If you thought your favorite strength athletes, coaches, and, uh, influencers (?) were already obsessed with Instagram, it’s only just begun. Today, the social media giant — which is owned by social media mega-giant Facebook — announced and rolled out the release of Instagram Stories, a near-identical clone of Snapchat Stories. For an industry so focused on sharing big lifts, training tips, and general happenings both in and outside the gym, this is actually pretty big news.
For those not familiar, beyond sharing disappearing messages with friends directly, Snapchat allows users to post photo and video “stories” to their platform, which are visible to all their followers for up to 24 hours (and can be watched again and again). Instagram just released (close to) the exact same thing, right down to giving users the ability to add emojis and hand-drawn doodles on top of the content.
While Instagram recently opened up slightly longer-form video posts (the previous cutoff was 15 seconds, now certain accounts are allowed to post up to 60 second videos), the IG Stories are, much like Snapchat, capped at 10 seconds.
So what does this mean for the fitness industry, or strength sports in particular?
1. For one, expect more content, especially from individual influencers who are already in the practice of giving you a look into their daily lives. Stories will likely be a bit more raw, unedited, and unfiltered instead of the “finished” products or permanent posts.
2. Brands may take longer to catch up, as they aren’t necessarily tied to a single person and might feel a bit more reluctant to document the relatively mundane tasks of things like order fulfillment, equipment manufacturing, and content writing (we know a bit about the latter).
3. Expect a (probably temporary) downturn in Snapchat usage among fitness folk. Instagram almost cloned Snapchat’s Stories format, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll replace them entirely. Fitness industry fans and celebs have had more time to curate Instagram followings — the platform is a bit older, after all — but they’ve also been pushing hard into Snapchat territory. Now, they’re at a crossroads: Which platform should they prioritize?
It remains to be seen if IG will take a big bite out of Snapchat’s user base, but other social networks have weathered similar storms of copycats: Facebook survived the short-lived rises of both Google+ and Ello, for instance. But with so many strength enthusiasts glued to their Instagram profiles already, there’s now one fewer reason to leave that app to get their short form content elsewhere.
As powerlifter, YouTuber, and fitness commentator Meg Gallagher (@megsquats) put it in her first Instagram Stories post:
“Anybody else feel like they’ve been wasting their entire life away trying to grow their Snapchat following?”
There is no doubt that training sessions play out the same way for most strength athletes. Get warmed up, psyched up, turn the music up, and put serious weight up. It’s a ritual, and the smart money says if you are in North America this the only way you know how to train. But, if I could, make just one small suggestion, that may sound like sacrilege, but may change your game…. Let’s turn it all down; part of the time anyway.
Not all training centers worldwide operate the same way. Take a quick look at this somewhat boring video of a an elite weightlifting training hall.
Notice the the following:
No music
No chatter
No phones
No distractions
Big weights being tossed around with seemingly little effort
Beautifully fluid athletic movement
High focus of everyone in the hall
So what’s going on here? This athletes have been trained free of distraction for most of their lives. This is their normal. But is it better? That is what you have to find out for yourself. The open minded athlete dedicated to their sport should be willing to try this. I think it will pay off on the technical lifts and even more as you become a more advanced competitor.
First let me discuss the accepted science. There are studies that say high intensity music can enhance an exercise session (1). Yep. I don’t disagree with that. The thing is, you aren’t exercising, you are training, and at this point in the game I hope you know the difference. The research also points out that music can interfere with training when high focus is necessary. On the overheads, squats, stones and deadlifts I would argue that maximum focus is always necessary. When you have 385 in the rack position and you are about to hit your new personal best I would argue that having:
“Master of puppets I’m pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing
Just call my name, ‘cause I’ll hear you scream
Master
Master”
blasting in your ears is less helpful than pulling your thoughts together and repeating to yourself; “Knees out, elbows up, drive the weight to the sky!”. The lack of distraction should help you more than getting cranked up and head pounding along with the music.
Now, I understand not everyone has control over the stereo in the facility and it may be impossible to turn off. Fortunately most strongmen train in private gyms, and if you talk to the owner they may work with you on this. If you can quiet down the environment that’s a great start. If you can’t so be it. The rest though is under your control, so let us work on what we can improve.
Every Lift Is Performed the Same Way
From warm up to work set focus on form and correct execution of technique. I’ve seen a lot of people push press from empty bar to mid heavy weight then suddenly switch to jerk. In my experience, doesn’t warm up your Central Nervous System (CNS) the right way. Video review should confirm your form with triples looks just like it does with singles.
Every Lift Is Performed Calmly
I’m guilty of getting myself worked up and going hard on a big single. In time I realized it was leading to some sloppy habits. When you hit your challenge sets simply take a few deep breaths, take a firm grip on the bar, and execute. While setting up, visualize success in the lift. Remember the last lift you hit perfectly and repeat.
Your Session Is Free of Distraction
I don’t think TV sets belong in a training hall. I don’t think you should be on your phone during a training session. Things that take your focus away from the task at hand are all sucking away little bits of your success. You and your partner (or coach) should tune in to every set and rep and provide constant feedback as to what can be improved.
Your Session Is Planned, and Goals Are Met Every Time
Many athletes have a program they adhere to for their sessions. This is fantastic. Many train by feel, this is less fantastic. Many show up and just hammer singles every time they go to the gym, this, well this isn’t really training. If you are in the first group, keep a detailed log and use a graph or chart to plot your progress. If you are in the second or third group I simply suggest getting in with the first group. If you know your numbers and are making progress that you are happy with then keep with your program. If not then you know sooner than later when it is time to change.
You Treat Your Training Sessions Professionally
Honestly, no other sport operates as loosely as weight training in the USA (primarily referring to strongman, but it’s true of many strength sports here). From cycling to track to swimming; you name it, individual athletes in this country are much more organized, regimented, and respected than strongmen and our powerlifting brethren. But that shouldn’t be the case. For the last decade, the United States has been an overwhelming force in the sport of strongman and often field a majority of international competitors. By having training halls that seem more inviting and organized we can draw even more talented athletes to the sport and overcome our stigma of meatheads who lift rocks. This will also bring us sponsorships and bigger prize money, a win for all.
I know this article won’t be popular. It’s aimed particularly at the few athletes that have become frustrated with a lack of progress and haven’t changed this part of their game. Training for many is a near religious experience and this is akin to switching faiths, not just churches. If it does appeal to you, try it for a month. Get your crew on board. Talk about it afterwards. Enjoy the process and reap the rewards.
Featured image courtesy of Michele Wozniak, Strongman Corporation.
References:
Costas I. Karageorghis & David-Lee Priest (2012): Music in the exercise domain:a review and synthesis (Part I), International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 5:1, 44-66 Costas I. Karageorghis & David-Lee Priest (2012): Music in the exercise domain:a review and synthesis (Part II), International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 5:1, 67-84F. Lindgren & A. Axelsson (1988): The influence of physical exercise on susceptibility to noise-induced temporary threshold shift, Scandinavian Audiology, 17, 11-17.
Mike Gill is a retired 105kg professional strongman and currently a broadcaster forStrongman Corporation. He has a background in all weight disciplines and has competed in Bodybuilding, Powerlifting and Weightlifting with a lifetime best 252 kg total. He can be reached for coaching at Michaelgill100 [at] gmail.com, @prostrongman on Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram, and on Facebook.
When we talk about history’s best weightlifters, the same names tend to pop up. Vasily Alekseyev, Norb Schemansky, Yury Vlasov — these guys are the pioneers of modern day weightlifting. They all set multiple world and Olympic records, competed during a time of major political strife, and pretty much made it possible for you and I to lift weights in a garage gym half a century later. These guys all have one other thing in common too: they all beat Belgian weightlifter Serge Reding.
Serge Reding was the constant bridesmaid (groomsman, rather) of the 60s and 70s weightlifting world. He had all the goods to make it to the very top, including a 385lb snatch, 500lb clean and jerk, and a 502lb press. Reding also front squatted 617lbs, back squatted 705lbs, and deadlifted 771lbs (even though he never trained it). These are numbers of someone who should have been an Olympic champion and a multiple time World champion in that era, yet when it came down to game time, Reding often choked.
To be fair, his accomplishments aren’t minor. As a super heavyweight, Reding placed second in the 1968 Olympics, second at the 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1974 World Championships, second at the 1968 European Championships. (And you thought Mat Fraser‘s 2014 and 2015 second place CrossFit Games finishes were frustrating.) Reding also finished third at the 1964 and 1974 European Championships. His lone first place finish happened at the 1969 European Championships, where he got himself atop the podium with a 570kg total.
Had Reding simply competed at the top of his game and still never cracked the top spot, perhaps his fifteen year career wouldn’t have felt so disappointing. Reding, though, just had the worst luck.
At the 1971 World Championships, Reding was competing against his rival Vasily Alekseyev for the world record in the clean and press. Alekseyev had just broken the world record on his 2nd attempt, so Reding loaded up the bar with 502.6 lbs and cleaned and pressed the bar with astonishing ease, breaking Alekseyev’s recent record. Reding’s new record held for all of three minutes before Alekseyev loaded up the bar with 507 pounds and successfully clean and pressed the newest new world record.
Many will argue that Alekseyev’s lift should never have counted due to the obvious knee bend during his press, but the judges gave it the a-ok and the record held. Not only did he lose the record, but the lift aggravated an old injury and Reding withdrew from the rest of the competition. Too bad for Serge.
Just a month and a half later, Alekseyev and Reding met again for a head to head match set up in Reding’s hometown of Brussels. Reding was looking forward to besting Alekseyev after losing the World Championships, but Alekseyev showed up ill and only pressed 308lbs. Reding tried to beat Alekseyev’s world records anyway, and still fell slightly short.
Going into the 1972 Olympics, Serge was in fantastic shape but again, the stars did not align in his favor. Serge was slated to compete just one day after the Munich Massacre, the terrorist attack that killed multiple Israeli weightlifters. A deeply sensitive person, Reding was understandably very shaken up by the attack. During his final lift of warmup before the competition began, Reding was warming up a 463 press without collars when one of the 25kg plates fell off the right side his barbell, causing the uneven load to tweak his left wrist. Serge had no time to see a doctor before the competition started, so he tried to lift anyway but could barely manage a 495lb clean and was forced to withdraw from his final Olympics.
That’s why you always use collars, kiddos.
After placing second in the 1974 World Championships in Manila, Phillipines, Reding reportedly met and fell in love with a Filipino waitress. One year later, he died in Manila at the age of 34, under mysterious circumstances. Some think he died of a heart attack, others think suicide or foul play was involved. Regardless, Reding never had a chance to lift to his full potential and remains one of the greatest “what ifs” in weightlifting history.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has released an updated entry list for Rio 2016, and the changes signal some new potential favorites in several weight classes. The original, preliminary entry list was released on July 21st.
There were changes in most weight classes — several due to the Russian Federation’s spots being reallocated after the full team’s ban — and we’ve highlighted a few of the more notable changes below.
In the Men’s 56kg class, Tom Richard Goegebuer of Belgium is a new addition to the list. Goegebuer — who turned 41 earlier this year — is the oldest weightlifting competitor in Rio. He’s the 2009 European Champion and finished 12th in the category at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
China’s Zhihui Hou was originally one of our correspondent’s picks for gold in the 48kg class. However, she does not appear on the revised start list, her spot instead going to China’s Meng Suping in the +75kg class. Suping is a former world record holder in the clean & jerk and was the silver medalist at the 2010, 2014, and 2015 World Championships, finishing each time behind Tatiana Kashirina.
However, due to Russia’s exclusion from weightlifting in Rio (and prior to that, a doping suspension from 2008-2010 that would also have kept her out due to a special provision applying only to Russian athletes), the women’s superheavyweight class is much more wide open.
Suping and Kashirina are capable of significantly more in both lifts than every other woman on the start list. We won’t see a battle between them for Olympic gold, which should make winning a relatively textbook matter for Suping, assuming she totals anywhere near what she’s done in prior international competitions.
Suping’s inclusion in the Games could also make American Sarah Robles’ medal chances more difficult.
A video of Suping matching the current clean & jerk world record (held by none other than Kashirina) is embedded below. The lift was performed at Chinese Nationals in the Sprint of 2015.
Pulse Ghana has recently released a video highlighting members of Ghana’s weightlifting federation, a relatively new sporting body founded in 1997. Though weightlifting in the country is still young, it’s quickly built a following, and the video highlights a packed training session in the national training center in Accra (Ghana’s capital).
It’s a short but impactful look at how a dedicated group of weightlifting enthusiasts brought legitimacy to the sport in a country better known for soccer and boxing. In the face of bureaucracy and a basically nonexistent public profile, Ghana’s weightlifting team grew from a dream in the mid-1990s to a legitimate international federation that just qualified its second athlete for the Olympics.
What’s perhaps most surprising about the video is the team’s sense of grounded realism. We’re used to seeing big egos and bigger promises from some of the worlds’ top athletes, at least in mainstream sports. International weightlifting tends to be a bit more reserved, and the Ghanaian lifters know full well they won’t be bringing home Olympic medals anytime soon. For now, their focus is on qualifying lifters for international competitions and competing well against the established continental powerhouses in Africa.
In London, Ghana qualified its first athlete for the Olympics. For Rio, Ghana has qualified its second: 85kg lifter Christian Amoah, who at just 17 years old is one of the youngest weightlifters competing in this year’s Olympic Games.
Amoah has several international competitions under his belt, including the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships in Houston and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. At his young age, it’s not crazy to think Amoah could have two or even three (heck, four) potential quads left in his career.
