My Stance on the O-Lifts
Thispast weekend, I hit a new PR on hang cleans at 225 (which, for the internet, isprobably not all that impressive). WhileI’ve posted the video, what you can’t see is how after my reps I walked aroundan empty gym high fiving walls, fake people, and screaming the lyrics to LukeBryan. True story.
But,it made me realize that I don’t talk about Olympic lifting on here, even thoughI do the lifts very often. So why do Istay quiet about it? Well, for themajority of adults, Olympic lifting just doesn’t make sense (yup, I’m lookingat you, Crossfit).
Anyway,I thought it’d be helpful to show the video of my PR from a few days ago, toshowcase what Olympic lifting is all about:
Whileposting this video will undoubtedly make me the envy of all Bostonian men, it’simportant to view in order to see all the moving parts in an Olympic lift. I’ve always thought of these lifts as being similarto a recipe. An individual needs todisplay a ton of knee stability, hip mobility, t-spine mobility, as well asshoulder and elbow mobility. Sadly,through the aging process and our sedentary culture, not everyone has all theproper ingredients!
Thinkingabout the Olympic lifts as a recipe also makes you realize that while theymight be nice to have, they’re not a necessity in any program. Would it be nice to have Emeril’s recipe forgumbo? Yes. Could I still make a pretty amazing gumbo bymyself? Of course I can, and Lindsay, mygirlfriend, can vouch for that.
Thesame goes for any exercise. Never thinkof any particular lift as being necessary to your success. There are hundreds of variations which willgive you the same training effect. Furthermore, with certain people, particularexercises just do not make any sense. Not everyone has to do squat, deadlift, or bench in the traditionalsense. But am I going to find a way toget in these lifts in a way that’s safe for them and pain free? Abso-frikken-lutely.
Olympiclifts are a great tool in the proper setting, but that’s just what they are – atool. If I have an adult who has acranky back, cranky hips, or cranky anything, we are not going to Olympic lift. In every exercise I pick out for my clientsto perform, there has to be a risk/reward that’s clearly in our favor. Sad to say, for most people Olympic liftingis simply not worth it.