Hi guys i did a search but i cant seem to find a satisfying answer to my question.
I’m currently powerlifting for raw strength to supplement my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and i want to either add oly lifts or wait till i reach a solid strength foundation, switch to just maintaining the strength and starting with oly lifts for power and explosiveness.
Anyway what i want to know is how fast? (i understand it depends on a lot of factors) and what? could i generally expect to gain from starting oly lifts?
I hear people telling me they “feel more explosive” but is there something more measurable like my vertical jump went from x to x in x time.
Im wondering how much oly lifts will or can do for me as an athlete, trying to get a good overview of the possibilities.
[quote]Respeezy wrote:
Hi guys i did a search but i cant seem to find a satisfying answer to my question.
I’m currently powerlifting for raw strength to supplement my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and i want to either add oly lifts or wait till i reach a solid strength foundation, switch to just maintaining the strength and starting with oly lifts for power and explosiveness.
Anyway what i want to know is how fast? (i understand it depends on a lot of factors) and what? could i generally expect to gain from starting oly lifts?
I hear people telling me they “feel more explosive” but is there something more measurable like my vertical jump went from x to x in x time.
Im wondering how much oly lifts will or can do for me as an athlete, trying to get a good overview of the possibilities. [/quote]
You can’t put a time frame that certain things will improve by this date. You can’t just do the lifts, you have to do them correctly…which is going to need some coaching. Are there any guys you can learn from where you live?
Since getting better technique takes time for the oly lifts, I would start them now, rather than wait until you are stronger in the powerlifts. You can begin practice technique with light weights at the start of every workout to learn the proper positions, etc, then continue on to your regular workout.
I like the O Lifts, I am one of those guys that “feels more explosive” because of them, but I’m also a gym rat that trains for the joy of training and really nothing else. That said, if your only goal is to be more explosive/athletic for BJJ than there are other less technical lifts you could do. A big advocate of not doing the O lifts if you’re an athlete is Joe Defranco. He explains multiple times (Probably on here, but definitely on his website) why he prefers movements like Box jumps for explosiveness. I’d suggest you look some of his info up.
Think of the O lifts like BJJ training. It might take you a day to learn a technique (Rear Naked Choke for example) and when you roll it’s instinctual to go for the RNC. On the other hand it might take you a month to fully understand, but not yet master, and omoplata. So when you roll, the omoplata might be there, but you just haven’t worked the technique enough. The O lifts are the same. You might get the technique of a muscle clean like that, but it take you years to fully understand the Snatch. Makes more sense to do what will take a few days vs. years if the end goal is to better BJJ explosiveness.