Category Archives: Olympic Weightlifting

Competition

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“You can’t just go around killing people!”
“Why not? I’m a Terminator.”

At 70’s Big I have always encouraged people to compete in something so that training can be pinpointed to a goal. Competing is a lot of fun, it makes training more interested, and it gives you more of a sense of purpose than just exercising (which is what you do if you say, “I just want to get better at everything, tee hee!”).

Well, if you ever were interested in competing in the barbell sports (powerlifting or weightlifting), then you better get acquainted with the rules.

USA Powerlifting (USAPL) is a member of the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF). Their rule book is found here.

USA Weightlifting (USAW) is a member of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). Their rule book is found here.

It’s a good idea to become acquainted with the rules so that you don’t have a booboo in a meet. Kinda like Jacob did on his third attempt squat…

Nevertheless, nice job, Jacob. I will let him recap the meet in the comments.

Weekend Update

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Well, I have not had a computer since we have been in Seattle, so I have not been able to post. I do not have much time now, so there will be a full report Wednesday.

Last night I clean and jerked 140 kilos for five singles — the most I have ever done. Afterwords I squatted 204 kilos for three sets of five. My trunk is and was absolutely destroyed after doing this. If anybody tells you that the basic barbell exercises — squat, press, deadlift, bench, clean and jerk, and snatch — do not work the “core”, please tell them to kindly fuck off.

Note: I had literally 2 minutes to type this post last night, and I had intended on typing “core” as a very tongue-in-cheek comment. Hopefully I got that across, but we definitely do not use the term “core”.

140 kg clean and jerk

140 kg clean and jerk

If you have pictures of your training, send them in!

The Pizz

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“That’s the sign of a real champion”

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The Pizz bench pulling what looks like 220

Pisarenko Week continues with a look at Pisarenko’s championships. The Pizz won multiple USSR Championships (1982 and 1984), European Championships (1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984), and World Championships (1981, 1982, and 1983). Pisarenko set 13 world records in his short career in the super heavyweight class.

Unfortunately, he was unable to participate in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics. He missed out on the 1980 Olympics because two of his veteran teammates were selected to lift for the USSR (even though he lifted more than both of them). In 1984, the USSR pulled out of the Olympics for a number of political reasons. By the 1988 Olympics, Pisarenko’s lifting career was over.

Check out this website for a detailed look at his championships and totals.

The following video is from the 1982 World Championships and outlines Pisarenko’s battle with Antonio Krastev (Bulgaria). It shows the top snatches in the super heavyweight weight class. This is a rare look at Pisarenko lifting in a meet and speaking with his coaches backstage. Tomorrow we will watch Krastev and Pisarenko battle in the clean and jerk finale. Enjoy watching this beast of a man.



Fun fact: Pisarenko was a former Greco-Roman wrestler. I can’t think of any males that would like to have his hands on them. Females, however, are a different story.

Anatoly Pisarenko Week

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“This guy will either die in the gym, or break himself.”

pisarenko

70’s Big


This week honors our second 70’s Big co-captain, Anatoly Pisarenko. To put it simply, Pisarenko is to Olympic lifting as Doug Young is to powerlifting. Unfortunately he lacks the fame of other successful weightlifters because he was unable to attend the 1980 and 1984 Olympics for different reasons. Despite this, his peers respected his work ethic — the above quote was from  Vasiliy Alekseyev.

Olympics or not, Pisarenko was god awful strong. His career bests were a 206 kg snatch in 1983 (Moscow) and a 265 kg clean and jerk in 1984 (Varna) — this ties him for second overall for the highest clean and jerk (the world records say otherwise since old records were dropped with the restructuring of the weight classes). To put this in perspective for those not familiar with kilograms, he snatched 454.15 lbs and clean and jerked 584.22 pounds!

It’s quite clear why “The Pizz” is one of our favorite lifters; he’s strong, he’s big, and for god’s sake, he’s got a mustache.

pisarenko_jerk_260

Pisarenko jerks 260 in Allentown, 1983



Here is part 5 of the 70’s Big Interview with Rippetoe:

70’s Big Presents: Mark Rippetoe Interview Pt.5 from 70s Big on Vimeo.