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New weightlifting categories
Olympic weightlifting is a weight class sport, meaning you compete against athletes that are within your particular weight range (plus gender and age range). A few days ago, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) announced new weightlifting categories, which hadn’t changed essentially since 1998 (there was a minor change in 2017: one extra category added for women). Current weightlifting categories There are 2 sets of categories, one for competitions organised by the IWF and one for the Olympic games (approved for Tokyo 2020), which is essentially a subset of the former. 10 new bodyweight categories have been approved by the IWF Executive Board and will now be submitted to the…
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What is weightlifting and why I do it
Weightlifting or Olympic weightlifting (a.k.a. Oly lifting or lifting) is an Olympic sport (hence the name) that consists of 2 lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk (see videos below). When people ask me what I do for exercise (I look fairly strong and fit for a woman my age), I just say “weightlifting” knowing that most people will assume I mean “I lift (pink) weights” or “I do bodybuilding”. Less often, some people think I do powerlifting, which is a completely different beast. I tried to avoid saying the word “Olympic” because some people think this means I actively participate in the Olympic games (LOL!). Training for Olympic…
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Supplementing creatine
One of the talks that caught my attention at the SDA Conference was Dr Tom Doering‘s work on creatine supplementation for master athletes. For those who are not into sports, the term “master” means old. The cut-off age depends on the sport; in my case (weightlifting) is 35. As we age, we lose muscle mass and strength and creatine can be a useful supplement for older athletes, particularly those engaging in weightlifting and other power sports. Dr Doering recommends taking creatine monohydrate with meals or a post-exercise snack containing carbohydrate and protein. The protocol is a 7-day loading phase (0.3g/kg/day) followed by a maintenance phase of 2g per day. I…
