Interview with Ben Claridad – Weightlifter

70’s Big Podcast interviews weightlifter Ben Claridad.

Topics

– 2011 Nationals (click here for Ben’s recap)
– The importance of competition experience (and how many meets he has done)
– California Strength
– General weightlifting philosophy
– Coaching
– Art

Regarding coachng he emphasizes the importance of having a base of musculature and strength.

To achieve this, beginning lifters should be doing more variations for the first 2-3 years.

That means doing all kinds of pulls, snatches, hang snatches, power pulls, RDL, overhead squats, rack suppurts, jerk supports, bench press etc…

That will put some muscle on you. Once you get to the higher numbers you start to do specialize and focus more on the main olympic lifts.

Here are all 6 of Ben’s attempts from the 2011 USA Weightlifting Nationals.