Who am I?I am an Olympic weightlifter, member of USA Weightlifting, on team East Coast Gold.
What are my accomplishments?
1x Senior National silver medal total, 2012.4x Senior National bronze medal total, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013.
3x American Open bronze medal total, 2011, 2012, and 2013.
4x point-scoring member of team national champions ECG (2009-2012)
2011 ECG co-best male lifter
2012 ECG best male lifter
What is Olympic weightlifting?
Olympic-style weightlifting is a sport contesting two exercises: the snatch and the clean and jerk. The snatch involves lifting a barbell from the floor to above the head with the arms extended in a single, fluid motion. The clean similarly involves lifting the barbell from the floor to the top of the chest in a single movement and the following jerk involves driving the barbell from the chest to above the head with the arms extended. "Weightlifting" is not to be confused with "powerlifting," a sport comprised of the bench press, back squat, and deadlift.
What is East Coast Gold?
East Coast Gold is my lifting team, the largest in the country, based out of Moorestown, NJ. It is comprised of the nicest people in the world and is as much of a family as it is a team. ECG, a non-profit that lives off of donations and providing lectures, started out as a way of getting athletes the funding needed to travel and compete.How long have I been competing?
My first competition was in May 2007. I posted a 218kg total.
Who are my coaches?
Leo Totten is my coach and also head coach of ECG. Ellyn "Doc" Robinson of Bridgewater State University and head coach of Robinson Weightlifting is my second coach. 
ECG is full of coaches, and many are involved with me that can't be listed in my USAW registration: Dave Miller, Jami Willette-Brown, Randy Hauer, and a special mention to Joe Hanson, my camptown hero. In addition, in the period before I met Leo at my first meet I worked with Augie Maurelli, then head strength coach at Georgetown. And finally, because he's awesome and has had a big impact on my life, Craig Fitzgerald, now head strength coach at Penn State, was the coach who really taught me how to lift. It was in his garage, wearing jeans at midnight after beer and half a pizza, where I first power cleaned 300 pounds.How did I get into Olympic weightlifting?
I wrestled for the University of Maryland, College Park after high school. Coach Craig Fitzgerald - "Fitz," affectionately - ran our lifting programs and I really took to it, earning the Iron Terp award twice for strongest wrestler and setting a team all-time record 305-pound power clean. Though a shoulder subluxation ended my wrestling career early, I rehabilitated hard after surgery. Seven months later I started lifting again on my own programs and I hooked up with Augie Maurelli at Georgetown. Augie told me about East Coast Gold and the Maryland State Championships the next May, so in January 2007 at about 208 pounds I started cutting weight until I made the 77kg (169.7 pound) class for that meet. There I introduced myself to Leo and I have been working with him ever since.
What else do I do?
I am a software engineer in the Advanced Technology Division of Techno-Sciences, Inc., a high technology firm in Beltsville, MD. I do a lot of cool stuff, mostly with shipboard power systems and aircraft upset recovery. As a company we do diverse work on government solicitations for new technologies and we have major presences in the Search and Rescue Satellite (SARSAT) and maritime surveillance areas. What is my training like?
I currently train five to seven times a week, once or twice a day depending on my schedule. Most of the time I workout at home in my basement; I built a platform and I have an open power rack, two men's (20kg) bars, and 396kg worth of bumpers and change. It all fits quite well between the washer, dryer, and water heater. Twice a week I travel to Littlestown, PA (~1.5 hour drive) to train with Leo. |
| At-home multitasking: training plus laundry. |
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| Littlestown High School has quite a weight room! |
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| Me lifting with some of the old crew. |
Who is this Mike Walters fellow??
Mike is ECG's team therapist and possibly one of the most selfless people you will ever meet. He graciously and willingly donates untold hours to us, diagnosing our injuries, providing us with rehabilitation plans, giving us expert massage therapy, and just generally keeping us able to function. Mike travels far and wide to work with our team, and he has been there for me personally through several serious injuries. Without his help I really don't think I would have been able to continue training at this level.Mike's accolades include being a part of the 2002 Winter Sports Massage Team for the Salt Lake City Olympics and the 2010 United States Olympic Committee’s Volunteer Medical Program for the Vancouver Olympics.
