In the massively growing world of strength and conditioning, the go to lift to help enhance athleticism and develop lower body power will, 9 times out of 10, be a variant of the Olympic lifts. For good reason too. You see the classical lifts, an old school name for the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk, comprise of so many key athletic qualities, hence why it is an Olympic sport. These qualities are mostly and not limited to, speed, power, coordination, strength, rapid changes in direction, balance, mobility, flexibility and the list goes on.
Why then are they so good? The main focus point for these lifts when wanting to apply these to a given sport is the triple extension. Olympic lifts are essentially jumping with weight and it is this reason why people love to use them in an attempt to improve performance. Be it on the pitch, on the track, in the octagon or even jumping off the blocks before diving in for the 100m freestyle.
Are they the be all and end all? Definitely not. These lifts are massively technical and require a very good base of both mobility, moving through a range of movement, and flexibility, range of motion through the joints. There are also many alternative exercises that benefit the triple extension, without the time taken to program the lifts to a basic requirement to facilitate an increase in performance.
I love the Olympic lifts. Nothing is more satisfying then launching a big weight from the floor to overhead in a smooth, flawless motion. However, there are far better tools for the job and when constructing an intelligent program that has performance based in mind, it is far better to check out the other tools that are in the box.
This is just a short blog, if this peaks your interest then take a look at the in depth article I am writing on the subject. For now, lift big.