Olympic weightlifters are the most powerful, explosive athletes in the world.

Olympic weightlifting plays an integral role in the training of all our athletes.
No other exercise builds greater power.

Why We Use Weightlifting With Our Athletes

Running, jumping, swinging a bat or a golf club, tackling - they all require power. Power
is a combination of strength and quickness. To be powerful, you have to be strong, and
you have to be able to apply that strength quickly. A strong, slow athlete will not be
effective, and neither will a fast, weak athlete, because they both lack the ability to
produce power.

Olympic weightlifting builds power.

The Olympic lifts use the biggest muscle groups in the body, in a coordinated fashion, to
produce maximum power. No other type of weight training does this.

Even the sport of powerlifting (which uses the bench press, squat, and deadlift) uses
lifts that actually generate relatively little power. Compare the power produced in two
world record lifts by former world champions, powerlifter Doyle Kenady and weightlifter
Alex Pisarenko. Kenady deadlifted 405 kg. at a bodyweight of 140 kg. It took two
seconds for him to lift the weight .40 m off the floor and stand erect. Pisarenko cleaned
265 kg. at a bodyweight of 120 kg. It took him .90 seconds to clean the weight and
stand up. The bar traveled .9 m from the floor. Pisarenko's 265-kg clean generated
21.64 W per kilogram of body mass, and Kenady's 405-kg deadlift produced 5.57 W per
kilogram of body pass. The world-record clean produced nearly four times the power of
the world-record deadlift. The so-called power lifts are actually strength lifts.1

We use the full Olympic lifts and many variations on those lifts with different athletes,
and our athletes become faster, stronger, and more powerful.

Benefits of Olympic Weightlifting

Decades of experience have demonstrated the benefits of weightlifting as part of a

sport-specific training program. Look at successful Olympic athletes; 90 percent of them
use some form of Olympic weightlifting to develop speed, strength, and power for their
sports. Plenty of scientific studies document the benefits of weightlifting. These are just
a few:

• In an 8-week study, one group of lifters did various Olympic lifts (High pulls,
Power Clean, and Clean and Jerk), and another group trained using vertical jump
exercises (Single and Double Leg Hurdles Hops, Alternated Single-leg Hurdle
Hops, etc.). After the 8 weeks of training the weightlifting group had significantly
increased their 10 meter sprint speed and their standing jump over the group
using vertical jump exercises.2
 • A 15-week study compared football players and using a powerlifting program to
players using an Olympic weightlifting program to improve athletic performance.
After the 15-week study was over the Olympic weightlifting group showed a
significant improvement in the vertical jump and 40 meter sprint over the
powerlifting group.3
• A study on bone mineral density (BMD) compared the BMD of elite junior
Olympic weightlifters to a control group of the same age and another control
group of 20-39 year old men. The elite junior Olympic weightlifters had
significantly greater BMD in the lower back and femur than either of the other two
groups.4
• Olympic weightlifting improves overall health. One study had athletes train with
the Olympic lifts for 8 weeks. The athletes decreased resting heart rates by 8
percent; systolic blood pressure decreased by 4 percent; lean body weight
increased by 4 percent; and body fat dropped by 6 percent.5
• Unlike other styles of weight training, Olympic weightlifting develops great
flexibility, balance, coordination, and athleticism. Olympic lifts have been used to
help rehabilitate older injuries in many athletes.

The Lifts

Both the snatch and the clean and jerk involve lifting the weight from the floor to
overhead. There are many variations on each lift, but these are the versions most often
seen in competition today.

The snatch: The athlete grips the bar with a wide grip. In a single, smooth, explosive
movement, the athlete drives his body upward with the leg and back muscles, propelling
the bar upward. As the bar moves up, the athlete drops under the bar into the catch
position, catching the bar with arms locked, and stands up with the weight overhead.

The Clean and Jerk: The clean and jerk is a two-part lift. In the clean, the athlete grips
the bar slightly wider than shoulder width. In a single, smooth, explosive movement, the
athlete drives his body upward with the leg and back muscles, propelling the bar
upward. As the bar moves up, the athlete drops under the bar, catching it at collar bone
level (the rack position), and stands up straight. The jerk portion of the lift starts with the
bar held in the rack position, resting on the collar bone or the shoulders and held loosely
in the fingers. The lifter dips his body slightly and jumps, driving the bar upward, and
pushing himself downward under the bar. The athlete catches the bar with arms locked
overhead, with one foot forward and one foot back. The athlete then brings the feet
together to complete the lift.

Safety

Weightlifting produces far fewer injuries per hour of training than other competitive
sports.6
 Sports Injury Rates (Hamill 1994)
Sport Injuries (per 100 hours)
Soccer (school age) 6.20
UK Rugby 1.92
USA Basketball 0.03
UK Cross Country 0.37
Squash 0.10
US Football 0.10
Badminton 0.05
USA Gymnastics 0.044
USA Powerlifting 0.0027
USA Volleyball 0.0013
USA Tennis 0.001
Weight Training 0.0035 (85,733 hrs)
Weightlifting 0.0017 (168,551 hrs)

Children and Weightlifting

People have many misconceptions about children and strength training. When properly
supervised and instructed, weightlifting is safe, fun, and beneficial for a child's physical
development. For more information, see Position Statement and Literature Review:
Youth Weightlifting.(Kyle C. Pierce, Ronald J. Byrd, Michael H. Stone)
References

1. O'Shea, Patrick. Quantum Strength and Power Training. Patricks Books: Corvallis, OR (1996).
2. Tricoli, V, L Lamas, R Carnevale, and C Ugrinowitsch. "Short-Term Effects on Lower-Body
Functional Power Development: Weightlifting Vs. Vertical Jump Training Programs." 19 (2005):
433-437. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 19 (2005).
3. Hoffman, Jr, J Cooper, M Wendell, and J Kang. "Comparison of Olympic Vs. Traditional Power
Lifting Training Programs in Football Players." 18 (2004): 129-135. Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research 18 (2004).
4. Conroy, Bp, Wj Kraemer, Cm Maresh, Sj Fleck, Mh Stone, Ac Fry, Pd Miller, and Gp Dalsky.
"Bone Mineral Density in Elite Junior Olympic Weightlifters." (1993): 1103-1109. Medicine and
Science in Sports and Exercise 25 (1993).
5. Stone, M.H., et al. Cardiovascular Responses to Short-Term Olympic Style Weight-Training in
Young Men. Can. J. Appl. Sport Sci. 8(3): 134-9.
6. 6 Hamill, B. (1994). Relative safety of weightlifting and weight training. Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research. 8(1), 53-57.
Stone, M.H. (1990) Muscle conditioning and muscle injuries Medicine & science in sport &
Exercise 22(4) 457-462
Stone M.H., A.C. Fry, M. Ritchie, L. Stoessel Ross and J.L. Marsit, J.L. (1994). Injury potential
and safety aspects of weightlifting movements. Strength and Conditioning, 16, 15 24.