Weightlifting Nationals In The Food Desert

I feel the need to make my voice heard on this particular issue. I don’t know the process involved in selecting host cities for national weightlifting events. I believe the Competition Committee is supposed to sign-off, ditto for the Board of Directors. Phil Andrews is involved and maybe even Rogue. I believe that food availability is one of the factors that needs to be considered when site selection decisions are made.

I’ve been in Detroit for this year’s Nationals since yesterday, June 30 and will depart tomorrow, July 2. So it’s a short stay. My gripe is the lack of dining facilities or their availability hours. There are a number of establishments within walking distance of the hotel and the venue, but many are closed or have extremely limited hours which is not helpful if a lifter needs to be fed after a 6 AM weigh-in.

I realize that business in Detroit have been very hard hit by COVID, and I was informed that there was unexpected flooding earlier in the week which caused even more establishments to close.

In case the decision makers are unaware, it is not unusual for hard training weightlifters to consume 5,000 to 8,000 Calories per day. An inability to ingest sufficient calories can affect performance especially in the clean & jerk. In the event of a competition scheduled for a food desert, organizers need to bring in catering trucks should the performance and welfare of the competitors are considerations.

Wake-up decision and policy makers. You are running events that involve organisms with specific nutritional requirements. Don’t let science illiteracy generate a problem.

Albert Hood--My Best Ever

As Black History Month 2021 draws to a close, I’d like to conclude it with a memorial piece that I wrote about my best ever athlete, Albert Hood. I wrote this piece in 1994 shortly after his tragic death. He left an indelible impression on me and I’m sure he influenced and inspired the fans he had in the American weightlifting community. What an experience it was to coach such a competitor!

Springtime, 1981 and the world was a beautiful place.  Never mind that Interstate 5 was the world's most boring highway.  I-5 was several hundred miles of straight concrete and asphalt that extended from Bakersfield, California through the boring farmlands of the Central Valley to the offramp at Pacheco Pass Road that would lead to the backdoor of Gilroy, the self-proclaimed Garlic Capital of the world.  My 1976 Ford Granada was smoothing out the bumps, and the car stereo was performing admirably by pumping out the sounds of the numerous Frank Zappa tapes that I'd brought along to reform the air molecules.

               Keeping me company on this trek to the National Weightlifting Championships was Albert Hood, my latest "find" and as I was to eventually realize, the most talented lifter I'd ever coached.  We were two happy guys out on the road, looking for adventure.  Albert had recently overwhelmed the competition at the National Juniors, setting a national junior record and qualifying for the Junior World's Team.  He was on his way to his first nationals and expected to win.  Because of Albert's successes, a few people began to think that I might actually be able to coach.  The prospect of more success made for a drive full of anticipation.

               Of course, Albert had ridden with me to several meets by this time and knew of my fascination for Frank Zappa.  He had actually gotten to appreciate Frank's music, a far cry from his normal preference for music more suited to break dancing.  The boring miles of I-5 melted away as we combined on vocal duets to accompany You Are What You Is, Illinois Enema Bandit, and Maybe You Should Stay With Your Mama. 

               On December 4, 1993 Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer while I was at the Americans in Marin.

               On September 1, 1994 Albert Hood died of a gunshot wound to the back as he was being robbed in Monroe, Louisiana.

               Within a span of less than a year two of the people who had provided foci to my universe had been taken away.  They would never walk the face of the planet again.  I have to think about this!  As we progress through life on this planet, a journey from birth to death, the grim reaper robs us of individuals who provide remarkably unique experiences for us.  Some people experience these losses at an early age, and the traumas themselves are frequently life altering.  Others, like myself, are fortunate to benefit from having been touched by the uniqueness of these individuals who affect our lives and are enriched because of that touching. 

               Allow me to expound briefly on the influence of Frank Zappa (I know that this is a weightlifting publication, but I don't think that Bob has any hard and fast rules about the scope of its necrology).  Frank Zappa is probably unknown to a great many of the weightlifting community, but those that find his name familiar are probably aware of him solely as the purveyor of Don't Eat the Yellow Snow and Valley Girl.  What most don't realize is that his total formal education consisted of a semester's work at Antelope Valley Community College, and yet his compositions were meritorious enough to be performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez's chamber music orchestra, and the Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt.  In 1992 he was honored by the German music community as one of the three greatest composers of the 20th century.  Now I don't know the first thing about formal music, but it was Zappa's attitude that provided a focus for me.  He was frequently quoted as saying, " If I like it, I put it out.  If someone else likes it, that's a bonus!"  His intellectual independence has provided me with a role model, if you will, on how to deal with weightlifting philosophy during my coaching career.   I am saddened by his death and the realization that he will no longer provide me with insights.  His influence upon my thinking has been significant.

               Albert Hood's influence on my weightlifting life has been immense.  Most weightlifting coaches in this country labor away anonymously.  Our capricious non-system of recognizing coaching excellence primarily acknowledges the finding of talent rather than its development.  One coach might achieve reasonable esteem simply because he was able to locate a talented individual.  Another coach with equal amounts of perseverance, intelligence, and good intent might be doomed to a lesser level without the good fortune to happen upon a talented individual willing to enter the sport.  Albert's talent and great competitive heart provided the perception that I needed to gain entree into the small circle of coaches that might "know something".

               My personal appreciation of Albert, however, certainly extends beyond what he provided for my coaching career.  The talent provided him by parents Albert, Sr. and Jeweline Hood provided me with an insight into the possibilities that were available in the coaching of athletes.  His wonderful good nature and fighting spirit made me appreciate the qualities of great athletes that can neither be coached, nor developed.  He also reinforced in me the wonderful times that can be realized in the athletic arena, and the excitement that can be shared by a coach and athlete as they embark on quest after quest.

               It's just over 10 years since Albert electrified the audience at the Los Angeles Olympiad with a performance that produced 2 national records and an 8th place finish.  Anticipation had run high for the performance of our athletes as the Summer Games returned to American soil for the first time in 52 years.  Media coverage was ferocious, and at times, stifling.  Our weightlifting team was expected to perform well in the absence of the Eastern bloc nations who had decided to boycott.  Despite the best of intentions, only three U.S.A. national weightlifting records were set, and Albert authored two of them.  The snatch record of 112.5 was the second double-bodyweight snatch ever performed by an American.  That lift along with his 242.5 total were permanently retired on December 31, 1992 precipitated by the change of bodyweight classes.  I am proud and happy that Albert's records will live in perpetuity, and feel fulfilled that I had some small hand in the establishment of this small bit of weightlifting history.

               How could you not love a little guy who one day won the national championships, and the next day spent time showing local York, Pennsylvania youngsters how to break-dance?  How could you not love a little guy who upon sighting William Shatner waiting to film a scene for T.J. Hooker in Van Nuys, explain to his brother, "Homeboy be Captain Kirk!"?  How could you not love a little guy who once told his team mates that his main goal in life was to be tall?  How could you not love a little guy who was unfazed at the Sao Paolo Jr. World's when appropriate equipment was not provided by an official who absconded with the finances, and still set national junior records by lifting on a borrowed bar and metal plates?  I could not not love him, and the same could be said for the throngs of youngsters who used to crowd around him during his rise to prominence from 1981 to 1984.  

               Last week I delivered the eulogy at his funeral.  Albert had died shortly after his 30th birthday, a victim of a robbery homicide.  Nowhere in the coach's manual can I find a section dealing with the burial of one's athletes, of one's friends.  Al, Sr. had laid that responsibility on me when he found that none of the family members or friends felt that they could ever get past the second word.  As I spoke I looked down from the pulpit and saw the legs of three of Al's children dangling in the pews as I was transported back to the days when I first saw his legs dangling from a chair in my homeroom and surmised that he might have a future in weightlifting.  Just as in 1987 and 1991 the members of my club had expected Al to reappear in 1995 and declare his candidacy for the next Olympics.  It won't happen, now.

               A big part of me jumped into the burial vault with him.  Li'l Al can't hear me now, but I can still say "thanks".  Thanks, Al, for some of the best times ever.  We were pretty good together, weren't we?  The world was a great place!  Good-bye, Al.  I love you. 

The Altered State

THE RADIUS

The radius of clarity extends to approximately the size of the competition platform.  Beyond the platform the stage is unclear and uninteresting.  Only the items within the radius are of interest.  If there is a stage (which is common at national events), it is forgotten once you step on to it. 

THE CLARITY

Within the radius, your vision is crystal clear.  It is as if everything is in 4K.  The bar is stunningly clear, as are the plates and the collar.  Your footsteps are not especially loud, but they are clear if you can hear them at all. 

THE BEYOND

At this point if you were to look beyond the platform, shapes and sights would be murky and out of focus.  They appear to be in a dream state with objects and individuals being indistinguishable.  The sounds coming from the crowd are muffled. 

YOUR AWARENESS

Your body almost tingles with the awareness you have of your individual bodyparts.  You can hear very clearly the voice of your coach who is at the side of the stage but anything shouted by the crowd is indistinct. 

You want to be in this altered state.  You are intoxicated by it because you know that it enables you to do what you otherwise cannot. 

THE LIFT

If you’ve been trained properly, you begin the lift and you are thrilled by the sensitivity you have for each micro-event during the performance.  Times seems to slow down and you can make corrections on the fly that are otherwise impossible. 

THE CONCLUSION

At the down signal you replace the weight to the platform and the sound is consuming.  It seems as if the lights have suddenly been turned on above the stage and the audience.  You can hear and perceive with your body the sounds of the audience as your consciousness is suddenly spatially expanded.  You have left the altered state of performance. 

QUICK IN AND OUT

Remaining in the altered state can be fatiguing and the experienced performer can quickly go into the state and then out again.  The less experienced have a more difficult challenge getting altered and getting un-altered. 

REALIZING THE MAGIC THE NEXT DAY

It’s not unusual for lifters who’ve had a great meet to go into the gym the next day and pull on the weight that was so efficiently cleaned and jerked in competition the day before.  It literally feels like a ton, and that deadlifting it might be the limit for the day.  It is then and only then that you realize the magic of being in the altered state and why the competition/performance paradigm is so exquisite. 

IF YOU’RE A COACH

I really can’t conceive of coaching someone to perform in the altered state if I had never experienced it myself and had learned to rely on it and use it.  This is one situation that can’t be faked.  Experienced coaches understand it at a visceral level, know how to get their athletes to achieve it and rely on it when making strategic decisions when the bullets are flying.  If you’re planning on being a weightlifting coach, it would behoove you well to know at a very intimate level, the altered state of performance. 

Do You Do Privates?

“Do you do privates?” is one of those irritating questions that I’ve had to deal with since opening a weightlifting gym in 2014.  It’s irritating because it presumes that weightlifting functions like a branch of fitness.  Weightlifting is a sport and yet we rarely get considered the same way that other sports do. 

The Fitness Model

The fitness segment of the physical training spectrum has long employed the options of group classes or private (1 on 1) sessions.  The wealthier patrons consider group sessions to be passe, and would much rather opt for the exclusivity of private sessions, or to be able to claim they do private sessions.  Instructors favor private sessions as they can charge more for them.  This way of organizing services does not necessarily work better, but may be better for monetization, marketing or facilities utilization. 

Training Sessions

Here are Takano Weightlifting we have sessions.  I hesitated about calling them classes because there a different levels of athletes in them and so they are not all learning and training the same way.  The sessions always have people lifting in them, all of them attempting to perfect their abilities in weightlifting, and all of them will have at least one coach in attendance. 

Due to the Covid-19 restrictions we have had to limit our sessions to 7 platforms and this has worked out well as it keeps the sessions from being too large.  Overly large sessions inhibit the effectiveness of coaching and can make newcomers feel lost in a crowd.  We may have as many as 9 people in a session.

Advantages of optimal group size.

·        In a group session, individuals can interact with each other and learn the culture of training.  The more experienced athletes have developed efficiency in the manner of setting up equipment and preparing for training.  Newcomers can learn from watching them.  More importantly newcomers can learn the culture of the gym by speaking with veterans.  The importance of sleep, recovery, feeding and lifestyle are easiest to learn when exposed in a group of practitioners. 

·        Sessions also provide role modeling.  Almost everyone has some aspect that needs improvement and they inevitably have someone who can model ideal patterns in a session.  One lifter may not drive well on the jerk, but has someone to model after in the gym.  Lifters can provide modeling for technique and for work habits as well.  Newcomers can pick these up with much prompting from coaches. 

·        Group reinforcement is also a critical factor in a session.  If the culture is to encourage each other, a good effort can be rewarded with encouraging words from one’s peers.  Reinforcement for always being on time, always having all their equipment, and finishing training are always more effective when delivered by peers within the session.

Disadvantages of one-on-one

·        In a one-on-one session, there is always the danger of overcoaching and providing too much input for an athlete who is not ready to receive so much.   

·        Weightlifting is an individual sport and once out on the platform in competition, the lifter has no one to depend on to pick up slack.  Subsequently the development of too much dependency on the coach can become a hindrance for future competitive opportunities.  Sometimes it takes more than one voice to drive home a point, and if there is always only one voice, it may not be nearly as effective.

·        Acceptance within a group of one’s peers is a significant part of training sessions.  One-on-one sessions lack this.

·        Competitive lifting is not an activity for the insecure or shy individual.  Regularly lifting in front of a group of lifters who more or less know what they’re watching is excellent preparation for performing on the competition platform.  One-on-one sessions are not nearly as effective for preparing the athlete for the competition paradigm. 

There’s more to training than sets and reps

For the coach organizing a weightlifting program keep in mind that there are factors to be considered in preparing athletes to be competitors and effective performers.