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- Sarah and Jessica
- Jessica is our 2016 Olympic Hopeful and Sarah is our 2012 Olympian in Weightlifting. We're setting out to be "Pretty Strong" and we encourage you to do the same.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Dreams vs. Reality: Lisa Fisco
Lisa Fisco, as seen here in this video, has definitely peaked my interest. There are mixed feelings out there about her dreams and apsirations. Some see her as a joke. Some see her as an inspiration. I've been told, "If you reach for the stars, you'll land on the moon." In our gym we have a quote written down saying, "It's hard to fall of a mountain you have not clombed." I personally like the quote, "The best way to fail is to not try." (something like that.)
Here are some responses to her videos on youtube:
"What a compelling story! You are an incredibly courageous individual whom I truly admire."
"not only is she inpsiring and an awesome person with a captivating personality, but she is also GORGEOUS!!!!"
"Great story!!! Best of luck to you....Inspiration for men too!!!! You go girl!!!"
It's inspiring for me to see her trying to fulfill her dreams. I find the most inspiring people are the hardworkers, and the dreamers. When she was working with Coach B she would drive 4 hrs everyday?! That's dedication, baby! There are people who won't drive twenty minutes to train. For a single mom of three to be able to lose 100 lbs and completely change her life at 47 is pretty remarkable. If we didn't dream the world would be very uneventful, lame place.
Now here's the reality. Lisa is wanting to become the oldest olympic weightlifter ever to compete at the olympics. Is that really possible? Probably not. Consiering these facts (mind you, this is my factual opinion):
1.) The older you are, the harder it is to get stronger. The goal of most master weightlifters is to delay the dropping of their totals as long as possible. Strength maintanence. It takes longer to warm up, and it's easier to get fatigued. This reduces the amount of workload and volume that is needed to become a successful elite athlete.
2.) Consistency: From the videos I have seen she has worked with great coaches like Bob Takano and Mike Burgener. She has worked with Tom Delong as well but, I don't know much about him. How successful can she be training with multiple coaches and different training styles? Not sure. There are many athletes who have had multiple coaches and are still progressing, like me, for example.
3.) You have to be registered with USADA like a year and a half or two before the Olympics. Is she?
4.) You have to compete (I have looked and not seen any of her results) and be in the top 20 overall to attend the Olympic Trials.
5.) Girls at the World Championship/Olympic level are posting at least 200 kgs totals. Is she capable?
This isn't a "Debbie Downer" post. I want to encourage everyone to "Dream Big" and work hard. At the same time though, be realistic. What can you actually do? You'll never know until you try. I never knew I was going to have success in this sport (never thought I would) until I fully committed to it.
She may not become an Olympic, World, or National Champion. Weightlifting changed her life! It gave her hope, confidence, and a healthier body. What more could you want? She's an inspiration. I hope her story gets out there so people know they can improve their lives with weightlifting.
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7 comments:
wow her form looks better than mine
I feel very conflicted about this too. In a lot of ways her story parallels mine. You can read my story here: http://crossfit-seattle.blogspot.com/2010/06/story-of-jules-marsh.html
I definitely believe in setting high goals for yourself and pushing to achieve them. OTOH, it seems to me that it can be a self loathing thing to set goals that truly aren't physically attainable, and tell the whole world you're going to do it. What happens when you fall short? Do you give up, quit lifting, and go back to munching doughnuts? IMHO, dream big, but if you're gonna give interviews and tell the whole world "I'm going to do this!" make it something that you can physically do.
It also bothers me a bit, because I feel like she's a little disrespectful to the rest of the lifting community. By saying that hard work and dedication is going to take her to the Olympics, it kind of implies that everybody else isn't training hard or isn't motivated. Dedication and hard work are awesome. They can change your life. They can get you PR's. There are a lot of hard working dedicated lifters out there. It takes a lot more than just that to get you to the Olympics.
I've gotten the oly lifting bug pretty seriously. I lift 5 days a week. I train with a really good coach. Realistically, at 37 years old, it's highly unlikely that I'll ever make a Pan Am team, much less say the Olympics. That doesn't bother me one bit. I love the sport. I love working hard and making PR's. I don't need to be THE best lifter to enjoy what I'm doing or feel successful. My big goal is to put another 30 kg on my total and qualify for senior nationals. I think that's a fairly reasonable goal. Maybe I'll succeed, maybe not, but it's at least within the realm of possibility.
I guess I feel like Lisa has thrown out this big challenge that she can't possibly live up to, and it kind of distracts from the awesome work she's doing and the profound changes she's made in her life.
I know her, this is just her latest and most widely publicized scam. She doesn't work out even weekly, let alone daily. She can't lift even 50Kg and has never competed. She is making a joke out of all you serious lifters out there and scamming people into sponsoring her.
Hi Everyone . . .This is Lisa Fisco. I love this website and hearing opinions. However, after reading it the other day I couldn't help but to respond to the "anonymous" writer. . . because I find it a personal attack. My heart went out to this person because clearly his insecurities and hatred have consumed his heart. You don't know me and that's a shame. Because if you did, you'd know that the difference between a successful person person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will as Vince Lombardi once said.
My will has allowed me to lift more than a woman half my age and and to share the self-confidence, empowerment and inspiration to everyone around me.Loving what you do is the secret to everything "Anonymous". My coach, my fellow weightlifters, my friends, my supporters, my fans . .. I am surrounded by talented, positive people that inspire me daily to train hard and that's what I do. How about you "anonymous"? People see you the way you see yourself. I only wish you the best in life and will leave you with a quote from Ghandi.
Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values postive because your values become your destiny.
Ms. Fisco,
What are your lifts currently? Will you please post a link to your most recent meet results?
After looking at the qualifying meet results, I don't see where she competed (much-less had a qualifying result) by the deadline required to allow her to compete for the US Olympic team. As Michael Jordan famously said, "You 100% of the shots you don't take." It looks like Ms. Fisco didn't even attempt to take her shot.
p.s. It's "piqued" your interest.
Yes, I spelled "piqued" wrong. Thank you. Yeah, she's not making an Olympic team. Better luck next time. Unless she totaled somewhere I haven't seen and shes is the random drug testing pool...which I doubt.
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