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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

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.”

News

Kāpiti club produces three world champions

Posted by Marie Curtis on
Kāpiti club produces three world champions

Weightlifting is the glory sport, the Olympic sport where all you have to do is lift one weight above your head. The heaviest one you can. Powerlifting is its forgotten cousin.

Requiring not one, but three lifts – the squat, bench press and deadlift totals are added together to find a powerlifting champion.

Despite its lesser-known status, the Kāpiti Powerlifting Club is churning out success with three members attending the World Powerlifting Championships in Calgary, Canada, earlier this month, coming away as world champions.

Attending was Alison Fitzmaurice who won gold in the masters 50-55 100+kg women’s and won silver in the open class 100+kg, Graeme Boyce who won gold in the M4 55-59 105+kg, and Riria Ropata who won gold in open division 100+kg category.

Riria also won the best overall female lifter in 109+kg category and biggest squat, bench and deadlift lift.

Attending their third international competition together all three world champions credited Kāpiti Powerlifting Club at 318 Fitness in Paraparaumu with inspiring them in the sport.

“We are blessed to train in a great environment with a community who backs you all the way,” Alison said.

“318 is more of a family than a gym and we are very grateful for that. We are also lucky to have a lot of friends and family who help us fundraise to get to our events as this sport is totally self-funded.

“I am a two-times Oceania champion but this was far more nerve-racking. I was hoping to win as if you don’t want to win there’s no point competing.

“I feel ecstatic and blessed about the win. I do it for the camaraderie and buzz but also to try and be healthy.”

“It’s a great, very supportive community,” Riria said.

“I enjoy the training, it always pushes me and I’m always setting new goals.”

Lifting 212kg in the squat, 103kg in the bench press and 220kg in the deadlift, Riria won gold for the highest score and also lifted the most in each lift, winning best squat, best bench press, and best deadlift.

“It’s still sinking in, this is my first international win.

“Powerlifting is not an Olympic sport so this is it, the world championships.

“It’s awesome that I managed to come away with the win, with the title.”

Originally going to the competition in a coach/manager role, Graeme decided to enter, winning gold in the masters 55-59 age group category.

“I returned to the sport in 2013 after a long break and was happy with the win as I have been injured most of this year.

“It was a pretty good showing all-round.”

“Our local community board has been fantastic in always helping us with community grants and I just want to thank the Paraparaumu/Raumati community board for their belief in us,” Alison said.

“We have three world champions now in our club and that is a very big thing that we are very proud of.”

News

Powerlifting Widnes family break records at recent competitions

Posted by Marie Curtis on
Powerlifting Widnes family break records at recent competitions

A weightlifting family from Widnes has set new records at championship competitions.

Father and daughter duo Dave and Kayleigh Morris recently competed at the British Powerlifting Union and the Amateur British Powerlifting Union British finals at Bodypower, Birmingham and the WPC European Finals in Limerick, Ireland.

The duo has been training together and competed in competitions series earlier in this year.

At the British finals, the family is going from strength to strength with 18-year-old Kayleigh competing in the T3 division under the 90 kg class. She broke her own record in the UK of 105kg with lifts of 107.5k and 122.5kg and also won the gold medal.

Kayleigh went on to the European Championships 5 weeks later when she won the title, as well as setting new UK, European, and World’s record with a deadlift of 115kg.

48-year-old Dave Morris is widely-known as The Gorilla in powerlifting. Dave is a 26 stone power-lifter who won both titles in the Masters two super heavyweight division in both raw bench and raw deadlift with a press of 222.5kg. He also gained a new BPU UK deadlift record 312.5kg.

In the present, Dave holds not only both UK records in raw bench and raw deadlift but also a WPC European record in deadlift as well as WPC and IPL World records in the deadlift. He is currently ranked the world’s number two dead-lifter for his division.

Then he went on to the European Championships in Limerick, Ireland, winning both the raw bench press title with a press of 225kg and a new Europe and World’s WPC record deadlift of 312.5kg. He received 2 best lifter awards for his great performances.

Sister of Kayleigh and daughter of Dave, Nat Morris, 21, is also a big part of the success of the family. She went to the European Championships, helping to keep stress levels to a minimum and making sure that everything was taken care of at weigh-ins.

In addition, she will compete within the bodybuilding of women and also power lift in her bodybuilding offseason.

All three members are now fully sponsored athletes at Dedicated Fitness XL Gym in Huyton.

General

Five Significant Health Benefits of Weightlifting

Posted by Marie Curtis on
Five Significant Health Benefits of Weightlifting

Weightlifting seems to be a daunting thing at first, but like anything else, when you give it time and practice it regularly, it will pay off for the rest of your life. Nowadays, many people are practicing weightlifting as a way to keep fit and healthy because it has a lot of benefits for adults of all ages and genders. Here are five health benefits of weightlifting when you make it a part of your workout routine.

1. Injury prevention

Weightlifting is one of the most effective ways to increase bone density and build muscles mass. It is important to build stronger bones to reduce the risk of fractures. This is the reason why if runners skip on strength training activities, they can end up injuring their knees and other body parts as well.

 2. Healthier heart

A recent study has shown that spending less than an hour on weightlifting each week could reduce the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke by 40 to 70 percent. This might boost your cardiovascular health better than running. However, for optimal physical fitness, it is recommended that you should perform both types of exercise, for example, strength training and aerobic activity.

3. Burn calories

Technically, a cardio session burns more calories than a weightlifting one. However, weightlifting can help build muscle, meaning that you will burn calories even while at rest. Following a high-intensity weightlifting session can be considered as the afterburn effect.

4. Diabetes management

Particularly, those who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should include weightlifting or some other forms of strength exercises in their routine. Experts advise that you should tone your muscles in order to better control blood glucose levels.

5. Mental wellbeing

While it is clear that aerobic exercise has certain mental health benefits, the literature shows that weightlifting can also lift your spirits. According to a meta-analysis taken in 2017, weightlifting is linked to a significant anxiety reduction.

Famous weightlifters

Top 7 greatest weightlifters in Olympics history (part 1)

Posted by Marie Curtis on
Top 7 greatest weightlifters in Olympics history (part 1)

Weightlifting is the sport in the Olympics that most tests the physical strength of an individual. Over the competitions of the years, we have seen great powerhouses and world records broken on the grandest stage of them all. However, there are some weightlifters who have gone one further step and etched their names in Olympics folklore. We enlist here the top 10 greatest Olympics weightlifters of all time.

1. Liu Chunhong (China)

Liu Chunhong is the only female Olympics weightlifter to win back-to-back gold medals in the same weight category. She won gold medals in the 69kg class both in the 2004 Olympics in Athens and in 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Especially, in 2008, she clinched the Gold setting Olympic records in both Snatch and, Clean & Jerk with lifts of 158kg and 128kg for a combined world record of 286kg.

Olympic: 2 Golds

World Championships: 2 Golds

2. Waldemar Baszanowski (Poland)

Polish weightlifter Waldemar Baszanowski competed in the 67.5kg class and won gold medals in two games in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics. In World Championships, he won 5 Gold and 5 Silver medals, a combined 10 medals that is more than any athlete in weightlifting history.

In 1993, Waldemar Baszanowski was inducted into the Hall of Fame of International Weightlifting Federation, sealing his name as one of the greatest weightlifters of all time.

Olympic: 2 Golds

World Championships: 5 Golds, 5 Silvers

3. Charles Vinci (USA)

American weightlifter Charles Vinci competed in the Bantamweight class and won two gold medals in the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics. In addition, he also won two gold medals in the 1955 and 1959 Pan American games.

Between 1955 and 1960, Charles Vinci set up to 12 World Records in the bantamweight class. He also held records in Snatch, In Press, Clean & Jerk, as well as in total weight lifted by any weightlifter in history.

Olympic: 2 Golds

World Championships: 2 Silvers.