Simply incredible

[glennpendlay]

done more reps if he wanted to with 440lbs? when he was training here at the OTC he very easily powercleaned 418lbs! Ive heard from various sources that he has been witnessed in the training hells before worlds or europeans squatting 660lbs and more, and doing that right before competition, when a person wouldnt really want to be doing hard squats.

one thing you have to remember, dimas is awesome, but not doing weights that are above the other top guys in his class, and hes actually done quite a bit less than some guys who weighed in even lighter than him. yurik vardanian comes to mind. if i remember right, dimas placed out of the medals at the last european championships he attended.

he won 3 olympic golds not because he was dominant in the way of having capabilities way beyond the other guys, but because he is an incredibly clutch lifter, who was always able to pull out the lift he needed to win when the others faltered. his technique is generally considered to be not all that great for a world class lifter, and hes probably not the strongest guy in his class, but he had a very strong mind and was able to come out on top in the biggest meets, even when he had lost to the same lifters at smaller meets.

one other thing that might interest some of you... the greek team (dimas is greek) trains 2-3 times a day monday thru saturday, and once light on sunday. squats are included in every single workout, sometimes twice in the same workout... for instance, doing squats, then snatches, then clean and jerks, then squats again.

Check out this guy doing his Olympic lift work out. His name is Pyrros Dimas and he's retired as of 2004. I was especially impressed with his 440 squat that he does twice at the end. It looked like he could have done more reps if he had wanted too.

http://media.putfile.com/Ironmind_1993_Dimas

 

[b fold the truth]

one other thing that might interest some of you... the greek team (dimas is greek) trains 2-3 times a day monday thru saturday, and once light on sunday. squats are included in every single workout, sometimes twice in the same workout... for instance, doing squats, then snatches, then clean and jerks, then squats again.

I could be just a tad off...but Dimas wasn't born on present day Greek soil. He asked to have is passport transferred to Greece MANY years ago. I was thinking that both his grandparents were Greek back when Greece was a different size and shape. Once that part of Greece was lost...him and his parents were actually members of another country.

I pointed that out to my wife (who is Greek) and got yelled at repeatedly!!! Haaa!!!!

Interesting that you can ask basically any person on this island what Dimas has lifted and they can tell you down to the .5 kilo mark. Even the ones who know NOTHING about health, fitness, lifting, etc...

B True

 

[glennpendlay]

yeah, he emigrated to greece, or defected, or whatever you want to call it. i do believe, though, that like you said, he is an ethnic greek. the other greek superstar lifter khakasvilas (sp?) is the same, he emigrated also, i think he actually won his first olympic gold before emigrating. IMO, he is, or was, actually a better lifter than dimas... and just as clutch. his 235kg world record come from behind clean and jerk at the 96 olympics was about as clutch as a person can get. but for some reason dimas is the one who captured everyones imagination... probably a personality thing. dimas definately has that sort of personality that makes everyone want to watch and cheer him on.

I could be just a tad off...but Dimas wasn't born on present day Greek soil. He asked to have is passport transferred to Greece MANY years ago. I was thinking that both his grandparents were Greek back when Greece was a different size and shape. Once that part of Greece was lost...him and his parents were actually members of another country.

I pointed that out to my wife (who is Greek) and got yelled at repeatedly!!! Haaa!!!!

Interesting that you can ask basically any person on this island what Dimas has lifted and they can tell you down to the .5 kilo mark. Even the ones who know NOTHING about health, fitness, lifting, etc...

B True

 

[Jim Ouini]

one other thing that might interest some of you... the greek team (dimas is greek) trains 2-3 times a day monday thru saturday, and once light on sunday. squats are included in every single workout, sometimes twice in the same workout... for instance, doing squats, then snatches, then clean and jerks, then squats again.

No wonder he hardly ever saw his family in 15yrs. Any idea what the morning-afternoon-evening workouts look like on a given day?

 

[musketeer]

Good info guys, I'm glad that I bumped this thread.

Anyone care to comment on my bastardized 5x5?

 

[b fold the truth]

yeah, he emigrated to greece, or defected, or whatever you want to call it. i do believe, though, that like you said, he is an ethnic greek. the other greek superstar lifter khakasvilas (sp?) is the same, he emigrated also, i think he actually won his first olympic gold before emigrating. IMO, he is, or was, actually a better lifter than dimas... and just as clutch. his 235kg world record come from behind clean and jerk at the 96 olympics was about as clutch as a person can get. but for some reason dimas is the one who captured everyones imagination... probably a personality thing. dimas definately has that sort of personality that makes everyone want to watch and cheer him on.

Checked with the wife...he was Albanian...but ethnically Greek

Khakasvillas (sp?...lol) is a very well known man here as well. According to a lot of people who do OLY lifting here and work with different Greek coaches (etc...) he changed several things in his training, diet, and supplementation over the last year getting ready for Athens...maybe too many things at once that affected his performance. Who knows really though...

B True

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Dimas is the man. That video is certainly motivational. Made me try a 400 lb. double with front squats. Then I realized I'm awesome, 'cause I nailed it no problem.

I think you can all look forward to seeing me at the Olympics, next time around.

 

[glennpendlay]

jim, ever since their present coach has been at the controls, they have had target weights for each workout that the coach sets. they do mainly doubles up to 85%, singles at higher weights than that. when they do doubles, the second rep is usually from the hang.

programming for a typical workout might be something like

front squat
snatch
clean and jerk
front squat again

or...

snatch
front squat
clean and jerk
snatch again

the weights they hit are programmed by the coach, but like i said, its mostly doubles and singles. they work pretty close to max in a lot of their workouts. it would not be uncommon to go to max in an exercise several times in a day, and many times in a week.

No wonder he hardly ever saw his family in 15yrs. Any idea what the morning-afternoon-evening workouts look like on a given day?