The majority of my friends, acquaintances and (likely) rivals in the weightlifting community will argue over just about anything: Bulgarian system vs. Russian system, drugs vs drug free, Chinese weightlifting technique vs. European weightlifting technique, Power or Nah. But one thing they all seem to come together on is giving me a hard time for my platform presence. Anyone who has been at a meet with me will know what I am referring to. I attempt to bring as much aggression as possible to my 6 attempts on the competition platform. I stalk the bar, finding my focus and visualizing the lift. I approach the bar the same way every time, stomp the platform with my first approaching step, spin the bar with both hands, find my grip, set my back, then my shoulders and finally my hips before bringing my head up and getting my air. Then I pull with everything I have, punching my feet through the platform. When I recover my feet together and get my down signal I bring the bar down (with a little aggression) and if its a PR or a target weight you will often hear my celebration the next town over.
I do not lift in this manner to draw attention or to create a show, but instead this is my way of emptying my headspace before I lift. I am someone who tends to overanalyze every aspect of life and this can create doubt. Things like an inconsistent training schedule, nagging injury, stress of making weight, effort of coaching other athletes and even the particular referees that are officiating the meet can crowd my mind and take focus away from the task at hand- which is to lift the weight within the allotted time and according to the regulations. The growling, the pacing, the particular setup are all actions that take focus and that focus is pulled away from anything that could hinder my ability to move the bar or any thoughts that could cause me to doubt my ability to complete the task.
I coach my athletes to create aggression on the platform in order to find clarity of mind. I often work with them to “Set and go” on competition day. Rarely will I cue technique during warm-ups or even during the week leading into a meet. My cues are centered around subjects like finding a focal point, staying patient while still being aggressive and for some athletes providing a simple reminder of how hard they have worked to get to that day. Often my athletes have celebrations that put mine to shame- I will never forget the time I had to carry an athlete off the platform after she hit the weight on her final attempt to send her to the American Open.
Finding aggression (or focus) will look different for everyone. For myself and some of my athletes, it is loud. Everyone in the meet will know we are coming. For others, such as Coach Jake, it is much quieter. A few cues uttered to himself and a quick toe touch before he steps on the platform. Some lifters want silence, others want the audience to make noise. I encourage those reading this to work on developing their own method of finding aggression and clarity when approaching the bar. And, like myself, I encourage you to do it no matter how much of a hard time anyone else gives you for it.
-Stephen Butcher
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