Waxman - Olympic Weightlifting the Most Powerful Sport in the World

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OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTING:THE MOST POWERFUL SPORT

IN THE WORLD

A WAXMANS GYM SPECIAL REPORTOLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTING THE MOST POWERFUL SPORT IN THE WORLD

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Brothers and Sisters of Iron,

Thank you for downloading this freereport on Olympic Weightlifting.If you are currently not using theOlympic lifts as part of your trainingor if you are performing them incor-rectly, you are missing out on the key

to unleashing your full athletic po-tential.

I have been a professional Coach forover 18 years as well as a World ClassOlympic Weightlifter. There is NO-

BODY in Southern California with my winning combinationof formal education, Strength Coaching experience,Strength Coaching success, Olympic Weightlifting, andother athletic achievements. Thats what makes me anexpert. Dont take my word for it, FIND OUT FORYOURSELF!

If you want to become a competitive Weightlifter orlearn how to Snatch and Clean & Jerk properly, you needto come to Waxmans Gym!

Fight until your very last breath,Sean Waxman

Waxmans Gym

A WAXMANS GYM SPECIAL REPORTOLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFING THE SECRET FOR ATHLETIC SUCESS

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From the desk of Sean Waxman:Sean Waxm

Waxmans G

15711 Condon Av. Lawndale, Ca. 90

W- www.waxmansgym.com E- [email protected]
http://www.waxmansgym.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.waxmansgym.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.waxmansgym.com/http://www.waxmansgym.com/


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8 UNIQUE BENEFITS OF WEIGHTLIFTING

Almost any form of resistance training can improve an athletesstrength, but the snatch and C&J are unique in their ability to develop

strength and explosive power at the same time. And the benefits of

practicing the Olympic lifts are hardly limited to developing strength

and power. Here is a partial list of other added benefits:

1. The mere practice of the Olympic lifts teaches an athlete how to

explode (to activate a maximum number of muscle units rapidly and

simultaneously). Part of the extraordinary abilities of the Olympic lift-

ers arises out of their having learned how to effectively activate moreof their muscle fibers more rapidly than others who are not so trained

(in addition to having developed stronger muscles).

2. The practice of proper technique in the Olympic lifts teaches an

athlete to apply force with his or her muscle groups in the proper se-

quences (i.e., from the center of the body to its extremities). This is a

valuable technical lesson which can be of benefit to any athlete who

needs to impart force to another person or object (a necessity in vir-

tually every sport).

3. In mastering the Olympic lifts, the athlete learns how to accelerate

objects under varying degrees of resistance. This is because the

body experiences differing degrees of perceived resistance as it at-

tempts to move a bar with maximum speed through a full range of

motion. These kinds of changes in resistance are much more likely to

resemble those encountered in athletic events than similar exercises

performed on an isokinetic machine (which has a fixed level of resis-

tance or speed of resistance throughout the range of motion).

4. The athlete learns to receive force from another moving body ef-

fectively and becomes conditioned to accept such forces.

A WAXMANS GYM SPECIAL REPORTOLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFING: THE MOST POWERFUL SPORT IN THE WORLD

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5.The athlete learns to move effectively from an eccentric contraction

to a concentric one (through the stretch-shortening cycle, the cycle

that is activated and trained through exercises that are often referredto as plyometrics).

6.The actual movements performed while executing the Olympic lifts

are among the most common and fundamental in sports. Therefore,

training the specific muscle groups in motor patterns that resemble

those used in an athletes events is often a byproduct of practicing

the snatch and C&J.

7.Practicing the Olympic lifts trains an athletes explosive capabili-

ties, and the lifts themselves measure the effectiveness of the athletein generating explosive power to a greater degree than most other

exercises they can practice.

8. Finally, the Olympic lifts are simply fun to do. I have yet to meet an

athlete who has mastered them who does not enjoy doing the Olym-

pic lifts. While making workouts enjoyable may not be the primary ob-

jective of a strength coach, it is not an unimportant consideration in

workout planning. Athletes who enjoy what they are doing are likely to

practice more consistently and to be more highly motivated than ath-letes who do not enjoy their workouts as much.


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THE SCIENCE OF POWER

Weightlifting is a sport in which athletes compete for the total weight

of 2 lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk. The training methods

used in this sport are also used as a method of strength training for a

wide range of other sports. Weightlifting exercises can be effective for

enhancing athletic performance that requires high-load speed

strength such as football, basketball, volleyball, and track and field

events because of their biomechanical characteristics of high force

and power output.

Power is the ability of the neuromuscular system to perform work

over a given time period or, alternatively, the product of force that can

be exerted at a given velocity of movement. For the majority of sports

performances, power output is the critical mechanical quantity re-quired rather than force production, that is, strength


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To enhance maximal power, athletes need to perform training move-

ments that involve rapid acceleration against resistance, and this ac-

celeration should extend throughout the movement with no intention todecelerate at the end.

Almost all rapid movements in sports exhibit such an acceleration pro-

file; therefore, the training method that mimics this profile would likely

induce desirable sport-specific adaptation. During the pull phase of the

clean and snatch and the drive phase of the jerk, athletes extend their

hips, knees, and ankle joints to push against the ground as hard andas rapidly as possible at a given weight, producing just such an accel-

eration profile for the barbell and body. The kinematics and kinetics are

remarkably similar

to jumping. Impor-

tantly, there is no

need to control

the upwardmovement of the

weight to actively

decelerate the

barbell, for this is

achieved by the

influence of grav-

ity. In fact, ath-

letes never


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TAB

EXERCISE POLE 1

ER OUTPUTS

EXERCISE POWER OUTPUT (W)

JERK 5,400

SNATCH 3,000

CLEAN 2,950

DEADLIFT 1,100

SQUAT 1,100

BENCH PRESS 300

Table 1- The highest recorded rates of force developmenthave been demonstrated in male Olympic Weightlifters duringthe execution of the Clean and Jerk


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decelerate the upward movement in weightlifting exercises until ex-

tension is complete. Thus, weightlifting exercises from a biomechani-

cal evaluation are an excellent method to train high-load speedstrength.

In contrast, other types of strength training exercises intrinsically con-

tain deceleration movements. Even if athletes try to keep accelerating

their movements, they are required to decelerate the weight at the

end of range of motion. Otherwise, the weight is released from their

hands or injury may occur to their musculoskeletal structures be-cause of the kinetic energy they must absorb. In this manner, speed

strength cannot be improved efficiently.

Plyometric exercises such as jumping, hopping, and bounding use

the stretch shortening cycle and enhance athletes power output in

the concentric phase. These types of exercises have the same char-

acteristic as weightlifting exercises in that they do not require decel-erating movements. Plyometric exercises can be used to improve

low-load speed strength but not high-load speed strength. Because

these exercises are performed with only the athletes own body

weight, or a relatively small weight such as a medicine ball, the load

is not high enough to improve high-load speed strength.


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THE SAFETY OF WEIGHTLIFTING

Various studies were done showing Olympic weightlifting to be thesafest form of resistance training there is. One study assessed the in-

jury potential and safety aspects of weightlifting movements and

Olympic weightlifting proved to be the safest stone (5). Another as-

pect that keeps many people away from weightlifting is the supposed

fatal injury to the back. Again this is a false assumption spread

through ignorance. A study was done comparing weightlifting to a

control group of normal active men and their back pain was as-sessed. It turns out that only 23% of the weightlifters experienced

back pain compared to 31% of the normal active men (2). Another

study was performed concerning the injury per 100 hours and yes

again weightlifting faired better than other forms of resistance train-

ing. In fact, for weightlifters the injury rate was less than half of the

other forms of weight training (3). Weightlifting training and competi-

tions together are much safer than other sports such as football, bas-ketball, soccer, etc (7). It is clear to see that Olympic weightlifting is

an extremely safe form of resistance training and sport for people to

participant in.


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THE EFFECTS ON BODY COMPOSITION

Another benefit of weightlifting is the amount of muscles used in thelifts. The Olympic lifts involve basically every muscle in the human

body and this entails a great workout. Olympic weightlifting also

forces stabilizer muscles to activate to secure the weight overhead in

the lifts. For a recreational lifter Olympic weightlifting will cut down on

the exercise time, allowing them to get done in 45 minutes to 1 hour

what they used to do in "traditional splits" for 1.5 hours or more! In an

8 week Olympic weightlifting program study, participants lowered theirresting heart rate by 8%, lean body weight increased by 4%, fat

dropped 6%, and systolic blood pressure decreased by 4% 5 (6). Not

only is Olympic weightlifting safe it is a great way to stay in shape too!


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THE EFFECTS ON BONE DENSITY

Olympic weightlifting can also help prevent osteoporosis. To put it

simply the greater the bone mineral density (BMD) the less chance of

osteoporosis occurring. Bone mineral density measures the mineral

density, such as calcium in the bones. Calcium is also constantly be-

ing added and removed from bones and when it is removed faster

than it is added then the bones become weaker and are more sus-

ceptible to fractures. Remember a solid dense bone is much better

than one that looks like a honey comb! A study involving elite junior

Olympic weightlifters compared their BMD, at the lower back and the

neck of the femur, to an exact age group and an age group ranging

from 20-39 year old men. The elite junior Olympic weightlifters BMD

were found to be significantly greater then the age matched group

and greater than the 20-39 year old men (1). It is suggested that the

high overloads of stress from Olympic weightlifting have a major in-

fluence on BMD. Again Olympic weightlifting has the ability to develop

strong healthy bones that are resistant to fractures.


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References:

1. Conroy, Bp, Wj Kraemer, Cm Maresh, Sj Fleck, Mh Stone, Ac Fry, Pd Miller,and Gp Dalsky. "Bone Mineral Density in Elite Junior Olympic Weightlifters."

(1993): 1103-1109. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 25 (1993).

2. Granhed, H. et al. Low back pain among retired wrestlers and heavyweightlift-ers. The American Journal of Sports Medicine,16(5):530-533. 1988.

3. Hamill, B. Relative Safety of Weightlifting and Weight Training. Journal ofStrength and Conditioning Research, 8(1):53-57. 1994

4. Hoffman, Jr, J Cooper, M Wendell, and J Kang. "Comparison of Olympic Vs.Traditional Power Lifting Training Programs in Football Players." 18 (2004): 129-135. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 18 (2004).

5. Stone, M. H., A. C. Fry, M. Ritchie, L. Stoessel-Ross, and J. L. Marsit. Injurypotential and safety aspects of weightlifting movements. Strength and Condition-ing. June: 15-21. 1994.

6. Stone, M.H., et al. Cardiovascular Responses to Short-Term Olympic StyleWeight-Training in Young Men. Can. J. Appl. Sport Sci. 8(3): 134-9.

7. Stone, M.H. Muscle conditioning and muscle injuries. Med Sci Sports Exerc.22(4):457-462. 1990.

8. Tricoli, V, L Lamas, R Carnevale, and C Ugrinowitsch. "Short-Term Effects onLower-Body Functional Power Development: Weightlifting Vs. Vertical JumpTraining Programs." 19 (2005): 433-437. Journal of Strength and ConditioningResearch 19 (2005).

Works Sited:

Hori, N. R Newton. and M Stone, Weightlifting Exercises Enhance Athletic Per-formance That Requires High-Load Speed Strength August: 50-55. 2005.

Drechsler A. Appendix 3 The Weightlifting Encyclopedia: A is ACommunication.1978

Benefits of Olympic Weightlifting (http://www.owresource.com/lifts/benefits.php)


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Waxman - Olympic Weightlifting the Most Powerful Sport in the World

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