Ageless Mobility: 3 Vital Lessons to Learn from Olympic Weightlifters

Understanding Olympic Weightlifting

If you don't know about Olympic weightlifting, there are two main movements:

1. Snatch
2. Clean and Jerk

The snatch involves taking a bar from the floor and bringing it directly overhead.

The clean and jerk involves taking a bar from the floor to shoulder level in a catch and then doing a jerk press to bring it overhead.

Most people will never need to do a snatch in everyday life, but there are valuable lessons to be learned from the clean and jerk.

Lesson 1: Proper Lifting Technique

The first lesson comes from the first pull of the clean and jerk, which is essentially a deadlift.

Some people believe that deadlifts are bad for your back.

However, if you ever pick anything up from the ground, such as a package, a bag of dog food, or a bag of mulch, you're doing a deadlift.

If Olympic weightlifters can lift hundreds of pounds without getting injured, there's something to learn about proper lifting technique.

Most people have heard the phrase "lift with your legs, not your back."

Many people misconstrue this to mean keeping your back perfectly upright.

However, if you watch an Olympic weightlifter, they start with a slight forward incline of their trunk.

When lifting, whether in weightlifting or real life, start with a slight incline of your trunk.

Lift with your legs by driving your heels into the ground and extending your knees and hips.

Keep the load close to your body, pushing your hips forwards as you lift.

Lesson 2: Triple Extension

The second lesson comes from the second pull of the clean and jerk.

This part focuses on triple extension at the:

1. ankles
2. knees
3. hips

This is important for pushing off when walking and generating power for activities like climbing stairs.

Power is about moving things quickly, whether it's a barbell, getting up from a chair, or going up a stair.

The triple extension position helps you generate force quickly.

Start from a slight knee bend, extend your ankles, knees, and hips simultaneously, and come back down.

This exercise can be done at different levels of difficulty:

• Beginner: Practice getting into the triple extension position.
• Intermediate: Use light weights and do a small jump with a shrug.
• Advanced: Perform a hang clean, pulling the weights up and catching them at shoulder level.

Watch the video at the top of the page for more details.

Lesson 3: Overhead Mobility

The third lesson is about lifting things overhead without shoulder pain.

Good shoulder and shoulder blade mobility are essential.

A common exercise for this is the pass-through, where you hold a light bar, PVC pipe, or a dowel rod, and bring it up over your head.

Grip wider on the bar for easier mobility and less risk of shoulder impingement.

If you have shoulder pain, try turning your thumbs up using a stretching strap, creating tension out on the strap, and come overhead without extending from your lower back.

Conclusion

To review, the three lessons are:

1. Proper Lifting Technique: Keep your trunk slightly inclined, lift with your legs, and push your hips forward.
2. Triple Extension: Extend your hips, knees, and ankles to generate power quickly.
3. Overhead Mobility: Improve shoulder mobility with pass-throughs or modified pass-throughs, avoiding lower back extension.

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