The Indian Army Is Training This Incredible 14-Year-Old Weightlifter To Become An Undisputed Olympian

The Indian Army Is Training This Incredible 14-Year-Old Weightlifter To Become An Undisputed Olymdpian Fitness By Yash Sharma, Friday, 07 Jul 2017 submit to reddit inShare How sad is it that if not for the internet, so many things would have just vanished into thin air. Incredible stories of hard work, sacrifices, and prodigies would have just disappeared into the ether. A few days ago, on Facebook, I came across a weightlifting page that had videos of weightlifters from all over the world. A few minutes into the page, my attention was seized by an Indian lad clean and jerking 127 kg at the Youth Worlds competition. I was astonished and was immediately interested. A few minutes of research led me to the discovery of Jeremy Lalrinnunga. The Indian Army Is Training This Incredible 14-Year-Old Weightlifter To Become An Undisputed Olymdpian © iwf In a country where people barely know about weightlifting as a sport, this14- year-old champ secured second place in an International Weightlifting Competition. He was the youngest medalist and the second youngest amongst all male competitors. What hit me was that despite such outstanding performances, nobody was talking about him! He was winning laurels for the country and still, no media outlet had published any stories about him. This was reminiscent of what Sunil Chettri, the Indian football team captain once said- ‘we only talk about and celebrate an athlete after he/she does something remarkable in the sporting world'. Within the next 5 minutes of finding out about his achievements, I ended up on a 1.5 hour long phone call with him. What you'll read next, is the editorial reproduction of the same conversation. The Indian Army Is Training This Incredible 14-Year-Old Weightlifter To Become An Undisputed Olymdpian © iwf A Weightlifter In the Skin Of A Boxer Jeremy's journey began in Aizwal, Mizoram. In 2008, at a tender age of 6, he started training as a boxer under the guidance of his father, who was himself a senior national level boxer. After two years of rigorous hard work and hours of throwing jabs, Jeremy and his father went for the admission trials at the prestigious Army Institute of Sports (AIS), Pune. The trial went just fine, but the coaches saw a weightlifter in Jeremy, not a boxer. His potential was now realized and Jeremey's journey began in a sport that he knew nothing about. The Indian Army Is Training This Incredible 14-Year-Old Weightlifter To Become An Undisputed Olymdpian © iwf His first year at AIS was spent practising techniques of the two basic lifts- clean and jerk and the snatch; with a weightless pipe. Jeremy reckons that learning the skills initially was the hardest part. Also, from punching faces to lifting an empty bar isn't that exciting, anyway. A few years into training and Jeremy was lifting in the 100+ club at a mere weight of 50 kg. He stepped on the competition stage in 2016, at the Youth National Weightlifting Championship and ended up with a national record of a 90 kg snatch and a 108 kg clean and jerk. Coach Vijay at the Indian camp encouraged Jeremy to gain 6kgs of weight from 50 kg to 56 kg. As the weight class changed, so did the loads on his lifts. They went up. Since then, Jeremy has been always placed among the top 2 spots in every competition he took part in. The following are his achievements from just 2016-2017 alone: ● Youth World Weightlifting Championship Malaysia Oct-2016 107 Snatch(silver), Clean and Jerk- 127kg, Olver all silver ● 2016 Commonwealth Youth Weightlifting Championship- Gold Medal ● 2016 Youth Asia Weightlifting Championship- Silver ● 2017 National Weightlifting Championship Youth Category (3 gold) and Junior Category (1 gold and 2 silver) ● 2017 Thailand World Youth Weightlifting Championship 110 kg Snatch - silver, 130 kg clean and jerk - silver, over all silver. Jeremy's personal best in the clean and jerk is a whopping 136 kg. He enjoys the snatch more, which is also a strong 110 kg. The barbell back squat number will definitely put a lot of aesthetic dudes to shame- a mind blowing 170 kg. Bench Press- 75kg, Overhead Press- 65 kg and Deadlift - 150 kg. Jesus Christ! Jeremy's Training Split Monday, Wednesday and Friday: weight training in the morning and technique practice in evenings. The Indian Army Is Training This Incredible 14-Year-Old Weightlifter To Become An Undisputed Olymdpian © iwf Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday: cardiovascular and speed training. Sunday is the only rest day. Jeremy stays away from his home either at the AIS or camps and tournaments. Athletes only get about 45 days off in a year. Diet The Indian Army Is Training This Incredible 14-Year-Old Weightlifter To Become An Undisputed Olymdpian © iwf Before training, he drinks ‘dalia' and the rest of the day he consumes white rice, potatoes, legumes and chicken. His favorite food is chicken which he can eat a ton of. Consumption of junk foods is limited to 2-3 times a month. For supplements, all athletes get whey protein, vitamins and minerals. Quality nutrition is extremely important for these budding athletes and we're glad that the AIS and Indian camps are providing perfect nourishment to them. The Indian Army Is Training This Incredible 14-Year-Old Weightlifter To Become An Undisputed Olymdpian © iwf Unlike most kids, Jeremy isn't interested in video games and plays football or boxes in his free time. He is a Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid fanboy. His ultimate goal is to win an Olympic medal for India and nothing short of that is going to satisfy him. At the age of just 15, Jeremy has a serious training background of almost a decade now. The entire MensXP Health team is wholeheartedly thankful to the Lalrinnunga family for raising such a talent and to the coaches at the Army Institute of Sports for spotting and developing an exceptional athlete like him. We wish Jeremy all the very best on his Olympic journey. This is just the beginning