Come September 24, Josh Seligsohn will experience the rush and adrenaline of a lifetime.
The 20-year-old political science major will take the stage in Ogden, Utah and compete at the Weightlifting National Univesity Championships, a weightlifting competition for students at four-year universities.
Seligsohn recently sat down with the Emerald to talk about how he got into weightlifting in the first place, his progression and what he expects for the future.
How did you get started with weightlifting?
It was actually my buddy, my current roommate, who got me involved. We used to work out in the dorms together. I ended up going to CrossFit with him and I thought, “This is sick,” so I wanted to get better at it. But I realized that I needed to get stronger first to get good at CrossFit. I never lifted weights in high school, and the most I ever did really was curls and abs before this.
So this was never about weightlifting to begin with?
It really wasn’t. It was about trying to get stronger at CrossFit so I could be better at that. After a while of working out in the gym, getting stronger, I ended up staying with that. I focused a lot on Olympic weightlifting because it translates really well to CrossFit, and I just sort of got sucked into it. I was in the gym every day and I was like, “Wow, this is so much more fun than anything else.”
When did all of this start for you? The weightlifting and such?
There wasn’t any event that started me toward this. It started around September of 2014 when I began lifting weights with the expectations of becoming much better at CrossFit.
How much self-dedication and self-discipline do you need to be able to do what you’re doing?
I think mainly, it’s for myself because there’s no club to be a part of. I have to go into the gym and do my stuff,and it’s sometimes tough because there’s no one else in my gym who’s just doing Olympic weightlifting. When I’m in there, I’m pretty much by myself, so it’s all on me.
What are the meets? How are those setup?
There are five different meets that people can qualify for. They are: University Nationals, American Open, American Nationals, Junior’s and Master’s. They all have different qualifying requirements. For instance, University Nationals is just for students at four-year universities, Master’s is for people over 35 and Junior’s is for people under 20.
Are there meets you compete at to qualify for these bigger meets?
Yeah, there are different weight limits you have to reach depending on the weight class you’re entered in. Everything is done in kilograms, so it’s kind of confusing for some people, but it all makes a lot more sense when you get involved in it.
So what’s your qualifying weight in your weight class?
I’m in the 94-kilogram class. That translates to 207 pounds, so I have to either be exactly at that weight when I compete or below it. The weight class below me is 85-kilos (187 pounds), so I can’t be below that. There are qualification meets everywhere and for me, I had to lift a combined 220-kilos (485 pounds) for my two lifts.
What are the lifts you have to do?
There’s the clean and jerk and the snatch lift. Those are the lifts done at all events.
How far do you want to take this weightlifting thing? Do you want to make it a career?
That’s hard to say because I don’t know if I’ll ever be good enough to be one of those guys on a team who gets paid to do it and paid to train. I would definitely say this is a passion of mine and I would love to stay within the field of it somehow, whether it’s being a coach or a trainer, but who knows. I’ll just have to wait and see.
Follow Ryan Kostecka on Twitter: @Ryan_Kostecka