There's a Sea Change Coming to Weightlifting
There’s a new era of weightlifting happening right now.
For the longest time, weightlifting coaches have known that for REAL success to happen, colleges need to have weightlifting programs in place.
Coaches need to be able to show that weightlifting CAN actually get kids scholarships. Without that, we only get to recruit lower-level athletes, hobbyists, and the rare few that truly love it.
I had the opportunity to talk with Travis Mash, owner of Mash Elite Performance, who has just announced his partnership with Lenoir-Rhyne University to create one of the country’s best weightlifting programs. I was blown away by what he plans to do with the program. Not only is he looking to develop world-class athletes, he’s also going to do things like entrepreneurship development so that athletes can actually graduate with useful skills that they can use to promote themselves as athletes, develop businesses, or be employable post-college.
It’s been a long road to get where we are now. Just a short 6-8 years ago, almost nobody knew what a Snatch and Clean & Jerk were. When you said you were a weightlifter, people asked:
“How much ya bench”?
But now, Florida Girls Weightlifting is an INSANELY popular sport. There are 1000+ competitors across the state who are moderately trained in Clean & Jerks, and while many of the competitors are multi-sport athletes, it’s important to understand that of all the high school football players, volleyball players, softball players, or track and field athletes, that maybe 20% are actually going to continue after they graduate high school. These athletes NEED to be training the Olympic lifts under good coaches to ensure that if they don’t get scholarships for their sport, weightlifting can actually be a great backup plan.
With the development of programs like Lenoir Rhyne, LSUS, NMU, and others, I can actually talk to parents and athletes and have them take this seriously.
I’m excited to see where this goes over the next few years, but I expect you will see universities recruiting hard for weightlifters at high school competitions and local meets.
If you are a sport athlete, youth cross-fitter, or youth weightlifter, the biggest thing you can do to set yourself up for success is finding a good coach who’s got your back and is looking out for your best interest in the long term. Learning to be great at weightlifting may not seem like it’s beneficial on the field/court, but it can pay off if you put in work early on.
Hopefully, you found this useful! If you’re interested in any of my coaching or programs, you can find them here! Otherwise, make sure to join my free discord to get access to form checks, weightlifting advice, and stay up to date on program launches, events, and other cool stuff!
-Coach Brian