What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? For Lisa Fisco, it’s going for the gold, Olympic Gold that is. Lisa is training to be the oldest female weightlifting Olympian ever. At 50 years old, she is breaking boundaries and inspiring people everywhere to go for it, no matter the age.
Lisa, a strong believer in following dreams, is taking her own advice and pursuing a life long fantasy to become an Olympic competitor. Her motivation came while she was going through an unhealthy period in her life following the end of her marriage. She gained over 100 pounds from stress after the divorce and fell into a deep depression when her children moved in with her ex-husband.
Finally fed up, she made a conscious effort to turn her attitude and life around. She started working out again in the gym where she re-awakened her love of lifting, an activity she used to do with her father as a child. On a leap of faith, she emailed a US Olympic weightlifting coach asking him to help her. Inspired by her story, he agreed. When I asked her what her goal is, she said it’s to make the team and enjoy the journey along the way. That is exactly what she is doing by reaching people all over the world who write to her from places like Kenya and Denmark inquiring about how she found her passion again. Her response, “ask yourselves what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”
Lisa is now in the gym twice a day, 5 days a week following an intense training regimen with her current coach, Tom Delong. Tom is a professional strength conditioning specialist. Together they follow the old Soviet weightlifting team model, the process of achieving sports mastery. They train for two and a half hours in the morning and again in the evening. She demonstrated some of her exercises for us including kettle bell swings, sled pulls, high pulls, muscle snatches, thrusters, and dead lifts. She is currently lifting at the 200 pound level. In addition to practicing those moves, Tom teaches her the proper technique which he says is the most important building block for athletes, especially athletes like Lisa who are starting out later in life. The moves are very technical. According to Lisa, there are just two lifts in Olympic weightlifting. One is called the snatch, which is one continuous movement with the weight from the floor to the overhead position. The second is the clean and jerk. This movement is really two movements in one lift. It starts at the floor with a lift that takes the weight to shoulder level and then is jerked overhead.
Critics say that women of Lisa’s age competing are almost non-existent and tell her that she will fail and she won’t be able to do it. But Tom says what she is doing is not at all out of the ordinary. She is just strengthening the basics of human movement. Tom says people pull, carry, squat up and down, bend, and twist. People pick their babies up and lift them over their heads all the time. Tom is proud to coach someone working so hard to defy all odds and encourages people to look within themselves and do the same by asking themselves, “what is it that you love? What turns you on? What flips that switch in you?” And then go for it.
Female Olympic weightlifting competitors fall into one of seven categories based on body mass. Each weight division will then compete by performing those two moves. In order for Lisa to qualify for the USA Olympic Weightlifting Team, she must first compete in a series of meets sanctioned by USA weightlifting. She says it takes a lot of training to become part of the Olympics. It has to become your lifestyle. It has to become your passion. It has to become what you think about the majority of each day.
Lisa has two more years of training and competing before the 2012 games in London. By then she will be 52 years old and might possibly just be the oldest Olympic weightlifter ever. As for you, do that thing you always dreamed of doing. You can’t fail. When you weigh your options don’t think in terms of, can you or can’t you? Only think about which of the many things to do first.
By Brigida Santos for Incredible Features
To see photos from the whole story, click here
Jelly Gamat Gold-G…
While searching Yahoo I discovered this page in the results and I didn’t think it fit…
There are a…
i do paid…
LMOJFqYA…
–…
LrpYjArX…
–…
Thanks…
[...]Can I just say what a relief to find somebody who actually realizes what they’re speaking about online. You definitely recognize how to bring an drawback to sunlight and render it stimulating. More people must check out this and comprehend this s…
Appreciate it…
[...]I was really happy to find out this site. I wanted to be thankful for for your time, for this wonderful reading!! I am definitely loving every little of information and I have you bookmarked to check away new stuff you post.[...]…
CHEap OaklEyS…
If you are going for best contents like myself, just pay a visit this website daily because it presents quality contents, thanks…
Thanks…
[...]WONDERFUL Post. Thanks for share … searching ahead to coming posts.[...]…
Nice article…
you need to read this post…
Appreciate it…
[...]This really answered my problem, thanks a lot![...]…
Thanks…
[...]There are certainly a significant details like that to take into consideration. That is an excellent point to bring up. I provide the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are queries like the one you mention where the most impor…
Thanks…
[...]Your place is precious for my situation. Thanks! …[...]…
b�tt�m sabunu…
0 do�ald�r. B�tt�m sabunu tamamen elle yap�l�r, ayn� zaman da kepe�i, deri d�k�lmelerini �nleyici fakt�rlere sahiptir. Mardin Do�al Sabunlar� � Mardin B�tt�m Sabunu � Mardin Menengi� Sabunu � Mardin siirt do�al b�tt�m sabunu do�adan gelen bir �ifa kay…
Great post…
nice post that everyone must read…
JIMMY CHOO HEEL…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
群发…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
Great information…
This is wondrous. Only one watch this realisation video and we are stupefied. We are attracted to this sort of gear. Another one appreciate your potential gather, and profit doing in this. Please keep control. They may be only powerful facts resource t…
Vibram 5 Fingers…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
buy wow gold…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
fake oakley sunglasses…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
VIBRAM FIVE FINGERS UK…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
Louis Vuitton Wallet…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
diablo 3 gold…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
IPHONE 5 DEALS…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
Rayban Sunglasses…
Going for Olympic Gold! It’s Never Too Late to Chase Your Dreams…
Bless you…
[...]An impressive share, I just given this up to a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in reality bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. grin. So let me thank for the treat! But yeah Thnx for spending the time to discus…