Introduction
Olympic Weightlifting is a sport by which athletes compete for that total weight of two lifts: the snatch as well as the clean & jerk. The education methods employed in Weightlifting may also be utilised by Strength & Conditioning coaches as a way of strength training to get a great deal of other sports. One of the first reasons for exploiting various strength training modalities such is good for power development. There are numerous variations on the theme of power training. A few 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 favorite method accustomed to increase athletic power is Olympic Weightlifting (ie power cleans, push presses, snatches, jump jerks as well as their variations) conducted within the training (Garhammer, 1993). This has traditionally been seen as an effective way of manufacturing general explosive ability (Takano 1992; Stone 1993; Garhammer & Gregor 1992). However, there are additional important considerations that demand being addressed when implementing Olympic lifting exercises in the Strength & Conditioning program of the athlete, some include movement competency, training age, sport and coaching time with athlete. The purpose of this short article by Elite Performance Institute (EPI) is to supply a biomechanical and physiological discussion as to why weightlifting exercises are beneficial to improve athletic performance and exactly how they will be performed inside a training curriculum. For more information, check out www.epicertification.com
Power Defined
Power has been looked as the perfect mixture of speed and strength to produce movement (Chu 1996). Particularly, power represents light beer the athlete to produce high numbers of function with confirmed distance. The greater power a sports athlete possesses the higher the amount of work performed (Wilson 1992). Power is a mixture of strength and speed:
POWER = FORCE (strength) X VELOCITY (speed of movement)
There are numerous physiological and neural adaptations which comprise the force component (Moritani 1992). Physiological adaptations to strength consist of a rise in muscle mass through hypertrophy, ligament density and bone integrity (Tesch 1992a). Neural adaptations (Schmidtbleicher 1992) that could be produced are: (1) increased recruitment of motor units; (2) increased firing rate of motor neurones; (3) synchronised firing of motor neurones; (4) rise in intra-muscular coordination; and (5) rise in inter-muscular coordination.
Speed of movement consists 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 utilisation of the series elastic component.
Olympic Weightling exercises facilitate progression of the guts (Strength-Speed and Speed-Strength) with the force-velocity (FV) curve (see above). The FV curve acts a road map to Strength & Conditioning Certification based on the form of strength developed from each exercise, session or phase to train within the program. Therefore, the Strength & Conditioning coach can effectively plan which kind of power they would like to develop and which training modality (powerlifting, Olympic liftining, plyometrics, etc) is best utilised to elicit these adaptations.
Conclusion
Concern still exists regarding the ef?cacy of including Olympic weightlifting exercises within the strength training programs of athletes in sports other than weightlifting. These concerns generally fall under 3 broad categories: 1) Perceived time forced to learn the movements due to the complexity with the lifts. 2) An absence of idea of the possible bene?ts that could be derived from performing Olympic lifting exercises correctly. 3) Concern over the potential for injury due to practicing these weightlifting movements.
It is evident there is a large number of biomechanical benefits of practicing these lifts with limited disadvantages. The biggest risk has been with the perceived danger of practicing these lifts. On the basis of the data presented by Brian Hammill with the British Weightlifting Association (BWLA), it can be stated with con?dence that the risk of injury can be as low or below most sports providing there exists quali?ed supervision given by certi?ed Strength and Conditioning coach who are trained in coaching the weightlifting movements.
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