Olympic lifting for Elite Sports Performance

Like anything in this world there will always be an clash of opinions on a subject and the Fitness World is not exempt from this,

For years coaches have argued about whether Olympic lifting is required for athletes that are seeking maximal power production; however some coaches are strong supporters of Olympic lifting based on the idea that Olympic lifts help produce much higher power outputs compared to powerlifts (Garhammer. J (1993) a substantial number of coaches have supported the inclusion of the snatch and clean and jerk in training programs of athletes in other sports.

Data from Garhammer (1980) showed that the highest peak power outputs involved in elite Olympic weightlifters belonged to lifters from the 110kg weight class. These lifters developed 4,807 watts of power during certain phases of the Olympic lifts. Examining the power clean, Winchester, J.B., Erickson, T.M., Blaak, J.B., & McBride, J.M. (2005)  reported maximum power values of 4,230 watts while Cormie, P., McBride, J.M. and McCaulley, G.O. (2007) reported maximum power values of 4,900 watts.

A recent study examining 23 powerlifters and rugby players showed that deadlifts at 30% of 1RM produced 4,247 watts of power (Swinton et al., 2011a). This is slightly less than values reported by the same researchers in another recent study, which showed that peak power in a straight bar deadlift was 4,388 watts (at 30% of 1RM) while peak power in a hex bar deadlift was 4,872 watts (at 40% of 1RM). In fact, some individuals were able to reach values over 6,000 watts in the submaximal deadlifts (Swinton et al., 2011b).

 

The justification behind this promotion was that these movements were valuable in the development of speed and strength characteristics. Until recently where it was vaguely applied in most programs because a majority of S & C coaches lacked the knowledge and capability to coach the movements properly and safely. Before designing an Olympic lifting program it is important for Sports Performance Professionals to understand the scientific rationale and effectiveness of the Olympic lifts.

More and more strength and conditioning programs have started to employ weightlifting movements as part of their athletes training programs. This is demonstrated by the sudden proliferation of weightlifting platforms, bars, and bumper plates in commercial gyms and even university weight rooms with equipment more accessible for use, even though the coaching skills may be in short supply.

Lifting weights is not the holy grail of an athletes development, it’s there as an ergogenic aid to help them on their way yes, but is a very small cog when it comes to an athletes overall development and performance, however the benefits from it are vital as weight training is a very effective tool for injury prevention (Walker. B(2016). An athlete’s development is about using the best means to develop a certain phase which the athlete can then apply to their chosen sport.

 

A majority of sports require explosive power, sports such as rugby and American football etc. in order for the athletes participating to perform at their full potential. Although Olympic lifting doesn’t mimic many sport specific skills such as throwing, catching or running it does help develop the specific adaptation of explosive power that many team sports require, Variation lifts are more widely used because many athletes cannot achieve the deep squat position necessary of the snatch and clean & jerk Carbone J, Takano B (2010).

The power clean and power snatch are preferred because the catch position is performed from a 1/4 squat rather than a full squat position. Within rugby the most commonly used Olympic lift is the power clean, performing the exercise requires serious co-ordination and muscle recruitment. Research has shown that there is a correlation between individuals that are gifted at power cleaning and those who excel at short sprints (Hori, N., Newton, R.U., Andrews, W.A., Kawamori, N., McGuigan, M.R. and Nosaka, K. (2008).

 

Olympic lifting in team sports has long been thought of as the best way to develop explosive power and maximal strength. Olympic lifting was used by the NFL predominately due to the nature of the explosive properties associated with playing the sport. If you look at any instance of acceleration, a fast clear out at a ruck or maul, or especially a big tackle, all have a similarity in the movement that is undertaken which is an explosive extension of the hips and a transfer of energy away from the core of the athlete.

 

Body awareness while moving yourself in space is instrumental in all sports but particularly important in contact sports, able to manipulate an opponent and move them to where you want in a fast powerful motion is a massive benefit to utilizing Olympic lifting.  Benefits that can come from using an effective Olympic lifting program is an increased durability e.g. when catching the bar overhead or in front this adds stimulus to the athletes shoulder stability because of the sheer loads being placed on the joints through powerful movements.

However trying to implement them into a training program for a rugby player can bring some disadvantages, the fact that the lifts require a lot of technique and are not easily learned because of the technical constraint there is also an increased risk for newer athletes or athletes with mobility or stability issues, and the requirement of specific equipment and enough of that equipment to properly train in a team setting.

References

• Carbone J, Takano B. Olympic Lifting for Performance Enhancement. In Clark M, Lucett S. NASM’s Essentials of Sports Performance Training. Baltimore, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2010.
• Cormie, P., McBride, J.M. and McCaulley, G.O. (2007) Validation of Power Measurement Techniques in Dynamic Lower Body Resistance Exercises. Journal of Applied Biomechanics. Vol. 23, No. 2: 103-118. [Online] Available from: http://journals.humankinetics.com/AcuCustom/Sitename/Documents/DocumentItem/7789.pdf [accessed 16 March 2016].
• GARHAMMER, J. (1980) POWER PRODUCTION BY OLYMPIC WEIGHTLIFTERS. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Vol. 12, No. 1: 54-60. [Online] Available from: http://documents.mx/documents/garhammer-1980-power-production-by-olympic-weightlifters.html [accessed 16 March 2016].
• Garhammer, J. (1993) A Review of Power Output Studies of Olympic and Powerlifting: Methodology, Performance Prediction, and Evaluation Tests. THE JOURNAL OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING RESEARCH. Vol. 7, No. 2: 76-89. [Online] Available from: http://www.criticalbench.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/garhammer-olympic-lifting-vs-powerlifting.pdf [accessed 16 March 2016].
• Hori, N., Newton, R.U., Andrews, W.A., Kawamori, N., McGuigan, M.R. and Nosaka, K. (2008) Does performance of hang power clean differentiate performance of jumping, sprinting, and changing of direction?. J Strength Cond Res. Vol. 22, No. 2: 412-8. [Online] Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18550955 [accessed 16 March 2016].
• Swinton, P. A., Stewart, A. D., Keogh, J. W., Agouris, I., & Lloyd, R. (2011b). Kinematic and kinetic analysis of maximal velocity deadlifts performed with and without the inclusion of chain resistance. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 25(11), 3163-3174 [PubMed]
• Swinton, P. A., Stewart, A., Agouris, I., Keogh, J. W., & Lloyd, R. (2011a). A biomechanical analysis of straight and hexagonal barbell deadlifts using submaximal loads. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 25(7), 2000-2009 [PubMed]
• Walker, B. (2016) Strength Training and Strength Exercises for Injury Prevention. [Online] Available from: http://stretchcoach.com/articles/strength-training/ [accessed 16 March 2016].
• Winchester, J.B., Erickson, T.M., Blaak, J.B., & McBride, J.M. (2005). Changes in bar-path kinematics and kinetics after power-clean training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 19, 177–183.