The New York Times Obit section has a profile on Henry Wittenberg who just died at the age of 91. He was an Olympic wrestler and one of the first wrestlers to ever use weight training as a part of his prep.
The result? 300 straight wins. I’d call that an unfair performance enhancing thing-a-majigy (sp?). If you were an athlete in the early days, and you lifted weights, you were the equivalent of an athlete on steroids today.
OK, that’s not exactly true. So many athletes are on steroids now that even that isn’t much of an advantage.
Actually, I love these profiles of older athletes who were pioneers in using strength and conditioning to enhance their sport. Because of their “social proof” they’ve changed the way the world approaches sports training.
Chris sent me a great video of 100 Japanese school kids playing a professional team in a game of soccer. I feel for the professionals. Check it out here.
I don’t care what you think your excuses are. They don’t compare with what this kid has to deal with. When he was 10 he got both arms AND both legs amputated. Did he think he couldn’t join his highschool wrestling team? Nope. He joined and ended up going to State.
No arms, no legs, and nearly won the state championships in wrestling. That’s worth repeating. This kid doesn’t have arms, he doesn’t have legs, and he nearly won state in the sport of high school wrestling of all things!
Here’s some proof that the mainstream media is finally getting a clue that interval training is far superior to long slow cardio. (There are some exceptions to this, but odds are they don’t apply to you.)
Here’s all three of his attempts at each lift compiled. Notice the wild way he misses his last clean and jerk. He gets driven down by the spring of the bar in the set up for the jerk, so that he can’t use the bounce to get the weight up. Shockingly, he still rides it down to a full squat jerk and misses behind. One strong dude, no doubt.
Tommy Kono is arguably one of the greatest weightlifters who ever lived. But he was also a good bodybuilder. Here’s a slide show of some of his greatest photos:
Here’s a short documentary on one of the greatest weightlifters of all time, Vasily Alexeev of Russia (Soviet Union). He broke over 80 world records in his career. Just outstanding.
Write your prayers on a slip of paper, lay them down on the porcelain shrine, and flush. It works, really … just watch the video if you don’t believe me.
"Don't trust ... anyone who claims that you can be fit without any effort on your part. Most importantly, pay attention to what you eat, try new things, take the time to learn about what you want regarding your health and fitness and how to achieve those goals, stop being lazy about it, and for Christ's sake stop with the self-imposed guilt about it all! "
--Jessica Fraver
Nick Horton is head coach of the PDX Olympic Weightlifting team in Portland, OR. He is a Sports Performance and Strength Coach who believes in combining hard work in the gym with a fun and relaxed attitude. He is a competitive Olympic weightlifter himself, recreational softball player, and just got into Highland Games.
