Olympic Weightlifting
Chikara Weightlifting Club
Chikara Weightlifting Club is a registered club with USA Weightlifting, the national governing body of Olympic weightlifting in the United States. From its inception in 2003, the club has been dedicated to the development and promotion of Olympic weightlifting in Southern California with a focus on Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
The club exists to advance and develop athletes in the sport of Olympic weightlifting with the goal of improving the quality of training and competition and increasing the number of Southern California athletes who are candidates for national teams.
Chikara Weightlifting Club members typically attend three training sessions per week. Workouts are tailored to each lifter based on experience, adaptation to training, and individual needs. These sessions are dedicated to weightlifting club members so that the entire focus of the sessions is Olympic weightlifting.
Do you think you have what it takes to be an Olympic weightlifter? Visit our facility and see if this is the sport in which you were born to compete!
Upcoming Events
Team Chikara Developmental Meet #33
June 15, 2013 - Whittier, CA
 | Championship Weightlifting |
Insights from World and Olympic Champion Tommy Kono
Why am I covering the one arm snatch when it is not a contest lift anymore? Many lifters who have been lifting for years never try to correct the glaring mistakes they make in performing their lifts. Lifters who employ any (or all) of the following movements in the two arm snatch can realize their errors by learning the one arm snatch: a "yank" or explosive start on the pull for the snatch; premature arm bending to pull for the snatch; slowing down or stopping of bar during the pull for the snatch; any swinging movement for the snatch; incomplete stretching of the entire body during the snatch.
When you do learn to perform the one arm version of the snatch, you will find that to lift efficiently you must not do any of the above movements, but instead, emphasize the following: straight (or stretched) arms throughout the pulling phase; a "controlled" start of the pull that then accelerates; pulling close to the body; attaining maximum stretch of the body to get maximum height for the pull.