Olympic weightlifting can be a brutal sport. The keyword there is can, but it does not have to be. Olympic weightlifting has one of the lowest injury rates out of any other sport contested at the summer Olympic games.
 
There is no statistically convincing evidence in the scientific literature that weightlifting is particularly hazardous. The overwhelming impression from the literature is that weightlifting is safer than many other sports, certainly when supervised by quality and competent coaches. Weight training has become commonplace today due to the numerous benefits associated with it which has sparked great interest for the sport of weightlifting as we are now seeing more masters lifters competing than ever before. If a lifter wants to compete at a high level into their late thirties then they will have to pay close attention to their recovery, prehabilitation, and program structure. 
 
What’s the point of our athletes training if they are not able to fully recovery between workouts? If you have access to multiple recovery modalities, are you taking full advantage of them post training? Maybe you don’t have the money for fancy modalities such as pneumatic compression boots or access to a cold tub, jacuzzi, or sauna, but one thing you can help your athlete control is the quantity and quality of sleep they get every night. I suggest using heart rate variability (HRV) as a tool to monitor an athlete’s recovery each morning. This is another modality that is expensive. However, it is a great way to regulate an athlete’s training and get a better picture of their overall recovery.
 
Prehab, short for prehabilitation, has become commonplace in the strength and conditioning community, mainly due to the benefits of it and the detailed and helpful content put out by various coaches and clinicians on social media, such as the “Prehab Guys” through their Instagram account, which is now up to over half a million followers.
 
I personally like to have my prehab routine coincide with my recovery protocol on my off days. I like to incorporate prehab work for the shoulders, knees, hips, lower back, elbows and wrists as these areas of the body take up the brunt of work when weightlifting. I believe it is vital for a weightlifter to keep the tendons and ligaments around the areas of the body mentioned above big and strong as most injuries occur not at the muscle but at the myotendinous junction. The reason is that without proper anatomical adaptation, vigorous strength training can injure the tendons and ligaments.
 
The way you choose to structure your athlete’s training has a direct impact on their performance in training and in competition. There is quite a fair amount of debate out there on what’s the optimal weekly training frequency and or structure. Should we train four days a week, five days, six? The answer is that it is highly dependent upon the athlete and what their coach feels is necessary for maximizing improvements in both competition lifts, which is why program structure is so vital to an athlete’s success on the platform. I was able to qualify for my first senior national championship by only training four days a week. Since moving to four days a week, I have achieved personal records in the total at my last four meets, my strength has gone up and I am thoroughly enjoying the sport and my training now more than ever. One big reason I like the four-day structure is that it manages fatigue very well. Fatigue management is another vital aspect to a weightlifting program. I want myself and my athletes to enjoy training for the sport because most of the time spent in this sport is spent training. If your athletes are not enjoying the training, then why train them?
 
No matter the level a lifter is at or what they aspire to achieve in the sport, I always program with their health and longevity in mind. I am sure you can think of a least a few lifters either at the elite level in the U.S. or a novice who you do not see in the sport anymore because they either got injured too many times or just got burnt out from the sport and can no longer move well to lift big weights. As stated earlier, weightlifting is a safe sport and yes, it does bring a lot of stress on the body as a whole. However, as weightlifting coaches we need to pay close attention to our athletes’ little nagging injuries that pop up here and there and ask ourselves is it due to the way they move, a programming variable (i.e. squatting frequency), their recovery, their weaknesses, etc. If our athletes are constantly hurting, that means they will not perform up to par each training session, which for some athletes can be demotivating and negatively impact their mentality towards the sport. A high level of motivation is essential for maintaining participation in sports.
 
In my opinion, an athlete possesses the ability to compete at the highest level in their sport for as long as they desire if they are able to take care of their bodies in the process of reaching the top. For example, Drew Brees is still able to break countless records and compete at such a high level at the age of 40. Now, it’s partly due to the amazing athletes who have blocked for him over the years, but also due to how he takes care of his body, how he meticulously plans for games and his athletic ability to elude tackles or hits from opposing players. Legendary boxer Floyd Mayweather is another example of this. His last fight against Connor McGregor was at 40 years of age and what he attests to his longevity and success is his dad’s boxing philosophy. In a pre-fight press conference in 2017, Floyd said that when his dad first took him to the boxing gym as a kid he told him, “the less you get hit the longer you’re going to last in the sport.” If you think about it, this should apply to weightlifting as well. This is a big part of my coaching philosophy, not just as a weightlifting coach but as a strength and conditioning coach as well. I want to get the most out of an athlete’s training while putting the least amount of stress on the body as possible. But what is that amount? The amount lies directly in the art of individualized programming. 
 
Age is just a number, and two names come to mind when I think of this in the sport of weightlifting and those are Kristi Brewer and Jason Bonnick of the United States. Kristi Brewer is 38 years of age, lifts for Team Juggernaut and is coached by Max Aita. Kristi started weightlifting at 34 and just recently made her international debut for Team USA at the 2019 San Diego Open and will be representing Team USA again at the IWF Roma World Cup in Italy in January 2020. I asked Kristi some questions regarding her favorite prehab exercises and how she recovers from her training sessions. Kristi performs a great amount of hip mobility drills, which is crucial for hitting proper positions in both lifts and helps keep the knees, hips, and lower back healthy. She attributes most of her recovery to stretching and her kids as she is constantly running around and playing with them. Kristi also told me that she loves testing her limits and will continue to compete and train as long as it makes sense for her and her family.
 
Jason Bonnick is 38 years of age, lifts for Beauford Weightlifting/Team Divergent and is coached by Ray Jones. Jason started weightlifting at 31 (first time ever doing a snatch) and has since made four international teams, which includes two senior World Teams (2018 & 2019) and two senior Pan American championship teams (2017 & 2019). Jason was kind enough to give me some insight into his prehab routine and what he credits his ability to compete at a high level in this sport even as a master’s lifter. Jason’s prehab consists of a series of isometric exercises coupled with varied intensity intervals running/rowing or on the assault bike. Post-workout he engages in a ROMWOD routine and contrast therapy (cold plunge/jacuzzi or sauna). Jason always gives feedback to coach Ray on how his body feels so he can adjust his training accordingly. Jason told me that he feels great and that he’s not sure how long he’ll be able to compete but what he does know is that he is just getting started and he gives God all of the glory and credit for what he has been able to do with his body.
 
Part of the reason why both Kristi and Jason are able to compete at a high level as master’s lifters is because they started the sport after they turned 30. Their bodies do not have the wear and tear of a 38-year-old weightlifter who’s been competing in the sport since they were 18. However, this does not mean that a 30-year-old veteran weightlifter will not be able to compete at a high level in their late thirties. The legendary Chinese weightlifter Lu Xiaojun will be 36 years old when and if he competes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, and is still breaking senior world records, most notably the clean and jerk and total 81-kilogram records at the 2019 IWF World Championships. It all comes down to the approach an athlete takes to their daily recovery, their training frequency, intensity, program structure, and how they choose to take care of their body and minds outside of weightlifting. 
 
Bottom Line
 
Always program with your athlete’s healthy and longevity in mind, listen intently to their concerns regarding injuries and program accordingly. I want to see more athletes like Jason and Kristi compete at a high level into their late 30s. I has clearly made a positive impact on their lives and they are grateful for weightlifting. And yes, this is possible. Please do not get stuck in the mindset of “once I turn thirty everything goes downhill.” We see people compete at a high level in their late 30s in more brutal sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and football. Yes, these sports are more lucrative, however, if your passion for the sport is strong, money should not be an issue. Just because something may seem impossible for someone does not mean that it cannot be done; they just have not done it yet.