Implementing the Lifts

If you want to enhance your power and strength, it is hard to look past the snatch and the clean and jerk. Some coaches view the Olympic lifts as an integral part of their strength and conditioning program, while others claim that the lifts have little or no place it. As a coach, I believe that the Olympic lifts and their variations certainly have their place in strength and conditioning programs for select teams and select athletes. Variations of both competition lifts will not be advantageous for every NCAA athlete or every professional athlete, for that matter. You must look at the demands of the sport you are working with and the current athletic level of each person you are working with.

If you are working with Division 1 collegiate pitchers, chances are you are not going to prescribe a squat snatch or jerk variation for them; there is already enough stress on their shoulders as it is and anything you can do to avoid added stress to a vulnerable area of the body will be helpful. You can opt to have an athlete, such as a baseball player, perform a snatch pull or a clean pull if you don’t want to add any stress to the shoulder girdle or if they have an elbow, wrist or shoulder injury they are recovering from.

As far as what type of lift to implement in a program (i.e. a squat clean or a power clean), I suggest that you lean more towards the power variations and implement them first, as they are easier to learn and require more force to be transferred to the barbell. Also, the receiving position (above parallel squatting position) is more applicable to a multitude of sports than the squat variation. Either way, athletes learn how to generate force and how to absorb force in both the power and squat variations.

As always, make sure your athletes have a requisite amount of mobility to execute either variation safely. An athlete has no business trying to snatch or clean if their shoulder mobility is poor. While I am on this topic, if you are still referring to a squat clean as a power clean, please stop and take the time to educate yourself so you know the difference between the two exercises. You should know the difference, especially if you are CSCS and USAW certified.

Just because you have taken and passed the USA Weightlifting Level 1 coaching course does not mean that you are able to successfully teach anyone how to snatch and clean and jerk properly. 

It just means that you engaged in a course and passed an exam. There’s a big difference between gaining knowledge and being able to apply that knowledge suitably in various circumstances.

Before I demonstrate an exercise or drill in the weight room, I practice it and make sure I perform the movement correctly with efficient technique so my athletes will be able to successfully emulate it during the workout and lessen the chance of injury. Make sure that you are proficient in the lifts so you can properly demonstrate them for your athletes and if you cannot do so then you are not ready to implement them into your program. Personally, I would love to see shadowing hours become a part of future CSCS and USAW certifications so that coaches can be graded on their ability to demonstrate proper movement in both lifts, but the logistics behind those ventures seem rather complicated. 

Giving Feedback

Here is where knowing your athlete or athletes can really pay off. Depending on how many athletes you coach, it can either be easy or rather difficult to decide what type of feedback to give, when to give it, and whether or not it is even warranted. If you only coach 10 to 15 athletes at a private sports performance facility, then chances are you know each athlete well and have made notes about the amount and type of feedback that brings about the desired changes in the weight room for them. If you are a collegiate coach who is responsible for 50 to 100 athletes, it is wise to have your incoming freshman fill out a short ten-minute survey that helps you and the rest of the staff see the type of athlete and person they are. This survey will serve as a base for building relationships with your athletes.

Of course, the type of feedback you give your athletes is crucial to their success in the weight room. With the Olympic lifts, it can be tricky when deciding whether to give an internal focus of attention cue or an external focus of attention cue. Research has routinely suggested that an external focus of attention cue is superior to an internal focus of attention cue when it comes to enhancing athletic performance such as throwing a discus, throwing a football, or lifting a loaded barbell overhead. A simple external cue for the power snatch would be telling the athlete to “send the barbell to the ceiling.” Experiment a bit to figure out which cues bring out the best results for your athletes.

Sharpening your Coaching Eye & More

Further development of your coaching eye is critical in the field of strength and conditioning. Coaches should be working on their coaching eye every single session by paying close attention to the quality of movement patterns, athlete’s joint angles, joint stability, body language, and overall speed of exercises performed. You should be able to detect when an athlete is fatigued or not and when to push the gas and when to back off.

It can be quite cringeworthy to watch a high school or collegiate athlete lift with bad form in the presence of their strength coach. Sadly, I have witnessed this in person and on social media multiple times. It makes me embarrassed, not for the athlete, but for the coach and for our field. It is not the athlete’s fault they are moving incorrectly; the coach is to blame for that. It is the coach’s responsibility to ensure that his or her athletes are moving in an optimal and safe manner that allows for proper execution of not just the Olympic lifts but for every exercise performed in the weight room. It’s quite simple, be smart and responsible for you and your athletes.

Look, I get it, as strength and conditioning coaches, we are not supposed to make our athletes into nationally ranked competitive weightlifters. We are in the business of developing our athlete’s strength, not having them display it like powerlifters or weightlifters do in competition. It’s our job to create, coach and implement training programs that are in the best interest of our athletes for that point and time in their athletic careers. It may not be ideal to push the Olympic lifts or variations to the absolute max in a training program for certain athletes at certain points in their careers.

This brings forth the question, “Well, how much maximum strength or maximum power does an athlete need to play their position at a high level?” I’m not sure, but from my experience, I can tell you that the best athletes are not the ones who display the highest levels of maximum strength in regards to the amount of weight lifted or how it’s relative to their body weight. They all possess an optimal level of strength and power that allows them to compete at such a high level.

To be clear, I am not suggesting to not max your athletes in the Olympic lifts. I am simply saying that pushing an athlete to reach a certain ceiling of strength will not guarantee success on the field and puts them at risk for injury. I have heard Tommy Moffitt, LSU’s head strength and conditioning coach, say that one of the dumbest things he did as a coach at LSU was pushing one of his offensive linemen to do a 320kg back squat and a 185kg behind the neck split jerk. Why did he say it was dumb? Because it was not necessary to help him progress as a football player, and it was more strength than what he needed. Knowing when to cut your athletes off on max-out day can be tricky, but again, your coaching eye needs to be developed enough to see when a player is done and has safely achieved a new max. I hope you carefully consider the points I made above and will help further the field of strength and conditioning in a safe and professional manner when implementing the Olympic lifts into your program.