Let’s talk about the best ways to deal with getting bushwhacked in weightlifting, shall we? You might not realize it, but this is one of the most important mental skills you can have in this sport.
 
First, let’s make sure we all understand the terminology. Getting “bushwhacked” is basically the same as getting ambushed. It’s when somebody assaults you, and you never saw it coming. They hide in the bushes and wait until you’re not looking, and then they jump out and whack you. It’s not a straight-up fight where your opponent approaches you directly, giving you a chance to prepare. It’s basically a sneak attack. If you like history and you want to learn about something crazy, read about a guy named Bloody Bill Anderson. He was a Confederate guerilla fighter who basically spent the Civil War bushwhacking any Union soldier (or civilian) he could find.
 
How does this happen in weightlifting? Obviously not the same way it happened in the Civil War. I’ve never seen a gym situation where a lifter is in the middle of attempting a big snatch and somebody jumps out from behind the chalk box and baseball bats their knee (although that would be pretty funny, and I’ve definitely wanted to do it a few times).
 
No, I’m talking about situations where you’re an experienced lifter who’s been working and progressing for years, and then a newbie joins the gym, trains for a short time, and blows you away. This newcomer has barely learned the sport and hasn’t put in a fraction of the time and work you’ve invested, but he/she still flies right past you and lifts weights you can’t lift. This isn’t a longtime rival you’ve battled with. This is a rookie who came out of nowhere and beat you right away. You got your ass kicked, and you never saw it coming. In short, you got bushwhacked.
 
I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Maybe you’ve been bushwhacked. Maybe you’ve bushwhacked somebody else. Maybe you’ve watched it play out in your gym, or on the national level. We’ve definitely seen some high-profile cases of it in recent years, especially with our women’s lifters. The talent level in the women’s division has been on a constant uphill surge for the last ten years. It’s like there’s a new wave of girls every year or two that’s more talented than the one before, and it just keeps going. It happens in the men’s division too, but probably not as often.
 
Here’s the thing…if you stay in this sport long enough, there’s a pretty good chance it’ll happen to you. Even if you’re really good, you’re not above this rule. And it can really screw with your mind and attitude when it happens. You have to work so unbelievably hard to be a good weightlifter, and it takes most people a really long time. Then you get confronted with the sheer unfairness of life when a rookie starts the sport, trains for a little while, and becomes more successful than you.
 
We’re supposed to handle this like the actor who loses at the Oscars. You smile, clap, and shower congratulations on the person who beat you. But what you really want to do is scream F-bombs and punch somebody. Maybe…just maybe…you might get discouraged enough to think about quitting. I’ve seen this happen plenty of times, unfortunately.
Listen, I’ve written about this subject before, but I want to go a little deeper and offer some coping strategies. I’m describing this whole thing in a funny way, but it’s not funny when it happens. Seriously, all kidding aside, this can really twist up your perspective on your own weightlifting…if you let it. Let’s try to find some ways to stop that from happening.
 
The ones who do it

One of the most memorable bushwhacking incidents I’ve ever seen happened with a teammate of mine back in the 90s. I was a member of the Calpian team in Washington in those days, and a newcomer named Melanie Kosoff joined our gym in 1994. You all know her from her married name, Melanie Roach. Mel was around 20 years old when she started with us. She’d been a successful gymnast before, but she was completely new to weightlifting.
 
Like I said, she started learning the sport in 1994. For the first year or so, she was training semi-consistently, trying to decide if she wanted to fully commit to it. Once she finally decided to lock herself in, it didn’t take long. In 1997 (three years after she touched a barbell for the first time), she became the first American woman to clean and jerk double bodyweight, hitting 107.5 kg in the 53 kg class. A year later, she broke the world record with a 113 kg C&J at 53 at the 1998 Nationals. She was the best female lifter in the country, by a mile, and it only took her a few years to get there.
 
And as you can guess, she left a lot of successful veteran lifters in the dust when she did it. We had several women back in those days who had committed ten years to the sport, won national championships, made international teams, etc. They’d made the sacrifices, battled the injuries, fought through the setbacks, the whole nine yards. They’d earned their place at the top of the national rankings. Then Mel came along, trained for a few years, and kicked all their asses.
 
I knew many of these women, and let me tell you, there was some hostility in the air. They were bitter. Then, to make it even worse, more new talent popped up and it kept happening. Tara Nott did the same thing in the 48 kg class. For years, a 60 kg snatch and 80 kg C&J would get you on the women’s world team in the 48s. Then Tara joined the sport, learned the lifts, and started hitting 75 and 95 within a couple of years.
 
Don’t think it’s just the women either. Shane Hamman did it to all us dudes in the late 90s. The guy snatched 157.5 kg at his first American Open, for Pete’s sake. He hadn’t even been doing Olympic lifting for a full year.
 
Now, here we are two decades later, and it’s still happening. CJ Cummings has given us all a nice “life ain’t fair” lesson in recent years, hasn’t he? And think about Kate Nye. Three years of lifting, and she snatches 112 kg at 71 kg bodyweight, winning the World Championship?
 
This is the name of the game in weightlifting. Obviously, the examples I just gave you are the biggest ones in the sport. But think about your gym. Think about the lifters around you. If you’ve been lifting longer than a few years, I can almost guarantee you’ve either done this to somebody else or had it done to you.
 
And what it does
 
No joke, I’ve seen people quit over this. The devastation and humiliation of the whole thing is just too much, so they hang it up.
 
Needless to say, that’s a pretty chickens---t response. You’re not supposed to quit when you get beat, right? You’re supposed to fight back. We all know this. But I think it’s fair to acknowledge just how difficult it is. Even if you’re mentally tough and resilient, getting bushwhacked like this can really get under your skin. It discourages you, and it’s very hard to be a good weightlifter when you’re discouraged.
 
Because we all compare ourselves to others, don’t we? We’re all competitive. We don’t like the idea of somebody else being better than us, especially when we think we deserve it more. We’ve worked longer than they have. We’ve sacrificed more. We’ve paid dues they haven’t paid. So goddamn it, the fruits of victory should be OURS. We’ve EARNED it, and THEY HAVEN’T.
 
None of this is unreasonable. It’s not crazy thinking. If you feel like this deep down inside, don’t feel bad about it. It’s human nature. And it’s based on fairness, which is something we all believe in. The people who work the hardest should get the most. It makes perfect sense.
 
And that’s the problem with sports, brothers and sisters. Nothing is based on fairness. Let me tell you what’s actually going on when you get bushwhacked. The person who bushwhacked you…do you know why they passed you by? I’ll tell you the answer, although I promise you’re not going to like it.
 
They passed you by because they’re more talented than you are. I’m sorry if it hurts to hear that, but it’s the cold hard truth. If Athlete A trains the Olympic lifts for five years and snatches 85 kg, while Athlete B trains for eight months and snatches 105 kg, Athlete B has more talent and ability. It’s got nothing to do with work ethic, desire, or any other kind of internal qualities. Athlete A isn’t losing because of some personality defect. Athlete B is just more talented.
 
I can kinda understand getting annoyed about this, but only to a limited extent. Anybody with common sense should understand what’s going on here, and the pointlessness of letting it bother you too deeply. Sure, you can be pissed. Sure, you can be jealous. But for god’s sake, why in the world would you get discouraged? YOU didn’t do anything wrong. You aren’t lazy. You aren’t a bad person. The bushwhacker was just blessed with more tools than you.
 
If you let this discourage you to the point you’re thinking about quitting or taking a negative attitude towards your own lifting, THAT’S the crime. THAT’S when you’re letting yourself down and being weak. You’re letting your own game slip for a stupid reason.
 
The best way to avoid getting mentally whipped by a bushwhacker is to simply have the proper mindset and perspective on how athletic events work. Usain Bolt ran faster than anybody in history because he’s the most talented runner ever. There’s nothing there to be angry about.
 
And there might be a bright side
Remember Melanie Roach? One of the lifters she bushwhacked was Robin Byrd. Robin hadn’t lost at the nationals for over a decade before Mel came along. She’d been best lifter every year, world champion, US record holder, etc. She was the top female lifter in the United States. And she was one of the girls Mel demolished during that 1997-98 run of success.
 
Want to know what Robin did? She upped her game. She shifted her training up to a harder level than she had ever known before. And do you want to know what happened then?
 
Robin made the 2000 Olympic Team. She was 30 years old, and she did the best numbers of her career. Mel got a back injury in 2000, and it knocked her out of Olympic contention. Robin got bushwhacked, but she still wound up on top in the end, through sheer determination and a complete refusal to give up. I knew Robin pretty well. She was married to one of my best friends. I saw a transformation in her after Mel blew by her. Robin was never lazy, obviously. But the adversity of getting knocked from the top of the heap put a chip on her shoulder that she carried for the next three years. It’s what got her to the 2000 Games.
 
Mel eventually came back from the injury and made the Olympic Team herself, in 2008. Eight long years she had to wait for her moment in the sun. Do you see the lesson in all of this? I hope so.
 
Bushwhacking is something that happens with athletes. It’s part of the game. But the way an athlete responds after suffering a defeat or setback is, and always will be, the bottom line. Robin got knocked from her position as our top female lifter. How did she respond? She dug in her heels and fought with everything she had, and she finally got her moment in the sun.
 
Mel got to have her big Cinderella phase during the early years when she was bushwhacking everybody, but the lifting gods made her suffer too. It was ten long years between that world record 113 kg C&J in 1998 and her Olympic Team moment in 2008. Just like Robin, she never gave up.
 
That’s where you come in. Fight like hell, to the death, for the things you want. Pay the price, and don’t ever let yourself back down from a challenge. Maybe you’ll wind up on top, and maybe you won’t. That part doesn’t matter. The fight is what matters. Never forget that.