The secret behind US’s Once-in-a-Generation Weightlifter: Not Lifting Weights
PARIS—Ever since Team USA won its last Olympic weightlifting gold at the 2000 Sydney Games, a generation of Americans has tried and failed to outdo rivals in hoisting dangerously heavy pieces of metal above their heads. Now, nearly a quarter-century later, that drought looks set to end Friday via the chalked hands of a 21-year-old Tennesseean. After conquering an Olympic qualifier, Olivia Reeves enters the 157-pound division as the top-ranked lifter and gold-medal favorite.
In a sport teeming with inspirational quotes about no gain without pain, what’s unusual about Reeves is how she got here. Instead of grinding away in the gym for countless hours, she soared to the peak of international weightlifting by doing the opposite. She trains half as much as other world-class lifters.
Put another way, her secret to lifting weights is not lifting weights. For example, the top three finishers in Wednesday’s men’s 134-pound competition, including American bronze medalist Hampton Morris, said they lift at least six times a week, for no less than 15 hours per week. The American champ in 2000, Tara Nott-Cunningham, had seven or eight weekly sessions, each 90 minutes to two hours long, said Team USA coach Mike Gattone.
But Reeves lifts just four times a week. Three sessions are two hours long. The fourth is 90 minutes.
The total: just 7.5 hours a week. “It’s unusual for this level, but it works for me," she said. Reeves makes each session count by making them intense, lifting 90% of the maximum weight she can handle.
Ample rest between sessions keeps her fresh. “When you train often, you can’t go heavy as often because when you have a lot of volume, you’re really tired," she said. This approach isn’t a personal quirk.
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