Heaven can weight

Heaven can weight
Anthem lifter wins medals, wants to train young athletes
by Jason Stone

ANTHEM – When turning a garage into a weightlifting training center, it is important to have proper padding. Anthem’s Fred Martinez found that out after neighbors told him they could feel vibrations coming from his garage.

“One guy told me that his dog was hiding when he’d hear the noise,” Martinez said about the racket from weights slamming down on the floor. “My wife also wanted me to change the pads.”

With no plans to stop competing in Olympic‑style lifting, Martinez added five layers of padding and carpet to muffle the sound and is awaiting more padding to build a second platform.

It is that commitment to the sport that has made Martinez, a former collegiate track runner, a champion in lifting.

The 35‑year‑old engineer for Honeywell last weekend took the gold medal in the 62‑kilo (136.4‑pound) weight class at the International Hispanic Games in Tucson. Sponsored by the Arizona‑ Mexico Commission, Martinez beat competitors from Arizona and Mexico in two Olympic‑style lifts: the snatch, and the clean and jerk.

And after winning the gold in the last Grand Canyon State Games, Martinez will next compete in August at the State Games of America National Competition at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Grand Canyon State Games is Arizona’s version of a state competition that most states have adopted. All of the champions from various Olympic‑style sports from the 50 states will meet for a national championship.

The competition replaces the old Olympic Festival, which was discontinued in 1995. It was revived as the State Games in 2005, and plans are to hold them every two years.

Competing for a national championship in weightlifting has been part of Martinez’s progression from track runner. He grew up a fan of explosive exercises in Santa Fe, N.M., and could be found running with a tire dragging behind him, tied by a rope around his waist.

But he didn’t get into power lifting until joining the track and field program at New Mexico State University. He realized the explosiveness he felt from performing the Olympic lifts helped his performance on the track, where he needed every advantage he could get because of his 5‑foot‑7‑inch frame.

“I would blow them off the blocks because that’s all strength,” Martinez said. “But everybody else was able to beat me at the end because they had such bigger leg strides than me. I’m 5 feet 7 inches, and some of these guys I was running against were 6‑foot‑6 or 6‑foot‑7. That’s like a Chihuahua running down a Great Dane.”

Unlike powerlifters, who are usually huge and simply try to lift as much weight as possible, Olympic‑style lifters need a certain amount of agility as the moves they attempt work fast‑twitch muscles.

In the snatch, competitors must lift the barbell over their heads from the floor in one continuous movement. In the clean and jerk, competitors must first “clean” the barbell from the floor to an intermediate position. They then “rack” the bar in a front squat, and from that position, “jerk” the bar above their heads.

In both lifts, competitors must hold the bar steady above their heads with arms and legs straight and motionless.

It’s not a lift everybody can do, but Martinez is hoping to change that. Beside competing and training himself, he is teaching the lifts and coaching general fitness to others through his club, Engineered Sports Performance.

He said since moving to Anthem in 2000, he hasn’t found anybody else in the area coaching Olympic weightlifting.

And nobody else is winning at weightlifting, either.

For more information about Martinez and Olympic‑style weightlifting, visit the Web site at OlympicTraining.co.nr.