when to start?

Chris H Laing · 11-20-2008, 02:54 PM

I've recently become obsessed with oly lifting and was wondering when is a good time to start? Right now I am relatively weak (read: extremely) and am wondering when would be the best time to start weightlifting.

Would it be better to start early, even without a coach or a lot of strength? Or would it be better to get strong first with the conventional lifts and then take up weightlifting?

On one hand you get started on technique work sooner so you have more time to perfect it, but you wont be as strong in the lifts. On the other hand, it would be farther away in the future before the form was good, but you'd probably have the brute strength to muscle most of the lifts until your form was perfect?

Any thoughts anyone?

Blair Lowe · 11-20-2008, 03:48 PM

If you are weak, you can't try to muscle everything. Considering there is a tendency for males to do this in many sporting endeavors, you should have started at 2:50PM or 2:55.

It can be simply doing the Burgener warmup with a PVC pipe and maybe doing it with a light bar ( 10 or 20 pounds ) or unloaded Oly bar at 20kg.

Besides, just have some fun and it will stop your obsession.

Ya might want to practice med ball cleaning something or cleaning something similar. Basically light and slow to work on form. I don't have a medball so I use my bowling ball. It's weird with DB, however. I'm saying this because I played with medball cleans last night after workout.

Brian DeGennaro · 11-20-2008, 04:07 PM

Get stronger and get technique down. Hit the squats, presses, chins, dips, RDLs/SLDLs/GMs hard and work the crap out of your technique with light weights. You're best bet is to work strength with movements that assist your Oly lifting rather than trying to improve your Oly strength through the lifts if you're not very comfortable with your form.

George Mounce · 11-20-2008, 07:36 PM

Start now.

Arien Malec · 11-20-2008, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris H Laing

I've recently become obsessed with oly lifting and was wondering when is a good time to start? Right now I am relatively weak (read: extremely) and am wondering when would be the best time to start weightlifting.

Would it be better to start early, even without a coach or a lot of strength? Or would it be better to get strong first with the conventional lifts and then take up weightlifting?

On one hand you get started on technique work sooner so you have more time to perfect it, but you wont be as strong in the lifts. On the other hand, it would be farther away in the future before the form was good, but you'd probably have the brute strength to muscle most of the lifts until your form was perfect?

Any thoughts anyone?

As other folks said, start now. Find a coach if you can. Post your location here and at GoHeavy to find one.

Read Greg's book, and focus on the progressions he lays out (ohs -> snatch balance -> tall snatch and variants -> hang snatch and variants -> full snatch; front squat -> tall clean and variants -> hang clean and variants -> clean). Have no pride -- stay light until you have the form down, and add weight only as the technique holds up.

Recording and posting videos is a good way to get feedback if you don't have a coach or a lifting partner.

Get strong with linear progression (starting light, adding weight every workout, using 3x5, or 5x3) while you are learning the technique, using lots of front squats, olympic back squats for variation, presses/push presses, and clean/snatch deadlifts.

Greg Everett · 11-20-2008, 09:09 PM

Start now. Even if your best snatch is an empty 15 lb bar, that's experience and time to develop technical proficiency. At that level, you can develop strength very quickly alongside technique, so there's no point in holding off on one for the other.

Read, watch, share video of yourself - there are plenty of ways to do it without a coach, although of course you want a coach as soon as possible (but no coach is better than a shitty coach).

Chris H Laing · 11-21-2008, 03:11 AM

Thanks for all the quick responses. I've been doing the B. warmup for a while now, but what other kinds of technique work should I do?

Are there any set technique sequences or "workouts" (used loosely) or should I just go in and do the actual lifts with PVC and throw in some other technique work like snatch balances and 2/3 pos cleans?

If anyone has read the supplemental oly program for cf'ers...would those workouts be enough to drill technique?

Steven Low · 11-21-2008, 09:43 AM

Go through the burgener warmup... in your warmup.

Then add technique work into your skill work (that you do now) + possibly some other stuff but I dunno I'll defer to someone elses experience.

Arien Malec · 11-21-2008, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris H Laing

Thanks for all the quick responses. I've been doing the B. warmup for a while now, but what other kinds of technique work should I do?

Short answer:
http://www.performancemenu.com/zen/i...055d53d7c57b09

Long answer (as provided above):

For the snatch: OHS, snatch balance, tall snatch, hang snatch, halting snatch deadlifts, muscle snatch

For the clean: FS, Frankenstein front squat, tall clean, halting clean deadlifts

For the jerk: push press, push jerk,unweighted practice moving to the split position, jerk balances, rack jerks.

Yuen Sohn · 11-21-2008, 01:12 PM

Not sure of your location, but if you're in the US, find a USAW club here:
http://weightlifting.usoc.org/content/index/1808

I spent a good several months thinking of visting the local weightlifting club, but procrastinated for one reason or another (apprehension, laziness, etc). I really regret not starting right away.

Flexibility assessment is one of the first (if not the first) things you'll go through when you get coaching, so if you can squat to full depth (front, back, overhead) and are comfortable in the bottom position, you'll be in really good shape.