The Holy Wars; Why I Use Olympic Lifts…Sometimes
By
Todd Hamer
I’ve found that I have the best alone time when walking my dogs on a nice
morning. A few days ago, it was unseasonable warm here in Pennsylvania, and I
was spending some quality time with two of my dogs. I started thinking about
training. I recently read one of Joe DeFranco’s posts, and my thoughts turned to
his ideas. I respect and have learned a lot from Joe over the years. That being
said, I’m my own man and I don’t agree with everything he says or does. This is
where my mind began to wander. I love to read Mike Boyle, mainly because he
upsets people. Mike says don’t squat. I squat! Joe DeFranco says don’t do
cleans. I do cleans! Jason Ferruggia says don’t eat meat. Well, I’ll let each of
you decide on this one for yourself.
For many years, I didn’t use Olympic lifts at all for athletes. Even though I
wasn’t using these lifts or versions of them, I did steal ideas from Olympic
lifts and the lifters. I’ve trained with Olympic lifters, drank beer with them,
and even shared lifting ideas. This might be a sin to some, but I love all
people in the iron game. For all those years, I thought extensively about these
lifts and why and how they became such a hot topic in strength and conditioning.
No other lifts create the same passion in people like the clean and snatch do.
Imagine if people argued over pull-ups the way they do over Olympic lifts. Seems
crazy, doesn’t it?
After years of thinking, reading, lifting, and texting some great strength
coaches at all hours, I’ve decided to use Olympic lifts. Sometimes. Understand
that these lifts are no different than any other barbell lift. Yes, they’re a
sport themselves, but so is the barbell curl (yes, people do compete in this
lift). Let me talk more about the clean here because it’s the more utilized lift
and the lift that is generally fought over.
The clean (power clean from the hang to be exact)
Why would you choose to use the clean in all the exercises in your toolbox?
Because it’s a full body movement that improves the rate of force development
and the ability to absorb weight. Remember, a muscle must be able to express
force as well as absorb it. A good catch in the power clean from the hang is a
great way to absorb force. I know that many coaches (even me) have said that any
lift can be done explosively. This is 100 percent true, but if we’re talking
about the power lifts, they aren’t inherently explosive lifts.
Do a box squat as fast as you can with 60 percent and see how long of a
contraction you get. Now do a clean with 60 percent and see how long the
contraction is. The clean is faster! The best athlete is the athlete who has the
ability to turn the central nervous system on and off and on again as fast as
possible. Think about the clean. You turn the central nervous system on in the
power position, turn it off to drop under the bar, and turn it back on to absorb
the force of the bar.
Once you’ve taught your athletes the clean, you can open them up to many
different versions of it for complexes and other strength exercises. One of the
challenges we do is a complex of five Romanian deadlifts, five clean pulls, five
cleans, five front squats, five push presses, and five back squats. This is a
great way to get athletes to compete and work hard!
One other discovery I’ve found with adding in cleans was that once the clean
was through, we could have an athlete use a squat clean from the hang. Rarely
will you have an athlete who has mobility issues be able to perform a squat
clean from the hang position.
The down side!
Now, understand that I’m not saying every athlete needs to do cleans. I’m
just pointing out that they aren’t good or evil! They are one more tool in our
toolbox. I have teams and athletes who will never do a clean. My basketball team
does clean pulls but not cleans. I like them to create force vertically, and I
like the extra upper back work. But I know they can’t catch the bar due to their
limb length. I also have some lineman who will never do a clean because injuries
to the wrists or shoulders prevent them from catching the bar. Is there extra
stress on the athlete when they catch a clean? Yes!
Every lift we prescribe is a stressor. Everything we do has some danger
associated to it. I want someone to tell me that no one has ever been injured
benching, squatting, or doing a dumbbell exercise. I learned this year that
injuries in the weight room can happen during your “safe” exercises. I had my
starting point guard drop a 35-lb dumbbell on his shooting hand while setting it
down. It was a freak accident. But this points out the fact that we open
athletes up to danger. It is our job as the coach to make it as safe as possible
while still understanding that injuries may occur.
I hope that anyone who reads this does so with an open mind and realizes that
I’m not saying all athletes should use Olympic lifts or all coaches should teach
them. Be yourself and decide what lifts are best for you. If you don’t feel
comfortable teaching a clean, don’t teach it! If you think they’re too
dangerous, that’s fine. Don’t use them. But if you feel comfortable teaching
them and your athletes can do the Olympic lifts, why not add this tool to your
toolbox? Good luck and keep learning from everyone!
Todd Hamer is the head strength and conditioning coach at Robert Morris
University. He received his bachelor’s of science degree in exercise science
from Pennsylvania State University in 1999 and his master’s of science degree
from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in August 2002.
Todd is a competitive powerlifter, and his best lifts are a 545-lb squat, a
375-lb bench, and a 500-lb deadlift. He can be contacted at
toddhamer@hotmail.com or www.hamerstrength.com.
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