Pierce’s Coach Miller recently attended the USA Weightlifting Clinic in San Diego with Coach Miller of Invictus Crossfit. He came away with some great information.
Olympic lifting is has huge potential gains for any athlete but the lift is very difficult to perform and is often coached very poorly. USAW is a coaching seminar and certification for the three Olympic lifts the clean, snatch, and jerk. The Olympic lifts are a quick way to train any person because they are a full body workout and an entire workout can be completed in a fraction of the time. Similarly the lifts operate out of athletic positions and encourage explosive and powerful motions off of two feet.
The movements are relatively complicated and an appropriate progression, a light weight, and a good coach are needed to teach the lifts. The clean has a four movement progression starting with the front squat because if the athlete can not perform the front squat properly then they can not catch the bar in the rack position and stand out of a deep catch position. The second phase is to perform a power clean by working top down starting by learning it from mid thigh, then above the knees, then below the knees, then learning the lift off by lifting the bar repeatedly to below the knee, and finally a full power clean from the ground. Third a power clean is performed followed by a front squat. The forth and final step is to do a full clean.
The Jerk has a five-movement progression. The first is to do a press from the racked position on the shoulders. Second is to do a push press, which is a press with legs producing some of the force. Third is to do a push jerk which is a push press but with a drop under the weight “catching “ it with bent knees. The forth progression is to practice split jerk foot work by doing split jerks with no weight landing with weight equally distributed between feet and markers on the ground to help with consistency. The fifth step is to perform a split jerk or a jerk.
Snatch is the most complicated of the three movements and similarly with seven steps has the longest progression. The first is to perform a press behind the neck. Second is to perform a press with a snatch grip. Third perform an overhead squat. Forth perform a snatch and balance, which is similar to a push jerk but with the snatch grip and from behind the neck. A power snatch is the fifth progression and has the same five sub steps as the power clean. Sixth is the power snatch to overhead squat. The seventh and final step is to perform a full snatch.
All progressions should be talked through and demonstrated by a coach. Athletes should be monitored closely while learning the lifts or risk injury.
