Getting out of the hole, part 2

Previously we discussed why monster squat strength alone will not guarantee successfully rising from a clean.  What is the secret?  My humble opinion is that a mixture of training for maximal strength and specific strength is the key, to building enough “usable” strength to rise from a clean.  We will talk about the technique component in another post.  Let’s face it, when the average athlete does a maximal back squat set, whether it is a set of 5 or a single, there is usually nothing specific about the positions and speed of the movement.  Very little is in common with either the competitive lifts in weightlifting or with any other athletic endeavor.  This does not mean that there is no value to this,

Getting out of the hole, Part 1.

Coming out of the hole with a max clean is a mixture of strength and skill. One without the other just won’t cut it. Most have heard of Aslanbek Yenaldiev getting pinned in the bottom of the clean at the 1979 Soviet Spartakaide with 240kg after squatting 455kg in preparation for the meet. Kolecki on the other hand

Strength and Weightlifting

Even disregarding the “internet experts” who are usually individuals either not involved in weightlifting or only pheripherally involved still leaves some disagreement among actual coaches as to the relationship between the strength exercises and the competitive lifts.

One of the concepts that I have heard that I disagree with is the idea of “reserve strength”. I have heard respected people pose the rhetorical question “what is wrong with pushing the squat and pull up to the point that the athlete has a little bit of reserve strength?”.

Strength and the OTC

A popular question in certain circles is “what is wrong with the training of American weightlifters”, the assumption being that at least some of the blame for us not doing well on the international level falls on stupid American coaches who just dont get it.

In quite a few internet forums there is now a common theme, that American weightlifters arent strong enough and stupid American coaches dont work hard enough on improving maximal strength.

The training weight

Most weightlifting programs rely at least partially on percentages to determine the weights used in training on various days. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but I believe that for many athletes, especially those at the level of novice or advanced, percentages should not be the last word in choosing the weight to train with.