Strength and Olympic Weightlifting - Mary Peck & Tom DiStasio (low bar squat, Bench Press)

In this video I follow Mary Peck (63kg weightlifter) as she prepares for Nationals 2017. I sit down and talk with her coach, Tom DiStasio, about Mary's training. He talks about the importance of strength in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, why he coaches the low bar squat, the deadlift, and the bench press into her program routine.

Follow Mary on IG @mmarypeck

[AlanThrall]

If you're in the Northern CA area this is a great opportunity to learn from one of the best.

[DiaryOfAFitnessJunkie]

I could watch Mary lift all day. Poetry in motion. Every lift is exactly the same. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

[mambutuomalley]

Seeing her technique and some of her training / the philosophies of her coach explains a lot about the current level of american weightlifting.

[bmstylee]

ah the deadlift. the king of all lifts in the gym. I wish I had someone to teach some of the Olympic lifts. sadly commercial gyms don't​ have things like platforms, bumper plates, good trainers, etc. and to the best of my knowledge there is not a real lifting gym in my area.

[graywolf]

Huge fan of mary... and now a huge fan of tom too. Awesome video coach, thanks so much

[bobmcc]

Mary is an American gemstone. Thanks Alan.

[gregorysuchyta]

Based on the comments section, it appears that high bar squatting has more "carryover" to making shitty observations about a national champion weightlifter on the internet. It's great to have insight into how high level athletes are training, regardless of whether you agree with the technique.

[Varone]

This video was needed, I've been interested in wanting to try Olympic lifting, but heavy highbar squats can be troubling sometimes, it's good to finally know the low bar squats CAN BE used in training for it.

[McMeatBag]

I don't think you're going to find anyone in the sport of weightlifting that agrees with this guy

[NorthernContrarian]

She's such an inspiration with her attitude and humbleness. You should try to get her on the channel again.

[nathanaelarmstrong]

This is so good to see this strength training approach.

[kristianpeng]

This is going to trigger all the USAW national athletes in the comment section. I would love to see Greg Everett and him debate.

[glenmartin]

Perfect interview, perfect video, very well done, inspirational, informational, motivational!

[MikeXCSkier]

Watching her back squat, although Mary places the bar low on her back, her torso remains fairly upright. It is not very far off from a high bar back squat and I am sure you could find videos of lifters who high bar squat with the same amount of torso inclination. So for everyone who thinks that this video proves Rippetoe's theory that low bar is better for weightlifters, it doesn't. As for the high hip start position, which Rippetoe also thinks is superior, this obviously works for her. Great. I once tried to use a higher hip position on my Olympic lifts and it didn't work - it seemed to throw off my timing. So I am back to the low hip start position. Whatever works.

[johnv]

I am very impressed. I think her coach and Mark Rippentoe have so much right.

Tom would completely disagree with me here, however.

Mary extends her hips too early, ie: from the floor, which limits her power production in the power position, above the knees. The s - pull as espoused by coaches around the world and eschewed by Tom and Mark, is not a dogma, but was (partially) born from delaying final hip extension until the bar is vertically over the metatarsal- phalangeal joint, which is the best position for optimal vertical power production, when combined with a small arm pull after this phase.

She could use her strength developed from deadlifts and low bar squats better by keeping her back angle the same from lift off to just past her knees. This is basic biomechanics, and was developed from trial and error and Soviet studies on optimal weightlifting technique. They used slow motion video taping combined with electromyography and force plate analysis to determine optimal principles of pulling in weightlifting, regardless of body proportions.

A great lifter though, much respect to her and her coach, and all the best for her future.😀

[xiaohuang]

Alan, I think you are doing a great job of "promoting"(even though it might not be the right term) SS because their methods are really effective, and i think more people should know that.

[robertrivera]

I wish NJ had access to these seminars from quality people. damn!

[unappropadope]

My god she sounds so sweet! Then she's like a force of nature with her lifts that's fantastic!

[abnstill]

Cool vid, thanks for sharing. Good luck Mary and keep at them goals!

[peterats]

Great video..nice change of pace!!!
More of these...although the rest of your content is great too!!
Keep up the good