Not a fan of Olympic Lifting? Here are some Exercises you may like.

Olympic lifting is a sport where athletes compete in 2 different lifts for personal bests and to beat out their opponents – sort of like a track event. Unlike track however, there are only two events/lifts: The the Clean and Jerk, and the Snatch. Like most sports, what makes one olympic lifting athlete better than another is his or her ability to exert power. Because these lifts require a high amount of power output to perform, Strength and Conditioning Professionals have included them in programs as a means to improve an athletes power. Although power is a huge contributer in how well an olympic lifting athlete performs, technique is also a huge contributer.

If you read my post, Power Reigns Supreme, then you know that Power is the most important component to improve in order to increase performance in court and ball games (aka Strength and Power Sports). In the Strength and Conditioning field, although Olympic Lifting has been proven to improve an athletes power output, it is still a highly debated method of power training.

Before I go on, if you have read any of my posts, you should know that I am not a fan of absolutes. I will never say anything like “Never Olympic Lift”, “Never use machines”,  or “Never Back Squat”; rather, if someone were to ask me, for instance, if machines were bad, my first question would be “for who?” A machine is not as beneficial to use for an athlete or an ordinary healthy member of soceity when compared to free weights for a lot of reasons; however, the guided range of motion and extra support at specific joints can be beneficial to an injured person in the rehab setting. This point is important for later.

With regard to Olympic Lifting, again, some Performance Coaches, although the literature clearly states they are a safe and beneficial means of improving power output, do not use Olympic Lifts in their training programs. Because you are well read in Strength and Conditioning and you know the benefits of Olympic Lifting, you may be asking yourself “The only coaches that don’t use Olympic Lifts are stupid ones and I would never listen to them.” Well, in some respects, you may be right; however, I’m not a fan of absolutes. In fact, some Performance Coaches have stated their rebuttal: “The benefits of these exercises do not outweigh the amount of time it takes to teach the athlete the correct way to do it. Along with that, the catch of the clean and snatch is the technical component of the lift and does not benefit athletes that are not olympic lifters.” In some respects, I agree. Take the Barbell Power or Hang Clean and the Barbell Power or Hang Snatch with catch in a Squat. For an athlete to properly learn these exercises for the first time, the athlete needs to be able to perform 3 – 4 difficult exercises for 2-3 weeks each – or longer if exercise mastery takes longer. Below is a table of the progressions to go through to learn the exercise best:

POWER CLEAN	POWER SNATCH
Deadlift	Deadlift
Power Shrug	Overhead Squat
Power High Pull	Hang Snatch
Power Clean	Power Snatch

 If you are trying to teach an athlete how to do these exercises properly and allot the proper amount of time to each exercise progression, it could be 8 weeks before you are actually performing the exercise that you sought out to do. If you are coaching an athlete that only has an 8 week off season, this may not be the best way to go about designing his or her training program. If there were Olympic Lift variations that were as beneficial or, arguably, even more beneficial than the Power Clean and Snatch, wouldn’t you want to know them? Well, now you can! These exercises are designed to improve power levels without having to learn the technical aspect of Olympic Lifting, which is what the catch aspect of the Clean and Snatch are. Below are videos and explanations of these videos:

Less Technical Olympic Lift Variations:

1 Leg Dumbbell Split Jerk

The 1 Leg Dumbbell Split Jerk is actually a further progression to the 2 Leg Dumbbell Split Jerk. This exercise has all of the power benefits, or arguably more with having to generate more force in a shorter distance (ie: the lesser amount of bending at the ankle, knee and hip) while still having to propel a potentially heavy load over head.

Barbell Power Split Snatch

The Barbell Power Split Snatch is a great alternative to the Barbell Power Snatch because it doesn’t involve the Overhead Squat catch, which is a difficult position for some athletes to learn. Catching in the lunge is not only sport specific due to the unilateral aspect (this doesn’t mean that a squat isn’t sports specific – what do you think an athletic position looks like?), but it is also easier to catch because latisimus dorsi and pec minor tightness isn’t as big an issue in performing this exercise correctly. Lat and pec minor tightness can be addressed with self myofascial release techniques – but that’s for another post.

1 Leg Dumbbell Hang Split Snatch

The 1 Leg Dumbbell Hang Split Snatch is the next progression following the 2 Leg Dumbbell Hang Split Snatch. You’ll notice that in the Hang variation that a 1 leg RDL can be used to propel the weight overhead. Whether the athlete bends more at the waist or knee doesn’t matter – as long as the weight is propelled overhead with a degree of hip extension. With this in mind, one could argue that a RDL is a progression to this exercise. Again, if the load is light, the progression may not be necessary.

Olympic Lift Progression for the Less Technical Exercise:

Even though these exercises are less technical, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t difficult. Here is an order of least difficult to most difficult based on what the athletes I’ve trained have been able to peform in the past:

JERK VARIATIONS PROGRESSIONS	SNATCH VARIATIONS PROGRESSIONS
Dumbbell Jerk	DB Hang Snatch
Barbell Jerk	Barbell Hang Split Snatch
Barbell Split Jerk	DB Hang Split Snatch
Dumbbell Split Jerk	Barbell Power Split Snatch
	DB Power Split Snatch
1 Leg Dumbbell Split Jerk
1 Leg Barbell Split Jerk	1 Leg DB Hang Split Snatch
	1 Leg DB Power Split Snatch

If you have any questions about what an exercise is exactly, just ask – EKSportPerformance@Gmail.com.  

Take Home Message: Coaches like Olympic Lifts because they involve moving a heavy load in an explosive manner – which is basically what defines a power movement. Some coaches don’t like Olympic Lifts because they take too long to teach and are too technical. These exercises can be used with any healthy athlete (depending on your definition of a “healthy” athlete) to improve explosiveness without having to spend a lot of time on progressions. You could argue that in order to do the jerk exercises correctly, that you should be able to do a Military Press and a Lunge. I agree with the Lunge; however, not the Military Press. This exercise involves getting the load overhead using your legs, not your shoulder. The role of the shoulder in this lift is to stabilize the weight overhead, not to necessarily propel the weight fully. If the athlete is a beginner to weight lifting, this exercise can, possibly, still be done – just with a lighter load in relation to strength and body weight. Since you are highly educated in the Strength and Conditioning field, I’m sure you thought to yourself that, “If the athlete is using a light load, then doesn’t it negate the power benefits based on the definition of applying maximal force as quickly as possible and a heavy load is necessary in order to apply maximal force?”. Well, you make a good point. My only argument is to say that it still teaches the athlete to move explosively and transfer power from the legs through the torso to the upper body (which is what happens A LOT in sports ie: pushing an opponent, taking a slap shot, throwing a ball, etc.) and that the intent is still to move explosively, which it usually is not in many strength training movements – making the movement more powerful.

The bottom line is Olympic Lift variations can be used in any scenario – even the 8 week long off season. Am I saying to stop using the Clean and Snatch completly? Of course not. There is room for every exercise (even back squats) not necessarily for the muscular benefits, but for the neural benefits – but that’s, once again, for another post. If an athlete comes to you and gives you a 32 week window, then programming the Clean and Snatch progressions may be a wise way to continue to change up the exercises. As always, everything is variable and there are no absolutes in the Strength and Conditioning field, you just have to ask the question – for who?

Warm regards,

Eric Keene

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