Introduction
Olympic Weightlifting can be a sport in which athletes compete for the total weight of two lifts: the snatch as well as the clean & jerk. The education methods utilized in Weightlifting will also be utilized by Strength & Conditioning coaches as a way of weight training for a great deal of other sports. One of the primary reasons for exploiting various weight training modalities such is for power development. There are many variations on the party theme of power training. Some of these training modalities include plyometrics (Wilson, Elliot & Wood 1990), assisted and resisted training (Faccioni 1993a; 1993b) and speed and acceleration drills (Cinkovich 1992). A well known method employed to increase athletic power is Olympic Weightlifting (ie power cleans, push presses, snatches, jump jerks in addition to their variations) conducted inside the weight room (Garhammer, 1993). It has traditionally been described as efficient way of manufacturing general explosive ability (Takano 1992; Stone 1993; Garhammer & Gregor 1992). However, there are additional important considerations which require being addressed when implementing Olympic lifting exercises in the Strength & Conditioning program associated with an athlete, a few of these include movement competency, training age, sport and coaching time with athlete. The goal of this short article by Elite Performance Institute (EPI) is to supply a biomechanical and physiological discussion as to why weightlifting training is beneficial to improve athletic performance and just how they must be performed within a training curriculum. For additional information, check out www.epicertification.com
Power Defined
Power continues to be understood to be the optimal mixture of speed and strength to produce movement (Chu 1996). Specifically, power represents the ability of the athlete to produce high degrees of function with confirmed distance. The more power an athlete possesses the larger the degree of work performed (Wilson 1992). Power can be a mixture of strength and speed:
POWER = FORCE (strength) X VELOCITY (speed of motion)
There are many physiological and neural adaptations which comprise the force component (Moritani 1992). Physiological adaptations to strength contain an increase in muscle tissues through hypertrophy, ligament density and bone integrity (Tesch 1992a). Neural adaptations (Schmidtbleicher 1992) that may be produced are: (1) increased recruitment of motor units; (2) increased firing rate of motor neurones; (3) synchronised firing of motor neurones; (4) boost in intra-muscular coordination; and (5) boost in inter-muscular coordination.
Speed of motion is made up of a number of interrelated factors (Ackland & Bloomfield 1995). These are; (1) muscle fibre type; (2) skill; (3) muscle insertion points; (4) lever length; (5) muscular posture; and (6) elastic energy standby time with the series elastic component.
Olympic Weightling exercises facilitate growth and development of the center (Strength-Speed and Speed-Strength) of the force-velocity (FV) curve (see above). The FV curve acts a guide to Strength & Conditioning Certification with regards to the form of strength developed from each exercise, session or phase of coaching inside the program. As a result, the Strength & Conditioning coach can effectively plan which kind of power to merely develop and which training modality (powerlifting, Olympic liftining, plyometrics, etc) is the most suitable utilised to elicit these adaptations.
Conclusion
Concern still exists regarding the ef?cacy of including Olympic weightlifting exercises inside the weight training programs of athletes in sports other than weightlifting. These concerns generally fall under 3 broad categories: 1) Perceived time forced to discover the movements due to complexity of the lifts. 2) An absence of understanding of the opportunity bene?ts that may be produced from performing Olympic lifting exercises correctly. 3) Concern on the possibility of injury as a result of these weightlifting movements.
It can be evident you can find a great number of biomechanical important things about these lifts with limited disadvantages. The biggest risk continues to be of the perceived danger of these lifts. Based on the evidence presented by Brian Hammill of the British Weightlifting Association (BWLA), it can be stated with con?dence how the injury risk can be as low or below most sports so long as there is quali?ed supervision provided by certi?ed Strength and Conditioning coach who have been been trained in coaching the weightlifting movements.
More information about Strength & Conditioning Certification go our new webpage: look at more info