Learning the Olympic Lifts
It can be a bit overwhelming for someone who is not used to moving heavy weight quickly to understand some of the technique behind the Snatch and Clean and Jerk. Noted weightlifting coach Greg Everett refers to the following learning and teaching progression.
1. Position: Are your feet and hands where they need to be every time you approach the bar?
2. Movement: Does the athlete understand the proper sequence of mechanics for each lift -i.e. extension of the hips before any arm bend occurs?
3. Speed: Is the athlete able to grasp the concept of being aggressive with each lift and pulling/pushing under the barbell quickly?
4. Load: Once the above criteria are met, it's then time to focus on getting stronger!
The reason for mentioning all of the above is that until you are pretty solid on points 1-3, you should not be overly concerned with piling big weights on the bar. PR's make us feel good but in the long run you're doing more harm than good by drilling sloppy technique and building defective motor patterns. If you perform a successful but sloppy rep, stop right there and either stay at that weight until you groove the lift or even drop down a bit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tuesday 8/28 Class
Skill Transfer:
- Clean Complex: Hang Pwr Clean, Hang Squat Clean, Squat Clean
- Clean to Jerk Transition Drill (adjusting hand and foot position between the clean and the jerk)
- Review of Front Squat Mechanics
Training:
Clean Pulls:
- 3 sets of 3. Work up to about 85% of your 1RM Clean if you know what that number is.
Hang Power Clean & Jerk:
- 5 sets of 3 + 1 (meaning 3 cleans, then right after 3rd clean perform 1 jerk). Start at 50% and work up from there.
Front Squat:
- 3 sets of 3 reps at 70-85% of 1RM FS
