Nikolai Ge - A Great Weightlifting Trainer

In August, 2015, I got to meet one of the great weightlifting coaches from Kazakhstan. He was a Korean Kazakhstani named Nikolai Ge. I met him at my Reactor Crossfit in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where I worked out. He taught a Weightlifting class every weekend. After fixing my Snatch in just 5 minutes, I decided to see if he can train me the rest of the year. He said yes and the way I see weightlifting has changed since.

I usually had 2-3 sessions with him each week. The number 1 thing he put into my mind was technique. He kept telling me technique was more important than the weight. Once you get the technique down, then you will get the weight. It was better to be strong at a light weight with good technique then strong at a heavier weight with bad technique. Since then I got it out of my head to focus on getting a PR each week. I just work technique. The weights do get heavier with good technique over time.

Below is a demonstration of 61 year old Coach Nikolai doing a snatch after nearly a decade of not Snatching. He still has great technique.

In the future I will be posting more of his training tips at this blog.