I’ve been reading your articles for years now, and I’ve always wondered; if you were to coach olympic weightlifting how would you set up the program? I know you’ve had a few different coaches in weightlifting and I’m curious what you would do differently.
Well I did train several olympic lifters, so that’s not an entirely hypothetical question!
However I cannot give you a clear cut answer. The programs I design will vary greatly depending on the level (beginner, intermediate, advanced, world-class), strength & weaknesses (limit strength, strength-speed, speed-strength, technique, lack of second pull, etc.) and the time available to train.
However I can tell you what I feel most OL coaches are doing wrong:
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using ready-to-wear programs. In all the gyms I trained at (and there were some world class OL coaches in them) all lifters basically had the exact same program. I do agree that technical work will not vary too much, but the simply fact that athletes will vary in their capacity to tolerate volume and intensity and that they have specific needs will render such programs ineffective for several lifters.
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neglecting strength. Most North-American coaches are spending so much time on competitive lift technique that they neglect to develop pure, beastly strength. Don’t get me wrong, technique is super important. But the name of the game is still weightlifting, not formlifting! Most North American lifters have excellent technique, but little in the way of strength when compared to European and Asian lifters. The problem is that coaches here will often look at the programs of elite foreign lifters and adopt them… elite lifters already have a huge foundation of strength, all they really need to do is maintain their strength while drilling the olympic lifts. However, somewhere down the line a huge focus was on building superstrength. That’s what we’re missing.
I find it odd that many shot putters in the US are actually power cleaning more than olympic lifters at the same weight!!! Don’t you? Shot putters don’t do tons of technical work do they? What they do though is get extremely strong!
The best OL in the US is Shane Hamman, Shane is absolutely fantastic and I truly believe that he’ll be a medal contender in the next Olympics. Most of you will also know that Shane is a former powerlifter with a 1000lbs squat. So he does have that huge strength foundation to be a world-class olympic lifter!
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Neglecting balance. I once talked with Canadian champ (94kg) Sacha Amede about European lifters (since he competed in the WC). He told me that the thing that struck him was the size of the shoulders on these guys. This is especially true of Russian lifters and lifters following the training of a former Russian coach (which is true of several countries) who uses a myriad of different lifting exercises. Not only will they build a ton of strength, they will be strong in all the muscles of their bodies. A chain will only be as strong as its weakest link!
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Not enough focus on proper nutrition. This is the BIG weakness of most coaches. The only nutritional strategies they offer is “eat less” if they must make weight and “eat more” if they feel weak. Of all the coaches I trained with, not one used post-workout nutrition (much less before WO nutrition). Not one recommend increasing protein intake, not one was able to recommend a good strength gaining diet to their athlete. In that regard, OL coachs would do well to listen to bodybuilders, powerlifters and strength coaches!
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Keeping an open mind. Many OL coaches are traditionalists: they frown upon changing anything in their programs. Idiocy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results! Many OL coaches are also elitists, They look down on powerlifting, bodybuilding and strongmen competitors. Forgetting that these men may very well have some of the informations they desperately need.