Champion Weightlifters are the strongest athletes in the world. But most people erroneously think all such weightlifters were simply born “strong”. That is actually far from the case.
First, not a single athlete at the highest levels of the sport reached that level without years of training, regardless of how strong they were at the outset. More importantly, the majority of champion weightlifters began with normal or less than normal levels of strength. Some who became champions were so weak when they began their training that they started lifting weights just hoping that they might be able to get closer to a normal level of strength. Then, through training, they found that their potential was much greater than they had ever dreamed. That training literally transformed them from weaker than average people to strength stars.
A great example of that was one of the greatest lifters in the history of Weightlifting – Tommy Kono (two time Olympic Champion and three time medalist, six time world champion and owner of 26 world records (at least one in each of the three lifts that were contested at the time, and in the coveted three lift “total”. Not only that, he was the only lifter in history to make world records in four bodyweight categories (during an era when the categories did not change).
He was a severe asthmatic as a boy, weighing only about 70 lb. at the age of 13, yet through training he eventually not only excelled in Weightlifting, becoming a two-time Olympic Champion, but he also excelled in Bodybuilding as well, winning the Mr. Universe title, and in the process and inspiring the then young Arnold Schwarzenegger to take up lifting.
Tommy Kono is shown at a bodyweight of approximately 70 lb. in the photo below on the left, and as a champion Weightlifter in the photo on the right.
The Miraculous Results of Progressive Resistance Exercise
High level weightlifters developed their astounding levels of strength by leveraging the miracle of “progressive resistance” exercise. Progressive (gradually increasing) resistance training enabled them to increase their starting levels of strength twofold, threefold, fourfold, or even more. What seems more amazing to some is that the vast majority did this this without the use of performance enhancing drugs. Those who tried to use such drugs lost any titles and records they’d been awarded while cheating, and were banned from participation in the sport for extended periods of time (often career ending periods).
No It’s Not Drugs That Made All of Them Strong
In the sport if Olympic-style Weightlifting, in particular, athletes participate in the most stringent worldwide drug testing program of any sport on the world (e.g., they are tested by independent parties at all major competitions and year round at home). If any are found to be taking prohibited drugs (such as anabolic steroids) they are banned from the sport for periods ranging from months to life. So the athletes in that sport are making their staggering improvements without the use of performance enhancing drugs – through the amazing ability that humans have to adapt to the stimulus supplied by sound training methods.
Why This Is All Great News For You
It means that you can get amazingly stronger through training, and you don’t have to resort to drugs to do it (in fact you’ll be out of the sport if you try to use them). So whether you are naturally strong side, or relatively weaker, if you want to get stronger, then weightlifting is made for you. If you give sound training a chance, you’ll find you can get stronger than you ever imagined. How is this possible?
It’s because so many characteristics that contribute to lifting heavier weights can be dramatically improved as a result of proper training. For instance, you can learn to focus your mind on exerting greater strength, and in so doing improve your strength almost immediately. More importantly, by the very act of focusing on and exerting effort, you can trigger changes in your neurological system and the muscles themselves, so that your strength level will soar over time.
You Can and Should Learn Techniques That Will Enable You to Demonstrate the Strength You’ve Gained Through Training
As you are getting stronger through training, you can also learn technical skills that enable you to lift more efficiently, increase the speed with which you lift and improve your flexibility, all of which will increase the amount you can ultimately lift.
As you improve, your confidence grows, so that you’ll feel comfortable trying to lift heavier weights. That will not only result in your being able to lift heavier weights almost immediately, but the very act of trying heavier weights will train you to lift still heavier weights in the future.
The list of ways you can train yourself to lift very long, with an almost unlimited number of tools that can enable you to improve your performance. That makes for a truly exciting and rewarding journey in the sport. If you want to get stronger, master a new skill and build your confidence, Weightlifting is absolutely for you!
In closing, I want to strongly suggest that however and wherever you decide to train, if you want your Weightlifting career to be as joyful and successful as it can and should be, it is extremely important that you get off to the right start – with two basic steps.
First, master Weightlifting technique from the outset. It is much easier to learn good technique from day one, than to try to fix faulty technique later on. We specialize in helping athletes overcome poor technique and are very successful at doing that, but lifters who learned bad technique at the outset, or really didn’t learn technique at all, would have saved themselves a lot of time and frustration by learning to lift correctly from the start.
Our second piece of advice is that you proceed gradually but continuously with your training. Your success and steady improvement is virtually guaranteed if you proceed gradually in terms the amount you lift and the amount of training you do (together with learning to lift properly).
The good news is that your mind and body are so receptive to training stimuli at the outset of your career that you don’t need much training (and certainly not much weight) to stimulate your mind and body to improve your strength at the maximum rate that they can at that point.
You can look at this is a sort of universal “beginner’s luck”. All beginners can improve their strength with very little training, because the previously untrained person needs a relatively small amount of training to stimulate the body to improve to the maximum extent it can at that point in time. Later, you may need more training to generate the same effect, but you will have been gradually conditioned to carry out such training safely and effectively.
For example, 20 minutes going through limited parts of the competitive lifts with a stick or PVC pipe instead of a barbell, and one set each of a few basic strength exercises, is all beginners need to maximally stimulate improvement in their skill and strength. Any more doesn’t lead to faster progress, and it can lead to soreness (if taken to extremes, you may even suffer overuse injuries, or burnout).
As two-time World Champion and Olympic Team Coach, John Terpak, used to say, “make haste slowly”. You’ll get there faster and more surely in the long run. We’d be happy to help you get on the right path, just click on Get Started.