PowerBuilder
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Your "Power Zone".
IronMind.com
By Jim Schmitz
U.S. Olympic Weightlifting Team Coach 1980, 1988 & 1992
Author of Olympic-style Weightlifting for Beginner & Intermediate Weightlifters Manual and DVD
What does your "power zone” mean? Your "power zone” is your ideal bodyweight for your best physical performance in your chosen sport. For example, a weightlifter and a gymnast require different levels of power and therefore different bodyweights for the power needed for their respective sports. Gymnasts need what we call relative power; that is, they need enough power to move their bodies through all the gymnastic movements for unlimited time. Weightlifters, on the other hand, need to lift a maximum weight overhead just once. So a gymnast needs to be slight and muscular and a weightlifter needs to be thick and muscular. The difference between distance runners and sprinters is another example of sports that require different power zones. Distance runners are slight of build and not noticeably muscular, whereas sprinters are very impressively muscular. Powerlifters are another example of a specific body power zone: they need to be thicker and more heavily muscled than a weightlifter because powerlifting requires raw strength for a limited movement.
The point I'm trying to make is that no matter what your sport, there is an ideal bodyweight for you to perform your best. Finding one's ideal bodyweight and weight class is very important for optimum results....
I have also seen many examples of lifters who have stayed down in bodyweight for various reasons when they should have gone up. This brings up the issue of when to move up a weight class: I find the time to move up is when your progress stagnates for a period of time, say one year. When you move up, your lifts should increase right away. Be patient, though; it won't happen overnight. It may take a while for you to adjust to the new body size, but give it time. This brings up another topic of why it is harder to stay in the same weight class as you age. If you began lifting seriously at age 15 or so and have moved up only one or two weight classes due to natural growth by the time you are 30 or so, you will find it difficult to cut bodyweight because your muscles and bones have gotten thicker and denser with the years of hard training.
Your height, bone size, and skeletal frame are what determine your power zone. The average height per weight class at the 2004 Olympics was:
Bigger isn't necessarily better. You will only really know your power zone by experimenting with your bodyweight. The best way to control your bodyweight is through proper nutrition: if you really want to be a champion, you must become a student of nutrition. However, for maximum weightlifting gains, you must follow the old axiom Eat a lot, sleep a lot, train a lot—and lifting a lot will follow.
IronMind.com
By Jim Schmitz
U.S. Olympic Weightlifting Team Coach 1980, 1988 & 1992
Author of Olympic-style Weightlifting for Beginner & Intermediate Weightlifters Manual and DVD
What does your "power zone” mean? Your "power zone” is your ideal bodyweight for your best physical performance in your chosen sport. For example, a weightlifter and a gymnast require different levels of power and therefore different bodyweights for the power needed for their respective sports. Gymnasts need what we call relative power; that is, they need enough power to move their bodies through all the gymnastic movements for unlimited time. Weightlifters, on the other hand, need to lift a maximum weight overhead just once. So a gymnast needs to be slight and muscular and a weightlifter needs to be thick and muscular. The difference between distance runners and sprinters is another example of sports that require different power zones. Distance runners are slight of build and not noticeably muscular, whereas sprinters are very impressively muscular. Powerlifters are another example of a specific body power zone: they need to be thicker and more heavily muscled than a weightlifter because powerlifting requires raw strength for a limited movement.
The point I'm trying to make is that no matter what your sport, there is an ideal bodyweight for you to perform your best. Finding one's ideal bodyweight and weight class is very important for optimum results....
I have also seen many examples of lifters who have stayed down in bodyweight for various reasons when they should have gone up. This brings up the issue of when to move up a weight class: I find the time to move up is when your progress stagnates for a period of time, say one year. When you move up, your lifts should increase right away. Be patient, though; it won't happen overnight. It may take a while for you to adjust to the new body size, but give it time. This brings up another topic of why it is harder to stay in the same weight class as you age. If you began lifting seriously at age 15 or so and have moved up only one or two weight classes due to natural growth by the time you are 30 or so, you will find it difficult to cut bodyweight because your muscles and bones have gotten thicker and denser with the years of hard training.
Your height, bone size, and skeletal frame are what determine your power zone. The average height per weight class at the 2004 Olympics was:
Bigger isn't necessarily better. You will only really know your power zone by experimenting with your bodyweight. The best way to control your bodyweight is through proper nutrition: if you really want to be a champion, you must become a student of nutrition. However, for maximum weightlifting gains, you must follow the old axiom Eat a lot, sleep a lot, train a lot—and lifting a lot will follow.
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