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"The Chalk Box!"
What's up with all this Olympic Lifting? Part I
By Israel A. Sanchez
Strength & Conditioning Coach
What is it that distinguishes the top coaches of the world from their peers? It is their willingness to keep learning and never be satisfied. These coaches know how even after decades of learning and studying, they have only scratched the surface and there is still much more to learn. The success of their athletes and clients are testament to it.
These coaches know that the key to a successful program and results is the understanding and proper application of biomechanics. It is this understanding of how the body reacts, moves, learns, and adapts that allows the successful coach to understand complex training modules and present them to the client in a manner that is understandable, productive, and safe.
We, your coaches at "Next Step Conditioning Systems", follow this winning formula, and as a result, we are constantly striving to improve ourselves. A significant portion of our education consists of academics, with lectures of unparalleled quality and hands-on activities. We are currently pursuing our master level in the RTS and INT programs, two of the most demanding programs of analytical biomechanics and rehabilitation of the industry.
We would like to first make clear that our specialty is NOT strength & conditioning, Olympic Weightlifting, Kettlebells, Martial Arts, or Rehabilitation. No, that is not our priority. Our first and foremost specialty is biomechanics and its individual applications. We have simply focused our knowledge on the aforementioned modalities since they are perhaps the most misunderstood, the most poorly instructed and approached, and the most neglected; but when properly applied, they are some of the most productive and beneficial.
It is this background what has allowed us to introduce those great modalities with great success and safety to all of our clients and athletes. We determine who is ready and at what stage based on careful analysis, not by following outdated guidelines or adhering to old clichés. Most people are in fact shocked as they realize how fast and easily they learn, and what a difference it makes to their results.
Our chosen modalities involve more than just the lecture and classroom portion. The exquisite nature and precision of these modalities, specially the Olympic Lifts, require constant practice under the supervision of more experienced coaches. Hence, our active involvement in athletics.
We have been highly active in Olympic Weightlifting in the past few years. So what? You may be wondering… many coaches and trainers are involved in other sports. True there's nothing wrong with that, as we also participate in other sports/activities in addition to Olympic Weightlifting.
However, and this is a big however, no other sport is used in the physical conditioning for other sports like Olympic Style Weightlifting. The benefits of the PROPER use of the Olympic lifts in the conditioning of both athletes and non-athletes are WELL documented. We could take part in triathlons and that's fine, but not everybody would find the benefits of triathlon training specific to their goals, or would want to become a tri-athlete. The tri-athlete however, would benefit TREMENDOUSLY from incorporating the Olympic Lifts into his routine without having to become an Olympic Weightlifter himself. See the point?
The nature of Olympic Weightlifting is to help the athlete improve his max power output. Improvements in this ability result in an increased capacity to produce higher partial outputs during power endurance bouts. That means that the mixed martial artist can sustain a match with far more vigor and decreased exhaustion, as he will not be tired if he has to exert a movement requiring a high degree of power output. The same applies to the racer, soccer players, football players, and pretty much every ground-based sport.
The sight of athletes performing heavy cleans and snatches in the strength and conditioning room is quite common now. If you have never been to one of these rooms, it may surprise you to know that the grand majority of those athletes are NOT Olympic Weightlifters, but rather, they are involved in sports that do require a great deal of power endurance. We are referring to sports such as wrestling, boxing, hockey, basketball, soccer, track and field, and even cheerleaders; Athletes who were told a little over a decade ago that Olympic Weightlifting would be detrimental to their performance.
Increments in maximal power outputs are not seen however if one focuses on power endurance alone. In fact, many times the opposite effect is seen. Now don't think we are saying that one should focus on heavy Olympic Weightlifting rather than power endurance. They both have their time and application in the training cycle, and they both bring their unique benefits.
Does this mean that everyone should be performing heavy Olympic Lifts? Again, no as that is determined by the combination of many factors, but if you are planning on doing that, you better have a good strength base and good technique, otherwise you need to work on acquiring them.
However, when the time and conditions are right for the implementation of Olympic Weightlifting, and under the right guidance, it can make all the difference in the physical preparation of the individual whether athlete or non-athlete and lead to excellent results.
Click here for Part II | Click here to return to archives
Next Step Conditioning Systems, LLC
9929 NE. Lafayette Avenue
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
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