Here is 2013 U23 European +75kg Champion Julia Konovalova with a 190kg Front Squat (from March 2012).
I think that’s the heaviest female Front Squat on ATG so far (when we don’t count Tatiana Kashirina’s 190kg C&J World Record)
She would be the perfect candidate for a heavier (than 75kg) weight class. At 181cm she currently weighs in at around 92kg.
Julia’s competition bests btw are 133+165.
She also has some good hops as you can see from her (130cm) Box Jumps.
Update: I asked Vladimir Safonov (Coach) about how often they do Box Jumps and how many sets/reps they use.
Answer: 1x per Week, 5 Sets, 3 Reps
inspirational 🙂
Inspirational isn’t exactly how I’d describe it 😉 Impressive and depressing come to mind though.
hehe just think its cool that she can front squat 20 kilos more than my max front squat 🙂
Don’t get me wrong, she’s strong. But her FS is a good 50+kg north of mine and I pretty have the same physical stats as her (height & weight).
Women really need another class above 75 that isn’t super. There’s only 6kg between 69 and 75 and then it’s a free for all with giants like Zhou Lulu. Women used to have 83 and 83+, not sure why they went down. It needs to be a little bigger than that though.
Men could do with something between 105 and super as well IMO, so the big guys who aren’t supers can shine. Although maybe their lifted weights would be so close to the supers that they’d just look fat and average by comparison haha.
I just had a look at the old Powerlifting classes which actually look great to me
Pre 2011 Weight classes:
Men: 52 kg, 56 kg, 60 kg, 67.5 kg, 75 kg, 82.5 kg, 90 kg, 100 kg, 110 kg, 125 kg, 125 kg +
Women: 44 kg, 48 kg, 52 kg, 56 kg, 60 kg, 67.5 kg, 75 kg, 82.5 kg, 90 kg, 90 kg +
Probably get rid of 52 and 44, the way the newer powerlifting and weightlifting have gotten rid of their smallest classes. And of course the 0.5kg stuff.
I agree about the need for a weight class between hw and shw, but logistically it might be hard to do. Plus it would be embarrassing if some sub-super was putting up numbers higher than the supers, but then again Ilyin, Vardanyan, and Zakharevich have already made weight classes above them look weak so…
The IOC don’t want to give more medals to weightlifting.
Then drop the -56 and -48 and just add, say, something between 115-120 for the gents and 82-87 for the ladies.
The lightest weight class should be the best pound-for-pund total (total divided by bodyweight). If the second heaviest weight class can lift more pound-for-pound, then the first weight class is too low. Actually, this is not the case for both men and women in the current weight classes, so it is OK on the low end.
There should be significant increase in totals (both record and sub-record performances) between consecutive classes, and the percentage difference between the superheavyweight and the 2nd heaviest class should be in line with the differences between other consecutive classes.
The men’s current classes are pretty good. The two weight classes that are most close together are 77 and 85, with a bwt difference of 10.39% and a WR total difference of 3.68%. The % difference between the SHW and next heaviest wt class WRs is 8.26%, which is on the high end. The optimal men’s weight classes would probably be 56,62,69,77,86,96,108,+108. But not significant to change on their own.
However, the women’s weight classes are very compressed, and should be more spaced out. The worst is 58 to 63kg, which is an increase of only 8.62%, and the WR total only increases 3.98%. Almost as bad is 69 and 75kg classes, which are 8.70% apart and the total increases only 3.50%. Also the increase in total between 75 and +75 classes is 12.84%, which is way out of line. Therefore, I propose the revised weight classes for women to be 48,53,59,65,72,80,+80. When the women’s classes are changed, might as well tweak the men’s at the same time.
Also while I agree that the 2nd heavyweight women’s class is too low, I disagree that Julia Konovalova would benefit from such a class. Given her stature (1.81cm), although her frame is not very wide, her biomechanically optimal bodyweight is going to be more than her current 90kg. Her total would increase significantly with extra muscle. She should target a bodyweight of 100kg. Time will tell if her will to eat more and her physiology will enable her to grow her soft tissue composition.
The person who would benefit from a higher 2nd heavyweight class would be a shorter weightlifter that does not have as tall a skeletal frame as Konovolova.
Is going below parallel on the box jumps on landing and takeoff purposeful? If so, what’s the purpose?
On the takeoff it probably has to do with developing power from a squat position. When athletes like throwers or sprinters do these, they don’t drop very low, because rarely are there leg generating a lot of force when bent past a 90 degree angle. Oly lifters, on the other hand, on the snatch and clean recovery, do generate a lot of force from a deep squat position. I don’t know if this would actually help with a clean or snatch recovery, but I’m sure that’s the logic.
On the landing, it just helps to save the knees in my experience.
Also, box jumps from a squat position are far more difficult. I have managed 57 inches / 145 cm from a standing start, but have only done 52 inches / 132 cm from a paused, full squat position.
Here is an easy 54″ / 137 cm box jump from me. 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAoBpadkn3Q
Impressive jump!
Thanks, Gregor.
Everett nailed it (impressive jump btw).
I should dig out my 1970’s something Russian weightlifting text. It describes jump training and its purpose (as well as programming for them). I specifically remember there being a section on landing. I think a large part of it was to protect the knees though, but maybe something on loading the legs(?)
Sounds interesting. ATG guest post material ? 😀
I don’t know if it’s that worthy, but I can look into it, come up with something and email it to you.
Cool, maybe it is something I could later include in another Box Jump post.
More jump training:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1hQEYqxTkI
Crazy hops. I should get reading…