Different Olympic Lifting Advice

Training Powerlifting
1

so today i went for a first time to someone that teaches the olympic lifts (it was fun dropping the weights)

however he said a few things that ive heard different from from T-Nation

  1. he said that in anything, snatch, clean and jerk, or squats i should keep my feet pointing forward, toees pointing forward so that i use my quads most. so far ive been squatting with feet pointing out 30-45 degrees. hes probably right about it but why not use the hamstrings and hips too when doing olympic lifts anyway???

  2. he told me not to really consciously inhale, instead that i should just try to keep my chest up and then keep my abs/back tight(definitely agree on this), but not to try and breathe into my belly, but instead just breathe (without trying consciously, just letting my body do it on its own), because he said by breathing in fast too much blood goes to my head and makes me dizzy.

now why not to breathe just into my belly idk why he said that. as far as i know for squats you should breathe into your belly to have a stronger base.

2

I’m told to try and pullwith my feet straight ahead, or as straight as I can get it, but to squat with my feet about a bit but not to much.

IMO whatever is comfortable.

3

I think he’s a bit off base on the toes issue. Its easier to get into a lower squat position with your toes turned out some. Most people turn their toes out on the clean and snatch recovery. A lot of people turn them out on the pull as well - I don’t see it really restricting how much you can use your quads and further, these lifts are just as much hamstring lifts as they are quad lifts.

As far as sucking air into your stomach, you aren’t squatting maximal squat weight when you recover from a clean or a snatch. Powerlifting style squatting and olympic style are very different. He’s right… breathe where you need to on the lifts… I think you will find that if you try to hold your breath for the entirety of a clean or snatch, you’ll feel pretty crappy.

It sounds like what he might be getting at in general is that you should be squatting like an olympic lifter, i.e. staying very upright with your body(which makes you recruit your quads more) as opposed to leaning forward a lot which ends up causing you to recruit your PC more and your quads less.

4

if your feet are out during the first/second pull, you won’t have as much power…

try to jump with your feet out like you do on a squat, then you’ll see why you don’t point them in during the first/second pull…

here’s dimas doing c&j: pyrros dimas gold medal 1996 - YouTube

i’ve seen people do one foot straight and one foot slightly out… forget why they do that but i remember it being somehow beneficial during the snatch instead of the c&j.

peace

5

[quote]adarqui wrote:
if your feet are out during the first/second pull, you won’t have as much power…
[/quote]

False:

Here’s Kolecki-

And Chigishev-

And Sagir-

Turning the feet out allows some lifters to feel a lot more comfortable and generate more power because of a tighter back/closer bar position. Neither keeping your toes in nor pointing them out on the pull is right or wrong… its just a comfort thing.

6

i concede defeat.

7

so its just up to the individual and if they have strong hamstrings or quads and whatever is more comfortable. i figured as much cause ive seen a bunch of olympic lifters point their toes out

8

[quote]Dr. Manhattan wrote:

Here’s Kolecki-

And Chigishev-

And Sagir-

[/quote]

Oh, how cool!
Did Chigishev beat Rezazadeh by 1 kilo? -1 kilo?
Amazing! Wow!

Rezazadeh is just so powerful -good grief!

Great videos!