Why Everyone Should Incorporate Olympic Lifts Into Their Workout

Throughout the past couple years there has been a transition in the weight room from traditional bodybuilding exercises such as the bicep curl, leg extensions, and the lat pulldown to the more non-traditional Olympic lifts. The Olympic lifts consist of variations of cleans, snatches, and jerks (pressing the weight above your head). The benefits of Olympic-style weightlifting are being discovered by more and more coaches, athletes, and the general population.2 That is why I believe that everyone should incorporate Olympic lifting into their workout regimen. Here are a few reasons why everyone should consider Olympic lifts:

       Increases power:  The Olympic lifts are particularly effective for this purpose. While squats and deadlifts are key exercises that are rightly emphasized in most elite strength and conditioning programs, the power outputs of the Olympic lifts are significantly higher than those exercises.3

        Improves body composition: The Olympic lifts have become key exercises in many boot camp programs, largely because these lifts are especially effective for helping trainees lose fat and build muscle. In an 8 week Olympic weightlifting program study, participants lowered their resting heart rate by 8%, lean body weight increased by 4%, fat dropped 6%, and systolic blood pressure decreased by 4%.3

        Improves flexibility: The Olympic lifts not only require exceptional dynamic and static flexibility, they also develop these qualities. In fact, many personal training and physical therapy screening programs use one component of the snatch, the overhead squat to assess dynamic and static flexibility.3

        Uses the whole body: One of the first areas most novices to Olympic lifting discover is the whole chain of muscles.Shirts begin to fit funny as the muscles of the upper back grow to accommodate the pulling movements. What muscles do the Olympic Lifts build? All of them.1

These are only a few reasons why someone should incorporate Olympic lifts into their workout regimen. Before you start doing these lifts there are a few things that you should know. The Olympic lifts: the snatch and clean are very technical lifts and should be taught by someone who has mastered the lift themselves . If you decide to start using Olympic lifts here are some words of wisdom to go by, “quality over quantity.”

Olympic Lifting for Beginners Link

http://daily.barbellshrugged.com/easy-way-teach-beginners-clean-w-christmas-abbott-techniquewod/

Example of a Snatch

http://tinyurl.com/qzzog5f

http://tinyurl.com/qzzog5f

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http://tinyurl.com/qzzog5f

http://tinyurl.com/qzzog5f

1. John, D. (2014, March 31). Bodybuilding.com - Four Reasons To Olympic Lift! Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/olympiclift.htm
2. Smith, C. (2015, March 9). Bodybuilding.com - Learn The Olympic Lifts: Snatch And Clean And Jerk Progression Lifts. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/learn-olympic-lifts-snatch-and-clean-and-jerk-progression-lifts.html
3. 3. Top Five Benefits of Olympic Weightlifting. (2014, September 29). Retrieved March 23, 2015, from http://www.poliquingroup.com/Tips/tabid/130/EntryId/2295/Top-Five-Benefits-of-Olympic-Weightlifing.aspx