T Nation

Olympic Lift Carryover to Powerlifting

#1

Hello Coach,

Although my big 3 numbers are low currently, I love power lifting and would like to compete in the next year or two. That being said I have been dying to learn the olympic lifts for some time now, especially the clean and jerk and all its variations.

Do you think If i learn the olympic lifts and implement them into my current programming, that it will make a significant difference in my big 3 total? What I’m thinking is the explosive power I will build will make me stronger off the floor in my deadlifts, etc. But I am wondering if it would be much more optimal to just stick to the big 3 and its variations + isolation assistance (what I am currently doing).

Thanks for your time and the information you provide

#2

I’d like to tell you that the Olympic lifts will help your big 3, but in reality they wont. They wont hurt, but they wont help either.

Thinking that the clean will help your deadlift get stronger off of the floor shows a bad comprehension of how a clean is done. A proper clean is NOT done explosively from the floor. That is bad technique.

In a proper clean the 1st pull (from floor to above knees) is done under control, sometimes even slowly. The acceleration/explosiveness occurs much higher, at about the upper 3rd of the quads in the clean and at the hips in the snatch.

If the clean strengthen anything in the pull it is thus the finish of the lift. But even then, not that much since the weights will be low relative to your deadlift numbers.

#3

Thanks CT! appreciate the response.