Matt Foreman - Olympic Weightlifting for Masters: Training at 30, 40, 50 & Beyond

OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTING FOR MASTERS

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

D YLAN T HOMAS

OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTING FOR MASTERS

TRAINING AT 30, 40, 50 & BEYOND

By Matt Foreman

2014 Matt Foreman

Published by Catalyst Athletics, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent from the publisher.

eBook design by Ryan Scheife / Mayfly Design

ISBN-13 978-0-9800111-9-7

Catalyst Athletics, Inc

www.catalystathletics.com

Catalyst Athletics, Inc and Matt Foreman advise that the exercises and techniques described in this book can be strenuous and may not be appropriate for all individuals, and do not make any claim to the safety of said exercises and techniques. The nutrition information herein exists for example purposes only and in no way represents a prescription for any individual. It is strongly recommended that the reader consult a physician before engaging in any of the activities or practices illustrated or described herein. Catalyst Athletics, Inc and Matt Foreman disclaim any and all liability for any injury sustained or condition arising from the performance of any of the exercises or practice of any of the nutrition ideas described in this book.

This book is dedicated to Norbert Schemansky, who changed my beliefs about what human beings are capable of

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

If youre reading this book, there are a few possibilities:

1. Youre an old person.
2. Youre not currently an old person, but you will be soon.
3. You coach old people.
4. Youre not an old person, but youre interested in them (that sounds weird).

I think that sums up our demographic of readers. Youre involved in Olympic weightlifting in some way. Some of you might be coaches, but I imagine the vast majority of you are athletes who want to train and compete in weightlifting and, like we just mentioned, youre old.

To be fair, I think we need to define exactly what an old person is. Seriously, wheres the cutoff for your youth? Do you become an old person at a certain age? Let me give you a couple of statements Ive heard over the years that address this exact question. Back in 1990, I was reading an issue of USA Weightlifting magazine. There was a write-up in this issue about the results of the US Olympic Festival, which used to be one of the main highlights of our national schedule. Anyway, there was a quote in this write-up about Tony Urrutia. Tony won the Festival that year in the old 82.5 kilo weight class (181 lbs) with a 145 kg snatch (319 lbs) and a 182.5 C&J (402 lbs). For those of you who dont know who he was, Tony was a former three-time World Champion from Cuba who defected to the United States in the early 80s. He went through the arduous citizenship process and eventually started competing again as a US lifter. By this time, he was obviously older. He was actually 32 when he won the Festival in 1990. The magazine had a quote from Tony Ive never forgotten. He said, When youre old, its a lot tougher to win. When youre past 25 years old, youre old.

25? Really? Is that a universally accepted number that separates young people and old people, or was that just the opinion of one particular guy? Well, Ive actually heard that same thought from multiple places. When I was gathering ideas for this book, I remembered an old article I read by a highly successful powerlifting coach named Tim McClellan. Tim interviewed some very reputable exercise physiologists about the effects of age on strength athletes, and they universally agreed that 25 is the time when things start to get bumpy for a lifter. One of them was actually quoted as stating, You start to die at 25. Your body no longer produces hormones at the same rate it did when it was younger.

Okay, so weve got various opinions from experts and they all support the idea that athletes start to go downhill in weightlifting when they pass 25. I imagine thats discouraging for you to read, since the vast majority of you are probably way past that magic number. Youre in your 30s, 40s, 50s, or maybe even beyond that, right? You bought this book because you wanted some hope, some encouraging information that helps you believe youve still got a lot of big weightlifting potential despite the fact that youre a developmental crusty geezer, and the first thing you read in the introduction is that youve passed your peak. The experts agree that your best days are already gone, and now your physical potential is spiraling into the crapper.

Listen, Im intentionally being sarcastic here because I know youre all intelligent people with a realistic outlook on where youre at in life. If youre in your 40s or something like that, you already know that youve passed the young peak years of your athletic experience. Unless you live in some alternate universe of denial and ignorance, Im not telling you something you dont already understand. Youre not a kid anymore, and your body cant do many of the things it used to do.

But you still want to be weightlifters. My guess is that many of you found this sport at a later age. Theres a pretty good chance that you were introduced to it through some extension of CrossFit, since thats how almost everybody in this country is discovering Olympic lifting these days. It didnt take you long to get excited about it, Im sure. This sport is very easy to fall in love with. You know youre not starting at the optimal age. We all know that. However, you still want to do it. Its probably becoming a consuming passion in your life, and you dont really give a damn how old you are. Youre emotionally invested at this point, and youre not going to stop.

Thats where one of your first problems starts to surface. You see, theres almost no literature floating around the weightlifting world about how to train and compete successfully when youre older. Most of the coaches and researchers in the sport dont really care about older athletes. Theyre focused on producing world and Olympic champions. That means their efforts are all going to be centered around athletes who start training in their teenage years (or earlier) and reach their peak in their early 20s. Thats when youre physically ready for the big time, because your hormones and other physiological qualities are the highest theyre ever going to be in your life.

In other words, all of the weightlifting information youve researched doesnt really have much application to you. Youre in your 30s, 40s, 50s or whatever, and the only training material you can find is structured for athletes who are 20-30 years younger than you. So what does this mean? Unfortunately, it often leads to older athletes trying to use training programs they found online that are specifically designed for younger athletes. These old lifters are new to the sport and they often dont have much coaching or experience, so they have to resort to the trusty old internet to get some guidance. They follow the only programs they can find, which are not intended for anybody at an advanced age. In short, youve got a 42 year-old weightlifter trying to follow a program thats set up for a 22 year-old weightlifter.

Where does this lead? Many of you know the answer to that question already. It leads to overtraining, injury, and just a general feeling of being beat to hell all the time. Ill bet I just described a large majority of you. Listen, I have a pretty wide circle of acquaintances in weightlifting and I talk to older lifters all the time. Almost every single one of them tells me how beat up they are. Their joints hurt, theyre not making progress, and the frustration is starting to really dig into them. Why are these people all so banged up? There are two main reasons:

1. First of all, weightlifting is simply a very difficult sport. Regardless of what age youre at, its physically grueling.