You have seen Jirka Orsag’s training and competition lifts posted frequently here on ATG.
That is why I am super stoked that I had the chance to chat a bit with the man himself.
Thanks to Jiri for being so generous with his time.
Hope you enjoy this interview.
Stats
Age: 24
Bodyweight: 130kg
Height: 181cm
Weightlifting Since: started in 2000 at the age of 11
Personal Records:
Snatch: 187 kg in competition / 192 kg in training
Clean & Jerk: 241 kg in competition / 240 kg in training
Front Squat: 290 kg
Back Squat: 325 kg
Deadlift: Snatch Grip 250 kg , Clean Grip 300 kg
Push Press: 181 kg x2
First Some Background Information
First off, congratulations on becoming U23 European Champion. So how did it feel when you made it?
Thank you. It was great! This has been my goal for the whole year – win again and set a new European record in the Clean & Jerk!
That goal was reached 100%, and I consider it a good way to end my junior career.
Which lifter/s did you find most impressive in the U23 Euros?
Very impressive was Milko Tokola (FIN), very fast, great technique! I like to watch his training videos!
For those not familiar with you, where do you currently train?
Right now I train in Prague, in the national sport center under the Ministry of Interior, which pays big part of all Czech athletes. Second biggest organization which is “employing” athletes is Dukla Praha, it’s an Army club, but there is no weightlifting.
Who is your Coach?
Pavel Ivanič – We have been working together for about 8 years (from 2004). The first contact I had with him just before the start of high school.
Can you tell me a bit about your sports background? What did you do first? How many sports did have you participated in? How did you get to where you are now?
Weightlifting is my first sport. Love at first sight.
How did I get where I’m now? It’s easy… You just need to hold on and keep training.
And how did you get into weightlifting?
It was in March of 2000. My stepfather knew a local weightlifting coach.
And now I want to see you train here every day or I will find you!
I was lazy guy and the ball was not my best friend, so once he took me to local weightlifting club.
Big guys, barbells and a lot of noise.
I just sat on the bench for maybe 2 hours and watched them, playing with the monster barbells.
After their training, the coach came to me, gave me a small bar and said “show me what you just saw, repeat it” I started with C&J. Then he showed me snatch and after an hour we went home.
Coach stopped me outside and said “And now I want to see you train here every day or I will find you!”.
I was so scared I didn’t stop till today 😀
No it’s true. I liked to go train, it was fun. After a month I was sure I love this sport and I started setting some goals.
First was to get medal from nationals. I had no idea 5 weeks of training will be enough to get it 😀 And that was what convinced me to stay with this sport.
Who was your inspiration as a kid?
Guys from the club. They were so big and strong! I had no idea about European or world weightlifting. I had no internet, no Eurosport …
What are your favorite memory / experiences or anecdotes from a competition? What are you most proud of?
Olympics at all. Best experiences, best memories! I’m most proud of I was on Olympic games. Qualification was not easy for us, but we did it and I got a chance. I think I can feel satisfied with my performance and placement. I did my max there.
Let’s Talk Training
Do you train alone or have regular training partners?
As I said, I train in the national sport center. We are 6 professional weightlifter here now.
We train together every day. We are great team. We support each other and so.. I can’t imagine to train alone… I did it most of time when I was on high school… I have no good memories for these times…
What does a typical training day look like?
My typical training day starts at 8:00 with breakfast.
I go to training at 9:00 and start about 10:00. I need a time to warm up…
Weightlifting hurts, but hold on. It’s worth it!
Training takes about 2 hours. About 12:30 I have lunch and after I sleep till 15:00, take a little snack and go to next training which starts about 16:00 and takes again about 2 hours.
After the second training a take a snack and we go (up to 5 times a week) to Cryo Chamber. Great recovery!
About 19:30 I have dinner, 22:00 second dinner and sleep.
What other recovery techniques do you use if any?
Like I said before, up to 5 times a week we go into the Cryo Chamber. This I found to be a great form of recovery.
Once a week, usually Friday, I visit a physio therapist.
Massages I have 1 – 2 times a week.
Can you give us a general outline of your programming?
Usually I train 2 hard weeks, and one “easy” week.
Hard means high volume with the biggest intensity I can manage.
Easy means only biggest the intensity I can manage. Just go to the max and that’s it.
It’s very similar to the Bulgarian system, but it’s modified for my needs. I’m not Bulgarian and I have no Bulgarian or Russian “conditions”…
I’m listening my body, which knows better than myself what I need.
When I can train hard, I train hard, when I feel I need a rest day, I take a rest day.
I noticed over the past 3 years you maintained your strength in the back squat and increased your weights in the competition lifts (Back squat stayed around 320kg, but your total increased a lot). How has your training evolved over the past years?
I started to write my own programs.
That’s because 4 years ago I made a big change in my training.
I started to write my own programs.
Coach is just watching my technique and he takes a care of what I need.
I have been weightlifting for 13 years now. I think I’m able to write my training plan. I was not satisfied with his plans. It was still the same and his methods were very old and not working anymore for me.
I can’t say I could coach somebody. But I have no choice now. I have no good coach so I’m doing what I think is best for me. I try to do the best for me, I listen to my body. And it’s working for now…
What role do assistance exercises play in your training?
I don’t do a lot assistance exercise.
I train only snatch, clean and jerk, squats and deadlifts.
Sometimes in an “easy” week I do push press, strict press, bench press…
What aspect do you want to improve most?
I think I still can get better in my technique. And I need to improve my deadlifts. Back is my biggest limit I think.
Do you have favorite / least favorite exercises?
All exercises are my favorites. Squats are my strong point. Deadlifts are exactly the opposite.
Injuries are part of the game. What is your strategy for when you feel a little pain somewhere?
Weightlifting hurts. If I can walk, I can train.
I recognize if it’s important or not. Usually I have the same problems, so if I feel some pain, I recognize it eraly enough if it’s going to become serious or not.
My biggest problems are my wrists. When it hurts, it’s limiting me in snatch. Maybe that why my C&J is much better than my snatch. Because when I can’t snatch, I do more C&J.
Rapid Fire Questions
Favorite Food?
I love homemade sirloin steak. And all steaks and meat for that matter. I love all food.
Favorite lifter these days?
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What is a good piece of advice you got in the past?
Weightlifting hurts, but hold on. It’s worth it!
What music do you listen to while training?
While training we listen some local radio 😀 I don’t care very much about music when training.
Do you have other Hobbies?
My PC, Playstation, roller skates, cooking..
Favorite movie?
Hard to choose just one. I like Forrest Gump, Sin City, The Shawshank Redemption, Warrior, Fighter..
Last book you liked?
50 Shades of Grey.
Next Competition?
Next big competition will be in April. EWC in Albania.
Jiri’s CV
- 2004 regular participation in European and world championships
- 2006 6th place at the Junior World Championships
- July 2007 first medal for third place at the Junior World Championships
- August 2007 won a silver medal at the European Junior Mistrvoství
- September 2008 won a silver medal in the Junior European Championships
- August 2009 he defended his silver medal in the Junior European Championships; 8th place in the Senior World Championships
- in November 2010 won a silver medal at the European Championship in 23 years; also finished in 6th place at the European Seniors Championship
- in April 2011 finished first place in the pitch and 2nd place in The Two Lifts in the Senior European Championships; in September 2011 won two gold medals in the U23 European Championship in Romania; in April 2012 he was awarded the 2nd place in the Senior European Championships and was nominated to the Olympic Games in London
- in August 2012 he was 7th place at Summer Olympics London 2012 in superweight category (105+ kg); in December he became U23 European Champion again
Photo Credit: Nat Arem of Hookgrip.com
Great interview!
Awesome interview!!
50 shades of grey lol
Now let’s see some roller skating videos lol
Hope to see more posts like this.
good interview nice to
listen to the inside track
Great post. I really enjoyed this interview. Thanks.
really good insight! these interviews are my favorite part of the site
he likes 50 shades of grey? LOL
No one notice he’s doing mixed grip deadlifts?
50 shades of grey 😛
very interesting how he has a deload week every 1/3rd week, many top strength coaches like Charles Poliquin recomend the same type of thing.
Although its not a typical deload week. Many strength coaches recommend a reduction of volumen and intensity whereas he only reduces the volume.
It is enough rest for me to down the volume. For example – in a hard week I will do up to 8 heavy series in snatch between 160 – 175 for 2 reps and up to 3 – 4 heavy snatches for 1 rep. In easy week I will go just like 70, 110, 140, 165, 180, maybe 185 – 190. So I have only 2 – 4 heavy snatches. Its not hard to snatch 180, much harder is to snatch 175×2 and do 3 series on it. For me. I cant say it will work for everyone. We are not clones.
Wow. Thank you very much for the response. May I ask how you train clean + jerk?
For me they are much more taxing and so I don’t do many reps over 90 % per month.
And I am also curious if you trained like this also earlier in your career or just in recent years.
I am just wondering whether this approach is also feasible for an athelete with just 2 to 3 years of
training experience.
I wish you all the best for the upcoming EWC.
Training of C&J is very similar to snatch training, but I use different weights and Im not able to do so much series as in snatch. For example It can look like this – 190×2, 200×2, 210×2 (my best is 220×2), 225, 235 (my best is 241) , 200×2, 210×2. Thats just example, I can do less or more series and weight, depending on my feelings, actual shape and so…
I train like this last 4 years. I cant imagine to train like this before, its was very hard for me to start with it even after 9 years of lifting.
Thanks for taking the time.
I already thought so that this is the training for a professional athelete and not for
hobby lifter. 🙂
Pretty awesome that you found time to post a respond here Jirka. GL in the upcoming competitions and work on that snatch :D. I was there to see you and others in London, great result for you at the Olympic Games!
Thank you 🙂
since he liked the book 50 shades of gray my respect for him just plummeted.
Thats just last book I read. Because of my girlfriend. 😀 But I cant say its bad. Should I feel ashamed because I read erotic novel? 😀
There are a lot of young teens who read this interview and now know what that book is about thanks to you. The contents of this website isn’t just read by adults. I have encouraged many young lifters (teens) to check this website out due to the good information. Now I won’t.
You must have a deranged view on sexuality and how (and when) kids these days discover theirs.
There is a lot “worse” stuff online that a reference to an erotic novel. Every one of the kids you know watches or will watch porn on the internet. That’s just a fact. You don’t get to dictate your Mullah like moral system over here.
Educate them instead of keeping it away from them.
Since you deleted my last comment then I’ll put it a different way. We could also teach kids about violence by showing them a beheading by the Taliban but you know as well as I do they are too young too be exposed to that. Same with sex.
Putting sex on the same level as beheading… And you say your views aren’t skewed? Wow…
For god sake I cannot find the review part of that book in this interview. He only mentions a book which is currently in the top ten of the most sold books in many countries. So you will see it whenever you enter a book store. And young boys will rather prefere pictures and videos than reading a book. 😉
I guess things would be even worse if he had recommend “The Satanic Verses”. Let’s keep this strictly about the topic.
First world problems. Get a grip.
You make no sense at all! I never heard of this book until this interview (granted, I dont read much, and if I do its sports or natural science, my field of interest), and only noticed in the interview he reads it. If it wasnt for these comments I wouldnt know what kind of book is he talking about. Just like the kids you are worried about reading this, if they never heard of it you think they will gonna look up a book he mentions? And if they already know what that book is then what harm does it make its mentioned by him? Really, think about it, cuz as I said you make no sense at all.
Oh, and best of luck in ECH Jirka!
Great information! Liked it a lot, Jirka seems to be a very humble and down to earth guy. Grounded. Then a question straight to the champ: how often you perform deadlifts and with same menthality than in olympic lifts or more or less volyme/intensity? If you could answer I´d be very thankful!
Interested to learn a little more about his squat routine.
that is the largest man to ever like 50 shades of grey and roller skating haha seems like a great guy. Good luck Jirka and thanks to both of you for putting this together. Keep up the good work Gregor.