Tip: Olympic lifting without Olympic lifting.

Being blessed with my own athlete training facility as I grew up, I was always able to perform Olympic lifts whenever I please and able to do so with the proper equipment. It wasn’t till I went to college that I realized that performing these lifts in an “average Joe’s gym” is needless to say frowned upon. Loading up a barbell and tossing it above you head is going to get you 9 times out of 10 yelled at by some dude with big arms and tiny legs.

            Besides the fact that performing "O lifts" are going to get you kicked out of your gym, I‘m almost willing to bet that your gym does not have free spinning barbells, bumper plates, or a platform. These are all very crucial to completing the snatch, and power clean properly.

            Snatch:

Now, if you find yourself in one of these situations, where your going to get kicked out of the gym if you drop the barbell too loud and scare the old lady on the tred mill behind you. There are a few options in terms of getting you lifts in and remaining a member. These lifts are not exactly up to par with the traditional O lifts but in a pinch they will get the job done if needed.

            Replace your barbell snatch with single arm dumbbell snatches. Now this a great exercise because it is extremely easy to master rather than the traditional snatch and by using less weight you are able to reduce your overall fatigue. Additionally, by adding this exercise into your workout it adds to the overall work put on you abdomens more so then the traditional snatch.

            

 Power Clean:

Just like the snatch, the clean makes a lot of noise if you miss your weight and it comes crashing to the floor. Having said that, most gym don’t even have the room for you to clean in, let alone a proper plat form that you require.

            No need to worry because there too is way of beating the system that is commercial gyms.  To mimic the movement of the power clean we are able to perform the deadlift squat jump. This is a brilliant exercise because it is over emphasizing the first half of the power clean. Because the last part of the power clean is a shrug it makes this exercise very beneficial and a reasonable substitute.  This lift can be done with either a dumbbell of a kettle bell; its up to what ever feels most comfortable. Just like the snatch this exercise is ment to done as explosive as possible. So the answer is yes, your feet should be leaving the ground. Its called a deadlift JUMP for a reason.

           

  Now, there are many different variations of these exercises in terms of implements to use, stances to make them more challenging, and grips to hold the weight in. These are all easily found on the web by searching the names of the lifts. I merely provided you with the basic lifts so that you can get started if you were having trouble in your home gym. Stay hook grip'd!

About Me.

Hey! My name is Zac Lawrence and I’m 21 years old. I’m a discus and shot put thrower at the University of Rhode Island. Long before I ever picked up a discus, I had been picking up barbells.  Since the age of 11 my father has owned a gym in the town I grew up in. As I grew in age, the gym grew in size. So most people would call me a “gym rat” but I like to call myself a “gym brat”. What ever you want to call me I have been around the lifting game almost all of my life.

For me being an athlete, there is one style of lifting that cannot be beaten in producing strength, explosive power, and athleticism and that ladies and gentleman, is the Olympic lifting! The Olympic lifts are two completely different movements that start with a barbell on the ground and end with the barbell directly over your head. These to lifts are called the clean & jerk and the snatch, The reason why am I interested in this topic so much is that as discus thrower there is nothing more important then Olympic lifting in our workouts to make a better thrower. My teammates and myself always find our selves talking about the latest and greatest things to come out of the world of Olympic lifting but never derive our facts from one place in particular.

The Olympic lifting community is an extremely small in comparison to the much lager fitness community. For most, the only times they see these lifts is once every four years at the summer Olympics or even at all. What I wish to accomplish by creating the Hook Grip’d blog is that it allows other interested lifters, a lot like myself to read and keep current in the world of Olympic lifting.  As I continue to learn more and more about these extremely technical lifts I will share them with my readers in hopes they too can reap the benefits of Olympic lifting. Welcome to Hook Grip’d!

Photo courtesy of Columbusweightlifting.org