I started Olympic weightlifting in September 2017 when I was 62 years old. I had lifted weights continuously for the past 25 years, competing in a few powerlifting meets, but generally just consistently lifting weights three to four days a week. But I was always mesmerized by the combination of speed, strength, skill, and flexibility required to perform a snatch or clean and jerk. One of the weightlifting coaches at my gym noticed me hacking my way through a clean and jerk one day, came over and introduced himself, and convinced me within 10 minutes that it would be worth my time to try a few training sessions with him. I immediately started taking two one-hour beginning weightlifting sessions per week with Eric. It was one of the best decisions of my life to begin these classes and I kept asking myself, “Why didn’t you do this years ago?”

Learning these lifts was so much harder than I thought it would be. It absolutely humbled me. My body wasn’t used to the explosive movements with the weights. I actually developed shin splints for the first few months and my knees suffered terribly. But I kept going to Eric’s classes twice a week for the next year, worked on my strength another two days a week, and began flexibility and mobility moves to help my old body recover from these workouts. Eric showed me how to loosen the fascia above my knees, which did wonders for pain and flexibility. The workouts absolutely exhausted me. They included warmups, technique drills, complexes, and some type of squats at the end. This was a huge adjustment for my body.

My work as an engineer sometimes required travel to work at client locations. This happened in 2019 when I needed to leave home in North Carolina to work in eastern Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. I found a CrossFit gym in PA that allowed me to work out on my own during open sessions. I thought this would work okay, practicing lifts and lifting weights after work. For the most part it was, but I sorely underestimated the need for a trainer to watch my technique. It didn’t take much for a weightlifting novice like me to develop poor habits.

I decided to try a weightlifting meet in PA in January 2019 since I was out of town every other weekend. I went online to the USA Weightlifting local meets schedule and could easily pick out a meet that was within 90 minutes of my motel. I was also able to sign up for meets in NC on weeks that I worked at home. In 2019, I ended up competing in four meets in PA, two in MA, and six in NC. Why did I keep signing up for meets? Well, I was 64 years old and didn’t have much time to waste. The constant meets motivated me to be diligent and keep practicing and lifting weights. Fortunately, I never had an injury that sidelined me. I also saw the potential for improvement if I could gradually increase weights and consistently lift. The 12 meets I competed in were:

·      Cold Iron Classic; Bridgeport, PA (1/26/19)
·      2019 East Carolina Open; Greenville, NC (2/2/2019)
·      East Coast Classic; Philadelphia, PA (April 6, 2019)
·      PFD Barbell Bar Wars; Pittsburgh, PA (May 4, 2019)
·      Coal Region Classic; Orwigsburg, PA (May 18, 2019)
·      2019 East Coast Gold Liftoff; Wilmington, NC (May 25, 2019)
·      Out-of-Step Barbell Open; Greensboro, NC (June 8, 2019)
·      Athletic Lab; Cary, NC (June 22, 2019)
·      Battle for Fallen 3; Charlotte, NC (July 13, 2019)
·      RWL Annual Summer Open; Franklin, MA (July 27, 2019)
·      95East Summer Classic; Goldsboro, NC (August 17, 2019)
·      MASS Barbell Summer Open; West Boylston, MA (August 24, 2019)

So I actually competed in 12 meets in eight months.

What points can a 65-year old (yeah, I had another birthday) weightlifting novice provide to this experienced audience? I know I can confirm much of the excellent tips and pointers provided by the writers in the Performance Menu and then maybe add a couple more insights beyond the normal good technical articles provided here.

I learned:

1.     I should have gotten a coach. By far, the most important thing I learned. A coach is critical for Olympic weightlifting. Not only was I frequently practicing on my own during the week (and developing bad habits), but this carried over to the meets. A coach would also have helped me get prepared to warmup and get ready for my lifts at the meet. It’s incredibly difficult keeping up with everything by yourself, especially when you’re new to the sport.
2.     Getting out of my comfort zone. Getting up on Saturday mornings and traveling to a new meet and location where I have never been before forced me to get out of my comfort zone. I knew I wouldn’t know anyone, I’d have to learn this process on my own, and I certainly wasn’t going to be the most impressive lifter at the meet. But it made me realize I wish I had been willing to get out of my comfort zone many other times in my life. How different would my life be had I taken a few more chances?
3.     Dealing with my bodyweight. My weight is borderline 81 kg. I had to work to make weight each week. I should have worked harder to get a base weight well under 81 kg (like 77 kg) so I didn’t have to be dehydrated and hungry to make weight. That took away energy from me.
4.     Food. I learned a lot about food quality and what and when to eat.
5.     The power of sleep. Sleep became one of my best friends. There was a direct correlation between the quality/quantity of sleep and the degree of soreness I felt in my legs the next day. If I felt sore and tight, I could usually recall not having a great night’s sleep the night before.
6.     Agonizing soreness. Thank you, Tylenol—the only thing I used for pain.
7.     Horrendous cramps. I frequently had severe cramps in my legs, especially after workouts. I learned the best way to keep cramps away was to have a big bowl of spinach with dinner. I took Mg supplements (and liquids), but they didn’t do as much for cramps as the bowl of spinach.
8.     Focus. I really had to focus once I weighed in and got dressed. I knew I’d be one of the first lifters at the top of the hour. I developed a routine after the first couple of meets. I’d start stretching and warming up 45 minutes before the meet started. A 10 am start time meant I started warming up at 9:15 am. Stretching took 15 minutes. Then I looked for a bar and platform at 9:30. I needed 15 minutes to warm up with the bar and some gradual weight increases. I stopped once I was warm—I learned not to do a mini-workout and wear myself out. I had to focus on this routine and not be influenced by the longer workouts younger guys were doing. I was done by 9:50 am, went to the bathroom, drank some fluids, and then made sure I knew when I was lifting. Focus on me—no one else.
9.     Weather conditions. I had to pay attention to the heat. Some of these events were in the summertime with the gym doors open. Summers in North Carolina are pretty humid. I remember how tired I was sometimes by the time it came for my last C&J. I was so freaking tired!
10.  Consecutive lifts. I had to be ready to potentially complete three consecutive lifts. This was difficult. I had to watch the clock. Two coaches I was fortunate enough to work with in Providence, RI—Jared and Dave—taught me how to use the clock when going consecutively. (Many thanks to these two gentlemen—they were patient with me and kept me motivated—two great guys I met along the way…)
11.  Warm-up equipment. Not all gyms have the same equipment, especially PVC pipes, bands, and rollers. I needed to bring my own warm-up equipment with me to guarantee availability and keeping to my routine.
12.  Making Weight. My coach in NC, Eric, convinced me to stop worrying so much about starving myself to make weight so I wouldn’t be fatigued during the meet. There really wasn’t anyone else in my weight / age category. Worry about technique and increasing weights and then deal with bodyweight later.
13.  Younger lifters. Most of the weightlifters were at least 40 years younger than me. I wish I had started Olympic weightlifting when I was much younger.
14.  Women’s technique. I would watch some of the women compete towards the end of their competition. I learned more by watching women than the men. The women generally had less upper body strength, but that forced them to use better technique to do their snatches and C&Js. They really could squat, get under the bar, and then use their glutes to bring the bar up. Then they’d use such good form to get under the bar for the jerk. Don’t get me wrong, though—a lot of the guys had great form, too. But they could be guilty, like me, of muscling the weight up.
15.  Appearances are deceiving. I watched the rest of the men lift after I was done. It was always interesting looking at some lifters and wondering how good some of them were before they got on the platform. I always got a chuckle out of some of lifters who shocked me when they seemingly emerged from their quiet demeanor and absolutely killed the lift. I was thinking, “How on earth did that just happen?” And then they just quietly turned around and went back to prepare for their next lift. I loved that. Men and women, young and old, did that.
16.  Too many meets. 12 was obviously way too many meets. It’s not good for my stress levels to be constantly preparing for meets. I was getting tired of getting out of bed on Saturday mornings and traveling to some unknown place to lift weights.
17.  Locations. I only knew the location of one of the events. I used Google Maps for all the others. That increases stress just looking for the facility every meet. Leave a little early in case something goes wrong.
18.  Motivation. I thought more meets might keep me motivated to get better. If the motivation was there, the results weren’t. I’m still glad I did this. At my age, so many things can happen to stop me from trying something new with the time I have left. One year later, look what the coronavirus has done to the world’s weightlifting meets. I’m glad I didn’t put off to tomorrow what I could do today.
19.  People. I met a lot of nice people on this adventure. A lot of them helped me in many ways. Some helped me warm up, some made sure to help me keep up reporting to the judges table, and a couple other even made sure I had a nice cold beer when my lifts were done! How’s that for hospitality? Wonderful people.
20.  Speed. The good lifters were fast and fearless. Holy smokes.
21.  Bodyweight and strength. Trying to lose weight and gain strength at the same time is difficult.
22.  Technique. I need to develop better technique. Better form yields better results.
23.  Journal. I kept a record (spreadsheet) of my lifts over the eight-month period. I didn’t progress as much as I had hoped, due to a lot of obvious factors. I should spend more time practicing with a coach, prioritize a few meets, get stronger and better-conditioned, reduce stress, and sleep. The simple path forward.