From my time as a Strength and Conditioning coach at East Carolina University (ECU), I learned to respect the gym and its members. The Murphy Center at ECU is a great facility where only varsity athletes have the privilege to train to get stronger, faster, bigger, etc. From day 1, Coach Whitten instilled in our staff that no ONE person is better than another; this included coaches, other staff members, and athletes. Now generally speaking, football is a university’s moneymaker so it follows that football players have first priority in the weight room. However, this wasn’t the case at the Murphy Center. At ECU, there was a pervasive attitude of camaraderie: athletes of all sports helping each other with spotting, cheering each other on, returning equipment to its place, etc. In other words, we were taught to respect one another and our surroundings, we worked as a team, despite training for different sports.
So what does this have to do with Olympic weightlifting?
…It ties very much into how most gyms and weightlifting clubs share space. For example, Lost Battalion Hall, a VERY well established weightlifting club based in Queens, NY shares its space with boxers and various recreational members, like ping-pong players, in a dungy basement. I remember going for a PR and a ping-pong ball smacked me in the face. Did I get angry and start screaming? No I didn’t. I understood that the facility is a shared space; others had the right to play ping-pong as much as I had the right to lift. When my PR attempt was interrupted, I recalled what someone told Tommy Kono when he faced a similar challenge: “That builds character.”
Building Character
For Fusion Weightlifting, we currently train at a commercial gym space. Does it suck? Hell yea! But the gym and its prior owners have allowed us to bring in our equipment and use its facilities for the past 5 years. In our particular situation, we need to be mindful of the trainers, current members, and potential members. For example: we allow others to ‘work in’ with us on the platform (despite how it extends our rotation times), we clean up after ourselves (trying to leave the area neater than when we found it), and we try to refrain from dropping weights when employees are giving membership tours. Given the unique situation, these examples are what make up our gym etiquette. Since the commercial gym we use has been kind enough to allow us to use its facilities, we feel it is more than reasonable to extend courtesy to everyone.
However I’ve been hearing more and more negative comments from people across the east coast and even at our own gym where weightlifters are being disrespectful and rude to others. This brings a negative reflection on our sport and makes it that much more difficult for potential weightlifters to develop in this sport and for the sport to keep spreading. Gym owners will start to enforce rules of no Olympic lifting to keep the peace within his gym and I wouldn’t blame them, especially if lifters are making a mess and starting trouble with employees or members.
Respect is a hallmark trait of true sportsmanship. Certainly, it sucks that we can’t always drop a loaded barbell as other lifters do at true weightlifting gyms. But in our situation, we’re grateful that at least we have a place where we can train. For those who bitch about not having the freedom to lift the way they want, watch the following video of Pat Mendes lifting at a box gym. [I hate using people as examples but this hits the nail on the head.]
Is this an ideal situation? Of course not; but one has to make do with what one has. For Fusion Weightlifting, we must comply with the rules of our gym, no matter how absurd and contradicting they may be for Olympic weightlifting.
Not all of us are lucky enough to be in a facility built exclusively for Olympic Weightlifting. Most of us must contend with training in commercial gym spaces. So, for those who aren’t allowed to let the barbell fall loudly… For those who get hit with ping-pong balls… For those who endure oblivious members walking by inches away when preparing to snatch, don’t bitch and moan! Instead, get some damn perspective and be grateful you have a place where you can train. These challenges can only build character—if you let them. If you’re going to lift, make do with what you have, not with what you don’t have. Above all, RESPECT the sport and RESPECT your community of lifters.
Stay strong,
Team Fusion Weightlifting