T Nation

Flexibility Issues

Olympic Lifting
#1

I can not OH squat or snatch due to what I believe is a shoulder flexibility issue. As soon as I go down about a quarter of the way on an OHS my form falls apart and I lose balance.

I also am having problems catching cleans in the rack position due to wrist flexibility issues. I can still power clean, but I can not due squat cleans because I can not get into position to catch the lift.

I do Olympic Squats ATG, but not doing Front squats for the past 5 weeks has further reduced my flexibility when going ATG on FSquats.

What can I do to fix these issues? I’ve started to do lower body flexibility work in case some of the problems stem from that, but I know I also need to improve wrist and shoulder flexibility as well.

#2

Where are you located in TX?? I know some really good coaches there.

#3

San Antonio during the summer Abilene during the winter.

Another issue I’ve noticed is that I have a tendency to fall back in the bottom of ATG squats and this is causing some rounding in order to stay balanced. I think this is due to a lack of forward ankle mobility.

My knees end up behind my feet slightly because of either tightness in my calves or ankles.

This is correct position right?

#4

Start from the very beginning.

#5

[quote]amayakyrol wrote:
This is correct position right?

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4uiz2QlZ81qdcvmc.jpg [/quote]
Well, actually, for that particular athlete in the image, I could probably think of . . .

Naw, too easy.

#6

If you want to get flexible in your whole body you need to stretch properly.

For shoulders get a broomstick or lightweight aluminium bar, roll your shoulders and arms backwards and forwards. Simply build up to rolling the bar with both hands, squeezing the bar apart and go from front to back.

Wrist mobility requires you to go through painful phases but wrist wraps help.