"There is no spoon" is a line from the original Matrix movie. As Neo is waiting to see the Oracle, he watches a child bend a spoon using only his mind. This conversation follows:

Child: "Do not try and bend the spoon, that is impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth."
Neo: "What truth?"
Child: "There is no spoon."
Neo: "There is no spoon?"
Child: "Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends; it is only yourself."

While this may seem to have little to do with weightlifting, it does relate to weightlifting technique. An amusing hobby in weightlifting is attending a competition on any level and listening to coaches blast useless instructions to their lifters. Correction carpet-bombing occurs most when a lifter misses a lift and the coach is quick to point out between one and two hundred things the lifter did wrong that resulted in the missed lift. Watching the coach go through a quirky demonstration of the "correct" method to lift the bar brings to mind a story from the hay-day of Bulgarian lifting. A junior lifter from a foreign country was in Bulgaria with his personal coach for a training camp. The lifter observed a Bulgarian break a world record snatch in training. His coach nudged him and said, "That was horrible technique." And the junior lifter replied, "Yes, but it was a world record."

Technique in weightlifting is a lucrative subject as many people profit from writing books, conducting seminars, and promoting their ‘secret’ as the ‘correct’ way to lift a barbell. The problem with weightlifting technique is that it is actually very simple. Grab the bar. Jump up fast and down faster. Keep it very close to your body. Push up on the bar when you catch it. For snatch, use a wide grip; for clean, use a close grip. That would make for a short book. Really, that is all there is to it; everything else that happens along the way is incidental and should be left up to the researchers to study, not the lifters.

Coaches get into trouble when teaching weightlifting technique as they become too technical, wanting every lift to follow some sort of ideal form. There is no ideal form. Look at world record holders across the weight classes and across the eras and one thing becomes clear - they all move very fast. Where the bar brushes/how it brushes means nothing. How shallow or deep they split on the jerk means nothing. How wide their hands are spaced for the jerk means nothing. To what extent they finish their pull means nothing. What does matter is moving fast and being strong. Below are four areas of technique that are debated about incessantly and could use some clarification.

Bar Brush

The thigh brush is an element of weightlifting technique that is taught in different contexts depending on the coach. There are coaches who advocate that the purpose of the thigh brush is to drive the barbell upward by almost placing the bar on the hips and then kicking it up while using the hands to pull the body under the bar. Other coaches claim the thigh brush should be used to stop the bar in mid-air to allow the body to move under the bar. Further claims are that the bar should be banged off the hips; barely brush the bar; brush high; brush low; brush on the waist, etc. If that sounds confusing, try to imagine lifting a world record while processing that - impossible. To understand why the bar is brushed on the thighs, it helps to first understand how this technique came about.

Prior to 1964, the bar was not allowed to touch the thighs during the lift. In other words, the bar had to be lifted "cleanly" from the ground to the shoulders, hence the name "clean." The result of the former rule was that a lifter could not begin to move under the barbell until his upward momentum (from the pull) slowed enough that his body could switch directions from up to down. Image doing a vertical jump and deciding to jump back to the ground midway through the jump - a difficult task no doubt. What makes this increasingly difficult in weightlifting is the fact that the lifter is moving upward as fast and hard as they can and attached to their hands is a heavy barbell. Both the barbell and the lifter are moving upward together and if the lifter has to wait until his momentum has slowed enough to move under the bar, the momentum of the barbell will also have begun to slow and begin its downward movement. The result is the lifter racing the barbell back down, hopefully arriving before it does - an inefficient method for lifting weights significantly heavier than bodyweight.

The contact of the barbell to the thigh/body is used not to drive the barbell upward, but is used to separate the combined momentum of the barbell and body so that the body can begin moving under the barbell sooner. When the athlete begins lifting the bar, the upward momentum of the bar and the body are essentially the same, as the two are connected by the hands. The body is pulling the bar upward, and if there was not a thigh brush, then the body cannot begin to move under the bar until its momentum has slowed enough to begin switching directions from up to down. When the bar is brushed against the thighs, the result is a separation of the unified momentum between the bar and the body that allows the body to switch directions efficiently and begin to move under the bar without having to slow down at the top of the pull. The switch of direction can now be almost instantaneous, while the barbell can continue with its upward momentum. Some lifters appear to be finishing the pull (i.e. pulling until their body is vertical or bent slightly backwards) and this is acceptable if the bar has not brushed the thighs yet, or has not finished brushing the thighs. If it has and the lifter is still moving upward, then they are not lifting to their maximum ability. Once the bar has brushed the thighs, the momentums separate and the lifter must move under the bar.

When considering this explanation of the thigh brush, it lends itself to the notion that the bar should be brushed along the thighs, not banged or placed in order to launch the bar upward. If the barbell is banged against the thighs, the bar may well stop in the air but the body will have a hiccup as well--and if the body has any hesitation from moving upward to moving downward, the result will be less than ideal. If the bar is to be placed on the thighs in order to be launched upward by them, then this too causes slower transition between moving up and down. If the lifter uses his thighs to send the bar upward, it will cause them to stand up longer than necessary in order to complete this catapult motion, since you cannot lift the bar up with the hips without extending the body upward longer. The thigh brush should be a smooth contact with the thighs; enough to bump the barbell in order to separate the two momentums without causing the upward motion of the barbell to slow, while at the same time allowing the lifter to begin moving under the bar sooner. See Andrie Rybakov for an example of instantaneous switching of direction.

Shrug

The notion of shrug comes from pre-1964 rules of no thigh brush, which caused lifters to use both the legs and arms to lift the bar upward, as well as the advent of slow-motion video. Before the thigh brush, the lifters would attempt to row the barbell upwards with the arms as well as use the muscles of the upper back to "finish the pull." Once the thigh brush became legal, the upper body became less useful in lifting the bar upward. Instead of becoming an active participate in the pull, these muscles became more of the linchpin that help the bar close to the body while the legs and back muscles pulled the bar. Once the bar was permitted to be brushed on the thighs, the lifter could now begin descending without having to first row the traps and pull upward with the arms, increasing the speed under the bar. However, this took some time to catch on and probably would have been here sooner had there not been the advent of slow-motion video.

Slow-motion video and frame-by-frame photography were thought to be great educational tools, allowing coaches to analyze every aspect of technique at any given point of the lift. Enter paralysis by analysis. Open a Strength and Health magazine from the 1970's and you will find frame-by-frame photographs of national and world champion lifters with commentary on the characteristics of their technique at any given point. The only problem is this method of weightlifting analysis also allowed coaches to observe technique traits that simply were not there - a technique mirage, if you will.

Many times, coaches teach their lifters to shrug the bar upwards with the traps. Whatever their justification in teaching this movement (helps pull the lifter down or pulls the bar up) is a moot point - it does not exist. The shrug is nothing more than a stretch-reflex action of the trapezius muscles. During the pull portion of a snatch or clean, the traps are under an intense stretch as the weight is pulling downward on the arms. Once the bar brushes the thighs, this stretch is released and combined with the movement of the lifter under the bar and the shoulders appear to "shrug" the barbell. A shrugging motion does occur. However, it is a passive motion done as a reflex and is not a conscious effort by the lifters to use the traps. This motion is not very noticeable in the snatch due to the wide hand spacing but it is very noticeable in the clean and, thanks to slow-motion video, will forever be perpetrated as an aspect of weightlifting technique.

What about pulls? World champion lifters can be seen doing pulls and shrugging the barbell at the end of the pull. No one ever said having a strong upper back is a bad thing and shrugging the bar when doing pulls helps to strengthen these muscles. However, the muscles of the upper back are better used to keep the bar close to the body during the pull, not in actually lifting the barbell up. Also, there is debate about whether to do pulls or not in training. Some coaches feel they are a must, like squats are to clean strength, while others feel pulls will teach bad habits. There is no clear right or wrong. However one thing must be kept in mind: some lifters are so good it does not matter what exercises they do; it does not negatively alter their technique.

Double-Knee Bend

As with the shrug, we can thank slow-motion video and frame-by-frame analysis for the double-knee bend. The double-knee bend is a technique mirage in much the same way the shrug is. There is an intense stretch in the hamstrings as the feet push down on the ground and the knees move backwards. Once the bar passes the knees and the muscles of the back begin to pull the barbell, the knees are pushed under the bar as a reflex action. And as the back continues to pull the bar up and into the body, the knees are pushed further under the bar. Once the bar is brushed, this energy is released during the final explosion when the bar separates from the body and the lifter begins to pull under the bar. Again, like the shrug, the double knee bend is a reaction--not a conscious action. It should not even be spoken about in a gym because, unless the coach is terrible, the lifters should be double knee bending if they are using good pulling technique.

The best way to ensure that the double-knee bend and the bar brush occur is to encourage lifters to keep the bar close to their bodies as they lift, and to move fast. Eventually, the bar will touch their body and, by keeping the bar close, the double-knee bend will happen also. It is best to teach weightlifting technique through demonstrations rather than words. Words can get confusing, and it is difficult to explain to a new lifter how to push their knees back and then push their knees forward to achieve some sort of scooping motion. Also, the deliberate execution of this movement causes the barbell to slow down as the lifter attempts to move their knees in the correct manner. It is better to have a non-obvious double-knee bend that keeps the bar and body moving fast than an overly accentuated one that may look nice but causes the lift to slow down even slightly.

Jerk Drive

The jerk drive is probably the most difficult aspect of technique to understand and master, mostly because the jerk makes little sense athletically but its correct performance can be the difference between a skilled jerker and a shuffling of the feet jerker. The reason the jerk makes little sense athletically is because the lifter has to dip down, drive back up and drive under the bar, pushing the body down while splitting the legs, all while balancing a heavy barbell on the chest. A lifter from Sandusky Weightlifting compares the jerk to rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time - it can be difficult and confusing to do for some people.

The drive for the jerk, much like the shrug, can be over-exaggerated at times. This causes the lifter to drive up on the bar for too long, long after the bar has begun moving upward. When a lifter dips for the jerk, the barbell bends across the shoulders; as the lifter drives up, the whipping action from the barbell and the force from the legs drive the bar and body back up. There comes a point during this drive where the bar is still on the chest but has already begun to travel up under its own momentum. The skilled lifter will already have begun driving under the bar when this happens. An unskilled lifter will keep driving the barbell upwards until they feel their momentum has slowed enough to begin moving downward. Remember the explanation of the no-brush clean? Same principle applies here. See Akakios Kahkiashvilis for an example of an efficient jerk drive.

Learning Technique

Here's an example of learning weightlifting technique. Image a young kid walks into a local gym. There is no formal coach there to teach him, only a group of lifters who are accepting of him, but not the best teachers. They allow him to start lifting, but he is more or less on his own. How would he learn to lift? He would watch and observe snatches and clean and jerks. What would he see? Would the youngster see push knees back, push knees under, bring bar close, stand tall, shrug, extend myself upwards, lower the hips, etc. No. Most likely our young Pyrros in training would see something that looked like a jump and he would begin mimicking this movement. A little while later, he may notice all of the lifters touch the bar on their thighs, so he copies this trait. Hopefully, he will learn to push back up on the bar when it's overhead out of self-preservation, and the rest will be up to his own athleticism and body type. In short, he will see the gross movement and all the little things that go on will happen naturally - he is not consciously thinking about them. With slow-motion video and frame-by-frame photography, these insignificant movements can be observed, thought to be "the secret" and then spread like wildfire by overzealous coaches who need to be heard. Hard work and a desire to get better are the real secret.

Weightlifting technique can be over-taught and overanalyzed to the point that it becomes counterproductive. It is acceptable for coaches and researchers to study weightlifting technique in order to better understand how world records are lifted, but it is not useful to try and project every detail onto their lifters. Very little can be going through a lifter’s mind when they are attempting a maximum lift, least of all the technical ranting of a coach. Moving fast and lifting the weight should be the extent of thinking during a lift. Anything else will only slow the lifter down. After reading this article, one thing should be clear: when it comes to weightlifting technique, there is no spoon.