Streetlifting – (from English. street-lifting – street lift) is a power sport that includes 2 movements: pull-up on the bar and push-up on the uneven bars. Both exercises are performed by an athlete with additional weights suspended from the athlete’s belt (definition taken from the website of the International Streetlifting Federation ISF).
Nadezhda: Ararat, streetlifting is a young sports movement. How many years has it been in existence and is it an official sport?
Ararat: Streetlifting was born as a discipline within the popular street movement – Street Workout back in 2012. Actually, hence the reference in the name “street” (English Street – street). But, as a sport, it took shape only at the end of 2016, when, through the efforts of our team, technical rules for holding competitions, regulations were developed, and standards were introduced for the first time. As for the formality, streetlifting is not yet recognized as a sport in Russia, i.e. not included in the sports register, but the streetlifting federation ISF, in addition to Russia, is already represented in countries such as Greece, Estonia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and France. And soon 5 more countries will join us.
The sport is developing very quickly and we see interest from athletes and competition organizers.
Nadezhda: When and how did you come up with the idea of creating a new sport?
Ararat: Ever since the beginning of classes in the gym, we have always used basic exercises in the training plan: pull-ups and push-ups with and without additional weights. But they could not even imagine that one day it would become a full-fledged sport. It all started with the fact that in 2014 my colleagues and I began to organize competitions in our hometown – Rzhev. Then it was competitions in powerlifting, crossfit, mas-wrestling and workout.
As part of the workout competition, there was a discipline – powerlifting, in which participants had to perform pull-ups on the bar, push-ups on the uneven bars and perform an exit by force on two hands. As an experiment, we, being fans of iron sports, decided to combine the two directions – workout and powerlifting, which ultimately led us to the classic streetlifting, in which you need to perform exercises for one repetition with the maximum weight.
In 2015, we got seriously involved in the folk bench press, the goal of which is to perform a fixed weight exercise for more reps, and this greatly influenced the creation of multi-repetitive streetlifting, which is now called the multi-lift.
Thus, for us the picture had already taken shape by 2016, but there was no confidence that the sport “horizontal bars and bars” would have fans, which, as it turned out, was in vain.
In 2016, we enlisted the support of organizers from 5 regions of Russia and formed the Federation.
Nadezhda: How did you manage to bring Streetlifting to the level of other countries? And how big is Streetlifting abroad?
Ararat: Almost immediately, as we held the first tournaments in Tver and Yekaterinburg under the auspices of the National Streetlifting Federation formed in Russia, colleagues from Greece began to show interest in the new direction. Taking over our rules, they formed the Streetlifting Organization in Greece, which allowed us to form an international federation.
For the first 2 years we have been actively working on the finalization of the standards of the competition, the rules for performing exercises, regulations for judges, secretaries and assistants. In 2019, we have already actively begun to develop international cooperation with colleagues from such countries as: Estonia, Armenia, Finland, France, Chile, Iran, Turkey, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Belarus. By the end of the year, we have set ourselves a plan to open 12 national chapters in order to confidently approach the first World Championship.
Nadezhda: What obstacles were on the way to making your dream come true?
Ararat: The main obstacle is the lack of time. I do not even remember when I managed to sleep for more than 6 hours. But, to my delight, the efforts invested are paying off in the form of interest from athletes, organizers, bloggers and the media. All this gives hope for a successful future for the Federation and sports.
Hope: Pull-ups and dips with weights are known to be used by athletes from many sports. Which sports do the best in Streetlifting?
Ararat: If we talk about the uneven bars, then these are “bench press”, representatives of powerlifting. If we talk about pull-ups – workout athletes. Again, a lot depends on whether the athlete is engaged in classic streetlifting or multi-repetition, because these areas have completely different specificity of training.
Nadezhda: Name the three most outstanding Streetlifters today.
Ararat: I would like to highlight those who showed the greatest results in the Classic divisions:
- Aleksey Khvan, Krasnoyarsk – holder of the Eurasian record for classic streetlifting. In the weight category up to 85 kg, he gained the sum of two exercises in 207,5 kg.
- Skurikhin Grigory, Moscow – holder of the Eurasian record for classical pull-up. In the weight category up to 85 kg, he showed a result of 100 kg.
- Andrey Bryzgin, Chelyabinsk – holder of the Eurasian record for classic push-ups on the uneven bars. In the weight category up to 75 kg, he showed a result of 122,5 kg.
Nadezhda: Ararat, what kinds of sports have you been involved in and what successes and titles have you achieved?
Ararat: As a child, I tried many directions: gymnastics, sambo, wushu sanda, kickboxing and despite the fact that sport has always been in my life, in one form or another, my greatest passion has always been and is creative directions – theater, design , drawing and music. In the army, I seriously took up “hardware” and since then I prefer only strength sports. Over the past 9 years, he managed to try himself in powerlifting, beach bodybuilding, mas-wrestling, armlifting, folk bench press and, ultimately, settled on streetlifting.
Of my modest results – MS in bench press according to the FZD / WPC versions, MS in Russian bench press and double event. Winner of the European Cup in bench press WPC 2014, winner of the Russian Championship in bench press FZD 2015.
Nadezhda: Do you manage to combine organizational work with training today? Or does all the energy and time go only to work, leaving no opportunity to train?
Ararat: Alas, in recent years it is not so often possible to break into the hall. Work, federation, family – these are the priorities now.
Nadezhda: Is there a place for girls in Streetlifting and what tendency is observed in the expression of interest of the “weaker” sex in Streetlifting?
Ararat: Recently, there has been a positive trend, and therefore we came up with the idea of forming the ISF Women’s League. I am sure that this idea has a great future.
Nadezhda: What kind of sport would you like to see your children in? And would you like to see them in Streetlifting in the future as competitive athletes?
Ararat: My son is only one year and one month old. I dream of seeing him as a scientist, preferably an astrophysicist. In any case, he will go in for sports, because it disciplines, teaches you to set goals for yourself and achieve them. But what kind of sport? Let it be his choice. Of course, I would be glad if he does streetlifting.
Nadezhda: Tell us at least a little about the plans for the development of the ISF for the next 2-3 years.
Ararat: In our plans for the next 3 years:
- association of organizers, coaches, athletes from all over the world. Opening of new national federations and holding Championships in all continents;
- formation of committees within the ISF: Women’s League, Students League, Young League. The purpose of which will be the development of streetlifting, finalizing the rules and holding competitions within the committees. This should be a powerful impetus for the popularization of sports;
- creation of professional courses for the preparation of coaches and judges;
- formation of national teams.
As for the plans for the development of streetlifting in Russia, these are:
- cover more than half of the subjects of the country;
- prepare documents for official recognition and entry into the register of sports.
Nadezhda: Ararat, thanks for the open, detailed answers and permission to use the photos of the federation for this article. I wish you and your family success, development and prosperity.
Reading Ararat’s answers, one involuntarily understands that sports dreams are realizable only by those who are sick and live by their own business. Regardless of your regalia, social status and main type of activity, if your eyes are shining and at least 1 person is following you – everything is feasible.