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Athletes and Olympic Lifting

T he power clean and other Olympic lif ts are a staple in strength and conditioning programs f or many sports f rom high school to the pros. Many Westside (Darkside, conjugate, whatever you want to call it) inf luenced coaches despise it. Im not one of those. T he Olympic lif ts are good exercises. T hey help build explosive power, butyou wont f ind it in either my or my athletes training programs. We dont Olympic lif t because: 1. It takes too long to learn how to do ef f ectively. An Olympic lif t with poor technique isnt saf e or ef f ective. Why should I take days/weeks/months teaching an athlete how to do something when I could take minutes to teach them something else that yields the same or better results? T hat is poor training economy. Many athletes arent strong in the right places (posterior chain) to be able to execute proper technique. If you cant get into the proper positions to perf orm the lif t correctly, why do it? Time would be much better spent doing box squats, glute ham raises, and reverse hypers than perf orming ugly cleans and snatches. 2. T he Olympic lif ts put unnecessary strain on the wrists, elbows, and shoulders. Athletes need to be healthy to play their respective sport. Athletes like f ootball lineman are already banging up their bodies on a daily basis and dont need to place more stress on their joints in the weight room. 3. Other exercises are equally or more ef f ective. At its essence, the Olympic lif ts are weighted triple extension. What do I replace Olympic lif ts with? 1. Jumps: Seated, standing, depth, onto a box, over a hurdle, weighted, or whatever variety you choose, they are easy to learn and they work. Read Louie Simmons article titled Explosive Leg Strength to learn more about these methods. 2. Kettlebell or dumbbell swings, cleans, and snatches: T hese are much simpler to learn how to perf orm, and they have the ability to exploit the stretch ref lex through eccentric loading. Single, double, alternating, between the legs, outside the legs, against bands, f rom blocks, dead start, and swinging start are all great variations of these exercises. 3. Tire f lips and Strongman loading: T hese are easy to learn and f un to do. T hese are great teachers of explosion and triple extension. T hey are also great f or creating competitive situations in team environments. 4. Medicine ball throws: T hese are great teachers of triple extension. T here are endless variations of

them, and they are easy to learn and f un to do. T heyre an all around great choice. 5. Dynamic ef f ort box squats: Do six to 12 sets of two with 4060 percent of an athletes 1RM (rep max). Bands and chains greatly improve the training ef f ect of these. However, they are my least f avorite dynamic ef f ort lower body movement f or athletes. T he Olympic lif ts are a viable option in a training program, but af ter assessing training economy, it is a choice that I dont include when designing training programs f or myself and my athletes. However, there are athletes I train who do Olympic lif ts. T his is a result of it being a testing component f or their sport at their respective schools. T he way it is implemented is based of f of ideas adapted f rom Louie Simmons article, If I Were an Olympic Coach. T hese athletes have achieved great results f rom f ollowing this training split. Day 1 1) DE Olympic lif t: 812 singles at 6080 percent of 1RM in clean or snatch. T his also serves to activate the central nervous system bef ore squatting, of ten resulting in much improved squat numbers. 2) ME squat: Almost always a box squat variation. Dif f erent bars, box heights, bands, and chains are all employed here. 3) Heavy unilateral work: Split squat, step-up or lunge variations. 4) Posterior chain: T his is usually a lighter day of posterior chain work because it was taxed through the Olympic lif ts and squats. Day 2 DE/RE upper body: Similarly set up to Joe DeFrancos Westside f or Skinny Bastards. Day 3 Of f Day 4 1) DE lower body: Jumping or throwing variations 2) ME Olympic pull: Work up to a 13RM on an Olympic pull f rom various heights (i.e. f rom the f loor or various height blocks, bands, and/or chains). T his serves as excellent posterior chain work. 3) Posterior chain 4) Unilateral work Day 5 ME upper body So to sum it up, the Olympic lif ts are good lif ts with many benef its, but these same benef its can be derived through other simpler means. T he choice is up to you.

About t he Aut hor

Elitefts.com Inc sponsored athlete and coach - Chad Smith is the owner and Head Perf ormance Coach at Juggernaut Training Systems in Laguna Hills, CA. A two-time NAIA champion in the shot put, Chad boasts a PR of 19.46m (63-10.25) which ranked him 4th among US born collegiates and in the the top 20 of all US men f or the 2009 season. At Juggernaut, Chad trains athletes f rom the Prof essional ranks to junior high and youth athletes, in a wide variety of sports. He also has several years of experience coaching high school f ootball and track & f ield. Af ter

competing in his f irst powerlif ting meet in October 2010 where he squatted 800 pounds raw, Chad has quickly risen through the ranks of powerlif ting and is currently the number 1 ranked raw American lif ter in the 308s weight class with a 2165 total and is the American Record holder in the squat f or the 308s with a 905 pound ef f ort. Chad is the author of T he Juggernaut Method; Strength, Power and Conditioning f or the Lif ter and Athlete, as well as T he Juggernuat Jiu-Jitsu Physical Preparation Manual and T he 9 Day Work Week. Learn more about Chad and Juggernaut Training Systems at JT Sstrength.com View Chads Training Log HERE