7thLifter:
I came upon a weightlifter who claims to be all natural, his results so far are thus:
- roughly 3 years of training, 3,5 years tops, started at age 15, now around 18 years of age - started with about 72-73 kg of body weight, increased it to 88kg over the course of his training - best snatch I've seen him do is 152,5kg, best C&J is 190kg so far, with his clean at almost 200kg - 262,5kg back squat, ATG - his height is 178 centimeters (I stumbled upon this info after reading some comments) - his training consists of only the olympic lifts, back squat, and he deadlifts sometimes, though rarely, AND he rarely does he front squat, or so he claims
As said before, he says he's all natural.
Now, I'm NOT here to ARGUE whether he is natural or not, I'm just here for opinions from more experienced weightlifters. Do you believe this kind of progress is possible in 3,5 years from someone who weighs 88kg, and was not involved in a lot of sports before that? (also consider he started at 72kg of body weight).
What's your opinion?
movmasty:
Yes is possible, but we are at the upper limit of possible.
These are the junior records for the 94kg class
Snatch 185 kg Khadzhimurat Akkayev Russia29 May 2004European Junior Championships Minsk, Belarus19 years, 67 daysClean & Jerk 232 kg Szymon Kołecki Poland29 April 2000European Championships Sofia, Bulgaria18 years, 212 daysTotal 412 kg Szymon Kołecki Poland29 April 2000European Championships Sofia, Bulgaria18 years, 212 days http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Junior_world_records_in_Olympic_weightlifting
As we can see a 18 and half did 232kg of c&j, but likely he started well before 15yrs
7thLifter:
I know there are many young champions out there, but who can guarantee us that those people are not taking drugs? All these numbers are fine and well, but they don't prove there are no drugs involved.
Again, not trying to point fingers at anyone or argue about it, just stating the obvious. It is common knowledge that the body can be cleansed from drugs, and that a drug test that says a lifter is clean can't be trusted anyway.
In the case of this particular weightlifter, he has only trained for a maximum of 3,5 years, and achieved these results.
Arturo Gómez:
I saw great progress absolutely natural. i saw too, that great progress is not everytimes possible, because work study or familiar problems. But a professional athltete, with only make weightlifting, is natural progress to fantastic limites, in special if was selected with good health and biomechanical conditions.
In the other hand, nobody can warrant anything for individually any person. So, the sport takes the same that criminal principle: "everybody is innocent until proof in contrary".
In the theatre piece "You may be a murderer" they play with the idea that is imposible proof that "you are not a murderer"
7thLifter:
True, I guess. I made great progress naturally as well for a while, especially with my squat, so I know from personal experience that such progress is not impossible with static strength exercises, but with the snatch and clean and jerk, that's another matter. Those disciplines are not that easy to progress with, especially the snatch.