Olympic Lifting for the Growing Gymnast, Part 2
By
Erika Pfennigwerth
Figure 3 exhibits an example of the progression of strength from the
developmental strength workout for the compulsory age group.
Figure 3. Compulsory strength training
The compulsory level of gymnastics is nice because it requires more time in
the gym, allowing the general and specific workouts to be broken up into three
to four different workouts. This means that there is enough time in the gym to
coach technique and follow through with it. Before we move on to ideas for the
optional gymnast’s strength training, I’ll say a quick word about including
plyometrics into the workouts.
Gymnastics coaches are always anxious to do plyometrics with their gymnasts.
However, it isn’t until the gymnasts are almost finished with the compulsory
level or are beginning optional gymnastics that the body is physically ready to
endure the stretching and recoiling effect that plyometrics have on their
muscles. It won’t be effective because of a lack of body control and relative
strength. So, don’t start including plyometrics in the workouts until they’re
ready for optional gymnastics.
By the time they have finished the compulsory level and are ready for
optional gymnastics, most gymnasts have well-developed relative strength. Most
coaches think that from now until when the gymnasts graduate, the strength goal
should be to just maintain relative strength and increase skill ability. But we
can do more!
This is the most crucial time in the gymnast’s career to learn how to be
explosive. Bigger skills need to be thrown, and the body needs to be ready to
handle it and absorb the landings properly. It’s time to add an outside
force—meaning weights such as medicine balls, dumbbells, and for the college
bound, barbells—to their strength training. This doesn’t mean that they should
jump immediately into a weight room and perform cleans. However, lifting weights
probably needs to happen at some point if the gymnasts plan to compete in
college.
Most colleges have strength coaches who don’t have backgrounds in gymnastics
strength training. Most college strength coaches will use weights to train the
gymnasts, and the best ones will know to use Olympic lifting. So, it’s important
that the gymnasts be slowly introduced to weights when college bound so that the
strength they worked so hard for will be maintained.
However, if a gymnast starts lifting weights in college, wouldn’t her
strength increase? Ideally, her strength would increase but not if she isn’t
neurally adapted to those movements. So the strength training goal for optional
gymnasts should be a more difficult progression of strength movements at the
compulsory level on general conditioning days. The strength training program
should include the addition of outside weight to the exercises, and it should be
more sport-specific, include explosive strength work, and slowly introduce them
to formal weight training and formal Olympic lifts in a weight room. Figure 4
demonstrates a strength training program for the optional gymnast.
Figure 4. Optional strength training
Figure 4 gives three days of strength training. However, most optional
gymnasts practice five days a week or more at this point in their careers. Some
gymnasts choose to strength train on four of the five days, and others choose to
strength train on all five days. If you choose to strength train all five days,
the gymnasts will have time to recover and avoid overtraining by keeping one of
the days light. Also, because the gymnast is trying to transition into weight
training, it’s best to only do the clean, snatch, and jerk progression with the
dumbbells once a week and strongly emphasize technique. In the end, this will
make learning Olympic lifting with a barbell in the actual weight room easier as
well as provide faster gains in strength because they’ll already be neurally
adapted to those movements.
When gymnasts are college bound and there is a weight room available, bring
them into it and have them clean, jerk, and snatch once a week. Remember, this
is in addition to their specific, general, and explosive conditioning days. If
you’re unsure of how many sets and repetitions they should be doing, think back
to why you’re training Olympic lifting in the first place. Is it for endurance
strength or power strength? It’s for power strength.
Power strength should stay in a repetition volume of two to five repetitions.
The weight should be challenging, but it should also be moved quickly. The
number of sets can be determined by the gymnasts’ fatiguing point and the time
allotted in the weight room. You don’t want to train Olympic lifting while
fatigued because it negates the purpose of training power and technique.
Endurance strength can be incorporated into some specific exercises but
should generally only be trained on general conditioning days when you can pound
out many repetitions on thoughtless movements. Exercises trained on specific
days replicate specific movements on the bars, beam, floor, and sometimes vault,
and because they are more skill-oriented, the focus should mostly be on
technique. The gymnasts shouldn’t get sloppy throughout the set. This will help
them avoid forming bad habits. Therefore, the repetition range should stay
between six and ten repetitions, which is the general strength building zone.
As the coach, if you strength train your gymnasts, it’s your job to educate
yourself on strength training outside of gymnastics specific strength. There
isn’t one type of strength in gymnastics. Therefore, gymnastics shouldn’t be
strength trained under one training goal. It’s important that you understand the
correct technique of the strength exercises being performed, have a large
vocabulary of strength exercises, and understand how to properly challenge and
progress the strength of your gymnasts throughout their entire careers. It’s
time that you enhance what you already do correctly as a coach because, in the
end, it’s about the gymnasts.
Index: Olympic lifting movements
Clean
- Deadlift: Squat down with the chest upright, the back slightly arched,
and the feet flat. Lift the bar by extending through the hips and knees and
pushing through the heels.
- Romanian deadlift (RDL): Keep the chest upright, the knees slightly
bent, and the feet flat. Slide the bar from the hips down the thigh to just
below the knee. Return to the starting position by squeezing the glutes.
- Power shrug: Perform a RDL and stop at above the knee. Extend the hips
and knees powerfully, plantar flex the feet, and shrug the barbell with
extended elbows. Avoid hyperextension of the back.
- Hang cean: Perform a power shrug and pull the bar upward, close to the
body. The elbows flex outward in shoulder abduction and external rotation.
Drive the elbows under the bar to a front squat stance and absorb the
weight. Avoid hyperextension of the back.
- Front squat: The bar is placed at chest height and held with the
fingertips. The elbows are parallel to the floor. Flex at the hips with the
chest upright. Return to original stance.
Jerk
- Clean
- Overhead press: Press the bar overhead by extending the elbows. The arms
line up with the ears.
- Split squat: The feet should be split. The legs are wide enough that the
front knee doesn’t flex over the toes. Flex both knees deeply, extend the
knees and hips, and return to the original stance.
Snatch
- Deadlift: Squat down with the chest upright, the back slightly arched,
and the feet flat. The arms are wide. Lift the bar by extending through the
hips and knees and pushing through the heels.
- Romanian deadlift (RDL): Keep the chest upright, the knees slightly
bent, and the feet flat. Slide the bar from the hips down the thigh to just
below the knee. Return to the starting position by squeezing the glutes.
- Power shrug: Perform a RDL and stop at above the knee. Extend the hips
and knees powerfully, plantar flex the feet, and shrug the barbell with
extended elbows. Avoid hyperextension of the back.
- High pull: Perform a power shrug, pull the bar close to the body with
extended elbows, and drive the body underneath the bar to an overhead squat
stance. Absorb the weight.
- Overhead squat: The barbell is held in the hands and placed over the
head. The weight is stabilized with extended shoulders and elbows. The hips
flex and the weight is absorbed. Return to the original stance.
Erika Pfennigwerth is a strength and conditioning intern at Robert Morris
University and a competitive gymnastics coach at X-Cel Gymnastics. She attended
college at the University of New Hampshire and graduated with a degree in
exercise science. She was a Division I NCAA diver for two years and a gymnast
for 14 years. Erica has been coaching gymnastics for four years. She plans to
attend graduate school for a doctorate in a kinesiology program and has career
thoughts of becoming a university professor.
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