Snatching Again

Since the Rosetta Stone world tour seems to have ended, I've been able to get back into some olympic-style weightlifting, which is SOOOOO fun! Why, do you ask? Why is it so cool to sling iron around? Gee, I wish I could answer that question. Let me offer a few reasons:

It's unique. It is so different from what everyone else at the gym is doing. Go to the gym and do curls, and you'll be in good company. Do squats, and other guys will take you seriously. Do snatches and high pulls, and people will think that you're either really weird or really cool, to both of which I say, "Great! 'Works for me!" I have this personality thing that says that I have to be special ... different ... unique, so I look for constructive ways to be all of those things, always trying to keep my pride in check...

... which leads me to add that there's a stereotype out there that guys that go to the gym are just vain jerks that only think of themselves. That may be true of some gym rats, but not more so than in any other arena of life. Plus, the same qualities that contribute to a person being a jerk are the same qualities that prevent such a person from achieving any significant success in the gym. Those guys usually get lazy and leave anyway, since they're not getting what they want.

The community rocks. The truth of it is that the more I interact with olympic lifters, powerlifters, and bodybuilders alike, the more I'm impressed with how un-jerk-like they are (pardon the terrible overuse of the word "jerk" but this IS a post about olympic weightlifting). Most of these guys really respect you, regardless of who you are, where you come from, or what you haven't achieved yet. They're just glad you showed up. Most of them are ready and eager to help you with your lifts and to ask for help with their own. They respect the success that other people have experienced and are genuinely happy for them. Bear in mind that this is a description of the weightlifting/bodybuilding community at large. If you look at the community within olympic lifting, o-lifters have an even more supportive community. Again, pardon the terrible pun. This is when my brother Mike would say, "Thank you for your support," and I would say, "Don't be such a jock!"

Anyway...

It's productive. O-lifting is all about goal setting and gradually working toward the realization of these goals. You might argue that I could be spending this time setting goals about getting an MBA, developing a rich stock portfolio, yada, yada, yada, to which I say, "Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof." There's plenty of time for that.

Here's a video that my friend Glen took while we were snatching in our friend Jeff's garage in 2007. The video is old, but it's pretty representative of what snatching is and where I'm at now in my progress.



It's relaxing. It's so great to just clear your head of all the business of today's world and just focus on getting the bar over your head and up in the air.

It gives me something to do with my disproportionately large traps.

It's so stereotypically Russian. I know we shouldn't propagate negative stereotypes, but this one doesn't seem so negative. I love this sport because it helps me to feel a connection with the athletes in it. Take for example Russian Beijing 2008 silver medalist Evgeny Chigishev. What a cool dude! And do you know why? Not only can he snatch 211 kg, but he is also a humble person. Fancy that! Definitely not the stereotypical, self-centered gym rat that many people are so afraid of.

For example, in this brief interview from the 2007 Russian Weightlifting Championships(toward the end of this clip), Chigishev says words to the effect that "I'm very grateful that there's such an interest in this competition."

Notice also, that while he is speaking to the reporter, his beautiful wife is standing next to him, and if you listen carefully, you can here the squeaks of his little son, which is not visible to the camera. Big man, beautiful woman, pure little son ... Ahhh. That is sweet!



It's inspiring. Chigishev was stabbed, I believe, in the shoulder, and so he had to skip the olympic games in Athens. But, he healed up, trained up, and went on to take silver at Beijing. That's such an inspiring story to me about how a person can experience set backs, but still pick themselves up and move forward.

In addition to that, after winning the 2008 silver medal for the over 105 kg weight class, Chigishev could have said anything he wanted to the reporters about how cool Beijing is, how cool he is, and what not. What he chose to say was, "I just want to say hi to my wife and son. I love them very strongly."



So cool.

What's even cooler, is that my fiancee knows of my fascination with this sport, and with Evgeny Chigishev in particular. Once she said, "I'm not interested in Evgeny Chigishev. I'm interested in Dale Richards." It's just cool to know that the girl I love perceives me that way. Good stuff.