Bent armgate- Dr Herrera solves the mystery of my snatch

Yeah, I know, I started giggling, too, when I wrote the title.

I usually don't post free excerpts from Risto Sports Conferences, but this one is personal....

The Prelude

At the Arnold, another magical moment happened. I had this awesome snatch.  I have to be honest, I've actually snatched as much as 82kg in competition, so this snatch was not even a PR, but it felt like one.  It was so fast, so perfect.  It felt like I was suspended in the air, for seconds, by the bar, before I caught it. Then I caught the bar, and I woke up.  And, I stood up with it thinking, "I better make this lift" (yes, I'm working on positive self -talk).

Anyhow, I held it over head for three seconds, then placed it down for the down signal.  I don't know what came over me, but it was such a euphoric moment, that I had to Tebow to thank God and the Universe for having that moment of perfect resonance with the bar.  Plus, my bro, Carlos Andica, asked me if I would Tebow that day, because he missed it last year.

Suddenly, I had snatched the heaviest weight of my session. People were high fiving me in the warm-up room. Even the coaches of Neysi Barrera of Ecuador, even Diego Salazar, and Carlos Andica, himself were jubilated by my lift.

Then, afterwards, people kept congratulating Dr Herrera and me.  Even John North told me my snatches were fast.  On guy, who studied in Russia, commented that he had not seen a snatch like that since Galabin Boevski versus Markov at the 2000 Olympics, like he was watching a lifter at the Europeans. It was like I had won, I had transcended any other performance. It was crazy and wonderful to be happening.

The Technical stuff
HookGrip kindly posted this snatch sequence on their Facebook page.  I am proud to say that it got more shares than a photo of Fernando Reis's butt.

Ok, it got a lot of shares. It also got a lot of heated debate about the bending of my arms.   I, honestly, can do a technical breakdown for you and the great and Ok things I did in this lift-- and, why not leave this to the expert!

Because hookgrip posted the sequence for free, I'm posting a free excerpt of Risto Sports' last seminar, where Dr. Herrera did a technical analysis of this lift.  You can watch and decide for yourself on "Bentarmgate"  :

The seminar this originally appeared in covered over 12 hours of content--this is just a 3 minute excerpt.

Nat Arem, the guy behind Hookgrip

T-shirt with hookgrip logo
store.hookgrip.com

About a year ago, you may have noticed a page pop up on Facebook posting photos of lifters.  You might have also noticed that something was different.... This site called Hookgrip was posting weightlifting photos not seen elsewhere on the internet-- of big stars like Klokov and Ilin... Then, photos of non-international meets started popping-up.

In effect, Hookgrip is fast becoming an excellent resource for competition photos and even sequences of high level athletes.  Being a weightlifter, it's natural to wonder who's behind Hookgrip and why?

Nat Arem:
Hookgrip was started by Nat Arem. Nat describes himself as someone who loves weightlifting but is more interested in being strong than a great weightlifter. In 2010, Nat found weightlifting through a Crossfit in the Cayman Islands. He mentioned he heard weightlifting was good for him, so he wanted to try it. Later, he would move to Las Vegas and train with John Broz.

Nat, now, lives in Philadelphia where he trains at a CrossFit; again, more focused on improving his Crossfit total- squat, deadlift, standing press- than being a weightlifter.  Nat is an entrepreneur who  develops websites with affiliate marketing ( Note, Hookgrip is not his primary source of income).  Along those lines, he strikes me as a very analytical, sensing, person; certainly, someone who would be excellent with coding.

Here's some Q&A with Nat:

Gwen: Why take weightlifting photos and post them on HookGrip?
Nat: I do it because I like it. If people like it, then great. I do not care if other people like Hookgrip.

Gwen: Really, you don't care if people don't like Hookgrip?
Nat: I do it because I like it.  I care if people don't like the photos, then I would want to know why.  Otherwise, I don't care if people like Hookgrip.

Nat Arem with US lifter Donny Shankle

Gwen: That shows you have a lot of self confidence, and I admire that.  How did you decide to create a site like Hookgrip?
Nat: ... Think of something that you're passionate about and what's missing in that field and go do that.

Gwen: Why do you love weightlifting?
Nat: That's a good question. ... Because there is not that much luck involved. People can brag about being a good basketball player, but its hard to tell if they really are good or bad. It's subjective. In weightlifting, it's pretty easy to rank people. For example, a bad lifter can't snatch more than 75% of their bodyweight.

Gwen: Wow, that's a loaded answer. What do you think about superheavyweights. The person that comes to mind is Holley Mangold and the controversy that surrounded her? (at the 2012 Olympic Trials, Mangold snatched 68% of her bodyweight and made the US Olympic Team.)

Nat: A 56kg guy doing 3 times his bodyweight is impressive. But, you can't dismiss a 94kg lifter for not doing triple bodyweight. The amount of weight a 94kg lifter lifts is impressive.

We then side bar on the epic battle of Chisigev versus Steiner at the 2008 Olympics, where Steiner, who weighed more than Chisigev, just edged out Chisigev for the Gold.  To paraphrase, Nat believes that super heavy weights are a different case. That Chisigev knew the rules of the game when he competed against Steiner, that he could increase his bodyweight.

Gwen: Well, what about our female supers and the controversial articles on Mangold?  Do you think there's an optimum bodyweight? Hripsime Khurshudyan, Tatiana Kashirina, Jang Mi Ran have all been very successful weighing between 87 and 110kgs. Even Lulu Zhou snatches 16 kg over bodyweight?  There are many studies that show too much bodyfat hurts explosiveness.

Nat: Yes, I think there is an optimum. I think that Mangold's weight actually hurts her performance because she can't hit the positions that she needs to hit.

It's fair to criticize USAW who put the Olympic qualification rules in place. It is not fair to criticize Holley Mangold who was playing by USAW's rules.
Side note, Nat has excellent recall of weightlifting stats, truly someone who pays attention to his subject matter in a rational, analytical way.

Gwen: What do you think of US weightlifting?
Nat: I assume that it would be naive for me to believe that other nations are not on drugs. I hold US, Canada, and the UK on a different level.

Other interesting facts about Nat and hookgrip:
- He decides which competitions to go to based on which lifters will be there and if he has photos of them already.
- Cost is also a driver. In 2012, it was cheaper by >50% to go to Guatemala for the joint Pan Ams and Junior World Championships than to Collegiates in Shreveport.
- He has around $20,000 worth of camera equipment and has a formulaic process down for making sequences (I find sequences take for ever to make...maybe he can make a macro...)
- His goal was not to sell weightlifting photos. Seemingly by accident, people ask him for posters and photos of their boyfriend's or themselves lifting
- He hopes to one day make Hookgrip into a "real website" that is a resource for weightlifting
- It appears that many of his likes on facebook are from CrossFitters

Overall, I admire that Nat is not afraid to be open and honest about his opinions on weightlifting. I admire that he follows a passion, whether the weightlifting world supports it or not.

Check out Hookgrip on facebook or online at: https://www.facebook.com/hookgripdotcom or www.hookgrip.com