Oly Program a Good Idea?

Training
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Hey coach I’ve been considering starting a oly lifting program but I am not technically proficient in the full lifts. I am currently using the big lifts, jumps,throws, and power oly lifts with a hang. I train 4 days a week with separate upper and lower body days with a lower body day focused on strength, another on speed and one upper body day vertical push/pull and the other horizontal push/pull. Would a change to a pure oly program help in my development as a power athlete better than my current plan?
Sorry for the lengthy post

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PLEASE stop using the term “oly”… it’s an annoying habit that you see on Crossfit discussions boards and is REALLY frowned upon in the weightlifting (olympic lifting’s real name is “weightlifting”) community.

  1. If your goal is just to improve your power and athletic capacities, there is not real need to focus on the full snatch and full clean & jerk, you will get all of what you need from the power variations of the lifts. You can gradually learn to do them from the floor, but stick to the power variations, unless you want to learn the full lifts just for the fun of it. In that case I recommend finding a coach.

  2. A weightlifter’s program (reminder: a “weightlifter” is the real name for an “olympic lifter”) is not adequate for athletic development It’s adequate for a weightlifter who simply needs to excel in the snatch and clean & jerk for a single max effort repetition. There is a difference between training as an athlete and utilizing the snatch and clean & jerks to improve your power AND being a competitive weightlifter who’s sole focus is to improve those two lifts. For the first one the “olympic” lifts are a tool that as used to create a specific effect, in the later case it’s the end goal.

Furthermore, while they are very complete, the olympic lifts will not give an athlete all of what he needs to perform optimally. Even if you add squats and deads you will by lacking in some areas. If you want to be an athlete, train as an athlete not as a weightlifter

It’s like a weightlifter seeing american football players putting up huge numbers on the power clean from the hang and squat and say “I’m gonna train like a football player” to prepare for a weightlifting competition… that would be dumb.

  1. Stop saying “oly”.
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Thanks again coach, and I’ll never say that hated shorthand notation for olympic lifts again.

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