Mikhail Viktorovich Koklyaev is a famous Russian athlete, one of the most recognized weightlifters and bodybuilders not only in Russia, but also in the rest of the world. Seven times he won the championship in Russia, was a member of the national weightlifting team. Koklyaev Mikhail, whose biography is able to motivate any novice athlete, is an example of real will, the desire for victory and constant self-control.
Early start
Mikhail Koklyaev was born in 1978, in the city of Chelyabinsk. By nationality - half Tatar, half Russian. He started weightlifting at the age of 13: in 1992, Mikhail first came to the gym, having a height of 170 cm and a weight of 57 kg. So began his ascent to the top of domestic and foreign power sports, where he was designated as one of the most developed athletes of the USSR. And a year later, Koklyaev already received the second adult rank in the 75+ kg category. And in 1994, the CCM became more than 90 kg in weight. A year later, Mikhail Koklyaev became an MS in the 107 kg weight category. Thus, already at the age of 18 he fulfilled the standard for the title of master of sports in weightlifting - the result is not only amazing, but also amazing, given the fact that most weightlifters come to this sport only after 16-17 years.
Serious injury
The Chelyabinsk athlete was enrolled in the so-called experimental junior team of Russia in weightlifting. After practicing for some time, Michael during one of the competitions very seriously damaged the ligaments of the knee joints, because of which he had to rehabilitate for a whole year. As he himself says, sometimes this pain manifests itself now, but the man is already used to it - for him this is a kind of signal that it is time to slightly reduce the load during training.
Coach change
In the same 1995, Mikhail Koklyaev changed his mentor - he was transferred from the coach Igor Slyunin under the patronage of Alexander Musaev. Apparently, this is precisely what affected the athlete’s quick rehabilitation - already in 1996 he again performed, setting a Russian record among older youths, lifting 155 kg in a jerk. In 1997, the weightlifter won the Russian Championship among juniors in the category "weight over 108 kg", although he himself weighed a little more.
Service in the missile forces
The World Cup that year passed showed Mikhail Viktorovich in a good light - he took fifth place with a score of 160-180. Apparently, this was the reason that the guy soon joined the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces) in Odintsovo, being recorded in the 127th battalion. During the service, Mikhail met his third coach, Alexander Skonnikov, who further helped develop Mikhail's professional athletic qualities. In addition, Skonnikov helped Koklyaev determine the path in sporting life, introduced some important people to sports and spoke in detail about all its features. Having become even stronger in the decision to continue his sports career, Mikhail Koklyaev in 1998 won second place at the Russian Junior Championships, and at the World Championships he took fourth place with a score of 177.5 + 207.5.
Best result
In 1999, the Chelyabinsk athlete showed his best result - 195 kg per jerk and 232.5 kg per push, which totaled 422.5 kg. As Mikhail Viktorovich himself admits, he would hardly have achieved this result if not for the help of David Adamovich Riegert, who managed to reassure Mikhail and strengthen his faith in himself, because the threshold of junior age has already come to an end.
Crash
The first year of the millennium became somewhat tragic for Mikhail Koklyaev - he gets into a motorcycle accident, however, without any complications. In addition, he constantly works on control, devoting almost all his time to this. Mikhail Koklyaev, whose injury excited the whole domestic sports world, still managed to stay afloat.
Michael describes the year 2001 as “calm, unremarkable.” Well, 200 + 232.5 kg, which in total gives 432.5 kg, is a good result, especially for third place in the Russian championship. As Mikhail himself says, this year he spent training at home.
Russian record
Mikhail Koklyaev, whose height and weight has not changed much, won the Russian Cup in 2002 and became the winner of the Russian championship in August of that year. He is leaving for Turkey to take part in the European Championship, but due to an injury to the inguinal rings, he does not receive any place. The weight of the athlete is already 148 kg. In 2003, the man still won the Russian championship, setting the 210th record. Unfortunately, he is not taken to the World Cup, although at a tournament dedicated to the memory of G. Novak, Koklyaev lifts 205 and 240 kg by jerk and push, respectively. This is a pretty good result, which would be more than enough to take third place in the competition.
Koklyaev Mikhail, whose weight in 2003 was 138 kg, managed to quickly rehabilitate himself and regain weight. In 2004, the athlete took first place in the Cup of the country in Novgorod. Participates in the European Championship, which was held in Kiev, where he managed to lift 190 and 230 kg, so he takes fifth place. After a couple of months, Mikhail takes part in the qualifying tournament for a trip to the Olympic Games. After a couple of months in Podolsk takes first place.
Power extreme
2005 again brought first place in the Cup of the country: Mikhail pulled out the result of 450 kg of total weight. In general, the summer of 2005 was especially intense: between the beginning of June and the end of July, the athlete managed to participate in many tournaments, including the Highlanders Games in Scotland. He also participated in two team championships held in Poland and Ukraine. In the same year, the weightlifter changed the sports “image” a bit, becoming a well-known athlete named Mikhail Koklyaev, whose extreme power was somewhat different from the standard one. In other words, he worked on his own methods.
In 2006, Michael set America's record by pushing 240 kg - this tournament was called Arnold Classic. At the same time, participating in training camps in Scotland, where she sets a new, albeit unofficial record in the same 240 kg in the clean and jerk.
Strength training
By the way, Mikhail began to engage in strong back in 2004, after an unsuccessful qualifying round to Athens. Elbrus Nigmatullin led him to this idea . As Mikhail himself said, he wanted to engage in strong before, but he was primarily prevented by the fear that he could be seriously injured, which would entail too long a period of rehabilitation.
Weightlifting today
Mikhail Viktorovich Koklyaev claims that the current situation of weightlifting in Russia is more or less tolerable: due to the growing doping control and updates in the system of improving this sport, many beginner weightlifters no longer face the difficulties that Mikhail had to deal with at the beginning his career. Strongman, or power extreme, is a sport that is accessible to everyone, because the exercises of this school are not particularly difficult in terms of technology. And since the average age of participants in this area is approximately 30 years, it is not surprising that this type of strength athletics is becoming more and more popular. As our hero says, it is easy to become an experienced strongman, but you can improve this simple technique all your conscious life.
Koklyaev Mikhail, whose biography, in principle, is a complete list of all sports achievements, cannot but contain some aspects of his daily life and those things without which the athlete can not imagine his existence. Michael has earned the recognition of many world famous weightlifting athletes, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, who spoke of our compatriot as a great athlete. When Mikhail participated in the Arnold-Strongman 2011 tournament, Schwarzenegger sent via Twitter an enthusiastic message to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Mikhail was able to double his weight of 111 kg. To which Dmitry Medvedev succinctly answered: "Yes, Russian men are generally so strong."
Life outside of sports
After a short rest, the athlete returns to weightlifting again. The wife of Mikhail Koklyaev, Oksana, is very positive about this component of her husband’s life, supporting him in every possible way on this path. The weightlifter has two children - daughter Diana and son Michael. Yes, his life was not only packed with training: he devotes a lot of time to his family, brings up children, occasionally travels around the country and abroad, attends various conferences and sports seminars.