Olympic Lifting: Background & History

The Olympic lifts are the most explosive and dynamic demonstration of force in which an athlete can participate. It is important to have established, an effective, efficient, and safe way to teach athletes to Olympic lift. Athletes can be taught at any stage to lift well, with proper technique using the methods outlined in this course…

Benefits: Increases in Rate of Force Development

The primary reason to Olympic lift for sport performance is the associated increase in explosive power, or rate of force production. In sporting events, power generation is one of the most important determinants of success.
Movements like sprinting and jumping are highly dependent on an athlete’s ability to produce power and to produce power at a high rate…

Muscle Hypertrophy: The Gains in Size & Strength

Athletes partaking in a program of Olympic lifting will also see an increase in Type II (fast-twitch) muscle fibers.
Increased stimulation of type II muscle fibers through Olympic lifting is the cause of hypertrophy.
Type II muscle fibers compose most higher threshold motor units and therefore are the most likely to be utilized during Olympic lifting…

Increases in Motor Control

Of great importance to athletes is the ability to move in the proper sequences to complete a movement. Athletes swinging a bat, jumping, sprinting, etc must generate movement from the center of the body outwards towards the extremities…

When to Start Olympic Lift Training

The first introduction to using the Olympic lifts for most athletes is typically in the transformation period, at age 14 or greater. The introduction is usually associated with an athlete’s first experience in their high school’s weight room. This is an appropriate time to begin using Olympic lift teaching progressions to train the athletes. Athletes at a younger age than 14 can begin resistance training with Olympic lifts to a great effect and to great benefit of the athlete if the athlete is a part of a supervised and well coached training program. In the former Soviet Union athletes were selected for training in Olympic lifting at age 12, and began formal training at age 13-14…

Progressions Over Time

Athletes from both ages 10-13 and 14+ should prior to beginning training should have a thorough assessment to determine their readiness for training with the Olympic lifts. Of primary importance is determination of the athlete’s ability to reach the positions necessary to complete safe lifts…

Teaching Progressions: Essential Skill Sets

To best teach the Olympic lifts a systemized progression of teaching methods must be used. For any athlete the requisite time must be spent on learning movements such as the RDL, Squat, and plyometrics.
Athletes must be physically prepared to begin learning Olympic lift movements…