Asian weight lifting

by **Russ89** on Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:04 pm

I've been looking at the photos on dehwang's profile on Flickr... Those guys are lifting amazing weights, especially for their size. What is it that they do so well? Genetics? Technique? I don't know.
I always hand it to anyone from the Asian area, they are phenomenal at ANYTHING they do. Hard working people.

Russ.

by **Mouse** on Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:07 pm

Russ89:I've been looking at the photos on dehwang's profile on Flickr... Those guys are lifting amazing weights, especially for their size. What is it that they do so well? Genetics? Technique? I don't know. I always hand it to anyone from the Asian area, they are phenomenal at ANYTHING they do. Hard working people. Russ.

Just answered yourself there Russ !!

by **Russ89** on Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:08 pm

hehe yeah very true. But you take any British person of a similar size and train them the same, I imagine they'd never end up as strong as they are.

by **Mouse** on Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:19 pm

Hate to say it but I agree - hate to say this as well but the thing missing would still be the mindset of hard work required to achieve those same results (most people these days don't know what hard work is as they always quit before even getting close).
The Asian work ethic is vastly different in all aspects from that of us Brits and far superior.

by **Russ89** on Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:31 pm

What I like about them, is what they have isn't good enough; as soon as they produce something they then work to make it better. England is just happy with what we got, and see the state we're in.

by **Charlie** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:17 am

I too noticed recently the fitness of all these Asian weightlifters. I wondered why there were so many of them

I think it may also have something to do with their population size. If you have that many people, you are bound to get at least a few crazy strongmen. On the contrary, where are India's strongmen!

by **Quash** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 6:22 am

In certain Asian cultures, the certainly do have a different outlook on life. They consider the path just as important as the destination. Put another way, they care as much for the process of doing something as they do for the end result. Think Japanese tea ceremony. An oft repeated and highly stylized act for a simple task. They do it to reinforce custom and technique. Doing something nicely once is great, but practicing perfection over a lifetime...

I suppose it means they go atg with their squats all the time.

by **Young Athlete** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:05 am

Because they work hard and don't quit working hard ever. Try it

cultures play a big role in how you eat and how you work in daily life they certianly built theirs better then most.

by **Russ89** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:32 am

It amazes me how in Japan and China, heart attacks and strokes are very uncommon; doe their diet mainly consisting of fish - whereas in the West, those are the two main killers. We could learn a lot from them, a little too late now though; but have to do our best. I'm going to have to force feed myself fish I think!

by **Charlie** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:43 am

Quash; that is a very insightful outlook. Just out of interest, where did you learn that they do such things as the tea ceremony in order to reach a standard close to perfection? It interests me.

by **mjh** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:08 pm

I'm no expert on Chinese sports, but I wonder if it is relevant that China is still a Communist country. Is it possible that young people who show promise in a particular sport are provided with far greater coaching and training opportunities than youngsters in other countries? Many of these young athletes are essentially "professional athletes", in the sense that their life is dedicated to mastering their sport from an early age, to the exclusion of school, work, and socializing. It's what they do all day, every day, supported by the state.

by **Russ89** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:37 pm

mjh, you've hit it well there, that's the main issue with this country [England]. We never produce great athletes due to our lack of envolvement with sports. If a child is good at a sport, they are looked upon as gifted, but no more. If the training and enthusiasm was there, I'm sure there would be much better athletes around. But sadly, sport in this country, is something which isn't looked highly upon. Sad, sad world. Especially considering the rising level of obesity in the west too.

by **Mehdi** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:43 pm

mjh:
I'm no expert on Chinese sports, but I wonder if it is relevant that China is still a Communist country. Is it possible that young people who show promise in a particular sport are provided with far greater coaching and training opportunities than youngsters in other countries? Many of these young athletes are essentially "professional athletes", in the sense that their life is dedicated to mastering their sport from an early age, to the exclusion of school, work, and socializing. It's what they do all day, every day, supported by the state.

Poverty has a lot to do with it. Getting into the national team, getting gold, might be the only way to escape poverty.

by **guni** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:17 pm

Russ, I wouldn't say there's a lack of great athletes. It's just that most kids are going to try out for the biggest sport in their country. Take the US for example. How many guys with ridiculous genetics do you there are in football, that would've been great weightlifters. I mean, there's guys in there weighing over 100kg, ripped and powerful. But they gravitated to the biggest sport.

In China, and the former Soviet Union, it's about gymnastics and weightlifting. So everyone gravitates towards these disciplines. Add the fact that there are huge populations, it's strongly supported by government, and, as Mehdi said, it's the only way out of poverty. That's pretty much a recipe to find some gifted people.

Elite athletes work their asses off no matter where they're from. The sport that is most popular in each country will take the most gifted athletes. Be it by free choice or because you're driven into it young like in China.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that each country's dominance, or excellence, in a given sport is due to its popularity. Therefore attracting a larger population of young athletes to select from. It is not due to some magic formula, harder work than normal, or anything of that sort.

by **Russ89** on Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:56 pm

I agree in some respect; and what you're saying is correct. But what I was saying, is that there is a lack of encouragement in England when it comes to sports. It seems in England you somehow have to make your own way without any guidance from anyone else; seems we have more important things to spend money on, like weapons or something...
I think I'll end up in the realms of England bashing in a moment - I think that sport in England just isn't taken seriously enough. It's a shame really.
You take basketball in America for example; to get in to the team, you need to hit certain grades in your work, which to me is great encouragement, but in England, nothing... It's a shame really, I'm sure there are some great talents hidden in this country which will never be seen [I know this could apply to every country]