Olympic Weightlifting For Athletes?
Olympic lifting for athletes is a hot topic for sure…There is no doubt that the olympic lifts are one of the best ways to improve rate of force development and overall athleticism:
Olympic Lifting Benefits:
- Improved Power
- Improved Speed
- Increased Strength
When push comes to shove, if you are going to do the olympic lifts, you better learn proper technique. If not your an injury waiting to happen.
3 HUGE Hang Clean Mistakes
1- Breaking at the knees
Breaking at the knees is huge mistake because it takes the posterior chain out of the lift. Instead of loading up your hips, glutes and hamstrings to produce force and power, the body relies on the quads.
Breaking at the knees leads to the #2 biggest mistake when doing the hang clean, keeping your shoulders behind the bar. When you break at your knees your shoulders have no choice but to stay behind the bar which is not good for performance.
2-Keeping your shoulders behind the bar
Keeping your shoulders behind the bar is a huge mistake because it causes the bar to travel away from your body. The further the bar is away from your body the less leverage you have and the weaker you will be. The goal is to keep your shoulders over the bar and hips behind the bar to load up the hips.
Keeping the shoulders over the bar will will force you to keep the bar closer to your center of gravity and set you up for the next part of the hang clean-the pull.
3-Bouncing the bar off your thighs
Bouncing the bar off the thighs is a common mistake made by lifters and athletes because the momentum generated during the bouncing or rocking phase allows you to clean more weight. The issue with this is that when this happens, the technique for the rest of the lift is thrown off and full hip extension will not be achieved. This type of technique can also lead to bruising and other injuries associated with the hang cleans.
P.S Want to learn exactly how to do the Olympic lifts safety and effectively?
CLICK HERE to check out the The Underground Olympic Lifting Seminar