Introduction
Olympic Weightlifting is a sport by which athletes compete for that total weight of 2 lifts: the snatch as well as the clean & jerk. The training methods used in Weightlifting are also utilised by Strength & Conditioning coaches as a way of lifting weights for any great deal of other sports. One of the greatest reasons for exploiting various lifting weights modalities such is good for power development. There are lots of variations on the theme of power training. Many of these training modalities include plyometrics (Wilson, Elliot & Wood 1990), assisted and resisted training (Faccioni 1993a; 1993b) and speed and acceleration drills (Cinkovich 1992). A favorite method utilized to increase athletic power is Olympic Weightlifting (ie power cleans, push presses, snatches, jump jerks along with their variations) conducted within the training (Garhammer, 1993). It has traditionally been seen as efficient of producing general explosive ability (Takano 1992; Stone 1993; Garhammer & Gregor 1992). However, there are more important considerations which need to get addressed when implementing Olympic lifting exercises in the Strength & Conditioning program of the athlete, many of these include movement competency, training age, sport and training time with athlete. The goal of this informative article by Elite Performance Institute (EPI) is always to provide a biomechanical and physiological discussion as to why weightlifting workouts are beneficial to improve athletic performance and exactly how they will be performed in the exercise program. For more details, check out www.epicertification.com
Power Defined
Power continues to be looked as the perfect blend of speed and strength to create movement (Chu 1996). More specifically, power represents ale the athlete to create high levels of function with a given distance. The greater power a sports athlete possesses the larger the amount of work performed (Wilson 1992). Power is a blend of strength and speed:
POWER = FORCE (strength) X VELOCITY (speed to move)
There are lots of physiological and neural adaptations which comprise the strength component (Moritani 1992). Physiological adaptations to strength incorporate an increase in muscular tissues through hypertrophy, connective tissue density and bone integrity (Tesch 1992a). Neural adaptations (Schmidtbleicher 1992) which can be produced are: (1) increased recruitment of motor units; (2) increased firing rate of motor neurones; (3) synchronised firing of motor neurones; (4) rise in intra-muscular coordination; and (5) rise in inter-muscular coordination.
Speed to move is made up of various interrelated factors (Ackland & Bloomfield 1995). They are; (1) muscle fibre type; (2) skill; (3) muscle insertion points; (4) lever length; (5) muscular posture; and (6) elastic energy utilisation of the series elastic component.
Olympic Weightling exercises facilitate development of the very center (Strength-Speed and Speed-Strength) with the force-velocity (FV) curve (see above). The FV curve acts a map to Strength & Conditioning Courses Ireland according to the kind of strength developed from each exercise, session or phase of training within the program. Consequently, the force & Conditioning coach can effectively plan what type of power to merely develop and which training modality (powerlifting, Olympic liftining, plyometrics, etc) is most beneficial utilised to elicit these adaptations.
Conclusion
Concern still exists regarding the ef?cacy of including Olympic weightlifting exercises within the lifting weights programs of athletes in sports besides weightlifting. These concerns generally belong to 3 broad categories: 1) Perceived time necessary to educate yourself on the movements due to complexity with the lifts. 2) Too little idea of the possibility bene?ts which can be produced from performing Olympic lifting exercises correctly. 3) Concern on the prospect of injury caused by performing these weightlifting movements.
It’s evident there are a plethora of biomechanical great things about performing these lifts with limited disadvantages. The biggest risk continues to be with the perceived danger of performing these lifts. Based on the evidence presented by Brian Hammill with the British Weightlifting Association (BWLA), it is usually stated with con?dence how the injury risk will be as low or below most sports so long as there is quali?ed supervision supplied by certi?ed Strength and Conditioning coach who’ve been been trained in coaching the weightlifting movements.
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