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2015 USA Nationals *Highlights*

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Here are some highlights of the 2015 USA Weightlifting Nationals.

+105kg:

Caine Wilkes going 186 + 230

94kg: Jared Fleming snatches 170kg for a new American record.

New American record on snatch from our good friend @jaredF94!

A video posted by Caffeine And Kilos (@caffeineandkilos) on

15 year old CJ Cummings Clean & Jerked 175kg at 69kg! Whut?

This is a new USA record for the Clean and Jerk and Total (131/175/306). For reference this is 2kg over the Youth World Record in the Clean and Jerk.

Also Snatched 131kg!

About Gregor Winter

Hi, I run ATG.

Follow me on instagram @gregorwinter (and ATG @atginsta).

Comments

  1. Helder says

    Amazing talent!!! But according to the rules, the athlete should stand with straigth legs.

  5. T Bone says

    Not saying this to hate but imagine how amazing this kid could be if he worked a little more on technique. I mean he is already amazing and strong as hell. He’s also only 15 so let’s hope he continues to grow in proportion to his talent. However, I can’t help but think every time I see him C&J that he is just throwing away kilos when he jumps back like that.

    • bp says

      I think CJ’s technique is absolutely fine, it’s obliviously working for him. Jumping back on the snatch or the clean isn’t necessarily a bad thing, there are more than a few international level lifters who do it. Not to mention his jerk is like butter.

      • T Bone says

        I’d have to disagree with you there. There have been quite a few coaches and lifters who have said that jumping back (a significant amount) shows you are devoting at least some of your force vector behind you. Obviously you want to direct your force vector as close to perpendicular to the ground as possible, maximizing the upward force on the bar.

        As far as international level lifters who do it, there is a difference between a couple centimeters back and the few inches CJ does. I can’t recall any top international lifters off the top of my head that jump back that much. And I’m not saying that to be a wise-ass, I just genuinely can’t think of any. All of the top lifters in their class for C&J that I can think of definitely do not jump back a significant amount (Ilya, Lu, Liao, Apti, Tian, Albegov, etc). I mean, Lu’s feet barely even come off the ground. If anything, some of the top Iranian’s jump forward when they’re near their 1RMs.

        I was merely offering constructive criticism. Yes, his technique is working sufficiently for him (at the national level). Do I think his current technique is optimal and maximizing his talent? No. And when we are talking about competitions on the international scale you better believe every single kilo counts. If he goes up against a Russian or a Chinese team member who is just as strong and talented but has picture perfect technique, they’re gonna beat him 9/10 times.

        • Jerker Karlsson says

          I think Galabin Boevski jumped back even more in the clean, and he was among the absolute best. I have no idea if it is good or bad, but some lifters seem to prefer it.

          • T Bone says

            Thanks for pointing that out. I always forget about the older lifters since I’ve only been watching weightlifting intently for about 3 years. I do watch some clips of the late 90s when I surf youtube, but definitely not as much as I should. Interesting, it actually looked like Zlatan Vanev jumped back even more than Galabin Boevski. I will say though that they both looked extremely solid and balanced when they did. It still appeared to me that they moved back less than CJ does but who knows. Not every single lift will be perfect, however I’ve seen a number of CJ’s C&J’s (lol) where when he moves backwards his weight comes down on the ball of his foot during the third pull. I don’t know why but it looks unstable to me. But y’all are right, I’m just a keyboard critic. Only time will tell whether his technique will matter.

        • anon says

          His body type is vastly different to many lifters, normally proportioned legs but long arms. His technique needs to be different as well. Everything you say applies to bachriomorphic body types, which is the short limbed people. This body type makes up 80-90% of the asian and caucausian population

        • bp says

          Jumping back in the snatch is much more common than jumping back in the clean. There are a good number of international level lifters that jump back in the snatch. Luis Mosquera and Marcin Dolega jump back a good bit. There are fewer elite lifters that jump back in the clean, but none the less some still do. As you guys mentioned below Boevski and Vanev both jump back in the clean, more so than CJ in my opinion. Some other lifters that jump back in the clean are Ivan Chakarov, Gleb Pisarevskiy, Erkand Qerimaj, and Hysen Pulaku. Remember in weightlifting there will always be outliers that defy the rules of “optimal” technique and still lift huge weights and become world champions. In America there tends to be an overemphasis on analyzing every minute detail of the snatch and clean & jerk. All of this is just my two cents, I’m just glad the U.S. finally has another lifter that can potentially win some medals at future worlds.

          • T Bone says

            Oh no I definitely agree with a number of your points there. I do have my own issues with over-analyzing technique when it comes to my own lifting. However, I do like having these kind of discussions because I find the technicality of the olympic movements fascinating. Personally, I don’t care nearly as much about the amount of weight being lifted as I do thinking about the movement science behind it. I’m in the science field by trade and could talk endlessly about the kinesiology just because it is so interesting to me.

            I will say after watching the videos of Gleb and others mentioned above that (as I said in my previous post) those lifters look infinitely more stable in the catch and bottom position than CJ does. Again, he is 15, and as you said, I’m very excited to see how he develops. Thanks for the interesting and informative discussion.

        • Josh Pfau says

          Just because it surprises me, are you saying you’d rather see a lifter jump forward than backward? I would think the opposite would be preferred but I’d be interested to hear your reasoning.

          • T Bone says

            Oh no I wasn’t trying to suggest that. Theoretically I don’t think you should move forward or back. I have the impression that your center of gravity should really not move much if at all. If you were to choose between the two, moving back a little bit is definitely better than having to chase the bar. I was just saying that at first glance it seems that CJ really jumps back pretty far. And if you watch his feet he comes down on his forefoot/it appears his weight is shifted a little forward relative to his feet. I don’t really know but he didn’t appear that stable (in comparison to other world class lifters we are talking about). But that was just my initial opinion. I could be wrong.

      • mrtn86 says

        sorry, if you snatch less than 75% (!!!) of your clean&jerk, you obviously cannot say the technique is working. quite the opposite, there have to be significant problems, because his snatch numbers are lacking consistently in relation to his c&j (<80%)…
        cummings has absolutely outstanding athletic talent, but his technique and thus his coaches seem to be not on the level of the best chinese, russians, koreans and others (which is not surprising, if you look to other american lifters).
        for me both his high starting position, the bar path and his tremendous jumping back are important points to improve.