Defending Olympic Lifting Movements for Athletes, Strongmen, and Powerlifters

By Matt Delaney

For www.EliteFTS.com

Good strength coaches and lifters know that there are no absolutes in training. Exercise selection depends on the situation. However, given the right situation, Olympic lifting can be a badass way to train force development. That being said, my point here isn’t to provide biased information about how Olympic lifts are the only way to train athletes, powerlifters, or Strongman competitors but rather that these lifts also have a place in strength training.

When dealing with beginners, I never understood why some coaches trained power with speed powerlifts or weighted jump squats. I think Joe DeFranco was right on with his statement that newbies have too difficult a time keeping their technique clean with speed squats to warrant the use of weighted jump squats. In one of his articles, the Thinker mentioned the use of medicine ball throws and weighted jump squats as alternatives to Olympic lifting. I like this idea because John Garhammer’s research shows that the only events that replicate the force development seen in Olympic lifting are track and field events. However, I think this is a horrible idea for young beginners.

Beginners need simplicity. What works for coordinated collegiate and professional athletes in large groups is less effective for small groups of high school athletes. As a coach, you can give more attention to younger athletes, who respond well to Olympic lifts because of how much easier skill acquisition is at a younger age. In a recent article, Charles Poliquin discussed coordination. He said that coordination is a specific skill, and if acquired at a young age, it can be invaluable. This is why Olympic lifting is great for young kids. It’s basically a modified version of gymnastics minus the intense landings.

Eric Cressey wrote that deadlifts are quite possibly the best force development tool. If I’m half as smart as Eric when I’m finished with strength and conditioning, I’ll be happy. However, I think his statement is bullshit. Speed deadlifts are great, but they are another less than effective method for beginners. The movement doesn’t mimic jumping at all, and the bar speed is slowest at exactly the wrong time. If you’re trying to jump for max height, the speed of the hip and knee extension needs to be at its fastest in the last portion of the movement. In order to mimic jumping, the bar speed must be the fastest during the pull above the knees to invoke the violent hip, knee, and ankle extension.

Deadlifts are quite possibly the best structural lifts possible. They are a great general strength movement and can help improve posture, hormonal response, and injury prevention. However, what makes them a great structural lift also makes them a poor force development tool for the beginner. I’d rather have a beginner squat or deadlift more frequently rather than have a speed day.

Olympic lifts offer many unique benefits that you can’t get from other lifts. Snatches and cleans are a very moderate or very intense practice of triple extension, depending on the load. Also, depending on the load, the landings can be less intense than weighted jump squats or box jumps. This is especially true for heavier athletes who don’t have any business weighing down their jump squats. The lifts will carry over well to box jumps and other plyometric exercises but not vice versa. There aren’t any good Olympic lifters with low vertical jumps. However, it’s possible to be proficient in many different plyometric activities without excelling at Olympic lifts. This is because jump squats, even when loaded with a weight vest, don’t offer a significant spinal load.

Medicine ball throws are another alternative. They make more sense, but for healthy athletes, they still don’t offer a significant spinal load. The Thinker makes a great point with his latest article. He says that the amount of weight is monumentally important when it comes to force development and bets a steak dinner that you can apply more force with 90 kilos than 20 kilos. Well, then why do medicine ball throws at all for beginners if you’re on a budget and trying to save time? Think about it. You don’t have to buy heavier medicine balls when one becomes too light, and you don’t have to go outside during the workout unless it’s to condition! Besides, how the hell do you even measure medicine ball heights? It’s far easier just to throw more weight on the bar.

Olympic lifts also offer many additional benefits. Artie Dreschler offers four reasons, which I think are of most vital importance for athletes or those seeking athletic qualities:

• The mere practice of the Olympic lifts teaches an athlete how to apply large amounts of force. Part of the extraordinary abilities of an Olympic lifter arises out of his having learned how to effectively activate more of his muscle fibers more rapidly than others who aren’t trained to do so. This becomes extremely important for athletes who need to remain at lower body weights for athletic purposes but need to learn how to apply greater force. Olympic lifts will help build force development without producing unnecessary hypertrophy, which could even tighten the athlete up and make him or her slower.

• The practice of proper technique in the Olympic lifts teaches an athlete to apply force with his or her muscle groups in the proper sequences (i.e. from the center of the body to its extremities). This is a valuable lesson that can be of benefit to any athlete who needs to impart force on another person or object. Olympic lifts are great teachers of intra-muscular coordination. The ability to produce much force at the right time is something that’s invaluable for athletes.

• Athletes learn to receive force from another moving body and become conditioned to accept forces.

• Athletes learn how to master the stretch shortening cycle. The lifts essentially teach how to move from an eccentric to concentric muscle action very rapidly.

Despite all of these benefits, there are still those who refuse to use these lifts for athletes because they believe that you can’t use Olympic lifting for athletes unless you’re training Olympic lifters. You certainly don’t copy Olympic lifting programs with athletes, but I’m with Jim Wendler on this. We aren’t training powerlifters either but don’t we want our athletes to be stronger to help prevent injury? Maybe you aren’t as aggressive on loads or maybe you don’t lift from the floor, but it’s still a beneficial activity for athletes. This is especially true for beginners who may benefit from the low intensity landings. I regularly see kids perform box and hurdle jumps, and most beginners struggle much more with soft eccentric landings in these activities than in cleans or snatches.

Olympic lifts are a great way to help develop mobility of the wrists, hips, and ankles while also promoting stability in the shoulder. For coaches who deal with older professional or collegiate athletes, some overhead movements aren’t the best exercise choices. However, with younger athletes, there’s a lot you can do to progress them to have bulletproof shoulders with Olympic lifting movements. At this young age, there are many structural and postural changes that can be made quickly as long as you make smart progressions. A very intelligent physical therapist, John Pallof, has actually found a place for cleans in his program for pitchers because he believes the lifts have some unique qualities in force absorption for the shoulder.

Power

The Thinker wrote that the Olympic lifts won’t help develop explosive strength until the athlete is capable of handling large amounts of weight. For his population of experienced athletes, this may be true. However, for beginners, this isn’t the case. For beginners, even light loads will be extremely beneficial once they have attained a general strength base. Think long term. Olympic lifts are still the best force development tool with a barbell. Powerlifts don’t have the same training effect due to the duration of the lift, the distance the bar has to travel, and the speed of the movement.

Without boring you with research details, John Garhammer found that even when dropping intensities in strength lifts, power outputs never approach those seen in the Olympic lifts. The only events that could duplicate the same power outputs were those seen in track and field. Watch any national level meet, and you’ll see many athletes who can move from an eccentric to concentric muscle action very rapidly. The Olympic lifts help athletes master the stretch shortening cycle and become proficient in the many activities that the lifts carryover into.

If you’re an athlete and you aren’t convinced, talk to Tim Swords, who has developed some excellent world level weightlifters and some insanely strong high school athletes. Tim coaches an Olympic lifting club, Team Houston, out of his garage with very little fancy equipment. He’s not only a good coach but has been in the trenches as a very strong former NFL football player (150-kilo snatch). He was kind enough to send me a picture of his young stud Cameron Swart with some additional comments on the benefits of the Olympic lifts:

“Notice Cameron Swart in this clean and jerk. He has done as much as 190 kilos, but this was three weeks after high school football season where he led the state of Texas, a huge football state, in tackles for a loss with 34. That’s basically dominating the line of scrimmage. You can’t sell Olympic lifting to some people because they get out of their   comfort zone. I have fought with this for years with stupid strength coaches all over America.” —Tim Swords

Cameron Swart; courtesy of Tim Swords

Strength

If you aren’t an athlete and you just want to get strong, Olympic lifting can still be helpful for strength events. It can help develop athletic qualities while simultaneously developing strength in strength movements. Olympic lifting does require much technique, but you can still be very strong in the strength lifts without performing a large amount of them. Physical therapists and chiropractors may cringe at the deep positions seen in Olympic lifts, but the strength built up in the very deep positions is why Olympic lifters, when training safely, have very strong knees, shoulders, backs, and hips.

There are numerous examples of strength athletes who have built a great general strength base through Olympic lifting. Bill Starr set an American powerlifting record in 1968 with a 660-lb deadlift at 198 lbs without ever really having trained for it. Kenny Croxdale, a powerlifting coach, helped develop some tremendously strong pullers using the Olympic lifting variations. Olympic lifts allow you to build work capacity and stimulate the fast twitch muscle fibers all over while keeping the time under tension relatively low. This becomes critical for deadlift training, which can be extremely taxing because heavy deadlift loads will have slow bar speed and a long time under heavy tension. This can overtrain you very quickly. I know of several other Olympic lifters with excellent squats and deadlifts who don’t focus too much attention on either lift. Take Innocent Upkong, a world level weightlifter who has squatted in the mid 700s with a narrow stance and deadlifted 660 lbs for a double in the 187-lb weight class!

Olympic lifters don’t always win Strongman contests, but many of the qualities that they develop through their training are useful in the events that have been contested in the past. Bruce Wilhelm, a former Olympic lifter, won the first Strongman competition, which consisted of the best bodybuilders, powerlifters, and strength athletes of the time. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Olympic lifters consistently do well in Strongman events. The competitions often have events that Olympic lifters are prepared for.

Want to simulate the hip and leg extension needed to move stones fast? Cleans or snatches are a good idea! Want to get more height in keg tosses? Power snatches are a good idea! Want to get good in overhead pressing events? Push presses are your ticket! My coach, Denis Reno, watched Mikael Koklaev in 2006 clean and jerk 240 kilos and then place third in the Arnold Classic Strongman events. Imagine that type of work capacity!

The Olympic lifts are unique in that the overall volumes can be much higher than powerlifting but still yield training effects. Just compare Koklaev to many of the other American Strongman competitors on IFSA when you get a chance. His posture, balance, and athletic qualities are all superior to his competitors. If you want an amazing display of strength and athleticism, search YouTube for Koklaev’s strength feats video. He muscle snatches 150 lbs, deadlifts over 800 lbs, and front squats over 600 lbs. Now, you don’t get that from medicine ball throws, weighted jump squats, or speed deadlifts.

While Olympic lifters take years to develop, Olympic lifts don’t require world class technique to elicit training effects for beginners. When you have a good strength coach eyeing your technique from the hang, it isn’t that difficult because the jump is a very natural motion. For beginners, using loads that are light enough to get good bar speed and technique will go a long way in helping teach an invaluable tool for force development.

Matt Delaney is a strength and conditioning coach (CSCS) at St. Sebastian’s High School. He is a competitive Olympic lifter and an Olympic lifting coach. Matt has totaled 240 kilos in the 77-kilo class, has been measured at 35.8 inches in the countermovement vertical jump, and has run the 10-yard dash in 1.59 seconds. Feel free to contact him at mdelaney@excelstrength.com with questions or comments.