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Olympic Weightlifting
Olympic weightlifting Is much more than a sport in terms of physical conditioning. It requires fitness levels that can handle excessive weight and force. It is a sport that asks muscles to do the seemingly impossible. There are recreational weightlifters who train just enough to stay muscular, but a true Olympic weightlifter is a person of much more than muscular beauty and general fitness. He or she is a person of dedication, accomplished training, and a love of the sport.
There are certain terms in Olympic weightlifting that refer to the training program. Training for weightlifting requires striking a balance between the chances for injury and increasing muscle strength. The weightlifter must learn his or her physical capacity to be a true competitor. A weightlifter and a coach will design a training program that progressively tests the athlete’s upper limits, avoids injury, and creates a champion. This is done by continually adjusting the volume and the intensity of the exercises.
Volume in Olympic weightlifting refers to the number of repetitions completed for any particular exercise. If a weightlifter uses kettlebells for training the volume is often expressed in terms of 3x3 or 5x5. This refers to the number of repetitions and the number of exercises. The sets are how many times the set of exercises are completed in a training session. The seemingly low number of repetitions in kettlebell training is a testament to the incredible muscle power the weights create. But for the real powerhouses, an unlimited number of sets can be increased.
The intensity of a workout is the amount of stress placed on the weightlifter during a workout. It is important that the level of stress be varied between workouts to achieve optimal benefits. An intense workout is one where the lifter makes muscles work harder by varying speed of exercise completion or increasing weight size for a set. Olympic weightlifting competition requires up to 2 minutes of maximum muscle exertion. Using intensity to prepare for this monumental effort is important for lift success.
Olympic weightlifting, for competition or recreational purposes, requires great strength. It is about being more powerful than the resistance of the weight. It is this one fact that make kettlebells such an invaluable tool for weightlifting training. When you swing a kettlebell, the gravitational pull of the weight is so strong that muscles are constantly exerting tension to overcome the weight. The whole muscular-skeletal system must engage. The goal of most weightlifters, even when lifting for personal reasons only, is to see how much weight can be lifted at one time. Kettlebells can help you reach that goal in the least amount of time.
But you can also focus on building kettlebell strength even if you do not intend on pursuing Olympic weightlifting. You can eventually increase to the maximum weight size (which most non-professional weightlifters seldom do). It is too intense and too heavy of a workout. You can increase the number of repetitions, sets or number of workout sessions though. Whether professional or non-professional, you can mix sessions using both kettlebells some workout days and the barbells other days.
Weight training for competition is all about developing the total body power needed to drive a weight up and hold it for the required amount of time. It is a joy to watch a well trained athlete perform this feat of strength. The human body is simply amazing and never seems to reach its full capacity with the right training. That’s why new records continue to be set every year.
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