Index

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A

  • Abadjiev, Ivan,
  • acceleration,
  • acetylcholine (Ach),
  • actin,
  • action potential,
  • adaptation,
  • Adkins, Derrick,
  • ADP (andenosine diphosphate),
  • agonists,
  • Ajan, Tamas,
  • Alexseev, Vasili,
  • “all or nothing” principle,
  • alpha motor neuron,
  • amateurism. See rules, organizations which govern weightlifting, a word about amateurism
  • Amberry, Thomas,
  • anabolic steroids, risks of taking,
  • anatomy
    • of bones, basic and developmental
    • of joints,
  • actions of specific major joints,
  • basic,
  • general kinds of joint actions,
    • of muscles,
  • basic,
  • differentiated by their function in a given movement,
  • directions of movement,
  • major muscle groups
  • illustrations of,
  • muscles in,
  • anatomy, physiology and mechanics, interrelationship in weightlifting “science”,
  • Anderson, Paul,
  • antagonist,
  • anxiety, state and trait,
  • Archimedes,
  • arginine,
  • arnica, tincture of, poultice,
  • assistance exercises,
    • closely related to the classic lifts,
  • for strengthening phases 2–4 of the pull or jerk
  • clean deadlifts,
  • clean pulls,
  • combining pulls with lifts,
  • good mornings,
  • halting style,
  • jerk drives and front quarter squats,
  • partial deadlifts and pulls,
  • partial squatting,
  • pulls and deadlifts standing on a block,
  • snatch deadlifts,
  • snatch pulls,
  • for improving recovery from the low position,
  • back squats,
  • front squats,
  • overhead squats,
  • split and squat recoveries,
    • definition,
    • for general conditioning
  • more general conditioning exercises,
  • plyometrics,
  • sprinting and jumping,
    • for strengthening specific muscle groups,
  • calf raises,
  • curling,
  • grip work,
  • leg extensions and leg curls,
  • leg presses,
  • other “isolation” exercises,
  • presses and dips,
  • resistance exercises performed with machines,
  • step ups,
  • upright rows and shrugs,
  • Hatfield or Safety Squat Bar squats,
    • general principles of using, purposes of, related to the classic lifts
    • variations of the classic lifts
  • variations of the C&J related to clean,
  • clean,
  • clean from above the knee,
  • clean from below the knee,
  • clean standing  on a block,
  • dead hang clean or clean from standing position,
  • drop clean,
  • from hang or blocks,
  • muscle clean,
  • power clean,
  • variations of the C&J related to jerk,
  • drop jerk or jerk from a standing position,
  • jerk behind neck,
  • jerk form racks,
  • power jerk,
  • push press,
  • variations related to the snatch,
  • dead hang snatch or snatch from standing position,
  • drop snatch or snatch balance,
  • muscle snatch or snatch stretch,
  • power snatch,
  • snatch from above the knee,
  • snatch from below the knee,
  • snatch standing on a block,
    • varying the grip or speed when lifting,
    • wide choice of available,
  • ATP (adenosine triphosphate),
  • athletes, improving the performance of through weightlifting. See weightlifting, as a means for improving the performance of athletes
  • axon,

B

  • Barnholth, Larry,
  • Baroga, Lazar,
  • barometric pressure chambers,
  • Bednarski, Robert,
  • Bedrosian, Steve,
  • Berger, Issac,
  • bodyfat, minimizing,
  • bodyweight,
    • determining your ideal body weight,
    • gaining muscular bodyweight,
  • Boff, Vic,
  • boiling,
  • bones. See anatomy, bones and training effect
  • boron,
  • Bourgeois, Buster,
  • Bowerman, Bill,
  • branch chain amino acids (BCCAs),
  • bromelain,
  • Byrd–Goad, Robin,

C

  • caffeine,
  • Cameron, Mark,
  • Capsouras, Frank,
  • carnitine,
  • center of gravity,
  • Charinga, Andrew,
  • chalk, See, equipment, personal,
  • Chernyak, A,
  • children, weightlifting and. See, prepubescent athletes
  • chondroitin sulfate,
  • circuit training,
  • Ciroslan, Dragomir,
  • Coan, Ed,
  • cod liver oil,
  • coefficient of restitution (COR),
  • coenzyme Q10,
  • Coffee, John,
  • competition,
    • coaching and evaluating after a,
    • coaching and performing during a,
  • jumps between attempts,
  • number of warm–ups,
  • timing of warm–ups,
  • selecting weights,
  • using tactics to win,
  • warm up physically, but let the emotions warm up more slowly,
  • when all else fails, the true champion prevails,
    • coaching and preparing prior to a,
  • dealing with “head games”,
  • dietary considerations,
  • drug testing, preparation for,
  • getting to know the lifter (or the lifter thyself),
  • making weight,
  • packing the competition “bag”,
  • traveling and adapting to the competitive environment,
  • understanding the rules, 356. See also, rules
  • Conde, Al,
  • contractile element (CE),
  • Crass, Derrick,
  • crossbridges,
  • Curry, James, Sr.,
  • Curry, Nicholas,
  • cycles,
    • diminishing reps per set  (see, also, periodization), diminishing total reps (see, also, periodization), natural but structured, natural or intuitive,
    • reciprocal mini cycle,
  • cysteine,

D

  • Davis, John Henry,
  • deadlift. See, assistance exercises
  • dehydration,
  • delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS),
  • DeMarco, Louis,
  • dendrites,
  • dimethylglycine. See DMG
  • directions of human movement. See anatomy of joints
  • displacement,
  • distance,
  • diuretics,
  • dive–style,
  • D.L. Phenylalanine (DLPA),
  • DMG (dimethylglycine),
  • docosahexionic acid, See EPA
  • double split routine,
  • Dube, Joseph,
  • Dvorkin, Leonid,

E

  • Edison, Thomas,
  • Ehret, Charles, F,
  • eicosapentanoic acid, See EPA
  • elbow positioning, proper. See technique guidelines for clean and jerk, and supplemental flexibility exercises
  • Eleiko,
  • eleutherococcus,
  • eligibility for competition. See rules, eligibility
  • emery cloth,
  • enema,
  • energy, kinds of,
  • equipment,
    • facility, for training,
  • club, starting a,
  • avoiding liability risks,
  • safety, on the platform,
  • guidelines for safety and conduct,
  • the role of safety in preventing injury,
  • avoiding litigation,
  • when an accident or injury occurs,
    • gym
  • a block to stand on,
  • bar,
  • order of loading plates on,
  • benches,
  • collars,
  • grip development devices,
  • height gauge,
  • jerk boxes,
  • plates,
  • platform,
  • power  rack,
  • pulling blocks,
  • spotters,
  • human,
  • mechanical,
  • squat racks,
    • personal
  • bathroom tissue,
  • belt,
  • bras, sport,
  • briefs and shorts,
  • chalk,
  • first aid kit,
  • gloves,
  • gym bag,
  • hip pads,
  • knee wraps,
  • lubricants,
  • magnesium carbonate (see chalk)
  • shoes,
  • soap,
  • socks,
  • straps,
  • suit,
  • sweatsuits and t–shirts,
  • tape,
  • wrist wraps,
  • EPA,
  • epimysium,
  • expectorating,

F

  • Faeth, Karl,
  • fascia,
  • fasciculi,
  • fast twitch (FT). See muscle fibers, types
  • fasting and short term reductions in food intake,
  • Ferrigno, Louis,
  • first aid. See injuries, keys to managing, first key
  • fish oils,
  • Flowers, Sibby,
  • food supplements. See nutrition; injuries, treating
  • force,
  • force–velocity curve,
  • forced reps,
  • flexibility training. Seealso stretching methods
    • common problem areas, muscles are the proper focus, permanent vs. short term changes in, special needs, specificity of, supplemental exercises, supplemental exercises illustrated, therapeutic use of,
    • weightlifting specific, requirements of,
  • low snatch position,
  • for start of pull,
  • low clean position,
  • low jerk position,
  • free radicals,
  • friction, action of,
  • fusiform muscles,

G

  • gamma linoleic acid. See GLA
  • ganglion,
  • Garhammer, John,
  • genetics, potential in weightlifting and,
  • Gennaro, Joseph,
  • George, Peter,
  • Gilman, Mark,
  • ginseng,
  • Giordano, Robert,
  • Gjurkow, D.,
  • GLA (gamma linoleic acid),
  • Glenney, Judy,
  • glucosamine sulfate,
  • glutathione. See L–glutathione
  • glycine,
  • golgi tendon organ,
  • gradual conditioning, the importance of in weightlifting training,
  • grape seed extract,
  • Green, Benjamin, xxvi,
  • Grigoryenko, V.,
  • Grimek, John,
  • grip, development devices,
  • gripping the bar
    • approaches to
  • thumbless,
  • hook
  • regular,
    • importance of a secure grip,
    • methods of maximizing grip security,
  • Grippaldi, Phillip,
  • growth hormone

H

  • Hamman, Shane,
  • Haney, Lee,
  • hang, lifting from. See assistance exercises, variations of the classic lifts,
  • Hanson, Gary,
  • Hatch, Gayle,
  • Hatfield, Frederick,
  • He, Yingqiang,
  • Hepburn, Douglas,
  • Hise, J.C.,
  • Hoffman, Robert,
  • Hise, Robert,
  • hook grip, See gripping the bar,
  • hopper deadlift,
  • hormones, influence of on muscles and influence of muscle action on,
  • Hughes, Jack,
  • Huszka, Mike,
  • Huxley, H.E.,

I

  • impact,
  • impulse,
  • immobilization, effect of on muscle,
  • inertia,
  • International Olympic Lifter (IOL),
  • inverted U hypothesis,
  • Iron Man Magazine,
  • Iron Mind Enterprises,
  • injuries
    • acute,
  • acute vs. overuse,
  • common sites of,
  • ankle,
  • arm,
  • back,
  • elbow,
  • foot,
  • groin pull,
  • hand injuries,
  • knee injuries,
  • pubic bone,
  • shin, abraded,
  • shoulder,
  • wrist,
    • dealing with,
  • avoid the knife whenever possible,
  • chronic conditions,
  • do not test the injury,
  • importance of mirrors, video and monitoring when returning to activity,
  • rehabilitative exercise,
  • returning to training following an,
    • training through and around an injury,
  • errors in toughing it out,
  • mechanical aids to training through injuries,
  • training around an injury,
  • aids to training through injuries,
    • keys to managing
  • first key, first aid,
  • first aid for sprains and strains,
  • first aid for fractures and dislocations,
  • second key to injury management, proper diagnosis,
  • soreness versus injury,
  • third key to injury management proper treatment,
    • kinds of,
  • bursitis,
  • cartilage,
  • closed injuries,
  • contusion,
  • dislocations,
  • fractures,
  • myofascial pain,
  • nerve injuries,
  • open injuries,
  • syncope,
  • tendinitis and related conditions,
    • overuse,
    • preventing,
  • by avoiding lapses in concentration,
  • by having a check-up,
  • safety is enhanced by proper coaching,
  • two major causes of injury only athletes can control,
    • treating,
  • acupuncture and acupressure,
  • cryotherapy (cold therapy),
  • electrotherapy,
  • food supplements and derivatives,
  • low power lasers,
  • massage,
  • mental factors in treating injuries,
  • spinal and joint manipulation,
  • therapeutic uses of flexibility training,
  • thermotherapy (therapeutic heat),
  • with analgesics and anti-inflammatories,
  • with topical applications,
    • understanding,
  • body’s fundamental reaction to injury,
  • chronic inflammation,
  • genetic and acquired predispositions to injury,
  • psychological characteristics that can predispose an athlete to injury,
  • psychological reactions to injury,

J

  • Jacobson, Edmund,
  • James, Lee,
  • joint angles, relationship of movement to,
  • joints. See anatomy of joints
  • Jones, Arthur,

K

  • K value,
  • Karchut, Michael,
  • Kelmansky, Naum,
  • Khairullin, R,
  • Kiiha, Osmo,
  • Kirkley, George,
  • Klein, Sigmund,
  • Kono, Tommy,
  • Krastev, Antonio,
  • Kuzmin,

L

  • L–glutathione,
  • laxatives,
  • learning how to lift. See technique, teaching and learning
  • levers, basic principles of,
  • Levy, Julian,
  • line of gravity,
  • linoleic acid,
  • linseed oil poultice,
  • Lobrano, Blair,
  • Lombardi, Vince,
  • long term development of weightlifters,
  • Lukashev, A,

M

  • ma huang,
  • magnesium carbonate. See equipment, personal,
  • Maltz, Maxwell,
  • March, William,
  • Marchenko,
  • Maslaev, V.,
  • mass,
  • massage,
  • mind,
    • advantages of achieving a relaxed,
    • controlling the activity of the conscious,
  • anxiety,  dealing with
  • biofeedback,
  • complex personality,
  • concentration,
  • direction of attention,
  • emotions, generally,
  • hypnosis and,
  • self hypnosis and,
  • optimal performance state,
  • pain,
  • positive affirmations,
    • harnessing the powers of,
  • importance of long term goals,
  • importance of short term goals,
  • mental toughness,
  • overcoming fear,
  • overcoming pain,
  • reaching inner resources,
  • role of the coach,
  • role of the psychologist,
  • value of a vision in building desire,
  • those who can assist in,
  • visualization and,
    • theoretical issues related to,
  • balancing ambition and purpose,
  • locus of control,
  • positive mental attitude and,
  • relationship of philosophy to mental attitude,
  • single mindedness of purpose,
  • mechanics
    • center of gravity, definitions used in, friction, 2 kinds of motion, levers, basic principles of, motion of projectiles,
    • Newton’s laws of motion
  • first law, law of inertia,
  • second law, law of acceleration,
  • third law, the law of reaction,
  • implications for angular motion,
    • other concepts of motion,
    • scalars and vectors,
  • mechanical efficiency,
  • Medvedyev, Alexander,
  • Mentzer, Mike,
  • method of utmost efforts,
  • Michels, Jeff,
  • Mill, John Stuart,
  • Mills, Joseph,
  • Mintz, Lawrence,
  • Miyake, Yoshinobu,
  • momentum,
  • monounsaturated fats,
  • motion,
    • angular, kinds of,
    • See also, Newton’s laws of,
  • movement, directions of human,
  • multipoundage,
  • muscle,
    • arrangement of, chemical basis for action, effects of training on, effects of immobilization on, elastic component of, See contractile element, parallel element and serial element neural basis for action, optimal length for generating force, structure and action of,
    • speed of contraction,
  • muscle fibers,
    • types,losses of with aging, differences between men and women,
    • influence on weightlifting potential,
  • muscle groups, major,
  • muscle spindles,
  • myofibrils,
  • myosin,

N

  • Nechepurenko,V.,
  • Nemessanyi, Arpad,
  • Newton’s laws of motion,
  • Nideffer, Robert,
  • nodes of Ranvier,
  • Nootens, Charles,
  • nutrition,
    • essential nutrients and,
  • carbohydrates,
  • lipids,
  • minerals,
  • proteins,
  • measuring the quality of proteins,
  • the essential nutrients,
  • vitamins,
  • water and the importance of maintaining proper hydration,
    • meeting requirements for,
  • a partial list of milk exchanges,
  • ADA dietary exchange lists,
  • dietary assessment,
  • energy supplied by proteins, fats and carbohydrates,
  • four basic food groups,
  • nutrient toxicity,
  • nutritional density,
  • protein needs of athletes,
  • RDAs, U.S. RDAs and the vitamin and mineral requirements of athletes,
    • performance, short term and,
  • eating during the event,
  • eating in the days before the event,
  • eating to perform well in training and in competition,
  • post-game meals,
  • special topics in,
  • anabolic steroids and their risks,
  • eating disorders,
  • anorexia and bulimia,
  • ergogenic application of ordinary foods and nutrients and special ergogenic substances,
  • fasting and short term reductions in food consumption,
  • obesity,
  • time factor in,

O

  • oligomeric proanthocyanidins. See grape seed extract
  • ornithine,
  • ossification, of bones,
  • Ohuchi, Masashi,
  • overtraining, 
    • Basedowic, monotonous, Parasympathetic,
    • Sympathetic,
  • oxygen under pressure. See Restorative measures

P

  • papain,
  • Park, Reg,
  • parallel elastic component (PEC),
  • peaking methods,
    • peaking by reducing volume and increasing intensity, 310peaking by gradually increasing intensity and volume,
    • using pre–competition “control competitions”,
  • Pearl, Bill,
  • penniform muscles,
  • periodization
    • Soviet style,
  • the macrocycle,
  • the monthly cycle or mesocycle,
  • the weekly plan or microcycle,
    • Bulgarian periodization methods,
    • other approaches to periodization,
  • Perry, Herbert,
  • physiology, muscle. Seealso muscle
    • energy for muscular contractions, factors influencing force production in, muscle action as the basis for human movement, muscle fiber types (see muscle fiber types)neural basis for muscle action,
    • optimal length for generating force,
  • plans, training. See training plans
  • Podlivayev, B.,
  • positive affirmations. See, mind, controlling
  • positive mental attitude (PMA). See mind, theoretical issues
  • power,
    • specialized training for the development of,
  • powerlifters and other strength athletes, the special needs of those who convert to weightlifting,
  • prepubescent and pubescent athletes, training of,
    • exercise prescriptions for children,
    • growth and maturation,
  • projectiles, motion of,
  • proprioceptive muscle receptors, See, golgi tendon organ and muscle spindles
  • psychoneuromuscular,
  • pubescent athletes. See prepubescent
  • Puleo, Joseph,
  • pycnogenol,
  • pyramiding See strength training variables

Q

  • qualifying to lift in competitions. See rules, organizations which govern weightlifting
  • qualitative analysis,

R

  • Rader, Mabel,
  • Rader, Peary,
  • Ramsey, Charles,
  • Rand, Ayn,
  • Rawluk, Peter,
  • reciprocal mini cycle,
  • recruitment of muscle  fibers,
  • records, establish world and other kinds. See, rules, technical, world records
  • rehabilitative exercise,
  • Reno, Denis,
  • repetition. Seealso selection of repetitions in teaching technique
    • definition of, guidelines of number of reps over and under 90% of maximum, number of and guidelines for training children, optimal rest between, patterns used in popular training methods, ,performance of,
    • specificity of,
  • restorative measures,
  • Riecke, Louis,
  • RICE,
  • Rigert, David,
  • Ritzer, Theodore,
  • Roman, Robert,
  • Ruchames, Daniel,
  • rules,
    • eligibility
  • a word about amateurism and eligibility,
  • age group competitions,
  • junior competitions,
  • masters competitions,
  • qualifying to lift in various competitions,
    • equipment used by athletes in competitions,
  • barbell,
  • lifter’s costume,
  • platform,
    • other official equipment of the competition,
  • attempt board,
  • clock,
  • electronic light system,
  • forms,
  • operations of the referee’s light system,
  • record board,
  • scale,
  • scoreboard,
  • special requirements for equipment at major international competitions,
  • warm-up area,
    • officials of the competition,
  • competition secretary,
  • doctors on duty,
  • jury,
  • opening, victory and closing ceremonies,
  • referees,
  • special USAW rules governing,
  • technical controller,
  • timekeeper,
    • structure of the competition,
  • doping control,
  • gender testing,
  • loading the bar in competition,
  • order of calling the lifters for their attempts in the competition,
  • presentation of the competitors,
  • technical conference (also the drawing of the lots),
  • weigh-in,
    • organizations which govern weightlifting,
  • International Olympic Committee (IOC),
  • International Weightlifting Federation (IWF),
  • national weightlifting federation of each country,
  • organization of USA Weightlifting (USAW),
  • Olympic Committee of each country,
  • organizing committee of a particular competition,
    • technical,
  • general rules for both competitive lifts,
  • incorrect movements
  • for all lifts,
  • particular to the clean and jerk,
  • particular to the snatch,
  • participants in the competition (or classes of competitors),
  • team competition,
  • scoring,
  • weight classes,
  • women’s competitions,
  • gender testing,
  • world records,
  • kinds of records,
  • procedures for creating world and other categories of records,
  • Rusev, Yanko,
  • Rysin, E,

S

  • Sablo, Rudolph,
  • sacromere,
  • safety,
  • sauna,
  • Scanlon, Lynne Waller,
  • scalars, See motion, kinds of
  • Schake, Cal,
  • Schemansky, Norbert,
  • Schodl, Gottfried,
  • Schreiner, Victor,
  • Schreyer, Cindy,
  • Schulz, Johannes,
  • Schwarzenegger, Arnold,
  • selection
    • of athletes for their weightlifting “potential”, of coaches by athletes on objective and subjective bases, of weights for training (see strength, training for; technique, teaching and learning, practical considerations of)
    • of reps for training (see strength, training for; technique, teaching and learning, practical considerations of)
  • series elastic component (SEC),
  • Shepatin, Giselle,
  • Sheppard, David,
  • shunt muscles,
  • Simmons, Louis,
  • sliding filament theory,
  • slow twitch (ST) muscle fibers. See muscle fibers, types
  • sodium bicarbonate,
  • sodium phosphate,
  • Sots, Victor,
  • Spassov, Angel,
  • spurt muscles,
  • squat. See assistance exercises, for improving the recovery from the low position
  • Starr, Bill,
  • steam room,
  • stimulants,
  • Stone, Michael,
  • strength,
    • definition, importance of versus technique, power compared with , speed in relation to,
    • training concepts. See also cycles
  • frequency
  • defining and measuring,
  • training frequency,
  • intensity
  • influence of,
  • maximums in training vs. competition,
  • measuring intensity of the training stimulus,
  • perceived vs. absolute,
  • training vs. testing,
  • specificity
  • influence on principles of choosing exercises,
  • vs. stimulus, from variety,
  • different responses of different muscle groups,
  • general nature of training stimulus,
  • key training variables,
  • overall challenge of,
  • tolerance for error in the training effect can be small,
  • closing remarks on,
  • danger of faulty conclusions from limited evidence,
    • using Mills method of difference to evaluate,
    • training variables
  • repetitions
  • guidelines regarding,
  • optimal rest between,
  • performance of reps,
  • sets
  • are more sets better?,
  • guidelines regarding sets,
  • rest between,
  • some common training patterns,
    • circut training, multiple sets with similar reps per set, pyramiding, across an exercise session, super sets and pre-exhaustion,
    • pyramiding, across a series of workouts,
  • volume (See volume)
    • examples of classic strength training methods,
  • Anderson, Paul, training programs,
  • Coan, Ed, squatting program,
  • Davis, John, multiple sets of low reps,
  • Hepburn, Doug, building on reps,
  • two Soviet squatting programs,
    • methods if exercising to develop,
  • comparing methods,
  • compensatory acceleration,
  • concentric,
  • eccentric,
  • electrostimulation,
  • isokinetic,
  • isometric,
  • plyometrics,
  • variable resistance,
  • very slow training,
  • strength athletes who convert to weightlifters. See powerlifters and strength athletes
  • Strength & Health Magazine,
  • stretch–shortening cycle (SSC),
  • stretching methods, Seealso flexibility, developing
    • active isolated, ballistic, combining, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF),
    • static,
  • stretch shortening cycle (SSC),
  • Suleymanoglu, Naim,
  • summation,
  • synergists,

T

  • technique, understanding
    • analysis of,
  • an explanation of the “six phases”, 
  • barbell movement,
  • trajectory in the jerk,
  • trajectory in the snatch and clean,
  • speed during the pull,
  • jerk, analysis of six phases,
  • phase five,
  • phase four,
  • phase one,
  • phase six,
  • phase three,
  • phase two,
  • snatch and clean, analysis of six phases,
  • phase five,
  • phase four,
  • phase one,
  • phase six,
  • phase three,
  • phase two,
    • guidelines for efficient,
  • all lifts,
  • breathing, proper method while lifting,
  • finding a focal point,
  • head position,
  • limited bar drop,
  • locking body parts,
  • lowering the bar after a successful lift,
  • moving under the bar rapidly,
  • moving with maxmum controlled speed,
  • recovery from squat,
  • clean
  • elbow whip during,
  • post recovery from the low postion but prior to the jerk,
  • receivng the bar,
  • recovery from the squat position,
  • jerk,
  • for receiving the bar,
  • maximizing upward thrust for,
  • preparing for after clean,
  • proper elbow positioning for finish,
  • recovery from split,
  • stability in the dip for,
  • snatch and clean,
  • balance, in squat position,
  • final explosion, importance of positioning,
  • gripping the bar, importance of,
  • gripping the bar, improving security of,
  • split style of lowering the body,
  • starting position, snatch and clean,
  • snatch,
  • receiving the bar,
  • balance in, and recovery from, the low position,
    • overview,
  • the basics of technique,
  • sequence photos of
  • clean,
  • snatch,
    • theory.
  • is there only one “best” technique?,
  • a context for study,
  • how important is technique vs. strength?,
  • is weightlifting technique simple or complex?,
    • trade offs in optimizing and their role in individualizing technique,
  • clean,
  • hand spacing,
  • jerk,
  • depth of split,
  • dip, long vs. short,
  • dip, slow vs. fast,
  • drive, when to terminate,
  • foot spacing,
  • hand spacing,
  • other variations in the jerk,
  • power vs. split style,
  • squat vs. split style,
  • unlocking knees prior to,
  • snatch,
  • hand spacing,
  • snatch and clean,
  • bar position in relation to foot at start,
  • degree of leg bend in phase three,
  • differences related to the lifter’s individual body structure,
  • fast versus a slow pull from the floor,
  • first phase, different methods of executing,
  • foot spacing,
  • jumping backward or forward,
  • starting with hips low vs. high,
  • technique, learning and teaching,
    • analyzing performance via,
  • free body diagram,
  • qualitative mechanical analysis,
  • sense organs,
  • video camera,
    • approaches to teaching fundamentals,
  • approaches evaluated vs. learning theory,
  • Bulgarian model,
  • individualized approach,
  • IWF/Romanian model,
  • many approaches work,
  • Soviet model,
  • USAW model,
  • which model is best?,
    • errors, eliminating, general approaches to,
  • communication about errors,
  • fine art of automating corrections,
  • progressive elimination of faults,
  • trying something different,
    • errors, correcting specific,
  • bending arms during pull,
  • driving bar forward in jerk,
  • overextension or pausing during,
  • premature contraction,
  • splitting backward in jerk,
    • errors, automating corrections of,
    • errors, general kinds of
  • balance,
  • effort,
  • errors, kinds of,
  • positioning,
  • tension,
  • timing,
    • motor learning, concepts of,
  • effectiveness of mass vs. distributed practice,
  • feedback, types of and their value,
  • lead up activities,
  • learning segments vs. the entire skill,
  • mechanisms of,
  • mental practice,
  • other aids to acquisition of motor skills,
  • overlearning,
  • practice, a key to learning,
  • variability in, the effect on learning,
  • principles of,
  • response times,
  • skill transfer,
  • specificity of,
  • stages of,
  • warm-up decrement,
    • motor control
  • relationship between speed, force and accuracy,
  • specificity of,
  • stages of,
  • lengths of various response phases,
  • mechanisms of,
    • practical considerations in,
  • how to miss,
  • first steps in teaching a new skill,
  • remaining alert during a lift,
  • selection of reps for,
  • selection of weight for,
  • starting position,
  • using goals and pictures,
  • what an athlete should be thinking,
  • tendon,
  • Terlazzo, Anthony,
  • Terpak, John,
  • testosterone,
  • transcendental meditation (TM),
  • TMG,
  • Tonyan, N.,
  • torque,
  • training. Seealso, strength training
    • effects of
  • as influenced by the angles at which muscle force is applied,
  • on bones and connective tissue,
  • muscle tissue,
    • programs,
  • examples, of
  • used by champions,
    • Byrd–Goad, Robin, James, Lee,
    • Krastev, Antonio,
  • prepared for specific athletes
  • used in Cuba,
  • used by the Gayle Hatch club in Louisiana,
  • used by the 1996 Greek Olympic team,
  • used in the USOC training center at Colorado Springs,
    • for peaking (see peaking)integrating long and short term planning of,
    • plans, developing
  • in the context of a triathlon,
  • frequency of exercise performance,
  • how to select exercises by balancing specificity with variety,
  • planning for the workout day,
  • theory of,
  • cyclic nature of all planning,
  • dominant philosophy of beginning with a long term plan and filling in the details,
  • evolution of early planning,
  • intuitive approach to,
  • utilizing periodization (see periodization)
  • workout plan,
  • basic workout structure,
  • cooling down,
  • order and number of exercises,
  • rest intervals between exercises,
  • volume lifted in each exercise session,
  • warming up,
  • training log,
  • transcendental meditation (TM),
  • treppe,
  • troponin,
  • twitch,

U

  • unloading,

V

  • Vardanian, Yuri,
  • vectors, See motion, kinds of
  • Vega, Anthony,
  • Verkhoshansky, Yuri,
  • volume,
  • Vorobiev, Arkady,

W

  • weight, definition of,
  • weight, making (reducing for competition). See competition, coaching prior to
  • weight, ideal bodyweight. See bodyweight
  • weight, gaining muscular bodyweight. See bodyweight
  • weightlifting and children, See prepubescent athletes, training
  • weightlifting and the mature athlete,
    • losses in physiological functioning with aging,
    • training and the mature athlete,
  • weightlifting, as a means for improving athletic performance,
    • case studies of athletes benefiting from Olympic lifting, only dedicated athletes will gain benefits from practicing the Olympic lifts, unique value of Olympic lifts for athletes, using of partial lifts, using of pulls,
    • using the power clean, power snatch and power jerk,
  • weightlifting, definition of,
  • weightlifting, fallacies regarding,
  • weightlifting, why lift?,
  • Weightlifting Encyclopedia,
    • approaches to reading,
    • contacting the publisher of,
  • Weightlifting USA,
  • Weissbrot, Morris,
  • Williams, James,
  • world records, procedures for establishing. See, rules, technical
  • women and weightlifting—a great match,
    • amenorrhea, relationships between training and,
    • differences between men and women,
  • a few closing words on the differences between men and women,
  • in strength ,
  • other physiological differences,
    • menarche, the effects of athletic activity on, pregnancy and training,
    • psychological and social conditions that can influence women who are weightlifters,
  • work, (see also volume)
  • work hardening process,
  • workout, planning a. See training, workout plan

X

  • Xugang, Zhan,

Y

  • Yates, Dorian,
  • York Barbell,

Z

  • Zacharevich, Yuri,
  • Zatsiorsky, Vladimir,
  • zone,

Preface

PREFACE to the 1998 Edition

I have admired strength for as long as I can remember.  When I was very young, I always looked for the movie and television characters who displayed the greatest physical strength.  Whenever we went to the circus, most of my friends went to see the acrobats or animals.  I went to see the strongman.  My favorite biblical character was Samson and my favorite mythological character was Hercules.  John Henry was the American folk hero I admired most.  In my father’s boiler business, where I worked many summers from an early age, the men I respected the most were those who had the greatest physical strength.  The examples could go on and on.

One of the reasons for my admiration of strength was my own lack of it.  Mental activities came more easily to me than physical ones, and for that reason I never seemed to focus on the importance of mental activities as much—I took mental processes as a given when I was younger (something I learned never to do as I grew older).  Physical strength didn’t come naturally to me, so I always coveted it.

All of my pent-up desire for strength came to fruition in three major steps in my life.  The first step was taken on a warm, sunny, day, at the end of the summer of 1961, just a few months before my eleventh birthday.  I was walking down one of the busiest streets in town where I live, right in front of a large newsstand that stood on the sidewalk.  Among the dozens of magazines on display was one with a man on the cover who seemed to have chest muscles of freakish proportions and an overall muscular development of his upper body that almost matched the muscularity of that chest.  My immediate reaction was “This guy must be really strong; maybe this magazine will give me some clue as to how he got that way.” The magazine was the September 1961 issue of the now defunct Strength & Health (for more than 50 years the leading strength publication in America, and one of the leading publications in the world covering weightlifting and weight training).

After pouring through the magazine, I was initially disappointed to discover that no information on the cover man was given, but the wealth of other information offered was more than enough to make up for that initial disappointment.  There were pictures of various bodybuilders and weightlifters, results from weightlifting and bodybuilding competitions, and an article about the 1960 Olympic Champion weightlifter from Poland, Ireneusz Palinski.

In those early stages of my discovery of the iron game, I shared the common misconception of many beginners that outward muscle size (that which is apparent to the naked eye) and strength were closely correlated. Though weightlifting was clearly regarded as the true measure of strength by the magazine’s writers, it seemed esoteric.  What, after all, was a snatch or clean and jerk (C&J)?  Why did some of the men doing these lifts have their feet placed with one well forward and the other well behind?  Why were others sitting in a deep squat position?  Surely these could not be positions for exerting maximal strength. 

It took a significant amount of additional reading for me to begin to piece together the differences between weightlifting and bodybuilding (there was no competitive powerlifting to speak of in those days) and to realize that if what I really wanted was the maximum in strength, weightlifting was the sport for me. Some months later, I started to train with a set of weights that my father made for me out the steel that he used in his boilermaking business. My early efforts were rather crude and when others heard what I was doing, they began to bombard me with stories of hernias, stunted growth, back injuries and other sorts of catastrophes that supposedly happened to all weightlifters.  Some of these “experts” even suggested that weightlifting and bodybuilding publications consisted of propaganda issued by barbell manufacturers and that their advice therein was therefore not to be trusted.  Since I could find no one who could give me any advice from real experience, my parents were really against my lifting weights and since I wasn’t sure (from the little reading that I’d done) that I knew what I was doing, or that the voices of doom weren’t correct, my participation in the sport came to a temporary halt.  However, I continued to learn what I could about weight training and the development of strength.

With my weightlifting placed on hold, I directed my energies to my other athletic loves of swimming, handball, wrestling and football, finally deciding to concentrate on football as I entered my teenage years.  It was at this time that I first tried to see how much I could lift.  With a great struggle, I managed to clean and press 95 lb., at a bodyweight of approximately 135 lb..

Once I turned my full attention toward football, I realized that added strength and size could be of great value on the gridiron and that weight training could develop such strength. So once again my interest in weight training grew and I started to train with some degree of regularity.    I searched every magazine and book I could find for items about weight training and football.  But I couldn’t help but read about the sport of weightlifting itself.  Little by little, my desire for strength began to return to the foreground and I began to agonize over whether to become a weightlifter and to give up my football career.  A series of events that transpired in a matter of weeks put an end to the false starts that had stretched across a period of nearly four years (from age 11 to age 15). 

First, immediately after my initial season of high school football (during which I had taken time off from weight training because of the demands of daily football practice and some fairly rigorous academic studies) I tried myself out on the military press and found that I could make only 140 lb.. (as compared with my pre-season best of 165 lb..).  I had worked hard to get my press up to 165, and such a drop-off was a bitter disappointment.  Suddenly football seemed unproductive.  I had trained long and hard to get in shape for football and then I had torn myself down by playing the game.  Weightlifting, by contrast, seemed like a much more direct athletic activity—both the training and the performance in competition contributed toward the overall development of the body.  This really made me think.

The second event that pushed me toward a career in weightlifting was a weightlifting exhibition given at my high school given by a former local champion and then administrator in the NYC school system, Julie Levy.  At that exhibition, it was announced that there would be a weightlifting competition conducted at the school in several weeks. I went home to do some more hard thinking.  Eventually, the combination of my love of strength, my disappointment over the strength loss I had  suffered during the football season, the excitement caused by the exhibition and the anticipation of the coming competition virtually made the decision for me—weightlifting was to be my sport.

It was then, when I was just about to be presented with my first varsity “letter” by the football coach, that I told him and my teammates that my football career was over.  They were shocked.  I had been one of the hardest workers on the team and many of the older and bigger players had become impressed with my strength.  A number of them had gotten interested in weight training as an adjunct to football at my encouragement, an influence not appreciated by the coaches, who abhorred weight training, believing that it would make a player musclebound, whatever that is (thirty years ago, weight training was not accepted in athletics in the way that it is today).  Most of my former teammates were quite supportive of my decision, but I was told by the coaches “If you quit football you will quit a everything in life.” I didn’t care what they thought; I was embarking on a new career and my enthusiasm couldn’t be restrained.

At this point, I had my goals set, but, unbeknownst to me, I lacked two key ingredients needed to achieve success in weightlifting—the knowledge and the emotional support needed to perform the arduous training required to become top notch.  Then, quite by accident, the key to these important ingredients that I lacked appeared in the person of Danny Ruchames.

My first meeting with Danny was rather confrontational. I was standing in one of the basement hallways of my high school, in front of a flyer that announced the upcoming weightlifting competition.  A friend and I were speculating about my prospects. Danny happened to overhear my claim of having in the past succeeded with a 165 pound military press and he challenged that claim.  I was appalled at his allegation of dishonesty and offered to show him that I could indeed do 165 if he was willing to come to my house to watch me.  It happened that he lived near my home, so he agreed to visit me the next day after school. 

That next afternoon, to my chagrin, I was only able to press 155.  Waiving off my embarrassed apologies, Danny indicated that he recognized one could not always perform ones best—but he felt that the 155 demonstrated the validity of my claim of 165.  Impressed with my ability, he then offered to introduce me to his former weightlifting coach, a man named Morris Weissbrot (a congenital spinal defect had halted Danny’s otherwise promising career some years earlier).  Morris Weissbrot!  I was in awe.  Morris had recently written a series of articles in Strength & Health. The thought of training with such a famous authority was a dream come true.  Danny and I agreed to make the trip to Lost Battalion Hall, the gym where Morris coached, later that week. 

On Friday, January 14, 1966, I walked into the gym at Lost Battalion hall.  There, I met Morris Weissbrot for the first time.  He was a big man, warm, enthusiastic and friendly.  I demonstrated my technique (or lack thereof) on the “Olympic” lifts.  Morris quickly pointed out some of my numerous flaws, but he indicated that with hard work they could all be corrected.  He showed me some exercises for developing my technique and had me practice them on the spot.  I literally practiced until my hands bled, with little sign of improvement. 

But as I left the gym that night, I knew that a lifelong search had come to an end. I had truly discovered the sport of weightlifting—the premier sport of strength and power.  It was the end of one journey and the beginning of another. 

It has been more than 30 years since I began my weightlifting journey.  There have been plenty of bumps, detours and disappointments along the way.  But, on balance, it has been a journey of unbounded joy.  With all of the years that have passed, I am in as much in love with the sport as I was on the first day.  This book is an outgrowth of that continuing love. 

Weightlifting is truly one of the greatest sports ever conceived by the mind of man or woman. It is my profound hope that this book will help to make someone else’s journey to weightlifting mastery smoother, more direct and more far reaching than mine has been.  If what is here is of value, it is because I have had the advantage of standing on the strong shoulders of those who have come before me—a position where it is much easier to see the realities of weightlifting.  For sharing what I’ve learned, I expect little in return,* except that you do the same as I have done, along with so many before me.  Once you have learned it, share the secrets of strength and weightlifting with all who will listen—keep the flame burning.  It is in meeting the myriad challenges of weightlifting that we can discover and develop what is truly the best within us, the strength of mind and body that will help us to become the masters of our fates.  Use the challenge of weightlifting to mold your own characters into something far stronger than the steel you strive to overcome.  Good luck in your own personal journey!

*I am a good enough businessman to realize that I am highly unlikely to make a great deal of money from a book on competitive weightlifting.  Moreover, a share of the profits from the sale of this book (assuming there are any) will be used to pay for copies of the book that are donated to individuals or libraries throughout the country, or to subsidize the purchase of this book by organizations that are promoting the sport of weightlifting.  Therefore, the price you have paid for the book is in part a contribution to the future of weightlifting.

PREFACE to the 2025 Revised Edition

As I look back at The Weightlifting Encyclopedia published in 1998, I’m pleased to say that it has stood the test of time fairly well. While much has changed in the sport since that time (e.g., the long overdue addition of women to the Olympic Games, the well-deserved much greater popularity of the sport in the US and around the world, access to watching international championships live or preserved online, and much  more rigorous drug testing that has made weightlifting one of the cleanest sports in the world, just to mention a few) the vast majority of what was written in the book still applies years later.

The main changes in the book have been in the rules section, as those rules have changed in a number of ways over the years, although not it ways that make performances in the past hard to compare with more recent ones (no supportive gear that has improved performance, no changes in permitted lifting technique that has materially changed performance). I anything, lifts made today are harder to achieve that they were years ago, given the prominence of stringent drug testing today that didn’t exist until recent years, when major steps were taken to clean the sport up, to the point it is one of the cleanest in the world today. What is also different is that this version of the book is available to all, free of charge, as long as one has an internet connection, via the website of the charitable organization, Weightlifting.Org, Inc. (website https://weightlifting.org)     The mission of Weightlifting.Org is to teach the world about the  wonderful sport of weightlifting, to help make it better appreciated and more accessible than it has ever been. There will be other books about learning how to do weightlifting in new and exciting ways, and about the heroes and heroines who have helped to make the sport so special.  But if you want a comprehensive view of the sport, The Weightlifting Encyclopedia is still a great place to start. We hope you find reading it illuminating and enjoyable.

Disclaimer

Weightlifting, like all strenuous sports, can be dangerous. You should consult with a physician before beginning to practice weightlifting and learn and practice the sport guided by a knowledgeable coach.

This book is meant to inform and entertain. The information contained herein is based on information from various sources, published and unpublished and merely represents literature and practice as summarized by the author. The author and publisher make no warranties, expressed or implied, regarding the currency, completeness or scientific accuracy of this information, nor do they warrant its fitness for any particular purpose. No book can address all aspects of weightlifting. This book is meant to complement, amplify and supplement other information that is available and should be pursued.

The author is neither a health professional nor an attorney.  Although a variety of legal, dietary, medical and pharmaceutical concepts, and descriptions of injuries and their treatments, are presented in this book, they are for informational purposes only and do not represent legal, health or medical advice.  They are merely reported on the basis of the experiences and/or observations of the author.  None of them should be applied without the knowledge and supervision of an appropriate professional.

While the author has been associated with the United States Weightlifting Federation (doing business as USA Weightlifting/USAW) and the International Weightlifting Federation for many years, the opinions expressed here are the author’s and are not necessarily representative of either of these organizations.

We have tried to assure that this book is accurate and complete but there may be typographical and content mistakes, so this book should be used as a general guide. The author and publisher have neither the liability nor responsibility for any loss of damage caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in this book. If you do not wish to be bound by the above conditions of purchase and use of this book, you may return it to the publisher for a full refund.

Copyright

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author, except for brief quotations in a review.

What Are Champion Athletes, Their Coaches And Officials, And Other Readers, Saying About “The Weightlifting Encyclopedia”?

“Artie took more than seven years to write the book which you are about to read. It is the most comprehensive book on the subject of Olympic weightlifting that I have ever seen. It covers all aspects…from novice to the world class athlete. Read, study and apply the information you find within these covers and you will be richly rewarded with rapid improvement on your Olympic lifts. I wish this book had been available when I started the sport of weightlifting!” Tommy Kono, Two Time Olympic Champion, Six time World Champion, Established 26 World Records in Weightlifting and Coached Olympic Teams from Three Different Countries, including the US (quotation from the Foreword of the book).

“Finally someone has published a book about weightlifting to be proud of. It’s complete, accurate, informative and inspiring. A definite must have. This book will help every weightlifter from novice to world champion, I only wish it were available when I competed.” Bob Bednarski, Former World Heavyweight Champion and World Record Holder

“Everyone seeking knowledge pertaining to weightlifting must read this book. Every page offers new knowledge. It captures the power and complexity of this sport, yet explains the material in a simple and comprehensible manner.” Robin Byrd-Goad, 1994 World’s Champion, 8 time National Champion and Former World Record Holder

“…I am fascinated. Your Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive and most significant weightlifting book in my library. It is as must to have it.” Gottfried Schodl, President, International Weightlifting Federation (IWF)

“Magnificent! Covers every imaginable topic in depth yet in a down to earth style. A great book!” John Coffee, Coach of 14 Women’s National Championship Teams and Five World Championship Teams

“I just received a copy of your book. It’s incredible! You explain everything so clearly that even long time powerlifters can learn to do the Olympic lifts if they follow your instructions. They can get some great information on getting stronger too.” Ed Coan, Four Time World Powerlifting Champion, Established More Than 75 World Records in Powerlifting

“…the single most important book ever written on Olympic weightlifting.” Fred Hatfield (Dr. Squat), Ph.D., MSS, Author of “Powerlifting: A Scientific Appproach, President of the International Sports Sciences Association, Three Time World Powerlifting Champion and Established World Powerlifting Records In Five Different Weight Classes.

“Your book is a truly great resource. It belongs in the library of every strength coach.” Al Vermeil, Strength Coach of the World Champion Chicago Bulls Basketball Team

“The most complete, detailed book on weightlifting that I have ever seen. A wealth of information from proper techniques to powerful programs that are clearly explained. High recommended.” John Reeser, Editor, Rodale Fitness Books

“…a monumental effort, obviously a labor of love…Comprehensive.  Truly encyclopedic. Bravo!” Clarence Bass, author of the RIPPED series, THE LEAN ADVANTAGE series, LEAN FOR LIFE and the soon to be published CHALLENGE YOURSELF

“The Weightlifting Encyclopedia…is in my opinion the most complete and finest book ever written for the participants of our sport, including coaches, athletes, organizers, officials and other interested parties…consists of easy to read chapters detailing every aspect of becoming an elite from teaching/learning the two Olympic lifts to competing like a champion…If you are a serious coach, athlete or other participant in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, this encyclopedia is must reading.” Michael Cady, Editor, Weightlifting USA, the official publication of the The United States Weightlifting Federation (d.b.a. as the USAW)

“The most complete example of international unity in the weightlifting communities. Here you successfully combine the scientific research of the Russian Federation and the tremendous experience of American weightlifting. Undeniably, it is a very good way to develop good athletes and improve our world.” Arnold Khalfin, Two Time National Champion of the USSR and National Record Holder, Many Time World Masters Champion and Former Coach of the Junior Olympic Reserve Team of the USSR

“This book is a big Weightlifting treasure for athletes and coaches. It is the first very successful effort to combine together the achievements of science and long Weightlifting experience in this country. Continued success!” Mikhail Kemel Merited Master Coach of the Former Soviet Union and Coach of 3 Time World Superheavyweight Champion and Former World Record Holder – Anatoly Pisarenko

“The Weightlifting Encyclopedia is the most complete book on Olympic style weightlifting ever published…I make a practice of reading some of it every night.” Gayle Hatch, Coach of 47 Teams that have Won Junior or Senior National titles, as well as 3 Olympians

“Arthur Drechsler, a former international level weightlifter, has put together one of the finest and most comprehensive books ever written on the subject of weightlifting. The Weightlifting Encyclopedia covers virtually every area of the sport in depth…Written in a down to earth style, it is highly readable and reflects the author’s knowledge and love for the sport. It not only draws on the author’s personal views and experience, but also contains collected material from many different schools of weightlifting – Bulgarian, Greek, etc. Highly recommended for any one with an interest in weightlifting.” Fortius, Newsletter of the Australian Weightlifting Federation, Inc.

“It is the perfect combination of Russian and other international research in Weightlifting and the tremendous American experience. I hope this big job that you did will produce big lifting in this country.” Yakov Krinitsky, Former National Coach of the USSR (currently living in the US), Coach of World and Olympic Champions and Former World Record Holders, Jan Talts and Vladimir Beliaev, and Merited Coach of the USSR.

“The wealth of information you have set down will be a blessing for anyone reading this book and every lifter, coach, both domestic and international, will benefit from it.” Murray Levin, President North, Central America & Caribbean Islands Weightlifting Federation, Past President (1975-1988) of the United States Weightlifting Federation.

“It is a monumental work which far exceeds any work in the field of weightlifting. It is, without question, the most comprehensive, single source of up-to-date information ever published.” Vic Boff, Strongman, Author of Numerous Books and Articles on Weightlifting, Bodybuilding, Strength Feats and the President of  The Association of Oldtime Barbell and Strongmen

“A must read for any athlete and coach engaged in weightlifting training or employing the Olympic lifts for strength training. The entire spectrum of weightlifting training: exercise selection, planning training, exercise technique, selection of equipment, etc., is covered in precise detail.” Andrew “Bud” Charniga, MS, Owner of Dynamic Fitness and Sportivny Press and Editor/Translator of more than a dozen weightlifting texts produced in the former USSR.

“I have worked in developing strength in athletes at all levels, from Junior high school to Division I scholarship athletes and Olympic and World Champions. During this tenure I have been asked questions of athletes and coaches about becoming their absolute best that this book answers. Artie Drechsler’s The Weightlifting Encyclopedia has a little something for everyone that desires to excel in sport, any sport, not solely Weightlifting. This is not a book that simply describes the author’s opinion, rather a book that explores the pros and cons and then the reasons for the author’s recommendation. The choice of which path to follow is left to the reader – a truly refreshing approach. I highly recommend this book to any and all athletes that pursue excellence in their sport and especially those that strive to become world class weightlifters.” Lynne Stoessel-Ross, MS, CSCS, Former National Weightlifting Champion and American Recordholder, former Asstant Strength and Conditioning Coach for Georgia Tech and Texas Tech

“I have just scratched the surface of the “almost” final draft of this massive undertaking and I am ready to recommend this book to all who ever cared or will ever care about our great sport. I agree with the text and am almost envious of the enormity of the content. Drechsler…uses his lifting knowledge and writing talents to present this (destined to be great) text.” Denis Reno, publisher of Denis Reno’s Weightlifter’s Newsletter, international coach and official (on reviewing the final draft).

“The Weightlifting Encyclopedia includes descriptions of the Snatch and Clean & Jerk, effective methods of coaching Weightlifting, detailed training plans, assistance and conditioning exercises, nutritional and injury information, as well as training considerations for Women, Master, and Junior athletes. Plus much, much more!… Drechsler provides an amazing insight in the sport of Weightlifting.” Brian Dorn, Editor, The Weightlifting News.

“Just wanted to let you know that I was extremely pleased with the Encyclopedia that I received last week. I buy just about any book that comes out on the market about resistance training and strength sports, including many highly annotated college level textbooks. Most of the time I am disappointed. I have never received better value than your book. The text is just dense with information, an incredible achievement considering the bulk of the book…Any page that I open up to has fresh insight on it, and I have been reading everything I can get my hands on in this subject for the last 30 years…” Peter Bocko, Ph.D.

“The Weightlifting Encyclopedia has become a great source of confidence to me. This incredible book provides the knowledge and information I have long been seeking as an athlete and coach. Artie Drechsler’s contribution to the sport of Weightlifting is best described in the words of T.S. Elliot, “Great books are the quietest and most constant of friends, they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” Stephen Miller, Coach of Team Oklahoma and National Superheavyweight Champion and American Recordholder Shane Hamman.

“…stands in a class by itself. No finer book on the subject of Olympic weightlifting has ever been published. You could take all of the books in print today (or out of print) on Olympic lifting and they would not equal what this book presents. Nothing is left out, every subject is covered with a fine tooth comb.” Osmo Kiiha, Editor in Chief, Iron Master Magazine

“This 500+ page book is a virtual gold mine of information on Olympic weight lifting, strength training, nutrition and the like. Find out what really works in the Iron Game.” Matt Furey, 1985 NCAA II National Wrestling Champion, Gold Medalist at the 1997 World Kung Fu Shuai-Chaio tournament and author of “The Martial Art Of Wrestling”

 “What a splendid job…I hope it is a total success…I have a library of books that I consider personal and will not let out of my hands. Your book will be a part of that collection.” Bill Pearl, Mr, America, Four Time Mr. Universe and author of “Keys to the Inner Universe”

The Weightlifting Encyclopedia (is a)…ground breaking text” Charles Staley, MuscleMedia 2000

“Having been involved in all aspects of competitive weightlifting for over 20 years and working for eight years as a collegiate strength coach, I’ve read a lot of books about Olympic lifting. Without question, The Weightlifting Encyclopedia is the most complete, scientifically sound book I’ve ever seen about the sport. It’s also very readable. I’ve already purchased four copies for my friends as gifts, and their response has been as enthusiastic as mine.” Kim Goss, Senior Editor, Dayton Writers Group. Former Strength Coach for the US Air Force Academy.

The Weightlifting Encyclopedia Book and Video Companion

If you liked The Weightlifting Encyclopedia and want to get a copy of the original 1998 printed version (does not contain the preface to the 2025 edition and revised rules Appendix you’ve been reading at the Weightlifting.Org website). You can purchase it at weightliftingWorkshop.com/shop/.

If you liked the book, you may like the book’s Video Companion. Three hours in length, the video is a perfect companion to the book, illustrating many of the weightlifting techniques that are explained in the book. It also demonstrates virtually all of the assistance exercises described in the book (such as squats and power cleans), shows you how to use most weightlifting equipment, illustrates the steps that can be employed to learn proper lifting techniques as described in the book and shows how the technical rules of the sport were applied as of 1999 (these rules haven’t changed much since).

For a more complete description of the book and video, please visit our Web-site: www.weightliftingworshop.com/shop/. Ordering information on our videos and books follows.

Ordering Books and Videos

Additional copies of this book may be obtained from your local bookstore. Alternatively, you can order the book, or The Weightlifting Encyclopedia Video Companion, at https://weightliftingworkshop.com. You can also order via regular mail from the following address:

Weightlifting Workshop                                            Phone: (516) 633-3036

53 Albertson Ave.                                                      E-mail address: @wlinfo.com

Albertson, N. Y. 11507    USA                                         Web-sites: www.weightlifting.org

                                                                                           www.weightliftingworkshop.com

Suggestions

We would welcome any suggestions that you may have for improving the next edition of this

book, or for related publications in printed, video, or electronic formats. We also invite you to ask any questions that you may have regarding the information provided. Please send any questions or suggestions to us at LiftTech@earthlink.cem or the physical address of the Weightlifting Workshop shown above. Although the volume of communications we receive does not always permit us to respond directly to the sender we will try to do that and we can assure you that your input will be considered in the development of future publications. Thanks in advance for your help in making us more effective communicators.

More About Our Web Sites:

Weightifting.Org is the website for our 501 (c) (3) charitable organization dedicated to fostering the development of the sport of weightlifting. Weightlifting Workshop.com is the website of our facility in Albertson (Nassau County), NY, where our athletes train. Our work includes coaching, collaboration with USA Weightlifting to train and certify new coaches and hosting various events in support of the sport of Weightlifting.

About the Author

The author has been actively involved in the sport of Weightlifting for more than 60 years, as an athlete, coach, official and administrator. Self-coached throughout is career, he set three Junior World Records (one in the total) in 1970 (becoming the last American male to set a World Record in Weightlifting until 2016).

His first experience coaching others on a National level came at the 1968 Sr. Nationals and he has worked with other athletes at nearly 50 Sr. Nationals since then. The first athlete he coached to an international level (besides himself) was Jr. World Team member Mario Lazzaro, in 1976.

He coached World Champion, and multiple World Recordholder, Karyn Marshall, Olympian Jerry Hannan, National Champion and World Team member Rhiannon Reynolds, multiple Jr. World Team members and Sr. National medalists, along with countless beginners.

He has achieved the highest coaching level recognized by the USAW – Senior International Level. He has served as Chair of the USAW Coaching Committee, and is a USAW Level 1 and Level 2 Coaching Course Instructor. He wrote the USAW Level 1 Coaching Course used between 2012 and 2017, and introduced an accelerated learning by coaching approach for that course.

Mr. Drechsler served as an officer, or member of the Board of Directors, of USA Weightlifting (or its predecessors) for more than 20 years, beginning as an athlete’s rep and ending as the Chair of the Board for two terms.

He has organized and conducted Weightlifting competitions from the local to the national level, serving as the meet director for the 2002 Senior Nationals in NYC.

Mr. Drechsler is recognized by the IWF as an International Category I referee (the highest category of IWF referee, qualified to officiate at all international competitions, including the Olympic Games – he first earned that credential in 1981).

In addition to authoring The Weightlifting Encyclopedia and producing its video companion, the author has been widely published or quoted in  publications in the field of weightlifting and fitness including: Strength & Health Magazine, Iron Master, Milo, Weightlifting USA, The Weightlifting News, Men’s Health and Powerlifting USA. He wrote the chapter on using the Olympic lifts and their variations for conditioning athletes “Olympic Lifting For Athletes” that appeared in the certification manual (Sports Conditioning: The Complete Guide) of the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA).

A frequent public speaker, he has spoken at national coaching seminars conducted under the auspices of USA Weightlifting (USAW, formerly known as the USWF), as well as at numerous other coaching clinics, seminars and presentations on the sport of Weightlifting. He has also appeared in podcasts hosted by  USA Weightlifting and Philosophical Weightlifting.

Currently, he coaches at the Weightlifting Workshop and authors the Weightlifting.Org and WeightliftingWorkshop.com websites. He is currently writing a book about the recent rise of young American lifters to world prominence, as well as new series of instructional books on how to learn and master Weightlifting.

He is a member of USAW Hall of Fame, where he served as committee chair for more than 20 years.

He attained the highest IWF Technical Official Level of – Category I, in 1981 (he was also a former National level Physique Judge and Powerlifting referee). Artie has also been a meet director for scores of competitions, including the 2002 Nationals in NYC.

He is the current President of Weightlifting.org, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization devoted to the development of Weightlifting.

Organizations and Publications Of Interest To The Weightlifter

All Things Gym at allthingsgym.com All Things Gym (ATG) has been promoting weightlifting in various ways for many years, taking many photographs at major competitions, producing podcasts and YouTube videos, selling personal lifting equipment like shirts and wraps.

BarBend at barbend.com BarBend covers is the strength sports (e.g., Olympic Lifting, Powerlifting, Strongman events). They also produced their own content about successful participation in strength sports. Fans of weightlifting would be well served to keep in touch with their website.

Brian Oliver at Inside the Games – at insidethegames.biz – Briian Oliver knows weightlifting and covers it often and well. You’d be well served to keep track of his work.

Bruce Klemens – Bruce Klemens is a lifter and photographer who has been capturing images of top US and International lifter for more than 50 years. As a result, he has amassed perhaps the largest library of weightily photes in the world. If you wanta picture of a top US lifter, or a top lifter at the international level, Bruche is likely to have one if nat many.  Among a number of other places, you can find Bruce at his Facebook page – facebook.com/klemensliftingphotos/

CrossFit at crossfit.com – CrossFit was conceived by Greg Glassman as Cross-Fit in 1996. Glassman, a former gymnast, combined gymnastic and weightlifting exercise with cardio to create a total fitness program. Glassman joined with Lauren Jenai to create CrossFit.Inc. in 2000 and opened their first gym in Santa Cruz, CA in 2001. The first CrossFit affiliate, known as a “box” began operating in Seattle, WA in 2002. As of 2024 there were approximately 12,000 affiliates worldwide, about half in the US. The Olympic lifts, or variants thereof, are practiced in most if not all CrossFit affiliates, along with full squats. The explosion in these facilities exposed millions to the Olympic lifts and thereby increased the sport’s popularity in the US and around the world. Today it is likely that more than half the athletes who do Olympic style lifting in competition originally learned about it in a CrossFit box.   

Dynamic Fitness at  dynamicfitnessequipment.com  Dynamic Fitness Equipment and its affiliated Sportivny Press have sold equipment for Olympic-style weightlifting and sports training for decades, along with publishing an amazing number of translations of Russian publications on training and technique, as well as original material penned by Bud and accompanied by terrific photos and videos. Bud has promoted the sport of weightlifting for many years as an athlete, coach, translator, athlete’s representative to the USWF, meet director (he has personally run two fine national championships) and lecturer. He has donated equipment to the USWF’s/USAW’s training center and Colorado Springs, advertised in the USA Weightlifting magazine published for decades at times when no one else did, and loaned equipment to countless meet directors of national and local competitions. Today he is the distributor for DHS barbell in the US. He has been one of weightlifting’s’ true friends.

International Sports Sciences Association. At issaonline.com The ISSA was founded in 1988 by Dr. Fred Hatfield and Dr. Sal Arria. The ISSA offers home study courses and exams leading to certifications in fitness training and sports conditioning. Their materials for each course are well prepared by people who typically have a great deal of practical experience in their fields as well as academic credentials. The ISSA courses focus much more on resistance training than those of the majority of certification organizations presently preparing fitness specialists.

International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). At iwf.sport The IWF is official governing body for the sport of Weightlifting worldwide. It oversees international competitions (including an annual World’s Championship in all but Olympic years and, in Olympic years, the weightlifting competition at the Olympic Games). The IWF also promotes the sport, promulgates the rules of weightlifting and coordinates the activities of the various national federations

Iron Grip Barbell Companywww.irongrip.com Iron Grip makes its equipment in the US and their competition series Olympic bars are very well made. They are located at 11377 Markon Drive, Garden Grove, CA 92841 You can contact them at info@irongrip.com.

Mav-Rik. At mavrikbarbell.com. Bob Hise Sr., who passed away in the late 1990s, started this company, and published a magazine called International Olympic Lifter (IOL), as an alternative to York Barbell. An athlete, coach, administrator and tireless promoter of the sport, Bob always supplied a helping hand to a weightlifters in need and gave far more help than he was ever given credit for. I can recall asking Bob for permission to use his gym after a long day of work during a business trip to California. He not only gave me permission, but he came out to his gym at midnight to watch every lift I did. Mav-Rik has new owners who are focused on selling the bumper plates that made the company a favorite of many because of their amazing durability. The new owners claim the same process is being used to make these plates today as Mr. Hise used.

National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) –. at nsca.com The provides training for sports and conditional professionals. In that connection it conducts a wide array of courses, along with publishing many books and periodicals  NSCA publishes several periodicals that focus on strength and conditioning training for athletes. The organization supports the use of Olympic lifts and related exercises for the conditioning of athletes. The NSCA, through a related organization, certifies strength and conditioning specialists and personal trainers. Its programs are much more heavily focused on the effective use for resistance training for sports conditioning and fitness than other similar organizations.

Rogue Fitness at roguefitness.com Rogue is a major supplier of equipment to CrossFit facilities and a major sponsor of USA Weightlifting, supporting the organization in conducting national events and helping to support USAW athletes. They make an extraordinarily wide variety of equipment, from racks to competition quality bars (the latter used at USAW national events. .

Sportivny Press. See Dynamic Fitness listing above.

USA Weightlifting at usaweightlifting.org is the official sports governing body for the sport of Weightlifting in the US, recognized as such both by the United States Olympic and Paraolympic (USOPC) and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF). Located at One Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, CO 80909 Phone: (719) 578-4508 and e-mail usaw@usaweightliting.org CO, the USAW runs all national weightlifting events in the US, sends teams to international events an works to develop weightlifting in the US. Following their work is a must for all lifters and supporters of Weightlifting in this country.

Weightlifting.Org, Inc. at Weightlifting.Org – The publishers of this book, this organization is a not-for-profit 501(c) (3) organization. It is dedicated to the development of the sport of weightlifting in the US and around the world. In addition, to publishing this book, they have published a three-hour video as a companion to the book, on YouTube here. The Weightlifting.Org website has the results of all the US Senior Nationals, from the first one held in 1928 to the most recent. There are also summaries of American and world records, much biographical material on weightlifters and related strength sport luminaries. It works toward the development of Weightlifting in the US through its team of the same name, which trains at the Weightlifting Workshop facility. Volunteers from Weightlifting.Org coach lifters training at Weightlifting Workshop with free coaching and looks to develop the sport of weightlifting in schools.  

Weightlifting Workshop – at WeightliftingWorkshop.com. The weightlifting workshop provides the gym space where members of the Weightlifting.Org weightlifting team train.

York Barbell Company. PO Box 1707, York, PA, 17405-1707. Tel: (717) 767-6481. York Barbell was started and managed by Bob Hoffman for half a century. At one time it was probably the leading barbell and health food company in the world. Through his flagship magazine, Strength & Health (as well as numerous other publications), Hoffman popularized weightlifting and weight training for sport and created millions of believers in weight training around the world. He did more than any other person to make the US a power in world weightlifting from the 1930s through the 1960s and the importance of his influence can be appreciated only by studying what happened to weightlifting in the US in the years following Bob’s loss of vigor and ultimate death. York Barbell has changed management several times since Bob’s death. New owners have recently revamped York’s product line. A discussion of York’s bars and bumper plates appears in Chapter 4. York’s “Hall of Fame” (located in York, PA) is unique, with its many pictures and exhibits from the history of the Iron Game, and its special focus on weightlifting history in the US. It’s worth a visit if you are ever near York. York has also sponsored the activities of the USWF/USAW for many years, establishing the company as loyal friend of weightlifting

Annotated Bibliography

Ajan, Tamas, Chief Editor. International Weightlifting Federation Handbook 1997-2000. Budapest: International Weightlifting Federation, 1997. The “bible” of international weightlifting. Includes the most up-to-date rules available for international weightlifting as well as information on the governing bodies of all nations and publications of the IWF. This book is “required reading” for all athletes and coaches – you must know the rules of the game.

—- and Lazar Baroga. Weightlifting: Fitness for All Sports. Budapest: International Weightlifting Federation, 1988. Dr. Tamas Ajan has been General Secretary of the IWF for more than 20 years. A longtime sportsman, trained as a physical educator, he was General Secretary of the Hungarian Weightlifting Federation from 1968-1983. Dr. Ajan, in partnership with the IWF President, Gotfried Schodl, has guided the IWF through troubled years when weightlifting was threatened with being eliminated from the Olympic program and has recently succeeded in having women’s weightlifting approved as part of the 2000 Olympic Games, at a time when the IOL is seeking to reduce the number of athletes competing in each sport. Dr. Baroga, placed 5th in the 1964 Olympic Games, coached the Rumanian weightlifting team for 8 years and has been head of the Rumanian Weightlifting Federation since 1964. He became a member of the IWF Executive Board in 1980. These two men have collaborated to produce a very comprehensive book on weightlifting that describes: the physical and mental qualities of weightlifters, many weightlifting and weight training exercises for weightlifting and other sports, a wide range of training techniques, the process of developing training programs, how to develop good technique, restorative methods, and how to measure and record training progress. The book also has many detailed programs for weightlifting training. The Ajan/Baroga book offers a very different approach from many of the Soviet training manuals on a number of levels and should be in the library of all serious athletes and coaches.

Alexander, R. McNeill. The Human Machine. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.

Alter, Michael. Science of Stretching. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books, 1988. Perhaps the most comprehensive book on stretching for sport that is in print. Contains information on the theory and practice of effective stretching.

Amberry, Tom. Free Throw. New York: Harper Perennial, 1996. This small book contains more practical information on perfecting sports technique and one’s mental approach to a game than anything else available. Written by the world’s record holder in basketball free throws, a man who set the record when he was in his 70s.

American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Athletic Training and Sports Medicine. Park Ridge, IL: American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, 1991.

American Red Cross. Community First Aid & Safety. St. Louis, MO: Mosby Lifeline, 1993.

Anderson, Bob. Stretching. Bolinas, CA: Shelter Publications, 1980.

Anderson, Paul. Secrets of My Strength. Vidalia, GA: Paul Anderson, 1970. Provides insights into the kind of creative thinking, hard training and careful dieting that made Paul great (no, he wasn’t simply born strong). Paul may well have been the strongest man who ever lived (at a minimum he dominated his era in a way that no one before or since has dominated theirs).

—-. Power By Paul. Vidalia, GA: Paul Anderson, 1974. More tips on the development of strength and power from Paul but with a greater emphasis on the lifts performed in powerlifting competition. Paul Anderson was a prolific thinker and writer in addition to operating his Paul Anderson Youth Home, which is still being run by his wife, Glenda, and other members of the family. The Home’s address is: P.O. Box 525, Vidalia, GA 30474. Paul’s books include: A Greater Strength (his autobiography), The Home: Society’s Pacemaker, A Parental Guide (a guide to nurturing children from a man who helped raise many children across a period of more than 30 years), Weights And Sports (a guide to weight training for sport), Forty And Rising (training for those age 40 and above), Father And Son (father and son weight training), Youth And Strength (when and how a youngster should train), Kook Letters (actual letters Paul received over the years), How It Is (some of Paul’s poetry), 200 Years As I See It (Paul’s views on the US’s 200th anniversary). Paul also recorded a number of cassette tapes and a video has been  made about his career. These items and others can be obtained from his Home at the address provided above.

Arnheim, Daniel and William Prentice. Principles of Athletic Training, 8th ed. St. Louis, MO: Mosby-Year Book, Inc., 1993.

Baker, Gene, ed. Coaching Manual, Vols. I-III.  Colorado Springs: USAW, [1980?].

Balch, James, F.and Phyllis A. Balch. Prescription for Nutritional Healing. Garden City Park, New York: Avery Publishing Group, Inc., 1990. A complete and up-to-date book on the wide range of nutritional approaches that are available to deal with many common medical problems.

Barnholth, Lawrence (with Lewis Barnholth and Peter George). Secrets of the Squat Snatch. Akron, OH: American College of Modern Weight Lifting, 1950. Larry, together with his brothers Lewis and Claude, created the American College training facility. That modest (physically) facility produced two World Record holders (brothers Peter and Jim George) and many national level lifters over the years. The Barnholth brothers were  known for building the character of their lifters as well as their bodies. Secrets  was the first (and perhaps only) book ever written on the squat style snatch. It was prepared at a time when the squat style was viewed as acceptable but was still widely questioned by many coaches (today it is overwhelmingly dominant). Larry presents a step-by-step-system for learning to use the squat style in the snatch and much of his advice is as useful toady as it was nearly 50 years ago.

Bloomfield, John, Timothy Ackland and Bruce Elliot. Applied Anatomy and Biomechanics in Sport. Carlton, Victoria, Australia: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1994.

Boff, Vic. Feats of Strength. New York: Super Strength Publishing, 1979. A classic on how to perform impressive strength feats from a man who has been doing them for decades, in addition to watching some of the best in history perform.

———. The Bodybuilder’s Bible. New York: ARCO Publishing, Inc., 1985. Vic covers a great deal of territory in this book that addresses a broad spectrum of the bodybuilding world. Vic uses the word “bodybuilding” in its traditional sense of improving health along with increasing muscle size.

Boompa, Tudor. Theory and Methodology of Training: The Key to Athletic Performance, 2nd. ed.. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Publishing Company, 1990.

Bowerman, William and William Freeman. High Performance Training for Track & Field. Champaign, IL: Leisure Press, 1991. Bill is one of coaching’s greats, and his fundamental principles apply to all sports, not only track and field events.

Brancazio, Peter. Sport Science: Physical Laws and Optimum Performance. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984. A fascinating look at how a physicist sees various sports.

Cahill, Bernard and Arthur Pearl, eds. Intensive Participation in Children’s Sports. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1993.

Carper, Jean. The Brand-Name Nutrition Counter, rev. ed. New York: Bantam Books, 1985. Lists the nutritional contents of a wide variety of foods (includes protein, fat, carbohydrate and caloric counts. as well as some key vitamins and minerals).

Casadei, Marino and Alain Lunzenfichter. 1896-1996: 100 Years of Olympic Weightlifting. Budapest: International Weightlifting Federation, 1996.

Chandler, J. and M. Stone, eds. USWF Safety Manual. Colorado Springs, CO: United States Weightlifting Federation, 1990.

Charniga, Andrew, “Bud”, Jr. Variability Incorporated Into the Training of a Qualified Athlete: A Case Study. Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Education Degree in Physical Education, 1981. University of Toledo, OH. The author (a national level competitor) analyzes the effect of variability on his own performance.

Charniga, Andrew,  Jr. trans. & comp. Weightlifting Training and Technique. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1992. A selection of articles from a number of sources in the former Soviet Union from the leading US translator of Soviet books on weightlifting.

Coan, Ed. The Squat. Quads Gym, 745 North Torrance Ave., Calumet City, IL, 60409 USA. (708) 862-9779. Videocassette. Ed is one of powerlifting’s true immortals, having won 10 world championships and having set scores of world records. Ed is also one of the game’s true gentlemen. He has produced a series of video tapes that take you through each of the three lifts in powerlifting competition and describe Ed’s training approach as well (not to mention permitting you to observe Ed do some fantastic lifts). If you are interested in powerlifting, you can learn a lot from Ed.

Colgan, Michael. Optimum Sports Nutrition: Your Competitive Edge. Ronkonkoma, NY: Advanced Research Press, 1993.

Diana, Sam. Jim Williams: Powerlifting’s Greatest Bench Presser. [Scranton, PA, 1990].

Dintiman, George and Robert Ward. Sport Speed. Champaign, IL: Leisure Press, 1988.

Dvorkin, Leonid. Weightlifting and Age: Scientific and Pedagogical Fundamentals of a Multi-Year System of Training Junior Weightlifters. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1992.

Faeth, Karl, ed. Sports Medicine Manual. Colorado Springs: USWF, [1986?].

Fleck, Steven and William Kraemer. Designing Resistance Training Programs. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1987.

Fodor, R.V. Winning Weightlifting. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 1983.

Fox, Edward. Sports Physiology. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing, 1979.

Frankel, Victor and Margareta Nordin. Basic Biomechanics of the Skeletal System. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1980.

Frantz, Ernie. Ten Commandments of Powerlifting. Aurora, IL: Ernie Frantz, [1985?].

Freeman, William. Peak When it Counts: Periodization for American Track & Field, 2nd.ed. Mountain View, CA: Tafnews Press, 1991.

Gallwey, Timothy. The Inner Game of Tennis. New York: Random House, 1974.

Garfield, Charles. Peak Performance: Mental Training Techniques of the World’s Greatest Athletes. Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy Tarcher, Inc. 1984. Presents a number of good approaches to improving one’s mental performance.

George, Peter. “The Psychology of Weightlifting.” Strength & Health Magazine. November and December 1961. Written by a World and Olympic champion, these articles are two of the very few (and the very best) published on various aspects of mental preparation for training and competition. Pete is widely remembered for being one of the earliest successful squat style lifters and for high performance at an early age (he very nearly won the Olympics at age 18). But he is also remembered for his ability to lift record weights with limited training (due to his intense studies in college and dental school while he was competing),  for lifting maximum weights after warming up with 60 kg. and for the intensity of his mental preparation for a lift (Pete paced back and forth behind the bar working himself into a focused frenzy before each lift). Consequently, he knows of that which he speaks. See also the listing for Larry Barnholth above (who Pete collaborated with to create “Secrets of the Squat Snatch”).

George, Peter. “Secretes of the Squat Snatch” Gatekeeper Press, 2018 The Psychology of Weightlifting.” Pete ghost wrote this book for his coach Larry Barnholth, who with his brothers had developed the method of teaching the squat snatch explained therein. Larry’s book, first printed in 1950 by Pete George and his brother George, explained the method he’d used to teach more lifters the squat snatch than perhaps anyone before him (and a more stable squat technique than had ever been used before). By the time the book was published, Larry club “The American College of Modern Weightlifting” likely had more lifters doing the squat snatch than all other lifters in then US combined. Two of the book’s earliest readers were Tommy Kono and Dave Sheppard, two of the many who used the book to learn how to squat snatch. There were no videos or many sequence photos in those days, so Larry’s book was the only material they could rely upon, unless they went to Ohio to train with Larry, which some did (but not Dave or Tommy). Within ten years of the publication of the book, the squat snatch had become the dominant style is the world of weightlifting. Fortunately, Pete saw to it that this book was brought back into print. While some find fault with the method of learning the squat snatch espoused by Larry and Peter, I have never seen a book that presented such a fully developed system for learning an Olympic lift. For that alone, Larry needs to be remembered and Pete helped to do that when he brought back the book in 2021, with some updating. Outside of weightlifting, where he managed to win the Olympics and several World Championships, while in dental school and Columbia University, He later became a member of the International Weightlifting Federation’s Medical Committee and was selected as a coach for the 1980 Olympic Weightlifting Team. He invented the first version of an intraoral device to treat severe sleep apnea and taught at the University of Hawaii School of Medicine and lectured internationally.

Glenney, Judy. So You Want To Become A Female Weightlifter. Farmington, NM: Glennco Enterprises, 1989. Judy, multiple-time national champion and American recordbreaker, a true pioneer in women’s weightlifting and the first female athlete ever to be inducted into USAW’s Hall of Fame, takes you through the basics of weightlifting from her special perspective.

Harder, Dale. Strength & Speed Ratings. Castro Valley, CA: Education Plus+, 1994. In this book Dale pulls together the best performances in history in track & field, weightlifting, powerlifting and various other tests of strength and power. In addition, he often presents summaries of the progress of records over time and lists records for athletes of various ages and bodyweights. If you want to compare what you or other athletes can do in relation to the best who ever lived, this book is for you (the book has been updated since 1994).

Hatfield, Frederick. The Complete Guide To Power Training. New Orleans: Fitness Systems, 1983. Fred has been a prolific thinker and writer on powerlifting and bodybuilding for many years. A former editor of Muscle & Fitness, widely published in the strength field and one of the founders of the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA), this was Fred’s first complete statement on training. He has added to what he wrote here in his subsequent books and articles, but for straight information on powerlifting training for strength this is still one of the best books around (even if it may be a little rough in terms of format relative to Fred’s later works). Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield is a very original and creative thinker who proved many of his theories on his own body. His 1000+ pound squat when he was over 40 and barely above the 242 pound class still stands as one of the world’s all-time great strength feats (and his 500+ pound bench after two rotator cuff surgeries can’t be far behind). There isn’t anyone who can’t learn something from Fred.

———. Ultimate Sports Nutrition: The Scientific Approach To Peak Athletic Performance. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1987. Here Fred focuses his fertile mind on nutrition.

———. Power: A Scientific Approach. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1989. Updates much of the material in Fred’s earlier Power Training book in a more elegant format.

———. Hardcore Bodybuilding: A Scientific Approach. Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1991. Fred’s observations on bodybuilding.

Hay, James and J. Gavin Reid. Anatomy, Mechanics and Human Motion. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988.

Hepburn, Doug. Super Strength. Vancouver, Canada: Doug Hepburn, [1994?]. Doug has some original ideas on training, a number of which contradict current wisdom. But few can quarrel with how effective they have been for Doug (who built himself up from an average-size youth to become the world’s strongest man for a time) and others.

Hepburn, Doug. Strength and Bulk. Vancouver, Canada: Doug Hepburn, circa 1994.

Herring, George. The Natural Cycle “Float Method”. Pamphlet circa 1980.

Hernandez III, Gaspar. Cuban Training Tape. P.O. Box 131 Tranquillity, NJ 07879. Gaspar made this tape during a recent visit to Cuba. It provides some interesting footage of the Cuban training hall and a few of their top athletes training, along with Gaspar’s narration (which supplies information on the training methods of the Cuban team).

International Weightlifting Federation. Proceedings of the Weightlifting Symposium, Siofok, Hungary: Budapest: International Weightlifting Federation, 1989.

Hill, Napoleon. Think and Grow Rich. New York: Ballantine Books, 1937, 1960. Undoubtedly the most well known book on personal achievement ever written in the English language (and translated to many others). Hill became a legend in this field by delivering an inspiring message during the Great Depression in the US and his advice is still very useful, whether you want to lift big weights or make money. While many have copied and tried to improve upon Hill, it is hard to find a better work than this one.

——— and W. Clement Stone. Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude. New York: Pocket Books, 1977. Written primarily by Stone (a long time associate of Hill’s and builder of a the multi-billion dollar Aon Company) with the cooperation of Hill. This is the classic book on the importance of a positive mental attitude in the achievement of anything in life. Valuable for the weightlifter as well as the businessperson.

Hoffman, Bob. Guide to Weightlifting Competition. York, PA: Strength & Health Publishing Co., 1963.

———. Functional Isometric Contraction, 2nd ed. York, PA: Bob Hoffman, 1964. Bob was the power behind American weightlifting when it was at its zenith and he has crammed a great deal of useful information in this short book on training for weightlifting.

———. Weightlifting, 3rd, ed. York, PA: Strength & Health Publishing, 1963. A wonderful history of US weightlifting combined with training advice.

Horn, Thelma. Advances in Sport Psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers, 1992. Offers an advanced academic look at sport psychology. Technical but very informative.

Jones, Lyn. USWF Coaching Accreditation Course: Club Coach Manual. Colorado Springs: USWF, 1991. This book, as well as the two other books in the series, were written primarily to supplement the coaching certification courses offered by the USWF/USAW. There is useful information in all three books, but they are not designed to stand alone without the instruction offered by the course lecturers. Coaching weightlifting is a hands-on activity, so attending a USWF course is an important way to learn the basics of weightlifting coaching. Information on the USWF course schedule is available from their National Office (see listing in the “Resources” section below).

———. USWF Coaching Accreditation Course: Senior Coach Manual. Colorado Springs: USWF, 1991.

———. USWF Coaching Accreditation Course: Regional Coach Manual. Colorado Springs: USWF, 1996.

Kelley, David. The Art of Reasoning, 2nd. expanded ed.. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1994. A terrific college text on logic and its applications to everyday life.

Kirkley, George. Weight Lifting and Weight Training. New York: ARC Books, Inc., 1963.

Kirschman, John. The Nutrition Almanac. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984. One of most complete books written on nutrition for the layperson, with a great deal of information regarding the use of a wide variety of vitamins and other food supplements.

Komi, Paavo, ed. Strength and Power in Sport. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1992. An excellent collection of scientific articles on strength and power science, theory and practice. Perhaps the most complete scientific work available in one volume.

Kono, Tommy. “ABC’s Of Weightlifting.” Strength & Health Magazine. Various issues from the late 1960s through the o mid 1970s. Tommy won 2 Olympic Games, took a silver medal in his third Games, won 8 World Championships and set 26 World Records across 4 weight classes during his career. He was head coach for the Mexican weightlifting team at the 1968 Olympics, the German team for the 1972 Olympics and has coached US men’s and women’s team at many international events. Tommy has also excelled as a writer about the sport and as a photographer of weightlifting. His series of articles in Strength & Health magazine, as well as many other articles written of the magazine over the years, contain a wealth of information for the athlete and coach (Strength & Health –S&H-  magazine was “the Bible” for weightlifters worldwide from the 1940s through the 1970s). In his ABC series Tommy covered technique, injury prevention, training methods and more. If you can find Tommy’s articles (and lots of others in S&H), you’ll be well rewarded for the effort.

———. “Quality Training.” Strength & Health Magazine. June 1968. In  one of the seminal articles written on weightlifting during this decade, Tommy focuses on the importance of quality versus quantity in training. More is not always better (it is often not better) and Tommy suggests that one can lift some huge weights with limited training if that training is high in quality (and in this article he offers suggestions on how to improve the quality of your workouts).  As athletes and coaches often race one another to prove that they (or their athletes) train harder than the next athlete or team, Tommy offers a “reality check” in terms that focus everyone on the ultimate goal – to lift more in competition rather than put in more training time or effort.

Kono, Tommy Weightlifting, Olympic style HKC Publishing, 2001 This wonderful book brought together much of what Tommy and written elsewhere over the years with considerable new material as well. Not only was Tommy one of the greatest lifters of all time, but his involvement in the sport was nearly 70 years and he thought about the sport and how to improve it all his life. His insights are invaluable.

Kone, Tommy Championsnhip Weightlifting  HKC Publishing, 2010. In this book Tommy covers more on his mental approach to lifting than in his first book, but other areas are covered as well. Everyone can learn something from Tommy Kono. We are very fortunate he took the time to share his insights and inspiration with the rest of us. 

Kraemer, William and Steve Fleck. Strength Training for Young Athletes. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1993.

Kraemer, William and Steve Fleck. Strength Training for Young Athletes. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1993.

Kubik, Brooks. Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of Strength and Development. Louisville, Kentucky. Brooks Kubic, 1996. Brooks has some interesting ideas on training and his advice on preparing mentally for a training session is excellent.

Kuc, John. John Kuc Speaks On Powerlifting. Kingston, PA: John Kuc, 1982.

Lamb, David. Physiology of Exercise: Responses and Adaptations. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1978.

Laputin, Nikolai. Managing the Training of Weightlifters. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1989.

Lear, John. Weightlifting. Wakefield, West Yorshire, UK. EP Publishing, Ltd., 1980.

———. Skillful Weightlifting. London: A&C Black, 1991.

Loehr, James. Athletic Excellence: Mental Toughness in Sports. Denver: Forum, 1982.

Lukacsfulv, Agnes and Ferenc Takas, eds. Proceedings of the Weightlifting Symposium: 1993 Ancient Olympia/Greece. Budapest: IWF 1993.

MacDougall, J. Duncan, Howard Wenger and Howard Green, eds. Physiological Testing of High Performance Athletes, 2nd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1991.

Mevedyev, Aleksei. A System of Multi-Year Training in Weightlifting. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1989. Describes Medvedyev’s approach to training weightlifters, which is very much oriented toward a high level of variability and long-term planning. A very worthwhile exposition of this kind of approach.

———. A Program of Multi-Year Training in Weightlifting. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1995. Provides specific examples of training programs for lifters across their careers.

Mihajlovic, Vladan. 80 Years Of The Weightlifting In The World And Europe 1896-1976. Budapest: International Weightlifting Federation, 1977. A wonderful book that has all of the world and Olympic Games results during the years covered, as well as the progress of world records.

Mihajlovic, Vladan. Weightlifting Results: Part II Names, Numbers, Facts. Budapest: International Weightlifting Federation, circa 1983.

Murray, Al and David Webster. Defying Gravity. 1964. A pioneering book on analyzing snatch technique.

Nadori, Laszlo and Istvan Granek. Theory and Methodological Basis of Training Planning With Special Consideration Within a Microcycle. Ed. and trans. Tibor Hartobagyi. Lincoln, NE: NSCA, 1989.

Nideffer, Robert. The Inner Athlete: Mind Plus Muscle For Winning. New York: Thomas. Y. Crowell Company, 1976. One of the earliest books on sports psychology and still one of the best.

Nugent, Daniel. Turning Iron Into Gold: How To Succeed As A Personal Trainer. New York: The Biomechanic Properties, 1995. Phone (718) 217-7506. Most weightlifters need to earn a living outside weightlifting and one of the best ways to do so is to become a personal trainer. Dan’s book takes you through many of the important aspects of embarking on such a career in a very concise and to the point manner. The author is a personal trainer, and physical educator and a trainer of personal trainers.

1974 Weightlifting Yearbook. Trans. Bernd Scheithauer, Stanford University, 1975. To my knowledge the first such yearbook translated to English. This and all of the yearbooks that follow are interesting compilations of weightlifting theory, practice and analysis.

1980 Weightlifting Yearbook. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1986.

1981 Weightlifting Yearbook. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, [1984?].

1982 Weightlifting Yearbook. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1984.

1983 Weightlifting Yearbook. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1984.

1984 Weightlifting Yearbook. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1987.

1985 Weightlifting Yearbook. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1987.

Onuma, Kenji. The Japanese Frog Style. Strength & Health Magazine. May and June 1969.  This was the first (perhaps the only) article describing the theory and practice of the frog-style pulling technique.

Orlick, Terry. In Pursuit of Excellence: How to Win in Sport and Life, 2nd. ed. Champaign, IL: Leisure Press, 1990.

O’Shea, John Patrick. Scientific Principles And Methods Of Strength Fitness. Corvallis, OR: OSU Bookstores, Inc., 1966. One of the very earliest and best books on strength training written by an academic who was also a weightlifter and all-around athlete. 

———. Quantum Strength Training. Corvallis, OR: Patrick’s Books, 1995. This book picks up where “Scientific Principles…” left off. Pat crams a lot of information into this book, covering the principles of developing training programs, the principles of sport science, proper technique, how one can integrate one’s knowledge of training into sport-specific training and how to modify the training plan as one ages. You can tell from reading this book that the author was not only on top of the research in his field but has practiced what he has preached as well.

The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. Drugs in Sport: An Interim Report of the Senate Standing Committee On Environment, Recreation and the Arts. Canberra, Australia, Australian Government Publishing Service, May 1989.  Provides one of the best summaries of the history of drug use in sport that is available and, along with the companion volume that follows, documents the reportedly deplorable situation that existed in the Australian Institute of Sport with respect to employees involved in the promotion of drug use, especially in the sport of weightlifting.

———. Drugs in Sport: Second Paper of the Senate Standing Committee On Environment, Recreation and the Arts. Canberra, Australia, Australian Government Publishing Service, May 1990.

Pearl, Bill. Keys to the Inner Universe. Bolinas, CA: Physical Fitness Architects, 1979. Bill self-published this classic nearly 20 years ago and it still stands an the most complete explanation of weight training (though not weightlifting) exercises that has ever been published. Bill, one of the greatest and strongest bodybuilders or all time (and a real gentleman who remains in great shape to this day), both illustrates and explains the performance of hundreds of exercises, often comments on their benefits, and assigns a level of difficulty. If you want to know how to perform any bodybuilding exercise, Bill’s book is the place to go. The book also contains information on nutrition, putting together a routine and a multitude of other subjects – its a true classic.

Pearl, Bill and Gary Moran. Getting Stronger. Bolinas, CA: Shelter Publications, Inc., 1986. This book focuses more on training than “Keys…”. It describes many important training principles so that one can understand how to devise a program for his or her own needs. Specific programs are provided for bodybuilders of all levels and for the practitioners of sports from golf to wrestling.

Peikoff, Leonard. Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. New York: Penguin Group, 1991. The first truly comprehensive book on the Objectivist philosophy – a philosophy of great appeal to the reasoning mind.

Pick, J. and Becque, M. Percent Activation of Two Quadriceps Muscles During the Squat Exercise in Trained Individuals. Paper presented at the National Strength and Conditioning Association Conference in New Orleans in June of 1994. Reported in abstract form in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Vol. 9, #3, August 1995, pg. 194.

Platz, Tom. Pro-Style Bodybuilding. New York: Sterling Publishing, Co., Inc., 1981.

Raiport, Grigori: Red Gold: Peak Performance Techniques of Russian and East German Olympic Victors. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1988

Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Penguin Group, 1957, 1985.  The novel that made Rand famous as a philosopher as well as a novelist and spawned the development of a comprehensive and widely studied philosophy—Objectivism.

———. The Fountainhead. New York: The New American Library, Inc., 1943, 1971. The book that made Ayn Rand a famous novelist and captured millions of fans. Still a strong seller after more than 50 years.

Rasch, Philip. Kinesiology and Applied Anatomy. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1989.

Reid, David. Sports Injury Assessment and Rehabilitation. NY: Churchill Livingstone, 1992.

Roman, Robert. The Training of the Weightlifter, 2nd Ed.. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1988. Roman was one of the great Soviet sports thinkers and this book is a great way to get acquainted with him.

Roman, Robert and Midkat Shakirzyanov. The Snatch , The Clean and Jerk. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr.. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1982. Offers some terrific analyses of weightlifting technique.

Rothenberg, Beth and Oscar. Touch Training For Strength. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1995.

Sanders, Barbara, ed. Sports Physical Therapy. Norwalk, CT: Appleton&Lange, 1990.

Sandler, Ronald and Dennis Lobstein. Consistent Winning: A Remarkable New Training System That Lets You Peak On Demand. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1992.

Schmidt, Richard. Motor Control and Learning: A Behavioral Emphasis, 2nd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1988. A very comprehensive text at the graduate level. Challenging  reading but worth the effort.

Schodl, Gottfried. The Lost Past. Trans. Aniko Nemeth-Mora. Budapest: International Weightlifting Federation, 1992. Mr. Schodl has been President of the IWF for more than 20 years. He and Tamas Ajan have worked together to guide the IWF to a higher world profile, to Olympic success and toward becoming one of the strongest sports federations in the world in terms of drug testing. One of weightlifting’s most outstanding historians, Mr. Schodl has gathered together some of the great stories and statistics of weightlifting history into this volume. If you are a weightlifting history buff, you have to own this book.

Schodl, Gottfried and Alain Lunzenfichter, eds. From Alexseev to Zubricky:100 Years’ Weightlifting Medals 1891-1991. Budapest: International Weightlifting Federation, 1992. In this book Messrs. Schodl and Lunzenfichter have captured key statistics on individual lifters across the last 100 years. A unique work that summarizes the accomplishments of athletes from Alexseev to Zubricky.

Schwarzenegger, Arnold. Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. Arnold is world-renown for his acting, bodybuilding, business and charity efforts. He is a quality guy who always tries to deliver value to his audience. He has succeeded in this book quite admirably. While many stars will put their name on something merely to extend their “empires.” Arnold has delivered the most complete single volume on bodybuilding that has ever been published. It’s a great place for the beginning and intermediate bodybuilder to start and can teach some advanced bodybuilders a few things as well.

Seno, Bill. Pushing For Power: In Powerlifting and Sports. IL: William Joseph Seno, 1984.

Selye, Hans. The Stress of Life, rev. ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1976. The book that started all the talk about “stress” and its effects on our lives. Its message has often been misinterpreted by the popular press. This book lets you hear it from the source.

Sherwood, Lauralee. Human Physiology, 2nd ed. Minneapolis/St.Paul: West Publishing Company, 1993.

Shils, Maurico, James Olson and Moshe Shike. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Volumes 1 and 2. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1994.

Simmons, Louie. The Squat Video. Westside Barbell Club. 1417 Demarest, Columbus OH, 43228. Tel: (614) 276-0923. Longtime powerlifter and coach of many powerlifting champions, Louie Simmons runs this very active powerlifting club. Louie has produced several very interesting video tapes on his unique training system. I don’t agree with everything Louie says, and his tapes can be a little rough on production value at times, but Louie’s enthusiasm and creativity shine through. His approach is certainly worth a look. Whether you agree with it or not, you can’t help but come away from the experience of watching one of his tapes without some new thoughts of your own as well as a sense that there continues to be a great deal of room for innovation in weight training. Louie also has an interesting line of equipment, some of it of his own design.

Starr, Bill. The Strongest Shall Survive. Washington, DC: Fitness Products Ltd. , 1978. Bill was the editor of Strength & Health magazine for a number of years and was a national level lifter as well in both weightlifting and powerlifting. He provides sound training advice in his hallmark style – which is as entertaining as it is informative. Bill is his own man and bases his advice on what he knows from experience.

—-. Defying Gravity: How To Win At Weightlifting. Wichita Falls, TX: Five Starr Productions, 1981. Even more entertaining than The Strongest…”, this book packs more information on how to compete successfully than almost anything else around. In addition, it entertains the reader with inside stories of the athletes Bill knew during his York days and after that. You have to love Bill’s writing style and his message.

Stone, M.H., O’Bryant, H. and Garhammer, J.A. A Hypothetical Model for Strength Training. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness (21:336 342-351, 1981).

Strossen, Randall. Super Squats: How To Gain 30 Pounds Of Muscle In 6 Weeks. Larkspur, CA: Randall J. Strossen, 1989. In this compact volume Randy has gathered together information on the one exercise that will give a person who is willing to work hard more results than any other. Other writers have written about high rep breathing squats before, but Randy put it all together and with this volume assures that the bodybuilding benefits of squatting won’t be forgotten.

Strossen, Randall. Iron Mind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies. Nevada City, CA: Iron Mind Enterprises, 1994. A compilation of Randi’s articles that appeared in a well know bodybuilding magazine over a period of several years. This book contains practical advice on handling a wide range of mental challenges in this book.

Tesch, Per. Muscle Meets Magnet. Stockholm, Sweden: PA Tesch AB, 1993. The first large scale attempt to evaluate the way in which various exercises stress particular muscles using an MRI.

Ungerlander, Steven and Jacqueline Golding. Beyond Strength. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1992.

United States Weightlifting Federation, Inc. Official USWF Rulebook 1994. Colorado Springs, CO: United States Weightlifting Federation, Inc., 1994. Soon to be updated, this is the most current rulebook available that describes the rules of the USWF/USAW. Every lifter and coach should own and read this book so that they know the rules of the game. Rudy Sablo, former national-level lifter, a coach, an administrator and for many years the head of the USWF’s technical committee, has long been the force behind the USWF rulebook. He, along, with Jack Hughes (former national champion and another incredibly dedicated referee), have trained and tested virtually every referee now practicing in the US. While their contribution has often been overlooked, there are those of us who realize how important their life’s work has been to the sport.

Verkhoshansky, Yuri. Fundamentals of Special Strength-Training in Sport. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr. . Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1986.

———. Programming and Organization of Training. Trans. Andrew Charniga, Jr. Livonia: Sportivny Press, 1986.

Vorobyev, Arkady. Weightlifting. Budapest: International Weightlifting Federation, 1978. One of the first and best true textbooks written on weightlifting by one of its great champions.

Vorobyev, Arkady, Heavy Athletics. Moscow: Fiziculture i Sport, 1988.

Webster, David. Preparing For Competition Weightlifting. Huddersfield, UK: Springfield Books, Ltd., 1986

———. The Iron Game: An Illustrated History of Weightlifting. Irvine: John Geddes (Printers), 1976. A splendid history of the sport that contains pictures and references difficult to obtain from any other source. If Dave hasn’t “seen it all” he has seen most of what has been accomplished in weightlifting and now you get to share what he knows.

———. The Development of the Clean & Jerk. Circa 1966. One of the pioneering analyses of the technique of the Clean and Jerk. Dave was perhaps the first person to write about the “double knee bend”.

———. The International Research Training Plan Parts I & II. Circa 1966. One of the earliest expositions of periodization in the Western literature.

Wells, Christine. Women, Sport & Performance: A Physiological Perspective, 2nd. ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books, 1991.

Wells, Katherine. Kinesiology: The Scientific Basis of Human Motion. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1971

Willoughby, David. The Super Athletes. South Brunswick & New York: A.S. Barnes and Company, 1970. One of the great historians of the Iron Game and other sports as well, Willoughby has put together the most complete collection of strength “best performances” ever assembled. This book is a treasure but is unfortunately long out-of-print. If you see a copy buy it without hesitation. It will provide hours of reading pleasure and give you a new appreciation for athletic performances of every kind, but particularly for the feats of the strong men and women who have made strength history.

Wirhed, Rolf. Athletic Ability: The Anatomy of Winning. New York: Harmony Books, 1984.

Yates, Dorian and Bob Wolff. Blood and Guts: The Ultimate Approach to Building Muscle Mass. Woodland Hills, CA: Wolff Creative Group, 1993. 6 time Mr. Olympia, Dorian Yates is one of history’s greatest bodybuilders and a very strong one inaddition. His simple and clear messages on training and dedication to one’s craft transcend the bodybuilding world. Following his guidance would make anyone a success in any area of life.

Yessis, Michael and Richard Turbo. Secrets of Soviet Sports Fitness and Training. Don Mills, Ontario: Collins Publishers, 1987. Zatsiorsky, Vladimir. Science and Practice of Strength Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1995. A very interesting and imaginative work by one of today’s best thinkers and reseachers on this subject, especially in the area of training for increased power.

Epilogue

Its Up To You Now!

When I began weightlifting, useful information about this fascinatingly complex and rewarding sport was rather difficult to obtain. The only books on weightlifting readily available in English were Bob Hoffman’s fifty page book, Guide to Weight Lifting Competition and Weight Lifting and Weight Training, by George Kirkley, both published in 1963. Each of these books provided a lot of information in a concise fashion, but neither gave the neophyte or more advanced lifter the information required to even begin to reach high levels of weightlifting performance.

Translations of Eastern European literature were generally unavailable at that time (and original works were very difficult to obtain). Sports training techniques used in the Soviet Union were virtually regarded as state secrets, so lectures in technique and training methods were rare occurrences. The fledgling weightlifter could gain access to a steady flow of information on the sport by reading Strength & Health magazine. However, as valuable as Strength & Health was, a reader had to study it for a number of years before gaining any reasonable knowledge of the sport.

Information on weightlifting is more widely available today than it has ever been.  Today translations of Eastern European training manuals are available, and coaches from Eastern European countries are coaching and lecturing throughout the world. The coaching courses that were begun by the USAW in the 1980’s and courses provided by organizations that certify strength coaches and other physical instructors can give the beginner substantial useful information regarding weightlifting and weight training.

However, there has never really been one comprehensive source of weightlifting information beyond the beginner’s level. I hope that this book has filled that gap. Whether you are an athlete, or a beginning to intermediate level coach, if you have studied the material in this book and have grasped its essentials, you have learned a great deal more about the principles and practices of weightlifting than most beginners and many advanced athletes and coaches know. But a conceptual understanding is not enough to enable you to become or coach a champion. Now you must apply what you have learned on a conceptual level to real athletes. Only then will you begin the process of understanding and refinement which will ultimately lead to true mastery of the material, to an approach that is uniquely your own and to a training philosophy that is firmly grounded in reality.

This book was written to help everyone who wants to become a weightlifter or a coach of weightlifters, regardless of their level of aspiration. But most of all it is written to those very few of you out there who have the dedication and the greatness of spirit to pursue the most fantastic goal in all of sport: to be the best in the world. Which of you wants to become champion of the world or lift a weight that no man or woman has ever lifted before? Which of you wants to be the next to make weightlifting history by setting the standard that all who follow must strive to improve upon? Human achievement is the grandest spectacle on this earth, and the world record is one of the clearest and most glorious displays of such achievement.

A special message goes to the United States lifters who read this book. This is not because I necessarily favor the lifters of the United States over all others. I admire all weightlifters, from whatever country, as athletes and individuals. But I am an American and very proud to be a citizen of a country that has taught more people about the values and possibilities of freedom than any other country in the history of the world. And while Americans lead the world in many areas, they face a special challenge in the sport of weightlifting.

For years we American athletes were hamstrung by amateur rules that few of our competitors followed. Then there was the period of the great “psych-out”, a period when the minds of many America’s most promising lifters, athletes who were great and destined to be greater, were converted to self-doubting and self-pitying shadows of their potential selves because they believed that the former Eastern bloc countries knew weightlifting “secrets” that they could never learn. Now that the myth of superior science in Eastern Europe has been destroyed and the Westernization of the former Soviet Block countries has led to the disbanding of many of the sports science centers that were doing serious scientific work, that fear should be largely behind us. Instead there is a new psychological threat to United States weightlifting.

The United States has an anti-drug policy that makes us the envy of all athletes around the world who want to compete without drugs. But this has lead to the idea that we cannot win until the rest of the world follows suit. Nothing could be further from the truth. Drugs help performance in certain respects. No reasonable person can deny that. But they hurt performance in many other areas by having negative effects on an athlete’s general health, by requiring only intermittent use (as compared with proper diet and training methods, which can and should be used continually) and by undermining an athlete’s confidence on the day of competition when he or she must perform at his or her best without drugs.

Regardless of the benefits of drawbacks or using drugs, the limits of human achievement in weightlifting have not been reached. No one knows how much more is possible. Drugs are a way of improving performance but there are many others. It is obvious that many people have forgotten that fact.

But I know that there are some of you out there who have not, some who are ready to face the greatest challenge ever taken on by a competitive weightlifter: defeating athletes who are taking drugs without using them yourself. Those of you who believe it is possible are halfway there.

The last American male to set a senior world record in weightlifting was Robert Bednarski in September 1969. I was the last American male to set a junior world record when I made a junior world record in the total on May 16, 1970. The last American woman to set a world weightlifting record was Robyn Bird, who set a world record in the snatch on April 4, 1994. The last American male to win a World Championship was Joe Dube in 1969. The last American woman to win a World Championship was Robin Byrd-Goad in 1994. There has never been an American Junior World Champion (there was no Junior World Championship in my day).

So this is where we stand today. Robin Byrd-Goad is looking forward to winning more World Championships and setting more world records now that she has taken some time off to become a proud mother. But who will take the torch that she proudly carries when her career is over?

I have not talked to Bob Bednarski or Joe Dube about this subject lately, but I think I can speak for them when I say that after more than a quarter of a century, we are getting tired of holding our torches and long for some young American men to take them from us. We want dearly to hand off to a new generation. Who will be the new American world champions and world record holders?

More than sixty years ago the United States found itself in a similar situation with respect to men’s weightlifting. European lifters dominated world weightlifting, and there were no American world record holders or world champions. Then along came an American named Bob Hoffman, who gathered some of America’s most promising young lifters of the time in the small town of York, Pennsylvania.  Those who could not come to York he touched through a wonderful magazine called Strength & Health. In York and throughout the nation, he inspired American lifting to heights that it had never seen before.

Among the group of lifters that Bob Hoffman gathered in York was a young man named Tony Terlazzo. Tony was a very talented athlete physically, but his greatest asset was his ability to project human capabilities into the future and to realize that all lifters, including the Europeans he was trying to catch, could lift more than they did and that no one was lifting 100% of his or her potential. Tony boldly resolved to come closer to his full potential than others who had preceded him and thereby become the best. The result, as they say, was history. Tony became an Olympic champion and the first world champion that the US had ever produced, and he established a number of world records in the process. In so doing, he not only brought great glory to himself and the United States, but he also showed the way to a host of young American lifters who went on to make their own records, win their own championships and establish the United States as a real power in world weightlifting.

I hope that this book will provide at least some help to those special few of you who have the greatness of vision to see that you can be the next world champions and world record holders, the best in the world and the best who ever lived. I want to shake your hands on the day that you are victorious. You will be the first of a new breed of American lifters who will lead a new American era. The challenge and the opportunity belong to you. I salute you and wish you great success!

Writing this book has been a learning process for me as I have had to place a structure around the principles and techniques that I have learned to apply almost subconsciously over the years. The writing process has led me to develop new ideas, to integrate existing knowledge and to identify conflicts in my thinking and to resolve those conflicts. In a sense I will never finish this book. I know far more about weightlifting now than when I started and would write it somewhat differently if I had it to do again (and I will do so in future editions). But I will never be able to catch up on paper to where I am day to day. Nevertheless, you have to stop somewhere, at least for a while, and this is where I will stop. For now.

I will close with a message to all of you fledgling athletes out there who desire to become weightlifting champions. This book has been dedicated to those of you who will accept the challenge of becoming the greatest weightlifters in the world. The doomsayers will tell you that you do not have the talent or the resources of your competitors abroad, that the deck is stacked against you on drug testing or that you should not reach for the stars because you might be disappointed. Do not believe any of it. If you want with all your heart to become a champion, let no one stand in your way. Dream of it, plan for it, train for it, live for it and become the champion you can be. Being the best that you can be and the glorious journey towards that achievement will bring rewards that are greater than any you may have ever imagined. Good luck and great success in weightlifting, the most glorious sport ever conceived by the mind of man or woman!

Postscript: In 2000, shortly after this book was originally written in 1998, Oscar Chaplin III won the 77 kg. category at the Junior World Championships. That same year, Tara Nott Cunningham won the first Olympic gold medal in weightlifting that a US lifter had won since 1960, and the first gold medal ever won in weightlifting by a women, at the inaugural women’s weightlifting event in Sydney. In the years since, American lifters have risen to new heights, fueled in part by opportunities to train for the sport afforded by the emergence of thousands of CrossFit gyms (where the Olympic lifts are done by thousands and thousands of athletes nationwide, and part fueled by stricter drug testing worldwide, after the US became one of the world leaders in the area in the 1980s.

In 2024, we had the thrill of seeing Oliva Reeves, lifting at the 2024 Olympic Games, win the first US gold medal in weightlifting since Tara, while Hampton Morris won a bronze medal at the Games and earlier that year became the first male US lifter in more than 50 years to set a men’s senior world record in the sport. Also in 2024, teams from the US won both the men’s and women’s Jr. World Championships, the very first time that had ever been done. With these accomplishments, the US has become a world leader in weightlifting once again. And there is every reason to this the US’s new position will be solidified over time.

But perhaps more importantly, world weightlifting has done much to clean up its act with respect to the doping scandals that lasted for years. The gender gap between men and women has disappeared in many countries (including the US). More nations are competing at the highest levels than every before, with more than 180 member nations of the IWF. Many of the new breed of lifters are using radically different methods of training (Olivia spent less than half the time in the gym than mane of her competitors – though high quality training). And Hampton Morris does most of his training in his garage with his father (who had no background in weightlifting prior to undertaking the training of his son). In the meantime, the many thousands of CrossFits and similar facilities worldwide offer weigthlifters the opportunity to learn and train in the sport. The abilite to view the greatest lifters in the world online that offer opportunities to learn that athletes only a couple of decades ago never had.

Athletes in many countries don’t need to wait for a national weightlifting center of some kind, and can train where they live, at least in then early stages of their careers. Opportunities for those who wish to become strong and skillful have never had been greater opportunity. It’s a glorious time for weightlifting and I hope many will avail themselves of the opportunity to join in on the fun! Toward that end, we at Weightlifting.Org intend to relentlessly publish work that will help you become as accomplished a lifter as you can be, through free or low cost materials like this book. Become a weightlifter today!