Do we do Olympic lifts?

A lot of coaches and parents ask if we do the Olympic lifts and the answer is maybe. Now a lot of strength coaches love them and by all means go for it (that is if you're proficient in the lifts which most of you aren't so stop doing them) but its not the only way to achieve the highly sought after triple extension that all you coaches want. Guess what the majority of athletes that perform these lifts very rarely get triple extension, so it defeats the purpose. Just because the barbell is bouncing around and making noises doesn't mean explosive things are happening well yea maybe it's your athletes knee blowing out or their lower back or their wrists splitting open. That sounds explosive. But these lifts are extremely stressful on the wrists, knees, hips, shoulders and elbows. All important joints in well in every sport.

There are various factors that will determine if we use Olympic lifts with certain athletes. But for the most part we do not use them. Well let me re-phrase that we don't usually use the full olympic lift. Now we like jump cleans, snatch jumps and other various jumps but not a full catch. Some athletes we do, do the olympic lifts with because they are extremely good athletes and are coachable and pick up the movements quickly. Three coaches at The Spot are certified US olympic weight coaches. Another reason we would teach an athlete to do them is because their strength coach in college will be having them do it.

These lifts are Olympic lifts and are for Olympic weight lifters. They take a long time to teach and the majority of athletes are terrible at them. Olympic weight lifters take a life time to learn these lifts. Practicing them seven days a week under the watchful eye of an Olympic weightlifting coach. Another reason most athletes are awful at the olympic lifts is because they are weak. They have no posterior chain strength. We get an hour with an athlete so we look at training economy or what is going to give your athlete the most benefit in the allotted time frame.

So would you rather have your coach do Olympic lifts for an hour because you know they are explosive or would you rather have your coach do sprints, deadlifts, reverse hypers and glute ham raises? Which do you think is more beneficial to your athlete?