Hudson Power Team: Articles and Advice - Japan Trip Report

Powerlifting Heaven is in Okayama: Report on My 2006 Japan Trip

by John Hudson

Spring Break 2006 coincided with one of Dai's many business trips to Japan, so I decided to make the long trip to Tokyo both to spend time with Dai as well as to visit our sister club, the Okayama University Powerlifting Team. The trip was incredible, to say the least, especially my visit with the Okayama powerlifters.

I left Champaign at 6am the 18th of March for the 2.5 hour drive to O'Hare, then departed on a Korean Airlines flight at around 11:30am for the 13 hour flight to Korea (where it was already Sunday). Thankfully, I was flying business class, so sleep was actually possible in flight. Had I been flying economy, I would have been in transpacific hell. At Incheon, I waited another 3 hours for a 2.5 hour flight to Tokyo. After clearing immigration and customs, I found Dai waiting to join me for a 1.5 hour bus ride into the city. I was just a wee bit tired after this.

Monday Dai and I flew down to Fukuoka in the south of Japan on SkyMark Airlines, Japan's answer to Southwest Airlines. A budget airline flight means a tiny seat, and it was all I could do to wedge myself between the armrests in the Boeing 767 cum sardine can. However, the unfailing politeness of the cabin crew made it difficult to remain angry about the cramped seating. In fact, the politeness of Japanese flight attendants is in such stark contrast to what we endure here in the United States on American carriers that I found that I actually enjoyed the flight in spite of the need to keep my thighs pressed together for two hours. It very much has to do with the culture, I know. But if only we could send American flight attendants to Japan for training! They would certainly learn a whole new conception of service and courtesy. In these areas, Asian airlines are light years ahead of us. After an overnight . . . and seafood . . . in Fukuoka, I took the Shinkansen train to Okayama on Tuesday morning. I won't even begin to discuss the superiority of Japan's train service, something for which the Japanese set a world standard.

Toshiteru Okamura and another member of the Okayama club met me at the train station. This was my second time meeting Okamura, the best junior deadlifter in Japan and indeed a rising star in the IPF. The first meeting was in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the 2005 IPF Junior Worlds. Okamura would say otherwise, but his English is very good. I have never had difficulty communicating with him. On this day, I could tell Okamura and his teammate had their priorities in the right order as they took me directly to the Okayama University Powerlifting Team training facility.

I had no idea how the lifting would go on this day as this would be my first experience with heavy training while severely jetlagged, but I was determined to give my hosts something worth seeing. They had a huge crowd of over 30 lifters at their facility, a quonset-style building with basketball courts on the main floor and the lifting equipment on the upper level. I spent some time showing them board training, which is fairly new for them. I was very, very pleased to see that they train Old School all the way (twice a week, just like me . . . and no bands or chains), and it works well for them as a number of their lifters represented Japan at the IPF Junior Worlds last year and two represented Japan at the IPF Men's Worlds.

Warmups were a little odd because they had kilo plates exclusively. I took it slow both for myself and to break in the guy they had handing off for me. The heaviest he had handed off to that point was in the low-500s. Once into my F6 Super Plus, I hit a warmup with 225kg/496, but couldn't even touch the boards. I was still breaking in the shirt at this point and it wouldn't be until late April that I was finally able to get a weight to touch full-range. It turned out that my next attempt (as well as another) were loaded heavier than I thought. They loaded to 280/617.2, which I easily popped off a 3-board. Then up to 300/661.2 for a full-range attempt. The handoff was scary, even with three handing off. It was smooth but sloooooooooooow. Finally, I got the bar and started the descent, but realized the shirt was over-cranked and it wasn't going to touch. I reversed gears and the bar started coming up nicely but I lost the groove back over my face and the five spotters had to save my fat gaijin ass. I was tiring fast so I didn't try another. What I need in this shirt is some heavy board work in the next few weeks, then something over 675 to touch (I would eventually successfully touch full-range with 660 in late April and then did a PR 677.7 at the WABDL Midwest Regionals on May 27th).

I didn't plan on deadlifting heavy, but I couldn't resist showing off with their 181 phenom Okamura pulling an easy 300kgs. sumo. So I decided to do some stiff-legs, something they rarely see since they pull sumo exclusively. I worked my way up on these to a single with 260/573. They enjoyed watching my head turn purple.

Toshiteru Okamura is their great 181 lifter. He's going to be the greatest Japanese deadlifter of all time. He pulled 300/661 FAST and EASY with his super-wide sumo. He also tried 305/672.2 but lost his grip on the right just at the top of the pull. He has thick, powerful legs and very long arms; he's perfected his sumo stance to maximize his strength and leverage. I was amazed. Best of all, like all the Okayama lifters, he's very down-to-earth, friendly, and humble. No trash talking on their team. They just take care of business.

Another lifter who impressed me was their 181 bencher, Toru Miyake. He already has the Japan Junior Record of 520-something to his credit, and he's moving toward 550 in the near future (since my trip, he broke the IPF Junior World Record!). He has a Matt Cole kind of arch . . . big, and painful to look at. Combine that with his stubby arms and you've got a bencher with what must be a six-inch stroke. They were amazed, actually, that I could bench as much as I do with such a long stroke. Which brings me to what I learned from watching them:

Okamura has a motto, "Don't be a strong lifter . . . be a GOOD lifter." I thought this was kind of counterintuitive when I first heard it, but now I understand. Our Illini Powerlifting members outmuscle their members almost across the board. We have much more brute strength from middle weights on up. However, from lightweights through middleweights, we couldn't touch them in a head-to-head competition on the platform because they outperform us in gear. They accept gear as a fact of lifting life. Absent is the sniping and hand-wringing characteristic of the tiresome RAW vs. Gear debates here in the U.S. They learn to get most out of their IPF-legal gear without the angst and guilt that we witness (dare I say endure?) here. No worries about whether a bench is "real" or not, since what counts is what the IPF referees say: if they pass the lift, then it's a real bench. Like me, they train in their gear virtually all the time. Also, nearly all of their new recruits are freshmen, and from the beginning they emphasize technical perfection. I didn't see any sloppy lifts. They don't seem to care what the weight on the bar is for their younger members; the important thing is that they are learning to use the best technique for their bodies (but only sumo pulling, though). I was the sloppiest lifter there, on the bench at least. I'm convinced after watching them in action that I need to devote time to developing my arch and bench technique to a greater degree (since my visit, I improved my arch and doing so contributed to my PR performance in Minneapolis).

After lifting, we went to their club house for BBQ, beer, and lots of sake.

You can see pics on the Okayama site here:

http://ouwtc.homeip.net/HISTORY/2006/20060321/

And video here:

http://ouwtc.homeip.net/video/index-e.html

You'll notice a number of Illini Powerlifting shirts in the pics. I sent them a bunch a year and a half ago.

Overall, it was a tremendous experience. I was very humbled by their hospitality and the warm welcome they gave me. In many ways, they are the ideal team in my mind: very disciplined, highly structured, and very successful. I was especially impressed by the level of commitment to the team. Joining a club like theirs is serious business for Japanese students; the closest thing we have here is perhaps joining a fraternity. Every new member immediately trains full power; there are simply no half-assed members. Also, the senior members teach and the junior members listen and follow. They simply don't have the phenomenon of the inexperienced, young lifter who thinks he knows more than the experienced members just because he's read something from the internet. Such lifters aren't team players, and will not remain a part of the team. Nor do they suffer the phenomenon of the irresponsible lone-wolf member whose behavior is a poor reflection on the team. All members set aside their egos and remain cognizant that they are part of a great tradition larger than themselves and they behave accordingly, being careful that their words and actions at all times reflect positively on the Okayama team. These features have helped build at Okayama what I believe to be the greatest collegiate team in the world. For me, it's powerlifting heaven. If I were an undergrad all over again, I would major in Japanese and study at Okayama University just to have the opportunity to be part of this tremendous organization.

Most impressive for Illini Powerlifting is something that we can eventually replicate at the University of Illinois. As I mentioned, joining such a club is an important commitment for Japanese students, and they regard their relationship to the club as lifelong. Over their 16 years of existence, the Okayama team has amassed a large number of alumni, alumni who contribute generously to the club, so much so that they have a small house (where the party was) at which all they club trophies are kept and where 6 or so students live during the semester. They are able to subsidize travel costs so that they can take the whole team to meets in Japan. In addition, their members who qualify for international competition need not stay home simply because they can't afford the travel and hotel. In 10 years, I hope those of us who will have long since moved on will have contributed to Illini Powerlifting such that our lifters have the same benefits.

So, if you ever have the opportunity to visit Japan, by all means take time to visit our powerlifting friends in Okayama. You'll get a warm and enthusiastic welcome, experience great training, and get pretty liquored up afterwards.