Capital Strength are delighted to announce that we will again host a seminar with three time US Olympic Coach Jim Schmitz on Wednesday, the 19th of November in Dublin.
Jim Schmitz is one of the most experienced and successful weightlifting coaches in the western hemisphere, coaching 10 weightlifting Olympians, including the last American man to win an Olympic medal in weightlifting.
He was U.S. Olympic Weightlifting Team Coach at the 1980, 1988 & 1992 Olympic Games and was also the Technical Controller for the weightlifting at the 1984 Olympics – i.e. the man who ran the weightlifting competition at those Olympic Games.
Jim has coached some of the strongest men in history, including Ken Patera the first American to clean & Jerk over 500lbs (227kg) and the only American to Press over 500lbs in competition; Bruce Wilhelm, the first American to snatch over 400lbs (182kg) in competition and later two-time winner of the World’s Strongest Man competition; and Mario Martinez, three time Olympian and silver medallist winner at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.
He has also coached many top female weightlifters, including three women who have gone on to represent the USA at the World Championships and two (Rachel Silverman & Carole Cady) who won medals.
A professional strength coach since the late 1960’s, Jim has worked with thousands of strength athletes, including top male and female weightlifters, highland games competitors, American Football players and track & field athletes.
From his small neighborhood gym in San Francisco he has coached 10 Olympians, been elected to the Science & Research committee of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and is the man gave the Romanian Deadlift (RDL) it’s name
This will be a hands on seminar which will focus on:
Improving technique & strength for the snatch
Exercise selection for strength & power
Improving technique & strength for the Clean & Jerk
Making athletes stronger & more explosive
Jim is one of the most experienced weightlifting coaches in the Western hemisphere, with a proven track record of making athletes incredibly strong, fast and powerful, and has coached lifters from beginner through to elite level.
Unlike many celebrity strength coaches who ‘coach’ athletes for a short time frame, all of Jim’s athletes either came from his San Francisco, Bay Area gym, or travelled to the Bay Area to be coached by Jim.
This will be Jim’s only seminar in Europe in 2014 and we are limiting the numbers of places – less people means more contact time with Jim. The cost of the seminar will be €155.
We expect this seminar to sell out fast; interest is already high so if you want to learn how to become stronger, faster & more powerful from a coach who has produced more weightlifting Olympians than many small countries (Ireland included), email us soon at defygravityireland@gmail.com
Capital Strength is delighted to host the Capital Strength Open on September 14th 2013. The competition is open to all members of Weightlifting Ireland and will count towards the 2013 national ranking list.
The first weigh-in will take place at 10.00, with the first group starting at 12.00. The provisional schedule is as follows:
A final start list and times for weigh-ins etc will be published on Wednesday 11th of September, with athletes streamed based on their entry totals.
Entry fee for beginners (1st-3rd competition) – €15
Entry fee for all others will be €20
There will be 4 x warm-up platforms with full men’s & women’s sets on each platform on the day of the competition. The warm-up area will be strictly restricted to athletes & their coaches.
All competitors must be members of Weightlifting Ireland – membership may be purchased on the day of the competition, or you can pay in advance here.
Please be aware, as with all Weightlifting Ireland events this competition is subject to Irish Sports Council Rules on anti-doping and all athletes must make themselves available for drug-testing if requested. More details on Weightlifting Ireland’s anti-doping policy can be found here.
Please note, in order to secure your entry, payment must be made in advance via PayPal, cash or cheque, please email for details. We cannot guarantee any places will be available on the day of the competition.
The warm-up area for the Capital Strength Open 2013
Another short video of Capital Strength Coach Alex Craig (53kg class) training in Hassle Free Barbell Club in San Francisco. Alex will be back at the end of next week for mobility classes, weightlifting coaching & physical therapy in Capital Strength.
Family has me in San Francisco for the next few weeks. That means that I miss out on all the excitement surrounding the opening of Capital Strength, but I do get to enjoy a bit of sunshine and keep up with training here in the city at Hassle Free Barbell Club. It’s a great club, with a lot of talented and dedicated lifters and plenty of bars and weights. The only peculiarity is that it’s actually a high school club, in a high school, filled with high school students. Lucky for me, I’ve been taken in by head Coach Kevin Doherty. I must say, it’s humbling in the best way to be surrounded by kids ten years younger than me who are lifting more weight. And fortunately my ego can just manage to accept it, because, despite my age, they’re all still bigger than me!
Anyway, I got off to a good week of training, despite jetlag, family responsibilities and having to see all the my friends here (though not a chore, the late nights can really eat into recovery time). Harry has me in a volume phase at the moment, nominally to work on my consistency etc, though really I think he’s just trying to keep me out of trouble while he’s not around to supervise. Anyway, get ready to hear about complexes, snatch triples, clean and jerk doubles, and sets of five (!) in the deadlift and squat. For the moment here’s a quick video of some easy squats to start the week off (I apologize for the poor quality, I borrowed a camera and didn’t have the settings figured out at all!):
Saturday the 6th of April 2013 25 Irish women made history. I was fortunate to be there and to participate. In a country where weightlifting is small enough to feel like a family, and every competition feels like coming home, it is incredible to be able to say that this was the most supportive and friendly competition I‘ve experienced. The novelty of it being a women only competition didn’t strike me until that morning when we arrived for weigh in.
The calm before the storm at the Women’s Open in Crossfit West Dublin
Usually at any competition this is a process of going to the weigh in room, knocking on the door and waiting while the male athletes and officials file, hoping there’s any other female, let alone an official referee, who can stand there while I strip down to my underwear and write down what it says on the scales. Instead, I walked into a room with TWO female officials and no need to post a guard at the door lest any of the men wander through. Pretty good feeling.
By the time I got down stairs a small line had started to form, and though it was only ten minutes into weigh-in time, there were already as many women as I had ever competed with at an Irish competition. Let me repeat that: the most women that had EVER participated in a single competition in Ireland was eight, and there we nine females lined up waiting to be weighed. That would turn out to be only the first record to be broken that day.
After getting weighed, the number one priority for me is always food but because we had a lot of beginners and I would be lifting in the last group, it meant waiting several more hours than I had anticipated. This turned out to be a great opportunity to chat to the other lifters. I got to get to find out a bit more about the other competitors and get a feel for the mood. I chatted with lots of women, gave some advice, but found that overall most people, though a bit nervous, were really looking forward to stepping on the platform.
I had another surprise when I found out too, that for the first time ever, I was not only one among three in my weight class, but there was a lifter in the the next class down! Aoife Kennedy from Ronin Crossfit was competing in the 48kg class. I was keen to meet an Irish lifter smaller than myself and only a little disappointed when I realised that, though significantly lighter than me, Aoife was in fact still taller. Still though, I was really happy to see her lift in the first group, getting the competition off to a great start by shattering national records which had stood for the last 20 years.
The groups moved along at a good pace, with the most successful lifts I think I’ve ever seen at any Irish competition, but, more importantly, the atmosphere was fantastic. Quite a few of the lifters had come down with friends and family who gave enthusiastic encouragement to everyone who stepped on the platform. It was also great to see how this contributed to making most of the lifters appear quite collected and even relaxed from their first attempts.
There was a great crowd at the Women’s Open. The support really helped everyone competing on the day to lift well.
When I squeezed myself into the front row during the third group (looking to see Sarah Swan break all three junior records in her class at her first competition) it was great to feel the support and concern of everyone in the room and the level of energy willing each competitor to succeed.
Thanks to to efficiency of the loaders, officials, organizers and lifters themselves, my group came around fairly quickly and by three in the afternoon it was time to start my own warm up. I had been asked repeatedly during the day if I would be breaking any records or going for PBs, and I was at pains to explain that, due to an ongoing rib and shoulder injury, I couldn’t be sure if I would be lifting that day at all. So I was very touched when several of the other women, and a few of the people who had come to support and didn’t even know me, wandered over to the warm up area to wish me luck and tell me that I was looking good.
The final group of the day; Holly Deegan, Sophie Kavanagh, Claire McGlynn and Alexandria Craig
I will be honest and say that I got no small boost when I was told by a group of male supporters, who lift themselves, that I was intimidating them and lifting more than some of their number, all while still on my warm up weights. The other women in my group got the snatches off to a good start, and it was very inspiring to see my team mate for the upcoming Grand Prix, Claire McGlynn, do exactly as she had planned and take the competition as a training session, lifting well below what she is capable of and being happy with it, something with which I struggle. Claire’s experience as a competitive athlete was something from which I, and I’m sure many of the other women can learn a lot, another great thing about the day.
I was feeling tired in my warm up and even though I knew my opening weights were easy I was a little weary after a week of dealing with injury and an exciting day. But when I came out for my first snatch and heard encouragement from all corners and shouts of “come on, Alex”, everything dropped away. I made my first and second attempts easily and decided to try for a record on the third, and when the caller announced it, the support was unbelievable. In weightlifting, it really comes down to just you and the bar against gravity, but sometimes the day that’s in it and the people who are there can make defying it that much easier. When I finished my lifts the day was sadly almost over, but it had been a good one.
And hopefully 25 Irish Women were a little more confident, and a lot more sure that strong is happy.
Some of the 25 Strong Women (and Harry!) who competed at Weightlifting Ireland’s Women’s Open in Crossfit West Dublin
Capital Strength are delighted to announce that we will again host a seminar with three time US Olympic Coach Jim Schmitz on Wednesday, the 19th of November in Dublin.
