In relation to Olympic lifting, it’s about extra than simply the time you spend beneath the bar performing snatches and clear and jerks. You possibly can hone the energy, stability, and approach required for these lifts by means of varied olympic raise options that don’t contain precise Olympic lifts. Integrating these supplementary actions into your routine generally is a game-changer to enhance your efficiency on the platform.
On this information, we’ll dive into a number of important olympic raise options for constructing the energy and confidence wanted to excel in Olympic lifts. You received’t see typical energy actions equivalent to pulls and squats included on this checklist—we’ll save these for an additional time.
As a substitute, you’ll give attention to mastering the actions that concentrate on particular features of your raise, equivalent to stability, positional consciousness, mobility, and explosive energy. Understanding and incorporating these workout routines into your coaching routine can improve your lifting approach, stop accidents, and finally raise heavier weights extra effectively. Let’s discover a number of the greatest olympic raise options to raise your lifting recreation with out performing it themselves.
Snatch Options
Snatch options will enhance overhead energy and stability, mobility in your catch place, and clear up the timing and aggression of your snatch turnover.
Overhead Squat
The Benefit: Mastering the overhead squat is important for efficiently performing a snatch. The overhead squat lays the groundwork for growing the mandatory overhead energy within the snatch grip place. It enhances mobility and stability within the backside place, and total, it’s the best strategy to construct the boldness required to carry heavy weights overhead.
The way it’s Finished:
- Place a barbell at shoulder top on a squat rack or blocks.
- Step beneath the bar, putting it in your traps like a again squat
- Grip the bar along with your snatch grip
- Stand along with your ft shoulder-width aside, toes turned barely out.
- Press or push press the bar overhead.
- Start the motion by pushing your hips again and bending your knees, descending right into a squat. Maintain your chest up and core tight.
- Concentrate on continuously retaining your arms straight, pushing up into the bar, and sustaining full foot stress.
- Push by means of your entire foot to return to a standing place. Maintain the barbell regular overhead.
- Repeat for the specified units and reps.
Programming: 3 to six units of three to five reps
Snatch Grip Push Press
The Benefit: Just like the overhead squat, the snatch grip push press is essential for growing overhead energy, stability, and confidence. One of many standout options of this snatch different is the need for an aggressive punch-to-lockout after finishing your leg drive. This aggressive punch instills the intent of a fast and powerful lockout, which is important for bettering your snatch numbers. By specializing in this explosive lockout, you possibly can higher put together your physique for the calls for of the snatch, enhancing your total lifting efficiency.
The way it’s Finished:
- Place a barbell at shoulder top on a squat rack or blocks.
- Step beneath the bar, putting it in your traps like a again squat
- Grip the bar along with your snatch grip
- Stand along with your ft shoulder-width aside, toes turned barely out.
- Provoke your dip by barely bending at your knees, monitoring over your toes, and sustaining a vertical torso.
- Push your legs by means of the ground to drive the bar up.
- Punch your arms by means of the bar as your legs straighten.
- Maintain for a second at lockout, then decrease the bar with management.
- Repeat for the specified units and reps.
Programming: 3 to five units of three to eight reps.
Muscle Snatch
The Benefit: The muscle snatch refines positions, timing, and acceleration. Ranging from the ground or a cling place, it hones your consciousness of the snatch’s positional necessities and bar path. Key to the muscle snatch is the exact timing of the second pull (knees to full extension) and the third pull (arm motion). This motion calls for a fluid end, combining a stable leg drive with affected person arms that use leg momentum to drag the bar excessive and near your physique (cue: zip your jacket), guaranteeing steadiness and acceleration. Practice with mild weights to excellent positions, timing, and acceleration for improved snatch efficiency.
The way it’s Finished:
- Set your snatch beginning place.
- Push along with your legs towards the ground by means of the entire foot, like a squat.
- Goal to take care of the identical again angle till the bar is above your knees.
- Proceed aggressively pushing towards the ground along with your legs because the bar strikes by means of your hips.
- Prolong your hips, retaining the bar as near your physique as doable and making full contact at your hip crease.
- Push your total physique vertically quite than leaning again.
- Maintain pushing into the ground.
- Pull your elbows up and out to take care of bar pace, shrugging up and again.
- Punch straight up into the bar and push your head by means of your arms.
- Reset and repeat for the specified units and reps.
Programming: 3 to 4 units of two to three reps.
Clear Options
The main focus right here will probably be refining your clear turnover with precision and aggression and cleansing up your catch place within the clear.
Tall Clear
The Benefit: Tall cleans are distinctive for serving to you obtain and really feel vertical extension required on the end of your clear. Furthermore, tall cleans are instrumental in instructing correct mechanics for pulling beneath the bar, emphasizing pace, aggressiveness, and precision in the course of the clear turnover. Concentrate on feeling your elbows punch by means of as your ft contact the ground within the catch place.
The way it’s Finished:
- Grip the bar along with your clear grip, barely wider than shoulder width.
- Steadiness your ft, brace your core, and squeeze your legs.
- Rise to the balls of your ft and pause barely, sustaining your steadiness.
- Pull your elbows up and out to provoke your pull beneath the bar.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades to carry the bar into your entrance rack place.
- Plant your ft firmly to the ground and descend into your squat in a single fluid movement.
- Get up out of the squat, pushing along with your legs.
- Repeat for the specified units and reps.
Muscle Clear
The Benefit: The muscle clear serves twin functions in your weightlifting program. At lighter weights, it teaches and reinforces right higher physique mechanics for perfecting your clear turnover, guaranteeing a clean transition into the entrance rack place with out the bar crashing down. When you’ve mastered the muscle clear from varied cling and flooring positions, growing the burden on the barbell helps strengthen the turnover of your clear, enhancing your total efficiency.
Coach’s Tip: For those who’re new to the muscle clear, begin with a tall muscle clear (arms solely from a standing place) variation to refine your turnover mechanics.
The way it’s Finished:
- Set your clear beginning place.
- Push along with your legs towards the ground by means of the entire foot, like a squat.
- Goal to take care of the identical again angle till the bar is above your knees.
- Proceed aggressively pushing towards the ground along with your legs because the bar strikes by means of your hips.
- Prolong your hips, retaining the bar as near your physique as doable making full contact at your higher thigh.
- Push your total physique vertically quite than leaning again.
- Maintain pushing into the ground.
- Pull your elbows up and out to take care of bar pace, shrugging up and again.
- Carry your elbows round aggressively as you squeeze your shoulder blades.
- Reset and repeat for the specified units and reps.
Programming: 3 to six units of three to five reps.
Energy Clear to Entrance Squat
The Benefit: The ability clear to entrance squat dials in your receiving place for the clear. You could have the right timing, positions, and reinforcement to obtain the bar in correct positions with a robust stance. When you obtain the bar in a perfect energy clear place, larger than knee top, along with your ft in your squat stance, you’ll pause, then instantly descend right into a squat. This train is for you should you are likely to catch your energy cleans with a large foot place!
The way it’s Finished:
- Set your clear beginning place.
- Push along with your legs towards the ground by means of the entire foot, like a squat.
- Goal to take care of the identical again angle till the bar is above your knees.
- Proceed aggressively pushing towards the ground along with your legs because the bar strikes by means of your hips.
- Prolong your hips, retaining the bar as near your physique as doable making full contact at your higher thigh.
- Pull your elbows up and out, squeezing your shoulder blades as you pull beneath the bar.
- Obtain the bar in an influence clear place.
- Pause for one to 2 seconds, staying tight within the catch.
- Descend right into a entrance squat and recuperate.
- Repeat for the specified units and reps.
Programming: 3 to six units of two to three reps.
Jerk Options
These three jerk options will enhance overhead energy, the timing and strategy of your jerk dip and drive, and reinforce your break up jerk positions and overhead stability.
Push Press
The Benefit: I regularly remind my athletes that the push press is a improbable train for honing the dip and drive of the jerk. Incorporating the push press into your routine can refine your jerk approach and improve energy output by utilizing lighter hundreds moved at larger velocities. Moreover, combining push presses with jerks in a fancy can considerably enhance carryover, making your coaching more practical.
The way it’s Finished:
- Place a barbell at shoulder top in a squat rack or off jerk blocks.
- Stand along with your ft hip-width aside, core tight, and again flat.
- Grip the barbell along with your jerk entrance rack place.
- Dip barely with the knees pointed barely out.
- Drive with the legs out of the dip and PUSH the barbell overhead.
- Punch aggressively into the bar and get your head by means of your arms.
- As soon as locked out, slowly decrease the burden again to the beginning place.
- Repeat for desired reps.
Programming: 3 to six units of three to five reps.
Press in Cut up Jerk
The Benefit: The press in break up jerk simplifies your jerk approach, bringing it again to fundamentals. This train entails working from a static jerk place, guaranteeing you begin with an optimum break up stance earlier than including the press. It helps you grasp correct break up positions and steadiness, refining your catch place. When carried out from the entrance rack, it teaches the right bar path, shifting the barbell from the entrance rack to the perfect receiving place barely behind your head. I like to recommend ranging from a behind-the-neck place should you’re new to this motion. This manner, the bar begins within the right place, requiring you to press straight up, simplifying the motion.
The way it’s Finished:
- Place a barbell in your jerk entrance rack place, gripping it barely exterior shoulder width.
- Get into the perfect break up place: guarantee your entrance shin is vertical, your again knee is barely behind your hips, your weight is on the ball of your rear foot, and your break up stance is balanced and diagonal.
- Calm down your again knee, tighten your core, and press the barbell into the overhead place.
- Pause at lockout for two to three seconds, then return to the beginning place.
- Maintain your ft stationary all through the set.
- Repeat for the specified units and reps.
Programming: 3 to 4 reps of three to five reps.
Tall Cut up Jerk
The Benefit: The tall jerk helps set up the aggressive intent of punching beneath the bar and the timing of your ft within the break up jerk. It removes any upward momentum you obtain out of your legs within the conventional break up jerk, inflicting you to depend on a forceful punch beneath the bar as you progress your ft into the perfect break up place.
The way it’s Finished:
- Place the bar in your jerk entrance rack place.
- Steadiness your ft, brace your core, and squeeze your legs.
- Rise to the balls of your ft and pause barely, sustaining your steadiness.
- Punch beneath the bar aggressively whereas shifting your ft into your break up jerk stance.
- Stabilize the bar overhead and guarantee steadiness in your catch place.
- Get better along with your entrance foot first, and convey your again leg beneath your hips.
- Pause, then reset.
- Repeat for the specified units and reps.
Programming: 3 to five units of three reps.