The Sounds of Weightlifting

Remember in THE BIG LEBOWSKI, when The Dude is chilling in his 
Valley Apt, drinking a White Russian, and listening to Sound of 
BOWLING on his walkman? 


I do, because this particular scene
shows the importance that SOUND plays in the visualization of 
sports. The Dude, as simple and trashy as he was- which is why 
he is so awesome- was defiantly on to something!  
Sound plays a big part of Mental Visualization, which is a huge 
part of training and competition preparation. 
Close your eyes and visualize anything you like sport wise. 
Do you HEAR the sound that it makes in your head
as the movement plays out? 
This applies to all sports and music and basically anything 
that is a skill.


Recently at the gym a few people have come up to me and made 
comments about the SOUND that snatching and clean and jerking 
make. In a huge gym blasting music and lame conversation, 
the sound of weightlifting still draws attention and sticks out.
Here are two examples of two extremes: 
1) an obviously ignorant person asked me 
"why do you have to jump so much when you lift?" 
"why do you have to make so much noise?"  
I'm not even gonna bother answering that ridiculous question. 
and 
2) Former World champion weightlifter and Jr. World Record Holder 
and current Pro bodybuilder, Silvo Samuel told me that when 
he hears the sound of Weightlifting he get excited or happy and looks 
around to see who is lifting. When he hears the sound something 
instinctual goes off and the love of the sport that once comprised 
his entire life comes through immediately. Sometimes he gives me 
advice and I try to learn as many tips and tricks from him as
possible. He said he is 'always watching and observing.'  
Nothing is more impressive than seeing a HUGE bodybuilder 
effortlessly drop into a 
squat snatch and NOT use his muscles to lift the weight but use 
his MOVEMENT. One of the things he says that I really like is to 
"make the bar fly, like an airplane slowing gaining speed, 
make it fly, effortlessly."


Last night I went to see my friend's band play and someone was 
talking to me and of course I have to mention that I do weightlifting 
and he starts talking about what SOUNDS I make when I lift and 
proceeds to make a bunch of weird grunting and yelling noises. 
I had to laugh and this made me think about the sound of weightlifting 
as well, which had already been on my mind. 
Anyways those to just two of the many comments I receive on the 
sound that weightlifting makes.

First some background info:
If you don't know, usually and ideally, the olympic lifts are performed 
on a Platform, a wooden surface with rubber along the sides to cushion 
the plates on the bar when you drop the bar after a lift. 

this is a platform and bumper plates

The plates we use are called Bumper Plates and are rubber plates 
so what we can drop the bar after a lift , or a miss a lift without 
hurting ourselves, the bar, the weights or the platform. 
You have to be able to MISS a lift and not be scared of hurting 
yourself to fully commit to the attempt. That is why using metal 
plates will not work for weightlifting training. Dropping Metal 
plates on a wooden platform severely damages and breaks the 
wood. Whenever I see someone trying to do Olympic Lifting at 
Gold's Gym on the falling apart platform they have, where I keep 
some bumpers with my friends, I always volunteer that they can use
my plates to save the platform.  All bumper plates are the same size, 
as the big 45 lb plate, but come in 5 different sizes. 5 kg, 10 kg, 15 kg, 
20 kg, and 25 kg. This is because to create muscle memory and 
proper mechanics you needs to have the same distance from the
floor every time. Muscle memory is the training of hands, feet or 
any muscle to repeat an action consistently without having to think.

Weightlifting Shoes-Get Some!

The shoes we wear have a wooden sole and a heel so that it is easier 
to squat solidly and let the knees go forward. The sound of wood 
hitting wood is what creates the lovely sounds of weightlifting. 
BAM!!! 
The sound of dropping weights is quite nice as well.
People do not realize how heavythe bar is 
until they hear the heavy THUD it makes when you drop it.
It is like"WOW I am really overcoming Gravity!" One works so 
so hard to get strong and have good form to lift a little bit more 
weight and gravity ALWAYS takes it away from you so fast and easily.
Charlie says that he can HEAR if my lift was good or bad, from the 
sound my feet make in reference to sound of the plates spinning 
around the bar and what not. Its pretty crazy.


here's a recent video of me so you can hear what I am talking about. these were my better lifts, unfortunately! =)

Here is a video of the Training Hall from the 1996 
Olympic Games in Atlanta GA. 
You can hear all the sounds
that weightlifting makes! Pretty Awesome!  


Also here is an article on Bowling and the sounds 
of bowling, relating to music and what not. 
Its really interesting.