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JimX - Webmaster Administrator Posts: 31 | MANUEL ES MUY POPULAR Arnold Sports Festival Q&A: Manuel Morales-Ortiz By Bill Rabinowtiz The Columbus Dispatch Friday, March 2, 2007 The Arnold Sports Festival returns to Columbus this weekend, with some 17,000 competitors taking part in events ranging from figure skating to strongman contests. Each day, The Dispatch's Bill Rabinowitz catches up with one of the participants. Manuel Morales-Ortiz Sport: Weightlifting Age: 32 Size: 5-6½, 207 pounds Residence: Westerville Education: Aiming to finish degree in biomedical engineering from Ohio State. Has bachelor's degree from college in native Puerto Rico Job: Claims adjuster in customer service for Spanish-speaking clients Club: Columbus Weightlifting Club Q: What was your first experience in weightlifting? A: When I went to college, I started on the track and field team. At one of the weight-training practices, they put me in the squat and the first squat I did was 365 pounds. The powerlifting coach was like, "OK, you're officially on our team now." Q: As a kid, were you freakishly strong? A: It was known that you don't want to start any fights around me because I would defend the weakest and you'd get in trouble with me. I used to box when I was younger and nobody wanted to fight with me. I guess I was gifted. My mom called me "The Lawyer" because I would defend everybody. Q: I understand attending the Arnold Classic two years ago was an epiphany for you. What happened? A: At the time, I was doing bodybuilding. I'd been doing that for two years. (Watching the weightlifting competition), I was like, "OK, this is what I want to do." It was immediate. I was going to go to Nationals in bodybuilding and told my coach, "I'm not doing bodybuilding anymore." Q: What are your goals now? A: I have a very good chance, if I do well at Nationals in Puerto Rico in April, to go to the Pan American Games in Brazil this summer. If I do well in the Pan Americans, I have the chance to go to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Q: How realistic do you think the Olympics are? A: There's a window. It depends on if I do well in the next two events. I've got to do 110 percent (of my personal best) in both of them to be on track. I'm pretty confident I can. My coach in Puerto Rico said, "The problem is not you getting strong. It's you knowing how to use your strength." Q: How different is Olympic weightlifting than traditional powerlifting? A: It's night and day. In powerlifting, you have to be strong and focused, but you can take forever doing one lift. It doesn't have to be fast. Olympic weightlifting is like a 100-meter dash. Olympic weightlifting is 70 percent technique, 20 percent strength and 10 percent flexibility and speed. Q: You're 32, so I take it you're an old man for your sport. Is that an issue? A: There's a 10-year life span in Olympic weightlifting because the movements tax your nervous system and your joints stop reacting as fast. You lose speed. If you're lifting slower, you can't get the bar up (as easily) and you need speed to get under the bar. But it doesn't matter how old you are. It just matters how long you've been doing this. Q: What's your weekly routine like? A: I work every day from 8 to 5. Three days a week I squat (lift) before work (and work out afterward). I always carry all my meals with me. I cook on Sundays and do all my meals the rest of the week." Q: How many Pop-Tarts does that include? A: (Laughs) None. I took all my sugar and salt out of my diet and that makes a huge difference. And I drink a lot of water, two gallons a day. Q: How do you get any work done when you're constantly having to go to the bathroom? A: The first two weeks you do that, you're constantly in the bathroom because your body doesn't know what to do with the water. Then after two weeks it normalizes. It's just when I go to the bathroom I go a little longer because I've got a little more water in me. Q: More detail than I need, thank you. So what do you eat? A: My diet is pretty much chicken, fish, steak, vegetables, oatmeal as my carbs, rice and pasta. I eat at least five or six times a day. I eat my three normal meals and then I make two snacks in between. There's another guy (at work) who eats a lot who said, "I thought I ate a lot, but you put me down." Q: What's your stance on steroids? A: I am an incredible believer in staying clean -- no steroids. My powerlifting coach in Puerto Rico is the one who pushed me the most, and he always told me never to use any steroids because I'm one of the guys who's naturally strong. He said if I used it, I'd be the champion of the island for a long time and probably go to the States and win there, too, because I'm light and strong. But he said, "You'll never know what you could have done with your natural strength. You'd always have in the back of your mind that you cheated, and if those drugs are bad for you, you'll pay the price." Q: What's the adrenaline rush like when the crowd reacts to a successful lift? A: It's incredible. It's like every receptor in my body is on fire. The hairs are all standing up. It's just amazing. Q: Has your strength ever proved beneficial in your ordinary life? A: When I was in college in Puerto Rico, we went on a biology trip. One of the cars was a 1989 Honda Civic hatchback and it got a flat. The guy who put all the equipment in for the science trip had taken out the jack because it was in the way. We were in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains, where the roads were very small. After an hour and a half we were frustrated. I leaned into the car and it kind of shifted. I was like, "How heavy do you think this car is?" One guy said it was probably 1,000 pounds. I said I can do 500 pounds for sure. So we put a rock in front and used it as a lever. I lifted the car, and the guys were able to change the tire. They talked about it for years. | ||||
| 3-5-2007 12:34AM |
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