What is Olympic Weightlifting?
Olympic Weightlifting is a style of weightlifting where athletes must move the barbell from the ground to a fixed overhead position. There are two lifts that are performed in order to lift the barbell; the ‘Snatch’ and the ‘Clean and Jerk’.
The ‘Snatch’ is where the barbell goes from the ground to an overhead fixed position in one fluid motion with the use of a squat in the middle to maximize weight lifted.
The ‘Clean and Jerk’ is a two part movement where the bar goes from ground to the shoulders, also with the use of a squat to maximize the weight lifted, and then from the shoulders to a fixed overhead position.
Both of these lifts are dynamic, compound movements that require high levels of coordination, mobility, flexibility, body awareness, spatial awareness, explosive power and mental fortitude.
What is strength and conditioning?
Strength and Condition is the utilization of many exercises combined with scientific studies to create physical improvements that directly correlate to a sport or develop an athlete in a holistic sense.
Because the Olympic style lifts help to develop such a broad range of skills both physically and mentally, the benefits gained are highly invaluable to almost all sports / physical activities.
For example, when implementing these lifts correctly into strength and conditioning training for a Rugby, Rugby League, or AFL player we can see that the explosive nature of the lifts aid in increasing explosive leg strength which is needed for acceleration off the mark in all of these sports. Other benefits such as increasing strength and hypertrophy are essential when competing in these sports (depending on player position) due to the highly physical nature of them, and the strength needed to be able to withstand this physical contact.
Olympic Weightlifting benefits athletes in so many ways. You gain body awareness by learning how to manoeuvre your body in space, which is highly valuable in sports such as gymnastics, basketball, volleyball and wrestling – just to name a few. These sports all require you to have great control over your body in space (both on the ground and air bound) which is a key skill that olympic weightlifting teaches you.
All in all, by implementing Olympic Weightlifting into your programming, you’re sure to see the skills and growth transfer into your sport of choice, and also other lifts, which is why it’s indispensable and should be a staple of everyone’s training.
