Category Archives

18 Articles
General/News

2020 Para powerlifting went virtual

Posted by Marie Curtis on
2020 Para powerlifting went virtual

This year’s powerlifting season began with gusto as Manchester, Great Britain and Abuja, Nigeria successfully hosted World Cups in the first prat of the years. But soon, the world health crisis brought the world along with the sporting calendar to a complete halt.

The Covid-19 lockdown caused the World Para Powerlifting to come up with a unique form of a virtual series, which went live on March 31. 

This concept of changing into a virtual platform overnight proved to be a key changer and which is more important is that a large boon for athletes trying to stay fit as well as continue training indoors during the epidemic.

With 25 athletes from 11 countries, the first ever online competition was a resounding success. That paved the way for the Online World Cup Series – a whole series of virtual competitions that were presented by BIGSER.

Head of World Para Powerlifting, Jorge Moreno said that when they created the Series, most part of the world was being locked down and full of uncertainties caused by the virus. It was their way to help athletes stay active as well as do something fun in a safe way.

Colombia’s Fabio Torres and Russia’s Vera Muratova were the winners of the first edition in the men’s and women’s events, respectively.

Torres said about his win that the online competition was really good and looked like a real event that helped athletes to remain strong.

The second series was held in May and attracted 40 athletes from 19 countries where Jordan’s Abdelkareem Khattab and Mexico’s Amalia Perez were the winners.

The third series broke the record when it comes to the number of competitors (55) while the fourth competition was the Online World Cup that had most participant nations (21). David Degtyarev of Muratova and Kazakhstan won both these two competitions.

The fifth series held in October broke a new record with 65 athletes in action competing to earn a place in the Online World Cup Series Finals in November.

Degtyarev and Perez finished first once again, followed by other seven athletes to the Finals with male and female weightlifters competing together.

News

USA Weightlifting Announces the Lineup of 2021 National Events

Posted by Marie Curtis on
USA Weightlifting Announces the Lineup of 2021 National Events

USA Weightlifting has announced the 2021 National events calendar, bringing the top athletes of the premier strength sport to cities around the United States and Western Canada.

USA Weightlifting will hold a Nike National Championships Week, which is new for the 2021-2024 quadrennial. The event is powered by Rogue Fitness and will crown the Junior, Youth, U-25, and Senior National Champions. Fans will have the chance to see the excitement across over one-week competition, culminating in the overall National Championships that remain on two platforms at the end of the week.

Another new for the 2021-2024 quadrennial is that USA Weightlifting will cooperate with Canadian Weightlifting Fédération Haltérophile Canadienne to expand the American Open Series into the Nike North American Open Series, which is also powered by Rogue Fitness, and host the first USA Weightlifting-sanctioned National Event in Canada.

Here is the 2021 National Events lineup:

EventCityDates
North American Open Series East and
National University Championships		Columbus, OH
(The Arnold)		March 4-7
National Championships Week
(Youth, Junior, U25, Senior)		Detroit, MIJune 25-July 4
North American Open SeriesCalgary, AB, CANADASeptember 15-19
North American Open FinalsDenver, CODecember 2-5

Hoping that the impacts of the world health crisis will decrease in the future, USA Weightlifting will go on to work on contingency plans for the events mentioned above. In line with current practices, any decisions about the viability of these events will be made no later than 8 weeks before the scheduled date of the competition.

USA Weightlifting’s Director of Events & Sponsorships Pedro Meloni said that they’re thrilled with the lineup they had put together for the next year. He added that Nationals Week in downtown Detroit would be exciting, and they’re so happy that their friends at Canadian Weightlifting Fédération Haltérophile Canadienne will join them as they expand the American Open Series into Canada.

General/News/Powerlifting Equipment

The Two Best Weight Lifting Wrist Supports in 2020

Posted by Marie Curtis on
The Two Best Weight Lifting Wrist Supports in 2020

Any seasoned weightlifter understands that sometimes the little things can make a major difference in your strength. And wrist straps and wraps are great examples. As you progress in strength training, these small accessories become more and more useful. Here we write down the two best weight lifting wrist supports in 2020.

Mava Sports Ventilated Workout Gloves

Exercise gloves with wrist wraps can help you become stronger by acting like additional tendons and ligaments while the wrist is bent backward. They distribute the burden strain throughout your forearms instead of getting your fingers assist all of it.

Developed with optimized consolation in mind, their light-weight suppleness ensures you get pleasure from a pure grip with none bulkiness. The wrist wraps can be regulated to your private consolation. Meanwhile, the open hand design gives air flow retaining your palms dry and you can avoid smelly gloves.

The Mava final grip exercise gloves were designed to cowl your complete palm and thumb while allowing the remainder of your hand to breath when you are doing your exercises, weightlifting classes, or wods.

Rip Toned Wrist Wraps 18″ Professional Grade

Endorsed by 2014 world champion powerlifter Kevin Weiss, this greatest heavy obligation elastic wrist wrap solely weight lifting wraps help remove failed lifts and defend your wrist joints from damage while practicing heavy or max lifts. The wraps with premium stitching and excessive finish sturdy broader velcro are adjustable and mechanically cleanable.

These excessive efficiency straps provide weightlifters with wrist assist and stability while doing cross-fit, powerlifting, planks, push-ups, burpees, and power training. This product present good assist, are extra snug and permits wrist flexibility.

If you want to quickly and safely enhance your lifts as well as maximize your good points, this new set of wraps are the products of your choice. They are straight-forward to use or take away, although they are pretty stiff.

General/News/weightlifting app

The Best Weightlifting Apps of 2020 (part 3)

Posted by Marie Curtis on
The Best Weightlifting Apps of 2020 (part 3)

Best for Beginners: Fitbod

In the beginning, Fitbod asks for your weight, height, abilities, goals, and some more. Then, it bases on the information you input to build a custom weight training program for you by using a super-smart algorithm. As you log more and more workouts, the algorithm will get smarter. It will adapt and create workouts designed to push you harder.

This app literally fills in the sets, reps, and lifting schemes that you need to perform to see results. In addition, it removes any uncertainty or possibility of discomfort. This is the reason why Fitbod is so great for beginners. Fitbod is quite the similar of a digital personal trainer.

Best for Detailed Workout Logging: Gymaholic

Gymaholic is an app for tracking weightlifting workouts. It is no-frills, yet somehow incredibly detailed. You can track any type of workout set, such as supersets, drop sets, tri-sets, circuits, pyramid sets, sets to failure, and more. It also allows you to tag your weightlifting workouts by types, including TRX, strength, and bodybuilding.

In addition, Gymaholic supports tracking of your one-rep maxes, heart rate during workouts, body measurements, body composition, other personal records, and much more. It integrates with Apple Watch and the Apple Health app so you can see all your data wherever you need it.

Best for Minimal Equipment Workouts: Sworkit

Sworkit is one of the best fitness apps for iPhone. It is there for you when you are in an overcrowded gym or in a hotel gym with a lack of equipment, or any other place where you can’t complete your usual routine. Sworkit is also a great app for busy professionals who don’t have much time, parents who need to practice at home, and travelers who often have limited space.

With Sworkit, you can filter workouts by goals, time, and level of difficulty. If you’re feeling creative, you even can create your own workout by pulling from the app’s exercise library.

News

US teacher uses powerlifting to explain physics

Posted by Marie Curtis on
US teacher uses powerlifting to explain physics

In 2006 when she first started weightlifting on the advice of a co-worker, Jennifer Gimmell – a College of DuPage (COD) physics adjunct faculty member – found it to be a fun activity. The grueling workouts provided an amazing stress reliever to help balance the mental challenges of studying subatomic particles at the same times working as a graduate student researcher at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s collider detector in Batavia.

Now a member of COD’s faculty for over 10 years and a physics teacher at Benet Academy in Lisle, Gimmell said that she is surprised to find that weightlifting holds an unexpected correlation to teaching physics to students. Moreover, the sport provides an additional means to connect with college and high school students.

Gimmell’s desire to connect with students and her willingness to take on innovative approaches led to her being chosen as a Supporting Teachers to Encourage the Pursuit of Undergraduate Physics for Women (STEP UP) Ambassador by the American Physical Society. STEP UP Ambassadors are committed to empowering fellow teachers in shifting deep-seated cultural views and to inspiring young women to pursue physics degrees in college.

In 2015, Benet Academy student and U.S. Presidential Scholar Joseph A. Popelka chose her as his most influential teacher. Meanwhile, at COD, she received an Innovation Award from the college’s IDEA Center for a “flipped class” teaching method wherein students view video lectures at home and then spend the time in the classroom actively working on lesson assignments.

Just as in her teaching, Gimmell constantly pushes herself to excel in her lifting. She recently was named one of the top 30 female weightlifters in the sport by the World Powerlifting Organization (WPO) and, as a result, competed at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio.

She said that this year’s Arnold Sports Festival provided an opportunity to push herself beyond her limits, a challenge she embraced. She set personal records with her dead lift and bench press, which also set a WPO record. Gimmell also achieved her first competition total lift of more than 1,400 pounds. She said she couldn’t be prouder of her performance                                                                                                                                                     She added that lifting has provided her with benefits that go beyond physical strength.

News

World Para Powerlifting set up online competition to support athletes during coronavirus pandemic

Posted by Marie Curtis on
World Para Powerlifting set up online competition to support athletes during coronavirus pandemic

World Para Powerlifting has launched an online competition under the name “Raise The Bar Together” in order to help athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

World Para Powerlifting has required participants to make a small donation to humanitarian aid organizations or local clubs in lieu of an entrance fee.

The online competition has been created with the aim of supporting powerlifting athletes to continue their training at home and stay safe during the new novel coronavirus crisis.

Athletes who are competitors are allowed to submit up to 3 videos of lift challenges and they are ranked by their “AH” score, meaning the result of a statistical coefficient.

The “AH” score is used to equalize as well as compare the performances of the athletes between different body weights at competitions in the sport of powerlifting.

Technical officials are also invited to judge the games on the online “Raise The Bar Together” platform.

Sherif Osman of Egypt, a three-time Paralympic champion, welcomes the creation of the online event.

Osman said that with the uncertainty of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, this online competition platform can help all powerlifting athletes to stay motivated and be able to train at their homes safely. It is so exciting to see other athletes’ lifts and results from afar.

The outbreak of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 50,000 people and infected more than 950,000, has caused a near total shutdown of sports worldwide.

It also forced the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games postponed to 2021.

Para Powerlifting World Cups in Colombia, Dubai, and Bogota, planned for March and April, respectively, have all been canceled due to the virus.

Besides World Para Powerlifting, some other organizations have also established online events in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

News

Powerlifters boycott camp before 2020 Olympics Qualifiers

Posted by Marie Curtis on
Powerlifters boycott camp before 2020 Olympics Qualifiers

The camp of Powerlifters is in disarray since some athletes have sworn to not report back to camp before the Powerlifting World Cup billed for Abuja that is qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The hope of Nigeria winning medals at the 2020 Olympics has gone on to dwindle every day with the crisis rocking the Powelifting Federation of Nigeria when some board members are at daggers drawn with the President of PFN, Queen Oboh.

The Technical Director, Joy Mayaki in the company of some board members on Tuesday who met and appealed to the athletes were told in clear terms that they’re going to not move to Abuja if their grouses aren’t addressed by the board.

Reeling out reasons for his or her decision to boycott training and pack up their training center located inside the National Stadium in Lagos, the protesting powerlifters said the selection of Abuja for the training camp wasn’t well thought out by the board as all the equipment needed for training are situated in Lagos.

They described the selection of Abuja as an effort to be penny-wise and pounds foolish as all the facilities like accommodations and training equipment are readily available in Lagos.

The athletes who were visibly angry wondered why former Nigerian International and Head Coach of the team, Aare Feyisetan who has been with the team for quite 11 years was unceremoniously replaced on the eve of a serious tournament.

According to them, some members of the federation are trying to sow seeds of discord amongst athletes. They wondered why junior athletes who were invited for trials before the competition were exempted from participating at the planet Championship.

They queried why these junior athletes who are meant to require over when the aging athletes retire were invited for trials if the federation had no decide to feature them within the competition.

In her response, the board through the Technical Director, Joy Mayaki said provisions for the young athletes weren’t captured within the allow the competition, hence the choice to drop all.

She also said some junior athletes are presently camped in Abuja and catered for by the federation in spite of her stance that no provisions were made for them since the athletes queried her about the fate of these stranded in Lagos.

On Monday, during a bid to force the athletes to abandon the camp in Lagos, equipment in Lagos were removed in the dark and brought to Abuja.

Despite directives from the Federal Ministry of Sports through the Secretary of the federation, Dapo Akinyele, to report back to camp on Monday for preparation for the planet championship, the athletes expected to take part in the competition billed for Feb 5th to 7th in Abuja have resolved to boycott the camp.

The Secretary advised them to report back to camp with immediate effect or risk being overlooked of the championship.

News

World Para Powerlifting to Use Panasonic’s Power Assist Suit

Posted by Marie Curtis on
World Para Powerlifting to Use Panasonic’s Power Assist Suit

World Para Powerlifting has announced that power assist suits created by technology giants Panasonic, a Worldwide Paralympic Partner, will be used at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and during World Para Powerlifting events.

Support staff will use the suits at powerlifting competitions to help them attach and remove weights from barbells. The decision to deploy them follows that Panasonic has become a Official Supplier of WPPO, agreed in September between WPPO and Panasonic.

About World Para Powerlifting

World Para Powerlifting, under the governance of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), is the International Federation for the sport and is based in Bonn, Germany.

Para powerlifting is open to male and female athletes with eight eligible physical impairments. Major competitions include the Paralympic Games, biennial World Championships, regional Championships and annual World Cups.

As you can see, the Para powerlifting competitions can witness athletes lifting more than 3 times their own body weight.

To help the athletes stay focused, it is the support  staff  that will need to lift multiple weights for over 180 contestants at the World Para Powerlifting events and at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Assistants will need to carry an absolute minimum of 8,650kg of weight being lifted across male and female competitions.

Panasonic is proud to support the Paralympic Games

Panasonic Corporation has been an Official Worldwide Partner of the IPC since 2014.

Panasonic is committed to provide accessible products and services to various people including those with disabilities and the elderly and continue to support the Paralympic Movement. Promotion by the Paralympic Games enables the realisation of a more peaceful world through sport and corresponds to Panasonic’s philosophy of ‘A Better Life, A Better World.’

Panasonic Corporation is a leader in the development of diverse electronics technologies in the consumer electronics, automotive, housing, and B2B sectors.

The company has expanded globally and presently operates 582 subsidiaries and 87 associated companies worldwide.

News

Japanese weightlifter set a new world record on the bench press

Posted by Marie Curtis on
Japanese weightlifter set a new world record on the bench press

Daiki Kodama, a Japanese powerlifter weighing just 11 stone, lifted 225 kilograms on the bench press and set a new world record for his weight class.

The amount he lifted is three times over his bodyweight, and as a result, he was assisted by his teammates who acted as spotters due to the elevated risk of injury.

The Japanese powerlifter competes in the International Powerlifting Federation. IPF competitions are drug-tested, and supportive equipment is kept to a minimum, however, in Kodama’s case, he could use wrist straps and a singlet.

The 40-year-old was the previous record-holder too when he set a 211.5kg deadlift, while he also has a best squat record of 170kg.

This new world record will add to the 2017 world record set by Kodama at the Asian Powerlifting & Bench Press Expo, where he benched 210.5kg in the Open 83kg class.

A study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that bench pressing like Kodama did (with the assistance of spotters) boosts how much a person can lift.

Either way, without spotters, the risk of injury would have been significantly higher, due to the big amount the 11 stone athlete was lifting. Last month, for example, a French weightlifter broke her arm in two places at the European Weightlifting Championship.

31-year-old Gaelle Nayo Ketchanke was attempting to lift her career personal best 110kg in the women’s 76kg category in Batumi, Georgia. She failed to complete her lift the first two times, and on her third attempt her left arm buckled and gave away. She was rushed to the hospital for surgery but incredibly still walked away with the bronze medal.

And let’s not forget the Russian powerlifter who broke his leg in three places while trying to squat 250kg recently. The perils of weightlifting can be extremely severe!

News

15-year-old Byrne creates world powerlifting history

Posted by Marie Curtis on
15-year-old Byrne creates world powerlifting history

WOODBROOK GLEN native Megan Byrne made history last month when she became the youngest-ever female athlete to win a world title in powerlifting at the age of just 15.

The transition year student came first in the T1 (14-15-year-old) category at the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Championships in Halle, Germany in late October. The full powerlift category in which Megan competes consists of three separate disciplines: squat, benchpress and deadlift.

Byrne was part of a 17-strong Irish team that travelled to the championships and what makes her story all the more remarkable, is that she only started out weightlifting a year ago.

She took up the sport as a means of keeping feet but, under the tutelage of her father and coach Reg, has flourished in her short time competing. She was crowned national full power champion in Belfast earlier this year, which earned her a spot on the Irish team that competed at world level.

Megan recently released a book entitled Healthy Eating Without Training, and she’s also a talented singer with a number of performances available online.

Reg runs the Angels Boxing Club at St Benildus College in Stillorgan, where the European Drug Free Championships will take place next April.

He’s also the vice-president of the Irish Drug-Free Powerlifting Association, which is affiliated with the World Anti-Doping Association, WADA.

Megan has already qualified for the European Championships, and the next worlds, by virtue of her performance in Germany, and will continue to defend her national title in 2020.

The hope is that drug-free powerlifting will become an Olympic event in the not-too-distant future, however at the moment there exists no kind of funding to help athletes compete.

Reg says, “It is definitely in contention to be an Olympic sport. In three or four years time, if it becomes an Olympic sport, hell yeah she’ll be in contention to represent her country.

“She eats, sleeps and drinks her powerlifting and her singing. Any young kid starting out in sport, whether it be football or rugby, they always strive to be at the top.”