WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.640 listen to the story of your lifters listen to 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:06.980 the story of people in front of you i've walked 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:11.279 into gyms and i've listened to individual coaches 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:14.720 because we've been doing this for for a few decades 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:17.539 now and sometimes i listen to them i say listen 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:20.339 this person might be old but you don't know the 00:00:20.339 --> 00:00:24.760 experience that person brings to the gym Hi, 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:26.820 François. It's my pleasure to have you on Evidence 00:00:26.820 --> 00:00:29.300 Strong Show. If you could briefly introduce yourself. 00:00:29.519 --> 00:00:32.259 Pleased to meet you, Alex. My name is François 00:00:32.259 --> 00:00:35.920 Gravel. I'm a full professor at the School of 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:39.560 Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa in 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:42.219 Canada. I've been involved with weightlifting, 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:46.960 style lifting for, oh my God, close to 50 years 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:51.679 now, since 1977. As an athlete at first, then 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:55.259 a coach, then a coach developer. and also an 00:00:55.259 --> 00:00:58.380 international judge in weightlifting. I was also 00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:03.200 part of a group that rewrote and redesigned our 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:06.280 coaching certification program for weightlifting. 00:01:06.379 --> 00:01:09.239 In a nutshell, that's a little bit my background. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:12.280 Wow. And you also do research in weightlifting. 00:01:12.299 --> 00:01:15.280 I invited you because of the particular paper, 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.760 which is titled, I'm not too old to lift, exploring 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:21.379 lifelong involvement in Olympic weightlifting 00:01:21.379 --> 00:01:24.109 through the serious... pleasure perspective. 00:01:24.430 --> 00:01:27.349 So why this study? Tell me how it came to be. 00:01:27.489 --> 00:01:31.310 Well, many, many years ago, when I did my doctoral 00:01:31.310 --> 00:01:35.310 thesis, I was looking at participation, active 00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:39.590 participation of healthy seniors within a community 00:01:39.590 --> 00:01:43.049 environment in physical activity. And it dawned 00:01:43.049 --> 00:01:45.909 on me back then that most of the research that 00:01:45.909 --> 00:01:48.569 I was reading, and still a bit today, it's getting 00:01:48.569 --> 00:01:50.689 better, but at that time, most of the research 00:01:50.689 --> 00:01:55.829 was focusing on attendance in programs. And that 00:01:55.829 --> 00:01:58.750 caught my attention. And then later on, I kept 00:01:58.750 --> 00:02:00.909 on reading, of course, on the topic. And I realized 00:02:00.909 --> 00:02:03.590 that many of the research were focusing their 00:02:03.590 --> 00:02:06.930 attention on the ones who will start participating 00:02:06.930 --> 00:02:10.870 and within a month or so or 10 weeks or whatever 00:02:10.870 --> 00:02:14.009 will leave the activity never to come back to 00:02:14.009 --> 00:02:16.569 the activity, which is not a bad thing in itself 00:02:16.569 --> 00:02:19.629 because nothing stops us from trying different 00:02:19.629 --> 00:02:23.479 things. But I thought that. most of the benefits. 00:02:24.219 --> 00:02:27.860 from taking part in an activity like a physical 00:02:27.860 --> 00:02:31.979 activity will come in with time and involvement. 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:35.159 And then we started thinking, my colleagues and 00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:39.139 I were thinking, what if instead of looking at 00:02:39.139 --> 00:02:42.259 the ones who decide to move away, what about 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:45.680 the ones who decide to stay and stay connected 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:49.960 to the activity for many, many, many and many 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:52.680 decades? And you'll see when we talk a bit about 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:54.639 the methodology. It's interesting to see how 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:57.699 long people will stay connected to an activity 00:02:57.699 --> 00:03:01.300 and eventually this activity lends itself to 00:03:01.300 --> 00:03:04.020 a community and so on and so forth. So in my 00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:07.620 mind, we were looking from a longevity perspective. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:10.719 We were looking for success stories. And this 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.219 is essentially, that was the starting point of 00:03:13.219 --> 00:03:17.439 our research. And we realized that like anybody 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:20.960 else, individuals who maintain their participation 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:24.610 in an activity. like weightlifting, we also looked 00:03:24.610 --> 00:03:27.810 at martial arts and other form of activities, 00:03:28.030 --> 00:03:31.469 do have the same constraint, the same professional 00:03:31.469 --> 00:03:34.409 challenges, the same family constraint as anybody 00:03:34.409 --> 00:03:38.490 else. But somehow they found a strategy or strategies 00:03:38.490 --> 00:03:41.909 to stay active within their chosen activity. 00:03:42.210 --> 00:03:45.030 So that's in a nutshell. That's how we got going 00:03:45.030 --> 00:03:49.030 in connection with this research. All right. 00:03:49.050 --> 00:03:53.009 So let's go into the weeds. And please tell us 00:03:53.009 --> 00:03:55.169 how you designed the study. Who did you invite 00:03:55.169 --> 00:03:58.629 and how did you go about data collection? We 00:03:58.629 --> 00:04:02.469 handpicked individuals who we knew had been involved 00:04:02.469 --> 00:04:05.590 in the field of weightlifting for many, many 00:04:05.590 --> 00:04:09.669 years. And I was lucky enough to be able to know 00:04:09.669 --> 00:04:12.650 a lot of them because I have been involved for 00:04:12.650 --> 00:04:17.769 many years. And also, as an international official, 00:04:18.029 --> 00:04:21.600 I travel a lot, so I get to meet people. who 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:24.699 have been involved in weightlifting either as 00:04:24.699 --> 00:04:28.459 an athlete, a coach, or an official for many, 00:04:28.540 --> 00:04:31.959 many years. And this is how we managed to gather 00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:35.759 those 22 participants. So basically, the way 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:39.439 we went about, it was fully volunteered. We interviewed 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:45.100 each participant. And having the concept of serious 00:04:45.100 --> 00:04:48.680 leisure or the theory of serious leisure as a 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.699 backdrop, we wanted to... know essentially what 00:04:51.699 --> 00:04:54.819 was their life story in weightlifting and how 00:04:54.819 --> 00:04:58.720 it impacted them as a person and in many cases 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:03.120 in their family life and their professional life. 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:07.199 So now we are at the themes. You had five main 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:09.740 themes. Do you want to go through each one of 00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:12.379 them and play in them a little bit so we have 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:15.519 some kind of understanding how these people, 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:19.279 these special individuals are thinking or how 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:21.199 it... how Olympic weightlifting panned out in 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:23.199 their life. Hold on. I don't have the themes 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:26.199 here in front of me. I can start the themes. 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:28.259 Go with the themes and I'll put the explanation. 00:05:28.699 --> 00:05:31.660 Okay. So the first theme was lifelong passion 00:05:31.660 --> 00:05:34.300 and commitment to Olympic weightlifting. And 00:05:34.300 --> 00:05:36.740 it has two sub -themes, development of serious 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:40.920 leisure career and perseverance. So let's dig 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:44.660 in. Let's dig in. One interesting element of 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:48.720 serious leisure perspective is that it looks... 00:05:48.810 --> 00:05:52.649 at leisure participation as a career. And it's 00:05:52.649 --> 00:05:55.129 interesting that there's a connection made between 00:05:55.129 --> 00:05:58.990 what we tend to look at as being a professional 00:05:58.990 --> 00:06:02.610 career and a leisure career. And what Steben 00:06:02.610 --> 00:06:05.610 suggested is that, well, serious leisure participants 00:06:05.610 --> 00:06:10.009 will plan the evolution of their participation. 00:06:10.050 --> 00:06:15.089 And this evolution will be based on, of course, 00:06:15.110 --> 00:06:17.910 their interest. It will be based on their connection. 00:06:18.029 --> 00:06:21.870 with the activity on time. I've had participants 00:06:21.870 --> 00:06:26.930 who had been involved in weightlifting for 40 00:06:26.930 --> 00:06:30.769 years, but never really competed as others had 00:06:30.769 --> 00:06:33.870 been to the Olympics, came back, kept competing, 00:06:34.009 --> 00:06:37.230 or had been to the Olympics, came back and maintained 00:06:37.230 --> 00:06:39.589 their involvement in a different fashion. But 00:06:39.589 --> 00:06:44.509 there's a sense of organization. And it would 00:06:44.509 --> 00:06:47.600 be, for example, you would start in the... community 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:50.360 as a novice and then you would go as a junior 00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:53.120 athlete and then eventually you become a senior 00:06:53.120 --> 00:06:57.259 athlete and then you move up the stages to eventually 00:06:57.259 --> 00:07:01.339 reach your optimal potential or where you want 00:07:01.339 --> 00:07:04.019 to go with your athletic career. And it's the 00:07:04.019 --> 00:07:07.100 same thing with other type of involvement. If, 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:10.160 for example, you would like to become an international 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:14.019 judge, well, it takes about five to eight years 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:17.259 to get yourself to that level. So there's that 00:07:17.259 --> 00:07:21.300 sense of planning. It's just not something that 00:07:21.300 --> 00:07:24.939 happens by mistake, for example. And of course, 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.899 related to this theme, and it's... It is a very 00:07:28.899 --> 00:07:33.560 central sub -theme to this major theme, the element 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:37.699 of perseverance. And if this is an element that 00:07:37.699 --> 00:07:41.600 came over and over and over again, individuals 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:44.360 will say, well, at first I couldn't do it, but 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:46.879 I kept trying, I kept trying, I kept trying, 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:50.500 eventually I got it. And this concept of perseverance, 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:53.959 I look at it as being one of the key concepts 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:58.779 of a serious leisure involvement. So not to go 00:07:58.779 --> 00:08:01.120 too deep into it, that's how I would look at 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:03.980 this first thing. Theme number two. Theme number 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:07.819 two. Rigorous training arrangements across life. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:12.879 Weightlifting requires a rigorous training regimen. 00:08:13.180 --> 00:08:16.800 Now let me, how can I say, qualify this. There's 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:20.379 a lot of misconception regarding theories of 00:08:20.379 --> 00:08:23.879 coaching, theories of training. And I'm sure 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:27.649 your audience knows about it. it. Rigorous lifelong 00:08:27.649 --> 00:08:32.429 training means that we need to adjust the training. 00:08:32.450 --> 00:08:36.629 If you're a young athlete and you're on your 00:08:36.629 --> 00:08:39.769 progression, of course, we'll talk about periodization. 00:08:40.029 --> 00:08:45.419 Nothing in competition should be. perform without 00:08:45.419 --> 00:08:48.639 being planned before. Every lift you take, you've 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:51.399 decided at the beginning of the season, normally. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:54.340 So there's no surprises. There's no Hail Mary. 00:08:54.759 --> 00:09:00.019 Anecdote. One of the Olympics, I believe it was 00:09:00.019 --> 00:09:05.000 in 2016. I'm awful with names. We had an amazing 00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:08.960 performance of a super heavyweight. I believe 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:12.159 it was from the German team. Matthias Steiner. 00:09:12.539 --> 00:09:14.899 Steiner, exactly. Exactly. I had this picture 00:09:14.899 --> 00:09:18.799 in my mind where he took a 10 -kilo jump, and 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:21.759 that's what I call a Hail Mary, to win a gold 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:25.240 medal. Well, for about four years after, we had 00:09:25.240 --> 00:09:28.980 to teach our new coaches not to do this with 00:09:28.980 --> 00:09:31.840 new... athletes. Steiner had been training for 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.000 years and he was emotionally involved in that 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:37.700 lift and so on and so forth. But when you have 00:09:37.700 --> 00:09:40.139 a young athlete, don't do that. Go on success. 00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:43.960 And this is part of the lifelong training. There's 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:47.139 a curve to follow. If you're an elite athlete, 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:50.120 of course, you'll follow periodization. If you're 00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:52.440 a starting athlete, well, you have to follow 00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:55.460 what we call the long -term athlete development. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.879 You need to learn to move properly. You need 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:03.220 to learn to train properly. You need to learn 00:10:03.220 --> 00:10:06.399 to compete. You need to learn to train to win 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:10.720 and whatnot. And as older athletes, you need 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:13.759 to be humble. Adjust your training not to what 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:16.320 your mind is telling you, but what your body 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.840 is allowing you to do. And this is humbling. 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:23.539 And it is part of the lifelong, structured, organized 00:10:23.539 --> 00:10:28.149 training. Nobody trains heavy all the time. We 00:10:28.149 --> 00:10:31.730 build it up. And this is why after an Olympic, 00:10:32.070 --> 00:10:35.149 we look at often we'll look at the champions 00:10:35.149 --> 00:10:37.850 of the previous Olympics and say, well, what's 00:10:37.850 --> 00:10:42.149 going on? They're way behind, below what they 00:10:42.149 --> 00:10:45.690 did. six months or nine months or a year ago 00:10:45.690 --> 00:10:47.629 at the Olympics. Now they're at the world championship 00:10:47.629 --> 00:10:50.210 and they end up in 10th position, for example. 00:10:50.210 --> 00:10:54.909 It's normal because we go down to rebuild and 00:10:54.909 --> 00:10:59.350 readjust to peak again. So training is for life 00:10:59.350 --> 00:11:02.720 and to succeed in weightlifting. you need to 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:05.799 have a structured training program. Okay, next 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:08.960 one is injury experiences and recovery strategies. 00:11:09.460 --> 00:11:12.360 Oh my God, that was one of the elements that 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:16.460 kept coming back. Weightlifting is one of the 00:11:16.460 --> 00:11:20.720 sports compared to other sports, such as contact 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:24.019 sports, where the level of injuries is lower 00:11:24.019 --> 00:11:27.240 than many other sports. Why? Because it's a control, 00:11:27.559 --> 00:11:32.529 they call that control motion. But you do have 00:11:32.529 --> 00:11:35.710 injuries. Sometimes it could be an injury such 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:40.250 as a tendonitis. It could be lately, I remember 00:11:40.250 --> 00:11:42.789 being at some world championships and there were 00:11:42.789 --> 00:11:46.909 some injuries to the elbows, some injuries to 00:11:46.909 --> 00:11:50.129 shoulders and so on. So it is part of the sport. 00:11:50.269 --> 00:11:55.529 And every time you push the body to... further 00:11:55.529 --> 00:11:59.950 to its limit, well, you're bound to have more 00:11:59.950 --> 00:12:03.090 chances of injuries. So, of course, I believe 00:12:03.090 --> 00:12:06.610 everyone I talked to had at one point in their 00:12:06.610 --> 00:12:11.049 career to deal with some sort of an injury. What's 00:12:11.049 --> 00:12:15.490 interesting is that almost all athletes stated 00:12:15.490 --> 00:12:18.429 that whenever they had injuries, they looked 00:12:18.429 --> 00:12:21.330 at it as being a challenge, not a game -ender. 00:12:21.710 --> 00:12:25.450 And as much as weightlifting is an individual 00:12:25.450 --> 00:12:30.610 sport, these athletes would seek help from professionals 00:12:30.610 --> 00:12:35.129 in order to deal with their injury and eventually 00:12:35.129 --> 00:12:40.019 take on... take it upon themselves to deal with 00:12:40.019 --> 00:12:43.379 the injury so they could come back stronger and 00:12:43.379 --> 00:12:46.059 better at the platform, at the competition, or 00:12:46.059 --> 00:12:48.940 where they were in the club that they were part 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:53.159 of. So essentially, what I found is that they 00:12:53.159 --> 00:12:56.860 will do whatever is needed to get over those 00:12:56.860 --> 00:12:59.840 injuries, which connects with the element of 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:03.080 maintenance of participation, resilience in the 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:06.870 sport. All right. Next theme is self - improvement 00:13:06.870 --> 00:13:10.230 and personal growth? It's a theme that, of course, 00:13:10.230 --> 00:13:12.970 again, it's as if I'm repeating myself, but it 00:13:12.970 --> 00:13:16.669 kept coming back. Weightlifting is, of course, 00:13:16.789 --> 00:13:20.029 an individual group activity. I'll put it this 00:13:20.029 --> 00:13:23.950 way. We live beside other lifters, but essentially 00:13:23.950 --> 00:13:27.610 we have to get within ourselves to be able to 00:13:27.610 --> 00:13:30.750 perform the lift. From that perspective, when 00:13:30.750 --> 00:13:34.289 you challenge yourself in performing a lift, 00:13:34.620 --> 00:13:39.179 you need to recruit all the energy and the ability 00:13:39.179 --> 00:13:42.639 that you have in order to harness that energy 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:47.360 and focus it on the movement on hand. And I feel 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:51.940 it is one of strategy that... weightlifters will 00:13:51.940 --> 00:13:54.980 use for personal growth if for example you're 00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:58.139 impatient you learn to be patient if for example 00:13:58.139 --> 00:14:01.940 you're you're easily you have a short fuse you 00:14:01.940 --> 00:14:05.100 learn to extend the fuse a little bit if For 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:08.980 example, you're anxious. Well, you learn to control 00:14:08.980 --> 00:14:12.919 that anxiety and so on and so forth. So, of course, 00:14:13.100 --> 00:14:17.460 weightlifting is a really good tool to foster 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:20.000 personal growth. And the other one was we had 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:23.120 personal growth and self -improvement. Well, 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:25.899 weightlifting doesn't lie. Either you perform 00:14:25.899 --> 00:14:28.919 the lift or you don't. And it's always a battle 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:32.460 against our buddy Newton who decided to invent 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:34.750 gravity. So sometimes you win. And sometimes 00:14:34.750 --> 00:14:37.809 Newton wins. So, of course, it's all part of 00:14:37.809 --> 00:14:40.509 that. Theme number five. Social and community 00:14:40.509 --> 00:14:43.769 building. Not important. Let's skip it. Social 00:14:43.769 --> 00:14:47.169 and community building. And there are two soft 00:14:47.169 --> 00:14:51.029 themes. So, let's bring them. Community and camaraderie. 00:14:51.090 --> 00:14:54.549 And coaching and mentorship for athlete development 00:14:54.549 --> 00:14:58.429 and legacy. Oh, my God. Wait, wait, wait, wait. 00:14:58.610 --> 00:15:02.870 Huge. It's huge. My God, we were so creative 00:15:02.870 --> 00:15:05.549 on that last one. Weightlifting, I'll start with 00:15:05.549 --> 00:15:09.029 this. One of the great thing about Olympic weightlifting 00:15:09.029 --> 00:15:13.610 is that it is a community. I've done work with 00:15:13.610 --> 00:15:17.990 regular, we call that the regular circuit, individuals 00:15:17.990 --> 00:15:21.429 who are still moving up, young athletes, whether 00:15:21.429 --> 00:15:25.649 it's junior or senior level, world championships 00:15:25.649 --> 00:15:28.950 and so on. And you could feel the sense of community. 00:15:30.539 --> 00:15:33.419 is a concept called community of practice that 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:36.759 I also use. We didn't use it in this article, 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:40.220 but I use it a lot in my research where individual, 00:15:40.779 --> 00:15:44.419 the person, a group of persons will meet around 00:15:44.419 --> 00:15:48.820 a common objective, a common goal, a common passion. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:52.620 So weightlifting becomes that magnet that brings 00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:55.919 people together. Even at the international level, 00:15:56.039 --> 00:16:00.159 you would go into a warm -up room at a world 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.919 championship and everybody is talking the same 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:06.559 language. There's an immense amount of respect 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:10.559 that I always found within those room between 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:14.659 teams. There is competitiveness. We agree with 00:16:14.659 --> 00:16:18.700 that. But there is that element of respect. For 00:16:18.700 --> 00:16:20.860 example, if somebody performs a lift, you don't 00:16:20.860 --> 00:16:23.220 walk in front of the platform and so on and so 00:16:23.220 --> 00:16:25.860 forth for security and also purposes and for 00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:29.470 respect. So that concept of community. is drilled 00:16:29.470 --> 00:16:32.370 into us from day one. You're part of a club. 00:16:32.470 --> 00:16:35.570 You're part of a sport. You're part of something 00:16:35.570 --> 00:16:40.029 bigger. And moving on, because most of the athletes 00:16:40.029 --> 00:16:43.590 that we've interviewed were between the ages, 00:16:43.809 --> 00:16:46.230 they were all between the ages of 50 and 99, 00:16:46.289 --> 00:16:51.289 actually. No, 50 and 89. He was turning 90 that 00:16:51.289 --> 00:16:55.190 year. The concept of camaraderie was very, very 00:16:55.190 --> 00:16:57.710 important because those are individuals who... 00:16:58.190 --> 00:17:02.889 evolve together for years, decades. So they know 00:17:02.889 --> 00:17:06.329 each other. And then we go for dinner after the 00:17:06.329 --> 00:17:09.210 competition and then the stories comes out. And 00:17:09.210 --> 00:17:12.410 you could see that there is that connection that 00:17:12.410 --> 00:17:15.970 still exists. A large proportion of my friends 00:17:15.970 --> 00:17:19.230 today come from the time that we were competing 00:17:19.230 --> 00:17:23.329 in weightlifting. And we still go a couple times 00:17:23.329 --> 00:17:27.150 a month for breakfast together. And we chat about 00:17:27.150 --> 00:17:29.339 our... career and everything. But we, of course, 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:32.220 we talk about weightlifting because we created 00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:37.039 that bond. I find that that bond is even stronger 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:41.059 with master athletes where everybody knows how 00:17:41.059 --> 00:17:44.839 fragile a competitor could be in the sense that 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.539 they could be the best competitor for that lift. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:50.299 And then they're an injury away from never competing 00:17:50.299 --> 00:17:53.599 again, especially if you're closing down to 90 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:57.819 years old. But that element of camera. That bond 00:17:57.819 --> 00:18:01.440 is very, very strong. And athletes will support 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:03.859 each other. They will encourage each other. Of 00:18:03.859 --> 00:18:07.440 course, when you deal with international competitions 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:11.079 and so on, it's another ballgame. But for this 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:13.900 particular research, we were looking mostly at 00:18:13.900 --> 00:18:16.960 master athletes who have been around the block. 00:18:17.059 --> 00:18:20.359 They had been to world championships and they 00:18:20.359 --> 00:18:23.480 had been competing at different levels. And then 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:25.759 they find each other and they have that bond. 00:18:25.829 --> 00:18:29.569 that was created from their connection with weightlifting. 00:18:29.750 --> 00:18:32.750 Now, the coaching and mentorship, that came out 00:18:32.750 --> 00:18:36.329 very strongly, even for those athletes, those 00:18:36.329 --> 00:18:39.029 master athletes who were still quite involved 00:18:39.029 --> 00:18:43.369 in a competitive perspective of weightlifting. 00:18:43.470 --> 00:18:46.779 People like to share. people like to help. And 00:18:46.779 --> 00:18:50.059 it's sort of connected with this element of community. 00:18:50.460 --> 00:18:53.619 I always, one of the questions I was asking is 00:18:53.619 --> 00:18:56.660 if you would sell weightlifting to a newcomer, 00:18:56.660 --> 00:18:59.059 how would you sell it? And it's interesting to 00:18:59.059 --> 00:19:02.680 see what people would come up with, the strategies 00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:04.839 they would come up with. And you could see that 00:19:04.839 --> 00:19:09.819 sense of mentorship, that desire to help and 00:19:09.819 --> 00:19:14.269 get people to discover. what became a passion 00:19:14.269 --> 00:19:17.829 in their life. And of course, legacy is important 00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:24.390 because every one of the participants that we 00:19:24.390 --> 00:19:27.190 interviewed would like weightlifting to continue. 00:19:27.369 --> 00:19:32.269 And master athletes are fantastic, but we also 00:19:32.269 --> 00:19:35.609 need young people into the sport. So getting 00:19:35.609 --> 00:19:38.269 involved in some sort of mentorship, and mentorship 00:19:38.269 --> 00:19:43.230 could be to coach an athlete. mentorship in coaching. 00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:48.920 I've seen mentorship in when you have a new official. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:51.920 So we will sit down and chat and see, well, you 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:55.220 know, this is what happens when this happens. 00:19:55.259 --> 00:19:57.940 This is how we deal and so on and so forth. So 00:19:57.940 --> 00:20:01.700 the concept of mentorship is pretty well everywhere 00:20:01.700 --> 00:20:04.720 within the weightlifting culture. Would you say 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:07.900 that support of athletes who are more experienced 00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:10.640 provided to athletes who are just starting competing, 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:13.440 for example, wouldn't that be part of it? Definitely. 00:20:13.579 --> 00:20:16.680 When I started lifting, I was fortunate in my 00:20:16.680 --> 00:20:19.799 city, we had only one weightlifting club, out 00:20:19.799 --> 00:20:24.500 of which came at least 10 national team members 00:20:24.500 --> 00:20:28.890 and six Olympians. I wasn't at that level. I 00:20:28.890 --> 00:20:31.650 didn't have the talent to be at that level. But 00:20:31.650 --> 00:20:35.009 I remember chatting with the ones who were at 00:20:35.009 --> 00:20:38.410 the level of going to the next Olympics and chatting 00:20:38.410 --> 00:20:41.170 with them and essentially they became friends. 00:20:41.410 --> 00:20:45.990 And they helped me tremendously as an athlete 00:20:45.990 --> 00:20:50.269 and also as a person because their take on challenges 00:20:50.269 --> 00:20:53.650 is quite different than what you would find in 00:20:53.650 --> 00:20:57.410 other spheres of any other. subcultures for example 00:20:57.410 --> 00:21:00.150 all right so my question would be why do you 00:21:00.150 --> 00:21:02.509 think if you would bring it all together why 00:21:02.509 --> 00:21:05.410 these people decided to stay in olympic weightlifting 00:21:05.410 --> 00:21:08.450 for so long it's easy We got bit by the steel 00:21:08.450 --> 00:21:12.089 bug. I think weightlifting attracts individuals 00:21:12.089 --> 00:21:16.670 that have certain personality traits. And I know 00:21:16.670 --> 00:21:21.490 I'm on very, very slippery ground here. Any psychologist 00:21:21.490 --> 00:21:25.710 will say, oh, there you go. But you need to have 00:21:25.710 --> 00:21:30.130 specific makeup to spin. hours in a basement, 00:21:30.250 --> 00:21:32.529 because you can't do this on a second floor, 00:21:32.609 --> 00:21:35.829 you'll destroy the building, in a basement, lifting 00:21:35.829 --> 00:21:40.130 heavy weights in a very noisy room, because we 00:21:40.130 --> 00:21:43.450 drop the weights, even with bumper plates, it's 00:21:43.450 --> 00:21:46.789 crazy how noisy it is, and still come back to 00:21:46.789 --> 00:21:50.509 it after injuries, after you keep on missing, 00:21:50.630 --> 00:21:54.130 and so on and so forth. I think for those individuals, 00:21:54.490 --> 00:21:58.420 and I'm part of them, those individuals... weightlifting 00:21:58.420 --> 00:22:02.880 brings in a renewed challenge every day. And 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:05.660 I think this is what we kind of strive over. 00:22:05.740 --> 00:22:09.000 We strive over this new challenge because every 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:11.519 day there's an old saying, you never walk in 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:14.019 the same river twice and you never meet the same 00:22:14.019 --> 00:22:16.460 person twice because we evolve every day. Well, 00:22:16.559 --> 00:22:18.519 I think it's the same thing for a weightlifter. 00:22:18.619 --> 00:22:21.339 And sometimes in my case, we do evolve this way, 00:22:21.380 --> 00:22:24.900 but we won't go there. Well, then you have to 00:22:24.900 --> 00:22:27.579 compensate with your mental strength. There you 00:22:27.579 --> 00:22:30.200 go. There you go. That's what I'm saying to myself 00:22:30.200 --> 00:22:34.940 every hard session. Same here. I'm with you on 00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:37.039 this. All right. So let's bring it all together. 00:22:37.160 --> 00:22:40.740 If you would have to build a message for weightlifting 00:22:40.740 --> 00:22:43.579 coaches from your study, what would that be? 00:22:43.700 --> 00:22:47.500 Listen to the story of your lifters. Listen to 00:22:47.500 --> 00:22:50.839 the story of people in front of you. I've walked 00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:54.160 into gyms and I've listened to... individual 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:57.799 coaches because we've been doing this for for 00:22:57.799 --> 00:23:00.779 a few decades now and sometimes i listen to them 00:23:00.779 --> 00:23:03.539 i say listen this person might be old but you 00:23:03.539 --> 00:23:05.660 don't know the experience that person brings 00:23:05.660 --> 00:23:11.369 to the gym I would say also be very honest with 00:23:11.369 --> 00:23:15.549 your athletes. Maybe at the age of 70, you will 00:23:15.549 --> 00:23:18.690 not snatch 100 kilos. Maybe you won't do that. 00:23:18.809 --> 00:23:21.670 But you can still perform a really good lift 00:23:21.670 --> 00:23:25.450 at a weight that will not hurt you. And I would 00:23:25.450 --> 00:23:28.930 say... Tailor the program to the athletes as 00:23:28.930 --> 00:23:32.329 opposed to having a ready -made cookie cutter 00:23:32.329 --> 00:23:36.869 type of program. And I would say be aware of 00:23:36.869 --> 00:23:40.589 Coach YouTube and Coach Google because they don't 00:23:40.589 --> 00:23:44.019 all have the answers. All right. I always finish 00:23:44.019 --> 00:23:47.400 with two short questions. The first one is, what 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:50.259 is your favorite lift? Which one and why? The 00:23:50.259 --> 00:23:53.980 snatch. Because it's very, very technical, very 00:23:53.980 --> 00:23:59.460 fast. And when you miss, you miss. And it's humbling 00:23:59.460 --> 00:24:01.920 because either it goes back or goes forward. 00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:06.730 And I tell my students. You think life is hard. 00:24:06.789 --> 00:24:09.109 Whenever I was lifting, if I would make a mistake, 00:24:09.210 --> 00:24:11.769 I'd have three red lights flashing behind me 00:24:11.769 --> 00:24:14.410 and an announcer saying, Gravel missed the lift. 00:24:14.490 --> 00:24:17.289 Is he going to do it again? But when you get 00:24:17.289 --> 00:24:19.869 it and you're in a bottom position and you're 00:24:19.869 --> 00:24:23.710 in balance, it's a phenomenal feeling. And when 00:24:23.710 --> 00:24:26.309 you can come up and control the weight, it's 00:24:26.309 --> 00:24:29.569 better than dark chocolate, I'm telling you. 00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:32.759 All right. And the last question is where people 00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:35.380 can find you online if they want to follow your 00:24:35.380 --> 00:24:41.059 work or ask a question. I'm on the site of the 00:24:41.059 --> 00:24:45.099 University of Ottawa. Look into School of Human 00:24:45.099 --> 00:24:49.420 Kinetics. And I'm part of the faculty. My name 00:24:49.420 --> 00:24:51.819 is Francois Gabin. Awesome, Francois. Thank you 00:24:51.819 --> 00:24:53.579 so much for today. It was a pleasure. You're 00:24:53.579 --> 00:24:56.119 more than welcome. Any other questions, feel 00:24:56.119 --> 00:24:57.480 free to get in touch with me.