Chapter 2

Teaching And Learning Weightlifting Technique

In this chapter, we will focus on how to teach, learn and evaluate technique. But before we address the practical aspects of teaching and learning technique, it is useful to establish a foundation for that discussion through the presentation of some basic principles of human motor control and motor learning theory. The first part of this chapter contains such a discussion. The second section deals with practical issues in teaching and learning technique. The last section focuses on the evaluation and correction of technique errors and on the process of optimizing technique.

Basic Concepts Of Human Motor Control And Motor Learning Theory

Motor control is the way in which we control our movements, using our neuromuscular and skeletal systems. Motor learning is the acquisition of the skills of physical movement through practice; it refers to relatively permanent increases in a person’s ability to respond and is therefore not directly observable while it is taking place. This is contrasted with motor performance, which is the pattern of movement that is achieved in a specific moment, without considering an ability to reproduce that movement effectively. Motor performance can be enhanced through a variety of techniques, but the permanent ability to reproduce such a performance (i.e., motor learning) may actually be hindered by those very same techniques. The way in which we control and learn to control our bodies has been the subject of a great deal of research over the last several decades. While there is still much that we do not understand about how we control movement and how we acquire our motor skills, much of what we have learned can be directly applied by coaches and athletes to the teaching and learning of weightlifting technique.

The Stages of Motor Learning

Anyone mastering a new skill progresses through three stages of motor learning: cognitive, associative and autonomous. The cognitive stage involves gaining an understanding of what is to be done, how it is to be done and how some early approaches to the skill will be attempted. During this phase performance gains are dramatic, but performance is also erratic. The associative phase involves determining the best way of performing the task in question via subtle adjustments in performance. By the time the learner has reached the autonomous stage, the skill has become automatic. Performance is consistent and the skill is so well learned that other kinds of processing can often take place while that task in being performed. It is believed that as a skill is mastered, fewer and fewer abilities are used to produce the skill. The mind and body become more proficient at performing the skill with fewer and fewer mental and physical resources; from the vantage point of the nervous system, the task has gotten simpler.

It is now thought that unskilled performers use different abilities than skilled performers. For example, when learners were exposed to a complex task, it was found that the learners who were believed to have a good level of sensitivity to spatial orientation performed better during early trials. However, later in the skill development process, it was discovered that learners who had a better native ability to sense tensions applied to their body performed better. Therefore, early performance apparently relied more on a sense of spatial orientation and later performance relied more on a sense of the tensions that the body was experiencing. This suggests that even the results of a test that is thought to test “pure” athletic ability, like the vertical jump, might be influenced by differences in the previous practice of related skills by the subjects and that ample practice before testing would increase the likelihood that the test would be a good predictor of performance. In addition, early success in performing a skill does not assure that true mastery will occur at a more rapid rate.

The Stages of the Motor Control Process

Most motor activities take place in several stages. First a stimulus (i.e., something that provokes a reaction) presents itself. Next the stimulus is identified. Then, we select a response. Finally, we direct the response. There are two important qualifiers to this sequence. One is that if we initiate an action (like deciding to lift a bar), the first two stages are bypassed and we only select and direct the action. The second qualifier is that some or all of the stages may take place on a subconscious level. In fact, in most movements, at least one stage is subconscious.

The current evidence on motor control suggests that when skillful performers are executing many movements as an apparently single action, they have really learned to string separate actions together into what the mind conceives of as one action (as compared with the novice who sees several actions taking place in sequence). This is not unlike the difference between a novice chess player, who can only remember the position of a few chess pieces at a time, and the grand master, who may be able to retain the positions of all of the pieces placed on several different chess boards at the same time. There is no evidence that the advanced chess player’s neurological capabilities— or those of the skilled athlete— are any greater than those of novices in the same field. Rather, the chess master sees the placement of the pieces as one, or perhaps a few, patterns, while the beginner sees each piece’s position separately.

During the learning process, actions that will ultimately be performed on a subconscious or automated level often require conscious attention. In order to properly direct conscious attention during the learning stage, it is important to understand that there is a lag or “response time”, between the time one perceives the need to act (i.e., senses a stimulus), selects an action and executes that action.

The Lengths of the Various Response Phases

Scientific study has enabled us to understand the length of the stages of the motor control process under varying conditions. For example, the clarity and intensity of a stimulus affect identification time (the greater the clarity and intensity of the stimulus, the shorter the reaction time). The time required to choose a response is influenced by the number of alternatives from which the responder can select and how “natural” the stimulus and response are to each other (e.g., it might take longer for a person to begin writing a nonsense syllable after hearing a gunshot than to begin running). Response direction time is greater when a the reaction called for is more complex or longer in duration.

It appears that when a stimulus presents itself, the mind has a “window” of approximately one-twentieth of a second in which to absorb all stimuli. That is, if a stimulus to which a person will respond presents itself, there will be a period of approximately 50 milliseconds (msecs) during which the person can notice other stimuli and consider them in the response). After that period the mind begins to process the information received for a period of approximately one-fifth of a second. During that processing period, reaction to a new stimulus cannot take place. Reaction time to a stimulus can be lengthened when someone is either physically or mentally occupied doing something else, so concentration is critical when reaction time is a factor in performance. Anticipation can shorten this reaction time because you can plan for a response and then execute it more efficiently. This is particularly true when the periods preceding a called for reaction are short. In such situations, these periods can be used as a technique “cue,” and the response time can almost be eliminated. Under cued conditions, reaction times can drop to as low as 120 msecs.

The implications of reaction time for weightlifters are numerous, but perhaps the most important relates to what the lifter is told to focus on at various stages in the lift. It is not uncommon for a coach to describe what actually happens during a lift and then to expect the lifter to think about that sequence while performing it. A common example is what occurs when some coaches teach the jerk. These coaches instruct the lifter to drive the bar to the top of the head in the jerk and then to split. The most obvious problem with such an instruction is that while the bar does reach or approach such a height during the execution of the jerk, the skilled lifter begins to move into the receiving position while the bar is between the level of the shoulders and the chin. If the lifter waits until the bar reaches the top of his or her head before splitting, the bar will be falling before the lifter can get into position. A more subtle problem arises out of the limitations placed on the lifter by reaction time. Although the typical lifter is actually moving into the split when the bar is at throat level, if he or she waits until the bar is felt to reach that level, actual movement into the split will be delayed by two-tenths of a second, and the timing of the lifter’s movement will thereby be inappropriate. The lifter needs to think of splitting earlier in the movement, so that his or her body has time to react and execute the movement into the split at the correct moment. Failure to account for reaction time is a major and common coaching mistake.

The Mechanisms of Motor Control

There are a number of physical mechanisms that assist in the control of movement. The eyes assist the body in understanding its position (some of this understanding occurs on a subconscious level), and the vestibular apparatus of the inner ear gives feedback on the position of the head. At one time it was thought that groups of nerves housed in the joint (called joint receptors) gave the body information on the joint’s position. However, it is now believed that these receptors are probably best at sensing only extreme ranges of joint motion and that they must work in concert with other sensory capabilities in order to give the body useful information on the positions of its joints. In contrast, the golgi tendon organs, which are located at the junction of the muscle and tendon, were once thought only to serve as protectors of the muscles and tendons from overexertion. Now it is believed that they are also sensitive to low levels of tension in the muscles and that they therefore assist in motor control operations that are unrelated to maximal efforts. It is known that the muscle spindles (small combination of muscle and nervous tissue that lie between the muscle fibers of major muscles) are responsible for the stretch reflex, and it is believed that they also have a role in sensing limb position and velocity. Finally, the skin is sensitive to pressure, so it can provide vital information with respect to movement and forces as well. The combination of all of these systems assists in bodily control. Sensitivity to the body and its movements is called kinesthesis or proprioception.

Early motor control theorists hypothesized that the body controlled its movement on the basis of the feedback it received about the body’s position. Now it is generally accepted that only slower and more deliberate movements are performed in this way. Faster movements are probably controlled by combinations of reflexive and conscious actions. The faster reactions are reflexive in nature. (These range in time from 30 msecs to 80 msecs; actions in the lower end of this range involve the spine and actions in the higher end of this range involve the brain as well.) Reaction times between 80 msecs and the standard 200 have been observed, and, as a result, some theorists have posited the existence of another category of reactions that they refer to as “triggered reactions.” These reactions, believed to occur when there is only one alternative, are characterized by restructured, coordinated actions of the same or closely related musculature and typically take from 80 msecs to as long as 200 msecs. In terms of length of reaction time, the next actions are those for which there is some degree of anticipation, and these range in duration from 120 msecs to 200 msecs. As was indicated earlier, where there is no appreciable degree of anticipation, reaction time returns to 200 msecs.

Research in the area of motor control has discovered that performance decreases, but does not completely, collapse without feedback. Therefore, feedback alone (regardless of the nature and speed of that mechanism) cannot be the controlling method of movement. Although the mechanism through which motor programs operate is not well understood, it is at least known that something other than normal unrehearsed movement is in operation. It is also known that some generalization in terms of motor learning must be occurring; otherwise the body could not make novel moves smoothly as it does when reactions are quick (such as when running down the field in soccer or counterpunching in boxing).

An athletic activity like weightlifting probably involves all or nearly all of the preceding variations of feedback based motor control. Some movements that lifters make utilize reflexive actions (such as when the elastic properties of muscles are employed). Other motions probably involve triggered and/or anticipated reactions arising out of practice and the similarity in tempo that lifters experience in performing a relatively constant or “closed” skill.  More normal reaction times are used to adjust to situations in which the weight is not where the lifter expects it to be, which is probably the reason that an observer notes the bar being out of position in relation to the lifter and wonders why it is taking the lifter so long to adjust (even though that period involves only a fraction of a second). An example of this situation occurs when the lifter catches the bar in a full squat snatch position and it is slightly forward of the point at which the lifter can sustain balance but is still in a position that permits the lifter to modify his or her position slightly and thereby to save the lift. Unfortunately, there is a delay (the reaction time) before the lifter notices this problem, and often, by the time the lifter can respond, the bar has moved even further out of position, with the consequence that the lifter cannot regain control and misses the lift.

Despite the use of feedback controlled movements in weightlifting, it is also likely that because the activity involves complex and rapid movement patterns that cannot possibly be controlled consciously, or even at a reflexive level, motor programs are relied upon heavily. These motor programs (learned patterns of movement) have the advantage of overcoming the slowness of processing information during conscious control of movement, but they cannot be stopped once started. Creating, refining and automating motor programs are what skill development seems to be all about.

The Relationship Between Speed, Force and the Accuracy of Motor Control

It was once accepted as a fundamental law of human motion that the more complex a movement, the more slowly it must be performed; conversely, the faster it is performed, the less accurate it will be. While generally true, this theory has been modified on the basis of further study. For example, recent research has suggested that faster movements are more consistent in terms of timing when movement time is shorter, although they are not necessarily spatially more accurate. Consequently, going faster will not necessarily hamper technique as it is often assumed to do.

Research has also shown that accuracy is sacrificed as the amount of force required to execute a certain motion is increased (e.g., it is less difficult to control the motion of a basketball than a medicine ball, because less force is required to launch the basketball). However, the loss of accuracy as force increases seems to have a limit. As the force required reaches approximately two-thirds of maximum force, the loss of accuracy appears to slow, stop, or even to reverse itself (i.e., performance consistency may even improve). The important implication of this for weightlifting is that the heavier the weight, the less likely it is (for skill reasons alone) that performance will vary (although a breakdown in technique due to arousal or fear may occur).

Weightlifters and their coaches should also so note that the longer the duration of a movement, the more variability it tends to have. In addition, movements with a greater amplitude are subject to nearly proportional increases in errors of spatial movement, but the effect on timing errors is not appreciable (other than due to the increased time it takes to execute the movement). One obvious implication of this is that if the lifter can to achieve a certain result through two methods (e.g., adequate bar height), the method which is shorter in duration and employs a smaller amplitude of movement is to be preferred, because such a movement will tend to be more consistent.

The Specificity of Motor Control

Like so many other kinds of skills or abilities, motor control and the ability to learn motor skills tend to be specific in nature. Extensive research has shown that there are few, if any, “natural” athletes ( individuals who are gifted at learning any motor skill that they are shown). People clearly have different levels of ability with respect to learning specific skills. However, movement scientists believe that these differences are due more to previous development of certain general motor programs than to any inherited ability. The only exception to this rule is that individuals who are developmentally handicapped will tend to have lesser abilities in developing all motor skills than those who are “normal” in their abilities.

Thus far scientists have had poor results in identifying general kinds of motor abilities and in predicting success at a particular task from any such identified skills. For example, one of the problems with skills tests is that the very abilities that may enable an athlete to perform well on early trials can have little bearing on high level performance. Results appear to be improved when those tested have had an ample period to practice the test itself. So general selection methods cannot be expected to be at all fruitful (as least in terms of measuring potential ability to acquire certain specific skills).

Basic Principles Of Motor Learning

As was noted earlier, there is a distinction between performance and learning. Certain external influences may have very different effects on performance versus learning. For example, for many years one of the foundations of motor learning theory was that immediate feedback about performance should be given to an athlete. That advice was based on the results of early studies which showed that the more rapidly feedback was provided after a performance, the better the athlete’s performance on the next trial (s) that he or she performed. Now it has been recognized that the process and value of providing feedback are not that simple. Giving subjects immediate feedback on their performance may have a positive effect on their performance during the next trial, but it may not have much of an effect on their ability to learn the improved skill in the long run. Amazingly, performance and skill learning do not appear to be as closely linked as was once believed.

Many early studies in the area of motor learning made no distinction between performance and learning. Consequently, a number of erroneous conclusions were drawn with respect to the effect of various kinds of practice on the development of motor skills (such as the conclusion that immediate feedback was always desirable). The concepts presented below reflect some of the more modern research findings.

The Effectiveness of Massed Practice Versus Distributed Practice

Massed practice has no strict definition, but is generally considered to be relatively continual practice. Distributed practice is practice divided in to several separate sessions (e.g., with two hours of rest between practice sessions). Many experiments have been conducted to determine whether massed practice or distributed practice is superior in terms of learning. It is relatively clear the distributed practice leads to better performance than massed practice. This may be due to the athlete’s becoming fatigued with massed practice, and it may also be due to some processing that takes place during the intervals between distributed practice sessions, processing which improves performance in subsequent trials.

Surprisingly, it has been found that massed practice is often at least as effective as distributed practice, and is sometimes more effective in fostering learning of a skill. This may be because practicing while fatigued forces one to focus more on the practice (which fosters subsequent learning). It may also be that the deterioration of performance while fatigued injects variability into the practice session, which has been shown to enhance learning. The positive aspect of this finding with respect to coaching weightlifting is that when time constraints force a coach to have an athlete go through massed practice, that athlete can hope for a rate of learning that is at least equal to that of athletes who are able to practice more than once per day (assuming overall practice time is the same).

Skill Transfer

When practice at one skill leads to better performance in another, it is called a positive transfer. When practice of one skill leads to poorer performance in another, it is called negative transfer. Transfer can either be prospective or retrospective in nature. If the practice of one activity affects your performance of a subsequent activity, it is said to have a prospective transfer. If the practice of one skill causes a previously learned skill to improve or deteriorate, the influence is said to be retrospective.

The bad news is that very little in the way of practice of one skill results in a positive transfer to another, even quite similar skill. Skills are very specific, and unless two skills are very similar, it is unlikely that practicing one will transfer to another. The good news is that it is very unusual for the learning of one skill to have a negative influence on the learning of another.

The basic exception to the negative transfer rule is when activities involve opposite timing and coordination. For example, if skill A requires you to push with the right arm while pushing with the left foot, practice of skill B (a movement that requires pulling with the right arm while pushing with the left foot) might have a negative effect on the learning of skill A. There appears to be little in terms of modern learning theory to suggest that technique patterns learned for the snatch will have a negative on technique in the clean (even though the tempo and amplitude of movement in the clean are clearly different) as long as the athlete is not mentally associating the two movements. It should be noted that some weightlifting theorists in Eastern Europe have a dissenting opinion in this area, believing that the snatch and clean do interfere with one another.

Overlearning

Practicing a skill after it has been mastered leads to a phenomena known as overlearning. Overlearning is the incremental, often barely visible or even invisible (to the naked eye) learning that continues to take place after a skill has apparently been mastered. When overlearning has occurred, the efficiency with which the movement is performed improves, as does the consistency with which the skill is executed. In addition, the athlete is able to sustain the correct pattern of movement even under stressful conditions. Therefore, it is very important for an athlete to practice a skill long after it has apparently been learned.

Other Factors That Aid Motor Learning

There are several basic factors that aid (though often indirectly) in the acquisition of motor skills. Motivation is important in learning motor skills (not so much because it will help you to learn more from a given practice session as because it will tend to lead to more practice, which in turn contributes to more learning). Seeing the advantages of mastering a particular skill (intellectually, as well as emotionally) is a key factor in creating motivation to learn. Observing role models is another powerful source of motivation. Social approval, competition, working as a team and the presence of an audience can all increase motivation as well. It should be understood, however, that these factors can actually hurt early learning by raising the athlete’s arousal level too much.

Many motor learning theorists contend that the body’s level of excitation, its arousal level, affects learning and performance in what is called an inverted U pattern. As arousal increases, learning and performance are enhanced. However, at a certain point, the rate of improvement that occurs as the performer becomes aroused begins to diminish, until it finally begins to decline as arousal continues to increase. Therefore, if arousal is too low, the person will not function optimally, but if it is too high, learning and performance will actually be hampered.

The optimal level of arousal is related to the athlete’s mastery of a given skill. A more highly skilled lifter, one for whom the process of lifting is relatively automatic, will be able to perform effectively with a higher level of arousal. Similarly, when an athlete is first learning a skill, his or her arousal should be only enough to provide the energy of enthusiasm to the task. If any higher level of arousal is developed, the motor performance and learning of the lifter will diminish. It is generally unwise, therefore, to admonish a lifter at the early stages of learning or to permit any significant peer pressure. Peer pressure may increase the athlete’s level of excitation to the point at which learning is hampered (to say nothing of the athlete’s displeasure at being embarrassed).

The First Steps in Teaching an Athlete a New Skill

Before the learner attempts to perform a certain movement for the first time, he or she should be given the idea of the movement through the use of films, demonstrations (lower skilled performers tend to respond more favorably to peer demonstrations while the highly skilled tend to favor a demonstration by a more skilled performer or a teacher), verbal instructions on how to move the body and verbal explanations of the reasons for the particular pattern of movement that is being taught. It should be noted that verbal instructions tend to be overused. Words are often only a rather crude method of communicating movement patterns and you can only remember a limited number of words at one time (often many fewer words than are required to talk through the movement). One means that has been suggested for improving the effectiveness of verbal instructions is to use them to give the learner a pre-practice reference to corrections (e.g., “if you are doing it correctly, you will feel…” or “if your feet land properly in the split jerk, you will hear…”).

Once an understanding of the movement has been acquired and the learner is ready to attempt it, guided movement in which the instructor physically assists the learner to move his or her body through the correct pattern of motion can be helpful. A variation of this is to have the learner “walk through” (perform the movement at a slower than normal speed or only perform some aspects of the movement) while focusing on what he or she is feeling; asking for some explanation of what is being felt or experienced tends to cause the learner to focus more fully during the walk through.

Practice and Feedback: The Foundations for Learning a Motor Skill

There are two fundamental requirements for learning a motor skill: practice and feedback about the practice. In order for a person to acquire a skill, he or she must practice that skill. This means the person must consciously direct his or her nervous system through the required movement, and the person must experience feedback with respect to the success of that effort. As noted earlier, it is possible and often desirable to help a person experience a particular movement passively, so that the learner can gain an understanding of how the body feels when it goes through the appropriate motion (this can help a beginner to understand what is required in order to perform a movement properly). In order for the person to learn to perform that movement him or herself, however, the experience of putting the body through the motion must occur; the correct muscle tensions (a critical aspect of motor skill) will not be learned otherwise. In addition, the person must have a sense of what is occurring when he or she directs the body through the movement or little or no learning will take place. Much as the mind and body must generate maximal voluntary muscular contractions if the muscles are to become strong (passive contractions via electrostimulation do not work as well), so conscious effort at movement is required to acquire a skill.

Kinds of Feedback and Their Value

Feedback on our movements comes via the senses of touch, sound and sight and from the observation of results; the three senses give direct input about the movement of the body, and the last feedback mechanism provides information about the performance of the body or an implement relative to the desired end. Feedback can be intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic feedback is sensory feedback inherent in the performance itself (what the athlete sees, hears and feels during the activity). Extrinsic feedback is feedback supplementary to the intrinsic type. It may be received during the activity, immediately afterwards or at some interval after the activity. It can be verbal or nonverbal, separate (i.e., feedback after each performance) or accumulated (summarized after a number of trials). Within each category of feedback there are two varieties: knowledge of performance and knowledge of results. Knowledge of performance is information about the nature of the body’s movement. Knowledge of results is information about the outcome of the movement with respect to the environment.

Without knowledge of results, little or no learning occurs; knowledge of results also helps performance. However, giving feedback on results too often can actually hinder learning. The reason for this is not completely understood. but it is thought that the learner becomes so reliant on the motivating and guiding properties of the feedback that when it is withdrawn, he or she has trouble producing the movement effectively. Therefore, knowledge of results should be given frequently at the early stages of learning and then should progressively be diminished as performance improves.

There appears to be little difference in learning between situations in which there is a one-second or a six-second delay in providing feedback, but immediate extrinsic feedback may actually hinder learning by diverting the performer’s attention from his or her own feedback mechanisms and processing.. In addition, any period of delay between the performance and the feedback should be kept free of other movements that could be confused with the desired ones (which is why practicing cleans and jerks separately when learning to perform them as well as later makes sense). It also appears that delays between trials actually help learning (perhaps because the delay requires one to recall the movement, which is an aid to learning). It is fairly clear that very short intervals (less than a few seconds) between trials are not helpful. Consequently, the use of repetitions with no delay between them may not be proportionally beneficial for learning (e.g., five trials that consist of five rapid reps may not be as effective as five singles in terms of the learning).

When separate feedback (e.g., feedback after each rep) was compared with summary feedback (e.g., after a set), it was found that summary feedback had a slight advantage overall (as long as the summary did not take place after more than about five trials, e.g., reps).

Information on either the direction or magnitude of a movement improves performance (direction is typically of more help than magnitude and feedback on both appears to be the most effective). Quantitative feedback is more effective than merely qualitative (e.g., “one inch to the front” is better than “not good” or “too much to the front”). Up to a point, the more precise the feedback, the better (older learners can deal with greater precision than younger ones). In adults, the unit of measure does not seem to matter (e.g., three “quotarks” forward is as effective a description as three inches forward once an adult has mentally calibrated a quotark). Children seem to require more concrete measures, ones that they are familiar with.

Video replays have been disappointing in terms of their effect on learning (perhaps because they provide too much information). However, directed viewing of videos (e.g., “look at how the arms are bending too early in the pull”) appears to improve their effectiveness. In some studies, learners who observed a model performing a simple task and who received the model’s feedback performed those tasks quite well.

Kinematic feedback pertains to positions, times, velocities and patterns of movements. Studies involving this type of feedback showed dramatic improvements in learning. The key seemed to be that the subjects were given feedback about some aspect of movement that they could not ordinarily perceive. Kinetic focuses on the forces which produce kinematic variables. Such feedback is very effective in helping a person to acquire motor skills. For example, a force/time curve shown to runners after their starts in a series of sprints enabled them to improve their performance significantly.

It is posited that feedback works by assisting the learner in developing an internal representation of what it feels like to be on target. The feedback thus offers a reference of correctness that would not have been as easily obtained, or obtained at all, without the feedback. This internal representation gets stronger with each trial near the target and provides an increasingly effective means for detecting errors. In short, more skilled performers are more capable of evaluating their own performances.

The performer’s own mechanism for detecting error can be, and often is, a substitute for knowledge of results. In at least one experiment, learners were required to give an estimate of their performance without being given any knowledge of their results. When later tested on their learning of the skill involved, the learners who gave performance estimates maintained high scores, but the learners who had not given estimates during earlier practices regressed systematically as no feedback trials progressed.

The Effect of Variability in Practice on Learning a Skill

It might be assumed intuitively that the more precisely the practice of a skill approaches what is desired in performing the skill, the better will be the motor learning; as indicated earlier, this is true— to a point. It appears that some variability in practice aids in motor learning (although perhaps not performance). To be effective, the variability should be limited (it is not reasonable to expect that stiff-legged deadlifts will help in learning the clean pull, but cleans from the blocks certainly may). It also appears that variability is more effective when it is random in nature rather than placed into blocks of time during which the differing activity is performed. This suggests that doing snatches from the floor, then doing a few snatches from the blocks and then returning to snatches from the floor may be more effective for learning than doing all of your snatches from the floor, followed by all of your snatches from the blocks (although performance during the workout might well suffer).

The reasons for the effectiveness of variability are not well understood. Apparently, however, similarity in the underlying processes going on internally, not necessarily the conditions of practice, is the key to learning.

The Warm-up Decrement

When a performer is practicing skill, a relatively large decrement in performance is produced after rest periods of even several minutes, but that decrement is typically eliminated by a few practice trials. One explanation for this performance decrement is that the performer has “forgotten” or gotten out of the mental “groove” of how to perform the movement during the rest interval. Another theory is that the skill loss is related to the loss of some temporary internal state(s) or “set” that underlies and supports the skill in question. Support for the first theory comes from introspection, while support for the second theory has come from experimental evidence. For example, when subjects rested from a right handed task but performed a similar left handed one, there was very little decrement in performance when the right hand was again brought into action. Some studies have shown some loss of the “set” after as little as twenty-five seconds.

Another test found that when the interval between trials of an activity included the performance of another activity that used the same muscles but was very different in nature, the performance deterioration from the first trial was quite significant. This could be due to differences in timing, arousal or feedback sources used during the differing activities. While the readjustment of the mental “set” may take only a few seconds, inferior performance even for a few seconds can be disastrous (in weightlifting even a split second of worsened performance can lead to a miss). Therefore, it is important to learn what kinds of physical and mental practice are required by each athlete to maintain and/or restore his or her mental set.

The Value of Lead Up Activities in Learning New Skills

The value of learning “lead up” skills (the preparatory movements that take place just before or at the beginning of the actual task, such as a walk up and jump to a swing on the high bar in gymnastics) is probably threefold. First, there are many lead ups that teach a universal skill for that sport (such as the kip in gymnastics). Second, the lead up actually prepares you mentally as well as physically for the activity to come. Third, lead ups can play a role in overcoming any fear of the movement. Therefore, weightlifting lead ups, such as practice at assuming the starting position of a lift, can be of value to the lifter, particularly the beginner. This is one of a number of the learning sequences described later in this chapter.

Learning Segments of a Skill Versus the Entire Skill

Virtually all complex movements can be broken down into segments or stages. Many coaches believe that teaching skills segment by segment is more effective than trying to teach the entire skill at once. There is considerable empirical and experimental evidence that learning a new skill in segments and then putting those segments together is a more effective way of learning than attempting to practice a skill in its entirety. Yet many experiments have shown relatively poor results when activities are broken down into segments.

Why the contradictory results? The key seems to lie in the nature of both the segmental practice and the activity. An activity with distinct points of separation (e.g., the clean versus the jerk) will tend to benefit more substantially from segmented practice (in this case, separate practice of the clean and the jerk) than will an activity that is essentially one motion, such as the clean. In the latter case the transition from one phase of the lift to the next is in many ways as important as any one segment of the pull itself. This is not to say that learning a motion like the clean in segments may not have value.  (Indeed such an approach may be very helpful for some lifters because the overall complexity of the movement may make it difficult for the beginner to practice the complete movement effectively, at least initially.) However, the segments need to be carefully linked together before overall learning can be completed, and the time spent in learning the segments and linking them together may be greater than the time that would have been needed to master the full movement at the outset. In all cases, it appears that the sooner practice of the full movement (or important segments of it) can occur in the learning sequence, the better.

In summary, it appears that learning in segments can be helpful if four basic conditions are met.

1) The segment practiced must be similar to the performance of that segment during the lift.  If the practice of the segment of a lift is to have any significant carryover into the complete lift, it must virtually duplicate what takes place during that segment when it is performed as part of the total lift.

For example, during one portion of my career, I practiced a considerable number of snatches from the blocks. While I gained a relatively high level of proficiency in that lift and soon exceeded my best snatch from the floor, the carryover to the snatch was very disappointing. My snatch had actually declined somewhat, despite the improvements I had made in the snatch from the blocks. I later discovered that the primary reason for the disappointing result was that the position of my body relative to the bar when I snatched from the blocks was not the same as the one that I assumed during the corresponding point in the full motion of the pull. In addition, the speed of the bar was not the same (because it was being started from a static position as compared with being in motion), and the balance on the feet was different as well. When I started to eliminate as many differences as possible between the technique used for the snatch from the floor and the snatch from the blocks and began to practice more regular snatches and fewer snatches from the blocks, my snatch from the blocks declined somewhat, but my snatch from the floor improved.

2) The sequence practiced must involve all activities that are being executed simultaneously during the actual task. Much evidence suggests that when one aspect of a motion involving a number of body parts is practiced, there will be little carryover to the complete motion.

For example, if a lifter wishes to improve the effectiveness of his or her trapezius contraction during the explosion phase of the pull, it is not a particularly good idea to practice regular shrugs (elevating the shoulder girdle with the rest of the body remaining motionless). This is because the contraction of the trapezius never takes place in isolation during the explosion phase of the pull. Rather it occurs in concert with contractions of the leg and hip extensors. Therefore, more forceful contraction of the trapezius muscles needs to occur in the context of an explosive effort of the leg extensors and in the same position the body will be assuming during that phase of the pull. As a result, practicing the explosion phase of the pull (via the performance of pulls and shrugs with the bar beginning in a position above the lifter’s knees), while emphasizing the motion of the traps, is far more likely to carryover to the full pull than the practice of merely shrugging the shoulders with a bar held in the hands. This is not to say that the practice of pure shrugging may not build strength in the traps and that one might not want to practice the exercise for that purpose. However, it should be understood that any gain in strength will not necessarily be fully carried over into the actual pull unless the body has learned to perform the skill of incorporating the traps into the pulling motion at the proper point in the pull and with the appropriate motion in other parts of the body. The latter skills will not be acquired by practicing regular shrugs alone.

Similarly, practicing front squats will improve leg strength, but unless you practice squat cleans and learn to incorporate the added leg strength into the cleaning motion, the affects of improving your front squat may be disappointing. (Obviously, once the lifter has learned the coordination of the pull and recovery from the clean, any gain in functional leg strength would be carried over almost immediately and completely.)

3) Practice in parts must eventually be combined into the full movement. Once practice has been performed in parts, it is important to string the parts together into the whole. One common and effective means for doing this is “backward chaining.” This process consists of beginning the learning process by learning the last motion in a sequence and then gradually adding earlier and earlier stages. For example, in the snatch this might mean learning the snatch from the explosion phase of the pull on. Then you might move back to the amortization phase in the pull and practice the lift from that point forward. Finally, the lift would be practiced from the floor. This approach would probably be more effective than first practicing the pull to the explosion and then the pull from the explosion on, because it would involve incorporating the transition from the amortization phase to the explosion phase earlier in the practice.

4) The practice of a segment should involve the most difficult or weakest part(s) of the lift for the individual athlete.  As was indicated earlier, practice in parts has been shown to be most effective when it involves distinctly separate motions (such as the clean and the jerk) which need only be performed later, with one lift following shortly after the other, not nonstop in one continuous lifting motion. When the part(s) practiced are the more difficult ones in the motion, practice in parts has actually been shown to be more effective than practice in the whole For example, if you are having more difficulty with the jerk than with the clean, you are more likely to improve the C&J overall by practicing the jerk for one hour than by practicing the C&J for one hour, as long as some practice on the C&J is included in the overall training as well.

Mental Practice

There is considerable evidence that many skills can be acquired, at least partially, through mental practice. This is particularly true in the early stages. In fact, it has been found that mental practice can be nearly as effective as actual practice in terms of motor learning (at least at early stages of skill acquisition). Just what is meant by mental practice? There is no universal definition, but it generally involves imagining or visualizing the activity to be learned. The most common form of such visualization is that of imagining yourself going through the motion required. The subject is generally told to experience the activity as fully as possible in his or her imagination. This involves feeling the body go through the motions and seeing any motion that you would ordinarily see if you actually performed the motion. For example, if you were bowling, you might “feel” the texture, temperature and weight of the ball in your hand. You would imagine being at the starting line ready to bowl and then feel yourself go through the approach and release, then watch the ball roll down the alley into the pins and see the reaction of the pins. There are also those who suggest that “seeing” yourself as if you were an observer is useful, but the effectiveness of this kind of mental practice appears not to have been as carefully researched as the former kind.

It is clear that mental practice is very effective for beginners. It enables them to plan (i.e., anticipate) their motion. Mental practice also helps the beginner to run through any cognitive elements involved in the task and to think through what might be done in a variety of circumstances. In his autobiography, Second Wind, the basketball great Bill Russell tells of the endless nights that he spent traveling on buses early in his career. He used that travel time to envision various situations that might occur on the court and to imagine how he would handle each. Then, when actual situations of the kind he had imagined did occur, he was ready to react quickly and appropriately.

There is some disagreement in the literature with regard to the effectiveness of mental practice at teaching true motor skills. However, many high level athletes have reported that they believe such visualization is very effective for them. In experimenting on myself and athletes I have coached, I have found it to be effective, at least in improving performance. Even if mental practice is better at helping performance than learning, it is a worthwhile activity. Performance counts, even if it a performance that has only temporarily been enhanced. Similarly, even if visualization is merely a way to focus attention and to build confidence, it can play an important role. Moreover, mental practice has the advantage of facilitating learning while the muscles rest and at any time and place. The only significant disadvantage appears to be that mental rehearsal may fatigue the nervous systems of some athletes and that some athletes may practice the wrong motion mentally (especially because there is an absence of the kinds of feedback that are available when the athlete actually practices the motion in question). A further discussion of mental rehearsal is presented in Chapter 7.

Teaching Technique

There Are Many Approaches that Work

There are probably nearly as many different philosophies of teaching weightlifting technique as there are weightlifting coaches. However, several countries have developed general models for teaching technique. While it should not be assumed that all, or even most, coaches in a given country are using that country’s general model, those models have been used by at least some coaches in those countries with success. Therefore, they are useful to examine as a starting point for teaching of technique. During the discussion of the various technique learning models, reference will often be made to specific exercises that are used to teach technique. Most of these exercises are described in some detail in Chapter 5. Therefore, if you encounter an exercise that you are unfamiliar with while you are reading this chapter, refer to Chapter 5 for a clarification

The Soviet Model

Coaches in the former USSR extensively studied the best methods for teaching technique, and while, as was noted above, different coaches and writers promote different methods, the general direction of their thinking in this area is as follows. First, they argue that it is useful to teach the lift in parts before having the lifter attempt to perform the entire movement. Second, they believe in teaching the snatch before the clean and jerk.

The idea of teaching parts of the lift instead of the entire lift at once is grounded in motor learning theory that says: a) learning parts is easier for the mind to handle than attempting to learn all aspects of a movement at once; and b) once one or more parts are learned, it is easy either to add another stage to the sequence or to add the separate parts together. The Soviet approach is essentially a modified version of the “backward chaining” method of motor skill development that was referred to earlier in this chapter (i.e., learning the last sequence in a movement and then adding each previous segment, segment by segment).

The notion that the snatch should be learned before the clean is supported by several arguments. First, some theorists feel that faster movements place less of a strain on the body than do slower ones and therefore attacking faster movements first is more natural and gentler on the body’s adaptive mechanisms. Another argument is that the timing of the snatch is more delicate than that of the C&J; as a consequence, learning the clean first might inhibit learning of the snatch.

One influential Soviet author, former World Champion and national team coach A. Medvedyev, recommends the following sequence of learning: power snatch (a version of the snatch in which the lifter bends his or her legs to a limited degree to catch the bar overhead instead of lowering the body into a full squat position);, snatch; jerk from rack (an apparatus which supports the barbell at chest height and from which the barbell is removed in order to perform the exercise—see the section of Chapter 4 which refers to “Squat Racks” for a further description); power clean (a lift in which the body is only lowered into a partial squat); and clean. When teaching each exercise, he recommends that the lift be broken into sub-categories. The athlete first learns the power snatch by starting with the bar in a position similar to the one reached at the end of the third stage of the snatch. Then a power snatch in which the bar begins from a position just below the knees is mastered. The athlete then practices properly lifting the bar from the floor to the knees. Then a full snatch pull from the floor is learned. Next the athlete learns the power snatch from the floor and then adds an overhead squat after the power snatch (i.e., the athlete lowers his or her body into a full squat position while holding the bar overhead on straight arms). Finally, the athlete learns the full squat snatch from the floor. A similar sequence is followed for learning the clean.

Medvedyev thinks the jerk should be learned between the snatch and the clean, and the sequence he recommends is: the front squat, the power jerk and the split jerk. The sequence used to learn the clean is similar to the sequence used to learn the snatch (i.e., power clean from the hang above the knees, power clean from just below the knees, etc.—exercises explained in Chapter 5).

The USAW Model

The United States Weightlifting Federation, which recently started doing business as the USAW, has recommended two approaches in its official literature. The first approach, which was disseminated in the early 1980s as part of a series of coaching manuals, employed a learning sequence that was similar to that of the Soviets in certain respects (such as teaching the snatch before the clean), but the nature and sequence of the exercises was significantly different. The USAW suggested that the lifter first assume the starting position in the snatch without attempting to move the bar from the floor. The emphasis was on assuming the correct position of the body while maintaining proper balance and a proper relationship of the body to the bar. Next the lifter learned the push press behind the neck with a snatch grip and then the overhead squat. Next the athlete performed a drill that consisted of standing with the hands on hips with the feet in the starting pull position and then jumping the feet to an ending position (presumably the position used for the overhead squat). After learning the foot movement and position, the lifter learned the wide grip upright row, the hang-above-the-knees position, and then jumps with the bar in hand from that position. After this preparatory work, the USAW recommended that the lifter learn the power snatch from above the knees, the power snatch from below the knees and then the power snatch from the floor. Following this, the lifter practiced the drop snatch and what some lifters call the dead hang snatch (and others call the “going under the bar exercise”) and, finally, the squat snatch.

A similar sequence was recommended for the clean, except that the width of the grip was for the clean, there was no counterpart for the push press behind the neck or the drop snatch (so these steps were eliminated), and the front squat was substituted for overhead squat. For the jerk, the USAW recommended the following learning sequence: the push press; push jerk; moving into the split after holding an empty bar at the top of the head; the jerk behind the neck; and then the regular jerk.

More recently the USAW has published a Club Coach Manual that outlines a teaching sequence that differs from the original USAW guidelines in a number of ways. This revised method is currently taught in USAW clinics and coaching seminars. This sequence can be summarized as follows. First, the lifter masters a series of “basic” exercises. These include: the power clean; presses behind the neck with a clean and snatch grip (with the body held motionless, the bar is pushed over head with the arms); front squat (a squat with the bar held in front of the neck—see Chapter 5 for further details); back squat (a squat with the bar held on the shoulders but behind the neck); and the power snatch. The power clean is learned in the following sequence: the power clean from mid-thigh; power clean from knee level; power clean from mid-shin level; and, finally, power clean from the floor. While the lifter is proceeding through the power clean learning stages, he or she is taught the press behind the neck with the clean grip and the same exercise with the snatch grip. The lifter is also taught a squat sequence at this time, with the front squat taught first. Once the front squat has been mastered, the lifter learns the back squat. Once the power clean has been learned, the lifter learns the power snatch, following a sequence comparable to the one that was used for the power clean.

After the basic exercises have been learned, the lifter begins a learning progression that will lead to the mastery of the snatch and C&J. The coaching guide suggests that the lifter who has learned the power clean and front squat can learn to squat clean simply by making sure the feet jump into a proper position for executing the front squat at the end of the power clean. Then the lifter allows himself or herself to sink into the full squat after the power clean. Over time the lifter learns to sink deeper and more quickly until a command of the full squat clean is attained. It is further suggested that the squat clean will typically be learned as the lifter is working on the squat snatch and as jerk learning segments are being practiced, so that the squat clean will be learned before the lifter begins actual practice of the squat snatch or completes the learning of the split jerk. Once the lifter has learned both the split jerk and the squat clean, the two are combined into the C&J.

The sequence followed in learning the full squat snatch is the same as that for the full squat clean except that before attempting to sink into a full squat position after the power snatch, the lifter must learn another sequence of exercises. The first exercise is the overhead squat. That is followed by the pressing snatch balance exercise, the heave-pressing snatch balance exercise and the regular snatch balance exercise (these exercises are described in Chapter 5).

The sequence used for learning the jerk is as follows: push press behind the neck, power jerk behind the neck, push press, power jerk and split jerk. These exercises are also described in Chapter 5).

The Unofficial IWF Model

 Several years ago, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) published a book called Weightlifting: Fitness For All Sports by Dr. Tamas Ajan and Mr. Lazar Baroga.. Dr. Ajan is General Secretary of the IWF and Mr. Baroga is a member of its executive board. While the book did not specifically state that the material therein was representative of a position taken by the IWF, the foreword, written by the President of the IWF, Gotfried Schodl, clearly stated that the book was part of the IWF effort to foster education regarding weightlifting worldwide. The teaching sequence presented there was reportedly based primarily on one that was used in Romania (Baroga’s home). In this sequence the snatch is taught first, followed by the clean and then the jerk. The teaching sequence itself differs from those that have already been discussed in a number of significant respects.

First, the lifter is taught the correct positioning of the body for the first stage of the pull, then the second and third stages of the pull are taught together through the use of a partial deadlifting motion (i.e., from the floor to above the knees). Then the lifter is taught the concept of creating an explosive upward force to the bar through a reaction force with the ground. This is done by having he lifter experiment with creating an explosive downward force into the platform by bending and then sharply extending the legs.  The lifter stands on a force plate (a device which measures the forces generated by the feet against the floor) or platform scale and observes the effect of various efforts at explosive leg thrusting on the measuring device (seeking the technique which generates the greatest force). Next, the third and fourth stages of the pull are combined with snatch pulls with the bar resting on a support that places it at knee height. This is followed by power snatches from the same level. Then the lifter learns the power snatch from the floor. The next stage is to teach the overhead squat and that is followed by drop snatches. Finally, all of the movements are combined into the snatch. A similar sequence is used in the clean.

In the jerk, the lifter is first taught to support the bar in the proper position on the chest (the first stage of the jerk), then to execute the dip (the first through the beginning of the fourth stage of the jerk, using a sort of partial front squatting motion). The next stage is to teach the lifter the power jerk. This is followed by teaching the lifter the movement of the body into the split position without weight. Finally, the entire jerk is attacked and mastered.

There is much merit is this teaching sequence particularly because of its emphasis on mastering some fundamental body positions that are critical for success and because of its unique focus generating optimal explosiveness via performance feedback versus pure modeling of good technique.

The Bulgarian Model

The Bulgarian teaching model is quite different from those which have already been discussed. The Bulgarians teach the clean before the snatch, and they do not break up the lifts into as many or the same kinds of components.

The Bulgarians teach the back squat before anything else because they believe that the squat position is the fundamental position for lifting and because they believe that it teaches the lifter to achieve the appropriate tensions in the legs and back muscles during the lifts (the use of a belt is encouraged). They then teach the front squat with an emphasis on keeping the elbows up and the trunk upright. This is followed by teaching the clean pull from the floor to the fully extended position. Finally, the lifter is taught the squat clean.

After a lifter has mastered the squat clean, he or she is taught the proper movement of the feet in the split for the jerk without weights. This is done by having the lifter perform an exercise in which the feet are jumped into the split position with the hands on hips. Once the lifter has perfected the footwork necessary for the split jerk, the lifter is taught the entire movement.

In the snatch the lifter first learns the snatch pull, then the overhead squat. This is followed by practice in the power snatch, and then the lifter attempts to gradually lower himself or herself into the squat snatch position. The lift is considered mastered only when the lifter has both the timing and the movement right. The Bulgarians emphasize active and energetic placement of the feet in the full squat or split as the bar is caught (the lifter “stomps” the feet briskly against the floor while squatting down).

The Bulgarians believe that the clean should be taught first because it is less complex than the snatch and therefore easier for most lifters to learn. The argument that the snatch should be taught first because the smaller loads handled in the snatch versus the clean place less stress on the beginner is overcome by the use of only light weights in teaching the clean. The Bulgarian coaches also believe that there is no need for the lifters to break the pull into parts when it can be learned as one motion and when it should be thought of as one only movement.

Which Approach To Teaching Is Best?

There are at least two basic approaches for evaluating the teaching sequences used by the Soviets, the Americans, the Bulgarians and the IWF/Romanians. The first approach is to examine how each sequence squares with the latest thinking in terms of motor learning. The second approach is to examine the concept of an “ideal” sequence. We will use both approaches in the analysis provided below.

The Five Technique Teaching Models Viewed from the Perspective of Motor Learning Theory

In terms of motor learning theory, all of the teaching methods described above have merit. This is not surprising when one considers that all of these methods, on a combined basis, have probably been used to teach technique to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of weightlifters. There are some fundamental similarities among the methods and some fundamental differences as well. Essentially, all of the approaches share the method of breaking a complex motion (the snatch and C&J) into relatively simple segments, teaching the segments and then combining them gradually until they are mastered. The Bulgarians use fewer segments and teach the C&J first. Overall, the Bulgarian method has the advantage of using the smallest number of segments; learning theory suggests that the smaller the number of segments that can be used effectively, the better (except when teaching movements as unrelated as the clean and the jerk). The IWF/Romanian approach is interesting for its emphasis on teaching proper starting positions and on teaching the all important explosion, and using a focus on the action of the legs early on in the teaching process. The newer U.S. method has eliminated a number of the exercises in the original sequence, exercises that were highly questionable in terms of their carryover into learning the lifts. (Exercises such as the upright row had the dual disadvantage of resembling little that was done during the actual performance of the lift; what little was similar was done in a way that isolated the contraction of muscles that normally operate in concert with others during the actual lift, such as the trapezius muscles.)

All of these sequences have been used with success and the can be used in exactly the way they were formulated. But most of the coaches who formulated or use the sequences described are well aware that modifications to them are necessary from time to time. Unfortunately, those who learn about the sequences by reading descriptions of them often follow them far too rigidly.

It must be recognized that in the group teaching environment in which many of the methods of the Eastern European coaches were developed and applied, the coaches (of necessity since they were teaching many lifters at once) needed to follow a similar learning sequence with all lifters (much as lectures to large classes in schoolrooms all over the world target the “average” student). But when technique instruction is done one on one (as it often is in the United States), the notion of a single “ideal” sequence for teaching is open to examination and serious doubt.

An Individualized Approach to Teaching Technique

I believe that there is an approach to teaching weightlifting technique, that can be more effective than any of the aforementioned technique teaching models. The approach is what I will call the “contextual” method. The underlying principle of the contextual method is that the sequence to be used in teaching weightlifting technique to each lifter be determined by the readiness or starting state of that individual lifter. No two lifters begin lifting with the same background, physical characteristics or mental attitude. Therefore, the sequence of learning must be tailored specifically for that lifter.

For example, it is true that it is easier for many athletes to learn the power snatch and/or power clean than the squat snatch or clean. The former are simpler movements, and some beginners do not have the flexibility to assume the proper squat position initially. However, in teaching the power clean, I have experienced a number of instances in which the beginning leans back considerably finishing the pull and/or catching the bar at the shoulders. In other cases lifters jump their feet too wide when they catch the bar. It has been my experience that such lifters may benefit from learning the squat clean before the power clean. In so doing, leaning back is reduced or eliminated, and proper foot positioning is more likely to be achieved.

It has also been my observation that most beginners grasp either the movements of the snatch or the clean more quickly. It seems rather wasteful to me not to use such information as a basis for planning the early learning sequence rather than adhering to one prescribed sequence or another. If a lifter is able to perform a certain movement correctly the first time out, why follow a rigid sequence that requires mastery of a sub-skill that appears to be more difficult for that athlete to perform?

It must be remembered that in countries in which there is (or was) state supported weightlifting on a grand scale, the athlete has no choice but to learn in the prescribed sequence. Boredom or frustration is not a major issue for the coach to contend with, as the lifter is effectively a member of a captive audience. In addition, most athletes tend to have adequate readiness to learn all of the lifts (e.g., flexibility, etc.), or they would not be selected to participate in weightlifting. In countries where weightlifting is more voluntary, the situation is quite different. Fledgling lifters vary greatly in terms of their previous preparation and aptitude. If the lifter becomes bored or frustrated, you may lose him or her. If the lifter cannot experience some early joy in the execution of at least parts of the lifts, he or she may move into another weight or strength sport.

One of the key factors in getting young athletes to stay with weightlifting is helping them to experience the joy of lifting with proper technique (in at least some exercises). While it is true that the beginning lifter who becomes easily frustrated will never grow to champion caliber, it is also true that if training is not at least a somewhat pleasurable experience, retention of the athlete in the sport becomes far less likely. Giving the lifter several things to work on, each in the proper point in the learning sequence, makes a great deal of sense, as compared with blindly putting them through a routine sequence, no matter how well conceived that sequence may be.

It is my contention that if more athletes experienced the thrill of a properly coordinated snatch or clean and jerk there would be far fewer athletes doing bodybuilding, powerlifting, or other sports that attract people who are interested in sports as a test of their power and athletic skills. Therefore, by getting an athlete to master one lift, regardless of what the “ideal” sequence might be, you have a better chance of retaining that athlete long enough for him or her to master the technique of all the lifts and thereby to have a better chance of achieving a full appreciation of the sport. Moreover, nothing in modern learning theory suggests that learning one skill truly interferes achieving proficiency in another. This is because the snatch, the clean and the jerk are sufficiently different from one another that the likelihood of one interfering with the learning of the other is remote, as long as it is not suggested to the athlete that the lifts have identical techniques. In short, there are no good reasons for not teaching the lifts concurrently or in the order dictated by the individual athlete’s readiness, and there are a number of very good practical reasons for doing so.

Perfecting An Athlete’s Weightlifting Technique

Once obvious faults have been corrected and major areas for improvement have been identified and pursued, the athlete enters a new stage of learning, that of refining and perfecting his or her technique. This process is often referred to as overlearning. The road to overlearning can be a difficult one. The athlete who is undergoing the overlearning process has already achieved a good or even excellent skill level and must motivate himself or herself to strive for further improvements. Improvement at this stage tends to be both slow and difficult to measure, and as a result, the athlete who is in the overlearning mode may find his or her motivation waning.

In order to overcome problems with motivation, the athlete must find reasons for practicing. Perhaps the most engaging reason is the pursuit of perfection and consistency. The athlete must learn to covet each perfect lift and to discover what means of mental preparation for each lift is the most effective in eliciting perfect execution. The athlete can make a game of seeing how many perfect lifts he or she can make in a row. Alternatively, the athlete can attempt to make a perfect lift overall while concentrating on making a slight improvement in one particular area. The athlete must be careful that he or she is not giving up performance in some other area in order to achieve improvement in the new area. It is not worth giving up technique that is already sound in order to pursue some minor improvement elsewhere, but an athlete must never lose the hunger for improvement, no matter how minor.

Robert Roman, the Soviet technique analyst and theorist who contributed so much to the modern understanding of weightlifting technique, recommended several methods for perfecting technique. One method is to lift a bar with 85% to 100% of a lifter’s maximum to the same height. Specifically, he recommended doing three singles with the 100% weight and lifting 85%, 90%, 95% and 100% weights, all to the same height. He believed that the ability to lift a weight to the same height consistently is one key to effective technique, and I tend to agree.

Another method which Roman recommended (though he did not think it as effective as the same height-of-pull approach) is to have the lifter lift the same weight to different target heights. After ten to twelve workouts using the varying heights approach, the lifter’s level of precision in achieving the target heights should be much improved. Once this has occurred, the lifter is instructed to lift the bar and then to specify the height that was achieved. Once accuracy has been gained in this exercise, the lifter’s sense of control and mastery should have improved significantly.

Finally, Roman recommended lifting without the faculty of sight for a lifter who has already mastered the basics of technique. He felt that such practice helps the lifter to learn and reproduce joint angles and muscle tension better than lifting with visual feedback. He urged the lifter to work up from light to medium weights with the sightless method. He believed that the best method of such practice is in a darkened room; the second best method is with a blindfold (made of a soft and dark material and placed so that there is as little tension on the eyelids as is possible); the least preferred method is simply to close the eyes. Obviously, the darkened room is the least convenient and most dangerous (as well as a method which prevents the coach from observing the outcome). The blindfold is better for the coach and allows others to warn the lifter from any impending disaster (like running off the platform or into a foreign object). The closed eyes are the safest and most convenient means for creating sightless lifting because the lifter can always regain his or her sight in an instant, and others can observe the performance of the athlete in the usual way.

Another interesting approach to perfecting technique (which comes from and entirely different sport than weightlifting) is one outlined in a book called “Free Throw”, by Tom Amberry. Amberry is a retired podiatrist who in his college days was a top basketball player. After retiring from his podiatry practice in his late 60’s, Amberry began to practice his free throws (foul shots) again as a hobby. At age 71 he set a world record for the most consecutive free throws without a miss – 2750. Although he is not a weightlifter, Amberry’s advice for perfecting ones free throws can be applied to many other activities.

Amberry believes in establishing a ritual to improve and stabilize ones performance in addition to having sound mechanics that facilitate accuracy and consistency  “built-in” to the technique (e.g., for free throws he recommends keeping the elbow against the body as one prepares to shoot).

He then urges the athlete to use a “mantra” to focus and calm the mind (in his case pre-viewing the steps one will go through during the throw) and ending with the visualization of a perfect success.

He uses seven steps in his shooting, some of them directed at assuring proper mechanics during the shot and the rest at focusing the mind properly. He recommends that the athlete does not even begin the ritual until he or she is ready to perform.

For a lifter, the readying steps in the snatch  might be: place the feet carefully under the bar, set the grip, lock the back, pump the legs three times, look at your focal point, pull and catch the bar, recover from the low position and wait for the down signal.

Amberry believes in completely “emptying” the mind of the details of the skill prior to executing it. He feels that consciously controlling a performance as it is being carried out is a recipe for disaster.

If one makes an error during a performance, the focus should be on making the next performance perfect. This is quite different from trying to “correct” for the previous mistake. For instance, if a lifter misses a lift behind, he or she should focus on doing it perfectly the next time rather than trying to place the next lift a little further forward.

Amberry also recommends that the athlete establish goals for technique performance and that he or she measure improvement continually.

Neither Roman’s nor Amberry’s methods for perfecting technique are the only tools available, but they can be very useful ones.

One Skill That Should Be Taught Early On: How To Miss

Regardless of the method a coach uses to teach an athlete how to lift, there is one skill that should be taught during the very first workout (if not at the beginning of that workout). That skill is how to miss safely. Why is the skill of missing so fundamentally important? It is crucial to protecting the physical and mental well being of the athlete. Perhaps an analogy is the best way to demonstrate this point.

When I was quite young, I took a course in judo that was given at the local YMCA. Those were the days before karate and the other martial arts systems based on striking an opponent became the rage in this country. In those days the appeal of judo to many youngsters was similar to that of the popular martial arts today. That appeal was in developing the ability to reduce the most evil, powerful and aggressive foe to a state of absolute harmlessness with but one spectacular move (though the emphasis in judo is on rendering an opponent temporarily harmless, not unconscious or injured).  Much to my dismay and that of the other youngsters in the class, the instructor said that we would have to spend our early lessons learning how to fall! We were mortified and we voiced our dissatisfaction. The entire objective of our study (to us) was to make the opponent fall, not ourselves. Surely, if we were skilled enough, a fall would never occur. Why focus on the subject of falling? Our wise instructor was steadfast in his position but patient in his explanation. He reasoned that when we were practicing, someone would have to fall, and that person could only do so safely if he or she knew how to do it properly. Moreover, in the unlikely event that we did have a temporary lapse in our own technique and were thrown by an opponent, our skill in falling would render that fall harmless to us.

I have a similar theory in weightlifting. There the lifter has one opponent and one opponent only: the bar. When a well trained and determined lifter battles with the bar, the battle will nearly always be won by the athlete. In the event it is not, the lifter should be prepared to get out of harm’s way quickly, effectively and automatically. Therefore, the method of missing safely should be learned on day one.

Learning to miss has one added bonus beyond injury prevention. An athlete who knows how to miss, one who knows he or she knows, will not be afraid to try. Therefore, learning to miss does not introduce a negative (i.e., the concept of a miss) into the learning process. The lifter who is well equipped for a miss can be as aggressive as possible in attacking the bar, bolstered by the knowledge that in the event of any emergency, the falling bar can be easily escaped.

The good news about misses on the classical lifts is that the equipment is designed to prevent and minimize injury. The proper lifting platform is constructed with a non-slippery surface so that the lifter’s feet will have a sound footing. Nothing but the bar and the lifter is on the platform during the lift; all plates that are not being used for that attempt are stored safely off the platform. Plates that fit tightly on the bar and collars that hold the plates in place assure proper balance of the bar and guarantee that the plates will tend to be a safe distance from the lifter should they fall (the lifter will be under the bar and not the plates).

The 45 cm diameter of the all plates 15 kg. and up (and even some plates as light as 5 kg. or even 2.5 kg.) is sufficient so that if the lifter is lying flat on his or her back with the head turned to the side when the bar falls, the bar will be clear of the body in the vast majority of cases (i.e., unless the lifter’s head or body is unusually large). Assuming the lifter has the proper equipment and is using it in the correct manner, he or she can then focus on the proper principles of getting out from under the bar in the event of a miss.

One principle is that the lifter should generally remain between the plates of the bar. This should not be misinterpreted to mean the lifter should remain under the bar. Rather, the principle is that the lifter should not try to move the body or feet sideways in an escape, because doing so can place the foot or another part of the body under the falling plates. A second principle is to use the potentially harmful downward force generated by the bar to force the body out of the way of the bar when it falls. This is accomplished by the lifter’s always using the hands and arms to push the body away from the bar, generally in a backward direction. In the snatch and jerk, it means that the lifter should always push out on the arms as vigorously as possible when performing the squat under in order to reach a straight arm position by the end of the squat under phase, no matter what the height of the bar. When the bar has not been lifted to a sufficient height to complete the snatch or jerk, pushing out on the arms will usually result in the body’s being pushed backward (sometimes forward), but always away from the bar. The lifter should add to this by pushing forward and up when the bar is felt to be both short of the necessary position and forward of the body (up and back when the bar is short and behind), allowing the body to jump or fall in the opposite direction of the push (e.g., if the athlete is pushing the bar forward, he or she should be jumping backward).

In the clean effort should be made to rack the bar on the shoulders with elbows well up. If the bar then falls short, its force in contacting the shoulders will generally drive the hips down and back, causing the lifter to fall backward and away from the bar. The lifter should assist this motion by pushing forward with the hands against the bar and forward with the feet against the floor to drive the arms, shoulders, hips and knees out from under the bar’s falling path. If the elbows are forced down when the bar is caught, the lifter can assure that no wrist injury will occur via contact of the elbows and thighs or knees by pushing in on the elbows as they fall while also pushing back with the arms and legs as described above .

In the unlikely event that the lifter cannot push the bar forward beyond the knees and move the body back when a clean is missed, the lifter may feel himself or herself falling back with the bar on the shoulders. Should this occur, the lifter should push the bar away from the shoulders as he or she falls back and let the bar fall between the knees and shoulders (i.e., at waist level). As a last resort (but a reasonably safe one), the lifter should keep the elbows pointing up toward the ceiling during the fall and turn the head to the side as it nears the platform so that it there is ample room between the falling bar and the head. This kind of positioning assures that no part of the body is between the bar and the platform as the bar falls, decreasing the potential for catching the full force of the falling bar on that body part, rather than by the platform and the plates.

Some early practice at missing and occasional drills thereafter will be well rewarded because the lifter will have acquired a clear knowledge of what to do when the going gets tough. Knowing how to miss, committing to alertness and selecting weights correctly are the keys to eliminating fear and avoiding traumatic injuries in weightlifting. Weightlifting is inherently  safer than many of the most popular sports practiced in the United States today. When safety is stressed, it becomes a very safe sport in which traumatic injuries will be rare. Therefore, safe lifting should always be the first rule in any gym.

Some other things that should be taught to the beginning lifters are the basics of gym safety and etiquette. For example, a lifter should never stand in front of, or too close to, another lifter while that lifter is lifting. Lifters should share equipment freely and load the bar for one another (e.g., lifter A, who is about to lift, prepares mentally to do so while the lifter B, who will lift next after lifter A, and the lifter who has just completed a lift on that bar, lifter C, load for lifter A). Further aspects of safety are discussed in a number of other chapters of this book, particularly in Chapter 4.

What the Athlete Should Be Thinking About While Learning the Lifts

There are several important concepts to consider when an athlete is learning technique. The first concept is that there is a limit to what the mind can hold in its focus at any one point in time. Therefore, the athlete cannot be expected to remember too many things when performing the lift. The coach who shouts a stream of instructions is having little positive effect. If the athlete tries to focus on them all, he or she will either forget the earliest ones or fail to capture the later directions. Strategies and instructions for correcting faults must recognize the need for economy in terms of what the lifter must retain in the process of fault correction.

A second concept is that while the athlete can be expected to feel certain things while lifting, particularly at the early stages of learning, the ultimate goal is to make the lifting so automatic that those feelings are not as acute. Therefore, while the athlete can be told how doing a certain technique correctly will feel, the ultimate goal is to perform the motion without feeling a great deal on a conscious level along the way that can be used as a cue; rather, the aim is to execute one “seamless” motion.

A third basic concept is that there is a difference among what a lifter appears to be doing, what the lifter is actually doing and what the lifter is experiencing as he or she is doing a lift. The coach needs to know what the athlete is actually doing in order to counsel the lifter. However, it is also crucial for the coach to be able to tell the lifter what to think of accomplishing in order to achieve the desired results.

In order to understand this distinction, it is helpful for the coach to recall the pattern of development through which our understanding of weightlifting technique has evolved to the present day. When weightlifting began, athletes experimented with techniques that could improve performance, often without the benefit of a coach. These lifters were the explorers, those who conceived and tested various aspects of technique, mastering their activity by trial and error. In the next stage, those who observed an athlete performing a new technique analyzed it and adopted the athlete’s actions as a sort of model. They then taught the model to fledgling athletes, thereby saving the athlete the effort of having to experiment with many techniques and perhaps never discovering the most effective one. A still later development in weightlifting technique occurred when scientific tools of gross observation (e.g., high-speed film analysis) enabled us to overcome the limitations of human perception to understand what athletes are doing vs. what they appear to be doing. It was through such analysis that we learned lifters were beginning to split in the jerk as soon as the bar cleared their shoulders, not once the bar reached the top of the head (as was once believed when only the raw powers of observation were available to coaches).

In the next step in the development of learning technique, findings from other fields were integrated with the improved understanding of weightlifting technique. Knowledge of such areas of science as mechanics and motor learning were brought to bear on technique issues. For example, when an understanding of the concept of reaction time was obtained, it was realized that what a lifter is doing is not necessarily what he or she should thinking of doing when trying to employ proper technique.

Therefore, if the lifter wants to assure that the split will begin when the bar just clears the shoulders in the jerk, the athlete may have to focus on what occurs just before that happens in order to react fast enough for actual motion to begin at the correct time. If the lifter thinks of beginning the split just as he or she feels that a maximum effort has been applied to the bar in the drive (i.e., near the bottom of the dip), he or she will actually split one-fifth of a second later, about when the actual beginning of the split should take place.

Today, with sophisticated scientific equipment, we are able to provide athletes with feedback about their performance that would have been impossible to obtain only a few years ago. For instance, through the use of force plates and computer aided analysis, we are able to tell an athlete what his or her power output is during various phases of the lift, thereby helping the lifter to attain a more correct power output or to reinforce one that is already correct.

With all of the sophistication that is available in regard to weightlifting technique today and the far greater sophistication that will develop in the future, the basic need to learn the movement is still the key to becoming a weightlifter. The coach and athlete must always bear this in mind. As a consequence, the focus should always be on advising the athlete with regard to what he or she should be thinking, feeling and doing before and during the lift, as compared with describing in great detail what they are doing wrong.

Different phases of the lifts lend themselves to different approaches. Lifters can learn the starting position by thinking of how the various parts of the body feel in terms of tension and position. Since the start of the pull and the jerk are static positions, the lifter has plenty of time to assume the proper position and to assure that everything is in order. The lifter must practice this position until he or she can, at will and almost unconsciously, assume a correct starting position.

The Starting Position

The starting position was described in detail in the previous chapter, but some additional comments, which are more from the athlete’s perspective, can be given here. In the starting position of the pull, the upper arms are relaxed, and the lower arms have the tension created by the lifter’s assuming a firm grip. (Thinking of the arms as ropes that are stretched slightly taut sometimes helps the lifter to assume the correct arm position.) The elbows are positioned so that the outside point of the elbow is pointing out to the lifter’s side, and the crook (inside) of the lifter’s elbow is pointing toward the lifter’s side; the lifter can simply look at his or her arm position in order to assure that it is correct. Tension in the muscles of the mid-back pulls the shoulders back, but the shoulders are not pulled upward (are not shrugged in any way), and the chest is out (i.e., thrust forward or inflated). Tension in the lower back muscles is sufficient to hold the lower back in an arched position when the bar is separated from the platform. Many lifters find it helpful to tense and even spread the latissimus dorsi muscles of the back in preparation for the separation of the bar from the platform. Tension in these muscles, as well as some tension in the rear deltoids, helps to keep the bar close to the lifter in the early stages of the pull.

This concept of tension in muscle groups should not be misunderstood. A sprinting coach will encourage a sprinter to run at 90% speed rather than to push to 100%, because by thinking about maximum speed, the athlete will tend to “tie-up,” to tense his or her muscles to the point at which they inhibit the production of speed. Similarly, the tension that we are speaking about here is enough to hold the body links rigid but is not necessarily the maximum tension the athlete is capable of generating in that muscle group or groups.

Preparing to assume the starting position by standing at attention and then, while maintaining that positioning of the upper body, bending the legs and leaning forward with the torso to grip the bar are good ways to maintain the chest-out, flat-back position. The lifter’s balance is over the middle of the foot (helping the lifter feel weight on the heels and the toes enables the lifter to feel the middle by contrast), and the feet are flat on the floor.  When the lifter is practicing the start, the coach can assist the lifter by giving corrective instructions and (with the lifter’s consent) moving the body to the correct positions or by using the hands as a means for directing the lifter’s attention to areas that have insufficient or excessive tension.

In the starting position for the jerk, the feet are flat on the floor, the legs are straight and the legs muscles have an athletic tension; they are ready for activity and supporting the bar and body comfortably, but they are not tense. The torso is in a strictly vertical position with the spine held in as straight a position as possible (both the lumbar and thoracic arches are reduced to the greatest extent possible). There is sufficient tension in the muscles all around the torso to assure that the torso will not “give” in terms of its angle or rigidity during the dip or drive. The angle of the upper arm to the floor varies from 45 ^o to as high as 90^o. (The higher it is, the greater the security of the bar on the chest, but too high a position causes some lifters to experience a sensation of choking or lightheadedness as the bar presses on the windpipe or the blood vessels of the neck.) The arms should have just enough tension to hold the bar in the proper position, but they should not be actively pushing the bar upward off the chest. The head is tilted back slightly with the chin pulled in toward the neck (which keeps the face out of the direction of the bar’s upward path).

The Lift-Off

The muscles of the legs are used to separate the bar from the platform. To avoid a tendency to straighten the torso immediately as the bar is separated from the platform, some coaches encourage lifters to think of pushing the feet into the floor (as compared with lifting the bar). Some lifters pull nearly as hard as they can from the floor, particularly in the clean, while others rely on a more explosive effort later in the pull, but all lifters must explode during the final explosion phase. At no point in the lift is the lifter thinking of lifting the bar solely through the action of the torso. In the final explosion of the pull, the torso, legs and hips are all working together to impart force to the bar.

Ultimately the lifter pulls and then pushes the body under the bar by using his or her arms and by jumping down vigorously. At the end of the effort, as the body is preparing to receive the bar, the arms are pushing up in the snatch and jerk, and the elbows are whipping in the clean. An effort is made to tighten the torso and, to a very limited extent, the lower body. Finally, catching the muscular rebound that is generated from the downward force of the legs in receiving the bar, the lifter pushes up with the legs so that recovery from the bottom position is almost automatic and uses the elastic energy of the legs effectively.

In the jerk the lifter thinks of a natural speed dip (but of dipping as fast of possible) while maintaining solid contact with the bar; the bar must not be permitted to lose even the slightest contact with the shoulders. At the end of the dip, the lifter thinks of reversing the downward motion of the bar as rapidly and vigorously as possible. This is followed by an effort to make a sharp upward thrust and an immediate and vigorous downward movement into the squat under while pushing up hard on the arms. There is an emphasis on keeping the feet close to the platform and replacing them as quickly and vigorously as possible. Foot placement must also be correct (slightly pigeon toed, especially with the back foot), and the lifter must be careful to move the hips slightly forward from their original position (in no event should they be permitted to travel rearward). Perhaps the single most important technique issue in the jerk is the instantaneous movement from the drive into the split (thinking of jumping immediately from the low point in the dip to the split approximates to correct timing).

In all three lifts, the lifter must keep in mind two explosive efforts, one during the final explosion phase of each lift and the other in squatting under and fixing the bar. Far too many lifters simply explode to hurl the bar upward and then simply “float” under the bar. The lifter must make two explosive efforts in virtually immediate succession in order to reach his or her maximal capabilities.

Using Goals, Pictures and Feelings To Guide You

Most lifters benefit by thinking of goals rather than the specific movements of body parts (i.e., “seeing” or “feeling” the correct position as opposed to thinking that they will move their legs in a certain way). Mental pictures or projections of how a certain movement will feel are also generally more effective than thinking in words in eliciting an optimal outcome. For example, in the jerk the lifter needs to think of landing in the split with both feet turned in, the arms turned so that the crooks of the elbows are pointing toward the front of the head, and the torso vertical or leaning slightly forward and with the bar placed at or somewhat behind the rear of the head. The lifter can think of a very small number of details, but a mental picture of a position subsumes many details. Once the lifter has a picture and is failing to assume the position that is in his or her mind’s eye, the coach can explain what is not being achieved, and the lifter can focus on the overall picture as well as the detail that must be corrected. In most cases the lifter is limited to thinking of a few things: assuring a proper starting position, exploding at the proper point and catching the bar with an explosive effort. The easiest way to do that is to picture or think of the entire effort. See the body in the correct position. If some incorrect result occurs, visualize a new picture (one that is clearer, more precise or more exaggerated than the one before). One of the biggest road blocks to proper technique is failing to understand that your image and feeling of a certain position assumed are not correct. By learning to associate a new feeling and/or image with the proper technique, you can achieve correct performance and set about the process of automating that performance.

There are some generic objectives that lifters should have during each stage in the lift. During the first phase there should be a focus on developing a solid link between the bar and the platform through the body. The lifter in effect endeavors to take any “slack” out of the body’s kinetic chain. Just as a tractor trying to pull a trailer through a slack rope will waste power at best and snap the rope at worst, so the body must serve as the taut conduit through which force from the support (platform) is transmitted to the bar.

During the second stage of the pull, the lifter should try to achieve correct bar direction and generate sufficient velocity to carry the bar through the adjustment phase effectively. During the jerk it is important to achieve optimal speed (not so fast as to foster a loss of control and not so slow as to tax the leg muscles unnecessarily or lessen the elastic reaction that the muscles stretched before a contraction can deliver). In all of the lifts it is critical to maintain correct positioning of the bar in relation to the body and to maintain proper balance during the second phase. It is particularly important to keep the shoulders ahead of the bar during this phase (and the next as well). In many ways the second phase of the pull sets the stage for the rest of the lift, and errors here can have dire consequences throughout the rest of the lift.

In the execution of the third phase of the lift, the athlete should focus on correct positioning and a rapid movement into the correct execution of the fourth phase. Most coaches urge the athlete to keep the feet flat and in solid contact with the platform at this stage of the pull, but many top athletes begin to rise on the balls and toes of the feet during this stage of the pull. Correct positioning is critical for the optimal execution of the fourth phase, but, all things being equal, the shorter the duration of this phase, the smaller the loss of acceleration that the bar suffers and the more effective the elastic reaction of the muscles. It is important to make the transition from the this phase to the fourth phase of the pull as quickly as is consistent with maintaining proper positioning. Doing so will serve the dual purpose of minimizing the drop in velocity that occurs during this stage in the pull and maximizing the use of muscle elasticity in moving from the rebending to the ultimate straightening of the legs at the end of the final explosion phase of the pull.

During the fourth, or final explosion, phase, the lifter must endeavor to accelerate the movement of the bar as much as possible without remaining with the pull so long that the squat under is compromised. Many lifters find that focusing on raising the shoulders vertically and as explosively as possible helps them generate maximum power at this critical stage of the pull.

During the fifth, or unsupported squat under, phase, the athlete should be concentrating on moving through the phase at utmost speed by regaining contact with the platform as soon as possible and by interacting with the bar (pulling himself or herself under it and then pushing away from it to get the bar to arm’s length as rapidly as possible, using the bar to propel the body downward).

The focus of the sixth phase is on interacting with the bar and bringing it under control by exerting force against it to control any horizontal or downward movement. It is also important to recover from this position as quickly as is consistent with maintaining control of the bar.

“Freeing” the Mind to Lift Effectively

Before leaving the subject of what the athlete should be thinking during practice it should be noted that there has been much discussion in the scientific and popular literature in recent years about such notions as letting the “intuitive”, “right brain” and “inner” aspects of the mind direct bodily movement. The main premise behind these notions is that the body has an existing “intelligence” about movement, an intelligence that, if left undisturbed by conscious thought, would enable us to perform most new skills much more quickly and easily than we would if we had to rely on a conscious effort to master the same skills.

The advocates of this theory generally argue that animals, many of whom have highly developed and graceful movement patterns, lack the conceptual faculty of man. Therefore, they reason, such a faculty adds little or nothing to skill development. Similarly, children, they argue, are often quite adept at learning and executing certain skills, and they have limited conceptual development. In addition, top performers rarely think of specific movements of the body in carrying out their skills (perhaps, the “inner” theorists argue, that is why they are top performers). Still further, there have been stories of top athletes who have analyzed their own performances to the point where they have lost the natural rhythm that they once had and have suffered diminished performance as a result. Finally, there have been reports of coaches in various sports who have used new, intuitive and non-verbal techniques of teaching with a success rate that exceeds anything that has been achieved through more conventional methods.

An indirect argument has also been made in favor of non-conscious control of the body during practice on the basis that conscious evaluation can have a negative effect on performance. This argument essentially states that conscious thought regarding physical performance necessarily leads to self-criticism and analysis, which can contribute to a negative attitude on the part of the learner, and, hence, to poor overall learning progress.

While these arguments have some legitimacy, it is clear that at a conscious understanding of a skill is essential for truly mastering it. What is also clear is that there is an interplay between conscious and unconscious learning as one moves from awareness to mastery of a particular technique. Therefore, the athlete should practice at times with the mind focused on how one is trying to achieve something and at other times on what one is trying to achieve. If things are not going well in practice when a “how” focus is being used, it may be appropriate to switch to a “what” focus for a time and vice versa.

There are many intuitive approaches to skills development, but the essentials are to picture or feel the desired movement (and/or outcome) and then to relax the mind during the performance to permit the unconscious mind to take over and carry out the movement. This lack of conscious direction of a movement may seem hard to accomplish for a person who has been practicing conscious direction for some time. But with practice, the athlete can learn to “let go” with the conscious mind and simply let the unconscious take over. This kind of practice should be in the arsenal of every athlete and coach

A Commitment to Being Alert

A commitment on the part of the athlete to being alert when receiving the bar on the shoulders and overhead is critical to safety. Some lifters, out of fear of a heavy weight, actually execute the final explosion and then purposely blank out their minds during the squat under. The implicit belief here is: “If I just explode and go under the bar, maybe I’ll wake up again with the bar safely over my head or on my shoulders.” This is a practice that one of my early weightlifting buddies, Al Conde, used to describe as “a pull and a prayer.”

A careful distinction must be made between the blanking out above described and a fearless attitude toward attempting a heavy lift. The former is a dangerous habit, the latter is an absolutely necessary characteristic of the elite lifter. The lifter who is blanking out suspends his or her awareness of the bar until hitting his or her lowest receiving position and then, in effect, opens his or her eyes to see what has happened. The fearless weightlifter goes under the bar with the expectation that the lift will be made and with the understanding that in the blinding speed of the squat under a complete and conscious awareness of the body in relation to the bar may not be available to the lifter at all times. Consequently, the lifter must rely on learned skills and habits to move under the bar and to catch it. However, such a lifter is fully committed to being aware of the bar’s position as soon as such conscious awareness is possible and to interacting with the bar as necessary when full awareness is available. The lifter who blanks out is denying reality as long as possible. The fearless lifter’s focus is on reality, because such a lifter is confident that, whatever the situation, he or she can deal with it. The commitment to reality delivers to the lifter an awareness of the bar’s position only a split second before it is delivered to the lifter who avoids such knowledge, but in that split second resides the moment of truth for the weightlifter, the difference between success and failure, between safety and risk.

The Selection of Reps When Learning Technique

There are differences of opinion among coaches about the optimal number of reps for learning technique. Some coaches advocate the use of three to five (or more) repetitions, and others believe that singles— doubles at most—are best for learning. Scientific research and practical experience have shed significant light on this area.

Certainly there is a correlation between the number of trials an athlete completes in a certain activity and the degree of learning that the athlete experiences. Since repetitions permit more practice in a given time frame, they can therefore enhance learning within a specified practice period. In addition, learning is enhanced in an environment in which the athlete can experiment and adjust the technique used with ever greater refinement, and repetitions facilitate this process. However, it is also well known that fatigued muscles cannot perform motor skills as well as muscles that are not in such a state. Moreover, there is a difference between a miss that occurs when an athlete is fatigued, and one that occurs when the weight is too heavy. Fatigue may cause the last rep in any set to emulate a rep with a heavier weight in terms of perceived effort, but it is unlikely that exactly the same muscle fibers are being used in the same way as they would be with a heavier weight.

Given the conflicting advantages and disadvantages of higher and lower reps for the purpose of learning, a reasonable approach to the prescription of repetitions for an athlete learning an Olympic lift is to consider the load to which the lifter will be subjected. If a lifter is using a light bar to experiment with a particular aspect of technique (e.g., foot position in the split, or balance in the low position of the snatch), there is no reason why the lifter cannot perform three to five or even more reps, as long as the athlete does not feel real muscular fatigue by the last rep of set. With a heavier weight, it is important that the number of reps attempted does not result in a significantly fatigued lifter attempting another rep (and doing different things due to fatigue).

In my early days in the sport, five reps were the rage for most exercises in my gym. It was my experience, and that of most of the lifters that I observed on such a program, that maximum sets of five reps could be performed effectively only in very simple exercises (e.g., squats, good mornings and perhaps even partial pulling motions). And five repetitions were very effective in such exercises. However, where more complex movements were involved (e.g., on the snatch and C&J themselves), this number of reps was not effective, because while they may have stimulated growth in muscle strength and size, they tended to lead to a breakdown of technique arising out of fatigue.

Once the lifter has gone past the early stages of learning, with its frequent need for experimentation and correction, singles emerge as the preferred method for perfecting technique. Singles permit the load to approach maximal levels more often, levels at which the patterns of movement, tempo and force application resemble most closely those to be used in competition. Singles also permit greater precision in movement, the ultimate objective of weightlifting mastery.

In addition, sets of two to three reps with weights in the 80% to 90% range can be very effective for the practice of technique under sub-maximal conditions. When performing such sets, a lifter is handling sufficient weight to make error detection reliable but not so much weight that technique cannot remain the primary focus. Even higher reps can usefully be employed to introduce variety into workouts for warm-ups and in simpler assistance exercises (particularly when the object of performing these exercises is to stimulate muscle growth as well as strength). For example, when an athlete is performing power versions of the Olympic lifts (e.g., the power snatch and power clean, exercises described in Chapter 5), three and even as many as five reps may be employed consistently because they are simpler and involve less strenuous movements per repetition than the full versions of the Olympic lifts. However, singles should be the foundation for the advanced lifter while performing the classical exercises (the snatch and C&J), with doubles and triples being employed intermittently with sub-maximal weights.

The Selection of Weight When Learning to Lift

Weight selection is one of the most important decisions the coach or athlete can make during the learning process. The use of too little weight for too long can result in the athlete’s receiving very limited feedback on performance and in a loss of motivation, but these risks are small compared to the risks of using too much weight. When an athlete lifts too much weight too early, he or she risks outright traumatic injury. He or she also assures that technique mastery will never occur; skills cannot be learned or materially improved by beginners when they lift heavy weights. Over the long term, early application of heavy loads will lead to inconsistency, frustration and unnecessary overuse injury;  because poor technique is mechanically unsound, it subjects the body to unnecessary stress. It is almost impossible to overemphasize how important it is for beginners to train with moderate weights. To do otherwise is to virtually ruin an athlete’s career at its start.

I always begin teaching the lifter how to perform the Olympic lifts with a stick, a light (10 kg. to 15 kg. bar or a standard 20 kg. Olympic bar; weaker athletes are better off with a stick and stronger athletes with a 20 kg. bar. Some aspects of the lift will be impossible to experience with a bar or stick, but some of the basic patterns of movement can be amply modeled with minimal resistance. Once the athlete has grasped the basics of the movement with the stick or empty bar, he or she can begin to add weight gradually. The perfect weight for beginners provides the athlete with barely enough resistance to feel how the bar is responding to technique variations. If the weight is too light, the lifter cannot feel any resistance and hence any difference between the efficient and improper application of force. At the same time the weight must be light enough so that the lifter does not have to worry about whether or not he or she can make the lift. Such worries force the athlete to put technique on autopilot and hope for the best, instead of permitting the athlete to focus on the process with the assurance that success will occur automatically as long as he or she does it properly.

The correct weight is relatively easy for the experienced coach to see, but for the newer coach there a few guidelines regarding what to look for. First, the weight should not be flying forward or back with a flick of the lifter’s shoulders or arms (e.g., traveling in front of the lifter on one rep and behind on another merely because the lifter flexes the arms and/or shoulders in a certain way). Second, the lifter should not be able to perform more than five to eight reps with the weight (and the lifter should never do more than three reps with a weight that can be made for five and no more than five reps with a weight that can be made for eight when he or she is learning technique). The athlete should look nearly as fresh on the last rep of the set as the first. If there is a noticeable slowing down or declining precision with later reps in the set, the weight is too heavy for that number of reps (so either the weight or the number of reps must be reduced).

The general principle of not using a weight that causes the athlete’s technique to decline materially holds true throughout the athlete’s career. In the beginning the athlete’s technique will decline when the lifter is further from his or her maximum. A beginner’s technique may deteriorate with much more than 60% or 70% percent of maximum; an advanced lifter’s technique will not deteriorate until maximum loads are reached. In either case, attempts with weights that lead to any material decline in technique cannot be recommended and must be carefully guarded against.

The good news is that the athlete can improve his or her power with virtually any resistance in the beginning. In fact, research performed in Eastern Europe, as well as practical experience, have demonstrated the young athletes improve more rapidly using lighter loads than heavier ones. Therefore it is ridiculous to have beginners train with maximum weights. It is not until later in the lifter’s training that heavier weights are needed in order to cause the lifter to improve. Heavy weights in the beginning are both counterproductive from the standpoint of building technique and unnecessary for building strength and power.

It will generally take an athlete anywhere from several to a dozen or more workouts to exhibit basic technique in the Olympic lifts done in power style. It will take several months for the lifter to handle even close to maximum weights with sound technique and years for the lifter to handle maximum weights with little or no technique breakdown. Again, this presents no problems in terms of the athlete’s enjoying the benefits of the Olympic lifts, because improvements will come at first through handling only very modest weights (this issue is discussed further in Chapter 3).

Methods Of Identifying Technique Faults

There are two basic approaches to identifying technique faults. One method involves comparing the technique of a given athlete to some idealized model of technique and noting any differences. Implicit in this “ideal” approach is the assumption that some model or perfect technique has been identified, typically on the basis of what one or more champions or some group of accomplished lifters does when lifting. The analysis of technique presented in the previous chapter is an example of what many coaches would use as the basis for an “ideal” model of weightlifting technique. Deviations from such a model in the technique of a given lifter can be noted, and the lifter can be then be asked to reduce or eliminate those deviations.

The second basic method for identifying technique faults is more proactive in nature. It consists of identifying and examining each of the factors that affect performance in at effort to determine which factors can be changed to yield the largest improvement in results with the smallest amount of effort. For instance, you can examine the degree to which the bar descends between the final explosion of the pull and the point at which it is fixed overhead in the snatch. By reducing the amount of that descent, the lifter can reduce the height to which the bar must be pulled in order to snatch it. The distance which the bar descends during the squat under depends on a number of factors (as were illustrated in the qualitative analysis section of the previous chapter): the length of time the bar travels upward after the final explosion phase (the longer it travels upward, the longer the athlete has to move under the bar and bring it under control before the bar falls back toward the platform); the distance the lifter must travel in order to get under the bar (this is affected by the starting height of the lifter during the final explosion phase and the height of the position reached when the lifter brings the bar under control); and the speed at which the lifter travels in descending under the bar.

If the athlete can achieve greater bar velocity during the final explosion, reduce the distance which he or she must travel to get under the bar or go under the bar faster, performance can be improved. The coach and/or athlete must decide which factor(s) will be the most amenable to correction and then arrange for training interventions which will lead to the desired improvements.

This second method of identifying areas of improvement should be an ongoing process throughout a lifter’s career. It requires ingenuity on the part of the coach and daring on the part of the athlete to persist in identifying and correcting areas of improvement when others would say that your technique is already almost perfect. It also requires persistence to continually improve the consistency of technique that is already very sound. The more immediate problem for less accomplished lifters is no identify current and significant technique errors and to eradicate them. That effort will be the focus of the next several sections of this chapter.

The Kinds of Technical Mistakes that Are Made in Weightlifting

It is fairly common for books on weightlifting to have a section on the correction of technique faults. Such sections normally identify a series of faults in outcomes (e.g., “the bar is forward of the lifter during the squat under”), along with their possible causes, and recommended corrective measures. There are at least two major problems with such approaches to error correction. The first problem is that the list of faults identified and the corrective measures offered tend to be incomplete. This is because the range of possible errors is nearly infinite (there are many individual errors and many more possible combinations of errors). The second problem is that the remedies suggested are necessarily applied in a random fashion. Since the author is not in a position to evaluate a specific lifter, he or she must merely say: “The problem may be A, B or C. D and E are possible corrective measures if the cause is indeed A, but corrective measures F, G or H must be employed if the problem is B.” Naturally, such a system leads to hit or miss solutions to problems, and a great deal of time is wasted experimenting with inappropriate corrective means.

We will attempt to overcome these difficulties at least partially with a somewhat different method of fault identification and correction. The emphasis will be on the proper identification of faults and the effective analysis of their causes. Once the real cause of a given fault has been identified, developing a prescription for its correction becomes far easier and far more systematic. In this section we will first explain the basic kinds of faults that exist. The next step will be to give guidance with respect to how those faults can be uncovered. Finally, some case studies in fault correction will be provided.

Five basic kinds of errors can occur when executing the two Olympic lifts and their variations. They are errors of : a) balance; b) body positioning; c) relative muscle tension; d) timing; and e) effort. While these errors can occur at virtually any stage of a lift and in nearly any combination, almost every fault in weightlifting technique can be traced to one or more of these five basic errors. If you can learn to identify and address these mistakes, then you are well on your way to perfecting your technique or your coaching.

It must emphasized that while the errors listed above have been identified separately, they are often interrelated. For example, inappropriate tensions in various muscle groups can result in an improper sequence of muscle contractions during an explosive effort, and improper positioning can lead to improper tension. Therefore, while these faults should be viewed as separate when errors are first being identified, it is important to understand that once identification has been accomplished, the possible interrelationships between the errors (especially in terms of cause and effect) must be considered before any attempt at correction is made. If this is not done, the coach and athlete can be frustrated by efforts to correct causes that are more fundamentally effects.

Errors of Balance

Errors of balance are among the most common and serious in all of weightlifting, yet they are relatively easy to correct. Why are they so common? Perhaps it is because improper balance can be difficult to detect. Moreover, it is often difficult for the coach to explain proper balance, particularly if that coach has never experienced the sensation of a heavy lift (in relation to his or her body weight). The most common instances of this error are situations in which the athlete’s weight is centered over the wrong part of the foot.

In the pull the lifter is most often shifting his or her body backward too early (i.e., shifting the center of gravity of his or her body and the bar backward at the same time). This generally results in the lifter’s getting his or her shoulders too far behind the bar too early in the pull (thereby hampering the lifter’s ability to impart force to the bar) and/or generating excessively rearward force during the final explosion phase of the pull (which leads to the lifter’s jumping back and pulling the bar back, often to a different degree). It is possible for the lifter’s balance to be too far forward during the pull (at the early stages of the pull this is characterized by the balance being felt toward the toes rather than toward the middle or rear of the foot). This error can cause the lifter to be unable to properly apply force to the bar and/or cause the lifter to throw the bar forward unnecessarily during the final explosion phase of the pull.

In the jerk there is a tendency for the athlete transfer his or her balance toward the front of the foot during the dip. This will hamper the athlete’s ability to impart force to the bar, make it more difficult for the athlete to split forward under the bar enough to support it overhead and cause the force generated during the explosion phase to be forward as well as upward. Improper balance in the split undermines the lifter’s ability to control the bar and can place undue stress on the front of the back leg (depending on the direction in which the balance is misdirected).

It will take careful observation to uncover minor errors in balance. Major errors are telegraphed during the pull by the positioning of the athlete’s shoulders relative to the bar, particularly when the bar reaches the height of the knees. If the shoulders are behind the bar at this point, there is most assuredly a balance error; there can be a problem even when the shoulders are directly over the bar. Input from the lifter can be very helpful because he or she can feel his or her balance.

While a thorough discussion of balance problems could itself require at least a chapter of a book to discuss, the main point for the beginning coach and lifter is to understand where the balance should be at each stage of the lift (based on the technical descriptions that were provided in the prior chapter) and to check that aspect of technique on a regular basis. If the lifter’s balance is improper, it will difficult for that lifter to do anything else very well.

Errors in Body Positioning

Errors in body positioning often appear in concert with errors in balance, but they can be rather independent of balance issues as well. Errors in positioning the body prevent it from exerting maximal force. Often an error in positioning can make the bar feel lighter at a certain stage of the lift, which is one reason why lifters so frequently assume an improper position. The problem arises when the lifter proceeds to a subsequent position in the lift. The very position which has made a preceding stage in the lift easier has compromised the athlete’s position in a subsequent and more crucial stage in the lift. Common errors in positioning are: permitting the shoulders to travel behind the bar at too early a stage in the pull (i.e., before the later portions of the final acceleration stage); raising the torso or hips prematurely during the pull; and not assuming a sufficiently upright position during the squat under to receive the force of a heavy weight.

In order to diagnose errors in positioning, the coach will want to compare the athlete’s positions throughout the lift to some model of a lifter who is performing correctly. The analysis of technique presented in the previous chapter provides ranges of positioning that have been employed successfully by high level athletes.

Errors in Tension

In order to perform a correct lift, the tension in each muscle group must be optimal at each stage in the lift. Any unnecessary tension can hamper the application of force, place the bar and body in an improper relation to one another or greatly inhibit the athlete’s speed. Errors in tension are among the most intractable. Until a lifter grasps a virtually new concept of the kind of force that he or she must apply, the correct approach often cannot be achieved. For example, if the athlete “sees” the power clean as an exercise in which the bar is lifted to the shoulders using the arms, at least in part, he or she is likely to use the arms improperly. If, in contrast, the lifter understands that he or she is really throwing the bar vertically into the air, using the legs and back and then catching it on the shoulders, the likelihood of using the arms improperly is diminished.

Premature contraction of the upper trapezius muscle and the biceps are among the most common errors of this kind during the second through fourth stages of the pull. Premature contraction of the upper trapezius muscles will reduce the effectiveness of the athlete’s final explosion. In contrast, a lack of sufficient tension in the back muscles will express itself as an inability to hold the torso rigid during the pull.

During the latter part of the squat under, unnecessary tension in the biceps can hamper proper elbow  positioning in the clean. Undue tension in the legs during any part of the squat under can slow the athlete’s descent under the bar in any of the lifts.

In weightlifting, as is so many other sports, the most problems result from excessive rather than inadequate tension. I often hear coaches exhorting their lifters to be tight during some phase of the lift. While there are certainly some lifters who compromise their positioning as a result of inadequate tension, the far more likely result of such as exhortation will be for the athlete to create unnecessary tension in his or her muscles, compromising their ability to explode effectively later in the pull.

The primary area in which tension is required in weightlifting during the first four stages of the lift is the torso (the rear torso, except the upper trapezius muscles, during the pull and virtually the entire torso in the jerk). The torso transmits power from the legs during the early stages of the lift. If it “gives” during the application of force, that force application will be compromised.

During the squat under phases of lifting, tension in the arms and torso is necessary in order to control the bar. In the snatch and jerk the athlete should be pushing out with the arms and pulling inward on the shoulder blades while pulling outward slightly on the bar (as if to stretch it). There should not be unnecessary tension in the shoulders or any effort to shrug the shoulders up. In the snatch, the clean and the jerk, the athlete should be endeavoring to puff the chest out. In the clean the focus is on driving the elbows up as well. The legs are always acting as shock absorbers, so they should not be consciously tightened to receive the bar.

None of the preceding discussion should be interpreted to mean that tension is not or should not be generated by muscles during the lifts. The legs, for example, are contracting vigorously during most of the lift. But the lifter is not trying to generate tension per se. He or she is attempting to generate an explosive effort (which will necessarily lead to an appropriate level of tension in the muscles that are needed in order to generate the explosive effort that is required).

Errors in Timing

It has often been said that “timing is everything in life.” While that is not entirely true in weightlifting, or in life, timing is extremely important in both. You can have all of the explosive power and correct body positioning that is required to perform a given lift, but if your timing is off, your performance will suffer significantly.

Perhaps the most common timing error is weightlifting is premature straightening of the torso during the pull. This error is caused primarily by the athlete’s anticipating the next stage of the lift. It also occurs because the lifter’s back is weak relative to his or her legs, so he or she straightens the torso because it feels less strain in a more upright position. To correct the former problem the lifter needs to focus on performing each stage of the lift in its entirety without rushing on to a subsequent phase. To correct the latter problem, the lifter needs to increase his or her strength in the lagging area.

The opposite side of the coin from the lifter who rushes through a sequence is the lifter who hangs up in a sequence, devoting too much time to a certain phase. This is particularly common in lifters who are relatively poor in a particular lift or a portion thereof. Because the lifter feels inadequate in part or all of the lift, he or she tries to correct any perceived problem by an effort to apply force to the bar for a longer period. For instance, poor jerkers tend to drive the bar longer during the explosion phase than good jerkers. Such a lifter is attempting to correct a perceived problem of not driving the bar high enough when the actual problem is that the lifter is not able to assume a solid position for receiving the bar because he or she has insufficient time to get into the split once the drive has been completed. Such a lifter needs to emphasize rearranging the feet rapidly and replacing them vigorously during the squat under phase of the jerk rather than remaining with the drive phase for a longer period of time.

Another common example of this error occurs in new lifters who are learning to power clean or power snatch. An athlete performing a power clean often believes that he or she needs to pull the bar all the way up to the shoulders. The only way to do that is to keep pulling with body and arms right up to the point at which the bar is racked on the shoulders. An effort to pull the bar up to the shoulders will result in the lifter’s catching the bar in a poor position because the athlete had no time to assume a correct one. The classic case is when the lifter catches the bar while leaning back with the torso and with the legs nearly straight. What has happened here is that the lifter has had virtually no time between completing the final explosion phase of the pull and catching the bar on the shoulders. The torso has not had time to return from a position in which it was leaning back slightly (at the completion of the explosion phase), and the legs have not had an opportunity to rebend properly. By pulling too long, the lifter has added a small amount of additional force to the bar during the final explosion phase, in return for which he or she has given up much of his or her ability to impart force to the bar during the supported squat under phase and the time necessary to assume an effective position in the squat under. What has been gained is less than what has been lost. The result is that the lifter lifts less and places himself or herself at greater risk or injury. Perhaps the surest indicator of a failure to move under the bar soon enough or quickly enough is a lack of speed or sponginess in the lifter’s lockout in the snatch and jerk and a tendency for the bar to “crash” on the lifter during the clean.

Errors in Effort

Failure to apply maximum effort at the appropriate point in a lift will lead to less than optimal use of the power that an athlete can generate. On the other hand, application of maximal effort at the wrong stage in the lift will tend to compromise the application of maximal effort at a subsequent stage. It is indispensable for a lifter to explode as powerfully as possible during the final explosion phase of a lift. Such an effort will impart maximum force to the bar, causing it to reach the height necessary to execute the lift and giving the lifter time to move under the bar and catch it. Many lifters can lift effectively without generating a great deal of effort during the other stages in the lift, but maximum effort during the final explosion is a necessity for high performance.

In contrast, the lifter who concentrates on creating loud stamping noises with his or her feet by jumping into the air at the end of the lift and stamping his or her feet down when landing in the split or squat, rather than moving his or her feet immediately and vigorously into a correct position for receiving the bar, is likely to jar unnecessarily the body and ultimately the bar. Alternatively, the force that is created when the lifter contacts the platform will be dissipated through the lifter’s body rather than being transmitted into the bar.

Analyzing Human Motion With Limited Scientific Training and Equipment

Many experienced coaches simply observe an athlete, sense what is going wrong and offer some corrective advice, all without a conscious and detailed analysis of what the athlete is doing. The advantage of such an approach is that it is simple and often effective. However, when a problem is relatively subtle, or the typical advice of the coach does not result in a correction, the intuitive method breaks down. For newer coaches and for problems that are difficult for even experienced coaches to solve, there are several techniques that can be used to systematically analyze an athlete’s technique and to explain that analysis to the athlete. The first and simplest technique described in this section is the development of the coach’s powers of observation. The other techniques described do not require specialized scientific equipment or skills but do require some extra effort on the part of the coach.

Evaluating Performance Effectively by Using the Sense Organs

When observing the performance of an athlete for purposes of evaluating the athlete’s technical mastery, it is important to establish the appropriate conditions for observation. The athlete should warm up fully, and then the observer should watch as many as fifteen to twenty trials (accomplished in sets of one to three repetitions), taking notes but making no comments. Generally, a 45^o angle from the front or back affords the most favorable view of the largest number of technical factors. Many sports analysts prefer a 90^o angle, but in weightlifting such an angle, while useful in a number of ways, allows the plates on the bar to block the observer’s view. The further away the observer is from the lifter (to a point), the better the opportunity the observer has to look at the entire athlete-barbell system. Most coaches have a tendency to get too close to the athlete (i.e., a few feet away). There is nothing wrong with this method if only one aspect of technique is being focused on, but for a more general view of technique a distance of several yards is much better.

After a general observation of a few trials has taken place, the observer will want to focus on one or more areas that appear to need attention. Once this decision has been made, a suitable vantage point should be selected. Such a vantage point must afford an unobstructed view of the aspect of movement that is to be studied. In addition, if at all possible, it is very helpful to assure that a proper background is in place (i.e., one that provides a reference against which performance can be compared). For example, if the observer wishes to study the shape of the bar’s trajectory for a given lifter during the snatch, a background that has some vertical lines to which the movement of the bar can be compared is invaluable. Similarly, when studying foot movement in the split, it is very useful to have straight lines drawn on the platform, some parallel and others at right angles to the lifter’s feet when they are in the split position.

In addition to having points of reference below or beside the lifter, the use by the observer of a mask or other object that restricts the visual field to the area of the lifter or bar in question may be of help. With very fast movements, closing the eyes quickly at the moment of interest can help to preserve the desired image.

A chalk mark on the lifter’s uniform from contact with the bar, the development of the lifter’s muscles and wear on the lifter’s uniform or shoes can also provide some evidence of technique factors that may be at work (although such evidence should be confirmed more directly before any advice is given to the lifter with respect to technique). Audible information can and should be used to evaluate technique as well. Certain aspects of lifting technique can be analyzed very well by using such information. For example, if the lifter makes virtually no sound with the feet while lifting, this suggests, but does not prove, that the athlete’s foot movement is not vigorous enough when the squat under phase of the lift is being performed. There is a distinct temporal relationship between the hip or thigh contact that occurs during the lifter’s pull and the sound of the feet landing on the platform; if these sounds are placed too far apart, the lifter is probably staying with the bar too long in the extended position of the pull.

Even tactile evidence (e.g., feeling the tension in a given muscle during the lift) can be useful for the coach. Unfortunately, such a hands on approach usually gets in the way of the lift and can be a distraction to the lifter (it can also be interpreted in the wrong way by the athlete). Therefore, it is almost never appropriate to touch an athlete during the execution of a lift (except when an athlete is being guided through a partial lift by the coach—a method called “guided movement,” which is discussed later in this chapter). However, a proxy for feeling tension is to have the lifter bare the body part in question so that muscular tension can be observed. Alternatively, immediately prior to a lift the coach can touch the muscle (or muscle group) that he or she wants the athlete to focus on contracting. Finally, the observer should seek information from the athlete about such issues as what the athlete is thinking and feeling during the performance of the lift.

On the basis of all of the data so gathered, the coach can then begin to make recommendations for the lifter. Naturally, this process applies primarily to the lifter and coach who are new to one another. Where this is not the case, many of the steps can be bypassed because the coach can merely compare what the lifter was doing when her or she was performing well to the current technique. However, even when the coach and lifter are well acquainted, going through the process described above on occasion can yield some valuable insights since familiarity can make things a little too comfortable for the coach and athlete and hinder the observation of the obvious.

Evaluating Performance Through the Use of a Movie or Video Camera

With the advent of high quality video cameras at reasonable cost, relatively sophisticated methods of technique analysis are available to the average trainee. Dr. John Garhammer, a professor of biomechanics at California State University, a veteran weightlifter and coach and someone who has probably done more biomechanical analysis of weightlifting than any other person in the United States explained how simple video analysis of technique could be performed most effectively in , International Olympic Lifter (IOL) magazine several years ago. 

Garhammer recommends that the video camera be placed to the side of the platform at its center (front to back). The camera is set at the height of the average lifter’s waist and placed on a tripod (it should remain in the same position throughout the filming session). The camera is adjusted so that the screen displays the lifter’s feet and the bar at its highest point overhead. This is the optimal position for analyzing bar trajectories and other aspects of bar movement that will be very useful for many coaches. The camera should be level and pointing straight toward the platform from its position and clearly focused.

It is then recommended that a measuring device like a yardstick be held in both horizontal and vertical positions at waist height above the bar (presumably when the bar is at the center of the platform). This assists the analyst in getting a spatial sense of what is going on with the movement of the bar and lifter. Garhammer points out that if the photographer fails to do this, the plates of the bar, the largest of which measure 45 cm in diameter, can always be used to provide a spatial perspective. Recording speed should always be the one that permits the clearest slow and freeze frame analysis. A log of each lift should be kept (lifter and weight). Once the filming has taken place, the coach is prepared to perform an analysis.

The coach or athlete should compare the perspective of the monitor with that which was captured during the event. For example, if the plates measure 4.5″ on the monitor, the analyst knows that 1″ equals 10 cm (because the diameter of the plates is 45 cm). Tracing paper or plastic wrap can then be placed over the monitor and taped in place. After that, you can move the film frame by frame through the lift, placing a dot on the plastic or paper at each point of the body or bar on the screen. When tracing the movement of the bar, Garhammer recommends that the dot be placed at the center of the plates, not the end of the bar. It is also a good idea to trace around some fixed object in the background at the beginning of the analysis to assure that the each frame of the picture is placed at the same point on the screen. If you are careful to note the speed at which you are filming (30 frames per second is common), you will be able to calculate the speed at which the bar is moving during the lifts filmed.

The method suggested by Dr. Garhammer is very robust in that a significant amount of analysis can be performed with this arrangement of equipment. For example, a given lift can be played back one frame at a time with tracing paper placed over the monitor screen. During the first playback sequence the trajectory of the bar can be drawn on the tracing paper. During the second playback the position of the bar at various points in the pull can be noted on the tracing paper, such as the position of the bar at lift off and at knee level. Then, during the third playback, the number of frames between the two positions can be recorded and the duration of the pull can be calculated (e.g., if the camera speed was 30 frames per second and 15 frames were used, then .5 seconds elapsed). Finally, bar velocity can actually be calculated by measuring the distance the bar has traveled in a given interval (if a yardstick had been placed in the background before the filming it would be possible to determine that the bar moved at a rate of 9 inches in .5 seconds, or at a rate of 18 inches per second). Still further analysis is possible if one uses a little ingenuity (e.g., calculating the maximum bar velocity).

The coach will find that other methods of video analysis can be useful. This is because there are limitations to the side angle of filming. As noted above, such a perspective is critical for the measurement of bar trajectories and other quantitative aspects of lifting performance, but it places some limits on the coach. The plates block the camera from observing a number of important aspects of the athlete’s movement. In addition, even if the plates and bar were invisible, certain aspects of the lifter’s movement would not be well observed from the side. One example would be the opposite side of the lifter’s body, and another would be whether both arms were locked. Therefore, the best overall angle for the coach who is filming, as well as merely observing the athlete is at a 45^o angle from the front or back of the lifter. However, there is no one position that can give the coach a perfect view of every aspect of the lifter. Therefore, points of observation and filming should be established in the context of the purpose of the analysis. Clearly, if the movement of the lifter’s body is the most important consideration, then any obstruction of the view of the body by the plates should be avoided. If the coach wants to see such things as whether the bar is level or the arms straight the lift must be observed from the front or back.

Some years ago analysts in the former Soviet Union began performing multi-camera analyses of the same lift (the lifter was simultaneously filmed by cameras placed at different positions, so that the lift could be evaluated from several perspectives). Using the multi-camera method, these analysts were able to determine that the bar trajectory for the same lifter could be significantly different depending on the side from which it was viewed. When a significant difference of this kind is noted, it is typically in the athlete who twists or turns during the lift.

In recent years, with the assistance of the biomechanics staff of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USAW have cooperated to do some interesting work in the area of multi-camera, force-plate assisted, computer aided lifting analysis. Lifters were simultaneously filmed with three cameras while a force plate under the platform was used to measure the force that the lifter was applying to the bar during the course of the lift. A vast amount of information was collected with respect to the lifter’s body positions, the trajectory of the bar and the forces involved at various points in the lift. This kind of research will undoubtedly add important new dimensions to our understanding of technique.

For those who do not have such sophisticated technology available to them, the simple one-camera kind of analysis explained above will help athletes and coaches immeasurably in the process of acquiring lifting mastery.

A very recent advance in analytical technology for weightlifting has been the development of the V-Scope by an Israeli firm. Using a PC, the V-Scope can numerically analyze and graphically plot (to a screen or printer) bar trajectories, bar velocities and bar acceleration patterns. At a cost of approximately $15,000 (including the computer) at the time this is being written, the V-Scope cannot be characterized as highly affordable. However, it does represent perhaps the first computer application designed specifically for the analysis of weightlifting. No doubt the capabilities of the V-Scope and other analytical tools will improve in time, and the costs of these tools will fall. We are not far from the day when quantitative analysis will no longer be available only to the sports scientist.

The approaches to perfecting technique are limited only by your imagination. The only commandment in this regard is to constantly seek improvement in some respect.

Simple Techniques of Mechanical Analysis

Methods of analyzing technique are generally placed in one of two categories: qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative analysis is based on simple observation of performance, whereas quantitative analysis is based on measurements recorded during the performance. Experts in biomechanics who have sophisticated tools at their disposal can perform wonderfully interesting quantitative technique analyses. But an athlete and/or coach using a pencil and paper can analyze from a qualitative standpoint a number of key aspects of technique which can lead to significant performance improvements.

In one such approach a mechanical model of performance factors is constructed. In essence, the model diagrams the major factors which can affect performance and their interrelationships. In the model, boxes contain the factors identified. The position of those boxes in the diagram and lines drawn between the boxes portray the various interrelationships among the factors. Factors over which the performer has little or no control are generally ignored (e.g., in weightlifting, air resistance has an effect on the lifter’s speed in the squat under, but that effect is very minor and virtually impossible to affect significantly, so it is not even depicted). A complete list of the ways in which performance can be enhanced via improvements in appropriate factors is thus created. The advantages of this kind of mechanical modeling method are that it is comprehensive and systematic and does not rely fundamentally on an ideal form (although some aspects of existing technical methods may be implicit in certain portions of the analysis).

In building the model that is the basis for this kind of qualitative analysis, the coach must first identify the desired result (in the case of weightlifting, lifting a weight in a certain way). Next, the factors that produce the desired result are identified and placed underneath the desired result. If possible, factors should be mechanical quantities (velocities, masses, etc.). Beneath those direct factors should be the factors that influence them. Each factor should be determined completely by factors linked to it from below. As an example, I am providing an analysis of the jerk (the analysis can be created for the snatch and clean with minor adjustments—see Fig. 14 on the next page).

Once the diagramming process has been completed, the coach should find boxes at the ends of various paths. Circles should be drawn around end boxes for each factor, and a line should be drawn through the factors over which the performer has little or no control or which are negligible. (For example, the weightlifter has no control over the force of gravity at any given point on earth and although air resistance has an effect on the lifter’s ability to squat under the bar, it is so minor and so difficult to affect as to be considered negligible.) Finally, the coach should examine the remaining boxes and note ways in which performance can be improved by improving the performance of these factors.

Generally, in these kinds of diagrams, relationships between factors which are at the same level are not shown. Consequently, while forces exerted by muscles crossing at various points are related with each other, no effort is made to indicate the relationship between these factors in the model (but it is important to remember they exist and can be important).

The Construction of a Free Body Diagram

There will be times where the coach or athlete will want and need to systematically analyze the key forces that are acting on the lifter and/or the bar during a given segment of a lift. A free body diagram is a very useful tool for such an analysis of human motion. It is created by drawing a simple sketch of the body as if it were totally removed from its surroundings. The next step is to sketch arrows that represent all of the external forces acting on the body, including the weight of the athlete’s body acting down through the athlete’s center of gravity and the various reaction forces acting through the body’s points of contact with other bodies. It is often helpful to represent one or more forces as components rather than as a single force. Curved arrows are used to show external torques on the body at points where contact is made with other bodies. If you are unsure whether a torque is actually applied at that point, it is a good practice to draw in the curve and then see whether is actually has a value later. The final step is to label all arrows with the forces that are applied there (if those forces are known). A simple example appears in Fig. 13

The details of constructing such a diagram are beyond the scope of this book, but the example provided above (which depicts a lifter at the start of the jerk) should give you an idea of how one is constructed. For more information consult Anatomy, Biomechanics and Human Motion by J. Hay, (see the Bibliography).

How To Correct Technique Problems

The Technique of Teaching the Lifts by the Progressive Elimination of Faults

Since it is well established that athletes who are learning how to perform an activity (or learning anything) cannot focus on too many items at once, my approach to teaching technique (once the basic movement has been learned) has always been to target one or two faults and to work on those faults until they are eliminated. Naturally, in order for this approach to be effective, one must identify the most fundamental and significant faults and then communicate those faults to the lifter, along with suggestions about how the errors can be corrected.

I have often been approached by one of my lifters with a question like: “Joe Quads just told me that my head is in the wrong position in the jerk; if that’s true, shouldn’t I be correcting that fault?” My answer is usually something like: “You do have your head too far down, but you are also dipping forward, your dip is too fast and your back foot is positioned improperly and your elbows should be turned out more.”  The lifter is usually shocked at this point because at that point the only faults that I have emphasized are the fast dip and the dipping forward. Once the lifter recovers his or her composure, he or she usually asks: “Why haven’t we been working on all of that?” My answer is that the lifter can only concentrate on a limited number of items at one time, so we cannot emphasize all of them at the same time. Moreover, some of the faults that a lifter exhibits are effects and not causes. I have tried to select the most fundamental of the errors to be corrected, so that if they are corrected some other problems will be eliminated as well.

How can the process of correcting faults be properly prioritized? There are several guidelines. First, safety always comes first. If a fault presents a direct danger to the lifter, it must be corrected immediately, to the exclusion of all other faults. For example, if a lifter is bouncing the elbows off the knees when he or she squat cleans, there is a danger that lifter will damage his or her wrists. Either the fault must be corrected immediately (if the lifter’s flexibility permits), or the lifter cannot be permitted to squat clean.

A second factor that needs to be considered is the severity of each fault. Severity is a function of two qualities. One is the extent to which the pattern observed deviates from the desired one. The second quality is the amount of damage the fault is causing. For example, a lifter may be dropping his or her elbows rather significantly during the dip for the jerk. The amount of this drop might clearly identify the action as a significant mistake. However, the lifter is dipping in a very upright position, the bar is well back on the lifter’s shoulders and the hands and wrists are supporting the bar only moderately, so there is no movement in the bar when the elbows are lowered. Therefore, the fault represents a significant difference from the desired pattern, but in the context of the lifter’s overall technique, it is not causing any serious harm at this time. Consequently, the fault should be corrected, but it can be to be placed fairly low on the list of priorities if other more significant faults have been identified as well.

Another consideration is when in the sequence of the performance of a lift a given fault appears. Faults that appear at earlier stages of the lift are obviously in a position to cause subsequent faults. Therefore, when two faults appear to be of equal severity and importance, it is generally appropriate to correct the earlier one first.

The last and least important consideration of the prioritization process is the ease with which a fault can be corrected. This can often be learned by having the athlete attempt to correct the mistake. If it appears that the correction will occur quickly, it may be worthwhile to focus on such a fault in order to eliminate it from the list (assuming that the previously mentioned prioritization standards have been applied and two or more errors are thought to be of equal importance on the basis of these standards). An added advantage of this approach is that the correction of such a fault will also tend to enhance a lifter’s confidence that other faults can be corrected as well.

Communicating About Faults

Once technique faults or areas of potential improvement have been identified and a determination of which areas need to be attacked first has been made, the task of the coach is to talk about the areas which need improvement so that the athlete has a thorough understanding of what needs to be done in order to improve.

Language is an amazingly powerful means of communication. However, when it comes to using language to communicate about matters of physical movement, only certain specialists who are highly trained in biomechanics are able to communicate with any real degree of precision by using language alone (and then only with one who is similarly trained). To maximize the communicative power of language, the coach should talk about the full range of technique factors (body positioning, the tensions of various muscles, balance, timing, degree of effort and overall feel). Obviously, all of these factors should not be discussed at the same time, to avoid overloading the lifter, but they demonstrate the range of factors that can and should be communicated verbally tot he lifter to assure that all elements of technique are covered at one time or another and to increase the likelihood that good technique will be understood.

In utilizing verbal communication, you can try to convey information with an instructions such as, “keep the body erect as you dip for the jerk.” or with a question such as, “how can you maintain your balance most effectively during the dip for the jerk?” The first approach tends to be more effective for athletes and the second tends to be more effective for coaches, but either approach can help both the athlete and coach improve his or her understanding. Another alternative to stating “keep body erect” is to have the athlete focus on something that will cause the body to assume and maintain an erect position (e.g., “drive the head up”).

When training athletes, especially beginners, it is often useful, even crucial, to supplement language with visual means of communication, such as demonstrations. Demonstrations must be carefully performed, because the uninitiated may find it hard to derive much in terms of understanding by merely observing a complex motion. The demonstrator should direct the attention of the observer so that the observer is focused on the appropriate aspect of the activity. Special care should be taken to assure that the observer is not focusing on the results of the motion to the exclusion of the motion itself.

Guided movement can be useful in certain circumstances. With guided movement, the coach places his or hands on the bar or the lifter’s body to move the lifter through the correct pattern of movement. For instance, if the coach is trying to teach the lifter to pull the bar closer to the body during the second phase of the pull, the coach might have a person stationed on either side of the bar to push the bar toward the lifter during the second phase of the pull. (Naturally, the lifter would only be executing the first and second stages of the pull during this kind of teaching phase, not the full lift). Another example would be one in which the coach stands to the rear of the lifter, placing one hand between the lifter’s neck and shoulder on one side and the other hand on the lifter’s belt. The coach would then have the lifter execute the first four stages of the pull very slowly. During the lift the coach would use upward and backward pressure of the upper hand combined with forward pressure on the lower hand (the hand on the lower back) to assure that the lifter is using the leg and back muscles in proper sequence and amplitude during the pull. Still another example would be the coach’s moving the arms to an appropriate position while the athlete is supporting the bar on the shoulders or overhead after a lift. Naturally, very light weights are used during these demonstrations, and guided movement should not be used while the lifter is actually performing a lift under his or her normal power (a serious injury could result from such an action).

A model of an athlete’s body can be employed to explain various aspects of technique to athlete or coach. A complex model has the advantage of being able to duplicate virtually any aspect of human movement. However, a simple model that resembles a stick figure can be used to demonstrate many concepts of technique and has the advantage of helping the athlete to focus on only very limited aspects of technique at one time. Coaches can construct a simple model of the lower leg, the upper leg, the torso and the head with four pieces of cardboard and three brass fasteners available in any stationary store. Such a model can be used to demonstrate to the lifter the relative positions of the legs torso and head during nearly any phase of the lift. While such a model permits analysis and demonstration only from the side view of the lifter, it can be very useful in the majority of coaching situations.

It is critical to remember that the volume and nature of any information that is communicated to the athlete cannot exceed the level and rate of the lifter’s comprehension. It is important to focus on one or two points at a time (or figure out a way to convey more than one point with a single statement). If a slower than normal speed is being used to demonstrate a point, the lifter should return to a normal tempo as quickly as possible.

After explanation, demonstration and/or actual trials efforts (whether guided or not), the coach should check the athlete’s understanding of various technique concepts with questions and observations of the athlete’s attempts to implement what has been communicated.

If It Doesn’t Work, Try Something Different

When you’ve been to as many weightlifting meets as I have, you tend to see many of the same coaches and athletes in action over and over again. To me, one of the most surprising things that one learns from these continued observations is how often the same athletes and coaches make the same mistakes over and over again, particularly in the area of technique. In fact, in some cases, I have heard the same coach saying the same thing to the same athlete over a period of decades, with the same lack of effect.

For example, the coach might say, “keep it close.”  The lifter will then proceed to pull the bar several inches away from the body, miss the lift and shake his head in resignation. The coach will then describe the fault in an animated fashion, coupled with a frustration that borders on disgust. Then the lifter and coach will reconcile, and the process will begin anew, a continual cycle of failure.

Why are faults often not corrected by shouting the same commands over and over again (even if they are seemingly correct)? The problem is at least partially one of language. We all learn language in a specific context. The concept “dog” is pretty clear to most of us. However, you learned the word dog from Spot (a Dalmatian) and Rover (a Labrador), and I learned it from Spike (a bulldog) and Rex (a German Shepherd). Therefore, when you think of dog, you see Spot and Rover in your mind’s eye while I see Spike and Rex in mine. Similarly, when a coach says “step through” as an athlete is getting ready to split for a jerk, the coach may be seeing the back foot land a split second before the front foot and driving the body forward under the bar. In contrast, the lifter may be visualizing the process of rushing through a door while leaning forward to get the head through first. Obviously, this difference in meaning will result in frustration for both parties. The coach will not understand why the athlete is not stepping through properly, and the lifter will not understand why the coach is not happy with what he or she is doing.

Not surprisingly, the only way to break a cycle of failure is to try something new. There are several effective approaches to this, but they all have a common goal: to change the athlete’s concept of the correct technique. If an athlete “sees” a clean as a motion in which the arms help to lift the bar up to the chest, he or she will tend to bend the arms to accomplish the desired motion. Sometimes a lifter will consciously accept the notion that a clean is a powerful shrugging and jumping motion, followed by an explosive combination motion of pulling of the body under the bar and jumping down into the squat. Nevertheless, when the pressure is on, the lifter will instinctively (i.e., subconsciously) lift and pull with the arms. It is very difficult to keep the lifter from pulling with the arms by saying, “don’t pull with the arms.” It is like telling a person “don’t think of pink elephants.”  Just telling someone not to think of a pink elephant causes most people to do it. Therefore, the lifter must think of what to do. The concept of what the lifter is to do must be inculcated at the very deepest levels. The more clearly a lifter grasps the concept, the more likely it is that he or she will be able to execute the desired movement properly. If the lifter can understand the concept on a verbal level, can visualize the correct performance and can hear the correct tempo, he or she has a far better chance of executing the proper motion than if he or she has simply been told what to do.

Regardless of the specific methods that are used to educate the lifter, the real issue is having the lifter understand what is being done and why, not just on an intellectual level but on experiential one. The athlete must ultimately feel what it is like to do the movement correctly. More than that, the athlete must understand on a feeling level why the “correct” technique is really more effective. He or she must feel that the bar is going higher, or that it is going straighter, faster etc., before the new technique will be fully accepted and used. It is only at this point that the lifter can begin to work on the long term and challenging task of automating the movement he or she has learned.

Examples Of Specific Errors And Methods For Correcting Them

The human genius for solving problems is virtually limitless, as is evidenced by the phenomenal achievements that have been made by humankind through the course of history. However, the ingenuity that humans exhibit in finding ways to commit performance faults is also quite impressive. Athletes are no exception. They discover myriad ways to make mistakes when they perform. Often, when I think I have seen all the technical errors that a weightlifter can make, some athlete is gracious enough to put me in my place by committing an error I would have never dreamed possible.

Despite the variety of errors that athletes make, certain mistakes occur most often in weightlifting. I have chosen several of these for the purpose of illustrating the process of error correction. An entire book could certainly be written on the subject, and perhaps someday one will. The purpose of this section is to provide the coach and athlete with some examples of how the error correction process can be developed. Armed with the basic principles outlined in this chapter and some sense of how to apply those principles in the real world the athlete and coach should be able to correct most of the errors that they encounter.

The Lifter Who Drives the Bar Forward in the Jerk

It is not at all uncommon for a lifter to get into the habit of driving the bar forward during the explosion phase of the jerk, instead of in a completely vertical fashion. There are several factors that can create a tendency for the lifter to drive the bar forward. First, in the act of dipping, because the knees move forward as the dip progresses, the combined center of gravity of the bar and body shifts forward. This forward shift in the balance of the body can be continued or can worsen during the drive.

A second problem is that many lifters (especially those who tend to position the bar too far forward when they are in the split position) think about assuring that the head, torso and front leg are placed ahead of the bar as it goes overhead. Since these lifters tend to end up with their torsos and hips behind the bar and/or with the arms slightly bent when they attempt to catch the bar in the split, they worry about getting into the split quickly and consequently begin a forward movement of their bodies as they are coming out of the dip. This forward movement of the body drives the bar forward by adding a horizontal component to the drive for the jerk (instead of there being solely a vertical component). The result is that the lifter feels that the bar is too far in front of the balance point and redoubles his or her effort at getting forward and under the bar early, which leads to a still earlier and more vigorous forward drive. Naturally, a vicious circle is created , one out of which many lifters never escape. This tendency can be eliminated by having the lifter think of the dip and split as two separate movements that occur in immediate sequence (a straight dip and drive followed by a quick downward and only slightly forward motion into the split) or merely by having the lifter think of driving the bar straight up (or even backward) during the explosion phase. It also important for the lifter to understand that the problem is in the dip and not the split. A vertical dip and drive will help to assure correct positioning in the split.

Still another cause of a forward drive is that the lifter descends to a position in the dip that is too low for the flexibility that the lifter has in the Achilles tendon (the tendon at the rear of the ankle) and/or the strength of his or her quadriceps (frontal thigh) muscles. If the dip is too deep for the Achilles tendons to handle, the lifter will tend to rise on the toes and/or lose his or her balance forward. If the legs are not strong enough to handle the depth of the dip, the legs may actually give way, causing a loss of balance forward. The means for correcting this error are to have the lifter shorten the depth of the dip and/or change the position of the feet and/or knees so that the legs are traveling in an outward as well as downward direction. For example, if the lifter stands with the feet in a parallel position in preparation for the drive, the probability of a loss of balance is greater than if the lifter turns the toes out somewhat and the knees are made to travel both forward and sideways over the feet. Similarly, if the lifter lets the knees travel slightly to the sides as well as forward, the dip will tend to be straighter; too much sideways motion can lead to knee strain, so it is unwise for most lifters to permit the outside of the knee travel sideways beyond the outside of the foot.

Another mechanism for correcting this fault is to have the lifter consciously shift his or her weight toward the heels prior to the commencement of the dip. This action reduces the likelihood of a forward dip and gives the lifter a margin for error; a slight forward movement will not hurt the jerk as much if the lifter began the dip a little to the rear of center. Still another means for dealing with this fault is to have the lifter perform one or two “practice” dips with no movement into the fifth and sixth phases of the jerk. These practice dips give the athlete an opportunity to concentrate on a straight dip and to receive immediate feedback from the coach on that single aspect of the jerk. When the athlete has performed one or two correct practice dips in several sets, he or she can move into a jerk on the next rep (assuming he or she has warmed up first). Doing so carries over what has been learned immediately into the jerk. Over time, the practice dips can be phased out.

Bending the Arms Excessively While Pulling

It is almost an article of faith among lifting technicians that bending the arms in the pull is an error. Countless words of lifting analysis have centered around this point, and the example given is often one of a lesser lifter with the arms bent, with the author ascribing at least a portion of the lifter’s ineptitude to the premature bending of the arms.

While it is true that bending one’s arms during the pull is usually a serious fault, the reality is that this issue is not quite as simple as some analysts would have us believe. Bending the arms before the bar separates from the floor means that the body will have to be placed in a lower position than would otherwise have been required in order to get the bar off the floor. A lower position is generally less advantageous for the muscles of the legs, hips and back. As a result, the lifter places greater strain than necessary on his or her legs and back at the start of the pull. Therefore, pulling with bent arms from the floor is almost always a disadvantage.

If the arms are bent after the bar is separated from the floor, the lifter is spared some or all of the extra effort required to lift the bar from the platform when the arms are bent at the moment of separation. However, bending the arms after the moment of separation tends to cause the lifter to lose proper position during the pull; the angle of the back in relation to the floor will grow smaller when it should remain the same or increase, or the arch in the back may be reduced or lost. In addition, the bar can collide with the shins and/or knees, impeding its upward motion. As a result, it is likely that bar speed and/or control will be lost unnecessarily during the execution of the pull if the arms are bent.

Although a lifter may bend his or her arms, he or she is not necessarily accomplishing the arm bend with the muscles of the arms (or at least not solely with the arms). The shoulder muscles, and muscles or the upper back, are often the primary factors contributing to the arm bend. If the bent arms are sustained during the first three stages of the pull, it means the height of the bar in relation to the floor will be greater than usual. This can position the bar higher on the thighs or hips as the final explosion stage of the pull is executed. For some lifters, a higher point of contact with the bar can lead to a more explosive finish to the pull. In addition, holding the arms bent also tends to strengthen the gripping force that the lifter can apply to the bar.

Offsetting these advantages is the likelihood that the transmission of force to the bar during the all important final explosion phase of the pull will be compromised by the lifter’s bent arms. It will be difficult for the lifter to maintain the arms in the bent position while force is exerted via the legs and hips. If the arms give, some of the force developed by the legs and hips will be dissipated by the arms, and a less forceful final explosion will be the result. This is one reason why many coaches are completely against any bending whatsoever of the arms during the first four stages of the pull. While this is generally a sound position, the coach would be wise to consider the tradeoff aspect of technique that was mentioned at the outset of this chapter. In some cases, the advantages that lifters get by bending the arms somewhat may offset the disadvantages (though this is the exception rather than the rule and occurs much less frequently than most of those who bend their arms think).

In my experience, a bend in the arms during the pull is more detrimental to the clean than the snatch. There have been a number of record holders in the snatch who bend their arms somewhat during the pull, but these lifters are generally not as proficient in the clean as they are in the snatch.

Correcting an inappropriate bend in the pull can be a difficult process, particularly when a lifter has had this fault for some time. That is why every effort should be made to address this problem as soon as it occurs. This problem is generally caused by a subconscious (and sometime conscious) belief that pulling with the arms is necessary in order to achieve maximal height in the pull. If the athlete can be convinced that he or she will pull more effectively with the arms straight, it will greatly hasten the process of correcting the fault. Shrugs, partial pulls and complete pulls employing a height gauge can be used to prove to the lifter that his or her pull is actually better with relaxed arms. In order for this to occur, it will often be necessary for the lifter to acquire a fundamentally different understanding of the pulling process. The body and not the arms must do the work. It helps some lifters to visualize what happens when one pulls explosively on a slack rope in order to move a heavy object. The rope will straighten with a snap, but the object will not move. If tension is put on the rope first, it will transmit force directly to the object; so it is with the arms in pulling.

Performing a rep or two in the pull with straight arms before cleaning can help eliminate arm pulling as well, because the lifter gets into a correct “groove” before attempting a clean (of course the lifter must warm up the body for cleans before switching from a pull to a clean).

If the arm bending is caused by the lifter’s remaining with the bar too long in the pull (the lifter pulls with the arms straight most of the way but then bends them before going under the bar), the emphasis should be placed on applying the maximum explosive effort in the pull a little earlier, so that the arm bending and squatting under the bar are taking place at the same time.

Premature Contraction of Various Muscle Groups

It is important that all of the muscles that are used to impart force to the bar be activated in the proper sequence (generally beginning with the muscles closest to the lifter’s physical center and then moving outward, away from the center, from hips and back outward toward the limbs). In the final explosion of the pull, this sequence is essentially the hip extensors and quadriceps, followed by the trapezius and perhaps the gastrocnemius and finally the arms and shoulders (the latter only as the lifter begins his or her descent under the bar). It should be noted that while these contractions are occurring in the aforementioned sequence, the contraction occurring in each muscle group does not begin after the previous one ends. Rather, there is a degree of overlap in the contractions that facilitates the continuous application of force to the bar. If a particular muscle group is activated too early in the sequence, it interrupts the smooth progress of motion, attenuates the force applied by the right muscles at the same stage and makes the muscle group contracted early unable to assist in imparting force to the bar at the proper moment.

An example of this is when the trapezius muscles (the muscles which raise or “shrug” the shoulders) are contracted early in the pull, raising the shoulders. The lifter will find that such a motion upsets the pattern and/or the rhythm of some earlier stage for the pull (e.g., it makes the moment of separation more difficult or upsets the flow of the movement of the hip extensors and quads outward). In addition, the traps are not strong enough to hold their position when the legs explode into action. Therefore, the traps will tend to give during the final explosion, perhaps almost imperceptibly, thereby acting as a shock absorber for the force of the pull. Finally, the traps will be fatigued from their early involvement and will already be partially contracted when it is their turn in the sequence to impart force It is unlikely that the weakened traps will be able to play any meaningful role in pulling the bar up or the body down.

I encountered a classic case of this problem when I was working with a national level lifter who was making a comeback from a serious injury. He had run into a sticking point on his snatch. While his recovery was progressing steadily in the C&J and most of his assistance exercises, his snatch would not budge. He had even reached a point where he was having trouble making weights that he had done consistently at earlier stages of his comeback. I noticed in his first rep in his first snatch workout with me that he was contracting his traps prematurely. When this was pointed out, he corrected the problem rather quickly, and within a few weeks he easily overcame the weight that had stymied him for so long. A similar correction with respect to any muscle that is contracting early can yield similar positive results.

Perhaps the most common form of premature contraction involves the hip extensors during the pull. The proper pattern of motion during the pull is to move leg extensors concentrically and hip extensors isometrically during the second phase; hip extensors concentrically and leg extensors eccentrically during the amortization phase; and hip extensors concentrically and then isometrically during the explosion phase, with the leg extensors contracting concentrically. Many lifters attempt to contract the hip extensors throughout the pull. This causes the lifter to significantly increase the angle of the torso in relation to the platform (i.e., straighten it) during the second phase of the pull (instead of simply maintaining its position or straightening it slightly during the latter portion of this phase). It also causes the lifter to incline the torso rearward and not to drive the hips sufficiently forward during the final explosion phase of the pull, misdirecting and lessening the force generated during that stage of the pull.

Naturally, before a premature contraction can be corrected, it must be noticed. This can be difficult when an athlete wears oversize garments on the upper body and trains in long sleeved shirts. But even when a lifter is covering up the premature contraction with clothing, the possibility of premature contraction should be at least considered when a lifter begins to look sluggish and loses any “snap” in his or her pull or when the entire pull seems to be proceeding at one speed. If the contraction is occurring at the start of the lift, this problem can often be corrected merely by having the lifter become aware of unnecessary tension in the wrong muscle groups as he or she prepares to lift. In other cases approaches similar to those used for correcting the bent arm problem (which is primarily a premature contraction problem) can be employed.

Extending the Body Too Much and/or Holding the Extended Position for Too Long a Period

One of the most frustrating technique flaws in weightlifting is that of applying maximum force to the bar through a complete range of motion, only to find that the bar is nowhere near completion, It is a frustrating phenomenon because you can lift the same or a lesser weight easily and then, through a mistake of timing, miss the next weight you attempt with it feeling “like a ton.” This can certainly happen when you are trying a weight that is simply beyond your means. But when a lifter finds that jerks are rather routinely caught on bent arms while the body has not reached a deep position or snatches are often pressed out or the bar “crashes” on the lifter in the clean (i.e., seems to fall on the lifter from a point well above the lifter’s bottom position, the culprit is often the practice of staying with the bar too long in the final explosion: that is, after exerting maximum force, the lifter stays in the extended position for too long a time without being able to generate any significant additional acceleration to the bar. In such a case, the lifter is wasting valuable time that could be used for going under the bar. The result is that the bar begins to descend at almost the same time as the lifter, giving the lifter no time to set his or her body in the low position and catch the bar. Instead, the lifter has only just arrived at the catch position and finds that the bar is already there (and is moving with considerable downward speed).

The flaw tends to compound itself because the heavier the lifter perceives the bar to be and the greater the shortfall between the bar height and where the bar is felt to be, the more and longer the lifter tries to follow through in the explosion phase. Obviously, the more and longer the lifter follows through, the worse the problem becomes. I was a victim of this problem early in my lifting career (then intermittently thereafter when I lapsed into my old ways), particularly in the jerk. It was not until I studied films of my lifting and compared it to that of other lifters that I found I was driving my jerks higher than most lifters but was being caught with the bar on bent arms and in a relatively shallow split. Once I got into the habit of driving hard but then moving into the split more quickly, the problem was at least partially resolved.

Awareness of this problem prompted me to point out a similar flaw to one of the United States’ best lifters of the 1960s and 1970s. This lifter had a habit of pressing out his snatches (although his timing was fine in the jerk). When I analyzed his snatch technique, it became obvious to me that he stayed the extended position on the pull longer than virtually any other lifter of his caliber. This led to the bar’s falling on him by the time he reached the squat position, Although I actually demonstrated the problem to him on film, he did not completely accept my analysis and never did correct the problem. Ultimately, it was in attempting to press out a snatch that he tore a triceps muscle, an injury that eventually ended his career.

Another version of this problem exists when a lifter achieves too great an amplitude of body extension while pulling. This kind of problem can be seen when the shoulders shrug in a pronounced fashion before the legs rebend or the lifter rises very high on the toes at the completion of the explosion phase of the pull or jerk. This kind of excessive amplitude makes it difficult for the lifter to descend under the bar (the body has to move various body levers through a greater range of motion and the entire body through a greater distance in order to achieve the squat under). And since the lifter has traveled further than necessary into the extended position, he or she has wasted precious time that could have been used to begin the descent under the bar.

Cures for both of these related problems consist of learning to complete the final explosion phase earlier and making the transition from the explosion to the squat under more crisp. It is often helpful for a lifter to think of rebounding downward, virtually bouncing off the resistance offered by the bar. Thinking of a lift as both an upward and then a downward explosion as well is often helpful. Visualizing the lift as one complete movement up and down is also often helpful.

Some coaches believe in teaching the lifter to perform the pull “flatfooted” so that the tendency to overextend is reduced. And while I have never been convinced that pulling flatfooted is not more of an effect than something to strive for, this approach does seem to work for some lifters. If the lifter thinks of descending under the bar at the right point in the pull, a ballet like rise on the toes will be avoided. One thing is clear, however; one of the most powerful explosions that the body can make (and certainly the most powerful it can make in the pull) occurs before the knees reach their fully extended position. Therefore, there is good reason at least to question the value of any extension past that point (the longer the extension, the greater the question).

The Lifter Who Splits Backward or Forward in the Jerk

During the split for the jerk, it is important that the hips be positioned directly under the bar; they must not travel in front or to the rear of the bar. In order to avoid these errors, therefore, the motion of the back foot and leg cannot be permitted to pull the hips backward at all, and the motion of the front foot cannot be permitted to pull the hips forward excessively (some forward movement of the hips is often desirable).

A tendency to throw the rear foot backward can be corrected in most cases by simply thinking of jumping down with the body (as the famous coach Joe Mills used to say) instead of either jumping forward or backward. In cases where the lifter is has gotten into the habit of splitting back, two tricks taught to me by the great champion Dave Sheppard virtually never fail. First, Dave taught the “camel hop” (a style named after the Egyptian greats of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s who were kiddingly associated with the camels that their countrymen presumably rode). They believed in striking the rear foot first in the split and then using that rear foot to push their bodies forward under the bar. Reportedly, you were able to hear a distinct slap-slap noise emanating from the feet of such lifters as the back foot hit before the front foot. If the lifter hits the back foot first and not too far back, he or she can certainly use the frictional force applied to the platform by the rear foot (more accurately the forward force applied to the body by the floor via friction) to drive the body forward (or at least prevent it from traveling backward).

A second technique is to have the lifter do some light workouts in the jerk standing near enough to a wall so that the back foot will strike the wall if the lifter splits too far rearward. Banging into the wall a few times will get even the most ingrained backward splitter to end his or her erroneous ways. Naturally, care must be taken to position the lifter far enough from the wall so that only a slight touch will occur if a mistake is made. In addition, only light weights can be used, so that the lifter is not danger of missing the lift and having the bar crash into the wall (perhaps damaging the wall and/or rebounding off the wall to injure the lifter). Interestingly enough, practice with light weights in this exercise often proves sufficient to eradicate the problem with heavier weights and without the wall; this is unusual because some drilling with fairly heavy weights is usually required to eliminate most technique flaws.

The tendency to drive the hips too far forward under the bar arises less frequently than the tendency to step back. However, when the former does appear, it can be just as difficult a problem to correct. One method is to get the lifter to practice movements that do not require a forward movement of the hips, like the power jerk. Jerks behind the neck can help because the lifter begins with the hips under the bar. Therefore, the need to split slightly forward, as required in the regular jerk, is diminished. Contrary to popular belief, jerks behind the neck are often not very helpful for those who find the bar to be forward of the body in the split because the bar is generally there due to either a forward dip or backward split, neither of which tends to benefit from practicing jerks from behind the neck.

A more direct approach is to have the lifter hit both feet in the split at the same time, eliminating any possibility that the back leg will drive the body forward when it hits. In addition, the lifter can use the arms to push the body directly downward. This arm action will tend to prevent the body from going forward.

The Fine Art of Automating the Correction

Regardless of the methods that are used to correct a given technical error, once the lifter has grasped the nature of the correction to be made (cognitively and via the correct execution of the skill), the athlete must then undertake the process of automating the correction. The lifter will not be able to exert conscious control of his or her movements with maximum weights. With such weights, the lifter must focus on moving the weight and the body with great speed and no hesitation. In addition, movements occur with great speed when heavy weights are being lifted. There is simply no time for thought or hesitation.

The process of automation takes place partly as a consequence of many practice sessions. But no amount of practice of the movement with light weights or through imagery will obviate the need for making attempts with progressively heavier weights. The lifter must ultimately perform with heavy weights, and the only way to be certain that learning has extended to that level is to try such weights.

In very rough terms, the lifter learns the correction with light weights, practices through mental imagery and is supplied with constant feedback by the coach. Then the lifter needs to practice with heavier weights. When a lift can be performed consistently with a given weight, the lifter then needs to add more weight. When a weight is reached that causes a breakdown in technique, the weight must be reduced until correct practice can again be achieved. Some practice sessions will be limited solely to those weights with which correct movement is extremely consistent. Other workouts will involve flirting with a weight that permits correct movement on most lifts but leads to a miss or an incorrect movement if there is any lapse of concentration or effort. By gently pushing the correct technique, the athlete will eventually automate the correction. However, the lifter must be cautioned that overlearning is necessary before the correction becomes automated and that constant vigilance will be required if the correction is to be maintained. Correcting flaws that advanced lifters make is not an easy process. That is why correct patterns should be emphasized so strongly at the outset.

Summary

In the previous chapter, the focus was on the nature of good weightlifting technique. In this chapter we focused on the basic concepts of motor learning: how those concepts can be applied to learning weightlifting technique, how faults can be identified and eliminated and how technique can be perfected. The development of sound technique should be the area of primary emphasis during an athlete’s early months and years in weightlifting. It is he foundation upon which the athlete’s success will be built. Having great technique will not make an athlete a champion, but not having it will virtually preclude success. Moreover, if it is not learned early on, it will be difficult, if not nearly impossible, to learn later on. Finally, since the beginning weightlifter will advance most rapidly in terms of strength by handling light to moderate weights, there is every reason to focus on technique and no good reason not to.

Everyone wants a shortcut to success. My advice is that no shortcuts be taken in the area of technique. Any attempt at taking one will end up as a short circuit or at least a detour on the road to weightlifting success.

Although technique is one of the most important foundations for weightlifting success, the development of unlimited strength and power is the key to high performance. Weightlifters are the strongest and most powerful men and women in the world. Their achievements are simply unmatched by the athletes of any other sport. It is the pursuit of strength and power that attracts most athletes to weightlifting, and it is the achievement of those qualities that will make a beginner of average strength a superman or superwoman. Another physical quality essential to success in weightlifting is a considerable degree of flexibility. Such flexibility is required in order to attain technical proficiency in weightlifting. It is on the development of strength, power and flexibility that the next chapter of this book is focused.