Training should be individualized by age and
sex, emphasizing lean muscle preservation and
body fat management, which I think are byproducts
of the movement patterns relative again to the
individual. Anthropomorphic data can guide training
adaptations, optimizing lift techniques, inform
best methods for those coaches to employ. Hi,
Andrew. It's my pleasure to have you on Evidence
Strong Show. If you could briefly introduce yourself.
Sure. My name is Andrew Hatchett. I'm a professor
of exercise and sports science at the University
of South Carolina Aiken. What is your relation
to Olympic weightlifting? I am also currently
a competitive Masters Olympic weightlifter. All
right. So today we're talking Masters weightlifters.
Let's start with some kind of definition. A Masters
Olympic weightlifter is defined as an individual
aged 35 years or older who trains. or competes
in Olympic weightlifting events. It's age groups
and the individuals. you know, can range obviously
baseline at 35 and they compete sometimes beyond
the age of 90 in sanctioned competitions. And
that probably needs to be emphasized as well.
Could you tell us a little bit more why, why
you decided to study this population? As a competitive
Olympic weightlifter, I too, and a faculty member,
researcher in exercise science, I went looking
into the literature to see if this population
was studied very often. And I think as you've
alluded to earlier, that it is. not a heavily
studied population. So I started looking for
absolute baseline understanding of what masters
Olympic weightlifters were. What did they, you
know, what was their profile? I could find anthropomorphic
profiles for youth Olympic weightlifters, international
Olympians, if you will, senior Olympic weightlifters
and alike, but nothing for masters Olympic weightlifters.
Thus the interest. I saw it, what I viewed. as
a need. And I sought to, you know, fill that
gap in the literature. So what we did is exactly
that. We developed, or what we believe we developed
is really the first anthropomorphic profile of
elite masters Olympic weightlifters. What does
elite mean? Let's clarify also. Oh, absolutely.
So for the reporting of this information, elite
was used because we collected information or
these statistics at the World Chain. in 2022
in Orlando, Florida. So in order to make the
world championships, these individuals had to
qualify for it. And to hit that level of qualification,
we believe that they could be considered as being
elite. How did you set up the study? Okay, first
off and foremost, I have to really emphasize
the quality of... the Masters Olympic weightlifting
community. I reached out to the president of
USA Masters Weightlifting, Michael Cohen, and
asked him if it would be possible to collect
information at the World Championships in Orlando.
There was zero hesitation. He said, absolutely,
what do you guys need? We discussed the format,
and he was able to provide us an entire room
in the hotel, not a room in the hotel, if you
will, a hall, a banquet hall. It was a very large
space for us to collect data. So it was very
easy to get access to the event. What we did
in the study, what we collected, or the description
of the study is that it is a cross -sectional
design. And we collected anthropomorphic and
competition data at the 2022 World Masters Weightlifting
Championships hosted in Orlando, Florida. Athletes
were recruited through every channel we could
think of through email. social media, word of
mouth, face -to -face encounters. I even sent
some of my students out into the hallways and
say, hey, see if somebody wants to come in. And
assessments were conducted for this study, along
with a number of other data collection efforts.
So we also had, I believe you've already interviewed
Marianne Huebner from Michigan State University.
And we also had a group from Georgia Southern
University Armstrong campus were there along
with our cohort. All right. Let's go into what
type of tests and measurements did you use to
gather some description of this population? Absolutely.
What we went through as systematically as we
could. So we collected height and weight, body
composition, so body fat, lean body mass. We
looked at circumference measurements, neck, bust,
waist, hip. biceps and forearms, limb length,
shoulder to wrist, inseam. We were able to calculate
body mass index, waist to hip ratio, and a body
shape index. And we used competition performance
metrics, snatch, clean and jerk, obviously, and
then the Sinclair -Meltzer -Faber formula, and
then the Sinclair -Hubner -Meltzer -Faber formula
for female athletes. The SMF is for male athletes.
And that's really what we collected for this
study. Okay, so in terms of... decomposition.
How did you measure that? We used a piece of
equipment called a Fit3D scanner. It is a scanner
that has three infrared cameras. And it rotates
the individual 360 degrees. I believe it uses
bioelectrical impedance. And then based on the
capture of the individual's body, it enters into
an algorithm and the results were deposited to
us. That's awesome. How many people? How many
did you hand down and measure? We had 172 participants
out of, I believe it was 840 that were at the
world championship. So that's approximately a
20%. capture, which we were happy with because
as an Olympic weightlifter yourself, a lot of
these athletes and it being the world championships,
it's a business trip. You know, these guys are
there to, they're there to compete and any distraction
is exactly that. It is a distraction. So we,
we felt very fortunate to get those, uh, that
20%. And again, I cannot speak highly enough
about the population. Everybody was a pleasure
to work with and our, our subjects reign. from
35 to 90 years old. It was an awesome experience
as well. Not only as a researcher and a fan of
the sports and, you know, getting to see friends
and all of that and working with the different
organizations, but the personalities of these
guys was absolutely amazing. I mean, they're
an absolute dream to work with. They are. So
the younger athletes were less inclined to come
in and participate because I think they were
a little bit more business oriented. It came
to that. But the older folks were fantastic.
And when I say older, I would say 45 plus. And
they would just roll in. Some of them would roll
in and say, hey, what is this? Our son at consent
form. Exactly. What did you find in your study?
Sure. So I thought it was interesting. Obviously,
I thought it was interesting. But masters lifters
generally exhibited better body composition than
age matched general population, which is a lower
body mass index. And what's probably more significant
or with greater practical significance is a lower
waist circumference. So what we're finding is
BMI was a statistic that everybody. hung their
hat on. And it's an excellent statistic for what
it means. But waist to hip ratio and waist circumference
are gaining momentum in their significance as
far as practical application is concerned. So
our population also had a lower waist circumference
than aged match general population. Performance
decline with age. We all know that. Before we
go on, this is huge. This is saying people who
went all in, they are serious about Olympic weightlifting.
They go to the... international the highest level
competition which is walls they go there to compete
they go there to win medals get pbs and you know
be the strongest and the most powerful they can
be no matter what age up to 90 you said so and
these people who went all in in this sport so
they probably sacrificed some other things for
it they still come on top in terms of their body
weight and body composition probably because
that's what waist to hip ratio would be saying
wouldn't it correct i agree with you and by no
means do i want to belittle that belittle that
result one thing that we haven't mentioned yet
is that this sport is age and weight categorized
so it is weight specific right with those weight
categories i think males maybe have 11 weight
categories and females maybe i think it's 8 to
10 i'm not sure off the top of my head but i
think it was in orlando it was 10 10 okay all
right yeah yeah yes okay body weight and then
for I think males had one or two more. Okay.
Then that's the difference that's going on in
my mind. It's a sport that is obviously performance
-driven, and it has body weight categories. Serious
competitors, as you say, people that go all in,
have to consider their body composition, I would
believe, have to consider their body composition,
and in an effort to make them as efficient and
as effective of a performer as they can. be or
athlete. I don't know anywhere in the literature
that says if you lift weights, your body composition
shifts in a negative way, right? You gain muscle,
you become a more efficient metabolic machine.
There is no reason, in my opinion, my professional
and personal opinion, there is no reason for
anybody to not lift weights, period. What we're
seeing in research, what we're seeing in the
lay community is a greater emphasis on gaining
strength as you age because it has a functional
application from stability to the ability to
absorb a fall so to let's say yeah uh stability
to resist a fall strength to damper the impact
of a fall to be able to grab a handrail to be
able to you know stabilize yourself against an
external object again what better display of
strength and full movement patterns than Olympic
weightlifting. If you are a truly competitive
Masters Olympic weightlifter, you are going to
pay attention to your body. You're going to pay
attention to your weight. I don't think it's
a bad thing. Yes, some people get obsessive compulsive
with that kind of stuff. But again, it has an
end. You know, I weigh myself every night and
every morning. I want to be within one kilogram
of my competitive weight category because I don't
want to have to cut tremendously for when I compete
next. That does wonders for me, right? Blood
pressure is lowered. Body fat is better than
it was when I weighed 20 more pounds, but I was
a little bit stronger. But my competitiveness
within that weight category was a little bit
lower. You know, I'm playing that game and a
lower BMI, a lower waist circumference with the
idea of adding strength. And you use the word,
it's not only strength, it's power. It's the
application of strength. It's all positive. It
really is. It is all positive. I cannot think
of a negative when it comes to Olympic weightlifting.
I've heard in the past, you know, you don't see
as many older Olympic weightlifters as you do
older powerlifters. I disagree with that. I have
studied that population. I have hung out with
these people. I competed at the Pan American
Championships in May. There were 400 of us just
hanging out in a hotel. That's not true. So from
holding yourself accountable. to training, to
seeing real results as far as performance goes,
to creating accountability for body composition,
for the camaraderie within the community, to
the events in general. It's a fantastic, I think
it's a fantastic sport to compete in. Even as
you get older, I can only imagine that many,
many of us got into it because of CrossFit. We
learned the basic movements. Maybe our engine,
so to speak, for CrossFit and GPP kind of wanes
as we age. And then we dip into things that make
us feel just as good. I love Olympic weightlifting.
I have fun with it. I don't train seven days
a week. I train three or four days a week. It
fits into my lifestyle. It fits into my schedule.
I think it's pretty great. That's the thing.
I think it actually, this is one of the sports
that actually may fit with a busy adult lifestyle
with responsibilities, with, you know, family
obligations. You're absolutely right. It's completely
doable. It does. It fits more nicely into the
schedule than any other type of training I've
done, for sure. You want to hit some more results?
I presume. that the body weight will increase
with weight classes, but did it influence the
lean muscle mass anyhow? The composition, does
it change? Not respectively within weight classes.
To say that, not disparaging any weight class,
but the heavy weight classes are probably going
to be a little bit more disproportionate than
the super light weight classes. But across the
board, body composition held reasonably consistent.
Again, you're going to have two ends, so to speak.
They're not necessarily outliers, but the two
for peripheral points, but really within those
other eight weight categories, because you have
one in 10, within those other weight categories,
body composition remained reasonably consistent
across age group and across sex respectively.
So the other key findings that I think I would
like to mention is Obviously, performance declined
with age, as it does. I even think that you posted
a graphic on that, perhaps. So that's fair, especially
it says the results indicated, especially among
women in their late 40s and late 50s, likely
due to menopause -related changes. Absolutely.
There's one aspect that we haven't looked at,
and I don't think anybody's really looked at,
is menopause is certainly significant. But men
also go through a hormonal decline. at a certain
age and it's called andropause. Nobody's really
looked at that. So potentially a future study.
Height and body fat percentages were significantly
associated with performance across lifts for
both men and women. So the way somebody's built
essentially, right? Male performance was more
influenced by muscle mass and arm circumference
indicating upper body muscles role in their success,
which I believe alludes to female athletes being
more technically proficient in order to be successful.
Again, I'm going to say I'm biased. I married
a great athlete. We have two excellent athletes
for daughters. But as far as movers go, I am
of the opinion female athletes are better movers
than male athletes. Just guys are a little bit
stronger. Women move a little bit better. Performance
decreased with age through though high functional
capacity was maintained. Yes, you decline. but
you were still very good at what you did, respected
with the age. Height and body composition were
significant predictors of performance for both
sexes. I've talked about that. Female lifters
were slightly taller and male lifters slightly
shorter than age match norms, which I found interesting
because when it comes to a power sport, you think,
I think, tighter bodies. if you will, shorter
people, more dense muscle, shorter joint spaces
will be better movers. That's what essentially
it says for men. Guys a little bit shorter are
going to perform well. But for female athletes,
they were a little bit taller than. age match
norms. So again, the elite female Olympic weightlifters
are not only not only have better body composition
are excellent movers, but they're a little bit
taller and excellent movers, which overall indicates
an outstanding athlete. Female participants had
higher body fat and lower lean mass than males,
but physical profiles remained healthier than
general population norms. But it's it's completely
normal for female athletes to have higher body
fat percentages and lower lean mass just because
females are different than males. So all of that
checked out. So those were really the main findings.
And again, good body composition, good movers,
good athletes across all ages and both sexes,
some anthropomorphic, if you will, some interesting
things that, you know, males rely on probably
muscle a little bit more and females rely on...
being better athletes, being excellent movers.
So I thought that was really, really interesting.
Okay. So now I think we need to bring together
all the findings and try to, I will try to get
you to speculate a little bit what it means for
public health. So how, now these are elite. Let's
say I'm an average person who's coming to the
gym and I think I'm not elite. I just want to
get a little bit healthier. Why would I care
about all this? olympic weightlifting why would
i even try what is so good in it from a physical
standpoint when training olympic movements i
believe you get your best bang for your buck
i believe you get range of motion i believe you
get strength and if done at pace you can also
get a level of cardiovascular fitness i think
engaging in compound movements with relatively
significant weight at pace is the formula for
better health. Olympic weightlifting in my experience
is the best example of that. Very well said.
Very well said. How would you frame this message
to the coaches? Training should be individualized
by age and sex, emphasizing lean muscle preservation
and body fat management, which I think are byproducts
of the movement patterns relative, again, to
the individual. Anthropomorphic data can guide
training adaptations, optimizing lift techniques,
inform best methods for those coaches to employ.
Body composition, not just weight or BMI, can
be a primary focus for performance and health
outcomes. As a coach, you need to attend to the
individual and their capacities within those
movement patterns and adjust accordingly. Become
well -versed at being able to program and teach.
adaptive movement patterns, such as instead of
a squat snatch, a split snatch. Instead of a
split jerk, maybe a power jerk. Or even as rudimentary,
a power clean or a power snatch. Learn the progressions.
Teach those athletes. I would love nothing more
than the Masters Olympic weightlifting community
to continue to grow and explode. And I think
it's vital that coaches treat their athletes
as individuals. I'm not a huge fan. So to pivot
a little bit, I'm not a huge fan of cookie cutter
templates, especially for such a dynamic sport.
Yeah, training should be individualized for sure.
All right, let's continue on this line. What
would be your message to masters athletes? If
you are of master's age and you have just the
slightest ambition of learning Olympic weightlifting,
by all means, do it by any way you can. If you
can find a coach, fantastic. If you have one
close to you, wonderful. If you need to find
a remote coach, reach out to the message boards.
People will recommend all the time good remote
coaches. Again, it is the best community I've
ever been involved with. They want nothing but
for your success. You are always competing against
yourself, not against other individuals. It is
the most gratifying sport I've ever participated
in. From having the self -discipline to go and
train on a regular basis, to being proud of myself
for stepping on the platform and in front of
judges at every level. If it's a local meet.
fantastic if it's a state meet okay if regional
national international all it has done for me
personally is made me better you know it's that's
all i can say i have zero regrets engaging in
this sport and engaging with this population.
Excellent. I think that's good for closing. These
are short questions to finish. The first one
is, which one is your favorite lift? Whichever
one gets me white lights. I've been thinking
of this answer for a while. So that is my official
answer. Whichever one gets me at least two white
lights. All right. Where people can find you
if they want to follow your work and even get
in touch or ask a question, where should they
go? Yeah, it's, you know, to get in touch with
me. is andrew at usca .edu. That is the best
way to get ahold of me. All right. Thank you
so much, Andrew. It was a pleasure. Thank you
very much. I'm absolutely honored for you to
ask for this.