2011 Arnold: The Island lifters

[glennpendlay]

Stephen Powells article on the Oceania lifters that competed at the Arnold.

http://www.pendlay.com/2011-Arnold-r...ers_df_68.html

Discuss...

[COACHMCCAULEY]

Nice memory and writing Steve. It is always nice talking to Paul Coffa about his lifters and weightlifting in general. His people always conduct themselves in a professional manner and are excited about weightlifting in competitions.

And, seeing these young guys lifting after a 30+ hour flight and some wearing shoes that were buried in the mud and water of the typhoon that hit those islands earlier this year, I realize that their committment is greater than I am used to seeing.

CoachMc

[BSmith]

Great article by Steve, definitely one of those stories that puts things into perspective, especially given the luxuries we enjoy every day here in the US.

Would be interested to hear more about what Steve learned from Paul regarding his training methods.

[kalebwhitby]

Very inspiring article. In fact, I think it was almost as inspiring as watching them actually train and compete in person. It takes guts and mental toughness to go through everything they have and then blow us all away with their success. I too would like to hear a little more about their training methods and their thoughts behind them. The day before they competed they went up to a high 80% and even more in snatch, clean and jerk, and then did some heavy squats. This must have prepped them for the next day because they did really well. Very impressive team and I hope they'll be able to attend every year.

[Powmongo]

the lifters more or less went up to about 80% of what they were in shape to do at the Arnold, but by no means 80% of what they have done for pr's in competiton. They all lifted well below there bests but were in good enough shape to win most of the classes at the Arnold. I will write an article about Paul Coffa and his methods in the future. Remember he coached Olympic champion Dean Lukin and silver medalist Robert Kabbas for Austrailia in the 84 games. He also coached Stefan Botev, Kiril Kounev, Sevdalin Marinov, and Nicu vlad when they competed for Austrailia, and he then produced World and Olympic medalists Marcus Stephen, Manuel, Minginfel , Yukio Peter, and it looks like his female super Ele Opelage will likely medal in London. She has done 130 and 170 and he thinks by London she can increase those lifts more.