International weightlifting's superheavyweight category has been packed with news the last couple years, from Behdad Salimi's knee injury to Aleksey Lovchev's clean & jerk World Record (and subsequent ... Continue Reading
Pyrros Dimas Returns to Weightlifting Platform After 12 Years
Pyross Dimas remains the most decorated weightlifter in (modern) Olympics history, and after his fourth-consecutive medal — bronze at Athens in 2004 — the legendary athlete took some well-deserved time ... Continue Reading
Developing Pre-Weightlifters: How to Build a Foundation
What sports give us the biggest advantage for weightlifting? From 2010 to 2011 I was the coach of Innercity Weightlifting (ICW) in Boston. Our group’s mission was to help at-risk youth get away from ... Continue Reading
How to Watch the 2016 Russian Weightlifting Championships
If you want to watch one of the world's top weightlifting federations hold a stacked national championships, you're in luck: The Russian Weightlifting Championships are streaming for free on YouTube. The ... Continue Reading
Report: Nadezhda Evstyukhina Tests Positive from Beijing Olympics, Banned from Rio
On May 17th, news broke that several Russian weightlifters — including reigning World Champion and clean & jerk World Record holder Aleksey Lovchev — had received competition bans between four and ... Continue Reading
Will the IWF Announce an 8th Women’s Weight Class in 2016?
The first Women's World Weightlifting Championship was held in 1987, and women lifted at the Olympics for the first time at the 2000 Sydney Games. But while the sport's popularity has skyrocketed for ... Continue Reading
Kianoush Rostami Breaks 85kg Clean & Jerk Record in Training
Iran's Kianoush Rostami has won two World Championships as an 85kg lifter, and he finished second at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships in Houston (oh, and we won Bronze at the 2012 London Olympics ... Continue Reading
How to Watch the 2016 Canadian Weightlifting National Championships
If you're looking for a place to watch the 2016 Canadian (Senior) National Championships in weightlifting, you're in luck: The event is live-streamed on YouTube thanks to the British Columbia Weightlifting ... Continue Reading
The Lab Gym Announces Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Strongman Comps (all in One Weekend)
When Justin Thacker started The Lab Gym in St. Louis nearly a decade ago, he never imagined how the demand for strength training facilities would increase in subsequent years. And while his first facility ... Continue Reading
South Brooklyn Weightlifting Club Is Basically Barbell Disneyland
Tucked away in a narrow warehouse on the edge of Gowanus in Brooklyn exists a gym unlike most others in New York City. No marble locker rooms. No showers. No treadmills. The “cafe” is nothing more than ... Continue Reading
Four Russian Weightlifters, Including Aleksey Lovchev, Banned for Doping
The news isn't a big surprise to many fans of international weightlifting, but it looks like it's become official: Four Russian weightlifters — including (now former) 2015 World Weightlifting Champion ... Continue Reading
The 6 Heaviest Snatches Ever Caught On Film
Like all sports, weightlifting has its legends of near-mythical lifts hit in training or local/unfilmed competitions — snatches and clean & jerks rumored about but never confirmed. The most ... Continue Reading
USA Weightlifting Is Hiring
In a post from Wednesday, May 11th, USA Weightlifting announced significant staff restructuring. USAW CEO Phil Andrews gave the following quote in the article, implying the restructuring also means a ... Continue Reading
How USA Weightlifting’s Men Can Qualify for the Olympics: An Explainer
If you thought it was difficult to watch the Woman’s Olympic Trials Sunday night and keep track of who was on the team and who was not, your work isn’t done yet: We’ve still got the men to deal with. Allow ... Continue Reading
Did Dmitry Klokov Just Invent the (Harder) Successor to “King Kong”?
Dmitry Klokov has one of strength's most impressive resumes: He's an Olympic silver medalist, weightlifting world champion, GRID competitor, an occasional bodybuilder, impromptu comedian, and ambassador ... Continue Reading
Breaking Down Women’s Olympic Trials: Three Lifters Qualified, But Could That Change?
If the sport of weightlifting is referred to as the “Iron Game,” then the ability to track who is going to qualify for a USA Weightlifting (USAW) International team should be called the “Excel Spreadsheet ... Continue Reading
When Will We See the Nike Romaleos III?
Update 1: SportChek (a Canadian sportswear retailer) has listed the Romaleos 3 in their online store, although it's not currently in stock. Image: SportChek The product listing also includes ... Continue Reading
USA Weightlifting Nationals Day 1 Recap (and Derrick Johnson’s Double Bodyweight Snatch)
Day 1 of the USA Weightlifting Senior National Championships is a wrap after a long first day of action in Salt Lake City. The highlight of today’s action was easily the new American Record Derrick ... Continue Reading
Weightlifter Profiles: U.S.A.’s Jenny Arthur (75 kg)
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