Is The Biggest Loser BAD For Holley Mangold?

Welcome To Why Olympic Weightlifting Is So Unpopular

Holley Mangold, one of our Olympians in Olympic Weightlifting, landed a spot on the reality show The Biggest Loser recently. And, as you’d expect, this was posted up on the USA Weightlifting blog.⁽¹⁾

I probably should have left well-alone, but it was hard after Tamara started reading some of the comments out loud to me.

A good chunk of the comments can be summed up like this:

• This is horrible for her


• This is horrible for the sport


• It’s going to RUIN her body and any chance of going to the Olympics… permanently


• The show is horrible, and I hate everything it stands for


• Why doesn’t she just do what’s best for her chances of going to Rio?


• She’s a sell-out

Given that I think that’s all a bunch of hooey, I added my own. Here it is:

I think it’s awesome. She’s an adult and can do whatever the hell she wants. Will this ruin her athletic career? That’s ridiculous. Athletes do all kinds of crazy shit, this hardly takes the cake.⁽²⁾

The complaints about the show are also a bit overstated, given that the participants are all adults and CHOSE to be on a freakin’ reality show, of all things to subject yourself to – they can’t complain too much.

If it didn’t magically “cure” them, that isn’t the shows fault. The show is about entertaining US the viewers and making money doing so. It succeeds amazingly on those counts. It also succeeds in proving a deeply important point: ANYONE can lose weight – and a lot of it. That shouldn’t be missed. I have coached a lot of clients over the years who were RIGHTLY inspired by the show to make a change. We lost weight differently, but the inspiration was important.

Hey, I don’t agree with the methods of losing weight that the biggest loser uses either – they aren’t ideal by any means. But again, that isn’t the point. It’s a reality show, man.

Is this show the “right” way for an Olympic athlete to lose bodyfat? Of course not. Again, that ain’t the point. Holley is doing her part to market this sport to the general public – she ain’t stupid, this is her SECOND reality show, remember? She’s popularizing HERSELF as an athlete, and by extension OUR sport. She’s doing the work that we are benefiting from, and we’re complaining?

Preaching to the converted doesn’t grow the sport. There are only 8,000 or so registered members of USAW. That’s pathetic. There are more kids in bowling leagues in most cities. So if Holley wants to spend a whopping few months kicking the crap out of everyone on that show, it WILL be good for us.

Her athletic career will be fine. She will bounce back. She’s young. Who cares, really. In the end, how does this negatively affect you or me?

You go, Holley. Kick all their asses.

A last point is this nonsense about the Biggest Loser RUINING her body. Bullshit. Do you know what happens to people in REAL bootcamp? How about Navy Seal training? What the Spartans did? What the Samurai did?

Give me a break. The Biggest Loser is like a vacation resort in comparison.

I’m looking forward to her proving everyone wrong.

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footnotes

1. USA Weightlifting is the governing body of the sport in America.


2. Steroids, anyone?

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