There’s no doubt that Olympic lifting has great benefits when it comes to your training. Explosiveness, speed, power, it’s all there! But so is the potential for injury without proper coaching, mobility, and correct technique.
The Importance of Proper Coaching
I firmly believe these are not movements that you can safely learn watching a YouTube video. You need hands-on coaching from an expert.
When I powerlifted for the University of Texas at Austin, we worked out in the same gym and shared a large platform with the Olympic lifting team and there was definitely a bit of a rivalry there between the teams. I remember one day squatting 550 pounds for five reps. Meanwhile, one of the Olympic lifters was over doing snatches on the other side of the platform (it was a BIG platform). Some freshman kid asked why as big as I was, a guy much smaller than me was lifting almost as much weight over his head as I was squatting.
I could see how he thought that, because the 45 lbs. rubber bumper plates the Olympic lifters used were extremely thick and looked like they weighed almost as much as all the plates I had loaded up on each side of the bar. I smiled and explained the difference in the weights, but then being the egotistical lifter that I was, I made some snide joke about the Olympic lifter. He challenged me to come over and snatch the 135 pounds on the bar. I took the bait.
I went over there and did what I thought was a snatch. Well, I ended up throwing the bar back over my head and falling onto my butt and looking like a complete fool in front of the entire gym that had stopped to watch. From that point on, I had a whole new respect for the Olympic team and we actually all started to get along. We even began to train a little together, too.
The Technical Challenge of Olympic Lifts
Over the years, even with the right coaching, I would try to work on doing a barbell snatch but I just never really had the overall mobility to do it well. My clean and jerk was okay (we did cleans in place of the deadlift sometimes in high school powerlifting meets) but the snatch was a whole other animal being very, very technical. I never got good at it.
But these type of movements have so much to offer. I mentioned in another article when I got introduced to sandbag and kettlebell training, I realized I could do these Olympic style lifts without needing the exact technique that you do when using a barbell.
The Unique Benefits of Kettlebells
Another inherent safety factor is that kettlebells and sandbags weigh much less than what we can load up on a barbell. That’s important because throwing too much weight around without proper mobility or technique, that’s where the serious injuries can occur most often.
One of the things I love about using kettlebells for Olympic lifts is that we can of course perform the lift with one hand, or have a kettlebell in both of our hands. We could also execute these lifts with dumbbells, but we all know that kettlebells offer a more extended range of motion plus their off center weight distribution forces more muscle recruitment and engagement.
We also know that when it comes to barbell work, there can be the propensity for our dominant side to take up more of the load — especially if we’re not paying attention. Working with a single kettlebell will especially help our awareness of any strength imbalances.
The Advantages of Sandbag Training
Sandbags offer their own unique advantage that the weight shifts inside the bag while performing the movement. This results in enhanced stability, control, and it resembles lifting objects in the real world where the weight isn’t in a “fixed” position.
Make the Most Out of Your Olympic Lifts
So if you’re like me and just can’t get the barbell snatch down, pick up a kettlebell and a sandbag, and get after it!
Author: Geoff Meed, Personal Trainer
