When I was 18 years old (this In 1990), I watched the documentary film Pumping Iron (which was released in 1977), It’s a film all about competitive body building.
It features a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in an early role, long before he became the mega successful film star, and several other “Golden era” Bodybuilders, including Franco Columbu
It was also a dramatic moment in my life, because I realized then that I was not remotely pleased with my own body, then weighing in (Pathetically) at six and a half stone (90 lb soaking wet), at 5 feet 9“, a skinny wimp, and I was always a sickly child who had never been a strong or sporty kind of person.
But all of that was about to change.
Soon after watching the film, which I was a bit obsessed with, I set about buying a home gym weights set and getting into regular lifting sessions, and reading all I could about Body Building.
Admittedly, in the early days I really didn’t know about what would work, but I had high hopes and knew that it was possible to change my body, which anyone can, and that I didn’t have to settle for where I was.
After around a year, I had joined a local gym and would make a regular visits of 1 hour, 3 times a week.
This newly adopted lifestyle along with a calorie surplus (with nutritional value) was enough to start building my body up and eventually I had built up my body mass to a steady twelve and a half stone, (175 lb). Having almost doubled my initial bodyweight, and I started to display the proportions of a bodybuilder.
I was also now a lot stronger, by definition and after years of sticking with the process and “Lifestyle”, I decided to make it my career, and started to gain an education in the area of fitness, this was in 1995, at the start of something that would eventually lead to the coach I am today.
Life Begins at Forty
As by now, I had many years behind me of keeping in shape, I decided (with much encouragement from various people from my local gym, and an excellent mentor I knew from a Bodybuilding forum, from America, Mr Sean Toohey) to put my money where my mouth is and to actually compete at the sport of body building. Inevitably, It was a however a world of difference to involve yourself in bodybuilding as a past time / hobby, when compared to actually competing as a bodybuilder. But if anyone deserved a medal more than the competitive bodybuilders, it’s the wives who put up with it all. I thank my wife, Di Sorenson, for everything !
The competitions are accessed and scored on these factors, in descending order of importance. Condition, Proportion, symmetry and size.
It takes time to bring all of these aspects together for each competition, along with the skill of posing which also takes some mastery.
Overall, throughout my forties I entered five competitions from the years 2013 – 2019, and had won one of these shows (in 2014)
Unlike other sports
The overall subtext is that in bodybuilding there is no real “Performance measure”, other than the end result. Which is the body “On display”, and this (to add to it) is completely subjective.
On to, Olympic Weightlifting
At school I had always disliked team sports (which is also possibly why I work for myself to this day, it’s far less complicated 😊) and did my best to get out of games lessons, often with a sick note, which involved these elements. BUT, there was one sport that I had always wanted to try my hand at.
And in the late February of 2018, at the age of 46, I stopped my
procrastination, and booked in with a coach to have my first 1:1 session for Olympic Weightlifting (so called as it’s been an Olympic sport since 1896).
The sport involves the execution of two exercises.
The snatch, where the barbell is lifted from the floor, and above the head in one continuous movement, and The Clean and Jerk where the bar is raised from the floor to above the chest and then pushed above the head.
The obvious “Performance measure” is simple. The athlete who lifts the highest “Total” based on these two exercises is the winner, and it was the objective nature of the sport that I found refreshing as it was totally black and white, unlike bodybuilding.
The further appeal, Strength and Technique.
Weight Lifting is an athletic sport that tests human ballistic limits (Explosive
strength), The lifts are scientifically the most complicated according to research. As a sport, Oly lifting requires greater power, speed, range of motion and mobility than bodybuilding and many other sports. It involves some of the fastest moves in sport and it takes huge skill to master it.
It’s incredibly demanding and complex to become good at Oly Lifting, because you have to under pin the technical attributes with something related to Bodybuilding, Strength training.
Now I’m 52 and I’m well into my seventh year of learning the sport. My coach Toby, (On going since 2018) is terrifically patient and encouraging. He has, over the years, observed nearly every Olympic lift I’ve performed in (Now) countless sessions (for at least once and more often twice a week, every week since starting)
I totally underestimated the difficulty of the sport, and coming from a Bodybuilding background has done little to prepare me for it. But, Oly lifting definitely keeps me in shape and taps into areas of fitness I had never even anticipated.
It’s an addictive activity that is not for everyone. (You could not recommend it to a client, It’s a sport which has to be found upon by the individual), though I’m in the fortunate position to be passing on my own lessons to two of my clients who had expressed interest.
I still have a lot of work to do, but now I’m now stronger than I was seven years ago and moving faster. I would like to compete at the sport in time.
As it goes I really don’t miss my bodybuilding days, as they are now well behind me.
And what I really thank the discipline of Olympic Weightlifting for is for turning me into a fully bonafide and altogether better “Well rounded” athlete. I would recommend it to anyone. It also has a real plus side in that it still works to getting you in good shape.
