BUT I WANT TO GO HEAVY!!
By
Great locked out position from Fielding!
When learning any Olympic Lift, it is critical that emphasis is placed on learning proper, explosive technique by using light weights. Most of the time, athletes employ the ‘more is better’ philosophy, thinking they will see greater benefits by using as much weight as possible. This will only lead to injury. Our goal is to increase power output and that comes from moving the weight quickly. If the weight is heavy, the weight will move slowly, the athletes’ technique will suffer and injury potential is increased. Mastery of technique must be emphasized in order to reap the full benefits of these exercises. Remember, your safety is the most important factor in your strength and power training!
Today’s Workout:
1-1-1-1-1-1
Power Cleans
Followed by 1 Round of Max Push ups.
8 Comments
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:11 am
It’s easy to underestimate how important technique really is. These Olympic lifts we do, in a lot of ways, are more dynamic in terms of movement, balance and skill rather then just pure strength. Most of us have seen those OSHEA videos about proper lifting technique for heavy objects at work. The same thing applies here, without good technique your body is not being used to it’s full potential and injury can occur.
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Oh, bonus points for bringing OSHA into the conversation. Great post Baker.
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Thanks Traver, it’s to bad a college degree doesn’t teach you how to spell. I hope Grammar and Syntax aren’t watching.
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I just read a great article from Rip in the CFJ from 2007 or so. He says power lifters need to work on strength, then technique, then strength again. Strength alone will get you so far, then improved technique with same strength will get you further. He implies you will eventually reach a “peak” in terms of technique, at which point the only way to continue improving is to apply increased strength to your peak technique.
So, all I have left to do is increase strength, then improve technique, then increase strength some more. Outta knock all that out by New Years!
The Claw
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Great post Jim. I agree with Rip on that to a certain extent, especially with regards to power lifting as opposed to Olympic lifting.
With regards to all lifting, some foundation of strength is necessary. If deadlifting 135# is extremely challenging for someone than yes, outside strength work, in addition to deadlifting is going to be necessary. However, in my opinion, nothing builds strength faster than having impeccable form. That holds true for any physical activity, be it jiujitsu, CrossFit, golf (which I am deathly affraid of) or throwing a frisbee. This holds true especially with regards to Oly lifting due to the high number of dynamic athletic movements necessary to perform the lift. Bending down and deadlifting a weight is challenging for someone who has never done it before. That being said, performing a snatch correctly can literally take years of practice due to the fact that there are so many elements to it.
Yes, without some amount of strength both will be challenging, but without proper form the snatch is going to be nearly impossible to perform whether you have a 500lb deadlift or not!
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I think there is a spectrum. On one end, swinging a golf club effectively requires relatively little strength and relatively a lot of technique. (From what I read, this is unknown from personal experience.) On the other end, effectively carrying a full beer keg involves relatively a lot of strength and relatively little technique. (Lots of experience in this.)
Today’s power clean workout illustrated your point. I have the strength somewhere in me, but I need more technique to efficiently apply the strength I have to move the weight.
Fun WOD, by the way!
The Claw
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I would agree with Travers statements on form in the Olympic lifts. There are simply too many complicated movements for a novice to successfully start throwing weight up safely. For example, if an athlete can’t perform a proper front squat, then he/she will have a tough time during the catch on a clean with any significant amount of weight. Same would go for the OHS and the catch in the snatch.
As far as Rip, as you know, I’m a fan. I don’t know which article you’re speaking of, but I think maybe what he was saying is that the novice athlete will see gains weekly and almost daily in the power lifts. As he/she inches closer to genetic potential, the amount of strength gains will decrease as the amount of time needed for adaptation increases. Once this begins to happen, a great way to stave off this plateau is a stronger concentration on form. This is what I gather from his book Practical Programming (thanks Cross).
My thought is that there is no point in having to “unlearn” bad form when this starts to occur. If a novice’s goal is to back squat 225lbs in the shortest amount of time possible, then learning great form upfront will always be an advantage. We’ll keep concentrating on form.
December 3rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I agree with both of you. To the extent my original post implied you can start banging these out without much thought to form, the implication was not correct.
I’ll try again: Rip was making an argument in favor of strength. The vehicle for that argument was that high level competitive lifters (usually in the US) spent so much time of form that they short-changed themselves on strength. Assuming your form is very good or nearly perfect, additional tweaking of form won’t lead to as much progress as spending that same time working on strength.
For example, Tiger Woods’ form is nearly perfect, but so are lots of other pro golfers. Tiger is strong as hell, however, which, when combined with his unusual strength, means he hits the ball unusually far. (Insert Tiger Woods joke here.)
This would not apply to lifters without near-perfect form, however, because we have a lot of potential helpful improvement in us by improving our form.
Rip’s main point, then, is that being stronger is good. After all, strong people are harder to kill and more useful in general.
The Claw