I like a lot about it. I like how you move and stuff.

August 29, 2019 8:29 AM

Meet 6-year-old Olympic-style weight-lifter, Rory van Ulft.
posted by jacquilynne (10 comments total)

Me, clicking into article: But is weightlifting risky for children?
Subheadline of TFA, right on top: Not much evidence that sport is risky for children, expert says

I appreciated them clearing the decks so I could just be amazed by this cool kid.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:51 AM on August 29, 2019 [13 favorites]

I came here to post DirtyOldTown's comment just about word for word.

Anyway, Go Rory!
posted by Navelgazer at 9:16 AM on August 29, 2019

I'm just kinda jealous she does better Olympic lifts than I can.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:31 AM on August 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

That six year old has a much better front rack position than I do.
posted by allegedly at 9:33 AM on August 29, 2019 [4 favorites]

"She opens all my jars now. It's really helpful having a weightlifter in the house."
posted by jonathanhughes at 9:41 AM on August 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

Do you even lift, br... oh, you do? Never mind.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:53 AM on August 29, 2019

Do you even lift, br... oh, you do? Never mind.

I wanted to use this as the post title, but I couldn't precisely remember the turn of phrase on Do you even lift, bro? and I didn't want to get it wrong.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:09 AM on August 29, 2019 [1 favorite]

I posted the story in my gym group on facebook, and when you paste it, the headline is "Do you even lift, kid?"
posted by jonathanhughes at 10:38 AM on August 29, 2019 [3 favorites]

I've usually seen it rendered, "Do you even lift, brah?"

She's going to have fantastic technique by the time she grows up. Even the Chinese program only starts at 8 or 10, although I suspect the Chinese are significantly more rigorous. You spend a couple of years lifting PVC pipes before they even let you pick up a bar.

It's super interesting that weightlifting was the safe choice after her parents got worried about getting injured in gymnastics. I've always thought of gymnastics as very safe, at least until you started doing the high-speed, high-impact stuff. Would someone more knowledge care to weigh in?
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 9:09 PM on August 29, 2019

Good for her, it's great to see folks of all types get into lifting.

There are also footwork drills, rope climbs, jumps and other exercises designed to give Rory a broad "foundation," Chin says — one that will keep her strong and healthy while also making her a better weightlifter.

I'm glad to see this, because my default opinion of any child focusing on Oly lifting focus is quite negative due to the sport's extremely narrow movement variety. I'm absolutely pro-kids-lifting-weights but exercise science is united in saying that youth is the time for broad experience in many different kinds of sports, for precisely the reason her trainer gives. You want to expose your body to a lot of different "looks" so that you develop strength and proprioception across many types of movement, "setting up a rich thesaurus of varied movement skills and knowledge (movement erudition or movement experience)." (Kurz, Science of Sports Training 2nd Ed., p299) Kurz also mentions is that children both pick up movement skills faster than adults and get a "wider transfer of training effect", meaning that a child will tend to learn (for example) basketball skills faster than an adult and that a child's Oly lifting will get better by playing basketball. This makes youth the time to try everything rather than specializing, so it's good to see her coaches purposefully programming variety for her. The longer that "other exercises" list the better, especially if field sports and bodyweight exercises fit in.
posted by daveliepmann at 2:11 AM on August 30, 2019 [2 favorites]