In this lesson we would like to share with you our ethics in the sport of weightlifting.
We want to start with the definition of ethics: “moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity.”

Anti-doping & fair play

Olympic weightlifting as a sport seeks to create an environment of fair-play. Sadly, it is well known that some athletes use doping in weightlifting. We do not support cheating in any such way. Often, doping abuse is institutionalised in such a way that it involves bad behaviour on all levels.
An example of a documentary is Icarus. We personally don’t blame the athlete in such cases, they could be unaware of what they are doing and/or of effects on their long-term health.

Kids & youth

Kids & youth training is not hindered by doing strength training at younger ages, but it’s common not to attend competitions before the age of 12. Training for youth is to be seen as a specialisation – a trainer not only knows the lifting skills, but is also an expert on the knowledge of the development and interaction with kids and youth. At Dutch Strength we organise youth and junior training with e.g., the principle of 4 eyes and zero contact.

Not extreme

Training is a long-term process, building up strength and skills slowly and consistently is one of the first principles in difficult sports. To build muscle and bones to endure higher loads, power and impact needs several years. If you start with the lighter weights in the Weighlifting Athletic Circuits it’s a safe and comprehensive training program.

In the end, the winner of a weightlifting competition is the person who lifts the most weight in one out of three attempts. Although, some competitions also include judging of some skills or sumup every succesfull attempt (Dutch Strength competition model – contact us to obtain our spreadsheet). Because of the fact that winning is to just lift as much as possible, certain methods of cheating are more appropriate than others. Before getting into competitive weightlifting, we strongly recommend to reflect on “why” and “how” you want to do competitive weightlifting. We use the slogan “Pure Power” to address our fair play principle.