Should you perform the Olympic Lifts?
What are the pros and cons of this form of training? The benefits of including Olympic weightlifting into a program are power development. Also, a study that including the hang clean within a structured strength training program improved the vertical jump of high school athletes (Scherfenberg et al., 2013). The Olympic lifts reinforce the universal athletic position and hip hinge pattern. It also improves the neuromuscular efficiency of those that incorporate those movements. Lastly, it strengthens the core stabilizers and teaches the cue of retracting the shoulders. The cons involved with Olympic weightlifting are the difficulty of learning the movements. It is a sport that many Olympic athletes dedicate numerous hours of learning to. The person applying this method must have pre-requisite strength, motor control, and mobility to get into the deep squat position. A study showed that a program that involved improving muscular balance had a positive effect on clean and jer...