Topic: Please Introduce Yourself

[Roger Crazy Wolf]

Name: Roger Crazy Wolf

Age: 36

Gender: Male

Occupation: High school science teacher

Location: Aiken, SC

Team: Loosely associated with Team Palmetto

How did you get involved in weightlifting? I played football for a number of years and still wanted to compete at something so I went to power lifting. Didn't really do much in that, ran into a guy who watched me workout one day and said, 'You're strong, so what are you going to do with that?' He then convinced me to try O-lifting and I've been hooked ever since.

Years involved: Eight years, off and on.

Athletic achievements: Staying alive this long.

Role in weightlifting: Coach, sometimes competitor

Coaching/Education credentials: Club coach, Masters in Physics and Secondary Education

Favorite Weightlifter: The one I'm currently coaching

Other interests: Physics, chemistry, any science basically, reading, track&field, highland games, stats and data reduction, etc.

[walt lampert]

Name:  Walt Lampert
Age:  58
Gender:  male
Occupation:  carpenter/CNC guy
Location:  Pacific Northwest
Team:  None, last team was Golden Gate Barbell Club under Jim Schmitz.
How did you get started/involved in weightlifting?:  Was 14 and saw Yoshinobu Miyake lift in the 64 olympics and I was never the same.
Years involved in weightlifting:  from 67 to 73 , then life crept in (college, marrige, work, kids you know how it goes), did train in very short spurts here and there but always got pulled away,  Then I went to the worlds in Vancouver 2003 and I needed to be involved again.  2 Worlds and 5 Europeans since then as and observer and fan only.
Athletic achievements:  Nothing worth mentioning, but I can still press 100 kilos for a triple as an old fart @ 85 kg.
Role in weightlifting:  simply a fan.
education/ coaching:  Mathematics, I would be a lousy coach.
Favorite weightlifter:  Many, mostly russians.  Rigert is way high on the list.
Interests other than weightlifting:  CNC work,  and now I am addicted to travel.
Other information you would like to share:  Nope.  At least not now.
 
 
 

[Sam McLean]

Name: Sam McLean

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Occupation: Personal Trainer

Location: Salem, OR

Team: None.

How did you get started/involved in weightlifting?: I used powerlifting as an outlet when I sobered up about 5 years ago.  Powerlifting is fun, but not my thing, so I made the switch.  Weightlifting is a lifesport.  It's always going to be a challenge, always going to be fun, and if I train smart, always going to be in my life.  I visited Calpians on a couple of occasions and was totally inspired.  John is the man.

Athletic Achievements: 2nd place in 2004 WA state powerlifting championships (as one of two athletes in my age category and weight class.  W00t!)  At a 94 kilo bodyweight (been there for about a year now) my best lifts are as follows: Snatch 80 kg, C&J 110 kg, Press 90 kg, Front Squat 135 kg, Back Squat 202.5 kg, Bench Press 115 kg, Deadlift 200 kg.  Since I will probably never max out on bench press or deadlift again, I don't imagine those will go anywhere.  My back squat PR came at the end of a run through the Smolov squat cycle, which I will never do again since it pushed me well beyond my normal recovery means.

Role in Weightlifting: novice athlete, but I have taught a few youth athletes who turned out to be far better than me.

Education/coaching: I want to make the trip to Colorado Springs and get a Club Coach Cert.  I am also an ACSM certified personal trainer.

Favorite Weightlifter: Man, there are alot.  Big fan of Tsagaev and Boevski, and Kolecki gives me hope (a 6'2" 94 kilo lifter who has achieved international success give all of us lanky guys something to strive for.)

Interests other than weightlifting: My wife, writing, personal training, and *taking a deep breath in anticipation of scathing responses* Dungeons and Dragons.

Other information you would like to share: I've more or less put my own training program together in the last three months, based on the Bulgarian program.  Currently I'm at 4 training sessions a week, but I'll increase training frequency gradually over the next several months.  The volume is just right for me, and the nearly exclusive focus on the classic lifts above 80% has really helped improve my technique.  Prior to that, I was messing around with all manner of assistance exercises and having minimal gains for more than 4 years.  I know that having started weightlifting at 24 years of age (and only really training intelligently at 28!) puts me at a disadvantage, but I don't need to be on the path to greatness to have a blast in this sport.

[cristian escalante]

Name: Cristian Escalante C.
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Occupation: Athlete
Location: Santiago, Chile.
Team: National Team
How did you get started/involved in weightlifting?: 1991...
Years involved in weightlifting: 17 years.
Athletic achievements: 5 times southamerican champion, 2 times silver medal panam games, 1 gold medal panam games Rio 2007.
Role in weightlifting: Athlete
Coaching/educational credentials: Francisco Casamayor 1993-2005) , Luis Lopez (2006-....), weightlifting specialist Cuba.
Favorite weightlifter: Leonid Taranenko 
Interests other than weightlifting:  off road  , my family.
Other information you would like to share: snatch 180, C/J 221.  Agree my facebook "cristian Haltero escalante".
 
 

[mathew croatier]

Name: mathew
Age:21, 196cm, 115kg
Gender: M
Occupation: Student
Location:Croatia
Team: none
How did you get started/involved in weightlifting?: first started lifting barbels and dumbels at home in late january 2008, then i started to go in gym in february to lift some bigger weights, now im lifting in gym with no WL trainers   (no WL trainers in my city, and we dont have international lifter in my country , only Nikolay Peschalov who we bought but he is native bulgarian)
Years involved in weightlifting:3 weaks
Athletic achievements: power snatch 80kg, cnj 95kg, deadlift 200kgx3, frontsquat 130kgx3, backsquat 150x3, deep GM 80x3
Role in weightlifting: ill keep up lifting weights and will see after 1year the result...
Coaching/educational credentials:/
Favorite weightlifter: anatoly pisarenko
Sry about bad english and spelling... (im learning)

[Bryon Cather]

Name: Bryon Cather
Age : 25
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 185-190lbs

Gender: Male

Occupation: Clerk II at a school

Locations: Citrus Heights, CA

How did you get started/involved in weightlifting?: Always been a big fan of strength competitions and everything so it sorta just fit the norm for me. I am wanting to start to get more involved in weighttraining I have had a few injuries in the past what had put a damper on me neck off aligment,shoulder problems,and knee problems so I think I make a real push toward my lifting goals while I still can LOL.

Athletic achievements (no competitions):
Bench : 300lbs for 40 reps.
Clean and Jerk : Just for fun 200lbs for 30 reps havent really tried a big a number yet.
DL : 700lbs at 230lbs
SQ : 500lbs for 10 reps butt to ground no half reps here and 750lbs for 1 rep at 230lbs.


Role in weightlifting (in general, NOT Olympic weightlifting): Just starting to learn basics to become an athlete I dont see myself saying I am athlete right now since I havent competed I look at myself as a beginner wanting to learn then go from there.

Coaching/educational credentials: NA
 
Favorite weightlifter: Shane Hamman

Interests other than weightlifting, powerlifting and bodybuilding: My children their first priority over anything thats why it is sort of hard to train at time hell I was doing squats at 2am today while they were a sleep LOL

I want to thank Chris for letting me able to post here with all these great Athletes/Coaches/and People who support the great sport of Weightlifting dearly.

[Mads Thøgersø]

Name: Mads Leegaard Thøgersø

Age: 24

Gender: Male

Occupation: Hydraulic technician

Location: Slagelse, Denmark, Europe

Team: AK-Atlas

How did you get started/involved in weightlifting?: I had been training in the weightlifting club for 2 years, when i wanted to play a joke on the weightlifting trainer, so i started, and then i just stayed around.
.
Years involved in weightlifting: Only one year

Athletic achievements: Nothing to talk about

Role in weightlifting: Lifter

Coaching/educational credentials: None

Favorite weightlifter: The Polish! Marcin Dolega i think.

Interests other than weightlifting: Cars, music and so on, but nothing beats the lifting

Other information you would like to share:

[Jon Taylor]

Name: Jon Taylor
Age: 43
Gender: M
Occupation: Self Employed
Location: OH
Team: Cincinnati
How did you get started/involved in weightlifting?: just started winging it
Years involved in weightlifting: 5
Athletic achievements: 3rd grade Punt Pass and Kick champ; HS basball, basketball (Elite 8), football; finished Marine Corps Marathon (17 years and 60 lb ago); 1 masters PL meet, 4 masters Oly meets - gym PR snatch 90, clean and jerk 115
Role in weightlifting: masters hack
Coaching/educational credentials: USAW Club Coach
Favorite weightlifter: Alexeev...edit*...Gotta go with Steiner now - gains 88 lb. to make superheavy, coach slaps cheeks and he winces and says "ow", CLUTCH clean and jerk to take gold, greatest on-platform made-lift celebration dance ever!, takes picture of dead wife to podium to hold up with gold medal.
Interests other than weightlifting: coaching kid's baseball and softball
Other information you would like to share: solid rubber bumpers will still damage basement floors, be sure to use safety googles when chiseling out damaged concrete, use a good vinyl patch repair mix, plywood is your friend