Yesterday I neglected elaborating on a lot of the women’s sports because of a lack of time and information. A reader with the username “flipper” provided some insight on the women vying for a spot on the Olympic team this weekend (I linked a video with each name):
Primarily, the weight classes to watch are the 58kg class and the 75+ class. The major hitters in here are Sarah Robles and Holley Mangold in the 75+, and Rizelyx Rivera and Amanda Sandoval in the 58kg category. Close following them are 2008 Olympian Natalie Burgener in the 63 class, Chioma Amaechi also in the 75+, and Hilary Katzenmeier in the 53 class. Keep in mind however that only two spots are available, so I think the lion’s share of the attention will be on the top four or five contenders.
First, I’m pretty confident that Sarah Robles is going to the Olympics – she’s a solid 2% points higher than her rivals in the scoring system, and she really just needs to not have a repeat of her Pan Am troubles to win a spot.
The second spot will be the real battleground: While Robles’ % score (the same method as the men’s) is 89.6%, the four athletes following her are all between 87.4% and 87.8%.
Sandoval and Rivera are actually tied at 87.8% of their qualifying total, their best recorded totals are 198 for each of them. Their rankings at any point in time fluctuate. Sandoval is slightly stronger in the snatch, but Rivera slightly better in the clean and jerk – it ain’t over till it’s over. Also, I must say that both of them are just awesome to watch, with some of the most impressive technique I’ve ever seen.
Right on their heels is Holley Mangold with an 87.5% score. She’s strong as an ox, but still pretty new to the sport. She’s been making huge strides but isn’t always the most consistent in her lifting – expect amazing things from her, but this particular meet will be hard to predict from her.
And in a very close 5th with an 87.4% score is returning Olympian Natalie Burgener, a long time favorite of the sport. I have heard rumor that she had until recently taken some time off to nurse a tight hip, but she seems to be getting back into full swing and many people are hoping to discover that her comeback was only just beginning.
This list is certainly not exhaustive, I’ve heard amazing training lifts are coming from Amaechi, Katzenmeier is fantastic and has enough heart to surprise us all, and we have a lot of other long time front runners on the start list, but with only two slots on the line I only covered the ones with the top few results in competition – someone could always surprise us on the day of.
The Olympic Trials will of course be webcast live via USAW’s website for those of you that can’t make it or have to head home early. Hope this was helpful in getting a feel for the women’s competition – which is unfortunately the only Olympic Trials we’ve earned the right to hold this year.
Edit: Jacob Cloud re-sent me THIS DOCUMENT. It shows the top 20 or so American male and female lifters and how they compare to the “world average”. The totals for each lifter are what they have hit in recent and relevant competitions, so note that some of them have improved upon those totals. It gives you an idea of who is contention.
Also, stop messaging me by saying that the men don’t have a spot in the Olympics; they will unless several male lifters drop dead.
If anyone has similar breakdowns for other sports, then feel free to post them and I’ll put them up on the site.
The annual Arnold Sport Festival is this weekend, and if you aren’t going, you’ll wish you had. It’s the biggest sport festival in the world and will include twice as many competing athletes as the Olympics. There will be over 175,000 people in attendance over the weekend. It will truly be a spectacle. This is a day-by-day guide of the coolest stuff going on. You can also look at the official schedule and purchase tickets to the Expo and special events. .
Locations
[spoiler]Note that there are two primary locations for the fun stuff. The Greater Columbus Convention Center will be the primary location that includes the Expo, Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Strongman (pro and amateur), etc. Veterans Memorial is only about a mile away and is where all the bodybuilding and figure stuff is going on (including pre-judging, finals, etc.). The Arena Grand Movie Theater will host the Arnold Sport Film Festival, but I can’t imagine myself going over there unless they played Pumping Iron, Predator, or Conan on repeat (which is what they should do). There are much cooler things to see than independent films on high school football or empowered teenage girls who powerlift. I could be wrong, but I prefer to see the live entertainment at the convention center. The LC Pavilion will host the MMA Festival and the “Arnold Party With The Pros” (hang out with pro bodybuilders) — so two demographics I’ll undoubtedly want to avoid. Unless you’re viewing some of the bodybuilding shows (some of us are attending the finals on Saturday night), you’re only going to hang out in the convention center. [/spoiler]
Thursday
[spoiler]This is the first official day of the entire shindig. There’s some bodybuilding stuff going on at Veteran’s Memorial, but more importantly, there’s professional boxing on Thursday night. I’ve never seen boxing in person, so I’ll be attending and primarily shouting, “Hit him! C’mon, hit ’em!”. From what I see on TicketMaster, seating is assigned, so plan accordingly. You can get some tickets in the $20 range. [/spoiler]
Friday
[spoiler]Expo
Here’s where things get intense. This is Day 1 of the Expo, which lasts from 10:30 AM to 6:00 PM. There will be over 700 booths set up of people trying to sell shit, and there will be many fitness celebrities in attendance fulfilling their contractual obligations. I’ll definitely check it out, but this is going to be irritating for someone (like me) who hates large groups of people. Rest assure that with almost 200,000 people in attendance, at LEAST 30% are going to be jackasses. It’s simple statistics. Hopefully we can make up for it by asking people how much they curl and other various questions. Speaking of which, post funny questions to the comments; I’m gonna make a list of stock questions to use when we’re walking around.
Powerlifting
The Raw USAPL Championships begin at 8 AM (with women and lighter men’s classes) and should end around 1:30 PM. The heavier weight classes (105kg and up, including Chris/Mike/Alex and NolanPower) will be lifting from 2:00PM to 6:00PM. The quality of lifting should be pretty high; to qualify lifters needed a 375 in the Wilke’s formula, and only the first 75 entries were accepted. Raw powerlifting means there isn’t any supportive gear; knee sleeves and belts are allowed. USAPL often receives criticism, but they hold lifters to a high standard (the squats will be deep). There are a lot of good lifters, especially in the second session. I’ve been to two national USAPL Raw meets, and I suspect (hope?) that this one will be of the highest quality.
Olympic Weightlifting
This event counts for Senior Nationals and the Olympic Trials for USA Weightlifting. Each weight class had to meet a minimum qualifying total in order to compete. The lighter men’s and women classes lift earlier in the day. Notable men’s classes are the 77s (including Chad Vaughn) at 2:30PM, 85s (including Kendrick Farris) at 5:00 PM, and 94s (with five really good lifters) at 7:30 PM. There is also weightlifting on Saturday, including Donny Shankle at 10:00 AM. If you’ve never seen a national meet, this is a great opportunity to see a lot of different types of lifters.
Strongman
There will be amateur strongman stuff starting at 8:00 AM and running until 1:30PM. But the money maker is the Arnold Stronngman Classic with its impressive list of competitors. Unfortunately we are gonna miss this since it’s 2:00 to 4:00 PM schedule will be exactly when Chris/Mike/Alex are lifting, but there is more of it on Saturday. This would be amazing to see in person.
Fencing
I put this on here because apparently you can go and try it out. If there’s time, I definitely want to get my fence on. It’s just like Game of Thrones, right?
Other
There’s also plenty of other things I didn’t highlight. There is CrossFit (9AM to 6PM), Gymnastics (8AM to 10AM), Mighty Mitts grip challenge (4PM to 5PM), Table Tennis (1PM to 7PM), Boxing/MMA stuff (noon to 10PM) and all kinds of other frivolous bullshit (like cheerleading, fitness clinics, zumba, etc.). [/spoiler]
Saturday
[spoiler]There’s a lot of amazing stuff happening this day. I’ll only list the major differences from Friday, cause a lot of the same stuff is going on (like fencing, CrossFit, teenager shit, and dance/cheerleading). Note that the Mighty Mitts grip challenge is 3:30 to 4:30PM.
Expo
This is the same, but it opens earlier at 9AM and runs until 6PM.
Weightlifting
Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here? Donny Shankle has two chances to make the Olympic team. This is arguably the best shot. Lifting starts at 10:00 AM and will probably last until about noon. Remember that as of now, the men do not have a spot at the Olympics. However, if all the male competitors lift like shit a few weeks later at the Pan Ams, they will still earn a spot. The top guys include Chad Vaughn, Kendrick Farris, and Donny Shankle. They are all great lifters, and they are all still Americans, so let’s get behind them in their session. They’ll have another shot to better themselves at the Pan Ams, but flying out of country, going to South America, and eating bad food typically doesn’t result in optimal performance. This weekend will probably be the best shot.
Powerlifting – Single Ply Equipped
The North American Powerlifting Federation is having its championships at the Arnold. It’s similar to the “Pan Ams” for weightlifting and is a step up from USAPL but a step down from IPF World’s. Women and lighter men’s classes will lift from 9AM to 1PM, and heavier classes will lift from 2PM to 5:30PM. Expect big lifts and top levels of competition.
Arm Wrestling Finals
The preliminaries occur on Friday, but these finals last from 9AM to 10AM. I don’t think Stallone will be there. Still would be kinda cool to watch…maybe?
Strongman
Luckily this is going on since I will miss Friday’s events. Lasts from 1:30PM to 3:30PM and will be fucking awesome.
GNC ProPerformance Amp Pro Deadlift
This event is just big deadlift fun. Brad Gillingham has pulled 400kg in this competition in the past. Big deadlifts, nothin’ else. It’s one hour after the Strongman Classic finishes.
Other
Of course there’s other shit like CrossFit, World Jump Rope Championships, and table tennis. But that’s all secondary to the cool, big, and heavy stuff.
Bodybuilding Finals
Of course the fucking Men’s finals are going on Saturday night. This is the second biggest bodybuilding show of the year, and Arnold is going to be on stage. I don’t know if there’s much of a chance to see or meet him if you don’t pay the money to attend the “meet and greet”, but this will be the closest I’ve ever been to him…
But seriously, some of us are going to the show, and it should be, at the very least, entertaining. The event is at the auditorium.
[/spoiler]
Sunday
[spoiler]Honestly, there’s not a lot of stuff going on. Most people will be going home. Unless you like women’s weightlifting, amateur strongman, running a 5K, or the standard CrossFit/cheerleading/fencing/MMA/boxing shit, you’re not gonna be sticking around on this day. All of the badass stuff is happening Friday and mostly Saturday. [/spoiler]
Communicating
[spoiler]The easiest way to communicate with people over the weekend will be on Twitter (@70sBig). I can provide basic updates and let people know where the action is (regarding events or food). You guys can twat at me, but if you want everyone to see it then maybe we should use a #70sBig hash tag? If we use an #Arnold hash tag, it’ll get lost in the sea of 200,000 people. If you have a better suggestion, post it in the comments. I look forward to meeting and hanging out with those of you attending.
Oh, and don’t be afraid to come up and say hello. We are all just normal people and you don’t need to put anyone on a pedestal unless its Arnold himself. Come up, say hello, and we’ll probably shoot the shit with you. I’ve had people ask for pictures, which was weird for me, but just remember that there’s no reason you shouldn’t say hello. If we have some time, then we can talk training, programming, and whatnot too. You’re not a bother! Just be aware that if we are in the middle of the meet (i.e. I’m coaching) or an event, then it may be brief. Oh, and be prepared for everyone to be way more weird than you anticipate. We’ll twat where we’ll hang out on Friday and Saturday nights, so hopefully we can get a fun group together. [/spoiler]
Special Update
[spoiler]This is from a guy named Kyle, who is a Columbus Police Officer with some good information (he put it on the Facebook Fan Page):
Columbus Police Officer here. Here’s some tips for out-of-towners coming to Columbus.
Food: Closest Chipotle is at 401 N. Front St., but it is frequently closed–it is only open during special events, so I don’t know what it’s hours will be during the Arnold. Next closest Chipotle is about an 8 minute drive away from the convention center, in German Village at 488 S. High St. There is a Mongolian BBQ within walking distance of the convention center at Nationwide and Marconi Blvd (just south of Nationwide Arena). If you’re more into experiencing local food, check out Liz Lessner’s restaurants.
Closest grocery store to the Arnold is a Giant Eagle at 777 Neil Ave., which about a half mile away from the convention center.
Closest night life for bar hopping is on Park St. Cheapest alcohol is at Brothers bar, but we have the most problems (fights, etc.) there too. My favorite bar is Callahans just down the street. Crowd tends to be a little more mature. I’d avoid Mynt and Musiak, those are occasionally frequented by gang members. Rest of Park Street is pretty safe though.
The first Saturday of the month is always the (art) Gallery Hop in the Short North, which is the area just north of the Convention Center along High Street. It’s likely to be even busier than usual because of the warm weather forecasted.
I’ll one of many police officers you’ll see there patrolling the event itself and the parking lots. We do not have that much crime here in Columbus, but remember it is a metropolitan area, so be smart about hiding your valuables in your car and not leaving gym bags lying around unattended.
Monday’s are devoted to helping the female begin or continue to train. The concepts in this post are also relevant to males.
Usually the hard part is getting a female into “training” instead of just “working out” (here’s some help for the transition: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). However, we know that optimal success isn’t solely dependent on the training in the gym, but attention to detail outside of it. When a female experiences lingering soreness or even stalled progress, it’s probably more than just the program; her nutrition is likely to blame.
Nutrition can be looked at in two fundamental ways: total calories and macro nutrients. Solely looking at calories is relevant, but it doesn’t paint the whole picture. Macro nutrients — which include proteins, fats, and carbohydrates — can be more descriptive in describing food’s effect on the body’s hormones. In the case of a sore or stalled female trainee, we’re going to focus on protein intake and meal strategy while also addressing some minor food quality issues.
I bet Hope Solo eats breakfast
Protein Requirements
I’ve done various posts on protein in the past. This post cited some of Dr. Di Pasquale’s work in saying that power athletes should get 1.2 to 1.6g of protein per pound of body weight. That’s an impressive amount, yet not exactly relevant to the average training female. Instead, a good guideline is aiming for 1g of protein per pound of body weight. If a female weighs 130 pounds, she should aim for 130g of protein. Simple.
I’ll take this time to remind under-eating females why protein is so helpful and healthy (an excerpt from this post):
Protein won’t make a girl female bulky, especially since she not only hasn’t had a history of accidentally becoming bulky but more importantly females only have 5 to 10% of the testosterone that a male has. Instead, protein is the most abundant molecule in the body that is a major structural component of all cells — muscle, organs, hair, and skin — and helps regulate metabolism, form blood cells, and supports the immune system. The average woman is deficient in protein intake, and she will significantly improve her health by consuming more if it…even without exercise.
Well blow me down with a fart, 20 Q&A sessions! That’s about a 4 on the “take it or leave it” scale. It’s PR Friday, so post your weekly training PR’s or training updates to the comments. I enjoy seeing how people train and it definitely helps me a lot when you add tidbits of programming by either giving me ideas or confirming others.
My reading list this week included: Gant Grimes “Hybrid Programming” — This is by my dear friend, Gant Grimes, who is an exceptional man. All of these new CrossFitters don’t really understand that strength training was taboo several years ago, and Gant’s post on the CF discussion boards was monumental at the time. It had a large effect on my development and programming, and I just read through it all again last night. It’s something everyone here should check out. While there are some things that I’m sure Gant would change, the overall message still applies. (This was originally posted on the CF discussion boards, but it was summarized nicely in this post — all of it is Gant’s writing)
Judo tips by Gant — Since we’re talking about Gant, he coaches Judo and other martial arts, and is a very, very good coach. I’ve gotten to learn from him briefly, and need to get back on a judo mat somewhere. Here are tips if you decide to give it a go.
Bulgarian Training on Weightlifting Exchange — If you’ve heard of Bulgarian training but never really understood it, this will give you some good background. It’s focus is high intensity with specificity, yet is dependent on an advanced trainee with balanced musculature. In other words, lesser advanced trainees would need to adapt the concepts to their needs.
Biological clock graph — I thought this was interesting. I was reading about sleep cycles on Wikipedia when I saw it.
Beta-Alinine Dosing — Some new research is showing that dosing for beta-alinine is probably relevant to body weight (unsurprisingly), but more importantly beta-alinine may be a good supplement for short, intense, anaerobic endurance training. Interesting.
Now onward with the Q&A! Keep in mind that while some questions are specific, they will include general concepts applicable to everyone.
This is what we’re up against. The media acts like the media in that it takes an idea and then turns it into a big ball of fuck. In this article, researchers allowed fat people the option to have sugar-dense (fattening) food in the morning (i.e. cakes, cookies, chocolate, and ice cream) and found that those people lost more weight than the other group. The average American will see this, fist pump, and proceed to continue eating like shit.
There are numerous problems with the news article itself. It points out that the “cakes breakfast” was also “protein enriched”, though it doesn’t indicate any quantified amounts. It doesn’t note if the non-cakes group also focused on “enriching their protein” or not, and if so what the quantified amounts were. Both groups were essentially on a calorie deficit diet, but the emphasis on a balanced breakfast — or having breakfast period — is going to play a major role in metabolizing fat. In other words, the author fucking sucks because they didn’t describe the study well. And if the author was restricted by editors, the editors fucking suck because they are okay with providing a stupid-ass message as a perceived authority. Even if half of the population understands basic science to realize that this article blows (they don’t), that still leaves the other half of the population that is going to say, “Hey, I can eat like shit and lose weight!”
