The Olympic Lifting Workout For Non-Olympic Lifting Athletes

Olympic Weightlifting (OW) is a sport where athletes attempt to lift the maximum weight possible for the Clean & Jerk and the Snatch. For Non-Olympic Weightlifting athletes, these two lifts can be a vital asset to ones strength and conditioning program. Many OW athletes have high vertical jumps, signifying their enormous strength and power.

The Olympic Lifts (OL's) have consistently been used by martial artists, wrestlers, football players, and a myriad of other athletes to aide them in their development of power and explosiveness. The OL's can also be used by the common man to help train a larger percentage of their body in a short period of time. Namely, that's why I enjoy them.

Once you get the hang of them, OL's are a lot of fun. However, instead of learning the real OL's I suggest you start out with the modified versions: Power Clean, Power Snatch, and Push Press.

Power Clean

"Cleaning" in our case is not something you do with a vacuum. Cleaning means to bring the barbell from the ground to your shoulders in one flawless motion. In short, the Power Clean is a combination of the Deadlift and Front Squat. Here's how to do it:

* Stand with a barbell in front of you on the floor. Grip the barbell with an over hand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.

* Bend your knees so that your hips are parallel to the floor. Your arms should be slightly bent at this point.

* Straighten your arms out. Your shoulders should be in a straight line from the barbell.

* Your hips should be above parallel now. Keep your body tight. Pause for a moment.

* Explode upward and extend the body.

* Shrug your shoulders and pull the barbell upwards towards your chin, letting the elbows to bend out to the sides. Keep the bar close to your body.

* Let go of the bar just slightly.

* Rotate the elbows around the bar as you get "under" the bar. Catch the bar with your elbows out in front of you, while moving in a squat position.

* For the power clean, you do not need to perform a full squat.

* Just maintain the movement above parallel. To return the movement, bend knees and lower the bar to the ground.

Push Press

The Push Press is simply a shoulder press using momentum to get the body above your head. Your body helps the barbell from the shoulder position to above your head, and your shoulders and triceps aid with the lock out. If done right, it should tax your entire body. Here's how you do it:

* Find a way to get the bar up to your shoulder, either by cleaning it or from a rack.

* Hands should in a over hand grip, slightly wider than shoulder width apart.

* Dip your body down slightly, and use the momentum to drive the barbell over your head.

* Lock your hands out above your head, and return to starting position.

* NOTE: Make sure to generate the power with your legs, and do not rely primarily on shoulder strength.

Power Snatch

The purpose of the power snatch is to bring the barbell from the floor to above your head in one flawless motion, without having to clean it to the shoulders or stop the movement in any form. This is one of the reasons why a wide grip is recommended.

* Stand with a barbell in front of you on the floor. Grip the barbell with a wide over hand grip.

* Bend your knees so that your hips are parallel to the floor. Arms should be straight.

* Position your shoulders in a straight line from the barbell.

* Keep your body tight. Pause for a moment.

* Explode upward and extend the body. Shrug your shoulders and pull the barbell upward towards you chin, letting the elbows to bend out to the sides. Keep the bar close to your body.

* Pull the body "under" the bar and catch the bar while moving into a squat position. Maintain the squat above parallel as the arms lockout over your head.

* Slowly return to starting position.

The Workout

I have not created a full Olympic lifting program, but instead have used the Olympic lifts as core lifts to design a basic program:

Monday

Power Clean
Bench Press

Tuesday

Push Press
Incline Press
Bent-Over Row
Back Squat

Wednesday

Power Snatch
Push-ups

Choose your rep/set scheme based on your goals. Olympic lifts work best for strength and power.

About the Author

Parth Shah is a Strength and Fitness Consultant specializing in developing practical, sustainable fitness solutions for his clients. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website, http://shahtraining.com/