WEIGHTLIFTING
The Champion Spirit Academy of Sports Experts offers you the opportunity to practice weightlifting in a unique setting in the heart of the 7th arrondissement of Paris.
The word “weightlifting” sums up everything involved in the concept. In its modern form, it is a sport based on strength, requiring speed, flexibility, coordination and balance. In competition, two movements are scrutinized: the ‘snatch’ and the ‘clean and jerk’.
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The origins of weightlifting stretch back as long as humanity has been in existence. This discipline embodies human strength in all its essence. A far cry from bodybuilding, this discipline focuses on the development esthetics of different muscle groups.
This discipline was among the first disciplines to feature in the modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens. The first world weightlifting championships had taken place five years earlier, on March 28, 1891 in London, with seven athletes representing six countries. The dominant nations have swapped places regularly over the past decades. At the beginning of the 20th century, Austria, Germany and France were the strongest countries for weightlifting. Later on, Egypt and then the United States of America ruled the roost.
In the 1950s until 1980, the Soviet Union took center stage, with Bulgaria and other Eastern European countries as its main competitors. In the 1990s, China, Turkey, Greece and Iran topped the rankings. In the women’s categories, China has long been at the forefront, but other Asian countries are now serious contenders for Olympic and world championship titles.
A particular body shape promotes excellence in this discipline: athletes with shorter than average arms have an advantage in weightlifting. Shorter femurs also allow the athlete in the front squat phase to raise the bar more efficiently.
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EXPERIENCED SKILLS
Strength
The primary skill tested in weightlifting is of course raw strength, measured by the weight of the load lifted.
Synchronization
The ‘snatch’ and the ‘clean and jerk’ involve a range of muscle groups when lifting weights. Weightlifters have to synchronize their actions to create the most fluid possible movement.
Technique
Weightlifting is a matter of combining and mobilizing a person’s strengths. Technique is above all about good posture, a more synchronized action and speed through controlled movement.
Good posture
Posture is essential to the viability of any weightlifter’s sporting career. Weightlifters run the risk of premature injury if they fail to deal with their posture correctly.