Today’s guest is Manuel Buitrago. Manuel is a PhD, along with being the founder and director of MaStrength, a global education brand dedicated to authentic Chinese weightlifting. Since launching MaStrength in 2014, he’s taught 100+ seminars worldwide, authored Chinese Weightlifting: A Visual Guide to Technique and Chinese Weightlifting: Technical Mastery & Training

There are many misconceptions in the world of strength training, especially as the lens of a skeletal pressure-based view is not included in modern training systems. When skeletal pressure dynamics are understood, it allows us to see why athletes prefer particular variations of lifts, how and why they fail lifts, and what aspects of the lifts themselves lead to better athletic outcomes.

On today’s episode, Manuel speaks on the practicalities of weightlifting and how it carries over to sport. He compares powerlifting and Olympic lifting from a technique and transfer standpoint, and gets into how body shapes, breathing, and set-ups affect a lift. Manuel also touches on connective tissue and why it matters for performance and durability. From this episode, you’ll learn concepts about the Olympic and powerlifts that can not only improve lifting performance but also facilitate a better transfer to athleticism and movement ability.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength.

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Timestamps

0:00 - From gymnastics and powerlifting to Chinese weightlifting

3:34 - First Olympic lifting exposure via IronMind footage and Pyrs Dimas

5:40 - The Chinese team’s systematic approach that sparked the study abroad

9:30 - Breathing, shapes, and the funnel concept for lifting

26:15 - Bottom-up squats: why weightlifting squats differ from powerlifting squats

30:45 - Training near the hip and block work to bias upward, explosive shapes

41:08 - Squat jerk versus split jerk - body shape, femur length, and selection

54:34 - Box squats, touch-and-go versus deloading - individualize by athlete shape

58:29 - Practical breathing cues to create and switch the funnel shape

1:07:24 - Applying shapes to sport - who benefits from which strategies

Actionable Takeaways

0:00 - From gymnastics and powerlifting to Chinese weightlifting

Manuel’s early background (gymnastics then powerlifting) led him to seek a more athletic, attainable physique via Olympic lifting.

Use cross-sport curiosity: explore other lifting cultures to discover training cues that fit your athlete.

Test new lifts with low ego loads to learn the feeling before programming heavy progressions.

When an approach resonates (Manuel saw this in video footage), lean into learning it systematically rather than chasing trends.

3:34 - First Olympic lifting exposure via IronMind footage and Pyrs Dimas

Seeing training hall footage made manual learning possible; video can reveal consistent patterns across a team.

Use curated training footage to spot systematic cues you can trial in the gym.

Compare multiple athletes in the same system to find the shared principles, not the outlier quirks.

Trial small protocol elements from footage (timing, shapes, sequencing) on yourself or a pilot athlete before scaling.

5:40 - The Chinese team’s systematic approach that sparked the study abroad

Manuel noticed consistent shapes and timing in the Chinese footage that contrasted with other teams’ variety.

When observing multiple athletes, note common positions and tempo as signals of a system you can emulate.

If a system looks consistent and repeatable, consider immersive study (courses, short placements) to learn its language.

Use language and cultural learning to communicate directly with athletes and coaches when stud...