Olympic Weight Lifting

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Olympic Weight Lifting

Olympic Weightlifting
The Snatch and the Clean & Jerk
What is Olympic Weightlifting?
As a basic athletic activity and a natural
means to measure strength and power, the
lifting of weights was present in both the
ancient Egyptian and Greek societies.

Cont
Power lifting is not Olympic
weightlifting.
The Olympic lifts are the Snatch
and the Clean & Jerk.
The Power lifts are the bench press,
squat, and dead lift.

Why these Lifts?


The three lifts that were the Olympic lifts for most
of weightliftings history were the Clean and
Press, the Snatch, and the Clean and Jerk. These
three lifts were chosen to test a lifter in different
ways. They all require strength, but also speed
and flexibility.
The Clean and Press tested a weightlifters
strength. It was a slow Power lift. The Press
was an excellent test of upper body strength.

Lifts Cont
The Snatch is a test of a weightlifters speed and
flexibility, in addition to his strength. A properly
executed snatch takes about one second to pull the
barbell from the floor to overhead.
The Clean and Jerk was chosen as a combination
test of strength and flexibility. With the Clean and
Jerk, the most amount of weight can be lifted
overhead. It is the King of Lifts.

Lifts Cont
The Clean and Press was dropped from
competition December 31, 1972. There was
too much leeway in the officiating.
However, a meet is a little quicker now with
only two lifts. To a non-lifter, the Clean &
Press and the Clean & Jerk looked the
same.

GENERAL RULES FOR ALL


LIFTS
The technique known as hooking is permitted. It
consists of covering the last joint of the thumb
with the other fingers of the same hand at the
moment of gripping the bar.
In all lifts, the referee must count as No lift any
unfinished attempt in which the bar has reached
the height of the knees.

Rules Cont
After the referees signal to lower the
barbell, the lifter must lower it in front of
the body and not let it drop either
deliberately or accidentally. The grip on the
bar may be released when it has passed the
level of his waist.

Rules Cont
A competitor, who cannot fully extend the elbow
due to anatomical deformation, must report this
fact to the three referees and the jury before the
start of the competition.
When snatching or cleaning in the squat style, the
lifter may help the recovery by swinging and
rocking movements of his body.

Rules Cont
The use of grease, oil, water, talcum or any similar
lubricant on the thigh is forbidden. Lifters are not
permitted to have any substance on their thighs
when arriving in the competition area. A lifter
who uses any lubricant is ordered to remove it.
During the removal the clock goes on. The use of
chalk (magnesium) on the hands, thighs, etc., is
permitted.

How to Snatch
The snatch is the first lift performed in all
Olympic weightlifting competitions. Each lifter
has three attempts. The sum of your best snatch
and best clean-and-jerk is your total. In
competition, the weight on the bar can only
move up in weight in increments of 2.5 kg (5
1/2 lbs.).
Joel Lackey demonstrates the snatch (150kg February 4, 1995 - Newnan, GA)

How to Snatch:
With the bar on the platform, the athlete stands
over the barbell, looks down and lines the bar over
the balls of the feet. The feet should be hip width
or slightly wider apart. The lifter assumes the
starting position by bending the knees and
lowering the hips and gripping the barbell with a
wide grip.
The grip should be wide enough to allow the lifter
to do a full squat with the bar at arms length
overhead. In the starting position, the shoulders
should be over the bar and the back arched tightly.

How to Snatch:

How to Snatch:
To start the pull, the athlete pushes their feet
though the floor. As the barbell reaches
knee height, the back stays arched and
maintains the same angle to the floor as in
the starting position.

How to Snatch:

How to Snatch:
When the barbell passes the knees the
athlete vigorously raises the shoulders
keeping the bar as close to the legs as
possible.

How to Snatch:
When the bar passes the upper thighs it
should touch the thighs. At this point the
lifter drives with the legs in a vertical
jumping motion and finishes the extension
of the body.

Cont

Snatch Cont
When the body is extended the lifter
shrugs their shoulders and starts pulling
with the arms, still keeping the barbell
close to the body. (This is accomplished
by lifting the elbows out to the side,
keeping them over the bar as long as
possible.)

Snatch Cont..
From this position the lifter aggressively

pulls the body under the bar.

Snatch Cont
The lifter catches the bar at arms length as
he moves into the squat position.

Snatch Cont
As soon as the barbell is fixed on locked
out arms in the squat position, the athlete
stands up and the lift is complete.

How to Clean & Jerk


The clean and jerk is the second lift
performed in all Olympic weightlifting
competitions. Each lifter has three attempts.
The sum of your best snatch and best cleanand-jerk is your total. In competition, the
weight on the bar can only move up in
weight in increments of 2.5 kg (5 1/2 lbs.).

How to Clean & Jerk:


With the bar on the platform, the athlete stands
over the barbell, looks down and lines the bar over
the balls of the feet. The feet should be about hip
width apart. starting position by bending the
knees, and lowering. The lifter assumes the hips,
and grips the barbell with a grip that is slightly
wider than shoulder width.
In the starting position, the shoulders should be
over the bar and the back arched tightly.

Clean & Jerk:


The lifter assumes the hips, and grips the
barbell with a grip that is slightly wider than
shoulder width.
In the starting position, the shoulders should
be over the bar and the back arched tightly.

Clean & Jerk

Clean & Jerk:


To start the pull, the athlete pushes his feet
though the floor. As the barbell reaches
knee height, the back stays arched and
maintains the same angle to the floor as in
the starting position.

Clean & Jerk

Clean & Jerk:


The back remains rigid throughout the lift.
The angle of the back relative to the floor
remains the same until the bar passes the
knees.

Clean & Jerk:


When the barbell passes the knees the
athlete vigorously raises the shoulders
keeping the bar as close to the legs as
possible.

Clean & Jerk:

Clean & Jerk:


When the body is extended the lifter shrugs
their shoulders and starts pulling with the
arms, still keeping the barbell close to the
body. (This is accomplished by lifting the
elbows out to the side, keeping them over
the bar as long as possible.) From this
position the lifter aggressively pulls the
body under the bar.

Clean & Jerk:

Clean & Jerk:


The lifter quickly flips the elbows around to
catch the bar on the shoulders as he
descends to the front squat position.

Clean & Jerk:


The lifter stands up from the squat position,
moves the feet back beneath him (slightly
less than shoulder width), adjusts the grip as
necessary, and ceases all motion.

Clean & Jerk:

Clean & Jerk:


The lifter bends his legs while keeping his
back rigid, his shoulders directly over his
hips, and his hips directly over his feet. He
immediately extends his legs forcefully
driving the bar straight overhead.

Clean & Jerk:

Clean & Jerk:


The lifter splits his legs (one in front, one
behind) and pushes himself under the bar to
arms length. The descent of the bar is
halted.

Clean & Jerk:


The lifter carefully extends both legs, steps
backward with the front leg and forward
with the back leg to bring both feet parallel
with the body.

Training Intensity
There is a time for low intensity workouts,
such as when the lifter is learning the lifts
or when recovering from an injury. Other
than that, the only time progress is made is
when the intensity is high.

Training Intensity:
Not everyone is able to handles as much as
this method calls for. The burn out rate is
rather high. Of course, this level or training
must be achieved gradually. It can take
years for the athlete to condition himself to
be able to not just survive this program, but
actually make progress on it.

Cont
There are up to nine training sessions per
day with each session lasting an average of
45 minutes. That is almost 7 hours of actual
training. This schedule is followed four
days per week.

Cont
The other two days are a little shorter with
seven sessions for a total of more than four
hours. This method of working out was
radically different from the standard way of
doing things.

Cont
As the Bulgarians refined their system, they
dropped most assistance exercises. They
work only on the contest lifts, front squats
and back squats. There are no power
snatches, power cleans, high pulls, or partial
lifts.

Cont
Intensity in all sessions is extremely high.
Only single and double reps are performed.
Most sessions include lifts that are 100% of
maximum. Lifters of this caliber often have
training lifts that exceed their best contest
lifts.

Cont
The idea behind this type of training is that
the muscles Learn to lift heavier and
heavier weights. The muscles are
specializing.

Cont
This Education process works best if
there are no assistance exercises to dilute
the learning process. The same thing holds
true if limit weights are no lifted often
enough; the muscles wont learn.

Cont
The downside to such high intensity is the
increased risk of injury. As previously
mentioned, the burnout rate is probably
rather high. Only the cream of the crop
athletes are able to continue to make
progress on this type of workout for a long
period of time.

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