TRAINING TALK GIRL POWER

OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTER ZOE SMITH  IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE TEENAGE GIRL BY MATT TURNER PHOTO BY MATT MARSH
Weightlifting is not the most traditional pastime for teenage girls. Normally you find them on Twitter, raving about Justin Bieber or Twilight. But Zoe Smith is different. “I love being able to lift big weights,” she says. “I love the success and I love training. It’s really hard but it’s worth it when you get into the gym and lift a huge weight or a personal best.” In 2010, and aged just 16, Smith became the first Englishwoman  ever to win a Commonwealth Games weightlifting medal when she took bronze in Delhi. She is now the UK’s top ranked female lifter. She finished 12th at last year’s London Olympics where she broke the British record in the clean and jerk with a lift of 121 kg at 58 kg body weight. Still only 19, Smith is training for  the World Championships in Poland  in October but also has next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the 2016 Olympics in Rio in her sights. MUSCLE&FITNESS: When did you first realise you were strong? ZOE SMITH: My mum has always known. I started climbing doorframes and hanging off the top when I was about two. They were thinking: “this kid’s a weirdo!” They always got me involved in sport and I did gymnastics from a young age. I was quite strong even then. I got into weightlifting when I was about 12 and took to it naturally. Being strong has always been my thing. M&F: How did you start doing weights? ZS: When I was doing gymnastics the club I trained at had a weightlifting gym. One day they asked if I wanted  to try lifting and I gave it a go. M&F: Why do so many weightlifters reach the elite level so young? ZS: Generally, it’s because they start out so young. But then again, people  in my category tend to peak in their mid-to-late 20s, so you can do it for quite a long time. You still get people  in their 30s going strong. M&F: Why do British weightlifters struggle to win medals? ZS: It just isn’t as big in the UK. You  get some countries where it’s their main sport, like the eastern European countries. Plus, in countries like China they get their kids into sport so young and there are so many weightlifters to choose from it’s hard to compete. We’ve only got seven funded lifters, whereas they’ve got millions. M&F: What’s the most important physical attribute for weightlifting? ZS: Strong legs and glutes. Contrary  to popular belief, your legs are really important in weightlifting. Obviously, when you’re holding it over your head you’re using your arms but they’re  more or less just there for balance otherwise. Everything is done through your legs so it’s important they’re strong, that’s how you get most of  the weight up. M&F: Describe your training week. ZS: I train about five times a week. A normal session would be six exercises and we’ll do cleans or snatches. We don’t generally do both on the same day. We’ll also do things like squats, pulls and deadlifts. Of those, squats are probably the most important. Every lift is squats, back and front. They’re great for building the strong legs we really need. We keep to low reps and high weights, so we never do supersets.  My best back squat is 150 kg, but in the gym I’ll go up to 120-130 kg. M&F: Olympic lifts are popular in gyms, but what common mistakes  do you see? ZS: You get people who use their back too much to lift, which always looks really uncomfortable. It’s hard to master the technique at first, but it’s just little things like bending your arms too soon. It’s all easily ironed out. M&F: What is your diet like? ZS: Junk! No, there is too much junk in my diet but as you’d expect it’s mostly clean, high protein and low carbs. I sit a good few kilos heavier than my “fight” weight so it’s always a constant diet. If I’m being good, it’ll be protein pancakes in the morning, which are just oats, egg and protein.  For lunch I’ll have salad, so quite low carbs,  then dinner will  also be low carb, maybe sweet potato, salmon and broccoli.  Not massively exciting but there are probably ways you could jazz it up if you so wished. M&F: What are your memories of London 2012? ZS: It was just amazing. Obviously the highlight was my competition, and getting the British record in the clean and jerk in my last lift was just such a relief. I’ve had successful competitions before and that wasn’t the most successful, but it just felt like the biggest achievement so far. I was just so glad it was finished as well—there was so much pressure leading up to it. It was nice to know that I’d finished and got a British record and a personal best in the bag. M&F: Is a medal a realistic prospect in Rio? ZS: We’ll see. It might be a bit soon for me, I’ll only be 22. Weightlifters tend  to peak a little bit older. I should hit my peak when I’m about 26, so the Games after Rio could be my big chance.