In search of the Big O

I had never seen anything like it, with a powerful thrust of her legs she seemed to explode, her movements quick as a viper yet graceful and feminine. Everytime she repeated this physical dance, one couldnt help but marvel at the interplay of power, and precision. The deep bellied screams acted as an alarm from an alluring dream state, where the subtle movements of her body would imprison me.

 The seemingly titillating scene I am describing isnt a torrid excert from a steamy romance novel, but rather the thoughts of a man observing a womans alpine skier train in her off season. I sat, waiting for my turn in our three "person" rotation for plaform and could'nt help but notice just how muscular and lean she was. Her physique was impressive, but the real "kicker" was the fact that she was hoisting almost as much weight as the guys in the gym.

This girl was powerful, and it's for this very reason that serious strength coaches have been advocating the proper use of the Olympic lifts for years.

Once considered the "Black sheep" of the general north American fitness culture, the O-lifts have started to become a little more mainstream through the writings of coachs like Dan John and Christian Thibadeau. Other popular sects of the community have taken the lifts one step further and used them in a somewhat reckless way to sell general fitness, this is where the debate begins.

The issue lays in the fact that some coaches feel the technical aspects of the lift and the propensity for injury if performed incorrectly are too important to overlook when programming for the general public. While advocates for Olympic lifting for fitness disregard these claims as doting over-caution.

The argument that the lifts are very technical and take years to master is a valid one. Top level lifters train years to perfect the subtle nuances needed to perform the O-lifts at a high level. Secondly without adequate strength, power and flexibility the lifts can take on a bastardized form of their own that can quickly lead to injury.

On the other hand, the lifts are the damn near perfect movements one should consider if strength, muscularity, flexibilty and body comp are the goal. All of the lifts are compounf movements requiring a number of muscles to perform. Secondly the lifts are very demanding on the nervous system, leading to huge power gains, the thrid benefit of the Olympic lifts are its influence on flexibilty. Squats performed Olympic style generally take the lifter ass to grass, couple that with the overhead position which is damn near impossible without adequate mobility of the thoracic spine and we have a Powerlifters nightmare. Lastly the O-lifts burn more calories per hour than almost all other strength training protocols.

Now that we know the pros and cons of the lifts the question is how can we use them without exposing ourselves to the inherent dangers that they may present?

The answer: Perform subtle variations for the general public, and stay with what works for athletes and O-lifters.
Below are some variations to popular lifts that will still retain the same benefit for the everyday lifter.

The Deadlift: variation Rack pull

The Deadlift traditionally begins with a bent knee pull from the floor, finishing when the lifter has stood up completly erect. Where the rack pull  differs is in the starting position. To perfrom this movement set the pins of the rack at mid shin height, position yourself as you would a typical Deadlift and pull to completion. The beauty of this variation is that it still allows one to train the posterior chain (back, glutes and hamstrings ) while compensating for the lifters mobility. As you get stronger and more mobile lower the placement of the pins until you can perform a full Deadlift from the floor while maintaining a neutral back position.

 High bar back squat variation Heel wedged High bar back squat

The High bar back squat is a variation on the typical squat that you see for a few reasons. Firstly the highbar placement requires that the lifters elbows face directly down into the ground helping him maintain an erect spine throughout the movement. Secondly instead of sitting back and bending at the waist like the powerlifter squat the High bar back squat requires that you initiate the movement by bending the knees. Lastly the high bar back squat forces the lifter to squat deeply to the ground so that the calfs and ankles come together, whereas other variations will have the lifter squat to parrallel. The benefits of deep squating are more glute and VMO activation, and increased mobility around the hips, making it an excellent movement if there are no mobility issues.

For those of us who are tighter in the hips and ankles the High barback squat perform with a heel wedge of slant board will make more sense. The addition of either one of these implements will aid you in squatting deeper into the hole. The major concern when performming a heeled squat is the increased tension on the knee, to alleviate this maintian a tight knee in the bottom of the knee, not allowing the joint to relax. As your mobility around the joints get better return to squatting without a wedged heel.

Hang Clean variation High Pull

The number one complaint that begginers have when performing the power clean is the unability to rack the weight on the shoulders on the catch. This problem generally stems from tightness throughout the chest, lats or forearms, unless you have an ART on staff or are able to perform some aggressive stretching during sets, this issue may put a damper on your days training.

The option best suited for such a  situation is to eliminate that part of the lift altogether. Perfrom the same set, up same start, same pull but NO CATCH. you still get a similar bang for your buck in the nervous system and get to train the posterior chain, without worry about the final aspect of the lift.

Power clean variatian Deadlift to Hang Clean

Now before I get hate mail, I know these are two very disticnt lifts and the transfer to the CNS will not be the same, but for a beginner who lacks physical compentence to perform the Power  variation well, it makes sense to break the movements down and work on the technical cues, once they have been performed adequatly then move to a complete Power clean.

Front Squat variation Strap Front Squats

As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest issues with racking the barbell on the shoulders when performing the Olympic lifts is tightness around the chest, lats and forearms. One technique that has been used with great success to overcome this is to use a pair of lifting straps wrapped around the bar and held in the lifters hands, this takes pressure off the wrists of the lifter and allows them to perform a proper front squat without worrying about dumping the bar forward.

 These are just a few variations that can be added to your beginner Olypic Weightlifting program. Once the technique and mobilty is in place feel free to advance to the complete movements. Enjoy your lift.