Setting up a weightlifting club?

Beau

Hey,

I'm in college in NUIM. I'd like to set up some sort of weightlifiting club. I'd appreciate any advice or links on how such a club should be run.

I was thinking maybe of getting all members to join bodyspace and meeting every 6 weeks for a 1RM challenge. This would be a challenge for the individual to see if they have reached their goals from the previous 6 weeks. We could track members progress on a noticeboard.

Then before the end of each semester have a club competition. Not sure how these work, I presume whoever lifts the heaviest weights depending on their bodyweight. I'd like more detail on how this should work.

I'd like this club to provide motivation for people and to get feedback on their workouts and to see what is working for other people. Think it could be fun too.

brianthebard

Hey beau have you talked to the clubs officer yet?He should be able to give you some ideas.Then contact other clubs who use the weight room regularly(for nuim thats prolly just rugby).1rm comps sound cool but every six wks is quite close together?Also don't neglect seminars,theres so much info out there bout lifting,types of programme,nutrition,etc.Try to get a few talks together,give people a more thorough understanding of wl and how to reach their goals.Maybe g'em or hanley or transform or a few other posters here can help you there.Also it might be an idea to get some coaches in for one off training sessions.Afaik you won't get any money for the club in the first year,so remember that these things will have to be paid for by members.Oh also think about buying supps in bulk so ye can all get them cheaper.Hope that helps,i have some experience of unsuccessfully running a nuim soc,so if you want you can pm me and i'll try to help if know anything.Good luck,i think its a great idea.

kevpants

10/10 for initiative man. Hope it works out for ya

g'em

brianthebard wrote: »

.Hope that helps,i have some experience of unsuccessfully running a nuim soc,so if you want you can pm me and i'll try to help if know anything.

Learning from other people's mistakes is often very valuable!

It sounds like a great idea OP, best of luck with it.

Beau

Thanks Brian.

Yeh I'm on the rugby team myself. I'd see this more of a side project. I thought about seminars and that kinda stuff but I play and train so much with rugby for the college and the club that I just wouldn't have time, oh! and its my final year hehe I need to get down to studyin most days
too.

I ran Go Karting last year, it went ok but in the end I just didnt have enough time. Where I went wrong with that was not getting the right people on board and delgating jobs to them correctly. If I could get people with more time on their and hands and who have the genuine interest and get up and go to do something and set specific jobs like orgainising seminars, ordering supps, organising comps (anything else?).

Otherwise, If I'm to do it on my own the format I've outlined seems ok if not optimal.

brianthebard

Hey beau,tbh if you have to do it all yourself it won't work out.You need to find people who also want to do it.Get a stand at clubs and socs day and you'll know pretty quickly who is and isnt interested.Some posters in the gym upstairs and downstairs beforehand would be a good idea to get attention.By all means ask friends to help but remember you might need to lean on them pretty hard to get stuff done.Set up a committee where everyone will have a role and responsibility.E.G. One guy is the supps guy,another the seminar guy,etc.Plenty of people in final yr can pull it off so don't be afraid.Did you go to clubs and socs training wkend last year?

Hanley

The most important thing is members.... can you get them, will the participate?? We had one in NCI my first year there and no-one bothered with it and it quickly fell apart. If you think the demand is there then you've nothing to lose by giving it a shot.

6 weeks apart is way too close in my opinion for one rep max comps. You kinda need a week off before AND after to make sure you're in top condition so you end up with only 4 weeks to actually train..

You MIGHT want to consider having end of semester competitions instead. The basic powerlifting format is squat/bench/deadlift. You get 3 attempts at the squat, and can only increase or repeat a weight (you're not allowed go down in weight). And if you're successful with a weight you must either go up at least 2.5kg or pass on that attempt. Same applies for the other two lifts.

You could market it to the students as like a training club where people can pick up gym partners, share ideas and just be around to lend encouragement. If you can get the funds you could get "club" straps, weightlifting belts and maybe dip belts too that the members can use.

Beau

Hanley wrote: »

The most important thing is members.... can you get them, will the participate??

Think there would be. There seems to be a good number of people seriously into there lifting. Also I'm pretty sure the most of the rugby team would join.

Hanley wrote: »

You MIGHT want to consider having end of semester competitions instead. The basic powerlifting format is squat/bench/deadlift.

You could market it to the students as like a training club where people can pick up gym partners, share ideas and just be around to lend encouragement. If you can get the funds you could get "club" straps, weightlifting belts and maybe dip belts too that the members can use.

What I might do is just sign people up for an end of semester competition like you've outlined and leave it at that. So how is the winner decided? What weight groups should there be? I'd encourage people to join bodyspace to track their workouts and progress publiclly and I'd send around a regular newsletter with nutrition/program info (I'm no expert in the slightest but I'd share info that I have found that might be useful) and latest news on members progress. Maybe a blog site or something. Any additional stuff I can delegate if there are any takers.

I like your training club idea but I am not interested in organising something like that. I wanna give people a training/improvement/encouraging/competitive environment in the college without having to run around like a mad man organising stuff.