Five Lift Friday #3 — Arnold Classic Classics
Third issue! Cheers to all of you for kicking off your last two weekends with us.
In honor of the Arnold Classic/AO Series 1 this weekend, we’re tweaking the theme over the next two issues. Today we celebrate five of our favorite moments in Arnold Classic weightlifting history. Next week, we’ll breakdown five highlights from the 2023 Arnold. For the sake of this rag, we hope some epic moments unfold. Good luck to all our MB friends and family taking the platform this weekend. Salud!
Onto the show...
Arnold Classic Classics
Caleb Ward gets surgical on a 203kg/447lb clean and jerk at the 2010 Arnold.It’s a shame Caleb doesn’t get more shine in the discussion of great American weightlifters of recent years. Unfortunately, the twilight of his career was in the pre-dawn of the youtube era of American weightlifting. The heady days right before USAW growth went vertical. When those of us who were around glommed on to Cal Strength and Klokov videos (you’re a true weightlifting hipster if you found his channel when it was just a series of numbers) for some sense of community.Caleb was a former gymnast (Murph here, pretty sure about this), so had an extremely rare blend of athleticism, mobility, and body awareness for a heavyweight. The result is some of the more technically sound lifting we’ve seen from an American lifter.This clean and jerk is true beauty in all phases. If you’ve ever been told to be more patient in your pull, think “WWCD?” Apparently it also took him one year from when he first cleaned this weight before successfully pairing it with the jerk. Pure elation once he knows white lights are in the bag 🥹
2. Donny Shankle manifesting a 201kg/443lb clean and jerk to “beat” Klokov at the 2006 Arnold. First of all, don’t @ me for putting beat in quotes. This is unquestionably one of the more legendary moments in this era of American weightlifting and a major ingredient of the Shankle mystique. This is our (budget) Rocky IV moment. After missing 196kg on his second clean and jerk attempt, Klokov hit 200kg to lock in a 365kg total (both he and Shankle snatched 165kg). Donny put on the small change and made it happen at 201kg, giving the Russian the Price is Right treatment. Big mood with the Mutumbo 👆🏼 after getting the down signal too. Here for it. For the sake of journalistic integrity, I can’t leave our story without adding some context for the quotes above. In true reply guy style:
Klokov weighed in at 96.5Kg, Donny at 104.2kg.
At that time the Arnold was contested based on Sinclair, so while no one can take Donny’s absolute total win away, Klokov won handily by Sinclair and jetted off into the Moscow sunset with the five-figure purse.
Klokov was, allegedly, fresh off the plane from a Carribbean sabbatical awarded to him by the Russian Weightlifting Federation for his gold medal sweep of the 2005 World Championships. Mans had frosted tips and still smelled like daiquiris (allegedly).
3. Here's Tatiana Kashirina training and competing in Colombus. At this point in her career, she is in the midst of her reign of terror on the super category. The Kashirina Express ran through 5 world championship wins and 23 world records.
Here's her session 1 day out from competing. She does some gorgeous no contact snatches before snatching up to 130kg. She tops her session off with clean and jerks up to 160kg and some back squat sets at 200kg. The following day she destroys 135kg/175kg. The whip on her last clean and jerk is crazy. Beyond in tune with the bar, it is an extension of her body.
4. Prior to becoming an AO series event, the Arnold was the uncontested king of local meets, contested on Sinclair total with big cash prizes for winners. Mark Cannella, the meet director, consistently lured over elite international athletes with a free flight and the prospect of pocketing some easy cash. The 2016 Arnold's hired gun was Krysztof Szramiak. This Polish national team member hit 160kg and 188kg lifting at a bodyweight of 85kg. While his lifting was undoubtedly impressive, Krysztof’s enduring legacy was his pettiness. He was in my (Nate’s) session and witnessed this man and his coach laugh at every miss at attempts heavier than his. For Bucks fans this would be like Khris Middleton (not Giannis) showing up to a Wisconsin Herd practice and roasting anyone who missed a shot.
5. We’ll bring things closer to the current day with Mary Theisen-Lappen’s 163kg/359lb clean and jerk at the 2022 Arnold. This lift set a new American record for the female supers. What’s insane is that if you cropped the weights out of the video, you’d be forgiven if you thought that was a warmup. Keep the bar in a good position (being uncommonly strong doesn’t hurt), and you’ll be rewarded. This also begs the question of who or when we’ll see someone knock down Cheryl Haworth’s 20-year old 128kg/282lb snatch record. 🤔 What do you think?
Training Hall No-Skip List
The No-Skip List is one of the most sacred traditions at Milwaukee Barbell, with origins tracing back to our original Florida Street training hall. Membership on this genre-bending list is exclusive (you’re more likely to win a Grammy than be elected). It's maintained orally. No one person knows the full list.
Each FLF we’ll unlock one entry here. Last week it was Stick Tight by Terror. This week's banger...
Talib Kweli - Get By
Suggested pairing: Third week of a truly oppressive mesocycle. Anything under 85% in the classics, while there is still hope for the day’s training.
