Any Olympic Lifters here?

I'm starting olympic weightlifting this fall at college - anyone recommend any resources ala. Starting Strength, but for the fast lifts?

I've got Rippetoe's Practical Programming, which briefly touches on some programming elements, but I'm looking for some more in-depth info.

Anyone got a recommendation for a barbell and bumper plates available for purchase in the UK? I don't want to get a crappy bar that ends up bending after 6 months :|

Originally Posted by Contingency Plan

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I'm starting olympic weightlifting this fall at college - anyone recommend any resources ala. Starting Strength, but for the fast lifts?

I've got Rippetoe's Practical Programming, which briefly touches on some programming elements, but I'm looking for some more in-depth info.

Anyone got a recommendation for a barbell and bumper plates available for purchase in the UK? I don't want to get a crappy bar that ends up bending after 6 months :|

I am an Olympic lifter in the 207 weight class right now... I currently compete in Ontario and the Northern US... I'm not great but I get the job done.

I would suggest you find yourself a decent program like 5/3/1 and work with it, incorporating olympic lifting into it however you like. Don't focus all your time working the olympic lifts and ignore your back squat, deadlift and bench press, but at the same time, work hard and focus on your front squats, snatches, C&J, C&P, and push press.

Try to work your olympic lifts at least four times a week... two heavy, one dynamic, and one light. But really it would be best if you found an olympic coach. Get yourself a pair of olympic lifting shoes and chalk and don't forget to eat.

Good luck

^ Thanks a lot for the advice; I've already got myself a coach who trains some of the current British national lifters

Originally Posted by Contingency Plan

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^ Thanks a lot for the advice; I've already got myself a coach who trains some of the current British national lifters

Most strength coaches are idiots, but olympic coaches are normally extremely talented. Listen to all he says and get the right gear, be consistent, and you'll be goldeeeeen.

^yeaaaaa budd... oh, wrong sport

It's too bad I never had an interest in weightlifting and especially Oly stuff in college. For me, Oly lifting is the most enjoyable strength training and I love the explosiveness involved. Seeing the bar go from the ground to above your head in one motion is a great feeling and the ultimate ROM exercise.

If you don't have training already in Oly lifts then maybe you will want to wait until you have access to a coach before learning the full snatch and clean. In the meantime it's a good idea to do the regular compound movements (deads, squats, bench, ohp). There are also other exercises that are less technically difficult than Oly movements that you could do like shrugs and high pulls. You might even want to do some hang cleans if you feel confident. Oly lifts are really technical so you don't want to learn bad form and have to unlearn it later. Start slow and get a feel for it. I'm still in the process.

Here's a decent resource
http://www.davedraper.com/pmwiki/pmw...OlympicLifting

Tom Gorman's site was pretty helpful but for some reason it's down

g'luck

Dan John's book "From the Ground Up!" is free and available here. I have found it to be a useful resource on how to best put heavy things overhead.

I O-lift in my garage. I built a platform and bought bumper plates and have my own gym 7 months a year (have to shut it down in the winter). I started out being self-taught, but eventually found a coach who refined my technique. I found the C&J very easy to learn, but the snatch was much tougher for me. My left shoulder isn't super flexible, so I eventually switched to a split snatch, rather than a squat snatch.
I don't compete, I just do it for fitness purposes. I started off O-lifting because of Crossfit. More people should O-lift, it's good stuff.

I incorporate o-lifts regularly into my training; it's great for improving explosiveness and power. Good job on getting a coach, you've made the first and probably most important step. The best resource that I know of is Gregg Everett's book "Olympic Weightlifting" is often likened to Ripp's SS.

Good luck!

Oops, forgot to include the website: www.performancemenu.com The forums are also a great o-lifting resource.

Originally Posted by Grayland

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I O-lift in my garage. I built a platform and bought bumper plates and have my own gym 7 months a year (have to shut it down in the winter). I started out being self-taught, but eventually found a coach who refined my technique. I found the C&J very easy to learn, but the snatch was much tougher for me. My left shoulder isn't super flexible, so I eventually switched to a split snatch, rather than a squat snatch. I don't compete, I just do it for fitness purposes. I started off O-lifting because of Crossfit. More people should O-lift, it's good stuff.
+1 except I don't split snatch and in Seattle my garage is a 12 month gym! As dimshum said, having a coach is key. There are many programed workouts available all over but you will make much better progress by having a coach make or adapt a program to suit your particular needs. I pretty much do the lifts plus front/back squats exclusively with some additional stuff every now and then. Currently I've added some snatch balances to my workouts.

Just had my first session. Great fun and very challenging, and predictably, I'm slow (powerlifting doesn't tend to build an explosive body!), and my technique is POOR. Wrist flexibility when racking for the jerk is a major issue; anyone recommend some exercises to improve this?

The Tommy Kono book is an excellent resource for Olympic lifters, as is Arthur Dreschler's Weightlifting encyclopedia.

I believe Dan John also has several (free resources) that are quite good. You have to keep practicing bring your elbows further up. You can practise that on a barbell set at shoulder level on the rack. I've found most new to the sport that when they have cleaned the barbell up for the jerk, they tend to rely heavily on their grip and also fond of maintaining a position as if one were doing a military presses. Another common mistake is doing the lifts rather slowly and curling the weight up.

DimShum is right about getting a coach. It is very important for a beginner to learn all these technical lifts in proper form and technique the first time around.

Right on! I've found that watching o-lifting on youtube and www.performancemenu.com have really helped my form take off. Just get some popcorn and watch. On repeat.

It seems my prominent collarbones get in the way of the rack position in power cleans. I end up with pain and nasty bruising there whenever I try them. Is there any way around this?

I might try to learn the snatch instead. Is it much more difficult than cleans?