There’s a debate in the sport performance training world. This is the argument on whether or not the benefits are worth it for athletes to incorporate Olympic style lifts, like the clean, jerk and snatch into their training program.
The argument against Olympic lifts for athletes is that the benefit derived from Olympic lifts is not worth the effort it takes to properly execute them, and similar results can be achieved with other exercises.
But I’m going to be giving you three reason why all athletes SHOULD incorporate Olympic lifts into their training program.
Increased Coordination & Motor Control
Now when it comes to power development, the argument can be made that performing trap bar jumps will deliver more power output then, say, a power clean.
But here’s what Olympic style lifts need for success that exercises like trap bar jumps don’t necessarily need: Coordination. Great coordination and timing are some of the most useful attributes an athlete can have.
When we perform a heavy power clean, every part of the movement needs to be done at just the right time, from the first pull, to hip extension to the dip and catch.
The ability to perform heavy Olympic lifts will make athletes faster and more reactive in-game, and we’re still massively improving our power output.
Improvements in Mobility
The added benefit of regularly performing Olympic lifts like the clean and the snatch is that it’ll greatly improve our flexibility.
This is because a wide range of motion of multiple joints is needed to successfully complete these movements.
Let’s look at the snatch for example.
To drive the bar from off the ground to overhead and then catching it in a deep squat is pushing the range of motion of your shoulders, your hips, your ankles and much more, and then training you to be more stable in those ranges of motion.
This is different than what we’re typically taught right? We’re usually told that we need to be doing all this stretching to improve our flexibility.
But what if I told you that weightlifting will do more to improve your flexibility than stretching ever will?
They'll Make You a Better Athlete
The ability to complete a heavy snatch or clean sharpens so many traits that make a great athlete in almost any sport.
When we perform a heavy clean or snatch, we’re working on recruiting a bunch of muscle groups to produce force very quickly, we’re working on absorbing all that force and decelerating,
We’re greatly improving the mobility of all our joints and then developing explosiveness in those ranges of motion. We’re improving our ability to control our trunk in a dynamic fashion.
And again, as I mentioned earlier, we’re drastically improving our coordination and timing. That’s 5 qualities we just trained with one movement.
That sounds pretty efficient to me.
If you want to watch our full-length video on this subject, click here
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