Kuo Hsing-Chun at the WWC 2023 in Riyadh: A combination of pure wisdom and commitment on the way to the Olympic goal [Interview]

Let us represent you a Taiwanese Kuo Hsing-Chun, a weightlifter with a philosopher’s heart who has numerous successful competitions, great experience, and unbeatable determination under the belt.

It sounds incredible: such a tiny Taiwanese competing in the 58 kg weight class possesses Five World Champion titles, and three Olympic Games with bronze and gold from contests in Rio and Tokyo in the 58-59 kg weight categories respectively. Moreover, she broke eleven Senior World Records.

Limitless persistence and high determination as driving forces

Today we’re going to uncover her secrets that possibly would open up your passion in sport. Kuo’s success is based not only on the medals win, but on her approach, thorough preparation, and focus on every tiny detail that can influence her lifting training.

From the very childhood, Kuo has been doing different sports: playing basketball, football, track and field and finally moved to unexpected weightlifting. Her coaches told her that she had better prospects in weightlifting than other team sports.

An interesting fact is that Hsing-Chun was honored to be on the cover of the magazine where she showed the beauty of female weightlifters trying to prove their special features and break some stereotypes.

Secret rituals that help Kuo stay unbeatable

Starting from 2012, Kuo lifted a total of over 230 kg at international competitions, while her best performance was 249 kg at Summer Universiade in 2017. It’s quite difficult to maintain such a great result for over 10 years, but Kuo does it well. She said that it’s important to have a very clear goal. So, she tries to maintain at least 230 kg in total in every contest. Having a clear goal helps to be motivated during the training process.

Her warm-up ritual and total dedication deserve our attention: she concentrates greatly on the mobility exercises that are crucial to keeping her physical condition at the proper level.

Kuo Hsing-Chun adds also specific accessory movements, functional and stability training into her drills that are uncommon for athletes to use such diverse training. The athletes believes that it’s important to have some support for each movement when lifting weights. During this process, an athlete uses many small parts of the body to stabilize it considering the issue of muscle imbalance among weightlifters.

She also adds some unilateral movements and coordination to work out her balance skills to keep her body tight and stabilized during heavy loads.

Guiding principles of the Taiwanese athlete

Kuo believes that every lifter should have a very clear goal they will reach soon. The process of reaching the goal should be divided into several stages that will help them to keep forward. The next rule is about concentrating both on the body and mind. The last principle is about preserving enthusiasm and enjoying your sport. 

At the preparatory stage for the Olympics in Paris, Kuo says that she’s grateful for her past challenges, maintaining physical and psychological power and strength of will that help to show great results. For her, it’s important to preserve physical and mental health to enjoy the competitive environment.

All in all, Kuo’s journey in weightlifting consists of strength, wisdom, passion, and preservation who is trying to be an inspiration for those in weightlifting and those who want to conquer their dreams.