Jessica Newman is a 44-year-old mother of two from Oconomowoc who works third shift at UW hospital as a nursing coordinator.
She also happens to hold the state record in the Olympic weightlifting snatch and clean and jerk categories.
And she’s inviting you to try to beat her.
No, seriously.
It’s not a challenge, or some kind of act of bravado.
Newman hopes that more people, including and especially women, will take an interest in the sport, because right now, at least in competitions in her age and weight classes, it’s just her.
And according to her, we are missing out. Newman loves the sport so much, the two-time ironwoman, veteran of 25 triathlons and loser of 100 pounds fits it into her schedule to train four to six times a week for anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours at a time.
She does it because it fuels that drive in her to keep going forward.
“For me, it is showing that no matter how old you are, you can get better. I’ve gotten better,” Newman said, noting that she set a personal record recently.
The sport of Olympic weightlifting is built on two specific movements: the snatch and the clean and jerk. In competition, the athlete gets three shots to complete each of those lifts at their maximum weight.
Newman threw herself into Olympic lifting just this year — and she’s still getting PRs (personal records) — but this wasn’t her first foray into athletics.
She got started after she had her sons, now ages 16 and 14. She had put on some weight and was, she estimates, about 250 pounds. A friend asked her to do a triathlon and she signed up.
That led to dozens more triathlons and then the Wisconsin Ironman twice. Watching her body change and get stronger with every stride, Newman found the training and the events exhilarating — but also very solitary sometimes. To train, she would ride her stationary bike in the living room during her kids’ naptime.
When she joined CrossFit five years ago, she liked the group exercise atmosphere and team camaraderie she felt with other CrossFit members. Heavy weightlifting is a very big component of that workout and Newman realized she was strong. She decided she wanted to compete, and she knew she had to have a coach.
Ryan Atkins is a weightlifter as well as a coach. He trains online with James Tatum of Team MuscleDriver and can lift about 230 on snatch and 264 on clean and jerk.
“Maybe a little bit more if I feel good,” he said.
As a coach, Atkins works with about 60 clients per week between multiple facilities specifically with weightlifting sports. He trains faculty and students at Marquette University, and also coaches clients at the Sussex Barbell Club at Sussex CrossFit, CrossFit Waukesha and CrossFit Lockdown in Be Fitness by Delafield Hotel. Newman is a private client.
With 12 years of experience in coaching CrossFit, Atkins has recently shifted his coaching focus toward Olympic weightlifting in the last two years. He said the sport is being rediscovered through cross training or different activities like CrossFit.
“The sport of weightlifting is exploding again across the United States,” he said. “The golden era for weightlifting was in the 1950s and 1960s. Since then it’s become a minor player as a sport — until now.”
With Atkins’ guidance, Newman is healthy, strong, injury-free and will compete in the Brew City Open, a USAW-sanctioned event, in two weeks at Brew City CrossFit. With 110 lifters scheduled to compete in a variety of categories, it could be the largest sanctioned weightlifting event in the history of the state, she said.
But for her, it may be a solitary affair again. She holds the state records for her age division (40-44) and weight class (75 kilos, or 153 pounds). The first time she set the record in July at a USAW-sanctioned event and she set it again later at the 2015 Wisconsin Open at Green Bay Barbell. She lifted 45 kg (about 99 pounds) in the snatch and 65 kg (about 143 pounds) in the clean and jerk.
“I’ve broken that record twice — and I plan to break it again, Dec. 13,” said Newman. “One of the reasons I do so well in my age group and weight class is that no one else is competing in my age group and weight class.”
Newman will turn 45 in January. Atkins said age, and fear of injury, shouldn’t hold us back from trying weightlifting, or limit our goals for improvement.
“We’re always getting a little bit better with technique,” said Atkins.
The important thing is to learn what you’re doing so you don’t get hurt.
“That’s one of the reasons I have a coach,” said Newman. “People who train themselves tend to get hurt.
Not everyone needs a coach, but if you’re serious about it, it is a good idea.
“It’s about, what can you take, before you’re tired? Not before you’re hurt. He checks in with me every day. How do you feel? Is anything bothering you. Are you tired?”
Courtesy of: Journal Sentinel