~ by Trevor Phipps ~
Late last year, experienced weight lifter and former Cross Fit gym owner Charlie Gerszewski started an Olympic weightlifting club at the Woodland Park High School that has sparked much popularity.
Moreover, the club meets the needs of many youth athletes, budding Olympic stars and just those who want to gain more strength and better conditioning.
Previously, the school had offered weight training after school but now the club is more tuned towards producing competitive weight lifters. The club now offers weight training for all students, and Gerszewski has created different work-outs based on what the students are training for.
The weight lifting club meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the weight training room above the auxiliary gym inside the high school from 3 to 5 p.m. Some students go there to train for sports, per their coaches orders, while others use the weight room to stay fit during their sports’ off-seasons.
According to Gerszewski, the club consistently has four or five participants every day that meet. And sometimes there are as many as a dozen participating. Most of the students that attend train for various sports, but at least two of the participants have been working towards competing in an Olympic weight lifting competition.
“Olympic weightlifting is two lifts,” Gerszewski said. “It is the clean and jerk and the snatch. Those are the two lifts you will see if you watch the Olympics.” The students wanting to compete in weight lifting train on those two lifts and other workouts that help build muscles for those challenges.
Whenever students arrive to work out when the club meets, Gerszewski finds out the students’ specific training goals. He then guides them in the right direction to make their goals become a reality.
Gerszewski has developed a few different workout routines aimed at training students for certain activities. He has workouts written on a board that will help train students for different training goals.
The Olympic training routine is designed to build muscles used in the two competitive lifts. The athletic routine has some workouts that help train the average athlete. Metabolic conditioning is designed more to build up cardiovascular stamina.
For those just wanting to get big and strong, there is a separate category that is designed to build bulky muscles.
The former gym owner also tries to tailor the program to meet the individual needs of club members.
One female student was training when the club once met and asked Gerszewski to lead her in the right direction. The student said that she was planning to join the Marines in a year and wanted help training for their rigorous physical tests.
The student said that she needed to build her upper arm strength so that she could do the required amount of pushups and pullups. Gerszewski understood what the physical tests for the Marines required, and he helped the student with workouts that will help her obtain her specific goals.
This is just one example of an individual program used by club members.
