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The art of Olympic lifting has been around for hundreds of years; it is an event based on explosive speed and requires the competitor to lift the maximum weight possible as rapidly as they can to get it above their head. The category “Olympic Lifting” is a catch-all term for a variety of lifts spear headed by the two you will see at the Olympics: The Snatch and Clean & Jerk. There are many variations of these two that are also used e.g. the Hang Clean/Snatch or Power Clean. You can also use Dumbbells, kettlebells, powerbags or basically anything. The variants are widely used in the world of S&C to increase the power of the triple extension (ankles, knees and hips) of athletes from many sports. Increasing the triple extension is a way to increase the ability of the athlete to accelerate themselves, be it for jumping or sprinting. Have you ever seen an Olympic weightlifter jump to celebrate at the Olympics? They basically hit the roof!

The problem with the Olympic lifts is that they can take a long time to coach to a level where the athlete can safely load them in order to get physiological adaptations. This puts many coaches off, either because they want to be getting the most out of the programme immediately or because they do not have the expertise to coach them properly. I can see that these are fair concerns, as no one, especially those coaches who only have an athlete for a few weeks on a pre-season programme, wants to spend a long time coaching the athlete with negligible weight to get the correct technique. And I would definitely rather those who were not qualified to coach the lifts stayed well clear, rather than teach them incorrectly. In those cases there could be other exercises that get more benefit much quicker and in a safer fashion.

There are also the issues around the individual athlete’s capability to physically perform the lift with technical proficiency. Some of my athletes have broken their wrists in the past and have been left with very little range of motion due to bones being screwed together. This can mean that the catch position is basically impossible to get into, leaving them unable to catch heavy enough weights to have an impact on their power production capabilities. Others seem to be unable to get into the correct positions, or over think the lift and therefore take too long to perform it, thus removing the explosive component.

Having said all that I am 100% FOR Olympic lifting, I think it is a great way to improve an athlete’s general strength, power, coordination, kinaesthetic awareness, postural control and when performed correctly it really makes them look and, more importantly, feel like an athlete. It boosts their confidence and can be a big motivator for them to get into the gym. It is basically the one style of lifting that to a layman separates them from a gym monkey down at the local Globogym.

I will always take the time coach the hang clean with basically all my athletes as a starting point, from there we will do power cleans, snatches and much more. I think if you have an athlete for a significant amount of time, I usually get them for at least one academic year, it is worth investing the time at the start of the programme to get the Olympic lifts right, as they hold the potential to significantly improve your athlete in the long run. This is not to say that I will spend the entirety of the first few sessions getting them to hold positions and throw an empty bar or broom stick around. Part of my warm up is a bar complex that contains many of the fundamental parts of the Olympic lifts, I will then spend around 20 minutes at the start of each session working on the hang clean technique. For most people that means that within 4-5 sessions they have the fundamental skills in place and have started loading. After the Olympic work we move on to the other styles of lifting and conditioning to make sure that the athletes have done plenty of work by the time they have finished.

If you do have problems with technique or physical limitations there is such a wide variety of lifts that can be substituted instead of the full lifts: jump shrugs for those with immobile wrists, DB snatches, high pulls etc. can all be used to get an explosive triple extension without a significant amount of coaching or learning from the athlete.

We have seen great increases in vertical jumps through using Olympic lifts in the programme. I can’t say that they are the sole reason for the increase but I believe that they have a huge effect. We have increased athlete’s VJs by anything from 3 to 12cm in 6 weeks; that is going to have a massive effect on a Basketball player’s season.

So if you are qualified and have the time I would say that not using Olympic lifts may be preventing a huge amount of gains in your athletes.