The increased number of athletes choosing to use Olympic weightlifting and CrossFit as avenues for continued sport has shown a coaching need for progressions beyond basic scaling of movements. Whether you’re a coach working with a recently injured athlete or a lifelong adaptive athlete with congenital conditions, basic scaling requires additional consideration for the athlete’s individual situation. There are many pitfalls when working with an athlete, chief among them treating adaptive athletes differently beyond adapting and scaling their workouts. Any athlete that wheels or walks into a gym with adaptive needs got there on their own and they want to be taken seriously as an athlete. Many times, athletes are approached with a ‘participation is good enough’ attitude, which can be deflating and discouraging. That being said, to throw an athlete with adaptive needs right into class because they have the heart of a lion is a recipe for disaster. Adaptive athletes will require some special assessments and progressions prior to and when using the Olympic lifts.
 
I was born missing both middle fingers, with minor hand defects that affect my grip, and missing most of the bones in my legs and feet. When I was six months to 18 months old, I had several hand, foot, and leg surgeries that resulted in an above-the-knee amputation of my right leg and a shortened deformed tibia remaining in my left leg. I was fitted with prosthetics, learned to walk on time, and was active in most sports as a kid. This was before the notion of “adapting” had really taken hold beyond the Paralympics. That’s in big part how I ended up as a wrestler. I had some success in high school and severely injured my knee during my freshman year of college. After college, I heard about CrossFit and jumped in with both feet. After five years of CrossFit, I wanted to start sharing what I had learned, so I’ve coached the teen program at Railyard CrossFit for the past two years. Recently, I moved to coaching the daily morning classes as well. I have competed and placed in several adaptive CrossFit competitions. My current focus is coaching and competing in Adaptive Strongman and Highland Games.
 
As a double amputee, even with 30 years of experience, I have had some extra barriers in adapting movements to my prosthetic needs. My left prosthetic has a small pylon connecting my socket to my foot with a fixed ankle because of a shortened tibia. Currently, my right prosthetic has a heavy-duty multiple hinged knee that locks straight when I put weight on the heel. The knee unlocks as I pass weight across the toe to walk with a normal gait, but offers no resistance once unlocked. When I started to learn the Olympic lifting movements, even scaled appropriately to my mobility and ability levels, I realized that the typical scaling options needed some adapting for my physical needs.
 
My goal in adapting any movement has been to complete the movement with as little adaptation as is safe. Closely working with my coaches and staying within my ability, I have been able to continually improve my movements and safely chase down those ever-elusive gains. Through the years, I have used and learned from some very effective and a few less effective ways to approach this thing we call adaptive athletics. Each athlete will come with his or her own level of experience, and the approach a coach takes can be the most important factor in an athlete’s overall performance within your gym.
 
Mobility and Recovery Considerations for Adaptive Athletes
 
When I first stepped into a CrossFit gym, I was greeted by coaches that understood how to scale appropriately and were creative in their application. As my mobility and confidence grew, I learned to make adaptations to the movements so that I could progress appropriately through the scaling. Mobility was the starting point for me, as it is for most able-bodied people walking through the door of any gym.
 
When working with adaptive athletes on their mobility, it is crucial to consider the different forces on/in a prosthetic when trying to mobilize or stretch a joint in which the prosthetic limb becomes the lever of the movement. For example, many of the hip mobility drills in which the leg is rotated or elevated can result in pressure points that cause my stumps to go numb. While “feeling the burn” during mobility exercises is often expected, it is important that adaptive athletes do not go beyond their ability to achieve position. In this case, there’s no need for adaptation; there is a need for substitution of movement.
 
Balance is paramount for any athlete and addressing this early will save a lot of headaches in adapting movements. Kettlebells were a great tool for me as I learned to balance on my prosthetics in dynamic movements. Kettlebell swings, cleans, and snatches are great ways to scale up balance, mobility, and strength for adaptive athletes. When an athlete can show proficiency and stability in kettlebell cleans and snatches, then it is time to move to corresponding barbell movements for adaptation. Holding kettlebells in each hand while doing air squats to a box helped me to gain confidence and learn my balance points. This type of balance work will transfer directly not only to training but to the everyday life of an athlete.
 
Adaptive athletes will need focused mobilization for damaged limbs prior to a training session. This does not always mean more mobilization or movements, but that it needs to be specifically assessed by the athlete, prior to any training session. Because the site of the prosthetic or adaptive equipment is usually on or close to the damaged limb, there is extra stress put on the remaining soft tissue and musculature supporting that limb. The attrition of a prosthetic or adaptive equipment on an athlete’s body is a daily battle, and recovery can be tricky at times. Hot spots, rubbing, chaffing, and swelling are just a few of the issues that can come up and interfere with an athlete’s ability to perform both physically and mentally. Athletes need to communicate with their coaches about such issues, even when they are difficult to explain. Coaches need to be understanding when an athlete approaches you with such issues because in a “no excuses” environment, it feels like an excuse to have to explain how a quarter size spot on your stump is keeping you from doing most movements today.
 
Coaches need to be aware of how the adaptive equipment effects the body of an athlete beyond the site of adaptation, as well. For example, as a double amputee, my hip levels are affected by the fit of my prosthetics at times. If my leg is swollen and I am out of my socket, that raises the hip center and overall leg length. Athletes will require more recovery time when facing these types of issues. Coaches need to be sensitive to the recovery needs of an athlete, as these “injuries” are very frustrating and can lead to the slippery slope of “why even bother.” When facing recovery issues such as these, it is best to direct the athlete to their doctor or prosthetist for best practices. Staying involved with your athlete on their recovery needs makes talking about these difficult issues much easier and lets the athlete know that they are not alone in what feels like an unwinnable battle with their own body at times.
 
Adapting Versus Scaling
 
Working with an athlete does not require a special or compassionate view of exercise, it simply requires a little creativity and patience. Changes, whether it be scaling or adapting a movement, will take more time and reps to make an impact in the overall movement of an athlete. Adaptive athletes do not need to be held to a lower standard of movement, but rather to one that is mechanically adapted to their ability. This can result in some muddy waters when working with a new athlete. Adapting a movement takes time, and there is some trial and error involved in finding a pain-free and safe adaptation. It is important that both coach and athlete identify whether the change made is adapting or scaling. This distinction gives both coach and athlete direction for progression.
 
Adapting a movement is for loss of mechanical ability, while scaling is to improve mobility and strength within the adapted movement. For example, an athlete may adapt the clean to a power clean due to inability to squat. Once the final adaptation is determined at low or no load, then you can begin scaling the load up to increase strength, speed, and balance in the adapted movement. If the same athlete lacks the strength and mobility to pull from the floor, the set up may be scaled up onto boxes until their strength and mobility improve.
 
It is important for an athlete to stay within the identified adapted movement pattern during training sessions. If the athlete feels they have increased their mechanical ability as their strength and mobility increase, work on lowering the amount of adaptation in an identified low or no-load session as before. As the adaptations are lowered and the range of motion is increased, balance will become more of an issue for the athlete. For example, an athlete may want to lower the adaptation of the clean from a hang power clean to a floor pulled power clean. Start with an empty bar and work the load of the adapted floor pulled clean up gradually over the period of three to six weeks. This will give the athlete time to adapt to the new demands on their balance and how to best use prosthetics or other adaptive equipment.
 
It is important to keep in mind that as the demands on prosthetic or adaptive equipment change, so will the wear on the equipment and the athlete. Athletes will have “injuries” to the stump of a prosthetic or irritation of the limb that uses other adaptive equipment. These issues can be very small with a huge impact on an athlete’s ability to use the prosthetic or adaptive equipment. This is where the creativity comes into play as a coach of an athlete. If these issues happen regularly, having predetermined subs can help to lower the frustration of the athlete, time adapting a workout, and chance for aggravating the injury. Whether adapting or scaling, clear communication between the athlete and coach is necessary to ensure safe and beneficial changes to a movement.
 
Progression to the Olympic Lifts
 
Once my mobility limitations and my adaptation needs were determined, we were then able to begin strengthening the positions and movements needed for the Olympic lifts. I spoke with a former coach of mine, Jay Forrester of Brickhouse CrossFit, and asked him to describe the approach we took when I started in 2010. “For the actual progressions, we started with the slow lifts (squat, deadlift, and strict press). We used a box for the squats and bumper plates as risers for the deadlifts until you had the movement to pull from the floor,” he said. Once I had achieved proficiency and started pushing the weight up on those slow lifts, we were then able to look at the more dynamic Olympic lifting movements.
 
I used a box to do air squats because I cannot catch myself at the bottom of the squat with only one knee and no ankle mobility. We added weight with kettlebells in goblet squats and I substituted good mornings for back squats in every workout for the first three years. The volume work of good mornings at a moderate to light load in place of back squats was a happy accident and the key piece to my progression through all Olympic lifts. The strength I developed in my lower back and core is the foundation of all my adapted movements, not just the Olympic lifts. I would highly recommend that lower extremity adaptive athletes use appropriately adapted good mornings regularly as accessory work as well as in workouts as a sub.
 
In 2012, I was fitted with a microprocessor knee (C-Leg) that finally gave some resistance as the knee bent. Once that new piece of technology was in place, I started squatting to a box with a barbell. I set the box to just above parallel—any lower and the shearing force on my knee becomes very painful. Slowly, I progressed the load, and after three years, I could box squat 350 lbs. for a double. After four years, as all recent technology does, my microprocessor knee died and was too expensive to replace. I am currently on a heavier duty version of the same knee I had prior to the microprocessor knee, which took about six months to readjustment in all movements.
 
For the deadlift, I pulled from boxes (similarly to the clean) to progress to a floor pull. The load progression for the deadlift was deliberately slow to protect my back as I was unable to get down into a low set up and did a not quite stiff leg type of deadlift. I currently pull from boxes because of my inability to properly set up on a floor pull, and because strongman events are generally pulled from higher than a barbell on the floor. I use figured eight straps because of the inability to close my left hand into a full fist. I currently pull 435lbs from a 6” box and 470lbs from a 9” box. The deadlift loads and volume for adaptive athletes should be looked at with functionality as the top priority. If I were not competing and had not put in the back work over the years, I would not be pulling a deadlift for any less than seven reps per set and rep maxes at 10 and 20. This would keep the weight down, the chance for injury down and relate better to a day to day physical need. That being said, deadlifting is important for lower extremity adaptive athletes; it just needs to be focused on the athlete’s functional vs. competitive needs.
 
The strict press was a no-brainer for me as a lower limb athlete, and I took the gym record at 240 lbs. within a few months of learning my balance points and how to manipulate the weight overhead. If an athlete struggles with balance as the load increases, use moderate load kettlebell single arm presses in workouts. For accessory work or lifting sessions, standing heavy kettlebell single arm presses force the athlete to focus on the balance of the weight overhead and how that relates to the balance points with their prosthetics or other adaptive equipment. The importance of going slow with the progression of these lifts with an adaptive athlete cannot be overstated and the time put in will pay off in full while learning the Olympic lifts.
 
Adaptation and Progression of The Clean and Jerk
 
My coaches started me with the simple hang clean, not sure if that would be the final adapted movement or a scale as my mobility and strength improved. “We started a lot of your progressions from the high hangs with a vertical torso position as a way to limit the potential for downstream injury. Opting for power cleans, power snatches, and power jerks before introducing more difficult positions,” said Kyle Frazier, current head coach of CrossFit James Island and one of my first coaches in the Olympic lifts.
 
After several months of hang cleans, which felt like years, my mobility had improved and I wanted to learn how to pull from the floor. To test this, we used a typical scale for mobility issues—pulling from a raised box. We started with the bar raised to just below hang clean depth to keep the progression fluid and limited the load as I adjusted my balance to the new movement. The progression to a floor pull took several months and then another two years to progress the load up to a 200 lb. one rep max.
 
My adapted clean was a muscle clean with a higher starting position, making the first pull almost a stiff leg deadlift. I struggled to achieve a solid vertical jump position until I got that microprocessor knee. Over the next year, I worked my adapted muscle clean more towards a power clean with a vertical drive. Once the bar passes my knees after the first pull, I can open my hips and transfer my weight up onto my toes and drive vertically with my hips vs. hinging hard at the hip to move the load. At first, the stress that put on my toes was regularly breaking my feet in half. Two years ago, I was fitted with the “unbreakable” Rush Foot on both feet. Since then, I have not broken a foot and I am able to load the toe for the vertical drive with confidence.
 
Even after I could move a decent load from the floor, I continued to use hang clean to work on developing and refining my vertical jump position. It is important to continue to progress toward a least adapted movement as possible. I tried many different methods from starting on my toes leaning up against the rig (do not try, it was a dumb idea) to kicking my right leg out to the side (bad for balance). The important part is for an athlete to work with their coach and try new ideas as he improves.
 
After I figured out my vertical jump position, I set my sights on how to receive the clean lower. I had been box squatting for almost two years before I took an empty bar and tried to receive a clean in a box squat. After an hour or so, it seemed that it just might work. Over the course of several weeks, I worked up the load of my newly adapted clean and I found that as the load increased, I was not able to maintain a fluid transition through the receiving position and squat. That, combined with pinching my actual meat leg more than once between my prosthetic and the box with a couple hundred pounds on the bar, forced me to reconsider that as a practical and functional adaptation. Kettlebell cleans are a great accessory or scale for an athlete because of the demand on balance through the single arm movement. If an athlete struggles with their balance vs. strength as the load increase use moderate kettlebell cleans and swings during workouts and Heavy kettlebell cleans and swings during accessory/lifting sessions.
 
Clean and Jerk was always clean and push press for me until last year. My inability to get into a usable vertical jump position made clearing enough space to complete the footwork almost impossible. As my vertical jump position developed, I started practicing the footwork associated with the jerk. I read every article and watched every video online to find the slight variances in teaching methods, coaching, execution at the top level and the functional application of the jerk. I practiced and implemented the footwork drills and methods I was learning with no load for three or four months. Once I could complete the footwork consistently with speed and stability, I started footwork drills with an empty bar. From there, I gradually increased the weight over the next three months to meet my clean load.
 
The jerk is a movement that allows for very little adaptation, and I took this into consideration before starting down this path. I was fully prepared to put the entire movement aside if I found it was unsafe as I progressed the load. The major adaptation I make to the jerk is that my back leg is locked straight on the landing due to the mechanical working of my prosthetic. This can cause misses out front if I am lazy on my footwork and short my back foot, pitching me slightly forward. With any dynamic movement, my prosthetic can rotate on me while I am moving, and I have to be very aware of the position of my prosthetic before I engage in any lift. This can cause an issue with the landing of my back toe causing my heel to rotate medially and my foot to land angled or sideways.
 
That is just one example of the extra considerations with adaptive athletes. The key for adaptive athletes in any high speed and skill movement is to practice, practice, practice prior to putting any load in the movement. Any instability in the movement with no load will be exponentially exploited as the load increases. When progressing through the Olympic lifts, the clean should be approached first and consistent stability needs to be demonstrated prior to approaching the snatch for adaptation.
 
Adaptation and Progression of The Snatch
 
After several months of feeling stable and confident with my clean, it was time for my coaches and I to look at adapting the snatch. This was a movement that was heavily scaled for me in the beginning because of mobility restrictions. As in the clean, I am unable to squat to the set-up, and this made gripping with an appropriate width even more difficult. To grip the bar wide enough for a floor pull, I have to bend at the hip as if I were doing a toe touch. Because of this, my first adapted snatch was a hang muscle snatch. This was an appropriate and useful adaptation, but being a little stubborn and very competitive, I felt the need to work to a snatch that was as close to pulling from the floor as possible. To this end, I practiced pulling from boxes to raise the bar height and progressively worked as low as a safe set up would allow.
 
Just as in the clean, I am unable to squat underneath a load unless I use a box, and with dynamic movements, it is not a functional adaptation. I relied heavily on a powerful hip hinge to move the load and struggled with balance until I developed an effective vertical jump position. I used kettlebell snatches and single arm barbell snatches as accessory work to improve my balance in the snatch.
 
This is a lift that is difficult to adapt safely because of the complexity; both coach and athlete should assess the functional need to adapt the snatch versus the risks associated with such a complex dynamic movement. Slowly and deliberately breaking the movement down and working the progressions will give an athlete the best chance at achieving a least-adapted snatch. It took well over a year before I was confident and comfortable with the adapted hang power snatch and then we started to increase the load. I slowly progressed and plateaued, as the Olympic lifts will do. Then this past February, I came across a short article on the Catalyst Athletics newsletter about masters lifters using a split snatch if the athlete can’t squat due to mobility issues. Within an hour of reading that article, I was at the gym trying it. It took three months to gain the skill and stability needed to start adding load and I was happily pulling a power split snatch from a 6” box, fighting for every kilo PR. I recently PRed with a 165 lb. pull from a 6” box.
 
The issues with balance associated with the jerk are exponentially increased with a split snatch. When addressing this movement in a workout, I always opt for a muscle snatch. It is better suited for my adaptive situation. Having to return to the set-up from such a dynamic movement causes issues with the rotational fit of my prosthetics. I will employ the split snatch when lifting heavy for singles or doubles. I would not recommend utilizing this as an adaptation unless the athlete you are working with has excellent consistency with their footwork and stability with weight overhead.
 
As you can see, there are plenty of trappings associated with adapting any movement for an athlete and then shake that all up with the precision and complexity of the Olympic lifts. It is a daunting task to arrive at a usable safe adapted movement. Clear communication between coach and athlete will be the hinge on which the Olympic lifts swing in an adaptive athlete’s career. Balance is tantamount is all respects to working with and being an adaptive athlete. The physical balance during a lift, the mental balance of training versus recovery, and the emotional balance of motivating versus overcoaching are pillars of any coach/athlete relationship. They require a little more attention, patience, and creativity when working with or living as an adaptive athlete.