Integrating Weightlifting
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 3:18 am
Weightlifting and the idea of putting substantial weight overhead has been somewhat of a goal of mine since I started training, and a few weeks back I finally found a weightlifter here in Singapore to learn from. The experience has been nothing short of exhilarating.
I’ve only just currently finished the snatch, but I wanted to share some insights, and can hopefully contribute something different to the forums.
Learn weightlifting if you want to accelerate and put something heavy over head very quickly.
No, I’ll say that’s a disservice to what weightlifting is. Apart from the obvious demands on power generation, agility, grace etc… what is rarely talked about is the kinesiological demands and benefits of weightlifting.
You must be innately aware of where your barbell is, where each part of your body is, and how you’re moving it. Then you'll be to innately aware of where the barbell and your body will be. Without thinking about where you or the barbell will be at all times.
Simply learning the 1st and 2nd pull gave me massive insight into what it really means. Suddenly; the squat is no longer a dive and stand, nor is the deadlift a grip and rip. I’m aware of where and how I’m moving the barbell, and after a few practice sessions, I learnt automatically adjust and compensate my body movement for the most efficient power transmission.
I was working my 60% 1RM just to grease the groove while I’m finishing my lessons, and despite ignoring my max strength work for the past 4 weeks, I’ve never felt that 60% to be as light as it is now.
This is in addition to changing my form from a low bar to a high bar squat.
We’re looking for strength, not power generation
Yes; but remember that power = force X rate of acceleration. Power is effectively an expression of your strength. Are you able to put all the strength to generate power.
What good is being strong, if you aren’t able to express a significant portion of that strength as power.
Basic movements are enough for me
That is true, until you undergo the different stages of the pull. I can now do a decent number of pull-ups. I can deadlift around 2x BW but that didn’t mean zilch when I tried to string my first and second pull together.
A working set of 120kg deadlifts didn’t mean anything when I tried to bring an empty barbell - a measly 20kgs, from the floor to chest height. At that moment, I felt like Dan John was looking at me and laughing “looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane”.
I get all my work from the big and basic lifts
When I made my first snatch on an empty barbell, I felt soreness in all so many different parts of my body that I didn’t know weren’t getting hit during my lifts.
Places that were hit bad were parts of my quads I had never really hit with my squats, calves, glutes, lower and upper back, shoulders, and stomach. Places that I thought were hit by doing the deadlifts, squats, pull-ups.
A nice side-effect, my coach advised that by practicing the first and second, I can replace a portion of my deadlift work. The first, second and high pulls are effectively a more complex deadlift.
Despite the demands of weightlifting, I've not felt any joint pain so far. However; I am pretty flexible and mobile, so YMMV.
The risk-reward factor is too high, I’ll stick to BW pylo, kettlebell etc work
I used to think the same thing too, taking Pavel’s word as the reason for why KB work is sufficient for explosiveness.
Not even close.
The level of power (force X rate of acceleration) generation in a snatch is far more demanding than in a KB swing or snatch. A difference I notice is that in the KB swing and snatch, you violently explode the weight, then control the eccentric and concentric phases. You’d need to control your body into full extension, then let the KB drop, but re-exert tension at the bottom of the swing / snatch.
In contrast, the Oly lifts require precise control WHILE you violently explode the weight off the floor. You may go all out, but you still have to practice control over that power generation to maintain control over the bar at all times.
You can’t simply explode the bar as high as you can and then find a way to receive the bar. The over-riding idea is to explode the bar as high as you need it, and to move your body into a position that allows you to completely tense your body the very moment you receive the bar. The idea is that if you need exactly 60kg of force to do the snatch, you express exactly 60kg, irrespective of how much your 1RM snatch is - not more force, not less force. Exactly 60kgs.
I think a simplistic way to describe this is a street racing drag car vs a F1 car.
The drag car explodes out of the starting line to get past the quarter mile mark as soon as he can, and he only needs to exert enough control to keep the car in a straight line and from flipping.
The F1 car needs to explode out of the starting line, but it still needs to maintain precision control over its speed throughout the race.
I’m not looking to snatch / clean & jerk heavy
You don’t have to. Learn it as something else to work on, you don’t have to aim for a max weight at all. Just work with heavy weights.
I’m plenty confident about myself, brah.
So I thought until I was told to string together all my pulls, get under the bar, and lockout. For the first time since I started lifting, I actually got cold sweats. This was with an empty bar too.
Clear your mind, focus on the lift
This is one common piece of advice a lot of powerlifters talk about when facing down a 1RM - clear your mind and focus only on the lift. I’ve experienced it too... or so I thought, until I got told to snatch a 20kg bar overhead.
The level of focus that was forced onto me just before and during the snatch was nothing I’ve ever experienced during my 1RM tests. The reason is simple. In the BS / DL / BP / OHP, you know you’re controlling every inch of the lift, through its grind. You know you can adjust your form or dump the bar.
In contrast, during a snatch, you have micro-seconds between the time the bar is on the floor, to the time it is overhead, there’s little room for error. That sense of focus is forced on you, to tune everything else out other than the lift. The bar doesn’t exist. You’re not there. There’s only the lift. Yoda’s wisdom “do or do not, there is no try” never rings truer than that moment just before you grab the bar until the moment you drop it.
I hope that helps, and at least gives someone else the little spark to consider trying Oly lifting and integrating it into TB.
I’ve only just currently finished the snatch, but I wanted to share some insights, and can hopefully contribute something different to the forums.
Learn weightlifting if you want to accelerate and put something heavy over head very quickly.
No, I’ll say that’s a disservice to what weightlifting is. Apart from the obvious demands on power generation, agility, grace etc… what is rarely talked about is the kinesiological demands and benefits of weightlifting.
You must be innately aware of where your barbell is, where each part of your body is, and how you’re moving it. Then you'll be to innately aware of where the barbell and your body will be. Without thinking about where you or the barbell will be at all times.
Simply learning the 1st and 2nd pull gave me massive insight into what it really means. Suddenly; the squat is no longer a dive and stand, nor is the deadlift a grip and rip. I’m aware of where and how I’m moving the barbell, and after a few practice sessions, I learnt automatically adjust and compensate my body movement for the most efficient power transmission.
I was working my 60% 1RM just to grease the groove while I’m finishing my lessons, and despite ignoring my max strength work for the past 4 weeks, I’ve never felt that 60% to be as light as it is now.
This is in addition to changing my form from a low bar to a high bar squat.
We’re looking for strength, not power generation
Yes; but remember that power = force X rate of acceleration. Power is effectively an expression of your strength. Are you able to put all the strength to generate power.
What good is being strong, if you aren’t able to express a significant portion of that strength as power.
Basic movements are enough for me
That is true, until you undergo the different stages of the pull. I can now do a decent number of pull-ups. I can deadlift around 2x BW but that didn’t mean zilch when I tried to string my first and second pull together.
A working set of 120kg deadlifts didn’t mean anything when I tried to bring an empty barbell - a measly 20kgs, from the floor to chest height. At that moment, I felt like Dan John was looking at me and laughing “looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane”.
I get all my work from the big and basic lifts
When I made my first snatch on an empty barbell, I felt soreness in all so many different parts of my body that I didn’t know weren’t getting hit during my lifts.
Places that were hit bad were parts of my quads I had never really hit with my squats, calves, glutes, lower and upper back, shoulders, and stomach. Places that I thought were hit by doing the deadlifts, squats, pull-ups.
A nice side-effect, my coach advised that by practicing the first and second, I can replace a portion of my deadlift work. The first, second and high pulls are effectively a more complex deadlift.
Despite the demands of weightlifting, I've not felt any joint pain so far. However; I am pretty flexible and mobile, so YMMV.
The risk-reward factor is too high, I’ll stick to BW pylo, kettlebell etc work
I used to think the same thing too, taking Pavel’s word as the reason for why KB work is sufficient for explosiveness.
Not even close.
The level of power (force X rate of acceleration) generation in a snatch is far more demanding than in a KB swing or snatch. A difference I notice is that in the KB swing and snatch, you violently explode the weight, then control the eccentric and concentric phases. You’d need to control your body into full extension, then let the KB drop, but re-exert tension at the bottom of the swing / snatch.
In contrast, the Oly lifts require precise control WHILE you violently explode the weight off the floor. You may go all out, but you still have to practice control over that power generation to maintain control over the bar at all times.
You can’t simply explode the bar as high as you can and then find a way to receive the bar. The over-riding idea is to explode the bar as high as you need it, and to move your body into a position that allows you to completely tense your body the very moment you receive the bar. The idea is that if you need exactly 60kg of force to do the snatch, you express exactly 60kg, irrespective of how much your 1RM snatch is - not more force, not less force. Exactly 60kgs.
I think a simplistic way to describe this is a street racing drag car vs a F1 car.
The drag car explodes out of the starting line to get past the quarter mile mark as soon as he can, and he only needs to exert enough control to keep the car in a straight line and from flipping.
The F1 car needs to explode out of the starting line, but it still needs to maintain precision control over its speed throughout the race.
I’m not looking to snatch / clean & jerk heavy
You don’t have to. Learn it as something else to work on, you don’t have to aim for a max weight at all. Just work with heavy weights.
I’m plenty confident about myself, brah.
So I thought until I was told to string together all my pulls, get under the bar, and lockout. For the first time since I started lifting, I actually got cold sweats. This was with an empty bar too.
Clear your mind, focus on the lift
This is one common piece of advice a lot of powerlifters talk about when facing down a 1RM - clear your mind and focus only on the lift. I’ve experienced it too... or so I thought, until I got told to snatch a 20kg bar overhead.
The level of focus that was forced onto me just before and during the snatch was nothing I’ve ever experienced during my 1RM tests. The reason is simple. In the BS / DL / BP / OHP, you know you’re controlling every inch of the lift, through its grind. You know you can adjust your form or dump the bar.
In contrast, during a snatch, you have micro-seconds between the time the bar is on the floor, to the time it is overhead, there’s little room for error. That sense of focus is forced on you, to tune everything else out other than the lift. The bar doesn’t exist. You’re not there. There’s only the lift. Yoda’s wisdom “do or do not, there is no try” never rings truer than that moment just before you grab the bar until the moment you drop it.
I hope that helps, and at least gives someone else the little spark to consider trying Oly lifting and integrating it into TB.
i got the same experience nearly 10 years ago when I was younger and I wish I had continued to pursue weightlifting as a side sport. 