In Athletes, Olympic Lifts, Videos
June 19, 2009

This video is a profile of Shane Hamman, told in his own words and actions. Shane holds all the U.S. weightlifting records in the 105 kilogram plus category and holds the world record for the squat: 1,008 pounds.
Shane recalls writing on a piece of paper at age seven that he wanted to go to the Olympics. The dream came true. Shane was on the U.S. Olympic weightlifting team in 2000 and 2004. But Shane had started out as a power-lifter, competing in that sport between the ages of 18 and 23. Shane was advised not to make the switch to Olympic lifting because it had not been done successfully before. Shane disregarded the advice and went on to achieve great things.
But there was a setback along the way: a serious injury in 1999 that put Shane out of action for three weeks, until the day of the nationals when he set three American records. Shane credits his strong Christian faith for pulling him through.
Shane is seen in action coaching athletes along with Mike Burgener. Shane says: “CrossFit is one of the best things to come around for weightlifting. And weightlifting is one of the best things tor CrossFit. It’s such a good fit.” Shane thinks it’s great thousands more people are now doing snatches and clean and jerks because nothing develops athletic ability better.
5min 48sec

24 Comments on “Strong Man Shane Hamman and CrossFit ”
1
Daniel Colson wrote …
CrossFit is attracting the best of the best. Welcome Shane Hammond!
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2
wrote …
Awesome video! Thanks for sharing brother! so great to see so many brothers and sisters in Christ giving the glory to God, and professing their faith. God Bless
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3
wrote …
Thanks Again, Faster for putting together a great video about an amazing athlete and person.
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4
wrote …
What a nice humble guy. It's awesome that Crossfit has such incredible people and resources coming into the community.
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5
wrote …
I had the pleasure of meeting and being coached by Shane at the Olympic Lifting Cert in OKC. What an amazing, kind, professional man. It's great getting to see him again.
Welcome to crossfit Shane!!!
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6
wrote …
All I have to say is I can't even begin to comprehend squatting 1,008 pounds? That's insane!!
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7
wrote …
That is a strong human being.
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8
wrote …
That was the best example I've seen of how explosively violent the snatch needs to be. He explodes with that bar (no weight) and you can see how each rep is a perfectly executed explosion. He made the clean and jerk look like a warm up set with a pvc.
That was awesome.
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9
wrote …
Wow, hadn't heard the story that he injured both wrists so severely only 3 weeks out from setting those records, just watched them on Youtube and am blown away. Amazing stuff.
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10
wrote …
He is an awesome dude! Humble, gifted and real faith - brilliant :-)
Get this man on video again!
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11
wrote …
Scary how fast he is for such a big guy. I almost can't see the motion. One moment the bar is down, then it's up.
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12
Keith Wittenstein wrote …
Awesome!
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13
wrote …
In the March 2003 CrossFit journal, there was a review of the World Class Coaching Olympic-Style Weightlifting videos. One of the primary athlete's in these videos is Shane.
The article:
http://journal.crossfit.com/2003/03/the-worlds-fastest-lift-world.tpl
The videos:
http://www.metroweightlifting.com/index.html
Also, here is a link to September 2000 interview with Shane on NPR:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1111372
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14
wrote …
Impressive man with a great faith. A couple of things I noticed...
1. He was very explosive, but almost quiet moving the weight. His clean was just a thing of beauty and it seemed like it was effortless.
2. Does he bump the weight on his hips as he is coming up on the snatch? Haven't been to a cert yet, but I heard him saying pockets...does that mean to pull the weight toward your pockets?
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15
wrote …
funny clip with shane
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZqOs-Ghvps&feature=related
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16
wrote …
I just googled him to learn a bit more and a picture comes up of his vertical leap -- just wow!!
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17
wrote …
I also had the privilege to meet and train under Shane at the OLY Cert at CFOKC.
Funny story: So, aside from being HUGE, Shane was quiet, humble and moved very slowly. Therefore, I thought to myself, "Shane=big, slow guy" and focused most of my attention on Coach B that weekend.
At one point, Coach B had us break up into small groups. I'm standing there watching Sage instruct our small group while Shane was standing to the right of me, about 3 feet away, teaching his group. Suddenly, Shane shows his group how to execute the Snatch correctly with the empty barbell. With me right behind him!
Yeah, I pretty much dove for cover (along with a few others, I might add)! I was just not expecting a "big, slow guy" to move THAT FAST! Wow!
Welcome to CrossFit Shane, we can learn a lot from you!
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18
wrote …
Unbelievable how CrossFit attracts great people - glad to have you to learn with and from Shane! Paul
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19
wrote …
Anyone know what kind of shoes he's wearing?
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20
wrote …
that is one of the best interviews on the journal, welcome, welcome, welcome brother. i hope to one day meet you personally at a cert. Your just one more awsome person added to an already amazing group of people.
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21
wrote …
Great Stuff
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22
wrote …
Shane, thanks for your Christian witness. Great to have brothers in Christ in Crossfit. May God continue to bless you. Jim Rooks, Crossfit No Limits. Steilacoom, WA
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23
Michael Miner wrote …
Awesome to see another brother in christ lifting the iron, welcome.
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24
wrote …
Great video and awesome testimony! Keep up the good work!
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