28 - 05 IWF World Championships Attention! All weights are in kg. How to: How to: How to: This subreddit is for the sport of Olympic-style weightlifting, which tests the snatch and the clean and jerk, and related links and topics. Please keep general strength training, powerlifting, and other strength sports in their respective subreddits.
Is:. A place to discuss weightlifting theory, methodology, and programming in a professional manner. A place to ask questions about form, training style, programming, or anything related.
A place where all weightlifters - regardless of training goals - are welcome. A place where all members are held to a standard of excellence not found in larger subreddits is not:. A place to post memes, blogspam, or things that provide no value. A place for you to post your NSVs or any other threads of similar nature. If the only discussion created is congratulating the OP, post it elsewhere. A place to post sexual content of any sort, including comments on the attractiveness or lack thereof of any lifter. A place to post slurs or other derogatory remarks toward anyone's race, religion, gender or sexual identity.
A place to diagnose injury or prescribe treatment addressing injury. If you believe you have an injury, the safest course of action is to consult a professional. (as of Jan 1, 2017) Other Strength Sport Reddits. The style or technique used by various lifters is what works best for them. That's one of the great things about Olympic Lifting, you use the style or technique that works best for you. There isn't just one technique that everyone must use. When I go to the Worlds or the Olympics I always go to the press conferences after the lifting and I have asked many, many of the medalists why they use a certain technique and the all say that's what works best for them.
You have to use trial and error to find out which is best. There are many great examples from Juri Vardanian to Anatoly Karpathy (who I felt had the absolute best technique ever). Another great example is the gold and silver medalist 75 kilo women in the 2012 Olympics, one used the frog style stance and split jerked, the other started with a wide stance, didn't move the feet and power jerked. So, you go with what works! Now that Jim has answered, I'll add that you can't assume that what a lifter does is what is best for them, at any level.
It's just the best that they've figured out so far. For example, I think there's a fairly strong consensus that a bent rear leg in the jerk is more stable.
A straight leg tends to be use more as a brace and is less used for support, while a bent leg allows for a more equal distribution of weight front-to-back. We also know it's a common problem for an athlete to put almost all of their weight on one leg and shoot the other back. So if, say, Klokov tends to jerk with a straight back leg, I don't think you could differentiate between whether that's something he desires to do or whether it's just an issue he hasn't fixed. Supposedly Klokov himself said his technique is not as good as some of his competitors.
That being said, body proportions also have a lot to do with it. The optimal knee bend changes based on your overall leg length and your femur/tibia length ratio, as well as how far out you're able to get your front foot. That's why, when choosing what 'style' to use (if you want to put it that way), many of us simply look at your weight distribution to decide if what you're doing needs adjustment. I agree with all of what you said. I think bending the back leg provides more support in general because it recruits more of the leg muscles. However, dropping the back knee can also cause problems. Perfect example is julia rohde: first attempt looks solid.
Second attempt, i think she misses because of the way she drops her back leg - which causes her right hip to collapse. I have tried experimenting with different jerk positions and knee angles. I find that using 90 degrees recruits a lot more muscle in the left leg as opposed to pushing the left leg straight out.
It does leave me open to error, though. Like dropping my knee to the floor. Which would be bad under heavy weight.
So, a slightly larger angle works best. I, however, naturally default to a straighter leg. And I think that also causes me to miss lifts, because I feel it leaves me unstable. Yeah, it's important that you stay tight in the receiving position, which I think is the error you're describing. We're used to keeping the front leg working hard in the split, but the back leg can be a bit lazy. I put this on the same level as staying tight in the catch of the clean or the snatch: easy enough to fix, and not a strong reason not to use the technique.
About Julia as an example, I don't see her right (rear) hip collapsing on her 110kg jerk. Instead, it looks to me like her left (forward) leg was unable to brake the downward momentum of the bar, or perhaps just that she was slightly out of position and got spit out from underneath the weight. From the overhead view at 2m22s, she flies out of position the instant after she plants her feet. If her back leg was collapsing then I expect she would have struggled under it longer as it crushed her.
This looks more like what would happen if, say, her back was too arched and/or the weight was just slightly too far behind her. I think overall our coaches are getting better and doing a pretty good job, thanks to USA Weightlifting's Coaching Education Program. New coaches sometimes push their lifters too hard and heavy too soon and there are also the coaches that bring their lifters along too slowly. I think the biggest problem with our coaches is they don't help with the officiating and running of competitions, everyone wants to be a lifter or a coach, but few want to be a referee, loader or meet director. A US weightlifting coach has to do it all. I don't train any of my lifters on two a day programs because they have jobs and or school.
Therefore, they train 3 to 5 times per week for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. These are good hard high quality workouts. However, if I were to train someone twice a day I would do technique work and squats in the morning and heavy lifts and assistant exercises in the afternoon or evening. There have been so many changes from going from iron weights to rubber weights, to improved technique and training methods, to women getting into the sport big time, but I think the biggest is the professionalism that the most successful countries do, they select, recruit, develop and reward their lifters and weightlifting is their job! The most impressive lift I have seen was Vasily Alexeeve's 255 C&J at the 1976 Olympics, he won his gold medal with 230, then jumped 25 kilos to take back his record from DDR's Gerd Bonk, who had done 252.5 at the 1976 Europeans.
Olympic Lifting and Book Review “No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical trainingwhat a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” – Socrates If you want a book that will help you get to the next level in lifting, I recommend you purchase Jim Schmitz’s Olympic Style Weightlifting manual and DVD and complete just one month of training. It will seriously change the way you see fitness. While looking for background on Jim for this article I found the and agree with the blogger; It will change your life. If you are thinking about fitness as it applies to the realm of survival, this is one good beginning for you. Followers of ‘O’ lifting will build a good strength base and moretheir mental fortitude. Back in 2002 I was having a conversation with my buddy Larry a fitness instructor.
Our talk drifted over to working out and we went back and forth discussing the merits of martial arts, lifting weights and so forth. We discussed sand running, carrying weights while running, wrestling but Larry kept talking about workouts that just blew him away. Stuff that kept him conditioned and feeling challenged. What the heck was he talking about?
He talked about Olympic Lifiting. I’d seen it on television during the Olympics. Usually big dudes hefting super heavy weights but I had zero interest in it. Boy, was I clueless and close-minded. Little did I know about the Cross-fit community that would soon take off in 2004 and beyond.
Larry invited me to check out his gym located right on Valencia Street, in a place called Valencia Street Muscle and Fitness. The front of the gym had the typical weight machines but tucked in the back room was something different. The Sports Palace In a 15′ x 45′ room were wooden platforms, bumper plates, metal racks and loads of old pictures of Olympic lifters. Anyone could tell this was old school. People came here to lift.
No mirrors to look in. No distractions. Sophie milman take love easy rar password. No cheesy music or people preening in tight clothing. I looked over and saw a petite yet fit female performing a lifting maneuver I’d never seen before, and it was clear to me, she was lifting more weight above her head than I ever did before. Upon the wall was a banner with the words the Sports Palace. I later learned the amazing history of that place. An older guy with full beard walked into the room and I was introduced to Jim Schmitz.
I knew nothing about him. I later learned he is one of the most accomplished Olympic weightlifting coaches in the United States and coached the US Team in 1980, 88 and ’92. If you want to get info on ‘O’ lifting you’ll get it from one of the most dedicated and knowledgeable people you will find in the sport.
I won’t attempt to relay how much Jim has accomplished. I’ll put a link.
There’s just far too much to share. Up until that time I’d done a lot of weight-lifting, calisthenics and ultra distance running and picked up info here and there. In one year, Jim took my level of fitness to a place where I became bigger, stronger and faster. I’d yet to learn about from the military and the little I knew about strength training was gleaned through reading Muscle and Fitness. I carried a lot of misinformation in my brain.
Jim made me see things very differently. For starters, I had to re-learn what a squat was. Rather than doing a standard right angle squat, I learned the deep. After discussing my goals Jim took me through a lifting routine. I was unable to walk for 3 whole days and my back screamed in agony. I called Jim the next morning, embarrassed, and told him I couldn’t come in for our next session.
He said, “Well, that’s because you did everything wrong. And your muscles aren’t used to those movements.” He was right, but I was hooked.
I came in the next week, refreshed and ready to unlearn everything I knew about lifting. In fact, I did a lot of and learned to do deep squats with just the 45 pound Olympic bar.
When Jim felt I was doing lifts properly, I added 5 more pounds, until that was done properly. I performed some of the lifts without weights for a month until I could do them the way he required. Jim Jim had a system, even storing his equipment followed a structure. “Put the weights on and face the plates out the same way.” There was a method to his success.
Jim’s teaching style was very organized and he knew just by looking at someone what they lacked and how to help them. 15 years later I still have the first workout he gave me.
Notice the low rep count and 5 sets versus the traditional 4 count. Hang Power Snatch (HPS) x5 x5x5x5x5. Hang Power Clean(HPC) x5 x5x5x5x5.
Clean Dead lift Shoulder Shrug(CDL) x5 x5x5x3x3. Push Press (PP) x5 x5x5x5x5. Front Squat(FS) x5 x5x5x5x5. Overhead Squat(OS) x5 x5x5.
Bench Press(BP) x10x8x6 The manual and DVD include a progressive program that helps you get results by lifting just 90 minutes a day, 3 times a week. In fact under Jim’s tutelage I was making progress. In 30 days of lifting 3 times a week, by doing the same routine, I put on 21 lbs of muscle, no flab. 35 lbs of muscle in less than a year.
Olympic Style Weight Lifting Equipment
And I was getting very strong while increasing my cardiovascular ability. A beginner guide to gambas pdf creator. Jim knew his craft.
I was largely following the program outlined in the manual. The manual isn’t fancy. The whole production is homemade, but that’s why I liked it; to the point. Quoting The Mighty Fit Review, ” There are no flying titles, fancy logos or blazing soundtrack. Jim stops and adjusts the camera, catches his breath, and has a delightful low-key humility, an endearing stammering delivery that’s reminiscent of Bob Newhart. It’s great to me to see an individual at his level of achievement who comes across devoid of top-dog attitude.
It’s easy to see why anyone would enjoy training with.” Jim even answers your emails and phone calls. I called him years ago about getting my certification as a trainer but he referred me elsewhere because we were 3000 miles apart.
I’m not an expert, nor am I certified to teach it the way the pros do but Olympic lifting is still as exciting and fresh to me as it was on day 1. What is Olympic Lifting and what are the benefits? wrote an excellent article on the benefits of doing this type of training. This is something you should be putting in your survival basket. Safety and Injury Aspect of Weightlifting Various studies show Olympic weightlifting is one of the safest forms of resistance training there is. Another study was performed concerning the injury per 100 hours and yes again weightlifting fared better than other forms of resistance training. In fact, for weightlifters the injury rate was less than half of the other forms of weight training (Hamill). Weightlifting training and competitions together are much safer than other sports such as football, basketball, soccer, etc (Stone, Muscle).
It is clear to see that Olympic weightlifting is an extremely safe form of resistance training and sport for people to participant in. Body Composition Effects Another benefit of weightlifting is the amount of muscles used in the lifts. The Olympic lifts involve basically every muscle in the human body and this entails a great workout.
Olympic weightlifting also forces stabilizer muscles to activate to secure the weight overhead in the lifts. For a recreational lifter Olympic weightlifting will cut down on the exercise time, allowing them to get done in 45 minutes to 1 hour what they used to do in “traditional splits” for 1.5 hours or more! In an 8 week Olympic weightlifting program study, participants lowered their resting heart rate by 8%, lean body weight increased by 4%, fat dropped 6%, and systolic blood pressure decreased by 4% (Stone, Cardiovascular). Athletic Ability Another important benefit of Olympic weightlifting is it teaches the body to fire all the muscle fibers at once; to explode in a sense (not literally). An 8 week study was done showing the capability of the Olympic lifts to improve sport performance and vertical jump ability. A study was performed and a group of lifters did various Olympic lifts (High pulls, Power Clean, and Clean and Jerk), and were compared to a group using vertical jump exercises (Single and Double Leg Hurdles Hops, Alternated Single-leg Hurdle Hops, etc) and after the 8 weeks of training the Olympic weightlifting group had significantly increased their 10 meter sprint speed and their standing jump over the control group using standard vertical jump exercises (Tricoli). Similarly a 15 week study was also performed using football players and compared a powerlifting program to an Olympic weightlifting program for athletic performance.
After the 15 week study was over the Olympic weightlifting group had a significant improvement in the vertical jump and 40 meter sprint over the powerlifting group (Hoffman JR). Clearly there are athletic benefits that come from incorporating weightlifting into a sport training program and similarly Olympic weightlifters are also known for developing great athletic ability. Effect on Bone Mineral Density Olympic weightlifting can also help prevent osteoporosis. To put it simply the greater the bone mineral density (BMD) the less chance of osteoporosis occurring. Bone mineral density measures the mineral density, such as calcium, in the bones. Calcium is also constantly being added and removed from bones and when it is removed faster than it is added then the bones become weaker and are more susceptible to fractures.
Remember a solid dense bone is better than one that looks like a honey comb! A study involving elite junior Olympic weightlifters compared their BMD, at the lower back and the neck of the femur, to an exact age group and an age group ranging from 20-39 year old men. The elite junior Olympic weightlifters BMD were found to be significantly greater than the age matched group and greater than the 20-39 year old men (Conroy). It is suggested that the high overloads of stress from Olympic weightlifting have a major influence on BMD. Again Olympic weightlifting has the ability to develop strong healthy bones that are resistant to fractures. Enjoyment Factor One aspect of Olympic weightlifting that people enjoy is the lifts themselves. People enjoy the feeling of the barbell being weightless as they drop underneath it or they enjoy the speed that it takes to complete the lift or maybe they just enjoy mastering a technical skill.
For most people there is a larger sense of satisfaction that comes from successfully hitting a personal best in the snatch or clean and jerk than finally getting those 19 inch arms or something along those lines. I encourage any reader to give it a try to see if it works for them. A short investment of a month may bring you to the same conclusion. Those who are interested in doing Crossfit may already be aware of the roots of certain lifts such as Cleans, Jerks and so forth. If you’re looking to do the lifts properly versus doing them sloppily and speedily, in order to finish a, the manual helps. The last portion of the manual describes the performance of lifts in detail and includes black and white photos of Jim executing them. You’ll find percentages of your body weight to start each lift with, which is genius, and an explanation of how to progress. Articles by Jim can be found here, at In conclusion, Olympic Lifting will help you get strong, fast and flexible. Joseph nye understanding international conflicts. Jim is one of those intelligent coaches that can motivate athletes and get results.
A couple of times, during my workouts at Valencia Street, a few world ranked lifters came in to say hello or work out. Athletes from various types of sports sought his guidance to improve their performance. Jim is out to teach his craft, and he does it with class, the book is worth the bucks.
Olympic Style Weight Lifting Routines
If you're serious about developing as a lifter, I recommend you buy this set. Watch the DVD with the manual in front of you, then make copies of the work out logs, and put the manual and sheets in your gym or gymbag. This program will change your life.
Intimate, cozy, and real. That's the wonderful quality of the 2-DVD set - beginning/intermediate level with Jim Schmitz, available from. In the video, he goes over mechanics, techniques, pitfalls, and walks through the work outs in his (sold separately for $16.95, or together for $39.95). It is taught by three-time coach of the USA Olympic weightlifting team, founder and owner of The Sports Palace gym in San Francisco, Jim Schmitz. I completed this program, I think it's genius. The phases of the program are progressive, and my results are amazing.
Schmitz bears his whole weightlifting soul in these materials, giving you the same instruction he's given Olympic champions for decades. He carefully tends each detail you might need while executing these work outs, all the little things he's polished over the decades - how much and when to increase weight, what to focus on in form and technique, even reminders not to rush certain exercises and what to do if you can't quite get it yet. It's like having a personal coach.
Understand, this is a training program designed to develop you as a lifter, not just a how-to on the two big lifts. Plan on dedicating months to this (I completed it in 10). Besides the clean and jerk and snatch, you'll be doing all the supplemental exercises to make you stronger in them - power and hang auxillary lifts, and basics like the incline bench press with the bar and squatting. You'll start with basics and wind up lifting on percentages of your max. That's why this is such a valuable investment for anyone who's serious about Olympic weightlifting training. It's a course designed to take you from general development in the lifts all the way up to competition - and the week after.
Have I sold you on the content? Then let's talk delivery. Here's what you'll either love or hate. The manual is modest in production - spiral-bound, black-and-white photos. The DVD is a homemade production - one man and a camera. There are no flying titles, fancy logos or blazing soundtrack.
Jim stops and adjusts the camera, catches his breath, and has a delightful low-key humility, an endearing stammering delivery that's reminiscent of Bob Newhart. It's great to me to see an individual at his level of achievement who comes across devoid of top-dog attitude.
It's easy to see why anyone would enjoy training with him. And he's the real deal: he gives his email address on the DVD and writes it on the disc. (Seriously, nothing fancy in this production!
But it's not inferior, as Ironmind might suggest with careful warnings about its 'home video' production quality) So yep, I made a video and emailed him, asking for comments. He responded within the week, with quick insight, invited me to events he thought might be in my area, and even hooked me up with a coach of similar stature to himself. He continues to answer my questions and offer encouragement. Talk about return on my investment! So if $24.95 gives you pause for a homespun instructional DVD and a spiral-bound manual, I'd say don't hesitate. For the quality of content, it's a steal.
What's more - there's soul in this. It's not a big company trying to turn a fast buck by repackaging information; it's genuine, it's genius, and it provides a connection with something real - the folks slugging it out in basements and garages, who occasionally slip right up to worldclass.
Here's an interview with Jim on weightlifting training.
Bigger Faster Stronger JIM SCHMITZ'S WEIGHTLIFTING LEGACY Meet the man who sets the gold medal standard in coaching weightlifters By Kim Goss Published: Spring 2002 There are a few remarkable coaches in history who have set themselves apart from others by their accomplishments, inspiring their athletes to achieve what many thought impossible. What’s more, they have achieved their success with class and integrity, accepting their obligations as leaders and role models by refusing to compromise their core values.
Basketball guru Phil Jackson is such a coach, as is football genius Joe Paterno and baseball legend Yogi Berra. These men will forever be remembered in the sports record books as “The Best.” In Olympic-style weightlifting, one coach who deserves to stand proudly beside these other great men is Jim Schmitz. Schmitz has earned his reputation as one of the most accomplished Olympic weightlifting coaches in the United States.
He has trained 11 Olympians - including three athletes who have clean and jerked 500 pounds and two who have snatched 400 pounds - and his team won the national championships seven times. He was selected as the United States Weightlifting Team Coach for the 1980 and 1988 Olympic Games, and served as the president of the United States Weightlifting Federation. He is also an accomplished coach of women lifters, having trained three who competed in the world championships.
What makes these accomplishments even more noteworthy is the fact that most of his athletes have trained no more than two hours a day, three days a week, while holding full-time jobs. Further, Schmitz has never charged a penny for his coaching, and with few exceptions has paid his own way to national and world competitions. The Education of a Weightlifting Coach Although Schmitz had lifted weights since his teen years, his major focus in high school and college was becoming bigger, faster and stronger for football. Since strength coaching was a relatively new field, Schmitz learned the basics of Olympic lifting, as so many athletes did in those days, by reading magazines and studying the now classic books on strength training such as those by Joe Bonomo. A 1968 graduate of San Francisco State College, Schmitz played on the defensive line and earned MVP honors for his team. But at 5’10” and 200 pounds he didn’t have the size to play in the NFL, so when his final season ended on the college gridiron he decided to change his athletic focus to Olympic-style weightlifting.
After receiving his degree in physical education in 1968, Schmitz became a co-owner of Alex’s Sports Palace Gym in San Francisco on Mission Street. The gym was a hardcore, free weight facility, or as Schmitz says, “The Sports Palace was a triceps and biceps, squat and bench, snatch and clean-and-jerk type of gym.” It had two lifting platforms, but when Schmitz came on board there was only one member who practiced competitive weightlifting, Walt Gioseffi. Gioseffi and Schmitz became good friends, and Gioseffi helped Schmitz learn many of the finer points of the classical lifts: the Olympic press (which was dropped from lifting competition after the 1972 Olympics), the snatch and the clean and jerk.
Schmitz eventually reached a level where he could Olympic press 281, snatch 275 and clean and jerk 347 at a bodyweight of 200 pounds. As Schmitz’s training knowledge grew, so did the number of Olympic lifters and potential Olympic lifters interested in training at Alex’s gym. One of the first was Dan Cantore, a future Olympian and American record holder who peaked with best lifts of 281 in the snatch and 358 in the clean and jerk at 148 pounds bodyweight. “Cantore and the other lifters who were now training at the Sports Palace were really good,” says Schmitz. “I watched them, helped them at contests, and as the Sports Palace lifting team evolved I found myself taking on a greater role in their training. I really liked what I was doing, and began to realize that coaching was my calling so I just stayed with it.” The word spread quickly that Schmitz was an intelligent coach who could motivate athletes to perform their best at competitions. Soon the personable Schmitz found himself working with Ken Patera, a super-heavyweight lifter (over 242 pounds bodyweight) who became the first American to clean and jerk 500 pounds and the only American to Olympic press over 500 pounds (505.5).
Many weightlifting experts believed that Patera had the best chance of any American lifter to defeat the famous Russian champion Vasily Alexeev. Unfortunately, an injury kept Patera from seriously challenging Alexeev in the 1972 Olympics, and a commitment to professional wrestling closed the door for good on any future Olympic battles for Patera. In 1972 Schmitz was able to buy out his partners, and he moved the gym four and a half blocks to an old neighborhood on Valencia Street. He also shortened the name of the gym to simply the Sports Palace.
His new location turned out to be a good one, enabling him to make enough profit to travel to numerous national and international competitions throughout the year. The new gym was also close to Mission High School, where Ken Clark was then enrolled. While in school Clark walked into the Sports Palace looking for a place to train, and Schmitz coached him to the Olympic games and to American records of 363 in the snatch and 470 in the clean and jerk at 220 pounds bodyweight. As Schmitz’s stable of Sports Palace athletes continued to grow, his goals began to change. “As my team got better, I began to think that we might be able to win the national championships,” says Schmitz. “That was in the late ‘70s, and it took us until 1982 to win the national championships.” The significance of this achievement is that his team beat the York Barbell Club, which had won the championships for 29 years in a row.
The York team was composed of athletes throughout the country who were sponsored by York, whereas almost all Schmitz’s athletes were from the San Francisco Bay Area and were dues-paying members at Schmitz’s gym. Proving the victory was not a fluke, the Sports Palace team went on to win seven more national titles. A Legacy of Strength Asking Schmitz who his favorite lifters are is like asking a father which of his children he likes the best - he just can’t do it.
Schmitz was willing, however, to describe some of the best qualities of each of the following Olympians he has trained. “Ken Patera was the absolute strongest, Bruce Wilhelm the first American to snatch 400 pounds trained the hardest, Thanh Nguyen had the most natural talent, Ken Clark had the most determination, and Mario Martinez 415 snatch, 513 clean and jerk and a silver medalist in the 1984 Olympics had the most success.” In addition to developing new talent, Schmitz was also able to rejuvenate the careers of many lifters who had suffered slumps. For example, Tom Hirtz’s lifting had stagnated for several years until he came to Schmitz. Hirtz went on to eventually set an American record in the snatch of 342 pounds at 181 pounds bodyweight. Mark Cameron, already an accomplished lifter, moved to San Francisco to train with Schmitz for five months and soon afterwards clean and jerked 501.5 pounds while competing in the 242-pound bodyweight class.
One quality that sets Schmitz apart is that he has been able to work especially well with super heavyweights, having coached three of the four Americans who have clean and jerked 500 pounds. In addition to coaching Patera, Wilhelm and Cameron, he also coached John Bergman (396 snatch, 496 clean and jerk) and Tom Stock (391 snatch, 490 clean and jerk). “Superheavys have to train a little differently because they have big bodies they’re lifting as well as the big weights,” says Schmitz. “Their recovery is different and for a lot of them there are differences in their flexibility and their speed. I’ve been lucky to have the supers that I’ve had, but with two Olympians in the lighter classes (Cantore and Nguygen, who both weighed less than 150 pounds) I’ve proven I can coach these athletes In 1982, Jim Schmitz's Sports Palace team won the national championships, breaking the 29-year winning streak of the York Barbell Club. Photo credit: Jim Curry Jim Schmitz, The Trainer of Champions, poses in front of the scoreboard at the 1984 Olympics.
Photo Credit: Bruce Klemens In 1972 Ken Patera became the only American to standing Olympic press 500 pounds. Photo credit: Rich Lalami courtesy Jim Schmitz. Bruce Wilhelm was the first American to snatch 400 lbs. He placed 5th in the 1976 Olympics as a Superheavyweight. Photo Credit: Bruce Klemens Weighing 220 pounds, Olympian Ken Clark snatched 363 pounds and clean jerked 470 pounds in 1984. Photo Credit: Bruce Klemens Mario Martinez earned a silver medal in the 1984 Olympics.
His best lifts were a 415 snatch and a 513 clean and jerk as a superheavyweight. Photo Credit: Bruce Klemens A former Olympian and junior American record holder, Dave Langon was known for his excellent technique. Photo Credit: Bruce Klemens Shown here jerking, Tom Hirtz broke the American record snatch with 342 lbs. While weighing 181 lbs. Photo Credit: Bruce Klemens Mark Cameron clean and jerked 500 pounds in the 242-pound class, becoming the lightest American to accomplish this feat. Photo Credit: Bruce Klemens.