Here is an 8 minute edit of team China in the 2014 Worlds Training Hall.
All this was filmed on 07.11.2014, the day I arrived in Kazakhstan.
Featuring:
- Tian Tao (275kg Squat and accidental set of 6)
- Ding Jianjun
- Yue Kang
- Tan Yajun
- LI Yajun
- Deng Mengrong
- Deng Wei
- Chen Youjuan
I never get tired of watching the Chinese team lift. Almost without exception their lifters have flawless technique. I really like how smooth the Chinese style is in comparison with some of the Russian or Eastern European styles. Don’t get me wrong, how explosive and fast some of the Russians are is also great to watch but all of the Chinese lifters make everything look so graceful and effortless.
I left a comment on the YT video, but guys can we talk about theat Tian Tao side view? Makes you realize how rare profile-view video of elite lifters back squatting is. Between the quality of the squats and the quality of the footage, I’d say this is one of the best out there. (By the way, is this the first time you’ve published that footage? I don’t remember it in any other videos you’ve uploaded.)
On another note, I love to watch Deng Mengrong lift but I’m always cringing in fear that her left arm is going to snap D:
Glad you enjoy it. Yes there are a couple of unpublished clips in there 🙂
Holy smoothness …
what looks as easy as walking actually is the result of years and years of practice. People not into weightlifting have problems to realise the difficulty of what the’re doing. Utilising perfect form requires so much work but staying with it at maximum weights AND make it look effortless is weightlifting on a completely different level.
Compare that to some videos of California Strength – it looks like a different sport. And there are some good lifter there at CalStrength and they put tons of work into lifting, training multiple times per week also but in comparision you realise the true marvel that is world class weightlifting.
I have a peer who is an elite level powerlifter and tours around the country doing seminars and competing. He worked with some high level US weightlifters for a while doing oly before moving to powerlifting. His frame of mind is a lot like Average Broz (just lift heavy weight, focus on strength, and the technique will evolve over time). I’m not bringing this up to argue semantics of different ideologies but more just my reflection on that perspective. Technically, yes, the guy who lifts more weight overhead wins. But that’s not why I like weightlifting. Building strength and muscular tone is a nice by-product but I see it almost in the same vein as dancing or gymnastics. Perfectly executed form and technique produce a truly beautiful movement to watch. That’s what keeps me coming back to the gym. I know I’ll never lift 200kg over my head and truthfully I don’t really care. There is a lot more to weightlifting than just how much weight you can lift.
Point being, I couldn’t agree with you more.
Yep, that’s it 🙂 I often get asked “Why do you watch this, this is quite dull isn’t it?” I answer: “It is like a magician trick but it is so good that nobody understands it. And even when you know the magic behind it and were given all the tools and the time to reproduce it – not going to happen :D”