3 Tips to Improve Your Weightlifting For Crossfit
There is little doubt, Crossfit has done wonders for the sport of weightlifting over the last decade plus. Because of Crossfit’s ability to spread Olympic-style lifting to the masses, the sport of weightlifting went from a fringe event generally only seen by the mainstream every 4 years at the Olympics to the topic of dinner table conversations as families across the country share tales of snatches and clean & jerks with their nightly meals.
If you’re a recreational Crossfitter, one of two things happens when you see “Snatch” or “Clean & Jerk” listed on the WOD (Workout-of-the-Day)…you either throw your arms to the sky in excitement or you clench your fists, shake your head, and curse the powers that be for the frustration that’s about to ensue.
If you happen to fall into the latter camp, then please read on, this article is for you!
Tip #1: Practice the Lifts from the Top Down
Whether you were first exposed to Olympic-style lifting through Crossfit, or through the sport of weightlifting itself, chances are that your first time attempting the lifts may have been from the floor.
No doubt, weightlifting competition is built upon snatch and clean & jerk attempts taken from the ground. However, when first learning the lifts, it can often be hugely beneficial to spend some time rehearsing the lifts from an above-ground position.
Since crossing the knee can frequently be a very challenging portion of the lift for many beginners, starting from a position above the knee can take a lot of complexity out of learning to snatch or clean.
There are several starting positions to consider which can be achieved by either picking the bar up off the floor and standing straight up (akin to a deadlift) and then sliding down into the desired starting position (as in a hang snatch or hang clean), or through the use of lifting blocks (if available).
Hang snatches or cleans from above-the-knee, mid-thigh, or pocket (hip) position are all great drills for practicing the explosion and receiving (i.e. getting under the bar) phases of the lifts.
Out of the variations we are going to discuss today, the pocket (hip) versions of the lifts take the most complexity away and allow you to focus on that final extension and transition under the bar into receiving position.
Moving down the leg to a mid-thigh or above-the-knee start position can also be learned relatively easily in comparison to the full lifts from the floor and also offers a great opportunity to work on the 2nd pull (explosion phase) without having to worry about properly crossing the knee.
Once lifts from above the knee get consistent, transitioning to a below-the-knee start position prior to moving all the way to the floor can also be very useful.
Hang or Blocks…which is better?
While both options are great, the answer of course depends on the situation. Lifts from the hang require no additional equipment and are a helpful variation for athletes who may have some mobility restrictions that make it difficult to achieve an ideal starting position from the floor.
Starting the lift from the top-down allows many lifters to load the legs and posterior chain more effectively and may allow you to achieve an improved pulling position in comparison to a traditional start from the ground. Think of the hang variations as a loaded stretch that helps optimize your body positions.
Not every gym has lifting blocks, but if you are lucky enough to have access to them, then take advantage! Lifting from blocks takes away complexity from a snatch or a clean in a way similar to a lift from the hang, but has the added benefit of allowing you to find the proper lifting position prior to system (i.e. your body) being under load.
Just as with lifts from the hang, you can periodically work your way down to the floor by using lower and lower blocks as your training cycle progresses and you become more consistent and confident with the bar path from each height.
As you inch your way down week by week, you will suddenly realize that you are lifting from the floor with ease in comparison to how things felt before all the hang and block work!
Tip #2: Break the “Cycle” for a Bit
If you’ve immersed yourself into Crossfit competition, you may have seen the touch-and-go style of lifting known as barbell cycling. While this can be quite the graceful sight to behold when being performed by your favorite Games athlete, it is actually a fairly advanced strategy that can be quite tricky for a beginner to get right.
Athletes use barbell cycling in order to minimize both the time and effort required to perform a lift. Despite being a very useful tool for such a purpose, utilizing this approach before becoming technically sound in your Olympic lifts can often move the needle in the wrong direction.
If you are still working on the consistency of your snatches and clean & jerks, you may want to hold off on barbell cycling within your WODs until a reasonable level of consistency can be achieved (meaning, the majority of reps look fairly similar to one another and you are able to replicate the proper starting position for each lift without much effort).
Until then, set yourself up for success by ensuring your start position is on point before each and every snatch or clean & jerk you perform. Sure, this might take longer to execute each individual rep, but what you will lose in time efficiency will be more than made up in lifting efficiency. Your lifts will look better, feel better, and this will likely result in you performing better in the workout than if you had tried to cycle the barbell with less than ideal mechanics.
Tip #3: Take Advantage of Tempo Work and Isometric Holds
There is little denying, the Olympic lifts happen FAST. The manner with which both the snatch and clean & jerk are traditionally performed leaves little time to make on the fly adjustments to each rep.
So how do you slow the lifts down without compromising the essence of proper weightlifting execution? Welcome to tempo work!
Here at Aspire, we make extensive use of slow tempo pulls and isometric holds (i.e. pauses at various stages of the lifts) in order to improve our weightlifting.
The benefits of these slow tempos and isos are two-fold. First, they serve as a means of slowing the lifts down a bit and give you a little time to make those “on-the-fly” adjustments to position. Second, these techniques give our bodies some much needed time-under-tension in the lifts, which will accelerate overall learning.
Some examples of variations we might utilize in training include a “Tempo Snatch Pull + Snatch,” where the lifter would assume the snatch starting position and slowly lift the bar off the floor to a mid-thigh/low-hip position (usually over the course of 5 seconds) and then slowly lower the bar back to the floor, before performing a traditional snatch.
This tempo pull allows an athlete to better feel weight distribution across the foot, to feel hips and shoulders rising at the same rate, and to feel a nice strong arch in the low back, etc. If any of these attributes are lacking, the approximate 10 seconds it takes to perform the pull will give the lifter time to make the proper adjustments before executing the snatch.
Will this transfer into a perfectly executed snatch to follow the pull? Not necessarily, but it will likely help the technical development process in most novice and intermediate athletes in comparison to performing the snatch or clean alone.
Another example of a useful variation is the 3-Position Iso Clean. For this drill, the athlete would set up for a clean in the traditional manner; however, upon breaking the floor (i.e. when the bar is just 1-2” off the ground) the lifter then must pause for 1 second. After the 1 second pause just off the floor, the athlete would then pause once again below the knee, and then above the knee before completing the rest of the clean.
At each stop along the way, the athlete and coach can check to see if the lifter is able to achieve proper positioning of the body and bar. If not, adjustments can be made before moving on to the next iso position.
While we haven’t spoken as much about the jerk in this article, rest assured that the very same strategies can be implemented to maximize this critical weightlifting component as well.
Certainly, for many lifters, optimizing your jerk involves a very rapid dip and drive that capitalizes on the whip of the barbell. However, the presence of any technical errors in the dip and drive are going to negate any benefit that might be achieved in a very ballistic dip.
If you tend to weight-shift forward to the front of the foot during your jerks (or if you find yourself often receiving a jerk with the bar out in front of you) try this next tip:
Instead of dipping fast, attempt to take 3 seconds to lower the body and bar before transitioning into the drive phase. This slow, 3-second eccentric will give you time to feel where the weight is across your foot (it should stay more towards the heel throughout the dip) and to make an adjustment before initiating the drive.
Get consistent with that dip path, and before long, you will be launching that bar out of orbit with all the increased power from your improved dip and drive positioning!
Bonus Tip: Accessorize
Because we can’t resist helping you guys in every way possible…we needed to add one more bonus tip!
While vast improvement in weightlifting requires…you guessed it…a LOT of time under the bar with the traditional snatches and clean & jerks, sometimes the weak points of your lifts are going to need a little extra love in the form of accessory lifts.
Trouble receiving a snatch or clean at depth? Overhead squats, snatch balances, front squats, etc, will help build strength and confidence in that deep squat position.
Struggling to coordinate the path of the bar AND your footwork at the same time during a jerk? Exercises like jerk balances, push-presses, and jerk footwork drills, allow you to parse out individual technical elements of the jerk. Rehearsing these more simplistic drills can often have significant carryover when it comes time to put them all together for the complete lift.
Bring it on!
So there you have it folks. There is no longer a need to fear the sight of “snatches” or “clean & jerks” as you read through the Workout-of-the-Day.
Put these three (well, four…) weightlifting strategies to use throughout your training, and you’ll be shouting “bring it on!” while you watch in excitement as your name work its way up the leaderboard week to week.
Happy Training!
