Olympic Weightlifting in NYC is slowly expanding

5 years ago Lost Battalion Hall was probably the only place in NYC set up for Olympic Weightlifting in New York City.

In 2011, there’re at least 4 gyms that either specialize in Olympic Weightlifting or have the equipment for it, like bumper plates, a platform, squat stands, chalk, no over zealous “don’t drop the weight” requirements.

Here’re the NYC gyms:

• UPDATE , 01.23.2012: I recently heard a rumor that NYSC Irving Place has bumper plates starting from 10 lbs (real bumpers, not the hexagonal plates NYSC usually has). Had a chance to confirm, here they are, top floor, New York Sports Club @ 10 Irving Place:
  

  

  

  

  
  
  
• South Brooklyn Weightlifting Club
  Specializes in Olympic Weightlifting, Strong Man & Powerlifting. 4 platforms. Contact them for pricing details. They offer drop in & monthly rates.  Beginners are welcome Mon/Wed/Fri during Open Gym hours, usually 5pm – 9pm. Their building is a bit hard to find the first time & they’re very far from the nearest Subway station. The B61 bus stops nearby, about 2 blocks away on Van Brunt St.
• Crossfit South Brooklyn
  Offers Olympic Weightlifting platform rentals for $12/hour or $10/hr if you buy a 10 session card.
  UPDATE , 09.13.2011: CSB no longer offers platform rentals to the general public (with rare exceptions). Reportedly due to liability issues arising from certain douche bags coming in and trying to Snatch and C&J weights they’re not ready to handle, scaring the coaches half to death.
• Brooklyn Barbell Club
  Powerlifting, Olympic Weightlifting, Crossfit.”Pricing depends upon the program followed. 2 sessions / wk.: $125 / mo….” Lifting hours tend to be Mon/Wed/Fri evenings.
• Lost Battalion Hall Weightlifting
  A city gym in a neighborhood called Rego Park in Queens, NY. “You’ll need a mem­ber­ship with the City of New York Parks & Recre­ation rec cen­ters ($100-$150/year, $25/​year for seniors, free for youths), and the weightlift­ing pro­gram requires a $50 pro­gram fee/​year. It’s the best train­ing value in the city.”
• Pure Fitness (Citifitness Health Club)
  A small, easy to miss store front on 14 St. bet. 2nd & 3rd Ave in Manhattan. According to StrongTimes.com, they have 1 platform & an Eleiko bar. Their website markets the place to regular “health club/gym” folks, not specialists.
• Velocity Sports Performance, NYC
  Located in Manhattan. From the photos on their site it looks like they have at least 2 platforms, bumpers.

Outside of Brooklyn & Queens Long Island’s counties are not technically part of the NYC, but if you have a car or time to travel on the LIRR you can get to Garden City, NY and train here:

• Professional Athletic Performance Center
  Olympic Weightlifting platforms, Reverse Hyper machine, etc. These guys offer serious training as well as physical therapy. Their Physical Therapy practice is the official PT provider for the NY Islanders NHL team.

Soviet Olympic Weightlifting How-To videos from 1984 – 1985

In Russian w/ no subtitles. Available as WMV or Silverlight, not Flash video for some reason.

1. Snatch (Ryvok in Russian)
http://tv.sportedu.ru/video/tyazhelaya-atletika-obuchenie-tekhnike-ryvka?p=sl

2. Clean & Jerk (Tolchok in Russian)
http://tv.sportedu.ru/video/tyazhelaya-atletika-obuchenie-tekhnike-tolchka?p=sl

3. Technique for both lifts:
http://tv.sportedu.ru/video/metodika-sovershenstvovaniya-tekhnicheskogo-masterstva-tyazheloatletov?p=sl

I started translating the 3rd video:

02:12
Our film is dedicated to the analysis of technique involved in the competitive lifts, the methodology of technique perfection. Introducing modern technique teaching methodology.

02:23
(Title screen)
Methods of Improving the Technique of Olympic Weightlifters

02:29
Commentary (voice over) by esteemed Master of Sport of the USSR, Senior Scientific Employee of ZCNIIS (ЦНИИС)[1] , PhD in Education Science
A.A. Lukashev (A.A. Лукашёв).

=====
Notes:
1.ZCNIIS (ЦНИИС) is most likely this place:
The Central Scientific Research Institute for Dentistry. Could also be this place:
Central Scientific Research Institute of Construction, based on the acronym.

First day lifting at Crossfit South Brooklyn

Crossfit SBK allows Olympic Lifters to rent out space for a drop in rate of $12 ($10 if you buy a 10 session card). It’s a great space & nice people. So far so good:

Olympic Weightlifting in St. Louis: New Location for The Lab

I haven’t seen the old place but judging from the pictures The Lab gym in St. Louis, MO has expanded from a small speciality box for Olympic Weightlifters, Powerlifters, Crossfitters, etc. to a larger space that can accommodate the average gym goer as well as provide a good place for the specialty strength sports enthusiasts. This makes sense, considering the relatively new business model of The Crossfit Box or what Glen Pendlay is trying to do at California Strength is still new and untested (while admirable).

As of December 15, their website & Google Maps still seems to have the old address (4253 Laclede). The new place is located at 3684 Forest Park Ave, right next to a Jimmy John’s. St. Louis University is nearby. There’s a Bus & Metro stop around the corner on S. Grand Blvd.

One of the great things about this gym: 24 Hour access. Members get an access card and can workout whenever their schedule allows.

These photos were taken Thanksgiving weekend, very shortly after the new space opened, so they were still setting up back then.

The Strength Sports Room:

Some of the Rest of the Space:

More world records & gold medals for Kazakhstan

Maiya Maneza of Kazhakhstan did well at the World Weightlifting Championships in Antalya, on September 20, 2010. Their coach must be doing something right. It’s a shame there seem to be no video interviews with him or most of their athletes on YouTube or Vimeo.

Snatch: 105kg
Clean & Jerk: 143kg (2010 world record for the women’s 63kg category)
Total: 248kg

Defending world champion Svetlana Podobedova of Kazakhstan breaks her own world record clean and jerk with a 161 and takes first place overall.

Snatch: 134kg
Clean & Jerk: 161 (2010 world record for the women’s 75kg category)
Total: 295

One for the road

Some more 60kg Snatch

Overhead stability issues

In my defense, this was a tiny hotel gym with a semi squishy floor. I forgot to bring my liquid chalk too.

Bending my arms early on the 2nd pull?

Snatch 135lbs/61kg:

Ripped calluses: less painful healing

This thing is normally used by breast-feeding mothers to heal up after baby bites their nipples. I recently tried it on a ripped callus and it seems to be working. It’s only been 3 days since I ripped it but the healing process is a lot less bothersome than last time because I’m using this stuff.

I’ve tried just letting it heal by itself before and there was always a problem. The part of the callus that’s still on my hand, no matter how much I clip it, tended to get caught on everything, reopening the wound at times. Once, it even ripped more, which REALLY sucked.

This time I put some Lansinoh Lanolin cream on my ripped callus as it’s healing plus a band aid on to so I don’t smudge it all over my clothes. It reduced the chances of accidentally pulling on it or squeezing it when you use your hand to pick stuff up, etc throughout the day.

Keith has a great post on a way to train while healing.