FitRepublik’s Denis Catana aims to spread weightlifting mania in UAE

They owe a lot to an impressive lineup of experts and professionals they’ve gathered from far afield to oversee the local growth of Swimming, Gymnastics and Olympic Weightlifting – to name a few.

Denis Catana is one of their many star coaches; one who, after powering through a very respectable Olympic weightlifting career, is now fully committed to establishing a professional weightlifting club at FitRepublik that can compete regionally and internationally, as well as help amateurs build their foundation for future competition.

Meet Denis “The Menace” Catana, our Olympic Weightlifting coach! #MeetTheCoaches pic.twitter.com/crERV4DP8A

— FitRepublik (@FitRepublik) May 3, 2015

The Moldova native started lifting at 11-years-old, and he was besting much older competitors by the age of 16, when he won 1st place in a national weightlifting competition in Moldova before going on to grab heftier victories. 

He then moved to England in 2003 to pursue more opportunities in his field, and while there Catana was declared the 3X UK’s tri-national weightlifting champion. 

He is your man in Dubai if you fancy yourself the next big UAE Olympic weightlifter, looking for advice and tips, or an inspired CrossFitter wanting to fine tune.  

Despite what a few have done locally to popularise the sport, Catana still believes there is a long way to go in educating the public about safe and Olympic-standard lifting.

“I’ve just tested some guys here after two months’ work – mostly amateurs, but some of whom would like to compete in their country championships – and they’re 
doing very well but some were a bit disappointed in their performance results,” shares Catana.

“I realised they don’t know how to concentrate efficiently for competition. They were very pumped and anxious to do the competition but when it was time to perform, some of them were just thinking too much, too hesitant, and did poorly.” 

Catana can’t stress enough how important sufficient mental training is to a weightlifter’s success. 

He says: “To lift is one thing, but if you don’t have control of the mind, developed focus and concentration, well, sorry, it wouldn’t matter how much power you have.” 

Similarly, there is no place for ego in lifting; just discipline, patience and respect.

“Some coaches supply the same programme/same weights etc. to each individual beginner across the board, but I personalise, and at times it may upset a student, or make him jealous or feel inadequate, when he sees he is being prescribed a lower weight, routine or effort percentage, but I have a lot of experience, I know what I’m doing.

“I had one guy who was among the strongest but I had him for one month lifting less than another guy half his size and he’d get frustrated, sometimes he didn’t even want to talk to me, but now when he sees the improvement in his form and therefore his power and strength, he is appreciative and happy.

“Too much too soon can put you at risk of injuries. With the serious guys, it’s important not to rush; practise patience and expect to take it nice and easy for at least the first six months to prepare the body for the weights. Then, technique follows which could take up to a year in some cases. It’s a lot of work.”

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— FitRepublik (@FitRepublik) June 3, 2015

Catana himself started young, which is most recommended if you really want to go far, but he currently teaches adults and even says it is not entirely impossible to make it to the world stage later on in life.

“To do Olympic Weightlifting professionally from adulthood is understandably much harder and often if you’ve passed more than 25-30 years old, it’s very unlikely you’ll reach your dream goal. In my country there was one guy who trained as a kid, stopped for a while to focus on Strongman training, then got back into it when he was 35. A friend made a bet with him to get to the Olympics. In two years, he lifted the weight that qualified him to go to the Games. 

“He is a special case but it depends on a lot of things how far you go, your body and history of injuries and mental capabilities. 

“In general, I feel that anyone can train for two to three years and be ready for a high level at this sport; it’s just all about having a routine, a strict diet and training discipline. 

He adds: “The professionals train three times a day. On top of that, there’s food which has to be in carefully calculated amounts and portions. The weightlifter diet is not a strict one – I’ve never been on one but just made sure I ate a minimum of 400 grams of meat a day.”

That said, vegetarian weightlifting sensations do occur, such as Ilya Ilyin from Kazakhstan, twice an Olympic champion as well as a five-time world champion, with multiple world records to his name, who made a slow transition to plant-based eating since the age of 18. 

Catana says: “When I found out he did that I was shocked. 

“It’s so hard for me that even though I’m a Christian, I’ve only managed to properly fast (abstain from meat) during Lent once in my life. Still, Ilyin is one of the best lifters in the world and he manages.”

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— FitRepublik (@FitRepublik) June 4, 2015

More evidence has shown that starting  young on weights does not necessarily lead to stunted growth, and you can examine Catana’s tall, sturdy frame as an example. 

But he says: “I wouldn’t recommend kids come on from as young a seven or eight, though, only because they can get bored of this sport and want out by 11. I think at such a young, active age, they need to do something more adrenaline-pumping like gymnastics or swimming, then when they’ve calmed down approach weightlifting.”

As for the increasing divide between serious lifters and CrossFitters the Moldovan says that Olympic Weightlifting is a sport that can benefit all.

“I have a lot of CrossFitters and their coaches coming to me for advice and complementary training, and I understand why,” he adds.

“I respect CrossFit as a sport, it’s just completely different and when CrossFitters ask me about it I say doing both is cool but you must 
really be careful. 

“Weightlifting classes offer the perfect place for a CrossFitter to improve their lifting and actually these days I do see more and more of them transition to weightlifting after getting to know it better.

“In fact, people don’t often realise that a lot of elements of weightlifting are actually beneficial to those found in other sports. The Clean and Jerk alone works practically every single muscle in the body. 

“I even trained a rugby team in England while there, and I’ve had boxers come through and they are strong people but their legs are so weak. A few sessions with me and I’ve heard some great feedback, improvements in power.”

Catana and crew are hard at work at developing national team-quality weightlifters, as well as creating  chances for local competition.

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— FitRepublik (@FitRepublik) June 2, 2015

He says: “In about two months we hope to hold a competition here and we’ll try to attract more people. We have a little bit of interest from Emirati nationals too keen to take it to the next level. We’re also in works connecting with the federation to get licensed to compete internationally as a club so there are great things to come. 

To add to FitRepublik’s appeal as a first-class Weightlifting facility, Catana says: “What I like in this facility is that they offer so much more under one roof. If lifters want to cool down and relieve tight muscles, there is an Olympic-sized pool right here. 

“The high-quality gymnastics department offers people who can help with effective stretching, and weightlifters are more and more seeking out yoga too, which FitRepublik has here also. We have the best in house.”