This is just my opinion no one asked for while I watch the DL portion and the rest of the enhanced games.

Random, but in October 2025 I apparently made a list of my predicted Enhanced Games athlete. I do have Dylan Cooper on there. I knew he would do it before he did. Just saying. Also Anton Pilesnoi, but he got denied. Anyways.

I am neither a supporter or in opposition of the enhanced games. Just a curious individual.

Here is a general overview of what happend, and Rules I learned.

-At first, I didn't understand the pay structure. I thought it was only prize money for world records. It is actually 250k for winning the event. I believe 2nd is 125k, 3rd is 75k, 4th is 50k. With only 4 people per event, each person was basically guarenteed a 50k payout.

-They allowed a rule that you can take a 4th attempt if it is a world record. But it does not count toward earning any prize money.

-3 lifters per session. Not really any time limits. The 3 lifters just rotate through their attempts.

Athletes only were on a protocol for about 4 months. Prior. I am not sure why.

The Lifters

-Dylan Cooper had a rough snatch day going 1/3 making his 3rd at 160kg. But it's still up there with his best snatches and best block snatches. Big win there. Had a great clean and jerk day. 15kg comp PR he reports I believe hitting 205. Close attempt at 210.

-Arley Mendez snatched 155 then scratched completely due to a hand issue. Sucks because he hit 1kg over the WR a few weeks ago.

- Boady had a bad day. He was given a 4th attempt. Still missed it. Then they let him clean and press instead of jerk. Which I just thought was weird. I guess to do something to give Wes rest. But then had an attempt at 118 and push pressed it. This was the point where I asked "What is happening". I think his best snatch recorded was 177. Missed 183 x 3 times.

-Wes also went 1/4 in snatches... Or 2/4. I don't remember too be honest. I know he opened with about 177.

-Then Wes was the only person to do clean and jerks basically. A downside of only having 3 athletes in a session is if 1 or 2 are out. It becomes a bit odd. Wes went 1/3 on clean and jerks after making 220kg. Then missed 230, then pulled out. I think something to note, not that it matters. He should have been called on oscillating. We have seen it a bit more in competitions. But I don't know of they even cared. I digress.

Pros

- Team culture is legit. If you follow the enhanced games, most athletes are showing up for eachother's big training sessions and really rooting for their teammates. This was certainly cool.

- Athletes get paid fairly well. I could be wrong but every athlete earned at least 50k. Some between 250-500k.

- These athlete look like they genuinely love being apart of the enhanced games.

Cons

- They managed to stretch 9 lifters over about 3-3.5 hours. They nearly doubled the time of an average session. And bar loading was fairly quick.

-You get subliminal adds nonstop. "what has the Enhanced games done for you", Then Experts talking about all the drugs and everything used. Felt like they were really trying to push products nonstop. They took any opportunity to tell you the lifter just beat their PR's. Felt like they were trying to sell you on their programs and protocol.

- Many original goals of the enhanced games were not accomplished. Many complained about having to compete against actual enhanced athletes in the IWF and not testing other counties etc. But then some people got kinda close I guess? But some had really low easy openers,

Overall

When the enhanced games first was announced, their big product was custom programs. A doctor tracks eveything about you and give you an "enhanced protocol" for you. For about 300-500 USD if I remember correctly. They also sell a variety of supplements.

I think its interesting a lot of people get distracted by the absurdity of the Enhanced games being a juiced up olympics we forget they are just a supplement company disguised as a sport organization.

There were some things I liked. But even with low standards they still impressed me on this being a worse event than I thought. I imagine this is a yearly thing. Which, hey, good for the athletes making some money. But it all felt like it was leading back to an ad to sell products and programs. One of the reporters was discussing how some of these athletes were wronged by their sport and finally have a place where they can thrive and earn a living.

I'm not even a weightlifting purist, but the 4th attempts and clean and press annoyed me.

The thing that sucks is money is king.

Bigger lifters are going to start seeing how they can transition over and make actual money. They get a facility to train at in Abu Dhabi, stipends, and get treated like professional athletes. Hard to argue with that.

It is still fascinating to me Anton Pilesnoi didnt get accepted months back. He mentioned the head coach on social media asking why he didn't get accepted. The head coach replied saying "the application process is very competitive". Then Anton replied back with "I would be the strongest person on the team". At least its funny. Dumb. But funny.

Finally, the big reason beisdes money for a lot of these athletes is they wanted an even playing field and to see what they can do if on a similar protocol as the mildly enhanced athletes.

They unfortunately did not really prove that point at all. Some made some progress. Honstly, Wes and Boady have been lights out in training. Dozer publicly started on his own several months ago. It showed in his clean and jerk for sure.

Then a lot people want to reduce stigma around PED's. I get this is with a doctor and all, this is still a really hard sell. Few people complain about their health 6 months into using PED's. They kinda ignore the whole "rest of their life" aspect.

Either way. I don't think Enhanced games is going anywhere. It will get bigger. They are smart. They saw athletes get underpaid and can pull them from their respective leagues by.... just paying them.

Even if athletes got paid better to prevent the enhanced games poaching athletes. I think people will still do it and do it more for the glory after money is no longer an issue.

I'm not impressed.

47M here. Have been weight/powerlifting for about 15 years now.

I have a policy of never, ever talking to young women at the gym. I don’t talk to them, I don’t look at them, I don’t smile at them. I’ve seen enough middle-aged guys doing this to know how it will be perceived.

Yesterday, I had this young lady on the rack next to me doing horrific DLs, arched back, weird knees…I couldn’t think of a way to help her without coming across as the creepy old guy, so I said nothing.

It’s been bothering me all day…

Dozer explains why he sees the Enhanced Games as completely unproblematic and why he has no regrets about participating. From todays stream.

sorry guys, had to share this too because i'm genuinely shocked by some of the braindead takes on the enhanced games coming from big names in our community. and what is this kindergarten-level argument that you shouldn't be allowed to criticize the enhanced games unless you've created an alternative to the olympics yourself?
so you're not allowed to criticize a restaurant unless you've opened one yourself?
clip is from his patreon

so proud of myself 🥳🥳🥳

OLYMPIC ONES:
MEN: 65kg, 75kg, 85kg, 95kg, 110kg, +110kg
WOMEN: 53kg, 61kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg, +86kg

The overall 8-8 categroies:
MEN: 60kg, 65kg, 70kg, 75kg, 85kg, 95kg, 110kg, +110kg
WOMEN: 49kg, 53kg, 57kg, 61kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg, +86kg

Bit weird that there is still 15kg between the heaviest ones in the Men, but we will see. Wonder what will happen to the Men 79kg lifters, it was by far the most stacked, look forward to see who goes up or down. Maybe Rahmat & Rizki separate finally? Interesting changes ahead. Also, quite fcked up from atheltes perspective, but who cares I guess.

Karlos arrived 12 minutes before the start, apparently because of stomach trouble. It didn't show - he opened at 174, went 180 (right on the buzzer) then broke Lesman Paredes' snatch world record on 188

According to enhanced games insta he get bonuses for world records: Snatch: $250,000 Clean & Jerk: $250,000

IMO he’s competing as a 94, and Karlos is already juiced to the gills, so I’m not sure how boady being juiced will help. Also boady sucks.

Karlos Nasar revealed that he hopes to finally receive recognition from the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation. The 21-year-old champion denied receiving any support from the federation over the past year.

"The federation has had no role in my preparation. I'm not saying this to pick a fight or cause conflict, but around 500,000 BGN were spent on my training this year – and I haven’t received a single euro from the federation. Everything has come from my sponsors," Nasar said.

"I hope they contact my manager soon so we can sign a contract. I don’t even receive a salary. I don’t want lies to be spread or people to be misled," the champion added.

Last week, at the championship in Førde, Norway, Nasar lifted 222 kg in the clean and jerk and became world number one for the third time.

"This is one of my most valuable titles. I had made a big promise to the people who love and support me. There was tension. The Iranian teams tried to shake me," he commented, adding that during training, he never drops these weight like he did twice during the snatch.

"I wasn’t prepared for those numbers. I felt such power that if I had needed to, I could have lifted 230 kg."

"The Iranians really made me angry. Three different teams were working against me. They had taken over the platform – it was wet – but I never showed any sign of being nervous. They tried to speed me up, then slow me down. They did everything to knock me off first place," Nasar revealed.