On March 13 2012 16:26 Kamais Ookin wrote: Ok guys, I literally know almost nothing about Olympic lifting besides just reading the OP now and I have a few questions to the veterans here.
1. I started out with SL, however I didn't like barbell rows so eventually I switched to weighted pull-ups. I read SS and it said to do power cleans over barbell rows. Is Power cleans a beastly exercise for the back?
2. How well does Clean&Jerks/ snatches carry over with doing my usual big exercises like squats, deadlifts etc? Is it too much to combine strength training as I am now and Olympic lifting? In fact, I'm going to be adding a lot of hypertrophy exercises in 3-6+ months so this is an important question for me.
3. I'm going to be heading back into boxing in the future, is Olympic lifting really good for that?
Also any tips you want to add is much appreciated, I apologize in advance if you get these same questions a lot!
1) Yeah power cleans are fucking awesome for your back.
2) they carry over very well. every snatch and clean basically starts off with a speed deadlift. It raised my max dl from 485 to 525 pounds over time without ever actually training deadlifts. squatting is part of olympic lifting, so yeah. You can incorporate olympic lifting into your training but if you want to compete its hard to work hypertrophy in too. olympic lifting is power training, and strength is part of power.
3) I imagine so. Its great for your shoulders/back/core so that should help. It's largely about power legs and hips which i imagine helps a lot with footwork/incorporating your body into the punch.
I just incorporated cleans and hang cleans into my workout schedule, doing both twice a week now. I completely swapped them out with rows. Haven't done any rowing for 2 months or so, but tried some yesterday. Did 18 reps with my old 10RM, and that was after doing hang cleans. Lats feel strong as ever, also increased immensely on my chinups after I started doing cleans.
Pretty much my favorite exercise now, feel so athletic doing them.
On March 13 2012 16:26 Kamais Ookin wrote: Ok guys, I literally know almost nothing about Olympic lifting besides just reading the OP now and I have a few questions to the veterans here.
1. I started out with SL, however I didn't like barbell rows so eventually I switched to weighted pull-ups. I read SS and it said to do power cleans over barbell rows. Is Power cleans a beastly exercise for the back?
2. How well does Clean&Jerks/ snatches carry over with doing my usual big exercises like squats, deadlifts etc? Is it too much to combine strength training as I am now and Olympic lifting? In fact, I'm going to be adding a lot of hypertrophy exercises in 3-6+ months so this is an important question for me.
3. I'm going to be heading back into boxing in the future, is Olympic lifting really good for that?
Also any tips you want to add is much appreciated, I apologize in advance if you get these same questions a lot!
1) Yeah power cleans are fucking awesome for your back.
2) they carry over very well. every snatch and clean basically starts off with a speed deadlift. It raised my max dl from 485 to 525 pounds over time without ever actually training deadlifts. squatting is part of olympic lifting, so yeah. You can incorporate olympic lifting into your training but if you want to compete its hard to work hypertrophy in too. olympic lifting is power training, and strength is part of power.
3) I imagine so. Its great for your shoulders/back/core so that should help. It's largely about power legs and hips which i imagine helps a lot with footwork/incorporating your body into the punch.
K thanks for your masterful answer! I won't be doing Olympic lifts for some months so I'll ask in the future if what to do program-wise.
On March 17 2012 22:17 ZerG~LegenD wrote: Has anyone else had problems with banging the bar into their balls while cleaning? I'm trying to learn the OLs but this is highly demotivating.
I do this all the time if I'm not wearing tight leggings.
On March 17 2012 22:34 sJarl wrote: I manage to dodge my balls but my thighs get pretty heavy scraped from the bar. Not the most comfortable thing in the world...
Try to avoid banging the bar into your chin.
My thighs get pretty heavily scraped too, especially if I do a bunch of hang cleans. Goes away pretty fast tho.
Banged the bar into my jaw a couple of times doing jerks. Pretty much makes you feel like a big idiot.
to add on from what release said, your split isnt wide enough. usually you want to focus on getting your front foot out first when splitting. your back foot goes out first which causes your hips to move backwards. ill link some videos when i find it.
Question for everyone: What is more important, back squats or front squats?
My first competition coming up on April 14th, I have to say, I haven't been this excited for anything in a long while. It's just a small local one and should be a great start for me. My main goals for this competition will be to just not injure myself, post a total, learn and get better. I don't expect to be taking home any medals but I think the experience is worth much more anyways.
10 more training sessions from now until the day comes. Can't wait to put on the singlet and lift in it for the first time, I feel sorry for the people in the gym who have to see it, especially my coach who sits and watches every one of my lifts.
On March 19 2012 19:42 AoN.DimSum wrote: to add on from what release said, your split isnt wide enough. usually you want to focus on getting your front foot out first when splitting. your back foot goes out first which causes your hips to move backwards. ill link some videos when i find it.
Question for everyone: What is more important, back squats or front squats?
Thank you very much for the link =) Drew a cross like that and practiced it a little while. Switched to left foot forward and I got into that position easily. Added 15kgs to my jerk just by switching legs. yay
Absolute noob question: When you guys train, do you only do 3-4 different exercises but with perfect technique? Does the body of an olympic weightlifter differ from that of a body builder?
On April 02 2012 00:40 tenacity wrote: Absolute noob question: When you guys train, do you only do 3-4 different exercises but with perfect technique? Does the body of an olympic weightlifter differ from that of a body builder?
1. Depends. Some do more, some do less. Everybody's programming is centered around snatch, clean and jerk, and front/back squats, but the rest of the details are individual.
2. Very much so. The best olympic lifters in the world sometimes don't have even close to the amount of musculature that amateur bodybuilders will often have. Ballistic strength exercises have very low time-under-tension, and therefore do not stimulate hypertrophy as much in the conventional "bigger muscles" way. There are exceptions and some olympic lifters are still pretty buff (Klokov, Li Hongli, Phil Sabtini). There's a lot of variety in training for olympic lifting, and many are able to include bb/pl movements into their training.
Weightlifters are nearly always very good jumpers and sprinters, sometimes extremely close to athletes whose training is focused on those two things, but many would probably get winded if they did some basic endurance/distance work.
is an elite level weightlifter who is stronger, pound for pound, than any elite bodybuilders, yet there are many amateur bodybuilders who look much more muscular than he does.
I focus heavily on Clean and jerk and snatch, and then the back and front squats. Huge emphasis on form. Oly lifters will usually have very strong/big quads, shoulders, and backs/traps.
Need more leg strength. I struggle through heavy cleans on the stand up and fail my jerks as a result
On April 02 2012 00:40 tenacity wrote: Absolute noob question: When you guys train, do you only do 3-4 different exercises but with perfect technique? Does the body of an olympic weightlifter differ from that of a body builder?
1. Depends. Some do more, some do less. Everybody's programming is centered around snatch, clean and jerk, and front/back squats, but the rest of the details are individual.
2. Very much so. The best olympic lifters in the world sometimes don't have even close to the amount of musculature that amateur bodybuilders will often have. Ballistic strength exercises have very low time-under-tension, and therefore do not stimulate hypertrophy as much in the conventional "bigger muscles" way. There are exceptions and some olympic lifters are still pretty buff (Klokov, Li Hongli, Phil Sabtini). There's a lot of variety in training for olympic lifting, and many are able to include bb/pl movements into their training.
Weightlifters are nearly always very good jumpers and sprinters, sometimes extremely close to athletes whose training is focused on those two things, but many would probably get winded if they did some basic endurance/distance work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OF0FrVjDR0 is an elite level weightlifter who is stronger, pound for pound, than any elite bodybuilders, yet there are many amateur bodybuilders who look much more muscular than he does.