I recently had a run in with Robb Wolf after a level 1 class at CrossFit Norcal. I was the aggressor and with anyone else I may not have even touched this topic. My comment to Robb was “Why the fuck aren’t you teaching these people how to Snatch and clean and Jerk?” A bit stunned at first Robb did a double take and apologized for his irresponsibility to his clients and promised to be better. The next day I walked into the gym to see Robb teaching the Clean to his level 1 class. This made me smile.

This story is significant for a couple reasons. First, as a crossfitter you cannot advance until you have reached a skill level, on the olympic lifts and gymnastic moves for that matter, high enough to work up to your potential. I have heard too many times by affiliate owners, trainers and Crossfitters that they have never done or are terrible at the snatch. This is a focused example but i have heard the Snatch described as the most athletic movement in sport. That to me is reason enough to learn and perfect it (a lifelong endeavor).

Second, Robb is a great coach. He knows his shit when it comes to the lifts. He is a very technical guy and can give a very in depth explanation of each part of the lift. There is no reason that clients he has had for more than a month, or a week for that matter are not constantly being exposed to these skills.

Crossfit teaches that functional movements are unique in their ability to move large loads long distances quickly. What better way to do this than to pick up something heavy and put it overhead? The olympic lifts (snatch and Clean and Jerk) are not only great strength and speed development exercises but they go a long way when it comes to conditioning. Adding such a technical movement to your conditioning will not only help you build confidence in your movement but also allow you to work most if not all of the 10 general physical skills (stamina, strength, flexibility, cardiorespiratory endurance, power, speed, accuracy, agility, balance, coordination) in one beautiful session.
If you are looking for the most bang for your buck, the olympic lifts are for you and your clients. I would suggest building your program around these movements. Toss in some accessory squatting, pressing and pullups and you might just have the perfect program for athletic development.

I am not going to argue about this but i firmly believe that there is no other movement in sport that can give you the fitness that the olympic lifts can. This is not to say that the high skill gymnastic moves should be neglected. If nothing else they are cool party tricks. Who wouldn’t want to be able to do a press to handstand or hold a planche for more than a fraction of a second. The coolness of these moves is rivaled only by their ability to build body awareness, flexibility, and the ability to stabilize the midline. All important points when you start looking at how gymnastics relates to weightlifting. So you are starting to see how everything ties in right?

I feel lucky to have had the ignorance or the foresight to start teaching the lifts and some of the gymnastics moves early in my coaching career. I made many mistakes and to those that were with me in the early days, I apologize. Safety was always my main concern followed by getting clients to move better. Funny enough, their movement improved as I started learning more about the lifts. This was paralleled by my development as an athlete.

Teaching beginners how to move can sometimes be a challenge. I used to program a week in advance for my gym so I would know when these complex movements were coming. I would plan in advance to be in bed early and try to get plenty of sleep. I needed all the patience I had to be able to teach the snatch to a bunch of college kids at 5:30 am. The patience was not always there, but at least I was able to teach those poor guys how to snatch.

They were certainly not masters in the move but they were efficient enough to use it as a conditioning tool. Beginners to the snatch will see great improvement with only a little directed practice. As their skills and exposure to the movement grow, so too will their numbers.

To give clients exposure to these movements doesn’t mean you have to spend hours making them masters. Some people will have a faster learning curve than others, but don’t give up on the slow learners. They will challenge you as a coach and make you better. I think I can attribute 75% of my coaching ability to one client. I know you all have that one client that challenges you every day, so suck it up and make them your number one priority.

You can simply add in this skill work as part of the warm-up or dedicate a small portion of each session to skill work of some kind. I would recommend dedicating yourself to one to two movements in 2-week segments. This way your body has a chance to learn the motor patterns necessary to master the movement. I remember reading that motor patterns are grooved while you sleep. So if you practice something today, your body will be able to move more proficiently the next day. Because of this, I would introduce movements as a skill at least one day before using them as part of a workout.

I am not going to give you a template because I like people to explore on their own which movements they are interested in. Skill work should be fun and interesting as well as scalable. Yes, Grandma should be snatching and working on her planche.

What if you don’t have a coach? Go find one! Seriously—if you want to get better you have to have guidance. Whether it is distance training or one-on-one training, go get it! It will make this learning thing much easier.