working on Oly technique
gweneddk
Posts: 183 Member
Just curious to hear how others have worked on their Oly technique. I have a competition in 2 months where I will find my 1RM for snatch, C&J, back squat, bench press, and DL. I'm focusing most of my time on the Oly lifts and just maintaining as much of my strength base on the powerlifts as possible.
My question is, what do you do to work Oly technique? On Saturdays we have Barbell class so I do whatever is programmed and can get feedback from my coach--snatch felt pretty smooth and I got up to 100# on a power snatch. I'm assuming I could get more once I practice getting lower under the bar. With the clean I struggle with fast elbows and I haven't really jerked enough to know what to work on other than just doing the movement more--I feel like I'm doing a push press with a split more than anything. Obviously I will get my coach's input but I am just wondering what has been helpful for others--any specific technique videos or readings? Or is it better to just do the movement without getting too much "in your head"?
My question is, what do you do to work Oly technique? On Saturdays we have Barbell class so I do whatever is programmed and can get feedback from my coach--snatch felt pretty smooth and I got up to 100# on a power snatch. I'm assuming I could get more once I practice getting lower under the bar. With the clean I struggle with fast elbows and I haven't really jerked enough to know what to work on other than just doing the movement more--I feel like I'm doing a push press with a split more than anything. Obviously I will get my coach's input but I am just wondering what has been helpful for others--any specific technique videos or readings? Or is it better to just do the movement without getting too much "in your head"?
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well, last night's WOD was nice for getting some C&J practice... 2 rounds of 75 wall balls + 15 C&J. I used 65# and it was a killer workout, though the C&J's aren't difficult at that weight. Asked my coach if he had any input/observations and he said work on getting my elbows faster. Yup, knew that already lol.0
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I would buy Mark Ripptoe's Starting Strength. That will give you a detailed analysis of squats, DLs, bench and power cleans (which should help the Olympic lifts a bit, at least in setup and pull)
There are TONS of good sites out there with videos that can help you as well. This is one of my favorites.
http://www.catalystathletics.com/0 -
I would buy Mark Ripptoe's Starting Strength. That will give you a detailed analysis of squats, DLs, bench and power cleans (which should help the Olympic lifts a bit, at least in setup and pull)
There are TONS of good sites out there with videos that can help you as well. This is one of my favorites.
http://www.catalystathletics.com/
Yup, love Rippetoe and good reminder to revisit SS. When I first read it I wasn't much interested in power cleans, OH press or conventional DLs so I should go back and read those sections now that I do them in CF on a regular basis!
I am pretty sure my box derives some of its programming from Catalyst. I found some drills the other day for my elbow issue but couldn't watch the video; I'm going to have to find them again0 -
I typically train OLY 2-4x per week, and I work variations during these sessions too. For example, one day I might work cleans from high hang, mid hang, low hang to work on speed under the bar, snatch balance/Sotts press, heavy high pulls, etc. I also focus on getting stronger in the back/front/overhead squats because that could also be a limiting factor, if your snatch is 100# and your 1RM OHS is only 110, you probably wont be snatching more than 100 any time soon if you don't get stronger in your OHS.0
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I don't get a lot of crossover from powerlifting to Oly lifting. My powerlifts are way, way, way better than my oly lifts because I don't have the technique down on Oly lifts even though I work on them at least a couple of hours per week.
I take an Oly class 2 hours per week. A 100# power snatch this early on for you is awesome! My power snatch is 105# and super dirty but my OHS is only 95# so I need to work on my OHS to get better with a real snatch.
We have people in my box who have been Crossfitting for years who aren't power snatching close to that.
I sometimes go train with coaches in another town who do specifically Olympic lifting only. I wish it wasn't 2 hours away! They are awesome. Learning from weightlifting coaches is a totally different experience than learning from Crossfit coaches!
Follow Barbell Shrugged on FB and watch their videos. I also follow Catalyst.
You can switch to some Outlaw Way programming if you wish to focus more on barbell stuff once you get some of your form down.0 -
I don't get a lot of crossover from powerlifting to Oly lifting. My powerlifts are way, way, way better than my oly lifts because I don't have the technique down on Oly lifts even though I work on them at least a couple of hours per week.
I take an Oly class 2 hours per week. A 100# power snatch this early on for you is awesome! My power snatch is 105# and super dirty but my OHS is only 95# so I need to work on my OHS to get better with a real snatch. We have people in my box who have been Crossfitting for years who aren't power snatching close to that.
I sometimes go train with coaches in another town who do specifically Olympic lifting only. I wish it wasn't 2 hours away! They are awesome. Learning from weightlifting coaches is a totally different experience than learning from Crossfit coaches!
Follow Barbell Shrugged on FB and watch their videos. I also follow Catalyst.
You can switch to some Outlaw Way programming if you wish to focus more on barbell stuff once you get some of your form down.
Thanks, Kelly.
I feel like I have a good strength base with getting that hip extension from years of doing sumo deadlifts and heavy KB swings. I haven't video'd myself so I don't know how ugly my form is lol. The 100# snatch was sort of an accident--my coach was working with 2 of us who are newer and told us he wanted us to push ourselves and keep adding weight even if it meant we missed a rep or 2 so I wasn't paying attention to the weight on the bar, just kept adding until it felt kinda challenging. I missed it once because the bar was too far forward but with the cue to pull the bar up and into my body got it on the next try.
I'm not sure what my max OHS is; pretty sure the most I've done was 80# but that was limited a bit by how much I could get up from my shoulders since we were doing 3+1 snatch grip behind the neck push press/OHS. I still haven't done full snatches or C&J (where you catch the bar in a squat) because they haven't come up in the programming yet. I just PRd my front squat 1RM (185#) which is far higher than anything I've ever attempted on C&J so I think I'm ok in that regard, so far. I have super slow elbows so that's the big thing I need to work on right now.
My box does Oly class Sat mornings and lately it's only been 2-3 trainees so I get a lot of attention. My biggest challenge is that I can't really plan out what I will work on each day since I don't know when a WOD will be Oly-heavy. Right now I'm only doing about 2 hours a week (1.5 hour Sat and ~.5 hour on my own during open gym) + whatever pops up in the WODs. It sounds like I may want to dedicate a little bit more time to technique and drills though. And OHS probably.
I have definitely thought about getting some extra Oly coaching--both of the coaches at the box are USAW L1 and my former coach who tends to be a very technical coach is also USAW 1 but doesn't coach Oly too much. I'm sure there are other Oly coaches in the area but I haven't looked too much into timing/costs.0
