hasn't been ... Continue Reading
Norik Vardanian Clean & Jerks 212 in Training, Looks Strong for Pan Am Trials
Norik Vardanian is looking strong in preparation for the USA National Weightlifting Championships/Pan American Trials from May 5-8. So strong, in fact, that he just clean & jerked 1 kilogram above the ... Continue Reading
2016 European Weightlifting Championships Full Results
The 2016 European Weightlifting Championships have come to an end. The event, held in Forde, Norway and organized by the European Weightlifting Federation, came to an end on April 16th. Just as notable ... Continue Reading