Heavy Athletics for Dummies: Useful Information on the Sport for the Strongest

Heavy athletics is a kind of sport, in which athletes compete in lifting a weight (a barbell). It is one of those competitions, in which physical strength and technique of performing are of key significance. Thus, everyone can lift weights and develop their bodies with the help of perfectly balanced training. It is scientifically proved that heavy athletics does not influence people’s cardiovascular system negatively. In addition, a risk to get injured while lifting weights is not higher than it is in other kinds of sport. That is why the given article is going to present the most important information on heavy athletics.

General Concepts

As soon as the ability to lift this or that load depends mainly on athletes’ weight, there are specific weight categories despite athletes’ age and previous achievements. Thus, these categories look in the following way:

• bantamweight – up to 52 kilos;
• featherweight – up to 56 kilos;
• lightweight – up to 60 kilos;
• welterweight – up to 67.5 kilos;
• middleweight – up to 75 kilos;
• light heavyweight – up to 90 kilos;
• cruiserweight – up to 100 kilos;
• heavyweight – up to 110 kilos;
• super heavyweight – more than 110 kilos.

The information above refers only to the athletes’ clear weights.

The given events are also known as Olympic weightlifting. The following succession should be followed: the snatch and the clean and jerk with two hands. Every athlete is given three attempts to overcome weight. An attempt means performing one snatch and one clean and jerk. Thus, an athlete should inform referees of initial weight. However, for the first attempt, it is allowed to lift the barbell that is either heavier or lighter than the weight he/she has just mentioned.

Once the first attempt is successful, the weight should become higher. Thus, the difference in the weight between the first and second attempts should be less than 5 kilos, while that between the second and the third ones – no more than 2.5 kilos. If all the three attempts are successful, an athlete can deal with a record-breaking try that is 500 g heavier. However, this attempt, either successful or not, will not be considered for this very event.

There are also team competitions. In this case, every team consists of 10 athletes. When it comes to national competitions, team members can be selected based on the overall weight of the team, rather than on weight classes. However, this state of affairs is not acceptable in international competitions. In turn, these events should have a winner in each of the existing weight classes, which generates a point for a team.

Equipment

Usually, heavy athletics events take place indoors. However, it does not mean that it is impossible to see these competitions be held outdoors. Evidently, it is a common thing for summers.

In fact, an act of lifting occurs on a firm wooden flooring that is 8-12 cm thick. Its dimensions should be 4×4 meters to provide athletes with a decent level of stability. In addition to that, there should be either a signal system with 3 white and 3 red lights or 3 white and 3 red flags for judges. The items of red colors mean that an athlete failed to overcome weight, while those of a white color denote successful attempts.

A barbell is the main piece of equipment for heavy athletics. It consists of a bar, plates of different weight, and two locks. Modern barbells can be a bit different from what they should traditionally look like. For example, modern variants do not have plates of 12.5 kilos weight. With this, the plates of 25 and 50 kilos weight are said to be the most popular and requested pieces of equipment.

Athletes should wear a sleeveless, one-piece leotard and special shoes. It is allowed to put on a shirt under the leotard. The shoes are made of thick leather to provide the athletes with a decent level of stability. Every pair of shoes should have 2-3-cm-high heels.

An athlete is allowed to have a 10-cm-thick belt, the elastic bandage on wrists. This bandage should be no more than 6 cm wide and 1 m long. However, the bandage of 8 cm wide and 2 m long can be used to protect knees.

Officials

When it comes to international and national competitions, a judging panel should consist of a chief judge and two side judges who are to evaluate separate exercises. The panel should also include an assistant and an announcer who is to keep time. When some arguable events occur, 5 or 3-man jury should decide on them.

In heavy athletics, both individual and team competitions can take place. Consequently, each of these disciplines has a peculiar scoring system. Thus, the victory of individual competition is given to an athlete who managed to lift a greater weight in total. If there are two or even more athletes with the same weight lifted, a victory is given to one who weighs less. If their weight is the same, the two are considered winners. As for team competitions, its separate members compete in their weight classes, and every victory results in one point for an appropriate team. Thus, a team that has managed to earn more point is said to be a winner.

History

If one wants to find those physical exercises that can be considered predecessors of modern heavy athletics, it is necessary to look much back. Almost every nation has a story or a fairytale describing a man with exceptional power who can lift enormous objects. Thus, the Middle Ages witnessed numerous competitions in lifting some weights that took place among numerous representatives of physical professions.

Thus, it is possible to say that France, Russia, Germany, and Austria were creators of heavy athletics in its modern meaning. At first, athletes were training their powers thanks to various exercises, including boxing, wrestling, hammer throwing, shot putting, and lifting round weights. Thus, there existed an example of a triplethlon:

• stone putting;
• long pressing;
• freestyle pressing.

In a while, a pentathlon appeared; this discipline included the snatch, pressing, clean and jerk with two hands, as well as snatch and clean and jerk for one hand.

The International Federation of Heavy Athletics appeared in 1920 when this discipline became an Olympic kind of sport. Nowadays, the given body comprises 105 national federations. Heavy athletics European Championships took place since 1896, World Championships – since 1898.