Workout of the Day:
Snatch (Power or Full)
3-2-1-1-1
and then,
Three rounds for as many repetitions of cleans as possible in three minutes of:
200 Meter Farmer’s Walk (as heavy as you can handle)
Sandbag Cleans (ground to shoulder – Men 90 lbs./Women 60 lbs.)
Rest three minutes between rounds.
 

How Olympic Lifting Has Improved My Game
Written by Michele Vieux

How cool are people who can move a couple times their body weight from the ground to overhead with speed, quickness, agility, flexibility, style and grace? THE COOLEST! People do it all the time with the Olympic lifts (Snatch and Clean & Jerk) and although I am not one of these people, I strive to be.

Although my desired end result is to elegantly jump 200+ pounds overhead, I have found that incorporating Oly training regularly into my workout routine has given me many more benefits than I had ever imagined or dreamt of.

The way the Olympic lifts are broken down to teach, practice, and address weaknesses has allowed me to greatly improve my form not only on the snatch and clean & jerk but also on every other movement I perform.

The step-by-step instruction used in pause front squats, three-position snatches, Barski cleans, and more, have helped me develop a keener mind-body connection. I can feel where I am in each of the steps and make adjustments based on cues given to me by my coach. This ability directly transfers to other movements. In fact, I also believe this keener connection has made me a better dancer!

Using the snatch balance (a skill transfer exercise) has greatly improved my overhead position—both the strength and stability of it as well as my ability to immediately and perfectly connect with it when going overhead. I have actually received compliments on it.

I have had issues with my flexibility for most of my adult life. It comes from never (or half-ass) stretching before or after practice as a kid. Unfortunately for me, flexibility is highly important for optimal athletic performance and especially for Oly lifting. Holding a load overhead or in front of me with my ass to my ankles has really forced me to loosen up. Although that alone didn’t improve my flexibility, my desire to make this phenomenon much easier has led me to spend more time stretching on my own. If big Casey Burgener can do it, so can I!

Jumping power is used in the Oly lifts to get the bar from the ground to overhead. Jumping heavy weight overhead has made it easier for me to jump myself onto a box. Since January (when I really started focusing on Oly lifting) I only use the 30” box for WODs and turn over the jumps just as fast as or faster than I did with the 24” box. I vow to never look back!

Nobody can deny that you must be quick to get under a 200# pile of moving metal and rubber. Practicing this with a barbell has proven useful for me in other areas of athletic performance as well as in the kitchen when I nearly spill something but save it from hitting the floor with my catlike quickness. Sometimes I even surprise myself.

Out of everything I’ve gained from Oly lifting, one thing truly stands out amongst the rest as the most beneficial—mental toughness. It is a total mind game to walk up to 200# knowing that you will, in a split second, move it from the ground to a precariously balanced position over your head. You have to be able to ignore your senses telling you that it isn’t possible. You have to ignore the noise and distraction around you. You have to forget about the people watching you. And if you miss, you have to be willing to get up, brush yourself off (and your ego) and try again. These are lessons that I apply to my everyday life. Nobody tells me what I can’t do except for me. I don’t think there is very much I can’t accomplish when I set my mind to it. Someday I will snatch Sage.

I have become a better coach from being coached by an awesome Oly coach and from performing the movements over and over. I feel comfortable (and enjoy) teaching complex movements such as the Olympic lifts. And because I like how the Olympic lifts are taught in a step-by-step breakdown, I now apply the same teaching methodology in other areas of my coaching.