The Rise & Fall Of Russian Weightlifting

[@GenXPower]

I am an American powerlifter and I absolutely love watching weightlifting. It is such a beautiful sport. I could watch it all day. I am 47 years old now, and trying to master the Olympic lifts, but I have many years of bad habits to reverse before I will be able to perform the lifts with any kind of proficiency. I have been lowbar squatting for years, and just switching to high bar has been exceedingly difficult.

[@thecrystaltide3757]

We always ask "is the lifter natty?" But we never ask "is the state infrastructure natty?" In Russia's case, no, the walls were allegedly smuggling h0t p1ss

[@basedlukashenko5249]

clearance is not natty either

[@simonkhsonne]

They are all doped

[@leonidas3127]

Does anyone seriously believe that there exists, or existed, a weightlifter that isn't enhanced? No matter from what country they are.

[@javiersanz29]

@@leonidas3127 Unfortunately, no. I believe some lifters from C or D groups in World Championships were clean. Perhaps some of the B group lifters were clean.

[@ericooliveira9693]

Judging by the intro, it looks like the Ministry of Communications of the Sikastani Republic has been enjoying some extra funding these days

[@sikastrength]

Sometimes they are allowed to work over time

[@elmollo9432]

Glad I'm in Sikastan and not Russia

[@RevanDuvalcane]

Me too

[@corrmick]

Good schtuff. I agree strongly with the conclusion: Russia has a solid system and they are an adaptive people. They’ll have to reduce volumes and train more like the rest of the world in that regard (more >=85% work, sane frequencies), maybe work on recovery methods like the Chinese have invested so much into. But their technical knowledge and application as well as the popular and political support will at least be there in the short term. Very interested in the rise of Italian Weightlifting, but would also love to learn more about Georgian Weightlifting 🇬🇪!

[@kalenburns9780]

If you get any information please make the “Rise of Italian Weightlifting” video! They’ve seemingly progressed very quickly

[@-TK-]

The junior sergio massida had crazy technique and numbers to back it up.

[@Keegan3005]

no one's talking about how clean they are anymore haha

[@corrmick]

Also interested in Italy’s ascent. Saw some good coaching there.

[@jamacc9910]

​@@-TK- agreed, his extension (and bar path in general) is one of the most vertical I've seen

[@thecrystaltide3757]

Love the documentary style intro!

[@raymondromero5387]

Aleksey lovchev also won gold in 2015 for Russia in the 105+ weightclass, he broke the world record clean & jerk at 264 kg and beat Lasha Talakhadze in the process (granted Lasha wasn't the same Lasha we know today) but the gold was taken away from him because he was popped

[@ssokolyk]

Great video as always lads, objective viewing of the situation with balanced point. Love all the videos, reviews of shoes, more analytical videos like this and the reviewing of different sports stars/teams and how they train . Quality work 👍

[@nickcustodi592]

I feel like you both have a fair stance on doping in this sport. You understand how the use of these substances impacts training and performance, but don’t glorify it. Likewise, you don’t allow it to detract from the athletes’ talents and hard work and I really appreciate both of those things. It’s always interesting to me how quick some people are to demonize athletes who dope, yet they have no understanding of the type of pressure there is for them to outperform their opposition. You guys have such great quality content and I’d love to hear your insights on the rise of Italian weightlifting!

[@TheSkatingreptile]

😁 Just had to sneak in a vid of Nicu, didn't ya? Two things I would like to mention on this topic. For one, I would say that the performance of the Russian team as a "clean" nation has been (imo) pretty good. I don't believe the Russian team has used much after returning in 2018. For some on the team now, they may well be lifetime natural. I've long suspected if we were to take PEDs out of the equation entirely, Russia would still be at the top. They're just now in the situation that German weightlifting was post-Steiner and Frank Mantek. Still, we've seen some really good German athletes come out lately. It might be wise for the Russian team to look at how Germany has had a soft comeback the past few years. The Russians are definitely aware of the situation they are in. Enough to where Dmitry Klokov ran against Maxim Agapitov for RWF president noting the drop in performance. For the other part, I think one of the more insightful points about Russian and Soviet weightlifting came from Vyacheslav Yarkin on his KZbin channel. In Russia, this is probably thought of more but it's important to remember there's a separation between Soviet and Russian weightlifting. Take the 1992 Olympics for example. The Unified team took home 5 gold medals. If you were to put them to the countries they are now, only 1 gold medal for Russia. The other 4 go to Armenia, Moldova, Georgia, and Belarus. Overall medalists (including Samadov who rejected his Bronze) come out with 5/9 being Russian. Before this, you'd have to look at Olympics when the Press was still a lift to find a time when the majority of the Soviet medalists were Russian. Not to mention, the 1992 team supposedly favored Russians. The most famous example was Kakhiashvili writing in his 235 C&J after being held back in the snatch so Syrtsov could take gold. A lesser known one being Samadov was sent despite Sergey Li and Altimurat Orazdurdyýew having a better chance at beating Pyrros Dimas. I've heard that Pyrros said at one point if Orazdurdyýew went to the '92 Olympics, he would not be a 3-time gold medalist. This isn't to say there has been no fall in Russian weightlifting performances. I think Yarkin acknowledged it. But it is to say that Soviet weightlifting is also the history of 14 other countries and we see a lot of success in them now. Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Turkmenistan are seeing big improvements lately. Ofc, there are other factors in why the other ex-SSRs are doing just as well or better than Russia has in the sport. External politics likely won't get in the way of an athlete from Kazakhstan the same way it will someone from Russia. But I think it's something worth acknowledging when looking at the sport post-СССР and the role of Russia in it. Probably more relevant to a Russian audience though. This comment ended up being much longer than I anticipated. Russian weightlifting is awesome. You guys are awesome. Let's hope they find their way back to the center stage again.

[@Ckjohn77kg]

thank you for your contribution!

[@ndondomdaka1100]

Looking forward to the rise of Italian lifting.

[@stephenjlewis1976]

America will get Italy sanctioned too. If it's not for doping, it will be excessive use of pasta and pizza.

[@MaestroJericho]

I'm surprised it wasn't Germany or Spain out of the western nations.

[@christomlinson6068]

Bring back the Sikastan outros

[@jarettmeyer4929]

I don’t know anything about the Italian weightlifting and would love to hear that one. Thanks for the good work !

[@PopEmUpChem]

Lads, this is pure fire. Love this style of content. Nice to see Sikastan HQ looking sharp too. I would love to see some commentary on endurance sports, specifically cycling. All Hail Sikastan.

[@adamjones7891]

Seems like the necessary performance expectation adjustments for Russian athletes have some commonalities to that of an athlete coming back from a severe injury that does compromise performance somewhat. Not expecting quite the same performance and having to overcome frustration when that reality comes in their training. Great video!

[@mattias9411]

Please, oh mighty algorithm, grant Sikastan more views and likes!

[@Dapmasters]

I think we need to feed the algorithm stanazolol

[@fremantlebarbell]

I took test, primo and turnibol, with a squirt of gh and got quite good results in weightlifting. Inspired by the Russian protocol.

[@grymek737]

@sikastrenght, please take a look at Yarkin''s youtube channel, Some time ago, Yarkin senior commented that lifting big weights like in the 90's is not possible anymore. Although I'm not a fan of Yarkin''s technique, the methods used seem to be a mix of those found in Russian weightlifting literature and some of his own ideas. Yarkin had a poor show at the Europeans but he won the Russian Nationals last week (156/185) as an 81. The numbers for all cat, male and female, are way lower than for instance in 2012/2013.Agapitov, Russian Federation President seems determined in showing that they lift clean....

[@sikastrength]

what video in particular did he talk about that?

[@grymek737]

@@sikastrength , kzbin.info/www/bejne/pH-ynH6vnLiLaKs

[@grymek737]

@@sikastrength , latter I can ask my wife to translate.

[@kuhenelan]

"All your favourite lifters are doing it right now, probably while you're watching this video". But, but.... you guys are my favourites.

[@ryanbray6054]

awesome insight and commentary!

[@silly_little_goose]

Would love a video on Italian weightlifting. Please do.

[@vladajakovljev3305]

I'm so happy that America and other western countries don't use steroids. What great role models they are.

[@westham5370]

Are you being sarcastic?

[@tabryis]

​@@westham5370 duh

[@euanmorse]

Worth it to hear Eoin pronounce 'Vasily'

[@justlaura8543]

I would love to see a video on the rise of Italian weightlifting. It's not really talked about here in Italy, I started noticing it after we got some athletes to European and International competitions. Not sure how we got there though XD

[@Keegan3005]

mmm yes I wonder how they got there haha, probably that new snatch technique they must have just discovered :D

[@stevenhewes1990]

Great video.

[@fc4511]

You guys talked in the Q&A about choosing a system of weightlifting, what systems do you recommend, I.e Russian, European, and how do I learn it?

[@Hawkpeter1]

It would be interesting to hear insight from national programs that have already reformed. The history of German WL over the last 30 years, from how things went after unification and then its current very serious anti-doping culture might be a good model to look closely at. Changing things at a club level within a country's federation must be a very daunting task in some parts of the world and Russia certainly faces this.

[@0077viewtube]

Well done on a good video and telling it as it is. Unfortunately steroids are in all sports. Unfortunately some people think just the lifters that are caught are on drugs and that the ones not caught but lifting Only 5% less than the medalists are clean which is impossible. The reality is that true fans of Olympic Lifting would still be thrilled if the top lifters were all clean and lifting less totals because they would still be lifting heavy and have great technique ! Watching the best lifters Snatch and C&J is a great sight :)

[@Pi03k]

Something a little different day but we hope you like it!

[@DredFulProductions]

In Sikastan you feed the algorithm.

[@leonbremer4216]

Maybe about german?

[@DartAleks]

Totally correct about black sheep - I once asked Vyacheslav Yarkin about drug testing: in his case, he is drug tested almost every two weeks, while other countries, like Columbia, are tested at best once in year. Internal situation isn't good at all in Russia. I live in Saint-Petersburg. In 5 million city we only have 3 dedicated weightlifting schools for kids. As an adult, I can only go to two places with strictly weightlifting coaching. Other regions varies, but weightlifting is certainly long past its prime, like it was back in 70s. Professional sport is supported good by our federation, but low-level weightlifting is atrocious. So we can't select best of the best, like Chinese.

[@wrf85]

Commenting on the Moscow championship? Or the juniors?

[@Wayf4rer]

Sikastan doping program has a thing or two to learn from the Russians

[@keldsports8337]

That 500 from Alexeev was so slow, I thought I was going backwards in time 😂

[@jedidiah4004]

Should I run an adjunct anabolic in conjunction with methandroalgorithmalone?

[@Keegan3005]

Surely the "glorious leadership and state sponsored doping" is also occurring in China - have we discussed them? I know you guys made reference briefly in the 81 worlds reaction video but just wondering why we don't talk about what is undoubtedly happening there, similarly with Lasha. Is it because they're popular/fun to watch and good for the sport in the way - Lu is the golden boy after all. Russia/Bulgaria are easy targets, just feel like China gets skipped over in these discussions a lot of the time

[@sikastrength]

If you watch the video we did on Lu regarding why he is still so good one of the reasons we said was the use of PEDs and we did mention in this video that most everyone is doping.

[@TomLaios]

As others have pointed out, Russia is not the Soviet Union. All those former Soviet Republics are now individual countries, so the dominance they had, will never happen again.

[@hiramatangi1736]

Great stuff guys. What this situation also speaks to is how phenomenal lifters like Clarence are.

[@kaliningradtoczechrepublic8162]

Can you ellaborate? I dont know what you mean. Why would Clarence be more phenomenal?

[@hiramatangi1736]

@@kaliningradtoczechrepublic8162 beacause by all accounts he’s a clean lifter and always has been

[@hiramatangi1736]

@@22448824 and?

[@Sealed_Chamber]

@@hiramatangi1736 He's openly stated that he's not natural.

[@GilBatesLovesyou]

I think the problem with Russian strength methodology is instead of sorta linear progression week to week like an American program (ie, adding or cutting reps and weight like an oldschool PL program) they're designed to basically run you totally ragged for 2-3 weeks at a time and then the super compensation comes with a bang on week 3 or 4. I think where lifting without drugs makes Russian style programming is hard is that if you don't recover and supercompensate in those 3 weeks, you get no gains. And that's where the "recovery agents" come into play, to force that style of programming to work for everyone. Whereas I think the classic American style of "periodization" of either linear progression or cutting reps to peak is a lot more predictable to train, and you can linearly gain strength every cycle and ideally from week to week see a gain. I won't say America is now turbo natty saints, but I think the reason we're doing well now is we're not trying to copy Russia, Bulgaria, etc, etc, and we're using our own methodology usually based on that and imo, with a lot less frequency to actually recover, too. In regards to Bulgarian or Russian training frequency, Tommy Kono back in the day had the argument you'd be fine lifting 3-4x a week for 2 hours per session. That's how he himself trained and won medals. His assertion was the reason as he called it "The European Methods" had so much frequency was due to weightlifting being government funded, the coaches needed to think of something to do to justify their full time salaries and the athletes their stipends. Obviously that's not totally true as even if you did just lift heavy 3-4x a week there's always technique work, stretching, massage, sauna, plyos, etc, you could be doing, but the amount of work done in those systems could at least in part be justification to keep their systems funded and going. Even the Chinese senior team I think only does 5-6 main sessions a week now in modern times, and does stuff like bodybuilding and functional bosu ball training, etc.

[@Vsevolod3788]

Don't know where you got this but Russians don't train the way you described. It's a very complicated system with a lot of variation in volume and intensity thoughout workouts, microcycles, mesoscycles to prevent overtraining and staleness.

[@GilBatesLovesyou]

@@Vsevolod3788 Of course an advocate of Russian training would say that, but in my experience with them, with Sheiko and Torokhtiy's program, that's how they work. I've personally had OK results with both, actually, but I noticed in myself the pattern of a "bang" in week 3 or 4 with reduced performance some weeks, instead of week to week gains. I know both Russian and Bulgarian training both ideally want to keep the lifter in the resistance stage of Hans Salye's Generalized Adaptation Syndrome as long as possible to get the biggest gains. Again, this is only my understanding of how it works.

[@corrmick]

@@GilBatesLovesyou Sheiko is powerlifting and Torokhity is Ukrainian, no?

[@GilBatesLovesyou]

@@corrmick Sheiko's been an advisor to the Russian weightlifting team, and while Torokhtiy is Ukrainian I don't believe there would be a large difference in methods. Obviously I'm painting "Russian" training with a broad brush and there's so many different training styles within Russia, within certain classes (ie, Class III trains way different than MSIC.) What I've heard is past MS it's assumed you'll be on drugs and also assumed you'd be a full time athlete, at least within the 1980s USSR parameters. I think Russian weightlifting methods have a LOT of strengths, and I still think the Russian team technically is really top level and "Russian" technique is probably the most suitable for most people. The biggest strengths are in exercise selection and the lift variants to attack weak points, it is a huge overall strength. But the downside is in its large amount of variance of volume and intensity it's not linear enough to really know if you are getting stronger week to week generally, or know if it's too much volume to recover from. And the fact that it was developed with "restorative" use in mind (even without anabolics, the riboxin/neoton, etc type of drugs) since the 1970s, it's hard to know. Even Russian trainers have written they need to pay more attention to recovery and use overall higher reps per set and/or complexes and lower intensities (Charniga has a translated article about such) compared to the 1980s. I dunno, sorry if it's an unpopular/uneducated opinion, but I think "Russian" methods are too hard for most people to properly do, since it's hard to linearly see progress on them and adjust the program as needed.

[@GilBatesLovesyou]

​@Cormac Mannion I feel like perhaps the "best" program is basically Russian in exercise selection and technique, and American in progressive overload. I don't think there's anyone on the planet that really disagrees with the Russian concept of on the whole periodization, as in, basic prep, transition, competition prep, and deload after a competition. Obviously that's very sound and works essentially for all sports and all good coaches do some variation of it. Just my thoughts are regarding at least reps and sets schemes, it seems kinda random at times in Russian programming, and basing it all only on total tonnage or overall percentages in waves imo doesn't really work in an always 100% predictable way for natural lifters. Progressive overload is just way easier to predict and actually have work for naturals, I think. For the Chinese, being fair to them, I'm not saying they are "natty" and it's fairly obvious they're probably on growth hormone variants (even them getting popped on retests for GHRP-2 when it was an unknown drug) I think the Chinese are right in that at least their senior lifters actually don't do a ton of frequency, and they just train 5-6x per week usually with one big session. And the Chinese are of course weird not just in bodybuilding during their basic prep, but even hiring Western functional trainers to have lifters do funny bosu ball stuff and things of that nature during their basic prep. In a Toshiki Yamamoto interview, it was revealed (supposedly) the South Korean team does 70% bodybuilding during their basic prep. I think as a natural lifter you need more of the bodybuilding type stuff without drugs, but the frequency has to overall be lower to recover. Again, to look back to Tommy Kono, as far as his own prep as natural or low dose Dianabol using lifter (5-15mg was the most common dose in his day) he would do 8 weeks prep of just bodybuilding in the 8-12 rep range, then 8 weeks of more classical strength training with the Olympic lifts in the 3-5 rep range.

[@rajatsinha6607]

Doping should be allowed and encouraged in all sports especially at the primary school level.

[@pannonianfit1582]

2016 was crucial year for weightlifting, usa with combine action from china swept away competition like russia, north korea and kazakhstan by bribing the IWF

[@charlesmulliner]

would love to see the rise of italian WL

[@charlesmulliner]

although I think we all know what's driving it...

[@Kustrobot]

Russia can dominate the Trans lifting scene

[@Yupppi]

What the heck is 500 lbs and weightlifting. Didn't basically everyone try to copy russian weightlifting and modify it, so there aren't that many original programs and it would be nonsensical to say that russian weightlifting only works because of drugs or so. Furthermore Sheiko seemed one of the most reasonable in his almost auto-regulated approach and training system. Like by his methods you could train yourself without beating yourself up to ruin.

[@robbiecope4042]

has italy developed a new saucier pasta sauce for their lifters to help them put kilos on the total. On a different note, can you have a look at the french powerlifting team, it seems like they've came out of no where and are dominating. Especially on the woman side. Or is this the result of powerlifting growing and getting the talent, not the sauce.

[@kblkbl]

Meanwhile Lasha's inches away from a 500kg total and no one bats an eye. lol I really wonder how it works for a country as irrelevant in most aspects as Georgia to get away with such blatant display of PED usage with a lifter that was already busted prior.

[@sikastrength]

Possibly one of the many many juicy things we'll just never know about

[@AnI-dz5fp]

What do you mean irrelevant country? 😑 Where were your country when we had wars with greathes impairs of all time.... Where was you? You are sliping on Georgia while we doing something that others could not done ✅ other i mean all other countries 4 milion vs 7 bilion yea irrelevant 😂

[@johnescobar9951]

the russian weightlifting are great

[@liamm3221]

Love the Shaun of the Dead reference!😂

[@pannonianfit1582]

the fans were robbed of 250 kg c&j by ilyin in rio 2016

[@chrislaverick6413]

I dont know but i hate how we act like russia is the only country doing it, aka iran, china, Kazakhstan, uzebekistan ect… if you’re going to ban one you may as well ban the rest

[@noahj5250]

Dope the algorithm.

[@joerapo]

Russia without doping is like America without obesity. It's just not right.

[@Sealed_Chamber]

Damn fucking right.

[@jorgeyormarbendezubecerra165]

Olympic weightlifting is NOTHING without STEROIDS, great video.

[@cosmicalian]

Come on boys help the russians out for once. When can we expect the Sika Stack Protocol coming out to pass some piss tests?

[@sakaue]

Hi, here's a comment.

[@WonderrDogg]

Comment for algorithm.

[@shauncreed1315]

Fire extinguishers save lives.

[@andrewlafontaine9525]

It's sad that the Olympics have an asterisk associated with weightlifting! I'm a natural 44 year old weightlifter at 230 lb body weight. What would you say my C&J and Snatch should be?

[@andrewlafontaine9525]

@@eloiishya That would put me on the Olympic Stage winning 🥇

[@MathiasD4hL]

120sn-140cj. But it really depends on your training age

[@andrewlafontaine9525]

@@MathiasD4hL I'm 44 years old.

[@MathiasD4hL]

@@andrewlafontaine9525 training age is how many years you've trained specifically for weightlifting.

[@andrewlafontaine9525]

@@MathiasD4hL I thought that's what you were thinking and I have been powerlifting for 26 years and two years ago decided to get involved with Olympic lifts. I wish I had been doing them since the 90's. They just weren't popular in the US like they are now.

[@thebeyonder4113]

Compentition

[@b320man]

Weird feedback.. but I think you guys post too frequently

[@Sealed_Chamber]

You've lost your mind.

[@zennappi]

Asdf

[@brettpacker2779]

Russia should go back to being the U.S.S.OR

[@jamessalemi1477]

SIMPLE : VAGUE..EXPLAIN LIKE COWARDS. NO HISTORICAL REFERENCE.