The Sport of Olympic Weightlifting
The competitive sport of weightlifting was not that well known to most people though now with the emergence of CrossFit, awareness has been given a large boost. You may only ever catch a couple of lifts of the sport when watching the Olympics on TV - which is why the sport is often refered to as Olympic Weightlifting. There are two competitive lifts in weightlifting - 1. The Snatch and - 2 - The "Clean and Jerk" lift . Each lifter has 3 attempts at each lift where weight is added progressively to the bar after each successful attempt. The highest succesful Snatch and "Clean and Jerk" weight is combined to decide the winner for a given category. Categories may be made on Age, Gender and Bodyweight. The level of competition varies as well from Club level to International.
As far as my coaching, these movements define what I tend to teach, however, only a small % of the population are interested in competitive lifting. Therefore, my goals with most people is to help them utilise aspects of weightlifting for health, fitness and performance.
Most aspects of fitness and exercises are required to be trained to perform well at the olympic lifts (maximal and high velocity Strength, flexibility, power, anaerobic fitness, technique (including technical strategy selection) and coordination, balance, biomechanical efficiency etc). In my coaching sessions, I will also explain what these things are, how they are useful to your performance on exercises and how to improve them.
As far as my coaching, these movements define what I tend to teach, however, only a small % of the population are interested in competitive lifting. Therefore, my goals with most people is to help them utilise aspects of weightlifting for health, fitness and performance.
Most aspects of fitness and exercises are required to be trained to perform well at the olympic lifts (maximal and high velocity Strength, flexibility, power, anaerobic fitness, technique (including technical strategy selection) and coordination, balance, biomechanical efficiency etc). In my coaching sessions, I will also explain what these things are, how they are useful to your performance on exercises and how to improve them.
Additional Info:
The "Clean and Press" (a little history now...)
The Clean and Press was one of three lifting movements used in olympic weightlifting before 1973. The clean was the same as in a clean and jerk except the bar is pressed over the head using arm power only as opposed to jerking the bar overhead. However this lift was removed after the 1972 olympics for many reasons. One reason is that the Olympic press was meant to include just that - a press, however in the early 70s athletes were using the legs, chest and abdomen to help drive the bar up gaining an advantage.
Size Isn't everything
Weightlifting or indeed in any sport, size is not the only thing that determines one's physical abilities. In fact, as quite often is the case, weightlifters are often quite small frame as this often gives mechanical advantage. The size of a muscle isn't everything either... weightlifting emphasises power-to-weight as a bodyweight categorised sport. It is also not just for men, as is still somewhat stereotypically believed.
Advanced Movements
Complex/compound patterns - These are not necessarily a crucial part of lifting, but it can often be helpful to more advanced lifters to practice and reinforce the skills of olympic weightlifting by using different patterns and movements. More information on this is covered in coaching sessions.