Participants pose with their certificates of completion at the conclusion of the Olympic weightlifting program conducted by Coach Jianping Ma in collaboration with local weightlifter Angel San Nicolas at the GetFitCNMI gym over the weekend.
Coach Jianping Ma breaks down the aspects of Chinese weightlifting technique during a seminar held over the weekend at the GetFitCNMI gym.
COACH Jianping Ma, in collaboration with local weightlifter Angel San Nicolas, hosted a successful two-day seminar on Chinese weightlifting techniques.
Eleven participants earned their certificates of completion at the conclusion of the program held over the weekend at the GetFitCNMI gym.
Local weightlifters had a taste of what an Olympic weightlifter such as Coach Ma goes through when preparing for competitions.
A pioneer of Chinese weightlifting in America, Coach Ma shared that he took up weightlifting at the age of 12 and, thanks to Chinese weightlifting techniques, became a professional weightlifter at 16, an Olympian at 22, and a coach at 25. “This is my sport — my entire life,” he said.
Today, he is the director of lifting sport and the head weightlifting coach of Missouri Valley College.
For his two-day seminar on Saipan, the participants included young local athletes Jaden Andrew, Lucio Aiden Gimed, and Lucus Garon.
“When I see them, I picture them as my future students,” Coach Ma said. “I think everyone can learn these basic techniques and, with practice, will hopefully turn into muscle memory. This is a great experience for all of us, including myself.”
On day one of the program, Coach Ma focused on the snatch portion and its components including the start position, bar path (deadlift), panda pull, overhead positioning, power snatch, the three-position snatch, and full snatch.
He also discussed the importance of movement such as the three gravity principals — equal magnitude, simultaneous, opposition direction — and the 10 features of a standard technique: shortcut, smooth, natural, magic, mechanic, support, easy, strong, precise, and perfect.
Day two focused on clean & jerk with Coach Ma emphasizing key elements such as a clean start position, bar path, clean pull and panda pull, power clean, three-position clean, clean turnover, jerk overhead, power jerk, split jerk, split clean, among other techniques.
“People think too much so I always recommend that they think of two things only when weightlifting — balance and speed,” Coach Ma said.
Aside from mental preparation, he also discussed strength, mobility, coordination training, and recovery.
At the conclusion of the two-day seminar, each of the 11 participants received a certificate for completing the Level 1 Ma Olympic Weightlifting Program.
The 11 participants were Angel San Nicolas, Cheyanne Manuel, Jaden Andrew, Aiden Gimed, Lucio Eugenio, Lucus Garon, Simon Necesito, Joey Colisao of Tinian, Darell Gallardo of Japan, and Einstein Perman and Dorian Peter of Pohnpei.
“I’m happy to see progress and potential. I think they are ready for the nationals, for sure. They are ready for the next level of training,” Coach Ma said. “With these techniques and movements, which follow the professional style, they could improve quickly and avoid injury. This was an opportunity for all of us. I learned from them, too,” he added.
Coach Ma has traveled all over the world to educate athletes and coaches on the techniques of Chinese weightlifting. But he said he is still an athlete at heart and is competing for the masters in the world championships in Las Vagas. “This is my personality; this is what I want to do; this is my life,” he reiterated.
Coach Ma gave special thanks and recognition to Angel San Nicolas for organizing the seminar. He plans to return to host more seminars in the future.
In the next edition of Variety, we will highlight the insights of the athletes who participated in Coach Ma’s seminar and how the techniques they learned can benefit their future careers as weightlifters.
