If you’re new to weightlifting there will be a point in time when you feel like you’re going to black out, it’s inevitable. I don’t know a single weightlifter that has not experienced the black out feeling. This why it’s important, as weightlifting coach, to ensure that my lifters know when to bail out on an attempt.
*Not sure how the lifter belted out a scream before he blacked out.
Crazy things happen on the platform and the weightlifters decision making skills are extremely important for their own health. If I didn’t properly prepare the weightlifter, they very well could get hurt. I learned this the hard way… I had a lifter that was very adamant he knew how to miss a lift, so stupidly I briefly went over how to miss the lifts. And sadly his instincts and knowledge was tested during a snatch session, the lifter panicked by releasing his grip while the bar was overhead and instead clearing the bar path he barely stepped forward = bar collapsed on his back. Luckily he was ok, but this is where safety comes first and ALL egos should be put aside.
So When Should I Ditch the Bar?
This is an extremely subjective question, but generally speaking you usually know when to dump it. If you don’t know, the safe bet would be to just dump it, that is until you get a better understanding of what will make you pass out or what you can push through.
For our club, we have ALL new weightlifters dump the bar once they get that feeling. Some may feel that it’s teaching them to not fight for an attempt, but I disagree, I believe there is a time and place for the lifter to fight and in the beginning stages is not that time. During the preparatory period the lifter should focus on developing bar awareness, basic strength, and be comfortable lifting on the platform. Once the lifter becomes competent with the lifts and has enough physical preparation then we can start to push the weight and potentially test their fighting spirit. With that said, if it’s practice and you’re hitting training weights, then I believe you should dump the bar. Potentially hurting yourself over practice weights is not worth the risk.
Olympic Weightlifting is SAFE
Link is HERE
Despite what may seem scary or dangerous from the videos, Olympic weightlifting as a sport is actually one of the safest. From anecdotally evidence, I haven’t encountered any weightlifter getting seriously injured while training or competing. They of course may have some minor overuse injuries but these are for competitive weightlifters that are training x5-8 a week. Finally, in my experience and seemingly from the video, the weightlifters that do pass out are generally ok. They usually have minor bumps and bruises from hitting the platform.
Matt Rue: you can see that the weightlifter had enough sense to make a last minute ditch and push away.
This in my opinion is one of the greatest fights I’ve ever seen. Firidun Guliyev (69kg) NEEDED to hit this for a new Junior World Record attempt, Silver in the clean and jerk, and Bronze in the total.
Stay Strong,
Team Fusion Weightlifting
