Weightlifting has come a long way since its Olympic debut in 1896. A quick scroll on Instagram will show athletes from around the world trying to perfect just two movements, the snatch and clean & ... Continue Reading
Sarah Robles On Bombing Out, Staying Focused, and Preparing for Her 2nd Olympics
Over the past four years, few American weightlifters have been surrounded by as many controversial topics as Sarah Robles. Following a 7th place finish at the 2012 London Olympics in the +75kg category, ... Continue Reading
Behdad Salimi Returns to Competition, Goes 205/225 at Fajr Cup
There's been speculation around the weightlifting world whether 2012 Olympic Champion Behdad Salimi could return from knee surgery in time for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Salimi — who injured his knee on a ... Continue Reading
CJ Cummings Just Wants to Break Records and Take A Nap
Just a few days after 2016 Weightlifting Nationals, Mike Graber and I got 15 year old weightlifting phenom CJ Cummings on the phone and chatted about his life, his goals, and training. Just to note ... Continue Reading
Win a Pair of Custom Nike Romaleos from BarBend and StrengthToSpare!
BarBend and artist Josh Peters (@strengthtospare) are teaming up to give away a pair of customized Nike Romaleos to one lucky winner. And anyone age 18 and up can enter to win — for free! Entering to win ... Continue Reading
Mohamed Ihab Takes Weightlifting to a Whole New Level
Mohamed Ihab Youssef is certainly a weightlifter to watch closely heading into the Rio Olympics. The 25 year old Egyptian lifter placed second in the 69kg category at the 2014 World Weightlifting ... Continue Reading
BarBend and RVA Open Announce Media Partnership
BarBend and the RVA Open — one of the nation's premiere weightlifting competitions — are pleased to announce a new partnership that will bring top-level weightlifting to more fans than ever. And on July ... Continue Reading
Kianoush Rostami Sets New World Record in Clean & Jerk, Total
The oldest World Record in international weightlifting (among senior competitors) has finally fallen. At the Fajr Cup IWF Grand Prix in Iran, 85kg lifter Kianoush Rostami clean & jerked 220 kilograms — ... Continue Reading
5 Olympic Weightlifting Champions Test Positive from London & Beijing
Update: The IWF has released a statement regarding the positive tests from London and Beijing, reiterating that there were 20 total (10 from each iteration of the Games) and that these included some ... Continue Reading
After 255kg Clean & Jerk, Ruslan Albegov Looks Strong for Rio Superheavies
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
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
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
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
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
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
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