April 17, 2024,
Being a Weight Lifter and a person who lifts weights are two very different things.
Just go to the gym.
Being a Weight Lifter is serious business and when we go to the gym, we see women who take their craft very seriously and we are certain they would make fantastic female wrestlers.
Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells.
People engage in weightlifting for a variety of reasons.
These can include: developing physical strength; promoting health and fitness; competing in weightlifting sports; and developing a muscular and aesthetic physique.
Good to know.
Does this have a connection to competitive female wrestling?
Absolutely.
Meet a Fem Competitor at the top of her Weight Lifting game.
Mattie Rogers is an American Olympic weightlifter. She is a four-time silver medalist at the World Weightlifting Championships. She holds the United States record in the snatch, clean & jerk, and total in the 76 kg category. She competed for the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the 87 kg category.
Now that is taking your weight lifting very seriously.
And getting results.
Our powerful girl Rogers was born August 23, 1995, in Apopka, Florida.
Before weightlifting, Rogers competed in cheerleading and gymnastics. She began training in CrossFit when she was 17 years old. After one year of training, she competed in her first weightlifting meet.
More and more we see that the world of female sports is a blend of different sports. There was a time when young women tended to specialize. Now, it is as though, they understand that learning various disciplines enhances the one that you choose to make a name for yourself in.
In 2014, Mattie made her International Weightlifting Federation debut at the 2014 IWF Pan-American Junior Championships. She made her senior-level debut a year later at the 2015 World Championships where she finished 15th overall with a total of 226 kg.
She competed the next year at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships.
In 2016, our heroine narrowly missed qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
She was awarded best overall lifter at the 2016 National Championships & Olympic Trials but ultimately did not meet the qualification criteria set by the IWF.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
In 2021, Mattie won the silver medal in the women's 76 kg event at the World Weightlifting Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
She then won the gold medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2022 Pan American Weightlifting Championships held in Bogotá, Colombia.
She also won the gold medals in the Snatch and Clean & Jerk events in this competition.
One more.
Later in the year, at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships also held in Bogota, she again won silvers in the women's 76 kg as well the Snatch and Clean & Jerk, making her the only American weightlifter to win medals at five consecutive World Championships,
What an incredible, inspiring and powerful story for newer female grapplers to know about.
In terms of female weight lifting, let’s take you back to where it all began.
As you might expect, it is about Pumping Iron.
About women pumping iron. Before it was remotely popular or accepted.
grapplingstars.com, femcompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling.com fcielitecompetitor.com articles, YouTube-Screenshot-Editorial-use-Fair-Use-Cinecom-photo-credit.
Pumping Iron II: The Women, is a 1985 documentary film about female bodybuilding, focusing on several women as they prepare for and compete in the 1983 Caesars World Cup.
Pumping Iron II was made as a follow-up to the groundbreaking 1977 film Pumping Iron.
The Caesars World Cup was a contest created specifically for the film.
The competitors were a mix of professional and amateur bodybuilders, which was actually a violation of IFBB rules. Charles Gaines, one of the writers of the film, was included on the contest's judging panel. He was interviewed for the film but not identified, and had never previously seen a female bodybuilding contest.
Time to get used to change. To the future.
The 1985 production focuses primarily on Bev Francis and Rachel McLish.
Ms. Francis was actually a world champion powerlifter with no bodybuilding experience although she later became one of the top competitors in the sport in the late 1980s.
She arrived in the US and was trained during filming by 1972 AAU Mr. America, Steve Michalik, who also guest posed in the film. Francis was easily the most muscular woman in the contest, but lacked the "feminine" physique of female bodybuilders of the time, and finished only eighth.
McLish, a two-time Ms. Olympia winner, was the most successful woman in the sport's history at that time. Though she had done more than any other woman to popularize the sport, the producers chose to portray her as the "villain".
Very effective.
Other bodybuilders featured in the film include Kris Alexander, Lori Bowen, Lydia Cheng, Gladys Portugues, and the contest winner, Carla Dunlap.
As far as the movie tag line themoviedb.org exudes, “PUMPING IRON II: THE WOMEN, a film that is changing the way the world views the female physique-creating "a new definition of the female form." Join four women as they prepare for the 1983 Caesars Palace World Cup Championship: the sultry and curvaceous Rachel McLish, the current champion; the super-muscular Bev Francis, Rachel's toughest competition; and newcomers Lori Bowen and Carla Dunlap.”
The world has come a long way since and now films featuring female body builders, weight lifters, CrossFit, Competitive Cheer and more are coming to the fore.
The excitement for you, especially if you are a newer female wrestler, is to expand your options and participate in different forms of physical fitness which ultimately will make you a much better wrestler.
Ultimately, isn’t that the overall goal?
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OPENING PHOTO Syda-Productions-Shutterstock-photo-credit-Editorial-use- fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumping_Iron_II:_The_Women
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/164753-pumping-iron-ii-the-women?language=en-US
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlifting
https://www.fciwomenswrestling2.com
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
NOTE: Very important, whenever you are engaging in a new exercise or sport for the first time, please consult with your physician first.
