Who Does the Heavy Lifting at Delbarton?

Ever wonder who does the heavy lifting at Delbarton? We can tell you–it's senior Rob Kautzmann. Last August, in competition at Fairleigh Dickinsen University, Rob won the Olympic Lifting Garden State Games in his weight class (105 K and up). Nowadays he can be seen in the Green Wave weight room doing an impressively controlled clean and jerk on 225 pounds, and looking like he can lift a whole lot more.

Clean and jerk, one of two Olympic weight lifting events, is known as the 'king of lifts' because more weight can be lifted over one's head than in any other position. The current world record is 580 pounds. The second Olympic weight lifting event is the snatch, where the competitor lifts a barbell from platform to locked arms overhead in one smooth continuous movement. The current Snatch record holder lifted 407 pounds in the 2008 Olympics. That is a lot of barbell.

Delbarton strength and conditioning trainer Mike Beach introduced Rob to the sport last spring when Rob decided to move from player to manager for the Wave football team. Rob continued to work out with the team, doing running and lifting drills to stay in shape. Beach introduced him to Olympic lifting coach Nick Curry at DMC–a training and rehab business owned, coincidentally, by Del alum Dr. Dave Cunic. Curry specializes in coaching Olympic-style lifting, a technique which requires stylistic finesse, strength, flexibility and athleticism.

Rob was a natural for the sport thanks to his lower and upper body strength, plus his critical jump abilities, and Coach Beach was not surprised by his Garden State Games achievement.

"Rob is at a whole other level of lifting," says Beach.

Where does Rob go from here? Fall is a busy season for Rob because of his managerial and academic responsibilities, so he lifts mainly during his gym classes. Does he plan to lift in college? For fitness, definitely, but he is not screening colleges according to their lifting programs: "My main focus is getting into the best college academically I can get into." But if his ultimate collegiate choice offers lifting as an option, he does plan to check it out.

Like most Delbarton students, Rob is one busy guy. He does Winter and Spring Track, throws shot put during both seasons, and discus outdoors in the warmer months. He is modest about his weight lifting prowess, and especially likes the fact that the main person he competes against is himself.

Meanwhile, Rob earns the respect of everyone watching him heave massive weights from the padded rubber mat to an extended stance above his head with complete control. Does he use a spotter? No. The only thing a spotter could do to help Rob is to get the heck out of his way. When he completed his final clean and jerk during a recent gym class the bar came banging down to the rubber mat with a metallic crash.

How can you tell when someone has spent a lot of time lifting weights? Here's how. We asked Rob if people ever get used to that crashing noise.

"... Um, what noise?" he repled.