The Art of Weightlifting 

Have you even wondered about the amount of time and dedication that goes into the weightlifting movements (the snatch and clean and jerk)? Or have you considered that it takes as much (if not more) time to master than any other sport or martial art out there?

Those who choose to start their journey in Olympic weightlifting do so, because they develop a love for the lifts. This love develops into a passion for wanting to put weight on the bar. That passion results in countless hours practicing and perfecting the perfect pull and the perfect catch so that the bar moves in the right direction to catch it in a good position overhead. How technical is this really?

Most don’t understand the amount of body awareness required to keep the barbell in a good path as it is pulled from the floor to the hips and then thrown overhead. This is where the beauty of the art comes into play. One must master correctly pushing the knees back, while maintaining pressure on the chest and pulling the barbell back into the hips. Then standing it up and driving it overhead with the force of the hips, hamstrings and quads. All while maintaining a central distribution of the weight on the feet and finally catching it overhead without the slightest bend of the elbows or pressing the barbell out.

This path requires a devotion that many have spent years perfecting and still dont have it down perfectly. Those who choose this path enter the weightlifting club everyday and practice in many different patterns all to make that one lift in competition that makes it all worthwhile.

The weightlifting club is similar to a dojo in that it is a respected and humbling place. Attitudes and egos don’t survive and only those willing to work as hard as they’ve ever worked for sometimes minimal rewards survive and move on to the top of the sport.