Incorporating Olympic Lifts?

Hey y’all

I’m looking to start doing some olympic lifting. I’ve done power cleans, but honestly that’s about it. My trainings always been more powerlifting geared (5-3-1). Not sure if I’m ready to dive full in to olympic lifting, but I’d like to at least learn how to incorporate some clean and jerks, and snatches.

So, my question is, where do I start? Form seems to be crucial for Olympic lifts, so without hiring an actual coach (poor 18 year old), what links and videos have you guys personally found to be useful to your training? Any tips for incorporating the lifts, or odd little technique queues that you found really helped?

Thanks y’all. This is foreign territory for me, appreciate getting advice from some more knowledgeable people

Youtube. Read a lot. Get Tommy Kono’s books, they’re my favorite technique books. Watch the Cal Strength How to videos on Youtube. Ask around. Join wl forum.

[quote]adambiethman wrote:
Hey y’all

I’m looking to start doing some olympic lifting. I’ve done power cleans, but honestly that’s about it. My trainings always been more powerlifting geared (5-3-1). Not sure if I’m ready to dive full in to olympic lifting, but I’d like to at least learn how to incorporate some clean and jerks, and snatches.

So, my question is, where do I start? Form seems to be crucial for Olympic lifts, so without hiring an actual coach (poor 18 year old), what links and videos have you guys personally found to be useful to your training? Any tips for incorporating the lifts, or odd little technique queues that you found really helped?

Thanks y’all. This is foreign territory for me, appreciate getting advice from some more knowledgeable people [/quote]

I’m learning the clean and snatch myself. I start every session with a 5x5 warm-up of clean or snatch (alternating each day).

I also have a day dedicated to the cleans and snatch that looks something like this:

Warm-up 5x5
Ramp to 3RM (I’ve been pretty conservative so far)
6-8x3 @ 75% of Ramp
Pulls 8x2

I still do 4 other days of more strength related work (I follow the juggernaut method).

Just some thoughts.

I’m a big fan of the “how to” videos here (I think there are 3 for how to clean and 3 for snatch):
YouTube: CaliforniaStrength

and these videos as well:
YouTube: CatalystAthletics

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

How long have you been learning the lifts? I wouldn’t recommend that kind of routine for anyone other than an advanced intermediate. Not enough work on ingraining positions. And the 3rm can get dicey.

[quote]nkklllll wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
Clean, Part 1, How To, Olympic Weightlifting - YouTube [/quote]

How long have you been learning the lifts? I wouldn’t recommend that kind of routine for anyone other than an advanced intermediate. Not enough work on ingraining positions. And the 3rm can get dicey.[/quote]

I’ve dabbled off and on for a few years. Just started the routine recently. I’m not really interested in competing or anything like that. I just want to incorporate the Oly lifts into my regimen. My 3RM is probably more like a true 5RM or 8RM. I keep it pretty light to avoid misses and ensure good technique.

I was just throwing some thoughts out there.

If you can get through a power clean, you’re on the right track.

Spend some time working the push press into your training. Just an overhead press, started out with a little leg drive. After a month or two of the push press, your body will start to figure out how to drop the hips to get under your push presses. From here, learning the jerk will come more naturally than jumping right into it.

Try some 1 Arm Dumbbell Snatches. Let the dumbbell hang between your legs, brace your other hand on your thigh, then kinda “jump” and shrug/fling the dumbbell up over your head while dropping your hips underneath to catch. Work the 1 hand snatch until you kinda figure out how to do it smoothly, then try with a barbell.

Practice the romanian deadlift. Use a snatch width grip. Push the hips back, push the knees back, drive the heels into the floor and really feel those hamstrings. The bar doesn’t have to go much below your kneecaps. The key is to get your knees back, and really load up those hamstrings. The fist pull in the Oly lifts isn’t like a fast deadlift. It feels different. The romanian deadlift can help you get a feel for the difference.

Also, if you’re already doing power cleans be sure to do some cleans from the hang position too. They will help you get that POP for your second pull.

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

Thanks for the video! Wow, it’s pretty impressive to watch what those guys can do. Appreciate it a lot! Think I may start doing some cleans before deadlifts, then add a dedicated day for the lifts themselves. That sound like enough to start out?

[quote]FlatsFarmer wrote:
If you can get through a power clean, you’re on the right track.

Spend some time working the push press into your training. Just an overhead press, started out with a little leg drive. After a month or two of the push press, your body will start to figure out how to drop the hips to get under your push presses. From here, learning the jerk will come more naturally than jumping right into it.

Try some 1 Arm Dumbbell Snatches. Let the dumbbell hang between your legs, brace your other hand on your thigh, then kinda “jump” and shrug/fling the dumbbell up over your head while dropping your hips underneath to catch. Work the 1 hand snatch until you kinda figure out how to do it smoothly, then try with a barbell.

Practice the romanian deadlift. Use a snatch width grip. Push the hips back, push the knees back, drive the heels into the floor and really feel those hamstrings. The bar doesn’t have to go much below your kneecaps. The key is to get your knees back, and really load up those hamstrings. The fist pull in the Oly lifts isn’t like a fast deadlift. It feels different. The romanian deadlift can help you get a feel for the difference.

Also, if you’re already doing power cleans be sure to do some cleans from the hang position too. They will help you get that POP for your second pull. [/quote]

Thanks for the advice. Tried a couple dumbell snatches today. Loved the movement, although I ended up standing straight up. Should I be “catching” the dumbell in a squat position? Worked up to a couple sets of 3 with 80lb dumbells

I’m glad you liked it!

It’s totally up to you whether you want to dip a little to “catch” the snatch, or go all the way down into the full squat. Just as long as you get the hips moving up on the triple extension, then down as you get under to catch the dumbbell you’ll be OK.

Personally, I’m not a competitive Olympic lifter. Power cleans are great for Strongman training, I think the quick lifts are fun, and I want big traps. I just dip a little. Usually I do cleans and snatches from the hang, or the “power” version of the lifts, without full squats.

I think it’s kinda silly to see all these crossfit people, with their socks pulled up super high, doing power snatches with 65pounds, then after catching the bar overhead, dropping into an overhead squat and calling it a full snatch.

The whole idea of the squat snatch is that your lifting so much weight you HAVE to squat under to get it overhead. Not to just add an overhead squat for extra work.

I’m not going to get to the Olympics with this approach, but I’ve enjoyed adding the quick lifts to my workouts over the years.